Crest Ave. Rooster

Carbuncle Beautification Project

2011-08-31T19:22:00.000-07:00

It's been some time since I've posted, and some time since this project was completed, and an even longer time since the tropical storm necessitating the project in the first place.

As you may recall from earlier posts, much debate centered around the fate of the carbuncle of a push-out window in the living room. Finally, frugality won the day, and the push-out stayed. But last September, Tropical Storm Hermine came through Austin. (Typing those words feels funny, since rain is pretty much a foreign concept here, these days.) And Ms. Hermine's waters poured through the push-out window and into the living room.

See the buckets? Not good.

Another fierce debate ensued over the carbuncle's fate. But again, frugality won the day. Fixing the push-out window is less expensive by a factor of ten. And factors of ten count. So, trusty handyman Kevin installed some new fiber board in the interior and fixed the push-out window's roof, which, it turns out, was never properly shingled in the first place (shocking, I know). And so, for a couple of months, the window awaited its finish-out and looked like this:

And finally, after my painting and Chad's carpentry:

One Door Down...

2010-04-04T09:53:00.000-07:00

Chad and I decided to take advantage of (what was supposed to be) a sunny weekend to finally paint the front door. Others were taking advantage of a sunny Saturday, too. The oak trees were getting all sexy and dropping a fine mist of pollen on the wet paint. The owners of the lot across the street were clearing and chipping wood in preparation of putting the lot on the market, depositing a fine mist of sawdust on the paint. And the birds were hanging out in the nearby bird feeder getting ready to leave, well, you get the picture. At least Olive kept the birds at bay.

The door, mid-painting.
Turns out orange is a four to five coat color... Annoying.

Olive, vigilantly keeping birds at bay.

Independence from Painting?

2009-07-05T18:14:00.000-07:00

Chad and I have been painting since mid-May, but still painting chores abound!

Saving a cool five grand sounded like a good idea, so we decided to sock that money away for the day we'll inevitably need new siding. That means painting the exterior on our own.

It's the weekend project that keeps giving: three weekends to prep and prime; weekend after interminable weekend to paint, paint, paint. We've learned that paint stops working after 90 degrees, so we've been getting up at the crack of dawn to get in as many hours in as possible. Luckily, on a (rare) under-90-degree June weekend, we took an Amish barn-raising approach, and Chrissy, Jose, Layla, Sarah, Marco, Cynthia, Dan, and Steve all lifted a brush in honor of Roosterhaus.

Primed:

Chad did all the high bits.

Almost finished!

What's left? The doors (orange!). The push-out window. The eaves. The carport. But we're closer to finish than start, and that's a good feeling.

More upholstery projects!

2009-02-22T16:42:00.000-08:00

Christina was in town and craved a project. So we re-upholstered two dining room chairs. Cynthia helped with the cording, and Chad helped with re-assemblage.

Before:

After:

CHAIR!

2009-02-08T20:26:00.000-08:00

This weekend I took an upholstery class.

I started with this chair, Sneezy. The ladies of Spruce Upholstery (where we took the class) found it in an old asylum in Brady, TX. Spooky. Dusty.

Day One:

First I stripped the chair. With the help of ultimate-mini-pry, a very small upholstery staple remover, and a mallet, I removed the many tacks and staples that held the vinyl onto the frame of the chair. Then all of the vinyl, nasty worn-out foam, and burlap came out. After that, I re-burlaped the seat and put new foam and dacron down. Class was over, but I had less then twenty-four hours to re-finish the wood. So Chad devised a wire-hanger hanging system for me to poly the wood after he sanded everything down. We were up until one in the morning re-finishing the wood, but were pleased with the results.

Day Two:

Stretched and stapled the fabric and cording on the seat and began work on the back, which involved a lot of the same materials (burlap, foam, dacron and STAPLES!) and similar work (stretching until hands, wrists and shoulders could take no more). Then the legs and arms went back together and I finished up the back of the back (more burlap, foam, dacron, STAPLES! and stretching, stretching, stretching). The back of the back also involved some fancy metal clamps and the register - pushing the fabric into the metal so that none of the frayed edges show. The last step was the dust cover on the bottom.

Voila! Here's the finished product. So excited for Sneezy to join the Roosterhaus living room!

My friend Cynthia took the class with me. Her chair, Doc, was different - involving more glue and spray paint and a staggering number of staples. I think the result was equally awesome.

Another contender.

2009-02-01T14:19:00.000-08:00

Chad and I were fond of the light blue but felt that it was, perhaps, too light. Since we were so fond of the blue we found for barn door #2, we decided to try one step down in an exterior satin. Here is the result.

Olive Helenscat Mysteriosa Smith

2009-01-25T18:58:00.000-08:00

We were hoping to be productive enough this weekend to have a new home improvement-type post, but that just didn't happen. Then Chad realized there was no post for the newest friend of Roosterhaus, Olive.

