They're Heee-eerrre!!

The new washer and dryer have arrived!! They were supposed to be here last Sunday but Lowe's delivery called in the morning and said there was a dent in it so they'd have to reschedule. And today's the day.


We were going to spend the week putting down new vinyl self stick tile in the back porch (now laundry room) but we didn't get a chance to start it until Thursday. So Thursday we started cleaning out the space and removed the plastic sink with rusty legs. We'll need a new one.


Then we realized how brittle the existing tile was and how easy it was for the tiles to come off. We can't stick new stuff to old stuff that's not sticking anymore.


So, out it went. We only had enough time to rip out the old tile, patch up the seams (they didn't do it the first time), and put a chalk line down the middle.


Friday I had to work late so Chris went to the house after work to start laying tile. He was able to get 2 rows down the middle. All that's left is the ~8" wide pieces to cut for the sides. Saturday we had to go to our 5th wedding of the year so no work done Saturday.


Sunday Chris had outrigger obligations in the morning until 3pm. He called the Lowe's delivery people to give them my number instead of calling him, since I'd be the one to have to wait for them. "We'll be there around noon."

10:45am: I arrive at the house and start cutting tile.
11:30am: Chris calls me. "The guy called me and said they had a late start so they won't be there until 6pm-8pm." WHAT?!? Eh, that's okay. It gave me time to finish the tile.
3pm: Chris is on his way. I finished one wall. There's a gap by the sliding door so I decide to fill it before Chris shows up.
6pm: We're done with the 2nd wall except for the gap that's drying. Chris starts on removing the kitchen tile with the crow bar and hammer.

6:15pm: "OOOUUUCCCHH!! @%$#%$#!!!" "What happened? Are you okay?" *run over* "It didn't cut the skin, but its red" "Do you need a band-aid?" "No!" *pout* "I'll kiss it and make it feel better." "Ouch!" "Sorry"

6:45pm: "NOOOOOOOO!!!!!!!" "What happened now?!" *No reply, still screaming... Walk over* "I CAN'T BELIEVE I DID THAT!! #$%&@%^!" He dropped the crow bar on the new hardwood floor. *sigh*

We had covered the hardwood with a huge sheet of plastic to catch the drips of joint compound or paint or whatever, just in case. But I guess a falling crow bar can still penetrate it.
7pm: I'm done cutting out the last 3 pieces to puzzle piece around the door frame. Chris decides to stop hacking at the kitchen floor and makes a path for the delivery guys. *Phone Rings* They'll be here in 30 minutes.

So the truck pulls up and they're in and out in like 10 minutes. After wheeling each piece to the backyard, they have these two thick black straps that are put underneath the box and each guy puts their forearms in another loop and they just lift it that way, using their hands to hold onto the top of the box. Too bad we didn't get pictures. My brother was impressed.

The Franciscos are coming back this Thursday to finish up the lights and to install a gas line for the dryer. And once we put the trim back and paint the laundry room , one room will be done. Well, every room in the house needs paint. But we're making progress.

It's supposed to be summer...

Why the frack is it raining?

In other news, they've started our hardwood...

Note: Started this post last Friday and I'm finishing it now. Sue me.

So they're FINISHED with our hardwood. Melissa has some before pictures on her camera. I haven't downloaded them yet... but i do have some pix of while they are working on it! It's unbelievable how it came out. Sorta makes you wanna cry... *sniff* It's so beyootiful!

I went to the house early Friday morning to let them in and when I came again during my lunch hour, the house looked like this...


a curious machine is guarding the front door.


look at all the saw dust in the air!!


dude getting the edges.

Now to the floor! Sam, the guy in charge, wasn't there when I got there for lunch so one of the peons showed me around. They showed me this section of the floor that was, what we thought, the spot where the most water damage was done. Amazingly, you'd never be able to tell anything was ever wrong with it. They also refinished part of it so that they could show me what the color would look like. They didn't have to use a dark stain or anything! It was just a clear varnish! WOO HOO!!


Not bad of a fix!

After my lunch hour, I went back to work only to return after 4 o'clock to this...


lookin good!

2 more coats later it's done! onward to the tile and walls!

Electric Bush

WOW! A computer! And ME?!?! I actually have a few minutes to write an entry!

As my lovely wife has mentioned, my dad was here for the better part of 2 weeks to help us out with the repairs that I'd probably need a few years of education or experience to even begin planning out. We've made a lot of progress on the electrical work and we're almost there! Unfortunately, he's got the gameplan in his head so we'll have to postpone the rest of the job until the folks come back up here next month.

