Category: Uncategorized

This blogging process has been a struggle for me. I tell myself every morning that I will blog that evening and then I either forget, or I’m just not up to it. Also, the photo uploading for WordPress is an absolute nightmare, so I do avoid the process a bit. But, that means that this update will be a doozy! There has been so much progress the last few months.

We have passed multiple inspections. We passed our 4-way combination allowing us to hook up the permanent power, hook up the gas for the water heaters, and use the plumbing systems. We were also allowed to start putting in the insulation.

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The music studio got most of the attention when it came to insulation. We wanted to reduce the amount of sound transfer through the house and also keep the sound within the studio sounding as it should for recording. On the ceiling of the studio alone we installed 2 inches of rigid foam insulation then left about a 3-4 inch space and then installed 6 inches of rock wool. Now when you go into the studio it sounds like you are under water and you have this feeling like you really need to pop your ears. Its actually quite eerie. I always think of Archer going “HMAH” every time he has tinnitus.

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After the insulation was installed it had to be inspected. That also passed so we have since started putting up the drywall. We have started on the second floor installing the ceilings first and then once we made it down to the boys’ bedrooms we started hanging the walls. The rooms went very quickly. They are nice and easy boxes that went up really fast. The hallway however was much trickier. It has a ton of little corners and bends that take a lot of meticulous cutting. It was especially tough getting the ceiling hung in the landing of the front stairs. We don’t have a scaffold small enough to fit in the landing so we had to tear out Ryu’s closet so that Derek could get up a ladder and someone could stand in the closet to hand it over to him. We had one small casualty when we forgot the impact drill was on the ladder and went to move it. We were able to tape it together and keep it going though.

We also came behind all the drywall in the rooms and installed some lighting. The days are getting much shorter and we will need the lights to keep us going in the evenings. We are working nearly 12 hour days every day of the week, so since the sun is setting around 6:00 and will be around 5:00 after the first of the month the lights will be invaluable. we decided to install LED lighting everywhere. It will save a TON of money in the long run and we actually found fixtures that were really nice and really inexpensive as well. They install like a dream and the kids are obsessed with having their own dimmers in their rooms.

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We still have a long way to go just hanging the drywall, but the progress we have made already was only one week of work. We are really happy with the speed of the process. Taping and mudding/texturing will go fairly quickly as well. We aren’t looking to get completely smooth walls, we will be adding a skip trowel texture so that will go rather quickly especially because we purchased a large sander that hooks right up to the vacuums. That aside we will be using 60 boxes of mud on 400+ sheets of drywall when the process is done.

Another thing that really ticked a box on our list was getting rid of the horrible smoke stack that was protruding from the west side of the house. When we bought the place it was the only thing I noticed pulling up which really means something on a house this size. It was a massive triple walled stack that wasn’t well thought out. It suck out so far that you couldn’t even see the cute bay that sat behind it.

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We are so excited to start getting the finishes up finally. We were hoping to get the place at least semi-livable before Thanksgiving. Even though the electrician was behind and set us back almost 6 weeks, we think we still might make it. We will, for sure, be in the house in time for Christmas. It’s always crazy to me how quickly finishes go in compared to how long all the prep work takes in a renovation. There is just so much trouble shooting you have to do ahead of the finishes that a lot of your days are spent thinking and not doing. We are really looking forward to not doing anything more on this place and finally sitting back to relax and enjoy the well earned rewards of our hard work.

There has been so much progress since our last entry. With the bones all in place everything else seems to just slide into place. Because we are so pumped by the flow of the process right now we just can’t seem to take any time off. We are working morning to night every single day.

We managed to finish the siding on the bay with the help of a massive forklift that we had to rent in order to put our heating/cooling unit on the roof.

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That same morning we also had our HVAC guys out to help us get the massive heating and cooling unit onto the roof. It took a lot of careful planning and preparation, but in the end it went up seamlessly and without much effort.

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After all placing the unit onto the roof everything else went really quickly from that point forward. And in less than a week we had a full HVAC system throughout our house. We installed ducting throughout the full upper floor and the south section of the first floor. The north half of the first floor will have radiant floor heating. Because of all the additions onto the house it would be too much remodeling of the structure of the home in order to run it throughout, but we are confident that the north half will stay quite cool in the summer and will be plenty warm with radiant heat under tile. We are very grateful for Bob, Earl and Matt from RAMS Industries for being our quick, efficient, and very professional HVAC contractors.

