House in Progress Diary

Restore & Repair Archive

Bungalow Archaeology

Okay, okay. I've been getting requests to show a little bit of our on-going "bungalow archaeology". Here is a quick departure from the regular inventory (just for a little break).

Scenario #1

We walk to the house for the first time and notice that on one side of the wall, well, there's a chimney. Not a well-maintained chimney. But a real chimney.

However, INSIDE OF the house...there is a wall of hickory wood. Where there should be a fireplace, built-in bookcases and windows above the bookcases. We know this because there are 2 other houses on the street of this same design, same builder, from 1914. Same layout. And that is what they have.

Yes, the above is with some of her stuff moved out already. Amazing, isn't it? At this time, this is the most organized room in the house. During the inspection, the organ and the boxes in front of WHERE the fireplace should be are moved aside. And we have our first clue, Nancy Drew! A HEARTH!

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(1)

Lou, we love you.

Lou from Critter Detectives was our new best friend there for awhile, so I wanted to pay tribute to him here. Every morning he would promptly pull up at our doorstep with his "dogcatcher-like" van and inspect the "Have a Heart" cages on the roof for raccoons. (Raccoons are captured alive in cages that are large enough to roam around in.)

He is very brave. Raccoons also bite. Hard. And their claws can slash through metal. Whoa. He didn't need to tell me this. I grew up near a stable with a raccoon problem. Yikes.

Here is the scoop on Lou's company:

Continue for more of "Lou, we love you."

Rub-a-dub-dub...what a cool TUB!

Wow. Tim from Aquarius Limited just came to refinish our first floor tub and all I can say is....WOW

The first floor bathroom was a little, um, unusual to begin with.

When we took possession of the house, the original 1" hexagon floor tile had been replaced by 12" mottled white generic tile. There was a new sink, and a new medicine cabinet and lights (neither were set into the wall...they were just hung ON the wall.) Fake tongue and groove paneling of white coated pressed wood covered half of the walls. And then there was THE TUB.

Periwinkle blue tub from 1951. No tile on the walls around the tub. Just the drywall and old glue. Half of the glass block window had been boarded up.

This is the bathroom we will have to live in for a YEAR while the upstairs is being renovated.

So. We need tile. Obviously. But with new tile...we needed to do something about that tub. Originally, we planned for a clawfoot tub, something very cool. But then we got a closer look at OUR tub.

a) It was a cast iron tub, built like a tank.

b) The floor underneath the tub was...gone.

Yep. You can look straight up from the basement and see the bottom of this tub. I'll show you.

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Not even James could save us from....me.

I am a muddle seeker. I can't help it. It's in my blood.

Once I see the damage that has been done to something, I want to undo it, um, right away.

Here, James and A are discussing the ADT system that came with our "casa de stuff". There has been a high pitched whine from an ANCIENT component that was installed by the previous owner (PO) a LONG time ago. I've taken a few thwacks at it with a ruler and A decided to call in the experts.

My husband has his techniques and I have mine.

James was able to pinpoint the trouble right away because he knows his stuff. Besides being very knowledgable about the system, he is a straight up, nice, professional guy. And he is a PK (you all know who you are--it's a good thing :) So if you need an ADT System and you live in Chicago, call James.

James Williams
ADT Security Systems
630-458-7649

p.s. James--congrats!

But James couldn't save us from me last night because..well. Here's the deal.

We have this bathroom cabinet that the PO installed over some fake wood paneling. It is "okay". It isn't set into the wall, it is just hanging there. And it doesn't symmetrically fit with the sink. I noticed that something was amiss when I could pull it away from the wall and kind of see a hole behind there.

Sooo....

Continue for more of "Not even James could save us from....me."

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Help - Tile Choices!?

What we do know is that we want to go with "subway tile" (specifically Greenwich Village tile from American Olean). It fits the vintage of the house and is just generally cool looking. However, after that we're kind of torn. Which of these tile border patterns do you think we should we go with? (Disregard the colors...we're not set on green and are considering black or grey.)

