Things That Begin With G

Grout and Garage!

That's what Dad and I worked on while Mom was out of town.

Friday morning we grouted the kitchen tile.  First, we applied the grout with our trowels.  After it hardened for a bit, we wiped the excess off.  Over and over and over and over and over again.  Eventually, it was wonderfully shiny again.

I totally love it!

That afternoon we bought some wood for trim in the kitchen.

Saturday was a half-day of work, but we accomplished a lot.  I had saved the cabinets from the kitchen when I took them out.  We spent the morning installing them in the garage.  There wasn't enough space for the full L of the lower cabinets, so we didn't install the smaller part, which was kind of broken from being removed anyway.  We were able to install both the upper cabinets, but not their doors.  They were stupidly designed so that the door doesn't go the full length of all the cabinets and cuts off about a foot of the top shelf.  We decided no doors would be more functional.  On top of the base cabinet, we used an old door from the removed garage conversion as a counter top.  It fit perfectly so we didn't have to cut it in anyway!

Sunday, we installed pegboard in the garage corner and I moved in a bunch of stuff.  The garage is now totally clean and I can park a car in there!

I also converted the nearest outlet from a 220 one to a 110 one so that will be quite useful.  Dad fixed a kitchen outlet that was sticking out from the tile too far.  He then caulked the connection of the kitchen tile to the counter.  Apparently that was a pain since the counter was wood.  The caulk doesn't wipe up nearly as well as on tubs and tiles.  I also got the kitchen trim pieces rubbed with Minwax so they'll be ready to go up next weekend.

We're so close to being done.  It's awesome.  I'll keep you posted about an open house coming in the future.

The Waiting Game

I got up a bit earlier than usual on Thursday so I could be at the house by 9.  The garage door guy was supposed to be there between 9 and 10.  I had several tasks to complete while waiting for the job to be finished.  Getting rid of the 'door' that was there, brings me even closer to passing inspection.

The first thing I did while waiting was replace the gate lock.  The lock doesn't keep the gate closed in the wind.  The gates swing out and the bar comes out of the slot.  I got a new one a few days ago.  It works much better - I tested it after installation.

I then attempted to remove a bathroom sink drain from an old sink.  I didn't seem to be doing something correctly and I couldn't get it.  I'll have Dad or Mom get it sometime when they're back.

It's now about 9:30 or so.  I decided to mix up some joint compound and finish off some of the drywall joints and patch some holes.  I finished that up about 10.  I decided to read my book until the guy got there, which should have been any minute.

10:30  Still no garage door guy.  I call the company and let them know about the situation.  They knew he was late - he was supposed to have called me.  His truck had broken down.  The woman called him and he said he would be at my place in about 15-20 minutes.  I kept reading.  Finished the book and decided to sweep up the leaves from the sidewalk.

11:30  Call from garage door guy.  He explained that his transmission went out and he was just now transferring his tools to another truck.  He would be there in about 30 minutes.

12:30 He finally shows up.  I have no problem with his reason for being late - car trouble happens.  What annoys me is his ridiculous times he kept giving.  I would have far preferred if, at the beginning, he said he would be 2-3 hours while he got the truck to a shop.  Then I could have gone to get food.  I hadn't anticipated being there all day and didn't bring food with me.  Luckily, there was a bag of pistachios, which became my lunch.

While he was working, I set about to others tasks on my list.  I removed all the random nails and hooks from the ceiling and walls.  I also removed the outlet and switch covers, which will make retexturing walls easier.  At this point in time, I basically ran out of things on my list - I didn't want to start anything major before taking two days off for Christmas.  But, there wasn't much left to do and I had finished my book.  I decided to tackle the bathroom floor.

This needs to be removed so I can put in my new floor and have it attempt to line up height-wise with the laminate that will be in the hall.  I spent the next couple hours chiseling away with a utility bar and a hammer.  All that metal on metal pounding actually made my ears ring when I was stopped.  Here's the progress I made.

