Shower Sweep

Way back when we did the master bath, we had a company do the glass surround and shower door.

There was a mix up during some part of the process and the glass wasn't fabricated quite right. They fabricated new pieces and got it installed without additional problems.

The guy who did the measuring for the master bath wasn't and isn't an employee of the glass company.

While he was here, we talked to him about repairing some issues with the shower door in the other bathroom, the kid's bath, that had been completed years earlier. He agreed to investigate and repair the issues in the kids bath.

The first issue was that the hinges had failed and needed to be replaced.

The second issue was that the shower door sweep had lost both of its seals and needed to be replaced.

Remember the timeline here... This is a few weeks after we'd had the shower glass installed in the master bathroom.

When he brought the replacement hinges he installed them without trouble. But, he forgot the sweep.

No problem he said. I have another job to get to but I'll get it and come back later to install it.

Our mistake? Paying him for both things when only one had been done.

Weeks pass.

SWMBO calls.

Him - Oh, I forgot. I'll get it and come over next week.

Weeks pass.

SWMBO calls.

Wash. Rinse, Repeat.

Years pass.

I call, mid-afternoon on a weekday this summer.

Pat - I forgot. Can I call you back?

Me - No. This has gone on long enough. You're going to tell me right now when you're coming over to replace this. Or you're going to drop the damn thing off and I'll do it myself.

Pat - I don't have my schedule right now so I'll have to call you back tomorrow.

Me - Fine. I expect a call tomorrow.

I don't really expect a call back given that the background sounded like he was in the VFW tipping back a couple. Nevertheless, I wait until the end of the day for him to call back. No joy so I call him.

Me - Hi Pat. I've been waiting for your call...

Pat - I just dropped it off at your house because you said you'd do it.

Me - [swears under my breath and hangs up]

So, if you want an anti-recommendation, talk to me offline. I'll tell you who to avoid.

And for those of you who don't know what a shower door sweep looks like, here's what he dropped off - an 8-foot length of vinyl shower door sweep. Don't get me wrong, it's what I expected given this ordeal, but I'm still galactically miffed that it took two flippin' years to chase his sorry butt and I still had to do the work myself.

I finally got around to replacing it this morning. It took me maybe 15 minutes to remove the old one, clean the nasty residue off the glass, measure it, cut it to length with a hacksaw, miter the ends with a hot utility knife so that it fit and operated properly, and install it. Oh, and adjust it so that it doesn't drag excessively on the threshold.

Everybody Poops

That was one of may favorite books to read to the kids when they were little.

Read the rest of the post and watch the video and the reference will become clear...

One of the sinks in the master bath has not been draining well recently.

We finally took a few minutes to investigate what was going on.

SWMBO pulled everything out from under the sink while I grabbed a bucket and a pair of slip-joint pliers just in case.

I loosened the trap and emptied into the bucket. The trap was pretty clean.

Then I took off the extension for the tailpiece. It has some goop around its perimeter so I cleaned that out with my finger. The extension is ABS (black plastic) and was cut with a hacksaw so had rough edges protruding on the inside of the pipe. I took a utility knife and trimmed the edges so they were clean and smooth. That should help minimize future issues.

Then I loosened the ball-and-rod for the pop-up drain assembly and removed the rod so I could remove the pop-up stopper. The stopper had a little goop on it, so I cleaned that up too.

Looking down the tailpiece revealed the issue. My fingers aren't long enough to clean it out, So I grabbed a wet wipe and had SWMBO grab a wooden skewer.  I balled up the wet wipe and used the skewer to push it down the tailpiece. Here's the result:

I assume it's a coagulated accumulation of makeup, lotion, hair, and other stuff.

We never have to do this with the boys' sinks...

Hydrangeas

Recently I was chatting with someone about gardens and. more specifically hydrangeas.

We have several in our yard, though I don't remember the exact variety names at this point.

One is a variety similar to "Annabelle". It behaves similarly to a perennial with new stems growing from ground level each spring and has large white globe-shaped flower heads, one head per stem.

These are in the back yard along the stone wall.

Another is a small/medium shrub, which I prune back hard each spring to maintain its size. At the beginning of the summer post-pruning it is 3 feet tall and by the end of the summer it is perhaps 4-5 feet tall. It has very diffuse, "open" flowers that turn pink late in the year.

These are in a back bed between the driveway and patio.