We first encountered Olive living under the house in July of last year. She would hang out on the porch and wait for us to come home. Then she would talk to us and ask for food. We decided that we would take her to get spayed and try to find a home for her, because we are both allergic to cats. But, while she convalesced with us after her spaying, we realized that neither one of us so much as sneezed due to her presence. So she is our new house pet. She is slowly getting used to the idea of being an indoor kitty... but there seems to have been no adjustment period necessary for the idea of regular meals.

New Doors!

2009-01-19T17:09:00.000-08:00

Noise from the washer/dryer and tv be gone! Chad and I finally had two doors installed to cut down on noise. Both of the doors are on rails, so we didn't have to bust into drywall to install pocket doors. One blocks the kitchen from the utility hall and the other closes the door between the office and living room. They also add some fun pops of color to the white walls... so much fun color, in fact, that the art work seems a little overwhelmed by it all.

The kitchen door:

The living room door:

New Year, New Paint

2009-01-03T15:08:00.000-08:00

We're trying out colors for exterior painting on the shed. So far, we haven't hit upon the right color. Chad wants green. Mary wants blue. Neither is quite right, so we'll be off to the hardware store to try some other colors tomorrow. We may go white... or brown... or butter... or maybe just slight variations on the blue and green... who knows?

Here's crayola green:

And a historic trust-type blue:

War Declared on Aphids.

2008-06-29T08:13:00.000-07:00

See this beautiful plant? The planter and plant were Chad's gift to me for my birthday. The planter - like a new window - is a small thing that goes a long way to making the house more homey. I guess the aphids in the neighborhood thought it looked homey, too. Because, with lightening-quick speed, the plant was filled with hundreds of aphids. I read that once you can see them, you've lost the war. Wait for some predators to move in. So I did, but the predators weren't coming. So this weekend Chad and I bought a ten dollar bag of 1500(!) lady bugs and released them into the yard at dusk, after watering, as directed on the lady bug package. We spent the rest of the lighted evening watching the ladies wage war on the aphids. I guess they were hungry after being in a mesh package at the garden store. Of course, when we woke up, there were about three lady bugs left on the plant. But there were also a bunch of aphid carcases.

How our Garden Grows

2008-06-29T07:45:00.000-07:00

After some success with the toms - around 60 or so cherries and pears with more on the way, we decided to try our hand at zucchini and okra. The zukes are an incredibly satisfying plant to grow. They are fast. The seed packet claims 55 days from germination to stomach. It's not a joke. I look at them before I leave for work, and by the time I've returned, they've grown. I look at them after dinner, and when I wake up in the morning, they've grown. Fast.

The okra are hardy and beautiful. We've had 100+ degree heat now for forever, I mean, for a month, and the okra just keep going. In the heat of the afternoon, the other plants have droopy leaves. The sun oppresses them. But not the okra. Their green leaves and red stalks soak in all the rays they can get.

The zinnias are also doing well in the heat. Their leaves are a favorite snack of some crazy, tiny red and black grasshoppers. The zinnias don't seem to mind too much, and the grasshoppers must have a hard time finding something green to munch on in this drought, so we leave them alone.

Crest Avenue Flora.

2008-05-26T10:24:00.000-07:00

Chad and I have been working hard to improve the aesthetics and productivity of the front yard.

Here are some of the first fruits of our labor:

We have six tomato plants (two brandywines, one red cherry, and three yellow pears), two basils, one collard (and oh how the caterpillars love to munch on him), and some okra seedlings. Chad created two raised beds like this one from cinder blocks.

Chad is head gardner in the cinder block plots. I'm in charge of the flower gardens, which are still under construction. We used the old fence posts to hang our burglar bars. We'll be making raised beds like the one in the photo for each burglar bar. Flowers in front, sunflowers, okra, and maybe some pole beans in back. In the winter, we'll switch out the tall stuff for blackberry vines and maybe some antique roses.

We've put all the little succulents and cacti that we've been carrying around in pots for the last five years into this make-shift rock garden. Everybody seems to appreciate the chance to spread their roots.

And our neighbor gave us this little guy, who seems to be enjoying his sunny home with fellow succulents and cacti.

Chad slaves away...

2008-04-16T18:20:00.001-07:00

on curtains. He's been working his fingers to the bone, and now the guest room has some lovely green curtains.

The front porch

2008-04-16T17:55:00.000-07:00

At long last - a new front porch.

The old one was sinking into the ground because it was only held up by toothpicks. Or rather, 2x4s. 2x4s are similarly unsuitable for holding up porches.

Old toothpicky-sinking porch.

New porch.

And the windows...

2008-03-30T20:17:00.001-07:00

We finally replace all the windows. No more water leaking in the house! I assume that also means no more heat/cold leaking in our out, too. At least not as much heat/cold leaking in and out. . . Some other exciting features of the new windows - working locks (good-bye burglar bars!) and screens. (Oh - and Chad made the curtains with our new sewing machine.)

