Sista Girl with Skills

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November 11, 2017November 11, 2017

Logs Gone Bye Bye

As promised Randy Wipert of Woodwright’s Portable Saw Mill and White Dove Originals Hardwood Furniture and Artistic Designs, came out to my house and picked up the walnut tree logs that were left at my request. It will be about 8 weeks before he will have them cut into slabs and another 3 months before they are dried enough to turn into something. Perhaps by spring I’ll have some wood to create my dining room table, which I’m hopeful Randy will help me make.

Several months ago I lucked up on these cast iron table legs. I had just started my home search and thought immediately how cool it would be to make my own table. The curves on the legs scream for a round or curved table top. Making a table from the wood that came from my yard would be so cool. I really hope this one vision for this project comes to fruition.

November 10, 2017

I See the Trees Fallin’

Today Gregory Forrest Lester took down approximately 15 trees from the side and back yard of my house in preparation for my future garage. I thought I had hit pay dirt when I contacted a woodmizer out of Indiana who, in exchange for the 5 walnut trees, was going to cut down all the trees for FREE. Well that turned out to be too good to be true as their plan was to “fall” the trees, which required a street closure permit. In order to get that they would need to apply for the permit, be bonded, and insured with the city. They were none of these, so back to plan A, paying to have them removed. I got several bids in the same ballpark, but selected Gregory Forrest Lester because they were on the City of Cincinnati’s contractor list. They also agreed to match my lowest bid, which included the grinding out of the accessible stumps.

I’m so glad I went with them. The two other low bids were smaller operations and would have taken at least a week to clear all the trees. Their crew arrived at 7am, as stated, and they made quick and efficient work of removing the trees. They were finished by 2pm. The crew was super friendly and very accommodating. There were several branches and debris on the roof and I asked if the young man in the cherry picker could use their backpack blower to removed the and they did. There was a bunch of out of control grape vines entangled around the two cluster of trees that remain near the front and they removed a lot of it for me. They also cut out a couple of rouge branches from those clusters. One of the crew members gave me a great landscaping suggestion, planting Redbud trees along the back. I’ll probably give them a call when it’s time to tackle the landscaping.

Here’s another Quik video capturing the event: I See the Trees Fallin’ video
I swear my house was smiling, basking in the warmth of the sun, something the rear of it had not felt in years.

I have a strong desire to make my own dining room table (I have these really cool cast iron table legs that are screaming for a wood top), so I’m still allowing Woodwright’s Portable Saw Mill and Woodworker to take the walnut trees. Randy Wiper, owner, will properly cut the trunks into slabs and dry them out and I’ll get enough for my little project. If I chicken out on tackling the table I will at least get enough to create a vanity shelf in the two bathrooms.

November 8, 2017November 8, 2017

#DemoDay

Days is more appropriate. We began on Friday, Oct 27 and I will call Tuesday, Nov 7 the official last day of demolition. Including myself, 8 people (6 men and 2 females) had a hand at bringing my house down to its studs. We filled two, 40-yard dumpsters. I totally understand why Demo Day is @ChipGaines favorite day. I loved every minute of the process and did not feel true fatigue until today (like typing this entry is testing my arms, which I can barely lift).

My father told me I could do the demo myself. I had hoped I could get it complete under the $3800 estimate I had gotten from Tiburon Energy owner, Daryn Goulbourne, but I missed the mark by about $1000. However I got a lot more done than was covered in his bid. Remember “I Just Want Brick” post? Well I have brick in all the areas I mentioned in that blog. My guys literally pounded the plaster with a mini sledgehammer until it crumbled to the ground. That brick in the hallway is going to look fabulous once it’s cleaned and sealed. My master closet will have a cool brick feature and my gas stove will look awesome centered on the brick wall in the kitchen. To get the tub out of the first floor and expose the sagging and severely cut floor joist we had to hammer jack through a bed of 6-8″ thick concrete. Cameron and John tackled that by themselves (Herculean Feat). Cameron and Jermaine also tackled removing the boiler system in the basement (another Herculean Feat). My spend also extended to the outside of the house where I was also able to get the ragged chain link fence removed from the back and side yard thanks to Cameron, John, Jermaine, and Greg. I have a snake issue to address (YIKES!)

Here’s a Quik video I created of the demo process: #DEMODAY

At one point my cousin Greg asked me if I was feeling stressed. I honestly answered, no. In the midst of all the destruction, I have an even greater sense of clarity on this project. The crew left between 4 and 5 each day, but I remained until dark and was at such peace as I walked through the demoed spaces. My friend Joan stopped by one day and I told her I could get an air mattress and start sleeping there right now (me and Ricky the Racoon, the box gutters can’t get fixed fast enough).

