Category Archives: house

Basement and Fence stuffs…

This weekend, amidst seven-hundred and thirty-four other home projects going, I took some time to clear out the basement. Our basement has become a catch-all for where-do-we-put-it junk, and I wanted that remedied. I need room for brewing, rocking, drinking, and laundry-ing. First up was to go thru it all, then junk what we didn’t need, then organize. I am proud to say that not only did I clean it all, I set up Tacoma’s Best Record Collection™ for my forlorn ears to be nurtured by:

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That’s as far as I got, but it is a huge accomplishment. The rocking area is out of frame, as well as my brewing area. Pics to follow.

When I was screwing around, me and the wife decided to build a fence for our fierce guard beast, as well as keep out the roving gangs of whoevers. The last owners actually removed their fence but left the posts, so instead of cutting them out and adding new ones, we just re-used theirs. Problem is, in my perfectionist carpenter’s mind, the posts were not all equal distances apart, nor we they as straight as I like. I think we came up with a nice staggered design using what we had to work with, tiny gate and all:

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The gaps are larger then the picture shows, but whatev. We didn’t continue the fence down the side because we actually like our neighbors, and talk to them at the fence regularly. The ‘gate’ on the end is more hidden on the front side of the fence, but I don’t have that picture. I need to trim the post tops and add our fancy post caps, then build a gate on the other side of the house.

Next up: raised planter beds, more basement mayhem, garage door a-go-go, upstairs bathroom finishing, and tons of other homeownery crap!

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Filed under basement, fence, house, Tacoma, yard

New beast to guard my new castle…

I would think twice of trying to get your paws on our new pad. This ferocious beast came to us courtesy of the Pierce County Humane Society:
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“Sugar” is her new codename, because the family didn’t think “Lemmy” was a name that emitted fear and dispair. Here she is showing another battle stance:
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She’s awaiting spaying and microchipping (no time for pesky kids when you have killing to do…and microchipping is for her new cybernetic killing stuff implanted in her brain). She comes hom…she reaches her new assignment tomorrow.

Beware, Tacoma…beware.

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Little bit of bathroom love…

In the beginning…
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Demo begins…
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No turning back. Ceiling has been ripped out over tub. Wiring about to start.
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New throne. New sheetrock and paint. Fancy stuff added. New flushmount light/fan combo installed, and ceiling over toilet part of bathroom and archway have been raised.
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ANOTHER VIEW

Demo begins…
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New sheetrock is in. Scalloped tub to be salvaged because it looks fucking killer.
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You can see the vault over the tub area here. New light fixtures, new window, and new tile. New paint is very, very light mint green (almost white). I loves it.
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Filed under demolition, electrical, house, paint, plumbing, sheetrock, Tacoma, tile

Little bit of kitchen love…

We moved in on Thursday May 29th, and are still kind of sorting out the move. We had a huge party 2 days after we moved in to blow off some steam, and although there is plenty of work to do, we’re taking a breather for a sec. Here’s a little before-and-present of one part of the kitchen:

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Yeah, I know I need to put on outlet covers…and install cabinet kickboards…and………….

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Tick…tock…tick…tock…

Movers come tomorrow morning between 7 and 8am. The new house still needs, shall we say…a shit-ton of work. Today is a big crunch day.

Kitchen needs countertops, cabinet shelves, all pulls installed, baseboards, and toekicks installed. I also have to shim the non-cooperative fridge to the sloping 98-year-old floor. I can install the dishwasher when I’m not doing anything.

Bathroom just needs baseboards and cabinet pulls, and a custom-made concrete tub endcap that I have yet to custom-make yet.

Living room needs one piece of baseboard installed.

Basement needs washer and dryer (damn you dryer vent…where will you go?) installed.

Exterior window trim a-go-go needs to happen, but that can wait.

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A Few More Pics…

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BATHROOM POST SHEETROCK – Right after this I noticed a soft spot in the floor in front of the tub (under the bag of insulation in the photo) and had yet another marathon sesh of rot-repair.

