Sista Girl with Skills

Page 5 of 24

July 18, 2020July 18, 2020

Peel A-Way Product Review

With all the scraping Lyle has done on the 2nd floor dormers over the past 5 weeks, which exceeded my expectations, I decided I wanted the paint from the front porch removed also. When Lyle first walked the property I said that didn’t need to be scraped as I assumed the bead board would be difficult and time consuming to clear properly. After all that is why I rebuilt the rear portico. Lyle said Peel A-Way would be the product to use, but it was expensive (approximately $40/ 1.25 gallon from the Oakley Paint Store; $55 at Sherwin Williams). I told him I’d buy it if he applied it, so I did and he did. I watched the product video several times before he applied it and thought if it works that well maybe I can leave the wood natural.

You can see the chemical starting to work after just a few hours

The product stayed on approximately 24 hours before Lyle removed it.

Honestly I wasn’t impressed at that stage. My thoughts of leaving the natural wood were dashed, but at least I felt the new paint would look cleaner. At that point I was contemplating painting it white or Lullaby Blue in keeping with southern porches. I had bought 3 pails and Lyle had used 1.5 of them, so he suggested applying another coat which he did. It was early evening, around 5pm when he applied. By the next morning when I let out my dogs I discovered that the paper had already fallen. I sent Lyle a text and he said he couldn’t come for another hour. I remember him warning it was important to not let the product dry out, so I removed the final piece that had not fallen and all the product that was still adhered to the boards.

I could still see paint and product in the grooves, so I used the edge of my carbide scrapper to remove it. Where it was still moist it came off easy. Lyle did arrive and I asked to use his paint eater tool I saw him use on the windows. He said he’d do it, I let him, and when he finished I knew I wanted to keep the wood natural. Peel A-Way removed so much that it was worth the extra sweat equity I’d need to perform to get it clean enough to leave unpainted. At that point I told Lyle I would take over this portion of the project. I will take the time and effort to remove all the traces of paint, but so worth it. I need for him to focus on the house he started on June 9.

The dark area is where I rubbed Boiled Linseed Oil. I’ll research the best product to use, but that test area let me know it will be worth the additional work.

I didn’t want to buy anymore Peel A-Way as I thought it would be overkill for what paint was left, so I went up to the Clifton Ace Hardware store to see what product they’d recommend. I showed the pics above and the owner was so impressed that she went to Dumond’s website and is going to look into carrying it at her store. Another worker recommended that I use Citristrip. I knew that wasn’t a good option as I used that product when I stripped the doors (sure wish I knew about Peel A-Way then). It would work, but be messy. What I really liked about the Peel A-Way was the ease of clean up. The sheets went in the trash and any paint that did fall to the ground swept up easily. He then recommended Goof Off, which I bought. When I got home I decided to contact Dumond Chemicals, manufacturer of Peel A-Way, made in the USA, directly to see if they had a spray on product that would work. Their website list the names, phone, and emails to people in their corporate office so I emailed my pictures to Customer Support; Dave Martin, Dumond Senior Chemist; Matt Bartolotta, Product Technical Manager; and cc’d the President, Richard Grear.

Customer Suport replied stating to apply more Peel A-Way, but Matt responded back stating that Alan Bensen, National Account Manager, wanted to speak with me directly and he asked for my number. In my initial email I did mention my blog, so Alan actually had reached out to me through that and asked that I call him between 3 and 5 Friday, which I did. What a great conversation. He’s another old house restorer himself and had done a similar project on his own home. He confirmed what Customer Support had responded, but stressed that I only needed to apply it to the areas in question. From the pictures he didn’t think I’d need that much, so he offered to send me their free samples. He shared I’d only need to let it set a couple of hours and I didn’t even need to use the paper sheets that came with the product. I let him know I had bought extra, so had plenty I could use. He then said to use a nylon brush and water to remove the product. He also recommended that I get the Scotch Brite pads for scrubbing. This is what I call great customer service. It ranks right up there with the owner of Thermasol, Mitch Altman, calling personally to assist with my shower.

I’m excited to share the final results, so stay tuned.

July 17, 2020July 20, 2020

I Have Paint and Concern

39 days after he first started working Lyle has applied primer to my house. He still has to finish scrapping a rear dormer and crown of the box gutters in the front (thanks to Fusion Roofing I’ll be handling the back), but he actually put PPG Gripper primer on some of the lower windows and moulding from the dormers he had removed.

Lyle caulks after he primes. This is why I wouldn’t.

Here’s my concern, he has no clue as to where the pieces of moulding he took down go. I remember the day he took most of them down, June 17 at approximately 11:14:16 AM (it’s a beautiful thing how digital photos are time and date stamped). Honestly I was shocked by him doing that. It was not requested or expected, which is why I wrote the Exceeding My Expectations, So Far post. I remember asking about knowing where they went and he said he could match the nail holes and he was going to put the back up the next day. Well, over the last few days I’ve watched him remove the nails, that could have been his guide and we’re long past the next day.

The pieces stayed leaned against the house until I moved them the night of July 6th when high winds from a storm knocked his scaffolding system down, which had been up for days and not used. I felt very fortunate that the winds blew them to the left as to the right could have torn my electric line down. It could have broken windows (the new, thicker trim Tom installed is what stopped the one ladder from going any further) and it could have broken the moulding, that is irreplaceable (yes I could by new, but the quality of wood today pales in comparison to what I have now), which is why I finally moved them to the back yard. This picture shows a few still leaning, but majority were on the ground under the fallen scaffolding. Since they weren’t marked or labeled, I just stacked them out of harms way.

