Men vs. Bamboo

Yard Day 1
10/20/2007

I've owned the house for about 6 months now. Which means I missed my original completion guesstimate date of 6 months. It also means that my house insurance policy was up for renewal, due to the nature of the policy one has to have for a vacant, renovation-in-progress house. My insurance people decided that I needed to cut back the overgrowth of greenery on the sides and back of the house, clearing space and getting the branches off the roof before the renewal can take place. I agree with this assessment, I just wish he would have told me about it when *he* found out about it, instead of letting the papers sit on his desk for half a month, then casually letting me know less than two weeks before the policy was to expire/is up for renewal. Also interesting, he waited until he already had the check for the continuation of my policy coverage to tell me these things... but I digress.

You'll notice that this is Yard Day 1. Yard Day 2 isn't in the plans for a while yet, I hope, since I'm trying to focus my attention on the INSIDE of the house. But regardless of the circumstances, yesterday was Yard Day 1. My friend, my father, my two brothers and I worked for about 3 or 4 hours, with the help of a chain saw.


I looked in my picture archives for these next few photos, to remind us all of what the front of the house looked like, or rather, what you could see... Look in particular to the left side of the picture, how dark and shadowy the side of the house is. And the low-hanging branch swooping down at the front of the house.


This picture is along the side of the house, from when I stacked brick from the fireplace. This area seems clear ground-wise, but let me assure you, that bamboo is thick, packed in densely, and acts as a wall against sunlight and the environment.

Yard Day 1

Anyone know how to kill bamboo? We didn't. Instead of cutting back the bamboo, we decided to cut it down, as close to the ground as possible. Here's one of the clumps of the roots. Look how close together and big they are. This bamboo lived here happily for a while.


The front of the house, side angle, towards the side we were working on. I forgot my camera when we first started working this day, but got it about halfway through. Notice how easily you can see the neighbor's roof line and side of her house. Also the low-hanging branch was trimmed back as much as we could. The pile of greenery accumulating on the front yard is from everything we're cutting down on the side.


This is from the other side of the house. Not much grows on the side, but if you remember correctly, there was limited, almost impossible access to the back yard. Here's the gate...


At the gate, this is the view directly in front of your face. These are the vine covered bushes and shrubs blocking the way.


At the gate, hanging over and looking to my left. See the big tree top that sits right in my backyard? Over this way too is the back porch... Maybe we'll actually be able to see it later.


Back at the front of the house, you see my friend at the front porch post. This looks back down the side of the house. See the stack of bricks? Those are from the fireplace. And you can see my father working with the chainsaw; he's actually standing my neighbor's yard, which is about a 4 or 5 foot drop from mine.


Here's a shot from the street of the front of the house, with the side cleared some and the branches over head cut back. Looks pretty good, doesn't it? At least like someone loves it and is trying to make it better...


This is in my neighbor's yard. We started clearing a little beyond her parked car. This is her driveway and it was early-ish and we didn't want to start the chainsaws too early... Later she moved her car for us and we tackled this part, too. Note to everyone: chainsaws are much quicker than clippers or snippers. But only use them if you know what you're doing. We let my father do all the chainsaw work, since he's experienced with it.


In neighbor's yard again, past where her car is parked. You can see the cleared areas we were working on up to this point, as well as some of the bamboo shoots lying on the ground, ready to be pulled to the front. Most of those shoots were 20 or 30 feet long.


Further down the side of the house and we get to the back... but wait! What's that? There on the end of the house... Are those screens? Is it? Could it be? The mythical and much talked about screened-in porch? We'll explore that more later...


In neighbor's yard again. A shot from the back of the house towards the front. I'd never seen this side of the house before... and it hadn't seen daylight in a long, long time.


The culprits... Bamboo. The shoots were mainly centered in clumps, but they totally spread. It may look innocent and sweet to you now, but you try fighting them. It's not exactly fun. Good thing is was such a nice day outside that day.


Another clump. I think there are about 3 or 4 of these along the side of the house. But they kind of spread out between themselves and eventually covered the whole side yard.



