Our New Compost Pile in No Man's Land

In honor of Chile's new challenge, "Cut the Crap - DECLUTTER", I finally finished a project started last summer! I built a compost pile and wood pile in the space we call "no man's land" between our garage and the fence.



I used pallets salvaged from the city recycling center to create a frame for the compost pile... I'm starting the compost on one side and finishing it on the other. The pallets had been sitting around since last spring... just waiting.

There's more wood for the pile in the backyard... it just needs cut down to size and stacked. Lazy summer nights around our fire-pit, here we come!

By the way, the red garage is NOT our garage; I just noticed that big hole in it today. I'll have to patch it for them since they can't see it! (It's the property line).

Mowed the Lawn Today...

With my brand new Brill Luxus pushmower!



I really like it... it is quiet, easy to push, and doesn't jar my shoulders like holding onto our gas powered mower. I think it is even easier to push and control than our self-propelled mower is! I love how it leaves the clippings right on the lawn for mulch. The only downside I found is that it is somewhat uneven on our VERY bumpy and uneven lawn. I am hoping that as we fill in the bare spots, this will go away... however, I'm not in the manicured lawn club, so I will use it even if it doesn't give a perfect clip!

I went around the hole yard with my hand weeder pulling dandilions. 56 dandilion carcasses later, I was ready to aerate the lawn with a hand aerator...



The tool (I used a Turf Hound Aerator) looks like a small pitchfork with really hefty tines. You walk across your yard, stepping down every 6 inches on the aerator. We saw marked improvement in our lawn quality and in the germination of the grass seed last fall after we did this; it seems like a great and easy way to make your lawn healthier (and thus more drought resistant).

We threw down another 3 lbs of drought resistant grass seed into the few bare areas that didn't germinate last fall... (one is in the picture above).

One lawn, prepped for summer!

On Doors and Doorknobs...

We spent a little time last week poking around at ReSource; they had just gotten in a brand new donation of old doors.

Here is our new front door:


We bought it ONE day before discovering our house was actually brick; I'm hoping it isn't too "new" for house once we restore the brick. Our old door is rotting, cracked, and has a plexiglass window... can't wait to put this one in. It was only $30, too! We have the original hardware; it is in a different place.

Also, we decided to use the black "porcelain" (or jet) doorknobs throughout the house. We bought one at ReSource, and found a lot of the knobs on ebay for cheap:



$20 after shipping and handling. They look like they need a lot of work, but hopefully I can salvage most of them.

I am a big fan of unifying features in such a small house; I have this need for all doors, doorknobs, trim, lights, etc to be the same throughout our house. Is anyone else like this, or am I just a freak for symmetry?

Roadside Finds

I'm sick at home with strep today. I want to rip out my tonsils and throat and chuck them across the room... the antibiotics better kick in soon! Luckily the ibuprofen has dealt with the fever already...

But, all of that is just the set up to my story:

My doctor's office is located in the middle of the Historic District in my city. I was driving away from the office in pure feverish misery when I saw a pile of old lights, a sink, and a mailbox sitting by a dumpster. I swung back around and knocked on the front door; the woman who answered said "Take it all away!".

An old ceiling light:


An old mailbox:


A street light/porch light (missing one globe and sans post):


An old wall mounted sink:


I'm going to keep the sink for our possible second bathroom; the rest I am going to give away (with the possible exception of the first lamp; it MIGHT work well in our bedroom on our odd sloped ceiling). Hopefully they will find homes where they can be reused and loved. If you are in Colorado and would love one of these, just drop me a line.

Used Building Supplies?

A few weeks ago I created a poll on my sidebar collecting data about people's use of used and salvaged building materials.

Here are the results:

How Much of Your House Remodel or Decoration is from Used or Salvaged Materials?
0% - All... I wouldn't set a foot inside a big box store.
12% - Most... I still buy things like nails, etc. new.
50% - Some... I buy used when it's cheaper and easier.
37% - Some... it's hard for me to find salvaged or used materials in my area, so I buy used when I can.
0% - None... why would I put other people's junk in my house?

I was glad to notice that no one chose the last option; of course, it could have been my heavily weighted wording. Personal opinion, of course, but buying used or salvaged material is a great way to save money and keep something out of the landfill.

I was surprised to see that no one chose the first option; we have a family friend who built his entire house out of used materials. He used mahogany shipping crates for much of it, and pulled, straightened, and reused both nails and lumber. Of course, he does not have the internet, and so wouldn't be voting on any poll...

A full 37% of you indicated that it is hard for you to find used and salvaged goods; it makes me feel very lucky to live where I do. There are lots of options around here for finding used building supplies.

Since you all indicated that you use used materials, the next question is WHY?

Do I Pay Attention to Anything? (Or, clues I should have noticed)

I poked around the exterior of our house a bit more, looking for clues as to the condition of our brick. I noticed many things that should have tipped us off to the fact that there was an extra layer of siding....

The Front Door Jamb:


If you look closely, you can see that it is extra deep... and you can see the seam! The newer, unpainted wood is to extend the jamb out to the new siding.

A Window Frame:


The frame out is even more obvious here... I'd been thinking the window boxes were extra deep and didn't let in much light for a while. Turns out they ARE extra deep!

The Bottom of the House:


The siding sticks out a good inch or two beyond the foundation (there is a chain link fence post in the picture that takes up the empty space). This is not super normal... in fact, NONE of the other houses on my street look like this. Whether brick or clapboard, they are all flush with their foundations.

One more observation:
This is the east side of our house:


The window on the far right is not original to the house. Too bad, because it is a really cool multi-pane window.

I know this because there is no brick underneath it; it is just framed in and insulated. Also, its window sill is completely different in shape, slant, and construction than every other sill on the house. It SHOULD be the same window as the first window; the house next door is intact, identical, and shows this. Why in the world did they put a smaller (though much cooler) window there? They did use these same windows on the addition; I will likely just install this window there when we remodel.

We will likely have to find a replacement window for the original... too bad we didn't salvage the ones ripped out of an identical house across the street a year ago! (We had no idea we would need them then).

She's a Brick---- House!

A piece of our asbestos siding fell off today...

and GUESS what was underneath?



I pulled up a bit of the steel siding that surrounds the bottom of the house (on the other side, to get a representative sample)...



This makes total sense, as the other 5 identical houses on my side of the street are solid brick. Mine is the only one with siding. I didn't think much about this, because the houses on the OTHER side of the street are NOT brick...they are clapboard style.

It also explains some of the oddities, like the extra deep front door jamb and the very sunken looking windows!

Now, who would put asbestos siding over brick?

It seems to be in good condition... the mortar looks EXCELLENT, as it should since it was protected from the elements for at least 50 years. There are 1x2's nailed into the mortar to hold up the siding, and tar paper over the brick and under the siding.

I'm thinking that it's worth stripping down the house to see... at least remove all of the steel bottom siding to check on the brick's condition. Asbestos abatement is expensive... but I think ending up with a brick house would be worth the expense (we can do it ourself, too, in this state)! Alternately, if the brick is damaged beyond use, it will make a great surface to stucco over, which was an alternate idea for siding this house (lots in the area are originally stucco).

What have you found under your old siding?