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#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!

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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.

 

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$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.

 

 

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Don’t question the blessings, just give thanks.

20171028_161540.jpgOne 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!

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Time to Save the Stained Glass

20170729_161120Today, 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.

 

 

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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.

20171024_22062620171024_220553

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.

 

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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_123057Thanks 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.

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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.

Before – This was in the attic bath area
After – More Pewter in color, will now be back door light
Before – Short Hall Leading to 1st Floor Bath
After – Will return to that spot.
Before – Long Hall to bedrooms and bath
After – Will return to that spot
Before
Before
After – These will go in Master Bed Suite area
All Four – After
Before – Lights stairway to attic
After – Will return to that spot (MY FAV)
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First Cut

Unlike in Forest Park, the City of Cincinnati does not consider yard waste trash and they only pick it up every two weeks (I’m on the Green Schedule) April thru January.  It has to be placed in special paper yard bags or a dedicated can that is marked yard waste.  Forest Park tried enforcing paper bags for yard waste and that lasted one season.  I guess I’ll have to get use to using them again and today picked up 3 packs of 5 to tackle my first yard work at the house.

My grass was getting pretty long and tonight is my night to set out for pick up tomorrow, so I figured out a way to haul my lawn mower over to the house (bought a ramp that fit on my Cruiser) to cut the grass.  I also took my string edger and backpack blower.  The house has probably not been edged in decades; grass was very overgrown on the sidewalks and curb.  Unfortunately I ran out of string (I didn’t think I’d need a refill), so I didn’t get to do the entire property.  I did cut my yard as well as my neighbor’s, Laverne.  I used the blower to clear the sidewalks and get more leaves up.  My cousin Greg showed up just in time to pick up all the debris, my least favorite part.

At the closing for my house Joe Gorman, Camp Washington Community Board Executive Director, told the attorney that my house is a signature property for Camp Washington.  I’m on a mission to make sure it lives up to that status.  Getting the yard in pristine condition will be a major part of that.  My father designed the landscape around my current home.  I’m looking forward to designing this one.

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Pine It Will Be

Today I had more meetings with contractors at the house (HKC Roofing, EverDry (again- they seem so shady to me), and Tri-State Roofing), so to kill time between the first and last I set out to reveal the full kitchen flooring; removing the last of the debris and linoleum flooring.  Aside from a few holes from the old radiator heat pipes and an approximate 5′ x 2′ bad patch the floors will be beautiful once sanded and sealed.  That bad patch would actually end up being under the cabinets, so I could just let it go (NOT).

Yellow pine tongue and groove is the sub floor of the entire house, except for the living and dining room where they laid oak on top of the pine sub floor.  I plan to let that pine sub floor be my actual flooring and I most likely won’t stain it, allowing the natural color to come through the sealant coat that will be applied.

Only thing left to do with the floor is to remove the million staples used to put down the plywood that the old linoleum was adhered to.  I’m hoping a few friends will want to bring their pliers and help me pull them out on Saturday (hint hint).

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