Longdraft

New fridge

2010-08-01T19:43:00.001-07:00

Got it on Friday, installed it Saturday. We've been waiting a long time to get rid of that gross old one.

We had to remove a cabinet, since this one is about 4" larger than the old one. We'll definitely miss that countertop space. It's good incentive to finish the other projects so we can get the kitchen under way.

Backyard Garden

2010-06-26T09:00:00.001-07:00

More photos:
http://picasaweb.google.com/crowleigh/BackyardGarden#

Stuff coming out in the garden

2010-06-26T09:00:00.000-07:00

Some night photos of the new herb garden bed

2010-05-14T19:24:00.001-07:00

patio

2010-04-20T17:34:00.001-07:00

http://lh5.ggpht.com/_g-5yPwMVL5U/S85HyUK9iOI/AAAAAAAADTo/A9CHvYvSes4/s800/p4201190.jpg

I went for a snow shovel, and got a door

2010-02-20T07:37:00.000-08:00

Went to Lowes to buy an extra snow shovel and some sand. We ended up buying a door and sidelights, knowing that the door fit perfectly but the sidelights would need to be repurposed.

Pre installation photo:

Post installation photo:

Post installation photo. We need to get a new storm door to get rid of that line in the middle, and reveal the lower section of the light in the door.

Yes, that's correct. $65. That's about what a set of closet doors costs.

Reindeer Games

2009-12-25T15:11:00.000-08:00

Kohler Rialto toilet: More than you probably ever wanted to know

2009-09-09T18:39:00.000-07:00

Our "master" bath (the quotes are necessary) is one of the smallest full baths I have ever seen. It is less than four feet wide (44") and is about seven feet long. The shower is 32"x40", leaving just over four feet for the toilet and sink. Luckily, neither of us is claustrophobic.

We installed the Kohler Rialto toilet because it is the smallest "standard" toilet on the market (regular installation and on the shelf at Home Depot). Be forewarned: we had some issues with the Rialto. If you google it, you will see that we are not the only ones. To maintain just over 25" from back to front with a low profile tank, the flush and fill mechanisms are somewhat unusual. The water does not drain from the bottom of the tank. When the flapper lifts, water passes through a modular, L-shaped piece that also acts as the overflow. Therefore, water is always in the bottom of the tank. Not a problem (unless maybe you had sediment buildup), just strange. The problem we had was that the flapper did not sit evenly on the top of the opening into the L-shaped piece. This piece can be removed easily so we could look into the hole to the toilet and see light from where the flapper was supposed to seal. This resulted in a slow-ish leak which kind of defeats the purpose of a low-flow toilet. We went back to Home Depot for a replacement, but they did not have the exact part and the replacement flapper did not fit correctly. Kohler sent us a new flapper about a week later. Once Chris installed the replacement flapper from Kohler, everything works fine. But for a $350 toilet, I prefer that it work right out of the box.

Because of space constraints, we did not have much of a choice for toilets in this bathroom. I am happy with the appearance of the toilet (visually, it takes up very little space and has a nice shape) and it does not completely block the path to the shower. We did not have to change the plumbing (install a tank in the wall, etc), so we were able to install it ourselves. Just be ready to troubleshoot this product.

Rialto

2009-08-22T09:43:00.000-07:00

Toilets are easy...

2009-08-22T08:28:00.000-07:00

...but not fun or pleasant to replace.

Quick change

2009-08-19T15:18:00.000-07:00

Those old ugly pulls came with the house.

We installed shiny stainless new ones. Amazing what a difference it makes.

Hall.

Guest Bedroom.

Master Bath sink plumbed

2009-08-18T20:09:00.000-07:00

Good call by Jacqueline on using the 1 1/4" connector on the sink end and the 1 1/2" connector on the end of the J bend pipe. I don't like using the accordian drainage pipes, but it made this so much easier. One of these days I'll cut the drainage off and replumb it with chrome. We'll wait and see if we decide to bump the wall back and move the toilet.

Yes, we know what a bad job we did on the drywall mud.

Almost finished w/ Master Bath

2009-08-17T19:39:00.000-07:00

We need to finish the drainage. Then sink replacement is complete. That toilet is feeling nervous for good reason.

