the plaster dude

My plaster guy, Jeff, started his setup today so he can start the work tomorrow. He called and said it will be risky to plaster/texture directly onto the living room ceiling in its current state since there is a layer (layers?) of paint that is bubbling and/or peeling off in areas. The plaster may also bubble as a result. So, Jeff said that despite my valiant effort, he recommends putting 1/4" sheetrock on the ceiling. Ok. :( He also said there is some weird paneling in the "office" closet and he is not sure what is behind it. While he was on the phone with me, he starts to rip it off and tell me what he finds. (I love that I can listen to my house being ripped apart on the other end of the phone and not stress out...I must be getting good at this!) Yeah, he said, that needs to be sheetrocked, too.

Otherwise, things look good and he will get started tomorrow.

I told him to ignore the kitchen completely, except for the pantry (which I demo'd two days ago), since I have other plans for that room...very fine plans that I am not sharing with anyone yet. (Hint: It's going to kick ass and could possibly be the BEST KITCHEN EVER!!!)

His quote, minus the sheetrock, came in at $6500. This is $500 less than what I expected, but the sheetrock may take it up to $7k so I am right on budget so far...phew!

Oh! You are not going to believe this. Yesterday, my mom and I dropped off some light fixtures at the house. While there, I got curious about the far wall in the kitchen, like what is really behind the beadboard? I started to pull it off and I shit you not...there is more painted wallpaper! So...one more wall to go. There goes next weekend. :/

I officially have PTSD due to wallpaper and popcorn ceilings.

cottage cheese nightmares

I don't understand why they call it a "popcorn" ceiling. When that stuff gets wet, it is DEFINITELY cottage cheese. I had an entire day to study this, so I am certain.

But the good news...the "cottage cheese" from my dining room and living room ceilings are gone! AND I did it in one day, ahead of schedule, which means I get a weekend. ;)

Granted, this was my second attempt at getting the stuff off, and I sorta scored just this morning or it may have gone badly. I dropped Gemma off at doggie daycare since I didn't want her running around the house while I made a mess. Robert, the owner of the daycare, also owns a construction company. (I swear, I don't know what he doesn't do.) I told him I would come back for Gemma either today or tomorrow, depending on how long it took me to remove the crap from the ceilings. He went on his soapbox about what to do and recommended the greatest tool ever to complete this task...a floor scraper, of all things!

 

Do you hear the angels singing? It cost $25.

I draped plastic on every wall and then on the floor. YouTube (which makes this stuff look way easier than it actually is) recommended 2-mil plastic. I went with 0.31-mil plastic so I could reduce plastic waste, OF COURSE! It also came in a 12' x 400' box for $25 which was plenty to cover both rooms, and it draped on the walls nicely (secured by basic masking tape). However, I had to be very careful not to tear it. I even went through this entire removal process barefoot to prevent tears. It worked great; but if I ever do this again (hopefully not), I would get a dropcloth for the floor and cover it  with 0.31-mil plastic.

Before. How very "Dexter", eh? Wonder what the neighbors thought.

After. Not pretty, but it will work. The drywaller comes in next week.

The carnage. Stunning how heavy this was...and it is the small room!

Here are photos of the living room...

I was actually more interesting to look at in this process, how messy it got. You'd think I just stepped out of a mud wrestling ring. Unfortunately, friends and family are avoiding me like the plague right now (I think they fear I may ask them to help? ;), so no real opportunity to get shots of me in action. Lucky for me, I suppose...

WINNING!!!

Barely. I estimated 5 days...took more like 10 days to remove that blasted wallpaper. And then right when I got down to the end, the sellers stuck it to me again. They used trim at the top. One more dig. But...THE WALLPAPER IS GONE! I win.

Here are a few 'in progress' pics. Notice who is doing the supervising (aka Gemma and Mimi). That grey wall on the right is my worst nightmare. That wall alone took 4 days to peel and we have bonded big time. And note, my mom helped with that wall so I would still be peeling if it weren't for her. (Thanks, Mom!!!) Sadly, she won't allow me to post any pictures of her on this blog.

Overall, this process was beyond painful. I have never in my life been so exhausted, and I have done some fairly strenuous things like hike and mountain bike for hours on end at ridiculous altitudes. Nothing compared to this. And let me make something clear. I still have not shed a tear. I came close. My mom talked me down from the ledge. Still only blood and sweat...and wine. Lots of wine.

