The Doorbell

Sometime during the attic demolition the front doorbell quit working. Fixing it was low on my priority list, obviously (it's been at least a year since it last worked...).

So that's my excuse if you stopped by and we didn't answer the door.  It was nothing personal.  ;-)

My lack of motivation to fix it can also be attributed to the mess of wires in the picture.  I just wasn't looking forward to figuring out which ones were for the doorbell.  They all seemed to be connected to the bell's transformer in one way or another.

And other wires were too.

I think over time there were a number of "clever" people who connected various things together to make noise with as little wire as possible.

Doorbells.  Phones. Switches/buttons in various rooms to summon "The Help".

Splices everywhere.

Partially visible wires that eventually disappear into a wall or ceiling.

3 hours of tracing wire just to get back to where I started the day: with the back doorbell working after I removed as much wire as I thought prudent.

Then 2 more hours tracing the front doorbell wiring, trying to determine where all the splices are going.

Finally I just gave up and cut the splices.  Wherever they were going wasn't working anyway...

But the front doorbell is working again.

All Boilers Leak

At least that's what the dude said when he came to look at the leak.

Note the water stains around the boiler pad.  Compare with the picture in this post. Note the lack of water stains and that none of this has ever leaked as long as we've been in the house.

I'd gone down to check the pressure in to the system before burping the radiators for the winter and noticed some dripping around the air-valve to the right of the pump (in the old picture).  I also noticed that the pressure gauge read zero.  Interesting since I'd never seen that before; it always had at least 5 or 10 pounds in it.

So of course I started to fill it.

The more water I added, the faster the drip became.

Hence the call to the boiler company.

And the dud(e) shows up.

"They all leak," he says.  "And it's leaking because there's no pressure."

No dude.  There's no pressure because the darn thing is leaking!

So after he added a thousand gallons of water, the gauge still read zero, and there was a bigger puddle on the floor, there was a call to the boiler company to send someone who had a clue.

And he arrived the next day.  Which is why there's now a new, working pressure gauge.  And a working air-valve that's properly located.  And a new spiral valve where the old air-valve was.  And an extra shutoff valve that isolates the boiler so we don't have to drain the entire system next time.

And that first guy is not coming anywhere near this house again...

The Fence

When we got the landscaping plan, the designer thought we should put a fence along the driveway.  It was low on our priority list; we wanted to do a number of other things in the yard first.

Well, this was the first year we really didn't do anything in the yard; the bulk of the landscaping plan has already been executed.  I've already dug enough holes to last a lifetime...

These arborvitae looked pretty good when we moved in, but the rabbits have really taken the bottom few feet apart over the past couple of winters.  So it seemed like this fall would be a good time to finally pull the trigger on the fence.

Here's another "before" view from halfway down the driveway.

And a final one from the end of the driveway to give perspective.

I was busy with other things, both work and house projects, so we got bids from several fence companies.  It also took a while to get things hammered out with the Historic Preservation Commission.  Eventually everyone was happy with the design.

It didn't take them long once they got started.  One crew did the layout, dug the holes, and set the posts in a day.

A different crew then built the fence over the next two days.  The bottom, "solid" part of the fence is roughly 4-feet high.

The lattice at the top is 16-inches high or so.  So the fence as a whole is not overly tall.  The post caps add a little decorative touch.

Here's a shot from halfway down the driveway.  The lattice-work stops part-way down the fence line.

And the final shot from the end of the driveway.  The fence ends behind the front facades of both our house and the neighbors.  It's what we'd planned anyway, but is also required by the HPC.

It turned out really well.

I just wish it would still smell like this  a year from now...

And Part 2 of Big Trees:

All the leaves are finally off the trees this fall.  We spent a day last weekend raking the lawn for the second and last time.  Today I finished all the flower and perennial beds.  We ended up taking about 30 60-gallon bags of shredded leaves to the county compost site.  The last couple are visible on the lower right of the last picture.

A few years ago when I was travelling on business, SWMBO raked the leaves with the kids.  They didn't know how to use the shredder and ended up with 90 bags.

That's right, 90 bags.

Big Trees

Big trees are nice, most of the year.

In the autumn, not so much.

