Life in our old stone house

Life in our Old Stone House is now closed

2009-03-03T08:31:00.000-08:00

The old stone house has been sold and the family has moved to Hood River, Oregon. I don't plan on having a DIY blog in the PNW, but if I do, I will keep everyone posted.

Our new blog is

hoodriveroregon.blogspot.com

Thank-you to all of the readers and supporters of our stonehouse blog. I learned alot about DIY and I hope that something that I posted helped you in some way.

All the best-

Roy

Downstairs bathroom is finally painted

2008-11-25T19:02:00.001-08:00

So we hired someone to come in and do it right, and do it much faster than we ever could have done. It was worth it.

Old pictures-

2008-11-11T17:45:00.000-08:00

The end of a good day-

Alaska during the Dewalt Days

From our honeymoon on Vancouver Island

The view from our deck in Seattle-

Josh teaching Sandy to sail

Almost Heaven

The sunset when I asked Sandy to marry me.

The best camp I have ever had. (also the coldest water I have ever swam in)

Mt Baker, WA

Chatooga River. Section IV

Me and mom at the put in for the upper gauley. 1977

4 Things I couldn't do without

2008-11-11T17:05:00.001-08:00

My Dewalt DW708 Miter Saw. It really is a bad mama-jama. There isn't much that it won't cut, and cut it precisely. It has a huge motor, 12" of wood gnawing teeth and spins like a DJ Hurricane. Where have I used this saw? Cutting forms for the countertops, baseboards, studs for the walls, and finally, molding for the master bath. It is heavy, it is bulky, but I love it.

My Fein Multimaster. I really don't know how I did half of my house without this thing. If you have seen the TV infomercial, similar to the obamamercial, it really is impressive. I have used to to remove grout and concrete in the shower pan and tile. I used it the other day to trim out a notch in some shoemolding so that the radiator could slide into place. I used it today to remove the "tongue" of some tongue and groove beadboard off so that I could get it to fit into a tight spot. I could have used a jig saw for both of these applications, but this tool allows me to move slower and have more control over my cut. I bought this one used a year ago from the rep at a tool show. I hear that the new ones have quick release on them. That would be nice.

Would I get the Dremel version? No. I don't like Bosch tools. I think that they should stick to making dishwashers and wiperblades. I think that Bosch is going to cheapen it to reach a price point. I just don't think it would be worth the gamble. I really think my Fein is the best made tool that I own.

Aero Safety respirator. 3m recently bought Aero and that should tell you something. I bought this well before I started selling them. I bought it at Lowe's, paid way too much, but my god has this thing has been freakin awesome. If you have seen my facebook photo you know what I am talking about. I wear it all the time. It has a nice soft rubber face shield and the cartridges can be purchased just about anywhere (Church of Lowe's stocks Aero pretty heavy)

My mini air compressor. I have a 4 gallon, oil lubed unit that is great, but this little puppy is so damn portable that my 4 gallon just stays down in the basement. It's loud when it cycles, but it has never let me down. My understanding is that it is the same pump and motor as can be found in the trusty Porter Cable "pancake" style compressors. Not a work horse, but so damn easy to use a caveman could do it.

Drywall sanding still sucks!

2008-10-25T14:28:00.001-07:00

he's back.jpg, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Project - Complete the master bath plumbing.

What Happened - Stepped off the joist and went through the downstairs ceiling.

Result - 2' x 2' hole.

The Consequences- See Picture.

Got yah dumb As@

2008-10-12T18:29:00.001-07:00

back where it allllllllll began

2008-10-05T19:34:00.000-07:00

The front porch-

Finally we are getting at that front porch. No more battleship gray.

A nice little art project-

2008-10-01T12:47:00.001-07:00

Gas Signs Truth in Advertising. from Donny Miller on Vimeo.

Hey McCain...Got a pair of FLIP FLOPS I can borrow?

2008-09-17T09:33:00.000-07:00

I know that the oldstonehouse blog has been more of a "you tube" landing zone lately so I will soon be moving my random crap to something else. Till then.....as John Stewart would say....YOUR MOMENT OF Zen

all in under an hour!

My favorite sign so far....as seen in Alaska-

2008-09-15T14:49:00.000-07:00

Credit- dailykos.com

MORE HERE

Palin-Clinton Saturday night live- Get it while you can. Back up!

2008-09-14T06:53:00.001-07:00

I come from a small town- are my values up to par?

2008-09-07T08:30:00.000-07:00

So I come from a small town and can't figure out why people from small towns are buying into this "small town values" thing. Why are they just allowing themselves to be pigeon holed into this stereotype? ARGGG.

Get to minute 5:20 in that video and ask yourself "why are people supporting the man that LOST to GWB in 2000?"

