The rat-a-tat-tat of the woodpecker

I was determined to be ready for him this time! The night before, I removed the screen from the upper window, filled up the power squirt gun and pumped its pressure up. He would not escape a good soaking!

When six am came around this morning, I was again awoken by a rat-a-tat-tat pounding upon the house. I stealthily moved to the window, took up the squirt fun, threw up the window sash and fired point blank at the red head. Being disoriented, and unsure where the stream of water was coming from, he started to fall. But he quickly recovered and flew up to the building next door.

I yelled, "This is my territory - you are not welcome!", as he was shaking his feathers free of water and looking very dejected. He sat there for a few minutes, wondering if he could get another shot at my siding. "Go all ready", I said, followed by a stream of water. He flew off to the Southwest and didn't look back. I later looked him up on the 'net and found that he was a Red-breasted Sapsucker woodpecker, native to the Pacific Northwest. Very territorial and enjoys excavating cavities in fir (which my siding is made up).

But he just reinforced what this summer's working will consist of - my 118 year old fir siding. I should be ready next weekend to start tearing down the architectural details and siding, milling and installing the replacements. I'll be doing just one section of the house at a time.

Anyone else have woodpecker versus house stories to tell?

No news is good news?

It has been a few weeks now since I've heard from the community college (after repeated messages), concerning incorporating my house’s restoration into their spring quarter curriculum. Their spring quarter starts around the first week in April, so there is time to iron out the details.

I wrote up and submitted a small list on what I'll be working on, anything from siding replacement, redesigning the porches, interior work such as trim, casements and moldings and flooring, to replacement of a large bathroom. More for my own benefit than theirs.

But we’ll see in the next few weeks where it goes. Maybe the offer was too good to be true…

An offer I can't refuse?

A local community college has approached me in considering my house for one of their student projects for this Spring quarter.

Last week I found a business card attached to the mail box from the director of the Wood Construction Center, a unit of the local community college. A brief phone call today delivered some details:

• My house is conveniently close to the center, making it opportune to run the class. (Last year they build an on-site house, eating up the rest of their space, which has yet to be moved.)
  
• I would be responsible for all materials, as well as possibly setting up credit at one of the home stores, for materials.
• A team of 6 students and 1 instructor would be on site, performing the work to desired specs.
• In the end, they would have another feather in their cap to show off, which will help bring in more students, funding and other such positives.
  
• And I would have a huge jump start on the house restoration.
  

But there are still a few unanswered question, such as liability (from accidents and such), the quality of work (since I plan on following the National Historic Preservation specs), to just name a few. They've asked me to submit a list of items I'd like for them to work on (basically an informal work order) and we'd meet at the house site to go over details with the director and involved instructors.

Any feed back from the House Restoration blogosphere would be greatly welcomed: any knowledge of similar projects and their eventual out come, to any other neglected concerns that should be highlighted?

The case of the missing screw jacks

I began setting up the scaffolding this weekend, assembling the first course of a three unit high sctructure, with two sections on each side of the house, and two in front on either side of the front stoop. I was originally just going to put up the two sides, but with all the excess frames I had, I thought I might as well encase the front of the house in a big C shape, adding to the stability of the overall structure.

The cross brases went in very easily, but I only had three base screw jacks. The last owner mentioned he only used three, but I suspect he wasn't using all the sets at the same time. And after looking at the first course, that was tilted this way and that, there is no way this will be stable at 20' with three courses. I'd need thirteen more jacks (as well as the need to cut some 12"x12" plywood base platforms) to complete the structure!

This morning I ordered thirteen for $12.50 a piece, from a company out of Grand Rapids , MI. They'll be here Thursday; a small delay but a large savings. (The local scaffolding place, Berg, wanted $30 each - Pirates!)

"May you live in interesting times." - Chinese Proverb

It’s been awhile since posting, due to some life changes: a loss of two jobs, a girlfriend and the first half of the summer spent. I was laid off from Universal Avionics, joined Microsoft for a month but quit after getting an offer at Honeywell.