Last week (Melissa mentioned) my boss let me take a few days off so that I could take advantage of my dad being here. We made a ton of progress and it set the tone for the rest of my very tiring weekend. I should call Thursday "Adventure Day." The first part of the day was electrical. A lot of yelling through the ceiling and some frustration searching for wires through the insulation but nothing too exciting. That is until after lunch...

Flash back for a minute. It all started when we had dinner at the neighbors earlier in the week... We were going to have some barbecue out on their balcony deck where they have a good view of our backyard. Yada yada yada and we noticed that they've got vines in their backyard that climb up the side of our garage and go over the roof. We said "maybe we should trim that." They said, "we've been planning to take it down for a few years now." We said "we'll do it this Thursday." So before we ate, we cut the trunks of the vines with a saw so that they would dry up a bit before Thursday. They said, "You've cut it, you better make sure to take it all down." We said, "you bet."

Fast back forward to Thursday. After lunch we set the ladder up in front of the garage and climbed up to take a gander at the damage. HOLY SHNIEYKEYS?!?!?!? The vine grew all the way from the ground up to the edge and across three quarters of the roof!! It's been up there so long that it was making its own topsoil!

check out dad sweeping the topsoil after pulling all the vines off the roof.

The whole process took about 3 or 4 hours. And after we were done, there was nowhere to put the clippings! There was so much of it. We have to get rid of it little by little.

the view from the neighbor's yard.

After all of that, we had to rest for at least an hour. Being under the sun burnt us out. But this is the last full day of work... so it's back to the electricity. Dad went back into the ceiling and I went back to connecting switches.

So? What to do in the absence of our electrician? (I know Melissa's an EE but how does physics and photonics have to do with running romex?) We're going to get working on the floors of course! We'll keep you updated on our progress. Same bat time. Same bat channel!

Hardwood

The next phase of our home improvement is the hardwood. Our phases may be out of order but we figured we'd get the hardwood out of the way now. We were told that sanding hardwood kicks up a lot of dust which can collect on the walls so its probably better to refinish the hardwood before painting the walls. I guess we need to find a bunch of drop cloths now. Donations are welcome =)

Initially we were so ambitions, we thought we'd do the repairs and refinishing ourselves. Then we talked to people and did some research about refinishing hardwood floors. One person told us to expect three 10 hour days just for sanding the floors with various grits of sandpaper. After we heard that we automatically thought, "We barely spend 10 hours on the house a week, how will we ever get this done?!?!" And we have repairs to make so we'll just pay someone.

A word on the repairs... It looks like there used to be a space heater between the living room and hallway. Whoever took that out did a sloppy job patching up the wall and floor. They nailed some piece of wood in the gap in the floor and covered it with carpet. The wall isn't flat. When they put the drywall in, they didn't make it flush, there's a ridge on the living room side now. And they didn't even sand or paint the patch in the hallway side. So you know what I'll be doing next time I'm there. So besides repairing those spots in the hardwood, there are also pet or water stains all over the place.... mostly in the living room. The master bathroom threshold looks like it flooded and the hardwood shrank so there's gaps between the hardwood in some spots. *sigh* Too much for us to do. We'll just pay someone.

Quote time.
1st option. So my brother used a guy that our realtor suggested. We put our realtor to work. We had her call to set up an appointment for a quote.

2nd option. My friend recently bought a house and had his floors refinished. Chris called his guy. He's a contractor in Oakland and just contracts the job out to someone else. Chris said he had a super thick accent. He wasn't sure if the guy said "Installation" or "Restoration." That doesn't seem too good. He asked Chris for the square footage. M:"You mean he didn't want to see the place?" C:"No, he's from Oakland, maybe he doesn't want to drive." M:"Maybe he thinks Installation." So I calculate the square footage and its waiting for us to call him back.

3rd option. My dad had his floors redone about 6(?) years ago. I asked him if he had the number to the guy. "I think its written on the garage wall." So he gives me the number but there's no name. He thinks its Phil. He doesn't know the name of the company either. Hmmm... He tries to look for an invoice or something with a name on it but can't find one. Uhh... We don't even know the guy's name. We'll pass.

So 1st option guy comes to the house and Chris' dad is there to talk to him and stuff. He gave us a quote that was less than what we expected. And we've seen his work before (My brother's house). We decided to just go with him and forget about getting more quotes. That theme's been working well for us since all the wedding planning. We ended up using our first restaurant we tried, the first photographer, florist, bakery... We'll keep the ball rolling for now.

SOLD!! He starts work next Thursday. We'll keep our fingers crossed.