After days of them being down I did ask about them again and he pointed out to me he still had three to remove and clean (I offered to clean them so he could keep scraping on the 2nd level, he didn’t take the offer), but that he also planned to prime them and maybe paint them before rehanging. So now we’re at that moment. I will allow the priming, but I will not allow him to paint them before hanging. Rehanging them is not going to be simple and even if he puts each piece in their exact original location there will be obvious gaps and holes created due to being removed that will need to be addressed with caulk or putty before final paint is applied.

I’ve glued four pieces that had severe cracks, but found another piece with a chunk missing. It’s clearly an old crack, but the break off is fresh. I have no idea if he kept the piece. The reason my reinstall of the inside moulding went so well is that I labeled pieces by wall, bundled pieces together by area, and I kept every piece that actually broke off; wrapping it with plastic to the piece it broke off of. It was a year after I moved in before I had every piece back in place and I made multiple post showing what it took to achieve the final results. Pure beauty for a non-professional if I toot my own horn. I had the luxury of working on the ground, not 20′ in the air on a steeply pitched roof, in record hot temperatures.

While he was painting the seven pieces of moulding I asked again about hanging and he said three of the dormers are the same (true, but not really-old house nothing is ever exactly the same) and the pieces for the large dormer he kept together in the back. Hmmm, really. I didn’t sleep well that night, this is worrying me. The next morning while my dogs went out I took a closer look at the pieces he painted and I rearranged them by sets of two; left and right side. I believe six of them clearly are the fronts of the three small dormers, but it is also clear by the shortened length of one of them that they are not interchangeable. The 7th piece didn’t make sense so I walked around the house. That 7th is for the large rear dormer, so much for keeping them together. The two pieces for the sides of that dormer are the only two pieces where there is no doubt as to where they belong. One end is a straight cut as it butts up to the piece he didn’t remove and the two sides are different lengths, so you’ll know which is left and right.

Close up of the middle set, clearly two different lengths

He hasn’t scraped the piece he didn’t remove from the right side, but he started scrapping the piece on the left while it was attached. I’m now perplexed as to why he took them down if he could scrape them in place. The only reason I can surmise is he told me he can’t find people that will work on heights, so by taking them down his worker was able to handle the scrapping on the ground. That would have been a major reason why he should have put them back up as he finished scraping them. Instead of removing most at one time he should have removed from one, given to his worker on the ground to scrape while he scraped the surfaces that remained. God I hope he didn’t get the idea to remove from my decision to remove the trim from the lower windows. Two completely different situations with the biggest difference being I was replacing what I removed. That worker should have worked four days (one per dormer) instead of one. His proficiency in prep (hopefully painting too) is tempered by his lack of efficiency.

Drywall déjà vu is creeping in. I want this paint project to end on a high note, but until those pieces are rehung that is in question.

July 17, 2020

Fusion Roofing + Restoration – Shysters

I have removed the original post regarding the work performed by Fusion Roofing on my box gutters as I can no longer stand by my original assessment of their work. My latest discovery of their improper, short-cut, intentional conceal, workmanship has now reared its head a third time and this latest discovery will probably set me back at least $500 and possibly delay the painting of my house.

The restoration of my box gutters was the first major expense of my restoration. They didn’t exist in most areas. Ricky raccoon and his family had free reign access to my house for shelter. All the quotes came in over $10,000. I paid Fusion over $15,000.

My house before the gutters were repaired

Since this was one of the first projects to take place at my house, very early into my General Contracting role, I had no complaints with their work. You don’t know, what you don’t know and I wasn’t onsite all the time to see everything that was done. The house looked good after they were finished.

The first instance of their inferior work was discovered by a Dan Shepard who was doing some roof work for me in March 2018. He discovered that Fusion had failed to nail down the three rows of shingles they laid while restoring the gutters. The owner, Kevin Helman, found that hard to believe when I called him to report it, but he did come out, investigated, and confirmed Dan’s findings. Dan’s crew member had done some of the repair, but Kevin did finish it. Strike one.

The second instance was discovered November 2019 and I talked about it in the post A Blessing in Disguise. On fluke I discovered a huge gap in the crown moulding. They did a poorly executed mitered corner cut and instead of re-cutting it they filled the huge gap with caulk, which fell out over time. Again they came out and made the repair. Randy, the crew leader was very apologetic for the poor workmanship, which he said must have happened when he wasn’t onsite. I took that in stride and was grateful for the helping hand they gave with the vent caps, which help me get over the final plumbing inspection. Nevertheless, this was Strike Two.

The final strike I discovered last night while trying to replace more of the asbestos tile at the roof line. When I went to scrape the paint away from the tile being replaced about 8″ of the bottom of the crown moulding broke off. The piece was literally held with paint and caulk. The underside of the broken piece was charred wood, that section was part of the fire. With that piece off I noticed a lot of play in the piece, so I began to polk around it with my tool and it went straight through the board. It was rotten. At that point I knew it would need to be replaced so I began looking for the screws to remove it. In the approximate 5′ length, Fusion had only used two screws that actually attached to something and they were both located with 8″ of each other at the end of the board. One 8″ from end the the other at the end to screw the miters together. A third was actually screwed into the original blown-in installation, so basically attached to nothing. Caulk and paint was holding the piece in place.

