fix up my house

Working this around other projects and the Chum, age 3 1/2, creates a bit of a narrow window for when work got completed. Put up the new trim around the front door, spackled nail holes, painted the spackle, and some final touch-ups along the foyer baseboards. If I didn’t fix those, I’d go crazy looking at them- nobody else would see them or probably care.

An air return grill for the heating system remains to be painted. I’ll get that next week. And, next week we’ll get to hanging up the art again, time to rearrange and swap pieces about the house.

Not really, but it’s always a messy proposition. The great room of the house and entry have needed a fresh coat since we moved in, oh, nine years ago. And when the chum was on the way it got put off. Now the chum is three and a half and past the wild, food-flinging while learning to eat stage.

There was plenty of sheetrock patching, what with close to two dozen popped nails to repair, and some bad sheet rock in one corner to repair. Cleaned paint from hinges and light fixtures from prior owners paint jobs as well. I hate lazy paint jobs like that, but never saw any reason to take the time to clean up that mess till now.

The walls are painted: Suntan yellow for the living/dining room, Rhubarb for the entry, and Cottontail for the trim.

The foyer is almost completed. There is trim around the door to hang. The great room walls are painted, and I’ve stared painting the trim. That’ll be followed by the bookcases. Soon, soon it will be complete.

1. Rebuild the waterfall to our tiny pond.
2. Finish the drip irrigation system.
3. Thinking I might build a screen door. Can’t find any I like.
4. Fix the stair closet door.

And begin chipping away. Not that I’ve got a lot of free time right now…

have been finished.

• Swapped out the old bathroom accessories (towel bars, robe hooks, etc.) for new. Now it mostly matches. Will attack the shower fixtures come summer, not sure if I’ll have to open the wall.
• Put a hook in the kitchen for all the aprons. Now, they’re hidden behind a door.
• Hung two cable rods across the big kitchen wall. The wife has wanted something there to hang art she and the chum makes. One high up for Waterfall Nymph, one much lower for the chum. That makes about 16 lineal feet of space to hang art. Get crackin’ you two.

With a break in the weather, we got the door installed. There were a couple problems, as expected with this house. Thankfully, they were easily resolved.

The door is located between the original home and the expansion: the original home’s wall was out of level, the expansion wall was level, the sill plate wasn’t level, and a tiny amount of dry rot on the sill plate.

The sill plate required some quick patching and sealing against further water entry. Then it was built up and leveled so the door the frame would be level and the door could swing easily over the uneven slate floor in the entryway. The door was installed, compromises were made in getting everything plumb and square. Locks were installed. Pizza came for dinner.

The previous door and sidelights were painted red, with white 1×4 trim. For the new door, I used a 1×6 trim, which strikes a nicer ratio of proportion between the trim and door unit.

The installation took two men, start to finish, about ten hours. And it’s about ninety (yup, nine zero) man hours total for all the prep work, staining, and sealing.

I’m so thankful we hired Chris. He was incredibly methodical, and quite a craftsman.

What with the holidays, a horrible cold (which took my voice for nearly five days), and the storms, we look to be back on track. If it wasn’t for the illness, we’d probably have it done. With a break between storms, we’re looking to do start the installation on Wednesday.

I’ve been telling myself, once it’s done, I can burn the most recent pair of work pants. They’re falling apart quickly now. I’ve got to wear thermals with them to keep warm. Pictures of the new door come when it’s in.

Cleaned up. As it’s winter, we’ll just deal with the wall as is. Come spring I’ll paint, when we can throw open the doors and windows for the day.

The final coat of the sealant went on. With the cold, it should be dry in, oh, three to four days. Which is okay with me.

For the final coat we set up a tent around the door and frame, consisting of a thin, plastic sheeting to limit dust. Of course, the dust from the shop vacuum and then vapors from the sealant had me sneezing constantly.

Whats left? Scrape the windows clean, install the door hardware, and install the door unit. And here’s hoping there is no dryrot under our existing door.

For a few years, we’ve been living with a rotten frame around one of the entry doors. This year we’d planned to replace it. Should have started the research back in April or May, but we had enough going on what with having the house re-roofed.

Finally ordered it mid-October and took receipt of if a week ago.
So I’ve been staining and finishing our new door. You can buy a new door, have a shop frame it, even deliver it. But no one will stain and finish it. Weird.

So it’s up to me to do it. Well, me and a contractor I hired. It’s slow, meticulous work. As long as I work slowly, it will turn out well. Stain and finish work can look so bad if done hurriedly; I’d go mad seeing all the imperfection created by my hands if I didn’t do this right. The stain is on, and one coat of clear. Tomorrow, sanding and another coat of finish. Got to be at least three coats of the finish to properly seal it. This door is exposed to the elements.

And it happens to be only four feet from the dryrot surrounding the ex sliding-glass door.