In the Home Stretch

I had fabulous weather for my two weeks' of vacation – one small patch of cloudiness on one day – otherwise, sunny and warm for my entire two weeks off.  This made my week at the cabin a glorious one, and made the renovation project a little easier on my contractors.

When I took possession of the house nearly 4 years ago, this is what the living room looked like:

The only pictures I have of it at that time were the ones taken by the real estate agents for advertising purposes… that’s why they are so teeny tiny.

Anyhow, then in October of 2011 I had an orgy of wallpaper removal and it ended up looking like this.

Next up was changing up the paint – HAD to get rid of that harvest gold – I went to white ceilings and pale creamy yellow on the walls – WAY brighter.

Then came the carpet removal. 

So until 3 weeks ago, it looked like this:

Wait... I should clarify that these last pictures were taken after all of the stuff had been moved out of the space!

The whole project was prompted by the need to replace the old windows (4 long panes, none of them open) with something that opens.  Sadly, previous changes to the house’s structure weakened the long wall to the point where it was bowing out because of the weight of the roof. I guess initially there was a supporting wall in the middle of the room – and in order to make it into a larger space, they just pulled out the wall – but didn’t make any remedial changes to the roof-line support – and long term this weakened the integrity of the wall. Scary stuff!

I had two choices – one was a Band-Aid solution where a small supporting wall would be put in place and the new window would just be put in. The long term solution was to gut the space and basically rebuild it from the walls out. I elected to go with the long term solution – I wanted to go back up to the original 10’ high ceilings anyhow, this just moved my timeline ahead – A LOT.

I left on Sunday of my first week of vacation and while I was gone, the team from Got Gutters? (who started on my house almost 2 years ago with the first set of windows to be replaced) totally gutted the space. 

There weren’t any really nasty surprises, but a couple of unanticipated things that they came across.  An old fixture and some  “dead line” knob and tube wiring still in place – not a total surprise to me as when the bathroom was being done they uncovered some there as well. The other interesting (and kind of gross) thing they came across was coal dust.  Lots and lots and lots of coal dust. They tell me it was everywhere and really nasty. 

Makes me REALLY grateful that I don’t heat with coal!

Space gutted, they built in the new wall, muscled it into place and then ripped off the old wall – this picture was sent to me by my contractor’s wife on the Wednesday:

A couple of days later, wall built, wiring in place, window installed, insulation and vapour barrier in place, the dry wall team got started.  When I came home on Monday they were here doing sanding and then another coat of mud was applied:

The whole week saw the completion of things.  Sanding done, the contractor team came back and put all of the siding back on outside.  While that was happening, the other members of the team primer coated and painted the walls and ceiling – and I went with the colours I had before – white on the ceiling and a pale cream on the walls.  The windows were trimmed out, and then baseboards installed.

Though there was still some minor work to be done, when Saturday morning rolled around, the carpet was ready to be installed. For this part of the project I enlisted the services of End of the Roll here in Courtenay. The living room was completely carpeted on Saturday.  While he was installing the carpet, Jasmine and I were out working on things in the back yard – the siding needed to be pulled back out of the shed (the rest of the pantry siding was planned for installation on Sunday) and the grass needed to be cut – which was quite a go as I hadn’t mowed in 2 weeks! Once the grass has been cut, clean laundry went up on the line.

After the carpet installer was done for the day, I started moving things back into the living room, and then on Sunday, with LOADS of help from my parents, we moved the rest of the furniture out of the bedrooms so that he could finish the carpet installation.

While he was working on the bedroom carpeting installation, Dad and I finished installing the siding on the new wall which encloses my new pantry. 

All in all this was a VERY busy and productive couple of weeks – a lot has been accomplished in the house – enough to make me want to NOT do anything else to the house for a while – something that both Jasmine and Missy will be VERY grateful for!  Though Missy seems to be just rolling with the changes, Jasmine has been very out of sorts this past couple of weeks. Poor thing will be glad to get back into a routine!

