Reno Blogs
June 5, 2009
Greenwood Heights Backyard: Quickie Garden Update
While we are still working out the final planting plan with Diana at Fun City Design (mostly since Mrs. Tikihouse and I are still rethinking where certain "foundation" plantings should go). Diana has come up with some great ideas in her first draft of the planting plan (coming soon).
In the meantime, here's a down and dirty post of the growth of the garden as-is so far this spring.
Photo: Azaleas from late May. Still missing those pretty blooms!
May 10, 2009
South Slope Reno: Stair Rails
Other than the final plumbing inspection, which is still bedeviling us, the stair rails that we had installed here are the last piece of this renovation.
In between, we’ve laid on a few more coats of varnish to the stairs to the basement, as well as to the second floor.
Our GC could not find anyone to do these kinds of rails (he’s a bit old-school) so we ran into Rich and his dad at Luna Welding ( www.lunawelding.com ). Rich is more than a contractor, he’s also an artist working in metals, and his dad is a carpenter. Rich came over and we all discussed the myriad options in posts, rails, and materials (there is a ton of choices) so as always we decided to keep it as simple as possible. Polished steel hardware (sprayed with a sealant to prevent rust), stainless steel cable, and an oak handrail to match the stairs. The price was $6600.
Rich showed up with his crew in a few days and put in the posts, then came back a few days later and finished the job. He even took care of varnishing the railing for us. We’re happy with the results.
Finished product above and here:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358898
A couple of more first floor shots:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358913
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358899
And a couple of shots from the second floor:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358901
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358902
And some shots my wife took during the process:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358897
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358903
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358905
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358912
During this process we were able to get all our artwork up on the walls, so it’s really feeling like home. The AC guy came by to charge the unit for the first floor, just in time for those 90 degree days, and, we’ve got our library unpacked and put away. Since I haven’t had the luxury of having it all in one place for a number of years, we took advantage of CraigsList to grab a few Billy bookcases locally. Here are some shots of the completed basement library.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358907
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358908
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358909
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/112358910
(We can’t close the pipe chaise until the final plumbing inspection)
In a couple of weeks I’ll do a final post, detailing the screw-ups we made and things we should have done differently, and that will be it! Time to go back to reading.
May 5, 2009
Greenwood Heights Backyard: Veggie Garden Time!
Next step on our phase 2 backyard reno was to bring our tropicals outside for the spring/summer/fall and then get ready to plant our big veggie garden.
Prior to that we had a good discussion with our designer Diana, at Fun City Design, about meeting up to discuss the final planting plan and the reality of what we'd be able to do under the current economic squeeze. Also, we wanted her to see the space and how it had evolved since last fall. Our meeting will be in a later post.
So all the tropicals made it out, either in the "seating area" or out by the shed (for now). Adding more greenery made a huge difference in softening the space.
Before we could move forward with planting the veggie garden, we turned the soil once more (fourth time now?) and began to layout markers to dig for our garden blue stone path.
Diana's plan had the garden broken up into four quadrants, with a bird bath in the center.
Proposed original plan, Fall 2008
In order to maximize our planting area, we opted to try out three long rows, with stepping stones in between the rows. This would align our plantings north/south and allow us to experiment as to how much we can cram in (or not) into the garden to max out our output, i.e. live off our garden this summer!
April 13, 2009
Greenwood Heights Backyard: Paper, Dirt, Buckets...and Bamboo!
As a recap form the last post, after much clean up, we received a call from our "generous neighbors" that we would be able to have some young specimens from their grove (they were thinning it out) of the bamboo genus Phyllostachys. We were THRILLED.
The only catch is the delivery date was TBD and we needed a ton of topsoil to prep the bamboo planter box.
A quick call to J&L Landscaping (and then a "help" call to several friends) and we were scheduled for a delivery of their best top soil.
Larry at J&L had figured we would need approximately 3 1/2 yrds. of soil to fill the box, with a tad left over to spread around. At $65/yrd. (with delivery) we figured it was a good deal. In prep for the delivery, and bucket brigade through the house, we cleared away furniture and plants and laid down contractor paper (no need to scratch up the oak floors).
Photo: one HUGE pile of topsoil (tarped, of course)
Delivery was made bright and early and to our surprise, more like 4 1/2 to 5 yrds. were dumped! (though we only paid for the 3 1/2 yrds)
April 8, 2009
South Stuy Blog: Details Beneath The Surface
Who knew that if one were to glob on some Peel Away 7 and spend 7 or 8 hours picking and scraping THIS:
That you would find all of this detail:
This is probably the most gratifying and surprising discovery I have made in the house. I honestly had no idea that there was this sort of detail buried under all of the glop (I put the peel away on the plaster just to see if it would work).