Option A--Around the Outside

Option B--Headin' Straight Through

Option C--Looping Around the Window

If you have better ideas, we're open to those too. We'll probably have someone in to do the tile in mid-August...

(21)

Busy, Busy, Busy

Busy day, busy day.

We took the TV antennae off of the house and, in the process, got an upfront and personal look at just how badly the brick was tuckpointed on the chimney. Plus, the "wire mesh" over the chimney has TWO holes in it (?) about the 3 inches around (squirrels?) and is tied onto the chimney with an electrical cord complete with plug circa 1965. (Remember to click on image to make it LARGER)

Lovely. (But how do you like our rafter tails? Cool, huh?)

Continue for more of "Busy, Busy, Busy"

The Fishy Men

Okay, a few key things happened today, so I will try to categorize them in order.

(I ASK YOU AN IMPORTANT QUESTION AT THE BOTTOM OF THIS THAT ONLY YOU CAN ANSWER.)

Remember when I sent away the Cable Guy (on the day of the All Star Game--doh!) because he wanted to turn our new house into Señor Bungalow?

Okay. Well, read back a couple of posts. We'll wait.

(hums to self)

Right then. So today the two guys from the "fishing cable though walls place" came...

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In praise of craftsmen... (hurray for ADT)

Augh.

My whole body hurts. I think I have a summer flu. Or, A was right and I shouldn't have left that standing water in the pedestal planter and I was bitten by a mosquito and now have maleria.

Not that I am overdramatic or anything. Not at all.

Today, we sing the praises of "craftspeople." Because, when they are good, BOY! Do they make a difference in home renovation.

Like today's vendor of the day, Ray. Ray works for Tyco/ADT, our security system people. (Remember...click on the picture to make it larger.)

Ray is an excellent craftsperson.

Continue for more of "In praise of craftsmen... (hurray for ADT)"

Scrub, scrub scrub Cinderella!

So, we tried the first batch of stucco cleaner. Our stucco is not EIFS...it seems to be the real deal. And it is pretty grimey up under the eaves and under the A/C units.

We didn't want to break out a power sprayer first thing because, well, we were afraid a piece of the house might fall off under the pressure. (No, really! Honest!) So we went the into the "kinder, gentler" direction. The stucco has never been painted or tinted (on purpose anyway). So, we used Borax, Power Scrub Baking Soda, dishwashing liquid and hot water. A recipe we got from DIYNet.

So, here I am, bristle brush from Home Depot in hand, trying to test this out on a place where it won't show if we mess up:

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Feeling hot & grumpy? Take it out on the house.

It was really hot and humid in Chicago today. 90 degrees hot. With almost 100 percent humidity.

Yuck.

We decided to take it out on the house. We were curious about what was behind the drywall in the bathroom. We need to run a few conduits for new electrical wiring up the center of the house and since that wall has to come down anyway...welllllll....we wanted to see if we could run it behind something there.

We had not planned on taking the wall down when we had the bathtub refinished. (Take note of this LESSON LEARNED. Electrical work and plumbing BEFORE tub refinishing.) So, working so fast that I am a BLUR, I swath the tub with old towels that were left behind by the Previous Owner. And then cover the whole thing with an old WWII Army Tent that was used by the local Boy Scout troup in the 40's, 50's and 60's.

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Square Peg. Round Hole. Contest.

**NOTE: This is a contest with prizes! If you are into that, read through to the end.**

We are trying to figure out the puzzle that is our bathroom and we need YOUR help. It will be like playing with doll house furniture...er...kinda.

My lovely draftsman Dad sketched out our current bathroom situation like this (remember to click it to make the picture larger):

This bedroom-turned-bathroom is second in awkwardness only to the kitchen.

Continue for more of "Square Peg. Round Hole. Contest."

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Open Source Bathroom Contest Update

Who's going to win Mr. Peanut? Is it...YOU?

We've been getting some very clever entries for the bathroom! We'll be posting them closer to September 1st to make sure that everybody gets a chance to get anything in they are plotting. (And we've heard of some unusual plotting!)

