Catching up..

I have heat! It turns out that the furnace works just fine, but the previous owner hadn't bothered to turn on the gas - which frankly doesn't surprise me, she seemed like a total ditz.

My basement floods every time it rains. I need to fix the gutters in the back, but I don't think thats the entire problem.. I have someone from the city coming out the give me advice on disconnecting the downspouts (pipes that go to the storm drains/sewer -- in portland they're kinda one in the same, but not really.. the Willamette River is the dumping ground for whatever excess water/sewage the heavy rains bring in. Then again, doesn't Biscayne Bay get dumped (no pun intended) in all the time?

So next Wednesday, the city expert will come out and help me decide what the best strategy would be for me to disconnect my non-functional gutters from the downspouts & save the river. I bet you're thinking, "Now Scott, if you already have water in your basement when it rains - why do you want more rainwater seeping into the ground?" I'll tell you why. There are different strategies that the natives use to deal with all the rain - French drains (A French drain or land drain is a ditch filled with gravel, rock that redirects surface and ground water away from an area. French drains are common drainage systems, primarily used to prevent ground and surface water from penetrating or damaging building foundations), Dry wells (Simple dry wells consist of a pit filled with gravel, riprap, rubble, or other debris. Such pits resist collapse, but do not have much storage capacity because their interior volume is mostly filled by stone. A more advanced dry well defines a large interior storage volume by a reinforced concrete cylinder with perforated sides and bottom), Rain gardens, Lakes, moats, etc.. This expert will hopefully be able to analyze my soil content, lot grading, underground springwater flow and be able to recommend a solution for me. Right now, I've got nothing but time & ideas.. and water.

I'd really like to build french drains that run to a primary rain garden and have a drywell that can handle the excess runoff .. Ecohydrology rocks (pun intended).

We had 26" of snow on Mt. Hood last week! That all changed with the sudden nice weather we've had this week - that's ok, we'll get more. I love fall here.

Stay tuned..

Happiness is to whitewash a fence ---errrr window.

I don't know that anything can reveal
Just exactly everything that you feel
But I'd like to say, Its my sentiments
That happiness is to finally have the glass back in the window & have painted one side.


Last night, installed last two panes -

you can see the glazing points used to hold the glass in. You take your trusty putty knife (chisel style) & push these along the pane into the frame. Then, you roll the glazing compound into a fat snake & pack it into the crevice. Finally, drag the putty knife along the freshly packed glazing compound at a ~45 degree angle.



Here is the latest picture from just now:

Coming along..

Last night I primed the window, its finally starting to look like a normal window again - it has seen heat, chemicals, scrapers, sanders, broken glass, new replacement glass (test fit)..

I discovered the Rebuilding Center - that place is amazing. A very Portland place, indeed. Completely stocked with recycled/reclaimed building materials - it is the GoodWill of the Home improvement/construction world. I ordered 3 replacement panes for the window I'm working on and a big one for the cracked window in my bedroom.

When I go to replace the big window in my bedroom, I'll have to be quicker about it - its getting cold and rainy here a bit early this year. Looks like it will be a good snowboarding season, yay!

Pictures to follow...

Window pains

Make that 3 panes broken.. where is my voice of reason when I need it most?

On the plus side, its actually starting to look pretty good - besides.. how much can 3 - 12" square (ish) panes of glass cost? I got the name of a glass merchant from Rejuvenation Hardware on Sunday. Maybe tomorrow, when I wake up at 7am :) I'll give them a call.

I was going to post the pictures I took tonight of the "progress" - but as you'd guess, I can't find the cable to connect the camera at the moment.. What am I doing up at 3am? ?? Laundry, sipping port, & showering. That's what.

Tomorrow, I buy a Dremmel to get in the corners - or at the very least, a wire brush attachment for my drill.

I'm having second thoughts about repeating this process on every window in the house.. maybe I'll just make spot repairs on the glazing that is cracked and/or missing.. The paint is easy enough to strip on the outer face of the window with the heat gun.. repainting to get rid of the peeling weathered paint will make a humongous difference in the way they look.

Found the camera cord - time to go back and fill in some pictures.


