Tiny Old House

The Ursuline Centre

2009-12-28T08:07:00.002-07:00

While visiting family, we toured the Ursuline Centre in Great Falls, Montana. It was opened in 1912 as school run by the Ursuline Sisters. There are a few pictures on their website; here are a few more:

Alabaster light (bought from a traveling salesman!)

Stained glass windows in the chapel

The art studio

Gingerbread Architecture

2009-12-26T08:00:00.000-07:00

This post is all about gingerbread and houses. It is NOT, however, about the kind on MY house!
We made gingerbread houses for Christmas:

Here is my gingerbread house... big suprise! It's a classic quasi-Victorian cottage!

Other houses included the avante garde with lots of trees and a really cool fence...

... cottages with gardens and dog houses...

... and flowers and a basketball hoop.

Merry Christmas From All of Us!

2009-12-24T19:39:00.000-07:00

Just a Note on the Two Ads At the Top...

2009-12-18T08:59:00.003-07:00

They are not paid ads; they are for family members' businesses that are sort of related to old houses and home improvement/decoration. Just wanted to clarify, as I've received a few comments asking for paid listings. At this time, Tiny Old House is not accepting paid advertising. Thanks!

The New Old Front Door

2009-12-05T19:33:00.002-07:00

Here's the new old front door.

It has a very pretty dentil style molding under the beveled glass window, and matches our house age perfectly... it's almost identical to the one on the version of our house a block away.

The finish is cracking in places, and there is quite a bit of dirt on the door; luckily, it is shellacked and a simple wipe with denatured alcohol and a nylon scrubby removes the dirty cracking finish while leaving all of the aged character.

The door is not perfect; at one point in it's history, a standard lockset hole was drilled into the side opposite the original mortise lock. We'll be using the original holes, and plugging the circular hole. Hopefully, with stain, shellac, and the careful used of artist paints and brushes, we'll be able to hide the patch!

Woohoo!

2009-11-30T21:33:00.002-07:00

We're a $300 gift certificate richer, thanks to Houseblogs.net. Very excited about this! It will be nice to have the money to buy new materials for a project for once... and not have to search for them used (though, I do enjoy that immensely most of the time!)...
... or maybe I should just buy a few more router bits for the router I got for my birthday! What a birthday present.

Welcome Back?

2009-11-23T07:56:00.002-07:00

Some flu, some bronchitis... coughing, bruised ribs, fevers ... that's how our two months have been. It amazes me that I still woke myself up coughing last night, two months after coughing for the first time. I will say that Delsym is a miracle cough syrup, that tomato soup and saltines is the only palatable thing at many points, and that my husband and I are very lucky to have each other to take care of us!

Needless to say, not much has happened on the house. There is a door leaning against the water heater closet waiting to be installed and a new router and table received as a birthday present waiting to be used for the first time. The new old front door is still waiting half stripped in the garage. Even the backyard was left in a state of half completion... leaves need raked and composted, weeds mowed, tools put away.

I'll raise a glass of orange juice to continued improving health... and to getting back to our Tiny Old House!

After we got the keys to our house...

2009-11-23T06:59:00.004-07:00

the first thing we did was move the washer and dryer from the kitchen. (Yes, I'm entering the contest that Houseblogs.net is offering! I could sure use that $300 gift certificate from True Value!) I've never been a big fan of spaghetti sauce near my clean clothes, and so the weekend after we moved in we moved the washer/dyer hookups from the east side of the kitchen to the back room. Moving the water hook-ups was relatively easy, as the back room shares the wet wall with the sink/dishwasher from the kitchen; moving the 220 electrical line for the dryer was a trickier reroute and fish from the attic. Luckily, we had help from family with the project!

Here's the new laundry center (with a pretty puppy in the middle of her shave down on top):

Here is where the laundry center used to be...

The fridge used to be where the nice hutch is in the second picture. The rest of the kitchen counterspace and appliances are off to the left. We think that THIS is a much better use of space!

And, of course, the rest of the kitchen; you can see that stained glass window in the laundry picture, too:

The laundry room is through the door on the right (with the white gate); the current fridge/pantry is to the right.

This post was written for Houseblogs.net as part of a sweepstakes sponsored by True Value.

Door Finishing Fun

2009-08-18T08:02:00.003-06:00

When we left the new water heater closet door last, it was freshly stained and ready for finish and hardware.

Step One: Cut a hole for the vent
Every gas water heater needs air and venting, so we need to add a vent to this door. The small panel on this door (originally the top panel) is perfect for this job! I carefully measured the inside of the vent, traced it onto the door, and drilled a 3/8 inch hole in each corner:

This allows me to use a jigsaw to remove the panel.

Step OnePointFive: Paint the Vent
Our vent is a salvaged vent from the Habitat ReStore. $1, but in need of some paint. I scuffed it up with sandpaper, and then spraypainted it glossy black, making sure to coat both sides of the vent louvers:

Step Two: Apply Finish
We chose shellac for our door finish; Zinsser Bullseye Shellac to be specific. I'm rather enamoured with the idea of shellac right now... and am especially loving the ease with which it is coming off of an older door that needs refinished. I figured that this door (like our entire bathroom) is a great place for an experiment.
I brushed a thin coat of shellac onto the door, let dry an hour, and sanded lightly with 220 grit sandpaper; I repeated this 3 times. The 220 was a bit coarse for my prefered final finish, so I am planning on a final sanding with 400 grit sandpaper; we'll see today how that goes.

Here's a picture of the door with a third unsanded coat of shellac and with the grate set in place:

Coming up: More Door Jamb Fun!

Back to the House

2009-08-17T07:53:00.003-06:00

Did you wonder if this would ever turn back into a houseblog? Well, today is the day! I spent the weekend sanding and staining a new door for the water heater closet in the bathroom:

This doorway is 22" wide, an unusual size. Complicating matters was my want for a paneled door, and my preponsity for used doors. It is hard to cut 2 inches off of a used 24" door that has panels and door handles cut!

After years of searching, I finally found a 22" door at our local salvage store. It is newish, pine construction, and three panels. The smallest panel is just perfect for installing a vent; we are "flipping" the door over so that this panel will be on the bottom.

Here is the sanding:

I sanded first with 100 grit sandpaper on my orbital sander. The polyurethane finish gummed up the sandpaper quite fast; I was able to "pick" it off and keep going at intervals. After removing all finish, I finished up with 150 and 180 grit sandpaper. I wanted a dark stain, so stopped at 180.

I used the same stain on the door as I had used on the bathroom baseboard; Miniwax Red Mahogany:

This picture is of the first coat drying. I've since added one more coat, and will hopefully add the finish today after finding a vent to add.

Dishes for the Cardinal

2009-08-13T10:34:00.000-06:00

We perused the thrift stores carefully for just the right dishware for the Cardinal... and here it is!

They match the orange appliances beautifully:

Call for Help

2009-08-12T13:40:00.003-06:00

I don't normally ask for help on this blog, but this seems important. I've been reading Hallie and Joe's blog for over a year, and now they've hit a rough spot. A much rougher spot than a truck broken down in Montana. Here is a new website on how to help!

Glacier Pics

2009-08-12T10:29:00.001-06:00

Here's a few pictures from our trip to Glacier:

Goose Island in St. Mary's Lake

Hidden Lake

Running Eagle Falls

Canoeing on Two Medicine Lake

AND...
Scary clouds on the way home in Wyoming!

Busted Flat in Shelby

2009-08-11T08:58:00.005-06:00

We had a lovely trip to Montana and Glacier National Park last week. We took the Cardinal up, using our old Dodge Dakota to tow it. We didn't want to take the Subaru on such a long trip without trailer brakes! Sure the Dakota has 180,000 miles on it... but the Subie had 150K. And the Dakota had never run better.

The trip to Glacier went well; we enjoyed family, hiking, and wildlife for a few days before heading back to Great Falls. Unfortunately, about 78 miles (exactly) from East Glacier, the truck acquired a terrific vibration. We were just about to stop, when there was a huge "pop" and the truck lost all power to the wheels. The vibration was quite jarring! We just barely pulled the truck and trailer onto the shoulder... and after looking at the underside of our truck, the huge trail of liquid down the interstate, the lake of fluid under the truck, AND the cracked transfer case, we cried.

Wish we had pictures.

Called a tow truck... luckily my sister had AAA. Unluckily, we were still 60 miles from Great Falls, with only small towns between. I called mechanics in each town, and none could get us in within a week. We didn't know what would happen. Oh, and AAA doesn't cover trailer towing. Would we have to leave the Cardinal by the interstate?

After two hours, the tow truck arrived. Luckily, the driver was more than willing to hook the trailer onto the back for $1 a mile... and would tow us free 20 miles north to his town. He made a few calls, and found a mechanic who could get us in the next day.

He asked us where we wanted to have the trailer parked; we said "Cheap and close to the mechanic". He thought about it... and said he had a free place for us if we could handle train noise. Well... living in an old house in the old part of town, I have no problem with train noise.

Here was our two night camp spot:

Right by the tracks.

Back to the mechanic... I must say that everyone who stuck their head under our truck, from the tow driver, to the 4 mechanics let out a huge breath and shook their head. Our transfer case didn't just crack... it EXPLODED:

The part was supposed to be in the next day, and he promised it by 5. At five the next day, however, we walk to the shop to a somewhat flustered mechanic. Our part had missed the truck up, but the mechanic had sent a man down to get it in the hopes of staying late to finish it up. Unfortunately, the man's truck had broken down on the side of the road!

Ah well. It was done the next day, albeit without a speedometer (the wires ripped out in the explosion) and missing 4x4 (apparently, the CV joint on the front wheels was freezing up now), and we are back down in Colorado, considerably lighter on the pocketbook.

Oh, and if you EVER have a chance to stay in Shelby, MT, may I recommend the local museum... the Marias Museum? It was a big house FULL of old things, from Victrolas and wedding gowns, to depression glass, pistols, and blacksmith gear. It was one of the most interesting museums I've ever been in!

Registering the Cardinal, or RED TAPE EVERYWHERE!

2009-07-23T19:56:00.000-06:00

A few weeks ago, we decided that the Cardinal really needed its own set of Colorado license plates, so we took a trip to the DMV. First, they sent us for a VIN verification with 3 day temporary tags. We got to the dealer, who couldn't find a VIN anywhere... and decided that since the tongue had obviously been replaced and a larger one fishplated on that the previous VIN had been cut off in the switch. He told us to go to the state patrol.

We get to the state patrol, only to find out that they do VIN verifications ONLY every other Thursday... and the next one was in 11 days. (8 days past our temp tags, and a brand new NON WAIVABLE late fee of $25 imposed by the great state of Colorado as a money making scheme in effect. Seriously... they even called it that when they voted it in). We make the appointment.

We get to the state patrol. SP looks at the trailer and says "Yep... the VIN should be right there, but they cut it off. Any sign of manufacturer on there?".