There has been a collage, a 3-D drawing, a sketch put on the computer, a Powerpoint drawing, a written paragraph...most excellent. This is going to be fun...and hard to decide a winner so far!

We've received entries from: Kitschywoman (americanbungalowmagazine.com), CloudHidden and piffin at Breaktime (FineHomebuilding.com), nycwriters (ZeFrank.com), my MOM...but she has ulterior Mom-type motives. :)

Maybe we would qualify with the guys at TASTYTRONIC as an "open source bathroom project" :)

p.s. What on Earth? comes tonight....more stuff!

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What is our house SUPPOSED to look like?

There comes a time in every homeowner/restoration-type person's life when they are trying to trace back HOW something looked before a previous homeowner "improved" it (usually a la the 1970's) when they THROW their hands in the air and groan:

"How is it SUPPOSED to look? How DID it look? What HAPPENED HERE??!!"

Well, we have some clues from some old sketches. And I found them in our computer files today. But I don't know where they are from and that is sad. They are probably from a late night Internet research stint before we bought the house when I was trying to understand the nuances of bungalow architecture. If you know the source, please email me and I will contact them for permissions.

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ohmigosh it's August 29th!

Have you sent in your entry for the Open Source Square Peg Round Hole Bathroom Makeover yet???

Over 10-15 creative entries sent in already!

Someone's gonna get these Coasters from 1940's Bermuda!!!!

Might as well be YOU, as Ed "The Man" MacMahon says. :)

Some of the finalists in the "Square Peg" contest...

So, we had this contest. To redesign our really strange upstairs bathroom.

Which has got to be really difficult if you can't actually SEE IT. But everyone was a good sport and we received some EXCELLENT entries. We'll be posting some here over the next few days for you to peruse and comment on. We loved the creativity. Then, we will announce a WINNER who wil choose a PRIZE!

NYC Writers from the ZeFrank message board offered this collage (remember--click on image to make it larger):

Ok, I'll bite. I love playing around with things like this, although take it under advisement I have no plumbing experience.....

Here ya go:(click to make image larger):

Continue for more of "Some of the finalists in the "Square Peg" contest..."

More creative "open source" bathroom solutions!

Luka, from Breaktime, gets into the act. (Remember to click on the picture to make it larger...)

Ok, I took care of the whole problem. You now have maximum space in the bathroom.

: )

Continue for more of "More creative "open source" bathroom solutions!"

Just a few more entries and WHAT HAPPENS NOW?

This is from our pal Kristen who did the cocktail napkin thing but then really went all out with her Quark program! (Dig that Quark) (Remember to CLICK on the picture to make it larger!)

I'd love to have a free-standing clawfoot as a focal point in my bathroom, but I have the shower enclosure around mine in my tiny bathroom because it's functional. I'd love a more capacious shower for daily use, since I seldom have time enough for a bath and I usually fight with the shower curtains at least once each morning in my pre-caffeine haze. Still, I think it would be nice for you to take a tub after a long day of "deconstruction." You could find a salvage tub or they have some new ones in great colors that could be fun.

I love the look of side-by-side pedestal sinks and because you have so much other room for storage, you could get away with it since you don't need the under-the-counter space. You could do some great things with built-ins. I had drawn one version that created an arch bridging from the shower over the windows, with the tub set under the arch. The other side had a built-in shelves on the side to hold your bath salts, cup of tea, candles etc. Hard to reproduce in a line drawing though. Oh, the fun you could have in a bathroom that size!! My 35-square-foot bathroom and I are envious.

Continue for more of "Just a few more entries and WHAT HAPPENS NOW?"

And we have a WINNAH!

Kristen from the American Bungalow Magazine Forum, COME ON DOWN! Our panel of judges has voted you the winner of the SQUARE PEG ROUND HOLE Bathroom Design Contest!