McCain cancels Larry King interview because his boy got beat up

2008-09-02T17:23:00.000-07:00

So Little Johnny has decided to not go on Larry King tomorrow because his boy got verbally tongue whipped by a piss poor CNN anchor.

That Sh@t there is just funny. And so is this.

The daily show should be very funny this week. Tonight should be classic.

"Snowman" Jerry Reed- RIP 71 years old

2008-09-02T14:11:00.000-07:00

I remember that movie so well. Clear as can be. One of my top 20 ever. I also remember that my mom and I made a sign for a concert for Jerry Reed when he came to play the Fayette County Memorial Center show one 4th of July. Jerry saw it, read it, and called it out right after he sang the song "East Bound and Down". Now every Tuesday, today included and it has been this way for the past year and a half, I get in my truck around lunch time and I sing that song as I drive east to Rocky Mount NC.

I remember my parents talking about famous people that had just died, people that I had never ever heard of, and thinking...they are OLD. I guess that I am old too then.

Keep your football on the peddle folks!

The slow cooker is on, Noah is napping, and the Flag is flying-

2008-08-24T10:47:00.000-07:00

It has been a long time hasn't it. Say...pretty much the summer. I haven't been a good blogger. I suck. There has been talk here in our camp about moving the blog away from home projects and into a family story. I might as well do that since I don't seem to be working on this place anymore. Not that there isn't anything to do, I just don't have the time.

Noah is RUNNING. 7 Teeth. Loves Ketchup and can now eat dairy with no issues. That is Big News for us.

We have been to oregon, washington, and florida this summer. Been to the OBX 3 times, WV a few, and we are at ridge road pool here in Raleigh a couple of times a week. Life is good.

I put pictures up on Noah's flickr. search Noahslayton on www.flickr.com and you can get in.

I know that there are some blog stalkers out there, if they still hit this page, let me know how you are.

My new West Virginia Flag

2008-08-24T10:30:00.001-07:00

My new West Virginia Flag
Originally uploaded by noahslayton

12 ft by 7.5 ft of pure pride. With some pip squeak getting into the shot.

I can't wait for June 20, 2009. (first one to tell me why wins a prize!)

confluence

2008-06-04T09:47:00.000-07:00

A Man, a dream, and the idea of building a wordclass wooden car?

2008-04-02T18:22:00.000-07:00

So I use to work for Black and Decker tools. I worked on the industrial side of things, working with woodworkers and commercial construction supply houses. Really a great job. But things started to change in life, so i started to look for something different. Something more. But right before I did I met Joe Harmon. Joe had what I thought was a bass drum in a bag. It turned out to be one of the tires for a wooden sports car. After talking to him for a bit I learned that he had no sponsors. IT can't be cheap so I put someone in touch with him and wah-lah! The kid is rocking out with some major sponsorship...some wicked tools

http://www.deltaportercable.com/splinter/ is the delta site.

Here is his personal site without all of the advertising

I haven't caught up with Joe for over a year. I think I will give him a buzz in the morning.

Hillay and Obama are doing what?

2008-04-01T17:31:00.000-07:00

THis has NOTHING to do WITH DIY, Houses, stone, concrete, noah, kayaking, or Raleigh. But it is very funny

See more funny videos at CollegeHumor

The boys of summer are back

2008-03-31T18:39:00.000-07:00

Well at least on my laptop streaming live out of Seattle.

How cool is that!? MLB.com allows me to stream in live HD (well as HD as streaming can be) all of the Seattle Mariners games! Even when I can't be hanging out at the Safe with a cold Redhook, I can be in Raleigh NC with a cold Redhook, loading the dishwasher with baby bottles and sippy cups and never miss a play.

MOJO RISIN'!

It's 3 am and I don't approve of Hillary

2008-03-21T16:31:00.001-07:00

Ever feel like a hero?

2008-03-04T16:25:00.000-08:00

Note- This has nothing to do with houses or remodeling- But is a true story from my day-

I drive a lot for my work. For the past 6 years or so I have been chugging down byways and highways in a Chevy Silverado Pickup. I have been through 7 trucks if that helps to put it into perspective. I have my moments where I feel lucky, where I feel blessed to not be stuck over on "that" side of the road or at "that light" or in that car with that nasty smoker! You know what I am talking about don't you. I have had my moments where I wish i had my camera to take a picture of what I see. A camera to record that awesome sunset or sunrise. That reflection in the river or lake. But today was TOTALLY different.

