As part of my roofing work, the team installed a skylight above my 3rd floor bathtub. They did all the exterior installation but didn't do any of the interior work.
After a few failed attempts at hiring someone to complete that finishing work for me and watching a handy Bob Villa youtube video a few times, I decided to do it myself. The work involved skills that I've done before while working on the Fitler Square house.
Basically, I needed to:
- Cut the opening, using the guide screws the roofers had put in place
- Complete the framing
- Cut drywall and attach it to the framing and slide it into the grooves of the skylight (Note: one of the grooves was partially covered in the install, so I had to improvise)
- Install metal corner beat along the bottom edges of the framing
- Install corner bead in the inside corners
- Tape and mud
- Sand
- Sand
- Sand
- Repeat mud and sand
- Prime
- Look for the ceiling paint originally used by the former home owners
- Paint
- Realize that the only color that could have possibly been the ceiling color from the paint that remained almost but not quite matched the rest of the ceiling
- Accept that my family was going to arrive in 12 hours to stay with me for marathon weekend and time was up
As my last bullet implies, I was working against the clock, because I wanted to have the project done before my family came to stay with me for Marathon weekend. (That was my fault... overly ambitious).
It certainly isn't my best work, but I'm pretty happy with the result. The silver-grey lining is that, because my home is old there are many places in the wood work and plaster that aren't 100% flush and even... so it kind of blends in for now.
I learned a few lessons from this work:
- When you have a small area that is mostly covered with mud - just cover the whole thing, because no amount of sanding is going to get it even for that small part in the middle that doesn't need mud.
- I either didn't have the right sanding tools or just wasn't strong enough to sand adequately while working upside down, on a ladder. My arms were exhausted.
- I bought both plastic and metal mud spreaders. I should have used the metal ones. I think my application would have been more even.
At some point, the rest of the ceiling will need to be cleaned up, and I'll see about evening things out at that time.
For now, though, I'll enjoy being able to watch it snow from the comfort of a hot bath. :-)
Here are some pictures of the process along with captions: Skylight Finishing Work
I hope everyone has a great week and enjoys a Happy Thanksgiving!
Wednesday, November 23, 2016
Friday, October 21, 2016
Focus on the Exterior
An increasing intolerance for seeing the chewed up trim on the exterior of my house and the merlot colored door drove me to hire house painters in August to paint the wood work on the exterior of my house and the door. In the course of the project, I learned that two of my window sills were thoroughly rotted and needed to be refashioned.
For paint colors, I chose from the Benjamin Moore Williamsburg Collection - Harwood Putty for the trim and Randolph Grey for the door.
I was reasonably happy with the end result - particularly the door. The people who did the actual painting were friendly and sweet. However, I did not have a good experience with the owner of the company, and it became clear that the price was nearly 3 times what it should have been, given the scope of work they actually did.
What I requested was that they strip off the layers of old paint first and then reprime and repaint. The cost they quoted me made sense for that level of work. What they actually did was just cursory scraping (with no paint stripper applied) and then reprimed and painted. When I complained, I wasn't given a satisfactory explanation and mostly condescension about how much work it is to strip many layers of paint. (My response - "I know. I've done it myself, and the estimate you gave me was commensurate with that level of effort.").
In the end, they gave me a price break on the second window sill repair, and he knew I was not happy overall. I can't recommend them based on my experience, but I am happy with the improved look of the exterior of my home.
Here are some pictures: Pictures of Newly Painted House
Shortly after the painting was finished, I was playing with the animals on the 4th floor and noticed a very nasty leak in the corner. That resulted in a call to the roofers - Bill Henkel Contracting - to come take a look and the information that I would need the entire front of my roof replaced. :-( This wasn't a huge surprise. In my home inspection, I learned that the roof had max 3-5 years of life left. However, I wasn't too thrilled that the demise of the roof happened right after a large expenditure on the painting project.
I will say, though, that my experience working with Bill and his team was amazing. I've already reached out to them to see what their scope of contracting jobs covers, since I have a few other projects that I'd like to get done next year, and I'd be happy to work with them again.
The primary part of the roof replacement is complete as of yesterday. Here are some pictures that Bill sent me: Pictures of Completed Roof Work
They will also be installing a sky light above my 3rd floor bath tub, and that work should be completed next week!