(This is NOT Kristen. It's actually Karan Sprengle winning the 12th Annual Pillsbury Bake-Off with her main dish called "Polynesian Island Bake...a main dish with an Islands touch."** But I'm sure that she LOOKS as excited as Kristen FEELS right now. :) And we have most of the PBO Cookbooks that began in 1949 so...

While this ISN'T an actual picture of Kristen this IS a picture of her winning entry:

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On Bathroom Fans and EFI Fan/Light Time Delay Switches

That's a mouthful...but it's all we've got while we're waiting for our favorite electrician to arrive.

Needing a contractor during one of the busiest times in home improvement history has left us feeling a little like a wallflower at the prom.

We're here. The music's playing. And....no date. :(

Yet.

BUT! Our ceiling vent fans that we chose for our bathrooms are FINALLY coming! Whoo hoo!

It's amazing what you get excited about when you're in the middle of a home renovation.

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And so! It begins...

Not with a whimper...but a BANG!

Waiting. Waiting. Waiting. We've been like wallflowers at the dance, moping around, wondering if any cool contractor will like us.

And then...POW! Electrician! Plumber! 1-2-3!

So today, the electrician and his team began the prep work needed to eventually do some heavy duty wiring. We talked permits. We poured over some drawings. They cut some additional holes in the walls and ceiling (with our blessing) to see what is behind all of this...

Continue for more of "And so! It begins..."

Wheee! Vendors and more vendors!

This morning we had our boiler serviced by A & M
Heating & Cooling Specialists.

When I called them last weekend for a routine check-up appointment, I wasn't expecting a call back until Monday. Their answering service passed along the message and they called me back the same day. The set up an appointment for today.

Bright and early, they came in and went to work on our 6 year old steam boiler.

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Day One: Windows that OPEN!

Yawn! Make a mad dash for the coffee! Because the crew of Just Sashes is arriving to help out with the original wood windows today!!

Yep...these are the windows that were built with the house in 1914...and we're keeping 'em. The storms, the screens, the WHOLE thing. Why?

A) They're gorgeous, practical works of art...the eyes of the house.

B) When restored properly, they will be weathertight as well as beautiful. (They are NOT maintenance free, however. If you are looking for maintenance free, restoration may not be for you.)

C) It will cost us less to restore these windows than to replace them with a vinyl clad wood window. This is based on the number of windows we have (25) and the shape that they are in.

(NOTE: We should have 30 windows and we actually have 40. But we will eventually do some major first floor remodeling that takes off the old "slapped together room" on the back of the first floor...so subtract 4 windows and add a french door. We will also replace the kitchen windows later...they aren't original to the room and are literally glued onto the house. We aren't touching the basement windows. And we still can't decide what to do with the downstairs bathroom glass block window...I think that I will be cleaning windows for the rest of my life.)

We read up on restoring windows in a book by Terence Meany called Working Windows...it's a great book! Many people do work on their own windows, including our Bungalow Pals.

But we knew we needed professional help. For one, we had a few of these:

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Day Two: Window Restoration

Wow. Between yesterday and today, based on what they found when they took out the windows, John and his son, John Jr., replaced the broken glass in the windows that we had.

The windows in our house aren't one pane of glass with wood decoration sitting on top of the glass. They are actually 6 panes of different sized glass squares separated by the wood in what they call "Prairie Style". Very pretty. And classically bungalow.

Continue for more of "Day Two: Window Restoration"

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Getting the Smell Out

The house still smells less than ideal. We were determined to do a little work on that this past weekend.

Some of it is due to old rugs which we left in place to protect the floors as we moved things around. Some of it was due to the basement drains, which still continue to plague us everyday. (groan) No air circulation was a problem before we could open the windows. And I think some of it is still going to be there until we redo the floors and tear down the wallpaper. And then...there is what the raccoons left behind in the attic over 2 years and 2-3 litters of young-uns'...I don't even want to think about that.

Continue for more of "Getting the Smell Out"

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The Return of....Mr. X!

Well, there are rumors in the air that our mystery electrician-extraordinaire, Mr. X, is returning either tomorrow or the next day to move the electrical box and upgrade us to 200 amps. He has the permit and the inspector lined up.

