Shop update

This weekend Jim made major progress in his shop. A few cheap and cheerful cabinets from Home depot, some simple very solid built work tables, a tool box, some waterproof caulking, and some heavy weight casters changed the space from a nasty garage to a nice bright well equipped shop. More stuff to be built and more storage to be created but we are getting there now.Yeah JImbo!

Time for an end of summer update…….. and what a summer it's been

Greeting friends, cult members, nosey neighbors,and people from around the world, It's been appropriately 69 days since my last confession…the heavy humidity, major structural setbacks, general leakages, and a lack of motivation, has caused us to behave poorly,question our judgement, wallow in occasional self pity, and then have a few more cocktails.But now I am ready to accept my penance and move forwards. The update: Instead of crossing tasks off the list this summer, we have had to add quite a few new and expensive ones: On Memorial Day morning we awoke to a droopy soggy ceiling in the kitchen (which is right below the upstairs bathroom) full of water and dripping.Jim(after the cursing stopped) tore down the ceiling which was an incredible mess due to the fact that if nothing else, this house is incredibly solid and all walls are built with old school sheetrock and thick as hell. It was easy to see where the water was leaking(everywhere) but not the start of the problem. We are good at many things but plumbing is not on our list.So with much hesitation as to what kind of "holiday overtime" we would be paying, we called a professional. We found a guy, ready to come over, no extra fees, through this site called Home Advisor or something like that. He did an inspection and found a number of leaks in the old copper piping. The last owner moved downstairs to avoid the stairs and the upstairs bathroom had not been used in a while so when we started using it on a regular basis all hell broke loose. Every time the plumber fixed one spot, another one opened up but he stuck with it for almost 3 hours(and he stuck to his binding estimate).So then we let it dry for a few weeks. Finally we were ready to close the ceiling back up… but wait is that water drops on the floor? Seems in addition to the pluming issues there was water leaking from behind the tub or under the tiles. After much testing and water droplet observations, we concluded the caulking and grout in the bathroom needed to be replaced. So we watched a few move youtube videos, and started scraping and scratching out the old grout, cutting out and dried up silicon caulk, then replacing it. Not really that bad of a job and the master (James) did a perfect job. I was just the sponger. After another few weeks of drying we sealed up the giant hole with new sheetrock, tape, Spackle and paint and both the bathroom and kitchen ceiling are better then new. But wait the plot thickens because on the very same day we discovered the kitchen ceiling problem we also found the front wall behind the dinning room entrance underneath the dormer was also soaked soft and crumbly and there was evidence that this had been an ongoing situation. This was not noted in our house inspection, and we ignored it because we thought it was evidence of something that had been dealt with.As I write that, I just feel stupid. Anyway, we decided to handle one disaster at a time so just last week we got to dealing with the leak. Jim started by tracing the leak to under the dog house dormer which is in my studio, so he cut two holes in my walls and we looked inside.The next morning it was pouring outside and when I shined my flashlight into the eaves, I could see the water dripping in, in two places.We started talking about how we could fix it ourselves, but soon realized we needed to talk to some professionals to learn more about the situation. First roofer arrived with a book of shingle samples, and a full presentation for our new state of the art roof. That put me off just a tad. Second guy was $3,000 cheaper and had done the roof the first time. He gave us different options- fix the leaky dormer, put a new roof on top of the old, remove old roof and do the whole thing.I also called the old handyman the last owner used to use. He came right over and told us he had told the woman for years she needed a new roof.He also told us that old leak only happens when the gutters are clogged. No one knew how old the roof was during the buying process, but he knew.Eighteen years on a fifteen year shingle roof. So Jim bought a very long ladder,and on a 94 degree day with 89%humidity he tried to clean the gutters on the front of the house but the damn huge overgrown pine needle hedges were in the way. So then and there we just cut down all the shrubs in the front. Now we have a blank slate to create a beautiful garden with lilacs, forsythia, and other wonderful stuff. The ladder was easy to safely place, and we have clean gutters.Last roofer was the most reasonable, and Bernice thought he was soooooo handsome, we decided to do half the house, the older part for now and next year do the other half. That should happen this week. Then we can replace the damaged drywall in the dinning room and start painting and putting up shelves. One of my favorite projects, and something I was really looking forward to, was planting my new vegetable and herb garden. The idea that I no longer needed to create raised beds because my soil was so rich and beautiful was thrilling to me and I planted with reckless abandon. I knew I had rabbits and squirrels in the yard that I would need to keep out so put up some posts and attached strong nylon netting all around. I had no idea how vicious and aggressive nature could be and at this point I have lost the battle.There are no tomatoes left on the plants. Herbs have lacy leaves(not in a good way). And for some unknown reason I have giant radish plants with no actual radishes,beet greens and carrot tops with nothing under ground and pac choy and arugula that bolted way too soon. Successful crops- shiso, tall and healthy lemon grass,mint like crazy, and a nice assortment of edible flowers- Nasturciums, and sweet pea. Next year I think I will go back to raised beds because I can put a layer of chicken wire underneath and up the sides and then create a solid fencing system.If that doesn't work I'm thinking electric fencing. And the final update is about Jim's shop. We decided to turn the 2 car garage into a workshop.500 square feet of empty space with two support posts in the middle of the garage.How hard could that be? Here are a list of issues 1. The garage leaks everywhere.The back wall, the side walls, and the driveway is higher than the garage so the run off goes right inside. 2. Nothing is level or square. The process of assembling the table saw and side work tables and extensions and attempting to make everything level was a nightmare 3. The posts in the center make laying out the shop very tricky 3. Every time Jim goes out to work in the garage, he has to put down moving blankets to soak up the water 4. It's been hotter than hell 5. Did I mention the garage leaks? Today Jim bought some cheap cabinets at Home depot and finally got lots of his stuff unpacked and off the floor which is a good thing. Hopefully once it dries out we will address the leaks and see if we can seal some of them up. Happy shop, happy Jim So there you have it,not much progress,but dealing with some big issues.Next big project is our conversion to gas heat instead of oil. We are starting that in September which will also include tightening up the insulation and making the entire house more efficient.And we get a government insentive and a tax rebate From our original list of 100 projects written in March we have completed 43 of them, but as of today I have added 5 more major ones. Here are some photos in no particular order for you to enjoy and say to yourselves, "Sure am glad I don't have an old house."