our (1921) foursquare

Hey wow..

2009-10-23T03:22:13Z

Hey, wow I finally got the roof buttoned up on the 'new' shed. That only took like 1.. 2.. 3.. 4.. yea 4.5 months! That's way above average on projects around here.

I put the last of the ridge cap shingles on this afternoon when I got home a bit early.

OK now for the inside....

baby its cold in here!

2008-10-21T02:25:53Z

Well the mercury was at 55 F this am when Matthew and I awoke (0630) to get the fire going.

This radiator-less house is fairly good at not retaining heat during the night. All I can say about Melissa and the boys is that they are being troupers through all of this.

Yea I missed a post or two... (perhaps more) back in September, somewhere around the 18th I think, we moved all the radiators out of the house (via moving co.) and down to a place that would sandblast then powder-coat them.

So.. long story short there has been no heat in this house since then.

movement on a project?

2008-08-03T02:59:25Z

Wow! There was progress on a couple things around here today.

I need a big concrete lorry!

Dad was in charge of finishing up the tub surround. Which required the re-cutting of a few complicated angles. He reported finishing this up, (I haven't checked it yet).

While he was doing that I started mixing and pouring some concrete for the floor of the future shed. I was able to get two feet of the slab done. This is the first ever concrete I have dealt with. Quite a fun experience... but a mixer would be better!

I owe much of the actual progress of the two foot section to Mom. She was the official time keeper and the one who kept prodding the mixer (Dad) along.

what I need

2008-04-25T03:04:21Z

Needed low maintenance, weed free front yard.

I spent some time this afternoon doing the first over in the front yard. Man I don't really like yard work. I need to find a setup that can remain weed free with the least bit of effort on my end. The bare dirt waiting for weeds isnt working any more.

The back gets trampled, driven on, and dug-up by the little ones so I'm not really worried about how it looks, its just a giant play area for the boys. The front however, is what people walk by and actually see. Who knows someday I might get to planting some grass up front.

non house related

2008-04-19T03:16:24Z

Ok so this post is not house related. Its mainly just a test post from facebook using the Blog It tool from sixApart.

I think I'll link my twitter account here as well to see

what that does.

This is a sweet tool ... web2.0 action for ya.

three projects

2008-02-12T03:01:48Z

Writing stuff down is one of the ways to visualize your thoughts. So here are three things I'm writing down that _need_ to get done this summer along with some yard changes.

Basement windows. I think I'll contract these if I can I want 95% of them glassblocked

Front porch and play room new gutters

Three new 2nd floor storm windows.

There goes, visualize the thoughts..

total of r49

2008-01-20T22:18:30Z

It has been about forever since I have posted to this house site. However, today with the help of my brother-in-law Jason I was able to get the insulation project in the attic done.

After living with no insulation in the attic for about 2 years it feels a bit warmer (even if its only a false feeling) in the house this evening. I started installing the insulation with the help of another brother-in-law before the holidays. Things got stopped quickly once the holidays started and people started showing up. Jason and I spent about 3 hours yesterday and about another 3 to 4 hours today finishing up this project.

Tech Specs:
I decided to install fiberglass batts for ease of install and not trusting or understanding the products available to me for blown in. I started with a r19 kraft faced batt running with the cieling joists. Once this was installed over the whole cieling I installed r30 batts running perpendicular to the rafters. This provided a blanket coverage overthe entire cieling area and resulted in roughly an r49 insulation factor. A bit better than the 0 I had before.

I still need to create an insulated door for the opening. And some day I'll get to the knee-wall area that needs attention as well.

there here...

2007-07-12T02:42:48Z

The TROMM team arrived today and are in their location for the time being. The laundry "room" is a ways off project but none the less we have the washer and dryer. Now I just have to level the washer and get some drying lines set up outside.

Lack of posts != lack of stuff going on around here. Its not that there is nothing going on around here project wise its just that time is a void around this house. Projects get started, projects drag on, vacations happen, more projects get started.. etc etc.

Will update on some projects soon.

Old houses and multiple projects

2007-06-04T01:15:10Z

Well we have returned from a week or so vacation to Virginia where we stayed with my Aunt in her very nice old house in Norfolk. This was fun for me for a few reasons. First it was a total family affair, Aunts, Uncles, cusons, brothers, sisters, etc etc.. that was all fun in itself. The other reason was the house was very fun and old and interesting, (rember I like old houses or I wouldn't be living in this old dump fixing it up :)

It was interesting to me that dispite the more afluent area and the house itself being on a far grander scale. There were still most of the old house characteristics, slightly uneven floors, dipping floor areas where radiators are placed, single pane windows with standard storm windows as well, a retrofit of AC into an old structure. It was fun to be there for some time and check out the house, but of course the purpose of the visti was family :-)

Ok now the list of projects that are ongoing:
. bathroom (very slowly) *
. front yard stone wall **
. structured wire (yes its started)
. dry lock basement ***

* havent really touched this project in a while. will start working on Sat afternoons when
its too hot to be out side.
** yes the stump is out (Nick). the front yard looks like a big dirt pile and a big hole
*** my dad helped me kick off this project when he came up for a few days after
the family get together in Norfolk

Suspiscions Confirmed

2007-04-01T02:52:42Z

Well first of all the blog is not dead... (seems like it some times) :-)

I have learned that there is more to life than house and house projects. We have 2 boys that are growing up fast and need interaction that I don't want to miss out on. We also took a family vacation to Germany the first two weeks in March.