I was determined to get a jump start on the out side projects, notably the exterior siding. So on Wednesday I went down to Berg Scaffolding on Alki Beach to get a quote. I needed 6 sets of 3' x 6' frames and a 20' aluminum plank, previously used, to which they wanted $2100. I was apprehensive about putting down so much for scaffolding.

But Craig's List came through once again. I was looking for scaffolding on the list for a few months, with little success until last night. Someone was selling 13, 3 ' x 6.5' frames, 17, 5 ' x 6.5' frames, 24 planks, braces and a handful of jacks for $750 (delivered); Much more than I really needed, but it was the whole lot or nothing. After talking with him, he said would drop to $400 if I can get it out of his yard that very night, with no delivery. I rented a truck and drove down to Dash Point. His place was on top of the hill just on the point, over looking the Sound and Vashon Island; a very expensive view.

He helped me load, spending an hour and a half loading, and another two hours unloading. These things are heavy and its best to pick them up on a balancing point.

I’m missing the 20’ plank, but I can get do without until I get to that section of the house, hoping for another Craig's breakthrough. I'll start assembly this weekend. Photos of the scaffolding below:

Starting the upstairs plumbing remodel

It is time to start on the upstairs bath remodeling. The first step will be the rough in plumbing.

All the fixtures have been removed, along with the entire flooring and subflooring. I would have liked to salvaged some of the old Fir hardwood flooring but it was in such a decayed state, that it wasn't worth the trouble. The previous owners, when they put down tile, failed to put down an adequate underlayment, that water soon leaked through to the old floor and damaged them.

I put together a rough drawing (below) on existing and future modifications, to help aid the plumbers on what would be required of them. But after receiving three quotes in the $4000 range, I desided to pick up a $20 plumbing book, a collection of plumber tools and emailed a friend in Minnesota who's a plumber. Are all plumbers this expensive, and for only 6 hours of work?

I figure I'll do most of the work myself, and if I get into trouble, I'll hire a plumber by the hour. The only tricky part will be the center drain, which won't have traditional venting...

Retaining Walls and Excavation

Demolition and excavation on the back retaining wall began this morning. It was leaning into the alley way about 15°, due to the heavy rains we had over the winter. It's a wall that I share with my neighbor, who is picked up the cost of her side of the wall and all the demolition on both sides. I'm unsure what I'll do with my side as of yet. I'd like to have the 5' retaining walls in my backyard repoured as well as a new two car slab, to replace the 1.5 car slab. (The old walls where once part of a garage, which was there some 30 odd years ago). But the cost is close to $9,000, for about 55' x 5' walls of concrete (from Emerald Concrete).

The guys who are doing the work today, gave me a bid of $3,000 (for only 3' section) on my side of the property. I seems a bit much, from the perspectice of the Emerald bid, so I'll pass.

Here are some action shots of today:

Fireplace Demo

The majority of yesterday's time was spend tearing down the 'entertainment' center above the fire place. With its modern look of a lightly colored hardwood facade, sliding glass display case and the bulbous shiny brass hardware, would stick out as an eye sore in a restored Victorian.

I have a few more hours to go before the entire structure is disassembled, but so far I've recovered over 200 brass screws and depleated one of my 16.8V batteries on my cordless drill, where it no longer holds a charge. I've been as careful as I can, trying not to damage too much of the drywall.

But one thing is puzzling: the past owner who built this center, used a thin, high gloss backerboard, glued directly only onto the bump out sections of the drywall where the CO2 stack is positioned, and no where else. But this will be the only section of drywall that will require replacement. But I would really like to just remove this CO2 stack all together, and vent it out though the side of the house (like some fireplaces do). Has anyone tried this?

Before









After

Another Damaged Shipment!

I can't believe it. The shipment containing my pole jack scaffolding (consisting of three items) was missing and damaged. One box was damaged with the top section of the box off, while another was completely missing, though the two long 24' poles made it here. I just rejected the whole shipment again. I'm two for two on shipping now. I wonder how businesses survive with this poor shipping records.

I'll be reordering the shipment from Amazon again and the siding will have to wait another month.

I'll begin the teardown of the fireplace this weekend then, saving as much of the unfinished oak material as I can for other projects. This will eventually be tiled in with a celtic mosaic pattern...