Me, on my tiptoes, holding the camera above my head at the back of the house. What do we have? Screen porchage! Yay! I told you it was there...


After a little more time elapsed, I took more pictures. It's progress.


The problem with renting a dumpster for your work site is that inevitably someone is going to throw stuff away in it. Meaning, someone other than the person who is actually renting the dumpster and paying to have it emptied. Now small things, I honestly don't mind. And a few people have actually asked me permission, which was even better. But when you're throwing away wooden pallets and large, bulky, obviously building materials from the HABITAT FOR HUMANITY house down the street that's being rebuilt since the tornado, I have an issue with that. People, think before you dump trash in someone else's dumpster. Because someone has to pay for it, and as a result, I couldn't fit all of MY own trash in the dumpster.

Seen here are the boys, my little brothers, resting after hopping around in the dumpster on top of the bamboo and yard debris, compacting it in and effort to make more room.



A larger shot of the dumpster. I don't know how many times they had to get in it. Eventually we gave up and I had to pile all the excess bamboo shoots in the front yard, which eventually spilled over onto the sidewalk. I couldn't help it. It'll just have to wait until I can have the dumpster dumped and brought back.


Standing on the front porch, looking down the side of my house, towards my neighbor.


Standing in neighbor's yard, looking at the side of my house after much of what had been cut had been moved to the front yard.


View from the sidewalk looking up at the house. This is quite a large mound of bamboo, wouldn't you agree?


Front porch view, looking down at neighbor's yard where her car was parked earlier. See how much we cleared? The mound you see is just the bamboo piled in the front yard.


Here's a better view of what we did here, where her car was. It looks a lot different, doesn't it?


Back in the backyard, where my father went with the chainsaw after we finished in the front and side. It's a mess but at least you can get back here to see the mess, now.


Standing in the back yard, looking at the back of the house! Hardly a view I've seen often. And look! The porch!


Nasty top of a tree from the neighbor's yard... it's been here for a while. and the back porch!


The porch. On the left side, you see the 'boarded up' part; it's where the bathroom was built.


Stacks of trash on the back porch. Fun. Anyone need a chair or three and an old electric organ?


Ahh, the water heaters, here you hide. Don't overlook the mini-me water heater in the background. It's like they're playing hide and seek.


On the porch, looking at the exterior of the bathroom. Great construction job, eh?


And the #1 reason why I'm having the house re-wired. Just one of many examples of how this house is rigged. And this is stuff one can see, openly. Just think of what might be hiding! The horror!


Who doesn't want an old stove, a mattress, and two or three ancient hot water heaters in their back yard as ornaments? Jealous, aren't you?


Standing at the back porch doorway, looking out into the back mess. I mean, back yard. But hey, at least I can get here to stand, now. This view is new to me.


Back at the front of the house, looking towards the back. My father's down there, working with the chainsaw near the back porch. By now we've cleaned up the side yard from everything we cut down.


Daddy working, trying to clear a path from this side of the house to the back yard, too. We didn't make it that far.


The view out from the same spot earlier, towards the front of the house. Wow! What a difference!


And let's not forget the tree we found hiding amongst the bamboo. We decided to try to save it. Hopefully it will truly grow since it has room to breathe.

Like this tree, I think I'm giving my house the potential to grow again. The inside had been neglected and patched over, the outside was left to the wilderness... But in one day, about 4 hours, five guys were able to fight back and try to reclaim her. And look at what we were able to accomplish. Hopefully, with a little more love, the tree will grow and blossom just as I wish the house to glow and smile again.

'My Little Dump'

Demo Day 7
09/09/2007

Today my friend came down to help jump-start my renovation endeavors again. It was welcome and much-needed encouragement to get back in the habit of attacking my little house. It felt great to get back in there working again. I missed what I affectionately refer to as 'my little dump'.

But first some pictures, taken today before the work started, just to catch the blog up on where I was before the hiatus. But this time, since I have my new floor-plan, I'll also note what the rooms will become.