I actually tried to get a jump start on the popcorn ceiling this past weekend, but that crashed and burned. Hard to do when you can't lift your arms (some of you heard about the bee/sidewalk incident on Friday morning). But I've put in some good downtime this week and am determined to peel that crap off this weekend before the drywall guy starts next week.

The first phase of the electric work ends today! They will be back to install fixtures (which I still have to buy, shopping, oh lord...) after the drywall work is complete.

wall texture...thoughts?

It's about that time when I have to make a decision on what sort of wall texture I want. The fun stuff! This is what I came up with. It fits the period of the house. Also thinking of going with smooth ceilings. And yes, I decided to remove the popcorn ceilings myself. Now THAT ought to be an awesome post. :/

gutted

The house electrical was removed yesterday. All knob & tube gone. Wow. It's happening!

No, I am not doing the electrical work...

New electrical wiring will be installed within 6-8 business days. I figure the amount I am spending on this rewire will have to be worth at least double, equity-wise, eh? (Just say 'yes'. Thank you. ;)

this too shall pass...

Yep, that's my mantra for the day. Seven hours of work. See before and after shots below. This chore is really starting to annoy me. I cannot use a scoring tool because the wallpaper layer is so thick that the blades do not reach the adhesive. So it's a dry scrape...scrape...scrape...sounds like a horror movie. Well in my world, IT IS. Absolute horror. I figure I have at least another three days to get this room wallpaper free, two to remove the first layer (HOPEFULLY, since this is the high risk portion of the task) and one to remove the adhesive. My hands/wrists are a wreck. Funny thing, I have a trackpad with my Mac, not a mouse. Typically it takes more effort to push that thing than a mouse. I just sat down to write this entry and the trackpad feels effortless. After four days of scraping wallpaper, I have man hands!!  Now there's a perk to home remodeling. :/

I already need a break and I am just getting started. Sweet.

Grayson Cellars - wine review #1

I'll let you in on a little secret. The point of this renovation isn't really to renovate a house...I bought this place so I had a good reason to spend a lot of money on really good wine! Yes, hard work deserves good wine. For those of you who do not know my wine style:

• I don't drink white wine, or 'rose/blush' or whatever you call it, or dessert wines. Never. Sorry excuses for wine in my book.
• I like wine that taste like the bottom of the barrel. Musty, like a basement. Tons of tannins. Tobacco. Earthy. Minimal fruits.
• I have preferred Alexander Valley wines for a while now. However, Washington is putting out some amazing wines these days, so I tend to stay local whenever possible. 
• I rarely buy the same bottle twice. I like to explore. $10 is my target price, but I only buy bottles that are ON SALE at $10. They usually cost more. For this house, I upped my target price to a whopping $15 per bottle. :)

I discovered this one from Harbor Greens in University Place. They have incredible deals on wine. This one was on sale for $10. WOW.

FYI, I tried another one last weekend at a wine party (the Cab). It blew my mind. Sheridan Vineyard, in Zillah, WA (Yakima area). Double WOW!

DEMO DAY

I got the attention of the men out there, didn't I?!

This day was certainly fun. It actually took 1.5 days, but who's counting?

Items that were removed:

1. All baseboards from upstairs, so the electrician has easier access. (Note: All outlets in the house are currently located ON the baseboards. Some are vertical, some horizontal, some slatnted, some higher/lower than others...super shotty job. The electrician will be moving them - with updated electrical - onto the walls. Because I'm "classy" like that. ;)
2. All 3/4" baseboard "trim" downstairs, so the hardwood floor refinishers can have access clear to the baseboards. That and the trim was downright ugly and needed to just go away and die a quick death.
3. All closet units. They were mostly made of cheap particle board, and someone had a sale on cherry wallpaper because that shit is EVERYWHERE. I would rather have no shelves to store my crap than cheap/ugly shelves. But that's just me.
4. That ugly-as-all-hell "wall" or whatever you want to call it that stood at the entry and qualified a makeshift foyer. You walk through the front door and ta da! I think the previous owners built this atrocious structure so they could mount their giant TV and X Box system. Only in 'Merica!
5. Crap from windows, like old blind/curtain attachments and random nails. A sign of major laziness in the past.

