Holiday Break.....Master Bath work----

Thank goodness for breaks. Not only do they give you time to get around to see everyone that you need to see, but they give you a little bit of time to get bruises, bumps, cuts and dirtier jeans than just any typical DIY evening.

I worked all day laying subflooring, framing out one wall, and laying the hardy board down for the floor. Not a bad day for a one man work crew.Tomorrow I will make a trip over to the glass place to make sure that I am doing everything right and not getting mixed communication.

The shower is 40inches wide by 7 feet long. I want to do glass up to say about 7 feet from a 6"high basin. I don't plan on putting a door on the thing because the entrance is 5 feet away from the shower head. And the doors in enclosed showers is the most expensive part.....

The mess we make.

It is the part of the DIY show that they never let you see. The piles of debris that litter what was once a clean space. It's the countless trips to the dump, the rows of trash cans full of old drywall and insulation. What are they afraid of? That people will get a real view of what it is like? I sort of like making the piles and watching them change. From start to finish, the content of the piles have character and show the progress.

Today I finished up my subfloor project. Wouldn't you know that the floor joists change direction 1/2 way across the floor. I am going to have to do some work where we will be putting the drain line for the new 3" shower drain, but it shouldn't be that bad. The plumber came over today to see what the job is going to be like. It looks like we should have the rough in done next saturday!

I was able to stop by re-use on the way home and score a door for the new closet. It is a little different than the one that is original, but for 20 bucks I wasn't really going to complain too much. I had to trim it down to make it fit, but all and all, not a bad door. I hope to get the walls for the closets framed tomorrow if at all possible. Well that will be after my morning run to the dump. You know you might go to the dump when they recognize you and begin to help you unload because you are a regular.

Materials used to build this house.

It's always fun to work on old houses, it's never "the usual" renovation. There just always seems to be something waiting under or behind what you are working on that will suprise you. 10% good, 90% are like "what in the bleepity bleep were they thinking back in 19#$ when they built this place?"

For instance the drywall that was used in my house came in 2ft by 3ft sheets. It either came like that or the person had a really small car and had to cut the 4x8 sheets down to a better size for his VW or whatever small car existed in 1940 when this house was built. (Yes, I know that the bug was not out in 1940 but you get my point right?)

Nails. I know that there is a current crunch out there in the world in regards to metals available for building materials. Steel is at a premium. I think that I might be able to solve the crunch here in the Raleigh market if I were to start a smelter in my back yard under that gigantic oak. The nails that were used for this place are more like tent stakes used to hold down a circus tent. We ran into them first while working on the kitchen. The second nail we didn't come across while working in the kitchen, square nails. These bad boys were used for the tongue and groove flooring that was under the old school lenoleum. What fun these are.

So tomorrow I will either finish with ripping up the subfloor or I will be starting a new blog that details my new homemade smelting operation that will solve the local steel crunch.

Extreme Home Makeover visits Raleigh NC Part II

Sandy and I just made our final trip down to the EHMH and it is pretty amazing. While they were still carrying furniture and you can hear the sounds of saws and hammers in the workzone, it was ready to go. Here are a couple of pictures, left from wednesday night, right from monday night.

Help! DIY'ers...You make the call!

And even if you are just an armchair, laptop DIY'er who doesn't know squat about hammers, nails, screws, caulk, dust, dirt, or the pains of 1940's remodels, you might still be able to help.

The old kitchenette that we are turning into a master bathroom has old old old beadboard. The issue is that it runs horizontal...not vertically. Our first thought was to take it all down, cut it, spin it and nail it back up. Our thought now is to leave it up half of it, from the floor 1/2 up the wall, and then do new drywall and chair-rail in the rest of the room.

1. Do we take it all down and do all of that work?

2. Leave 1/2 and move on?

3. Do the entire room in new drywall?

Here is the room in question. Please leave comments

Extreme Home Makeover visits Raleigh NC

Pretty neat story. Last Thursday it all broke out among town. A couple that works very hard for the community and one of the local churches (1 of 5000 or so in this town) here in Raleigh NC had been selected for a makeover. When we visited on Saturday night they were still leveling the dirt. Tonight, Monday, they were painting, roofing, adding stone....just amazing stuff.

It really is a neat show, and even more amazing that it is a full-tilt, real construction area with hundreds of people all over working to get it done. I wasn't really excited about all of the waste that be thrown-out that was perfectly usable, but it's not my jobsite. I will try to post a finished product photo sometime next week after they move that bus!

good ideas, new camera, and a good dust mask

Good Ideas- second floor remodel+driveway right below+ chunks of old drywall+ blue tarp from harbor freight (yeah Bill I said Harbor Freakin Freight) = see below

We were able to make 2 trips to the dump with one more coming early in the AM. I really can't believe that the Raleigh area dump doesn't cost me anything to visit. In Seattle it was a minimum of $12 per visit. I like not paying, but I know that it isn't the best for the community resources.

Today I was able to rip out some more drywall, insulation, and put together a plan for what we are going to do with all of our kayaking /backpacking/camping gear. The sollution was found in some space hidden behind some 1940's construction. After taking out some drywall and insulation, it should work out great.

We have recently upgrade our digital camera. I really love this thing. I have a long way to go before I am shooting like a pro, but it really is nice to end the work day with some artsy fartsy photos. This old house had BX cable all through out. That stuff reminds me of spiderman or some super hero. (link http://www.flickr.com/photos/43737467@N00/ ) I am still trying to get Flickr to work on beta blogger.

I love DEMOLITION!

There is just something about demolition. Maybe it is the fear of what you are about to do really can't be undone without some investment of time and material. Maybe it is the curiosity side of me that wants to see how this house was constructed. But then again maybe it is just the fact that I love to use powertools and that I really like to destroy things. It's really all three, but the destruction that is associated with discovery is most enjoyable.

Today Sandy and I started on the demolition part of the remodel. One wall was in the way and it lasted all of about 10 minutes. The majority of today's time was spent trying to salvage old bead-board that covers the old kitchenette from floor to light fixture. We decided that we will leave the original bead board 1/2 up the wall, with some new drywall coming for the rest of the room.