April 2019 – My Boomtown Revival

April 23, 2019April 23, 2019

Powder Room Window Trim

Last fall I finished the powder room window trim, much like in the upstairs bathroom. I’m satisfied with it, although a real carpenter would have a fit.

The problem with this window was that it needed a bigger jamb than was built for it. The jamb did not extend flush to the interior wall – it was 4 ⅝ inches inset from the wall. And there was a 2 ½ inch gap on the left side between the window and the wall framing, and a 1 ¼ inch gap on the right side.

Since I struggle with the proper names for window parts, here’s a pic that helps me remember.

My windows are single hung, so do not have the sash weights/pullies. On mine, only the bottom window sash opens, and the top is fixed. On a double hung window, both sashes open.

The question was how to create a jamb extension using hemlock (which looks like Doug fir) that I could buy at the HomeDepot. It was not straightforward because there was nothing dimensionally suitable.

I’m working without a table saw. I have a mitre saw and a jig saw and a circular saw. My circular saw smokes and I really ought to return it, but in any event, I don’t use it. So, try to figure out how to assemble a jamb extension where no pre-cut hemlock dimension exists. I ended up using two pieces that I glued and nailed together. After lots of custom trimming I got the jamb extended and trim on. I probably spent $130 on hemlock. It’s pricey, but mainly because I don’t really know what I’m doing.

The new hemlock jamb pieces did not match the old shellacked fir, so I stained them with a mahogany gel stain and then a coat of shellac. Everything is all a little darker than the window sashes. I’ll live with it for a while and see if I care in the long run.

Also, the stool does not extend past the apron, as it normally would. Again, that’s because the window itself was inset deeper than usual. But I think it looks fine.

The window also opens and closes as designed now. There is only one problem, which is that I could not get the original sash lock off, so I left it on but it doesn’t work, so I’ll have to use an old fashioned stick to keep the window “locked.”

April 16, 2019May 21, 2019

Preparation for the new builder

It’s April 15, 2019, and the new builder and his team are starting work today. I am relieved but mostly worried. Worried about:

the financing. My contract with this builder is for an hourly charge for his workers, and whatever the trades charge for their work plus 15%. I think it’s reasonable, but I have no way of knowing the anticipated final cost.
I think I’ll get what I want, but I’m not exactly clear on what I want.
there are so many daily decisions to be made. Will I have enough energy to make through the next two months?
having strangers in the house for two months.
Living in a state of extreme disarray, including not knowing where anything is anymore.

Anyway, I’ve jumped off that ledge and they’re starting today. I’ll work through my anxiety and I’ll find the energy.

In anticipation of their starting work I had to clear out the spaces in the addition. It was a lot of work and my knees and back are done and need some time to recover. I spent three full days on it and had to scrounge for places to put stuff. Which raises a new question: Why do I have this stuff? I can see that my next task is getting rid of some of it before I have to put it away again. I’ll be considering everything before I find it a new home, and give away, recycle, or garbage whatever is ridiculous to keep storing.

Here’s a look at the basements, which is where most of everything was stored. Both basements are now pristine.

View from one end to the other (south to north).

In the meantime, my dining room looks like a scene from “Hoarders: Buried Alive”. Really. It creeps me out and I’ve jumped a few times when I catch a glance of it from the corner of my eye. And my living room reminds me awfully of a little old lady’s house, crammed full of useless things. I had to roll out an old carpet as well, to protect the floor, and it brings with it an awful musty smell. This is odd, I’m sure, but I sensed the house is not happy being junked up like this.

April 6, 2019April 6, 2019

New family room floor

This past winter, 2018, I finished installing reclaimed Douglas fir from my grandmother’s house into my new family room. It was easy and hard at the same time. What was hard:

Getting started;
Three trips to the farm to get more wood; and
Calculating board feet exactly, so that I did not have to trim length from any piece.

What was easy:

Installing it (despite my many complaints about a sore back).

It still needs to be sanded and refinished. I was going to do shellac and wax, the way it was done traditionally, but after seeing what my dog has done to the finish with his nails, I am going to go with something stronger and more durable.

It is by no means perfect. But I did it, and I was able to reuse my grandmother’s flooring, which makes me very happy.