Driving down 264 in NC. Headed towards the amazing town of Wilson NC, well known for its BBQ and country living. Yapping on my phone to a buddy who has just returned from Japan when all of a sudden the large white van that is more than a hundred yards in front of me comes to a complete stop on the highway in the far right lane. It can't make it to the shoulder. I look in my mirrors and discover that I can't get over without killing someone so I brake and hope for the best at this point. Watching my mirrors to prepare for impact, I reach for my hazards and brace. BUt nothing is happening. GREAT! They all passed me on the left. But the big white van is more than a van it's a mini bus FULL of preschool kids. I learned this as I pulled to the left and went around them. And as i Did this, there were the faces of the innocent looking at me. And in my eyes they were all NOAH. My 10mnth old. Helpless. Needing someone to make sure that they were safe. That they made it home. And as I looked in my mirror I could see more cars coming. What to do?

I parked my rig (west coast slang for pick-up truck) in front of the bus, slammed my phone down and grabbed 2 safety vests that I carry to wear on jobs or to show my customers. I exit running along the side of the highway waving my arms around like a helicopter (Petey Pablo once rapped about NC needing to wave around like a helicopter didn't he?) and I tried as best I could t o make sure that those kids didn't get hit. I must have been there for 5 minutes or more. Waving people over to the other lane, cars, suvs, pickups, semis, they all moved (and some of those a-holes blew their horn at me too, so to you I hope it hurts when you pee tonight!)

Then all of a sudden, while I was waiving my vests around like a steelers fan waves that ugly terrible towel around, the bus left me. It just drove off. I hear a beep beep and turn around. The bus is up to full speed and on its way. Me I am left on the side of the road wondering. what if I wouldn't have stopped. what if I wouldn't have helped out. what if i turned on the news and had heard about something terrible knowing that I saw that little girls eyes for the first and last time. that she needed help and didn't get it?

so for a second or two today I felt like a hero. Like I perhaps saved some lives, made the world a little bit better because I responded And I think that I need to and will respond more to things that are happening in my world, in my community.

Damn you television chef fart head people!

2008-02-23T18:47:00.001-08:00

damn you tyler!, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

So this chump....we will call him "Tiler" (real name sounds like that but change the I for a Y and you have it ) while I am watching my boy Noah crawl after the DVD player. And Tiler follows my gurl Rachel Ray who makes some good stuff in 30 minutes. Well Tiler comes on for a total of 30 minutes and makes some good stuff. So good that I say to myself "Hey gullible self!" " you could totally make that!" " matter of fact after you get home from the gym as you attempt to work out on the rowing machine like the human compass, you should make it for your awesome awesome wife"

So I listened to gullible self and Tiler and tried to make this dish. Some super duper hashbrown (which i over cooked and over salted) and a great new-york strip that was to be coated in souffle of herbs and salt.

So I won't go into the details about how it all turned out....it turned out alright for the most part. But I will throw this challenge out to you folks out there! Watch a 30 minute cooking show other than RR and Tivo it. Watch it 5 times. Try it. See how it turns out.

And if anyone knows this Tiler kid, see if he does some show called " fart head chef visits stonehouse blogger's kitchen" If he does...HOOK ME UP

Sam Adams might just save your local brewery!

2008-02-17T18:44:00.000-08:00

HOP SHARING!

That's what I am talking about!

McCain vs Obama? Like hope...only different

2008-02-13T13:23:00.000-08:00

Watch them both.

Ride the Boat!

2008-02-08T19:03:00.000-08:00

So my friend Josh out in Seattle gave me a scale to use while grading my snowdays. 1-6 snowflakes to be given to the level of fun that I am having. 6 being the greatest with no 1/2 snowflakes to be awarded. Seems simple enough right? But just remember that once you give a 6 where do you go? 6 is the best! 6 is Nirvana. Steamboat Mountain on Monday 1-4-08 got a 7! How did it get a 7? Folks let me tell you, FLUFF!!!!!!! Go pile up a mound of dryer lint and dive into it and watch. I would say go pile up some baby powder or flour, but that stuff will settle on you. Steamboat powder doesn't settle. Even the runs where we were not first or second, the snow was so damn soft.

ok ok ok .....

Compton and Leigh (greatest vail local you will ever meet)

So my best buddy in the entire world (that sounds so second grade, but is so true) and his wife Leigh drove up to the boat on saturday morning to join us. Free lodging for them but riding with 2 people that haven't strapped in for 2 years, what a trade off! We had a blast! Saturday we spent our time trying to learn the mountain, sunday trying to figure out where the steeps were, and monday trying to experience them in some of steamboats finest 12" of fresh!

We discovered a section that thanks to Brett (the Human compass for the US army) we would not have tried. Closet and Shadows proved to be a great section of trees that was well protected from the winds and for the most part crowds. Here is compton about half way down.

The day continued to get better and better, with more puff than Snoop Dogg could handle! You couldn't hear anything. It was as close to being Deft as i will ever get. I expected to hear something, but there was nothing. It was a KAVU day, a 7 snowflake day, double thumbs up, a 3 cheers for Steamboat, a how lucky am I to be alive day!

