Simpson's Folly

Special Post

2011-11-13T11:28:00.003-06:00

Have you ever had one of those days?

I received a very, very nice e-mail from a couple who live in the Sleepy Hollow area of Wichita (the big city).

I seem to have lost your e-mail!!!!

If you see this, please re-contact me!!!!

Earthquake Pics

2011-11-06T20:46:00.008-06:00

Here are some pics of the ceiling in the smallest spare bedroom - the one that is currently my hobby room.

This is the room that will have to be gutted.

Earthquake Up-Date

2011-11-06T20:39:00.001-06:00

Earthquake update.... We have had damage to the house.

We were so concerned about the foundation we never even thought to check the upstairs guest bedrooms and upstairs library. Those three rooms have had no work done on the original plaster walls or ceilings.

There were items that fell to the floor from shelves but the main problems are the ceilings.

The ceiling in the smallest guest room looks like it's about to fall in - there is cracking everywhere and it is sagging in spots. The two inner walls that form the stairwell have also detached from the ceiling by 1/2 an inch. This room is the worse and is on the south side of the house. The other two rooms are similar but the ceilings do not look like they are about to cave in.

So basically, we now have one room that needs to be completely gutted.

Earthquake

2011-11-06T20:37:00.001-06:00

DANG!!!!

We had an earthquake hit here in Kansas!!!

The epicenter was about 60 miles away to the south, but - DANG!!!! - we felt it here!!!!!

There have been two quakes in two days; the second was worse than the first. In the State to the south east of us (Arkansas) earthquake activity has shot up about 1000% in the past year. Some of this is being blamed on Fracking - not sure what to think about that. I do know some experiments have been conducted, along the military lines, that involve creating earthquakes. Some people think this is whats causing it.

One thing that raises a few eyebrows, and lets people know how serious the various State agencies are taking the recent earthquake activity, is the earthquake disaster preparedness programs that are being done around here. They just had one a few months ago called the 'Great Shake-Out' (IIRC) that involved state level emergency preparedness groups, the Federal Government, the military, FEMA, and the Dept of Homeland Security. FEMA, along with the DHS, have been putting out feelers for MREs to feed 500K for 7 days as well as body disposal items (i.e. underwater body bags and bio containers for mass burial).

There is a major fault line that follows the Mississippi River basin (called the New Madrid Fault). It has been dormant for over 200 hundred years. The last last time it was active , other than small tremors, was in 1811/1812 and it caused the Mississippi River to run backwards. Within the past year the fault has become more active. They (the powers that watch these things) have determined that when (not if) it blows it will split our nation in half east to west. Turns out this fault line is bigger than they thought.

It has now been determined that when this happens a chasm will open up extending from the Gulf of Mexico up to the Great Lakes. Following this, and inland tsunami will follow this chasm due to the draining of the Great Lakes to the Gulf. The tsunami is predicted to be over 300 miles wide. Death estimates are in the 100s of thousands.

We have also learned, within the past few years, that a parallel fault (not as large) runs up from Texas, through Kansas, to Canada. It is now becoming more active.

Believe it or not, some think all this seismic activity is leading up to the end which, in their minds, will be Dec. 21, 2012. While I really don't believe this it's hard not to go "hmmmm....." with all the recent activity with these fault lines in less than a year.

Merry Christmas

2010-12-24T09:14:00.008-06:00

From our house to yours ~

Merry Christmas!!

Fireplace Find

2010-11-26T22:22:00.005-06:00

Hello Everyone!!

I hope you all had a great Thanksgiving!

Around here the Christmas seasons kicks-off with something called 'Christmas in the Country'. It's a small holiday festival held in a small town not far from where we live. It takes place the Friday and Saturday after Thanksgiving.

Located in this town is an awesome antique store we love to rummage around in. There is a cast iron summer cover for a fireplace there I've ogled for quite some time. The owner of the shop saw us looking at it and told us the cast iron surround was outside behind the shop.

Like I said, we knew the summer cover was there for a few years but had no idea he had the cast iron surround that it belonged to!

I have always been a big fan of Victorian cast iron fireplace surrounds so I just had to look.

This is what we found! Sorry the pic is a bit 'fuzzy'; all I had was my cell phone to work with.

Anyway, the surround, and summer cover, came out of a house that was built in 1883 and burned to the ground in the '30s.

As you can see there is some damage, but it can be fixed. The mantle shelf has the worst damage but there are some foundries in our area that might be able to help us.

Also, there are four panels that can be removed. I need to do some research, but I think the inserts are removable so that they can be replaced by tile, marble, etc. I've also seen these panels painted in faux marble and tortoise shell.

Isn't this summer cover exceptional?!

As you all know, we are really looking at installing a fireplace in the living room. We are hoping we can use these; they are truly unique. To be honest I don't think I know of a single house in the area with a cast iron surround.

As soon as I get the surround home, and cleaned up, I'll get some better pictures and post them.

Before I forget, now that it is getting colder, and we can no longer do a lot of work on the outside of the house, I'll start bringing you all up to speed on the painting progress.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Special Post #2 - Primer and Paint

2010-11-11T20:08:00.012-06:00

Hello everyone!

Now that we're almost done with the house painting (for this season anyway) I thought I'd do a special post in regard to the primer and paint we choose to use.

While growing up I learned that there are certain things one must never skimp money on; some of those being jewelry for the wife, life insurance, and exterior primer and paint for your house.

What motivated us to seek out the best paint and primer, for us anyway, was peeling paint on fishscale attached to a house recently painted.

A few years ago, about the time we bought this house, a friend of ours, and her husband, bought an old 'fixer-upper' in the country. Part of the rehabilitation was the scraping and painting of the fishscale on the house. Unfortunately the paint on the fishscale started to pop and peel not too long after painting. We did not want this to happen to us.

So the research started in earnest.

We have literally spoken to some of the top people in the field of historic house siding restoration, replacement, prep and painting as well as up-keep. We spoke with restoration specialists ranging from those who are working on Madison's Montpelier all the way to one who deals with restoration at the White House. Most of those we spoke with though were house painting and historic house restoration specialists as well as old house nuts like us.

Two of the best on-line articles we referred to often were the following:

A Pro Confides His Best Tips for Painting Exteriors

and

Peeling Paint Looks Shabby

The first one was our play-book. We did almost 100% of what was in the article in order to prep the house.

The second is by and far THE best article I've ever read on why paint peels. In totality it explains why you must remove all the old paint you can; so if your looking at painting - read this article!!!

About the only thing we did not do, that both articles mention, was some form of oil conditioning before priming. The reasons we chose not to do this oil conditioning can be boiled down to two reason - condition of the wood and the desire NOT to use oil based paint.

After speaking to a few pros, especially Mr. Leeke (who wrote the second article), it was determined the wood siding and trim on our house just did not need this treatment. Our house is sided in Ceder and holds up fantastically to moisture, rot and insects.

Also, the oil conditioning treatments can take up to two weeks, if not a month, before drying enough to allow painting. Also, the only treatments we could find (other than making our own) required priming with oil based primer.

Contrary to popular belief, you do not need to use oil based products on a house to get a great finish. Do some research; as long as your primers and paints are based on 100% acrylic resins your finished paint job will be just as good as, if not better than, the oil based product jobs.

Oh, by-the-way, one thing some paint dealers are not telling people is that oil based paint products are being phased out of production and are even illegal in some parts of the country. Because of this you will have lots of dealers, and painters, push the product.

After a TON of research, and all those conversations, we decided on a primer many people have never heard of - XIM Peel Bond. You can read more about it here.

As their logo states "When Ordinary primers Are Not Enough".

This stuff is great but a takes some getting use to. It goes on a milky white color but dries clear. When it's clear it's ready for the top coat.

Check out the video!

This is what the Peel Bond looks like going on.

And here it is dry. The 2/3rds of the clapboard that looks 'shadowed' is actually the dried Peel Bond.

Interesting thing is is that it feels kind of like plastic!!

We have had a lot of people watch us paint and think that the house paint is the primer - they can't see the Peel Bond!!

The part I think I like best about the Peel Bond is that it has an elastomeric property that allows it to move, bend, and swell with the house without cracking.

Since the outside of the house is primarily made of Ceder we did need to add a 'bleed control' to help keep the tannins in control. "WHAT? A 110+ year old house still has tannin bleed?!" Yes, the 110+ year old ceder still 'bleeds' when wet. It's not as bad as the new clapboard, but it did bleed in spots.

Luckily XIM also produces a product to help - Bleed Control 100TM.

There is one slight pitfall to using this additive - the primer/paint must be used within 24 hours or you run the risk of it going bad. Evidently it develops a rubbery cottage cheese type consistency if not applied. There is a contractor out there that learned this lesson the hard way. He bought 15 5-gallon buckets of Peel Bond and added the Bleed Control in order to save time down the road. A few days later, when he opened the buckets, the Peel Bond looked like cottage cheese made of rubber. Oh well, he should have read the instructions, it is clearly mentioned!

Now, as you all now, we have some crown moulding on the house we can not match and want to retain. It has weathered badly and has a lot of pitting and corrosion in spots. Once again XIM came through with the product to help us out - Trim Magic.

This stuff is just like the Peel Bond but is thicker and is an ultra high build filling primer.

In layman's terms, the Peel Bond was as thick as pudding and the Trim Magic as thick as custard.

Unfortunately not many people in my area have heard of the XIM products. However, when anyone, contractor or home owner, came to take a look I told them all about it.

Any of you out there looking at painting I highly suggest you check out the XIM products.

Now for the paint.

After just as much research we decided on going with Valspar Duramax with Crosslinking Ti3 Technology.

The coverage is exceptional and applies very well. Because of this we have not had to use near the amount of paint we first thought we would need to.

For general information on Valspar Duramax go here.

For the product datasheet go here.

In making our decision the three main aspects of Duramax that we were sold on are - triple resistance against mold, mildew and algae growth; maximum UV protection; and a lifetime warranty.

However, THE #1 seller for us is that the Duramax paint is an elastomeric paint. In other words, it will bend, stretch, and contract with the house without cracking, splitting or peeling. This elastomeric aspect goes hand-n-hand with that of the XIM peel Bond.

Unfortunately most people do not take into account that a house WILL move with the seasons. If you do not use primers and paints that will move with it the paint job will fail.

Lets get back to the 'exceptional coverage'. Part of this can be attributed to all the prep work as well. I can't stress enough the attention that needs to be paid to the prep work. All too often people just concentrate on priming and painting without much thought to prep. Without proper prep a paint job is doomed to failure.

I will admit though, even with all the research, all the prep work, the use of XIM products and Valspar Duramax, we are still worried that our paint job could fail.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

House Paint Teaser II

2010-11-10T08:04:00.001-06:00

Yes, I know it's mean, but here's another teaser.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

House Paint Teaser

2010-11-02T20:00:00.003-06:00

Thought I'd toss out a teaser.

Here's your first look at the actual paints decided on for the house.

Have fun figuring out where each of those colors will be used!!

BTW - two of the colors don't look the way they should. The white colored one (center paddle) is actually a cream color; the gray looking one (3rd paddle from the right) is actually a light tanish green - they both look better on the house!

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Special Post #1 - DeWalt

2010-11-02T17:42:00.004-06:00

Hello Everyone!!

Sorry for the long delay again but we have been VERY busy!! We are sooooooo close to having the main part of the house painted! We will finish it - primarily the north side - next Spring. Soon I will be posting pictures of the paint.

In the meantime, here's a special post.

Remember way back on December 17, 2009 when I posted about the DeWalt tools I was asked to test?

If not you can read it here - A Gift from DeWALT.

Well, it's about time I give you an update on how this puppy works.

One word - AWESOME!!!

Yup, you heard me - AWESOME!!!

I have been using the DeWalt IMPACT READY™ tools a lot; especially with all the little repairs that have needed to be made during paint prep.

These tools, and accessories, are definitely well worth getting. Perhaps the main test we put them through that impressed us was the repair of the fascia on the west side of the house.

To refresh your memory go here - Soffit Just About Done.

Keep in mind, the wood we were having to drill into is well over 100 years old, and we think it is cottonwood. Over time cottonwood, like some other woods out there, gets incredibly hard over time. We were having to drill pilot holes constantly and even broke three drill bits while doing it. Even though we broke drill bits I'm happy to say they were not the DeWalt bits that came with the set o I wasn't too bothered by it.

Also, we switched from the typical battery that came with the set and started using the DeWALT DC9096 XRP 18-Volt 2.4 Amp Hour NiCad Pod Style Battery.

WOW!!!

This battery really upped the ante!

With one charge we were able to work the entire three days it took to repair the eaves. This included drilling pilot hose as well as screwing 3.5" and 4" screws.

Once this project was finished we decide to see just how long we could use the bigger battery before it died.

Result - 8 days.

Yup, we got 8 days of use out of the battery once it was recharged. This wasn't 8 days of constant use but it was used several times a day during those days. If I were to boil it down to days of constant use I'd say it lasted at least 4 if not 5 days.

Here's the drill after the battery finally gave up.

The drill itself is a little worn now, but it keeps going strong.

In a nut shell - I'm definitely a DeWalt guy from now on. Anytime one of the power tools need to be replaced it will be with a DeWalt.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Lots and Lots Done

2010-10-24T09:33:00.041-05:00

WOW - it's been so busy around here I haven't even wanted to think about posting! All I've wanted to do is sleep - especially with the 10+ hour days we're putting in.

The following pictures, and tasks, were done between the 13th and 17th of October.

That being said, let's jump right in.

Here are a couple of the wasp nests we've found.

These two were not active but we've had a lot of wasps buzzing around; not sure where they are coming from though.

Also, while working on the fascia of the east gable we found a hole in the roof. It couldn't have been in a worst spot - right above a 25' drop. We had to cantilever the scaffolding out to work on it.

See that slash of bright light behind the nails? That's where the hole is - the sun is shining through.

In order to work on it we had to remove a bit more of the original fascia than we wanted to. All that's left is the flashing and shingles.

"Hello there!"

Yours truly's finger.

The hole is about 4 to 5 inches long and about 2 inches wide.

This was not a fun hole to repair. Sorry there are no pictures of the repair process but I was more concerned with safety than pictures at the time!

This is the underside after repair.

We inserted new wood under the hole and a metal cap from the top. Under the new piece of wood we installed the pieces that the gutter will be attached to. Then we used a generous amount of caulk to finish it off.

Not too bad of a repair is it?

We then found another issue to deal with - the top south east corner of the fascia was separating.

From this view it doesn't look too bad, but moisture could still get in and so it needed to be tightened up.

Don't you just love this scaffolding?

I let the father-n-law stand on top of that tiny platform in order tighten the corner. I spotted him (just in case) and made sure the contraption didn't collapse under him.

Once this problem was tackled I decided to go ahead and make the replacement fishscale for the east gable while he cut away the remains of the nails that had held in the bad moulding.

On to the fishscale.

From what I've learned there were seven basic styles of fishscale manufactured when our house was built. All the builder had to do was chose what they wanted and order it.

In our case the builders chose half-cove and octagon for the gables.

To our knowledge we are the only house in town with this combination. All the other houses have either round, octagon, half-cove and triangle and only use one style with no mix or matching. However, there is one other house that uses square and triangle fishscale on the house. Instead of in the gables though this house uses it as siding!

To make the repairs easier I cut out a half-cove and octagon template on my scroll saw.

This is the half-cove template.

I then cut out about 20 of each on the band saw.

For the most part it was fairly easy to replace the bad, and missing, fishscale; but sometimes I'd run into a real puzzler.

Here is the lower section of one of those 'puzzlers'.

First thing needing to be done was replace the under portion of shingle that covered the flashing. It also added a base to attach part of the upper portion to.

This is part of the upper portion.

This is another part of the upper portion (you can see the piece from the previous picture directly below it).

While installing it I hit something rather hard and it bent the nail. I just hammered it down since it was secure and would be covered anyway.

Next up was building the actual puzzle piece.

And here it is.

I would like to have installed it as a single piece but it just wasn't possible.

The upper arch area had to be removed and then reattached.

This is the same corner as the one in the last picture of the previous post - only repaired. The puzzle piece is in the middle.

All that needs to be done is the caulking of the divot in the puzzle piece.

You can see eight pieces of replacement fishscale in this corner. What you don't see are the many, little pieces of shingle it took to build it up for the finish fishscale.

Another puzzle piece. This one was easier but note the size of it compared to those around it.

75% of the fishscale were the same in general size but the other 25%, such as this one, were irregular and appear to have been used as bridging pieces.

The one you see here is a duplicate based on the remains of the original. I will talk about this process in a later post.

It took most of the day to replace the fishscale that could be reached without adding a second level to the scaffolding. When finished the workday was over.

We decided that the following day I would devote to glazing windows and SWMBO (since she would have the day off) would get to work with her father.

The next two pictures are of me glazing away at about 20 some-odd feet.

Since turnabout's fair play I decided to take a few pics of SWMBO working.

Here she is helping her dad install the pieces of fascia that the guttering will be attached to.

She was so pleased with herself at this point - she actually used the cordless drill to attach a piece of the fascia.

It might not sound like a big deal but trust me, it was! Do you have any idea how hard it is to screw something into 100+ year old wood?! Also, the screws we needed to use were not small ones; take a look to the left of her father's hand - that's part of a 3.5" screw.

I will be doing a special post on what it took to deal with this old wood soon.

Here they both are working on the east gable; I was still glazing away.

At this point there is still only one level of scaffolding up there.

Before I leave you let me share a few more pics showing some of the small projects being worked on or finished during this time period.

The white stripe is what you need to notice in this picture. It is the new crown moulding that is under the built-up area the gutter will be attached to. When the gutters are installed they will create a 'double crown' effect.

This blob of gray is the the second layer in that rotten spot under the kitchen window. The gray stuff is bondo for wood. Once this is sanded down a bit another layer will be added.

Note that the exterior window casing above it is missing. It was in such bad shape I've decided to replace it.

This last one is just a few scraps of old clapboard attached to a board. The intention is for SWMBO to use it in order to make a decision as to what colors will be used on the fishscale.

As to this project - lets not go there... The colors have been decided upon but it was a very painful process. At least this mock-up did what it was to do. Perhaps I will share pics of it being used in a later post.

While we're on the topic of fishscale colors...

To give you an idea how far we have come since my last post, and how much I need to fill you all in on, the east gable is basically painted and finished. All we lack in order to call that part 'complete' is about 3 more hours of paint touch-up.