Lyle Homes is still scraping paint from the second floor dormers (started June 9), but if his crew person that worked on first floor windows had started with the first floor crown, this would have been discovered weeks ago. Since I discovered it my first call was to Tom Milfeld, my go to guy. I wasn’t going to bother calling Fusion and just fix it. I got up this morning and took the piece to Hyde Park lumber who said they didn’t have that profile. I knew Fusion had replaced crown in November, so I called them to find out where they got it from and they said Hyde Park. I have two sections of crown on the house and the repair they did was on upper section. The lower crown is 5 5/8″ wide; the closes they have is 5 1/4″. I will have no choice but to replace the entire rear of my house as a custom milled 5′ section would be triple the cost of the in-stock 48′ I’ll need.

Kevin asked that I send him pictures of the section in question. He said his work did not include the crown attached to the house, which this is. I pointed out that it is also attached to the soffit that they did replace and even if it wasn’t part of their bid (I feel it was) they still deliberately covered over decayed wood vs. giving me an option to allow them to repair it. My original bid from them was $10,875 and it said “Replace any damaged wood as needed at an additional charge per foot, price chart listed above”. One of their references warned me to get everything in writing as they will only do what is listed, so before they started work I had another conversation with Coy Baker, which led to me agreeing to pay another $4,833 for this scope of services: Remove all wood from box gutters, including, fall, fascia, crown, cap, and soffit boards, from entire house; Replace all wood on box gutters including rater tails, fall boards, fascia boards, crown molding, and plywood soffit boards; Properly pitch new gutters to ensure proper flow (I asked for this as someone warned me this could be an issue if not done properly); and All exposed wood will be caulked at the joints and all exposed wood will be primed. This extra money was specifically to address “wood as needed at an additional charge per foot” as Coy said given the condition it was all going to need to be replaced anyway and this additional amount would cover it.

Kevin felt I was being argumentative and hung up on me as I interrupted him while he was onsite at another job. I didn’t force him to answer his phone. Kevin is the owner of the company, but he didn’t do the work. I wanted to speak with Randy, since twice before Randy confirmed the work was done improperly and he fixed it. Based on the hang up I have no confidence anything will be done, so I’ve moved forward with ordering 48′ of new primed crown moulding and I’ve lined up Tom to help me get it installed. Since the new crown will be almost a 1/2″ shorter than the original I know all the asbestos tiles along the top edge of the house will need to be replaced. It was installed after the house was built and butts up against the crown. There will now be an approx 1/2″ gap. That has to be ordered from Home Depot and will take at least a week. Putting it up first, so the crown can sit on top of it is the proper fix. The only positive is, like with all the 1st floor windows, this will be one more area Lyle won’t have to deal with. The crown is already primed, so when Tom and I are done he can just paint.

Of course I fear when I start removing the remainder of the crown that I’m going to uncover even more of Fusion’s poor workmanship. Now that I know what to look for I can see other areas around the house that they filled with caulk to hide a poor cut or seam. I’m almost tempted to dig the caulk out of these areas and fill them with the WoodEpox, since I know that works so well. Every soffit seam is separating now.

Even if I let the seams go, the two ends of the gutters on the rear where I will need to replace the crown is troubling and I fear the soffits themselves will need to be replaced. I truly don’t understand the need to splice in such a small section, which is what they did on the right side of house. They caulked to hide, but as with all the other sections of the house that caulk is failing and splice is exposed. The soffit is just cheap plywood. They could have cut another piece and learned from the mistake. On the left side, they didn’t splice, but filled a huge gap with caulk. It hasn’t failed like the piece did in the front which led to the November repair, but it may give way when I remove the crown. I’ll run it by Tom, but I think the best answer is to just run that crown to the end of the gutter instead of stopping where it is now. That won’t match the front of the house, but hell the crown isn’t going to match either. Fingers crossed Lyle won’t find rot on the front when he starts that prep.

Left side. Huge caulk fill next to house and another on outside edge.

July 12, 2020July 12, 2020

I’m Transitioning

For almost three years I have been charting my journey of restoring my home, a 1924 Cape Cod styled house, located in Camp Washington of Cincinnati, OH. Now I’m going personal; I’m going to share my journey of restoring my natural hair. I’ve made the decision to let my perm grow out. It’s something I’ve been thinking about for awhile. My perm was expensive, over $125 every six weeks, so cost savings was one consideration. I was tired of the scalp burns caused by the chemical. I seldom would tell my stylist that the relaxer was burning because I wanted my hair as straight as possible. I want to enjoy my steam shower without thinking about messing up my freshly styled hair.

I have never cared for my hair in its natural state. Prior to my perm my mom or relative did my hair or I was getting a press and curl by Ms. Scott in this huge house located in Avondale. Ms. Scott did hair in her basement and I can remember me and my cousin Detra being dropped off and left for hours on Saturdays. I wish my mom were still alive so I could ask her why she agreed to let me get a perm. At 55-years-old, reflecting back on my childhood, I know for me it was a desire to have “white people” hair. Let me share a bit of my childhood.

I grew up in Forest Park, which was a predominantly white community when we moved there. I can remember starting Girl Scouts, as a Brownie, and as the only Black in my first troop having other girls not want to hold my hand. I remember them pulling their sweaters sleeves down to act as a barrier between mine and theirs. I lived in Forest Park, but from K-3 attended Sands Elementary in downtown Cincinnati with my mother where I was in a non-graded classroom with mostly Black kids. I had two wonderful teachers Phyllis Gaston, who was Black, and Jennifer Cottingham, who was white, that I cherish to this day. Mrs. Gaston is deceased and I’d love to find Mrs. Cottingham again and hope she is still living. For fourth grade my parents enrolled me in my neighborhood school, Forest View School. I was placed in the classroom of a white woman, Mrs. Smith who did not like nor want to teach Black children. My parents had me removed from her class mid-year, but I went from loving school to hating it and that pretty much never changed throughout the rest of my time in Forest Park. I most certainly never had another Mrs. Gaston or Mrs. Cottingham.