Floor installed. But look, my adorably cute dog with his stocking on Christmas morning!

And, obviously, it needs to be sanded and refinished. Someone else can do that part.

Here’s a close up of the old growth fir, tongue and groove – over 100 years old and it has never been sanded.

And, some historical information about the flooring – it came from a mill in Vancouver owned by John Hanbury. He had started out in Brandon, Manitoba, and eventually bought out other mills in British Columbia. This flooring is stamped from Vancouver.

J. Hanbury & Co. Mill, False Creek, BC. Taken from City of Vancouver Archives. My flooring came from here.

Here is some math done by the original installers:

I can’t tell what they were figuring out. Do you know?

April 6, 2019April 6, 2019

Power underground

Last fall, 2018, the power line was permanently attached to the house. It had been temporarily fixed to a tall post in the yard. While I had already paid twice to have the wiring finished for this addition, I had to pay a third time to get it actually finished (I paid the builder and then I had to pay the tradesperson when she advised me the builder never paid her). Thanks again asshat builder.

Unfortunately for me, between the time the power meter went onto the temporary post in the summer of 2017, and the fall of 2018 when I arranged to have the power permanently reconnected to the house, City rules had changed and I was no longer entitled to have my power line run from the back alley over my neighbour’s property to my house, which is how it used to be. So my choices for permanent reconnection were to cut down a poplar and a tamarack in my yard and have the line run overhead right through the middle of my backyard, or have it trenched in the ground at 5x the cost. I chose the latter.

Temporary post with power meter, far left in photo

Very cool was how the trench was made. Some tradesman showed up from Alberta with a huge truck and some kind of power hose. It had extreme pressure and the water spray dug the trench. I would not want to get into a water fight with that hose.

In order to have the trenching done, I had to remove the stairs on part of my obnoxious deck, to accommodate a straight run from the back gate to my house. I had to lie on the cold ground undoing screws from underneath.

Steps to be removed. Cute pooch adds interest.

After the line went in, I was left with mound of mud in the grass, from the alley to the house. The mound is currently half as high as it used to be in the photo below, because my dog has brought the other half in the house.

Power lines run under the gate from the alley

My yard is unsightly, muddy, and full of construction debris and lumber I’m hoping to re-use. It’s hard to have hope after so long. But I have someone lined up to do landscaping this spring. Again, I’m cautious about being excited about it, but hopefully it will work out.

April 3, 2019April 6, 2019

Springtime update

Time flies whether or not you’re having fun. For my part, no fun has been had for a long time.

After firing the asshat builder last spring, I have tried to hire someone new to finish the renovation. This was not easy. A few companies came to look, and chatted as if they were interested, but in the end they were not. I had one company lined up that I thought would work out. The owner was very decent, came to my house several times, took measurements, and gave me a detailed written estimate, which I accepted. And then I didn’t hear from him for 4 months.

I’m now on “serious builder” number two. He promises he is showing up April 15, 2019, to begin work.

In preparation for his arrival, I am pulling up walnut floor from my original living room/dining room, for installation into my new master bedroom and closet. The floor is up, but I now have to trim off a thousand nails/staples.

I also have to empty out my basement completely, and everything from the addition. I have a storage unit out front, on what used to be my driveway but is now a mudbath. But not everything will fit in it, so I have to cram the rest into my livingroom/dining room, once I have all the layers of floor pulled up (which may or may not contain asbestos). All in the next two weeks.

The landscaping is also a priority this year. I have a verbal contract with someone, we are just working out the details. I don’t know when he plans to start, but the ground is still frozen so no rush yet. I will be relieved to sit outside this year, without looking around and seeing construction debris and mounds of weeds/work to do. I’m also looking forward to not having the dog bring in mud from the yard every time he goes outside, from the trench left behind after the power line was put in the ground during the fall. My house really looks like it has a dirt floor right now.

I do not have it in me to be truly excited, as this renovation experience has killed my spirit, but it does appear to be heading towards moving forward, and it could actually be done by the late summer. Perhaps once I see the new builder actually showing up and doing work day after day, I will begin to get excited.

Anyway, that is a general progress update.