Slow Down

I know your not going to believe this but we slowed down a bit. The step into the front door was too high for comfort so, remember the deck that took us a bunch of help to move? Well, most of it was already disassembled and re-used elsewhere and we took what was usable and made a small porch for the front door. In her spare time, Barb did some weed whacking as I cleaned up. Terri & Mark arrived to celebrate Father’s Day and we went to what is becoming one our favs, He’s Not Here. We sat in the patio and kibitzed with some of the other patrons. It was a great way to spend an afternoon.

 

On Monday, we found a good used lawn mower in Niagara Falls and decided that we need to start laying the subfloor so picked up some plywood as well as the mower. After unloading, we completed the front door porch with new deck boards. Barb designed the steps for a later project.

 

On Tuesday we took the day off and Barb got started on the grass before it became a meadow while I washed the rig! Too soon, the mower started to spurt and sputter and soon would not start at all. So not such a good deal. Back in the truck to the Falls and returned the mower with a full refund. On to Canadian Tire to pick up a new one so we’re sure to get a few more mows out of it. Barb finished the lawn and I the rig. Wow, even after all the slugging, swinging and lifting, I am still sore from that job and by the time Barb finished the lawns, she was dragging too – a perfect time for an extended happy hour!

It must be slow in the medical industry lately as our doctors called for us to make appointments to see them. We suggested we get blood work done first and then maybe they’ll have something to talk to us about. They were a little reluctant but caved and today we went to the local vampire shop and had some taken. I have to say, it was really fast compared to what we have witnessed in the past in other cities. We also trundled into the Falls again to pick up our HVAC design and when we got back, we completed the installing the blocking in the floor joists and laid a few sheets of subfloor.

Thursday we slowed a bit and replaced the bedroom window – it was a frosted bathroom window and we had 1 window left from the 3 we took out of the sunroom so we changed them out. Of course, the frosted window was smaller and installed the same shoddy way so we built the rough stud opening (RSO) and put a 1x6 jamb around the window and re-installed it in the wall.

 

 

 

 

Friday was a beautiful day until the black cloud rolled in – sorry John, John & Diane were at a rally in Niagara Falls and came around for a visit. We taught them how to play fast track and for some reason, the ladies won most of the games – go figure. After, we took them over to – correct, He’s Not Here for lunch and enjoyed a great time on the patio!  Following lunch John & Di came back for a few more games and then left for an event at the rally. It was great to see them again.

Well, it’s been a wild ride so far. Sometimes it has been like peeling back an onion, once you have, what you find brings tears to your eyes! We are still waiting for our HVAC contractor to meet with us to inform us of some of the details of the installation like what floor we can put back down, what electrical hook ups he requires and of course, when can he start. So, in the meantime, we are continuing with odd jobs that have to be done sometime. Back to the onion – we have to raise the front door so we can raise the floor in the front room of the house - it is about 1 1/2 inches lower than the rest of the house and not big enough to up sell the plan as a sunken floor! So first thing is to remove the storm door. Well, there is so much ‘build out’ that it must have taken a full tube of caulking to close in the gaps. We find that ‘they’ had put a 34 inch door over a 32 inch opening! Anyone need a door? Once that was removed, we can get at the real door. There was lots of pieces of wood for fill and of course, caulking but something we uncovered made us step back a minute and wonder why this house is still standing. The wall on the hinge side was not fastened down through the sole plate. As we worked on the door, the wall moved at the bottom and kinda shocked us. You can bet it is right now. Once that was done, Barb did more weed whacking while I piddled around in the garage trying to get a power sprayer to work.

It has been a weird week but we managed to get through it and Barb found time to do some quilting too. We hope all is well where you are….

A Window Week

I’m a little slow when it comes to the waste drain plumbing part of a house. You would think that it is a simple task, get the slope right and it looks after itself – after all, poop does not flow up hill! But there are lots of do’s but mostly don’ts that you have to be careful about when putting in the drains. We have a cast 4” sewer pipe coming through the cement foundation that we have to connect to. For  an experienced plumber, it probably is not a difficult job but for non-confident DIYer like me, this is a challenge. Our nephew-in-law has tried his best to educate me but I still had problems when it came to connecting to the sewer line. So, because of my insecurity of waste drains, I didn’t do any plumbing work on Sunday even though the waste tanks in the rig are bulging! So, instead of plumbing, we continued working on the windows and walls in the centre portion of the house.

After more phone calls and discussions with a local plumber on Monday – actually, his business is just around the corner and we will be hiring him to do our HVAC, I learn that I have to cut the collar (in plumbing terms, it is the hub) off the cast fitting. There is not a lot of room but using a grinder and a reciprocal saw, I cut the hubs off and started connecting the main house drain and retrofitting the trailer hook up into it that will be used as a clean out after this job is done. When I returned the grinder to our plumber/HVAC guy, he came over to consult on the furnace location etc – we can’t lay any plumbing or the subfloor until the HVAC ducts are in. He gave us some tips on the waste drains and venting as well as the furnace location. We have screwed ourselves by applying for a reno permit – since we didn’t have a central heating system in the house before, we have to provide the town with engineered drawings of a new HVAC system and ‘our guy’ can not start the job until we get the drawings and submit them to the town and then be ‘permitted’ to continue!

Now that we have the crawl space access door in place and the trailer re-connected, Tuesday sees us finishing the floor joists in the bedroom – they had been left out while we completed the sewer connections. We had to modify the floor joists in the bathroom to accommodate the HVAC ducts. We also installed joists between the old floor in the centre and the new joists in the back of the house. We ran out of supplies so we called it a day anyway.