I didn’t know what “red lining” was as a child, but we lived in the “H” section of Forest Park; apparently the section where it was acceptable for Black families to live. My parents decided to build a house on Inner Circle, a Homearama street. I can remember racial slurs being written on the foundation and sabotage being done to the plumbing by a kid that lived on the street, Eric Price, because his family and others felt Black families should not live on that street. Thankfully countering that ill will was a Jewish family that also lived on the street, the Lukins. They welcomed us with a tray of magic bar cookies. I’m still friends with them today and whenever I make magic bars I use butterscotch morsels instead of nuts because that is how Mrs. Lukin made them. I shared these these experiences of my childhood because, for a lack of a better phrase, they didn’t cause me to not want to be Black or not like myself for being Black. It taught me that there are good white folks and bad. However that changed the summer I went to a horse camp in Zanesville, OH, Mormon Valley Farm Camp.

As with most Black girls that go to camp, my mother had my hair braided in cornrows, so I wouldn’t have to deal with it for the two weeks I’d be there. I think I was the first Black camper they ever had and most of those kids acted like they had never seen a Black kid before. Some probably hadn’t. At Sands I went to school with a girl named Zenith, so I never got teased for having a unique name like Venus. I think I heard every possible planet joke ever created in that two weeks. My hair and its style became a source of ridicule so severe that I wore a hat at all times; even slept in it. It was a Christian camp, so we prayed at every meal and I wouldn’t remove it then either. I can remember some boy campers telling counselors that I had to take it off during prayer, but my counselor stepped to my defense to say that was a rule for males, not females, so I didn’t have to. It wasn’t all bad (I never went back), but it left scars and created the desire for me to want “white people” hair and not like my name.

I can’t remember saying to my mom “I want hair like white people”. I’m quite confident she wouldn’t have done it for that reason. I was getting heavy into sports, and press and curls just don’t last long on a hot, sweaty, summer day, so around age 12 and routinely for the last 40+ years I’ve gotten my hair relaxed. Since Covid-19 hit I’ve only curled my hair 2 or 3 times. I have a great stylist that cuts it in a fashion that allows me to wash, mold set it, and wear it flat with my bangs down, without curling, and still look like I have a style especially within the first few weeks of a perm. Like I said in the opening paragraph I’ve been thinking about going natural for awhile. This country’s latest civil unrest brought about by the murder of George Floyd started me reflecting on growing up Black in this country and remembering my reasoning for wanting a perm. My natural hair most certainly isn’t the problem, so May 1 was the last time my head has seen relaxer and the journey to transition has begun.

I know it’s going to be a difficult journey. I read that human hair grows approximately 1/2″ every month, so the vision I have for how I want to wear my hair is at least 9-12 months away and I don’t even know if I have the type of hair that will allow that vision to transpire. I know I have Type 4 hair, but a, b, or c is the million dollar question. At my last hair appointment, when I announced I was going natural, 4 weeks ago, my stylist trimmed up the back, so my hair at my neck line is natural. I know at some point the relaxed, straight hair on top of my head will have to be cut off as it will be weaker than my natural hair and start to break. At that point bangs won’t be an option, so I’ve started washing my hair and combing it back just to get use to not having hair on my face.

I’m also making an effort to always wear earrings and I plan to get some bigger, light weight, hoops. I get mistaken for a man, a lot already, so I know the early stages of the transition is going to open the flood gates to me routinely hearing….Can I help you sir. I don’t plan to wear my natural hair short, but it’s my only option in the beginning. I shared this news with my father who quickly quipped, so you want to wear your hair like a boy. NO, but it’s going to be part of the journey and I don’t consider women with natural hair cut short with trying to be a boy. I grew my permed hair out for the first term of the Obama Presidency. Michelle was such an inspiration, but for their second term I quickly cut it short again as I don’t have her style team or income and long hair I found harder to maintain. I’ve worn my hair short for decades, so who knows, but if you call me a boy expect to be cursed out.

My goal is to commit to this process for at least one full year without caving in, so April 30, 2021 will be the evaluation day. Proper hair care products I know will be the key, so I have started this journey with Pattern Beauty, @PATTERNBEAUTY, the new Black Care hair line by Tracee Ellis Ross. For years I’ve been using another Black hair care line, Dudley Hair Care Products (my stylist is a Dudley Salon), but I stumbled across the Pattern line of products searching the Internet for articles about transitioning to natural hair. One of her blog post was a Hair Story Spotlight by Adriane Jamison. It provided great tips, so I decided to invest in her hydration shampoo, Intensive Conditione r (which I love applying while taking a steam shower), leave-in condition (I wet/rinse my hair about every other day to keep that look you see above and I apply the leave-in each time), and jojoba oil hair serum, which I also apply every time I wet it. I also got her wide tooth comb. As soon as I get some decent length, I want to try her shower brush too. The video she created for that is a riot.

It’s amazing to me how many of my friends and family are already wearing their hair natural. I was at a friend’s house for the 4th and at least 5 of the ladies there were natural and they gave me great advice also, the biggest of which is not to be a product whore. Although not a brand, they recommended the same type products that I already bought, so this first year I’m going to commit to Pattern Beauty. My followers know I tend to “drink the coolaid”. HGTV can do no wrong, Chip and Joanna Gaines can do no wrong, well Tracee Ellis Ross and her first released single, Love Myself, from her movie the High Note, has become my personal anthem. The song is my phone’s ringtone and I tend to deliberately not answer calls until I hear these lyrics: I don’t really care if everybody likes me, I just want to love myself, love myself.