Now... it's pretty obvious it's a Cardinal IF you've done the research on vintage Cardinal logos... our trailer has a most of a very faded bird with the words Deluxe, Adams, and Del Monte, Calif. on it in the exact position it should be. But... the word Cardinal is faded off... and our SP officer is not a vintage trailer researcher. He poked around in all the cabinets, saying "ones just a little newer than this have manufacturer info inside a door." LUCKILY he decided to write on the form that he saw the manufacturer's name on there (that would have been 10 more forms and hassle, I'm SURE!).

He wrote it all up, found 2 more forms for us to fill out, told us to get it weighed and certified, and sent us on his way. He really did a great job of making sure all of the i's were dotted and the t's were crossed... he say "I hope I don't offend, but the folks over at the DMV can be VERY anal. Let's try to get this perfect".

Took it into the DMV the next day... and after filling out 3 more forms, we had a new little tin plate and CO VIN number to rivet to the trailer. We were pretty excited... until the phone rang on Monday. Turns out, there's ANOTHER form to fill out AND we needed a professional appraisal done by an RV dealer printed on company letter head. Not too hard, right?

After calling every single dealer in the entire Northern Colorado area (including no less than 5 cities, and numerous towns)... and having started in on North Denver... I still hadn't found anyone willing or able to do an appraisal. I called no less than TWENTY FIVE dealers, with negatives all around. Every one said "Not in the blue book, so we can't do it" or "We don't do appraisals."

Then, I remembered that the SECOND dealer I called on Friday had just taken my name and number for a call back from the sales manager. I hadn't received a call back, and at the time, I just assumed that they couldn't do it just like everyone else and were just not taking the time to tell me "no".

I called them and was overjoyed to hear them say they would do it the next afternoon... and she apologized for not getting back with me (she recognized the request... I didn't say a thing)! I just got back from the appraisal AND from the DMV. The VERY nice woman at the DMV spent 10 minutes making every single i was dotted and t was crossed, and sent it in to the state! I'll be checking the mail in 2 to 4 weeks for that title!

By the way... the RV dealer I got the appraisal from had a cute little 1958 Fleetwood 10 foot trailer they had on the "back lot" ... said it needed a lot of work by a willing pair of hands. It didn't LOOK much worse than ours from the outside. I was tempted... but decided not to go look. They said they sell things like that to a man in Cheyenne for trailer beds for $200 or so... maybe I should go back...

Well, a Few of You Warned Me...

2009-07-22T19:50:00.002-06:00

... but it was too late. I'm sidelined temporarily by what is likely quadriceps tendonitis, an over-use injury of the tendon right above the patella.

I have NO idea what caused it... no REALLY.

Ok... maybe moving a ton or two of rocks by myself could cause an overuse injury. Think so?

I've been icing for the past few days, and generally keeping off of it. It's starting to feel normal! I'm hoping that by tomorrow I might be able to do some light, NON-knee bending activities.

Edging Done...

2009-07-18T12:01:00.003-06:00

... for the gravel path surrounding the raised garden beds.

First, I dug a narrow trench; I marked guide "holes" at the end and the middle, and then set to work:

After digging the trench, I carried the stones back over (you may remember that this is where they WERE before I moved them across the yard... back again) and laid them out:

I was careful to choose only stones with a relatively flat edge, as I hope to have the edge flush with the grass for easy mowing.

I chose NOT to use landscaping fabric for two reasons (actually... three):
1) It's made of plastic, and I don't want to add more. (Please ignore the landscaping fabric in the fire circle... it was installed 2 years ago).
2) It isn't fool proof; see fire pit from two years ago.
3) It's expensive.

I'll line under the gravel with heavy sheets of newspaper; the edging stones will just have to accept grass growing between them.

Here is the finished edge; now I need to remove about an inch of soil between the edge and the beds to make room for two inches of gravel.

We are trying to decide between straight 3/8 inch crushed rock, and between the 3/8 minus (or breeze) rock that creates more of a hard packed path. Also trying to decide on color... I'm thinking grey would be nice. Not buttery yellow... but maybe rose/red. It's the cheapest. Seems funny to be buying rocks... especially since I see craigslist adds of people giving away landscaping rocks all the time. It's usually the 3/4 to 1 1/2 inch rocks, though... the kind that don't make a nice path... or pea gravel, which I am not a big fan of.

Filling in the Garden Path

2009-07-16T10:10:00.001-06:00

We have been hard at work in the yard; one of our tasks is filling in the garden path surrounding the fire pit. We decided to do a path of flat stone in random shapes and sizes. This involves a sledgehammer, a hammer, and a stone chisel.

Or, if you don't have a stone chisel... a hammer turned around!

Here, we are beveling the edges slightly in a random pattern, so that the stones aren't too sharp on top and so they look more "natural". This is a great way to chip off a larger portion of stone so as to make a better fit in the walkway.

We are filling in between the flat stones with homemade gravel. Much of the gravel comes from the beveling and shaping process; the rest is coming from a few chunks of limestone that have no other purpose in our yard. The sledgehammer is INDISPENSABLE in gravel making!

We are about two thirds of the way done with the path, but have run out of flat stone. Our "supplier" is gathering another pallet or so for us to use... no finishing until then!

More Stone Beds

2009-07-15T10:01:00.004-06:00

Three more stone garden beds, in a neat row (you can see the EVIL bush poking up over the fence- what IS it?):

The dogs knocked over a stone on the last one by playing body-slam tag into the wall right before I took the picture; I hadn't filled the cracks with stones chips yet. Funny pups never even blinked! I'll assume that the stone wasn't a good match for that spot, and replace it with another. The beds are generally steady and firm; filling with dirt/compost/manure will help their stability as well. I wouldn't recommend stacking these stones THREE deep in a single stone wide wall.

Each bed is approximately 4 feet wide, and 8 feet long, with a 2 foot path between each and along the fence. I ran out of newspaper, and so only covered the edges of the beds; I will fill in with massive quantities of newspaper later to smoother the grass poking up in the middle of each. One more bed to go!

Any Idea What THIS Evil Plant Is?

2009-07-14T17:48:00.000-06:00

This plant/bush/vine has been terrorizing me for 5 years. It seemed innocuous enough when we moved in, just a nice bush with small pinky purple flowers drifting over the neighbor's fence. Then, it started to take over the yard.

You can see a bit of it coming over the neighbor's fence in yesterday's pictures... and here's a few old ones of it at it's finest:

(complete with garter snake and small purple flower)

(complete with fuzzy puppy who is stalking the garter snake).

The growth you can see appears to be second year growth... the first year's growth appears to be non-woody and have much larger leaves. The bush has runner type roots. I can pull or dig a plant up as far as I can, but I won't have gotten it all. A few weeks ago, I went all out and clipped EVERY bushlet in my yard down and painted each remained stumplet with stump killer. Last week, those stumplets were covered in new green growth.

Save me from the bush!

What is this plant?

Raised Beds of Stone

2009-07-13T17:33:00.000-06:00

I was inspired at some point by Paul at Homeowner's Blog to build some raised gardens out of stone. We have piles of rubble stone at our disposal, and when I saw this picture I knew what I was going to do!

Here is the first bed. First, I laid down several thicknesses of newspaper as an immediate weed barrier underneath the rocks.

Then, I created a dry stacked wall, two stones high. The garden bed is about 4 feet wide and 8 feet long.

I filled in the gaps between stones with chipped stone. There will be four more of these along the fence, and then they will be surrounded by a layer of rock chips/pea gravel, as per this garden plan (there will be FIVE gardens along the east fence, not three):

I plan on lasagna gardening these beds by layering a bunch more newspaper at the bottom, a bunch of manure/compost, and then wood chips at the top. Four more to build before I take the truck to find manure!

1964 Cardinal 10 Foot Travel Trailer

2009-06-30T09:58:00.000-06:00

Here she is; the 1964 Cardinal Deluxe 10 foot travel trailer. In need of work... but when has a little work ever scared us away from anything?

In need of a paint job, and better patches. We'll keep the original "wings", but brighten up the yellow and silver a bit along with a brand new white paint job on the rest.

The appliances all work, though the ice box does not keep things as cool as hoped. Perhaps a block of ice instead of those blue ice packs will help. The cabinets need sanded down and refinished, as the old finish is flaking off. We hope to match the paint on the icebox so we can repaint it, and perhaps fill a few dents.

The eating area, complete with cowboy themed curtains and a "rustic" branded table. You can just see the bunk bed over the table; as three of the four inhabitants of the trailer this weekend hit their heads on this bunk (and we see no need for the additional storage), it will be removed and stored in our garage. It isn't original to the trailer; a cot was there. The carpet is likely original, and is very worn. I'd like to replace it with some of those commercial tiles in a checkerboard pattern.

The benches and table folded down into a bed. A very comfortable bed, I might add, with more than enough room for two people and one dog. (Our other dog sleeps in a crate on the floor for her own security). You can see waterdamage on the edges and under the window. The trailer does not currently leak, but we may have to rebuild some of the frame if the waterdamage is too severe.

A little floorplan of the trailer; just perfect for us!

Lots to do to restore it... but I promised I'd finish the house first. So... let's get this Tiny Old House finished up! (Or at least at point where there are no half finished projects!)

Our First Trip in the Cardinal

2009-06-29T17:34:00.002-06:00

We just returned from our first overnight trip in the 1964 Cardinal travel trailer. We drove into the mountains northwest of town. It was just overnight, due to classes and work... but just enough to want more!

Easy to pull, even for our 2.2L Subaru wagon. We cleared the mountains just fine, albeit rather slowly. Here's to the travel trailer! Detailed pictures tomorrow.

It's HERE!

2009-06-27T14:12:00.003-06:00

It's a 10 foot 1964 Cardinal Deluxe travel trailer. The perfect tiny trailer to go with the tiny old house! It needs work, just like the tiny old house, but is usable as is. Lots of birch paneling, cabinets, etc, and the original ORANGE appliances. Off to go camping! More pics when we get back.

Exciting New TINIER Addition to Tiny Old House

2009-06-24T11:09:00.000-06:00

Coming soon... the newest addition to Tiny Old House. It's MUCH smaller, but not nearly as old. I'll post pictures and more as soon as it arrives; we're think Saturday will be the "day"!

Look at Our Bathroom NOW!

2009-06-23T17:38:00.002-06:00

Our bathroom is finally not an embarrassing room! Here is the bathroom after installing the new trim:

We used Valspar Faux Venetian Plaster in Olive on the walls, Minwax Red Mahongany water based wood stain on the pine 1x6 trim, and Minwax Tung Oil finish on the trim.

There is more to be done; the water heater closet needs a door, and the doors need trim around them. Plus, I would LOVE to replace the flimsy stand alone cabinets on either side of the vanity with one or two true built ins. And, finally, the popcorn ceiling NEEDS to go. However, it looks finished enough now!