April 6, 2009
South Slope Reno: The End is Nigh
On my last reno blog entry, bkny asked:
“Ok, so denton, this basement is a true basement as in a cellar? and not as in a ground floor/1st floor/garden level? i am guessing that by the looks of the small windows. Can you recap your floor plan/layout? i think it's great to have an extra bathroom in the basement/cellar? it could be a guest suite.”
Since we’re about done, let me re-cap. The house is a 16' x 66' semi-detached house, South Slope/GH. C of O as a two family although we are using as a one family. Two stories, plus basement which is probably 2/3 underground. Half of the basement we plan to use as a library, the other half is storage/laundry/boiler. We didn’t want to put a bathroom in the basement from the beginning, didn’t want the extra scrutiny. What the hell, we have a slop sink, right? But seriously we may put a toilet down there once the permit is closed out.
The second floor has the master bedroom, large walk-thru closet/dressing room, very large master bath, a office/computer room for me that also just happens to be the 2nd family kitchen right now, and another room that is my wife’s room/guest bedroom.
The first floor has a large living room, a small bathroom, the main kitchen, and a formal dining room, which opens onto the patio/garden.
We closed on the house at the end of 2007, and have been renovating ever since (a complete gut). We figured three months optimum, six months worst case, and here we are. All we have left is our own cosmetic work, and the stair railings. But much of that time was spent waiting for permits, drawings, and inspections. Probably six months of actual work.
However, to my great disgust, again, we have not passed the final plumbing inspection, which was gas pressure test, and finish. This particular inspector hates to leave without something. The gas pressure passed, and the finish passed. When the plumber showed up at the beginning, he pointed out that some of the gas unions did not meet code, and he replaced them all. But for some reason, one length of old gas pipe was not replaced. Even though it passed the pressure test, the inspector failed it because, don’t laugh, it was PAINTED. Not now, maybe twenty years ago. There was more rust than paint, but since it was connected to new pipe, the inspector stated that ALL the pipe had to be up to code. I happen to have a photo here, it’s the middle pipe.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022952
I certainly don’t have a problem seeing that pipe replaced, in fact it was silly and penny-pinching for the plumber not to have replaced it, since all the other plumbing was replaced.
The same inspector failed the boiler last time he was here, incorrectly. I should have been here to argue the point, but wasn’t. (Big mistake! Always attend the inspections, because the contractors seem more interested in being nice to the inspector for future jobs than standing up for their existing paying client.) I had to send an engineer to the DOB to get the objection overturned. Another lie I was told, is that once the objection for the boiler was overturned, the inspector will not touch the boiler again. Didn’t phase this guy, he was right back at it. After asking a highly technical question that proved he really didn’t know much about these new mod/con boilers, and I got my installer on the phone to answer, he kept up about something else, and I battled him for at least fifteen minutes. Ultimately successfully, I might add.
But the upshot is that I still am looking at this *&^%&% second floor kitchen, an ancient stove connected to a gas pipe to which the service has been shut off, and a rickety sink for which I have absolutely no use. While my file cabinet and stuff sits in the hallway waiting for the next inspection to be over.
Meanwhile, we have vanished the stairs to the second floor.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022955
And to the basement:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022937
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022938
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022941
Therefore, the basement is done! (Well, almost. The pipe chaise was left open due to the inspection, so we will have to close that up ourselves after the gas pipe is replaced. ). We were able to unwrap our good bookcases, and set up a lil’ ‘reading area’, complete with a cheap Arts and Crafts rug from Lowes. This coming weekend, I have a truck on reserve and my kids from Da Bush lined up to move our library from storage into the house, which will reduce our overhead by $250 a month. Here’s the main area.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022940
The basement was the last major dust-producing process to be done, so we were able to lay out our rugs, and most importantly, install the turntable so we can hear music the way it was intended, as an analog waveform not a chopped salad. And the crew chief agrees, of course after screwing up the blinds. (That wall is not yet painted).
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022943
To recap, our GC had given us a price to do the basement that was unacceptable, given our finances, of 20k (he later claimed that was for the WHOLE basement and the half that we did was only 11k). We then thought we would scale down our ambitions, and maybe do some of the work ourselves, and do it cheap. So we asked the Brownstoner community for advice about stripping and painting the walls, and we heard from another contractor, Shane Deary. We liked what we heard so we asked him to stop by. He offered to sheetrock, tape, and insulate the walls, epoxy the floor, rock but not tape the ceiling, and build frames for the windows. And install the needed doors as well as replace the rotten door to the outside with a new metal door. He quoted us 8k, and he did a great job, speedy and well done (he’s a carpenter by trade). We are very pleased with the results. We taped the ceiling, added vinyl baseboard, and painted. Some pix:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022935
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022944
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022946
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022947
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022949
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022951
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/111022957
Shane’s email is smdconstruction@gmail.com. We like him.