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Even though we have been grateful for the added time and bodies we have been given because of covid, we have also been a bit sad that our plumber wasn’t able to come and assist as much as he originally planned. He finally made it back though and we are on our way to a completely finished sewer line and water line. Only one shower and sink need to be hooked up in the crawl space and then the sewer lines will be complete. It’s interesting how much ground water is in there now that we plugged up the end of the sewer lines. We were freaked out a bit that Chris put the floor drains as high as one of the slabs in our basement, but once we siphoned the water back into the drains they sunk back down to where they belong.

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Derek has been working his buns off to run the cold water lines so that we don’t have to continue to have a port-a-potty on site. It’s so strange how something like having a running toilet and a sink to wash your hands can make a building start to feel like a home….finally.

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The last few weeks we have been working really hard to get everything cleaned up. Right after we bought the house my Grandma Stinger passed away and a lot of her things ended up being stored in our basements. They were brought in and hastily stored on top of the things left by the previous owners, and also some of the things that had been here since this building was a convent. Shortly after that Derek’s father passed away and so his things came to be stored on top of all the other things.

One really cool find was a footlocker full of books from the nuns that were full of recorded sermons, suggested teachings, and leather bound books that listed all the sisters that had passed away. These memorial books so beautifully detail all the wonderful things each sister had accomplished and why everyone loved her. Sadly most of the books were water damaged and not salvageable, but we were able to save a few. We will see if the church would like them back or if they are ok with us keeping them or giving them to some of our Catholic friends that might love to read them.

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Keep checking back with us. We will be posting much more often, with much more progress. Nothing is standing in our way now.

We have been really moving during this time of social distancing.  We have had a house full of random people here and there.  Our electrician has been visiting and buttoning up some details in the upstairs and we have filled in the huge hole in the yard for the sewage system and also have made a new huge hole in order to run brand new water supply line.

Our HVAC guy has been taking measurements, making lists and having us prepare everything he needs us to in order to make it a quick in and out for his installation of the commercial heating/cooling unit that will be on the roof. This included redoing the gas lines.  The house used to have a massive 2″ line for the, guaranteed inefficient, gas boiler that used to heat the house.  We have now gone down to a 1″ line that will more than sufficiently supply everything.

 

We also needed to make a huge hole in the roof for the trunk duct to enter into the house from the AC/heat unit on back roof. It will supply the majority of the heating and cooling for the entire house except for a few areas at the back of the main floor that will have radiant floor heat.

One of my favorite things we got started this week is the bay exterior.  It’s always fun to finally put up any finish. It makes you feel so much closer to what I would consider the fun part. But that gets us to the completion of what Derek considers the fun part. We are cruising on this siding though.  Yesterday we were able to get all 6 windows replaced and get the siding started.  Today we finished the first floor’s worth of siding. It’s going up swimingly, because I’m such a good finger pointer and Derek is such a good doer.  In actuality, I’m still hoping to get back to where I can be a really good helper again.  I love doing this stuff.

While we have been working through everything there has been some work going on at a rental across the street from us.  The gentelman doing the work there had done work on ol’Bertha many years ago, when it was still a convent.  He had some old windows that came out of the house.  We were wanting to add a few more leaded glass windows to match the one that is still in tact on the front porch.  He had two original windows that he so graciously gave to us.  It was such a wonderful gift!

We are getting so close to getting this lady to this finish line.  I know from the outside it’s still just a pile of sticks and bricks to some, but we can just see the end from here.  We have been so sad at the prospect of being done that we decided to purchase another house.  We now have 2 projects for you to follow after this old lady is fully spruced up.  We hope you will still enjoy the progress and process of these old renovations.

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike most people that are stuck in just one little place we are counting our blessings that we can split our time between two places.  It’s nice to enjoy a change of scenery when we want.  We are also super grateful for the school closures.  It has allowed our high school children to finish up their schooling early in the morning and then spend the rest of the day helping on ol’ Bertha.  It has been a blessing to be able to give Derek many more helping hands on the job site.

We finally have our electrician in and the good thing about construction is everyone can work in their own little spaces while still applying social distancing.  That aside we are so happy to finally have Paul in the house finishing up what I couldn’t.

We are sad that our plumbing helper hasn’t been able to come by.  It has been just too dangerous for him to be near anyone so that he doesn’t take anything home to his adorable, sweet wife.  We just love her and hope that she does stay safe and gets healthy.  We have done a little go keep moving with the plumbing job though.  We have partially filled in the large hole in the side yard with sand and part of the soil that will have to be compacted before we continue filling it in.