Stained the Bathroom Trim Today

2009-06-18T18:24:00.000-06:00

We used Minwax Red Mahogany stain on our pine bathroom moldings. I decided to NOT use the wood conditioner as recommended for staining pine, as it seems to have a very mixed record for preventing blotches. For those who want to know, gel stain is recommended for the most even results on pine... a fact that I didn't learn until after I had opened and tried out the liquid stain we bought.

We are hoping to match the mahogany bathroom door...

... a pretty close match! Most of our replacement doors (for the hollow core monstrosities) are mahogany; we are planning on staining pine trim to "match." I'm glad to see that it is going to be fairly easy!

A Little Black Paint Makeover

2009-06-17T18:03:00.002-06:00

Our mailbox has been living on a front porch chair for over a year... ever since we removed the asbestos siding. I don't like our mailbox, and I was hesitant to drill holes into the brick for a box that wouldn't stay long.

Here's the old mailbox:

I removed the stick on numbers, lightly sanded it with 22o sandpaper, and spraypainted it with a can of black paint we had lying around in the garage:

I then realized that the stick on numbers were the only numbers visible from the street...

... the other house numbers had been painted white. Even though we intend on replacing the posts soon, we can't have the house unidentifiable! They were too delicate and paint encrusted to remove for stripping or proper painting, so I used a paint brush to paint the numbers black.

Here's what the mailbox and numbers look like on our house:

Much better than an ugly white mailbox sitting on the green chair! If it wears well, I may not even need to buy a new mailbox. Here's to a little paint.

Glean of the Week

2009-06-15T19:06:00.002-06:00

We'd been planning on a lake trip this past weekend, so when we saw a windsurfer lying on the side of the road with a "Free! Works fine, we just don't use it" sign on it we couldn't resist. It was quite chilly at the lake this time; we were quite happy we own wetsuits!

Plus, a few cute puppy pictures! The skinny black pup is ours; the other three (the cockapoo, lab/rottie mix, and German Shorthaired Pointer) belong to friends and family.

They fetched, chased, sniffed, ran, and rolled until they dropped for three days! Our pup Kirby is STILL sleeping.

Bathroom Trim

2009-06-12T21:11:00.001-06:00

At the last minute we changed ideas on bathroom trim. We had been planning on using slate tiles cut in half (the same as on the floor) to create a baseboard, but after cutting a few and propping them up we found we didn't care for the look.

Instead, we went and bought a few pine boards to create a nice, simple baseboard. Here's a picture of the (cut, but unstained) baseboard running from the sink to the tub tile:

If you look closely, you will notice that the tub tile and edge only stick out about 3/8 inch. To create a more natural transition between the baseboard and the tile, we cut a 45º angle with our miter chop saw.

We have the wood measured, cut, and dry fit. Now we need to stain it mahogany (the same color as the door in the bathroom) and nail it up. We will likely go with a very similar simple baseboard for the whole house if this turns out well!

I Hate Venetian Plaster

2009-06-11T20:55:00.004-06:00

It's pretty hard to work with, and not intuitive at all. Oh... and the directions aren't any better. Also, if you are hoping to use it to disguise poor walls, think again. Skim coating with drywall and painting will be MUCH easier (and what we will probably do with the rest of the house. However, despite all of the problems, the walls look MUCH better than when we started last year:

Here's where we are today:

Oh... and the new patch from running the doorknob through the freshly plastered wall:

It still needs a couple coats of plaster. Mental note to NOT run door knobs into freshly plastered walls.

A Few Notes:
* Apply it paper thin. It cracks VERY easily if it is applied too thick!
* If it cracks, sand gently, and apply another thin layer of the paint.
* It takes a LONG time. Plus, it needs several coats.
* The first layer will leave you feeling that you wasted $50 and 2 hours. It DOES get better.

Finishing the Bathroom- FINALLY

2009-06-09T07:13:00.004-06:00

We've been remodeling our bathroom for about 18 months now. We don't think the appraiser will like our hand scraped walls, lack of trim, lack of water heater closet door, or trial paint splotches, however. There is nothing like an appraisal to give you a little "kick" in the rear to finish projects up.

It rained yesterday... the perfect time to start (or finish) an inside project. We decided to use Venetian Plaster to finish up the walls, as there quite a few drywall patches and a VERY heavy texture. We could have skim coated with drywall compound and painted to save some money, but decided that time was of the essence and that we needed to get it done fast.

After perusing the samples at Lowe's, we decided on an Olive green. Here is the first coat, wet. It looks like a green pepper instead of an olive... but the first dry spots are about 5 shades lighter and much more olive.

It doesn't look that great yet, since the first coat is put on messy. We're planning to finish it up tomorrow... and then add trim. Let's hope it turns out well!

Clearcutting the Jungle

2009-06-08T08:48:00.001-06:00

We've spent the last few days working in the yard. The first job, of course, was to remove all excessive vegetation...

... which is no easy task!

We used a combination of a very sturdy lawnmower, a hedge trimmer, hand clippers, a rake, and a weedeater/edger to reduce the backyard to THIS:

It only took 2 truckloads (and counting) to haul the debris away to the recycling center, where it will be industrially composted.

Of course, we DID have to move all of that stone before we could cut the weeds... here is where it ended up:

The rubble stone (rough, rectangular chunks of rock) is going to be used for raised veggie beds and possibly a paved area and path edging. The curved pieces are going to finish out the flower beds. The balusters (the turned columns) are slated for a special project all of their own... we're pretty excited about it, too! The only hint I'll give is that they are NOT staying in the back yard.

Always the Last to the Party...

2009-06-06T07:41:00.000-06:00

and permanently sitting on the fence. That's us! To celebrate that, we've FINALLY decided to refinance. A few days late, of course... but better late than never.

To recap, we have a 5/1 ARM that adjusts in August. We had been fence sitting, as the ARM has a relatively low cap on interest rates (10%, with a possible adjustment of 2% a year), and we plan to be selling in 2 or 3 years.

It's been a tough decision, but we decided that worst case scenario is that we lose a couple thousand dollars (the closing costs). We're going with a 15 year mortgage to hedge our bets and decrease the payoff period.

Is there anyone else who's been fence sitting on this refinancing thing for as long as we have?

Our First Iris!

2009-06-05T07:37:00.000-06:00

Found this beauty in our garden the other day. It's the first bloom on our iris plants from 2 years ago.

Iris are one of my favorite flowers... and so easy to grow, even in a quasi desert! Almost half of the plants have blooms now... most are some variation of purple. I can't wait until they need dividing again!

The Best Laid Plans... (Backyard Plans)

2009-06-04T07:28:00.000-06:00

Here are our two sketched backyard plans. They aren't completely to scale... we realized that the backyard is considerably shorter in the second plan. The width is right, as is the garage, and general size and location of the patio. The trees are marked with "A" (Ash), "S" (Spruce), "A" (Apple), "E" (Elm), "T" (Tree). North is at the top of the page, as standard, the house is at the bottom of the page. Right now, all of the stone has moved to the area inside the curved line along the fence on the west. Constants between the two plans are likely permanent, or already constructed features.

Here is the FIRST plan:

Here is our SECOND plan:

Plan Two didn't have as much care put into drawing or labeling. Pity the second child.

We are leaning towards plan TWO, as in retrospect I feel the veggie gardens (VG) will do better on the eastern side of the yard. Any thoughts?

A Jungle...

2009-06-03T07:09:00.002-06:00

This is our jungle:

I fully believe there are tigers, monkeys, and elephants out there. Or, at least, killer grass seeds and garter snakes.

Under all of that vegetation lies a couple tons of rock. Rock carefully stacked, ready for used. Rock directly in the way of a good mowing. Rock that now must be moved AGAIN, 40 lb stone by 40 lb stone, for the FOURTH time. I'm feeling a little like Sisyphus.

THIS time, though, we aren't moving it to build a fence, or to cut tree branches. THIS time we have a plan. We are moving all of the rocks into the partially constructed flowerbed on the west side, to await further instructions. It's hot, it's heavy... but someone has to do it!

Eye Candy and Paint Possibilities

2009-05-27T09:41:00.003-06:00

Saw this on Flicker.... the perfect paint colors for our house.

Go take a look... it's gorgeous!

Funny enough, it's basically a twin to the other house in these colors we snapped a picture of:

Of course, my photography is no match!

Still Alive Here!

2009-05-08T16:27:00.002-06:00

It's the end of the year... concerts, recitals, parties, and more as the school and concert seasons wrap up. It's always this way... the most beautiful part of the year, and I spend 90% of it inside, working!

Just a quick update on Molly dearest. Her paws have fully healed, and she is back to herself! (If a little cranky still from all the stress.)

Well, it wasn't food allergies.

2009-04-21T08:50:00.003-06:00

The sudden change for the better when we switched foods was just a coincidence. On Sunday, we looked at her paws, and decided that they just weren't getting better (and in fact, looked to be infected), even though she had stopped (for the most part) trying to chew on them. Time for the vet!

We took her in yesterday, and the vet found 5 grass seeds stuck up in her paws. It was so GROSS! There was blood and pus everywhere... the room looked like a murder scene when we were done. She was SUCH a good girl, too... she let the vet dig around in her paws to get all the grass seeds out without complaining (much).

Anyway, this is yet ANOTHER injury caused by our unlandscaped mudpit of a backyard. (Previous ones included the lump scare last summer). We've now spent enough on vet bills for our pups related to grass seeds to have fully sodded and installed a sprinkler system. Which, I think we need to finally do. We've been putting it off for years, getting the rest of the house presentable and then front yard looking nice. But, the wild annual ryegrasses and other poky weeds NEED to go, if only to protect our pocketbooks. Not sure where the money is going to come from... but it sure seems like a sound investment!

Molly Update

2009-04-18T18:15:00.003-06:00

We never made it to the vet. We started feeding her only chicken and rice on Monday evening. After two days of ONLY chicken and rice (and peanut butter for her pills), Molly had stopped chewing her paws. When we woke up on Wednesday morning AND when we came home, the socks were still on her feet, proving she really hadn't even tried! BIG sigh of relief! Things were so good that we canceled the vet appointment after talking with them... they said it sounded like we had things under control.

Molly is sitting on her favorite blanket in only baby socks over her bandages... she hasn't needed the muzzle or the cone for 4 days now. We'll still do it for night for a while longer... don't want any set backs. The paws are still raw and nasty looking, but slowly improving with each wash and bandage change.

Now to figure out exactly what she's allergic to, and what food to feed her now. She was on a very limited ingredient fish and potato food before, so that is out. I think we'll try California Naturals Chicken and Rice first, as that has a pretty short ingredient list. But, we'll give it a week or so on the plain chicken and rice to clear out her system. She's LOVING this.

Introducing Mollybal Lecter

2009-04-14T12:19:00.003-06:00

She's been trying to eat her paws for the past week.

But this isn't where we started. We started with Bitter Apple, that foul tasting substance that you spray to prevent chewing and licking. When that failed, we tired a pair of cute little baby socks. This worked for our other dog when he had foot surgery...

