WE’RE BACK! (yes I’m shouting)

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!