All we have left is the handrails (report to follow), the last plumbing inspection, painting, hanging pictures, touch ups of various kinds, and that’s it. Then again I get the feeling that a house is never done.
March 31, 2009
Greenwood Heights Backyard: Spring Has Sprung, But Something Sunk
Spring greetings from Mr. and Mrs. Tikihouse. After a VERY LONG and cold winter, we were most happy to see the temps begin to rise and the ground soften.
Since our last post a short "knee wall" was installed and a less than ideal green hurricane fence was placed between the new brick condo building's yard and ours. Could have been worse...it could have been white vinyl! NOTE: we will be covering it up as one of the first tasks in phase II of our backyard reno project.
While it is a tad early to begin any planting, our plan was to begin moving plants again and turn over the right hand side of the garden, adding humous and peat moss as we went.
Photo: overview of the start of phase 2 of our back yard reno
That's when we had a sinking feeling, or rather saw the sinking.
March 29, 2009
South Stuy Blog: SHUTTER TO THINK
Hey all. Its been a while but we have not forgotten about our reno blog. We have just been pretty beaten down by our recent experiences and haven't had the gumption to post. That said, I am so proud of Operation Pocket Shutters, that I am breaking the silence in order to do an expose on the project.
When we bought this house close to 2 years ago, we were pleased to observe that we had all the original pocket shutters ---albeit caked in 100 years of paint. We brought 2 floors worth of them to "Lou's in Hackensack" to have them dip n' stripped (via zipcar) and have been working on them on and off for about a year. When our contractor flew the coup and T and I were demoralized beyond measure-- we decided it would be a satisfying project to get started on and even more satisfying to complete (to quit would be letting the enemy win).
Here are the shutters pre-strip
Here they are once they were dipped
Dipping and stripping is a great short cut to beautiful wood but its still a lot of work to refinish them. First you need to pick out all that persistent lead paint crud that is wedged in the nook and cranies. We did this with a couple of dental picks and many hours. Then you need to sand sand sand sand sand sand sand with 3 grades of paper AND if your shutters are pine like ours (beautiful golden pine) -you need to treat the pine with a prestain which conditions the wood (we did 3 to 4 coats on each side).
Here are some pics before and after the pre stain treatment and sanding
After the pre-stain, you need to do one more light sand as the wood grain raises a bit during the prestain treatment and then finally you get to stain. Although the original plan was to stain the shutters, we thought the shutters looked so good after the conditioning treatment that we abstained from the stain and went straight to shellac.
We decided on shellac because its all natural (Its actually a resin secreted by the female lac bug) and because it sort of acts like a combo of stain and poly with a built in primer, sealer and odor and tannin blocker (the more I know about it the more i like it).
On the "basement floor" shutters, we used a clear shellac in aersol form. Had we to do it again, we would probably only use the aersol on the louvers (we went through an obscene number of aersol cans). All and all, we did 4 coats on each side nice and thick to protect the shutters from the elements.
Although we know its totally premature to put them up, we just could not help ourselves.
a href="http://www.brownstoner.com/southstuy/014.JPG">
Note: we had to also do some stripping around the window frames as the paint build up prevented the proper opening and closing of the shutters. We do plan to strip the whole window at some point soon.
For the gorgeous tall shutters on the parlor floor, we decided to use the amber shellac on all but the louvers. We probably will not put these up until both windows are fully stripped and this floor is close to complete but we are going to go ahead an hang the MISSION ACCOMPLISHED banner across the parlor floor anyway.
P.S.Unfortunately we do not have all the original knobs --anyone know of a good resource for copper ones like these?
March 12, 2009
South Slope Reno: Getting to the basement
Well! The day before I was supposed to cash my refund check, twenty-seven weeks after I ordered them, the shower doors showed up from Brooklyn Kitchens. And they look pretty good, we think. (Although the master bath has a leak at a seam, so a service call will be in order).
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124471
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124457
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124474
Downstairs bath here.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124475
Meanwhile if you’ve been following along, you recall that the stairs to the second floor were too short, and didn’t completely make the platform. This was solved by putting a ‘box’ at the top of the stairs and pushing them forward.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124473
As we come to an end, one of the biggest nightmares has been the amount of dust that just doesn’t stop. I’ve realized that the basement ceiling, sheet rocked in 1968 and with many holes, has been capturing dust and debris for decades, as well as new stuff from the renovation. We decided that whether or not we had the money to do some basement finishing, the ceiling had to go. This is a perfect project for a homeowner to do to save money; not difficult or technical, just dirty, dusty, and time consuming. But we got it all down and out in the space of a few weeks. Here’s the space with the ceiling as was.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124481
I’ve taken a couple of shots of ceiling pieces as they came down, to show what was sitting on top of them. Nasty!