...but it didn't work for Miss Molly. The paws became even more swollen, bloody, and inflamed as she kept licking. We tried an Elizabethan Collar...

...but Molly is too smart for her own good, though, and figured out how to chew her feet with the ecollar on by pinning her foot between the collar and the floor, and pushing down to collapse the collar. This caused untold torture to her poor little feet. That's when we resorted to the basket muzzle, ala Hannibal Lecter.

The smart girl figured out how to lick out of the side of her muzzle, however, so we paired the muzzle with the ecollar...

... only to find that her paws were STILL being worried somehow, and were now bleeding pretty badly.

I don't understand how she can still be reaching her paws through a lampshade, a muzzle, gallons of bitter apple (which she hates), yards of gauze and vet wrap, and baby socks. We have washed, bandaged, antibacterial oinmented, anti-itch sprayed, soaked in Epsoms Salts, and done everything we can think of... and every time we think we are getting somewhere, she rips them open again overnight. And, I am at the end of my rope. She's going to the vet tomorrow at 5 pm (the earliest they could get us in)... hopefully they can give us a sedative or something to help her.

Paint. And plywood. And one more stack of beadboard.

2009-04-09T11:52:00.001-06:00

Also, the rental of a nail gun and air compressor to easily install the beadboard and plywood. THAT is what I would buy with a $200 gift certificate to Home Depot. Now... I don't have a $200 gift certificate, but luckily the fine folks over at One Project Closer are giving away just such a gift certificate! You can enter, too, but only if I win. Deal?

To Fred and Ethan: Pick me! Pick me! Can I send over fresh baked brownies?

Beadboard Ceiling!

2009-04-07T11:59:00.003-06:00

While browsing through the Habitat ReStore in my city, I discovered a large pile of pine paneling, left over from some job or store closing. Upon closer inspection, I noticed that some of it was beadboard paneling. The best part? Each bundle of 6-8 foot boards was only $6! These bundles sell for $30 each in the store. I bought all they had, which was 6 bundles. This leaves me about 1 bundle short of the whole ceiling (after factoring in waste). Total cost for beadboard should be about $70 total after buying one more package at retail price.

It's decorative grade beadboard, so we will intall plywood first onto the open rafters to prevent warping. Our inspiration is Craig and Yvonne's gorgeous Victorian House, and the front porch ceiling they created. We will have to do a similar vaulted ceiling to avoid the window headers on our house. We are leaning towards staining it darkly just like they did, as well... would it be too fancy or dark for a little house like ours?

I'm really excited about how this porch project is coming together. We probably won't start true contruction before Memorial Day, but I'm going to start repairing the posts, staining or priming beadboard, and more. That way, we will be ready when the free time hits!

Tentative Porch... a Pictoral

2009-04-06T06:34:00.002-06:00

A very nice person over at the Old House Web forums photoshopped the blue columns onto my front porch! Thank you so much, wletson! Just ignore the shutters on the house; we decided we don't want them.

They are really growing on me. I realized that these are just the right size for the porch. It would be prohibitively expensive to buy new posts that are a true 6 inches wide! (At least $300 each, I'm guessing, though I can't even find any that aren't really 5.5 inches.) I think we will just stick with these, unless something comes along first.

UPDATE: They may or may NOT be upside down. (This was photoshopped off of the old pictures- I think it gets the point across either way). I'm convinced it's an optical illusion to all of you! I have evidence in the bottoms of the posts, I think, and I'll take more pictures of the both ways. Plus, I think the posts look REALLY weird the other way... very top heavy.

I Want this HOUSE!

2009-04-01T09:48:00.001-06:00

This one, in city we'd like to move one day (I work there) and in a great location nestled against the mountains... the second picture shows why. It's listed as 1924... seems a little early for that, but who knows. It's a short sale, too. But no house buying for us... we've plenty to do here.

http://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/2404-W-Elizabeth-St_Fort-Collins_CO_80521_1102479994

Porch Posts!

2009-03-30T07:19:00.003-06:00

It's time to paint our house trim! But before we paint it, we need new porch posts. The current posts are hollow quasi-Craftsman squared columns. They are rotten through and through, and need replaced.

The columns are about 6 inches wide.

We know the porch is not original; you can see the "ghosts" of the old porch on the brick (the small white lines between the windows and the door). The original porch likely looked like THIS: (Our next door neighbor's house)

The posts on their house are turned posts, and there is a small amount of gingerbreading at the top. They appear to be a true 4 inches wide (and are more than likely original to the house, based on that size and the layers of paint that appear to be on them!).

We'd like to put actual turned posts like our neighbors back up, as the square columns are just too plain for the house. I've been trying to find salvaged posts for almost a year now, but can't find anything that doesn't cost $400 each OR they only have THREE posts. Sigh.

Question #1: Would it be weird to put half posts back up where the old half post ghosts are? The paint won't come off with anything that doesn't stain the brick, and we think this might be a nice way to hide the paint. Would it look weird though?

Question #2: What size of turned posts should I get? I know that the new 4 inch posts will be too spindly at barely 3 inches wide. Would a true four inch post be too small for the porch with it's larger roof? What do you think?

Question #3: Since I can't find salvaged posts, any pointers on buying new ones? Is there a reason I shouldnn't go buy the 5" or 6" posts from Lowes (that are actually 4 or 5 inches)?

We really can't afford much for the porch. I know we can't afford the $300 repro ones I've seen online that look gorgeous! We probably can't afford much more than $300 for all FOUR posts!

Just to Make You Smile...

2009-03-27T09:47:00.000-06:00

... here's a few spring flower pictures. I just love spring flowers!

The Invading Elms

2009-03-25T09:41:00.000-06:00

We have 7 mature elm trees on our city lot... and probably 15 juveniles that I regularly chop down. These 15 trees are trees growing where trees shouldn't grow... between the house and driveway, in the middle of flower beds, and HERE:

... in the middle of our shrubbery. The light colored branches are the elm. I have chopped this tree down at least 3 times. The last time I even carefully dabbed stump killer on the cut stumps, to no avail. It takes about 3 months to create the kind of growth you see in the picture... if I miss even a week of chopping down suckers, it's over. I just spent 2 hours chopping down this and the rest of the elms invading our shrubs... and dabbed a bit more stump killer on, but I suspect that it won't work this time, either. I like the shrub, and don't want to kill it. Any suggestions?

More Door Stripping and a Query

2009-03-23T21:31:00.003-06:00

After even more work with a utility knife and a bit of sandpaper, the door is starting to look better:

We might actually be able to keep it natural wood... but there is one problem. The citrus stripper I used to remove the paint from the decorative moulding has left a stain on the wood. I'm not sure if it's citrus stripper, or if the citrus stripper disolved the dye from the red paint that was the bottom layer, but there are red/orange stains on our wood. The stains are somewhat deep; a good sanding doesn't remove them. I've tried mineral spirits and denatured alcohol.

Any suggestions?

Out of the Ashes...

2009-03-20T20:20:00.000-06:00

This crocus is blooming in the empty hole left by my fallen crabapple tree. I'd planted a few last fall and forgotten about them... what a nice surprise!

Garden Work

2009-03-19T19:49:00.003-06:00

Here's what my front flower gardens looked like all winter:

I went to work with a garden rake, a pair of bypass clippers, and a weeder, and after an hour or two the gardens looked like THIS:

Look at all the greenery poking up! I crunched up most of the leaves covering the beds over the winter, and mulched around with leave bits; this will allow the leaves to break down into nutrients faster, and it presents a neater appearance to the beds. I can't wait until it's time to get in there and start dividing up the older perennials!

Now THIS Would Have Stopped Those Drafts...

2009-03-13T14:47:00.002-06:00

... this winter!

see more Lolcats and funny pictures

Stripping with Scrubbies

2009-03-03T19:55:00.002-07:00

It's been gorgeous out. I've still been working on stripping our front door. It's taking forever, and I'm only doing one side well enough to stain!

I read a little tip about using nylon scrubbies and denatured alcohol to remove the last of the paint after you have tried the heat gun, chemical stripper (the citrus variety), the razor blades, and dental picks.

It didn't seem to work. Anyone have a better solution?

"I'm With the Acme Window Co., and I Just HAPPENED to be in the Neighborhood..."

2009-02-26T18:19:00.008-07:00

"... but I'm not selling anything. Are you the homeowner?"

"Yes"

"Well, we're talking with homeowners of houses with older windows (looks at my decrepit and paint peeling windows) about our upcoming special on...."

"No thanks. I'm restoring them this summer."

"Oh. Ok then."

That was easy.

Lilac Mayhem and Rejuvenation

2009-02-23T08:24:00.002-07:00

Our tiny old house came with a HUGE OVERGROWN LILAC BUSH. Two beloved pet ratties and a young robin are buried under this bush.

It has seven or eight thick old trunks that have been chopped off about 3 to 4 feet up, giving it the appearance of a bundle of wood. I have only seen one flower on it in the four springs we have been here. After much pulling of hair and gnashing of teeth (and research), I decided to "start over" with the lilac. This time of year is perfect for lilac rejuvenation:

Here is the lilac bush now (with a visitor who loves the camera and wouldn't stay away). I removed ALL of the thick, old stems with a sharp pruning saw. This is NOT recommended if you would like lilac blooms anytime in the next three years, as it takes three years for a stem to produce flowers. If your lilac is in better health/structure than mine, I would recommend taking off 1/3 of the branches each year right after blooming instead of this drastic haircut.

Hopefully, my lilac bush will become a contributing member of our backyard garden now. Lilacs can be beautiful bushes!

Spring is Coming!

2009-02-20T16:08:00.001-07:00

It's coming, it's coming!

Teeny, Tiny, Itty, Bitty Baby Shoes!

2009-02-17T08:18:00.000-07:00

It doesn't have ANYTHING to do with home improvement, but it does fit in with the Tiny Old House. I just finished these baby shoes for a coworker's upcoming baby girl:

Aren't they cute? I used a bit of felted wool sweater and an old silk shirt for the fabric, and hand-stitched it all together with itty bitty stitches. Recycling old into new, and saving money all at once!

In the interest of saving even more trees, I used the Japanese art of furoshiki to wrap the gifts in a fun silk scarf that I found at the thrift store:

What sort of homemade gifts have you given? Have you considered non-traditional wrapping?

YakTrax Would Have Saved My Behind... If I'd Kept Wearing Them!

2009-02-16T08:05:00.000-07:00

A few weeks ago, I received a small package in the mail; a brand new pair of YakTrax walkers to review for the blog. (YakTrax had sent me a pair.) I had been waiting for them to arrive, as I take lots of night dog walks regardless of snow or ice. Sadly (or gladly, depending), we've had unseasonably warm weather this winter, with very few snowstorms and even less below zero snaps.

Well, the day arrived.

