The Best Made Plans (for Doors) and Other Adventures

Hello blog watchers,

No, we’re not done adding to this means of recording progress and life that goes on while fixing up “this old house.” So, if you are so inclined, read on. I will try to make a quick, yet clear description of what’s happened since our last post in August of last year.

I reported then that we hoped to remove all the paint from the interior doors and get them freshly painted and installed last fall. Well, out of twelve doors we got TWO finished. Yes, only two. We now know that it takes about 15 person hours to refinish just one door. So in the spring we recruited some help. Our friend Sharon S. took on the task of stripping the paint from the remaining doors in her free time. Sharon stripped paint, Bob filled and sanded and I painted. We exchanged sets of doors in twos and threes.

Bob has undergone an in-depth study of the inner workings of Victorian doorknobs and latches. God bless his patience! So after being throughly cleaned and repainted they are being reinstalled to do what they were designed to do over a hundred years ago. 

On the inside of a door knob...

A doorknob in working order!

Currently we have five doors in complete working order; five that just need doorknob hardware installed; and the remaining three that might be ready for paint this week. 

But last fall we did get the wheels in motion to begin our landscaping improvements. First task at hand was changing the driveway. Though a three car wide driveway was handy during the construction, we prefer using the space for other things like yard and gardens. 

A drawing of our plans for hardscaping and landscaping. 

Click on images to enlarge.

We plan to enlarge the existing garage to allow space for a walk through door on the north side, workshop space for Bob and attic storage. The 20’ x 22’ garage only has room for two cars and not much more. (Right now it is full of everything but cars!) 

Between the house and the garage we are envisioning a three level patio and walkway to the side entrance. We’ve completed work on a kitchen garden close to the side entrance to make it easy to cut herbs, onions and other veggies for meal preparation and a parking pad to serve as a space for guest parking with access to the front door and for turning around when exiting the garage. 

We’ve also narrowed down the driveway at the street end to one car width to make room for a vegetable garden along the edge of the property. That side and the front of the house get the most sun. The backyard is small and shady a good portion of the day. Bob put to use his wall building skills to create retaining walls along the driveway and parking pad. Thank you to Kathy B. for giving us the field stones she no longer wanted to use for retaining walls. We spent three days taking apart flower beds and carting home rocks of all sizes. We had some help, too. Our utility trailer (once a 1978 pop up trailer) gave up the ghost in the process, however. So sad! One too many loads of firewood, rocks and mulch over the years.

We began the project by bringing in the big machines to move things around. Our neighbor to the south wanted to extend his driveway, so we did a swap. We traded his top soil for our extra gravel. Ed R. and his crew got to it with a track hoe and skid steer.

Leveling off the ground for the kitchen garden.
The foundation shrubs were pulled out.

The pile of rocks were used to create retaining walls 

along the driveway and parking pad.

The parking pad goes on this side of the kitchen garden.
The ground level needed to be raised as
our yard has a gentle slope from side to side.

We removed the white vinyl privacy fence that ran between the properties.
We’ll use some of the posts to create trellises instead.

We used a long rope to layout the new edges
of the driveway before spray painting the lines.

Ed and his crew went about removing the gravel and
putting it where it was needed before removing the soil and
putting it where it was needed. Amazing!

Here Ed removed sod with the skid steer so we can
create a foundation for the new sidewalk.

Then winter settled in and painting and yard work was done for the year. Bob built the planned bookcase in the wall of the guest room. After recovering from neck surgery in January, I worked on designs for sawn balusters for the porch and deck railings. As spring made its return we planted trees in the front yard and laid out the gardens. Bob built fun gates for each! No more stepping over the fence.

We decided on red maples for the front yard. We’ll eventually have to
take down the “not so healthy” sugar maple—but we’ll wait as long as we can!
More trees to come later.

Bob excavates the holes. I wasn’t allowed to help
because of healing from my surgery.

I planted herbs, spinach, greens and lettuce in the kitchen garden

Grass is taking hold around the just planted vegetable garden.
I started the tomato plants from seeds inside in March.
Hadn’t done that in a long time.

We laid an underground pipe to drain the front downspouts.
Bob begins to lay out the stones in preparation for wall building.

Bob built this temporary patio with the slate that had been
the front sidewalk out to the street. Eventually we will use it for
the sidewalk between the house and kitchen garden.

Bob in the midst of major puzzle building. The two long rectangular stones are
the steps down to the sidewalk. They were part of the old basement stairs.