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124477
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/110124476
The worst spot was below where the old kitchen and bath were. The plumbing had leaked for years, the joists had to be replaced there, but they had tried to reinforce it by nailing boards under the plumbing and filling in with cindacrete. That was vile getting down.
Getting rid of the debris was timed to not call any attention to ourselves. Everything went into black plastic bags, but nothing too heavy. Two bags in front of our house, and two bags in front of a just-converted rental with no tenants a few doors down. One sometimes up the block mixed in with trash from a larger apt building. Twice a week for a few weeks and no problems.
We’ve now come to the point where we have to decide what to do about the basement. As avid readers and book collectors, our library is about three thousand volumes. In our previous coop, we had space for about half, and the balance was in a storage place, which is now up to $250 per month. Our plan was to turn half of the basement (500 sft or so) into a library, but only if that would not put books at risk. (The other half is boiler, storage, tools, etc.).
We are two blocks from the highest point in Brooklyn, and we have been here fifteen months without the slightest whiff of mold, mildew, sewage, or water. We have done calcium chloride tests on the concrete floor, and moisture tests on the walls (thx smokychimp for that suggestion). We seem to be as dry as can be. And frankly I’d be equally afraid to try and pack a library in an upper floor of a small house without reinforcing the floor.
At the same time, we are pretty broke after this reno. We asked our GC for a price to ‘rock walls and ceiling, and tile the floor as cheaply as possible. His price was $19,000. That was very discouraging as we really can’t swing that right now. We decided to see if we could do it ourselves, maybe with friends, maybe just stripping and painting the walls, so we asked for some advice about the walls.
http://www.brownstoner.com/forum/archives/2009/02/what_to_do_abou_4.php#comments
Thanks to that post, a contractor had an interesting suggestion, and we invited him over to take a look. To make a long story short, he quoted us less than half of what our GC did, which is manageable, and we retained him to start.
Please see
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/basement
for a series of pix on progress.
Naturally our GC was not happy, altho he didn’t express it. But he did say, yesterday, that his office person had made a mistake and that the 19k was for the WHOLE basement. The HALF that we wanted was 11k. He would have got the job for that, but, that’s not what we remember.
February 20, 2009
South Slope Reno: The Stair Issue
The bad news is that things have come to a screeching halt because my GC had to go into the hospital for a new heart valve and a couple of stents, and the day before he fell off a ladder (not here) and shattered his kneecap.
The good news is that we are so close to the end that we are living comfortably, with only the stairs having serious issues. And we need railings shortly thereafter. Also, we were able to arrange a final inspection from our PE, who will sign off everything subject to stairs and railings being finished.
THAT means we were able to get rid of the second floor kitchen, thank goodness, and turn it into my office. For the last few months, my computer stuff has been hooked up in the unheated basement, gathering tons of dust to boot. I’ve already had to replace two case fans and a WD Raptor HD, all failing, I presume, because of dust.
I took the computer over to Park Slope Computers, on 19th and Prospect, and they did a great job cleaning it out, before I moved it up. Cleaning out my printers and scanners and so on was quite a task also.
The upstairs temporary kitchen is here. Hard to believe we actually ate and cooked in here for a few months!
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380116
But we are leaving the plumbing as is, after capping everything off. This gives us or future occupants the option to turn this back into a 2-family easily enough. We were able to shut off Keyspan service as well, that knocks $20 a month off the overhead.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380115
Here’s the room almost finished. Yeah, my wife has to stick a plant everywhere, even if it’s mostly dead!
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380107
And then that leaves my good friend Brian Ackerman at Brooklyn Kitchens aka Garfield Kitchens. He did manage, almost on time, to take care of everything needed in the kitchen. There were a set of spice drawers that had to be made over–thrice. The third time the grain was running in the wrong direction, but at this point, we’ll just pretend we liked the contrast. However, we still have no shower doors! That’s twenty-three weeks and counting!
I gave him an ultimatum on a Monday that if he didn’t get them by Friday I wanted my money back. He asked for the next Wednesday, which I gave him. I didn’t call him and he didn’t call me until late Wednesday, when he called me practically in tears begging for more time because he just lost 80k due to a cabinet supplier that just went under with his deposits. Allegedly. Against my better judgement, I gave him until 3/3 provided he gave me a post-dated check to be deposited on that date if there are no doors. For your amusement...