In progress:

Finished:

Friends of Rooster Haus 2

2008-03-30T20:02:00.000-07:00

Two developments on the animal friend front:

First - Chad finally got a good picture of the rooster, who has been strangely absent from our lives the past week. I wonder if he became an Easter coq-a-vin? We always threatened him with that, especially when he peered in our kitchen window to cluck at us while we cooked, but we never would have acted on it. So if you see this rooster, please tell him we didn't mean it. He can come back to roost in the tree by the kitchen. We promise not to eat him.

Second - Chad and I briefly fostered a little dachsund whom some friends found roaming the streets. During his brief stay at Rooster Haus, we called him Jerome. He was a perfect gentleman throughout his stay, excepting some amorous overtures toward our friend Chrissy. But allergies finally got the best of us, and Jerome has found a new home where he can be a bed dog, which was pretty much his ambition in life.

Something there is that doesn't love a fence.

2008-03-30T19:46:00.000-07:00

And that something, or rather someone, is Chad. . . and me. We disassembled the chain link in front of the house. We plan to create a front yard garden using the fence poles and burglar bars for plants that need a little support to grow. (More pictures when this plan becomes a reality.) We've got some tomato plants, rosemary, okra, and sunflower seeds. We also had some collards, but the aphids enjoyed them before we did.

Here's the before:

And the after:

Gallo-a-gallo

2007-12-09T06:43:00.000-08:00

And now we answer the question, what is noisier than ONE feral rooster in the neighborhood? TWO feral roosters.

Several weeks ago we woke up to different crowing. A full cock-a-doodle-doo, as opposed to the cock-a-doodle of THE rooster. Then there was a call and response - cock a doodle doo.... cock a doodle... cock a doodle doo.... cock a doodle - that ultimately converged on our back yard.

Introducing Blondie:

And you already know Red:

Red is about twice as big as Blondie, but it is possible that Blondie has about twice as much spunk. So, although Red won the first battle-for-our-backyard (which ended with Red on top of the storage shed crowing until he had no voice left), Blondie has won just about every other re-match.

Operation Backsplash: Mission Accomplished

2007-11-04T15:31:00.000-08:00

The tile is finished... which means the kitchen is just about there, too. Finally.

Tile Part Two

2007-10-26T19:51:00.001-07:00

The tile is up. Tomorrow grout.

Operation backsplash

2007-10-25T18:54:00.000-07:00

We're finally getting tile in the kitchen!

Here's step one:

Tomorrow, the tile (a simple, glossy white subway number available at your local Home Despot for cheap, cheap, cheap) goes on. Saturday, we get grout.

Oh - and did you notice the new window! It's beautiful... new windows go on the list of things that really make a crap house look a ton better.

Green with envy.

2007-10-25T18:47:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I painted the guest bathroom. I bet you can't wait to visit just so you can be in the presence of such a beautiful guacamole-green room.

But really, you should wait to visit until I've cleaned. The cabinet is still full of Campos toothpaste. Thankfully, it lacks cryptic bon mots regarding babies and boxes!

The kitchen comes along.

2007-10-25T18:34:00.000-07:00

We've also made some more kitchen improvements.

As enjoyable as giving my fingertips/fingernails a work out every time I opened up a kitchen drawer was, it was bound to come to an end. And it did. Several weeks ago. We now have handles. A very exciting development.

We also have a microwave! It's beautiful and has all kinds of features... like a re-circulating fan. That means we can stink up the place and cook some meat on the stove.

Here are the open-shelves we bought. We spent a lot of hours drooling over Metro shelving at the restaraunt supply store before coming to the realization that it was just too much for our little kitchen. But just when it seemed all hope was lost, we gave Elfa a second look. We are pretty pleased with how they turned out:

And Chad made this lamp. Dig the swag!

Vines!

2007-10-25T18:23:00.000-07:00

A couple of weekends ago, we decided to devote some energy to the exterior of Rooster Haus. So, we went to the Natural Gardner and picked us up some native/naturalized vines to hide the unsightly chain-linked fence. They like their new homes and have started flowering. Here they are!

Cross vine:

Passion vine:

Radio silence

2007-10-05T15:52:00.000-07:00

We've been working hard on the house, but on the kinds of details that just don't make for good pictures. We've been touching up paint, for instance, and unpacking. Lots and lots of unpacking.

But there have been some visible changes this week. We finished up our chalkboard hvac closet door.

And we finally unpacked the books and bookcases in the office.

We will hopefully be getting the above-stove microwave in soon... and we've been getting bids for the tile backsplash in the kitchen... So things are coming along, but at a decidedly slower pace.

No cajas por los bebe. . .

2007-09-11T19:07:00.000-07:00

These enigmatic words were scrawled in child's handwriting in the master bathroom vanity. Creepy.