Currently, the outside electrical meter is attached to the piece of the house we hope to tear down one day. The back room made of cardboard (not original to the house).

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Removing the Backyard Jungle

It was still RAINING today and the electricians are back and K called to see if it was a good time to tear the backyard out by the roots. :)

You see, there are a lot of "weed trees" in the backyard and K (being a crackerjack landscaper...I call him a "landscape artist" ) sent us drawings from Hong Kong that gave us some ideas for re-imagining the backyard of the house.

BEFORE:

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We reveal the identity of our electrician

We love our electrician and his team. Period.

And we have had quite a few people contact us to ask his name. We needed his permission to post his contact information. And there are some other things you should know.

- To keep quality high, he employs a VERY small team. He is often booked in advance.
- He loves old houses and is skillful at fishing cable through plaster walls.
- He is VERY knowledgable about the codes in Chicago and the Northern Suburbs.
- He STRONGLY prefers to take jobs in North/Northwest Chicago & northern suburbs.
- He is creative, punctual and thorough --his team is courteous and cleans up their work area.

He is the rare breed known as the inluminonis..."craftsperson of illuminating light." He has many of the classic characteristics...quiet and calm, soft-spoken, incredibly knowledgable, creative AND practical, very much sought after...

This young Nepalese boy from Global Adrenaline demonstrates the elusiveness of this prized contractor species.

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Hex tile...YEAH! And, aw noooo...

So we've been trying to uncover the bottom layer of original hex tile in our bathroom to see if it could be saved. (Among 100 other things)

Everything was completely hidden under layers of vinyl tile and tar. But we could see hex tile under the bottom drawer of the built-in! (Always remember to click on photos to take a closer look...)

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Electrical Artist

We already explain how Wes, our electrician, is an artist. And he is also a strategist.

We needed to upgrade our 100 Amp Box (which was a nightmare of crossed wires) to a clean, compliant 200 Amp Box for future power needs.

But there was a problem. The room that had been stapled, I mean, BUILT on to the back of the house in the 1950's? 60's? was blocking access to where the wires would need to go. The old meter was attached to this room (which is falling off of the house...no lie! You can roll tennis balls down the floor it is tilting so badly).

The above door swings out INTO the room at the top of the slope. Now you can see why we are nervous about this room. This room will eventually be taken off of the back of the house, but not very soon because of how our budget is allocated.

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Opening a New Front in the Battle

Today we began a new chapter in our assault on the house...the master bedroom!

Up until now, our work on the second floor has been limited to cleaning (the previous owner left a lot of stuff up there!), repair work (the replacement windows) and a lot of dreaming (the infamous 'open source bathroom' contest). In recent weeks, that space has been mostly left empty and we've only gone up there for showers and for occasional dreaming about a future without all this chaos. But that all changed today, when we started work on the master bedroom!

Since moving in, our goal has been to make the master bedroom the heart of our upstairs "retreat" from the ongoing mess of home improvement. This weekend it felt good to finally start work and move this dream from concept to reality...

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Still Working on our Hex (Tile)

We're still working on the first floor bathroom. Today J did great work on the first floor bathroom tile.

Continue for more of "Still Working on our Hex (Tile)"

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Cheating!

Okay, I'm kind of cheating because today wasn't really about the house. It was about work before vacation. And because A and I are musing over whether to just tear down the ceiling in the upstairs bedroom or sketch out a comprehensive plan first. Just tearing down would just FEEL so good...so future focused. But a plan would take into consideration all of the elements of rebuilding that ceiling, as well as how and when to dispose of the attic debris.

After so much WAITING for contractors and decisions, it would just be nice to just DECONSTRUCT. But....I don't know. Too impatient? So...votes on what we SHOULD do...including stories of your own experiences...are welcome.

Okay. So more cheating. Who KNEW I would find THIS where I did?

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The Little Nail That Could (Not Be Removed)

My dad came over to help work on the master bedroom. If we've ever worried about the endurance of our 90 year old house, we're worrying less tonight.

