My apologies for being pretty much AWOL, vis a vis commenting, this past week. Life has a way of intervening at times doesn't it? That having been said, Mrs J and I, and our minions, have had a busy week.
Minions being a word for highly paid skilled persons hired to use those skills to fill holes in the skill set of Mrs J and I.
Did I mention "highly paid"?
Anyhow when last we spoke, Phase 2 of Operation "Everyone move one house clockwise" had just begun. Phase 2 being the renovation of our old abode, a double wide we'd lived in for 20 years. Renovation is planned to be mainly installation of new flooring. Last Monday, the demo guys showed up early to rip out old ceramic tiles and carpeting.
They hadn't been there more than an hour when I get a call. "juvat, can you come down to the project? We've got something to show you."
Nothing good is going to come from that statement. Well... "nothing inexpensive" that is.
Fortunately, I had a second contractor on site right then to fix some roofing tiles that had blown off in a recent storm. He took a look and said that he could repair that without too much trouble as it looked like the joists were fine underneath. There were only a couple of places like this at the time.
So, we got together with the flooring bubbas, had them continue to remove the existing flooring and prepping the site. We would reschedule the new floor installation for a future date after the holes were fixed.
Unfortunately, I got some more phone calls from them as they took out more carpet/tiles. That above picture is in the corner of the dining room closest to the kitchen. About 5 years ago we'd had a faucet installed (by a plumber, Beans, Plumbing being both expensive and not in my skillset). Seems the plumber didn't quite get the connector on correctly and there had been a very slow leak behind the kitchen sink. A few months later, Culligan came and installed a reverse osmosis system and as he does so, he informs us of the leak.
We contact the plumber who comes out and fixes the leak and replaces the affected flooring. Or so we thought.
The light square at the top is the floor he repaired. The rest, which extends another 4 feet or so to the hole. is MDF. My knowledge of plumbing does include the fact that MDF does not respond well to a long bath.
A phone call between Mrs J and the Plumber then ensued with nothing more accomplished than an exploration of her upper blood pressure limit.
So, we called up the contractor who was going to fix the underfloor problems and said he might want to come back and look at the problem again. He did and concurred with our assessment this HAS to be replaced. He is currently scheduled to fix the problems (there are 5 areas total) this Thursday. The floor installation guys are rescheduled for next Monday.
Yes, Beans, you're right, the price went up quite a bit. So the floor and roof repairs will be just about all we're going to do at this point on the house. My sister will be moving in shortly...and Phase 3, refreshing her old cabin will commence as DIL and "Tex" will be arriving soon to begin the 6 month quarantine in place, prior to their joining Little J on their next assignment in Hong Kong.
So....
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The other major project that's been going on in my AOR is the installation of a Doggy door so the dogs can go and "take care of business" as needed. One of the constraints, however, is we now have indoor cats also. Given that our nearest neighbor lost a couple of sheep to a fox, we had to figure out a workable compromise as providing felines as fox food is not high on Mrs J's (or my) things to do list.Source
BTW ,said fox is now deceased and displayed on the neighbor's fence for all to see...Rednecks, gotta love 'em.
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| Schmedly, patrolling her domain. |
How have we decided to attack the problem? Enter the "Petio".
It's a 12' x 12' enclosed area with the doggie door mounted on the wall on the far side just to the right of the closest corner. Various cat entertainment devices will be installed, so they will be able to view their kingdom from on high. Thought this one turned out quite well. This of course was just one more sub-phase of Phase One of the Operation. There are other sub-phases of that phase. (And undoubtedly will be many more to come.)
One of which came into view late last week. Mrs J had decreed that, since Epiphany was behind us, Christmas was over and decorations thereof should be returned to their upright and locked positions.
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Which, of course, included the Christmas Tree. Cathedral ceilings in the main room meant that the tree would have to be large. 9' in this case.
Yes, Beans, I know. First World problems.
But, taking it down necessitates some place to store it. Which given the layout of the hose means...the Attic.
The Attic is accessed by a drop down folding ladder. The tree, fully broken down and packed weighs 75+ lbs. It finally made it into the attic, but Mrs J had two additional edicts at that point.
First, the tree would be broken down before Little J and/or SIL had departed from their Christmas visit and therefore could assist. Second, some form of mechanical device would be installed so as to facilitate its storage and minimize the consumption of Naproxen required by the older generation after returning it to its storage area.