In two weeks I have my next hair appointment. So far I’m seeing no breakage with my Pattern Beauty product usage, but I think I’m going to cut off the permed hair anyway. I feel like I’m wasting good product on my relaxed strands. Stay tuned.

July 10, 2020

Window Sill and Frame Restoration

My prized stained glass window, exterior frame, was in rough shape. While removing the paint I discovered two areas where large chunks of the frame had been filled with something that looked like plaster and it was not done well. They were already loose, so I decided to remove them and search for a better product to use. I was already familiar with wood epoxy, I used it to restore the inside frame, but I wasn’t sure if the product I used could be used outdoor. I turned to Google and stumbled across several YouTube videos that talked about Abatron’s LiquidWood and WoodEpox. I decided this was the product I wanted to use and with luck the Clifton Ace Hardware store carried the kit. After watching Abatron’s video several times, I decided this was the product to use to also restore the window sills.

Since I wanted to finish installing the new plinths, I started with those sills first. As per the video I prepped the wood making sure all paint was removed and I used my vacuum cleaner to remove all dust and in the case of the bathroom window, suck out all the paint chips that had fallen in the huge cracks. I mixed equal parts of the LiquidWood parts A and B and applied it to the wood with a cheap bristle paint brush. The video suggest drilling 1/8″ holes in the wood to allow the product to seep deeper. I did this on the bedroom window sill since it was not as cracked as the bathroom window. That window sill felt brittle/frail to the touch. As you can see from the pics below the sill darkened after applying the LiquidWood.

The video states you should apply the WoodEpox while the LiquidWood is still tacky, so after about 30 minutes I began mixing equal parts of WoodEpox A and B. The video suggests you can add LiquidWood to the WoodEpox to thin it out, if desired. I did not do this on my first use, but did for the remainder of the project as I felt the frosting like consistency was easier to apply with my putty knife.

I let it dry a couple of days (I had things to do), but before installing the plinths I sanded them until smooth. First with 60 grit, then 120. They felt and looked stronger. This was definitely the right decision and right product, so I turned to the stained glass window next. It turned out awesome.

The original kit I bought contained 12 oz LiquidWood and 12 oz WoodEpox. I got the plinth sills and the stain glass done with that kit. I ended up purchasing two additional, pint sizes (pint each of A and B, total four pints) of LiquidWood and one pint size of the WoodEpox to complete all the window sills and some minor repair on the rear portico. The process did not change, but I would suggest not working in extreme heat or direct sunlight. I repaired the dormer window sills from inside the house and was holding the cup of WoodEpox outside in direct sun. The product sets faster in heat, so I ended up wasting most of that batch as it hardened before I could spread it. With that lesson I also started mixing smaller batches as it only got hotter as this project went on.

On a few of the windows the filler used to fill the notches that probably once held shutters were missing. The Abatron product is expensive and I didn’t want to buy any more WoodEpox, so to fill those areas I used a product called ScupltWood that I’ve had for months. I can’t even remember why I bought it, but it is also a two part epoxy putty like WoodEpox. I did apply LiquidWood to the area first in some instances, not all. The outcome was the same in both cases; that product worked great too.

The windows and doors are now ready for paint. I’m ready to see paint. We are now heading into week five since Lyle’s Homes started (June 9) and he’s still scraping paint from the second floor. I can only hope that once he does start with paint that it goes twice as fast as prep because at this rate a Labor Day Drive By Open House is questionable. He’s still exceeding my expectations, but clearly his three week projection was misguided and it all can’t be blamed on the weather.

June 30, 2020July 8, 2020

Plinths Installation

My next few post are all about playing catch-up with projects that have happened or are ongoing at the house. Several weeks ago I made a post called “What Is A Plinth”. I had purchased two Ekena Millwork – Diane plinths from Amazon to practice on. I bought two because my first thought was to glue them back to back to create the thickness of the original plinth. That would mean I’d need a total of 16. Instead I pulled a MacGuyver (you know that’s my favorite term for when I come up with something most would not) and attached the plinth to a piece of 5/4 (which means it was a true 1″) x 8″ Azek pvc board to create the needed thickness. Here are the steps:

First I ripped the Azek board down to the same width as the plinth. I had to purchase a 9′ board and used less than half of that for the entire project. Next I cut the top off the Ekena plinth as it was more ornate than the original. The majority of the Ekena plinth is hollow, so removing where I did left a solid top.

The slightly shortened plinth I nailed to the full 9′ Azek board with my brad nailer, one nail on each side near the top. I wasn’t seeking to permanently attach at that point, but needed the two pieces to stay together for the next cut on the miter saw. The original plinths were stubby, about 5″ tall, so the majority of the Ekena plinth would be waste. I measured the original plinth to get its height and angle on the bottom and transferred those measurements into a scrap piece of 2×4. That piece was my test for each of the 8 locations and it fit the first location like a glove. I never measured again after that. If my test block didn’t fit in other locations, whether too tight or too loose, I adjusted my miter cuts on the real pieces accordingly, always intentionally overcutting. I marked the cut line on the back of the joined pieces and made the cut.

My longest brad nail is 2.5″, not long enough to go through both pieces and firmly attach to house, which is why I didn’t permanently attach them. I pulled them apart and attached the Azek piece to the house and then the Ekena plinth to the Azek board. They shouldn’t go anywhere and given they are made out of plastic they will never split, crack, or rot. I used a ladder to install the first plinth, far right of the bathroom side of house. The two inner plinths I could install from inside the house, but the two outer plinths I couldn’t because the windows next to them are picture glass, they don’t open. When I saw how bad of condition that window sill was I decided not to install any more until Lyle had addressed them.

