Wainscoating Up-Date II

Yes, yes, yes....I know it's been a while since the last post, but I have been busy.

First off, we have not installed that restored porch light yet. There really is no hurry anyway.

We are also in the process of seeing about getting hooked-up to the city sewer system. We're still having problems and we now think the tank from the 40s is failing.

By ordinance the city has to bring the sewer line to our property line and that won't be cheap or easy. They will have to install a lift station for it to work properly and the two closest sewer mains are each a block away and one of them would require that the paved street be torn up.

So, the city would have to pay for all of that. All we would have to pay for is running the line from our house to the line they bring to the property line. Either way we go, new tank or sewer hook-up, it's going to cost about the same for us.

I have also been tinkering with the Craig's List table saw and a few other small tasks, such as that crater in the wall (now patched). In the interim I've also been working on the wainscoating.

So, today turned out to be the day that the wainscaoting instillation got started. But first - the obstacles!! There are always obstacles aren't there?

To get the ball rolling with the instillation the mop-board, and corner do-dad, had to be removed. Go figure, something so simple turned out to be a major pain!

Not only did a portion of the top molding of the mop-board break but the nails were huge!

Do you see the size of those nails!?!?!

This is a piece of the trim molding on top of the wide mop board. The hammer is a small one but those nails are at least 3" long!!

Why in the Sam Hill would a person use such huge nails for such a small, thin, piece of trim?

Removing these is what caused the brake in the top molding I mentioned earlier.

Here are the remains of the piece of molding.

Can you believe there were 3 - yes 3 (!!!) - of those large nails, plus two small nails, all within an area no bigger than 3"x4".

What's bad is that this is the corner section. The wood was weak to begin with and removing the nails was just too much for it.

The good news is that all the pieces are here and I can rebuild it. It will take some doing to get it re-attached though.

Oh - remember the corner do-dad? Don't even get me started on how hard it was to get that out!! There was barely any space to work in. It took over an hour just to remove it.

Just another shot of those blasted nails!!

Man - you'd think they were trying to hold the house together or something with these suckers.

What really amazes me is that they used smaller nails to install the large mop board!

Before starting the instillation I got this picture for posterity.

I guess that makes it the 'Before' picture.



Here is a 'During' picture.

I started on the outside edge so that I could get a more uniform look when finished.


I cut the end board with a 45 degree angle so that the end-cap boards 'should' match up.

Not sure if any of you noticed, but I'm starting to loose my daylight at this point. I don't like working on the kitchen at night. We have to have all the lights on in order to work and with those big windows I feel like we are on display. I know, a stupid reason, but we live in a nosy town. So, with the daylight fading I needed to work fast.

And here's the finished side!

Well, almost finished. The mop-board and it's top molding needs to be reinstalled which will require a custom made spacer. I will finish this part, along with the end-cap, tomorrow.

You might have noticed there is a plug outlet in the wall. This was one of those times that the Fein MultiMaster really came in handy. I had to cut two boards to get it to fit and was a bit worried about it. Remember, there are only a limited supply of the boards.

Well, with just a couple of measurements, a few zip-zips with the MultiMaster and "Bob's your Uncle". It was a breeze and the outlet opening turned out great.

One last thing. If you look real close at the corner you will see a space. There is about a 3/4 inch space between the edge of the last piece of wainscoating and the wall. Get this though...remember that board that had to have a 45 degree piece cut off of it? Well, the removed piece fits perfectly!! I will install it tomorrow too.

I guess this is enough for now. You'll have to wait till tomorrow night to see the finished product. Hopefully nothing will happen between now and then to prevent it from getting finished.

Well, till next time...

Cheers!
Larry