Blog of Chris

That’s a sigh, not a scream (though a scream should follow in a few days)

I’ll come back to by I am expecially happy in a bit.  Here’s a recap of recent construction:

My Plumber got his inspection last Friday, and now I have hooked up my washing machine/dryer combo on it’s new platform in the basement and started doing laundry!  This is milestone, as I used to have to wear EVERYTHING I owned and wash it all at an unsuspecting friend or relative’s house (whoever would put up with me that week).

I found an HVAC guy who was over $1000 less than the other three quotes I had gotten, and they did an awesome job and were in and out in one day!  They’ll get their inspection tomorrow, and then I’m done with rough-ins.

With help from Ryan and Evan, we were able to put vinyl siding on the first floor rear wall.  It was kind of slow going because of all the penetrations (windows, doors, lights, outlets, hose bib, electrical pole, etc), but it was interesting to see how siding goes on, and how simple it is to install.  The only pain in the butt was nailing in the cold.  I also insulated the entire new addition this weekend.  Insulation, along with new heating ducts, means the house is WARM, and the heater isn’t running all the time anymore.  It’s actually nice and cozy in here.

Here’s the icing on the cake:

I realized that I had never ventured into the new kitchen or bedroom with my laptop, and it occurred to me today that somewhere in the new 600 square feet I just built might be in range of someone’s unsecure wireless internet connection.   Well, it was, and now I am sitting in my new bedroom blogging from home.  Sweet, Dude!

I get my close-in inspection tomorrow, and then it’s drywall time.  I have already found and lined up a contractor who will hang and finish it on the cheap, but I have another hurdle to conquor before he can start.  I won’t get into specifics, but let’s just say you should get your ducks in a row before you start a project of this size. (Hence, the next blog will be Ahhhh with an exclamation point at the end of it)

-C

Doo Doo Doot.  “The number you have dialed, 3-0-1-6-8-1-7-1-1-5 has been disconnected. 3-0-1-6-8-1-7-1-1-5 has been disconnected.
No further information is available about 3-0-1-6-8-1-7-1-1-5.”

My folks have retired and moved to southern Maryland, and gone forever is the phone number we had for 2 decades.

-C

I happened to be at home on my lunch break meeting with an HVAC contractor, and who should show up without any prior knowledge by me?  The electrical inspector!

Through some sort of miscommunication, my electrician wasn’t there, and was trying all day to reschedule the inspection.  The inspector apparently never got word of this, but since I was home when he showed up, he did his thing, and left me nice little green sticker.  One down, two to go.
I have found an HVAC contractor whose price is right and can start this week!  I may be insulating sooner than I thought.

-C

My telephone and cable wires are coiled, hanging awkwardly from the utility pole behind my house.  Whoever was providing the unsecure wireless network within range of my house back in 2004 turned it off sometime while I was away in the desert.  The bottom line:  Chris only has internet at home if he drives around the neighborhood and finds  other unsecured wireless connections (which, technically, is still not “at home”).

Hence, the blog postings you have enjoyed (or suffered through) for the last 6 months have all been written hastily on lunch breaks or late afternoons in the office.  This one I am writing in Microsoft word, in bed, sans internet connection.  Now I have time to really, really bore you with my ramblings about home renovation and how it consumes you so entirely that you have nothing else to blog about.

My plumber started today, which is getting me one step closer to close-in.  The electrician should finish up tomorrow, and have his rough inspection in hand.  The plumber will be another couple of days next week, and I still haven’t awarded a contract to an HVAC guy.  HVAC, it turns out, will be the biggest cause of delay outside of having a full time job and working in the winter (pretty significant delays in and of themselves).

I am still trying to sell my Audi TT, my coming home gift, impulsively purchased with no regard to the consequences.  Reality set in a few months ago that:

1)     I can’t afford to maintain and insure a car like this, or to keep fueling it up with premium on my salary.

2)     The city will take its toll in dinged bumpers, exhausted struts, and dirt.

3)     The sale price is almost exactly what I need to finish the addition without settling some kind of new loan.

In fact, every other option I had to borrow money has somehow fallen through in the past 6 months, for one reason or another, which I consider to be fate smacking me in the head and saying.  “Chris, you’re not that awesome or rich. Sell the damn car.”  Duh.

I figure if it’s meant to be, someday in the not too distant future I’ll be sitting in a similar European sports car, except it will be better, faster, and paid for in cash.  It was my dream car, but you can’t live dreams on credit.

I figured I’d try Carmax, just to see what kind of number they would throw out there.  2 hours after I walked in, the not-so-enthusiastic salesmen showed me a quote of $15,000.  That’s $5,500 less than I paid for the vehicle  6 months, not to mention almost $1000 in state taxes and $500 for new tires, and I’m not even going to talk about how much it cost to insure.  I’m going to hold out until the weather gets warmer, and hope someone replies to my blue-book equivalent asking price of $19,000. Sigh.

