Farewell

 Yesterday the closing finalized.

Our stewardship journey has ended and the baton has been passed.

Life

Over the past couple of years, the kids have gone off to college. As a result, most of the time it's just the two of us and the Guardians of the Garden bumping around in the house. We've had the "cocoa puff" for a while. We rescued the "cream puff" in the fall. I guess you could say he is our pandemic "pup", even though he's over two years old..

We'd been thinking for a while about downsizing. We had a particular new development in mind and the timeline seemed to fit what we had in mind, but it turned out to not be the right fit for a number of reasons.

So we switched gears and started thinking abut other options. In the process of exploring the new idea, some interesting properties popped up and we looked at them to get a feel for things. They sold quickly which was OK, because we still had the longer timeline in mind. And we learned enough to confirm the new direction as a possibility when the time came.

Then, out of the blue, we heard about a place that would soon be coming up for sale. We went and saw it and bought it before it even went public.

As of today, Farrington is on the market.

The Southern Wall

 Over the past couple of years, we've slowly been tackling the brick work.

Mostly that's just been tuckpointing. The plan was to do on side of the house at a time to manage costs.

This year was the south-facing wall.

It required more than just tuckpointing though. The brick columns between the original kitchen windows in the basement supported the entire south wall at the back of the house. It was time to give them some help.

The help came in the form of some steel support columns which are installed behind the brick columns.

They hold up the new steel support beam which holds up the rest of the wall. The window headers are now purely decorative because the steel is doing all the work.

The Front Door

 The back door was practice for the front door.

I didn't have time last fall to refinish the front door before it got cold. Once it got warm enough this spring I started the prep work.

Scope included the outside of the door, both sides of the screen door, the side lights, and the sunburst/transom.

It took quite a bit of time to strip the old gummy varnish and gently sand things down by hand to good wood without damaging any of the detail.

Then multiple coats of varnish until I achieved the desired result. Many days passed between coats waiting for the right weather conditions, but it's finally done.

As with the back door, the front door got new bronze screen.

Study Bath Update

The study bath was another one of those projects that didn't quite get completed. (Previous post about this room)

This room was mostly done except that I didn't paint the woodwork and I didn't strip and repaint the radiator. Because I didn't want to deal with it at the time, I allowed myself to get distracted with other projects. Now I have no excuses.

There isn't much woodwork to be painted in this room. A single small window, the rolling door to the storage area under the stairs, and the back side of the entry door.

The woodwork preparation exposed quite a history of color in the the various layers of paint. The oldest is cream, followed by tan, federal blue, red, green, and then a couple of variations on off-white/cream. I used Ivory Tusk, since I still have some of that and it's not far off the oldest of the colors...

I tented the radiator to catch most of the dust and debris during both prep and painting. The bulk of the old paint just flaked off the radiator when I ran a 7-in-one tool's blade across the surface. 

After a very short debate, we decided to go with a pewter metallic in this room because so many of the fixtures are in the pewter/nickel/silver family.

New Attic Bath - Part 6

There's been a long delay between this post and the previous one for the attic bathroom. That's because I never really finished the work. I got 95% done and got distracted with other things.

The remaining work was installing the door latch and then painting the window frame and door.

The latch came with a nice template, but the template was for a 1-1/2 inch thick door. This door is 1-3/4 so I had to cut the template apart and line up the pieces with a laser level. One piece for the edge of the door, another for the face, and the third for the jamb.

I lined up the template with the existing mortise for the old latch to minimize the amount of material I had to remove, as well as minimizing the amount of filling. There were some areas that needed to be filled because it looked like a previous owner's dog had chewed significantly into the edge of the door. I used Abatron WoodEpox and am happy with the results.

It took a little while to remove the material and dry fit the latch. Then I did all the surface prep and primed the places where there was bare wood.

Then came the Impervo as the topcoat in the usual color, Ivory Tusk, to match the rest of this part of the attic.

Historic Hill Holiday Tour

The Ramsey Hill and Summit Hill Associations decided to collaborate on a Historic Hill Holiday Tour (the "1895 Georgian Colonial"). Along with seven other homes in the neighborhood, our home, holiday decorations, and some stories are featured in the video and the blooper reel. Proceeds go to the two associations.

The rest of this post is the free tour...

