January 2005 - Posts
Today I laminated a 5/8 (actually 19/32", if you can believe that..) sheet of plywood to the underside of the mantel top. Next week, I'll attach the trim, and we'll be nearly ready for the finish. Rock on!!! And, Trissa got me motivated to work on the
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A professor once told me, “A paper is never finished, it’s abandoned”. I’m beginning to think this is the same for home renovation projects. As we were prepping the wall behind the staircase and the walls in the entry way for a skim coat and then new
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Boy am I bummed. I've got the new electrical service all built: conduit, cable, outside meter-head box, inside 200amp panel - the works. But my electrician friend can't make it over for two whole weeks to do the final hookup!!! So, what am I supposed
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Well, this hasn't been an overly productive weekend in terms of the renovation, but we did get some stuff done. Trissa is is now applying the final coat of Varathane to the trim on the staircase. And this morning I did the last of the work needed for
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Renovating our house has taught me how much I enjoy recycling materials that other folks would likely toss in a dumpster. I think I first discovered this trait when I tore out the wall that once separated the living and dining rooms -- and ended up with
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Here is my beautiful wife, slinging a sledgehammer, while I direct and take pictures.  <br>
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<a href="http://4renovators.com/photos/pigeonpointproject/picture34.aspx"><img src="http://4renovators.com/photos/pigeonpointproject/images/34/secondarythumb.aspx"></a>
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It seems like progress on the house will be great for awhile and then it slows down. Sometimes I think it's due to a need for a good break. This was especially true after finishing the media room. Right now I think we're approaching a new hurdle. We've
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When I moved into this place three years ago, one of the "major" items the inspector noted was the electrical service. Well, duh. I mean, look at this:
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Finally the trim is done and installed! Now all I have to do is finish the top...
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Projects around the house can deplete money in a savings account quickly. If it isn't the cost of the materials, then it is the expense of the new tool that is needed to do the job correctly. Granted, the cost of the tool is usually less than it would cost to bring someone in to work on the project for one day, but it adds up fast.
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My dad visited for a week last August after the wedding. This is now an annual event (his visit, not the wedding), and we spent this year's time building and installing our new fireplace. I found a picture of the fireplace I wanted in Fine Homebuilding, and we started by drawing up detailed plans from the basic photo in the article. It was a productive week: we milled the lumber for the mantel out of some old fir posts I had left over from basement demo, we demo'ed a section of the living r
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