We hope to soon post another blog installment so you can see the work that followed this past summer. Until then, enjoy the autumn season.

ChrisAnn (for both of us)

P.S.--I’ve decided that Bob and I are beavers. We like to build things. And like beavers who respond to the sound of flowing water by building and repairing, when we see something that needs fixing we go to work. Hope this helps you understand a bit.

Almost a Year!

Hey there!

You haven’t heard from us for a while, but we’re still here—in our old house. So it is about time we post something just to keep this thing going. No, moving in did not signal the end of the work. Though since the last blog installment, we can say most of the things I listed in the previous one (those things yet to do) are mostly done. In my naivety I think I thought we’d get them done last fall. HA HA.

Here’s a few photos to summarize (click on image to enlarge):

Most of the rooms needed their final coat of wall paint.
This photo of Bob rolling the upper hall is taken from the living room.

Bob lends Dave the trim carpenter a hand with
installing the stair railing in the upper hall.

Bob built wooden components in all the closets.
We thought it would be in keeping with the house’s charm.
This is the double closet in the master bedroom.

This is another shot of the master bedroom closets.
We had the challenge of working around the chimney at the back.
Adjustable shelves go in the box-like features.

The front yard maple was one of the first to turn—autumn is upon us.

We installed the beaded board (wainscot) on the walls of the 

master bath—no more hired help around. 

Here Bob is installing the baseboard.

Bob built the mirror after we couldn’t find anything we liked.
We bought all the moldings and got creative.

I stopped to take a photo while priming the stairs. It took longer 

to apply all the blue masking tape than to do the actual painting!

Rolling, rolling, rolling...last room on first floor, the family room.

Sadly these two old spruces in the front yard were dying.
We had them taken down before the winter winds blew them down.
This photo was taken from the upper hall window.

Then toward the end of October, I crashed. All the mental and physical stress of the previous three years took their toll. My thyroid went berserk and my world came to a screeching halt. Honestly we were both exhausted and after some serious soul searching decided that in order to get back to a healthy place we would put the tools away—stop all work on the house. That may sound simple, but it wasn’t. It was extremely hard to turn off the motor which had been in high gear in order to keep up with deadlines and make the house ready for occupancy. We’d achieved that much—so yes, we could take a break! And we did so from November through February.

Nature takes a rest, so we do, too.

The snow is piling up in this shot from the street toward the garage. 

We were happy to shovel a short and level driveway for 

the first time in many, many winters.

My godparents hosted our winter escape to Florida in 

February—a much needed rejuvenating time away.
Thank you, Uncle Lee and Aunt Shirley!

As spring approached we made a few purchases to furnish the family room. It’s becoming a comfy place to relax and watch TV. Then it was apparent spring cleaning (more like spring re-organizing) was greatly needed. Selling the original washer and dryer opened up enough space in the basement to inspire us to build some shelves so we could unpack boxes and get stuff up off the floor. Bob spent days unpacking his workshop and making spaces to hang and store yard and work tools in the garage. What a relief to be able to find things--no more digging through boxes. Being able to walk through these spaces was a welcome change, too.

The rhododendrons put on a vibrant display in May.

As the weather continued to warm we resumed what was left of the interior painting—the guest room walls and trim in various rooms. This was placed high on the priority list as we did NOT want to look back in five years and still not have everything painted. We’re amazed at the hours we’ve had to spend with paint brush in hand.

Currently we are beginning the long process of stripping and repainting all the doors—all twelve of them. We’re taking them down by twos—stripping, sanding, and painting before rehanging them. The door hardware also needs to be stripped and painted as well—hinges, door knobs, latches, knob plates, key plates, latch plates, and all the screws. I never realized how many pieces of hardware there are on old victorian doors.

After that, not far down the “to do” list is finishing the front porch and putting up the shutters.

In the meantime we are giving serious thought and planning to our outdoor living spaces. But we will leave that for another installment. And it probably is time to post some before and after photos. Stay tuned or stop by and see things in real life. 

It feels good to be back. Thanks for reading,

ChrisAnn

A New Perspective

Hi all,

Here’s our first blog since occupying “our old house.” Yes, last week on Friday the movers came and loaded up all our furniture and heavy stuff, moving it from our rental home of almost two years on Pine Run Road to our home on Charles Street. We spent that night on the air mattress. The next day friends arrived to help us move the smaller stuff and lots of boxes. 

