A lull in the bathroom storm...

While we pause in the bathroom demolition and wait for the next stage called "dismantling the current plumbing", we decided to take a day (or two, or three) to tackle our summer to-do list.  Maybe your summer to-do list is filled with fun things like:

• go to the beach
• go on vacation
• go to camp
• have a cookout

Our to-do list has some little gems on it like:

• rip apart three more rooms
• throw the stuff that was in the rooms everywhere
• walk around in a dust cloud for eight weeks
• finish painting the side of the house
• finish painting trim on the front of the house
• re-order window grills that some dummy (me) broke three years ago
• re-order window screen that some dummy (husband) tore when replacing front siding

I will stop there...you get the point.

This past weekend, while also celebrating the 4th of July (on the 5th of July) we managed to get the first coat of paint on the west side of the house.  We actually have replaced all the windows on that side of the house and all the siding, but you can't tell.  You can't tell because the siding came primed in gray which blends with the rest of the existing house.  We could have had it primed in tan to fool you that it was finished, but that cost more money, so gray it is.

Here are some pictures of the progress.  We need to do a second coat and then all the trim work, but now it looks like we DID SOMETHING!!

The west side with new siding...but you can't tell!

The paint crew - they lasted about 15 minutes...

You want help...we'll give you help...be careful what you ask for!

It is a family project. T said "thankfully it's the back side of the house"

The master painter, inspecting the work...

And body coat #1 is done!

Can you spot the difference in these two photos?

I think the photos might just say it all...

September, 2010
November, 2013

Green eyed monster

I have been debating whether or not to write this post.  I am a little worried that when you hear about our latest upgrade that you will be filled with envy.  But, I would rather that you hear it from me.  Once the word gets out on the street I can't be responsible.  "What?!" you are thinking, the suspense must be killing you...  A fabulous vacation?  Trip to Disney?  Countertops?  New living room furniture?  A real driveway? Alas, no.  The price tag may be the same, but come on, this is so much better...

[drum roll here]

Yup.  A brand spanking new electrical panel.  Two in fact.

When we moved in we got this little gem.  The trouble is the main breaker would trip.  Randomly, without warning, we would be plunged into darkness.  We thought at first maybe moisture was getting into the panel when it rained, but it didn't seem to be weather dependent.  We would walk down to the basement and flip the main breaker and all would be fine...until the next time it happened.

The husband spent many hours labeling what wires go to what switches...

The problem is one of two things...a faulty main switch or something too awful to mention.  Now regular folks in a regular house might just replace the main and be done with it, but as you should have figured out by now, we are not regular folks living in a regular house.  The existing panel is old and has some corrosion.  It was recommended to replace the entire panel.

The corroded beast

Okay so replace the electrical panel, not too terrible, right.  Well, the wires to the panel come through the bulkhead.  And then if you look at the wires themselves, well they travel quite a distance, through the tulip tree, the scotch pine and then out to the pole on the street.

Electrical Wires where they attach to the house

Wires through trees out to street

So we decided to replace the panel and also move the service to the other side of the house which is closer to the pole near the street...which means adding a second panel, then tying the two together and dealing with the north side of the house (i.e. strip siding, cover in Tyvek and re-side in fiber cement) to attach the new electrical panel.  Eventually the wires will go underground which should help prevent them coming down in a storm.

Stripping the east side...

Progress on the siding...


Someone is excited about the siding being finished!


The new meter arrived early last week...along with the town electrical crew...


The connected new service, wires travel a much shorter distance to the front of the house...


You will notice that I don't seem to have photos of the new electrical panels...  Nope, don't even think you are getting down in the cellar to see them...  Friends do not let friends ogle their electrical panels.  In fact, no matter how much you beg, I am not letting you down in the cellar.  Friends should just stay out of cellars (at least mine)!

The finishing touches....

It's true, November has been balmy enough to continue painting...  T has been busy putting the finishing touches on the front of the house.  He had to replace the crown molding above the bay window.  He tried to restore it, but one piece was too far gone and rotten.  We couldn't match it (without spending beaucoup money on custom trim) so we replaced all of it with as close as we could find.

Before Crown Molding....

Putting on the first piece of crown molding...

The North Side...

It is not enough that we have been scrambling to get the front of the house painted before it gets too cold...  We are also trying to get the north side re-sided.  We spent a day taking down a cinder block chimney, and a lot more time stripping off the siding, sealing gaps, putting up tyvec and picking up the siding.

We are using fiber cement siding, which looks like wood, but is termite and water resistant and non-combustible.  It is made of cement, sand and cellulose fiber.  It does require painting, but because it does not expand and contract in hot and cold weather, like wood does, the paint lasts longer than on wood siding.