3:30  Garage door guy is finally done. Yay!

Water Heater

Saturday's main project for Dad and I was the water heater.  Here's our beginning point:

The things that need fixing:  Mainly, it just needs to be 18" off the ground.  However, doing that means doing a bunch of other things as well.  Raising it that high meant it would hit the pipes coming out of the wall if we left it in the same location.  So, after raising it, it would need to be moved away from that wall.  Then the pipes need right angles attached to them so that the water heater pipes can come at them from above.  Also, the vent piping will need to be angles to reach the hole.

Dad built a stand last weekend and finished it off on Friday.  We did some soldering of pipes.

Then came the joy of lifting the water heater onto it's new stand.  Too heavy for Dad and I too lift without it tipping over.  We decided to do it slowly by tilting and laying boards underneath it.  We slowly raised it 6" this way.  However 6" is not 18".  No more boards.  Got Mom to come help.  Dad and I would lift from the bottom of the tank.  Mom would stabilize it.  Success!!!

Dad and I then reattached the straps (to a different wall than before, with some new boards added by us - good and strong).  Then came time to do the vent piping.  Dad has purchased some angled, movable joints that would be very helpful.  He went to the attic to get the piping into the roof vent.  I handed him tools through the hole.  When he got his part finished, I managed to connect the straight pipe to the tank with the angles pieces.  It took some doing, but I eventually got it.

Alas, when Dad was up in the attic, he accidentally knocked out the roof vent.  Last night, we went and got the pieces to replace that.  That should get done today (unless the rain prevents the final touches).  But otherwise, just about ready to cross this item off the list, and get closer to being able to pass the city inspection.

Frozen Noses No More

Friday started off with a trip to the flooring store.  I had already decided which line of laminate I wanted for the kitchen/living/hall.  I picked up the sample pack so I could coordinate with my cabinets.  That was done easily enough - the one I liked from the beginning went beautifully.

So, Mom and Dad came when I did the actual ordering.  I also ordered the linoleum I had picked out for the bathroom.  This process was pretty easy.  Dad got to play with Rex, the dog, while things were being ordered.  The laminate should be here early next week and the linoleum in about 1.5 weeks.  Who hoo!!

Leaving the floor store, we stopped and got some plumbing supplies for the leaking toilet and the not-yet-up-to-code water heater.

I worked on connecting the heater to the thermostat so that we'd have heat and be one step closer to passing the city inspection.  Dad finished the stand for the water heater.  Mom worked on taking down some of the garage 'door' so that a new, and real, one can replace it.

I ran the wire down the hall, hiding it under baseboards, up the wall underneath the bathroom door molding.  I then had to cut a little pocket out of the drywall for the wire leading to the thermostat itself.  Used a hammer and chisel and made a slot the perfect size.  It will be easy to patch over it when we get to fixing the millions of holes in the house.

After Dad finished the sand, he got some parts soldered together that he'll be needing today.  He also attempted to fix the leaky toilet.  Alas, the part we purchased isn't quite the right size, so we'll have to try again.  And keeping flushing the toilet using the large bucket of water.

Mom pretty much got the garage 'door' ready, so my task, once I finish writing this post, will be to do some research on local garage door companies and find one to do the job.  Dad has done this before and has come to the conclusion that it is one of the few jobs that is worth paying someone to do.  Without the specialized equipment, getting them up is a giant pain that we're going to avoid.

You've Got Mail

Friday, I decided to construct my mailbox.  There wasn't one already, and no mail gets delivered without one.  Even though I'm not living at the house yet, mail was starting to arrive.  Most of the houses in the area had the kind that attaches to the wall by the front door.  I don't like the idea of my mail sitting out all day, where anyone can go through it, while I'm at work.  I decided to put a mail slot into the garage.

More fun times with the reciprocating saw!  First, got the masonry drill bit.  I needed to drill a starter hole for the saw blade.  Going through the stucco wasn't too bad with the drill, as long as I didn't hit a piece of the chicken wire.  When I did, Dad attacked it with a screwdriver and hammer.