Well, it's late and I'm tired so I'll go ahead and close this post.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

East Gable

2010-10-12T20:13:00.007-05:00

Hello Everyone!

Well, we started work on the east gable Monday. Today we upped the ante and setup the first tier of the narrow scaffolding.

And here it is.

It really isn't that bad, I think I like it better than the big scaffolding.

My mind might be changed when we add the second tier though.

Another 'issue' that is becoming apparent are the wasps. We seem to have several of these buggers flying all around us. It appears that they have a nest somewhere up there but we cant find it. There are two, old nests at the apex of the gable but they are no longer being used.

This is how far we got as of 5:45 PM today. It was starting to get dark so the picture isn't that bright - sorry.

With that being said the downward sweep of the gable is finished, it's just hard to see in the fading light.

Here's one of the spots where the fishscale needs to be replaced. For some reason the squirrels really loved chewing on this section. Look close and you can even see where they chewed on the wide section of moulding (it's about 6" diagonally down from the paint).

For the most part I've already cleaned this section up and just need to replace the missing pieces.

Well, that's about it for tonight. Let's hope tomorrow goes well.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Soffit Just About Done

2010-10-10T11:30:00.023-05:00

Hello again everyone!

This past week has been a slow one. A major snag was hit that brought the west side soffit repair to a screeching halt. The snag did not happen here but at the in-law's house - their well pump went out on them. They were without water from last Sunday night till late Friday night. Seeings how they NEEDED their water well more than we needed our soffit the father-n-law spent the whole week working on it.

Even though I offered to help him several times I spent the week doing something that needed to be done as well and it took a lot longer than expected - window prep. That's right, I spent the whole week working on prepping windows to be re-glazed. I still have two full windows and one pane to do and then I can glaze.

I should have spent Saturday glazing the windows but we decided to go to the big city and partake in the annual Historic House Tour.

It was an 'okay' tour. It's interesting to see what other people have done but I found myself scrutinizing details way too much. The best house on the tour was one that is in the destruction phase of a major restoration. We were really surprised that the owner did this. It takes a lot to let people in and see the mess you live in while doing it - we know this personally. Just think of the potential for liability!!! There were open spaces that allowed one to stand on the main floor and see, three stories up, into the attic.

This guy's house is a lot like ours but brick and about 50% larger. His house is the first one we have found with the same interior moulding we have!!! Also, his front room was one large room instead of a foyer. It would be as if we had two of our living rooms connected together. Also, his staircase was an open one and looked like something out of 'Gone With the Wind'. BTW - the house had been heavily divided up to make it usable as a 'safe house' for battered women in the 70s and 80s. The large front room was turned into three rooms and the staircase was even rotated 90 degrees. Part of of his restoration was the removal of the new walls and putting the staircase back in it's original location.

I was able to spend some time with him and swap horror stories and exchange ideas. I'm hoping to get to talk with him again in the near future when he isn't as distracted with people. I know we have to go back and see him at some point though because we have a part he could use. We found the original hot-water heater stand that would have been in this house and he has the original water heater for his house. We thought we'd let him have the stand.

Anyway, like I said earlier, I spent the week working on the windows. Originally we were not going to remove all the glazing but the more we worked around the windows the more we saw it needed to be done. In some cases the glazing fell out with barely a touch. In other cases I though dynamite would be needed. In those instances I used the Fein Multimaster; it has a blade that works great for removing stubborn glazing. The only windows left to do, other the the north side and the attic windows, are the top two on the west side. Other than these two the rest are ready for glazing. The other pane that has to be done will be addressed in another post.

Lets get back to the soffit.

I left off telling you just how bad it was and that the main board tying the rafter beams together had to be replaced. If you remember some the the ends of these beams were not in the best shape but still sound. Since we need to build up this area, in order to attach guttering, we decided to reinforce the rafter beams in order to handle the extra weight.

In this shot you can see how we did it.

We cut pieces of 2x6 into 1 foot lengths and tied them into the original rafter beams. The two you see here have not been tied in yet but it shows what it looks like.

While installing the extra pieces we were able to see just how much sag there was to the roof in spots. Some pieces slid in easily while others took a lot of effort.

We used Sure Drive Composite Deck Screws and they are absolutely wonderful! They self drill and are designed to pull both pieces of lumber together tightly. Even though they are designed for composite decking material they can be used with standard wood as well as treated lumber. The chemicals used in the treated lumber will not eat through these screws like they will the other screws. The hardest part was tying the new pieces in.

The original wood is so hard we had to resort to drilling pilot holes even for these special screws. To give you an idea how hard the wood was we broke three drill bits doing it. The pilot holes helped but the the fact remained that we had to cram an arm, and drill, into a 14" space in order to drive the screw. Along with this the scaffolding wasn't at the right height so we had to drag out a step stool to stand on to make the reach. So, while one of us drilled, the other spotted in case the one drilling slipped. The person who did the drilling had to use a lot of force to drill and was not able to hold on to anything for balance.

This process took almost an entire day.

The next step was installing the new 2x6 tie-in beam. This was a rather large sucker, a 12 feet long piece of treated lumber.

It isn't an easy task to manhandle something that size, and weight, up 20+ feet and we had three to move.

Once we got the first piece in place - I held the board up (while standing on tip-toes) while the father-n-law got a couple of screws in to secure it - we discovered another problem.

This time we were able to see just how uneven the settling along the edge of the roof was where the fascia and shingles met. The sag in the roof pushed the new board down in spots.

This is how we fixed the problem.

We are using a bottle jack and 2x4 to force the roof line back to it's proper location.

Do you see the 4x4 sticking out of the scaffolding platform? We know that the roof, even on the edge, weighs more than a ton due to the downward pressure of the roof spread along the support beams via the rafters. If we would have tried to use the bottle jack, by itself, the weight would have been forced downward, causing the jack to puncture the platform. To counter this we borrowed a 20' 4x4 and dragged it to the platform. This allowed the pressure to be evenly distributed to the metal part of the scaffolding and push the roof line up into place.

It worked, but was slow; after every four feet we would have to climbdown and move the scaffolding and readjust.

This process took another day.

Take a good look at this picture and you can see where the section of tie-in beam is about a 1/4 of an inch to 1/2 an inch lower than the roof beam. The father-n-law is removing the retaining screw he installed at the beginning so that we can adjust it.

Note the jack supported 2x4 to the right.

SWMBO took this picture.

We are now starting the process of straightening the roof line on the second piece of 2x6x12.

This picture SWMBO and I debated whether or not to post due to the difficulty in seeing the intent of the picture. You might have to click on the picture to see it better.

The intent was so you could see all four layers; the main tie-in beam with the beginnings of the new fascia, and built up area, on top.

The main tie-in beam (the three 2x6x12s) run the entire length. The first section of fascia board (made up of 1x6x12 ceder boards) ends just to the right of the lower window. We used a scarf joint on these boards in order to help lock their ends together and give a more finished look. The next section is the top fascia made up of 1x4x10s using scarf joints as well. To help maintain strength and stability the scarf joints of the upper fascia need to be staggered away from those of the lower fascia. Due to the staggering, and length of the upper fascia you can see where it ends just to the left of the lower window. The shortest piece of lumber you can see, the one on top of the others, is the first step in building up the space occupied by the original crown moulding. This must be done so that the guttering has a stable base to be attached to and is located directly under the roof flashing. This board is just a standard 2x4.

In this close up you can see the various layers.

Look close and you will see a dark line running along the roof beams; this is the new tie-in beam. Next you can see the first fascia layer and scarf joint. On top of this is the second layer of fascia.

These two layers of fascia reproduce the original fascia on the house and the original crown moulding would have been placed on top of it.

Next you can clearly see the 2x4 with the final piece of spacing on top of it - a 1x4 piece of ceder. We are not using scarf joints on the two spacing layers; one, they are not needed, and two, they will not be seen.

This top layer is where the guttering will be attached. Note the use of ceder as the outer portion that will come into contact with the guttering. Ceder is extremely strong for it's weight and it's also impervious to rot and insects.

The space that needed to be filled is almost 3" in profile. It might not sound like much but from the ground it makes the soffit/fascia area look massive. in order to disguise this we have decided to add something. More on this will be forth coming in a later post.

And here we have the finished fascia, at least on the west side.

This corner shot lets you see how nicely it all ties together and will allow the guttering to sit where it needs to be. If you look close you will notice that the final piece of spacing board, the 1x4 piece of ceder, has not yet been added to the south section.

You can also see that a length of the bead-board soffit is still missing.

Turns out this entire length of bead-board had to be replaced after all. The bad part is that the replacement pieces that are currently made are either too thin or too thick.

In order to get the 1/2 thickness of the original bead-board we bought 3/4" and cut it down. I also had to cut the tongue off the edge of the bead-board so it would go into place.

On Monday I installed the first piece of replacement bead-board.

I think it turned out great.

The other pieces will have to wait till later because I need help moving the scaffolding. Perhaps SWMBO can help me with that today.

Well, I guess I better go get busy.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Soffit Up-date

2010-09-30T09:18:00.008-05:00

Hello again everyone!

Thought I'd take a quick moment to give you an update I should have done last night.

If you remember from the last post I mentioned we had ran into a bit of a problem on the west side. It's one of those problems I wish we would've known about when we first started work on that side.

Basically...the outer edge of the roof is rotted.

Our roof was built a bit different than modern roofs are. Most roof edges are made up of rafter edges, battens, purlins, eaves, barge board, etc.

Our roof edge has all of this with a couple of extras. Along with the typical battens, the boards that tie the rafters together, we have two battens stacked on top of each other right on the top edge. Also, most homes have an eave attached to the end of the rafters on non-gable ends. This is whats also know as the 'trim' if I understand it correctly.

Anyway, our house has a 2x6 tying the rafter ends together with all the extra boards attached to it. By-the-way, the rafters are also 2x6s.

All tied together this makes for an extremely strong roof edge that is uncommon today - just take a look at modern roof construction and you will see.

Unfortunately termites got to parts of the 2x6 that tied all the rafters together. On top of this wood-rot also set in.

Needless to say, it had to be removed. We are lucky though, it could have been a lot worse!

Following are some of the pictures that will kind of give you an idea just how bad it was.

This is the south west corner.

It amazes me how rotten the west board is yet the south board is in great condition.

In case you're wondering - that is wire mesh screen at the top portion of the corner. We think it was put there to keep squirrels, and other creatures, out. I don't think it helped much, I found nut remains all over.

Nasty looking ain't it?!

Even some of the original shake shingles were deteriorated.

Fortunately the double layer of 1x6 battens were only affected on the outer inch. The stability of the structure is still in excellent condition. With such a small amount of the battens being affected we will not need to replace them at this time. To do this it would require the removal of the roofing down to the rafters.

Eventually this will be done but it won't be for several years. With this future repair in mind we will be making the immediate, necessary repairs in a way that will not hinder the future repairs.

This is a close-up of the same spot.

The entire length was not this bad but bad enough to warrant complete removal of most of it.

A section further north.

As you can see, the ends of the rafters, with very few exceptions, are in excellent shape. Those that were affected only had damage in the area where the lowest tip/edge of the rafter met the edging board.

I'll get more pictures of this when I make the repairs.

Before I forget... You might have noticed that a length of the bead-board is missing. This section will also need to be replaced due to rot.

This is the north west corner.

The main board here is in excellent condition, just dirty. I decided to leave it alone - no sense in replacing something that doesn't need it.

Now this is what boggles the mind...

Remember in the first picture where the west board was rotten but the south board was perfect? At this corner the west board is perfect and the north board is rotten!! Isn't that just weird?

While we are on this picture you might have noticed the boards laying across the top of the scaffolding. These are part of the eave trim that are still in good condition and can be used. This will save in the cost of replacement.

Basically, to accomplish this task I had to remove all the main nails (about 5" in length). The board was so bad some of these could be removed by hand. I then had to cut the board, using the Sawzall, into manageable lengths and then pry them from the two batten boards tied into it. There were spots that were so rotten that as soon as a chunk was cut it just fell off. Lucky for me these pieces were rotten enough they didn't cause damage when they hit my head!

Once this was finished the nails that were sticking out had to be cut-off so that the replacement boards can be installed.

The whole process took most of the day. It would have gone faster if I didn't have to climb down from the scaffolding to move it over another 4'. I won't even mention the nasty mess.

Here's something else that amazes me... I'm using modern tools and safety devices/conveniences, such as the scaffolding. The original boards are solid 2x6s 16' long. These puppies were extremely heavy! How in the world did the manhandle these things in place back then?!?!

Anyway, moving on...

As you know, we're still scraping the soffits on the east side. They are finished for the most part but we ran into a rather interesting problem here as well.

Do you have any idea what this hole is for?

This is where the original downspout for the internal gutters came out on this section of the house.

It isn't going to be too big of a problem fixing this; the hardest part is going to be matching the moulding. This style of moulding is still made, but I think it is about 2/3rds the size of the original. To get the mouldings to match might be tricky. I'll keep you up-dated.

That's about it for now. I need to go take some measurements for a run to the lumber yard.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Still Here... Still Scraping...

2010-09-24T20:32:00.030-05:00

Hello Everyone -

Yes - we're still here and still scraping.

We've been so busy with the house, and other 'little' interruptions, that I just haven't gotten around to updating.

If you remember from my last post we were hit by a freak storm. Well, we were hit by another freak storm the following week as well. this time we had tornadoes dropping down all around us! We even had something called a 'gustnado' form less than a block from the house and travel down town! During the whole ordeal I stood in the middle of the field next to us and watched it happen. It is quit an awesome experience to watch forming tornadoes cross overhead!!! Fortunately we had no damage at all.

Anyway, let's get to the house.

When I left you last we had a hole in the living room ceiling and were almost done with the west side of the hose so let me fill you in with what's happened.

As expected a bigger chunk of the ceiling did fall. All I had to do was touch it and it came down.

As I said before, at least the living room hasn't had any restoration work done on it yet.

And here is the newly expanded hole.

By this point I've already removed all the loose plaster as well as some lath. I've removed the lath so I could gain access to the porch ceiling in order to find the source of the leak.

These next few pictures are a look into the 'innards' of the porch. I have a feeling I'm the first person in over a hundred years to see this so I thought I'd share.

Remember the separation point (gap) where the porch is pulling away from the house?

This is what it looks like from inside the porch ceiling (it's the greenish colored slash in the center).

Here's the underside looking east.

Can you believe how new the wood looks?

On the left side of the picture you can see the bottom tips of the house sheeting. Better than the chip-board they use today don't you thing?

Looking south.

There is about a foot and a half drop to the actual porch ceiling.

The next picture is a rather hard one to wrap the brain around and place it into perspective.

This is the spot where we assume the water was coming in.

If you were to poke your head up into the hole in the ceiling, and look south, this spot would be right above your right shoulder about 2 feet to the west.

I tried to get a photo that showed the light streaming in from the crack but it just wouldn't take. Trust me though, there was a crack, about 1/16 of an inch by 4 inches)where the single board butted up against the two boards.

Now keep this spot in mind - especially the small rift between the two sheeting boards on the right side side - it will be important again in a bit.

In order to find the hole on the roof-side of the porch I needed to shove something up in it that I could see when on the roof. My first attempt was a stiff wire but when I went out onto the roof to find it there was no sign of the wire.

I knew the whole had to be located along the bottom portion of where the windows directly above met the porch roof but like I said, there was no sign of the wire.

So I decided to use something a bit heavier - some of the window glazing trim I used on the lead glass window.

This piece of trim did the trick.

Here you can see it sticking out of the ceiling.

And here's the crack I found with it.

It was hiding behind broken piece of clapboard and flashing.

I thought that the crack was under the window, turns out it was on the west side of it.

A better view.

The molding is is the bright piece of wood that the sunlight is hitting. The real thin item is the flashing that goes behind the clapboard.

And there it is.

You can even see some of the actual crack to the left of where the piece of moulding pops through. You can also see part of the wire I used previously.

After removing the the piece of moulding, and wire, I cleaned out the area behind the flashing and replaced the clapboards.

Once that was finished I decided to replace the piece of rotted trip above the windows in the little bed room.

There wasn't much holding it in so it popped out easily.

What you see here is the best section of the trim!

Here's the replacement piece in place.

It might look like there is a 'wave' like curl in it but that's an optical illusion. In reality it's the grain of the wood.

It only took about 30 minutes to cut, trim, rout and install this piece of trim. Once it is caulked it should help keep the water out during the next rain storm.

Speaking of rainstorms...we had another one last Friday! This is three storms in row that hit on either a Thursday or Friday.

Anyway, we still had a slight leak in the living room ceiling.

Remember that small rift between the two sheeting boards? Turns out rain water was being channeled through it from another location along with the crack right next to it. We are not sure where the leak originated this time. It originally started as a single drop about once every 15 to 20 seconds and lasted for about n hour or two. Then, all of a sudden the leak stopped and it was raining even harder out side.

So, it has now been decided NOT to repair the hole in the ceiling just yet. We are going to cover it with paneling instead. This will allow us to take a look, after the house is sealed and painted, at the problem area when it rains. By doing this we will be able to determine if the leak is indeed fixed due to painting and caulking. Once we are sure we will then repair the ceiling.

While working on all of these little problems we did manage to work on the soffits and eaves on the south side. While doing so we found more of the original green paint.

This is the last picture for this post. Thought you would like to see that the west side IS done!! It is now ready for priming and paint!

Oh wait...not quite. There is a bit of a problem we've ran into. More on that later.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Oh, the Humanity!!!

2010-09-12T09:54:00.051-05:00

Hello Everyone -

These past couple of weeks have been a wild ride!!!

We've gotten a lot done on the house scraping but there have been so many interruptions. The biggest one has been my allergies.

When my allergies hit they hit hard. Most people say "just take a pill", I can't. I'm very sensitive to allergy meds as well as flu meds. If the package says 'causes drowsiness' I'm out like a light for hours. If it says 'non-drowsy' it's a 50/50 chance I'll be out for a few hours or I'll be in a fishbowl fog.

A week ago last Thursday my allergies hit so working on the house has been a crap shoot.

The big news though is last Friday, the 10th. Our tiny town was hit by a freak storm that created 70+ mph down-bursts. They came in waves and lasted a long time. What made it worse was that they came from the south. With no paint on the house, and thus no paint or caulking covering seams and cracks, the house took a major beating.