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380105
Back to the big hold-up, the stairs. We’ve been through two sets already and it looks like we’re cruising for a third. We wanted a set of oak open stairs. We liked the first set when it arrived.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380109
There were a few things we didn’t really notice at first. But when we did... First is that the stairs seem to be made by a Chinese robot. They were routed out and wedged from the back. This would have been fine if they were to be covered underneath, but they’re not!
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380108
Then there was some more sloppy stuff, like magic marker here and there, and glued labels, all of which would have been a bear to sand off. It was the GC who opened his mouth first, and told us he wouldn’t be able to sleep at night if he left us with the stairs. So he had a pow-wow with the stair guy, who agreed to replace them. This time I sketched out in Corel Draw exactly the way I thought the stairs should be.
When we started the job, the GC offered to replace the rickety stairs to the basement for $700, new pine. I told him we’d deal with the basement after the main work was done. It struck me that these oak stairs would be an upgrade to new pine, so we offered to pay the $700 for the oak stairs installed to the basement. This way everyone got a little something. The stair guy probably breaks even, the GC makes a few bucks, and we get better stairs to the basement. In fact they have been installed and we’re in the process of varnishing them now.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380113
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380114
The new proper oak stairs were delivered. By this time the GC was in the hospital. These are gorgeous, massive stairs. I had to help the three guys get them into place.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380112
One little problem, however. They’re too short.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380110
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/109380111
The stair guy came over and suggested some smooth ways to fix them. I told him I can’t agree with anything unless the GC approved. The GC is finally out, came over last night, and we will have to have another meeting with the stair guy. That should be interesting.
January 8, 2009
Green Roof Reno: Green Roof Course at CityTech
Through City Tech's Division of Continuing Education we will be offering a course on Green Roof Design and Installation starting this January 29th at their downtown Brooklyn location.
Whether you are a DIY homeowner intrigued by the possibility of a green roof, or a future Green Roof Professional preparing for the accreditation test later this year, this course will give you the tools you need to "go green." We'll start with the basics of green roofs, and work our way into all degrees of specificity in regards to plant design and maintenance, roof membranes and drainage, and current policy and incentives.
Please follow the link below to register . . .
http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/continuinged/
For City Tech's Continuing Education complete course catalog please follow the link below (green roof course listing on p.25) . . .
http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/academics/continuinged/pdf/spring09_web.pdf
Thanks and Happy New Year!
January 5, 2009
South Slope Reno: New Year's kitchen edition
We now have a almost-completed but definitely working kitchen. We are missing some trim pieces for the cabinets which Brooklyn Kitchens has promised in a week. We’ll see, because we’re still waiting for these glass shower doors, now sixteen weeks and counting. As soon as we get the trim pieces we’ll be done with Brian Ackerman except for the shower doors. If we don’t see them shortly after we’ll demand our money back and if not forthcoming sue.
Photos show the progression of the kitchen first with the counters (Caeserstone) and then the glass tile backsplash.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/kitch2
We’ve had our share of problems, all resolved or in the works. The big counter slab facing the dining room was not cut square, which I didn’t notice until after it was installed. Therefore it doesn’t overhang the cabinets properly. They’ll be back this week to rip it out and fix it. Another Brooklyn Kitchens sub-contractor. I find not being able to cut a piece of stone square to be rather appalling in this day and age.
The other fiasco was the dishwasher/waste disposal installation. The insinkerator was installed a few days before the dishwasher was hooked up, as the plumber always seems quite busy. When the dishwasher was finally connected, it wasn’t draining. Furthermore the motor was giving off a burning smell. Everyone seemed to agree (plumbers and master plumber) that there was something wrong with the washer and I called Bosch to schedule an appointment (after complaining that it was highly unlikely a defective motor would have left the factory).
Then the foreman of the main work crew (who’s not supposed to know about plumbing) wandered over and wondered out loud if the plastic tab in the insinkerator had been removed. As he explained, there’s a tab in the dishwasher inlet that needs to be removed if in fact there’s a dishwasher. I ran to my computer, downloaded the installation instructions for the insinkerator, and the foreman was correct. The tab was removed and the dishwasher is working fine.
We have a toilet and shower in the downstairs bathroom, but no sink yet. The reason is that we had to return it to Brooklyn Kitchens because it wouldn’t drop into the vanity. Because the clips were way too large and messily installed. I don’t know where Brian gets his sinks made but it seems to be somewhere local. Three sinks have had to be returned four times for repairs. Sloppy, sloppy work. Pictures when complete.
The last big piece of this job is replacing the stairs. My feng shui guru (alexstark.com) had suggested that instead of the stairs going straight to the exit doors (your money flies out the door, as it has, lol) you should bring the stairs into the living room. Because we’re keeping this as a legal two-family house, albeit using it as a one-family, we want to have the option of having the stairs go either way, so we hit on the idea of bringing the stairs to a platform, and then having the last two able to be configured into the LR or straight to the door.
