All around the grounds.

Now that the weather is nicer my free time has become all about cleaning up the grounds in anticipation for this summers festivities. After all that time indoors it sure feels nice to get some fresh air and sunshine. A few weeks back Reyna and I decided to plant a garden. We had the space so we figured we would give it a try. This is the first garden for both of us so we are pretty excited. We brought in some good soil, got some really nice plants, and went to work. I can't take too much credit though I am just the muscle. Reyna has really been the one tending to the garden. I can't wait for some good fresh homegrown organic veggies.



I also started collecting cobble stones from around the property. My grandfather had a thing for them. Many years ago he would bring a few home every day from work. I found quite a few buried throughout the yard and decided to put them to use. They make for a very nice border.



After we took the two trees down in front of the carriage house we were left with a bare spot which had never seen much sun. Reyna decided to do a little landscaping that is really starting to take shape and fill in nicely and I decided to plant some grass which is struggling. We also decided to buy a grill for my birthday and cleaned up the patio so we could enjoy it. AHHHH what suburbanites we are becoming or is it that we are just getting older.



My Dad brought in his portable saw mill so we could saw up some of the trees we took down. I must say it is a pretty awesome machine.



We made some nice lumber from the logs. We had a few small logs of Maple, Walnut and



a nice big piece of Fir. It's a little knotty but I got some nice thick slabs which should make some great furniture when the wood is dry in a year or so.



While cleaning out the brush around the house I decided to take out a stone planter box that was against the house. I think that it was contributing to some water problems in the basement. Behind the planter I discovered the original kitchen drain. It was a pretty cool discovery.



The gas company came and installed the new meter so we were able to fill the hole back in. One down one to go. Next week we should have the other hole filled back in as well.



Last week we decided while we were doing all this work we should probably insulate the walls. The walls are 20" thick stone walls with very little R-value and absolutely no insulation. Only one room in the house was furred out, lathed and plastered. In order to do it right we decided to tear it out. All the other walls in the house are plaster directly on the stone. We are going to eventually frame all the walls and add insulation. I am in the process of trying to figure the best type of insulation to use.

This room is going to be a living room and kitchen for what will be our apartment once it is finished. We will be staying here until we finish the renovations of the rest of the house. After that we plan to rent it.



I believe this was the original pantry area partly due to it's close proximity to the fireplace. You can see scars in the wall from what look to be shelving and cabinets. We are essentially putting the kitchen back into it original location.



I pulled down the mantle over the fireplace and exposed the original beam. You can see the hand tool marks, it is massive and really beautiful. We have been talking about leaving the beam exposed and possibly exposing the stone wall around it. We shall see.



Next to go is the ceiling, we need to run electric and duct work throughout. Cutting the old plaster without damage is no easy task. I think it will be easier to tear it all out then try to patch the old plaster. Plus it will look better. Till then I leave you with this.

My new ipod wearing technique.

Back to my old ways.

Alright I missed last week so much for getting on a consistent schedule. I am trying to be a little better about keeping up so I am writing in real time. It has been helping me keep faith and not get overwhelmed with the project. Some days I feel like we are not getting anything done, but when I look back I see how much we really have done.

Last week we moved on to finish the framing of the laundry area.



Roughed in the plumbing for the bathroom.



Set the bathtub and start hanging the backerboard.



We decided to use PEX instead of copper. Partly because of the increasing cost of copper and the how labor intensive it is to install. PEX costs a little bit cheaper but can be installed in about 1/3 of time. It took us about a day to finish the rough in which was a whole lot faster then it would have taken if we had done it in copper.

All of the feeds are home runs which originate from a manifold in the basement. Each feed has it's own shut off which makes it much easier to make repairs to or replace an individual fixture if needed in the future.



That was the fun we had last week which leads us up to this week. We moved on to setting up for moving our electrical service below ground and adding an additional gas service to the apartment. We started by calling and having the utility lines marked to make sure our final locations were suitable. We then dug 2 holes.



One for the electrical service.....



and one for the gas.



We had to drill holes in both locations to bring the new services into the basement. While we had these areas open we decided to re point the walls. They looked surprisingly good for being 200 years old.

Back on the inside we roughed in a new gas line for the apartment.



Which sure was a lot of work. Pipe fitting is not an easy job

So that brings us up to date on where we are with the house. There have been a few other things we have done around the property which I will share with you next time. Until then I leave you with this.

Another can of worms.

I had a nice break outside but it was time to get back to the real work at hand. It was time to frame out the bathroom in the apartment. We had some serious work ahead of us repairing the damage done during the previous remodel, probably during the 30's or 40's. The floor joist had been hacked away, in order to accommodate the plumbing, and wet bed for the tile. The joist were scabbed back together and somehow survived all this time.



We sistered new joist along side the old to strengthen them up.



We put down a new plywood subfloor.



Then we framed out the new bathroom.



We then decided to move downstairs and address the floor below the bathroom. There did not seem to be much support in the corner and this worried me. This was to become the laundry room and it needed to support the washer and dryer. I felt we should pull up the floor and see just what was below. It took a bit of convincing but my Dad finally agreed.



It was a lot worse than either one of us expected.



There was no support in the corner. The floor joist were rotten and the first 3 feet of the beam was pretty much gone. The original beam (basically an entire tree) was just a shell. Fortunately this beam was not structural and any load it originally carried had already been supported.



This is a picture of the inside of the original 300 year old beam . It is about 14" x 14" x 20' long and is completely hollow. It looks as if it had been eaten by termites many many years ago. Surprisingly though it still has some strength to it.

We cut back some of the rotten stuff, did some cement work and framed the floor with some new lumber.

Next week we need to put down a subfloor, frame out the laundry room, and start doing the plumbing. Fun Fun Fun!!!! Until then I leave you with this picture. They were scars left in the wall from the old cast iron stack, I though they looked pretty cool.