Garage be gone!

Wednesday - 4/27/11

As mentioned in an earlier post, there's a problem with water run off from the street and a roof leak which accelerated my plans on dealing with the carport/garage situation.  They tend to flood with a river of mud in a heavy rain suggesting a need for a french drain between the carport and the street.  I'm formulating a plan for that which I will address in a later post but first the 'garage'.

I  started dismantling it today. 

A little mud with your garage?

I have a water management problem!

It was such an odd feeling when I pulled the first wall panel down.  I had a fleeting moment of wondering if it wasn't a mistake to remove the only source of outside storage....but it was only fleeting.  It was the right decision.  The garage may have been functional space, but it completely detracted from and hid the 'round' nature of the house.  I can always build or have built an external storage shed.....preferably round.  ;-)

Under tight supervision of my Boss, the project manager....

The PM

...it took nearly all day to peel back the outer skin exposing the frame and the roof joists in the center.  

The garage door will be removed eventually

Thursday - 4/28/11
Today I removed the framing and more of the ceiling plywood covering under the roof deck.  I needed to validate condition of the structure to insure no hidden damage stays hidden and problematic later.

Overall, it was in good shape though one of the cross beams might have to be replaced due to water damage, wood rot, and an all you can eat termite fest.  The rest will come down shortly.

You can actually see it's round

It's amazing what removing a couple of walls can do.  It's a vast improvement over the space being closed in.  I have a three (point five) car carport with room to open the doors on both sides!!

The big truck could only be backed in due to the placement of those pesky support posts which are going to disappear very soon!

The vision....
...to make it a drive through carport...or for the more refined amongst us, a Porte-Cochere.

Instead of parking facing the house, you would drive through across the front of the house.  If I can pickup the properties on both sides, I'll add a graveled drive on either side to facilitate entering and exiting and then remove drive in access from the street side as currently depicted.  I'll level the street-side area provide off-street guest parking.  Either way, the four center support posts will go away and the four street-side support posts will move 20" closer to the street to maximize the obstacle free space underneath.  I might extend the street-side roof line and equivalent amount so that water runoff can drain straight into the aforementioned french drain.

In order for the posts to be eliminated, the existing 22' support beams (two 2x6" boards nailed together) leading from the house towards the street will have be extended 2' and beefed up.  I had thought to sandwich the beam with a 1/4"x6" by 24' steel "flat" to provide the necessary weight support.  I'm not a mathematician so I was worried that would not be sufficient but when I pealed back the covering on the two center support beams, I found that's exactly what the builder did so it's a good plan.   My only concern now is that the steel flats come only in 20' lengths.  20' will actually be sufficient but I'd rather have 24' so the steel is resting on the extended support posts.  Will figure something out!

More later!

Flyer or Planner??

Are you one of those persons that has to have everything mapped out to the nth degree before you do anything?  Or do you like to fly by the seat of your pants?  No plans.  Just the joy of discovering what might present itself as the next challenge and what the hell to do about it if it's not what you expected!

I'd drive you crazy.  I like flying by the seat of my pants.  No plans, just GO!

Some might say I lack creativity (I don't believe that for a sec!), some say I lack spontaneity.....hmmmm....might have to think about that one.  I will admit to liking the spontaneity of ME! 

For sure this house is a fly by your seat venture and I've been waiting for it for a long time!  That's not to say I don't have a vision.  I do.  I just like to take it one day at a time and see where it goes...in a controlled fashion.  It's like a big puzzle.  Of course, there's always that one friend that keeps asking "what's next?".  You know who you are and I appreciate it as it does tend to keep me somewhat on track!

Tuesday - 04/26/11
Yesterday was an exceptionally warm (like 80), overcast and humid day.  A perfect day for a storm.  I went to the dump just before noon and about killed myself unloading the second $100 truck and trailer load.  Several days previously, the carpet and padding got rained on it so it was a bit heavy.  Between that and the temp and humidity, it took me 2hours to unload.  I was soaked through by the time I was done and it wasn't even raining.  I hate that feeling!  Someone recently said to a Facebook friend "Move to Arizona".  I'd love to swap the humidity for the dry heat any day.  Either way, I'd get dehydrated.  But I digress.....

I decided not to tax myself for the rest of the day so opted to run some errands.  I decided to do some laundry and since I don't yet have appliances at the house, I stopped at the Hoot & Holler liquor store (how convenient) and Laundromat.  Like I said, a perfect day for a yet another storm.  The L-mat had the Weather Channel on the tube and wouldn't you know it there was a string of ugly purple and red bands with the infamous "hook" head right towards us (again).  I watched inside and out and then stuck my head out the door just as the wind kicked up and the warning sirens started to blare.  I casually walked over to the liquor store on the off chance myself and the others would need to dive into the cooler boxes.