Baseboards
Stew took the lead on #1 and #2, of course. He loves to pull shit apart. What made this scary however is that upstairs, the nails used to secure the baseboards were pulling out big chunks of plaster in areas. Yikes! My mom and I will do the repair ourselves in a week or two. She's good at it and will teach me her ways. The 3/4" trim downstairs came off in about 30 minutes, if that. Stew's that good. I also got my first lesson in the "sawzall". (P.S. Please don't call OSHA on the second photo...)

Closet units
You've all heard the saying, "a picture is worth a thousand words".

Enough said? The closets are now empty, all clean slates. Oh what a feeling...and notice the removed baseboards behind the sledge hammer. That was a clean removal. It happens on occasion.

That "wall" thing or whatever...
Currently, the front door is glass. Not rain glass, but clear glass that anyone can just see through. So, if you consider that, perhaps there was a minor use for this "wall". But in general, it was an ugly piece of crap that cut the living room in two and did not gel with the style of home at all. Unanimously, anyone who had seen this "wall" in all its glory took one look at it, made a questionable face, and said, "I think that has to go". A gigantic (50"?) TV was still attached to it. I made a deal with Stew: You remove the "wall" and you get the TV for your man cave. That wall was out within three days. He even pulled in his brother, Zack, from Oregon to help.

Here are the before pics. Notice said front door. Super secure, eh? Of course, I never mentioned all the NRA stickers I had to remove from the windows before I even went to Peru (yes, that is called a "priority"). Perhaps it was assumed they work better than ADT signs? And see that open space below the TV? Another WTF?! Seriously, my cuss quota is so through the roof right now.

Here is what you saw when you walked into the house with the "wall" in place. Seriously? This is such a bad feng shui infraction I don't even know where to start. Chi tries to get into this house and it's like "Ouch!!! WTH?! I just hit my head against this retarded wall thing...screw this house, I'm gonna leave!" Yeah, no chi flow in this house. Shame on you, previous owners!!!

And then Stew happened...

Hear the angels singing?

New view when you enter the house. The room felt like it doubled in size. But now this means I need a new front door. No worries, I have one picked out already...and it's BLACK! ;)

Window crap
The prior owners proceeded to added curtains, blinds, you name it, to every window in the house without removing prior hardware. Every time my mom walked in the house, she said "OMG that has to be removed. I'll remove it next time I come over." I did her a favor and took care of it all. Here is an example of before/after. Just small stuff, but what a pain.

Tools of the day, as follows (there were actually three tools that rocked my world; the wrench is missing, which helped immensely with the stripped screws). Note, this is my grandpa's drill. I inherited it when he passed. He used it for his plumbing and holy shit (no pun intended), this thing kicks serious butt. Cordless drills be damned! Stew said a couple days ago, "You shouldn't be using this drill. It has too much power". Music to my ears.

wallpaper is the devil

I've been down at the house for the past three days scraping wallpaper. Here is my life right now, in a nutshell:

I literally close my eyes and see my blade pulling off flakes. It's all I can see and feel. My "world". But I finished the living room, yay!

I thought the living room was difficult enough because it had two layers, the "latex" and the adhesive, but at least it all came off easy enough. I could pull off the "latex" by hand even. It was just a large room and the first time I had ever removed wallpaper. Then I moved into the first bedroom and "expected" (damn expectations) the effort to be similar. Well, I could not for the life of me find a place to start pulling. The paint was so thick, my blade would not even penetrate the first layer. I called my mom to chat about ideas. She said if it didn't come off, we may have to thinly sheetrock over the wall; and if we do that, the electrician needs to know by Monday so he can set the electrical boxes out by that thickness. So I called a drywaller asap. The first guy is local, so I thought he could jet by the same day. He picked up the phone in a gruff voice, sounded like I was disturbing him until I asked for an estimate. Then he sounded interested. (Recall, I really really really like good customer service and this guy is totally not passing.) He said he could come by in TWO days. Ok...I then decided to try another guy I found on Angie's List, based in Federal Way, but his reviews are stellar! Funny, he was "in my neighborhood" and could swing by in five minutes. Wow?!

"Joe" stopped by and we chatted about what I needed done all over the house. Smooth ceilings, textured walls, some drywall repair, maybe popcorn ceiling removal depending on the price (and yes, I had it tested for asbestos! Miraculously no asbestos, although I am toying with another test just to make sure...seems too good to be true in a house of this age). He told me about the fiberglass option on the walls to help prevent cracking...but then you get bubbles 4-5 years down the road and it costs more. No fiberglass. We then went into the bedroom and I told him we may need to sheetrock over those walls because I could not get the wallpaper off. He asked to borrow a few items (scraper, scorer, wallpaper removal, etc.) and he set to work on a small area. Leave it to the pro! He was able to start pulling. Phew!