The old stairs:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/107826622
The new open stairs:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/107826608
Cleaning up by the stairs and door.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/107826620
After a couple of minor problems, we have passed the plumbing inspection in the cellar, and are ready to finish up in the next few weeks.
November 28, 2008
South Slope Reno: Thanksgiving Edition
Making great progress on the first floor. The floors are entirely in, only to get covered with masonite to protect painting and further work.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453885
All the photos at
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/kitchen1
Still waiting for the upstairs glass shower doors from Brian at Brooklyn Kitchens and Baths. Twelve weeks and counting.
We made it very clear to the GC that we wanted at least a stove and hood in by Thanksgiving, so we could use the dining room and the multiple ovens. We made sure that the appliances were here when needed (btw we bought all the appliances from Appliance Showroom, behind Costco’s. They met Drimmer’s prices and were a pleasure to deal with).
Here we are just finishing the taping in the DR.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453883
We’re doing the priming and painting, so there she is, doing it up.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453886
The raw kitchen and DR, primed.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453887
Here’s the DR, mostly painted (BM Linen White) with the speakers installed.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453888
We didn’t expect to have plumbing in by Thanksgiving, as plumbing inspection was Monday. Indeed, we didn’t. We didn’t think we’d have cabinets either, as they were coming from Brooklyn Kitchen as well. Given the source, we were hoping for Thanksgiving 2009. However, to our surprise, they showed up Monday and were installed Tuesday by our GC. Of course, you may be wondering where the doors are. So are we. Supposedly they had QC problems so Brooklyn Kitchens says we should have Monday or Tuesday. We’ll see.
There’s a whole sequence of photos in the main gallery showing the crew chief inspecting the kitchen cabinets. Here’s one of the better ones.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453892
Here’s how the kitchen was on Thanksgiving (those are a couple of trim pieces posing as counters).
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453899
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453900
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453901
The eagle-eyed will see the turkey in the bottom of the unplugged wine cooler, where it was placed to warm up while also being safe from the dog and cat.
We heard some people complain about these Wolf stoves. Here’s one who actually likes it!
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106453902
November 25, 2008
Greenwood Heights Backyard: The Final Day Arrives, Phase One Complete!
As the dawn of the last day rose, we were not sure that the crew would be able to finish up with only a half day's worth of "work time" left, but they had surprised us before.
On the hit list: finish up the pavers, bring in the remaining pea gravel, brush in "lock sand" into the pavers and wet it all down so, as Gaspar was fond of saying, "it'll look NICE." (overlay words with a great Canarsie accent)
The remaining pavers went down quickly with most of the more intricate "piece work" taking the bulk of the time, with the crew custom cutting shapes and slices to fit in any remaining gaps in the pattern.
Photo: Making quick work of the paver "piece work."
Photo: Final paver pattern.
Continue reading "The Final Day Arrives, Phase One Complete!"
November 17, 2008
South Slope Reno: Eye Candy Edition
We’re moving right along on the first floor. Taping and spackling. Seems to go on forever. We’re looking for a semi-functional first floor by Thanksgiving, and it seems we should make it. Plumbing inspection is a few days, which is what will make or break us.
Still waiting for the shower glass upstairs from Brooklyn Kitchens and Baths. Ten weeks and counting.
Pix here:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/appliances
But you know you’re making progress when the eye candy shows up. In our case, that’s the 48" 6 burner Wolf stove. Six hundred fifty pounds of beauty. This is what it’s all about, baby! (And that's the refrig in the background box).
This, plus the hood, is all we need for Thanksgiving! The hood should be up any day. We were worried about the hood conflicting with the AC duct, but there’s enough room for both.
The kitchen floor is tiled and ready to go. I know a lot of folks feel wood is the way to go in a kitchen; experience tells me differently. What can we say? Photos at:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106060127
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106060134
Meanwhile we’re moving ahead on the bathroom.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106060117
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106060133
We used more tile than we thought on the second floor bath, and the 4" square tile we need for the walls has been discontinued (we apparently used too much on the second floor). But we’ve arranged to have some 13" square tile cut down to the size we need. It will just take a few days.
The first floor has no room in the ceiling for AC ducts, unlike the second floor, so we’re doing soffits. And we’ve decided to put the air handler in the basement for the first floor. So we have some rather large ductwork happening. The supply and return ducts will be routed in the same soffit in the DR, next to the kitchen.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106060122
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106060124
Here’s the AC ducting pretty much boxed in.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/106060150
The oak floor was delivered today and should be completed in the next couple of days.