Just before moving, good friend Bill Williams did us a great favor by taking photos of all the rooms of our new home with his digital camera and super, super wide angle lens. We thought you would enjoy seeing these. These photos are great as you can see three sides of the room at once. Keep in mind the wide angle makes the rooms look really large and stretched out. The windows are actually very tall and somewhat narrow. Click on the photos to see a large image.

Kitchen from the dining room—crown molding still to be added.

Dining room looking toward the stairs—waiting for paint and the railing to be installed.

Living room looking toward front door and stairs from the other side of landing. 

Mantle and fireplace surround are another project to be completed.

Family room looking toward hall behind the stairs.

The master bedroom. Bathroom is behind the pocket door.

ChrisAnn's studio on the second floor. Closet is awaiting trim.

Guest room will be getting a built in dresser and book shelf on left. 

Door on the far left leads to the “attic.”

A favorite room. We call it the attic, but it is really

on the second floor above the kitchen wing.

Post move, there is work yet to be completed. 

On the inside: crown molding on the kitchen cabinets, installation of microwave (on back order) and dishwasher (came damaged), some trim on the closet doors, final coat of paint on the trim in many rooms, the final coat of wall paint on the dining room, halls, living room, family room, guest room, closets and master bath, final details in all the baths (lights, mirrors, wainscot, etc.), rods and lights in the closets, the living room mantle and most importantly the railing on the central stairs (actually made moving easier without it).

On the outside: front porch railings and ceiling, back deck railing, shutters. Then we will regrade and rework the three lane wide driveway into one before digging into a new landscape design. We’ll keep you posted.

A special thanks to our friends who came out to help us move: Alan and Carla A., Bill W., Gary S., Wayne and Peggy R., and Dennis H. You guys are the best!

Until next time,
ChrisAnn

Putting Things Back

Hello all!

A slight lull in a flurry of project activity is the opportune time to update the blog. I’m doing laundry and letting the paint brush rest as we wait for more trim to be milled. Since our last post much has been accomplished. The dry wall specialists finally arrived in May (a bit late) and after three weeks the walls were hung and mudded and ready for primer. We forgot to take photos of the dry wall. As we indicated, our neighbor Joe sprayed all the walls and ceilings and then did a final coat on the ceilings. That meant all the windows and stairs had to be covered with plastic and the floors covered with resin paper. All the electrical outlets, switches and light boxes had to be stuffed with paper to prevent the paint from obliterating the electricians careful notes. Then Joe went to work—it only took him two days. That saved us a lot of time and provided a smoother finish than we could ever have gotten by rolling. Bob got right to work painting the walls.

The master bedroom with primed walls and finished ceiling.

While the dry wall was being hung and Bob was painting the walls, I was working daily on painting the inside trim that was being made by Mars Lumber. Mars Lumber is doing an amazing job of replicating our existing trim. We couldn’t be happier. As they finish a batch, I start painting it as quickly as possible to keep up with our trim carpenter who started working on June 6. Thankfully all the original trim already painted and reading to go, but there seems to be just as much new trim to prepare—new doors and windows and rooms that didn’t have the original trim add up. 

We prepare the trim with a coat of primer followed by a coat of finish paint. A final coat of paint will be done after the trim is installed. We’re about ready for that as trim carpenter, Dave Collins has been busy trimming out doorways and windows and hanging doors. Dave is doing an amazing job of putting everything back and adding in the new trim as needed.

Trim carpenter, Dave Collins, at work.

The doors have not been refinished yet, but needed to be 

hung so everything fits just right.

We had to have all new plinths made (aren’t they pretty?) as we removed 

about five different profiles from the house. Most were pretty beat up anyway. 

Too many hits with the vacuum cleaners over the years!

Here’s the newly trimmed window in the kitchen nook and first coat of wall paint. 

In order for Dave to frame the doors, we had a lot of hardware to clean up and some to purchase. We were able to find antique hardware for sale online—even designs that match our existing steeple hinges. We discovered that the best way to remove built up paint from our cast iron hardware is to gently boil it in an old pan on the stove. The heat softens and loosens the paint which can then be scraped away. A few visits back in the pan did the trick. We will eventually repaint the cast iron to look like oil rubbed bronze which is pretty close to how they would have looked. Dark hardware was popular in the Victorian era.

Look what all that paint was hiding. 

We’ve also been looking for additional antique doors to match the originals. This has proved to be a challenge. Thankfully Dave is patient and will frame those doorways once we find the needed doors. We have a lead on some doors through Craig’s List and are hoping it will pan out. In the meantime Dave will begin building the railing system on the stairs. We can’t wait to see how that all comes together!