One contractor that came through the house told me it would not be possible to remove and reuse the majority of the trim without breaking it. I saved 95% of the trim; really only losing the floor trim that had outlets cut into them and the long wall of the kitchen, which will house cabinets in the remodel. I hope we aren’t going to have a harsh winter as I will have my hands full cleaning up, patching, sanding, staining, and sealing the trim and doors in my current garage. More sweat equity, which is the only way I’ll be able to make the numbers work. I can’t wait to price trim just to see how much I saved.

One thing I know for sure. If I ever get into the house flipping (for rent or sell) business I’m calling these guys and gal first to hire as my crew! They ROCKED!

Let the remodeling begin!

November 1, 2017

Another Hidden Find

I’m ashamed to say I may have thrown a couple of these away when I first started pulling the trim assuming they were not worth using with the new wiring forthcoming. At the time this house was built, 1924, outlets were incorporated into the floor trim moulding, which does not meet today’s code. The house doesn’t have a ton of outlets, currently, and all of those that still had covers looked like the one on the right. After finding the hidden jewels with the light fixtures, I decided to start removing the remaining covers and was shocked to find they were actually metal. I only have eight, but after about 5 minutes of scrubing I was able to reveal more gold or brass.

It’s really amazing this house had not burned down. A family lived in the house at least as early as four years ago and they utilized the existing knob and tub wiring. There was charring behind almost every plate and in the bedrooms the floor trim was actually burnt on the backside. In one room there are signs of an actual fire. Modern electronics just had no place in the house in its current state. I’ll be bringing everything up to code, which includes probably quadrupling the number of outlets in the house. I’ll have to decide which room will get these eight gems. I found a site that sales them, but at $10.50 a pop you’ll see the modern, cheap, plastic covers everywhere else.

November 1, 2017November 1, 2017

$49.80+$27.30+$33.05+ $34.65+$19.95=$2664.75

Ok it really only equals $164.75. That’s how much money I got for taking the cast iron pipes and radiators that once heated my house to Garden Street Iron & Metal, Inc, located in my neighborhood. The additional $2500 is the money I won’t have to pay the HVAC company if their crew removed the pipes. Almost all of the most valuable metals had been stripped from the house already. The valves to almost all the rads were still in place and they were brass. On one load I had a 160 lb radiator and 35 lbs in valves. I got $8.40 for the rad and $41.40 for the valves.

#NicoleCurtis posted a blog showing how she turned a rad into a bedroom shelf, http://www.nicolecurtis.com/blog/2016/11/13/nicoles-tried-and-true-remodeling-tips, and I thought about doing this project with the over 6′ rad (only two rads were left) that was upstairs in the new Master bedroom. However it was too heavy to move (in one piece) and was in the way to remove the floor trim I’m trying to save and would have been in the way of the floor refinishers. She harps a lot about saving our landfills and i agree, but if you have access to a scrap metal yard who can shred it in preparation for a new life then to me throwing out is a viable option too.

One contractor that walked through my house early on said it’s a shame that looters don’t understand that they do $1000s in damage to a person’s home for a few hundred bucks. I totally get that now. The worst buckling of my floors, where I’ll spend about $5,000 restoring, was probably caused from where they cut the rads without draining the water. For code reasons (old knob and tube) I needed to rip out electric anyway, but perhaps if more scrap was left I would have rented a UHaul for one trip versus testing the stamia of my PT Cruiser. All is good, on to tackle the next obstacle! BTW – I’m thoroughly enjoying this journey thus far.

October 31, 2017

Don’t question the blessings, just give thanks.

One of my clients (who I now consider a friend) is very spiritual and as I shared some of my contractor stories she said I’m going to pray that the right workers are brought to you. I believe her prayer manifested in the form of my cousin Cameron. Cameron does demo work, but was recently laid-off his job. His mis-fortune became my fortune. This weekend was official #demoday and the work Cameron, along with two of his friends (co-workers also laid off) and his younger brother Greg pulled off this weekend is beyond incredible. They filled a 40 yard dumpster, freed for reglazing a monster cast iron tub (had to give hi fives on that feat), and cleared out all the water lines from the old boiler heating system. We only got through half the house, so more photos and hopefully a Quik video are forthcoming.

Another blessing came today from a long time friend via a morning text that read:
Good Morning Venus. That small voice that speaks to me and some times I question it but have learned to follow what it is saying and the results are always, and I mean always, wonderful said I am supposed to give you $1000 on your renovation. Please let me know the best way to get you the money.

Blown away! That covers a second dumpster and funds to pay my awesome crew.

Thank you!

October 27, 2017October 29, 2017

Time to Save the Stained Glass

20170729_161120 Today, in preparation for #DemoDay (the real one) I had Architectural Art Glass Studio, located in Pleasant Ridge, come out to my house to remove the stained glass from the entry foyer. It has some cracks and is in need of repair. Unfortunately I missed the actual removel as I had to run to Harbor Freight and pick up a generator (finally broke down and got one to keep batteries charged on grinder and reciprocal saw). I got back in time for the cutting of the plywood that now fills the hole. Amazing how much light that window provided.

