Need Destruction before Construction.....

We got a phone call on the 5th of July from the guys who were going to re-do the deck (finally, we re-did last Aug.!!!) they can start tomorrow instead of next week do we want them? What are the chances that a contractor not only wants to come early, but actually shows up?!? Or better yet.... OUR chances, you know our luck with contractors.

(Go to Blog post for 08/27/09 to see why our deck looks like this diseased thing)

They actually did show up on time, even a couple of the neighbors were taking bets....I should have gotten in on it for a change, but with my luck if I bet with the house, we'd still be waiting & I wasn't jinxing this!So all the deck furniture & plants are shoved to one side...let the destruction begin!!!!
OK-controlled destruction-because we're going to be able to reuse most of the wood.
We decided to stay with the pressure treated after we finally said "We need to make a decision!!! It's June!" We discussed Redwood,Cedar, Composite, Pressure Treated, Ipe´, Travertine tile (and boy was that one gorgeous...with this cool new installation system it was beautiful!)...a mix of two or three...maybe a design..... build a Pergola or a grill station,or both, maybe built in benches; we'd been batting ideas around all winter, looking at a multitude of planning & deck design books & still hadn't made a decision. Enough already! We're doing pressure treated! Our deck next door was great & is still there 24 years later! So our game plan.....they'll pull up the plywood, chipboard & some other old deck boards, reinforce the under decking since the boards are now going to go in another direction, then install the new deck boards. We'll also extend the decking to build stairs to the property next door...no more jumping off a 3 ft concrete wall:) They're also going to remove a 3 ft section of the deck & extend the concrete patio. 10 x 17....Just the perfect size for an intimate dance floor:) Tom figures it should be done in a week....there's 3 guys & him...so piece of cake right? I'm not betting on this one either.....

A Garage with a View.....take 2

Well...only 2 weeks to get to this point, almost all the junk is gone! It has certainly opened up the view; not only from the shade garden but also from the master bedroom! Love that river!
So I'm thinking.......... the shade garden won't be a shade garden for much longer...needs a new name & and maybe some new plants....:)

Mud Dauber Brown

That's the color we determined the stucco is, since this mud dauber nest blends right in! Apparently we have an organ pipe wasp (even though neither one of us are musical) whose nests are long and and resemble the way the pipes of an organ sit. Who knew??? They seem to like stucco, concrete or brick type surfaces to build their nests since they seem to hold better on them. Nice of us to provide them with a surface for their home:) They're not social, but they do like to be around human activity, they're not aggressive & rarely sting people. They feed on spiders...in fact the female paralyzes spiders, sticks them in the nest & lays an egg on them, then seals the chamber. Sounds like an instant meal when that egg hatches...just a quick spidey snack, hey there's scooby snacks for dogs....why not spidey snacks for baby daubers? Maybe we should keep them around to control our spider population....just a thought.....

A Garage with a View

We're starting on my Birthday present from last year, the walls in the garage are coming down, Tom has a guy who has done some work for him and he & his son are dismantling the garage & house to reuse the materials, windows, cupboards, etc.,etc., whatever is salvageable, the rest they will haul to the dump. Now the view from the shade garden is no longer ugly brown T-111 (plywood w/lines), but assorted misc.piles of junk. I'm just a wee bit concerned that since the guys doing this are doing it in their spare time, this project may take longer than Martha is going to be happy with...........and we all know when Martha's not Happy, neither is Poor Tom.

Brief visit from Mandy.....

Mandy worked for a day in mid April, she & Tom got a little more done on the garage, but more importantly she painted the stained ceiling! We hope to see her back to work after Mother's Day (hint-hint), but realistically it will be more like after Father's Day, since her fledgling business has really taken off!
Check it out....http://www.etsy.com/shop/mleefipps........just don't order anything until late fall so I can have her back for the summer!!!

The L Word....

We're getting ready to head to FL for about a month...I'm using the spare room to start to collect things in to pack, when I just happen to glance up & what do I see???? Oh S*#%! Fresh water stains on the textured ceiling!!! (can you hear me crying now???) It's the 10th of March & we're supposed to be leaving tomorrow....NOT!

The guys show up on the 11th & Tom's concerned it's the upstairs guest bath.....I however disagree, I just know it's the damn ice again! But upstairs they go, thankfully they don't have to cut the wall open, there's a small enough hole that they can see into, enough space to feel & determine that the wall is dry.

So we're back outside once again pulling the damn siding off the front of the house.....same area as last year. Well there is clearly water getting in from somewhere; look how wet the plywood is!!!!

