Our Old House

The air conditioner in our 2015 Suburban has only been working when it wants to work. No rhyme or reason to it's decision to blow cold air or hot air. Next week the local weather is predicting a heat wave--we could be in the low 90's all week! Which means the first stop on our travels today is Wind Gap Chevrolet .  We drop off the suburban and continue on to pick up load #2 of  the lumber list. It was an early start of the day and we are back home and unloaded by 9:30! In order to level the floors and remove a few sags, Chris is shooting a few elevations in the basement. My job is easy--just hold the story pole so he can read the numbers. The bad part is I actually need to go down into the dungeon, I mean basement. It really isn't that bad, but after living in Texas for 18 years and not needing to deal with a stone-wall foundation basement, I was not looking forward to being there. Lucky for me, it didn't take too long.  Chris gets busy calculating and marking the...

If you have ever lived through a renovation, you know the dust is NEVER ENDING. It doesn't matter how well you prepare, how many plastic barriers you install, the dust still gets through. The hired crew -  Full Circle Removal  -  did an awesome job--but the clean up was a  rough  clean up. So today Chris and I are concentrating on shopvacing the second floor. The old blown-in insulation is a mess. It just keeps multiplying. Chris is knocking down the insulation that is stuck to the ceiling joist and I am vacuuming up the floors and walls.  Slow and steady, 5 hours later, we have the demo section vacuumed and the debris removed.   Next Chris removed the non-bearing interior walls. Basically, that included the old closet walls from the front and middle bedroom and the wall between the middle and back bedroom. The space looks huge now that it is all open with the exception of the hallway wall. (The hallway wall is load bearing.) The wind...

We started the day on the front porch having our morning coffee; it's about 7:30 AM. Chris had already moved our truck and suburban from the front of the house to make room for the dumpster and crew to park. About 7:55 a little black car shows up with 1 guy. We are thinking . . . oh no! Then a pickup truck shows ups with 3 more guys, then another with 2  more guys. These people are serious! Eventually a truck shows up and rolls off a dumpster in front of the house. Chris reviews what is to be removed and what is to stay with the lead worker and they are ready to get started. And so it begins. Banging and crumbling . . . our dog Copper is shaking. (He has always been a little skittish.) 3 guys are demoing the plaster and lath and 3 guys are using the bucket brigade method to bring it down the steps, out the front door, and into the dumpster. Our plastic tunnel has been working well. No dust from the crew as yet!  On the other hand, Chris could not sit by idle so he ...

Back in the day, there would have been no prep day! Chris would have had his sledgehammer, prybars, crowbars, and POW, BAM, ZAP - #DemoDay would have been underway. This time--we are all about saving the trim, keep the dust to a minimum, saving and protecting the hardwood floors on the first floor, and working smarter not harder! So today we prepped for the CREW that will arrive tomorrow! What does PREP look like? Removing the bedroom doors and closet doors Removing all the trim and jams from the doors Removing all the baseboard and window trim Disconnecting all the radiators Removing the antique light fixtures Protecting the first floor hardwood floors in the foyer Creating a tunnel of plastic in foyer to minimize dust in downstairs We had our morning coffee on the front porch--this is now part of our morning routine when Chris is home--and then we started to work around 9:30 AM.  We first worked on the trim. Chris was pretty successful with removing most ...

Chris is out on a 4-day trip and I am sitting here thinking, I should update the blog. I can't believe it has been a full month since we have closed on the house. So much has happened this past month! Where to start? Well, we finally have our belongings. Chris had a few days off at the end of July so we seized the opportunity to make a quick round trip to Rehoboth Beach to gather our belongings from the storage units. Yes, I said units, plural. Before we moved from Texas, I sold so much stuff, gave away stuff, donated stuff, and we still needed 2 storage units. With hired help on both ends of the journey, the furniture, boxes, and tools have all found their way to our new home. Our youngest son was here for the move and was a great help. He has been our first and only overnight guest. The house is not ready for company at this point, but kids--even 23 year old kids--aren't put out about the details. If you know me, you know I love a good spreadsheet. I couldn't wait t...