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| The attic door and the ceiling above. I am standing upright as I take this picture. |
Unfortunately, Tilson's plans for our home had the option for a second floor, which means the roof is probably 15' above the door to the attic. So, this is going to require a little bit of pondering. Mrs J did have a pretty good idea, feasibility still to be determined, to build a saw horse like device which straddles the opening during the lift. Afterwards it is moved out of the way until needed again.
As I said, gonna do some pondering on that.
Which is going to be a helluva lot less stressful than pondering on other events going on this week.
Just sayin'.
Last ponder first, jib crane. Make a wooden one, swing it over the hole, then out of the way. If you put a rope and tackle on it, you can hoist yourself on your own petard... Seriously tho, jib crane. Look at a few, mock it up to verify weight limits and install.
ReplyDeleteOld houses have character... And an almost bottomless pit-like ability to swallow money and time...
A petio? That is the weirdest idea I've ever seen... It's a perfect solution, but the bathroom is under a window. I like the way cow smells, even scour. Horse isn't offensive to me either... Dog? Cat? Pig? other? No thank you very much. Gosh, mom used to write a chore list for work after Saturday cartoons. "Pick up shupee" her word for dog dookie... Wow, I haven't thought of that word in decades... Used a Furr's Family Center paper grocery sack and a bull nosed shovel. Sludge frozen to the grass, had to get the backyard clean dontcha know... Thanks for the memories, Juvat 1.
Thanks, STxAR. I thought of a jib crane. Unfortunately, there are few places to anchor it securely and close, ant the longer the arm... So, I'm leaning more towards the Saw Horse option with some way to anchor the legs to the joists to keep them from falling through the ceiling or the door. Maybe screwing a section of 2 x 4 on either side of a joist and putting the legs in between when in use.
DeleteThe windows are a bit of an optical illusion. The far wall of the Petio is on the camera side of the windows. That having been said, my office window is in fact inside the enclosure. I haven't yet opened it, so I'm not overly concerned. The advantage is since my office is on the west side of the house, the roof gives me some shade. Which, as you are well aware, is worth any smell at least half the year.
My pleasure Sir.
run a sub-floor across the joists. A few of 8 foot runs of 2x4 will spread the load over a good sized area. 3/4 inch plywood is hurricane proof, so a bit of that on the floor, and presto, you have the beginnings of a tap dance studio.
DeleteI trust your instincts. Your dad was a Civil Engineer. I'd imagine there was some of that passed along.
I have since re-remembered that we have 3 "attic" spaces. They're actually access points to various systems in the ceiling. The one I had been using is the access to the heating and air conditioning. There's another in the master closet that allows access to the in line water heater, but is pretty small. However, as I was cleaning out the garage after the Petio was completed, I happened to stretch and while looking up saw and "re-remembered" the access panel to the ceiling above. Voila"! All roof joists are within easy reach. My sliding step ladder easily fits in the opening, so I think that's going to be the actual attic for stuff I don't need access to but once or twice a year. Still gonna install a winch though.
DeleteDang that floor looks nasty!
ReplyDeleteAs for MDF and water, not a good mix. DAMHIK
That's not the nastiest one, believe me. Just didn't want to gross anyone out too much.
DeleteYa, no plan survives first contact with the enemy. Water in the wrong place in the house, not good. The "Petio" is a better choice than a pet door what with the feral cats, possums, trash pandas and assorted other vermin roaming about. Seconding STxAR, crane sounds good, saves the back as well as possible falls.
ReplyDeleteThose were all factors in the decision, although we did have a doggie door in the old house. To our knowledge, no unwanted visitors came in.
DeleteMy sympathies about the floor spots. About four years ago I replaced the three panel door going out onto the deck from the den. I knew there had been water damage from water blown in under the door, but when we took up the carpet and pad, it was much worse than we thought - actual holes into the crawl space, and a couple of joist ends rotted through. Luckily the sill plate was still intact. So we sistered up the joists and replaced the subfloor with pressure treated plywood instead of MDF, just in case, then put in the new door unit. I am now pondering the floor near the fridge that appears to be a bit swollen under the linoleum - ice maker leak, perhaps? Trying to finish up some other projects before I tackle that one.
ReplyDeleteas far as the petio, looks a lot like a similar arrangement a friend has. One question: do your dogs dig?? If so, have you sunk wire into the ground at the base?