When trying to remove a bent nail, we found out that these old timbers are at least stronger than the average hammer:

Oh well...good thing the previous owner actually left us two identical hammers. We'd still get that nail out. We just went ahead and used the other one...

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Walls, floors, fans...what a weekend

I woke up this morning....(sounds like a Blues song, doesn't it?)....and everything ACHED!

Lots of things going on this weekend.

A and his dad bravely cut through the outside of the stucco exterior to install the nifty, quiet bathroom fan for the first floor. Whoo hoo! I'll let him explain the details later.

Coco wishes she had opposable thumbs so she could help. And then get a treat for helping. Actually, it's all about the treat.

Continue for more of "Walls, floors, fans...what a weekend"

First floor bathroom

For once, we aren't grumbling about living here while the restoration is going on. Because we've decided to go in a different direction with the first floor bathroom now that we've lived with it.

Better to decide that now than later, eh?

We're changing out the vertical plumbing runs in this bathroom and the one above to update them. (Also the horizontal runs in the basement.) I want them tight and long lasting. I don't want to burrow through a wall in 10 years or even 20 years from now. Plus, there was very little plaster left in the bath...the PO's had made a mess of the walls from patching things together. We decided to gut and start over.

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Hex tile disappears under grief

Bad news.

The tile which we so carefully uncovered in the first floor bathroom won't work out. There are too many repairs, too many problems behind the fixtures where the PO's tightened them down and cracked the floor.

So it will have to come up and we will prepare a "bed" for new floor tile.

Continue for more of "Hex tile disappears under grief"

If the radiator's a-knockin'...we call the experts

We shall sleep sweetly tonight.

Al & Jose from A&M stopped by. They are teaching us about our steam boiler. As I told Al, "I am beginning to understand that this system is like a violin...she likes to be kept in tune."

A & M had stopped by to help us learn the boilerwhen we had called them before the season started. And then we began using the system every day and had knocking and a few sleepless nights. Like some of YOU have had. We know this because "knocking, noisy radiators" has been the most popular search term on the site since winter began.

So Al was very kind and patient and tried to help us out with a few extra questions on the phone. We tried some things that definitely helped. But it seemed our problems were beyond the usual. So he came to check things out. He also helped us to remove the radiator in the first floor bathroom (prepping for a new bath there!) and plot our strategy to move the radiator in the second floor bath.

First, using a wrench, they removed our bathroom radiator. I'm glad THEY did it because:

a) it is the middle of winter and our system is on...steam burns are NO FUN if you don't know what you are doing, and
b) our built-in is right up against the radiator pipe. If it needed to be capped, someone REALLY creative and knowledgable was needed.

(Click to make the photo larger)

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New bathroom window...no glass block!

Originally, the first floor bath came equipped with a window pretty common in updated bungalows 'round here. Except with the special added feature of having been boarded up on the inside.

Glass block had replaced an original double-hung window years ago.

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Lesson Learned...Get Pressure Balancing Valves

So remember how we were really excited about our bathroom fixtures from Chicago Faucets?

Well, our contractor came over to discuss the bathroom plumbing and tile work. Everything was going very well and it looks like he's ready to start next week. (!!!) We showed him the tearout work we'd done, told him the tile patterns we want, and discussed replacing the supply lines with new copper pipe.

Then he asked if we wanted to go with the old or new fixtures. I said we'd be keeping the tub, sink and toilet but that we'd chosen new plumbing fixtures. Remembering how some folks on Fine Homebuilding's "Breaktime" discussion boards spoke highly of Chicago Faucets, I walked over with pride to show him what we'd gotten.

"Yeah, Chicago Faucets makes a really solid fixture," he said. "But the bad news is that shower faucet isn't up to the new Chicago code changes." I was crushed.

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Sistering the Joists for Floor #2

The joists that support the second floor of our house are already more shallow than we'd like.

They are 6 inches deep and set on "16 and a half inch" centers (meaning, if you measure from the center of each joist...the joists are 16 1/2 inches apart.)

