Today Adleta finished the work to remove the lead line leading into my house and connect the water meter.  The work had an extra element to it as U.S. Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Scott Pruitt was on hand to watch the festivities.  I was not let in on the planned visit, but my father knew immediately who he was when he walked to my front yard.  I had no idea, but clearly when 20+ people were suddenly on hand just to see a lead line be pulled from the ground and secret service people were poised at the corners of my street someone high-profile was on hand.

Apparently I am one of the first city residents to sign up for the Lead Service Line Replacement Program (LSLRP) offered by the Greater Cincinnati Water Works (GCWW).  The program consists of removing all known lead service lines located within the City of Cincinnati.  To assist in accomplishing that goal, GCWW has established a cost sharing and a property assessment incentive.  The new program is gaining national attention and is quickly being recognized as a model for other water utilities.  They certainly made it a no brainer for me to jump on board and with the professionalism shown by Adleta they picked a great company to do the work.

The three primary guys on the crew doing the work were just awesome!  The most friendly, all about business, but know how to have fun crew you could meet.  As I shared previously they removed my sidewalk to nowhere for me, they graded the front well enough that I can probably just throw seed and straw, they finished my PEX connection to the meter and even connected the ground-line from my electric panel box, so I won’t have to call JTL Electric to complete that final step of his work.  Signing up for the LSLRP program was definitely one of the best decisions I’ve made in the restoring my home.

Check out this video I made:

I attend Vineyard Church and on the occasion of the 1st Sunday of a new series a group of us will follow the 9am service with breakfast at Cracker Barrel.  After updating everyone about my house one member, Javonna, shared that she had a friend remodeling a room in their home and before closing up the walls each family member wrote a scripture in the wall cavity.  I loved that idea, so as I near the completion of the plumbing and electric rough-in I scheduled a Bless This House Gathering for this past Sunday.

The weather was awful, it rained all day and was gloomy, but the support and love that was inside my home warmed the interior as if the sun was shinning bright.  I actually feel as if  heaven thought it appropriate to baptize my home for the occasion.  Old friends, new friends, and family came out in support and filled my walls with scriptures and words of encouragement.  I’m looking forward to hanging drywall just so I can stumble across more well wishes that I did not find in creating this video:

My friend Carolyn Wallace, owner of Perfect Brew Catering, provided the food.  Being the extraordinaire caterer that she is, she added warm apple cider to the menu, perfect for the chill in the air.  I had an absolute ball giving tours and sharing how I was making my original vision for the house come to life.  I even allowed my guest to weigh in on which countertop I should select for my kitchen.  My mind is pretty well made up, but it was great to have such strong feedback.

My friends Kyle and Bethany Bradford gave me the wonderful HOME door mat.   They think of everything.  Kyle is the owner of 3S Sales and Service, a fire and safety protection equipment supplier.  He gave me two fire extinguishers when I first bought the house.  I can’t wait to place the mat permanently out front and hope I’ll never have to use the extinguishers 😊

When you control the camera you don’t get photographed, so in case anyone wonders if I am really putting in “sweat equity” my father took pictures of me while he and I worked on the master suite bathroom.

First up was laying the cement board down in the area that will house the tub.  Simple cuts, only had to work around one air vent.

Today we tackled framing the master shower.  I’m grinning as I write this just thinking about how awesome this master bath is going to be.  The space is larger than my current bedroom.  NONE of my vision would be possible if I were not doing the work myself.  I couldn’t afford to pay a professional contractor to do what I’m accomplishing with the help of my father.

With plumbing rough-in underway I had to commit to a shower design, so the drain location could be planned.  My father sketched out what he thought would be best, I agreed, so today we tackled putting his plan into reality.   The footprint of the shower area is 68″ x 68″.  The back wall (wall next to tub) will be glass resting on a 30″ tall wall that will be covered in ceramic tile.  In front of that wall is a 64″ wide bench at a comfort height.  I can extend my legs fully and not touch the other side.  The small window you see on the left will be enclosed in the shower.  I’ve never lived in a house that had a window in the bathroom.  I’ll have 5 in this one.

My father laying first piece

I can’t wait to start laying tile.

Cincinnati has been experiencing epic rainfall, the worst in 2 decades.  With the box gutters in working order my basement has been staying relatively dry (no major puddles), so needless to say I was shocked when I went upstairs to discover water stains on the wood floor.  I raked my hand over the exposed rafters above the stain and felt more moisture.  The house supposedly has a new roof with 30 year shingles.