As you can see from the picture above that window sill was severely dried and cracked; it was in the worst condition on entire house. Lyle and I had differing opinions on how this should be corrected and when, so I took over the restoration of all the window sills, which I’ll talk about in the next post. 7 of the 8 locations were straight forward replacements. The one that wasn’t was difficult because the original window weight protruded out and didn’t allow the plinth to sit flush to the house. I couldn’t push it back inside, so I used my grinder to carve out a channel on the back of the block. After that it fit like a glove.

The bedroom side windows I was able to hang all of them from inside my room. Since I needed to do work on the bathroom window sill, Lyle erected a scaffolding platform from me to work from. I was a nervous wreck the whole time, but the window sill was restored (see white stuff in pics below) and all eight plinths are installed and ready for primer and paint. Some may need caulk.

June 27, 2020June 27, 2020

Exceeding My Expectations, So Far

Some contractors may find me difficult to work for. I know too much and can do too much for myself. I set a high bar of excellence for myself, so in turn I expect a contractor to do the work at an even higher level of perfection. After all I’m just an advanced DIYer/Sista Girl with Skills, a contractor should be a trained professional and able to do a project faster and better. Lyle Benjamin of Lyle’s Homes started the prep to paint my house on June 9th, approximately two weeks earlier than originally projected. I viewed that as a great thing, but it was a rocky start. On day one he came and left, leaving a worker who worked on the first floor windows when I thought we had agreed I’d handle them while he focused on the second level. My mind instantly flashed back to my drywall crew. Could I have possibly made another bad choice, did my project get subcontracted again? I shared my drywall nightmare story with Lyle and told him I know I’m difficult, but he’s got to make me feel comfortable with what he’s doing. He has.

Lyle’s Homes is the first major contractor I selected without having a referral. Believe it or not, he reached out to me via Match.com. I had a bout of temporary insanity and signed up in search of a significant other and in my profile I said if you want to learn about me find my blog venusdiyworld (Match does let you insert websites in your profile). Lyle found it and reached out to me offering his painting services by pointing me to his Thumbtack page. No romance was ever formed, but he got my attention when he used another “R” word, Restoration. With his second bid I truly felt he understood what I wanted to accomplish and it was at a price I could afford. In hindsight the problems in week one were avoidable if I had told him I was not ready for his earlier start date. All the projects I planned to tackle (replacing trim on first floor windows and rebuilding rear portico) would have been complete by end of month leaving a clear understanding on what he needed to focus on. I’m still mastering my General Contractor skills.

Lyle’s bid included this wording: Prep: Wash house to remove dirt , grease and loose and peeling paint. Remove paint to bare wood on all widow frames/casings using a heat gun and or chemical removal agents and sanding. Hard scrape and feather sand additional wood trim and fascia to remove loose and peeling paint. This described what I thought was needed before any new paint was applied to my house. He’s doing this to levels that are far exceeding what I thought was possible. As I stated in an earlier post the three windows on my neighbors side that he cleaned entirely are much smoother than my windows were, so much so that I went back and used a higher grit (80 and 120) to try and reach the smooth as a baby’s butt level that his windows are.

The work he has accomplished on the second floor dormers and side crown moulding has blown my mind. He actually removed the crown from the dormers and had another worker scrape it on the ground. Doing that revealed that bees or hornets were making a home through the gaps that had formed over the years. Before rehanging he will treat them would a wood hardener, which should stop them from decaying further and he said he will be able to close those gaps. He’s also willing to spray the opening with some insecticide I have in a pump sprayer.

With the first floor conflict Lyle did agree to adjust his price, but with the high level of detail he is performing, I’ve now agreed to purchase the Sherwin Williams Duration that will be the final coats. Paint was included in his bid and he projected needing 30 gallons of primer and paint combined. If Lyle paints as well as he preps my house is going to be absolutely GORGEOUS, a true showcase home for the community of Camp Washington. In addition to buying the paint I’m also still tackling some projects, so that he can stay focused on the 2nd floor and also because I can’t see him completing this project in three weeks as projected (rain is starting to be a factor now). There are more broken tiles, so even though he said he would do that I took that on since I had already done some with the rear portico.

There were two pieces that didn’t get replaced when myself, my father, and my cousin Cameron were tackling this project two years ago. They are near the rear gutter on the Stock Street side of my house. We attempted, but the angle my father told me to cut was wrong. We didn’t have any angle finder tools and my father was using math calculations based on measurements he told me to find. It was my last piece of tile and I’m standing on ladder being yelled at about not giving him the right measurements. I left the piece, un-nailed, resting on the gutter until now. My skills have definitely improved.

The one on top is the original with wrong angle

I’m tackling the plinths and window sills next.

June 25, 2020June 25, 2020

Rear Portico Makeover – Scraping The Headboard

The portico over the rear door was as caked up with paint as the window mouldings, maybe more. The inside top and sides were just slats of bead board. I decided to replace the old bead board with new. The ceiling was spongee and in really rough condition. I remembered when installing the light fixture thinking it really should be replaced, so now is the time. Removing the bead board was a piece of cake. A crow bar and hammer did the trick. Removing the ceiling and sides revealed a glimpse at what the house looked like when it was originally built. The original, unpainted, flawless condition cedar shingles siding were revealed. Seeing that really makes me wonder what condition the house was in before they added the asbestos shingles.