If you ski or ride get to COLORADO this year. You aren't going to see anything else like it. You aren't going to regret it! GO GO GO. Get to travelocity, get to orbitz, just get out of where you are right now and go. There isn't anything like it out there....or is there?

Cree buys the LED light manufacturer I blogged about

2008-02-08T18:58:00.000-08:00

Not sure if you "greenies" out there caught it but CREE is trying to buy LED LF. ( the company that makes the LED can lights I blogged about)

http://biz.yahoo.com/ap/080208/cree_acquisition.html?.v=1

Pretty neat stuff and awesome to see millions of greenbacks revolving around LED lights!

Lights on! House is 100% wired!

2008-01-27T13:27:00.001-08:00

double sinks, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

So yesterday was a pretty big day for us here in the oldstonehouse. Adam finished up with the final bit of wiring. Sure he was waiting on us for a couple of months but whatever!

Here is a picture of the custom vanity, with the sinks in, plumbed and the lights on!

I still have to get the mirrors hung up a bit higher, but I think this will give most the idea of what we were trying to do. See more pics over on the flickr site over to the right!

LED can lights? YES YOU CAN!

2008-01-27T13:05:00.000-08:00

So Adam (Carrington electric) came over to the cave yesterday to finish what he started some 2+ years ago. Finally 100% of all of this house is wired and rockin! When he came over he brought with him something very cool. Check it out here

What is it? ( Here is the answer incase you can't put two and two togther) A 6" LED can light! It can be installed in most fixtures that are 6" without any rewiring. Since it has its own trim you can just rip out the old trim kit and clips and slide this up into it's place!

Here is a picture of the light it throws out. Pretty white light!

Adam says they cost about $95 each but he claims that they will run for 15 years! They come with a 3 year warranty and are using CREE LED lights. Pretty cool stuff!

sinks and shelves-

2008-01-20T19:46:00.001-08:00

front view, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Here is an almost finished picture of the master bath vanity set-up. We stuck with the Kohler fixtures for the upstairs, continuing it from every other faucet in the house. We like it and it was super simple to install.

We are going to raise the mirrors ( DUH!) and install 3 fixtures across that wall. Yes I have some corner trim to get in where the old stuff was ( see the gap on the left)

Along with the sinks I was able to get some shelves built in Noah's playroom closet. I recycled some old Ikea shelves and made a pretty nifty set of shelves. It should help in getting all the toys and blankets out of the way as this room will also be a guest bedroom.

Well that is it from the Oldstonehouse. Yes it is cold here (12 degrees tonight) and yes it did snow lastnight. I posted more pics over on Flickr >>>>>> for the interested.

Back to church...back to work.

2008-01-08T17:50:00.000-08:00

Saturday I prepared myself for church. I knew I would be going. I knew that I would wake up sunday morning, grab my best clothes and coffee and fire up the Chevy. I knew that I was going to be one of the first into the parking lot. I just knew I was going to get that "up front" spot.

And Last sunday I did just that. And I think I only spent $24 dollars. I just love/hate going to Lowe's on Sunday. But.....I had to do it. It is plumbing time and I had to get it done. With a little help from the 07 DIY assistant of the year (Bill Maunz) and his loaning of the pex crimping tool, I was able to get the water supply lines in. Pretty easy to do folks. If you can arm wrestle your infant cousin you can install PEX. You measure, you cut, you slide on the ring, you install the fitting, and then you CRIMP. WAH-LAH!

So I have been bitten by the bug again. After a long long long vacation from DIY upstairs, I am back into full swing. As full swing as a new dad can be. I am finally seeing the light at the end of the tunnel. I just hope that it isn't attached to a major issue.

One issue that I did have was when I was trying to install the worlds easiest faucet. (Kohler Fairfax narrow set) It wasn't the faucet that was bad. It was the sink. A Kohler sink that had a small defect where the drain goes. On the bottom where you tighten a gasket up to meet the bottom of the sink, was a small spot on the sink where the porcelain was missing or didn't come out of the mold correctly. So after 15 tries or so to get this damn thing in correctly I have pulled the sink and am planning a trip to the ugly orange box of sin and filth to return it

So folks the DIY bug is back and the project is back on track. Stay tuned for more fun and cursing.

Mountaineers are Always Free!

2008-01-04T17:24:00.000-08:00

The legend of Owen Schmitt will live for a very long time in the hills of WV. If you didn't stay up until the very very end of the game and hangout through the 65 commercials between the end and the trophy presentation, then you probably missed this.

I don't play for the Mountaineers, but I believe that you all know that mine and Owen's views on the great state are pretty similar.

As# Clown of a man

2007-12-16T14:38:00.001-08:00

As# Clown of a man, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Mountaineers are always free! But not always free to leave the program right before a bowl game! Coach Rod has decided to leave to head to Michigan, a great program up where it is ass cold. Money talks as we all know, with a 500k increase in salary per year, how can you say no?