Since back from the vacation we have decided to curb the bathroom project a bit. And tend to some house stuff that needs organizing and being a family in the mean time. That said...

]]> We have been working on the outside for the past two weekends, since the weather has been so nice. This weekend I chose to try and rid our front yard of the roughly 15 year old rotting stump left by the PO. Some may remember the ant problem . The majority of the reading I did on this subject indicated that outside there would be a very large colony some where. Perhaps rotting tree / stump / etc etc. Since the weather is still cold at night the ants are still in a dormant state. This means it is a good time to remove the stump, most likely an ant hotel / city.

I began to dig and excavate the stump

main bath - last wall

2007-02-12T02:43:31Z

The bathroom is slowly getting done, one piece of sheet rock at a time. During the destruction phase of this project and a bit into the reconstruction I was able to take the entire ~ 7 or 8 hour day on Sat and work... This is not the case anymore which is ok with me.. I have a family and attention needs to be paid to the little ones.

I have an active helper now on Sat (sometimes two) work is slower than before but this is also partly to blame on me. Some times I don't feal motivated to do this bathroom project (I just want to play with computers or go outside - althought its frigin cold right now). After a weekend of 'work' on the bathroom the tool situation as well as the basement and bathroom are a wreck. I am starting to do a bit more work during the weeknights but this is slow as well, Monday is spent cleaning up the aftermath of the weekend and some little bits and pieces are able to be done on Tue / Wed / Thur depending on how tired I am. This week I will get the angle bench finished up and ready to go along with the TP holder backing block.

I still have my goal of having the sheet rock up and the shower area enclosed ready for Kirdi before we go to Germany. I think this is do-able. :-) It won't be taped and mudded but that is ok with me ... for now.

weekend wall

2007-02-01T01:07:51Z

This past weekend was actually very successfull in the bathroom area. I was able to get the entire wall of sheetrock up on the wall that separates the bathroom from our MBR. This will enable me to work at night (like that will actually happen) on the bathroom. :-)

Dispite it taking me 2 days to get the sheetrock in place its there now. This wall did have alot of holes to account for in my cuts. I also had to get the shower cubby (niche) in place before I could get the wall closed up. The shower cubby (niche) is very nice if I dont say so myself. The wall will be insulated when ever I get into that space from the other side (roughly 1.5 years from now) but none the less its up and only one more outside wall to sheetrock.

Matthew stays very ocupied with the plugs from the tools I'm not using. He has an extention cord that is not plugged into anything that he uses the female end of then plugs and unpulgs the various tools. He seems to enjoy this and has his own things that he is doing. I usually have to ask to use the drill when needed. :-) But he will usually let me use it without too much fuss ..

.... Ahhhh remodeling with preschoolers

bathrom saga

2007-01-21T03:27:22Z

Well I think I'll change the bathroom project into a bathroom saga.. I hope to be done with this project in early early summer. I don't know how realistic that is but hey .. working with my sometimes two helpers on saturdays for a few hours doesn't exactly lend well to puttin in the hours on a project. I'll get it done sometime.

I was able to get my single piece of dry wall hung today.. yeppie :-) This wall is hard because now I have to deal with cutouts for the electric boxes and shower junk. I'm planning on getting the rest of that wall rocked next weekend. (we'll see how that goes)

2006 holiday

2007-01-03T12:08:37Z

Well the holidays have come and gone for 2006. The old house here survived another round of company and all the fun that can bring. I actually spent no time over the holiday break doing house projects. Which was very nice actually.

]]> It time to gear back up and get to work on that ever challenging bathroom project though. I have made quite a long list of all that needs to be done between now and when another little Foote arrives. This bathroom has to be finished by then - we need a lanundry. Major outline of work is listed below:

- drywall finish
- mud/tape
- floor tile
- shower floor/drain
- shower tile
- tub plumbing / wall
- finish work

Its a large project but will be worth it when finsihed (thats what I keep telling myself anyway :-)

One storm at a time

2006-11-29T03:35:37Z

Last Saturday I was able to get one of the new storm windows in place. This was the first storm window I have installed. It was fairly simple. We chose to replace all the storm windows with new storm windows rather than replacing the entire window for two main reasons: 1) I like the looks of original windows 2) cost.

]]> My plan is to do these windows as I can. After I get a new storm in place (time of year depending) I will dismantel the windows removing both sashes and referbish them to include: new glazing, sash chain and pullies (if needed), spring bronze, and paint. Hopefully my plan will work.

Currently we are in a mad rush to paint the bee-room and get that finished before our company arrives Dec 16/17
Should be a tight squeeze to get all done that needs done around here before that.