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...