We were without power for several hours as well - thank goodness for oil lamps!

If it were not for the fact that the main windows on the lower south side, under the porch, were open we feel they would have been blown out. The wind did blow the furniture in the living room across the room to the dinning room though. We also had water on the living room floor, and foyer floor, that covered most of the surface.

At one point I went outside, after the windows were closed, and I was about blown through the main bay window by a down-burst.

Needless to say we had damage.

Remember that cracked, and sagging, section of ceiling within the bay area of the living room? Well, it's gone.

Here are the remains.

Yes, that is a cat pan, and other pots, set out to catch what water we could catch coming in from the ceiling. It was as if a faucet had been turned on.

Thing is, we are not sure how the water got into the ceiling. Only thing we figure is the lack of paint. Once we are dried out we will be using spotlights and looking for cracks/holes in the porch roof. We have been in this house for 10 years now and this is the first time we have had water leaks due to rain - so it's GOT to do with the lack of paint.

And here's the hole.

It isn't too noticeable in the picture but the section of ceiling to the right of the picture is now sagging. Monday I will probably work at removing this section of plaster.

Closer view of the same hole.

This time though you can see the 'new' sagging crack going to the right!

The problems didn't stop in the living room. We had water being driven into the house around just about every window, especially on the south side. It was even being forced into the side lights of the front door!

Also, if you remember, we have large cracks in the cement porch in front of the front door. Thanks to the large amounts of water that pooled there we ended up with water in the basement as well.

Now in reality we have no idea how much damage the rain caused and following is one of the reasons why.

These are the windows in the smallest bedroom, the one above the foyer.

See the dark stain around the window (it goes all the way around it)? That is where water was driven in. Now look to the immediate left of the dark stain. Do you see a jagged triangular shadow? The dark stain is where the plaster and wall paper was saturated, the shadow is where the plaster and wall paper was damp.

This is the new 'bulge' above the same set of windows.

You can see the same dark stain and shadow stain.

This is what it looks like under the windows.

Notice the platform on the porch roof? Neither of the platforms, or ladders, or scaffolding budged, but we sure had a lot of debris in the yard!!

We do know that part of the reason the set of windows in the small bedroom got so saturated was due to the attic window above it.

With the paint missing from the fishscales, as well as the window trim, the water was running down the inside wall of the attic right down into the windows below it.

We are lucky, it could have been a lot worse. The living room and upstairs bedroom could have been finished!!

As it is the plan has been, from the beginning, to gut the living room ceiling and gut the small bedroom.

I did tell SWMBO that with the hole in the living room ceiling we could get a bigger Christmas tree!!

Okay, now that the nightmare is over, and the clean-up has commenced, lets get back to the house.

I'll start where we left off last time - the lead glass window and the west wall.

The lead window frame is trashed - it's at that point it needs to be replaced.

This is the bottom sill of the window that faces outside.

Here it doesn't look too bad and I figured it could be repaired.

However, the side facing inside is the part I don't think I can repair.

This side is infected with rot. See the little divot? That was caused by just scratching the surface with my finger nail. The entire corner is this soft and rotted.

Based on the diminishing marginal returns formula of time + material + labor it doesn't make sense to repair; it makes more sense to replace.

So, we replaced the glass and wood stays.

Over the Winter, or perhaps Spring, we'll replace the frame.

Not the best picture, or best miter cut, but you can see there is some fanciness to the wood stays.

With the new glass in place we are still amazed at how well the view is. Just goes to show how dirty the original window was!!

Surprisingly no rain was driven into this window!

On Wednesday, the 1st, we started the repairs to the clapboard that needed to be dealt with.

This is the section where the exhaust fan in the kitchen had been.

Did you notice the paper between the clapboard and house sheeting? We weren't expecting so much to have survived over time. We now know that this is one reason the termites were able to make it all the way up into the attic!! The nasty buggers we using the paper to build there tunnels!

And here is the new ceder clapboard.

Doesn't look too bad does it?

On Thursday, the day my allergies hit, SWMBO was able to join us.

Friday turned out to be one of the days not much got done.

We had to add the fourth level to the scaffolding as well as borrow some scaffolding platforms. So the biggest part of the day was working out a major puzzler dealing with scaffolding sizes and cross bars to make the fourth level work.

We also spent a couple of hours talking to the contractor who we got the platforms from as well as demonstrating the Paint Shaver to him as well as another contractor.

View from the very top.

We left the third level platforms in place to aid in sanding.

You can see them sticking out below me.

The platforms at the very top are the ones we are borrowing, the others are just really large boards on top of ladders.

See that underneath part of the soffit?!

This is by far the hardest thing I've had to work on with the Paint Shaver. You have to hold the thing upside-down and move it backward. It's very hard on the back and arms. The amount you see here took over an hour to shave. The corner section to the left, less than half the size, took about the same amount of time but I had to stand on my tip-toes AND lean out further than I wanted.

Look close in this picture. See the platform, with a step stool and pair of legs. I had to stand on this, on the edge of the back porch roof, to reach the tip of the corner. It looks like one would be leaning up against the scaffolding for support, but there is actually a rather large space between the platform and scaffolding. Standing on your tip-toes, using a power tool that could liquefy your face, upside-down, was not fun.

It didn't help that the soffit bead-boards were so uneven as well!!

The first part of the rotten moulding is now gone.

The nails have been cut off and all is ready for the replacement boards. The new boards will hold the new guttering.

These next two pictures are more a study in contrast than anything else. I thought some of you would be interested in seeing what the clapboard looked like after being shaved and then sanded.

These are clapboards that have been shaved.

These have been shaved and then sanded, ready for painting.

I hope you can see the difference in contrast between the two!

We ran across something interesting while replacing clapboards.

Back in the old days house builders used 1x lumber to sheet a house instead of wafer board. By attaching it at an angle it made the house more structurally stronger. Typically the 1xs all went the same direction. The ones on this wall though go in opposite directions.

I have never seen this done before. It makes me wonder if a major repair/upgrade/addition was done here or perhaps it was done due to the large set of windows.

The other mystery was found about a foot to the left of the spot mentioned above.

Here we found electrical lines going through the wall. They went through the two tiny holes right below the clapboard.

There is no indication what they were for or were they went. There was less than an inch of wire and they were covered by the old clapboard. We also found a lag-bolt that had been broken off in the sheeting next to them.

I thought some of you would find it interesting to see the hardware used to hold the original storm windows in place.

I am keeping all the pieces I find.

BTW - the only windows that do not have this hardware, or at least the scares of where it was attached, are the smaller windows that make up the North West corner of the kitchen. More evidence that those windows were added a lot latter.

What was surprising was how vivid the butter cream color found under the hardware was.

Speaking of original colors...

Remember the deep Emerald Green color we found on the fishscale? We found evidence that it was also used on some of the trim on the big set of windows in the kitchen.

So far we have really, really, REALLY lucked out in not have a lot of rot damage around the house. Last week I had a chance to work on the worst rot damage on the house we are aware of.

The area is on the lower edge of the most Northern kitchen window.

About the only thing you can due, short of complete replacement, is repair.

With this particular area of rot I treated it like a dental cavity.

Just as a dentist will clean out the rot of a tooth I did the same with the window trim.

Instead of using the expensive wood-bondo stuff at this point I opted for plain ol' wood filler.

You can see it crammed deep down inside there.

Just another view.

You can see where I scraped away the rot but I did leave the nails. The nails will help the filler, and bondo, stay in place.

This might give you an idea how deep the rot went.

This is the final layer of filler. The bondo will be placed on top of this once it is dry.

For those of you wondering, I made about a half dozen filler balls like this.

Once made all you have to do is pack them in the cavity - just like a dentist would do.

Before we move on - the vertical trim piece, that's end is rotted, is going to be completely replaced.

Once finished I covered the area in tin-foil and duct-tape. We knew there was to be a chance of rain for the week-end and I wanted to protect it.

As you know the rain was a LOT worse than expected!! So, the filler is still wet (but in good condition) because the rain soaked right through the exposed wood!

Today I removed the tin-foil and hopefully it will harden in a day or two.

Last Thursday was the last day we got to work on the house and we got a late start due to light rain.

So what you see here is where we started Thursday afternoon.

By the time we finished Thursday - due to rain again - this is as far as we got.

Along with scraping paint we started sanding the wall that day.

Note that the underside of the soffit is still not done. It was just too difficult to work on that day. My allergy meds were starting to make me woozy and being on top of the scaffolding, and bending over backwards to use the Paint Shaver, just made me more and more nauseous.

When I finally gave up and climbed down from my perch I found out that it wasn't just the meds, the scaffolding was now unstable. We had been having enough gentle rains that the section of ground one of the wheels was sitting on could no longer support that section of scaffolding.

The more I moved around up top the more the scaffolding would sway due to the soft spot and the more nauseous I got. The area is now stabilized.

So Thursday afternoon found us here.
See how close we are to having the West wall done?! More of the upper moulding is even gone.

If the weather holds it will be ready for painting before the next week is out, but we were just told there is a chance of rain for the next few days.

I did not work on the house at all Friday due to allergies and thanks to them nothing much got done this week-end either.

I'll leave you with the following picture.

For some reason we've had more Tree Frogs in the area than normal. This one was found hanging around the door latch on the wood shop.

Most of them we have seen are bright green or plain green. This one was more of a Bronze Green.

Well, I'm tired, my brain hurts and my drugs are starting to take effect so I think I'll sign off for now.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

So Close...

2010-08-28T12:06:00.023-05:00

Hello Everyone!

We made some major headway the past couple of days. Not as much as I had hoped for but more than expected considering the problems we encountered Thursday. I'll get to those later.

First up is the leaded glass window that needed to be removed. This was super simple considering the wood strips holding it in basically fell out with little effort.

Here it is in all it's glory.

You can kind of see where the right side bends upward.

Now I need to find someway to store it till Winter.

Look to the left of the picture and you can see how the window lays flat. The right side is bent upward by about 2 inches.

One good thing though, it bent down easily and is now flat! All I had to do was gently press it down.

If only the broken panes could be fixed this easily easily.

The gaping maul on the first landing.

Sorry the picture's so dark, but the trees are better to look at any way.

Next step was to remove the window frame.

This was a bit tricky. It's hard to explain but the window is not held in place like normal (well, normal to me anyway).

The window slides into the opening from the inside of the house. The window trim on the outside holds it in and the trim moulding on the inside locks it in place.

Basically you remove the inner moulding, tilt the window frame inside and lift out.

Before this could be done though the moulding had to be removed.

One would think that removing the moulding would be an easy thing to do - au contraire mon ami.

This is 100+ year old moulding. It is very brittle. One MUST be very delicate when dealing with it.

First you need to get rid of any paint around the area where the moulding meets the opening.

Here I used the heat gun.

The heat gun also helps the loosen the original stain as well.

Once this is done you need to get the thinnest putty knife you can find and look for the 'sweet' spot. The sweet spot is a tiny gap along the area when the two pieces of wood meet. It might be no bigger than a gnats hair, but there will be one.

Once found, very gently push the putty knife into it. DON'T hammer it in(!!!) you might run the risk of damaging the wood. It might take some effort put it will go in.

Once it's in, very carefully work it up and down in order to break the seal.

Once the seal is broken you should be able to pry the moulding up enough to get a thicker putty knife in there.

DO NOT force the moulding at this time!!! This is where most people screw up ans break the moulding. Old wood is extremely fragile and breaks easily - trust me on this one folks, we ruined enough moulding in our first house before we learned.

Once you can get a larger putty knife in between the two pieces of wood carefully pry just enough to so you can locate the nails. Once the nails are found use a small pry bar to pry the moulding at the nails' various locations.

Once the nails are for the most part out you ill need to deal with the one were the mouldings meet. You can see the spot in this picture.

Luckily I didn't have to deal with four pieces of trim, only three. If there were four you have to do something different.

Anyway, at this point don't try and pry the last nail out, just get some of it out. If you try to pry it all out you run the risk of crushing and/or splintering the mitered ends.

What you need to do is grab the moulding at the base and pull down and out at the same time. This will been the nail downward and out. look closely at the picture and you can see where the vertical piece of moulding is coming down and out out.

Once the trim moulding is removed don't try and hammer the nails out from the back. If you do, chances are you will pop a divot of wood out with it. Don't ask me why this happens but most of the time it does.

Instead, take a pair of pliers and pull the nail out from the back. This will leave the surface you see unmarred.

And here's the frame.

The frame is sideways with the bottom on the right. Note how bad the bottom is and this side was face inward.

I'll cover this in more detail in an upcoming post. We have rain coming so I need to fix the window ASAP!!!

Don't look at all the crud on the white inner sill, look at the crud where the window had sat.

There was a large amount of dirt, dead bugs, old paint, and unknown bits there. All of this helped contribute to the damage of the lower sash.

Here's all the component parts.

The moulding is on top of the glass and the nails are still in it. The thin white items are the small wood trim strips that held the glass (one is broken).

The interesting thing about the glass is the lead came, it is rounded - not flat.

This will help determine the age of the window. We'll get into this in more detail later so stay tuned.

See all that dirt?!

Remember earlier when I said we ran into problems? For starters I ended up having to run the dog to the vet. She has done something to her back and now has a bulging disk! She is doing better now but the Vet said "no activity at all for a week". This is easier said than done.

We also ran into a problem with the large scaffolding. The problem was along the lines of a Rubik's cube problem. I'm not even sure if I could explain what the problem was or how we fixed it, but it's fixed. Unfortunately it took over three hours!

So in all we only got about 4 hours of work in on the house Thursday.

By the end of work Thursday this is where we ended up.

We now have three levels of scaffolding up and have added a couple of boards to create safety rails at the top.

And here is where we ended on Friday.

We are still trying to figure out why we didn't get that white patch, to the right of the big windows, done. Some of the other white patches are boards to be replaced.

Here's a better shot.

We are so close to having the west wall finished!!

Monday we will add the fourth level to the scaffolding and bet the rest of the wall finished. Once that's done we get to start on the soffit!!! Oy vey!!!

I'll leave you with the following picture.

It's a long drop to the ground....

If you look at the scaffolding in the previous picture you'll notice that the platform extends almost 3 feet on either side. I'm sitting on this part looking down.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Get the Lead Out!!

2010-08-25T19:28:00.008-05:00

Hello Everyone!

We are still plugging along. We did have a rain delay Tuesday but I'm not complaining, we need the rain. The yard needs to be mowed now and that will take some time - oh well.

As the title says "Get the Lead Out!!"

True, we are removing every spec of lead paint we can, but that's not what the title is alluding to.

However, speaking of lead paint...

I had my lead level checked at the Doc's the other day and finally got the results back. My lead level is elevated 2 points above normal. I don't think that's too bad considering the use of heat guns on this paint and the fact that I help my father, periodically, in his lead smelting business.

Anyway, what the title is in regard to is the old lead glass window in the first landing of the stairwell.

This is the one.

As you can see there are already two broken pieces. Also, the wood moulding holding it in is SO bad that the paint is all that's really holding it in. As I scraped the window moved.

I'm not sure it will survive the sanding process so it's got to come out.

In it's place we'll install a plain piece of glass until one of two things happen; it gets repaired or gets replaced by stained glass.

This will be an interesting project I can work on during the Winter. As Gary, over at 'This Old Crack house' says (albeit about gutters) "[it] is an art form that I am willing to learn".

I will tackle the removal tomorrow so stayed tuned.

Here's a bit more of what got done.

The triangular section of the porch roof took a total of 10+ hours and thanks to the tightness of the corner I couldn't get every spec.

You can also see that the paint around the window is, for the most part, gone as well. The Paint Shaver doesn't allow me to get right up to the trim edge so we scrape out the areas around them.

Tomorrow there should be a rather large swath of paint gone.

This is the area the father-n-law concentrated on. Again, the areas around the windows, as well as the spots where the Paint Shaver can't be used, got worked over.

Did you notice the long white line under the main window?

SWMBO asked me to leave a patch of paint so she can try her hand at the Paint Shaver (that ought to be fun).

I will leave you with the following picture it's of our 'newest' problem.

And here it is - a rather large separation point.

This is the upper most section of the porch roof where it 'should' be snug against the house. The gap is about 1/2 an inch wide at the top. It is proof positive that the porch is sagging.

With a light I looked inside the gap as best I could. Not much was seen but what was there was not good - there was a sliver of daylight coming through a crack somewhere along the part where the roof meets the house.

We will need to address this when the porch gets a face-lift.

Well, that's about it for now; I'm tired and sore and ready for some much needed sleep.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry~

"Go West, Young Man"

2010-08-23T18:32:00.003-05:00

Due to unforeseen circumstances the new scaffolding did not get used today.

However, I did try to finish scraping the fishscale at the very top of the south dormer window.

Note - I said 'try'.

It did not happen. I got some of the window scraped but not the fishscale. The ladder platform had to be moved out too close to the edge and the ladder was too 'iffy'

Have you ever watched those movies like 'Final Destination' and the characters could 'feel' something ominous about to happen? That's what it was like.

I knew that if I stayed up there any longer something bad was going to happen. Even the hair on the back of my neck was on edge.

I couldn't get off that ladder fast enough.

Instead, I heeded a paraphrased piece of advice given by Horace Greeley in 1838: "Go West, Young Man."

So I started on the west side of the house.

It doesn't look like I got very far but keep in mind the nails had to be set. I also had some mechanical problems with the shop-vac which slowed me down.

Hopefully tomorrow will be better. We plan to move the big scaffolding to the west side and add wheels. Once this is all together the clapboard should go a lot faster.

Well, that's about it for now.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry~

Wingo! She-she-sshhaa...

2010-08-20T17:09:00.006-05:00

As promised here's the info on the sweet deal from Craigslist.

Wingo! Scaffolding!!

Sorry Jan - it's not a manual man lift...

Okay, so you all might not be as excited as I am about this but believe me, it's a big deal. As you have heard me say we need something to make scraping and painting the very top of the dormers a bit more safer and easier. The only thing we could come up with was scaffolding.

Since we really didn't want to move the big scaffolding up onto the porch roof we had to come up with something. So for the past several days I've been looking at narrow scaffolding. Everything we have found started at $200 for one set that measured about 5' tall x 5' wide x 2-1/2' deep. One set was a bit taller but more expensive. In order to get to the top of the dormers we would need at least two sets and that would cost at least $400 without tax.