Apartment A, front room. Not much has changed in here at all. This room currently acts as a storage area for woodwork salvaged from the house, especially mouldings. About 4 feet of this room will be turned into a closet for the future Guest Bedroom immediately behind it (which is where Apartment B's bathroom and Apartment A's little hallway are). The remainder of the room will be thrown into the main living space, an open living and dining area which will occupy the entire span on the front of the house.


Skipping the little hallway, this is the bedroom of Apartment A. It's probably a lot cleaner that what I posted last of it, and it's a lot more open and airy. This will become the new Master Bedroom. The wall you see on your left will be moved out into the adjacent room about 3 feet.


This is what once was the kitchen for Apartment A, with a tiny bath off through the doorway on the left. This room will become... the master bedroom closet. Yes, that's about 10x10 of pure closet. But since the house lacks on storage space, this area will also function to serve that purpose as well. The tiny bathroom will be gifted back to the back screened-in porch, what the area originally was before it was closed in.


Front room of Apartment B. Remember we took down the wall (and fireplace) in-between this front room and the bedroom immediately behind it. The mantel you see rests on the intact wall that separates what was the bedroom and Apartment B's kitchen. When you walk in this apartment, you can see straight to the back wall of the house now.

The front room will become the main living area, as mentioned above. It will eat into what used to be the front room of Apartment A (the wall that separates them will be removed) and also will nip at the front porch. Part of the front porch will be closed in, specifically a 9x9 (or so) area where the entrances are to the two apartments. I won't be losing front porch space, per say, because the front porch is L-shaped, about 9 feet deep and 24 feet wide. So taking the little space that shoots OFF of this long expanse won't be missed and will add much needed living space to the house itself.

Also, please look at the picture carefully above and note the big pile of brick, mortar, and general renovation debris. This is what we worked on today. But more on that later.


Apartment B had this large, oddly shaped, and poorly laid out bathroom. The dropped ceiling has been torn down in half of it and the two skeletal walls... well, that was my handiwork.

This entire space, currently about 11x9 will be ripped out. So will the long hallway behind it (that used to be a side porch) from Apartment A. This new space will be combined with the additional footage of moving the wall closest to you (same one that runs along the new Master Bedroom) to create the Guest Bedroom.


I didn't note earlier but the new kitchen will be where Apartment B's bedroom was. I'm sure this is all confusing, but when I get the floor-plan sketch up, maybe this will all make sense. Past the kitchen, which will be walk-through, a hallway will run to the back of the house, terminating at the entrance to the back porch. All doorways to the rooms will be off this hallway.


The kitchen of Apartment B. It's empty of fixtures, but full of drywall from the walls and dropped ceiling, now removed. The new bathroom and separate laundry room will be in this area, as well as a hallway to the back screened-in porch.

------

Work from Demo Day 7

A before shot, looking to the front of the house, of the front room (and what was the bedroom) of Apartment B. Look at all the debris on the floor, especially the remnants of the fireplace. This is where we concentrated our work efforts today. We were there working hard for about 4 or 5 hours. I'm quite satisfied with the work we got done, but the pictures won't show how difficult tearing down a stubborn fireplace/chimney that's been in place for 100 years can be. Plus we had to haul out the broken bricks, soot, and mortar in 5 gallon buckets to a dumpster out front. The materials were so heavy, we couldn't fill the buckets all the way up, either.


And here is where we left it. Not quite to floor level, but one side is down, even with the floor. We only had a hammer and sledgehammer to use, and I was trying to salvage as many whole bricks as I could. You can see them stacked up in the room. Later I remembered that we actually had a chisel there in the house, too, but of course, not until the work day was done.


Looking down at the side of the two fireplaces, where they used to be back to back. The stacks of bricks at the two corners are around where the gas lines came up beside the fireplaces in the room. So maybe you can see how large this double-fireplace, single chimney was. A lot of the brick at the bottom of the fireplaces are fire brick, which are about twice to three times as big as normal brick and about that much heavier, too. The further down we went, the more solidly cemented the bricks were in place. I might have to rent a mini-jackhammer to finish this project.