October 25, 2017October 25, 2017

YouTube, a DIYers Resource

shared previously, my house had been ransacked. Stripped of plumbing, electric, most metal of value. What was left, fortunately, were almost all of the doors. The french doors seperating the dining room from living room; upper half of dutch door separating kitchen from hall to bedrooms; and a swinging door separating the kitchen from dining room were taken. No big deal with two as the wall is coming down that housed them. The french door would have been nice, but no great loss given how small the area is (relatively speaking). Of the remaining doors only 2 are damaged beyond repair and I’ll need to replace.

With the rest, I plan to clean them up and reuse them. The biggest issue with them are the hinges. They are rusted, some so severe the doors don’t open or close, so I Googled how to remove rust from metal and found some great YouTube videos that recommended soaking the object in vinegar, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TlcL_vHODkc&t=151s, or vinegar with salt added, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6x5BNcHyiiI&t=87s. I decided to give both a shot. Here are a couple of the hinges. Prior to putting them in the solution I used my Dremel tool to remove the surface rust.

These hinges are from the door to attic and they soaked for 3 days and as you can see from the video they now move freely. Upon taking them out of the vinegar and salt solution I did scrub each with a steel brush. I sprayed the hinges with WD40. The kitchen entry hinges are still soaking. They at least move now, but not as freely as in the video, so I put them back in the solution.

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These door plates and knob were not as rusty as the hinges, so I opted to soak them in vinegar only and they only soaked approx 24 hours.

October 22, 2017

Truly, A Beautiful Day in My Neighborhood

Vanity came in handy today. Since I just got my hair done on Friday I was not anxious to dawn a bandanna and tackle more demo this weekend, so instead my friend Joan and I took part in the final Saturday of “Made in Camp”: Camp Washington Artists Open Houses. Camp Washington’s community of 40-plus artists, galleries and makers
collaborated on two successive Saturdays. They say artist, the creative class, are the first to expose the “gems” in neighborhoods. I had no idea that the warehouses I drove past for 20 years in working in downtown Cincinnati were filled with a wonderful area of talented people. We made it to about 8 shops, a few of which I plan to patronize for items for my house. The absolute coolest stop was The Swing House. From the outside it looked like a typical row styled house, but on the inside the owner, Mark DeJong, created the most cool living space and centered in the middle of it is a swing.

I also got to meet some of my neighbors, which was super cool too. Following Joan and I had lunch at Camp Washington Chili, this is starting to become my spot, before going to my house to pull staples out of my kitchen floor. Joan picked up on the Hint Hint I threw out in a previous post, Thank You Joan.

20171021_123057 Thanks to one of my neighbors, Theresa Ferrari (she’ll be running a new coffee shop Mom N’ Nem that will be housed inside of a 1969 31-foot Land Yacht Airstream trailer just one block from me), I stopped by Camp Washington Hardware and bought a tool similar to this, which she said makes pulling the staples a breeze. Boy was she right. Unfortunately the store only had one and I let Joan use it. She pulled up twice as many as I did. You have to love a friend that will spend a Saturday afternoon on her hands and knees on a dirty floor pulling staples. I can’t wait until all the demo is done, just so I can mop the floors. She also made me a great first aid kit to keep on site as my first house warming gift. She wouldn’t use my thrown and I put in a fresh bag in just for her. Since the site is called Venus’ DIY Projects I thought I’d share a pic of the toilet thrown I made out of a pallet. Turning a 5-gallon bucket into a porto-potty with the snap on lid was a great Amazon find, but squatting down to it wasn’t fun, especially after a long day of demo. On a rainy day I threw this together to elevate it. My plumbing can’t come fast enough.

October 20, 2017

By Gosh It Works and Surprise, Surprise, Surpise

I live on #HGTV and #DIYNetwork. #RehabAddict is one of my favorite shows and I feel like @NicoleCurtis and I could be sisters from another mother. It blows my mind the contractors that come in my house and talk about short cuts or throwing out some of the coolest features of this house just because they are old. You can’t recapture the craftsmanship that was done back in the day. Case in point my light fixtures. The house was pretty much ransacked and stripped of any metal deemed valuable. However about a dozen of the light fixtures were still in place (or the base in the case of the dining room chandelier and door entry light). All were covered in cobwebs, soot, and layers of paint (which is probably why they were left behind).

Nicole always shares how she removes paint off her home’s hardware by cooking them in a crockpot of water. Also, with the new season of #SalvageDawgs (another favorite show) @RobertKulp has a commercial that talks about the same topic. He takes Nicole’s tip one step further by transferring the hot item into cold water. The sudden change in temp causes the paint to just crack off. I tried this today. To my surprise, surprise, surprise the process revealed the most beautiful gold finish. By no means is gold going to become a main fixture color in my house, but these six fixtures will be prominently displayed for all to see (assuming I can get them rewired). Check out these before and afters.