We got the siding from MAKI because they had the best price.  The downside is that is comes primed in gray, so until we paint it, it looks from the photos pretty similar to the original clapboard.

Here are some progress photos...

Taking off the old siding...

More of the old siding 

Cutting the new siding to fit

It pays to have friends that are contractors...well it costs too, but the work goes that much faster!!

The Tyvec is done, the siding about 3/4...until next weekend...

More on the front...

We scored big at Rocky's Hardware Store in West Boylston.  The store is closing and everything is at least 30% off, including paint.  Yes they carry Benjamin Moore!  We bought northampton putty HC-89 exterior paint with white trim for the front of the house.  I have such a hard time picking paint...there is a disconnect between my mind and my eye.  This color is close to the color of the siding primer.  I thought about keeping the house white as it was originally, but there is so much detailed trim work that just doesn't stand out when everything is the same color.  We are keeping the door hunter green, the trim white and the body this color.  Now all that is left to decide is the decorative bracket color...

This color is part of the Historical Color collection. A collection of 174 time-honored hues comprises our most popular palette. Steeped in tradition, the refined, elegant colors of the Historical Collection deliver timeless color that can be used in traditional as well as contemporary spaces. Inspired by the documented colors found in 18th- and 19th-century architecture, these classic, inviting tones continue to serve us well today. http://www.benjaminmoore.com/en-us/paint-color/northamptonputty#ce_s=HC-89

More pictures when it is painted!

The front of the house

So this summer we said that we were going to finish the front of the house.  I am not sure if we put that in writing or not, but here's where we are at, now that it is officially fall...

In August, we left the husband home while my Mom and I took the kids up to NH for a weekend in the White Mountains.  While we were gone he was going to get to work on the front of the house.  When we came home, this is what we saw...  Yes, it always looks worse before it gets better.  Or so I have been told. We were hoping for more progress, but alas these things take time...LOTS of time.

It has been a very slow process, with work done off and on all summer.  We had to special order boards that were wide and long enough.  Most of the original boards were rotten with a lot of creature holes.

It is REALLY high, and difficult dragging heavy, long boards up there, not to mention nailing them in...  He tried to get me to help with one of the trim boards, but I get about to the top of the door and my vertigo kicks in.  I am pretty useless frozen to the ladder.  Jack actually helped him and yes, we had words about that.

The house is starting to look better though.  He talked a friend into helping him with the crown molding.  Here is a picture of the two of them, insanely crazy people up on ladders.  I couldn't watch and had to go in the house.  They came down in one piece, thankfully and got the job done!

Hey Brian, does your wife know where you are?

Up in the sky - aye yi yi

Pilchard is supervising - notice that she can't watch the action either...

Strike a pose - small men or giant ladders...

 I am not convinced that we will have the trim finished and the front painted before winter...but I am not giving up hope.  The missing trim over the bay window had rotted beyond repair and we have been unable to match it...might have to replace all the window top molding, but I hope not.  Clearly the landscaping  will have to wait until spring...

Christmas in August...

Santa Larry (aka Dad) came for a visit about a week ago.  I don't know what happens when your Father visits, you, but mine brought with him a new shower valve.  Ok so maybe you aren't instantly jealous, but you have to understand that we have been using this

for the past almost three years as the old one broke/rotted off during our first week in the house.
We wanted to replace it, but also wanted to gut and remodel the entire bathroom and so kept putting it off...not thinking it would be three years later and now the vice grips are also starting to fail...

The funny thing is that the kids are so used to the vice grips that they didn't know how to work a shower dial!  My older one said, "wow that looks like a real shower knob".  It is!  My middle one said "how do you use it?".  My younger one said "don't think I am taking more baths."

The other fabulous side effect is the water no longer dribbles out, but is a torrent.  Water pressure, oh how I have missed you!

Here is an action shot of the newest hole in my wall...well worth it!

But wait...there is more...

We have these deck supports that are concrete footings.  There is no longer a deck, and the posts stick up just enough to trip you every time you walk by.  I have been asking the husband to get them out of here for three years now.  He spray painted them orange, but that doesn't help at night.  He also brought home some sort of gadget pry bar, but they are deep and did I mention, set in concrete...

So, my Dad has a Jeep, with a tow hook.  He hooked up a chain to the posts and ripped them out of the ground.  It was awesome.  We pulled out five big posts and also two tree roots that tripped you when walking behind the duck pen.




Woo Hoo!  Love you Dad.  Your vehicle is pretty cool too.

Roof replaced check and check!