Revised Procedure
Remove trim and/or stop to get sash out of frame

Using putty knife, hack out all old glaze
Strip old peeling paint with heat gun and putty knife
Replace any broken windows you might have created
Drink another beer
Add new glazing points (to hold window to sash)
Re-glaze
Re-hang
Probably do something about sash cords before this step.. figure out where for yourself, and then let me know.

More window woes

I could kick myself for not starting a project that would have a more immediate payoff. Luckily, there is just one window out of the frame. That window is in the garage, now covered in more paint stripper.

Tonight, I broke 2 panes (out of 6)... Back up. I borrowed a heat gun from work after not having the type of success I'd anticipated with the stripper over the weekend. The heat gun works great for paint on long flat surfaces. In fact, the paint on the flat surfaces of the window came off in great big satisfying sheets. There is intricate detail in the muttons (the pieces holding in each of the 6 individual panes of glass) that I wanted to bring out. Layers and layers of paint were hiding the detail. Needless to say, the rest of the windows will stay hidden. I still intend to take them all out of their frames & reglaze them. Dry, cracked, 80 year old glaze (its a putty that seals the window into the sash and insulates) is not what I want to begin winter with.. Having thought this through a little more, I would probably have focussed my efforts into figuring out what is wrong with the furnace instead of starting on a monster project with such little obvious gratification.

Pictures.. pictures.. Soon, I think the 15 minutes is up for the chemical stripper going on right now - time to get messy again.

Starting more projects than I can finish

Its 8:10 and dark in Portland. Fall is coming, my favorite time of year. I miss the long days of summer when it stays light until 10 - it would be ideal for getting projects done.

I went to bed early last night so that I could get up with the crack of dawn & start working on the house now that the initial shock has wore off. Early turned into ~2am somehow.. Crack of dawn mysteriously became 1pm - just in time to watch the Gators beat Tennessee! So much for my full day of projects.

I have double hung windows in the house. This means that the bottom sash (there's a vocabulary word for you - what we call window is more specifically referred to as a sash. I realize that isn't completely clear, I will find a clever illustration later). Having double hung windows, the top sash should be able to slide down, and the bottom sash should be able to slide up. Each sash is counterweighted with a pulley and large steel sash weight.

I spent $104 last night at Home Depot on my way home and bought the fixins to start restoring the windows (and a machete ). I picked a window on the side of the house to begin on and started prying off the trim that covers the window frame. Approximately an hour and 2 beers on a ladder later, the trim is off the house and sitting in the driveway covered in paint stripper. Lord knows how many layers of paint are on there and peeling off snake skin style.. Time to start fresh.

The windows will have to wait until tomorrow - I don't want to leave a gaping hole in the side of the house over night. Tomorrow, I'll take apart the cracked window in my bedroom & bring it to a glass shop to replace. I need to buy glazing compound too.

I also had some fun hacking away at the blackberry bushes in the backyard with the new machete. Its a big machete. Very big. Very sharp. Very fun. Lawn clippings and vegetation is now composting in the back corner of the lot.

Welcome!

I've been living in the house for going on a month now. So far, I've replaced the kitchen faucet with a donor faucet from a neighbor's remodel.

Jenn and I started tearing up the horrible linoleum vinyl sheet flooring, but stopped when we realized that there was only plywood underneath. A plan was needed.. Luckily, Portland is home to Powell's bookstore - a mecca of useful information - and an entire book shelf dedicated to bungalow kitchens.

Plans are under way to gut the kitchen & start over with inspiration found in a book, The New Bungalow Kitchen. My kitchen is maybe slightly larger than the counter to the island in the photo.

Cabinets will be a deep cherry - woodworking will be as authentic Craftsman as I can afford: The drawers and cabinet doors should all be flush with the face of the cabinets. Uba Tuba granite will be used for the counter tops, and Armstrong linoleum tiles will be used to recreate an authentic period floor.

Before any of that can be done, I want to get estimates on leveling the kitchen floor. I suspect that cabinets will sit find a better fit on a floor that is true.

Other important things to get done before Winter:

1. Find out what is wrong with the furnace and either repair or replace
2. Add shelves to the bedroom closets for some desperately needed storage