andrewandtracy.com

A weekend with no plans outside the home = a weekend of home improvement.

Tracy’s folks arrived just over an hour after she and I left for work on Friday morning. While Georgia figured out how to run the new TV, Jim worked solo on the new bathroom, moving the water heater to the garage and laying out the plumbing. After moving the tub and pulling up the plywood, Jim assured me late Friday night (after I returned home from work and a Shrine 2140 meeting) that Friday’s work was a one-man show due to lack of operating room. Although I believe him, maybe it’s his way of allowing me to rid myself of guilt as he works his butt off on our new bathroom while I sat at a desk on Friday and complained about clients and HAL tickets (work terminology!).

Saturday morning started with breakfast and a trip to Ace Hardware, the closest hardware store that doesn’t resemble Home Depot. Speaking of which, Jim and are trying to see how much remodeling we can do without shopping at Home Depot. Their 2X4’s suck! They’re dry, twisted, and they split easily. Guess we’re stuck with Lowes and Parr Lumber for a while.

After two more trips to Ace, a few beers, and plenty of male bonding, Jim and I (mostly Jim) completed the plumbing and most of the electrical work in the new bathroom while the girls went with the Nofield clan to Build-A-Bear. It was hard for Jim and I to sympathize with the ladies who were tired from dealing with people at the mall, but we gave them the benefit of the doubt. I tend to be exhausted after 30 minutes at any mall, more so if kids are involved.

Saturday night was when my cold (or maybe sinus infection…TBA) decided to make a roaring comeback.  This made me rather anti-social with the number of guests we had, which is never fun, but I hate when sick people don’t stay confined to a locked-in area. I know I’m coming off like a germaphobe here, but since I have the luxury of working from home if I am sick, I can be quite unreasonable in my expectations of others afflicted with a case of the sickies.

After tossing and turning (all night), I woke up Sunday with a stuffed head and no motivation to wear my grubbies and continue working on the bathroom. Thankfully Tracy was sympathetic and told me to sleep in. She brought me hot tea and a cinnamon roll while I watched Riggs and Murtaugh (name that movie!) blow stuff up on TV. After getting up, it was clear that manual labor was not in the cards for me, so I quarantined myself to my office and built a web site for Jim and Georgia’s self-built house they’ve been selling. I’ve been meaning to build the site for some time, but we never could arrange a time to get photos and other items in line. I guess I have to thank the illness for allowing it to happen, so thanks…I guess? On to the pics!

Jim plays with fire. This is the showerhead, which is at 7 feet high! Not a big deal to most, but a MAJOR deal for me!

Water heater’s new home in the garage.

The utility sink left behind (unhooked) by the previous owners will go here in the garage. Thanks sellers!

Behind the scenes of a new bathroom. New plumbing and wiring for all to see. That utility sink goes on the other side of this wall.

Door goes to the entry way. The space to the right of the door will be a new closet with shelving and the new hiding place for the electrical panel.

Soon to be sealed off, this wall will separate the new bathroom from the laundry room. I put the last four 2X4’s in myself, so now I can add “Framer” to my resume in case this whole Marketing thing never pays off.

This view will only be available for approximately the next two weeks.

After a long week of fighting the superflu, Tracy’s folks arrived Friday night for a weekend of remodeling, Home Depot and a crab feed with the “funny red hat gang.”

The 2nd bathroom originated as a bump-out into the garage (created two owners ago, reducing the 2-car garage into 1.5), which the owners prior to us used as office space.

Pre-conversion office space. Window looks into the garage.

Saturday morning kicked off with sub-freezing temps and intermittent rain. After removing sheetrock, insulation, select wiring, particle board and plywood, Tracy’s dad Jim (he leads, I assist) cut and removed the floor joists. This had to be done because: a) we had to expand the room about 2.5 feet further into the garage, and b) the direction of the joists had to be switched to accommodate plumbing coming in from the crawlspace.

After removing the floor joists, we cut the wall along the frame, keeping it fully intact, and simply pushed it out (this ended up saving us about three hours of work):

View of the full garage from the driveway

Zoomed in, view from inside the garage, intact wall pushed out approx. 2.5 feet

Alt. view of wall pushed out and garage window

First task after the expanded space was created was to haul the bathtub into the new space, since we were about to close it off. Next was drilling a hole from the garage into the crawlspace to bring plumbing into the bathroom. This meant drilling through concrete. A word of advice: if you’ve never drilled through concrete, and you know somebody who can, have them do it.