October has been a bit rainy and it has been tricky to finish up stripping and replacing the roof over the front door and the bay window on the front of the house.  I am happy to say that that project has been completed.   The old mossy shingles and metal under-layer have been scraped off.  New ice and water and shingles have been nailed down and we are ready for the winter (well as ready as we ever are...)

[caption id="attachment_934" align="alignnone" width="300"] Scraped doorway and metal roof[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_936" align="alignnone" width="225"] Man wrestles roof[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_935" align="alignnone" width="225"] one man, one sawzall [/caption]

[caption id="attachment_937" align="alignnone" width="300"] Another action shot - one that resulted in a bloody finger. Tetanus up to date?
Don't recommend trying this one at home...[/caption]

Night Scraping....

I realize that I have been on blogging hiatus for most of the summer...more on that later.  For now, here are some pictures of one of our summer priorities relating to the house...
We call it night scraping and yes it does deserve a quiet night.

[caption id="attachment_900" align="alignnone" width="225"] Scraping off about 30 years of peeling paint down to bare wood. Hours of work with the heat gun around the intricate trim.[/caption]



[caption id="attachment_901" align="alignnone" width="225"] A job best done when it cools off (ha!) at night - if the moths don't get you first from the light.[/caption]

[caption id="attachment_902" align="alignnone" width="225"] Finally priming scraped areas around door...[/caption]

Before and (almost) After - Front

Can you spot the difference between these two photographs?

[caption id="attachment_31" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="September 2010 - house hidden by shrubbery"][/caption]

[caption id="attachment_561" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="December 2011"][/caption]

Hint:  Windows, Walkway, attic vent, tree/bushes...

To answer your questions...

1. Yes it's primer to be painted this spring.  I was going to paint it back to its original white, but everyone seems to like the contrast and the way the trim stands out with the tan.

2. Please don't even talk to me about why the top is gray and the bottom is tan...

3. We will be re-roofing over the door and window and scraping and painting the trim this spring.

4. Yes, I promise to hide the footings with lattice and plant some shrubs!

In case you can't see it, Tristan hung up my plaque.

[caption id="attachment_565" align="alignnone" width="300" caption="Newhall Farm Circa 1900"][/caption]

Our first good surprise...

Secrets under the vinyl

We have ripped all the vinyl off the front of the house in anticipation of replacing the original siding with hardy board.  Hardy board is a wood composite that looks like clapboard, but does not require the maintenance of wood.

When we removed the vinyl we did find a few surprises.  It appears that there were actually two windows on the upper level.  This makes sense as the one window looks a little lost up there.  I was planning on putting shutters on either side to help, but now I think we are going to put the other window in.  Yes of course that involves tearing out another wall and shifting things around yet again...

T also found some evidence of decorative trim on the left side (where he is pointing).  We hope to get the holes dug soon for the concrete window supports so we can remove the braces...  We also removed the front pine tree and hired someone to replace the walkway.  Progress!

The Septic Is Done

It only took two months, but the new septic system and leaching field has been installed. The plumbing in the basement has been fixed (pitch and leaking) and tied in so we are good to go (literally) in our one bathroom...

The installer said it was done in the nick of time as the old cesspool pipe was packed full of juicy stuff that you just don't want backing up into your basement. Phew! We will have to wait to reseed until the spring and until then will be dealing with a big mud mess...starts to make you think about walkways and driveways...add that to the list!

Here is a lovely picture of the side yard and the trench you must cross to enter the house.

Curb Appeal...

Saw this house while in Plymouth, MA. It has a very similar exterior to ours - short end faces road, bumped out bay window with one window above.
It also had the brackets that have been removed from ours. Don't they look nice?! I also love the shutters and the curved piece above the window. I wonder if it's too late to get one of those...???!!!
I wish I took another picture of the full front...

Jenga anyone?!

So, one of our first projects is to replace the north-facing bow window on the front of the house. Just for fun we removed a piece of plywood to see what was under there and this is what we found...

Lots of crumbled bricks and Jenga! style supports which really are not holding up much of anything.

We really are not quite sure why this is still attached to the house and certainly will not be jumping on that floor!

Supporting beam...what supporting beam?!

We actually hired someone to come a pour new footers and replace the plywood with weather resistant materials that will not rot. He will have to trim out the new windows once those go in. It should look nice when it's done...now if we can just get him here before winter!

Shrubbery!

Before...

Note the large overgrown yews obscuring the window...

Now you see them...

...and now you don't!!!

We did plant a new hydrangea to the right of the door. I think we will have to wait for spring to plant the rest...and no! I have no idea why they did not side that one little piece to the left of the window!