This cOld House 11

We will see what this week brings. As of last Thursday, we've had a big muddy hole in the ground and not a body around. The concrete cutter showed up for a few hours on Friday, lopped off the two slabs which the backhoe couldn't remove and disappeared. Chance of rain today is 90% so I can assume that no one involved with concrete company will show up. Likewise on Rob and Co. since there's not much for his crew to do.

Dan has had a nice long weekend off and we've gotten a little more organized - even taking care of some stuff he's been wanting to get put away since we moved in. We've moved the bed out of the art room, (where my Mom slept when she visited,) and have re-arranged the furniture to avoid the leak in the ceiling. The roof guy will take a look Wednesday. Our bathroom is a little better organized, the laundry room is mostly cleaned up and put back together after being decimated by the plumbers and electricians. Dan even cleaned up a bit in the garage.

Last night as Mim played in the kitchen, she claimed to have seen an animal scurry across the floor and go under the fridge. She was sure it was a raccoon, although just hours earlier I had found mouse droppings on my bottle of 409 in the back hall closet. We investigated but did not see anything and assume it's a mouse. We still haven't gotten a cat yet but are feeling more of a sense of urgency to do so.

We also have what I am sure are Indian Meal Moths - and I haven't had the heart to clean out the food cupboards yet. It's a near impossible job the way the drawers in the kitchen are built, and we'll probably have to use traps. Dan thinks I'm nuts but I do have a little experience with these pantry pests.

The weather forecast indicates we may have a break in the rain Wednesday/Thursday. If so, we can expect some forms to be built and if it doesn't get to cold we should be poured early next week. Keep your fingers crossed.

This cOld House 10

The big dig went very well yesterday and we now have a double garage sized hole in the front yard. The neighbors are going crazy!

The guys had virtually no trouble digging although they did come up against a previously unknown massive tree stump which took a little doing to get out. Also, the wing walls on the old garage corner and the corner by the front door are proving quite stubborn to remove. Concrete that has cured for 85 years is pretty hard stuff and when the backhoe started slipping off the hill when the operator tried to pull it down, they backed off and got out the saws. Two saws later, we still have wing walls and with the rain moving in, the digging crew gave up and left.

Speaking of rain, I was working at the computer and Mim was in the art room next door and I kept hearing a tinking sound, then Mim walked in asking if I wanted to play with her in the living room and I realized with horror that she wasn't in the art room and the sound I was hearing was not being made by her. Fearfully I investigated and confirmed my deepest darkest terror. Tink, tink, tink went the rain into the sopping spot in the carpet, like a stake into my heart.

The light at the end of the tunnel has officially been extinguished.

This cOld House 9

Oh I have a little backhoe
It's sitting in my yard
They backed it off the big ol' truck
It wasn't very hard

It's black and gray and yellow
It's not so very big
And come tomorrow morning
The guys will start to dig

They have to move the logs off
And salvage stone and bricks
But all the guys will be here;
Rob and Bob and both the Ricks.

I'm glad they're finally starting
To dig and pour the walls
Because it's getting colder
Than the old brass monkey's balls!

So hopefully quite soon
I'll have a place to park
That's cozy and well lit
Instead of cold and wet and dark

This cOld House 8.1

Yep, you guessed it.

Drenching hot rainstorm in basement, discovered on the way out for date night. Had the babysitter field the house call of the profusely apologetic plumber. Did I mention they poked a hole through my new laundry basin earlier? Drank heavily while on date.

Plumber appropriately contrite, due in no small part to witnessing the firing of the electrician this morning.

Thinking of moving the pool indoors, to the basement that likes to be wet. Failing that, perhaps planting a rice paddy.

This cOld House 8

Today I had the pleasure of meeting Dewayne, Electrical Inspector for the Neighboring City to Pleasantville, (who does the Pleasantville construction inspections.) Unfortunately, he had nothing good to say about the power in my kitchen. He had deja vu when he pulled up to the house to inspect the new panel we put in last week, and when I got to talking to him about some apparently open issues that the City of Oakwood cited us on our property transfer inspection, he started to recall the disastrous inspection he carried out here when the kitchen was redone. (And that he was never recalled to final the stuff, presumably because it was never corrected.) I am currently awaiting a copy of his laundry list.

Tim and Troy and Matt are wreaking havoc in the basement, pulling out galvanized pipe to beat the band. Tim said there was a LOT of pipe, like three times what we actually needed. This is good news since we opted to NOT install the recirculating pump on the hot water heater. So while it currently takes about 2 minutes for hot water to make it up to our bathroom, it should be cut in less than half when we replace the pipes with a more direct route.

The bid came in for the new gas service/pipes and it's a go. We'll do that as soon as we have a front wall on the new garage so we can attach the new meter.