I woke up to a winter wonderland of wet sticky snow that had melted and refrozen. I pulled the YakTrax out of the box, and was rather disappointed to see how flimsy they appeared. The construction is a thin rubber outsole in a spiderweb formation, and is wrapped in a steel wire corkscrew. Honestly, I wasn't sure it would work at all.

I pulled them over my hiking boots to give them a go, though... and was pleasantly surprised to find out that they were so easy to take on and off that I could remove them on my walk if needed even with my gloves on. (You aren't supposed to wear them on cement). They fit snugly, didn't seem to move out of place, and the thin rubber didn't seem flimsy at all when it was on my boot.

I took a step outside with a 60 lb dog who LOVES the snow and gets so excited when he sees it that he temporarilly forgets that I am attached to the other end of the leash... and didn't fall. Or slip. At all. The walk went beautifully... no slipping or sliding. In fact, it went SO well that I assumed that it wasn't actually that slippery out, and decided NOT to wear them on my way out to the car to go to work. Big mistake! I was still wearing the same hiking boots, but when I stepped around the back of my car I fell right down... in the very place that I had confidently walked without slipping 10 minutes earlier. OUCH!

I took a look at the YakTrax after taking them off my boots to inspect the metal screws... they weren't bent at all. It seems they will hold up well; I'll add to this review after a season of wearing with an update of their long term use and wear.

They aren't very expensive... I've seen them on sale for $15, but for those who need to save even more money family member has created her OWN version of ice walking shoes with 1/4" hex screws screwed into the bottom of old running shoes. She says they work well; and this would be a good alternative to save a little money and keep something like an old pair of shoes out of the landfill. I've been meaning to make my own pair, but didn't have an old pair of shoes to sacrifice. The YakTrax do have the advantage of being small, easily used and removed, and able to be kept in a pocket or purse until needed; a pair of old running shoes just doesn't fit in my purse! My husband wants a pair now; perhaps there will be an end-of-season sale on them!

Look at ALL this Caulk!

2009-02-13T15:10:00.004-07:00

Looks pretty bad, doesn't it! It's just oozing out. Lucky for us, it is supposed to look like this. The caulk is temporary, removable caulk, made to last one season, and just perfect for our needs this year. It is sealing up the holes between the old storm windows and the new window trim; this summer, we will pull off the storm windows and permanently weatherproof the windows and storms. Until then, this caulk is giving us quite a bit of savings... the house felt MUCH warmer after we installed it. Amazing what sealing off a few drafts will do!

The Great Shave

2009-02-09T19:50:00.002-07:00

We have dogs. Fluffy dogs. Curly dogs. Dogs whose hair grows constantly. They need groomed every couple months to keep it in check, but at $60 a grooming (after tip) it was getting to be expensive... and all I ever wanted was a basic puppy cut!

Then, I found an Andis 2 Speed Clipper at a garage sale for $1. After a few months of getting up the courage, I clipped my first dog. I'm no grooming pro, but I'm very happy with my savings!

Here's the before:

After a nice bath...

... and a quick zoom around the house....

... Molly is ready for a clip:

I use a car washing attachment to wash them on advice from a groomer; fill it up with shampoo, put it on it's gentlest setting (shower), and spray the dog down. The dogs like it better, too.

It takes about an hour to clip my dog down.... I use a 5FC blade to get a length of about 1/4 inch all over. It's short, but it takes a few months to grow back out!

Here's the after:

Just TRY to say "no" to those eyes!

I've used the same blade ($30) for 6 haircuts now, so the savings are quite substantial!

Quick Rundown of Supplies:
(For anyone interested)

Andis 2 Speed Professional Clipper
5FC Ceramic Blade
Oster Coolant/Lubricant/Cleaner Spray
Sharp Scissors
Mild Dog Shampoo
Car Washing Nozzle with Soap Container
Hose
Sink to Hose Converter

Total Cost to Me: ~$60
Total Savings: $60 on each haircut!

Sorry About the Lack of Posts....

2009-02-05T21:20:00.002-07:00

I've been fighting off several nasty colds over the past month AND starting a brand new additional job all at once. I'm ready for my nose to stop dripping and my head to unstuff! Oh, and the horrible cough to go away.

But... I do have a few posts planned out and started. I have a brand new winter weather item to try out... if we ever get snow and ice in Colorado again. I'm thinking they will be really useful for icy dog walks AND for such things as working on a roof. Also, in my saving money and doing things yourself series, I've taken pictures of one of the funnier to look at savings. Oh, and all those New Year's Resolutions. It's February, right? Time to get started!

Why...

2009-01-28T06:50:00.002-07:00

does the water dispenser on my fridge stop working when it hits the negative temperatures? It's on an interior wall and dispenses only cold water and ice. It starts working again when the temperatures rise. Any ideas?

Saving Money through Cooking

2009-01-26T13:48:00.004-07:00

Lately, we've been saving money with our kitchen and time. We've been making a lot of the things we used to buy prepackaged, saving money and chemicals and packaging! It's a lot healthier, and we are able to create foods with less added fats and preservatives that taste better, too.

Fat "Free" Granola:
I love this granola recipe. It is basic, healthy, and yummy! We like raisins and almonds in it, but you could do any combination of dried fruits and nuts. It keeps well; I have granola that is 3 months old in the cupboard. A final note... bake for only 15 minutes, then stir. It usually only takes 30 minutes total!

Pancake Mix:
I haven't made this mix yet, but plan on doing it soon! It looks nice and yummy. We enjoy blueberry pancakes on weekend mornings, but are too lazy to make them from scratch in the morning. Mix is getting expensive AND they have stopped making the Oat Bran pancake mix we liked!

Whole Wheat Bread:
We are "cheating" and using a bread maker. It is so convenient, however! Our basic recipe is 100% whole wheat, with only 5 ingredients:

1 cup - 2 tbps warm water
1/3 cup honey
1 tsp sea salt
3 cups sifted whole wheat bread flour
1-1/2 tsp yeast

Add into bread machine in the order above (or as recommended by your machine). If you are at a lower altitude than 5,000 feet, you may need to add ALL the water and not leave out the couple tablespoons.

Ciabatta Bread:
We love Ciabatta bread... full of flavor, nice and chewy. It costs a lot at the store, however, so I dug up a bread maker version.

Cookies:
Instead of buying packages of cookies, we've been making bite sized cookies of our own. One of our favorite recipes are these lowfat peanut butter cookies... I quadruple the vanilla and add a teaspoon of cinnamon to them for extra flavor.

Yogurt:
Having received a yogurt maker for Christmas a few years ago, we've made our own yogurt. This does save a lot of money, and you can make it in any flavor you want!

Popcorn:
Take a 8 quart pan, heat a tbsp or so of oil in the bottom with three kernels of corn. When they pop, add a cup of popcorn. Shake constantly on the burner until it is all popped. (Keep the lid on, obviously). Or, buy a Whirly-Pop...
You can make microwave popcorn with a paper bag and a staple, too... but I've never tried it.

A Video Tour of the Tiny Old House: The Beginning

2009-01-23T08:15:00.002-07:00

While sorting through old videos today, I discovered this gem: a 5 minute tour of the Tiny Old House a few weeks after moving in!

It's fun to see what has changed over the years. There are actual flowerbeds, new siding, paint in colors besides white, a new kitchen, and more! I'll post this in the sidebar for "permanent viewing".

House Refinancing

2009-01-22T20:04:00.004-07:00

One of our New Year's Resolutions is to refinance our house. We have an ARM (Adjustable Rate Mortgage), which will adjust in August AND an interest only HELOC (Home Equity Line of Credit) which will come due in August and will need to be paid off in full, or refinanced.

Here's the run down:
The HELOC comes from our house purchase. We did not have the full 20% downpayment, and so financed 10% of the downpayment with the HELOC instead of paying mortgage insurance. The payments on the HELOC were cheaper than insurance, and we've had the opportunity to make them even cheaper by paying it down bit by bit. We are almost halfway paid off by now.

The ARM comes from our thoughts that we wouldn't be in the house long. Without getting into details about jobs and education choices and such, it's funny how life throws you curves! We are happily staying now... but have run out on our ARM.

IF (BIG if) our house appraises for what we bought it for, we will own about 20% of our house. BIG if. Of course, we have massively improved the property since then... new kitchen with maple and granite, new siding (well, siding removed... but brick is SO much nicer), fenced yard and stone patio, front yard landscaping, etc. We are hoping that those might offset to some extent the probable drop in housing prices.

Here Was Our Plan:
Our plan was to refinance into a 15 year mortgage. I found this excellent calculator for figuring out the cost and benefits of switching an ARM into a fixed rate mortgage. It helped me sort out the options. I also used the loan quoting service on Zillow.com... I was pleased with the quality of the quotes I received from several of the respondants. The plus is that no one has YOUR info until you choose to give it to them, unlike other loan quote sites.

After reviewing the information, we realized that it may not be the best time for us to refinance. The odds that we can pass the 20% barrier are not spectacular, and coming up with $3000 for closing costs after we've been working so hard to pay off the HELOC this year will be tough. If we finance the closing costs, we'll definitely have to pay the insurance... which we don't want to do.

The Current Plan:
We're going to wait, and pay down more principle on the HELOC. Maybe even pay it totally off before it's due. We can weather adjustment on the ARM, as it has pretty strict limits. Even though the rates are at historic lows, it just doesn't make sense for us to do it right now.

Edit:
Additional info... we will likely move in 2 or 3 years when we have children, as there isn't much room for children in our house with the two music studios! That complicates the money issue even more!

New Year's Resolutions 2009- Waste Not Edition

2009-01-16T08:45:00.006-07:00

Here's our resolutions for lessening our environmental impact, saving money, and wasting less. We made many big improvements on this last year, including building our compost pile, getting glass "tupperware", trading our huge water sucking washer for a used energy efficient front loader, using a push reel mower, etc. Here's a few more goals for this year!

1) Grow a Garden
Not just a flower garden... a VEGETABLE garden. One that we can eat from! I'm envisioning squash and peppers foremost. I'd LOVE tomatoes, but haven't ever had luck with them. We'll go from there!

2) Continue to Use USED Materials Whenever Possible
Pretty self explanatory! We've had good luck so far.

3) Make Insulating Curtains
I'd like to further insulate our windows by adding quilted window shades to keep heat in.

4) Reuse and Repair Everything Possible
From darning socks to re-glazing our windows!

5) Make Homemade...
...hair gel, bread, household cleaners, snacks and cookies, etc

6) Compost EVERYTHING Possible!
Well, except dog poo. We're not going to try that yet. I want to compost most of our waste paper instead of sending it to the recycling and make sure that we don't throw out any food matter this year!

New Year's Resolutions 2009- Home Edition

2009-01-14T20:23:00.004-07:00

It's time for the Home Improvement Edition of New Year's Resolutions. Lots to do this year, and only one year to do it in! I'm sure you will notice a few repeats from last year... thus is life!

1) Refinance the House
Our ARM resets in August. Not much else to say! Look for some refinancing posts to help clear the murk around mortgages and similar.