Happy Mayday!

This weekend and half of last week, when mostly towards celebrating Spring and visiting family and friends back in Minnesota. The Spring celebration comes in the form of the anual May Day Celebration, sponsored by the Heart of the Beast Theatre in South Minneapolis. I've been attending for the past 15 years, of its 34 year history.

The MayDay Ceremony in Powderhorn Park has become a joyous annual ritual for nearly 50,000 people in the Twin Cities. Each year, a 200-person pageant re-tells the story of that year's parade, with children and adult dancers, puppeteers, a live orchestra and four giant serene puppets who represent the Prairie, Sky, River, and Woods.

It culminates in the Tree of Life Ceremony: to the steady beating of drums, a resplendent red Sun Flotilla paddles the Sun from across the lake to the shore where the Tree of Life sleeps, waiting to be reawakened.

The weekend didn't go without some home renovation: I got my brother started on his own kitchen demo by helping to take down a few lath and plaster walls.

Scaffolding 101

Do you ever get that feeling that nothing appears to be happening, but checks are still being written, trips to the hardware become a regular pastime and frequent delivering are arriving in large boxes at odd times during the day? I believe I’m experiencing a small money pit phenomena, something on the scale of a micro black hole. Time, energy and money go in, but with no progress to show for it. But I suspect this will change when everything is in place and set up.

A common problem with house restoration is getting your hands to where the work is. Since I’m starting on the exterior siding this year, it will require a minimum elevation gain of about 25’, performing detailed wood working. The front porch protrudes from the house by 5’ and extends 20’ along the front axis, which would require a system to support a 20’ span. After researching numerous scaffolding systems, I found that very few of them do. They are (listed in order of price):

• Do it yourself (wood, wires, etc.) - This might work, but would require numerous brancings along the span
• Two ladders with plank holder - Wouldn't support the span, unless a mid-join ladder was used.
• Traditional Frame (3' x 6' x 4') - Depending upon the source, it might span, but would require heavy anchoring
• Pump Jack - Would support the span, providing one uses four braces
• Commercial Grade trusses and poles - Would support the spam, but at an exorbitant cost.

With traditional frame (used) was as expensive as the pump jack system, I decided on the later. There are quite a few makers to choose from, ranging from Alum-a-pole, Werner, Qual-Craft, Falcon, (the majority being interchangeable with each other) but I chose Qual-Craft. Not because it was better than the others, but because it was 47% off on Amazon (of all places to buy) with free shipping. I was notified this morning it just shipped. (The local Seattle merchants would only sell at MRP.)

My hope is after getting this scaffolding setup, order knives for the exterior crown molding and running over to Bainbridge for the 1" x 6" cedar stock, it will finally appear something is happening.













Footnote: The only reason I bought was due to the $180 a week rental fee, and with a price tag of $879.99, it was a no bainer. Though I see Amazon has now raised the price to $1179.99, only after two weeks. I think someone initially mispriced this item...

Photos!

There is a link to my pre-move in photos in the first post, but it hidden in a bunch of text and not easily found. So, I'll repost the link here:

Click here to see the pre-move in photos.

Boron The 5th element in the Periodic Table, was discovered by Joseph-Louis Gay-Lussac and Louis-Jaques Thénard, French chemists, and independently by Sir Humphry Davy, an English chemist, in 1808.

Among its many uses, the most common is of a low toxicity pesticide that penetrates and protect all types of wood, including plywood and composites, from infestations of wood boring insects such as termites, Powder post beetles, carpenter ants and decaying fungi. My specific problem is dry rot fungus, contained in some of the sub flooring and foundation sills in the basement.
After doing some research, I found the best solution was a topical application of a borate/Boron solution directly onto the infested wood itself. This method is used in many historical house restorations throughout the U.S. and outlined at the U.S. Dept of the Interior historical house restoration guides. This will kill off any current infestations and future ones for many years.

But the problem was finding a supplier. No one sells it anymore (if they ever did), from the huge box stores, down to the to the corner hardware stores. They either never heard of it, or didn’t know where to get it. I finally found a source at a company call Quality Borate, that sells a product called BoraSol™ WP (Na2B8O13). A molecule consisting of 8 boron and 13 oxygen atoms, has a high boron content, aong with all that oxygen, must be a good oxidizing agent as well.