I'm very excited to see these improvements materialize. :)
Thursday, July 21, 2016
A Few Small Electrical Projects
Today I worked from home so that I could get two projects complete:
1) Get an estimate for scraping and repainting of the wood trim around my door and windows on the front of the house.
2) Get two electrical projects completed - First, replace the 220 V outlet that had been available for my stove with a 110 V one that would work for my new stove; Second, get the motion sensor flood light out back fixed/replaced.
I didn't even have to meet the person who came to take pictures of my trim for the estimate. He was going to come at 7am and just take a few pictures, but I never saw him. I was feeling sick this morning and stayed upstairs longer than usual, so I didn't make it down until about 7:30am. I'm eager to get the estimate and see when we can get the work scheduled! The paint on the trim is pretty chewed up, and I think that will make the house look a lot better.
For the electrical work, I hired Generation 3 Electric again. Both projects were small, but they required more prep work than I had allowed time for this morning.
First, when I moved in, nothing on the electricity panel was labeled. The few breakers I had identified have been by accident when something tripped or by much trial and error. So, this morning, after I got back down, I had about 40 minutes until I had to log on for work, and I needed to identify both the stove outlet and motion sensor breaker. In reality it took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to do that and 28 full trips up and down all the stairs. The good news is that I have about half of my panel identified now!
The electrician arrived just before noon. What should have been a much simpler job was complicated once again by the fact that my kitchen isn't accessible from the basement. He wanted to run a new, smaller wire for the stove outlet, but we could not figure out how to do that since the wire disappeared to somewhere inaccessible and then reappear behind a wood panel behind the stove. I told him I didn't want the outlet to cost more than my stove did. He agreed, and we came up with a work around that we were both OK with.
The motion sensor was a disaster waiting to happen. I think a child must have installed the original one. The mounting box was both the wrong shape and only approved for indoor use. The light bulbs - same. If the original sensor had any protection against the elements that would prevent the sensors from being clogged, it was long gone. So, he ended up replacing the entire thing and putting outdoor approved flood lights.
He finished about 10 minutes after 2, which made me 10 minutes late for my meeting.
And then karma made me pay for that by bringing my way a serious sales complaint to jump on that has been consuming the rest of my day.
Here are the pictures of what was completed today.
My next project I'm planning is to replace the fence in my little back "yard" area and get some pavers installed to make the floor level. The timing will depend on how much the trim estimate comes in at. I was able to track down the person who owns the house next to me and gave him a call today to talk to him about that project, since it will impact his renters while it is going on.
1) Get an estimate for scraping and repainting of the wood trim around my door and windows on the front of the house.
2) Get two electrical projects completed - First, replace the 220 V outlet that had been available for my stove with a 110 V one that would work for my new stove; Second, get the motion sensor flood light out back fixed/replaced.
I didn't even have to meet the person who came to take pictures of my trim for the estimate. He was going to come at 7am and just take a few pictures, but I never saw him. I was feeling sick this morning and stayed upstairs longer than usual, so I didn't make it down until about 7:30am. I'm eager to get the estimate and see when we can get the work scheduled! The paint on the trim is pretty chewed up, and I think that will make the house look a lot better.
For the electrical work, I hired Generation 3 Electric again. Both projects were small, but they required more prep work than I had allowed time for this morning.
First, when I moved in, nothing on the electricity panel was labeled. The few breakers I had identified have been by accident when something tripped or by much trial and error. So, this morning, after I got back down, I had about 40 minutes until I had to log on for work, and I needed to identify both the stove outlet and motion sensor breaker. In reality it took me about 1 hour and 30 minutes to do that and 28 full trips up and down all the stairs. The good news is that I have about half of my panel identified now!
The electrician arrived just before noon. What should have been a much simpler job was complicated once again by the fact that my kitchen isn't accessible from the basement. He wanted to run a new, smaller wire for the stove outlet, but we could not figure out how to do that since the wire disappeared to somewhere inaccessible and then reappear behind a wood panel behind the stove. I told him I didn't want the outlet to cost more than my stove did. He agreed, and we came up with a work around that we were both OK with.
The motion sensor was a disaster waiting to happen. I think a child must have installed the original one. The mounting box was both the wrong shape and only approved for indoor use. The light bulbs - same. If the original sensor had any protection against the elements that would prevent the sensors from being clogged, it was long gone. So, he ended up replacing the entire thing and putting outdoor approved flood lights.
He finished about 10 minutes after 2, which made me 10 minutes late for my meeting.