2) Paint!
The exterior wood on our house needs new paint. Preferably in a color besides white!

3) Repair/Replace Porch
In addition to painting, our front porch needs some attention. We want to replace the rotting square columns with original style turned columns, replace a few rotten boards, and finish the porch ceiling.

4) Finish Bathroom
I mean it this year. I really mean it!

5) Flooring?
Perhaps I will see what is under the carpet and plywood...

6) Finish that Master Suite
The imaginary one that we've been dreaming about for YEARS. The one where we take the back room, and split it into a bedroom and bathroom/walk in closet/laundry. Oh, and where we get to sleep in a bedroom with walls and have a closet that isn't a cheap particle board stand-alone!

7) Tackle the Windows
The original wood windows are in serious need of repair. I'd like to reglaze at least a couple before next winter. Wish me luck!

Just like last year, I am sure that life will intervene and give us more important things to do... but we will start here!

The Cheney Talking Machine

2009-01-09T11:34:00.002-07:00

Over Christmas, a few family members managed to retrieve this from the crawlspace of my in-law's house.

It's a Cheney Talking Machine!

It is in need of a lot of work, but oh-so-cool.

Here's a few more pictures:

And a quick movie of a 1920's dance tune!

They want to restore it, but are unsure of how to got about this. There is substantial water damage to the finish on the top, the legs are very shaky, and the entire unit is bowed down in the middle (so you can't close the lid). Any advice on how to restore something like this, particularly with the detailed paintings?

We are on the search for our very own Victrola... we want a small one with a hand crank. What a neat sound they have!

A Few More "Decorations"... and a Nature Video

2008-12-19T08:15:00.004-07:00

(Warning: some post contents may be offensive to vegetarians (except me), PETA, tool lovers, and those who have no sense of humor).

A few years ago, my in-laws decorated their house for Christmas.
The Christmas Ladder!

Doug Deer!

Complete with red shiny nose.

And the rarely seen act of nature never before caught on video... the mating of the mechanical deer:

These were not allowed into the front yard, sadly, but have made appearances at several Christmas Parties.

Merry Christmas, everyone!

A Look Back at Old Resolutions 2008

2008-12-18T07:30:00.002-07:00

Last January, I posted my goals for the year. How have I done this year? There have been some sidetracks, some delayed projects, and some re-prioritizing. Discovering the brick under the siding was unexpected, and sucked up much of our remodeling money this year, putting other projects on the back burner. We've still accomplished quite a bit on our list, though!

1) Finish Bathroom- Not Yet!
Well... we've installed a light, hung the door, and scraped part of the wall (leading visitors to query us over our "interesting" wall covering). I'm not sure I like the light... but it's there for now!

2) Replace Front and Back Door- 1/2 Done
We've replaced the back door, and have stripped the new front door and bought a new storm. I really wanted to get it in before this winter, but it's too cold to paint outside now.

3) Finish Landscaping Backyard (and Plant) NO!
All we did in the back yard this summer was finish the firepit and build a hammock stand.

4) Finish Master Bedroom- Um... NO!
Didn't do a single thing except create a myriad of plans and dream of including a bathroom!

5) Finish Laundry Room- No
We did hang the kitchen cabinets... but that is all!

6) Wood Flooring No
We didn't lay the flooring we have... but I did discover tongue and groove flooring under our carpet.

7) Replace Trim No
We've looked at trim styles and talked about what we want... is that close?

8) Research and Plan Exterior Paint/Stucco/Re-Siding DONE!
We sure "resided" the house! No more asbestos siding for us... and it's DONE!

9) Dog Door No
Somehow this just didn't seem that important... and without a deck in the back yard, it didn't seem that possible yet.

10) Compost Piles Done!
Here's our compost piles!

As we face the next year, we will make a new list... some things left unaccomplished will remain, but new priorities have been made. And, of course, we will expect the unexpected!

BRRRR! (And Our Programmable Thermostat)

2008-12-16T08:37:00.002-07:00

It is SO COLD here! BRRRRR! In honor of the cold, I'm reposting a very old post (that nobody probably saw before!). I've seen some discussion over whether lowering your heat really helps save money... these numbers prove it does (on a forced air heating system, at least).

One of the first things we did to our house was install a programmable thermostat. We chose this Honeywell 5-2 Day Programmable Thermostat. $30 later...

This is what we set the thermostat to:
Year 1: 62º (No programmable thermostat)
Year 2: 62º During the Day, 54º at Night and While Gone

Table 1, Monthly Therm Usage

Year 1, Year 2
October: 47 Therms, 30 Therms
November: 24 Therms, 19 Therms
December: 96 Therms, 75 Therms
January: 113 Therms, 63 Therms
February: 69 Therms, 71 Therms
March: 72 Therms, 50 Therms

Average: 70.16, 51.33
Total: 421 Therms, 308 Therms

Table 2, Monthly Outside Temperature

Year 1, Year 2
October: 53º, 56º
November: 44º, 46º
December: 32º, 29º
January: 29º, 38º
February: 37º, 29º
March: 39º, 36º

Average: 39º, 39º

We saved 19 therms a month, simply by installing a programmable thermostat! Installing the thermostat took about 20 minutes of our lives. WELL worth it! We have definitely saved our $30 many times over. Now that we have made the house more efficient in other ways, I'm looking for even more savings this year!

I've Been Making Gifts...

2008-12-11T12:56:00.003-07:00

and I'm not telling! You don't get to see, because certain someones read my blog and I hate ruining Christmas surprises. I've been spending the last week hard at work on Christmas presents for family, friends, and co-workers... so there are no house updates. I'll post the present ideas in January... they would be good for birthdays and such, or for filing for next year.

I'd encourage everyone to make something for a present this year. Putting a bit of yourself in a present makes it that much more special, and you can be sure it's exactly what you want to give. It can be as simple as homemade candy or as complex as a hand knitted scarf. Perhaps framed pictures of a loved one's favorite things. Use your imagination!

For those that don't have the time to create something by hand, be sure to check out Etsy. If you order in the next few days, it will still get here by Christmas!

Door Swap

2008-12-04T07:26:00.003-07:00

We realized last winter that our back door was a hollow core door masquerading as a back door. Not good for heat loss or efficiency! I took a trip to the Habitat ReStore and bought the cheapest solid door I could find as a replacement, as we intend on removing the doorway in the remodel (if it ever gets done).

It's not a bad little door... $30, and solid wood. Looks a lot better than the flat paneled hollow core door!

To match the hinges up, I stacked the doors on my "workbench" (picnic table). This allowed me to match the positioning exactly.

I reused the existing hinges, though they may not be beefy enough for this door (which is very heavy). The door is installed... and it does feel a little warmer in the laundry room now.

Christmas is Coming...

2008-12-02T08:34:00.004-07:00

and the decorations are up!

On Saturday, we bought a 5 foot Noble Fir, made steaming mugs of hot cocoa (and Kahlua), and set to decorating the tree with our box of ornaments:

We had just enough tree for the ornaments!

I created a wreath out of a few extra branches, a hunting horn, and some small glass balls:

The wreath looks especially nice on our brick house!

Our stockings...

... hung by the furnace with care.

Here's looking forward to a wonderful Christmas season, filled with love and care!

Window Trim Up...

2008-11-25T07:49:00.003-07:00

The window trim is up and caulked. It's amazing how much better it looks even painted white! Without the trim, the windows looked like sunken eye sockets.

It was harder than expected to nail the trim in. It would have been much easier with a nail gun, but we are cheap and muscled through with 20 ounce hammers and 6D finish nails. Also, I learned how much I hate caulk AND sticky fingers. The only way to tool the caulk against the very uneven brick was to use a finger; this felt like scraping down concrete with my fingertip all day. It's still raw.

Painting, and caulking between the trim and storm with temporary, removable caulk is next. I'll be painting the trim white, as next spring, we'll take down all the storms, rehab the windows, put decorative molding on top of the trim, replace the storms, and paint! Still no decision on paint colors, though that might be decided soon when we paint the new front door!

Window Gaps, or HOW DID I NOT SEE THIS?

2008-11-24T08:22:00.003-07:00

We've been installing the exterior window trim this week, and so have been paying a lot of up close and personal attention to the windows. While working on the kitchen window (a window that we have never opened and that is partially blocked by a kitchen cart), I noticed something peculiar:

Yes, that IS a half inch wide gap between the sashes. And yes, it is there even when the lock is turned. And yes, I could feel the cold air rushing out of it into our kitchen, even on a 50 degree day! What in the world is it doing there?

A better look at the sash lock:

The top part has been mortised into the top sash at a diagonal. How odd! It almost appears that the entire bottom of the top sash is a replacement in the wrong size... but why?

I stuffed some of that foam insulation tubing into the gap; any better ideas for winter? And.. what in the world should I do about that window in the long run? My goals are to rehab the windows... but this particular window is throwing quite a curve on many levels. (We discovered today that the frame is rotting in places; the bottom sash has metal squares bolted onto it for stability, so it is obviously a little unsound there; and no this!).

A New (Old) Storm Door

2008-11-21T11:25:00.000-07:00

Picked up this storm door a few weeks ago; it needs a lot of work, but is just the right size for our odd opening.

It came with a glass storm insert AND a screen insert (the red behind the glass). One pane of glass is broken, and all of the panes need re-glazed. Part of the door needs re-glued, and the exterior side needs repainted, as the red paint is peeling and chipping. We'll leave the interior side natural. I'm excited; this should be the perfect small scale practice for reglazing our windows.

A Gift from a Colleague

2008-11-20T11:06:00.000-07:00

At a recent rehearsal at a fellow musician's house, I found myself admiring the doorknobs and plates in his 50's style split level. They were all different types and vintages... Victorian, Art Deco, etc. Upon inquiring, I learned that they came from some of the 90 old houses torn down by the town's hospital during expansion over the years. He works with the maintenance department, and so was part of the demo. He saved all of the lighting and hardware that he could, and used much of it in his house.

He offered me the remaining doorplates and knobs, as every door in his house had a new old knob and plate.

I'm excited... there are enough plates to do all of the doors in our house! And, the brass knobs coupled with the black jet clay knobs I have should finish our doorknobs out, too!

It looks like I will be spending some time with a crock pot removing the paint; otherwise, they seem in excellent condition. Character is re-entering our house!

My Little Box of Memories (A Christmas Preview)

2008-11-19T20:35:00.002-07:00

This is my box of Christmas memories- past, present, and future. A satin Hallmark ornament from a first Christmas at 2 months old. A three year old's thumbprint mouse on a canning lid. A painstakingly painted ceramic donkey, with brushstrokes as steady as a seven year old can manage. Reindeer, angles, Santas, bells... and so much more.

It was started by my mother, who carefully saved every ornament I made, and contributed a new one every year. Each ornament is marked by the year. I can remember placing each one for the first time on the tree, carefully choosing a spot on Christmas Eve or Day. These days, both my husband and I add to the box with ornament gifts from students and each other. The box is full of love.