He said I'd have an estimate in 4-5 days, so he left and I went back to scraping. Well that was a fortuitous visit! I was off and running, but holy crap, this was not as easy as the living room. The wallpaper/paint combo was cemented on in some parts. I had to literally "micro scrape" a ton of areas, chipping away centimeter by centimeter. Anyone who has ever doubted my patience in this life...well, don't ever comment on that again or I may hit you. My hands and lower back and legs ached (how?!), I ended up buying leather gloves for the chore (one of the fingers literally wore out after the first day??)...fortunately, most of it could be done without sponging the wall with wallpaper remover. Two days passed and I removed the first layer. There is still adhesive to remove.

And onto the next room...which certainly did not go smoothly at all. I tried four different areas and thought, how the hell did I manage to randomly choose the order of rooms so it gets progressively more difficult? The second bedroom (fortunately the LAST room with wallpaper) will truly try my patience. I got a small area chipped off in an hour. This is going to take a while...

All in all, this is certainly a lot of work, but it's also satisfying being able to scrape away all the layers that are suffocating the house. I get to remove nearly 100 years of build up, the memories, and the walls are starting to breathe again. Some good energy is slowly starting to stir up in this place. It's exciting and keeps me motivated.

my job as a stripper

WALLPAPER stripper, that is ;)

Note: I forgot to follow up on my last post. Pedro (and my realtor/cousin) kicked butt at cleaning the place. All is good, ready to rock!

So...back from Peru. I jumped into the house immediately. While overseas, I thought of the house a fair bit and realized that it was such an unhappy home. It has been neglected for years, maybe decades. It needs a lot of love and happiness. I want to make that happen, so I grew anxious and could not wait to get back and dive in head first. And that I did...head first into chandeliers, corners, you name it. My head looks and feels like a bruised melon. Talk about investing blood, sweat, and tears...well, no tears. YET.

First things first: Remove ugly-as-all-hell wallpaper from the living room and two downstairs bedrooms. Unfortunately, a former resident painted over the wallpaper a long time ago, so it is essentially latex. I had to go about removing in two steps: 1) peel off the "latex" (which in the living room was a horrid bright red...really, people?!), then 2) sponge down the glue with wallpaper remover and scrape. I was able to peel all "latex" in the living room and scrape half that room on day 1. My mom showed up mid-day to help, thank God!!! Wow. My hands ached, my lower back throbbed...I was exhausted.

And of course, Stew had to get involved! I gave him...drum roll...DEMO!!! He knocked out the cheesy-as-all-hell (lots of "all-hell" issues with this house) bookshelves on either side of the fireplace, for starters. He pulled off a lot of outdated/cheap molding, and then started moving out the massive pile of firewood in the backyard. For the record, he was treated to Frisco Freeze afterwards. Very fair trade if you ask me!

After that one day of work, I can see the light at the end of the tunnel...although I am trying to stay focused on the light THROUGH the tunnel during this process, for my sanity.

I went back the next day and shop-vac'd the entire home. My aunt came to visit and said, "wow, I no longer feel like I need a bath after leaving!" Success!

The walk-through with the electrician took place yesterday. It went really well. However, I learned the rewire will also be a two-step process. (Oh, that's right...this isn't going to be an "easy" process ;) First, he has to "delete" the knob & tube wiring, then add the new boxes; then after the drywall guys come in and work their magic, the electrician comes back and actually installs all the fixtures. I'm tired just thinking about it.

So, here is the order of things that will need to be done (** indicates I have to hire someone for the task):

1. Remove baseboards upstairs
2. Demo weird wall near front door (happy, family?!)
3. Remove rest of wallpaper
4. **Rewire 
5. Remove popcorn ceiling
6. **Repair plaster/drywall and texture walls/ceilings
7. **Install electrical fixtures
8. **Install carpet upstairs
9. Replace baseboard upstairs
10. Remove parquet floors
11. **Refinish/stain hardwood floors
12. Change door locks!!!
13. Paint walls/ceilings
14. **Clean ducts
15. Update kitchen...oh boy (early 2016?)
16. Update bathroom...double oh boy (year 2?)

And this doesn't include the "fine-tune" items like repair window strings and screens, doorknobs, yard stuff, etc...I need a nap after just writing this list. :/