We spent a couple of half days raking leaves in the yard and here's what it looked like when we were done...

We have a leaf vacuum/shredder that's works pretty well.  I'm not sure that it speeds up the process that much, except that we have fewer trips to the compost pile.  Because it shreds the leaves, we end up with fewer bags.  For some reason it doesn't work as well with oak leaves - it's probably a 2:1 ratio rather than a 4-5:1 ratio with the other types of leaves.

So far we've already hauled 17 45-gallon bags to the county compost pile.  You can see that there are still quite a few leaves on some of the trees.  The maple by the birdbath still has half its leaves.

We'll be doing this at least once (probably twice) more this fall.

While I wait, I took a few moments to wander around the yard and smell the roses.

So to speak.

This one is in the front garden.

These shrubs run along the front sidewalk (they are the shrubs at the far end of the yard in the first photo).

These tree hydrangeas have a very interesting bloom color this time of year.  There is one on either side of the front porch.

Along with the obligatory upright sedum near the driveway.

So while the summer's riot of bloom color is gone, there are still plenty of things going on in the landscape.

New Attic Bathroom - Part 5

Sometimes things don't go according to plan.

This is not the sink and toilet that we planned for.  We intended to re-use the sink from the master bath.

But no joy.

We couldn't get replacement stems for the faucet.

So we bought a new faucet, hoping to re-use the sink.

Then we discovered that the drain was the wrong size - modern drains are considerably smaller than old ones.

So we purchased a new pedestal sink.

We wanted to re-use the toilet from the attic bathroom.  It uses a thousand gallons of water with each flush and it's capable of flushing 5 pounds of sweet potatoes at a time.

But no joy.

Modern toilets have a 3- or 4-inch horn.  Our old one has a 5-inch horn.

There was a mis-communication with the plumber - the waste line was sized for a modern toilet's horn.

Meaning that to use the old toilet would have required ripping up the tile to increase the diameter of the waste line.

Not.

So we made a quick trip to the Big Orange Box to get a new toilet.

This one supposedly will dispense with a dozen golf balls in a single flush.

I haven't been playing well lately, so that thought has crossed my mind...

Everyone Out Of The Tub!

There's been enough time spent soaking in the bath of Impervo.

Dedicated readers may recall what this bookcase looked like when the paint was still wet.  And before the carpet was laid.

It's had plenty of time to cure and reach it's natural level of sheen.  As a result we've finally been able to start unpacking boxes from when we first moved in.  (It will probably be a while before the final box is unpacked...)

Late last week I hung the door to the mechanical room.  Still needs a doorknob, though.  They are somewhere in my hardware collection in the basement.  That's a project for another day.

Up until this point we've been making regular trips to Target to replenish our supply of ping pong balls.  They kept disappearing behind the furnace.   I might have to send the shop-vac on a search and rescue mission in the mechanical room...

So we're almost ready to resurrect the world famous holiday ping pong tournament.

I know the master trophy is in a box here somewhere...

Your Barn Door is Open...

It's always good to do something a little unexpected.  A little twist gives the place some extra interest.

The layout in the attic and the routing of the mechanical items didn't leave a lot of space for a linen closet.  Which meant, of course, that a traditional door frame wasn't really going to work either.

So we ended up with this idea.  It turned out really well.  The door slides on the top rail to reveal a usable, small-ish linen closet.  The door is original to the house (see the door in the top photo of a previous post).  After scraping old junk off it, filling the voids from the old lock set, etc., it looks pretty good with a couple of new coats of Impervo.

A Building Inspector Walks Into A Bar...

... and says "it's not a kitchen."

Perhaps he'll finally believe me.

We struggled a bit with how to light this part of the space given the nature of the ceiling.  We tried a number of different fixtures that didn't quite work out before finding these.  They are interesting little track lights with art glass "globes".  I installed them a week or so ago.

The plumber was here today doing all the final fixture installation in both the bar and bathroom.

Obviously this is not a kitchen sink...

A dishwasher will eventually go into the opening to the right of the sink.

I know, I know, I still have to install the knobs/pulls on the cabinet doors and drawers.

It goes without saying that the counter tops were installed earlier in the week as well.