Double click on any photo to enlarge

It's in the same area as last year when they found the hole in the plywood, determined that that was the issue & didn't look any further.......repaired the hole, replaced the water & ice barrier, reinstalled the siding.....we're good to go!
Here we are another year later doing the exact same damn thing, they determine the problem this time is that the soffit has been installed incorrectly (now there's a surprise for ya!). It's slanting in toward the house instead of level or slanting out. So basically it's acting like a funnel & channeling the water off the roof, down the wall, under the siding & barrier. It's been like this since it was installed..... They'll need to leave the wall open to air dry for the remainder of the day & will be back tomorrow to finish the repairs & button things back up.
We will be on our way to FL & Tom is leaving the repairs in their hands.
Personally I don't need to watch them.....I just need to get in the car & go!!!!
Let's hope it's done when we get back & we'll see what happens next winter.......

A Different kind of paint......

Mid winter vacation & our niece Elise....the budding artist

The Quilt

Tom's sister & Brother-I-L, Kathleen & Roger came to visit & brought us this beautiful quilt that Kathleen made for our new home.
What a wonderful gift!
The colors are just stunning in the Family room.

And they're baaackkk.........

Well, so much for all our great ideas...... the insulation, the siding repairs, etc., etc., the ice is still there....will we have more leaks this year?

Burned out igniter

Our heating system has presented with some definite challenges for a brand new system.......
Back in March 2008, we had no hot water, Tom tried to trouble shoot the problem with no luck. Called the company we got the furnace from & they gave him the name of a repair man. The igniter had burned out...not even two years old!!!! The repair man said they had problems with this system & just plan on replacing the igniter every year. Great-just great!
We decide we're going to replace it every year before the winter season begins, you know when you change your smoke detector batteries, just before we leave for Fl, etc., etc.. We decide not to replace it in Oct '08 since we just replaced it in March, we wait until Oct. '09-just a preventative measure...(I know you're just waiting for the other shoe to drop aren't 'cha?). No problem.
Until Friday evening, January 8, 2010..........it's 6:30, the temp outside is in the 20's & the furnace is down. Tom tried switching the igniter he pulled in Oct (yes...he saved it-it wasn't broken), but it didn't work. Called the furnace repair guy ( I really need to get his name) who agreed with Tom that it was probably the igniter, didn't really see any need for him to come over until we found out that wasn't it. Let's hope the plumbing & heating store is open on
Sat.! In the meantime that beautiful fire place is about to go to work.......the temps are dropping outside & it won't take long for the house to start to cool down. With the ceiling fans running & the fireplace going all night, ('cause somebody kept stoking the fire..hmmm...I wonder who?) I can't say we were toasty warm, but we certainly weren't uncomfortable.

The shop was opened on Sat, it was the igniter & all is well that ends well. Just so you know....that was the last straw....Tom had a discussion with that same shop where he bought the system based on their recommendation, we'll be replacing it in the spring. You can't have a system that you can't trust if you're going to travel.

Christmas fireplace

double click on the photo to enlarge
Just a picture to share how Beautiful the Fireplace looks :)
I have to admit I love our fireplace!!!!

Septic system approval........finally!

Tom had been thinking of calling the Septic System Engineer since summer, he tried him twice, there was no answer, it wasn't a top priority so...... September rolls around....we need to get a hold of the engineer for another property also for final approval. Tom still can't get in contact with him......"so let's look him up on the internet"; says the smart wife, same address & phone # Tom has. Uh-Oh......Problem.....need the systems approved & another engineer won't approve what's already in the ground. Tried facebook-BINGO-only problem is he's leaving for Costa Rica on a one way trip! Sent him a message via FB, hoping he's still in business.......got a response from him the next day. Explained the situation...he's on his way to Costa Rica for two weeks then he'll be back, can schedule them both in then before he & his wife leave for good October 1st! Cutting this one close..... He was able to sign off on the house no problem, the other property was another issue. Tom went to meet him, waited an hour, he didn't show, it was pouring when he went & the site was a mud hole. Tom came home & of course the Engineer called then, he was at the site....luckily Tom was able to trouble shoot from home & explain it all. He signed off on the property & he's off to Costa Rica! (The engineer...not Tom-he's not going anywhere until the house is done:)

Changing Landscape

The tree we tried so hard to save, to the point of creating a curved retaining wall, is not going to make it. So it had to come down. Not an easy decision.
(Hello.....But if it has to come down doesn't it make sense to do it before Martha has to rake all the leaves that fall off it's branches????)

