Category Archives: Renovation

Renovation projects around the house

Hardwood Floor, Part 1

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Got most of the flooring installed this weekend.  It’s really nice.  It’s a lot better than living on particle board subfloor stained with the remains of squashed ants, dog pee and whatever else spilled on it in the past.

The install went well.  I’m in good physical shape but after three solid days of crouching, kneeling, installing, hammering, sawing, lifting and pressing, I am beat.  Everything hurts.  And it’s not done yet but I won’t get to the rest of it until this weekend.

We put a good vapor barrier down underneath the flooring to help with the expansion and humidity.  The pneumatic nailer was an expensive rental but well worth it as it saved so much time.  I’ve installed flooring by hand, just small jobs, and it’s completely do-able but it takes a lot longer.  This is 500 square feet of floor and I’d hate to have to pin every plank into place with a hammer and tenpenny nails.  Ugh.

Those logs in the corner made for some interesting cuts.  I’d like to take this time to thank Festool for making such nice precision tools to get jobs like this done.  Couldn’t have gotten the job done without them.

I initially wanted to put a solid band around the tile at the entry and at the back patio but the planks didn’t come in very long lengths.  I think 32″ was the longest one.  So they split up a bit around the perimeter of the tile.  Still, I’m happy with the way it turned out.  The color is fantastic; though again, like the tile, it makes the wood paneling look even crappier in contrast.

Inky was completely and thoroughly terrified throughout the entire experience.  Spent most of the time under the bed.  She did NOT like the pneumatic (traumatic?) nailer at all and could not be consoled when I was hammering away with it.

In the end, it’s one of those things that makes our house look like a home.  We’re very happy with it.  I have just a bit of finish work to do in the living room, need to finish the bedroom and put a bit of flooring in the closet, and install some trim pieces.  The trim will come much later, as I want to wait for the garage to be finished entirely and have all my tools available to custom make it.

It’s getting there.  It’s finally starting to feel like a place where people live.

Tile installed

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Got the last piece of tile set tonight.  I think it looks completely awesome.  Very happy with it.  And the pieces haven’t popped off the walls just yet so it’s possible they might stay on a while.

The install went as well as it could have.  Most older homes don’t really have any 90 degree corners, and when you put down square tiles the gaps and uneven surfaces just become more noticeable.  The floor here cups a bit and the walls aren’t exactly straight but with enough shims and mortar I got it to work out.

Still need to do the grout, but that’s the easy part.

The tile layout went through a few iterations from the initial plan.  The idea was to create a hearth for the wood burning stove (which goes right in the corner) and a place to take your boots off after coming in the back doors.  The one thing we had to consider was furniture placement, as it’s going to limit our options of where to put things when we have some tiled areas and some hardwood floor.

Speaking of hardwood floor, it’s in and it’s on the mainland and it’s just waiting for me to run out there and pick it up.  Maybe this week I’ll get a chance to do that.

As usual, throughout this project, cats were no help.

 

Busy Weekend

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We were awoken at 8 am Saturday to a sharp tapping, as if some madman un-gently rapping, rapping at our front door.  ‘Tis some madman, we believed, and nothing more.

Thinking perhaps it was the sheriff, or some neighbor’s morning mischief, rapping at our dilapidated front door.  ‘Twas some neighbor and nothing more.

But our locale is so rural that we though it was inconceivable that a person would rap so for no reason at all.  Whoever came out here to knock on our front door, came with a purpose.

So we answered with bathrobes flowing and discovered it was no madman but instead a deliveryman who possessed our prized clothes dryer, the undamaged version to replace the damaged one that was delivered to us not six weeks ago.

Joy of joys, we unexpectedly received our undamaged dryer which now sits side by side with its matching washer.  Laundry ahoy!  The photograph beautifully captures the golden hue of the linoleum tile upon which it rests.  And if you look really close, you can see me in the reflection of the knob taking a picture of it all.

Beside that, it was a weekend of setting cement backerboard and measuring tile and stepping on carpenter ants.  Fun stuff.  We did get the tile set by the front door, at least.

Tile has arrived!

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The long wait is over and we have our tile, just in time for a nice weekend project.  129 square feet of fired porcelain squares, in 24 x 24s and 12 x 12s, just waiting to jump out of the box and get set into our floor.

Tile is going by the front entryway and by the wood stove. I like the color – in the pics it looks like the same thing as the subfloor but it’s really a lot nicer than that.  This shouldn’t take more than a weekend to knock out so hopefully I’ll have it done by September.  Never can tell around here, being on island time.

 

The Before and After Pics I’ve been Dying to Post

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What a sad lamp.  We can’t tell if that’s graffiti on the side or just what got scribbled on it at the last yard sale. At this stage of its life it’s more dust, cigarette residue and grease than it is lamp.  Brittle electrical cords dangle off the side.  Dead bugs carpet the interior.  The feeble light inside flickers on when asked, most of the time.

I thought about painting each of those little divots a different color, just to spruce it up a bit.  Maybe even paint it fire engine red or something.  Put spikes on the chain for that gothic look.  But I don’t know.  The thing dates back to the Nixon administration, when the wonders of electricity were probably new to this part of the island.

Well, the new lamp came in today.  It’s … adequate.  I mean, it’s nice.  I love the color.  Any color.  Please get some color in this house!  Lamps on chains aren’t my thing, but it gets the job done without me having to move the ceiling receptacle, so I’ll take it.  I’ve been looking forward to replacing that old crappy light fixture for weeks now.  And the new one’s neat looking, sort of.

The old one is being donated to The Exchange next time I go down there.  Either that or use it for Hammer Throw practice.  Pretty sure I could get it into the ocean if I throw it off my front deck.  If there’s enough interest I’ll start the annual Old Chain Lamp Hammer Throw Competition.  Judge for distance and accuracy.

Well, hopefully you can tell which one is the ‘before’ pic and which one is the ‘after’ pic.