The concrete guy happened to show up at the same time Mark came by to grind out the stumps from the trees we took down Tuesday and they had a meeting of the minds, so we are all set to start digging TOMORROW or Monday. I'm so excited! By the way, watching the 'lumberjacks' take down the trees was a thing of beauty. It was like a ballet the way the guys all knew their moves and jumped in and out to get it done smoothly and safely. And today the stump grinder kicked butt! I want to grind stumps when I grow up. Mark has one of only 2 in Ohio and 340 in the entire country, a stump grinder that just freakin' ATE the tree. It was like a 20 inch circular saw on the front that swept back and forth decimating anything in its way. The teeth on the blade were about 3 inches long! Very cool to watch.

I got the bid on restoring the windows and was NOT happy. I called Rob to get the Pella or Andersen or Marvin guy to come over and discuss replacement options. I also got an e-mail from the garage door guy and am awaiting a bid for that.

By the way, I fixed our garage door that was broken. It was a four dollar and eighty one cent personal victory after thousands and thousands of dollars of defeat this week.

This weekend I believe we get to test drive our squirrel abatement system. I hope Kitty is mean when it comes to wildlife because she has quite a lot of established residents to show who is boss. There is a rotund woodchuck that lives under the pool house, dozens of gray squirrels, (some as big as small cats,) a raccoon, and a hedgehog looking thing that wanders in the dark. Go Kitty Go!

This cOld House 7

It's been a slow couple of weeks with Dale working in the attic on the new HVAC and nothing much else going on. I met with the plumber and electrician to go over what all our wants/needs are. I had a sitter a couple of afternoons so I could head on down to the tile showroom and pick out something small (and cheap) for the girls' bathroom.

The bid came in for the garage project and it was WAY higher than expected. I keep underestimating most jobs, I suppose because I haven't worked in the industry for a decade or so. I met with the GC and Architect to do some expense control, as well as with our real estate agent to get some guidance on what price he feels this house in this neighborhood can support. He has sold it twice, and knows the area well. I want to pick his brain on what feedback he got from other folks who viewed the house when it was on the market. I'm hoping that the boring stuff we are fixing, HVAC, plumbing, electrical, etc. is the kind of stuff that scared other buyers away, and that we can expect some recompense from these outlays. (Slim chance, but hope springs eternal.)

We did get some nice bids for the girls' bath and the rest of the plumbing. It's a go ahead. And with the temperatures dropping in to the 'teens in the past week, I'm VERY eager to start work on the garage, budget be damned.

I had to fire the electrician today. I was satisfied with neither the work nor the service and he pissed me off one too many times. Back to the drawing board there, with no really good alternative available.

We will be starting on the basement pipes tomorrow. The HVAC is all done except for the A/C which we won't be needing any time soon.

Today the tree guys are here razing my front yard. It will start the neighbors talking for sure! I'm trying to get some good picture in between doing laundry, blogging and keeping the kids fed. I tell 'ya, there's real beauty in watching pros do what they do best.

Last night the garage door jammed. We managed to get it closed, but there will be no more ingress/egress through that route until we are able to either fix it inexpensively ourselves, or replace it altogether with the new wall and double walk thru door.

This cOld House 6.1

As is often the case, I spoke too soon...

As I was blissfully blogging a few short moments ago, Dan was enjoying a glass of scotch, watching TV and listening to the soft pitter-patter of rain, er, hang on, that sounds like a small stream, is that the TV?? (mute the TV) uh, that sounds awfully close, is there water running somewhere?? er, are the windows leaking?? HOLY SH*T!

There was in fact a steady flow coming in under the wall in the corner of the living room, draining to the crawl space underneath. It was POURING into the house, creating a lovely water feature, splishing and splashing this way and that.

I donned a raincoat and proceeded with flashlight and umbrella out to the suspect area to find that the downspout was CLOGGED and the entire front southwest quarter of the roof of the house was draining into our crawl space.

NOTE: Yes, the gutters were cleaned TODAY!!! I'll be following up tomorrow to check if they also say they did the downspouts.

Dan and I returned with a pair of pliers and unclogged it, reattaching the snake that pulls the water four feet away from the foundation. That slowed the interior stream to a fast drip.

We saw signs of this problem when Rick fixed the floor a couple of weeks ago. There is a sill plate, (piece of lumber) between the poured foundation wall of the crawl space and the brick and stucco wall of the living room. The sill plate had completely rotted away. At the time we all just thought, well, the wall isn't moving so I guess there's not much we can/should do about that.

I'll be needing a bid from Rob to excavate the entire exterior of the living room and waterproof it. Particularly the gap left where that lumber has rotted away.

Dan and I, drenched from our impromptu repair, stood dripping in the living room, laughing hysterically. I believe we are going mad.