This past week I spent a little time every evening after work moving things around, putting things away and wiping coal and drywall dust off of things.  I have the furniture mostly in place, I now have most of my pictures and hangings back on the walls.  Yes, there is still stuff to put out and organize, but I'm thrilled with the final results!

With love across the waters…

Vacation…. And some more Renovations!

Vacation officially started three days ago, but I’m a little slow off the mark getting this blog post out – when I tell you why, though, I am sure you will forgive the delay.

The last really significant time (I mean more than a long weekend) I had off work was in November of last year – which is really a little too long for me to go without a break.  I get crabby and tired and have a lot of trouble focussing on the task at hand – because all I can think about is how much I need a break and how much I want to do stuff for me, at home!

I’m not terribly different from anyone else in this, I’m sure.

Anyhow, this particular vacation will be a dilly for me! I have two weeks off now - a week and a bit at the cabin (where I am right now) and then a little less than a week at home. Typically I try to work it so that I am at the cabin for the beginning of my time off so that I can catch the cat well in time to get home - and so that if I don’t catch her right away, I can come back in order to secure her and get her home before I have to go back to work!  This strategy was put into place a couple of decades ago, and due to experience!

Anyhow, this vacation has all the earmarks of being a great one.  My planned week (and a bit) at the cabin is promising glorious weather (for which I am grateful) and while I am here, relaxing and taking my ease, my living room is being gutted.

Ok – so to back things up – the windows project was left ever so slightly unfinished because the long wall, where the biggest of the windows was being replaced, was starting to bow out.  Yes, the wall wasn’t strong enough and the weight of the roof was bowing it out.  Instead of just putting the window into a wall that would eventually bow enough to crack it (and lets not discuss the safety issue of the weight of the roof on a wall that was starting to bow) I opted to put a hold on the final window until the wall could be dealt with.

I got quotes for two options: First, reinforce what is there; Second, gut the whole space (right out to the original 10-foot-high ceiling), build a wall inside the outside wall (which means some more wall plugs AND insulation!) and have the space all re-finished. Though the second was three times the first, that’s the one I went with – because it is a long term solution, and one that will take a few things off of my goals list.

Since I was having the room gutted and completely changed, I also elected to just have the carpeting done – better to have ALL of it done in one go - so when I get home, though it won’t be fully complete, by the time this vacation is over, my house will be looking almost brand new on the inside!

The prep work for this project meant getting everything (and I mean EVERYTHING) out of my living room. To help me with that, my parents gave up a day and came up to help me. In addition to the movement of furniture, though, they also helped me to fulfill another dream for the house – the beginning of the pantry project! Yes! The doorway has now been completely filled in, insulated, and vapour-barriered!

Work area

First a base was nailed into place
Then we framed up the door filler
THEN we used a sledge hammer to install it!
Dad nailing it into place

Plywood on, Tar paper going up!

Look at that - insulation and everything!

Done for now - the rest of the siding will
Go up in a couple of weeks

We actually completed that part first and then filled the new little room to the gunnels with stuff from the living room.

BOOM - vacation bomb has exploded!

Living room nearly empty. Jasmine is unhappy.

Last before pictures!

On the way out the door!

So while I am here, my house will be filled with noise, dust and production… and HOPEFULLY when I get home, I’ll be arriving to painting (and only painting – God, I sure hope the drywall sanding is done by then!!!) In any case, I’m finishing out my first 24 hours of the year at the cabin.  I had a great day today with some of my family (I got play time and cuddles with my niece and nephew) and I have my first sunburn of the year. 

With love across the waters…

Fencing - And Not With A Sword

You may recall that back in November I had an issue with a bear. The bear pulled down a section of my fence, pulled out a wall in my wonderful compost bin and had a munch on some apple leavings from when I made and canned my applesauce in the fall.

 

THIS year I will not make that mistake.  THIS year I will dig the apple leavings directly into whatever vegetable bed I am working on in order to augment the soil directly AND avoid any bear invasions to my yard.

