My comment to Camille: “If I ever volunteer to do anything like this again, be a buddy, and sign me up for electroshock therapy. OK?” Seriously, the only thing that bothers me is that everything takes two or three times … Continue reading
The first wall rewired, blocked, shimmed, plumbed and ready for (sheet)rock! The blocking has made the walls much more sturdy, to the point that Camille quipped that in the next earthquake, we should run to the kitchen! We’ve been without … Continue reading
Stuffed to the gills, with 820 pounds of crumbling drywall, collapsed cabinets, and the cheapest studs I’ve ever seen! It amazes me that there is an endless steady stream of people filling this transfer station with everything you can imagine. … Continue reading
Behind the kitchen cabinet, I see that some doofus tried more than TWENTY FOUR TIMES to find a stud with a nail, and never did connect. Nothing unusual behind the drywall, just evidence that there are people out there who … Continue reading
All opened up, with a house full of plaster dust and the stink of years of bad cooking and nonexistent hygiene. I should have worn a mask for this…
This weekend, the complete tearout!
It’s beautiful, but lots of locals would rather have rain. We’ve had a solid week of freezing fog, while temperatures in the mountains are in the 50s and 60s – similar to conditions you’d expect in May. It is a … Continue reading
We’re making slow progress. I’m tearing a little out at a time so I can fill our 64 gallon garbage bin to the hilt every week, thereby minimizing the weight I wind up trucking to the dump and paying (by … Continue reading
Expanding the master bedroom lighting. When completed, it will run the full fourteen foot length of the soffit.
While exposing the framing in our house, I noticed that the builder used 2x4s which are made of cutoffs and scraps that have been finger jointed together. The entire kitchen is framed with this shite. I’m absolutely astonished – and … Continue reading
The trim and cabinets are a very cheap grade of particleboard (sawdust and glue, actually) with a plastic coating that serves as a finish. In some places, the bond has failed, and the surface coating is peeling away from the … Continue reading
In terms of scope, time, energy and cost, the kitchen remodel is probably the largest project we will ever undertake on our home. Of course, it will also give us our single biggest boost in equity position as well. I … Continue reading
We hired the same Samoan guys that brought the tub to us in Everett (when we first bought it). Three amazingly strong guys… This is all they do – and they do it well! So the tub is here, with … Continue reading
At last! The culmination of weeks of hard work – the concrete is going to be poured today! Owen Davis (Start to Finish Concrete) came with a helper (Ty), and had the whole pad poured in about an hour and … Continue reading
Because it is the wet season, I was advised to cover the whole area with plastic, so that the concrete guys would not have to guess when they would have two successive days without a lot of rain. I put … Continue reading