The last is a variety similar to "PeeGee". It has a dwarf tree form. I prune it back - hard - each spring and it seems to grow quite vigorously. I prune it down to 5-6 feet tall to start the summer and it ends up at 9-10 feet by the end of the summer. The flower heads are quite large and oblong. The bloom pictured is longer than my hand, from fingertip to wrist, and is roughly 4 feet off the ground.

These are in the front garden on either side of the front porch.

The Destroyer of Worlds

He's a lab.

That means he's bred to want to have things in his mouth.

It doesn't really matter what it is at this point.

Even heater control knobs will do.

Because I think I'm smarter than him and can see where this is going, I played the long game.

The electric baseboard heater belonging to this knob is in the entrance to the carriage house.

I'd previously removed it when I installed the new tile in the entry, so knew what needed to be done.

It wasn't really in too bad of shape, but has been painted a couple of times, evidence being that the knob is not the same color as the heater.

Also, to get where I want outsmarting the Destroyer of Worlds I might as well go all the way and replace the heater, too.

The replacement heaters were 25% off this week at the green big box store, so I got a new one and the associated smart thermostat.

No chew-able protrusions to tempt him any more...

It took me about an hour to remove the old one, unbox & install the new one, and decipher the particularly poorly written manual to correctly wire & program the thermostat.

And with the new auto-setback thermostat, it will probably save a few pennies on the electric bill.

Apples

Last summer while playing in the dirt I planted a couple of fruit trees. They survived the winter and have done reasonably well.

The peach tree in the middle has really grown. This spring it didn't blossom much or set any fruit. I assume that's a result of the big blizzard in April. This variety is known as an early bloomer, so it is a little sensitive to late frost.

The apple trees bloomed and set fruit. I thinned the number down to 6 or 8 on each tree as a pollination trial run. The fruit was doing well on both until recently. The rightmost one got worms, so I removed all the fruit. That way it's not wasting energy on fruit production. The fruit on the leftmost apple tree still is doing OK.

The sad thing is that the leaves on both have been ravaged by Japanese Beetles. Removing them by hand into a bucket of soapy water has been working OK, but I don't think it will be manageable as the trees get bigger.

I'm considering this year an experiment on what I need to do to get a crop a few years down the road, so I'm learning a lot.

As I recall, great-grandpa Joe had an apple orchard in his yard, so maybe I'll get there eventually...

Art - 2

Earlier in the summer we took a family vacation to Montreal and Quebec City. I'd never been to either city before and really enjoyed both. The old town areas in both were very interesting with lots of history and cool architecture.

Of course, SWMBO managed to do some shopping and found these prints made by a local artist in Quebec City. Each of the prints shows a different street scene in Quebec's old town.

They survived the journey back and we had them matted and framed here. A few days ago we hung them in the kitchen.

While the frames are all the same size, it's inevitable that you can't just place the hooks at the same height. Even though I used my trusty laser level and measured everything multiple times, it's still a pain to get the cluster all hung at the same height.

Tuckpointing - 2

Progress has been a bit sporadic.

Dave the mason has also been working at the nearby Commodore. When he gets stuck there he comes here and vice versa.

There were a few bricks that needed to be replaced because they were too damaged. We'd saved some from when we had the porch piers  rebuilt, but there weren't enough. The mason had to begin the sourcing effort and, like always, it's not easy.

The initial selection was approved by the HPC, but when we went to place the order it was discontinued.

After some back and forth, the HPC approved a different brick. It was the right color, but the wrong size; both in height and width. The would mean two cuts on each brick to get it to the correct size. It also means a ridiculous amount of time and labor for each brick.

So the search started again. This time they approved a brick that was only mis-sized in width. That's the easier of the two cuts, so it's not so bad.

We know we're going to need more bricks when we get to the other sides of the house, so we get a better deal if we buy a whole pallet. The extra ones will get stored somewhere unobtrusive (not on the driveway!) until they are needed next summer.

Lost History - Part 2

Life is full of coincidences. And sometimes some of what was lost can be found.

A few weeks ago I stumbled across an announcement about the son of the 3rd owners and posted about it.

Last week, one of his sons happened to be in town for a college reunion. He and his wife stopped to look at the house and SWMBO coincidentally was outside. They chatted and she gave them a tour of the interior.

This was his grandparent's house, so as one might expect, he doesn't have vivid memories of many things. Likewise, there are things I remember about my grandparents' houses, but there are details I don't recall either...

He was able to share some interesting information, though. The paintings on the door of the study bath are likely not original to the house. He believes they were painted by his great-grandfather, W. B. Robertson. He shared this photo of a painted fireplace screen that he says was in the house and was also painted by his great-grandfather. The similarity to the hunting scenes on the door are striking, so I certainly agree with him.