The wind died down again so I ventured outside.  Off in the distance we could see the formation of a funnel cloud, whispy white against an angry black backdrop.  Just as quick as it started to form it's downward spiral, it dissipated and moved on with the news chopper in it's wake.  I was to hear later that a tornado actually did touch down over by Purtis Creek.  I was near there when I was at the dump. The rest of the evening was one LONG and DRAWN OUT rain storm.

My point in sharing this is that minor things (ok, well major things too) can change the course of events.  I had been wondering what aspect of the house project I was going to work on next (hence taking the afternoon off).  The rain answered that for me.  I found a minor leak in the ceiling of the Great Room and the Master Bedroom.  Of course that answered the question about replacing the roof.  Not going to mess trying to find the source.

Also, the carport/garage flooded!  They're both below street level by about a foot so the water has to go somewhere.  I knew that was an issue when I bought the place.  A simple (ha!) french drain across the front will resolve that problem.

So, right there, the course of direction changed.

To resolve the leaks in the house, I need a new roof.  I anticipated this and have decided to install a standing seam metal roof (assuming it's not excessively expensive!).  Preferably almond color to reflect the heat.

Since the new standing seam metal roof has to include the carport, I need to gut and repair the carport roof.  It's sagging on one side (also knew that when I first looked at the place).  I want to incorporate some structured beams sufficient to hold the weight of the carport roof across a 22' span so I can remove the center posts freeing up more undercover space.  It's a vision I have!  ;-)

Before I can fix the carport roof, I have to remove the garage that was tacked on and which sandwiches the four interior support posts for the carport. 

Wednesday - 04/27/11
So, today, I undertake the beginning demolition of the garage and carport!

More later!

Rainy Monday

It was cloudy and humid earlier today and couldn't decide if it should rain or not....it barely sprinkled until about 1:00pm when, with several claps of thunder, it started to rain in earnest.

I'd been waiting for rain (apparently we're in a drought) so I got out my flashlight and started checking all the nooks and crannies for signs of roof leakage.  I had concerns given the waterstained sheetrock ceilings through the house.  I wanted to determine if those were old leaks and stains that had not been repaired or new ones that would indicate the need for a new roof.  I'm pleased to report that the roof is sound and apparently had been replaced at some point but the interior ceilings not repaired.  It's not leaking at all!  Phew!!  The much desired standing seam metal roof can wait several months more.

I did find out just how the porch (aka 1/3 carport) continues to show signs of flooding.  The corner gutter appears to be clogged so the water is draining right into the carport area.  Also, the house and carport is lower than the street so there's a fair amount of run off that needs to dealt with. 

The old AC duct work soaking it all in!

I'll have to install a french drain across the front the the carport and garage areas to redirect the water flow around both sides of the house.  It's a chore but nothing overwhelming.   I installed one across the front of the Waco house with good results!  It will also give me the opportunity to raise and level the parking area between the carport and the street .  I want the carport to be a drive through so the current access path from the street can be converted to off street guest parking. 

I spent the morning removing the AC/Heating ductwork up in the 'attic' space above the central hallway.  I want to reclaim the two hallway closets on either side of the fireplace.  Each contains the AC system and water heater.  The logical place to relocate them above the hall where there's plenty of room.  In fact, I can stand up between the chimney and the roof cupola.  With the ductwork out of the way, it's obvious there's room.

It just needs to be decked in.

The part of the cupola over the Great Room

There are a variety of attic AC systems available so I can easily replace the closet system with something that that makes sense for that space. Even though I'm confident I could do the AC install myself, I'll contract out it out.  I'll make some calls this week to get some vendors out for suggestions and quotes.  I'll do the water heater install myself.

Demo Day 14 & 15 Demolition COMPLETE!

Thursday - 4/21/11
Made great progress.  Scraped up all of the floor tiles in the Great Room and the hallways and pulled the carpets in two of the bedrooms and dragged the out to the flatbed trailer which is encroaching on the 3+ foot deep level again.  It's probably going to be another $100 to dump it all.

Overall the slab floor is in good condition but the concrete guys back in 1969 did a schlocky job of smoothing the concrete.  Maybe schlocky is too kind.  Maybe crappy is a better word.  Where concrete should be floated to a high degree of smoothness, here there are all kinds of divits and lines in the surface.