And then karma made me pay for that by bringing my way a serious sales complaint to jump on that has been consuming the rest of my day.
Here are the pictures of what was completed today.
My next project I'm planning is to replace the fence in my little back "yard" area and get some pavers installed to make the floor level. The timing will depend on how much the trim estimate comes in at. I was able to track down the person who owns the house next to me and gave him a call today to talk to him about that project, since it will impact his renters while it is going on.
Saturday, May 7, 2016
Gas Range Project
After two weeks straight of complete insanity at work with a broken foot thrown in for half time, I'm happy to announce that today we were able to finish operation gas range! Chuck and Jim from Hearth and Stove (who did my gas fireplaces and lined my wood burning chimney) came to run the gas lines for me and hooked up my stove as well.
When I bought this house, it had an electric stove and a refrigerator - both of which were close to being on their way out. I really prefer a gas range, but I wasn't sure it was going to be possible. When my house was built, the house ended on the threshold of the kitchen and bathrooms. That entire back part was added on later, presumably when running water was added to the house, and is over a slab instead of the basement.
About 3 weeks ago, my refrigerator officially died, so I replaced that. Then around the same time, my stove started to intermittently not work. It would take 2 hours to bake a sweet potato at 475 degrees and other such nonsense. I mapped out a plan for the gas lines that had them coming upstairs in the dining room and running along the baseboard. It wasn't attractive or ideal, and I didn't prefer it, but it would make my gas range possible.
I called Dan from Hearth and Stove to come check things out and give me an estimate. He and Jeff came and were able to come up with an even better plan... if they ran the gas lines through the basement and out into my breeze way area, they could then come back into the kitchen from the outside. This had the added benefit of providing me with a natural gas line T outside where I could hook up a natural gas grill in the future.
Today the work was scheduled. Chuck and Jim came, worked expertly through the hurdles, and were even able to install the range shut off valve in such a way that I could access it by just pulling out the drawer and shutting it off rather than lose the drawer as was the original plan.
I'm looking forward to experimenting with different cooking techniques with my CSA and garden vegetables. It should be a fun summer!
I messed up on my grill selection, though. I bought a propane grill, thinking that it would work with natural gas as well. Not so, and although some brands of grills have conversion kits, I couldn't find one anywhere for the Cuisinart one I bought (CGG-200). I can always plan for a natural gas grill when this one wears out and when I clean up that back area more with pavers and other things to make it pretty... probably a few years from now.
Here are a few pictures of the work and the end results. Now I just need to get a propane tank before Father's Day!
Pictures of Project
When I bought this house, it had an electric stove and a refrigerator - both of which were close to being on their way out. I really prefer a gas range, but I wasn't sure it was going to be possible. When my house was built, the house ended on the threshold of the kitchen and bathrooms. That entire back part was added on later, presumably when running water was added to the house, and is over a slab instead of the basement.
About 3 weeks ago, my refrigerator officially died, so I replaced that. Then around the same time, my stove started to intermittently not work. It would take 2 hours to bake a sweet potato at 475 degrees and other such nonsense. I mapped out a plan for the gas lines that had them coming upstairs in the dining room and running along the baseboard. It wasn't attractive or ideal, and I didn't prefer it, but it would make my gas range possible.
I called Dan from Hearth and Stove to come check things out and give me an estimate. He and Jeff came and were able to come up with an even better plan... if they ran the gas lines through the basement and out into my breeze way area, they could then come back into the kitchen from the outside. This had the added benefit of providing me with a natural gas line T outside where I could hook up a natural gas grill in the future.
Today the work was scheduled. Chuck and Jim came, worked expertly through the hurdles, and were even able to install the range shut off valve in such a way that I could access it by just pulling out the drawer and shutting it off rather than lose the drawer as was the original plan.
I'm looking forward to experimenting with different cooking techniques with my CSA and garden vegetables. It should be a fun summer!
I messed up on my grill selection, though. I bought a propane grill, thinking that it would work with natural gas as well. Not so, and although some brands of grills have conversion kits, I couldn't find one anywhere for the Cuisinart one I bought (CGG-200). I can always plan for a natural gas grill when this one wears out and when I clean up that back area more with pavers and other things to make it pretty... probably a few years from now.
Here are a few pictures of the work and the end results. Now I just need to get a propane tank before Father's Day!
Pictures of Project
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)