It has been 1O months...

...since I last posted.

Here's what I have been doing since then.

January... got rid of all the old knob and tube wiring in the basement


The house is all rewired but there is still old stuff in the garage. Do you like this tuna can receptacle?


February, March and April in were spent in a funk and I couldn't get my mind around doing anything but sorting Legos














May
Worked on the sewing studio


June
Stripped the stairs and landing


July
Spent three weeks in China!!

Hangzhou


Shanghai


Beijing

Three wonderful weeks visiting my son and his girlfriend and seeing as much of China as possible.

August
Tore up the kitchen floor and emptied out the main level of the house



September
Had all the wood floors stripped, sanded and refinished


October, November
Stripping trim, restoring windows, painting, aargh it has been a full year. The house is still empty and working like crazy to get the windows back in their frames.

Kids

My son has graduated from college and moved to China. Not house related- but certainly a big deal here at the house.


Now I just have this "kid" at home.

Bathroom (almost) Done

My bathroom has been put together for some time but I have not updated posts here. It is not totally done but is at about 98%. Why is it so hard to finish that last little bit??

Here is what it looked liked in the beginning...

And now...
new beadboard on the walls, pedestal sink from the Habitat ReStore. Ikea cabinet that was an exact fit for the space, new lights, towel ring from the ReStore, original medicine cabinet stripped and repainted.

New vinyl floor (tile must wait), toilet paper holder from the Habitat Restore, toilet from the ReStore, original tub.

Before...

After...
vintage ceramic cup holder from ReStore, towel bar from the ReStore, new American Standard Williamsburg faucet.

Exhaust fan from the ReStore added where there was none

Swanstone tub surround, American Standard Williamsburg faucet, showerhead and spout

Original shower curtain rod reinstalled, towel hook from ReStore

I did not change the placement of any of the plumbing fixtures but did update all the plumbing-new supply lines, new vent stack. I kept the original plaster above the beadboard, behind it is new drywall because the old plaster came off with the old crappy tiles.
I put new drywall over the badly cracked plaster ceiling and reinstalled the light that was there. I don't think the light is the original but I love the starburst pattern it casts on the ceiling.

Still to do:
Recaulk around tub
Rechrome door hardware
Install small cabinet in toilet alcove
Resurface tub?
Replace vinyl floor with tile
Don't you hate it when there are repairs to do again before the initial restoration/remodeling is done?

Old cabinet

Here is the small medicine cabinet that I had hanging above my stove. Cute, but too small to hold all my spices. Today, at a rummage sale, I found this cabinet for $32.

It is oak, I think, and begs to be stripped of the ugly paint but there are about 502 other projects ahead of it. I have another cabinet in the basement that I plan to put up here but there is much work to do on it before it is ready to hang.

I put a quick coat of paint on the inside to clean it up a bit. I used four 1/4 bolts to screw it into the studs but I worry about it falling. The chair rail on the wall holds much of the weight but I added some additional screws to secure the back to the frame.

Top shelf holds my collection of Kokeshi dolls. I have not had a place to display them for a while. So, it is ok, another quick fix for a room that needs a major overhaul/restoration.

Tomato Cages and a Rain Barrel

Here is the rain barrel I put together last summer. I bought the barrel for $5 at our local Coca cola bottling plant so I know there was nothing more toxic in it than high fructose corn syrup (toxic enough!) I drilled a couple holes, screwed in a brass faucet and an overflow spout and she is done. Some might say this is terrible waste of treadle sewing machine stand, but it is so cute. I topped the stand with a metal grate I found while walking the dog one day, hooked the barrel to the downspout and there it is.


This year's garden project was making tomato cages. I have been frustrated by wimpy cages and spent time making wooden cages that rotted and broke into pieces. Then one day, on another dog walk, I spotted a tomato cage that would work and be long lasting.

It began with a 16 x 4 foot cattle panel at the local fleet and farm place. Before hauling it out of the lumber yard I had them cut it half with their bolt cutters so I could get it on top of the car. At home I cut it apart into 1 foot wide sections. I first tried using my Sawzall with a metal cutting blade but that took forever so I went and bought a metal cutting blade for my (borrowed from neighbor) circular saw. That cut through the heavy fencing like butta'. I use the grinder to smooth the cut edges. I cut off the bottom so that I could set the cages into the ground.

I considered making them square but found that they were large enough in a triangular shape. I fastened the sides together with plastic zip ties. This way the ties can be cut and the cages can be stored flat inside during the winter.

Each cattle panel cost about $25 and yielded 8 sections. Three (or 4) sections make a cage so they cost about $9 each to make. They are sturdy and will last for years, I believe. Here they are in the garden. The tomato plants have since grown up and over the top but are well supported.

Happy tomatoes, happy me!

How I Insulated the Attic

So, this is the rock wool insulation that was in my attic when I bought the house. Every so often a hunk of it would fall off into the attic space below. I used duct tape to hold it up but finally it was time to remove it all and reinsulate.

This space is tall enough to walk in and I wanted to keep it a warm space for storage so I chose to insulate under the roof as opposed to insulating the floor and knee walls. I explained how I came to that decision in an earlier post.
I started off with 4x8 sheets of foiled backed polyisocyanurate- or Thermax or Tuff-R.

I hauled them home on the roof of the Passat.

I pulled them upstairs and got to work.

As I explained in an earlier post, I wanted a 1 inch air space between the roof and the insulation. There has been some debate as to whether or not that is needed but I decided to go with it. To create the airspace, I first used some 1/2 inch x 1 inch long boards nailed the full length of the rafters but that involved using a lot of wood and was going to add a lot to the cost. I decided I could use pieces of the insulation. So I cut that into lengths about an inch wide and used them to provide the spacing for the air gap.

I used adhesive to secure it to the rafters. This would prevent the insulation panels from making contact with the roof boards.

In retrospect, I should have applied the pieces to the whole length of the rafter. This would have sealed the area better. I had plenty of scraps of this stuff so there was no need to break it apart and space it like I did. My goal was to have no air infiltration from the ridge and soffit vents in to the attic space and using one long strip would have helped.

I measured between the rafters and cut each piece of polyisocyanate to fit. The rafters are approximately 3 1/2" wide. So there was one inch of air space and 2 pieces of polyisocyanate between the rafters.

It was very easy to cut and work with, lightweight but it was time consuming measuring and cutting each individual piece. I put the shiny aluminum side facing the roof rafters on the first layer but I was unsure about the second layer.

I decided to face the second layer out. I fitted each layer between the rafters. I filled any gaps with expanding foam insulation and then taped all the seams with foil tape.

It certainly made the space much brighter. I then used full sheets to add another layer of insulation on top of the rafters. I used screws and 1.5" plastic washers to hold the third layer up on to the slanted surface.

East side of the attic:

West side of the attic:

All the furniture and stuff from the sewing studio is packed in here as I work on painting and replacing the carpeting.

Lots of cutting and fitting was needed to work around the studs in the knee wall. Well, it is a lot taller than a knee wall.

And that is how I insulated my attic!