So, during a break yesterday afternoon I took a gamble and looked on Craigslist. You will NOT believe what I found!!!! Not only one set of narrow scaffolding but three!! Best part - the owner only wanted $100!!!!

She-she-sshhaa...

We lucked out and got three times the amount for half the price!!!

On top of this the scaffolding is a heavier quality than the stuff we were looking at.

With money in hand my father-n-law and I set out for a town named Kingman, about 67 miles west of us to get our treasure.

And here it is!!

Isn't it wonderful?!

It is old, and well used, but it's got many years of use still in it.

What you see here is a major bonus - the owner made a storage holder for all of it. That's the main thing in the picture. The cross-arms are behind it on the ground.

Now, on top of the scaffolding, cross-arms and a storage holder we also got wheels for it. These are not the smaller wheels you get with the typical narrow scaffolding but the big ones you use with the large scaffolding. We don't have any of these for the big set so they will be handy. Best part about these, they sell for about $50 a pop new and $30 used!

Okay, now for the down side.

The scaffolding had been stored outside for at least 3 years so it is rusty. It is also the older type that uses wing-nuts and bolts to secure the cross-arms. The wing-nuts were rusted and seized to the bolts.

Not a big deal though. I generously soaked the wing-nuts and bolts in PB Blaster and let them set while I had lunch.

About an hour later a got busy un-seizing the wing nuts. It took all afternoon, as well as a lot of elbow grease and brute force, but they are now separated. I think I might use regular bolts instead of the wing-nuts though; the wing-nuts are rather knackered.

Here it is in the storage holder waiting for use.

Hopefully we'll get to play with them this week-end.

When we are finished with the house, this stuff will come in handing for working on the ceilings in the house. The type of scaffolding was actually created for indoor use. It was made narrow in order to go through doors. We will also be able to use it in the stairwell.

When not in use with the house these things can also be used as rolling storage bins for shops. I plan to use mine for wood storage.

Some time you have a day when your wearing milk-bone underwear and the world is filled with hungry dogs. And then you have days when it's peaches and cream. Today we got our peaches and cream with a cherry on top!

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry~

Quick Fishscale Up-date

2010-08-19T20:20:00.003-05:00

Hey Everyone -

Thought I'd give you all a quick up-date.

We didn't get to work on the outside of the house due to rain on Tuesday, but Wednesday and today went rather well, even though we got a late start.

The fishscale on the South dormer is over 90% done.

The only reason the rest isn't scraped is due to the ladder being separated into two pieces and the lateness of the day. Tomorrow it will get done.

Speaking of tomorrow... I snagged a sweet deal on Craigslist; a REAL SWEET deal. It will make the higher areas easier to work with. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait till tomorrow to see it - ROAD TRIP!!!

I'll leave you with this picture. Consider it something like the 'Where's Waldo' game.

Look for the fishscales that are 'darker'. Those fishscales are the ones where the Emerald Green paint soaked into the scales like a stain.

Also, we found evidence that the molding was painted the same color.

Anyway, that's about it for now.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Fishscales

2010-08-17T08:06:00.008-05:00

Hello Everyone!

We've finally had a break in the weather and have even had some rain!!! In fact, it's raining right now - that's why I'm writing this post so early.

Monday found us tackling a job that has been dreaded since day one - the fishscales.

In order to scrape these we had to come up with some sort of scaffolding system. Ladder jacks came to mind so we decided to try them.

As you all know I hate ladders. Well, this system not only utilizes one ladder but three!!!

It's an easy enough scaffolding system to use but we sill ran into problems. The main issue was that when I stood on the ladder jack platform my nose was just a couple of inches from the house. This would not work - I need more room than this to work in. Also, the system, while stable, was just a little too 'iffy' for me.

So instead we are using the platform as a tool caddy and and using the main ladders as our work platforms.

Here's the whole set-up.

My father-n-law is on the left.

While setting up the ladder jacks we did notice that it's going to be a trick to get to the moulding along the roof edge up there. With this in mind we are going to have to figure something out in order to scrape, and paint, the very top safely. SWMBO's father suggested we just lay on the roof and hang over! Instead we are going to look at assembling some light scaffolding on the roof platforms.

As we scraped the fishscale more of the deep Emerald Green paint showed up.

We do intend to paint fishscale in two different colors, but Emerald Green isn't one of those.

While we're on the fishscale here's a picture of the typical repairs needed.

Fortunately there isn't a lot of fishscale missing. A major bonus for us, that will make this job easier, is that we found the original templates used to make them. This'll be covered in another post.

I'll leave you with the following pictures. SWMBO thought it would be interesting if I took some pictures from the top of the ladder, so here they are.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Scrape or Die

2010-08-12T08:08:00.012-05:00

Hello Everyone -

If you recall from the last post I was finishing up the fascia section between columns 2 & 3. I also predicted it would take another week to finish the rest of the fascia.

Friday went as planed and I was able to get the section finished right up to where the curve starts.

Then the schedule went to hell in a hand basket. Saturday and Sunday were so hot we bagged it and did some other things around the house that needed done. Not really a big deal since I try to keep a slower pace on the week-ends. Then Sunday night I remembered that I needed to go into the big city the next day; so Monday was a wash as well.

Then Tuesday started off with high heat warnings.

Today was our third consecutive day this week with high heat warnings with a heat index of 110+.

I was bound and determined NOT to keep all of this preventing me from finishing the fascia.

During the past three days I have been working on the curve and the southern facing fascia. These are the areas that have absolutely no shade - period.

All I could think of was the desert columns from the movie 'March or Die' (hence the title).

This is one of my all time favorite movies and as a Kid I would often pretend I was in the French Foreign Legion. There was even a time, right after I got the boot from the Army, I seriously consider joining the FFL as a training officer. SWMBO threatened to do bodily harm if I did.

Anyway, in the movie one must literally 'March or Die'; the column would not wait for you. If you fell out, chances are you would die.

The scene I thought about most showed one of the Legionnaires falling out. The following is not that scene but it does get the point across

Basically, the past few days have been my personal battle of wills against the house and the elements.

And yes, I did have a wet sun shield attached to my hat.

On with the pictures....

Tuesday was spent on the main part of the curve and here it is finished.

As alluded to in the last post we found a possible problem.

And here it is.

Notice the nasty crack? That's just the tip of the ice-berg.

What doesn't show up well in any of the pictures I've taken is that the extreme right side edge of the curve is now a very shallow 'S'. In other words this part of the lower fascia is getting crushed.

Turns out that what can be seen is only about 1/4 of an inch thick!! It is not as thick as the straight runs.

The weight, and sagging, has caused several cracks along the fascia as well.

Our first instinct was to replace it. On further thought however, we will wait to do this until we replace the porch columns. We need to raise this section in order to do what we want to do and chances are the repair would be damaged when we do this. Besides, it's been there for 100+ years, what's another year or two?

Here's another one of the bigger cracks.

For those of you interested you can see six nail heads (one is in the crack). There are nail sets like this spaced out about every foot. Before using the Paint Shaver I had to set every single one of these, as well as all the other nails!

Let's back track a bit and look at the spot where the rot was removed.

Here it is.

What we need to look closely at is the three elements that make up the crown moulding of the upper fascia.

First you have the lower base - the fascia; then you have the crown topped off with the upper base.

Normally these three parts converge to form the triangle. For some reason this moulding doesn't.

Lets have a closer look.

The section outlined in Blue is the primary base, the fascia. The green is the crown and the Red is the top base.

Note the gap in the spot where the Blue and Red should meet. This would be okay if both pieces were attached to something solid and stable but these aren't. The Blue is attached to the core or the fascia so its okay. What concerns me is that the Red part appears to be attached to nothing put the original shake shingles! This is neither solid nor stable!!

For the life of me I have yet to figure out how they attached the top base - there are no nails going through it up into the shingles. So this leads me to believe that there HAS to be stabilization blocks along the primary base. So far I haven't found any yet. This should be interesting.

This is as far as I got Wednesday.

I know it doesn't look like a lot but it took over six ours to do this.

The long, flat, section doesn't take any time at all using the Paint Shaver, once the nails are set (this can take a while).

What eats up the time and energy is the moulding! You can see the thin strip I left to be finished today.

In this close up you can see the moulding but the contours are not all that obvious.

The white part is 'cove' and I had to switch from using a regular scraper to a special contoured one.

On top of this you can only heat, and scrape, a strip about 1" x 2" at a time.

Here's where I spent my day today - all 7 hours - in direct sun light with a heat index of 110+.

Like the title says: "Scrape or Die".

And now it's finished - for the most part.

The underside of the fascia needs to be done as well as the west side. The west side will get done when we start on the main west wall; hopefully this will be next week.

All I know is I'm hot and tired and have drank enough water to float an aircraft carrier. At least I won this battle of wills though.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Still Scraping Along

2010-08-05T20:12:00.006-05:00

Finally!!!! Today we dropped below the three digit mark!!!

SWMBO even took the day off and we got about six hours of scraping in.

Believe it or not your not having a bad trip, this is me and yes that is a tie-dye shirt!

I'm using the Paint Shaver Pro. This handy tool sure saves us time. Unfortunately the moulding makes up for the saved time due to hand scraping.

Do you see the section between the 2nd & 3rd columns to the right? This is all we got done today, along with about two feet to the right of column two.

At this rate it will take another week to get the rest of the porch soffit done.

Take a close look at the picture and you'll see a red arrow pointing to a red circle. Inside that circle is a hole that goes all the way through the soffit and it's been somewhat of a mystery.

Here's a better view of the 'mystery hole'.

Like I said, we're not sure what it is exactly but we're about 90% sure it's an opening for the original gas line that went into the house. On the other side of the soffit you can see a paint scar, along the porch ceiling, that goes from this hole to one in the ceiling where it meets the east wall.

If it is where the gas pipe came in then this is the first time I've seen it enter a building this way.

Oh well.

Before I forget, we found a potential 'problem' we weren't expecting. I'll find out more about it tomorrow.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Dirt and Columns

2010-08-02T20:58:00.017-05:00

Heya Everyone!!

How's the heat going? We are in the low triple digits still with a heat index between 110 & 112. We even had a major heat advisory issued for us this morning!

Today was also a sucky day to be doing what my father and I did today - dirt moving.

If you remember, about this time last year we had our sewer line re-done and hocked up to the city sewer. Since then we have had a large pile of dirt, and a few other little piles we hadn't gotten to, in the west yard. Today we worked on them.

Yes, we are nut - doing this type of work on a day like this. At least we started fairly early and were finished about noon.

My father drove the tractor and I used the hoe, rake and shovel to help level as well as cleaned the junk debris that was in the dirt.

For those of you who know me I'm a HUGE history buff. One of my favorite periods to study is Ancient Mesopotamia - specifically Sumeria and Assyria. I also enjoy studying about Ancient Egypt as well as Rome.

Today however my mind drifted to Sumerian farmers. Perhaps it was the heat and the dirt but my mind kept going back to them.

While playing in the dirt, with the heat beating down, I couldn't help but think of those ancient farmers toiling in the dirt in one of the most harsh areas of the world.

My father worked in the tobacco fields and cotton fields of Georgia when he was a kid in the '30s and '40s. The method of farming they used was not much different than what the Sumerians used. Dad even remembers using mules to pull the plows.

And here we are today with air-conditioned tractors and combines!!

Anyway, here are the pictures for you.

This is dad with his 50s tractor and yes, that is the original high-loader.

The pile that was left over from the sewer main hook-up is almost gone.

And here he is taking care of the scar from when we tried to fix the septic system a few years ago.

Now that we have given the sewer trench almost a year to settle we can fill the depression with the dirt.

Here's where the new line connected to the house.

To the right, and the biggest reason for smoothing the dirt here, is where a landscaping experiment took place. Let's just say it's better we not talk about it.

Looking West along the new sewer line trench.

Looking South along the line of the original septic system repair.

And here is the area where the contractor removed the last of the foundation from the building we had to tear down.

Now we have nice, flat, spots. It will make mowing a lot easier!!

As an afternoon project I tackled something interesting - a porch column.

Remember a couple of posts back when I said we needed to plan in case the porch could not be re-done next Summer? Well, I spruced up one of the columns so SWMBO would get an idea of what I want to do.

The new columns will be similar to the experimental one and will give us an idea of the 'over all' look.

This is one of the columns as they are now.

Not to whoopee looking is it? At least this is one of the 'better' ones.

Here is the new, enhanced version.

It is missing the quarter round for the base as well as the crown-moulding for the top. I thought I had a stick of quarter round but was mistaken and the crown-moulding will be attached the closer we get to painting (I don't want to scrape around it).

Hopefully you all think it looks 'okay', I think SWMBO is not too sure. She thinks the top doesn't look quit right but it will look better once the moulding is attached. All-in-all it looks better than what's on the porch now!

Base close up - not yet finished.

And the top.

I do need to add a second, support piece, for the crown-moulding, but this will have to wait till I'm done scraping.

Well, that's about it for today.

Let me know what you think of the column.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Something Wicked...

2010-07-29T19:09:00.006-05:00

Heya Everyone -

Like just about every other place around the country, if not the world, we are having some super freaky weather this year.

Today was no exception....

We had been having sprinkles off and on all day as well as a slight overcast. Actually it wasn't that bad of a day to be working on the house - just muggy out.

All of a sudden, at mid-afternoon, the wind died out and it was dead calm. Eerily calm...

Do you remember the movie 'Something Wicked This Way Comes'? It reminded me of it.

It was also getting darker.

I had reason to go into the back yard and that's when I saw the storm front.

Following are a few pictures. The first one was taken in the backyard facing north west. The rest are in the front yard.

Unfortunately the pictures do not show the rotation in the clouds or the greenish tinge. In fact there were two rotations going on; one in the northeast corner and one in the south west corner.

Fortunately nothing came of the rotations and all that ended up happening was rain.

It was all over in less than 30 minutes.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Of Rot & Scaffolding

2010-07-27T19:17:00.013-05:00

Hey Everyone!

Check it out - two posts in two days!!

Today I got a chance to do something a little more interesting than scraping paint.

Do you all remember that spot of rot on the porch fascia, right above where the flag goes? If not go here to see it - look right above the flag finial.

When we first bought the house therewere two huge Ceder trees growing at the front steps. If you don't remember go here for the post.

Anyway, what you cant see in the pictures is the spot between the tree on the left and the porch fascia. There was an invasive vine growing up that side of the tree and it decided to go for the house as well.

So the 'rot' is the damage done by this vine.

Today I worked on this spot.

At this point the rot has been cleaned away.

I took this picture so you could see how much the fascia has pushed out. The two fascia boards should be flush against the bead-board.

Do you see that alligator paint?! This is what ALL the paint on every single piece of bead-board looks like.

Just another view, but you can also see the original shake-shingles.

This is part of the rotted fascia board that didn't disintegrate.

Do you see the 1 x 2 above the molding? Notice that it's missing on the right. This part of the trim disintegrated the moment I touched it.

Using the Fein Multimaster the rotted part of the fascia was removed.

Depending on what we do with the fascia boards will determine if the board gets cut back even further.

I drew a circle around the main fascia board, on the radius section, as well as an arrow so you can see the area that has pushed away better.

As you can see, the main board has pushed out more than an inch. I have an idea how to fix this but one of the problems is the amount of nails originally used. In a space that's about 1.5 x 2.5 inches there are about a dozen large nails. These might have weakened the board.

I should find out tomorrow.

I'm also trying out some simple scaffolding platforms to help make scraping the bead-board easier.

I think I will replace the board you see with a cut-to-fit piece of 1/2 plywood.

And of course, what would a project like this be without a huge piece of scaffolding.

The father-n-law came over to help me put this in place. Have this will help the fascia repair go easier. This morning I had to use an 8' step ladder.

I also started to test the Paint Shaver on the bead-board on the inside facing fascia.

I did this while waiting for the Father-n-law to arrive. In reality we probably wont get this part done until next year. However, this will be a good project for Fall and Spring; especially when you consider a heat gun will have to be used to get the paint out of the beading.

I'm going to leave you with the following two pics. While playing around I discovered something great.

Remember, we used the Paint Shaver on the clapboard.

We knew going in that it would leave the clapboard 'fuzzy'. You can kind of see it in the picture.

So I decided to try that 36-grit sandblaster pad, the one from the previous post, on the clapboard to see what it would do.

Isn't it sweet looking?!?!

Smooth as a baby's butt!!

Seriously, it's as smooth as the new stuff we got from the lumber yard and I barely touched it with the sander.

To be honest though, since I was just playing around, it does need to be sanded a bit better on the edges.

Well, that's about it for the day.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Still Here - Still Scraping

2010-07-26T19:07:00.010-05:00

Hey Everyone -

Yup - we're still here, scraping away and melting.

The weather has been rather freakish and hot. Our highs have been in the triple digits and the heat index has been between 105 & 110.

That being said the heat has been making progress go as slow as a snail but we are moving along. If it weren't for the fine detail pieces we would be going a lot faster.

As you can see the paint is off the windows.

This has been an incredibly slow process. On average it take 4 hours to do one window if not longer.

We are also working on the porch posts and the porch's fascia parts.

I almost feel like we are wasting time, money, and effort on the porch posts. The ones that are on there now are going bye-bye hopefully this next spring. However, in order to hedge out bets in case we don't get to it we are going to make them look nicer. In order to do this a little more effort is needed - they're not in great condition.

We have also been noticing more areas where the fascia is kind of bowing. Replacing, and repositioning, the posts should help.

What we are dreading the most is all the bead-board on the fascia and ceiling!!! This is going to be a challenge.

This is a new toy we are trying out as an adaption to the PaintEater.

It's part of the 3M SandBlaster Angle Grinder Quick Loading system.

As the description states it's intended for an angle grinder. Turns out it won't fit my angle grinder without and additional 5/8-11-Inch Grinder Arbor Adapter, which I don't have.

So, it was either find someone who could drag my butt to the big city to find one or figure something else out.

Turns out the 3M SandBlaster Quick Loading system fits the PaintEater perfectly!

In the above picture you can see the 36-Grit Multi-Layer Disc #9678. This little doohickey works great! Not as good as the Paint Shaver but it gets the job done.

Before I forget, in order to use this sanding disk you also have to have the Quick Loading Adapter #9675. This is the part that attaches to the power tool and supports the sanding disks.

At this point you might be asking "why aren't you using the Paint Shaver?" Simple reason, the tool is too dangerous to use upside-down. I'm not able to safely use the Paint Eater in certain areas of the fascia.