I called Dan Shepard, Shepard Roofing, who did the tuck pointing on the chimney.  He discovered that the flashing around some of the dormers had been left off.  This explains why I could see outside at the corners on some of the dormers.  He also said whomever installed the roof most likely used a nail gun to attach the shingles, something he warns against.  He will only hand nail a roof.  I know nothing about roofing, so I took him at his word and accepted his $700 price tag to stop the leaks.  He also agreed to install the dryer vent for the master bath laundry room.

While he was fixing the roof he discovered that my box gutter company, Fusion Roofing, failed to nail down the three rows of shingles they laid while restoring the gutters.  I was floored by this news and pissed.  If we experienced significant winds, those shingles would have easily blown off.  Dan agreed to nail them down for me at no additional cost, but I also put in a call to Fusion Roofing.  The owner, Kevin, returned my call almost immediately and even faster disputed the findings.  I had Dan’s staff member stop nailing until Kevin could arrive and investigate for himself.  He confirmed Dan’s findings.  Randy Rupp and his crew only tucked the shingles and did not nail them down.  He said he was going to fire Randy Rupp.  I truly regret giving him so much positive exposure with the video I created.  At my earliest opportunity I will be revamping without any reference to…..what’s his name.

I’m often asked why and how I’ve learned to do the DIY projects I tackle.  It’s situations like this.  I just don’t trust contractors, especially when they are not referred by someone who’s opinion I truly value.  You take people at their word and hope they possess some resemblance of ethics or a moral compass.  During the box gutter work the awning above my back door started to fall while they were hammering away.  They braced it, then used it as scaffolding, but Randy said he’d re-attach it once the gutters were complete.  They did not do it in the three days they worked on the project, but he said he’d return to do so.  Granted we had an extremely frigid January, but once the weather broke I called and texted asking when he’d return.  No response.  Kevin said he’d fix it.  We’ll see.

I guess it’s time to learn about roofing and box gutters.

With the kitchen remodel project behind me and warm weather I am once again fully focused on my house.  During demo I saved some of the lathe as I knew I would need to fur out the studs surrounding windows and doors.  The window and door moulding was installed accounting for the thickness of the lathe and plaster.  If I attach the drywall directly to the studs there will be a gap between the  moulding and wall the width of the lathe.  I definitely have to fur out the walls with windows, but I’m being selective on walls with doors.  Since I’ve removed all the doors and hinges, I may opt to cut down the door jamb.

In addition to the lathe piles I need to get rid of scraps of 2x4s I saved for fire stops.  During my demo inspection the city flagged me for a lack of fire stops.  Due to the age of the house the flooring does not extend to the walls, so in case of a fire I have to fill the void with a piece of wood.

Now that all the air ducts from the second floor have been run to the basement, I also have to frame in new ceilings and walls to hide the ducts in three closets.  My cousin Cameron returned to help me out on that project.  He handled all the cutting and nailing of the frames.  We also raised the opening of the doorway from the living room to hall, so that it matches the height of the other two openings (kitchen to dining room and dining room to living room).

While hanging the furring strips I also worked to remove the remainder of the knob and tub and pulling all the nails out of the studs from both the walls and ceiling.  This is critical in preparing for the drywall phase.  That is too simple a task to not have it done prior to the drywall crew.  I swear if I had a dollar for every nail I’ve removed I could afford to lift the house and completely replace the foundation.

The living room is completely finished.  It is ready for wiring, insulation, new windows, drywall, paint, and floor refinishing.  It’s really scary to think how close I am to the finish line.  Once I get the other rooms to this level my professional trades will take over and things will fly!   There’s a light in my tunnel. 

I really like the idea of supporting my neighborhood businesses and Camp Washington is jammed packed with great ones.  I dine frequently at Camp Washington Chili, over 75 years of chili goodness, but I love their egg salad, turkey melts, and breakfast sandwiches (bacon or sausage with fried egg).  They are also my remote bathroom of choice until my plumbing is installed.  Camp Washington Hardware has bailed me out frequently with bolts and drill bits.  They even allowed me to do a little bartering by buying my huge overage of 6d nails in exchange for the paint, pan, and roller to coat the underside of the 1st floor bathtub.

I selected Baker, Bauer, & Fish Heating and Cooling, located within a mile of my house to install my HVAC system. Tom Baker has been great to work with and he and his crew have been braving the cold to get the ducts run from my future master suite to the basement.  Running ducts needed to get done before my plumber and electrician could get started.  Progress may seem like it’s going slow, but I can see the finish line and know that once the electric and plumbing rough-in is complete things are going to fly.  I can’t wait until next winter to experience gas heating.