They usually sell in large quantities (inquiring if I wanted just one ton or two), but graciously agreed to send me a sample of 25 pounds (see photo), which should adequately treat all the exposed wood in the basement. (This should finish off just one of a hundred different projects that need attention - and no, I don't feel overwelmed yet.)

Smoke and Fire!

A friend of mine had a fire at his place, after Air Comfort Solutions, an HVAC company incorrectly hooked up the electrical service. And now they are trying to get out of paying for what is due. My friend has put up a site, with photos here:

http://www.acfromhell.com/

Beware of Air Comfort Solutions and their contractors.

“First step in avoiding a trap, is knowing of its existence.” Frank Herbert, Dune, spoken by Master of Assassins (chief security officer) Thufir Hawat.

Mortgage Strategy

For those spring house hunters out there, let me give you some advice on dealing with mortgage brokers, and how not to fall into their traps they lay for the unwary.

It was last year, in the early spring, that I began searching for a house. I knew I had to get my financing setup first before serious looking. Marsha Stephens, my real estate agent, suggested Choice Lending as a mortgage broker. Marsha is a great agent by the way, going all out to get my house closed on time; telling me afterwards that this was her most difficult deal to date.

So, I got all my paperwork lined up, everything filled out, stamped and ready to go. I found my house; they accepted the final offer and the closing date. Then with the closing less than a month a way, feeling lucky, I faxed in my mortgage rate 30 day lock in form and ordered the appraisal.

Unbeknownced to Choice Lending, I was working with another broker and a large bank on the same deal, going through the same process, same paperwork. I got them to use the same appraisal ordered by Choice Lending as well, which saved a few dollars. Usually a lender requires their own appraisal order, but in this circumstance they accepted the one already completed.

You ask why? Time and again, I’ve head this identical horror story from prospective home buyers. Right at the last minute, within a week or less of closing, their locked in interest rate could not be honored, due to some deleterious mark on their credit report. This same credit report, usually ordered by your broker himself, had in his possession for months on end. This happened to my brother when he bought his house and it happened to two of my house buying friends. I wasn’t going to get trapped and sucked down into their little game.

And guess what, just five days before my closing date, wam! My locked in interest rate could not be honored, due to some deleterious mark the lender found, but would require a ¾ points increase. I wrote the lender an email thanking him for his time, saying I will no longer be requiring his services and will be closing with a competitor on time. He freaked, called back, saying how much work he put into it, and so on. I held firm and didn’t hear from him until the next day, saying there was some mistake, they pulled ‘different’ credit reports (aren’t there only three?) and they would honor the original rate, with no lender fee thrown in.

I took it. Why? Because its business and he still had the best offer. I had nothing against the guy trying to pull a fast one, trying to make a little more and getting caught trying it. The moral of the story is: the primary concern of a broker is making money. The customer will always come second, every time.

Heed my warning!

Primer

Last night I started priming the front entrance alcove and the stair hall way with Killz2 Latex Primer, tinted with a light green. It comes out of the can very thick, but goes on very light, always like a watercolor. But I'm thinking I put it on a bit too light, spreading it too thin. And then I forgot to use a 1/2" Nap to produce that ubiquitous clam-shell texture on the walls (atleased those platch places that where sanded smooth). I've only used 1/3rd of a gallon so far, while the can indicates it should cover 300 square feet. So, atleased another coat or two. And at $10 a gallon...

For the past two months, I've gone though close to two gallons of 'patch' spackle. Patching various dents, dings, gouges and other deformities throughout the house, preparing for the job of priming. The walls have been just sucking up the primer and leaving a very nice matted texture for better paint adhesion. I didn't bother washing the walls with TSP, since Killz2 will suck up any dirt that might exist on the walls. I've used wire mesh to patch about the power outlets and switches, which where cut a bit too large to the box.

I'll wait until I've starting hanging the crown moldings, side boards, box frames, window and door trim moldings before I put down a 100% acrylic resin paint. But atleased the grime from the pervious owners is gone...