Speaking of attics, another chore for my future is cleaning out ours - way too much stuff up there, including old dried up cardboard boxes from when we moved in (in 1991!!). Can you say "fire hazard"?? I thought you could...
It's always somethin' isn't it. This move has resulted in similar circumstances. I have found that the "touching" of those boxes that haven't been "touched" in years, makes the decision to keep or ditch quite a bit easier.
DeleteThe current pack aren't big diggers, but we did have the wire go into the ground about 6 inches. (Where we could, Texas soil, doncha know)
Juvat, there is no such thing as "a simple remodel" in my experience. They all cost, it is just a question of how much they cost. I have become rather paranoid about checking under our sinks and around the washers on a regular basis to look for leaks (not that I have been bitten by this issue - pretty sure it only happens to other people). It is one of the few reasons I am grateful we have a slab foundation.
ReplyDeleteThe Petio looks both cute and something that is going to become a long term improvement project (by degrees, of course).
THBB,
DeleteBoy, have I learned the truth in that statement. We had had some plans to pretty up the house a little bit extra before my Sister moved in. Those have pretty much gone up in smoke now.
After the plumber incident, we became much more "religious" about checking and fixing in an expeditious manner. Unfortunately, the damage was done and Mr. Peabody's wayback machine isn't functional any more.
Thanks, we'll see what we forgot to include starting shortly.
Thanks for the honest glimpse into the life of a land baron. Uncontrolled water is always a problem, something we have to deal with here in the condo, as well.
ReplyDeleteIt's always something, D4. Which is probably a good thing. Keeps us occupied. And broke.
DeleteDos ideas, senor juvat.
ReplyDeleteIdea der Uno - Horrible Fright will sell a cheap hoist for a reasonable amount. Mount it up so as to drag the offending tree up the ladder.
Idea der Dos - look up on the internet for 'cargo elevator in garage' and you'll find lots of really neat and wild ideas that Mrs. Juvat will say "NO!" to but it's still fun to look at. Especially since Christmas decorations expand to fill the available space. And, of course, the basis for any home-made elevator is... a Horrible Fright electric winch.
Why anyone would put MDF or anything less than treated plywood in a flooring situation just defeats me. Stupid place to go cheap. But that's the ways of manufactured housing of any type, unless you specifically specify decent decking, they'll cheap you to death.
I have an idea. Invite the plumber out to do a paid job. And then let Mrs. Juvat at him with an electrified bullwhip. I'm sure, unless he's from Austin, that he won't enjoy the experience. If he is from Austin, he'll probably enjoy the experience. Either way, he'll pay...
Beans, I've thought about that. In fact that's what I was doing in the attic in that picture, looking for a place to anchor the winch. The problem is the pitch of the roof and the line of sight to the ladder puts the mounting point way up there. I may still do that, but there'll be some severe pondering on how. Which might also require some Minion Skills to actually accomplish. I don't know.
DeleteAgree about the MDF. Hindsight...20/20... Or otherwise said "Woulda, Coulda, Shoulda"
I have a sneaking suspicion that after receiving the verbal beating Mrs J delivered, we've had our phone number auto blocked. Suffice it to say, we aren't hiring him again, and to the extent we're asked for a recommendation of a plumber, he won't be mentioned or won't like the recommendation given. That having been said, Beans, I like the way you think!
You may have to install a header beam across some of the interior supports, or run some verticals to install a horizontal. Minions. You need them.
DeleteBeans and juvat. I can forward the photos of how I mounted the HF winch in our stairwell leading to the basement.
DeleteGreat minds indeed.
juvat. We stored the 9 foot tree in a large zipper bag, and we only move one tier at a time.
Note, if you aren't already doing so, spray a lubricant that will dry on each joint of the tree. Then you won't have to lash pieces of wood above and below the stuck joint to twist it apart. (No takers for our free to a good home 9 foot tree. It will be headed for Goodwill in the near future.)
I'm late to the party because we were next door doing plumbing work at my inlaws.
(Don McCollor)...a simpler solution might be if the tree breaks down for packing, then just move it up in manageable pieces in boxes. It doesn't HAVE to all go back in the same original box...
Deletejuvat. Perhaps the only thing that has be fastened up high in the attic is a pulley for the winche's cable. The winch can be mounted at the level of the attic deck and secured through to the rafters.