View from the back of the fireplaces, looking towards the front of the house. I was proud of the work we got done today. It was almost backbreaking, but fun and rewarding in a way that only hard work can be.


This shot looks at the fireplaces from the front door of Apartment B. Such a much more pleasant entry to the house than what we found it. You can actually see clear floorspace and your eyes aren't immediately drawn to a huge pile of rubble in the middle of the floor.



I should've taken pictures of what we looked like afterwards, too. I didn't fully realize how dirty I was until I found myself in front of a mirror. I thought I would never get the soot off in the shower. Working that low on the chimney and fireplace, most of what you work with is soot. Lots and lots of soot. Thank goodness for face masks!

I remembered only after the fact that I found an old skeleton key among the debris while working today. I thought that was a really neat artifact to find, and hung it on a nail in the house. I meant to take a picture of it but was too tired to remember when the day was done. I think I'll put it in a shadowbox and use it as artwork once I move in the house.

Hopefully soon I'll be able to get my layout sketches scanned in, the house as I bought it and the house I will make it.

Still here!

I'm still here, so is my house. But not a lot has been going on with the renovation since last time I posted. I've owned the house for 4 months now, which is surprising to me. But looking back over those four months, I have accomplished a lot, especially since the only thing I've hired out is the new roof. I've probably saved myself a few thousand dollars by doing all the demo myself, with the aid of my family and friends. But working that hard can take its toll on you, too.

That's why I took the month of August off from working on my house. For about 3 weeks in August, the heat index here was about 115 degrees. And when the sun wasn't beating down on everything, drenching rains crept in. It may not have been wise from a time-line point of view, but I needed the time off to escape the stress and enjoy the last bits of summer. I work full time during the week, Monday through Friday, twelve hours a day. So the only time available for me to work on the house is on the weekends. Three months of weekends working on the house deserves a few weekends off, I think. Maybe not as many as I took off, but since the time away from the project hasn't affected my budget, no harm was done. But it has changed my time-line, although I never set one in stone to begin with.

I have also been waiting on my contractor... But I knew from the start that he was busy and my renovation project was added on his 'list'. He's been busy finishing up work for other people, mainly repairing damage done by the tornado my hometown suffered in March. But I can't complain too much, because I know where he's been. He's been working on my parents' house, my sister's house, and my brother-in-law's mother's house. And doing high quality work, I might add. Every project I see him complete builds my confidence in his abilities, and I'm fully vested in waiting until he can devote his full energy to my renovation. Hopefully, my house is next on his list. In two or three more weeks...

Tomorrow my friend and I will be working at my house again. Hopefully I will be able to make myself get up early (!) and beat the heat to get some work done over at the house. At this point, there's only a little bit of demolition left to do that I think I can handle myself. But mainly I hope to clean up the site a bit, and then concentrate on getting that demo done. Plus I think it makes more sense to have a reasonably clean renovation site for both safety and optimism standpoints (If it looks better, I feel better. If it looks messy, I want to lock the door and run away.).

I haven't been wasting this time, entirely, however. Several window-shopping trips have been made to home improvement stores and one price-sticker shopping trip was made to a furniture store. I've been picking out kitchen appliances, cabinets, and counter tops, in addition to bathroom fixtures and flooring for the whole house. I've picked out my back door but have yet to find a new front door that speaks to me. I've had electricians and plumbers visit the site and give estimates, as well as a yard man who's lined up to clear out the back, front, and side yards, once I'm ready for his crew to come in.

Oh, and the new house plan has been finalized. Hopefully I'll be able to get sketches of both the new and old layouts up this weekend so you'll know what I've been working with and where I'm going.

I guess that's all for now. Stay tuned!