At one point this was one large piece of stone.  However, in order to get it into the attic it had to be fabricated in three pieces.  They did a fantastic job of matching up the seams!

And it's a good thing they work with the floor tile.  Until the counters were installed we'd not seen them in the same place at the same time...

Look Ma; No Doors

The carpet installer wanted all the doors removed to make his life easier.  I was OK with that because I needed to prep them and wanted to get them outside anyway.

I've been trying to figure out how I can paint all the doors in one step.  Using saw horses is a pain - waiting for a side to cure completely before you flip it really slows down the process.

I have six doors to paint and have been thinking about how best to do it.  I don't recall where I first saw the idea, but I saw some guy using a rotisserie. He fabricated a stand for each end and installed a lag screw in the top and bottom of each door.  The lag screw rest on the stand or on a set of saw horses.  The you can spin the door around to paint both sides and edges in one pass.  Sort of like this.

I have six doors to paint and I like to do them all at once so I needed to modify that idea a little.

So I came up with this.  Insert a screw eye in the top of each door and hang each from a hook in the garage.  Then I have easy access to the entire door and each is hanging in its normal orientation.

I have only one left to prep (lying flat on saw horses at the left edge of the picture) and then I can get started painting.

Oh, The Irony

This arrived in the mail yesterday shortly after The Incident.

I wonder if I can send it back in time?

Fire in the Hole!

Yesterday was far too exciting.  Both for me and Marty, the alarm system installer.  (Yes, those are new holes in the wall to the left of the door...)

Things were moving along pretty smoothly and for the most part he was able to use existing holes to run wires, etc.

Until it came time to run power to the control panel.

He'd drilled a hole in the hallway side of this wall and was using a "wet noodle" to fish a wire down to the outlet on the kitchen side of the wall.

I was sitting at the kitchen table and saw a flash just before I heard Marty say, "Uh oh!"

That's never good...

We both ran to the hallway, looked through the 1-inch hole, and saw flames licking up the stud cavity.

He ran out to his truck, grabbed the fire extinguisher, and started squirting in the hole from the hall-side and then from the kitchen side past the outlet into the wall.  Meanwhile, I ran down to the basement and started turning off all the kitchen breakers.  On the way back up I grabbed a hammer, pry bar, drywall saw, and a shop light.

We didn't see any more flames, so plugged in the shop light to check the outlet's power before opening up the wall.

And the light still worked.

So I ran back downstairs and began turning off more breakers.  With each one Marty said, "Nope; still on!"

WTF!?

There was only one breaker left and it was marked "Water Heater".

Sure enough, that was the one supplying power to this outlet...

On my next trip up the stairs I found my circuit tester just to be safe.

Then I started getting into the wall.  Both Marty and I wanted to make sure the fire was completely out.

Of course, I discovered that there is a 3/8-inch layer of drywall over the plaster in this room (nice wallpaper by the way).  I'd long suspected so because the reveal on the door and window casings isn't right in the kitchen.  (Note in this picture - all I've done is remove the overlay-ed drywall; those holes in the plaster were already there hiding behind the drywall...)

After verifying that there was no more fire and that no wires were energized, I could start investigating while Marty called his Boss.

It's a good thing he acted quickly at the beginning or our next call would have been to the fire department...

So I think here's the cause: the insulation is not intact on the third wire from the left.  His "noodle" chain hit this wire and then arced when it touched the metal outlet box in the next picture.

Clearly I said a lot of bad words about the last ding-dong to play with this junction box.  And if you don't see at least a couple things wrong with this picture then you shouldn't be playing with electricity.

Seriously.

Lastly, here's the picture of the outlet on the kitchen side.

Originally, it was located it the lower left corner of the hole.  Those with sharp eyes will notice that it doesn't look like it will reach that location any longer.  And they'd be right.  That's because there was a big nick in the romex sheath about 2 inches above the outlet box; so I fixed it.

Oh yeah; the ground wire wasn't attached to the metal box.

Nor were the side terminals wrapped with electrical tape to prevent them from hitting the side of the box and shorting out (note fancy new red electrical tape that is now present)..