DeleteJohn, the problem with the pulley high in the ceiling, is getting someplace to put my 8' extension ladder set up. Most of the attic around the door is joists and dry wall. The first are sturdy enough to support me and the ladder, but not wide enough to make sure it doesn't slip off. The dry wall, well....
DeleteDon,
DeleteWe will certainly do that next year. Wish you'd have been in the room with us at the time. "Hey dummy, pack the tree in the box when it's IN the attic." would have been worth its weight in gold or whatever form of payment you preferred.
Beans,
DeleteThe vertical and then the horizontal is basically what Mrs J's suggestion is. Just got to work out the measurements, so I don't bust my head on it going up the ladder.
juvat. Quite correct. The drywall shortcut isn't a good thing, and I'm thinking of my friend who took that shortcut while working in his church's attic. He didn't fall all the way through, but he did get injured badly.
DeleteI'm still wrapping my mind around an attic that's tall enough to need an 8' ladder. We put down plywood in the attic area immediately around the access hatch for storage, and we did install runs of 16" or so plywood to provide paths to the ends of the attic. That was just in case, and they are covered by the upper level of insulation batting.
We don't store much up there because of having to wrestle things up the narrow folding ladder.
Yeah, Unfortunately the area immediately around the ladder has all the conduits and stuff like that running through it. My intent is to use some of the left over 2/4 bracing to lift the flooring up above that. Assuming that works, that will solve a lot of problems up there. But. Learned an important fact. Roof joists are 24" on center. Not the 16" I assumed they were. So, I've got 10 16" 2x4 sections to use somewhere...anywhere...maybe.
Deletejuvat. I cannot throw the wrong measurement stone, I have committed that sin more than once.
DeleteThe only person who hasn't is one who has never cut wood.
Delete(Don McCollor)...juvat, my only reward would be if you are faced with a problem, sit down for an hour with a refreshment to stop and think things through for an hour. Back when I had a (free) now dead TV monster that took me and four friends to bring in. Now to get it out by myself (I hate to have to call others to help [and risk their backs]). Took me a week thinking about it for a solution. One Saturday morning, the Plan went like clockwork...
DeleteMany, many moons ago (when I was young, stupid, and all-knowing), we were moving out of an apt into our first house. My wife found a beaut (at a bargain-basement price - couldn't understand why) not "all that far" from her mother's domicile (2nd mistake), a yuuuuge old mansion (a 7' full basement, including coal-fired boiler plus three upper floors) built in the 1890s. Not ever having been apprenticed to any of the following, I became one of each: electrician, plumber, and carpenter.
ReplyDeleteMy wife's (constant) comment: "Well, if you can't do ..., you never should have bought the house."
Boron,
DeleteCarpentry I can take a stab at. The other two? Not a chance. "First do no harm." comes to mind.
As to your wife's comment, Friend, I know your pain.
When I was a lot younger I worked with a crew that remodeled houses. What I learned there and built upon has probably saved me and mine six figures over the years.
ReplyDeleteI have spent a lot of time lately looking over the shoulders of the minions. Not saying anything, or being nosy, just trying to learn. The installation of the doggie door yesterday was highly educational. They were performing intricate surgery whereas I would have just hacked a hole in the wall. But...If I need to install a second one for some reason, I think I could give it a decent shot.
DeleteThat having been said, I think you underestimate your savings by at least one zero.
Wife commented about son not being smart because he fell in love with a car before deciding what he could afford to get.
ReplyDeleteThen she falls in love with a house we just HAVE to buy and move into.....still paying on fixer-upper projects.
Frank
Frank,
DeleteI feel your pain, Buddy, I feel your pain.
Oh man, I feel for your pocketbook on this one... But doing the right thing IS important!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it is.
DeleteI hope you can pass on the costs of repair to the new tenant! haha. Sounds like you have a small money pit. Sorry. Good luck with that Fox Fence Defense. We have coyotes in our canyon who have been quite active and vocal. Several "Lost Cat" signs have gone up recently.
ReplyDeleteWell, the Petio isn't the last line of defense, just an attempt to slow them down until the cavalry (well armed cavalry) arrives. At least for the time being, that's still authorized around here.
Deletejuvat, ever watch the 1986 movie The Money Pit? :) (a re-make of a 1948 Cary Grant comedy Mr Blandings Builds His Dream House)
ReplyDeleteYes, I have. Fortunately, Mrs J has a pretty sharp financial/economic mind set and is keeping a close eye on the books.
Delete