Yesterday was a great day.  We finally got our windows in to replace all the broken ones.  We want to get those handled first and then we will see if we have the funds to replace all of them after everything else is finished.  We are still doing our best to get into the house without any mortgage.

Just on the front of the building we have gone from this….

To this!  We Kept the main floor window boarded because it’s an original leaded glass pane that we don’t want vandalized.

Monday Granger and I decided to try and make a little more room in the back basement by tearing out the old boiler and the platform it was standing on. This will help make more storage space and help us get things out of the way for the plumber and the electrician. We already have a basement full of stuff even though we aren’t in the house yet.

We also had one more issue to handle.  It was always our plan to continue to use the wood burning stove that came with the house, but after going over the code for what is necessary for the pad we decided to get a vent-free gas fireplace instead.  This way we don’t cut clear into the middle of the space between the dining room and the front parlor.  We wanted this area to be as open as possible for when we have big family gatherings, and we definitely have a big family.

We are still very hopeful that at this pace we will be able to move in before the end of the year.  It’s just crazy how many little tedious things need to be done in order to move on from this first phase.  Just when you think you are about done you stumble upon yet another thing that needs to be addressed.  Derek make a comment the other day “I’m finally done with framing!  That’s at least the 10th time I have said that and I know it won’t be the last.”  He is really moving now and getting so much done so quickly. We are all really proud of his hard work and craftsmanship.  We are so grateful to have him working so hard for us all.

 

This last week has been a fun one for all the dudes.  They got to play with big machines and roll around in the mud.  We needed to dig a rather large hole to the East of the house, just behind the bay, to connect the sewer to the outside lines.

Derek was actually willing to take turns with Granger….a little.

You can just barely see where the old cast is and where the new pipe needs to go.

We have been really grateful for all the help we have had from Chris. This would not be going anywhere near as smoothly with out his smarts.

On the inside of the house much has changed as well.  Pretty close to all the sewage lines have been run with only a little here and there to finish.

Shower pan drains are going in for our master bath and also for the main floor bath.

Kalyb has also been back in to help us with his meticulous craftsmanship.  He has been re-treading the front stairwell and putting the boards in that the drywall will butt up to.  This helps to create a really beautiful finish and also reduces the amount of work you have to do while mudding the drywall.  Kalyb has always been a meticulous craftsman.  If you don’t remember, he’s also the one that built the metal straps “corbels” that hold the beam in place.

Delivery day for all our plumbing fixtures was a blast for the kids.  We even built a home for Granger’s friend Gage. Now he has a place to stay when he wants to visit.

 

 

With our plumbing going in we decided that it would be a good idea to purchase some of our finishes now. We had the foresight to think that if we choose our finishes and have the house plumbed for them, and later those finishes aren’t available, that would mean even more rework that no one wants. Rework always means more delays. That’s the last thing we need.

We will be designing the master bath with very dark, masculine pieces with the juxtaposition of bright chrome and crystal fixtures. The bath we chose has a gloss black outer with white interior. It’s also jetted, because why not?!

We went with dark mahogany vanities that will actually have bright chrome faucets and pulls. They will also have black granite tops with the white semi-recessed bowls shown above.

How do you build a new house these days without a bidet that has a remote and customization for both of you? We never expected to have to install an outlet for the toilet.

The main floor bath will be more modern/Nordic in design.

The kitchen is going to be very mod/Nordic/simple as well. The main floor bath is just off of the kitchen and that’s why we chose the same styling. We chose an industrial style top mount sink that comes with drain pans that will fit in each basin. We have plans for a painted glass back splash, gloss white cabinets and gray quarts counter tops. The photo below is almost exactly what we are going for.

Hopefully this will help everyone see the vision we have to a point.

Fitting into our own personal style this home will come together in a very eclectic, but hopefully homogeneous style. The arts & crafts architecture of the home is already a hodge-podge of many other architectural styles so we might as well go with that “flow”.

Welcome back everyone.  We know it has been AGES since we have made an update.  This last year has been a total bust.  We have done very little with this big lady.  We spent most of our funds and all of our time in San Diego getting another project finished and out of our way.  One of those very necessary detours.  Now that we are back at it we are going full bore.