In addition to all of that, we’ve spent quite a few hours in our attic—the little room above the kitchen. We replaced all the bead board that we had taken down in order to insulate the walls and ceiling. Then I spent many hours washing it all down as it got very dirty. The backs of the boards were covered in soot indicating that there must have been a chimney on the end wall and maybe a coal stove in this room. Simply Green worked well at getting off the grime. Then we gave it a good priming. Bob filled in the cracks and gaps with caulk and we are in the process of painting it. It will be the same color as the trim throughout the house. 

Here is all the bead board back in place, but before it got washed down. 

The dark patches are places where it hadn’t been painted (closet walls). 

So not everything got put back just as it was.

We had hoped that our kitchen floor would be installed by now, but that got moved forward to July 3. It will take the tiler about three weeks to install the tile floors and the tile in the tub and shower. As soon as the kitchen, entryway and laundry are tiled, Masterpiece will begin installing the kitchen cabinets. The delay has been a disappointment but it should allow us to get most of the painting finished before we move in. We have to paint the insides of the windows, too. So we have plenty more painting to do (I’m on my second brush). Oh, and the flooring specialist is scheduled to start working on July 22. He’ll be installing new oak in the living room and upper hall and refinishing the rest of the floors—oak downstairs, pine upstairs.

In our last post we indicated that we’d be moving in June. Shortly after that we took a good look at the calendar and realized that that would not be happening. So we were shooting for July 26. Now we are looking at August 16.

We’re getting there. We are most anxious to be in our new home—we’d appreciate your prayers for patience and strength for the weeks ahead. Hope you enjoyed reading about the latest adventures. 

Fondly,

ChrisAnn (and Bob)

Siding is Exciting

Time to check in to fill you in on what’s been happening to our old house. We’ve had our hands full keeping the subcontractors lined-up in this phase of the renovation. But as the cold winter months have slowly allowed spring’s arrival, much interior work has been completed and much to our delight, the siding is going up right now. What do you think? Is it looking like we imagined in the planning drawing above?

The north side of the house with shutters still to come.

Larry installs a final piece of siding on the front of the house.

In March, after all the inside framing was completed and the new windows installed in the attic, Plumber Steve arrived and went to work. Pretty much all the water and waste lines were replaced and new ones added for the master bath, half bath and laundry room. Keith and Larry installed the exterior trim around the windows and doors and then disappeared to another job for a few weeks. 

With the plumbing rough-in work complete, the insulation specialists arrived to work their magic. They sprayed a one inch layer of foam insulation on the inside of all the exterior walls. The heating and air conditioner workers then could step in to begin reworking the ductwork throughout the house. This took quite a bit of time and proved challenging for an old house that’s been added onto over the years. Thankfully, Dean, the electrician, got to work, too, with his workers rewiring the entire house. Out with the old and in with the new—plenty of outlets and switches in all the right places. About that time, Keith and Larry returned and started installing siding to the exterior.

The spray foam application is part one of the insulation package

After the required inspections for the newly constructed addition to the house, the insulation guys returned and added the fiberglass batting over the foam applied earlier, but not before I thoroughly picked up all the scraps and vacuumed up all the sawdust including that which was hiding in the wall cavities. All that made everything look neat and tidy and ready for dry wall. We took a photographic inventory of all the walls as a location record of every duct, pipe and wire for future reference.

The batting is part two of the “flash and batt” system of insulating.

Before the batting was added, we took lots of photographs 

to document the location of 

ducts, pipes and wires—thus the signs.

Wires, wires everywhere...

The attic is fully insulated now. We will reinstall the 

beaded board to the walls and ceiling in this room.

While all that was going on, Bob and I picked out the lighting fixtures for all the rooms (only two more to decide on). We’ll have ceiling fans with lights in all the rooms except the dining room, baths, entry and laundry room. All the pieces for the kitchen have been selected and ordered. Just a shower door for the master bath and a mirror/medicine cabinet for the half bath are yet to be decided upon.

As the dry wall is being installed, Bob and I are hard at work getting the inside trim primed and painted. In addition to shopping we’ve spent many hours getting the salvaged trim ready for painting. We filled nail holes, bumps and imperfections with wood putty and sanded, then filled and sanded again. We’ll have additional windows and doors so Mars Lumber has our order for additional door and window casing, bull’s eyes, plinth blocks, and window sills and aprons. They had to make new cutting heads for all of the patterns except the window aprons! We’re waiting on placing the base board order as we want to install what we have first. It will be like a puzzle as so much has changed in the room configurations.

