Archive for the 'Renovations' Category

September

lisa September 23rd, 2002

We’ve just finished applying for a home equity line of credit so we can hire some people to get some work done. Cold weather is coming very, very soon and we have to get the walls insulated and re-plastered before it gets cold.

All our kitchen appliances have been acquired, and we got some really good bargains (yay, eBay!). We also scored a great deal on a huge old bow window (free) and a smaller, newer Andersen bay window (eBay) for the back of the house. Still have to acquire the sliding glass door, decide on what kind of flooring to put down in the kitchen (ceramic tile? slate? cork?), and get another sink and a dishwasher.

We have almost finished the work in the basement - took a year to jack the house up completely, but it’s done. Five of the eight lally columns (the permanent supports) are installed. A little more concrete work on the front foundation and we’ll be totally done with this phase of the house renovation!

July update

lisa July 24th, 2002

The house is coming along. We?re almost done with the leveling project. It?s been almost a year, but we?ve had to take it really slow in order to keep the house stable. The last part of this phase is pouring concrete footings and putting in lally columns in the basement. Mark found a good deal on a concrete mixer yesterday, thank god. Mixing concrete by hand is a terrible job.

We?re also about ready to get the rewiring project going. We?ve found an electrician to do the panel and most of the rough wiring, and once he?s done we can do the finish work. After the wiring?s done we can insulate and drywall on the first floor, something that has to be done before it starts getting cold. So we?ll have the first floor back together in just a few more months ? everything but the kitchen, anyway.

The kitchen will be a winter project. We?re going to build the cabinets ourselves, which means even after we?ve put the walls back in downstairs, we?ll still be confined to the second floor ? first floor will continue to be the workshop. It?s okay, I?m used to it now. I hate doing dishes in the bathtub, but other than that, our upstairs makeshift kitchen is fine. I love being able to design the kitchen from scratch and make it exactly how we want. I can be patient.

The garden is coming along, too. I?ve put in some mums last weekend, and the zinnias and beebalm are blooming nicely. Still haven?t got any ripe tomatoes, but I?ve been harvesting and drying oregano, thyme, and basil. Of course, I don?t know when I ?ll have a kitchen where I can use these lovely fresh herbs, but that?s beside the point.

June update

lisa June 5th, 2002

Saturday, we worked on the house - mixed a bunch of concrete and poured footings in the basement along one wall. The sills on the East side of the house are all rotten, so that’s what we’re preparing to replace. Meantime, the house is being held up by about twenty five screw jacks, some spit, and some hope. It has to be done, though. We’ve started this renovation at the skeleton. Once the bones are back in shape, we can worry about the rest of the house.

Mixing concrete by hand is a pretty tough job. I think we mixed up 10 bags of Quikcrete altogether.

February

lisa February 11th, 2002

In the last entry I mentioned insulating the attic. We finally got that done in January, with the help of Todd, who came out on a Sunday and helped Mark finish it up. I am eternally grateful for our friendship.

Mostly, since then, we?ve been working in the basement. We installed three more hydraulic jacks and we?re slowly getting the house level. It?s a slow, slow process. The other big thing last month was that we had a big tree come down in a bad windstorm, and I got a quote on getting more trees taken down ? but although it was a very reasonable quote, we ended up not getting the work done. Mostly because we?re broke.

attic, etc.

lisa November 25th, 2001

Mark is currently engaged in trying to insulate the attic. It’s a ton of work. First, we have to pull up the boards, then put down the insulation, then put the boards back down. And pulling up those boards is hard-ass fucking work. And the insulation is prickly and gives you a rash. And if you don’t wear breathing protection, you inhale all these horrible microscopic fibers and when you breathe, you feel like your lungs are on fire. Not pretty. I helped some today, but Mark did most of the work. Poor baby.

I dug a couple of holes today, one for the hawthorn that my step-mother-in-law gave us, and one for the mums my mom bought us. Then I cut down a few trees, and raked (of course) and that was about it for this weekend. Last weekend was a lot more work: I took down all the wallpaper in the hallway upstairs and in the upstairs sitting room, and stripped paint from the wood trim on the doorways and baseboards upstairs. It’s a pretty wood underneath the paint: fir or pine, probably.

We have a small, live xmas tree that I cut down from our back woods today. It’s some sort of spruce, about four feet tall. Unfortunately, we can’t have it in the house, becase Toby, the new cat, wants to climb it all the time. So we’ll put lights in it and keep it on the front porch and it will all be fine.

Finally moved

lisa October 2nd, 2001

We are finally moved. It took the entire month of September and I am completely worn out but the apartment in Medford is empty and clean. The new house (!) is a complete and utter mess. It’s still filthy. I get tired just looking at it all.

We turned on the heat for the first time last night, and this morning we awoke to leaking radiators and water in the basement. All the radiators were full of water. I don’t understand steam heating systems but ours is apparently quite broken.

Along with everything else in the house. I’m so sick of getting up in the morning only to spend all days scrubbing baseboards. Why’d we buy such a huge house, again? Ten huge rooms. All filthy.

October is such a beautiful month in New England. The trees are turning and the air smells delicious. This is my favorite time of year.

basement

lisa September 9th, 2001

We cleaned the basement on Thursday. That was a big job. Yesterday I spent 5 hours cleaning. That sucked. Today we’re playing in the basement again - installing screw jacks to level the house. Whee!

Working on the House

lisa September 3rd, 2001

We’ve been working on mostly the outside for the last three days. Both of us are pretty exhausted and sore. We managed to get all the Boston Ivy off the front, and most of the trumpet vine off the side. We’ve been cutting down a million maple seedlings, some very large ones. We’ve been working with Dot (Mark’s step-mother and an expert gardener), who’s managed to identify quite a lot of stuff on the property. We have white hydrangea in massive full bloom on both sides of the front. We have forsythia, dogwood, lilac, barberry, lily-of-the-valley, yucca, and a huge arbor vitae, plus some very large catalpas in back, a huge Norfolk Pine, and a big Sugar Maple in the front yard.

We’ve met the neighbors and been regaled with tales of the two old women (sisters) who used to live here. They both died in the last year. Apparently they never married because their mother never thought any boy was good enough for them. One was a painter, the other was the gardener. One was very nice, and the other not-so-nice. Everyone in town knows of the family and of the house. Everyone passing by wants to talk about it all: the sisters, the house, us buying it. It’s kind of a thrill.

The water gets turned on tomorrow, and this week we’re getting the sewer connection done. We’re also going to abate the asbestos in the basement and install the screw jacks to level the house. I scrubbed baseboards and walls today. It’s been a busy three days!

I’m enjoying giving tours to all the neighbors. The reaction to the house varies with the age of the reacting persons. The older folks are all reminiscent and aghast at how bad things are and how much work there is. I imagine their bones ache just from looking at it.

The younger folks are delighted by all the possibilities and all the original doorknobs, lighting fixtures, and woodwork.

Nobody wants to see the basement, but I think it’s cool. There are a couple of workbenches, a place to store home-cannings, and a central vacuum system from the forties. I also love the attic for its cedar closets and lead lined box for storing furs.

I love the house, and I’m so glad we got it.

I don’t love the poison ivy growing all over the back of the house! Mark is very susceptible. I’m not sure if I am - haven’t gotten it yet, either of us.

As far as moving, we’ve moved almost all the lighter stuff. We have to get some other helpers soon to move the heavy stuff. We have a washer, dryer, and refridgerator to move.

Oh, and I took pictures yesterday. They are hosted at photo.net.

« Prev