Not pictured is the kitchen towel that was stuffed between the outlet box and the stud on the left edge of the hole (apparently to keep it in place because the box wasn't attached to anything!).

Also not pictured is the broken nail-on plastic outlet box that was lying at the bottom of the stud cavity along with several other pounds of construction debris.

Maybe I should move on to happier thoughts before my head explodes.

Ah, that's better...

I'm not worried about the holes in the wall; the kitchen needs to be gutted to the studs anyway and I just got an early start on it.  ;-)

Before Marty finished up the rest of the alarm installation, his Boss stopped by to make sure everything was OK and we had a great talk.  Turns out our kids go to school together.  I'd recommend these guys if you need an alarm system.

Just mention that you'd like them to find a different way to test the smoke alarm.  ;-)

A Crane Nova

No, that's not some sort of crazy anagram.  It's the pedestal sink that's going into the attic bathroom.

It was the original sink in the master bathroom and it is still in fantastic condition (once I wipe the dirt off).  The guys at Gopher Plumbing helped us identify it.  They've been very helpful in trying to track down replacement parts for the valve stems, etc. but have so far struck out.  If you need plumbing parts, their customer service can't be beat.

Unfortunately even their secret custom vendors have never seen anything quite like it.  They said the vendor can try to reproduce the valve stems, given the originals (which I have), but no guarantees and it'll be costly.  And, "While you're making two, you should make an extra set of replacements. Someday you'll need them."  If they last as long as the originals, that won't be a problem I need to worry about...

I'm tempted, but we'd still have to source the missing handle - realistically a pair because I'm certain we'll never find a match to the one we have.

Likely we'll end up buying a new faucet.

Another Chandelier

Normally I end up installing a chandelier the night before some big party.

At midnight.

No parties this time.  Fortunately.

The ceiling is 13 feet high in this room and this thing weighs over 50 pounds.  There's no sense rushing things when you're that high on a ladder.

It's not that I'm afraid of heights so much as I'm afraid of falling.  ;-)

We hung it slightly higher than one normally would because it looked better in the space.  In addition it gives us maximum flexibility when entertaining - it won't get in the way of any full court shots...

The New Attic Bedroom - Part 3

We finally found a light fixture today and I installed it this evening.

In the dark.

It has a bit of an Art Deco influence to its styling and echos some other features in the house (e.g., the main staircases' square ballusters set on the bias).

The big plus is that both SWMBO and SWMBO, Jr. both liked it.

That provided a lot of incentive for me to install it ASAP, before anyone changed their mind...

In addition, things are starting to find their way into the room.

And, as you compare the first picture with the other two, the feel of the room changes quite a bit between day- and night-time.

Some of the accessories coordinate well with the new light fixture.

The room is still not done (doors anyone?), but it continues to get closer...

Boing!

That's the sound the neighbors heard as I ran into this when I got home tonight.

There should probably be a chalk outline on the driveway where I lay unconscious for a few minutes...

As long as we've lived here there's not been a railing on the steps so I've gotten used to cutting the corner.  Good that I didn't snap the thing off on its first day.

Having a railing here is something we've talked about on and off since we moved in.

It also seems that we've been talking to various iron works over the same period.

And waiting for this to finally get installed over the same period.

It's here now.  And it looks great!

New Attic Bathroom - Part 4

Chocolate pudding for breakfast?

Nope.

Paint.

Sherwin Williams Duration in a satin finish to be precise.

They should really add a scent to this.  It would really complete the experience...

When it's on the walls (two coats), it looks like this.

After it dried, I took a moment to do the finish electrical as well.  The light is new, but has a nickel finish that coordinated with the old plumbing fixtures that will get installed later.  It also has thumb turns above each globe that mimic the ones on old gas lights.

Looking the other direction, you can see the new cubbies and the shower door that was installed since the last update.  The tile on the walls is a modern subway tile.  The floor tile is a hex pattern.  Both are similar to what was originally in the old master bath.  The shower is acting as my storage area while I finish the rest of the painting.

The New Attic Bedroom - Part 2

Finally.

I'm all done painting in this room.

Ceiling, walls, and woodwork.

And the carpet is in, as well.

Compare and contrast with the first post...

