Alabamy Bound

[Lily left the valley]

Happy old houseversary!

It's always neat watching plans come to fruition, especially ones long agonized over.

Sorry to read about the various travel shift mishaps, but heartened to read about the great visit with Bonnie.

I recently tried to talk Sean into letting me rip up the kitchen -oleum, and he's been patient but firm in his "not yet"s. If we had any old carpet down, though, I know he's be fine with that coming up even if it meant subfloor only for a while.

Looking forward to future updates. Best of luck finding a comfortable pace. I'm still lousy at that--I see-saw between too much too soon, and sitting on my duff too long.

[awomanwithahammer]

Thank you for the kind words, James! It was great to meet you (and PeeWee and Bella) as well, and I look forward to seeing your updates.

Wrestling with old appliances--yes. When Bill and I got married, he had an old refrigerator, no idea how old, but we called it Simba because it was like trying to move an elephant. We finally left it in our last rental house.

Have fun with the carpet! One thing I learned when ripping up carpet by myself is to cut it into strips so it's easier to roll up and haul out.

Love the table, and I'm so sorry about the mishaps. I'm glad you were able to figure out the jigsaw puzzle.

[Gothichome]

Manalto, “live with it a while” is a general recommendation from many old home people. I can not take credit for suggesting it. How long are you down for this trip?

[Manalto]

“live with it a while” is a general recommendation from many old home people. I can not take credit for suggesting it.

Of course you can. You may not have invented it, but you deployed it at the right time.

I'm planning to stay for the summer. I missed an unusually cool (mid 70s during the day and low 60s at night) spring. It has warmed up now that I've arrived, of course. Window restoration is #1 and, if the stars align, a new kitchen floor.

[Lily left the valley]

I'm planning to stay for the summer. I missed an unusually cool (mid 70s during the day and low 60s at night) spring. It has warmed up now that I've arrived, of course. Window restoration is #1 and, if the stars align, a new kitchen floor.

Looking forward to those, especially watching the floor plans come to fruition!

[Gothichome]

Manalto, glad to see your going to get a whole summer. You can get a lot of work in with a few months of steady work. But do take time to sit back and relax with a cold beer or your favourite wine. It makes your efforts more enjoyable. Old homes shouldn’t be a job. You already have one of those.

[Manalto]

For the last couple of days, roofers have been working on the house, garage and sheds. (They did garage and sheds first.) Here is a photo of the progress. This is the north side of the house; the one-story section visible at the left in my avatar photo:



Lower level: New (metal) roof is on. The vinyl that was covering the soffit has been partially removed to expose 1X2 boards to which the vinyl was nailed. (There is a UPC label on the lumber, which dates it sometime after 1974.) The vinyl panels covering the underside are still in place.

Upper level: Old roof is still in place. Reading from left to right, vinyl removed to expose plywood nailed to fire-damaged rafter tails. Across the middle, you can see the rafter tails as they should be, albeit unpainted. (In the center is an attic vent.) At the right, the vinyl covering is on the soffit.

The roofers discovered three layers of roof shingles under the old metal roof, which they will begin removing today.

So far, the young foundation shrubs I planted in December have survived the rain of debris. I put teepees of bamboo over each shrub to deflect the falling material.

[Manalto]

The roofing crew has been incredible. Replacing rotten wood (not much) and returning old Thornwood to its former glory.

[awomanwithahammer]

Isn't it nice to have something going that's going to make such a big difference? The only thing I don't like about working by myself is that I'm so slow that results are so hard to see. The before and after are so far apart that they're not dramatic.

[Manalto]

Maybe it's a good idea to schedule a visually-gratifying task (if there is one) once in a while just for inspiration. Tearing out ALL the wall-to-wall carpet really felt like a leap forward and, really, all I did was get rid of stuff. Now I'm working on the bathroom, trying to get the walls smooth (had a real skim-coat disaster) and everything has looked pretty much the same for days.