Moving on...

Thought you'd get a kick out of seeing just how much paint came off the inside parts of the windows.

Actually, this isn't all of it but only about 75%.

Ending on a good note; the father-in-law and I went and bought the replacement cedar clapboard for the house.

Turns out there is only one lumberyard in the big city that even carries this stuff in stock!

So far we've only purchased 100' - that should be enough to get the upper sections above the porch done.

One last thing and I'll let you all go. Our Seamless Gutter contractor came out to look at the house today. I honestly thought he was going to balk and run. He kept asking about the height of the house and flat out said he would not be able to build guttering for the curved section of the roof. It wouldn't surprise me if he turns down the job.

Right now we are looking into either copper guttering or aluminum. The copper would look awesome, but the aluminum would be easier.

We'll just have to wait and see.

Anyway, till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Percy Strikes Again!!!

2010-07-01T16:38:00.008-05:00

What a week...where to begin?

How about a little poem - think along the lines of 'The Night Before Christmas'.

T’was the 1st of July all through the house,
Percy was stirring and wouldn’t get out.
So up on the porch Percy did come,
To screw up my scraping and have some hideous fun.
Just like a big dummy I avoided the signs,
And continued scraping bidding my time.
Then all of a sudden there arose such a clatter,
As I slipped on the porch roof and slammed down on the ladder.
I had no idea that my fingers were hurt,
Until I went to move the shop-vac and the blood started to spurt.
I had crunched my fingers in the folding legs,
The weight of my body about severing the tips.
So into the window I flew like a flash,
Heading for the bathroom to rinse and assess.
The gashes were deep and the blood flowing free
All I could think was ‘why did this happen to me.’
With a few calls for some help and a response from the sister-n-law,
The fingers have been bandaged and the pains under way.
So Percy has struck he has come once again
You may think this is your house but we will remain.

Following is a picture to go with the poem.

Whad ya think? Should I get three more and make a proper claw?

I could have shown you a 'before' picture but decided against it.

Here is the back story.

This whole week, except for Monday, has not been good in regard to working on the house.

Tuesday I tripped over my own two feet climbing out the window; then I got tangled in the electrical cords; and if that wasn't enough I miss-stepped getting on one of the platforms and fell. Luckily I was able to come to a stop before falling off the roof. I decided to call it a day and go help my father.

Wednesday I was out of town and by the time I got home it was too hot.

Today, well, today started out great. Everything was going as planned and scraping was moving along nicely. Then, when I went to move one of the platforms, it happened. I was adjusting the electrical cords and my feet slipped on the shingles. I came crashing down on top of this ladder like platform we use. Without realizing it the fingers on my left hand were in the way and I pinched my pinky finger and ring finger.

You know how you mash a finger and create a blood blister? At first that is how it felt and that's all I though had happened (it happened so fast). Then, about 15 to 20 seconds later I went to move the shop-vac and large drops of blood started dripping on the platform. I looked at my hand. The pinky finger wasn't too bad, but the top third of the ring finger looked like ground beef.

So, I wrapped my finger in my shirt, went to the bathroom and flushed it with cold water and then immersed it in hydrogen-peroxide. I looked at the finger and saw that it was bad, but wasn't sure if it was ER bad or not. What I did know is that I wouldn't be able to bandage it well with one hand.

To make a long story a bit shorter...

I got in touch with my sister-n-law, the Paramedic & RN, and she came over to take a look. She was even wondering if I might need to go to the ER - she thought the top part of the bone might be crushed. I told her I could feel it and it felt intact. Instead, she did what would have been done at the ER anyway.

Now I have what you see in the picture. It is going to be a pain to scrape during the next few day.

What surprises me most is that it doesn't hurt - it stings a little and aches some but that's it. The worst part are the finger splints - they're in the way! Hopefully the pinky one will come off tomorrow. It's on just to give the cut a better chance to heal. The big one might have to wait till the beginning of next week.

The other surprising thing was my body's physical reaction. Once I was down stairs, and making my phone calls, I was real queasy and felt like I was going to pass out. I was also sweating a lot more than normal - I mean it was as if I just walked out of the shower! I'm not sure why I reacted this way. I have had several injuries in the past - major surgeries, crushed feet, broken bones, nails through the foot, slammed fingers in car doors, etc., but the only other time I felt like this was when I was about 9 years old and had my wrist broken.

The only thing I can figure is the heat and the fact I hadn't eaten yet (this happened around 9:30 AM).

Oh well...I'll live.

I'm beginning to wonder if Percy is after me again - like he was with the attic.

I was hoping to have a much better post showing how much had been done, but this post will have to suffice. Fortunately some scraping did get accomplished!

Let's have a look at that.

As you can see I've been playing with scraping the paint on the fish-scales.

The paint is coming off rather easily so far but we will need to use a stiff brush to get some of the older paint.

You can also see the paint still remaining on that big board at the top. I was using the paint shaver on this section when I had my booboo.

We have removed all the storm windows on the porch side of the house so the trim can be finished.

The plan was to finish this part today as well as that big board up top.

On a brighter note we were able to assemble some of the scaffolding this week-end!!

I was hoping to start hitting these boards with the paint shaver Friday - guess that won't be happening.

You know, I could tell kids, on the 4th, that this is what happens to your fingers if you play with fireworks and show them my hand!! I know, that's mean, but it would be fun.

Let me leave you with the following picture.

I found this cool little gadget at Harbor Freight. It's called 'Caulk Savers'. Go to the web site and have a look. The only problem I have with it is that I didn't come up with the idea! If it works it will be a god send considering how much caulk we will be using.

Well, I guess that's enough for today.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry~

Jambo!!

2010-06-16T21:41:00.019-05:00

Jambo from the Heart of Africa!!

That's right - from the Heart of Africa.

The past several days have been incredibly busy for SWMBO and I. From a quick trip to Africa to a couple of family reunions, to finding our house colors in south east Kansas.

Where shall we begin - Africa?

Africa it is....

And here we are - the train depot.

Actually it's a train depot that's been converted into a Museum. Not just a museum, but the #1 museum in Kansas! It is also one of THE best safari museums in the world.

Okay - so I'm cheating; we didn't really go to Africa but the museum was so good it's as if we could have been there.

The museum is the Martin and Osa Johnson Safari Museum in Chanute Kansas.

If you are ever in the Chanute KS area you NEED to make time to see this place.

Their collection of ceremonial African masks is perhaps one of the best in the nation and I have seen a few so trust me on this one.

And here is Martin and Osa Johnson themselves.

Cool picture isn't it?

I would love to have a similar one of SWMBO and I taken - with Grover in the background of course.

This is one of a pair of Giraffes that are in the foyer of the museum. They are carved from wood.

This lion skin rug is made from the pelt of one of the lions Osa actually killed.

Part of her job was to protect her husband from the animals while he took photos or filmed (this was before telephoto lenses). She was a crack shot and would have to take down an occasional animal that charged them.

These are headdresses from one of the East African tribes.

To give an idea of just how big these are, that's SWMBO standing next to them for scale.

Another interesting thing is how they were kept upright on the head. There is a mouth piece in the part that covers the face. The wearer clamps down on this with his teeth to keep it upright.

These are some Maasai (Masai) shields and weapons.

I've always been fascinated with the Maasai people as well as the Zulu.

As a kid I use to pretend I was on safari in the lands of the Maasai and Zulu, to name just a couple tribes. Usually I was looking for Dr. Livingstone.

Here's another shot of some Maasai items. I really wish this picture had turned out better so you could see the funny looking oval thing.

This is what that oval thing is - a traditional Maasai warriors feathered headdress.

I was fortunate enough to snag an authentic Maasai ceremonial spear before we left. That puppy will look nice on the wall! Now if I could only get a shield to go with it.

After our time 'in Africa' we headed to SWMBO's ancestral stomping grounds - Iola Kansas.

We went for a couple of family reunions. Had one on Saturday and another one on Sunday.

Even though the reunions were fun the main event was the house we found!!

The house was found by accident and is almost identical to our place. There are some differences, but there's enough similarity that our houses could be related.

Best part - WE LOVED THE COLORS!!!!

So, after driving around the block three times we decided to stop and talk to the owner. He was out in his yard each time we drove past; I was beginning to get the idea he thought we were stalking him.

While talking, he gave us permission to snap a few pictures. Below are just a few.

If you wrapped the porch on around, and removed the second floor bay, this would be our house.

What do you think of the colors?

They look more tan in the photos, but they are actually more green.

The owners painted the house three years ago, however, they still had the paint names and color numbers. Talk about luck. It's as if we were meant to see this house.

A view of the front. There is a bay like ours.

Note the balcony as well as roof pediment - cool eh?

Did you notice the porch, and balcony ceilings? They're sky blue.

We would like to have a pediment above our front door some day and are actually planning a similar balcony for the back porch.

A closer view of the colors.

As you can see, several of the windows are different than ours but most are the same.

A better view of the balcony and pediment.

Don't you just like that blue?!

Now take a close look at this picture - the fish scale specifically.

This is the first house we have found with the exact same style, and pattern, of fish scale that ours has. The only difference is that the fish scale ends at the top of the window.

I'm sure there are other houses out there with the same style and pattern but we have not seen one in person yet.

When we told the relatives about the house some of them, those who have seen our place, wanted to drive by and see the colors too. They all agreed that the colors would look great on our house.

Okay - let's get back to our house.

After our short time away I got busy scraping again - when the rain and heat would let me that is. BTW - yesterday was the first official day of our first heat wave of the season here in Kansas.

The east side...

The south side...

And a panoramic view.

You've heard of 'Painted Ladies'? Well, ours is a 'Naked Lady'.

For the fun of it, here are a couple pictures showing my vantage points.

This one is from the south side looking south east.

Not a lot of space between the back end of the platform and the roof edge, about three feet; and it's steep.

It's so steep that I had to wedge the shop vac in some cable to make sure it didn't roll over the edge while moving the platforms. It did anyway. Luckily the thing hit the grass and not the side walk.

Today it tried doing it again but this time it was on the platform and I stopped it in time.

Sandra - this next view is for you!!

This is how close I had to get to the edge to scrape.

I don't mind heights, but I would prefer some sort of railing when this close to the edge.

Tomorrow I'm going to set up some extra safety devices. The next step in scraping will require ladders on those platforms. You know how I hat ladders, and at that height to boot! I'll keep you informed on what measures we take.

Here's a better view of the original colors. Too bad a color photo doesn't exist of the house before being painted white.

It's kind of hard to see, but if you look at the bottom edges of some of the fish scale you can see the original color - deep emerald green.

The color doesn't come out as well as seeing it in person, but it's there.

I will leave you with this final picture.

Can you tell what it is?

Take a close look.

Any idea?

No?

It's a bullet.

That's right - a bullet!!

It's about the size of a 9mm round. I found it embedded on the east side near the northern most window. This window is in the room the previous owner used as a study. We now use it as our library. Makes one wonder if someone was out to get the guy.

Anyway, that's about it for now.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

un Petit Projet

2010-06-08T18:46:00.012-05:00

Hello Everyone!

We kind of took a break from house scraping for the past few days. The weather has not been our friend. It's been either too hot and muggy (mid 90s are high for Kansas this time of year) or too wet.

Even though the scraping was neglected we did finish un petit projet so we could say we got something done.

Do you remember this little cabinet, the one that was partially completed?

We decided to finish it.

Even though it was hot outside it wasn't too bad in the shade and there was a breeze once in while.

Besides, we didn't want to get all the sanding dust in the house!

So there it lies - in all it's pieces.

The sanding didn't take all that long - maybe 4 hours. What took the most time was the staining and finishing.

It was so hot, and kind of steamy, that it took a lot longer for the stain to dry. After this came the tinted shellac. Another problem we had was that one of the big drawers, and the top, did not handle the shellac well and they had to be re-done.

Once the shellac was dry one coat of polyurethane was applied. Since the cabinet is going to be in the kitchen we thought the extra protection of the poly would be a good idea. The bad part is that it took almost 3 times the amount of time to dry.

Once dried I lightly sanded the top and prepped it for the last coat of poly. This coat had to sit for 24 hours; so, as of 6PM our time I was able to attach the top.

And here is the finished project.

Not too bad...

There are some spots where we were not able to get some stains out as well as 'something else' we can't identify. All-n-all though it looks good.

While working on the cabinet outside we did have a visitor.

Mr. Toad.

SWMBO said we should have stuck a fist next to Mr. Toad because the picture doesn't do him justice. This guy is almost as wide as a soft ball.

Not sure where he lives, but it's somewhere around the back patio.

Well, till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Front Porch Walls Finished & a Couple of Surprises

2010-06-04T22:04:00.023-05:00

Finally!! The front porch walls are all finished...the scraping at least.

We can't believe how long it took to scrape all the intricate, detailed, hard to get to places. Thank goodness we don't have one of those real ornate Victorians!

As mentioned in the title we had a few surprises the past few days while scraping.

The first was the inner trim surrounding the window inserts on each side of the door as well as the inserts themselves. Two different colors of stain were used - presumably to contrast and highlights.

In this picture you can see the whole door / side window setup sans paint.

In this one you can see the darker stain of the side window inserts as well as the lighter stain of the wood holding it in.

Now this is where it gets real interesting...

See the darker stain? Well, it was top-coated with either shellac, varnish or something else. Whatever the top-coated was made the thick layers of paint slough off like pealing skin when the heat gun was applied. In fact, the paint puffed up! It reminded me of a piece of Kraft American Cheese fried or broiled. If you've ever seen this done you'll know what I'm talking about. Even the fine detail came out more crisp and clean than when using the other stripper.

This led to the next surprise.

While scraping the paint off the dark stained area I kept thinking to myself "man - this reminds me of something, but I can't put my finger on it."

Then it hit me like a ton of bricks... THE TRIM AND MOLDING IN THE HOUSE IS DARK STAINED WOOD COVERED WITH WHITE PAINT!!!!

So I grabbed the heat gun and went inside.

Now remember, this is what the pedestals separating the foyer and living room look like now.

The one above is on the right - looking into the foyer.

This is the pedestal on the left side after only about 30 minutes of work (if that) with the heat gun.

It still needs cleaning up. I think using alcohol and 0000 steel-wool will do the trick. The larger pieces of paint just need to be flicked off.

But just look at the stain and patina under there!!!!

Isn't this AWESOME!!!

Based on the amount of time it took to do the pedestal it would probably take just a week-end to remove the paint from the rest of the trim/molding in the living room. Another major plus is that it's by far easier to clean up than using the stripper we used in the kitchen.

Why oh why wasn't the trim and molding in the kitchen this easy?!?!?!?!

Before I forget, see the electrical outlet to the left, and the hole above it? Look around the hole and you will see dark streaks on the wall paper. When we first got the house SWMBO plugged something into the outlet. It burst into flames - scorching the wall and destroying the outlet. When the outlet was replace we lowered it. Now there is a hole in the wall. Eventually it'll get fixed.

Anyway...moving on...

For grins-n-giggles here's a picture of our house guest from last week-end. She is sharing Izzy's favorite perch; the one that allows her to look out the front door.

Aren't they cute?
Actually - they're more like little monsters.

Izzy's little friend is named 'Princess'. She is the baby of SWMBO's uncle Jimmy, the one who was helping us scrap a few weeks back.

HEY! Come to think of it... See the dark streaks in the molding in the picture? That's the dark stain coming through.

Well, that's about it for now. It's getting late and I'm tired.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Yes - Still Scraping

2010-05-05T21:06:00.034-05:00

Hello everyone!

We are still scraping and our hands and arms are aching.

Since my last post we have acquired a nice piece of antique oak furniture. We won it at an auction the Friday before last; let's see, that would be Friday April 23.

Here it is. Some people call it a lowboy with hat box but we've learned it's actually called a 'Cheval Dresser'.

There are only two pieces missing, the drawer on top of the hat box section and the fancy do-dad that sits on top of hat box section.

Over all the dresser is not in bad shape. The top needs to be redone, but other than that it just needs cleaning.

Originally we thought to use it in the upstairs bathroom, but we really like it here in the foyer.

We did find something really cool though. On the back were two shipping labels. One was in great condition and we could read were it was being shipped to - Belle Plaine KS. The name of the person, or perhaps business, is something like A K Barry. I think it's cool that this piece of furniture has been in three auctions that we are aware of and yet it still remains here.

While cleaning the dresser up we removed the hat box section and found the original finish in perfect condition.

Now, the question before us is - "do we return to the original finish color or try to keep the warm, aged, patina"? Either way the piece will look great.

Let's get to the house scraping...

The following picture will take some explaining.

This is the bottom section of the east sidelight of the front door.

Look at all the mess! The window itself is about 1 inch above the cutoff at the top of the picture.

Here is what's so special about this spot.

Do you see the shiny wood work? The paint was popping up somewhat easily without damaging the varnish underneath. The sidelight on the west side of the door is the same way.

So, now we know that the exterior portions of the front door, and sidelights, we stained and varnished. We'll do the same when we refinish them.

On a side note...while working on the front door I've been noticing a family of black, fuzzy spiders with a splash of Azure Blue to them. They seem to be following me around and watching. Seriously. They crawl to within inches and just stare at me. They will also crawl over the areas where I've scraped and try to get close to where I'm scraping. It's quite interesting, it's like they are curious and want to know what's going on.

Tomorrow I'll try to get a good picture of one.

BTW - I found out that white houses draw spiders.

Here we have a new problem.

While scraping I noticed that the rounded part of the porch roof looked like it was sagging.

I took a straightedge and checked...it is.

Now we need to figure out what to do with it.

Okay, do you remember clue number 2 in this post?

No one figured it out - bummer.

Here are three of those things in the clue number 2 picture along with the platform they will support.

My father-n-law helped us out by taking my template and building us two platforms.

This is the second one with the addition of carpet to the wood runners.

The carpet will grip the shingles on the porch roof and keep it from slipping.

And here they are - mobile ladder platforms; a kind of rooftop scaffolding base.

The cleat running down the center is to keep a ladder from slipping.

The platforms are tall enough that most of the 2nd story work can be done standing on them. The 3rd story will require a ladder - and you know how I hate ladders.

I was afraid they'd be a bugger to get up on the roof, but it was quite easy. The father-n-law tied a tow strap to the center runner, climbed up the ladder and pulled as I pushed. Quick and easy and Bob was our uncle.