There are some variances in the surface height that's pretty noticeable when you walk across an area.  The guy doing the float work had no business floating anything. Anyway, I'm going to check into a concrete grinder to see if it's feasible to smooth it out.  If not, I'll probably fill most of it in with self leveling concrete and move to plan "B".

Plan A was to etch the floor with some interesting lines and patterns and then stain it in various rich dark colors that are pleasing to the eye.  Plan B is everything else.

Actually at Lowe's there a pallet of real 3/4" hardwood flooring I keep seeing whenever I walk down that aisle.  I finally whipped out my trusty iPhone calculator and determined it would only be about $4000+ to lay that floor.  A minor increase in the budget over the $300 or so it might have taken to stain what should have been a flawlessly smooth floor.   Still it would look (ouch!)....nice!

Friday - 4/22/11
With face mask firmly in place I finished cleaning up after the tile removal and commenced removing the carpet in the Master Bedroom.  It, just like all the other rooms, was ratty nasty but came up pretty easily.  The part I hate is yanking up all those carpet tack strips.  They don't just come up, you have get down on your hands and knees and pry them up at six inch intervals and then pull the nails out of the concrete leaving a series of pretty bruising divots every six inches.  I could leave them or fill them, either way, it's pretty obvious. After the first foot with a screwdriver and hammer, you look at the next 12-24' and suddenly your body starts to hurt.   

With that chore completed I moved back to the master bath and completed the process of removing all the nails left behind by the paneling and the sheetrock ceiling.  Pulling nails....BORING!!!

I spent the rest of the afternoon going back through the whole place with the vaccum and conducting general cleanup.  Some friends are supposed to come by Saturday evening to check out the place for the first time so naturally (though I don't know why) I want to make a good impression.

Overall it's really starting to look good.  At this stage, with the exception of the AC ductwork, the first phase of the demolition, the peeling back of the onion to see the condition of it's internals, is officially complete!!  Yippee!!

I'm very pleased to report there are no major issues to confront!  It's a stout structure with lots of potential to make some improvements without significantly altering the floor plan.  More on that later!

Now it's on to the true renovation process.....the fun stuff.... making changes, the improvements, etc....  Oh yeah....and spending a shitload of bucks.  Demolition has been pretty much free.  Can't say that moving forward!!

No pain, no gain!

Demo Day 12 & 13 - Rounding the bend

Monday - 4/18/11
Finally got around to gutting the master bath on Monday so 100% of all the walls and ceilings have been pulled down.  As with the other bath, there was the usual nasty stuff up there falling all around me.  Yuck!!  Glad to have the last of that out of the way!  I resisted removing the one remaining toilet (for obvious reasons) but to get the last wall panel out from behind it I finally had to give in and pull it out.  Since I had it out and wanted it to function properly like it should, I went to Lowes and picked up a full rebuild kit.  The previous owners jury rigged it rather than fix it properly so it didn't look pretty.  

Tuesday - 4/19/11
Had to take a quick (Ok, LONG) trip to Waco to conduct some family business and didn't get back until after 5p so aside from unloading the big truck I didn't make any headway.  Talk about a drain....at 10mpg that trip cost me about $75 round trip.  OUCH!

I did manage to pick up some of my tools and supplies from the Waco house when I stopped by to check on it so it wasn't a total loss.  I picked up the two skylights I bought some 5 years ago for $50 each from Lowes.  I've been trying to do something with them for a couple of years.  I contemplated installing them in the Dallas house but wasn't to enthused about another project there.  Now I can contemplate installing them in the Round House....though exactly where I have no clue yet.  Maybe one above the entry hall and one above the kitchen.  Then again, installing only one in the Great Room above the kitchen might make the room appear to be out of balance so maybe installing both in the Great Room for symmetry makes more sense.

Wednesday - 4/20/11
Today I finished reinstalling the toilet and it works flawlessly....though I have yet to "use" it.  At least it holds it's water and flushes well.  I also pulled both bath tubs and while pondering just what I'm going to replace them with and how, dug out the holes in the slab where the drains were.  Sure wish I had my "how to" book with me.  I mean it's obvious what needs to be done but sometimes it sure is nice to have something you can refer to to validate your thinking.

The two bathtubs are sitting in the Great Room in front of the glass windows.....somehow that TV ad we see repetitively on TV keeps entering my mind.  You know the one....man, woman sitting side by side in two tubs in a meadow or overlooking the ocean while the sun sets in front of them....what is that?....Viagra?  Uh no thanks....Still the visual of the two tubs just sitting there is hard to resist.......