This box starts every Christmas season for me. In a week, we will make steaming mugs of hot chocolate, and carefully unwrap each treasured ornament. We'll reminisce about each ornament as we place it on our tree with a strand of white lights. Then we will flip the switch, sit in the glow of the twinkling tree, and celebrate the love and memories of the Christmas season.

Window Trim

2008-11-19T11:00:00.003-07:00

The plan was to have the exterior window trim finished this weekend; a nasty cold said otherwise! I still can't talk, but am feeling better.

Here's what I accomplished before falling ill:

All of the wood is cut and primed on all sides, and is ready to be installed! It is 3/4" square pine molding; we are going to "build out" the molding in a more decorative style when we paint in the spring.

We are looking at beautiful weather (for November) this weekend, so we should have it up, caulked, and painted soon!

The First Snowfall of Winter...

2008-11-14T11:10:00.002-07:00

fell last night. It's just a light dusting on the ground and on my windshield... but it's the promise of more to come. I love snow!

Time for me to finish the window trims and get them installed and caulked! I spent a few hours cutting the wood yesterday and began priming... I'll finish priming them today (and maybe even paint them).

Mason's Reply and the End of All This

2008-11-13T07:35:00.003-07:00

I received a reply back; selected passages below with my comments in red:

When we started this project using the sand and lime type mortar (very soft) we were lead to believe that the structure of the house was sound (NO such thing. We called HIM in to let us know what the condition of the house was).
...on returning to complete the tuck pointing I could not in good faith use the soft mortar. You knew that we were using the mason mix product diluted with mortar color. (NO! I did NOT know you were using Mason Mix with portland cement in it. You asked me on day one if the color you had used in July was right. I told you it matched almost perfectly with the old stuff. When I asked about the difference in look on Thursday, you assured me it was a "prepackaged version of the same thing", even after I said that I had seen a portland cement type mortar bag lying around. You told me that there was no portland cement in it, and pointed to a patch on a neighboring house to show me what that would look like. )
This mortar will NOT adversely affect the brick. Also, the original estimate did not include repairing the holes created by the heli ties. At 27+ man hours I feel that we have gone above and beyond the original scope of work.
(True... I was surprised that he didn't charge us more, as I had told him to add the extra work to the estimate)
If you find that our methods are causing damage to your brick we will warranty and remedy it then. I do not feel that this will ever happen. I have have worked on other similar projects using the same methods and have never had any issues. I hope that this eases your worries.
(I am NOT eased of worries, but I will take your warranty)

We do not have a contract that I can find anywhere; my bad. And, essentially we have no legal leg to stand on. Even though he lied to my face three times, and again in writing. We're taking the warranty and will use this as a life lesson hard won. I requested a written and signed copy of the warranty, and have filed it away. I will likely start REpointing the spots affected when we are done with the rest of the house... the warranty should hold us until then.

I think the part that hurts the most is that I conciously paid MORE money to have it done in a way that would protect the house... $1000 more, in fact. I could have had the same job done for $800 using the mortar they used the second time.

Hard Life Lesson #1: Don't assume that anyone you hire to do the work won't try to cut every corner to save time and money. Don't assume they will talk with you about their choices, even if you are home while the work is going on and make yourself available several times a day. Don't assume they won't LIE to your face when cornered on their choices.

Hard Life Lesson #2: Do it yourself, or spend the same amount of time WATCHING the worker constantly.

Hard Life Lesson #3: When needing brick work redone, spend the extra money to hire the man from Denver who teaches about historic restoration in addition to DOING historic preservation only as a job. It's probably worth it, even after you pay the travel fees.

(In response to comments about our brick and mortar, we are sure that the brick is the soft oven fired variety... it is soft enough that a light scrubbing with a toothbrush removes brick. One could easily scratch it with a nail. Our mortar is white, sandy, and appears to be solely lime and sand; this is from a few different masons, and from practical experience.)

Dear Mr Mason

2008-11-03T10:47:00.002-07:00

I looked up the ingredients in the Quikrete Mason Mix Type S mortar you used; it's 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 parts masonry sand, 1/2 part hydrated lime, 1 part Portland cement (by volume). There is not nearly enough lime. It's also the second hardest mortar you can buy. I've found examples of Type S mortar dried and cured, and it is grey, not white.

I'm concerned about the effect that this hard mortar will have on my brick. I'm also disappointed; I had several bids done on the house, including one by a man who wanted to use a modern mortar (such as you finished the job with). His price for the house was $600 to $800. We decided that paying the extra money was worth it to us to have the integrity of the brick ensured. Of course, that price didn't include the patching of the bricks, which does look beautiful and I could see took work to look as good as it does. I'm not seriously concerned about the chemical composition of the patches, either, as they will simply pop off if it is unsuitable.

I'm wondering what we should do about this. As it stands, I'm looking at spending next spring chipping out all of the Type S mortar and replacing it with proper mortar (and hoping that the freezing/thawing over the winter doesn't hurt my bricks first).

Thank you for your concern on this issue; I'll wait to hear from you before I send payment.

Sincerely,
Tiny Old House

It's My Birthday!

2008-11-01T08:41:00.001-06:00

I'm a shameless birthday promoter. I love birthdays. There is something magical about a holiday that is just for you and you alone. A celebration of life and love!

I'm another year older, perhaps another year wiser. What will happen this year? Only time will tell, and I do love a good surprise.

Happy Birthday to all November 1st babies!

Darn! More Frugality and Trash Prevention

2008-10-31T14:34:00.003-06:00

I've learned a new skill this week- darning socks! It's been on my list of things to learn, and a drawer full of holey socks coupled with the price of new ones and my desire to keep things from becoming trash forced my hand.

To darn a sock, you need a darning needle, a darning egg or other smooth round object, and darning cotton or embroidery thread. I was pleasantly surprised to discover that my grandmother's sewing kit included 4 balls of darning cotton. It's apparently not made anymore. I found this ceramic egg at the Habitat ReStore for $.50.

I've been carting a bag of socks around with me all week, darning when I have 1o minutes to wait here or there. It goes quite quickly once you get the hang of it. Here is a video on how to darn socks. It shows darning wool socks with wool, but the technique is the same for cotton and silk socks. Just use a matching thread, and a needle about as big as your threads.

Anyone else darn their socks?

I WAS RIGHT! GRRRRRR!

2008-10-23T16:05:00.000-06:00

It IS portland cement mortar. I just couldn't shake the feeling that the mortar "tinkled" when it dropped, that it looked smooth like modern mortar. I looked up the mortar he used: Quickrete Type S Mortar Mix. It's 3-1/2 to 4-1/2 parts masonry sand, 1/2 part hydrated lime, 1 part Portland cement (by volume). GRRRRRR!!

Now, it doesn't say portland cement anywhere on the bag... I had to do some internet sleuthing to figure out it was the wrong mortar.

I am BEYOND frustrated. BEYOND. Either the mason LIED to my face, OR he doesn't know what he's talking about.

I'm never hiring out work again.

The Right Mortar and Brick Patches

2008-10-23T08:42:00.002-06:00

I was wrong! I'll always admit when I am wrong, and wrong I am. I'm VERY happy that I am wrong this morning.

The new mortar is NOT cement based mortar. It IS a premixed lime and sand mortar, so it does look slightly different. It SHOULD cure to the same color... funny how 1 day of curing in 100 degree weather ages it faster than 3 days of 40 and 50 degree weather. Our mason was very nice and walked me through their whole process again.

I wanted to show off the brick patches he's done on the house. Remember all of the nail holes?

We tried many different patches, and settled on a patch made by mixing the mortar with brick dust, patching, and dusting the patch with brick dust. There are two patches in the picture below:

I'm quite happy with them. From more than 2 feet away, you can't see them at all, and from the street it looks like a different house!

The WRONG Mortar?

2008-10-22T18:45:00.003-06:00

A few weeks ago we realized that there was NO way we were going to get the house sealed up for winter unless we found the money to fix the bricks around the window so that we could seal up these holes:

A few weeks ago, I called the mason whom we started the work with (and who did a FABULOUS job on the first part!). Luckily, he was able to work us in this week.

They restarted yesterday. Yesterday I came home and thought something was a "bit off" about the mortar. It didn't look quite right... it seemed way too grey and smooth. It was dark out, and the mortar was still wet, so I decided to give a better look at it in daylight:

It looks like cement based mortar. A piece of it dropped on the ground "tinkles" like cement based mortar. And, there is an empty bag of cement based mortar in the pile of things they left overnight.

I'm just sick! Not only does it look like crap up close... it will DESTROY my bricks in the long term. What kills me is that he asked me if the mortar he used last time was looking the way we wanted it! I showed him the pile of sand they used last time, and he said they would use new sand. The owner hasn't personally worked on our house... but it's the same man working on it now that worked on it in July.

I have a call into him, but don't expect to hear back until tomorrow. I don't even know what to do. I HATE confrontation, but I can't let them leave the cement mortar up there. I also can't afford to pay more to fix their mistake. I feel bad... it's two full days of labor wasted, but I need to have it taken care of. Any words of advice?

One last thing... I am NEVER hiring out ANYTHING that I care about how it's done ever again!

Stripping Paint in the Afternoon...

2008-10-19T19:31:00.002-06:00

We worked a bit more on the new front door today. I'd like to have it done this week, as our current front door is cracked, and in need of serious weatherstripping to make it through this next winter. You can see daylight around the edges on almost all sides. Instead of spending time with the old one, I'd rather install the new (old) one!

We worked on the exterior side today... the side with the weird paint/chalk. We used a citrus based stripper (covered with saran wrap to keep it moist) to strip the top layers of paint off of the mouldings and around the lites.

The ash tree above our "workbench" (old picnic table) decided to add some leaves for visual interest.

After we scraped the paint off with various dental tools, the head of a large nail, and a brass stripping brush, we cleaned it with mineral spirits. No picture, because it looks exactly the same in a picture; the stripper had seemingly no or little effect on the chalky bottom paint. My hunch is that it is a plaster or drywall compound spread on to smooth defects and ensure a "perfect" paint job.

That's what we did to seal up our house this weekend. It's round about and not immediate, but it should help out in the long run.

Houseblogs.net is back up!

2008-10-18T14:20:00.001-06:00

I'm a big nerd, but I'm very excited that houseblogs.net is back up. I hadn't realized how many blogs I read only through their service until they went down. Now I can completely fulfill my house addiction!

Finishing Our New Window- Inside

2008-10-13T14:25:00.003-06:00

I've been working on the new window in my study. First, I needed to add wood to extend the window frame to the drywall. Theoretically, this involves a table saw to rip trim down to the exact dimensions of the gap. We don't own a table saw. Luckily, my local big box hardware store carries 1/2"x 3/4" trim... just perfect for what I needed to do.