Most years we go to the local hardware store and buy the tallest tree they have. We don't bother having them unwrap it because we put it on the opening of the main staircase. If the tree is misshapen or has a flat spot, we can just put that side in the corner. They are all listed as being 6-8 foot trees and are the same price. This year's tree is the biggest we've ever had and is close to 12 feet tall. It is also larger in diameter than in previous years. As a result I only got about halfway before I ran out of lights and had to purchase more...

In total there are 2000 lights on this year's tree.

On the opposite side of the entry is the poinsettia forest and its reindeer.

And the demi-lune table with its trees.

The stockings are hung by the chimney with care in the living room.

The Twelve Days of Christmas make an appearance below the dining room mantle.

The study is a cozy place on a cold winter night.

There are other decorations scattered throughout the house but none are significant enough to warrant inclusion here.

Merry Christmas to all and to all a good night.

Carriage House Re-Roof

The house had been re-roofed shortly before we bought it, but the carriage house was not done at the same time. The seals in the double-paned skylights had failed, so the glass was foggy, but the roof wasn't leaking. No big deal from our perspective; we could wait and do some other things first.

Well, eventually we started to get some small water stains around one of the skylights, so it was time.

We contacted a couple of local roofers to get estimates and picked  one. It took a while to get scheduled, but we weren't in a hurry. Eventually, after some weather- and COVID-related delays, the day arrived.

They were able to strip the old shingles off and install the new ones in (almost) a day. The removed the old skylights and installed new ones while they were at it. Because of the hipped roof, they ended up a little short on the cap shingles, so those had to be delivered and installed later in the week.

We're happy with the results! (slideshow of the work in-progress)

What We've Got Here Is Failure to Communicate

This is another one of those posts that's not really about the house. It's about a common issue that isn't really that hard to fix.

Once again one of the bathroom sinks was draining slowly. We took all the items out of the cabinet under the sink. I disconnected the actuator for the stopper and removed it. The stopper was full of hair and other gunk so I cleaned it.

Then I shone a light down the drain to see of there were other restrictions. There were, so I started loosening the tailpiece extension and p-trap so I could clean them more easily. The p-trap came out without trouble.

When loosening the tailpiece extension, the tailpiece sheared off immediately below where the stopper actuator joins the tailpiece.

Weird.

I called the plumbing supply place where we purchased the fixture to see what options we had. If we could find the order/receipt and send some photos, they would submit a warranty claim with the manufacturer.

I found the necessary papers, took photos of the papers & broken pieces, and emailed the photos.

A week passed and I heard nothing. No reply to the email. No phone call. Nothing.

I called. He did not answer the phone, so I left a voicemail.

A week passed. No return call. No email. Nothing.

I had a Friday off and was running errands more-or-less in the neighborhood, so decided to stop in to get an update.

I introduced myself and explained why I was there.

Turns out he had received the email and had submitted all the information to the manufacturer. They had agreed to replace the part at no cost, but because the finish is not one of the most common (satin brass rather than nickel or chrome) it might take a while to get one. He wasn't sure when they might ship it or whether they would ship it to him or directly to me.

Two more weeks passed. The new part was shipped directly to me. I received it yesterday and installed it without issue last night.

So, here's my frustration. Communication. Why is it that businesses are so bad at communication? It's the simplest thing that requires so little effort and makes such a huge difference.

Did I mention that I was the only customer in the store? Did I mention that every time we've been in the store (many times over the years for the kitchen and this bathroom) we've been the only customer on the premises? Given that, how much time does it take to reply to an email to say you've received it? Or return the phone call which specifically asked if you'd received the email? Should I really have to come in person to get an update when you're only open from 9am-4pm on weekdays?

Winterizing the Fountain Pump

 Manufacturer instructions on the pump say it should not be allowed to freeze. As the weather started to get colder, it was time to remove the pump for the winter.

The first step was to move the rocks from atop the pump access cover and then remove the cover plate.

Then, with Hayden’s help, reach into the basin, remove the pump, disconnect the hose, push the hose back into the basin, and pull the cord through its cutout. I put the pump into a bucket and brought it into the basement for the winter.

Lastly, put the cover back in place and cover it with rocks again.

Once everything thaws in the spring, I can reinstall the pump.

And a final photo showing the pump, 90-degree elbow, flow control valve, and connector for the vinyl hose. The hose is snug enough, and pressure low enough, that a clamp isn’t necessary.