In this view you can see how level they are.

BTW - that's the father-n-law scraping away.

After a few hours hand scraping.

Sometimes, scraping loose paint can be addictive, and therapeutic for the mind. Another benefit is that it let me take a closer look at the clapboards.

Before I forget... Do you see that divot/cutaway in the molding between the wall and the eave? It's in the section no scraping has been done. The divot is where the original downspout came through the roof.

Anywho...

While scraping, the father-n-law found a patch of original paint. Eventually I found one as well. These patches are better than what we found on the 1st floor.

The color appears to be a very light, and bright, Butter Cream.

Unfortunately, the shadow of the eves, and the proximity of the camera doesn't let it show. However, you can see a color difference!

Bellow are the two spots. Take a look and see if you can see the Butter Cream color.

Well, that's about it for now.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Still Scraping

2010-04-20T17:10:00.019-05:00

Hello again everyone -

We were able to spend a big junk of Saturday scraping and had hoped to do the same on Sunday - things did not turn out that way though. Sunday was a 'down' day and Monday & Tuesday were filled with appointments in the big city.

I can't believe just how little I get to the big city anymore. It has changed so much but it also reminded me as to 'why' I don't like going so often!

Anyway, tomorrow is another day and hopefully I'll get a good chunk of time to scrape.

While SWMBO worked on the lower levels of the paint that couldn't be gotten with the Paint Shaver I worked on the upper areas. She used the infrared doohickey and I used the heat gun.

For your viewing pleasure here are some pictures.

This is the corner area I worked on. It's the top, far north eastern section of the dining room bay window.

I've been dreading this section since we bought this place. It is a very tight section and awkward for ladder placement. II couldn't open the ladder up, all I could do was lean it against the top of the window.

Look at all those cobwebs!!

Here's a nice close-up for ya'.

It was hard for me to get the heat gun, scraper, and my small hands in there. On top of this, in order to get a good look at what I was doing I had to cock my head to the side while doing it.

There's more of the light blue color!!

The layer is so thin it's hard to get a patch of it intact. This spot has so fare been the best I've gotten. BTW - it's no bigger than a dime!

Okay - take a look at this!

It was hard to do, but I got a layer of the white paint off to see the original layer. It appears to be a straw color and I like it.

Now, to be realistic, if this is the original color, it might not be the original shade. With the paint having been placed on top of ceder clapboards, and having sat there for 100+ years, the shade could have been effected.

However, we are leaning towards a pale straw color for the new paint.

For grins-n-giggles I got a shot of the bottom edge as well.

Now for the disappointing part...

It took me more than three hours to get to this point.

The picture only shows about 70% of what i got done, but it will give you an idea.

The hardest part, other than that blasted corner, was the molding on top of the window.

The rest of what got scraped off were the sections of the clapboard that was next to the window jambs that couldn't be removed with the Paint Shaver. Along with these spots were the edges of the jambs the the clapboard butt-up against.

Just thought I'd throw this one in for fun. It's not often people view a porch ceiling from this vantage point.

To the right is the top of the main window in the bay. I did get a start on it that day and hope to pick up here tomorrow.

Well, that's about it for now.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

House Scraping Update

2010-04-16T20:20:00.004-05:00

Hey Everyone!

Well...unfortunately the house scraping has not been going as fast a planned. Other things have gotten in the way; such as a yard in terrible need of upkeep as well has very high winds and rain.

So, I've used the Paint Shaver Pro as much as possible around the porch area, with the exception of the columns. The rest has to be scraped by hand. For this we are using the heat gun and the infrared doohickey as well as good ol' muscle power.

All this hand scraping is taking a lot of time and our arms are sore. Hopefully, next week will see more progress.

Here is the south side of the house.

The reason the trim around the door and windows isn't scraped is due to the aluminum frames still attached. Once we take those down (when there's no wind) I'll get them with the Paint Shave.

You can also see where I've been hand scrapping the columns.

Did you notice Shalimar inspecting the work?

BTW - I had to stand in the rain to get this picture!!

The east side with SWMBO's father scraping away.

More paint was removed since this picture was taken - mainly along the edges of the moldings and casings.

Do you see the molded lintel on top of the main window? It took me about two hours just to scrape this using the heat gun. Really makes me appreciate the Paint Shaver!

Okay - now for the BIG news!!!!

We found some original house color!!!!!

Yup, you read that right - original house color.

Do you see it?!

It's Robin's Egg Blue and it comes from where the corner mold meets the ceiling of the porch.

After this I did a little more testing and found more on the ceiling. So, true to form for the time period, the ceiling was painted a sky blue color.

Trivia question.... Do you know why they painted porch ceilings, and soffits, a light blue?

Anyway, this is now making us wonder if the house was originally painted a tan/beige color. Why? Because of the tan/beige stuff we are finding under the white!!

What do you all think?

Oh - before I forget... Take a look at the picture again. You can see where I've scraped on the rounded molding - right? Okay, now follow the curve to the right of the scraped area.

See it?

Can you believe how thick the paint is up that high?!?! It is over an 1/8 of an inch thick.

We have our work cut out for us.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

The A-Bomb of Paint Scraping

2010-04-04T21:00:00.014-05:00

Hey Everybody!!

I promised I would tell you about the 'Nuclear Warhead' that was on it's way as soon as possible. Well, the A-Bomb arrived Saturday morning!! Unfortunately it wasn't until Sunday before I could try it out.

What is this nuke that lays waste to paint you ask? Well let me tell you about it.

This bad-boy of the power tool world is called the Paint Shaver Pro. You can find all the info about it here.

Go to the page and you'll find three video links a little from the top - they are well worth the time to watch. Another excellent video is on YouTube and was made by Scevoli Painting, and can be found here.

This is a general picture of the Paint Shaver Pro I got from the web. It gives a better view of the business end than I could produce.

You should be able to see the round head with the cutting blades. The blades are three tiny carbide triangles with rounded angles.

Wicked, and vicious, looking sucker ain't it?

This is the one I got.

It came from a couple just north of us here in Kansas. They bought it from a guy off eBay but listed it on Craigslist when it became apparent they didn't have time to strip and paint their house.

We will not discuss they cost... Let's just say these things are so pricey that there is a thriving secondary market out there and even these are not cheap.

Let's see what this monster can do to our paint here at the Folly!!

Here is a section of wall on the east side of the porch, just south of the dining room's bay window.

Nice, grungy, and nasty!

And here is a section from the same spot after the Paint Shaver was used.

This took a little over 2 minutes!!

After using this tool you do have to sand the boards because the planning leaves it rough. You should do this anyway so that wasn't a big deal. Also, if you are not careful you can really mess-up a board or create deep gouges in it.

One does need to practice some before using the tool, which I did on some old painted doors, and adjust the cutting depth to what's needed. Due to the various thicknesses of paint on the house this will need to be done periodically.

Oh yeah - another cool thing is that the paint Shaver will remove the paint from the underside of the top lap at the same time. this takes practice, and adjusting as well.

One major, MAJOR, caveat is safety. One should play it safe when using any tool, especially power tools, but this one is different. Let's just say that if your not careful, and your fingers get in the way...well, do you remember that scene in 'Fargo' where the guy fed the other guy into the limb shredder?

SWMBO cringes at the thought.

All-n-all this bad-boy is well worth the investment. I can't wait to see how fast I can get a side knocked down. I'll keep you posted.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Another Day...Little Progress

2010-04-02T07:25:00.007-06:00

Well gang - this could very well be my last post. Once SWMBO finds out I posted these pictures she will either break my fingers or end my life.

Yesterday was not as fruitful as we had hoped. It was extremely windy and with it whipping around the porch it was that much harder. On top of this our primer did not arrive - more on this latter.

On the bright side I did get a chance to use one of the new toys I got from the Fat-Man in Red last Christmas!

This is it - a DeWalt D26453K 5" VS Random Orbit Sander.

I've wanted one for a long time but just couldn't seem to talk myself into getting one. Since I killed my little palm finish sander, and with this project looming, it was decided the time had finally come to get one.

This puppy did a great job sanding the clapboard that had been scrapped and it was fast. I think the Fat-Man in Red did good leaving me this toy.

Now for the pics that might cost me my life.

I took these pics for a couple of reasons....

#1 They show that SWMBO does help on these projects;

#2 They show just how bad the wind is!!

There she is in all her glory! You might note that she is using the new heat gun which worked nicely (the wind caused problems though).

Okay - SWMBO's hair is not flat nor is it beauty pageant big. However, in this pic you can see that not only has the wind flattened her hair it has parted it!!!

Isn't she gorgeous?!

The love of my life!

This is the main picture that has signed my death warrant. She gritched at me for taking it because of what the wind was doing to her hair (note the 'blown back' look) and that she didn't have make-up on. I keep telling her she doesn't need it anyway - she looks great without it.

C'est l'amour c'est la restauration!

Hopefully today MIGHT be a bit better. The morning has started with a thunder storm but it looks like it might be moving off. The main thing I'm hoping for is the arrival of the 'Nuclear Warhead' that's on it's way.

Well, I'd better get busy, lots to do today.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

The New Project

2010-03-30T07:35:00.020-06:00

Hey Everyone!

So, no one out there has figured out what the new 'project' is or what clue #2 was in the previous post. One person came close - Kathy. She suggested the roof was the new project. Close - but no cigar. I guess I'll just have to tell you.

We are painting the house.

To be honest the house was slated to be painted this year anyway, but we were going to wait till late summer and into early fall. However, for reasons beyond our control we MUST get this place painted ASAP. We have till May 19th to paint the place (more about this later).

Because of this time constraint all of the plans made for this year have been tossed out the window.

So, for the past several weeks we have been researching exterior primer as well as house paint. We have also been scrounging for scaffolding as well. Do you have any idea what this stuff costs to rent let alone buy!!! Fortunately we lucked out. A family friend has a set of scaffolding he's willing to let us borrow. As far as we know it goes up to 15' so we might have to make a platform for the top.

For now we will be spending our time scraping paint.

As for the contraption pictured as part of clue #2 you will just have to wait.

Okay, let's get started.

Scraping...scraping is not the most fun job around. It is tedious and boring, but it does allow one time to think. The exterior paint on the house is in real bad shape. There's a lot of peeling paint all over but the biggest problem is the alligatoring paint. This stuff is extremely hard to get off and it MUST be removed for the new primer/paint to work properly.

Unfortunately this alligatoring is primarily located at the most visible parts of the house - the south and east facing bottom floor.

Yesterday we got started in earnest. Following are the pictures to prove it.

This is the section SWMBO worked on with the help of here father. The amount you see here is the brunt of what they got done in about 3 hours. Yup - 3 hours!! That's how hard this alligatoring paint it. Now, one reason it took so long were the tools they used - the traditional hand scraper.

This is SWMBO's uncle and the spot he worked on. It took him about the same amount of time to scrape this section that it took SWMBO and her father to do theirs using the same tools.

This picture shows where I worked.

SWMBO's father is removing paint from where the clapboards butt up against the molding.

The top board is the area where I experimented with various mechanical methods of scrapping.

The first tool I used was the Wagner Paint Eater. While this tool is a great paint removal tool it doesn't work on all paint problems. The alligatoring did budge, but it took about 5+ minutes to remove the paint from a section about 4"x4".

The next tool I used was my beloved Fein Multimaster. Now this tool has numerous heads that can be used for removing paint and I chose the two heaviest duty ones - including the carbide rasp attachment. The carbide rasp attachment is vicious looking, I thought that this would surely remove the alligatoring paint - NOPE!

The next tool up to the plate is an interesting device I made myself. It's also the one that was used to scrape the other three boards.

Here it is.

How many of you have heard of a device called the Silent Paint Remover? These puppies are pricey; starting at $395.00 and going to $525.00. True, you can sometimes find these for sale on eBay & Craig's List, but even these can be expensive.

Well, this is a homemade one and it cost no more than $50 or $60.

Let's back track a bit here.

Way back in 2007 we were trying to find a way to strip the woodwork in the kitchen faster and easier. In October of the same year I ran across a home restoration blog called Ocean Manor House.

This site provided the step-by-step instructions to make this nifty little sucker. Now there is even an updated version of it that can be found on this page.

This handy paint remover DOES work really well on the vast majority of paint. Unfortunately it didn't do well on the stuff in the kitchen. So, it sat on a shelf until now.

What I don't understand is I know I did a write up on this thing for our blog (I can even remember the pics used) but I can't find it at all. It's like it never happened. However, if you go back to this post, you can clearly see it sitting next to SWMBO.

Now I'm just going mad trying to figure out what happened to that post!

Basically, this tool uses infrared heat to soften paint, and other items, and makes it easier to scrape it off.

Here is the paint once it's removed.

It becomes hard and can be cleaned up easily using a broom or vacuum.

Now, remember, it took SWMBO, her father, and her uncle 3 hours to scrape the small amount they did.

With the infrared device I was able to remove all of this in less than an hour.

Isn't that cool?!

Even though this little gadget works great we had a problem with it on Tuesday. For some reason it just didn't want to work as well as it did on Monday. This could be due to the weather though. It was extremely windy on Tuesday, and chilly, and the wind just whips around the porch as if it were a wind tunnel! This might have been a big part of it.

But then again, it could be that the paint was a different type in the location we worked at on that day. BTW - we were working around the bay window that's part of the dining room.

Do you see that tan looking stuff under the white? We hadn't run into this stuff, this thick, until we got here. The same stuff has been under the paint in other areas but not like this.

What's really weird about it is that it has the consistency of putty. We assume it's the original paint, but why would it have the appearance, and consistency, of putty?

Now here is another weird thing about this area. One board might come clean with the first scrape but the one next to it just won't come clean at all. It doesn't happen every time but just enough to be a pain.

Can't anything be 'easy around here?

And here is a chunk of the stuff that did come off.

Reminds me of hardened putty or even an aged cheese. Like I mentioned before, most of the pieces that have been coming off in other areas are about as thick as a playing card, but the stuff here is as thick as several playing cards.

On another topic...

While working in this area I contemplated the molding above the windows as well as the sides of the moldings where the clapboards butt up against them. These areas do not do well with the infrared paint remover, the paint cools down too fast.

With this in mind we decided to try a new toy.

And here it is - the DeWalt 26950 Heat Gun.

We picked this toy up at Lowe's on Tuesday night.

Neither of us have ever used one but we are hoping it will keep the paint pliable in the tricky areas long enough to get it off.

To be honest, I'm a little hesitant to use it. I've heard horror stories about people getting burned, bad, using heat guns and all the warnings in the manual don't help. Wish us luck; hopefully this thing won't make the Boo-Boo meter go up!

In closing we really like the infrared paint remover, but we REALLY need this process to go faster. So, with this in mind, be sure to check back in a few days, we might have what some consider the 'nuclear warhead' of paint stripers here to help us.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

I'm B A C K !!!!

2010-03-23T18:33:00.010-06:00

Hey everyone!!! Guess what.... I'm B A C K!!!!!!!

Bet all y'all thought I was gone didn't ya?!

Well, with spring now here I've decided to come out of hibernation and get the new season of repairs and boo-boos started.

During my absence I haven't been completely idle but what has been done hasn't really been anything to blog about. For the most part we've been sorting through boxes of just plain ol' junk. Sorting out things to go to charity, things to give people, things to sale and things to toss. It never ceases to amaze me just how much junk we accumulate.

The other night I had a dream that SWMBO and I had to move back to the little house we use to own. Keep in mind this house is 4 times bigger than the little house, perhaps more. Anyway, when I told this to SWMBO the first thing we both thought about was "good gravy - where would we put all of our stuff!!!!".

You know, that's sad. it makes one think. Has our society really become so jaded and such a 'must have', as well as, a throw away society?

Having the vast majority of our kitchen things packed up and stored was a major eye opener as to what we need and don't need. So now we have decided to start scaling back.

That being said lets go to the first pic!!! WOOWHOO!!!

I know, the pic is a bit dark but the sun was starting to set when I decided to get some pics - sorry.

Hopefully you can tell it's a dumpster. It's an ugly beast ain't it?!?! The best part - it's ours for the summer!!! Okay, show of hands...how many of you just had that song 'Are you ready for the Summer' from the movie 'Meatballs' go through your head?

Anyway, I've just started to scratch the surface of the piles of crap and the thing is almost full!!

Unfortunately the main thing that's taking up the room in it is carpet. Yup - carpet. I had to remove the carpet from the basement a while back due to a water leak in the foundation. The water leak is now worse and each time it rains there is a little bit more water in the finished part of the basement. No...not in the unfinished part - the finished part!!! So that means I get to rip out all the wood work I installed a few years back in order to find the leak and fix it.

I guess it's like they say in the Army...."if it ain't raining we ain't training".

But I digress... Let's get back on track - the basement will have to wait till the next big project is done. With this in mind lets talk about this next project.

If you remember I said the next big project would be the dining room - not now.

Now we have an even bigger fish to fry. We'll get into it later, let's just say I'm NOT a happy camper - at all - no way no how!!!

For the time being though let me throw out a couple of 'teaser' pictures and see if any of you can figure out what the next big project is.

Clue number 1.

This is my big-score ladder (have I told you all just how much I hate ladders?). By big score I mean awesomely cheap find! This is a thirty foot ladder that I found for $125 at a pawn shop. Now that's a good buy!!

Clue number 2.

Good luck figuring out what it is. snicker

Let's just say it's extremely essential for this project. Without this puppy, and a few more like it, there ain't now way in HELL I'm going to... Oops...just about spilt the beans! You'll have to wait a couple more days to find out, but if you have a guess as to what the project is, and what this item is, let me know!!

Well, I guess that's enough for now, it's getting late and I'm getting tired.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry ~

Merry Christmas

2009-12-25T00:01:00.000-06:00

Merry Christmas
from
Simpson's Folly

May the Season be Merry
and the New Year bright...

as we reflect on the past...

& enjoy the day with family & loved ones...

with hopes the Fat Man
brought you all that you wanted,...

but let's not forget the
reason for this blessed season!

So to all of you out there -

from our home to yours -

Merry Christmas
&
Happy New Year!!

Christmas at the Folly

2009-12-23T08:12:00.057-06:00

Season's Greetings Everyone!

I have been looking forward to this Holiday Season since Summer. It was to be the first time in three years that we could decorate somewhat like we typically do.