But I am still a bitter mountaineer fan, backing my team through it all. I just wish that coach would have stayed through the season instead of being such an ass clown and kicking us while we are down.

Here's to you Rich! Now your paycheck will be as large as your ego but not near as big as the pride of the WV faithful!

The people who bought our house in Seattle are Bloggin!

2007-12-10T15:37:00.000-08:00

www.drewandholly.blogspot.com

Drew sent me some snail mail today that had his blog link in it. They are currently working on the kitchen right now. Complete GUT!

that is how it was when we bought it. The only thing that we did was to put in the appliances. Drew has taken the next step.

By the numbers

2007-12-09T09:37:00.001-08:00

by the numbers, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Organic Sheets from Target- 250 thread count - $40
Lindt 70% and 85% chocolate bars- 2 for $4.00
Superbad DVD - rented for $1.00
Dog Fish Head - Old School Barley Wine 2007- $13

In first place- you got it! The beer. A nice 15% or so Barley WIne with nice sweetness to it without the over powering dark thickness. I am going to stash 2 of the 4 away in the basement and pull them out next Christmas ( that is what the directions on the bottle tell you to do btw)

2nd - The sheets. For $40 we might be on to something. They are a little hard right now but after a few washings I have high hopes for these.

3rd- 70% cocoa bar. Nice flavor, not too sweet but sweet enough to count as candy. I don't know why I bought the 85% I don't like that stuff. Must have been the 2 for $4.00 tag!

Finally - Superbad coming in 9th place. 9th place you ask? Yeah 9th. I had to put the 5 times I stabbed myself with a spoon last night before superbad. Honestly- Just say the F word 100 times in a row, think about the geeks in your highschool that were true geeks, and pour bleach into your eyes and nose and you will have the same feeling as if you just watched superbad.

Today (Sunday) it is warm and sunny here in NC. I climbed up the Magnolia as high as I could to get some of our nice red LED lights up. I guess tonight we will see how they look.

Nothing beats a Grady

2007-12-04T18:43:00.001-08:00

Nothing beats a Grady, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Things around here have been rather slow for the DIY. Sure we have plenty of things to do, and no it isn't summer paddling season. We really have no excuse other than we keep finding things to do. Things like---Fishing!

It was a great weekend to get out again with Brian on the Grady. Sure it's december and it was cold as a witches #^& but we had the desire to catch some fish. The water was a bit rough, while they called for 2-4 it was more like 4-6 with the occasional 8 footer just for giggles.

We were able to catch a good mess of black bass (good fried up southern style!) and I was fortunate enough to land a 22lb grouper and a 16in black bass at the same time!

But now it's tuesday, the tree is half decorated, and the leaves from the worlds largest oak tree are 1/2 fallen. It won't be a 'chill' weekend at all. Shopping, painting, and maybe some plumbing if I am lucky.

we went to the beach this weekend

2007-11-18T18:41:00.000-08:00

my chest hurts a lil bit.

Lesson 128- Don't assume anything about hot peppers

2007-11-09T18:51:00.001-08:00

This is sorta like the reason why I don't do electric work at my house

GOT MILK? Like a Keg of it ?

Paint up! Furniture In! Tile Sealed!

2007-10-21T15:33:00.001-07:00

medicine cabinet,
originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

Now all I have to do is get the glass people in. Set the toilet and get the sinks in. Oh yeah I have a couple of coats of poly to do on the countertop. Yesterday we applied a coat of systemthree epoxy on the mahogany top. It looks FREAKIN awesome!!!

We got our three coats up on the walls. The furniture moved up and ..... I think we drank a couple of pilsners.

GO SOX! GO Oldstonehouse!

DIY assistant of the year

2007-10-21T15:28:00.001-07:00

DIY assistant of the year, originally uploaded by donutboyroy.

This year award goes to grand-daddy Bill Maunz! Bill Maunz is also in the running for father-in-law of the year for 2007!

Seriously- Bill has been to Raleigh 3 or 4 times in the past couple of months and without his assistance we could not be as far along on the project. He has put down some tile, painted some walls, moved some furniture and never complained one bit. Thanks BILL!

Oh that is the top that we are putting on the vanity.

Tile is sealed-

2007-10-14T15:02:00.000-07:00

A couple of coats of sealant and some yard work make for a great sunday. It was such a relief to put that damn tile saw down in the basement!

We are calling the glass people this week to come over and take measurements. That should be very exciting to get done. Throw in some furniture, a couple of pieces of plumbing and we are done....oh and paint too.

F-ing blogger won't take posts from my mac today...just like last month and the month before...so check out flickr over on the right if you wanna see what I am up to

DAMN GOOGLE!

Low Temps...Thai Food....Sam Adams?