The detached garage of our 

rental house is our painting workshop. 

Thanks, Hamilton’s, for the concrete floor!

Priming the bull’s eye trim.

Of course before the trim goes up, we’ll have to paint the walls. We purchased all the wall paint—Sherwin Williams was having a 40% off all paint sale! We brought home a boat load of paint. Really, it filled the back of our Outback. I was glad we had all the paint colors picked when that sale was announced. We have hired neighbor Joe, who is a professional handyman and painter, to spray the primer on all the dry wall and the finish coat on the ceilings.

That’s about it for now. Maybe we’ll have time to check back in when the dry wall is installed. I know we’ll be busy, but the end is insight. Oh, you’re probably wondering—move in date is hopefully in June. 

ChrisAnn for both of us

Moving Right Along

We are feeling a bit tardy with getting another entry written in our old house saga as the winter begins to yield its icy grip here in western pa. We’ve had plenty of cold and the guys are very happy to be inside most all of the time, even though there is minimal heat in the house. We’re trying to avoid making too large a contribution to global warming before the house is fully insulated.

Too cold and snowy to  work on the exterior!

When we left off last they were about to start installing the windows and that has been done successfully, save for three little windows in the attic for which we await some new sashes. The small roofs got their new shingles, the siding (scallops) is up in the gables and is looking good with the dessert sand trim package. The guys have painted the exterior window trim in preparation for installation, but as the weather turned really cold they moved inside.

Windows and doors all installed except for the attic windows above the kitchen.

 We are delighted to have windows that will actually operate and not pour pounds of paint particulates onto their sills. Some windows moved a bit to provide better locations but most went back in the same holes to preserve the look of the house. We removed the double front doors and placed an octagon window at the landing at the bottom of the staircase. The new front door went into the living room window spot. What a different feel the front porch will have, entry on the left and an enlarged seating area to the right.

Redesigned front porch waiting for some posts--adding one to make five.

Much time has been spent on meeting with the good folks at Masterpiece Kitchens where Debbie holds fort as designer and Pete does the installs. Long discussions and multiple visits to various shops led to selecting a slab of granite for the countertops, confirming cabinet measurements, adjusting multitudes of details so that framing could be completed. We are almost ready to hit the order button on the kitchen. The floor and backsplash tile are selected. If I ventured that we are almost done with decisions there I’d be as far off as my first guestimate on cost. At least we’ll have a happy banker friend when we’re all done.

Shopping for the granite countertop proved a challenge, 

but we eventually decided on this one—Renoir.

Kitchen components—granite, cabinet doors, floor and 

backsplash (will be subway) tile.

While we’ve been shopping the guys have been reframing some interior walls, building closets and shoring up some floor joists that had lost way too much material to a mad remodeler trying to put in a bathroom drain pipe. A couple of jack posts in the basement pushed up a sag in the dining room floor beside the stairwell. Looking at the structure of this old house is amazing in so many ways. It really has hung together magnificently for 100 plus years. I’m confident with the changes and improvements we are on track for keeping this old place in good shape for many more. Today the new stairs were installed, and all I can say is, “Wow!” It makes me real eager to see the finished product begin to reveal itself.

This second floor plan shows our changes.

Closets are being added to the studio, master bedroom, 2nd bedroom and attic.

We finally figured out how to fit in a small half bath, too.

No, we don't have termites. These holes were made in the living room rafters 

when a previous owner added the upstairs bathroom. Pretty scary! 

But Keith and Larry got them all patched up.

I’ve taken on one small project, but it’s going to be my little baby. After consulting with the insulation pros and selecting a flash and batt system for the walls, we decided to remove all the beaded board in the attic. I hope to put it all back, but first we redesigned the closet area and hall space between the guest bedroom and attic and I’m going to do a built-in dresser and bookshelf (see second floor plan above). Lots of fun, and a bit of a challenge, too. (That’s code for it’s taking longer than I thought it would.) Oh, flash and batt means they will apply an inch spray foam in the wall cavities and then fill the remainder with fiberglass batts. This should seal up all the air leaks in the walls real nice.

The beaded board in the attic had to all come down, but we'll put it back.

Hope you enjoy this update and when we pop in again we can show a little of the green siding and some interior finish work including the stairs. Have a blessed Lenten season and a Joyous Easter.

peace, bob