And in the category of disgusting: the vanity also housed a half-used tube of jock itch cream stuck to the top of one of the drawers.

And the oven - oh the oven. It's relatively new, and I just don't understand how it got so dirty in what must have been a relatively short amount of time. Not to mention the fact that there was grease everywhere - including parts of the oven that shouldn't have grease on them - like the oven's ceiling. Thank goodness the former occupants apparently never used the broiler.

Pictures, as promised.

2007-09-11T18:35:00.000-07:00

The living room. Still unpacking!

Chad cooks our first meal at the house, delicious Cuban black beans. Mmmmm... Cuban black beans...

The east wall of the kitchen. We just recently got the cabinet drawers and doors. Our first pick clashed with the floor. And, because Ikea likes to watch us squirm, these were, of course, special order. We're still waiting on spacer pieces for the wall cabinets. Once those arrive (also special order), we'll be able to install the over-the-range microwave.

Here is the industrial sink and faucet. Like the gutters, they have also been declared ginormous by rooster haus visitors. In reality, the sink is fairly small compared to most. I think the single basin gives it the illusion of large-ness. The faucet really is a monster.

Rooster says: "4:31 in the morning, and all is well. . ."

2007-09-10T07:23:00.001-07:00

"4:51 in the morning, and all is well..."
"5:32 in the morning, and all is well..."
"5:45 in the morning, and all is well... and why isn't anyone waking up?"

Chad and I spent our first night in the house this Saturday. The rooster was up to his tricks Sunday night, too, but it didn't disturb us as much as the screaming noise the master bedroom toilet makes when being flushed. We're hoping that we'll get used to the crowing. Because it does happen all night. And we'll have the home warranty folks out to check on the toilet and the sudden (Monday morning) lack of hot water.

We've been working hard moving in and will upload pictures soon.

The termites are on to us.

2007-09-06T06:25:00.001-07:00

While caulking last night, we encountered three swarmers. When termites are on the run, they sprout wings and fly. These three guys were pretty sick - they'd take off and fall out of the air, slide down the wall, fly into your face and fall out of the air, etc. - but trying mightily to find some new wood to eat. Industrious. We hope their trouble flying means the termite treatment is working. But who knows, maybe these little guys are just perfecting their act for Vaudville.

No pictures today - puttying nail holes and caulking are difficult to capture on film and not all that interesting to look at when you do!

Closing in on completion.

2007-09-04T18:51:00.000-07:00

We're close, but still not ready to move in. While we were in Kansas City visiting family and friends this weekend, Drew installed our appliances, sink, countertops, and trim. We also got a new door. This one does not feature holes, like the one that came with the house. (We're slowly closing in on holes... first the ones in the floor... then the doors... next the gaps between window panes and window frames...) When we got back, Chad worked on the hot water heater shed, and I put a second coat of polyurathane on the trim and doors. Drew is going to finish lining up the trim, and then we caulk. After caulking, we can move in!

Some things really make a house look like a house again... like walls... and appliances... and trim. Our house has all of these, so it's really looking like a house. Finally.

Here's the kitchen:

And the trim in the office:

And the trim in the guest bedroom:

Cabinets are hard.

2007-08-25T19:58:00.000-07:00

And they're even more difficult when your walls aren't straight, and the ceiling has a bit of a slope to it. So, it's a good thing that Drew was around to help us hang them. Chad assembled the cabinets, and Drew devised ways of attaching them to our kitchen. I ran important food and hardware store errands.... oh, and installed some registers.

The east wall:

The west wall:

The register:

Mind out of the gutter...

2007-08-22T07:58:00.001-07:00

The gutter folk came yesterday and installed our gutters. Chad deems them ginormous.

And this is our rain barrell:

And the floor saga continues

2007-08-20T14:44:00.000-07:00

We decided that we could stand the hobo life for another week if it meant we could make one more run at the floors. They were too close to fabulous not to try to get rid of the underlying orange peel effect of the bubbles. So, this Saturday, Chad and I met Drew at the house to sand the floors again. Drew applied another coat of poly - this time a satin finish, rather than a semi-gloss, in the hopes that a flatter finish would be more forgiving. The result is that you have to really work to see the bubbles, and, therefore, things look sooooo much better. Six to ten small flies sacrificed their lives to the floor. They either landed on it and got stuck while it was drying or died from the fumes. Whatever the case may be, several small flies are embedded in the floor. We salute you flies (and we think we can sand you out)!

Chad and I also painted the fascia (no idea if that's spelled correctly) - in preparation for the installation of our gutters this Tuesday. As attractive as khaki and olive are, someday Rooster Haus aspires to be either "Island Shores" blue with a "Crisp Linen" trim or a "Green Tea" with "Crisp Linen" trim... either way, white gutters are going up, so now's our only chance to paint the wood behind them.

Watch for posts this week. If all goes as planned, we should have baseboards, cabinets and appliances by this weekend. Exciting!