2007-09-30T14:04:00.000-07:00

First off- The temp here in Raleigh has finally started to fall. We are now waking up to the 50's vs. 70's. LOVE IT! Today's high was 80 and the air was not sticky at all. It looks like we finally made it through the summer.

The final push on grout happened today. I will try to get some pictures this week after all of the clean up is done. Right now we are just so tired that we can't push any harder.

And on a final note...Sam Adams Beer. Yep good ol sam adams has pulled a fast one.This here Hallertau Imperial Pilsner is AWESOME. How awesome...well it made it into my top 10 beers of all times.

10 PBR in a freakin can
9 Golden Monkey, Victory PA
8 Black Gold, Imperial Stout, Full Sail, Hood River freakin OR-E-GUN
7 Decedent IPA, Ska Brewery CO
6 Hercules IPA, Great Divide Brewery, CO
5 Otter Summer, Otter Creek VT
4 Imperial Pilsner, Sam Adams
3 Manny's Pale Ale WA
2 Homoerectus, Walking Man Brewery WA
1 Notorious IPA, Rock Bottom Brewery Seattle WA. My buddy brews it and I can't get enough!

If you get a chance to get your hands on a 4 pack of this sam adams....DO IT !

Road Trip to Grandmas

2007-09-05T08:38:00.000-07:00

It't that time of year again, the time when our house is a wreck, our laundry piles up, and our gear stays sorta soggy. It's gauley Season. So to prepare for our weekly pilgrimage to WV we made our rounds to the south to see some friends and family. And of course, what trip would be complete without catching a cold? Not this one. That is the reason I am at home blogging at noon on a wed.

Meat fest was fun again. We were not able to complete the Bocce tournament due to a Mime misplacing one of the yellow balls. I know if she had one more margaritta she would have found it. Lots and lots of food and great friends. We are getting way older cause our beverage cooler was just as full at nights end as it was in the begining. It's the time ya share with good folks that you love. I don't even think we touched the shine. Probably all for the better.

Going on 2 years now here in NC.

2007-08-27T18:09:00.000-07:00

We closed on this stone house just about 2 years ago. Really just 2 years? WOW! All of the things that we have done in 2 years.
Central AC. New Plumbing. New Electric. New Kitchen. Redid the floors. Reseed the backyard. New Laundry closet. Removed all of the wallpaper upstairs. New drywall upstairs. complete gut of the master bathroom and lots of tile in it's place. 3 new closets in dead attic space.....and 1 healthy baby boy. Busy bees.

Now what I miss
Snowboarding being just an hour away in my truck.
.

Clean and clear whitewater

The water here in NC is nice....warm....but not clean.

Our Friends-

Safeco Field-

Hood River-

The views-

Tile is done! Legs Hurt!

2007-08-26T18:36:00.000-07:00

Finally! The tile for the master bath is up and down! With the help of my favorite father-in-law we were able to get the rest of the tile in the bathroom layed. While we have not moved to grout, we are super excited to get to the point that we can. I estimate that we layed almost 200 square feet of tile in 4 days. Don't leave replies if you are some master tilesman and say that is nothing! Nothing is what you got payed to do our bathroom, cause we did it ourselves!

So we have the flat white hex tiles on the floor. Subway tile with squares for the shower walls, and flat white squares for the shower floor. Now we are getting ready to grout, get Adam in to hook up the exhaust, and get the glass folks in to measure for our gigantic shower enclosure. Will this be the largest shower on the block? 7 ft by 4 ft...probably.

I have posted the pictures over on flickr since Blogger isn't digging my mac tonight!

Country Roads Take Her Home-

2007-08-17T14:33:00.000-07:00

Found in a hollow in wv...adopted by two young kids....and loved as a family member for 7.5 years. Rest in Peace girl. You had a great life, a full life, many friends and many many miles on those paws.

Cheney predicts the future. If you have not seen this...WATCH IT

2007-08-13T16:15:00.000-07:00

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6BEsZMvrq-I

Wrap it up...bring em home. If this doesn't get that W sticker off your car then there is a serious problem.

What made the tile job easier?

2007-08-06T19:02:00.001-07:00

while we are by NO MEANS tile pros....I would say that we are some serious DIY'ers and that we do know when a project has kicked our ass. I am not going to go step by step on how to tile, but I will describe some of the things that made it easiers.

1. The 4 beam laser level. Plumb? Square? Level? YEP! This thing ( see the red line in the picture) allowed us to see if the tile were sliding, or not on the level.

2. Wet Tile Saw. - What a dream this machine is. This puppy plundge cuts, bevel cuts, and slides like ichiro stealing 2nd base. Knowing the Kerf of the diamond blade and getting use to how thick it cuts will allow you to make a tighter set.