That corroded soap dish already knows it is on the way out.

Longdraft Master Bath Sink Removal - 2

2009-08-16T19:24:00.000-07:00

Oooops. That piece was glued to the drywall.

No worries, some new drywall, a carpet knife, and a racheting drill.

Longdraft Master Bath Sink removal

2009-08-16T19:23:00.000-07:00

before, during and after

2009-07-27T14:01:00.000-07:00

This is what it looked like when we bought the place.

This is what it looked like to start off. (We had removed a small cabinet to the left in this picture.)

Here we are part way through.

While not "complete" this is the stopping point for the time being. We're going to get some more open shelving this weekend.

Finished putting up the shelf about the refrig, and the other bars.

Out with the crappy brown cabinets

2009-07-21T18:18:00.000-07:00

The rubbermaid shelves had been very useful, but were a temporary measure. This relatively cheap ikea piece looks a lot nicer.

We had enough of the awful cabinet. We got ikea shelves, and took down the first cabinet. Replaced it with some stainless steel open shelving.

Granted, the ugly counter top needs to go. We'll get to it.

Did we mention it was pink?

2009-07-01T19:26:00.000-07:00

more mulch

2009-05-23T19:30:00.000-07:00

Back yard bunny

2009-05-23T19:29:00.000-07:00

J is a fan of the bunny. We were sitting on the patio today, and it checked us out, then strolled over to the garage side of the house.

Mulch better

2009-05-23T19:27:00.000-07:00

Put a new bed of mulch down in back for the walkway to the hot tub. The patio by the hot tub (where those violets are poking through) will get a base of sand and be reset eventually.

2009-05-03T18:03:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T18:02:00.002-07:00

more stars

2009-05-03T18:02:00.001-07:00

2009-05-03T18:02:00.000-07:00

2009-05-03T18:01:00.000-07:00

Spring is here! Time for. . .

2009-04-26T18:09:00.000-07:00

. . .yardwork!

We enlarged the right front flower bed and put down mulch. It was +90 degrees!

Here are some flowers from the yard. First, the dogwood tree in the front.
We have a white azalea to the left of the front porch.
One of the tulips that bloomed this year.
Grape hyacinth. It smelled so nice!

shower doors

2009-03-30T19:30:00.000-07:00

We were at the habitat thrift store. I had a stainless vent hood in my hands, ready to check out. A very nice lady told us that she had just brought in a broan vent hood, with better lights. She suggested we take a look at it.

We went to the back. Her hood was very nice, but was beige so we didn't end up getting it. However, J noticed the 48" frameless shower doors that were being brought in at that very moment.

Before:

After:

And here is the "new" range hood. We still need to replace the panel above the hood. But it is so nice to have a functioning hood and light over the stove!
We also got a second coat of stain on the hot tub and the first coat on the deck. Two more coats!

beautiful, heavy things

2009-03-29T19:03:00.000-07:00

A while ago, I had an idea for the back deck on McKenna. When I told Pat, he said he would only install the 1" thick pieces of glass as railings if I was there to help install them.

I definitely like stone as a material. J makes fun of my "marble table collection." Five marble tables is hardly a collection.

So, when J found 120 sq. ft of slate in Leesburg, we had to go get it. I had just finished a ~25 mile bike ride, so I was a bit tired. We took the ferry across the river, and filled the truck to the suspension's capacity (and maybe a bit beyond). We unloaded the slate, then got a well deserved burrito.

We put the path out to the hot tub. There was another load of slate to haul. So we went back across the river Wednesday night to get the rest of it.

Most of the stone was 2 - 3 inches thick. The second load wasn't nearly as big, but there was a decent amount there.

I think it was Wednesday that J mentioned there was another advertisement on craigslist for more slate. She e-mailed an offer, but no response. A couple of days later she got an e-mail. Offer accepted. Fortunately, this stuff was only about 10 minutes away. We got about 50 sq. ft. more. We stacked this, since we had spread the other load out and again ran out to get something to eat.

Moving heavy things makes me hungry. Today was a gorgeous day, and we spent a little time in the yard.

We still need to level and install the patio around the hottub.
But we've got plenty of stone to do it.