More floors

2007-08-15T18:45:00.000-07:00

The third coat of poly was not so successful (damn you, infernal poly bubbles!). So, it had to be re-sanded and re-coated. The most recent coat is smooth, but still has issues from the earlier coats. BUT, from a distance, the floors are shaping up. We just have some decisions to make about how perfect we want the floors to be... and how long we can live like hobos to get them there.

The kitchen:

The living room:

The office:

The guest bedroom:

BUBBLES!

Plan B

2007-08-15T18:38:00.000-07:00

What's more fun than moving in an ice storm (my last move)? How 'bout moving in 104 degrees with 110 degree heat index?

We moved out of the Woods at Manchaca this Sunday. All of our earthly possessions are stuffed into the master bedroom, and we're house-sitting for a work friend until Thursday. After that, we're staying with Sarah and Sadie. Thank you, Cynthia and Sarah!

Here's the bedroom:

House-sittin'!

Let there be floor

2007-08-08T19:21:00.000-07:00

Chad and Drew have been leveling, laying tarpaper, and screwing down plywood. The result - we have floors!

Here's the kitchen:

And the guest bedroom:

And finally, the office:

We're really excited about how they've turned out. The higher quality plywood looks terrific. Drew suggested we use fancy screws to add some visual interest - so ours have a square shape to them. And Chad and Drew have carefully organized a pattern for the screws, so even the fasteners are pulling their aesthetic weight.

Also note the PAINTED ROOMS(!). We are finally feeling like the house is really coming together. Tomorrow, we finish screwing down the plywood... we may get to sanding and the first coat of poly. Then we pray for a weekend of dry air.

Painted and Floored

2007-08-06T19:31:00.000-07:00

We've been so busy working that we don't have pictures to share tonight. BUT, here's a list of tasks accomplished this past week.

1. The house is painted! In the end, we went for the linen white. It was the least white of the three, but when it's on ALL of your walls, it's pretty white. So we're pleased that we went with it, rather than the whiter Dover White. We also bought some paint for the bathroom. I thought it was a nice, light, yellowy-green. No dice. It's pretty much flourescent. We're going to test a patch of wall before going back to the Home Depot. (Chad thinks the color will grow on us. I'm not convinced. It reminds me of some socks I had in the '80s.)

2. We bought the cabinets. Ikea had just about everything. The only thing they didn't have was the countertop that will hold the sink. So hopefully that will be in sooner, rather than later. It would be nice to have a place for our kitchen sink and fancy faucet to rest.

3. We bought flooring material -- lots of leveling compound (like concrete, but runnier) and on-sale cabinet-grade plywood. The on-sale plywood was a huge boon. Because of the sale, we were able to get the cabinet-grade for the price of lesser plywood. Cabinet-grade lacks knots and spray-painted edges. It's fancy. And pretty.

4. We scraped and shop-vaced; taped up some of the gaping holes ("roach doors"); and poured leveling compound in the office and guest room. (We didn't catch all of them, though. So we have "leveled" some dirt under the house. The holes form little, mesmerizing whirlpools of concrete.)

5. Today, Chad and Drew (contractor) screwed down plywood in the office and guest room. It looks pretty kick ass. There will be pictures soon.

We're moving in - for better or for worse - this Sunday. We're hoping that the floors will be finished and cabinets assembled (if not installed) by then. Hoping is the operative word. We have scraping, shop-vacing, leveling, and plywooding to do in the kitchen/living room. AND, we have to wait for three coats of polyurathane to dry.

Don't worry. We have a back up plan. We've gotten good at back up plans.

The Elusive Rooster

2007-07-31T20:29:00.000-07:00

Perhaps you have been questioning the existence of the rooster. He's quite the mover and shaker, so it's difficult to get a picture of him. Here he is: blurry, but proud.

Our across-the-street neighbor, Daniel, informed us that the rooster is actually ferral. He belongs to no one. He enjoys our street because Daniel puts out bird feed in the evening for the pigeons. The pigeons scatter when he swoops in, so he always enjoys a hardy meal.

Tape that!

2007-07-31T20:23:00.000-07:00

Our contractor finished texturing the walls, so painting walls and ceilings is next. Chad's an expert taper, as well as pole sander.

Pole Sanding

2007-07-30T19:53:00.000-07:00

Chad said that "Sand the Wall. Make it Smooth. Eat its Flesh." was too obscure of a reference to Lord of the Flies (and too creepy to boot) to title this entry. But that's what we've been doing for the last three days. Not eating flesh. Floating and sanding dry wall (with the assistance of our trusty, stilts-wearing contractor and Mike, Greg and Dad). Through this process, we have discovered that Chad is a downright talented pole sander. There's not a bump on the ceiling that's safe while he's around.