Solutions

I haven't been at the house since Monday but it sounds like Daddy Francisco is still working on the lights. He's been in the dusty attic pulling wire and stuff. Chris took today and tomorrow off from work to help him out.

Updates on the washer/dryer. We went to Lowes on Tuesday to check out the GE Profiles they have a rebate for. $550 each, not too bad. Lowes also has a free delivery and haul away rebate but it was the last day. We were ready to buy except I forgot our 10% coupon at home. Maybe it wasn't meant to be. I guess we need to find a truck.

Wednesday morning I check Lowes.com and guess what... they have a free shipping rebate that expires on 6/22. SCORE!! So I go back Wednesday with my dad, in case he has technical questions I don't know about. The same sales guy gives us a shpeal about some New Zealand brand washer/dryer that supposed to be 50% more efficient, bigger capacity, sensors, spins the wash faster, both top loading, utility rebates, dc motor so no extra belts or parts to break and quieter... $630 and $799. Ouch. Sounded impressive. 15 minutes of rehearsed marketing tactics, he said they have a cheaper dryer that's front loading that works about the same.... $470. That sounds better. After doing some math, if we got that washer and cheaper dryer, we save more than getting the GE Profiles. He looked it up, SJ Water will give us $100 and PGE will give us $75 if we buy this Fisher & Paykel model. Chris wants to see it first but our coupons and rebates don't expire till 6/22 so we're okay for now. And free delivery!! Wonderful!!

Lighting... still no resolution. We figured 4 recessed lights in the kitchen. Living room, we'll use floor lamps for now but Chris' dad is installing a junction box for when we decide on a ceiling fan or something. Who knows what's going in the bedrooms.

I'm back on texturing duty today. I offer my texturing services for $200/hr + material. =) Gotta pay the mortgage some how.

Decisions, decisions

Chris' dad has been helping out with the house for almost a full week now and he's gotten a lot done. All the electrical wiring to outlets have been changed, outlets included. Some light switches have also been changed. As for the light fixtures, we sorta came to a stand still.

1st decision... We want to change out all the lighting but aren't sure what we want. We were thinking recessed lighting so we went to Home Depot on Sunday to look at what the had to offer. Average price isn't too expensive but then it came to wattage. Energy saver bulbs in recessed lighting is a little tacky. Full wattage bulbs at 4 or so per room adds up on the PGE bill. Do we want 4", 5" or 6"? Open, baffle, directional? black, white? So many decisions. The rooms are fairly small so 4" might work. How much are we willing to pay in electricity? We'll probably be like my friend who recently bought a house and never turns on the lights or heater. (And you know who you are!)

2nd decision... Ceiling fan. My dad's got one that he's not using and is willing to give to us. But its antique brass. Everything in the house will be brushed chrome. Anyone know of a polish or something to change it to brushed chrome looking? So do we put it in the kitchen or living room? I say living room cuz its bigger. But someone told us that ceiling fans don't look good in a living room... "It'll look like an apartment." Uh... And if we do put it in the living room cuz its the bigger room, do we still put the recessed lighting in addition? Can we put it on two different switches? Dimmer lighting? You could see the gears spinning in Chris' head and need for a Tylenol. We decided not to decide and to sleep on it. That's not even touching the subject of style of lights for the bedrooms.

3rd decision... Laundry room. Right now there is a washer and obsolete dryer in the back enclosed porch area. The room is only 4' 3" wide. We want new appliances. How big will fit and fit in which way? A washer & dryer these days are more than 2' wide so it won't fit side by side on the short way. Stackables would be good but it would cover a window, do we care? Side by side on the long wall would fit but the door would hit the opposite wall, do we care? We'll have to put in a new gas line, so we can put it wherever we want. They're being donated to us as a gift but still don't want to spend a fortune. Ah the joys of being a homeowner.

Our progress... Besides the electrical work, Chris has taken down all the no supporting beams in the basement. There's a lot more room now. I have finished the 2nd coat of joint compound on the hall doorway and the 3rd and final coat on the kitchen doorway. Its even textured. Not like I know what I was doing, but I've seen my dad do it and it looks okay. I didn't use a hopper or other automatic splatter maker so its not all uniform or anything. But its good enough. I think I was volunteered to texture the rest of the house as well. Saturday my parents were visiting my nephew and my mom decided to help us out. We chipped of about 70% of the paint off the remaining 2 walls in the kitchen. They painted over a horrible spackling job behind the stove so it's taking a bit longer to remove all of that.

Any input or personal experience on our dilemmas would be helpful. Thanks.