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LIVING ROOM – after patching in the sheetrock in the living room to cover up the new plumbing. I posted this pic of the windows just because I like the footprint on the plastic.

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Exhaustion Sets In…

Almost there. Almost there. That’s been my mantra lately. Too many 18-hour days trying to get this place liveable. Almost there. Here are a few shots (most of them are outdated now, but I haven’t taken any new shots to update the progress). These are say from 6 to 4 days old.

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INSTALL ME – appliances waiting to become part of the kitchen

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HOT AND COLD – hot water at the hose bib outside. Pure genius.

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A FEW CABS – some upper cabs and a microwave welcome the lower cabs mock-up. Paint is on the walls at this point.

UPDATE-A-ROO: Vinyl floors are in, carpet is in, painting is done for the most part, fixtures have started going in, new front window is installed, bitch-ass MF’ing ceiling fan is in and operational, and tile in bathroom is finished. Today is cabinets, cabinets, cabinets, and countertops if there’s time. Then work at 5. More pics sooooooooooooooooooooon…

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Downhill Slope…

Almost all the cabinets have been built, the basement exterior door came in and I installed it with a friend, and now the sheetrock has been hanged, taped, and textured. We even primed the walls in the kitchen and bathroom last night before heading home. Today I have to do some regular work stuff, but then head over to meet the electrician for his final trim-out, meet the gutter guys so they can do their part, and let in the furnace guy to fix our ancient gas furnace’s transformer. I have to install tile backerboard, install all the cabinetry in the kitchen and bath, install all the appliances, install 2 more doors, tons of fixtures, put in the kitchen floor, and prep the place for carpet install…and we’re still waiting for our stimulous check, and a refund check from FHA for buying all this stuff, none of which we had the $$$ for. I know I’m forgetting something. Oh yeah, move in before the 1st. Breathe……….

I can’t believe we are past the halfway point. The past 13 days have been grueling, but will be worth it. More pics on the way!

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Filed under cabinets, electrical, house, paint, sheetrock, Tacoma, tile

Holy Crap…

…I’m beat tired. Here’s some pics to get you all up to speed:

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Found behind the old medicine cabinet. “Remodeled 9/24/82”, “sink, cabinet and lights Pay-N-Pak 38th Street Mall”, and some personal info graced this message under 1/4″ of sheetrock, then 3/8″ plywood coated in some weird paper, then 1/4″ of plywood, then lath and plaster. I wonder how much square footage I gained after removing all those layers of crap.

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Shot of my future throne. I ripped out the flat ceiling over the tub and put in a dropped vaulted lid. New can lights in that section, and a new fart-fan/light combo over in the toilet area.

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Window in my future throne room. This will be a new vinyl unit next Friday. It leaked and the frame was shot, causing some of my rot frustrations earlier in the week.

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Future home of dishwasher (I’ve never owned one in my life), sink, and other cabinet-related items. I’ll fix the food to get my eat on here sometime soon. Added new outlets, redid the wiring and plumbing. Not one ounce of galvanized piping exists in this house after yesterday.

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Window in living/dining room. On either side you’ll see the walls demo’d out for running plumbing for the new bathroom on the second floor. The chase on the left for the wife’s new throne and pedestal sink upstairs, the chase on the right for the bathtub. The bottles in the window helped me to understand just what in the hell I was doing.

Sheetrock began today, will be done by Monday-ish. Cabinet assembly starts tomorrow. Pics coming soon. Whew…

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Filed under demolition, electrical, house, plumbing, Tacoma

Chugging Right Along…

Almost all the demo is complete, with some minor clean-up demo on the bathroom floor remaining. Cabinets were delivered yesterday, and as feared, the order was shorted. Damn. Remaining items to be delivered on Tuesday. I put in the new backdoor, repaired the rot in the floor and rim under it first, then put new locksets in both doors. Nothing like unexpected work to make your day. A great deal of plumbing was done, with more continuing today. Electrician is here tomorrow, and sheetrock begins on Wednesday. My back feels like it could explode. Hooray.

Updated house photos on the way!

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Filed under demolition, house, OUCH!, Tacoma