I decided to build the ceiling first. I didn’t even need to cut those boards. They were 48″ long, so I had Hyde Park Lumber cut 8, 8′ boards in half for me. That saved wear and tear on my miter saw. Before installing them I used my carbide scrapper to remove the paint from any surface that would touch the new wood. I used the grinder a bit also, but unlike the windows and the door I was concerned with damaging the original corbels, so I used it sparingly.

Before tackling the sides I removed the remaining paint using my heat gun and a 5-in-1 scraper. It took me about three hours to get all the paint off.

I used my angle finder to determine the slope, 30 degrees, and with that I was off to the races. I set up a jig on my miter saw to cut the point (dental teeth) at the end of each board. Basically I cut the needed angle off a 2×4 and used that to set the angle of the saw each time I needed to make those cuts. I put a piece of tape on the back support plate, to mark where I needed to place the 2×4 and I used the miter saw clamp to hold it in place. With it secured I just had to butt my bead board against it, cut, flip the wood, and cut again. Originally there was a strip of crown moulding that went around the top edge of the sides and front. I found a very similar profile at Lowes, plastic, but for the life of me I could not figure out the right angle, so I settled for a flat piece of old pine scrap wood I had in my basement.

In removing the old side bead board I managed to break the asbestos tile on each side. No big deal to replace, but when I put my ladder up to get measurements I noticed two large holes in the tiles above the door. The wood of the house was completely exposed, so I decided to replace them also. I couldn’t get the damaged pieces out without sacrificing the two narrow strips at the top. Thankfully those could be cut from one piece of the replacement tile. It was extremely hot that day and the shingles where hot. I tried my best to minimize how much I touched them. My cuts for the side pieces where spot on! I actually reused the damaged shingle from the top to replace the broken pieces on the right side of door. I only needed two narrow pieces and I hated wasting a full sheet of the new. I was hoping I’d only need one case to repair any needed areas around the house. Yes I did wear a respirator mask while cutting them.

At this point I told Lyle, the painter, to just consider me to be part of his staff. He’ll still need to sand the corbels, but I saved him at least a day of work by tackling that project. I actually had fun. This degree of woodwork is in my wheelhouse. Speaking of woodwork projects it is back to the drawing board on my headboard project.

I got the trim pieces stained, coated, and attached. My cousin Zachary came over to help me carry the three pieces upstairs. I wanted to apply one more coat of Danish oil to the front panel before getting him to help me carry it upstairs, but I put the three pieces together and placed them where they’d reside in the room. I thought I took a picture of the top and sides assembled in my bedroom, but I didn’t and I’ve already gotten Zachman (my nickname for Zachary) to help me carry it back downstairs. It’s too big/bulky for the location. All I really wanted was the top shelf. Scotti from the WoodShop expanded that idea to include the side shelves, which seemed like a great use of the dead space being created by the top shelf. However, in addition to looking bulky when I had my mattress elevated at the top to allow me to sit up in bed, I can’t reach the top or side shelves. Elevated I’m about a foot away from the headboard; something I had not anticipated.

Fortunately I have two more pieces of the oak boards. In my minds eye my new design will be 100% better as it will eliminate the Aspen wood side boxes altogether. What I haven’t grappled with is how to deconstruct the top box. The bottom shelve is just screwed in place, but the top is glued and screwed and the screws have already been concealed with dowel rods, see post All I Needed Was The Right Jig. Actually let me rephrase that. I know exactly how to deconstruct the top box, the question is do I have the guts to do it. I got a lot of practice with straight edge cutting with a circular saw during my shed project. I need that same mastery of skills to manifest again. Stay tuned. I’d really love to have the headboard completed in conjunction with the house painting completion.

June 24, 2020June 24, 2020

Preparing for the Icing on the Cake

Per the suggestion of the son of my father’s good friend, who owns a painting company, I decided to remove the trim from the 14 lower level windows and replace with new. There are at least 4 layers of paint on the trim of my house and it is peeling heavily in some areas and what isn’t peeling has alligatored. Because I wanted the windows scrapped to the wood he was not interested in my project stating it would be labor intensive and he didn’t have the crew to take on that large of a project. I loved the suggestion and quickly calculated the cost of the moulding and the cost to pay Tom Milfeld, my go to man for just about anything (he hung my cabinets, crown moulding, and repaired my foundation just to name a few projects). These pictures show my efforts to scrap the paint from the two front living room windows. Clearly replacing was a great idea.

At this point the painter I was leaning towards had submitted a second proposal, double the first, but it included a description of the work that was in line with the prep work I felt was needed before any new primer or paint was applied. He was estimating 6 hours per window (prep and paint). Based on my painting experience with the back door, I mentally decided 5 of those hours would be prep. His hourly fee and Tom’s are similar. Based on working with Tom on so many other projects I estimated Tom’s time to hang the new trim at one hour per window, a four hour swing in time. I have 14 lower windows, only 10 upstairs, so with my sweat equity in removing the trim and remaining paint from the wood and Tom’s fee for just hanging the trim the reduction in the painter’s time more than offset the cost of the new trim, which is made out of PVC that will never rot. I got it from Hyde Park Lumber, Azek, and it’s the same product I installed around my shower windows, but in a profile that was close to the window trim. This was a no brainer decision at this point.

I decided to move forward with Lyle Home’s Painting and initially he said he couldn’t start until the end of the month, which was great as that didn’t put pressure on me to get all 14 windows prepped. He then contacted me and said he could start on June 12th. At that point I let him know that I had made the decision to handle the prep of the lower windows myself. He actually came to the house and I showed him what I planned to do. I knew I couldn’t get all windows done by the 12th, so it was decided he’d start his work on the second level. I felt pretty confident I could be complete by the time he finished that level. Well the 12th was moved up to 9th. Tom was scheduled to start work the next day and my plan was to try and stay two windows ahead of him. Lyle brought ladders and scaffolding and a worker. When I came outside to start working Lyle had left and his worker was working on the side living room window (1st floor). I sent Lyle a text asking why and he said his taller ladder was at another project. I let the worker continue working. The trim came off relatively easy. They used 6d, 3″ nails to put it up, but as you can see removing the trim removed a lot of the paint that was on the remaining wood.