 

 

We’re getting better at rebuilding window openings now and so we continue that task on Wednesday. Taking out the window is easier as we know what and where to look for. Cleaning the edges of caulking and foam insulation off the vinyl window frames was not easy or fun and was probably the most difficult part of this job. But after that, everything went smoothly and by the end of the day, we had the window in a new jam and the stud work of the wall completed. We both agree this house will be stronger than before. We ended early so we could take everything out of the house so the spray foam insulation guys had free space to move around to get their job done easily.

 

After the spray foaming was done, we needed supplies for the other wall and window. While we were out, Jim Flake came by and started on the dirt pile removal. Wow, was this a wonderful surprise. Needless to say, I had to watch – you know, boys and big machinery, anyway, I got on the shovel to help him clean up around the trees so not much was accomplished inside the house. This gave Barb an opportunity to do some sewing of her pillow from her Wool Gatherers Group. We finished 5:30ish and just in time as the clouds opened and we got a down pour!

Now that we have more supplies, on Friday we tackled the other wall, new studs, a larger window and had to McGyver the stud wall where we had to replace a corner a few weeks earlier. This was going to be easier since we were starting sort of from scratch – we took out a window but replaced it with 2 larger windows and built the RSO compete without having to fit it around existing stud work. Once the RSO was in place, we simply cut out the inside of the RSO and there, we had an opening for the ‘new’ re-purposed windows! Levelled and squared them, squirted them with foam and done. Now the joining of the old and new wall was a little more interesting but after some discussion – Barb is great with puzzles as well as ideas on how to do these sorts of things….

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday and we’re in the house again, this time finishing up the floor joists between the old and new structures. Not a big job but it still has to be done. We finished a little earlier than normal to watch some of the US Open golf.

 

 

 

That’s it for now, come back again soon and we hope all is good where you are….

Odd Jobs Week

This week is a week of touch up jobs! The first one we tackle is to rebuild the back door. It was not done correctly when the last reno was done – no weatherproof threshold, no header, no door frame – the door was fastened directly to the rough stud opening and used make shift door stops and weather stripping that rubbed on the concrete floor! Once the ‘old’ door was removed, of course, nothing is as easy as it could be – the concrete is not level so some shimming is necessary. We put the door into the new frame, placed it in the re-built rough stud opening, shimmed it and squared it up. Now it works better, is more solid and is weather proof! Can you believe that it took us the better part of a day! Wow.

 

 

We still have mounds of clay laying around and that is my fault – I told the contractor that we are not in a rush to have it taken away and he could do it on his schedule – I was just hoping to get a better price. Anyway, I decided to break up an old concrete step that was hidden under the old deck at the front of the house. I managed to ‘get’r done and yes, I did sleep well Monday night. Anyway, Barb I and used the broken concrete to help fill the sump pump trench and then used some of the clay to back fill the remainder. While I was slashing away at the concrete, Barb was busy building raised garden boxes so we can plant some fresh vegetables.

 

 

 

 

 

We are having the crawl space foundation insulated with spray foam on Thursday so we have to focus on all the small jobs that need to be done ahead of the foaming. We have to take a second and third look at items that will be fastened to the exterior crawl space wall so we do not have to chip any of it out down the road when something else has to be installed like plumbing vents.

Thursday, Randy & Norma came by for a day of Fast Track. This is the game they taught us last year when we were at Olympia Village. After a few games of being beaten by the ladies, the guys suggested we go out for lunch and headed off to He’s Not Here, a local pub eatery that we have enjoyed in the past, We started out in beautiful sunshine on their patio but when lunch was over, it was cold and cloudy, brrrrrr….. Another few games and still, the guys couldn’t muster a charge – the day wasn’t long enough for us to get even!

 

On Friday, we just don’t have enough to do and when we take a look around, we stand back and pass judgement on the soon to be kitchen windows. They do not have proper headers, proper sills and no jack studs to hold the improper header. So, we decided to ‘make it right’ – I know, we watch too much DIY TV! Took out one window and installed a proper stud wall with a proper rough stud opening for a framed window. The taking out of the ‘other guys’ reno work was way too much work. He must have used a couple of tubes of caulking and a can of spray foam insulation as well as very long screws! I think it took us longer to remove and clean up than it did to build a new RSO and frame. But once done and foamed, all is good but the day has run out on us so we’ll tackle the other one next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Saturday was a special day for us – 70 years ago on June 4th, my older 2 brothers drowned in a tour boating accident off the shores of Port Stanley near London. A friend alerted us of an unveiling of a memorial monument on June 7, 2014 to remember the 17 deaths of that fateful tour boat cruise. Barb & I and Terri & Mark drove down to be a part of the unveiling of the memorial and were pleasantly greeted by my other brothers and some of their families along with about 50 other people. It was a very moving tribute and of course, we were invited to take any pictures we needed. This picture is of my other brothers, Doug and Larry and my wonderful wife included Bobby & Donny on the rocks where the cruise boat departed from on June 4th, 1944. Years ago, my Mom told me that if they had not drowned, there was a good chance I would not have been born – now that is a sobering thought which does not go unnoticed by Terri. After, we enjoyed a wonderful afternoon and evening at our nieces, Melissa & Paul’s drinking some cool ones, having some fine appetizers, more cool ones and of course dinner. Larry, was non-committal about coming down but he surprised Barb & I at the ceremony and we had some good laughs with him at dinner too.

 

 

Well, that was a snapshot into our past week and we hope all is good where you are….