 

This weekend saw the initial stages of the New Back Fence project get off the ground.  Or into it, if you like. 

 

On Friday my Mum & Dad and their dog Querida, and my Brother and Nephew came for a part of the day to visit and help get the old fence torn down and taken apart, dig fence-post holes and brace up the posts to hold in place until I can get concrete into the holes and also to put up a temporary fence to keep Miss Jasmine contained in my back yard while all of this is ongoing. Because it was a Friday, my Sister in Law was working and unable to come (I asked her to skip school but she has a good work ethic and went to work instead of coming to goof off with us up here) but I am hopeful that on the next fence project day she can come too.

 

While Mum and I distracted Finn (my gorgeous Nephew) Dad and Rob went to town on the old fence.  The pulled it down, pulled out the old post that the gate was hung on, dug deep holes, braced and placed the new fence posts (in readiness for concrete insertion - which one of my neighbours is going to help me out with) and then erected a new temporary fence to keep Jasmine in the yard.

 

Here's the state of the union before:

Before the bear pulled it down

After the bear pulled it over and
I propped it back up

Fence post in the corner - yes, it really IS
not touching the ground!

The fun part of Friday for me was actually playing with Finn and my Mum in puddles.  Mum & I walked Finn around to the Number 6 Mine Park in Cumberland where they have some great toddler-friendly activity thingies like slides and wheels to spin around on posts.  The skies opened up and POURED on us while we walked over so we took temporary refuge on the platform and waited for the rain to ease off a little.  We checked out the fun stuff and then on the way back we sploshed Finn in puddles.  Mum and I each held onto one of his hands and played "one, two, three - WHEE" with him - whee being the part of the game where we swung him up in the air and he landed both feet into the puddle. Finn had a ball with this and made some great splashes as Cumberland has some rather significant potholes. Needless to say, Finn`s clothing all came off when we got back to my house and it all went into the drier!

 

The bulk of the work dealt with, after lunch all that was left to do was to take apart the old fence sections.  Rob, Mum & Finn headed back down to Nanaimo, and Dad an I made short work of taking it all apart and pulling out all of the old nails. I will not be able to salvage any of the old fence for use in the new fence - the boards are pretty rotted and worn away - but I WILL be able to recycle the old fence boards into my compost bin.  I`m going to be moving it (yes, again) and I have decided that I will be going back to a single bin as, except for Autumn (when the leaves make a great addition) one bin is typically enough for my needs.

 

I`m going to move it back across the yard to where it was in the first place - between the lilac tree and the shed - it will be less visible in the old (new) spot and with the help of the fence boards I am going to be able to incorporate, it should be sturdy and unlikely to leak compost guts out the sides.

 

Compost bin - current location.

 

New (old) compost bin location

 

Here`s a final shot of what the yard looks like at the end of today`s fencing activities.  I can only hope that no hooligans come around and push the posts over before the concrete gets poured!



Temporary fence in place
New fence posts in and waiting for concrete!

With love across the waters,

 

Last Few Hours…

Well, as all great weeks off must do, mine is coming to an end.  It’s 5:00 PM on my last day off before returning to work and I’m just doing a little puttering and thinking.  In looking over the past week I had some great successes and some items not done.

First of all, I have to tell you that I had glorious weather for my week off – GLORIOUS!

A couple of days before it started I wrote out a list:

• Wednesday night – hang screen door
• Thursday night – have drywall done
• Friday night – relax
• Saturday night – primer
• Sunday – paint & have friends over for dinner
• Monday – Nephew and Grandma day
• Tuesday – Lay insulation in attic
• Wednesday – pull carpet & underlay
• Thursday – have friends from work over for coffee, have a load of stuff taken off to the dump
• Friday – Mum, Dad & Grandpa up for lunch & then do some gardening & yard work
• Saturday, Sunday and Monday – relax & go to the cabin for a few hours in there somewhere.