Here's the west wall of the kitchen... all mudded, sanded and sealed up. Maybe you can also see our new can lights. Normally I'm not a huge fan of the recessed lighting, but it makes a huge difference in opening up (and brightening up) this low-ceilinged room.

And here's the east wall of the kitchen. See the holes? Those will be behind cabinets, so we don't care!

And here's one of the former closets. Again, all mudded, sanded and sealed up.

And finally, here's the new porch that brothers Mike and Greg and my Dad constructed on their busy weekend of construction fun. It's a much more manageable size than before, doesn't have termites (yes, they were eating the porch, too!), won't encourage future termites (no wood-to-ground contact), and was lovingly constructed with spaces for potted plants to reside. Chad and I feel so fortunate that they decided to spend some of their vacation helping us work on this project. We got so much more accomplished this weekend than we ever could have without them.

Tomorrow the texturing begins.

Lots of work. . .

2007-07-27T20:02:00.000-07:00

Dad, Greg & Mike (brothers) are in town and helping out. Among many other things, today we floated and mudded dry wall (no gaping holes!), installed can ligths, and started a new deck.

No more rotten floor. No floor, really.

2007-07-18T19:19:00.000-07:00

Tomorrow the foundation will be leveled, and the rotten floor has been removed in anticipation. We've hired a contractor helper. It's so luxurious to have work done for you. He'll be back tomorrow to replace the floor and shore up some rotted joists.

Piers!

2007-07-14T20:56:00.000-07:00

It's taken over a month, but we finally have new piers - 25 new piers. The footings went in on Wednesday, and the piers went in today (Saturday). Once they've set, the leveling begins, and we can start reconstruction....

Which is a good thing, because we've basically finished deconstruction, and we're getting anxious about all the work that's ahead of us.

*PS - We finished de-popcorning operations today. The remaining ceilings (kitchen, bath, and hall) were some of the most difficult we faced. It's the first time I was ever thankful for all the warrior & side angle poses in Ashtanga. Without them, I'm pretty sure my arm would have fallen off.

**PPS - We're re-thinking Dover White. Crisp Linen anyone?

Death by Popcorn

2007-07-08T19:26:00.000-07:00

Contrary to popular belief, scraping popcorn off your ceiling is not fun. But I am freakishly good at it.

The kitchen, hallway and guest bath are all that's left.

Paint

2007-07-05T19:57:00.000-07:00

We also spent some time this weekend shopping for paint.

The three contenders: Cotton Fluff (bottom), Dover White (right top), and Crisp Linen (left top).

And the winner is . . . Dover White! Cotton Fluff was definitely too stark. And the difference between Crisp Linen and Dover White was minimal. But in the end, Dover White seemed to be the most white without being too white.

You see, this is what remodeling is all about - spending hours finding the right white.

Who knows? We may still change our minds!

Independence from walls and ceilings

2007-07-05T19:43:00.000-07:00

We find these truths to be self-evident:
The rain keeps pouring. And while the rain pours, the concrete can't.

* The good news is that the forecast for the next five days calls for sun. AND - five days is technically enough time to pour the new footings and piers. *

While it rained, rained, rained (except on the weekend when the foundation folks don't work), Chad and I declared our independence from the following:

The kitchen wall. We finally made a decision to take the whole wall. Chrissy helped take it out. She has some mad hammer-swingin' skills. We're going to install base cabinets to divide the kitchen from the living room. Oh - and we made some final decisions about the cabinets and countertops - Ikea birch cabs with a dark grey Numerar counter.

The strange box-like top to the office closet. The only way to get rid of the remnants of the closet was to take the ceiling in the corner. Kurt helped with that. Boys are strong. Chad and Kurt had lots of ceiling in their hair by the end.

And the guest room closet (also thanks in part to Kurt). The reciprocating saw got her way...

Popcorn Ceiling, we will be declaring our independence from you this weekend.

The Underlayment Has Left the Haus.

2007-06-28T20:19:00.000-07:00

Well. Almost. The last two nights, we've been working on pulling the last of the underlayment from the house. This underlayment was real plywood, nothing like the c-grade chipboard that was in the rest of the house. And it had been glued down. And somebody went to town on it with a nail gun. If somebody has a dungeon, these boards could come in real handy. With the help of our wonderbars and our little green circular saw (like our little reciprocating saw, also hungry to eat boards, but generally less eager to take on nails), we (and by we, I mean Chad) have removed most of the underlayment in the kitchen. (Some of it is under the drywall, and we decided to sleep on how we are planning on attacking that.)

We learned some valuable lessons, like, human hair is not flame retardant. When circular saw blades hit nail-laden ply, sparks fly. And when sparks fly, they catch sawdust on fire. And when flaming saw dust is in the air. . . well, watch out hair.

We'd been dreading pulling this plywood out. We knew there was lots of water damage in the kitchen, so we were always a little worried that we would pull up floor and see earth. The holes to the earth aren't enormous, but they're there. A lot of the boards are pretty thoroughly rotted... and, well, let's just say that the kitchen termites were not to be outdone by the termites in the other rooms.