This is what alligatored paint looks like

With the trim removed it left a flat surface. For the loose stuff I hand scrapped with my carbide bit scrapper, but once that was gone I used my grinder with a 40 grit flap disc, which I eventually changed to a 60 grit. In the beginning I had some control issues. Once the disc ate through the paint it sanded the wood and in spots it went too far, which is why I changed grit. Now, conversely the worker Lyle left used a heat gun and putty knife. At the end of that first day my four windows looked like this:

The painter’s four windows looked like this:

The next day I finished removing the paint from my fourth window and then returned with the palm sander on all four windows to try and smooth out the areas where I had ate into the wood. The painter continued removing paint and trim from the other lower level windows. He had removed the paint and trim from all the remaining windows, leaving them in the condition above, except for the three windows on my neighbor’s side of my house. He used a paint eater pad to remove the paint the heat gun and scrapper did not remove and then a palm sander at 60 and 120 grit. I’ll admit his windows were much smoother than mine, I only went to 80 grit with the palm sander and clearly a heat gun isn’t going to eat into the wood the way the grinder did. He also pressure washed the front of the house, which at this point I had to interject and have a frank conversation with Lyle. The 2nd floor was not getting the focused attention I thought we had agreed upon, I thought pressure washing was way premature, and I’m now loosing the savings which was paying for the new material Tom was installing. Day three marked the last day that worker came to the site (to date) and I used my method to finish the windows he started. Tom worked a total of 12 hours, I probably put in about 20 hours over the course of 4 days, but the lower level windows now have all new trim.

With the windows done, I turned my attention on the back porch portico.

June 8, 2020

New Columns and Landscape Prep

The headboard project got bumped again as this weekend was spent outdoors. My new columns arrived, so I decided to cut out my flower beds as the plan for the front landscape had been finalized.

I hired Mike Tanner Construction to install the columns. Mike installed my master shower floor. They were scheduled to arrive Saturday morning, but Friday night curiosity got the best of me so I removed the corner columns on each side. I knew the one on the right would give up easy as if you leaned on it, it would move. The left side gave up almost as easy. The decision to go down to four was made as soon as I was told six was not needed to support the structure. That was done for the aesthetic pleasure of the original owners. I always thought six was overkill. Up until I removed the two corner columns the plan was to leave the two in the front. Removing the corners gave me insight as to how it would look with them staggered. I decided the new columns would be installed in this manner.

Mike and his crew (Ray and Bobby), arrived promptly at 9am Saturday with four of the six. Two are on back order, but not needed immediately as they will be used to support the pergola that I’ll build to the left of the door. I won’t install the pergola until after the house is painted. They started by removing the front left. That came out fairly easy also. That left only three columns holding the entire structure. They then tried to remove the front right, but could not, even with a reciprocating saw. The weight of the structure was firmly barring down, so it was decided they should shore up the structure. I ran to Schuloff Tool Rental and rented two adjustable shoring poles. I kinda feel I may have caused the problem by removing the two, but if I hadn’t I would not have considered staggering them. Anyway, I returned with the poles, but the heat was already becoming unbearable. They only got two installed on the left before calling it a day.

I was able to return one of the shoring poles and while doing so rented a sod cutter, so that I could start laying out the design of my flower beds. That tool looks like something straight from Amish country and it worked me for five hours, but the flowerbed footprint is done and very close the the drawing I had laid out. Most of the sod I cut up I placed in an bare spot between my two cluster of trees. This is not the right time to lay sod, but it was free, the spot needed, so hopefully if I keep it watered it will survive.

Starting from the left on the side of the patio will be three Buck Thorn shrubs. These will grow and become a natural privacy fence. In the center of the circle will be a Forest Pansy Redbud. It’s red leaves should stand out since all the other trees around it have green leaves. 3-4 coral bell plants will be placed in front of it. At the corner of the porch and at each side of the front door will be Green Mountain Boxwoods. I’ll have fun keeping its shape over the years. Two Bobo Hydrangeas will be placed directly in front of the porch. On right side of door I’ll have three Green Velvet Boxwoods, one under each dining room window and the third in the gap next to the Green Mountain. In between the dining room window I’ll place a Limelight Hydrangea Tree. It’s blooms are similar to the Bobo. As with the Redbud, I’ll place 3-4 coral bell plants in front of it. Wha-La, my first landscape design. I’ll have color without annuals, which was the primary goal.

Sunday morning Ray and Bobby returned and made quick work of the remaining two columns. They were up in about two hours. Some people will view the old columns as trash. My minds eye sees a new upcycle project. I sprayed the insides with insecticide to get rid of the ants that had taken up residence in a couple of them Before the next rain I will move them to my basement until I can start that project. With the columns up I decided to finally buy plants for a 22″ flower pot that I bought weeks ago. Cassandra Jones, a colleague and friend who makes AWESOME pies and pasta dishes (#sugartinpies) helped me pick the plants. She studies plants to find those low on the pollen spectrum. I got two purple wave pansies, two ornamental peppers, three variegated ivys, and for the center a beautiful Tahiti Wind Hibiscus. The beautiful yellow bloom is a perfect compliment to my yellow door.