Lists are funny things.  They give me a guideline of what I want to accomplish, but remember the old adage of “man makes plans & God laughs”? Yup – that was what actually happened.

What I didn’t count on was having a HELLISH 5 days of back and neck pain accompanied by the most horrific of headaches – starting on Wednesday.  That took me out until roughly Tuesday.  It also changed how I got things done, but all in all, I managed most of it.  What didn’t get done was the insulation and having some friends over for dinner last Sunday… everything else eventually got done, just not as I had initially planned it. There were also a couple of unplanned additions – namely having to have Giant Hogweed removed.

Sunday, my first official day of vacation, started out sunny and bright, with me and Jasmine in the back yard enjoying a late and lazy breakfast and coffee. My neighbours were out as well and just in passing, the wife of the couple mentioned that I would want to get rid of what at a glance looked to be cow parsley.

I was game (if still a little sore and headachy) and thought that I would tackle it after breakfast.  My usual modus operandi is to just jump in and do things, but this time I thought it might be smart to see if I could compost all of that lovely green material or, like walnut husks, would it be poisonous to my compost… and so in after the computer I went.

A little bit of research later I found out that it WASN’T cow parsley – though it looked quite a bit like it.  It was actually something called Giant Hogweed (the Latin name is Heracleum mantegazzianum) which in pictures looks like HUMUNGOUS Queen Anne’s Lace, but in reality is considered to be a pernicious invasive plant, not native to North America and extremely dangerous to humans.  The sap is toxic and sensitizes the skin to ultraviolet radiation - causing third degree burns that come back over and over again, any time you get sunshine on it. If the sap gets into the eyes it can cause blindness - PLEASE take some time to review the information here on the Coastal Invasive Plant Committee website and here on the BC Ministry of Agriculture website.

After reading the information, I decided I needed help to get rid of this – for starters, I do not have a hazmat suit, completely rubberized gloves or, quite frankly, the bravery needed to attack this stuff – did you SEE the pictures???  It took me a couple of days to connect with the right people, but on Wednesday I managed to get in touch with the right person who sent out a crew to inspect the infestation & if within what they could do in one afternoon, remove it for me.

Tuesday was the day that I tackled the removal of the carpet and underlay - I did find a couple of surprises in the flooring, but nothing that can’t be dealt with eventually.

Starting the job & uncovering the painted wood floors

Surprise #1 - it isn't ALL painted!

Nice tight grain on most of the planks! This a a GOOD thing!

Surprise #2 - particle board AND tack strips to pull out!

Another pile of stuff to be removed to the dump...

Wednesday I puttered around and dealt with the rest of the flooring surprises issues, was the day the crew came to remove the Giant Hogweed AND the day that my extraordinary contractors came in to sand down and apply mud coat number 2 to the drywall.

Thursday did actually go according to plan – friends over for coffee in the morning and then the young fellows who have the haulage business came over and took away the carpet and underlay.

On Friday my parents came up for a visit and brought my Grandpa with them – his first visit to the house… it wasn’t quite as put together as I had hoped it would be by that point, but they were pleased to see all of my progress so far.

Saturday, eschewing responsibility and all of the unfinished tasks, I loaded Jasmine into the car and we ran away to the cabin for a few hours. It was great – warm sunny day, not too much wind, excellent visit with Rob, Carrie & Finn and traffic was relatively cooperative.

That evening, Kel and Roger (my contractors) came by to do the final sanding for me on the drywall. 

Wall completed, coats of primer done.

Yesterday I put on a couple of layers of primer and then painted the wall. I screwed up a little – I put tape on top of not 100% dry paint and when I pulled off the tape it pulled off the paint as well.  Oh well!

All done, furniture back in place - SO much brighter!

Pictures and masks back up

SO much nicer!

Today has been a do very little day.  I did some laundry, re-hung pictures in the living room, re-arranged the furniture, washed more drywall dust off of, well, everything, baked a cake and generally relaxed.

Tomorrow (sob) is back to work…

With love across the waters,