3. The thin-set paddle mixer bit. Whatever you want to call it. I didn't spring for the$$$$ one but this thing made mixing the thin set a breeze. Be sure to clean it off after every mix or else you will hate yourself at the end of the day. It does take a drill with some guts so don't expect to hook this thing up to anything labeled Ryobi or Skil. Well you can if you want to go out and buy a new unit.
4. Help. A couple of helpers go a long way. Sandy's dad came up from SC and Sandy really threw down on some tile. I hope to get the shower floor layed this week. Anything to get me inside and out of the 100 degree heat with 200% humidity. THanks Bill!

Make sure it's level. Measure 5 times...cut twice ( cut long, then trim it up!)....rubber hammer those things in that nasty mud! Keep your eye on the entire thing. Step back...look....and don't be afraid to adjust.

Master bathroom shower gets tile!

2007-08-05T19:02:00.000-07:00

Too tired to write much.

We got both walls of the shower tiled. No grout, but tile is up. Grout, floor, get the glass up....enjoy.

What's the freakin hold up?

2007-06-30T04:36:00.000-07:00

(what keeps us busy)

somewhere upstairs, amongst the kayaking and backpacking gear, beind on or two solid white doors is a freakin mess. A mess of tools, insulation, screws, fans, drop cords....all things that we used while we remodeled the upstairs. But there is one room. The master bath that holds it all. For 3 months now the upstairs has been ignored. It's time to get on it.

Next week I will finish hanging the hardy board so that Mark can come and pour the shower floor. From there it is all tile. Boxes of tile await me. Floor tile, showertile, backsplash tile...oh joy! I am not really looking forward to it, but damn, it's time to get it done.

Antioch College to Close in 2008!?

2007-06-13T19:18:00.000-07:00

Be Ashamed to die until you have won some good for humanity! Horace Mann, founder of my great college in the middle of Ohio.

It was announced yesterday that Antioch College will close the doors in July of 2008. SHIT! I knew it was a downward spiral when they closed up Maples, but this is just too much. Antioch is everything that I am, it made me who I am, it is in my blood.

More Info on it
http://technorati.com/posts/tag/antioch+college?page=2

I am going to be calling for a large kick ass festival next year for all alumni and family. We have to send this place out in style.

Dream Job over New Dream being lived-

2007-06-05T06:51:00.000-07:00

5 years ago, as a underpaid teacher, I worked as a raft guide in my hometown of WV. It was my 6 season, and I was really just working to make ends meet through the summer. Sandy was in grad school and we were trying to figure out what we were going to do. I met someone in my raft who forever changed my life. A recruiter for the number 1 powertool company in the world. We hit it off, I interviewed, got the job....Moved to Seattle.

Life started to turn. They paid to move us out west, we were excited to be going somewhere new, ready to start a new life. It just couldn't be any better. A dream job of doing field work and marketing for a powertool company. Driving a big truck, free gas, working with young people, no office...yeah it was good. Seattle was good. Awesome food, awesome scenery, rivers, beer, music, and friends. for 3 years we lived out in the PNW working and playing. I went from being a teacher, which is what I went to school to do, to being a sales rep. Not really a job that many would say " damn I want that job" but just about 90% of all guys out there wanted my job. It was a good job.

Our dreams started to shift back to the east coast. My dad was getting ready to retire and most importantly we were thinking about starting a family. Sandy took a job over here in NC and I had that difficult phone call to make to the tool company. They took care of me. They created a position for me here in Raleigh NC. I took the lateral, and we moved east. That is when this stonehouse project started.

But that family conversation didn't come about for an entire year while here in NC. But when it did come up, we were just ready. This past April it all came to be. Along with that was reality of working too much. The company that I loved to work for was turning. I was working too much, stretched too thin and no end in sight. I had to leave. I knew that I was going to need more time with my son and wife. That priorities had changed, changed for the best. It's just awesome! I start a new sales job next week for a local distributor. Still in sales, still for a great company, just a little bit different.

Spring Cleaning......AKA Nesting?

2007-04-22T18:03:00.000-07:00

So nothing is really happening here at the cave....OH wait, scratch that! Today I did cut down 2 large and out of control Holly bushes (MONSTERS!) and what a difference it makes to our curb appeal. Most importantly the view from the porch is awesome!!!
I finally cleared out all of the tools and trim molding that was on the porch and now we can sit out there, drink our sweet tea, eat our grits and hollar "HOWDY"

Here are a couple of pictures of our weekend. The ones of Kelsey are some of my favorite shots that I have taken so far with the Xti. The other is 1 case of homebrew that was capped today. I took a little advice from my buddy Josh who makes my favorite IPA in the freakin world and did some hop adding to the bottles. Cross your fingers and if you see Josh tell him I am coming for his title as brewmaster

Some DIY projects involve a nice beverage.