Those with a sharp eye will notice that the outlets and outlet covers have been installed.  I haven't hooked up that circuit at the panel, yet.

Still on the punch list is installing the ceiling fixture -we need to find one first though!

And cleaning up and re-installing the window hardware.

Lastly, the doors need to be painted and re-installed, along with the smoke detector.

Won't be long and furniture will be moving in (you can see one piece waiting patiently in the hallway...).

The Race

It's the painter (me) against the carpet guy.

And I lost.

I did get all the woodwork painted before the carpet install started, but I did not get the second coat on the ceiling and walls in the bedroom.

Oh well, I guess I'll be using drop cloths all over the place.

The carpet is a little different in the hallway.  It has a texture that looks a bit like small sand ripples.  And I didn't get a second coat on the ceiling here either; more drop cloths...

The carpet is different still in the big room, but at least I got the second coat on the ceiling and sloped walls.  I'll only need drop cloths around the perimeter in this room...

Bathe it in Impervo

Satin Impervo Alkyd.

$79 a gallon.

Seriously.

And it's awesome.

Even though it's priced like it's made of unobtainium by little elves nearing extinction in a far off land.

In this photo it's still wet - it keeps a wet edge forever, which is one of the things that makes it great for moldings - so it's quite glossy.  Once it fully cures in 7-10 days it will have much less sheen.

The left-most bookcase is only half done, so you can see the color difference between the primer and top coat.  The trim color is "Monroe Bisque" in this room.

In the photo you can also see the rolls of carpet and carpet pad.  I'm in a race to get all the painting done before the carpet installer comes...

... And More Primer

I love the smell of oil based paint.

Not!

The longer dry/cure time results in a much nicer finish on the trim, so it's worth the smell.

All the woodwork in the back part of the attic is fully primed now.

The initial primer coat is done in the front part, along with filling the nail holes and caulking all the joints.  I just need to finish "spot" priming the front and then I can move onto the finish coats.

The back half of the attic will be the same color as the trim in the rest of the house.  The front will get a slightly different color however.

Coping

Just like in life, it's how well you deal with irregularities that sets you apart...

This morning I cut all the base shoe.  I installed all of it in the bathroom because it will be easy to paint in place.  That's not necessarily true in the bar area.  Some of the shoe will be difficult to do in place, so I'll prime and paint before installing it.  Other parts need to be stained to match the cabinets and that's also easier done prior to installation.

One of the tricks to get a tight fitting inside joint is "coping"  Remember in the previous post where I mentioned that nothing is plumb, square, or level?  Coping solves the problem when corners aren't 90 degrees, too.

 Rather than cutting both side with an inside miter, you only do one (the one on the right in this photo).  Just let the other side die into the corner.

Step two is to to take a pencil and rub it along the edge of the mitered cut.  It gives a clear definition of the molding's profile.

Now just take your coping saw (you wondered why it was called a coping saw didn't you?) and cut along the pencil line.  You don't want it perfectly perpendicular; removing a little extra material at the back of the molding will actually make it fit better in the end.

When you're done, it will look like this photo.  It's OK that it is ugly at the back, as long as you followed the pencil line along the miter's edge...

Then flip it back over and check the fit.

Voila.

Perfect joint.

Bar Cabinets

Last weekend I installed the cabinets in the bar.

Nothing is plumb or level in houses, old or new, and this house isn't any different.

I halfheartedly tried installing them the old-school way with shims and a level.  I've done it before and it's still a pain.

I say halfheartedly because I found these things on the web and wanted to try the old-school way before plunking down any money.  They are way cool and made the job so much easier.

Once I got them installed it really did take less than 5 minutes to level the entire bank of cabinets.  By my self.

Tonight I cut and installed the rest of the base molding and cap around the cabinets.

I also cut and installed the cap down the staircase.

The last thing before priming all this woodwork is to cut and install the base shoe in the tiled areas.

And Curved Inside Corners

I mentioned an a previous post that there was an inside corner to be dealt with as well.

This uses the same technique, but requires that you cut the pieces narrower at the front.

And different tools to sand on the inside of the curve, of course.

In this photo there is a single coat of oil-based primer on the base and cap.  I'll probably need to install a shoe as well.