We re-organized the walkway, integrating some of the rectangular pieces from the second load with the longer rectangles from the first load.

J got sick of the kitchen floor

2009-01-31T16:38:00.000-08:00

Since we're going to redo the floor when we vault the ceiling, we just removed the linoleum and painted the ugly ass paperboard that was under it.

I pulled up the tiles, and then sanded the floor.

We had a mistint paint that we were calling "kermit" and decided to use it.

So there's kermit, spread all over the floor.

Whoa.

Next, J forged a star.

Then I stenciled the shape onto the floor, and J did the hard part of painting them.

So, here's what we got.

Fireplace ready to burn

2009-01-31T16:20:00.000-08:00

The Chimney Master came by, and told us we can have fires in the fireplace. We've only had one so far, and we didn't get a lot of heat from it. But it sure was fun.

mycologists have more fungi

2009-01-19T13:39:00.000-08:00

I have been waiting to use that line since 1994.

I bought a Shitake mushroom block online. Here are the first little mushrooms emerging.

Here they are just a couple of days later:

Mushrooms for dinner next week, for sure.

The block will produce for a couple of weeks, then it goes dormant for a couple of weeks, then it produces again. I think we'll get about 3 months out of that. It will be spring by then. We'll use the rest of the block to innoculate some logs or a tree trunk that we have in the back yard, to get a shitake colony going outside. I'm excited about it.

Your table has arrived, sir

2009-01-04T08:14:00.001-08:00

We thought we would never get a better deal...

2008-12-26T13:04:00.000-08:00

So, how can you beat a $2000 door for $200? A $1400 door for $75, that is how!

J stopped by Lowes, just to look. She mentioned to me that there was a full light double door, one fixed. Right orientation for the slider that we wanted to replace, and probably the correct dimensions, too.

So we went by and bought it. Exactly the right size, right swing and everything.

Hawt Tub Update!

2008-11-27T15:01:00.000-08:00

The new cover arrived. It is in place and seems to work well.

Additionally, J sanded and stained about half of the skirt.

Dishwasher!

2008-11-25T19:50:00.001-08:00

So, we're the people with the huge flat panel TV and little else!

Well, we actually don't have any TVs. But we now have a beautiful stainless Bosch dishwasher, and a great range / convection oven in our dingy 1970's kitchen.

J found an excellent deal on a Bosch from someone who upgrade to a Miele. We had it installed pretty quickly, but didn't have the proper interface between the drain hose and the air gap. After a trip to lowe's on the way home from work Monday, and to the market for some dishwasher detergent, we were able to do a load of dishes.

Master Closet

2008-11-25T19:46:00.000-08:00

Master closet was substantially redone on Saturday and Sunday. J and I painted, and installed the wire rack shelving. We gained about 50% of hanging space. We also are finally able to use the builtin shelving since it is now painted, and sealed.

a few things

2008-11-22T19:12:00.000-08:00

We painted the livingroom. That's right. There is very little pink left in the house. The ugly wall has been mostly covered, but there's one section that was partially covered with some very geometric patterns. That wall is coming out when we vault the ceiling, so that's the way it will spend the rest of its life.

The hall closet got painted a while back, but the door just recently was painted and installed. The door doesn't fit with baseboard, i'll take a 1/2" off the baseboard. Of course, we put it in so the handle was on the proper side of the bi-fold (which isn't how the previous owner had it). I think that accounts for the difference in the position. But it wouldn't surprise me at all if they just left the door cracked because it didn't close the other way either.

There's a new stove in the kitchen. We dropped the old stove off at the transfer station for recycling, then installed the new one. We replaced the plug of the stove to a 3-prong plug, since that is what the house had wired. We're going to move the stove into the island once we vault the ceiling and re-do the kitchen, so it will get the more modern wiring at that time, and get its old plug back. This was another craigslist deal. It was a great one, we got the stove for $700. We saw it at lowes this past weekend for $2200. The previous owner was moving to a house that had a gas range.

Tonight I removed the dishwasher. The refrigerator has taken notice that its 70s buddies are disappearing, and it is the sole survivor. Jacqueline found a Bosch dishwasher on Craigslist that we'll pick up tomorrow. I'll be happy when we have a dishwasher. We never even tried the other one. It was just disgusting inside.