Moulding, Door, and Woodwork Inventory

Demo Day 6
07/20/2007

On Demo Day 6 I also went around the house taking pictures of the moulding still in place. This entry will be more of a picture diary than anything else. I wanted to capture what the mouldings looked like so I'd know about what to put back. They aren't extremely fancy mouldings but I just want it to be done right, you know?


This is specifically of the corner. See the piece of wood there? You'll be able to see it in more detail in other pictures.


Corner of a window, noting the side pieces, sill (I believe is what it's called) and apron (piece running along the bottom). I'm not 100% sure of the terminology...


The center, bottom of a set of double windows.

The center, top of the same set of double windows.


Corner of windows, also seen on some interior doors. A simple 'rosette'. This one is damaged, but you get the idea.

Another corner piece of moulding. I know these were in some houses, added after replacing the plaster with drywall... But behind all the moulding in the house, I still find plaster. Whoever changed out the wall material obviously took shortcuts.


Simple detail at the bottom of a door casing. A thicker piece, rounded at the top and taller (I think) than the baseboard beside it would have been. I'll have to check on that.


One of the smaller windows in the house, in the back kitchen of Apartment B. This is not an original window, I know by its size and because the outside house siding is patched in this area- this used to be a double window. But I think the moulding is original, simply cut down to size. It was probably reused more for reduced cost rather than aesthetics.


This is taken inside a closet in the kitchen of Apartment B. Original closet, you can see the plaster still in place. Note the baseboard moulding, especially the corner pieces. It has to be original, this detail.

A picture of the crown moulding in the kitchen of Apartment B. Had the people before me not been looking for such a quick fix, these pieces wouldn't have been left for me to find. Even though their workmanship isn't salvageable, at least they didn't completely destroy what was originally there.

This is a picture of the picture moulding, discussed in the previous blog. It was found above a dropped ceiling. I hope I can put this detail back in all the rooms in the house.


This is an intact door moulding, from one of the less formal rooms in the back of the house. Nothing in the little house is extravagant, but I like the clean lines and simplicity of the mouldings used.

------
Door Inventory

I want to be able to salvage these heavy wooden doors, if possible. But I needed to take note of what doors I actually have, which ones can be reused, and which ones match. Because some of them don't.

Front door, Apartment A. This is the only door with a transom above it. I think I may try to save the transom and reuse it above my new front door. This is a full size door with horizontal panels. Only one like it in the house (meaning its size), besides the smaller coal closet doors you'll see in a bit.

Weird hallway door, Apartment A. This door might be okay, but not a first pick. Has been extensively drilled for doorknobs and locks, not to mention been exposed to direct weather outside for many, many years.

Another sad door. Somebody decided they wanted a dutch type door, so they made one themselves by sawing this one in half. Only they didn't hinge it correctly and chunks of the door were damaged when they sawed it in half. Probably not usable. Door to bedroom in Apartment A.

Small coal closet door in Apartment A. This door is narrow and comes up to my nose. I have a few of these and am trying to think of a creative way to use them. A headboard, maybe? Wall paneling? A screen? We'll see.

This door is off the hinge and was resting upside down. So I flipped the picture so it can be seen correctly. This is the way the doors were hung, and I will hang them the same way. This door should be usable.

Another usable door, I believe, in the bathroom of Apartment A.

This is the back of the front door of Apartment B. This door has seen heavy use and abuse, but hopefully I'll be able to reuse it somewhere else in the house.

Another coal closet door. I hope I can come up with a use for these doors. They're too short for practical use in the house.

Another usable door that was in Apartment B, behind the mantel. Anyone have creative uses for old mantels?

Another coal closet door. This and the one before it were in those two closets on either side of the fireplace that once was.

This door is not original to the house. It is of a later design style, but it is still a wooden door. I might be able to use it somewhere inconspicuously in the house, such as for a closet door. But I wouldn't want to use it, say, in a hallway, where several doors would be open to one room.

Another upside down picture, same reasons as before. I think this door will be usable, too.

And we find the last coal closet type door in the house.

Running count, hopefully 5 matching usable doors. Maybe another usable one. And at least one more to be used in a separate area of the house.