The Christmas gremlins are seeing it another way. I'm now ending my 3rd week of being sick. It appears to be getting better, but I still feel like I'm trying to cough up a lung! It has made it difficult for us to get ready for the fat man's visit. You all know the things that need to be done to pull it off - being in bed most of the time fighting the bug makes it hard to do. I'll spend a day out with SWMBO running Christmas errands and end up in bed the next recuperating.

To top it off, since this is the first time in three years we've been able to do the house up big time both sides of the family are meeting here Christmas Eve for supper.

I guess the decorating of the house has turned out to be such a big deal we are having people ask if we would please, PLEASE, let them inside to see. With the way the house has been in the past we are very cautious as to who we let in - typically just family and friends that are close. This year we are allowing a few to come in and have a look. I should be cleaning instead of writing this post!

OY!!

Anyway, as promised, here are a few pics so you can see how we typically decorate around here.

During this time of year we try to be more like Fezziwig, but the house looks more like Scrooge's.

'A Christmas Carol' is one of my all time favorite Christmas stories and I typically watch all the major movie remakes of the story. My favorite one is the version with Patrick Stewart in it.

There is a section of dialog, from this version, that takes place between the Ghost of Christmas Present and Scrooge that seems appropriate here this year.

``Come in!'' exclaimed the Ghost. ``Come in. and know me better, man!''

``I am the Ghost of Christmas Present,'' said the Spirit. ``Look upon me!''

``You have never seen the like of me before!'' exclaimed the Spirit.

``Not in this house,'' Scrooge made answer to it.

Sorry for the quality of the photos. I'm beginning to think I've worn out the camera. Between the two of us, SWMBO and I had a devil of a time getting halfway decent pictures. They were either bleached out or way too yellowish gold. However, we did play with the settings a little to get the 'perfect' picture - this could have something to do with it. Perhaps the fat man will leave us a better camera under the tree and will get better pics next.

One last thing - we had a winter storm rolling in as we took the outside photos last night. The wind gusts, and 'iffy' tripod, made for some fuzziness.

Enjoy!

You can never have too many lights, but we do try to keep it tasteful.

View from the west.

View from the southwest.

From the south.

How many trees can you see inside the house? ;)

SWMBO really like this picture for some reason.

You can see how well the main tree is lit up. We think there is a little over 2K lights on the tree. SWMBO's father is afraid we might burn down the house with all the lights and so little juice coming in.

View from the north east corner of the high school parking lot.

And the view from the east.

Burt and Ernie stand guard at the front door.

Let's venture indoors now.

Some of the pictures show the typical decorations, however, the focus is on the trees. Every year we have decorated the main question we are asked is "How many trees do you have in the house?". Many...

We do have a set of protocols that determine if the tree is in fact a 'tree in and of itself' or if it is part of a decoration. We only count those that can be stand alone trees.

But to answer the basic question...we have 15 trees in the house that can have lights and be decorated. The smallest is about 4" and the tallest about 8'. Boiled down though, each room has a tree with the exception of five rooms.

Okay - I had to come back in and edit this post.

SWMBO insisted that a picture of the 'Animal' tree be included.

This is her tree and is decorated with animal themed ornaments - including a Raven.

If you look to the left of the tree you will see a ladder going to the top filled with Pixies that date back to WWII and up.

This one is special - it belonged to one of our Grandmothers.

Little feather tree.

Large-ish feather tree. This one has a lot of decorations from the 20s to the 40s.

Do you see our 15lb. cat, Sabu, sleeping under there?

The little Angel tree in the foyer.

The view of the animals' tree on the utility porch from the kitchen.

The crystal tree in the foyer.

Don't you just love the walls?!

The gold tree in the dining room.

One of the many wreaths in the house; most of which are made by big brother's wife.

The main kitchen window.

Even Rudolf gets in on the act!

The gold and blue trim between the living room and dining room.

You can just make out SWMBO's stocking to the left as well as our Christmas crèche.

The crystal garland between the foyer and living room.

Ignore the wraping mess in the living room!

It doesn't show too well, but there is a foot tall Victorian double ball silver ornament hanging from the apex of the garland.

The next few pictures of of the main tree. Way back in '91 we moved into our first Victorian house - the 'little house'. In this house we had our first real tree and decided to start using old world type ornaments.

The tree is now to the point that we shutter at the thought of the cats looking at it and at the thought of how many hand-blown glass ornaments they could destroy.

We even have relatives who will not help decorate for fear of breaking one!!

Here is one of the reproduction Victorian ornaments. It is one of SWMBO's favorites and was the first hung on the tree.

Another shot of the same area after more items were added.

If you look hard you can see REAL candles and just about everything from a wood blanked style glass submarine to a fox in top-hat with tails and a cane.

Just another general view.

I thought about taking pictures like this of the whole tree, but it would require it's own post!!

Typically we have friends and family that come over just to look at this tree and see all the weird ornaments. Aside from the typical Santas, angels and snowmen we have animals, insects, a mermaid, a snail and an eyeball just to name a few!! You name it and chances are we have it on this tree!

As mentioned earlier, there are real candles on this tree. Traditionally we light them, for just a few minutes, on Christmas Eve. These candles are to guide the Christ Child's way in the night as well as for those seeking a place of warmth and comfort.

And here you have it...the main tree in all it's glory.

Right now all that's 'under' the tree is an antique toy castle from Germany, a vintage sled and a Christmas box we found in the attic that's filled with Christmas cards that the PO's recieved from the 40s to the 70s.

Normally we display these cards on ribbon throughout the house but we just ran out of time this year.

Well, that's about all for now.

I will leave you with this last picture.

Sabu, sitting in the window by the candle light.

I hope you enjoyed this rather frenzied exposition of how we decorate around here. We have already been making plans for next year and have decided to make a few changes.

However, the best complement I think we have received so far came from family friend via SWMBO's parents. These friends told them to tell us our house looked like a Thomas Kinkade painting. All that was missing was a horse drawn carriage.

Hmmm...perhaps next year....

Till next time - have a safe, warm and happy Christmas!

Cheers!
Larry

A Gift from DeWALT and a Christmas Repair

2009-12-17T10:41:00.037-06:00

Hello Everyone!

First off - sorry about not posting Christmas pictures yet. We've been extremely busy around here getting ready for the fat man's visit!! On top of this I'm sick. The Doc isn't sure what it is I've got but it hit unexpectedly, without warning, and had me down for the count within three hours. The first night I had uncontrollable chills as well as a fever. SWMBO said it was like having a vibrating heat blanket!

The Doc had me tested for N1H1 (that wasn't pleasant in itself) and it turned out to be negative. But I do have most of the symptoms for the flu and common cold. As of now I'm still in bed thinking of ALL the stuff still needing to be done before the big day!!

On the bright side we are already having a steady stream of Lookiloos. I promise(!!), I will get pictures of the place decorated up even if I'm on my death bed!!

Okay - let's get to the meat of this post.

You know how you have those in life who never seem to win anything and haven't got a lot of luck? Well, I'm one of those people. In fact, I almost entitled this post "WOOWHOO I Won the Lottery".

However, this isn't the case, there is work involved.

A couple months ago an e-mail arrived in my mail box from a guy named Andrew. Without posting the whole message here the gist of what it said:

"I am contacting you on behalf of DEWALT about its new line of IMPACT READY™ Accessories... I am just wondering if you will be able to help us spread the word about this new line of accessories. You can do this by informing your readers about the tools and writing a blurb or article about the accessories."

My first thought was "Yeah...right".

You see, I get all sorts of e-mails from people/companies wanting me to 'feature' their product or service on this blog and most have nothing to do with house restoration. Some have been down right pornographic!! Why would I want to advertise the 'little blue pill' here?

However, Andrew and I did pass a few e-mails back and forth and he turned out to be legit (yes - I check on things before I associate them with this this site). So I told him I'd be happy to help them out.

Unfortunately, somewhere between e-mails he and I dropped the ball and I eventually forgot all about it. Then, a few weeks ago I was reading a post by Benny over at DC Rowhouse. It appears she had been made a similar offer. From the looks of it she was offered more than the IMPACT READY™ Accessories.

This jiggled the gray mush between my ears and I hunted down the e-mails Andrew had sent me and thought I'd see if they were still wanting me to participate.

Honestly, after seeing Benny's post I figured they had already sent out all the test items they intended to and I'd be SOL. Like I said - I'm not the luckiest person out there.

'Lo and behold' I got a response from Andrew! He apologized for not following up with me which was not necessary - I really think 'I' dropped the ball somehow.

Anyway, here is the important part that came in the e-mail:

"We’re interested in sending you the impact driver along with the impact accessories. We’d like to have you review the accessories as the focus of the article, but you can talk about the driver too. Also, we are running a different campaign focused on the compact battery (that comes with the impact driver) and its comparison to the original (heavier) NiCad battery. We’d like to send you out the extra battery to compare it to the newer Compact battery and review the Compact battery’s performance."

I jumped all over it!!!

I sent him the info he requested and sat back expecting a long wait - at least two weeks anyway - before it arrived.

In appreciation for getting to try out these tools I told Andrew I would be doing several 'reviews' of the products (just like I do with the Fein Multimaster - wish they would send some toys) and would also post this to my Land Rover blog. I also told him I would give just about every detail I could about these items.

Boy was I surprised! Less than 4 days later the toys arrived for me to try out!!!

SWMBO checked the mail Saturday the 5th and the package was at the post office. Yes - I've had these all this time but, honestly, this is the first chance I've had to post about it!!

SWMBO did grumbled about the weight though...

It was like Christmas came early when I opened the box.

You could smell that 'new tool' smell - man I love it (insert simian, manly "grunt" here)!!!

Thankfully everything seemed to arrive safely with no dents or dings.

First thing I wanted to do was go have coffee with my parents and the in-laws - I just HAD to share!! SWMBO said no - they would be by later that day.

So, I went ahead and unpacked all the treasures.

WOW!! What a treasure.

Look at all those new toys!!

Just think of the possibilities!!

Now, as I promised Andrew, here is the first of several reviews of the DeWALT Impact Ready items he sent me. I will be supplying my thoughts throughout but I'm also going to post 'Specs & Features' for each item.

Before we get to the tools themselves, you might also want to go here and check out the info DeWALT has put out about the Impact Ready Accessories - it's worth the time!

First up is the DeWALT DCK265L 18V Compact Li-Ion Drill/Impact Combo Kit.

I really like this kit. It comes in a durable case with metal latches to keep it closed. There is even a place so you can add a lock. Each item that comes in the kit has it's own little cubby hole inside that it fits in.

Beside the aspect of getting an impact driver and drill with this set you also get a charger station and 2 - yes TWO - batteries. Each battery even has a cover for the business end - those are the two little red things in the picture.

The tools feel great in the hand and the batteries charge quickly. A major plus is that the charger allows you to leave the batter in it even after it's been charged without damaging the batter or charger.

There are so many features on both of the tools for me to talk about. The manual that came with them appear to do a good job describing them. As I learn to use them better I will report back on them.

Following is some of the official info on this kit.

DeWALT DCK265L 18V Compact Li-Ion Drill/Impact Combo Kit

Includes:

DCD760 compact 1/2" 18V drill/driver
DCF826 18V impact driver
DC9310 7.2V-18V NiCd/NiMH/Li-Ion 1 Hour Charger
(2) 18V compact li-ion batteries
Kit Box

Features:

DCD760 18V 1/2" compact drill/driver delivers 350 unit watts out of maximum power
DCF826 18V Impact Driver delivers 1,330 in-lbs of torque and 0-2,400 rpms offering power and speed to perform a wide range of fastening applications at faster speeds
Compact li-ion batteries (DC9181) charge in 30 minutes and are compatible with the existing system of DEWALT 18V power tools produced since 1996

Next we have the DeWALT DC9096 XRP 18-Volt 2.4 Amp Hour NiCad Pod Style Battery

I have yet to use this puppy so haven't even charged it.

I do have a specific project I plan to use this battery with though. Be expecting a post on 'Battery Comparison' within the near future.

Here's the official info for you though.

DeWalt DC9096 XRP 18-Volt 2.4 Amp Hour NiCad Pod Style Battery

High-capacity 2.4 Amp hour battery delivers 40% more run time than XR Pack® batteries. Powers entire line of Dewalt 18 Volt tools and can run multiple tools off the same battery pack.

Highlights:

Fits all 18 volts DeWALT tools except univolt
High-capacity battery with 40 percent more run-time than standard batteries
Rugged plastic casing
Dimensions: 7" x 3.5" x 7"; 2.5 lbs
Replaces the DW9095 and DW9096 series
Full charge in 1 hour or less

I've always been leery of using cordless tools due to the drop in power and consistency in power, so I'm really looking forward to this!

Not many of you out there know this, but I'm pretty 'Old School' when it comes to power tools and cordless has never really been there for me. I do have one cordless drill I've used periodically, but haven't been happy with the battery.

With these DeWALT tools I plan to wreck these puppies and see how the batteries hold up!!!

Let's get to the DeWALT DW2169 38 Pc. Impact Ready Special Accessory Set.

I really like this little set!

There are actually two little containers within this one. One container holds all the little bits and accessories and the other one holds the Drive Deep Sockets with room for more to be added. Both containers also lock so the pieces don't fall out.

They are also small enough to fit well in my tool box.

Another nice touch is the system that holds the bits in. The little tabs are pliable and appear to stand up to the bits being pulled out and placed back it. They also look like they wont snap off after a few weeks of doing this.

Here are the specs:

DeWALT DW2169 38 Pc. Impact Ready Special Accessory Set

The set comes in a plastic case and all the kit’s bits are rated up to 2,000 in/lbs of torque – perfect for use with impact drivers.

Kit Includes:

(8) #2 Phillips 1" Insert Bits
(8) #2 Phillips Drywall Insert Bits
(5) #2 Phillips 2" Power Bits
(8) #2 Phillips 1" Double Ended Insert Bits
(2) Nutdrivers: 1/4", 5/16", (1)3/8" Socket Adapter
(1) Pivot Holder (bends to simplify driving screws in tight spaces)
(1) Magnetic Bit Holder. Rated up to 2000 in-lbs of torque
(4) 3/8" Drive Deep Sockets: 3/8", 7/16", 1/2", 9/16"

Qualified for Cordless Impact Drivers

The following picture is so you can better see the best part of the above set.

The Pivot Holder!

Cool isn't it?!

This little device will really make getting in small, tight, areas easy (at least I hope it does).

As the spec say 'bends to simplify driving screws in tight spaces', we'll see how well it works.

There is one thing I want to try with this and I have to wonder if DeWALT has tried it. As you all know, there have been several times I've needed to get to tight spaces to removes screws and such, but the same goes with drilling holes. I wonder if the drill bits would fit on this (they look like they would)? If so, I wonder if a person could drill a hole in a tight place using this. It should... I'll test it out sometime and let you all know.

Let's mosey over and have a look at the DeWALT DD5057 7 Piece Impact Ready Drilling Set.

I really like the design of these drill bits. I have even used some of them already and they work great!

The only drawback I've seen, if you can call it a drawback, is the lack of a small case to hold them. Like I said 'if' you call it a drawback; I can see why they wouldn't make one for these since you'll probably add more to it anyway, but, getting the little cases for the others spoiled me!

Here are the specs:

DeWALT DD5057 7 Piece Impact Ready Drilling Set

Specifications:

Ground from solid one piece design is up to 5 times more durable than the current 2 piece conventional product.
Patented web taper increases the rigidity of the bit to decrease the potential for bit breakage.
Patented Pilot Point® tip (3/16” -1/2”) allows users to drill holes faster than the conventional split point product and offers clean burr free holes with reduced bit walking.

Kit Includes:

(2) 1/8 Drill Bits
(1) 5/32 Drill Bit
(1) 3/16 Drill Bit
(1) 7/32 Drill Bit
(1) ¼ Drill Bit
(1) 5/16 Drill Bit

Qualified for Cordless Impact Drivers

I found this picture and thought it gave a good visual for the drill bits with some of the highlights.

Next we have the DeWALT Impact Rated Bi-Metal Hole Saw.

I know these things don't look all that special, but take a closer look - I'll wait....

Did you notice it? It is hard to see, but follow along the drill bit down to the cutter.

Do you see it now?

IT'S A SPRING!!!!!

WOOWHOO!!!!

You might be asking why I would be so excited about a spring. Simple, it makes it a HELL of a lot easier to remove the wood plug from the hole saw!!!

There are so many companies that leave this little luxury off. DeWALT has done a major service, IMHO, by adding these.

These will come in handy for so many projects!!

Well, let me climb down from cloud 9 for a minute and give you the specs. NOTE - they don't mention the SPRINGS!!! Andrew - if you see this you might want to suggest to DeWALT to add this to the spec/features.

DeWALT Impact Rated Bi-Metal Hole Saw have a double tooth design which strengthens each and every tooth. Great for those entrance holes into junction boxes and through drilling for pipe and conduit.

Highlights:

Optimized tooth design allows for quick cuts and long tooth life
Improved tooth geometry cuts through material faster
Hardened backing plate prevents stripping
Cuts twice the amount of material in one pass
Highest high-speed-steel height in the industry improves durability
Designed with Commercial Contractors in mind

Included:

(1) ¾” (19.1mm) Hole Saw
(1) 7/8” (22.2mm) Hole Saw
(1) 1” (25.4mm) Hole Saw
(1) 1-1/8” (28.6mm) Hole Saw
(1) 1-¼” (31.7mm) Hole Saw
(1) 1-3/8” (34.9mm) Hole Saw
(1) 1-½” (38.1mm) Hole Saw

All with ¼” (6.4mm) shank

This picture is just like the drill bit one; it gives a good look, and over view of the hole saws.

This time the spring is mentioned!!!!

Again...

WOOWHOO!!!!!

Moving on.

You'll notice in the title I mentioned a 'Christmas repair'. This little project is the first official use of the new DeWALT Impact tools.

Sorry that it's nothing big and fancy, but it did allow me to use more than one item. The big and fancy stuff will come along soon enough.

With a project in mind I plugged in the DC9310 battery charger and charged up one of the DC9181 batteries that came with the main set.

Like I said, this was just a little Christmas repair.

Way back in 2000 we bought a pair of 4'+ tall nutcrackers that I call Burt & Ernie.

Trivia time!!! Who were the original Burt & Ernie characters?

Anyway, Burt plays the trumpet and Ernie the drums. During the Christmas Season they guard the front door (I'll share pics later).