I popped into Hull Street Blues after my disappointing CarMax experience, and ran into one of my neighbors who proceeded to explain how the households nextdoor to him in no way helped the cause of preventing snowmelt from building up in front of their houses and freezing into an 6” thick slab of ice.  Every year he says it’s preventable, but nobody wants to help.

As he left to move his double-parked car (yes, he double parked in front of the bar for a drink), Jessica Wescott entered the bar with Papa John.  Jessica is a friend, neighbor, and also my  former landlord (I rented a room from her and fell in love with the neighborhood back in 2003).  Papa John is the father of one of her neighbors, who is taking care of his daughter and son-in-law’s dogs while they are vacationing in Thailand.  Pretty random, huh?  She invited me to join them for dinner, which was good because I was planning on coming home, eating a hot pocket, watching whatever I could tune in on my rabbit ear antenna on TV and hitting the sack.

Jess is in the middle of renovations on her house, and I asked to check out the progress after dinner.  She’s gutted the first floor, leveled and sistered all the joists, and her boyfriend Jim was in the midst of laying out her new staircase.  It’s a ton different than when I lived there.  Jess has been mentioning a lot of the same “renovation headaches” that I keep whining about, such as incessant dust, no time or money, added stress, and having to camp out somewhere other than your home.  She’s let me do laundry and take showers there a few times.  If I can get my house done, I will reciprocate until she finishes hers.

I’m gearing up for insulation next week.  Avoiding taking any more time off work, I think insulating my entire addition can be done in two nights, one spent picking it all up and bringing it to the house, and the other with 3 people cutting and installing it.  Then it’s inspection time, and she’s ready for drywall!

Good night!

-C

Update, February 20th, 2007: I am an ass, and did not give a photo credit for these pictures.  They were taken by my friend Alex Balione, aka AB, aka the number one stunner.

I found myself in Pennsylvania yesterday, at the Iron Shop, my spiral stair kit manufacturer of choice.  I went to buy two stairs, one for the basement, and one for the roof deck, but when I got there and remembered how broke I was, I changed my game plan for the latter stair.

The basement stair is a half-turn spiral, just like the stair I already have in my house.  I got about 1/3 of the way through installing it last night when I couldn’t go any further due to a brick wall blocking my path.  I would have knocked the brick wall down in true cWhong fashion, but it was after 9 PM and my fellow haubertites woule not have appreciated it.

The 2nd stair was going to be overkill… it cost about $2600, and was BOCA code compliant, meaning it comes with a ton of extra spindles I don’t need, and is wider than it has to be to get people up to my roof.  I double checked with my building inspector and figured out that I can go with a stair that costs half that.  I’ll be going back to philly in a few more weeks for that one.

My roofer started today, but apparently left the jobsite before installing the metal caps.  I hope they  intend to come back tomorrow.

Whatevs…

-C

I’m at Kevin’s house watching the superbowl, and I figured I’d blog a bit while Prince does his halftime show.  Some folks were asking about progress on the house, but the only pictures I could show them were from 2 weeks ago.

Well, here’s the update.  Unfortunately I don’t have any pictures to upload, but I promise they’ll come soon.

As of Yesterday, all of the sheathing is up, the roof is all framed up, all of the exterior doors and windows are set, and the main beams for the rooftop deck are in place.  I am very happy with the speed at which we were able to get framing done.  Yesterday I also installed the pocket door frame for the first floor bathroom, and the framing around the new stairwell to the basement.

This morning I framed up the wall to my new bedroom, and began planning the layout of the upstairs walk-in closet and linen closet.  I also demolished the wall above the old 2nd bedroom doorway, joining my new study seamlessly with the hallway.

It snuck up pretty fast, but I’m just about ready for trades.  My electrician is onboard (Dynamo Electric, the same contractor who I used for the first part of the rehab) and should start on Monday or Tuesday of this week.  My roofers are onboard as well, and they told me they can start this week if the weather cooperates.  I hope they can get the roof closed up before the rain hits later this week, so cross your fingers.

The pressing issues right now are Plumbing and HVAC.  I have several leads, but if I can’t lock one down this week who can start soon, this could be a significant delay.

While the trades are working this week, we’ll be installing vinyl siding, and finishing up some odds and ends with the interior framing.  Once that’s all done, we won’t have much to do until all of the trades are inspected and we can start insulation.  I’ll also be looking for a drywall contractor this week, and making a trip up to Philly to pickup two spiral stair kits for the basement and the deck.

Needless to say, it’s a pretty busy time.  Stay tuned for photos.

-C