Pics
I've been experiencing some technical issues attaching pics so if they're not here yet, they will be at some point!
(pics added 4/21)

Here today....

Gone today...and suddenly I feel a draft....

You really begin to feel like your making progress when things are swept and vacuumed clean!

Mowing the lawn

Arrived back at the house on Friday with time to spare so decided to do a bit of mowing.  I was a bit concerned as there's a lot of poison oak/ivy which I have had the misfortune to encounter in the past.  Let's just say I have a healthy respect for it and try not to venture near unless I'm fully covered with long sleeves and pants.

I picked up two bottles of Roundup Poison Ivy killer concentrate.  At $25.00 per bottle, that stuff is expensive and it only provided enough to do one quarter of the perimeter.  Jeesh!  I sprayed the outer edges and then proceeded to mow around the inside.

Only one post this week (this one)

My buddy Jens from Germany was passing through town this week (Hi Sandra!) for a couple of days so I took the week off, collected my cat and returned to Dallas to spend time with him and to get my taxes and some pending legal stuff out of the way.  We went out to Ikea so I could check out their kitchen cabinets, bathroom and closet features, and some other various furnishings.  I like their stuff!

Jens has been following the house acquisition saga from the beginning so when he passed through town last August he went with me when I got access to the house for the first time.  Yesterday we drove back out to the house so he could see the progress first hand.  I think he was duly impressed.

While there he helped configure my PC so I could tether off my iPhone4 using a gizmo I bought at Frye's which enables me to use it (the iPhone) as my internet connection while I'm there working on the house.  Now that's what I call pretty cool!!  I can conduct more timely blog updates via a regular size keyboard rather than the tiny keyboard on the iPhone.  I'm pleased with that enhancement!

Today we went flying over the lake so I could get some aerial pics of the house......

But despite circling several times the trees where so thick we couldn't see any part of it, even the roof.  Bummer!

Right about.....there....somewhere.

Demo day 11 - Cleanup

Had to work this afternoon so spent the morning and early afternoon cleaning up the residual debris from dropping the ceilings.  I also pulled the carpet in the Great Room and cleaned up the floor.  I still have to remove the carpets in the three bedrooms and pull down the AC ductwork in the attic area above the hallways.  The flatbed trailer is already half full again.  I'm sure it will fill up to the 4' deep $100 level again .

 

If I were to ever sell, this will bethe major selling feature!!

Starting to look pretty decent with all the debris removed!  The tiles will go too.

Demo day 10 - about 98% done

Spent days 9 & 10 completing the pull downs of the ceilings in the bedrooms.  Still have to gut the master bath including the tub surround.

Those cast iron tubs are HEAVY so I'm leaving them where the are until I can get some friends over to help get them out.

Demo Day 9

More progress.  Dropped the ceilings in all of the bedrooms and managed to get the place cleaned up from all the debris.  Started loading the trailer for the second dump run.

More mud dauber nests...

 Oh, the last known resident....Harvey....must have had something questionable to eat.  His spouse Marge is resting comfortably behind the panel in the hallway.

Poor Harvey.  No match for those human interlopers!

Demo day 8 - To the dump!!

Time to go to the dump!  The pile under the carport and in the garage was getting too big to deal with so and I'm running out of room.  My friend Steve who also owns a house on the lake loaned me his flatbed trailer.  It sure is nice to know people with the right equipment!!  I used it once before when I first acquired my 1948 Ford 8N tractor with the 6' finishing mower a couple of years ago that I needed to maintain my the unruly grass around my mother's place in Waco.  It fit on there without a problem.   Anyway, between the trailer and my big truck, I had plenty of capacity!

Almost right away I began experiencing a bit of a worry as I was having trouble finding a local dump site.  It never occurred to me I might encounter something like that!! I Googled as many ways as it could take the cows to come home but could not find any reference to a local landfill.  I had a sinking feeling I was going to have to drive some 60miles to the only one that was coming up in my Internet searches.  I finally started making numerous calls around to the various available city halls and at first was not having much luck but finally was referred to a transfer station (not a dump) outside of Eustace, TX., only about 12miles away.  Phew!!

It took me 8 hours to go from this.....

and this...

to this....

 and that....

About 4' deep

It took only $100 and 90mins to unload it all.

I figure I have at least one more comparable load to go.  Maybe one and a half.

Demo day 7

Spent most of early day pulling nails....BORING!  Then moved on to the ceiling and shower surround in the main bathroom. 

Then moved on the Great Room.  Too bad I can't leave the ceiling joists exposed.  They offer a great rustic look with a nice radius pattern!

The fireplace is going to make a great main focal point!