Cutting through the stucco was totally going to ruin a blade, so Dad found the worst of the bunch and I set myself to sawing.

The cutting was actually easier than we thought it was going to be.  The blade slowly moved along and no cracks developed in the stucco.  Once there was a hole, I attached a 2x4 underneath.  This will hold the basket to catch the mail.

Attaching the front plate took a bit longer than it was supposed to.  We got holes drilled, put in some caulk and put it up.  Luckily, Dad had the bright idea to open the slot.  It wouldn't!  The brilliant people who made the template for how large the hole should be just traced the actual hole - and didn't account for space for the slot door to open backwards.  Down it came and more sawing took place.  Eventually, got it fine and mail can start being delivered.

Demolition

Mom and I decided to tackle the illegal conversion in the garage.

I'm standing next to the water heater in this photo.  Illegal wall and that floor is raised off the concrete slab.  Both need to be removed (along with the illegal wiring, but that's a project for another day).

We tackled the wall first.  Since there are various holes that need patching throughout (and likely a large area in the kitchen when the tile gets taken out), we tried to save as much drywall as possible.  Took out the worst looking sheet first so we could destroy it as needed.

We were able to get the remaining three sheets off relatively successfully.  There will be plenty of drywall for future patches.  With the sheets off, we could see what a poor job of construction had been done.

Alas, I don't have many pictures (but will take more on future projects).  The wall was supported on eight 2x3 boards nailed together.  Not very stable.  While I took apart most of the wall, Mom undid the wiring to the outlet so it could be removed.  We kept the light for now (will need to be removed eventually) because light in that area is very handy.  Once the wall was completely removed, we broke for lunch.

With our stomachs full, we headed back into the garage to remove the raised floor.  Pulling up the carpet was easy.  Mom is an expert at cutting it and rolling it to fit into garbage cans, so she did that while I started on the plywood sheets.  The first one was super attached!  It look a lot of time and figuring to get it removed from the framing underneath.  Once I got it, we got a look at the random framing method - basically rectangular, with a mishmash of boards, whatever was handy.

We found rats' nests, $2.05 worth of coins (mainly pennies), Vans, CDs, film negatives and a whole bunch of trash under the floor.  Treasures galore!

We spent the rest of the afternoon prying up plywood and generally getting a good upper body workout.  We saved the long boards for potential future projects.  After sweeping up, it looks pretty nice.  Still need to install a proper garage door and remove the illegal wiring but pretty good for a first full day of work!

First Night of Work

Mom and Dad decided to come down and spend the weekend at the place.  Dad would be gone Saturday and Sunday during the day on a field trip.  They came with plenty of supplies.  (One of the reasons the house is "Unsafe to Occupy" is due to a lack of heat.  Previous people had lived there sort of squatter style and had the gas totally removed due to their lack of bill paying.  Not scheduled to be turned on until December 8, so very chilly house!)

Friday, we started with a door that needed replacing.  It couldn't close at all because it had been kicked in and there was no more door jamb for the lock to go into.  Dad had picked up two doors for me that morning: garage to exterior and kitchen to garage.  Both need replacing for similar reasons.  Alas, 30" doors to match the current opening are special order.  Dad got 32" ones instead and we'll cut the opening larger.

We spent Friday evening removing the kitchen door and some paneling in the adjacent illegally converted garage room.  Underneath the paneling was a treasure just waiting for me:

Along with this gem, there's all sorts of other graffiti, mainly names of people (and who they profess to love) along with bands and songs: Ted Nugent, Alice Cooper, Diana Ross, Marvin Gaye, The Fonz, Boogie Nights, Brick House.  It's quite a lovely collection and will definitely be staying as part of my garage.

We got enough drywall removed for the wider door frame and stopped for dinner.  Alas, that's as far as we got.  The rest of the weekend was consumed with other projects.  There is currently an opening between the garage and kitchen - no door.  Door will be a priority this coming weekend.