Neighborhood Character

2007-06-24T17:41:00.000-07:00

New commuter rail station construction.

The neighborhood hair salon?

Foundation!

2007-06-24T17:29:00.000-07:00

Rooster Haus isn't level and had cedar piers. And, since leveling the foundation can cause cracks in sheetrock, buckling floors, and pipe breaks, it seemed like a good idea to have it fixed before we actually spent a lot of money on new sheetrock, new floors and a visit from the plumber. Waiting for the foundation has been incredibly frustrating. Usually you can count on June to be pretty dry. Not this year. The rain pours down at just about every inopportune foundation-fixing time possible. Need to dig the cedar piers out? RAIN! Need to pour concrete footings? RAIN! Here's what they've pulled out so far. Chad regularly bails out the clay holes. (Some of them are clay, others dirt.)

And here's one of the holes. One day, there will be a sweet, sweet concrete pier there. For now there's only a mysterious leak. We turned off the water at the main, but still the water comes. A contractor friend says that old mains sometimes don't completely shut off. We may have one of those on our hands.

And this is why it's a good idea to get rid of the cedar piers. The termites had a hard time eating the half-century-old cedar pier, but as discussed before: we have particularly hungry and industrious termites at Rooster Haus.

Rest In Peace Office Closet.

2007-06-24T17:16:00.000-07:00

Earlier this week, Chad and I busted through the sheetrock in the office closet. It's suprisingly tough to remove. I really wanted to take it out with my steel-toed boot, but a utility knife and a hammer are much bigger helps.

Now - doesn't the room look so much bigger? We can peak into the inner workings of the bathroom from the former side of the closet. (We took out the sheetrock on the side because the closet had a sort of false wall there. And, we're learning it's a good idea to take the nasty, roach-pod filled insulation out whenever you can get to it. Honestly. I'm amazed we've only seen three since we got the place.) So, back to the bathroom. There's a gi-normous hole for the plumbing to come up through. Not a rotted out floor hole. An evenly-cut square hole to the ground - apparently an open invitation to large mammals to live under the tub. We may be going in to work on patching that up.

More carnage. These are the remains of the closet.

Kitchen Update!

2007-06-24T16:57:00.000-07:00

This weekend we finally took the plunge and took out a major section of kitchen wall. What you see are the cedar boards that make up the side of the house. Only those boards and some pretty ugly hardiplank separate us from the poison ivy on the fence... and the rooster.

We also removed the dry wall from the south kitchen wall. We're beginning to like the idea of taking the entire wall. But maybe we just like removing walls. It feels like progress.

And yes... the garbage is accumulating. Those bags are full of gypsum, dead roaches (THREE - thanks to Chad's big boot), hundreds of roach egg pods, and insulation.

Friends of Rooster Haus.

2007-06-24T08:22:00.000-07:00

We haven't figured out what these little guys are, but they're all over. And they're fast. And they're sort of sweet.

Stuff Dudes Probably Want to See.

2007-06-24T08:16:00.000-07:00

The carport. The shed.

Master Bedroom.

2007-06-24T08:10:00.000-07:00

Also no plans for the master bedroom or bath. It's good enough for now.

Guest Bathroom.

2007-06-24T08:07:00.000-07:00

We have no plans for the guest bathroom. Now. We're a little afraid that, if we started, it would be terrifying. So for now, we're calling it serviceable and leaving it be.

Utility Hall and Back Door.

2007-06-24T08:04:00.000-07:00

Right now we only have washer connections. We’ve taken out these cabinets. We bought a stackable washer and dryer. We need to make a vent for the dryer and run a 220 line to this hallway. We have room on our circuit breaker for the new line.

The Guest Room.

2007-06-24T07:52:00.000-07:00

The salad days... You see, Rooster Haus once had carpet and base boards. And all the roach droppings and spider eggs and dead crickets and termites were safely sealed up in its walls and floors. This is the northeast corner of the room. It also gets good light, and it's just big enough for a bed and chair.

This room has a closet-tumor, too. We were going to leave it. Afterall, we'll need some storage. But we had such a fun time removing the office closet, and it made the room feel so much bigger, that we may very well take this one, too. The reciprocating saw is hungry. She wants to destroy more closets. (Don't worry, we have storage plans... they just won't take up a quarter of this already-small room.)

The Office.

2007-06-24T07:39:00.000-07:00

This is the southeast corner of Chad's office. This room gets a ton of light and has a view south that goes forever. It should be a nice spot with some new paint, a new floor, and the removal of the cancerous tumor of a closet...

Here's the closet. It took up a quarter of the room. That's right it TOOK up a quarter of the room. Past tense. Here's where I'll give a shout out to our little Hitachi reciprocating saw. It made fast work the closet.