We recently started the plumbing and it is going as expected.  We have some progress and then some setbacks.  The drain system was scoped a few years back and was deemed clear all the way to the street, but in removing the cast inside the house we came across a separate asbestos pipe that was tied in but redundant.  Part of the basement floor had to come out.  The pipes were removed all the way back to the outside walls and are ready to be replaced with shiny new ABS.

We did find something interesting while doing all that work….the water table.  These builders were really cutting it close.  We do have a sump in ground.  It will need to be replaced, but it will be ready to avoid disaster. It is surprising that with all that water just under the floor that we have never seen any water coming into the basement other than where it comes into broken windows and the not so water tight coal chute.

Another project that has been happening a little here and there is putting in the fancy doors to the solarium.  I think you all might remember these beauties.

Derek worked hard during his little bit of free time here in Utah to get these framed in and ready to be hung after we get the rest of the house’s finishes up.  He had to start by breaking back the rough edges of the brick that was protruding out into that area. For some reason the builders left the opening very jagged and raw.  It was interesting to see how much plaster was used to fill all the extra areas.  It reminded me of my days doing auto work and seeing some of the home Bondo jobs.  It’s baffling to me that people would rather spend more money on product just to cut corners and save themselves from a blister or two.

He then built structure and covered it in ply so that there was a really nice finish to it.  It’s going to be so beautiful.  I can’t even wait.

We are getting more and more excited every day and are seeing progress.  It is still a bit slow going at this point as all remodels are.  It’s still pretty amazing to me how long this portion of the process takes as opposed to how quickly finishes go up.  There’s just so much thought that has to go into where every board and every nail needs to be in order for everything to finish as planned.

BUT!  I have already started purchasing items that will be going into this house. I plan to have all my current belongings just go up in flames.  Not really, but I’m excited to have a clean palette to work my magic on.  I recently came across a beautiful painting that had nuns in it and I couldn’t resist.  We are planning on having little fun pieces here and there that are reminders of the convent ol’ Bertha used to be. Hopefully in the end we will do her proud!

Welcome back everyone! We are so sorry to leave you hanging on progress for so long. We have had a little hangup in our personal lives and have had a hard time getting back on track. Nonetheless we have still made huge strides toward completion.

Every inch of framing is complete on both floors. There were a few tweaks and changes here and there, but the original plan was pretty close to dead on.

One of the best changes we have made is removing the framing separating the parlor and living room then replacing it with a massive huge structural beam. Keisha’s brother Kalyb was able to come in on the project and make the most beautiful industrial oil rubbed steel brackets. We couldn’t fathom putting it up there with modern bolts so we scoured the dark web for old deadstock square bolts. They turned out exactly as we planned. Just the right beautiful, era appropriate statements we were looking for. The crazy thing about the beam and the brackets is how huge they look on the floor next to you and then you put them up and the perspective seems to change their proportions. It just dwarfs in comparison to the rest of the space.

Here are the photos of the wall framing that was in place before. We just couldn’t handle having such a great space so sectioned off.

 

Cleaning up the posts was a real chore, not just for Derek and Granger, but also for the planer. We really gave it a major workout and tested its limits. The results are breathtaking.

We were able to get a bunch of help on a day that Keisha was working, so no good photos of all the helpful muscle. But we want them all to know how grateful we are! And the finished product is so breathtaking!

We were also able to layout where the wood burning stove and log storage is going. We will be building that out of concrete. It will be poured flat over some timber that we reclaimed from a 100+ year old structure that we tore down just a few blocks from this home. We will then tilt it up and secure it to the wall. We are hoping it will come out with a very deep grain in the concrete for that industrial look. We will be doing this up the wall behind the stove and also for the sides of the log storage. Kalyb will also be making straps for the base of the hearth that will match the brackets on the beam.

The stove is in this temporary position right now. The original stacks are still attached outside so we are taking advantage of that. The nights are getting to be below 0 and these bricks hold every but if that cold.

In the end it will be placed upon a hearth just to the right of the bay.

A big majority of the electrical is finished and will be finished within the month. The next step is the plumbing and HVAC then we will be ready for first inspections. We are now a few months behind on this phase because of our setbacks. But that means we are right back on the originally planned schedule. We were blowing it out of the water before with no setbacks and just plowing away at the job. There’s always something though. Murphy’s Law.