Hawt tub

2008-10-26T18:39:00.000-07:00

I put the two tongue in groove cedar pieces that are missing from this photo.

We finished up the deck about 3 minutes before they showed up w/ the tub.

almost forgot - new HVAC

2008-10-13T18:56:00.001-07:00

Spent the extra money for a high efficiency heat pump / AC unit. Got the ducts cleaned - completed on the 10th.

ama$ing deal

2008-10-13T18:50:00.000-07:00

There was a door that I told J about 6 weeks ago. I saw it at Lowes. A french door to replace the crappy slider that we have now. Marked way down. It was $275.

About 6 weeks ago we went and tried to buy it. It was marked as "SOLD." So we went back four or five times. Every time, the guy in millworks would say that he couldn't find it in the computer. I kept saying, "I'll buy it and take it right now."

Finally, tonight someone called a manager in. She sat at the computer for about 15 minutes. She said she would be back in a few minutes, she needed to print something so we could actually buy it.

I brought the tag up to the cashier to pay for it. He looked at it and said, "Hot Damn!" I had just handed him a clearance tag for $200, for a door originally priced $1,886.

What a great score.

dryer, garage door opener, shopping

2008-09-14T17:41:00.001-07:00

J got back last night. NOLA is looking good.

We bought a dryer that was on scratch & dent for $500, down from $948. The front door was scratched, and one leg of the dryer wasn't quite right. I ended up doing some bending of the sheet metal to get it straight. The dryer installed pretty easily. The old washing machine is now out in the garage.

There was a nest in the dryer exhaust duct. The new dryer had the "AF" error, and I went outside to check it out. There were lots of pine needles, and bird feathers packed into the duct. I used the shop-vac to clear the debris. I don't know what the deal was with the previous owners. There was lint all over the place in the laundry room, so that nest might have been there a while.

I got the garage door opener programmed, we bought a bunch of supplies to move other things forward. We've got 2 ceiling fans: one for the bedroom (52") and one for the office (42"). We'll decide what we put in the sitting room based on the way the two sizes feel in their respective rooms.

We got a bunch of stuff at Home depot with some coupons that J had that expired today. Future supplies.

chainsaw - Sat. 13th

2008-09-14T17:38:00.000-07:00

So there were a lot of tree branches to cut down. I borrowed the neighbor's chain saw, and cut most of them. Unfortunately, the chainsaw stopped working before the final trunk was taken down. It is tied off, and half way through.

The neighbor is going to return the chainsaw, he said it was only about 2 weeks old. I really hope that I didn't ruin it.

There is a big debris pile that I'll need to clean up. I'll let it sit for a while to dry out, and kill some of the grass under it.

upper roof gutter -- This is the first post on the day I actually did it.

2008-09-10T19:40:00.000-07:00

I got on the roof today to check out the gutter that had fallen down. Fortunately, the screws were still in place. So, I got the cordless drill, the wratchet attachment and both the english and metric wratchets.

I got up on the roof, and quickly re-installed the gutter. I cleaned out the gutter, and cleaned off the pile of leaves that had accumulated above the chimney. I also checked out the branch of the willow that is on the roof. It is pretty solidly resting weight on the roof, and that branch seems to have some structural compromise to it back near the major fork away from another branch. That tree also has some sort of a blight or heavy insect abuse. I am trying to figure out a way to minimize the damage from that branch when I cut it off. But, I don't really hve any where to leverage it. I tried tying it off and moving it from below, but there is too much weight from it leaning on the house.

neighbor thinks I'm nuts.

2008-09-10T19:36:00.001-07:00

He came by while I was cutting down some more tree with the sawsall to ask me if I wanted to borrow a chainsaw. He said, "you're making me tired watching you struggle."

Of course I accepted the offer. I have been talking about buying a chainsaw. I asked him if he had a chipper. I figured I would go for it. He's already offered me to borrow any of his tools. No chipper unfortunately.

I told him I would take him up on the chainsaw over the weekend. I finished up w/ the saws-all. It is actually a good tool for trimming. I was able to climb up into the tree, and use the saws all at full extension of my arm. I was standing on top of two limbs that I had cut previously. I wouldn't be comfortable doing that with a chainsaw.