The guys really did a great job with it being so close to the power lines & the house, there were a couple of moments where I got a little nervous, OK, maybe more than a little...when one of the guys yelled to the other to send him up a smoke-how exactly do you tie that to a tree rope? Ummm, I'm thinking gas chainsaw-2 hands should be on the chainsaw & rope...open flame to light the cig... not to mention they got a little later start than planned.....Dusk was falling .......and the moon was starting to rise....Of course Tom had to get in on the act, a little extra umph from his pick-up to bring down the last fat section....But hey-tree's down & all is well that ends well. No one blew up, the neighbors new vehicle is fine other than a coating of sawdust...

Over the next 2 days the clean up continued, the stump was ground and now I'm going to have to come up with something "cutesy" to do where the curved retaining wall was......any ideas???

THE FINAL FLOOR!!!!!

I know you heard it all before...the glue went down, the floor went down yada, yada, yada. There's always a glitch and this one is the final strip is like 1 1/2 " wide! What a pain in the butt!!! (I say this like I'm the one ripping the wood & gluing that skinny strip without making a ooey mess that the Clean-Up B&%#$ (which is me) will have to deal with).
Hey can you do parentheses within parentheses?

Well it's in...and it's almost anticlimactic...I mean we've waited so long for the last floor to go in and it's just like it's here. OK, Whoopee, ya know....I've got another floor to clean....yeah.

Finish trim work.....we'll be moving the furniture in soon!

The Floor Is In
Before October 1st!!!!!!

Meet Joe.......

Meet Joe...he's the window guy.
He brought most of the windows to be installed.
I know you picked up on that didn't you? "Most" you question?
Why yes, most, 1 broke in transit from the factory to the warehouse, he brought a 6 ft slider for a 5 ft slider space & believe it or not, we just couldn't make it fit. Well maybe we could have if Tom decided to redesign the sliding glass door opening to the master bedroom....but I really don't think we want to go down that road!
Unfortunately the poor guy had the defective one out already before he realized it, he had to put the defective one back in for now.

There's a problem with the transoms to be replaced in the
kitchen & family room (of course!), apparently the header shifted compressing down onto the transom. They'll have to break the glass in order to get the window out and obviously the window has to be a "tad" smaller now, so he has to order different sizes.

He changed out 24 out of the 28 in one day, he even peeled the stickers off & washed the one window that wasn't easily accessible! Should hear back in about 3 weeks for the rest.... Unfortunately I have to peel the stickers & wash the other 23 now!

New walkway

We're slowly crossing off that "Honey-do" list! (Little does he know, I keep adding on...hey I have a honey re-do list now, it has been 4 years after all!!!) The outside walkway went in on the side of the house to the shade garden. It was designed with the leftover stone-oops-I mean the calculation for stone delivery in July of 2008 must have included the additional walkway, 'cause there was plenty! The walkway from the garage to the shade garden is complete!!!!
Looks pretty good huh? Of course I supervised this project!

Dining room floor prep

OK, I know this really isn't the floor,
but the finish trim work needed to be done before they started the floor.

Now we can get to the floor!
We started prepping the floor....the self leveler was applied...

And THEN........
Mandy took off for a couple of unexpected weeks...certainly not her choice! Boy are we glad to have her back (this part of the "we" is very, very glad!)

Deck destruction

When we originally installed the decking, it was supposed to be temporary. Tom had planned on eventually removing the pressure treated lumber & replacing it with composite decking.
Well temporary turned into 4 years . I guess eventually is "partially" here now???
We started removing the deck boards so we could reinforce the cantilevered braces underneath. After the reinforcements to the decking, we covered it with old plywood from another job.

L click to enlarge photos

This is for the winter and I can't believe I'm saying this; but it'll only look good covered in snow!!!
In the spring we'll hopefully have decided on how we want the finished deck to look.
The old deck boards were quite weathered though and are perfect to finally face the front of the deck now, so at least that looks pretty good!.

Now we just need to consider extending the deck to the property next door where my Birthday present sits! At the rate we're going we'll have a boardwalk running along the river before you know it!

Eva's Last Day

Well we've joked about it for years (literally!), that the house would be done by the time Eva went to school. No, No, don't get too excited.......we're not quite done & Eva's not going to kindergarten. Mandy did find a great daycare program where Eva will attend preschool 5 days a week & stay right there for daycare after. So we did lots of fun stuff on her last day, we baked cookies (chocolate chip of course) played in the sandbox and swam in the "hot pool!" We'd played with all the fun toys, especially all the ones that made the most noise!

Eva's trial day at daycare was a big hit & she had no problem adjusting on her first day. I'd say she was more than ready for this.....And so was Auntie Martha ;)

:( Martha room

The Martha room has been turned into the storage room, didn't have that for long now did I??? The hardwood flooring has been brought in to acclimate (into the Martha room of course) and all the dining room furniture brought in to store. I'm certainly excited that the dining room floor is going in.....I just hope it's soon!