Master Water Closet

Master Bath near Tub

Master Bath

Master Bedroom

I’ll need to build a wall to hide these

Cold Air Exchange (I think)

Master Bedroom

YouTube, How to Restore a Wood Door!  I cannot be more thrilled, elated, excited, by how well the back side of the door turned out using only the method described in that video.  I get save the stripper for the two doors that were painted.

I started out by pouring some of the denatured alcohol in a plastic dish, so I wouldn’t have to keep holding the awkward can.  Using a fresh piece of steel wool the first pass on the door immediately went through the thick, glossy build-up.  This door had paint splatter on it and even with pressure scrubbing it was not coming off.  I ended up taking a metal scraper to carefully remove it.

Each time I dunked my steel wool in the dish and went back to the door the area I scrubbed got gummier and gummier, almost as if it was re-staining itself.  I quickly took some paper towels and started blotting up the excess.  That revealed some very smooth clean areas and some gummy areas.  I was perplexed, but determined not to pull out the stripper.

I decided to get a fresh piece of steel wool and go back to pouring fresh alcohol on it and sure enough that did the trick.  The entire door eventually, it took about 20-30 minutes, had a nice smooth surface and as the video states it looked cloudy/dry.

Using my same Restor-a-Finish rag from yesterday, I wiped the entire door and WOW that door came alive and honestly could pass for new.  I let it dry for about an hour and came back and applied the boiled linseed oil, with the same rag from yesterday.  I let that sit, thick, about 10-15 minutes and then wiped the excess off with a clean rag.

The change seems subtle in these two picks, but in person it is amazing.  Of course I turned the door back over and was so underwhelmed by the side that will be exposed that I decided to give it another coat of Restor-a-Finish and BAM!, that did the trick.  I think the coat of linseed oil opened up the pores, so that second coat of finish really had an impact helping to darken the lighter spots caused by the stripping.    Can you tell the difference between the two sides?  I can’t wait to bring another door to the basement.

Outer – Side A

Inner – Side B

I’m also planning a trip to Chicago to visit the Rebuilding Exchange.  Their website looks amazing.  They have 76 Flicker pages of salvaged material.  I saw several built-in dressers (already sold) that were more like what I hoped that piece of crap dresser I got from EBTH (beware of that site, I’m one and done) was going to be.  I’m selling it on Ebay in hopes of recouping some of my money.

Temps in the high 40s and holiday shut down for most of my clients means this is a good week to work at my house.  Per my dads suggestion I have decided to remove more of the lathe and add the furring strips where needed directly to the vertical studs.  I decided to focus on the upstairs as I’d really like to get that area completed (as far as what I can do) and drywall ready.  Part of that is laying flooring in the new linen closet.  I’m daunted by that task, so for the last two days I decided to repair the floors in the master bedroom area.  That area is part of the quote I received from my floor guy.  There was a whole left from the removal of the radiator and in between two boards there was a huge gap from where one board had a good chunk missing.  I forgot to take before pictures, but this one allows you to see the gap (see bottom, towards left of pic).

Now a normal person who has never patched a wood floor would probably start in the linen closet, which for the most part will be seldom seen and behind a closed-door.  I’m not normal.  I decided to start with a repair that is in the middle of a room and in full sight at all times.  No worries, I have been armed with an abundance of Rehab Addict episodes where @NicoleCurtisRehabAddict repairs hardwood floors in far worse shape than mine and several viewings of YouTube video from This Old House “How to Patch Strip Flooring“.  If I must say so myself, I didn’t do too bad.

I am still daunted by the linen closet and I’m going to get a quote from my flooring guy for him to do it (that wasn’t part of his original quote as at the time there was no plan for a linen closet in that area and I had hoped the floor would have been continued behind the wall that was removed).  I weigh time and money in most things I do.  It took me about 6 hours to patch that small section of floor.  My favorite quote in describing my skill set when people ask me to do projects for them is “I’m not proficient, so I’m not efficient”.  It may be worth saving my time and paying the expert.  I’m glad I tried it and at least know that in a pinch I can again.  I can’t wait to get the water on so I can mop these floors to get an even better sense of what they will look like.  My friend Joan shared some pics of a business in OTR that took epoxy resin and filled imperfections in their flooring.  Even with the patch there are a few areas upstairs I will need to do that and definitely some areas in kitchen.

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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.