The size of your joists, the material they are made of, their span (or their length before they are supported by another vertical wall or post) all are part of the equation that helps you to determine how much weight they will support. (You can click at my poor illustration attempt to enlarge this picture of joists, a beam and floor. Many apologies to "This Old House".)

You want to avoid cutting into joists if you can. Any material that you cut out of a joist (and there are better ways to do this than others) can weaken the support the joist . You CAN cut up to a third out of a joist to run a pipe or BMX without compromising it too much and depending upon the span...but it's best to avoid testing this out too thoroughly. The beam looks like the backbone of the house, but the joists look like the ribs of its back. And you aren't going to want to break the back of your house!

Continue for more of "Sistering the Joists for Floor #2"

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Of joists and pipes

Argh.

I know for a fact a lot of the funds we had saved up for the house are going to things that no one will ever see...because they are behind the walls and under the floors. Many days that is frustrating.

Without this work, though, it would be like slapping cosmetics on a face with no bone structure. We want the house to work well, stand straight, be strong. We don't want to have to go back into the walls for a very, very long time.

So, the joists above the first floor bathroom have been reinforced ("sistered") to help support the bathroom above. (You can see how it used to look here.)

Continue for more of "Of joists and pipes"

Old Dip Tube, New Water Heater (Ugh)

In the course of working on the plumbing for the first floor bathroom, Paul (our plumbing & tile guy) discovered we have a bad dip tube in our water heater. Quite a bit of small white material had settled at the bottom of the tank and came out when he drained the tank down to install a new hot water return line.

Now all our hot water valves are clogged up and little white plastic pieces are visible in the upstairs shower head.

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Say Hello to Our New Sears Kenmore Water Heater

There's a new member in our household today. A new 195 lbs., 50 gallon, natural gas water heater!

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Evolution of a bathroom

This is not quite to the "after stage."

Instead, there has been an evolution going on in here. And bathrooms in general have a LOT of history. Ours is no different.

Tonight, I'm seeing walls going up instead of coming down for the first time.

And that is a thing filled with HOPE. It really is. There is a reason that hope rhymes with soap. Everyone deserves a clean place. Everyone in the world.

Here's where we were back in June 2003.

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Tile Subfloor Won't Crack Under Pressure

We're getting ever closer to actual tile being laid down for an actual bathroom. It seems hard to believe! As a last step for the floor, the subfloor was laid down yesterday and was set by this morning.

This material is really cool!

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The Bathroom Medicine Cabinet: An Epic Saga

A few months ago we purchased a vintage medicine cabinet on eBay. It was notable because it had a distinct design and was surprisingly consistent with the existing built-in furniture original to our bungalow. So we decided to buy it. The box arrived via UPS.

Ack! The box was torn to shreds and, from looking at the exterior, it was pretty clear that the medicine cabinet took a beating as well.

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A Bathroom Teaser

OK, so Heather requested a better look at our progress on the bathroom. Yes indeed, we have been hard at work and Paul has accomplished quite a bit with the tile.

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Lesson Learned #...um...we're up there

Lesson learned for today.

When restoring an old bathroom, have the ceramic refinished on tubs, sinks and toilets LAST. Not first.

Originally, we were not planning on doing as much to the first floor bath as we did. But plumbing problems, insulation issues, window issues...everything kept adding up to an extensive gut and rebuild.

Now, when we look back at these original pictures, we have only one question.

WHAT were we THINKING?

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Vintage Clawfoot Tub, Check!

Our plans for the master bathroom have always included a clawfoot tub. In fact, we'd found a pretty good deal on newly manufactured 5' tubs from Midwest Chemicals south of Chicago.

But last week we came across a better local deal and as of yesterday morning we've got our vintage tub!

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Bath time...then and now

Yes, I know. We still have not finished the details for the bath on the first floor to be able to show you a finished product. But we have a good excuse. We are still trying to help someone else pull the pieces of their life back together...something that is not very easy to do in these troubled times. So, all the time we haven't been spending at work, we've spent on that. And we are glad to have made that choice.