While trying to load Burt into the back of our small car (they were bought on a whim with no "how do we get them home" forethought) the store employee dropped the end he was carrying (the feet) and cracked one of the legs. He felt SO bad about it; the Burt nutcracker was the only one in the Wichita metro area. We did get a discount because of it (SWMBO was paying while we were loading) and said it was okay.

The crack was not all that bad and I told SWMBO that we could fix him.

Well, you know how it goes, you just keep putting things off, and Burt didn't get fixed. So, the last time we were able to decorate the house a really bad wind storm came, blew open the main storm window and gave Burt a bad 'whack'. He fell over and the force popped a chunk of his right leg off, at the ankle, and separated the left leg from the torso. Since there is an inner frame the legs remained attached to either the torso or the base depending on the leg.

I swore I would fix Burt by the next time we decorated.

Guess what...I didn't.

So, with the new DeWALT tools in hand I decided to fix the poor guy.

Here's a 'before' picture.

It isn't the best picture but it works. On the right ankle you can see a large white patch - that is where the chunk broke off exposing the inner frame. Next to this you can see a large white line. This is the crack that goes all the way around the ankle separating it from the rest of the leg.

The little white patches on the left leg are spots where the paint chipped off.

I have no idea what the dirty, moldy, looking stuff is covering the legs but it washed off with vinegar and water before I took him outside.

At this point I have cleaned off the loose bits around the wound and prepped it for surgery.

In the next picture you can see the hole and crack better.

First thing I did was use the DeWALT DCD760 compact drill and one of the DD5057 7 Piece Impact Ready drill bits.

It worked very well with no effort.

Check this out though...there is a built in light on the drill that's focused on the area being worked on!! How cool is that?! The light is so unobtrusive you'd have no idea it was there until you used it!!

After doing this I attached a metal brace to the leg and used a plaster washer setup to secure it.

Okay, at this point my first, and only, real frustration popped up with the DeWALT tools. I grabbed the DeWALT DW2169 38 Pc. Impact Ready Special Accessory Set to get a flat-head bit for a slotted screw - there wasn't one!! Well dang!

Instead I grabbed the Magnetic Bit Holder from the set and used one of my old flat-head bits. The brace attached smoothly and worked great.

Now - in defense of the DeWALT set not having the bit head type I needed there is a good reason for this which I did not know at the time. Slot head bits do not work well with impact drills and drivers and have a tendency to mess up the screw and/or the surface you are working with when the bit pops out of the screw! These being bits for an impact system you wouldn't find a flat-head bit in it. So, it's not DeWALTS fault it's mine.

Moving on....

Here's the setup for securing the brace to the upper leg.

You can't see it in any of the pictures, but the holes through the brace the screws went into are actually slots. The plaster washers are strong enough to hold up to the pressure, but pliable enough to to conform to, and fill, the slot so the brace would not move.

Now this is the messy part.

I filled the cavity of the leg with expandable foam (the kind for windows so it wouldn't crack the leg).

At the same time I replaced the bead of adhesive that came off the left leg (due to the wind storm) where it attached to the torso. For this I used small wooden wedges to make it tight and filled the gap with E6000 Adhesive (this stuff works GREAT for all sorts of fixes - this is my 'go-to' glue).

After letting the expandable foam dry, I cut out what I wanted and liberally applied wood putty.

After this dried I sanded it down to the level of the boot.

Once the boot was painted 'Bob was my uncle' - Burt was ready to man his post by the front door.

You will notice that the boot paint doesn't match exactly and the spots on the green pants did not get painted for three reasons. One, I don't have a color of green that comes close to matching; two, these spots are noways near as noticeable (especially from the road) as the boot was; and three, SWMBO wants us to repaint Burt and Ernie.

So, there you have it; the first review of the DeWALT Impact Ready tools and the first project I used them on.

Unfortunately I deleted the picture of the DeWALT tools I used on Burt by accident. However, this was just the first review, so there will be more pictures to come.

All-n-all two thumbs up for the DeWALT tools!!!

Well, I think I need to go take more drugs and ingest more liquids. There is just too much for me to do to just stay in bed (I've basically been bed ridden since Monday night). Now I need to go but together my LEGO train set to put under the tree.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry

Milestone Moment

2009-12-11T19:42:00.004-06:00

Woah!!

Can you believe it!?!?!? A major milestone moment!!!

As of now there have been 20,018 hits on this thing!!!

Hellooooo Dining Room!

2009-12-10T17:06:00.018-06:00

Hello again everyone!!

Consider this your first peek at the next major project.

With items going back into the kitchen, as well as to goodwill and freecycle, things are starting to disappear around here and we are gaining ground in the house.

Rooms are opening up and the first one to do so was the dining room.

So there you have it. The next big room to be tackled will be the dining room.

That being said there are also some other projects that will be worked on as well such at the powder room and attic so expect a lot of non-dinning room posts as well.

Remember this scene from many, many months back?

Trust me, it got a lot worse…a lot LOT worse…before this post.

With Christmas coming we’ve been excited here around the Folly. This will be the first time in three years we can decorate in the manner we’re use to!

In order to do this a lot of cleaning had to be done. So, we’ve been frantically cleaning the main level of the house and this includes the dining room.

For the first time in history I conceded to start decorating for Christmas the week after Thanksgiving. I was raised that you did not decorate until about two, maybe three, weeks before Christmas day. In fact, the phenomena of decorating immediately after Thanksgiving, or even before that in some cases, is less than 50 years old! I digress though…I’ll ramble on about this in another post.

Moving on… It was decided to start decorating ASAP but before this could be done the cleaning must be done. Honestly, the desire to get it done was dashed by reality on the rocks. I really thought I’d be able to get the lower level clean enough to start decorating in two days, three tops.

It took over a week!!!

Anyway, let’s get back on the subject, I’ll rant about this later.

Here’s the dining room after about four days of sorting, removing and cleaning - but before we cleaned the floor.

You might notice some of the furniture has changed, We moved a few items around with Christmas in mind.

For those of you interested, the settee in the middle of the bay is the gift I gave SWMBO for our 1st Anniversary.

The Singer sewing machine, as well as the notions box on the peddle, belonged to SWMBO’s Great Grandmother. Get this, I’m a HUGE WWI buff and SWMBO’s Great Grandmother used this sewing machine to make uniform shirts for the Doughboys!! My mother-n-law has the actual sewing instructions (somewhere) the Government sent SWMBO’s Great Grandmother and I have an original shirt like the ones she made.

The lamp on the sewing machine was a family heirloom belonging to our friend Bill. It appears to have been made in either the late 10s or early 20s. It is missing one stained-glass pane and needs rewiring though.

Just another view.

In this picture though you can start seeing the little ’problems’ that will need to be looked at in order to prep for restoration.

You can see water spots on the ceiling as well as along the joint where the left side of the bay meets the main wall. The stain stops right at about the beginning of the window top.

You know, there are times I really hate digital cameras!! Look close and you can see the built-up dust on the chandelier crystals and the bulbs.

BTW, the door has what we think is the original stain. Not sure why it looks so splotchy, perhaps it’s the way the shellac aged.

The French doors.

Note how the finish on these doors are different than the other one? We know these doors are not original to the house but were installed some time in the 50s (we think). Originally there were pocket doors here and the hardware to hang them are still inside the walls. I’ll deal more on this later as well.

With the light on you can see more stains on the ceiling.

SWMBO has also just finished cleaning the floor and are still wet. She did something funky to clean it and treat it and it took two days to dry!!

Did you notice the white dresser on the wall to the left? That is the dresser we are considering for the lavatory vanity in the upstairs bathroom. We are wanting to put a buffet/sideboard in this spot so we thought this would be a good way to see if we like this size.

More of the wet floor.

The amount of time it took to dry definitely put a crimp in the cleaning and Christmas prep plans.

Here it is - FINALLY - dry!! I think it’s about 1 A.M. when I snapped this shot.

Okay - now we can get down to the nitty-gritty of looking at some of the ‘issues’. Right now they are nothing major but one never knows what lurks beneath.

This is just one of a dozen places where the wallpaper (installed in the 50s?) is trying to escape the clutches of the walls.

Note that the tear is jagged. This could indicate a crack in the wall or it could just have been caused by something snagging it. I know the answer, but you will have to wait.

Another spot where a piece of the wallpaper came loose and popped off.

If you follow along the top of the mopboard and you will eventually come to a section of paper that has puckered/curled. Most of the spots where the paper is pealing away is along a seam and look like this.

Here we have a large piece of wall paper that sloughed off under it’s own weight (with a little help). Currently it is covered by a piece of furniture.

The plaster finish coat is very gritty/sandy and particles the size of sugar crystals come off if you run your hand against it. If there is no major damage to the wall, and the finish coat is still solidly attached to the base plaster, this can be stabilized. All-n-all this will be an interesting project.

The brownish stuff you see is the old wall paper glue and looks like mold in real life. The finish coat was something along the lines of a fresco. At this point the glue appears to have obliterated whatever wall color, or design, that was originally there. It would be nice to know what the original color in this room was.

The thing hanging above the spot is the bottom edge of one of SWMBO’s tapestries.

Okay now, keep in mind that ALL this work was being done so that we could start decorating for Christmas.

That being said; as you can see…

…we have decorated and are ready for the fat man’s visit!!

Till next time…

Cheers!
Larry ~

So Long For Now Mrs. Kitchen

2009-12-08T09:15:00.111-06:00

Hello everyone!

As you might figure out from this post's title it's time to pack up the ol' tool bag and head to another room. Of course the powder room is at the top of the list - it's my primary January project.

However, the next big room project has been determined and intel is being gathered for the invasion. We are hoping that this will take place in mid January or the beginning of February.

With this in mind the following will be the last post with the kitchen as the primary subject. Keep in mind though there are still projects that need to be done in there - a couple doors, the floor, cabinets, etc. I will post about those as they get done.

As promised, this is the post giving you a tour of the kitchen in it's 'as finished as it's going to get' state. For brevity I will give little commentary and will just let the photos do the talking (yea...right!).

Two of the doorways missing doors.

From this view you should be able to tell I have a 'thing' for rich wood and warm walls as well as brass & copper.

The aquatic food mold collection.

SWMBO really doesn't like all my copper stuff, but you know...there sure are a lot of bunnies in this room as you will see!

One of the corner doohickeys. There is a little chunk missing that needs to be dealt with though.

Hope you all like this view!! You have no idea how hard it was to get it.

I must have as taken at least two dozen photos to get this one. With all the windows, light, and fancy settings on the camera it took time to find the proper mix.

In the lower right corner you can see the inspector that issued the 'Certificate of Habitability'.

Where else would you expect a sign like this?!

I wish the colors would of shown up better though.

I threw this in so you could all see just how dark the room typically gets when trying to take a picture.

SWMBO has a thing for rabbits.

I do love my copper & brass!!

Keep in mind, this is just 'part' of the collection.

We have a family friend that walked in the back door and said "whoa!" when he saw this set-up. He said the pot rack was the first thing you saw when walking in the back door.

Another view.

This reminds me... SWMBO thinks I throw in too many 'redundant' type pictures. I like pictures - hopefully you all do as well! Besides - it's my blog and I'll do what I like with it!!

This is the pig platter.

Do you remember the hole that use to be here?

There is an interesting story behind this platter. It belonged to a very close friend of ours by the name of Kathy Nail. This platter, as well as a ton of English antiques, had been bequeathed to us back in the late 80's.

Kathy loved Egypt to the point that she traveled there about four times a year. She always told us that one day she would go and not come back. With that in mind she designated all sorts of goodies to be given to us if this, or her untimely death, should occur.

Unfortunately Kathy's neighborhood took a direct hit from a massive tornado in 1991 that destroyed all the homes around her's but left her's intact. However, all the windows were blown out and virtually everything sucked out. The pig platter is one of the precious few items to survive.

Go here and here and you can see the tornado it the destruction it caused. We were allowed into the area as part of her 'family' to help clean up.

BTW - I walked home from work that day and the sucker passed in front of me by no more than a mile.

On a sad note - Kathy did leave one day and we never saw her again. We have tried to contact her, even going through her family, but as it appears Kathy has fallen off the face of the earth. We have no idea where she is or if she is even alive.

Let's get back to something more pleasant.

One of the re-done lights. This one is above the triangular prep area.

Another one of those pictures that took a long time to get!

Hopefully this time next year there will be new, custom built, cabinets here!

When the lights come on - BAM!! - candle glow effect!! Cool eh?

This is one reason I wanted this yellowish color.

This color is going to be the one to anchor all the rooms together.

Eventually a new cabinet will be located here as well.

For now I'm storing some dry ingredients and clay pots.

Okay, here is one of those pictures SWMBO considers 'redundant'.

Honestly, I'm a nosy person and I know you all are as well, the more I can get my face in there to 'look around' the better.

To me, the kitchen is my art studio/laboratory and this is where I keep certain dry chemicals.

Three of the jars up there are VERY expensive if you can find them (you know, like $30+ for a jar). We found them here in the house!! Lucky for us the person who broke in and stole all the items the night before we took possession missed these.

Hey,the smaller bottle to the left, the one that looks kind of like a Genie bottle, contains McCann's Steel Cut Irish Oatmeal. If you have never tried it - GET SOME!! You will never go back to regular oatmeal after eating this.

Tools of the trade.

A modest collection of liquid chemicals.

These are the main oils and vinegars I use to create, the others have been stored till later.

Remember these two?

The important thing, however, is the window pull. They all installed nicely and work well.

What can I say...

I'm an old romantic, a Francophile and an Escargot-A-Holic...

...with a love of Italian things as well.

A little fuzzy but still looks good.

Yes - the cabinet is still unfinished.

I know I said I would try to have it done by December 1st, but prepping for Christmas got in the way. More on that latter.

Did you notice the cherry pitter attached to the cabinet? SWMBO has wanted one of these for a long time. This one came from our friends Bill & Karen.

Here's that whole 'candle effect' again! This time those special bulbs on the wall sconces did it.

Just a few of the odd items hanging around. The top item is an antique egg separator. Under it is a vintage wall match safe.

The funny looking thing on the bottom isn't some sort of weird bread paddle...but it IS a paddle!

Tacky - maybe.

Morbid - possibly.

This is indeed a fanny warmer. This specific one was owned by SWMBO's parents. Her father, the one who made it, is an engineer. Notice how perfectly the holes are laid out?

Not sure why she insisted on this sucker being placed here, but she did.

More of the cabinet (yes - I know it's a dresser, but the old cabinets were more like this than our modern ones) with some of my family antiques (the mirror, bowl and lamp) around.

See the gray thing under it(?) - that's Brutus' bed.

Dig the 'treats' containers. And yes - they are full.

Somewhere around here is one for kids.

Brutus just loves this spot.

Back door to the utility porch.

'THE' picture...

Okay...maybe I do get a bit redundant...

You know, the old style is just a lot more classy looking.

One of the sconces.

We still have not found the 'right' candle covers yet.

Like I said - Francophile!!

More of our 'junk'.

The kitchen is FINALLY beginning to feel like 'home' again.

'Le cochon noble'.

This is by far my favorite clay pot cooker. I purchased it from an elderly German couple who had been given this as a wedding gift right before WWII and they had never used it.

I had to go through an internet friend living in Germany to handle the money and shipping.

I'm thinking about trying out the toaster.

More pots!!

Gee...perhaps I should clean them. I hate to mess up the patina though.

Doorway to the foyer.

Another door that's missing. Guess I should hang it.

One of SWMBO's rabbits.

This one looks a lot better now that we repainted the eyes. Originally the irises were a funky brownish/blaze orange and made the thing look really creepy and psychotic.

You will notice some of the mop-board molding is missing. It's in storage. We have not yet decided what we want to do with the built-in cabinet and until we do these parts will remain stored in a safe place.

And here is the reason why we have yet to make up our minds about the cabinet...the original one looks great!

Originally we decided to just make it look nice and usable until it was to be rebuilt to match the new cabinets. However, so many people have commented on how nice it looks we just aren't sure what to do now.

The hinges and pulls are all original to the cabinet as far as we know.

A broad view of the items we're storing in it.

I thought some of you more 'nosy' people might like a better look at what's all in there.

Some of the items are family heirlooms, some are antiques, some were found in the house ans some given to us by friends (such as Kathy N. and Bill & Karen).

The thing hanging in the center is a bunny chocolate mold; but look to the left of it, the thing with the wooden handle - do you see it?

That's one viscous meet mallet/tenderizer from a butcher shop. Looks very Medieval doesn't it?

Just more of the same...

See the glass container to the extreme left? The one with the black lid?

Take a close look...

...yup(!!), escargot shells!!

These dishes are special. They are not the first set of fancy dishes we've bought, those would be 100+ year old set of fine china we bought as our wedding gift to each other (remember the platter that flew off the wall(?), it came from that set). These are the first set of fancy, usable, dishes we bought.

More cookbooks. Most are originals but two are reproductions and YES, I do use them.

See that little mustard crock? It mostly contains antique utensils. One of those, a fork (extreme left), came from the Café de Paris. It is silver and has a scarab as the motif on the end of the handle. All indications is that it was made around 1904 - 1914 by the Smith Silver Co.

If ANYONE out there might have more information about this fork - PLEASE let me know.

We really like this old tea pot. It is a family heirloom that belonged to our friend Bill. We're not sure how old it is but it has to be from the first quarter of the 20th century at least.

HEY!! Here is a better view of the hinges and pulls.

The plating on the hinges is called 'Bavarian Finish'; if I remember that correctly. Guess I ought to double check on that.

More food molds plus three escargot dishes (you don't NEED shells to cook them).

This last picture really doesn't have anything to do with the kitchen other than it was taken in it.

SWMBO loves Orchids and she bought some a few weeks ago. I was playing with the settings on the camera and snapped this one.

Not sure what it is about the picture, but it seems to have some sort of 'artsy-fartsy' aura about it and I thought some of you would like it.

I do think the picture does a good job of highlighting the wall color. It also shows how the two types of wood took the same stain color and made it it's own.

Well, I guess that's about it - the tour is now over.

It's time now to head to the next room and start the pre-restoration preparations.

It has been a wild and bumpy road working on the kitchen and I hope I entertained you as well as showed you a few tips-n-tricks to help you out.

Let me know if you want a better picture of something you might have seen, or I forgot to get a picture of.

As always, if you have any tips, tricks or questions just let me know.

Till next time...

Cheers!
Larry