Downspouts

As the guys have been doing the brickwork in the front of the house, they've brought up some concerns with the downspouts.

The existing ones weren't really working properly and would overflow causing water to cascade down the front of the house. As a result the brick would get wet and because of the need for tuckpointing, water was getting into the wall.

In typical "while you're in there" fashion, we might as well get the issues taken care of now.

Those with sharp eyes will note the fancy new temporary downspouts. They certainly ensure that the water is routed away from the foundation...

Tuckpointing

We've had various brick work done in the past and knew that we'd eventually need to do a fair amount of tuckpointing. We'd met with various contractors over the years and we're finally ready to get started. Understanding the unique aspects of doing this with old soft brick is important and that limits the number of available contractors. As a result, we've been on the list for quite a while waiting for them to complete other jobs.

Last Thursday this pile of material showed up.

And Friday it was assembled to look like this.

The plan is to do one side at a time over the next few years, depending upon funding. The chimneys need it too, so they will need to fit in somewhere.

The bits that need it the most will get priority...

Long time readers will recall that I'm not fond of heights, so this is one of the jobs I'll leave to the professionals.

Lost History

I stumbled upon this memoriam yesterday.

William Robertson was the son of the third owners of the house. We'd had some contact with him via email a few years ago, but unfortunately never had the chance to meet face-to-face.

He was acquainted with the grandson of the first owner, who kindly made the connection for us, and he shared some of his knowledge of the house with us (Fire in the Attic).

Listen

In another recent conversation with someone who was in the process of purchasing an old house, they asked, "What should I do first?"

It's typical that as a new owner you're full of energy to get started on something. I'd suggest getting the house weather tight and address any immediate structural issues. Otherwise, temper your enthusiasm and wait. Maybe for as long as a year. It's an old house; once it's weather tight another 12 months isn't a big deal.

Listen to the house.

Let it speak to you.

You will learn what it needs. It may need different things in each of the four seasons.

You will learn how you live in it. And how you'll adapt to it. Along with how it will adapt to you.

Things that you think you want to do on day one likely will not be the things you want/need on day 365. You will also figure out more about what it needs and how to structure/schedule the work so you don't have to re-do things later.

If it is a historic house you are a caretaker for future generations, not an owner.

Thoughtful Restovation

I was chatting with an acquaintance recently and, not surprisingly, the topic of the house came up. Project progress and whether we're done yet are the most common conversation starters. He didn't ask this, but every once in a while someone will ask when we're going to sell and do it again. Judging by the amount of time we've taken so far, we're obviously not in it for a "quick flip".

As you might expect, quick flippers and some  of the popular TV shows about old houses aren't terribly popular on old house websites. Mostly those sites are populated with people who have a passion for preserving old houses and their criticism is of the "remuddling" decisions that run counter to the design ethos of old houses or work that destroys the house's character.

As we prepare for the upcoming tour I've thought a bit about our approach to our house. I'd classify it as thoughtful restovation (restoration and renovation) of a historic building.

Where it makes sense, we've restored things and found period pieces of hardware to replace broken or missing pieces. If that's not possible, we've sometimes found appropriate reproductions. We've also tried to keep with the style of the house and used period colors in many cases. That doesn't mean we're fanatics about originality however.

In other cases, we've renovated using modern materials, etc. In those cases we carefully considered the house and the modern way of living. We've tried to stay in harmony with the style of the house, borrowing original design cues from elsewhere in the house while understanding that it's not a museum or a time capsule, but rather a house in which a family lives.

So far, we've received a lot of good feedback that we've successfully balanced the competing forces.

Art

Now that the hallways are done, the art gallery can begin.

It will be a process, like any other.

The first piece we hung is called "Carriage Houses of Saint Paul - II". Our carriage house is one of those featured in the collection. This is the second in a series of photographs of carriage houses in Saint Paul.

We originally met the artist as he was creating this piece. He was riding his bike around Saint Paul looking for interesting carriage houses to photograph and he stopped by our place.

The Society of Architectural Historians

I mentioned in a previous post that we had a deadline. And here is why...

The Society of Architectural Historians has their 2018 international conference in Saint Paul  April 18-22.

At this point the tour featuring our house (TR17 - Cass Gilbert in Saint Paul) is already fully booked, but space is available on other events open to the public for those who are interested. There are quite a few events for those interested in architectural history.

