Structural Engineering

Even before we moved into this house we were aware of the structural issues - it doesn't help that the house was built badly to start with (vertical walls anyone?), but the lack of maintenance combined with badly installed gutters resulted in considerable rot in the wood structure where it meets the foundation. In some places it wasn't even a case of rot - the wood was long gone - taken away by water and insects attracted to wet wood.

I could have patched just a few places, but it would have been just that, so I decided to replace a 30 foot section - of course this meant I had to deal with supporting the house while I effectively completely removed one outside wall.

So, with summer in full rage, I supported internally and started yanking out rotten timbers. It was a horrific, dirty, sweaty job. For half of the span they had used a rim joist that was pressure treated. For the other half, it was mostly gone - in many places I could see outside from the basement before I removed anything.

Finally, over a period of weeks, I completed it - everything fully replaced with pressure treated lumber, and, all the doors and windows upstairs still worked - nothing had dropped. I also had to replace lots of structure above the basement where water splashing from the deck (broken/missing gutters) had got behind the siding. I'm very pleased to have got this done - it was by far the biggest house job I've done.

Downstairs bathroom

The downstairs bathroom (should there be an apostrophe after downstairs - the bathroom belonging to the downstairs? Who knows? Not me. Anyway..) was decorated with a fantastic pineapple motif wallpaper complimented by old brass fixtures.

When we pulled the paper off the prior decorator had signed the wall - last papered in 1983. Figures.

We repainted the walls and the vanity, changed the vanity hardware, replaced the taps with some I got from Freecycle, removed the medicine cabinet replaced the lights, added some agapanthus stick on stencils. Tada.

The video starts with the two London Underground signs we had in our old house as well. The Underground leads to the basement, the Gentlemen sign, obviously, to the bathroom. High brow comedy, that.

Outdoor Sink

Outdoor sink. No need to go back in the house to wash hands. Drains out under the deck. 'Nuff said.

More hallway pictures

Hallway

When you enter our house, you are confronted with numerous doorways, one of which led away to the bomb site that is our office (we focus as much energy on cleaning the office as we do our bedroom, though I try not to leave my bra and panties on the office floor).

Rather than actually clean the office, we felt it much better to just close the doorway off. Of course this does have the added benefit of making the space more private when we are trying to work. The design inspiration for the hall came from a magazine - stark white walls, off-color trim, and a rough wood shelf as a focal point. A few years ago I pulled a six foot slab of wood out of the Thames (in London, duh), and schlepped this massive, water-sodden piece 2 miles back home, knowing I would use it for something like this.

I even managed to find the same shelf brackets as the magazine had (thanks Google image search). A slap of paint all round (including a grey accent wall), plus some high-rise, non-health and safety approved stair painting - bob's yer uncle, etc. etc.

The plastering was much better than when I had tried it previously - as long as the sun isn't shining at the right (wrong?) angle, it almost looks perfect - just don't run your hand over it. Floor tiles still look crap, but hey, what you going to do?

Kitchen Video

A quick video of our kitchen - pretty pleased with the result considering we were only in for about $300. The largest category of expense was replacing the 37 door pulls...

We accidently the kitchen

Kirsty painted the trim in the kitchen, which meant the walls looked crappy, which meant the cabinets looked crappy, which meant the holes in the ceiling looked crappy (fair, I suppose), which meant the back splash looked crappy, so we did the kitchen...

Pics to follow soon when I get round to taking them, but here's one from before.



As an interesting side note one of the holes in the ceiling was covered by a smoke detector - maybe they were going to hardwire some in? Disappointing if that was case as that circuit was connected to a dimmer switch. Still, considering the quality of wiring in this place, I wouldn't be surprised....

Insulation Part 1

When we first moved in, during the last throws of winter, you could physically feel a draft coming down the stairs from the attic door. This was partly solved by weather-stripping and a proper latch to keep the door closed properly. However, the last time I checked, the R-value of 1/4 inch plywood is pretty poor. As there's no hope of staining the deck anytime soon thanks to the weather (summer solstice indeed!) we made up an insulating box from solid insulating foam that will accommodate the ladder when folded and keep some of the heat in (and out during the summer).

Guttering

This picture may not look like much, but it represents perhaps the most significant piece of work completed so far. See that dry corner, despite the fact that it's hammering down with rain? For forty years the back of this house has had rain splashing back onto it because of missing and malfunctioning gutters. I Have just completed the guttering round the kitchen kick-out - annoying because of four 45 degree angles that I had to cut miters in the guttering for. This is the first time since the house was built that the bottom two feet of siding, and consequently the wood structure behind it, has been dry during wet weather.

Swing Set

We decided to take the kids out of daycare for the summer. Part of the deal was that we would buy them a swing set. Online research indicated that, as with most things in life, cost rarely correlates with quality. After much debate, we purchased a behemoth from Toys-r-us, at a (relatively) reasonable cost, considering the features. It's not cedar, but equally it doesn't have to last 20 years. Most importantly it allowed me to take a time lapse of the 40 plus hours of work it took. Hit the full-screen button to get full-screen goodness (that little rectangle in the bigger rectangle button, bottom-right of the video)



Unusually for us, it is complete, but the video is not - I want to add some more pics to the end, but it will do for now.

Will's Room

As ever, there is still some trim to paint, but it is rare for Will's room to be tidy enough to photo, so....
Some before and during shots:

Spare Room

I'm calling this room complete. Took a while due to the trim, but we're really pleased to have a 'sanctuary' for the many guests we have.



Before:

First real finished thing

While I may say that Eva and Will's rooms are finished, they aren't. Will still has no curtains and there is still trim and doors to paint. BUT, the stairs are finished. Not perhaps the most auspicious project, but they are the first thing you see when you come in the house. They did have carpet on them - this went on day one. We patched holes, had them sanded, caulked the crap out of them, and painted. Rinse, repeat. Also quickly restained the banisters.

Before:




After:



On duty: The family, Grandma, Bapou
Man hours of work: 250 hours (not updated since Mar 18th)
Cumulative hours: 371 hours
Cost of parts/labor: $300 (more paint, plants)
Cumulative cost since purchase: $2767

PinkanPurple

"Eva, what color is your room?"
"PinkanPurple"

Save for a touch of trim, I hereby declare Eva's room completed.