Here's the window with it's new frame extensions... they are the unpainted wood:

And, a close up:

I attached the wood strips with finishing nails flush with the drywall. Well, I TRIED to install the wood strips flush with the drywall:

Unfortunately, the drywall bows out considerably in both lower corners. The window is plumb and level, and 80% of the drywall is right where it should be. These corners are about 1/2" off. Any suggestions for how to install the window trim so it looks right? I'm thinking I might have to cut out the offending drywall, level behind it, and replace.

After I added the frame extensions, I went over the nailing fins with drywall compound to bring those areas flush with the drywall. When we installed the new construction window, we decided to use the nailing fins and simply cut out chunks of drywall, as the holes and patches would eventually be covered by window trim:

Here's the window as it looks now... after the drywall compound dries I'll caulk around the window again and call it done!

More Finds- The Casper, WY, Edition

2008-10-11T10:21:00.002-06:00

While I was in Casper, Wyoming, last week, I stopped by the Habitat ReStore. I picked up a few things:

Two sets of these windows/cabinet doors, with hinges and glass knobs. One of the doors is missing a pane of glass. I think one set will be perfect for creating a built in cabinet out of a window we are taking out between the two bedrooms. I'm not sure what to use the other set for, but at $20 for all four, I couldn't resist.

I also found these copper outdoor lights:

They will look cute outside our back doors. I'll have to keep my eyes out for the right covers.

A few weeks ago I picked up 100 sf of maple flooring for $10:

It's from an old gym floor. If the original floors in either of the studies turn out to be unusable, I can put this down instead! They are both smaller than 100 sf.

Has anyone noticed I seem to be buying 1940's and 50's things for my 1911 house? Someone slap me! It's hard when there is NOTHING left to go on in the house as far as style and you try to buy everything used. Ah, well.

Homemade Birthday Presents and Decorating with Photos

2008-10-10T10:07:00.002-06:00

My husband's birthday was yesterday. Happy Birthday! I'm so glad you were born!

For his present this year, I decided to go home made and thoughtful. I framed two pictures of our puppies that he has always loved; the first is titled "Disappearing Dog" and was taken by his aunt. (The other one, of the white dog in the wind was taken by me). I found the perfect frames at Goodwill, and used my home inkjet printer to print them on photo paper.

It's amazing how putting art from and about the people and things you love can really warm up a room!

Stop The Leaks! Last Week for September

2008-09-28T17:08:00.002-06:00

How did everyone do this week? It's getting colder here at night... a nice push to getting things sealed up.

This past week, we worked on plugging the huge hole in our house with a window; while the new, bigger window will likely leak more heat than the former sided wall, once we removed the siding there was no going back. We wedged foam backing around the entire window on both the inside and outside to reduce drafts, and caulked very well on the inside.

Our brick repair around the outside windows won't be finished for a couple weeks, so I'm going to concentrate on our new front door this week. Once the brick is done, it will be a mad dash to seal up the outside of the windows before the snow flies.

I'm going to continue "Stopping the Leaks" at my house in October... I'll leave the banner up (and if I get around to it, change the month), and leave everyone up who wants to continue in October. Feel free to add yourself!

Dealing With Windows- The Energy Efficiency Edition

2008-09-23T07:38:00.006-06:00

The windows on our house are in need of SOMETHING to make them more energy efficient. But what? There are so many options...

Here's a picture of one of the worst offenses...

You can see that the parting bead is cracked, and the glazing is in less than desired (virtually non-existent) condition.

Replacement Windows- VINYL
There is lots of information out there about how wonderful vinyl replacement windows are. Unfortunately, most of it is from the vinyl window trade. (I have yet to find an independent study). I am not convinced.

For starters, vinyl windows have an industry stated life of 10 to 15 years... 2 years before the special Argon gas escapes and you are left with air, 10 years before moisture makes its way into the space and starts to fog the window. My wood windows have lasted for 100 years... and I would expect nothing less of any other window.

Second, vinyl windows are full of lead. The lead plus other chemicals off-gassing into the house can't be good. I will take my lead painted windows, carefully encapsulated in fresh paint or safely stripped of all lead paint, over a window that will release lead no matter what.

Third, the manufacturing process for vinyl windows can't be environmentally friendly, and the energy required to make them is certainly more than I will expend restoring old windows.

More information:
Blue Vinyl is a wonderful documentary about vinyl siding and its effects on people and the environment. Most of the information applies directly to windows. It's worth a look.

Jeanie at House in Progress has created a fabulous essay on the (de)merits of vinyl windows. There quite a lot of interesting information there. Be sure to click on the links and read the tables/charts.

Replacement Windows- WOOD
Replacement wood windows sound like a comparable option to your existing wood windows. However...

Newly harvested wood is not comparable to old wood. New wood is from quick growth forests and farmed trees... harvest young after only 30 years or so. It is much less dense than old growth wood, and rots/dents/breaks much easier. I have heard of new wood windows rotting out in 15 years. Also, the softer wood does not provide the same level of insulation as heavy, dense wood does from wind.

Wood windows are also much more expensive, are often clad with vinyl or have vinyl tracks, and still require a significant amount of energy to create. (Plus, your old windows end up in the landfill).

New wood windows are the best option, however, if it comes to replacement.... as long as you pick woods like cedar and mahogany, and make sure there is no vinyl or aluminum cladding or sliders.

Restoration
This leaves us with restoration. Your 100 year old wood windows have lasted this long; properly restored, they will last another 100 years or more. Restoration also keeps wood and glass out of the landfill.

By simply adding a properly fitted storm window to a properly functioning single paned, double hung window, you will increase the r value by more than 2, and bring it up to the r value of all but the beefiest replacement windows. Adding drapes or blinds will decrease this difference.

Our plan is to reglaze our windows and make sure they are working properly. They have aluminum triple track storms right now... eventually I want to make period appropriate storms out of wood instead. I hope to be able to compare our new wood/aluminum clad double paned Pella window with our original windows for some real life data... I promise to share it no matter how it turns out.

I'll leave the nitty gritty details on window restoration as I figure them out... stay tuned!

The Numbers
In the September, 2007, issue of Old House Journal there are some numbers crunched on monetary savings. I will leave you with them.

Estimates made with 3'x5' window; gas heat @ $1.09/therm.

Single-pane Original Wood Window with Storm Window
Cost for storm = $50*
Annual energy savings = 722,218Btu
Annual savings per window = $13.20
Simple payback = 4.5 years
*This cost is way too low for most storms. The numbers still work out in the favor of this option with a cost of $150 per storm, however

Double-Pane Thermal Replacement of Single Pane Window (No Storm)
Cost $450.00
Annual Energy savings = 625,922 Btu
Annual Savings per window = $11.07
Simple payback = 40.5 years

Double-Pane Thermal Replacement (Low E Glass) of Single-Pane Window (No Storm)
Cost = $550.00
Annual Energy Savings = 902,722 Btu
Annual Savings per window = $16.10
Simple payback = 34 years

Double-Pane Thermal Replacement (Low E Glass) of Single-Pane Window WITH Storm
Cost = $550.00
Annual Energy Savings = 132,407 Btu
Annual Savings per window = $2.29
Simple payback = 240 years

Source: http://www.oldhouseweb.com/forums/viewtopic.php?f=2&t=14583&st=0&sk=t&sd=a&hilit=window+ratings

Replacing My Too-Small Window

2008-09-22T07:17:00.002-06:00

This weekend we sealed a very LARGE leak... the leak around our too small window. Here's the before shot (sorry about the ladder):

At some point in the house's history, the full sized window was removed, and replaced with a nice, but way too small window. You can see the framing below and to the sides of the window if you look hard... it's the window on the right. The original frame was left in place; only the sashes are missing.

As we deconstructed, we discovered WHY it was replaced... take a look at these pictures:

Notice the significant charring on the original window frame, and the soot staining on the brick and upper wood? There was a house fire in this room at some point! We knew when we bought that there had been a house fire... the rafters are slightly charred and have been sistered to new rafters. We didn't know WHERE the fire had been, though. My guess is that it was in this bedroom, and the window burned in the fire.

Here's the hole in my study:

And, the very nice window we removed:

We are saving it for use on the back addition. The sash weights work perfectly, and it only needs a little reglazing!

We bought a $10 reciprocating saw at the local pawn shop; this was worth its weight in gold for removing the old window intact. I can't believe we have done so much without it; the kitchen cabinets would have been much easier with it!

Here is the newer window we used:

It's a wood, aluminum clad Pella window. It happens to be double paned/glazed. We are using it because it was $60 at the Habitat ReStore, and was the only window we could find used in our dimensions. As a bonus, it happens to have the same trim profiles on the interior.

(An aside... I may do a "test" to compare this double paned window with an original window to compare heat loss, as I have an original on the same wall. Should be interesting!)

Though this is a new construction window, we installed it into our existing hole. We removed the sides and top of the existing (charred) frame, and secured the new window through a combination of masonry screws and nails into the wood header and footer.

We applied foam backer around the window:

We also caulked around the entire inside of the window. We will finish the outside once our brick work is done around that window.

Afters:

The room is already much nicer with such a large window in it! Now to pick out trim for the whole house.

Stop the Leaks Check-In

2008-09-14T16:37:00.002-06:00

Sorry for the late post; I'm really sick and had family in town this weekend. What have you all been up to?

Despite the nagging cough, fever, and sniffles, I have double/tripled paned some back windows with plastic, and laid plans for sealing around the windows on the exterior, thanks to your wonderful suggestions about foam and caulk. I'm also gathering fabric for thick curtains and window insulators, and digging out the old draft dodgers. I've also dusted off the programmable thermostat we installed a few years ago, and made sure that the batteries were fresh, and that the program was sufficient for this year's schedule.

Shrink Wrapping Windows

2008-09-12T16:02:00.003-06:00

To help Stop the Leaks at our house, I shrink wrapped the huge windows in the back addition. They are HUGE double paned windows that take up most of the back wall, and create our biggest heat loss each winter; there have been ice crystals on the inside at times.

Here's a picture of the smaller of the two monstrous windows:

Notice the small forest growing in the back yard? We've neglected it in the name of keeping the house from falling down and winterizing.

We used a store bought Window Insulation Kit and a hairdryer (bought at Goodwill for $3.99):

To shrink wrap your windows, you will need to first clean your windows. You can use a commercial product, or a mixture of vinegar and water.

Carefully apply the double sided tape to all sides of the window, following the instructions on the package. Cut your shrink wrap to the desired size (leaving an inch or two on all sides), and then apply it to the top of the window. Pull it taut to both sides and press firmly to seal. Seal the bottom last.

Take your hairdryer, turn it on, and carefully move it back and forth over the window, staying about 1 inch away from the plastic. Dry until all wrinkles are smoothed out.

If you need more visual help, Robj98168 posted a helpful video on his blog; it's for exterior shrink wrap, but it's pretty much the same.

This is the best option for windows that you won't open ever; I don't plan on taking it down until we remove those windows from the house!