This cOld House 40~14July2010

Bacon. Is there anything it can't do?

I made beans three days ago. Before I put the bacon in the crock pot, I trimmed off some of the fat. As per usual, I was sidetracked before I finished the project and some time between my comings and goings, before I returned to clean off the cutting board in the kitchen, one of the cats made off with trimmings. I know this because some time in the afternoon, one of the kids came downstairs telling me there was 'bird poop' on the stairs. I went to investigate and found a small dollop of semi-congealed bacon fat (now nicely sweating at 80 degrees or so,) on one of the stair treads. I passed it, fully intending to go into the bathroom to get a paper towel to wipe it up but I was probably preoccupied by having to go pee, then, grabbing a load of laundry on the way down, I didn't see the bacon and completely forgot about it when I returned downstairs. I didn't make it back upstairs again, and while the kids probably passed it 40 or 50 times, they are basically useless and didn't think to clean it up. Dan found it after he got home from work. (And was none-too-pleased to find it, I might add.) So he grabbed a Kleenex to wipe it up and this is what we found:

Look at that color and shine restored! So now I'm thinking that bacon grease is the way to go on the interior wood restoration. Lay bacon on the stairs, tack it to the door jambs and window frames, leave it there all day and then remove and wipe. What could be easier?

Upon further consideration I began to visualize the drawbacks:
First, I believe it would draw every dog in the neighborhood to break down our screen doors and stampede through the house like that scene in "A Christmas Story". Second, my Chabad friends could never come to visit. Third, the stairs might get a little slick. Dang it... back to the drawing board.

This cOld House 39 ~11May10

As we move into planning phase for the kitchen we realize how fortunate we are to have enough space in the existing footprint to expand and modernize the kitchen to 21 century standards. We will be incorporating the early 20th century servants' quarters into the space, that is two 7X11 bedrooms and a 5X8 bathroom. This will give us the space we need without messing with the original footprint. As we are working through the possibilities, we are looking at the dining room, and how it will blend with the new space.
We don't feel like we need a 'formal' dining room, but wonder how resale will be effected. (Yah, right, like we could EVER afford to sell this place.) So the only thing holding us back there would be the abandoned incinerator. That's 4 floors of masonry, starting as a roughly 6X6 squarish foundation in the garage and ending as a 3X8 double flue out the roof. There's a nice picture to the left of what the chimney looks like when we get down to the old garage. The front side pokes into the laundry room, where the iron doors for the incinerator are.

It somehow splits between the third floor and the attic, (possibly why the hallway outside the girls' room is just barely seven feet tall,) and then joins over top the attic again (probably poured with concrete,) into a massive rectangle maintaining two flues. Taking it out? Piece of cake, right?
So I called our good friends at Durable Slate, as they do this sort of thing, and more importantly, can patch the gaping hole that will be left if the brick were removed. I spoke to Wayne and told him that we might want to remove the little chimney. Adam called me back a couple of days later to make an appointment to come take a look.

Adam shows up and says to me, "Wayne said it was the little chimney - are you sure? Because I just remember you having a large chimney and a humongous chimney. Did I miss one?" Um, no, Adam, we are speaking in relative terms, I suppose if you wish to quote absolutes, we're interested in removing the large chimney. Let me guess, that will be extra, right?

This cOld House 38

As with most things connected to this house, the small chore of putting up the front screen doors has exploded into an all day ordeal.

So I get into the garage and haul up the doors. I wisely left the pins in the hinges over winter so I wouldn't lose them. A few taps with a nail setter to push them out and I was in business. Or so I thought....

On the right door the middle and bottom hinge slid in but the top was no dice. I finally had to start over and force the top hinge in and then keep hitting the other two together, hoping that the hang would torque enough length out of the door to make up the 1/16 inch difference. I got lucky with a well placed shove and Naomi was able to drop the pins in.

The left door did not go as well and after several bouts of yelling/swearing, I finally gave up, taking off the bottom hinge on the jamb in order to get the top and middle to seat. Big mistake, because not only did I realize, (too late) that it would be easier to pull the door into place by leaving the jamb hinge in place and taking off the door hinge, but once the @#$%! jamb hinge was off I found the wood rot underneath.

Alrighty then....

So down to the basement for the trusty wood rot hardener. I have to find my pick (a nice set of dental picks I got on ebay for the myriad of surgeries we routinely do on the house,) and a small brush. Back up to clean out the wound and squirt/paint in the hardener. Hmmm, how deep does it go? I'd better drill in some slanted holes to get to the bottom. OK, pour in the hardener and use the paint brush to sweep it around and into the holes. Oh, yah, it needs to sit overnight now.

Tomorrow I look forward to applying the wood putty, letting it cure and then re-drilling and screwing the hinge back in. Then I can have Dan push against the door as I screw the opposing hinge plate into place on the door, hopefully undoing the warp that has made it impossible to hang the doors in the first place.

Great, so now what do I do while I figuratively wait for the paint to dry? Well, my mail carrier can attest to the crappy latch on the screen door, so I took it apart to see what I can try this year to help it work properly.

Hmmm, that's an awful lot of rust on that puppy -

in part because the guys who worked on the exterior restoration last fall took the screens off and left them sitting out, on their sides, in the rain, allowing the latches to fill up with water. So now I'm wondering if the graphite treatment I usually do twice a season is going to cut it or if perhaps it's time to move on to WD40 and lithium grease. I opted to sand down all the rust on the spindle and catch, the springs and thingy-do I have here in the picture. Hours later, I had the rust off all the bits and it was put back together with a fresh shot of graphite. My mail carrier came by to inspect and gave me the thumbs up - so I have THAT going for me.

Just another case of the torment this house frequently puts me through.

Just an update to my last post. Today the handyman I hired to finish up the punch list from the bathroom remodel we started last fall, has finished. Sort of. There's still some stuff that isn't done but I can't wait around for this guy to finish it up. This would be the punch list from the massive three bathroom remodel with which for the most part we are quite happy. The only part we are not happy about is the part where the general contractor took the money, failed to pay any of the subs nor finish up the job. But aside from that it's all good. Oh, yah, except for the stuff I had pay for twice in order to get the job finaled, and the stuff he didn't do that I paid for and did I mention the thousands in legal fees we've had to pay to defend against liens that subcontractors slapped on us? OK, so where are we at???

I don't think we'll restore any more windows this year. We are talking to a carpenter about storm windows and screens, (again) and hope that this guy is more professional than the guy we went with a couple of years ago who decided he didn't want to do the job after all.

The pool house/pool/shed is pressing. We've opted to put that off until next year in part because we still don't have an adequate plan in place. No sense moving the pool equipment and re-laying the lines when we know the whole pool house need re-built.

We're still struggling with the right way to address the kitchen. The plans just aren't coming together, in spite of a number of different people working on them - three builders, an architect and one or two kitchen designers. I'd rather wait than get it wrong.

Finishing the exterior restoration has to wait for the kitchen remodel, since we know we will be moving and replacing windows.

The panels (where the tyvek wrap is apparent in the first pictures) will be returned and installed within the next couple of weeks. We are thankful we found someone to do it. We think they will continue to weather, but our restoration work will keep them stabilized for some time.