November 11, 2008
Greenwood Heights Backyard: Stone and gravel galore: days five and six.
When last we left off, the patio was poured and faced with cultured stone. We had added back into the mix the 15 foot planter box for the bamboo...the rest of the work would be to finish the install of the remaining cultured stone, add blue stone caps to the box, stairs and patio edge, layout the pathway and seating area, then bring in our reused (and some new) bluestone for stepping stones, layout the pavers on the patio...add in a final layer of pea gravel, then the crew at Your Way Contracting would be done! Here's how the two days went.
The main work yet to be done was the final grading of the yard and the layout of the 11X11 foot seating area and paths.
Photo: Bird's eye view of the work site.
Continue reading "Stone and gravel galore: days five and six."
November 10, 2008
South Slope Reno: Home Theater Edition
Over the course of this entry we’ve insulated and sheet-rocked the downstairs, built the A/C soffit, and begun taping.
We’re still waiting for the glass for the upstairs shower from Brooklyn Kitchens; nine weeks and counting.
If you recall my last entry, some of the windows were found to not have any brick under them, so the first thing we did is install the brick.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755175
Insulating comes next.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755173
When the insulation was finished, the crew chief came down and had a look. He likes things nice and warm, so he approves.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755176
Here we’ve been ‘rocking and taping, and the A/C soffit has been roughed out.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755181
I’d like to call this the ‘home theater’ edition, as most of the problems that have arisen have been coordinating the installation of what I’d call a modest home theater, and a couple of speakers in the back of the house that will carry music into the dining room/kitchen from my main music system in the living room. I’m fairly good with wiring electronic equipment, so we’re doing this ourselves.
The goal is to have all the wiring and speakers buried in the wall. Guys don’t mind wires, wives to, so this is to keep the wife happy!
I’m certainly aware that installing in-wall (as opposed to freestanding) speakers is supposed to result in sonic compromises. We’ll see. I did say a ‘modest’ home theater! First problem here, the GC is really an ‘old-school’ guy who has no idea about HT technology today, so I had a hard time explaining the whole concept. The electrician, otoh, is much more up to date on HT, but he’s only here intermittently.
The HT is to be located on the wall that is common to the L/R and bath. The left, right, and center speakers will be installed on that wall, around the TV, and the two surrounds in the ceiling. The plan is to install all the components in and on the walls (which means we have to sheetrock the front–living-room side–but not the back–bath side.) Then, we have to test everything, then remove all the components, sans wires, so we can tape, prime, etc. The wires to the HT receiver will be left hanging out of a gang box and then brought into a home theater wall plate. I’ll wire some short leads and banana plugs to connect to the amp.
The first thing we did was to reinforce the wall with 3/4" plywood to make sure we had a stable place to hang the TV and bracket. And naturally, we placed an electric outlet there.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755174
Next we hung the TV bracket, which was fairly simple given that we had access to see where all the studs were from behind the wall. The tricky part was getting the hundred pound TV up on the wall, since it was just my wife and I. A quick check of the BluRay player and we had a picture and sound from the TV speakers.
Now that we knew exactly where the TV went, we installed the speakers around the TV, as well as the ones in the ceiling. We brought up the home theater receiver from the basement, wired up all the speakers (except for the ones in the ceiling–they had already sheetrocked the ceiling without running the speaker wires). Here’s everything in place.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755177
The two round holes in the ceiling are the surrounds. This is an all 1080p system and the sound was much better that I had hoped for, even without the benefit of surrounds and sub. Then we got to remove everything and put it all back in the basement!
Now we’ve done some more taping, there’s an AC vent in the same wall, and the electrician managed to snake those ceiling surrounds without too much trouble.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755180
Here’s a view from the back, inside the bathroom. We’re going to insulate that wall to help with the sound.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755178
You’d think installing a pair of in-wall speakers in the dining room would be easy. The electrician ran the cable and left it hanging in each corner while I placed the speakers. Then the sheetrock guys just came and did their thing and left it hanging there. The below pic is pretty funny; you can see the wire hanging in the corner while the speakers are in the wall.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755179
Sure enough they had to take down some sheetrock and route the wires properly. See
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/105755182
October 27, 2008
Greenwood Heights Backyard: Mr. and Mrs. Tikihouse get stoned!
As we intimated in our last post, the original "downsizing" of our hardscaping project and been "upsized" again with generous donations from our family.
So, we were able to add back in the bamboo raised planter and had to make the "hard" decision (pun intended) on what to face the new planter, steps and ledge of the new patio area.
Diagram: adding back in the planter, now 15X3 feet.