Another change we recently decided on was to actually keep the porch enclosed.  Because this winter has been so cold and we realized just how much heat we can obtain through that porch area, we decided it will be a solarium.  We will be putting slate tiles on the floor to hold in the heat from the sun. But, the main reason we made this decision is because we ran across these spectacular doors that just happened to be the right fit. They are bifolds and even fold up to be almost completely out of the way. Mounted on one side of the opening makes it so that they only stick out about 2″ from the wall.  They are just breathtaking!  We really love that they have the arch that mimics the arches all over the entrances of the original structure. We will be stripping and refinishing them a deep mahogany along with the beam and posts.

We are really proud of the progress we have made and almost tear up every time we walk in the door. The biggest hurrah after getting inspections will be getting to finally insulate! Derek has had to hook the wood stove up to the old stove pipe that was already installed on the house to keep from completely freezing. Thank goodness for all the scrap we have created throughout this process. It has been keeping him warm through this bitingly cold winter. We are thankful for that old beast, especially for the fact that it has a blower!

We are going to try to keep you up to date more, but we have felt that updating you on more and more and more boards gets a little tedious. We are hoping to start showing you all finishes going in soon! We can’t wait and we know you feel the same!

I have to start off by apologizing for not posting in a long long while!  I know so many of you have been wanting updates, but we have just been swamped with the house, the kids, the shop, and the arts festival. I haven’t had much time to rest, and I have been using that time to veg. The good news is because of all that down time here on the blog, we have so much to share with you.

Last time we posted we finally had our contractor, Keith Cox, out to tear down the bowing bay wall. Here’s the video of the wall after it was torn out. I was blown away at his efficiency.  He would pull up each day with everything he needed to get the job done and would do just that.  With lightning speed and beautifully accurate craftsmanship he buttoned that baby up in no time.

It was really odd seeing the wall torn out and the floors hanging out of the side of the house for a few weeks.  We had a bit of a delay, because in tearing down the bay we realized that somewhere along the lines someone tore out the original chimney that spanned the entire height of the house from the basement and out of the roof, but they didn’t tear out the whole thing, they only tore it out on the main floor of the house.  The huge problem with this was that the two courses of brick at the back of the chimney were actually part of the structure wall of the house.  We assume that because this structure was taken out of the main floor leaving only the pretty facade brick, that may have been the pressure that was adding weight to that second floor.  Also, in putting up the new wall we were able to see just how out of plumb the original wall was.  Since it was already leaning out and having that added weight with nothing holding it underneath, that is what caused the wall to bow out from the second floor.

We had to call up our engineer, Tom Paluso, to take a look and come up with a plan on what we needed to do to keep the remaining facade wall from caving in, and also how to support the remaining chimney.  He came up with a plan of using a 6×6 with a large metal bracket holding up the chimney and the 2nd floor joists, but the inspector decided it would just be better to finish tearing out the chimney and support the edge of the facade wall with angle iron spanning the entire height.

above shows the hole left in the floor after the chimney was removed and below shows the single row of facade brick that was left after someone removed the chimney.

We are so surprised that the facade brick actually held up as good as it did with nothing tying it to the rest of the house for who knows how long.

We previously updated you all with the floor that we had leveled in the guest suite, but we also had to do some leveling on the other side of the wall as well in the living/dining room area.  We ran into some really goofy things there.  There was a section of floor where the joists were short and stopped along a piece that was at a 45 degree angle, and opposite from that there was a pad of concrete in the floor that was set at the exact opposite 45 degree angle.  We have been baffled by this and would love it if any of you know anyone that may have old pictures of the way this room was originally set up.  We are assuming that since the chimney was along the east side that the concrete in the floor may have been supporting a hearth to a fireplace or something.

Above you can see the concrete pad just in front of where Derek is kneeling.

One other really great thing that Derek has been able to accomplish is chipping away all the plaster that was over the brick that surrounds the pantry.  We were hoping that this would be doable because we really love the brick and are sad that we are firring in so much of it for insulation. I look at this wall and I want to cry. It’s so beautiful! I already know exactly what will be hanging on the walls in this area.  It will be the first thing you see coming into the dining room.  The more this comes together the closer I get to knowing exactly what it’s going to look like in the end. It gets more exciting every single day.

It was so nice to have the bay wall and windows up because we were working in looming darkness for so long. We are so very proud of this project and how well it is coming along and we are keeping our eyes, fingers, toes, arms and legs crossed that it will continue to move along in the same fashion.  We set a goal of moving in next summer, and hope to meet that goal.  We aren’t expecting the house to be completely finished by then, just move-in-able.