Carpet

My last task was to use a belt sander to ease the transition between the dressing room and overflow closet.  As hard as I tried, I couldn't get subfloor that was quite the right thickness. Other than breaking three belts in the process, it went pretty well...

And I finished in time for the carpet installers who came Wednesday.

We now have carpet on the back stairs between the first and second floors.

The back stairs have always been a little slippery, so the carpet helps significantly.

The color works well with the walls and the runners in the hallways.

For continuity, it also has a pattern that's similar to the attic carpet.

After eons without, there's now carpet in my closet as well.

I couldn't have carpet until she did, naturally.

It matches the carpet in the dressing room for SWMBO.

Or the other way 'round.

OK, the reality is that the remnant from the dressing room was installed in my closet.

Now that her dressing room has carpet, her little piggies are happy.

And that means everyone is happy.

She stood there for a couple of minutes wiggling her toes and purring like a happy kitten. The dog had no idea what was going on, but at least he didn't pee on the new carpet.

And they did a great job on the transition to the master bath.

3.29 Miles

That's how far I walked today without ever leaving the house.

All I did was finish painting the closet in the dressing room, installed the rest of its trim, and install the remaining trim in my closet.

That's a lot of trips up and down the stairs from the second floor to the saw in the basement...

Now I'm almost ready for the carpet installer.

I Love the Smell of Impervo in the Morning

Along the way we didn't quite get to 100% completion on two of the closets in the master suite. Mostly that was due to previous deadlines. We rushed to get things "done enough" for the party or tour, but not 100%. Now is the time to finish because the carpet is coming.

In the linen closet the shelves were installed before the drywall was completely mudded. Over the past week I've been mudding so I can eventually prime and paint the walls.

Also, the base molding and door frame were never installed in the closet interior.

I saved the matching door frame moldings and needed to prep and paint them.

And my closet in the master is missing the base molding and door casing inside the closet.

All have been prepped, primed and have a first finish coat on them.

More Deadlines

We were asked to host a tour in the spring. A group of architects will be in town and we'll be giving them a tour.

Of course that means we now have a deadline to get a bunch of stuff done.

There has been a lot going on at work, so I knew I wouldn't have time to do some of the things on the list. We have a few good people to call on though.

A call went out to William the painter. He's done high quality work for us in the past and had an opening in his schedule. Arrangements were made and he completed the work in about a week - far quicker than I would have been able to do it.

I had a little carpentry to complete beforehand and managed to get it done in time for him.

He painted the back hall on the second floor.

He had to prep and paint all the woodwork and the final coat on the walls.

He also did some touch-up on the attic stairs.

And the back stairs from the main floor to the second floor.

The treads were previously grey and are now chocolate brown, which coordinates better with the stained front stairs.

The handrail was also cleaned up and re-stained.

The balusters were also repainted.

And lastly, the woodwork and walls of the back hall on the main floor.

Looks much better now!

Can't Touch This

The thermostat in the carriage house quit working.

Naturally that comes under my responsibilities as Head of Facilities.

On a regular basis people mess with the settings on it, so I'm not surprised that it finally called it quits.

So I purchased and installed a new one.

It's going to get this sign taped to it...

If that doesn't do the trick I'm going to get a lock...

Plumbing Redux

Long-time readers will recall The Master Bath Plumbing Saga.

It continued.

The toilet always filled slowly after being flushed.

It was a minor annoyance, but I finally got annoyed enough to do something about it.

I figured the valve was full of junk from the original saga.

So while getting materials for my next project I picked up a replacement fill valve and installed it this morning.

Replacing these doesn't take too long. The important thing is to make sure you have all the water out of the tank first...

Works great now!

Cigars

Before Christmas I hosted an open house for people I work with.

Some had been here before and tagged along on tours to see the changes.

Others had not been here before and received the full tour.

Often people ask if the house is haunted. In response I usually tell the story of the light in the  makeup mirror.

Now I have another story to tell.

During the tour with a handful of people, we were in the Study. I was describing how its style is much more masculine than the Music Room. I mentioned that typically after dinner, the ladies would have gone to the Music Room and the men would have gone to the Study to have a cognac and cigar.

After I finished explaining, one of the ladies mentioned that she could smell cigar smoke. We all paused for a moment and could smell it too.

It wasn't a faint odor; it was noticeable.

I'm in the study typing this and it doesn't smell of cigar smoke now.  And there hasn't been a cigar smoke odor in this room in the past either.

Another thing that's hard to explain...