After re-framing, switching the direction of the floor joists, and putting down new plywood, we removed the garage window (a fire code violation now resolved) and put up new sheetrock. This was the end of our Saturday task list, and we celebrated with a crab feed and raffle fun times with the Shriners.

Sunday morning kicked off with slightly warmer temps (just above freezing) and no rain. We put the insulation back in (plus a couple new strips), removed the rest of the laminate and particle board, and put up framing for a closet door that will contain the electrical panel and new shelving for towels and other assorted junk.

Here’s where the 2nd bathroom stands today:

2nd bathroom, missing a few items, garage window on the left now filled in

In two weeks we’ll bring in plumbing, wiring, and other items. Until then, my odd-job tasks are to continue painting trim (a lot left to go) and cleaning up the garage. Until then…

uh-reev-uh-dair-chee

I get a homework assignment.

It’s “paint the trim” weekend here. Tracy skipped town for dueling baby showers that are literally 89 miles apart with start times that are within three hours of each other.

I think I’d rather be doing this.

Next weekend we install the new trim and work on the 2nd bathroom. The 2nd bathroom cannot come soon enough. Ever since Tracy and I have lived together, we’ve always had two bathrooms. Not only are we currently down to one full bathroom (not counting the half-bath, where only a bird could properly bathe), but that one is pretty cramped. The door opens onto the toilet, so watch out! I still can’t figure out how the previous owners managed in here with three kids and one on the way by the time they sold to us.

Click here for automated updates to this blahg.

This weekend started with us and Tracy’s folks tackling the entry and soon-to-be bathroom. With limited workspace space thanks to a garage full of trim, tools and 2X4’s, not to mention the rain, I got to break in the new mitre saw (with adjustable LASER!) with excellent results.

After knocking out a space for a door in the entry way, we started installing wainscoting in there. Jim (Tracy’s Dad) and I cut the pieces and nailed it to the wall, followed by Tracy and Georgia (her Mom) painting. Thankfully the pieces were already primered, saving us a day on painting.

We also tore down the sheetrock in the garage bumpout / makeshift office, created for some unknown reason by either the previous or previous-previous owners. This will be converted into the new bathroom soon. We can’t wait because we’re not used to having only one shower available to us, so we’re very motivated for this particular project to be done.

 Now onto the photos!!

Entry Way: Before

Top: New paint color (some kind of tan or light brown).
Bottom: old paint color (some kind of awful).
Bottom-right: Wainscoting (just white primer, soon to be just white paint).

Entry Way: Paint on the top, a rug, a panel of wainscoting, a mirror, and my shoes.

Behind the wall: cutting out the door from the future bathroom into the entry.

HOT WOOD-CHOPPING ACTION!

Looking from the living room, Jim and I installing panels.

Tracy painting some panelling.

Those hard-working Forresters.

Entry Way: After #1

Entry Way: After #2 (better view of the new door)

After a full Saturday of sawing and nail-gunning, I was lucky enough to be offered a free ticket to see the semi-reunited Van Halen at the Rose Garden. My pal Aaron and I got a head-start at the Widmer Gasthaus (where they have a dessert beer that’s not too bad) prior to the show. Diamond Dave and Eddie Van Halen appear to be getting along fine. If they aren’t, then they deserve Oscars for their on-stage demeanor. Dave can’t spin-kick as high as he used to, but the dude’s in his 50’s, so I’ll let it slide. Alex Van Halen looked old in the 80’s, so I can’t really say he’s aged all that much. Eddie is off the drink and drugs, so he looks healthy and can still shred as if he was born with a guitar in his arms (his poor mother!). The big surprise for me was Eddie’s 16-year-old son Wolfgang on bass. Once thought to be irreplaceable for superb bass-playing AND background vocals, kicked-out bassist Michael Anthony does have an equal out there, and it’s purely coincidence that he just happens to be named Van Halen. Despite being an awkward teenager playing in front of leather-clad hot moms with their own teenage kids in tow, Wolfgang proved he really is more than capable of filling some very big shoes. And with a name like Wolfgang Van Halen, how could he not be?

View of Van Halen from the 300’s:

Next week: probably some work on the new bathroom.

By popular demand (a.k.a. family members), here are some exterior photos of the new house.

Interior shots coming soon. These photos were taken prior to purchase. The vehicles belong to the inspector and realtor, so if you’re the type who stalks people via license plate #’s, you’ll only be finding them.

We just moved in and have already started the remodeling process. Here’s a few projects on the to-do list:

-Paint (living room, kitchen, dining room, bedrooms)
-Install new bathroom
-Combine existing bathrooms into large master bath
-Replace siding

Please don’t be offended if you don’t get a gift from us for the next 11 years.