Our original spec for the raised planters was for a matching "granite city blend" stackable wall product from Nicolock to a match our pavers. At $13/sq. ft for materials only, that match was out. In addition, we had time to take a look at the space as it was evolving. Since we would be adding bluestone to the seating area below the patio and white/tan pea gravel, it occurred that we might want to further accentuate the seating area with another similar look.
In addition, we decided to nix the second planter box, partially due to price and partially due to the need to soften up the seating area with a planting bed, not box, for clumping bamboo, grasses, etc.
The options for facing the planter box, stairs and the 24 inch high ledge from the patio down to the seating area (which never occurred to us) were outlined by Gaspar of Your Way Contracting. Typically folks face these types of areas with pavers (as Gapar said "looks like sh•t," from the sample photos it did!), stucco (which would be ok, but not necessarily match the look and have maintenance issues down he road) or cultured stone (a product made from stone dust, porcelain and cement that is cast into natural looking stone shapes). Of course there was also brick, but we already had four floors of that!
October 24, 2008
South Slope Reno: First Floor Demo
Now that we’re somewhat comfortably nested upstairs, with AC, heat (finally), a couple of nice rooms, (one bedroom and one guest bedroom that’s being used almost as a L/R), it’s time to start the first floor. Of course ‘comfortably’ is still relative; we have no glass shower enclosure, thanks to Brooklyn Kitchens taking seven weeks and counting, so we have to mop up every morning. And to call our temporary kitchen/dining arrangement ‘comfortable’ is stretching it. But it’s been worse.
Photos of the downstairs demo all here:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/demo1
The GC brought in a different demo crew this time and they had some issues taking direction, apparently. The plaster wall along the detached side of the house was supposed to remain, as it did upstairs, and to get covered with 1/4" sheetrock and plaster. However the demo crew started tearing it out. I stopped them when I came home that day around 2PM, but the damage is too severe so the GG is just going to remove it all and frame it out. The bad thing is we’ll lose another 2" of width in a 16' wide house. The good news is that it will all be insulated. Photos here:
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828552
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828562
We certainly won’t miss the old bathroom.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828565
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828567
Bye bye dumpster, baby!
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828557
I always thought that a total gut reno like this is easier and better then trying to maintain historic detail in a historic house (which this is not). One reason being that you don’t get banged up by ‘hidden conditions’. Nevertheless we managed to find one. Seems that the bricklayer ran out of brick in a couple of places under a couple of windows, and just let the plasterer cover it up when the house was built. This must have cost owners a pretty penny in energy costs over the last eighty years.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828554
The partitions are now up. Simple set-up; in the front we have a long L/R and ‘seating area’. That will end at a small bathroom. On that partition, we’re planning to build a modest home theater with all the speakers except the sub in walls and ceilings. Coordination will be a challenge.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828559
On the other side of the bathroom, we’ll have a kitchen that is open to the dining room behind it, across a counter (partition in photo). From the D/R you can exit the house to the garden.
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828558
Unlike the upstairs, were there was room in the ceiling, on this floor we’ll be building a soffit to carry the A/C duct and other services. Part of our deal with the boiler guy is that we insulate all the Fostapex tubing carry heat and hot water around the house, so that’s the wife handling it (inside the bathroom)
http://www.pbase.com/dentontay/image/104828560
The electrician and plumber are working away. We’re looking for enough completion to have a decent Thanksgiving dinner!
October 21, 2008
Green Roof Reno: Finally Planted!
So we finally got our green roof plant test plots underway – and to reiterate this is just our phase one installation: a chance for us to observe some different plants in action prior to planting roughly two-thirds of the roof in the spring. We’ll follow up with all the plant varieties and more of the process of installation soon . . .
In the prior post, I slammed the provider of the modules we bought, Green Roof Blocks, for sending us some modules that appeared to be dirty and used. Today, I want to commend them just as forcefully for their customer service. Getting good customer service these days is incredibly difficult – but this case, Green Roof Blocks handled the situation admirably. I received apologies from both the President and the employee responsible - in addition to receiving 20 new, clean, feet-in-tact modules within a week’s time. Amazing.
In the email from the President he explained that they rarely sell modules without the plants and soil, as I had requested. The employee in charge of packaging and shipping had assumed that “the focus was to be in what grew from the module and not the aesthetics of the module itself. Instead, he trained his efforts in getting your modules to you as quickly as he knew how.” Regardless, for me, whatever error they made on the first order was more than rectified by the way they responded to our complaint. I will look to use some of the used modules as samples in class I’m teaching this January at City Tech in downtown Brooklyn on green roof installation.
I intend to review other green roof products in the future. For starters, this website has a good breakdown of the different modular options - http://www.openecosource.org/roofing/modular-green-roof-information-us-suppliers