I've got a plan for getting the rest of the scrubby tree and part of the willow (I'm not sure if that is what it is) down.

There are about 6 scrubby trees I need to take down, plus a long branch of the willow.

disposal doesn't work!

2008-09-10T19:34:00.001-07:00

I know that I tested the electrical connections when I made them. The disposal worked. So, I dropped the electricity to the house, and replaced the switch to the disposal. Now it works.

Lesson learned: check the electrical with a multi-meter before replacing the expensive part!

Not that big of a deal, the old disposal was disgusting. But I probably didn't need to replace it.

post hannah

2008-09-10T19:31:00.001-07:00

Nothing happened from hannah, just a lot of rain, very little wind.

So I decided to replace the garbage disposal. I also had purchased a water purifier (just a simple 2 stage filter) so we would have good water. Got to have good water!

Because I needed to do some plumbing to get the water filter in, and the disposal was in the way, I decided to take the disposal out. That worked fine. The old disposal was a long time to get out, but that was my fault for not noticing a retaining screw that eventually allowed me to seperate the upper drain from the lower drain that connected to the disposal itself. I forgot the plumber's putty so I had to run back to lowes. Otherwise, I had everything I needed to get it installed. The kitchen sink finally drained!

Plus there was filtered water.

hurricane hannah prep

2008-09-10T19:29:00.000-07:00

J cleaned the gutters, I started cutting down a tree that I haven't identified yet. It is a scrubby tree w/ about 30 ft height so far. Big spade shaped shiny green leaves. Multiple forks for some large branches.

I was using the saws-all, so I didn't get all that far. There is another big branch from another tree that is leaning on the roof. I didn't get that yet either.

getting settled in

2008-09-10T19:24:00.001-07:00

So we had a lot of stuff to re-arrange. The basement is a storage closet. We needed to get stuff in its place.

The clothes washer didn't work. It filled w/ water and wouldn't drain. So, I bought one on scratch and dent at lowes. $600 is probably too much for a clothes washer, but it is a high efficiency, front load, that can be stacked with a dryer.

Unfortunately, the kitchen is crap. Essentially unusable. The stove works, but the cabinets aren't really even worth cleaning. I bought a rubbermaid shelving system and put up the pot racks on the walls.

The old garbage disposal didn't work, and the kitchen sink didn't drain well on account of it.

finished moving in

2008-09-10T19:21:00.001-07:00

We finished moving in the following friday (8/29), after a week of moving stuff and painting each night. I left the next morning to do the SM100. J cleaned the old apartment. I pedaled my ass off.

clean, clean, clean, clean

2008-09-10T19:18:00.001-07:00

My dad came in town for the first weekend. We got the power on Friday, and he was here to start in on things. J was off that Friday, so they got the garage floor etched and painted.

Painted the ceilings. Cleaned the crappy tape off the walls. Took down the poorly installed bookshelves. Three coats of mud to fill those holes.

Paint, clean, paint, shampoo rugs, paint, clean, paint, move furniture, clean, shampoo rugs...ad nauseum...ad infinitum...

Electricity

2008-09-10T17:19:00.000-07:00

Needed it. But didn't have it.

I looked for main switch. I flipped everything in the breaker box on.

No juice.

I suggest calling an electrician. J suggests calling the power company. So I called Pepco. They send someone out. No electricity. Something wrong with the underground cable. 2 days to fix.

So it is our house, we can break in if we want to.

2008-09-10T17:05:00.000-07:00

We closed on Tuesday, August 12th. (need to check that date).

It was a REO / foreclosure. The place was ugly but structurally sound. We had been into it with the real estate agent, and without hte real estate agent. We had the key to the lockbox.

So we own it. We go by, and open up the lockbox. Cool. Got the keys. Hmm, the deadbolt is locked on the front door. There's no key for it. The key doesn't fit any of the other locks. Damn.

We regroup. Joe, our landlord at the previous place, comes over and helps us break-in.

Longdraft

2008-09-10T17:04:00.000-07:00

So, it was the ugliest house in the world. We're working on changing that.

I figured we could blog about it.