The office floor. Here's where the active termites in the Rooster Haus dine. When we pulled the underlayment here, they scattered. But after five or ten minutes, they poked their little white heads out and started working on a termite tunnel. Once the foundation is done, the termite treatment begins...

The Living Room Termites are HUNGRY!

2007-06-24T07:32:00.000-07:00

The floor in front of the push-out window is barely holding on: there’s lots of termite damage. You can see through boards. We are going to have to take these boards out and patch it with some plywood. There may be joist damage under them, too. The dry wall under the window is falling apart from water damage. It’s rained quite a bit since we bought the place. So far we haven’t noticed rain getting in… but did I mention Chad is still itching to remove the push-out window. Also, the other day, we felt like the ceiling of the window felt a little squishy. We're not sure if this is a new development, or a rain-induced development. If this wasn't a $4 to $5 K fix, I'd be excited about the squishiness... as it is... I'm hoping it's just the result of past leakage.

The Living Room

2007-06-24T07:16:00.000-07:00

Here's the front door and the south wall of the living room. We'd like a new front door - especially since there's a hole in the glass (currently covered by a thick piece of tape...).

This is the west wall of the living room. The boards under the push-out are rotten and darn-near completely eaten by termites. They may need to be replaced. The joists under them may need to be replaced. We're worried it might take in water during heavy rains. It's going to have to go sometime soon. Plus it's ugly. That's another, less pressing, reason for it to go.

This is the door that we are widening. This is the north wall of the living room and the door into the kitchen. It will be sixty or so inches wide when we’re finished with it. We will need to finish the doorway. We’re still deciding if we’ll use trim to do that or just dry wall corners. In fact, we're still deciding whether we're going to stop at widening the doorway. We may just take the entire wall as noted in the kitchen entry.

Here's the east wall of the living room. That door goes into the office, where the hall to the bathroom and the guestroom is.

More Kitchen

2007-06-24T06:45:00.000-07:00

This is the southwest corner of the kitchen. We’ll be replacing the subfloor in this corner. We’re putting apple-green vinyl tile - the kind you find in school cafeterias - everywhere in the kitchen. (But every now and then, we play around with the idea of laminate in this room to match the rest of the house. We've heard both that laminate and water don't mix and that it's OK, so long as you don't let water sit on it for long periods of time.) The sink and dishwasher will go on this wall with some new Ikea base cabinets - either white or beech veneer. We’ll be putting up metal restaurant-style shelves on this wall. We’re thinking of putting white subway tile as a backsplash. We’re looking into the cost for a custom lab-top countertop. If that falls through, we’re going for Ikea butcher block counter tops or a grey Numerar number, also from Ikea.

The north wall. The utility hall, back door and master bed are through this door. We may install wall cabs or shelves here.

The northwest corner. We’re putting a new window (similar in size) here.

Facing south. We’re widening the door between the kitchen and living room. We're even playing around with the idea of taking that wall out altogether and using cabinets to divide the living room and dining room space... still thinking that one through...

The east wall of the kitchen. We’ll be taking out the current hood (which vents to the attic) and putting a new, recirculating one in. We’ve picked out 12” and 18” base cabinets for either side of the stove, which can scoot over, well, just about 12"! The fridge will go next to a base cab. We’ll have wall cabs along this wall, too. The closet next to the stove holds the HVAC. We thought we’d paint it with chalkboard paint. We thought this wall needed new drywall, but our contractor assures us that it's nothing a little tape and drywall mud can't fix. We’ll also need to patch the hole in the ceiling after we pull the hood out.

The Kitchen

2007-06-24T06:14:00.000-07:00

Picture 1: Chad busts up some cabs.

Picture 2: YUCK - This wall was the victim of a slow drip. A new valve should put an end to the water here, but only after it took the floor, floor joists, and some of the side of the house. The foam covers a hole to the ground. The plywood subfloor there is going to need to be replaced. The drywall needs some replacing, and we’ve been looking into new windows for the kitchen.

Picture 3: A "before" cabinet picture. They're all in the carport now. This is the east wall of the kitchen before cabinet removal. That soffet is full of crickets! Mmmmm… crickets….

The Rooster Haus

2007-06-23T16:35:00.000-07:00

Here's the new place - in all its burglar bar glory.

The across-the-street-neighbor's rooster enjoys roosting in the tree next to the house. When he's a-roostin', there's nothing he likes more than to be a-crowin'. And when he's a-crowin' in the tree next to the house, it sounds like he's in the kitchen. The first neighbors we met were the next-door neighbor kids. They asked, "You movin' in next door?" Yes... "Hope you like roosters." Insert maniacal laughter here.

In fact, Chad had a run-in with a rooster in his youth. Tried to peck an eye out... and may have suceeded if his granddad hadn't stepped in. So, no. Not big fans of roosters. But this guy has been keeping us company through the ups and downs of our demo, and we've started to have some affection for him.