The Foundation...

Had my neighbor attack my basement and retaining walls while I was at work yesterday. Turns out, 2 gallons of Dry Lock are not enough.

It was enough though to complete a first coat.

So I'll be picking up another three gallons for a second coat and the missed areas, like...the back sides of the retaining walls.

The basement windows and storm door also need stripping, caulking, and painting. 
And that window to the left no one mentioned...
I'll be picking up the piece f 24"x 16" glass for that on my home tonight.

Mold and to do

It has been a while since I posted anything, This is because it's been a while since I did anything.

The doors need replacing as do half the windows.

In the meantime they will be getting re-caulked and painted. before that though, The foundation and retaining walls need cleaning, scraping and painting. That is the next project. 

The house was covered in an algae or mold, This year it hit every house n the area, coating the house in a greenish-blackish slime coat. That has been removed from the north and west walls where it was worst. 

New fixture.

Stepped outside yesterday

While I was at work yesterday Nat showed up at the house and went to work in the yard. The wooded area on the south end of the property has been the leaf dump area for years, the past few though not so much. The bittersweet has hit an epidemic proportion. The trees have been killed by it and more are under attack. Those the little vines run everywhere and where two run together more follow and the grow a single skin. over and over this happens until the vines have a tree bark look and are as thick as young trees. but unlike young trees, these grow like snakes wrapping around everything, and where they touch the ground the shoot out roots to grapple with other things like rocks, debris, other vines and more trees. 

Well, Nat went to work on them and by the time I came home at 6pm she had a large area cleared out, but still the vines are everywhere you walk and the few trees she left standing need to come down also, but their size makes it difficult.

I do wish she had taken some "before" photographs, because the difference is impressive and the amount of work she did, outstanding.

Bathroom sink and Vinyl

Had a plugged sink and a totally pieced together drain system in the bathroom. The drain mechanism was 1-1/4" plastic, with glued together pieces to adapt to the 1-1/2 inch metal pipe. I cut the old section out and went looking for a new 1-1/2" set up. No one local had it so I went to piece meal mode. I put it together and ended up with, well, a sieve, it leaked everywhere.  I was cussing up a blue streak and getting ready to clear the plog by using a 38, but Doug came over and saved the day. He crawled under the sink, removed all I had done, and started over. He also got the sink line unplugged. So no drips and no stoppage. 

he then went up into the south room and applied the vinyl he made me, it came out fantastic, well... the sheet-rock wall doesn't help much because it isn't actually flat. But I love the decal work.
He made it five feet long and I am thinking about adding a vinyl of apes and a headlight after it, or model names or the HD shield. I haven't quite made up my mind yet. 

To think, It's only been since March 9th

South room #2 floor ...Floor

Started last Friday, This laminate is Not Pergo, it was displayed in store with the Pergo but was actually Home Depots brand, "Home Decorator". It does not go together smoothly like Pergo, or Lowes store brand "Project Source". This laminate does not slide and lock smoothly, in fact we bent an installing tool and damaged quite a few board trying to drive these pieces to lock. It is designed to lift over a ridge and drop lock in place, more often than not it would drive through the lock ridge and the surface finish would lift while tapping the boards in place. We finally finished the floor last night around 9pm, except for the half round molding which needs to go around the wall areas, and a couple tiny fill in pieces because of closet cuts.

South room, 2nd floor

Laminate floor - number two floor

If anyone tells you these just flip, hook- tap - drop and lock....Ask them if they are sure.

It appears that the thin flooring does just that, angle it up, hook it on, tap to drop, tap to lock. The real thick planks, which you would think you be easier...no. The corners ride up instead of locking. the tightening bar, with plastic hammer slides the board along but then lifts small ridges on the end the plank which if you don't trim them off, foul the next piece going on. I am not sure if it a manufacturer issue or just because the panels are thicker. We are using Home Depots Home Decorators laminates, we started last night at 5:15pm,

the last photo below was taken at 9:15pm

Four hours, seven rows.  We should have been drinking a coffee with our feet up two hours earlier

Fo

Hot water heater decided 7 years was enough

Now am out looking for an affordable replacement

Another joy to house ownership

Something is always breaking or about to, this time the washing machine decided not to finish the laundry. In the old days you would turn the dial to drain, have the water pump out, then start over. New machines are computerized, so where they are and where they think they are can be different. It's about unplugging and rebooting. The use of a boat siphon pump took the water out of the machine. Having the water not drain lead to the possibility that the line between the house and the septic system may be frozen. A little digging, some new insulation (original was all rotted), 

a new heater cable 

and a lot of tracked in mud found the line was clear but now all the warming systems were new. Watching the machine as it worked through the various modes of washing laundry determined that the cold fill water would run for about 10 seconds then the valve would close allowing water to drip instead of flow. Switching the machine to hot water allowed the entire system to run correctly. I came up with the idea to take the back of the machine apart, swap the hot and cold water valves and buy a new valve. 

Doug suggested it would be easier and cheaper just to swap the incoming lines. 

So the machine is now set to run hot water, the hot water valve is working fine, but the feed line is cold water. All is well and it involved no disassembly or replacement parts. Sometimes you over look easy for complicated when you actually need working instead of replaced. 
If money weren't so tight, I would have gone the other way.

The second floor - South room

So, the new shelving has all been removed and the floor is underway.

The underlayment has been placed and the doors removed from the entrance and the closets which will need to be trimmed for clearance so they will work after the new floor is in place. 

The south room is done for underlayment and once I get the blade to cut the laminate. (very fine tooth), that will be installed.

A friend came over to help out and will be there when the new floor goes down. Pete just laid laminate in the house he is restoring so he decided to help out.

The Pergo Gold goes down fast and easy, and although the stuff is better to kneel on than the wood floor, by the end of install my knees were still unhappy with me.

That's Pete making sure he isn't in the photo.

Ready for laminate