Which is why--tense and tired--I was really craving a bath tonight.

For those of you who might not have been with us in those early days, here is what bath time USED to look like in the first weeks of the house.

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A Labor of Love

We spent almost the entire weekend on just one thing: stripping bathroom woodwork and trim. J worked upstairs on the bathroom built-in.

At the same time I was downstairs working on the cabinet drawers and bathroom door.

Our conclusion? This is tedious work! But this morning we did have one gratifying feeling of closure...

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More Labor, More Love

Even after last weekend, to get things done we both had to take off from work today to focus on the final touches for the bathroom...

...sanding the woodwork...

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Jeannie Gets a Gold Star

Well actually, Jeannie got the "hero" award and a gold star for hardest worker, all in one day...

After getting started last week, Saturday we finished off packing up all of the rolled pink insulation and most of the original sawdust and tarpaper beneath that.

Why does Jeannie get both the gold star and the hero award? Well...

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One Person's Trash...

While much of our focus in this first year is getting miscellaneous old stuff out of this house, today we made an exception and reversed the trend.

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Scraping Off Mastic

Yesterday we spent the afternoon scraping off residue from the 9x9 tile in the first floor bedroom...you know, the one with the nutty, fun map wall.

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Weekends

Generally, weekends are an all out tag team frenzy to make a dent in our "to do" list. These things fall into two categories...maintenance and restoration.

Spring mornings have not been starting with the sweet chirping of the little finches that make Dave the Cat so crazy to be outside. No, they have been starting with the asthmatic wheezing of a pigeon couple who have taken up residence under one of our eaves.

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Progress on the Bedroom Ceiling

Tonight we finished off the bedroom ceiling. Removing the original (badly damaged) ceiling will allow us to reinforce the joists under the master bathroom.

This ceiling ended up coming down pretty quick...

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Plans for the Second Floor

This weekend we're getting a real start in on the second floor. We've gotten a few things started before (like this and this) but our real focus on getting the whole floor done starts today.

So, it makes some sense to clarify exactly what we're intending to do...

Current	Planned

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Yesterday's Progress on the Master Bathroom

As promised, we dove in on the master bathroom work today. We definitely had mixed emotions about seeing the plaster go, but the combination of the cracking, the years of unventilated moisture and the hodge-podge of work done on the room over time meant it was definitely in the worst condition of any room in the house.

The great news was that some great friends helped us out so things went quickly. J (who has worked on old houses like ours countless times) took the lead on the tearout work.

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Ummm, What's That?

More progress on the second floor today. Specifically, we took out walls in both the bedroom closets and one wall in the master bedroom. That let us see the dead spaces hidden behind the walls where the roofline meets the floor.

This was great...except for what we saw when we found the chimney behind one of the walls...

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The Attic Experts are Attic Experts

Quick entry tonight...we were rescued today by Steve from "The Attic Experts", who arrived and dealt with the remaining insulation and raccoon "stuff."

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Chimney Repair Advice

After discovering last weekend that the interior chimney on the second floor had deteriorated horribly, we quickly got a contractor in today for advice. His advice was largely consistent with the comments people posted on our site. (Thanks Gary, POPS"30", Kristen, Stuart and Marty!)

At first he was thinking we could get away with a aluminum liner (cheaper) but when he saw that our chimney was originally lined with tile he recommended a stainless steel liner. Aluminum liners are cheaper, but not as ridged or durable as stainless steel.

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Balsam-Wool Insulation

Back when we were trying to get all the attic insulation out ourselves, we ran in to this strange stuff. It seemed to be a loose, disintegrated organic matter...dusty beige and the consistency of baby powder.

Eventually we called in the experts, who took care of it with more industrial quality tools. They did recognize the stuff and called it "balsamite." However, a search on Google didn't turn up any insulation with that name.

Since the we've been working more upstairs and have run in to more of the stuff, and today we found further proof on just what that stuff is...

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