2007-04-16T07:56:00.000-07:00

When we first moved to NC statelaw mandated that ABV in beer could not be greater than I believe 6. Soon after they changed that to 15% So then the great people of NC, even Dook fans, could enjoy some of the great IPAs and Barleywines that before the could not. Well now they can enjoy em, but they have to pay out the freakin nose for them. And it doesn't seem to be the Hoppy beers that are popular here, which are the ones I love. So I started a new DIY project yesterday ....

I love me some insulation!

2007-04-10T18:33:00.000-07:00

And some closets too! One thing about this big ol cave is that the closets were pretty small. Well the downstairs closets anyway. We haven't really spent much time upstairs, well until the day after turkey day when we decided to remodel it all. So we went and made three more closets. 12ft long, 9 foot long and then one really funky shaped one that might just hold all of our kayaking and backpacking gear. Probably just the kayaking gear, but we will see.

So what have we been doing? Well I have spent the last couple of weekends insulating the closets and attic space of this joint! I did pink stuff for my closets, but we blew in the cellulose stuff for the attic. I have to say that blow-in stuff was a breeze. I was able to blow in 17 bags of that stuff in just 1.5 hours. And does it work? Well last night the temp was 60 when I went to bed and 58 when I woke up. Only 2 degrees drop over night...with no heat on and the downstairs door closed. Oh yeah it was 25 outside last night. Yeah for insulation!

Nothing much is happening here for a little bit. I will keep everyone posted.......:)

Roomba...Test 1

2007-03-31T15:14:00.000-07:00

So Sandy and I needed to take Kelsey (the d o double g) for a little W. What a great time to test the Roomba ( it hasn't been named yet, but soon will be). We blocked of the dining room and kitchen area to let it run for 30 minutes on the max clean setting. The results?

And right now you are thinking, "oh my lord, these two kids live like animals, in pure filth!" Now just back that tumble bus up. We do not. But we do have a dog who thinks that shedding is sorta like love. Just give and give and give. Let everyone, and every square inch of the house know.

All and all, we are pretty satisfied with the results. Not too shabby for 30 minutes of work that we didn't have to do, and a nice walk around the block. Ahhhhhhhhhh Robots.

Roooooooooooooomba? Will it work?

2007-03-29T19:09:00.000-07:00

So last week during an amazing wootoff (www.woot.com) I had the opportunity to pick up our first robot. The roomba sage is now a member of our household. A robot vacume that will wonder around our first floor sucking up kelsey's left behind fur. It has it's own charging station, some sort of inviso wall to place between a door jam or opening to keep it from leaving the area. Tomorrow will be the first day of it being on the job. (Well I ran it for about 10 minutes and it was freakin cool!) I will post the results tomorrow.

DIY'ers You Make the Call!? Blow-in Insulation

2007-03-26T18:00:00.000-07:00

Alright DIY'ers......It's time for you make the call! Well not really but the 30 something men and some 30 something women will remember the days of monday night football....

Any suggestions or tips for doing my own attic blow-in insulation? Come on.....I know you have them. Cough them up!

Spring in Raleigh NC

2007-03-25T17:18:00.000-07:00

Spring really sneaks up on you here in Raleigh. It seems like you go from keeping an eye on the gas bill to BAM! windows open, cordless lawnmower plugged in, bulbs popping up, and pollen making my black pick-up look like it has some alien dandruff sprinkled all over it. It really was like someone just flipped a switch and made the dark beers go away, bringing us lighter flavors and colors. I just love it! Here is a the view from our front porch this afternoon-

This weekend we went down to Columbia SC for a little family get together. It is really awesome to be able to load up the truck, hit the road and be with family in 4 hours or less. No matter how much I end up missing the left coast, there will always be something about being so close to home.

This afternoon I was able to slap a couple of coats of paint up on the laundry closet doors. The best part about that was that I got to do it out on the front porch. Blue sky, a nice pint of pyramid hef and some modest mouse rocking out the house. LOVE IT! It could always be worse right ? YES it could be! (Please read the final paragraph)

I am going to try to get the rest of the base boards primed and painted this week as well as get the insulation blower thingy reserved for a fun filled weekend of attic work. I know that those posts will be bitchin!

Special Paint Job

2007-03-17T14:48:00.000-07:00

Paint----Floors----Lights!

2007-03-16T20:50:00.000-07:00

Blogger is just Pis&ing me off. Here are the pics!

There are more pictures over >>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>> On Flickr

Use 18" rollers won't ya!

2007-03-04T17:54:00.000-08:00

Seriously, I feel like I have been living in a freakin bubble. Why did no one out there tell me to use and 18" roller? Yeah you up in NJ, or down in TX, or you out in California? What? You have never seen such a thing? Here it is ----

So anyways....this 18 inch roller was the S^%T! Isaac was so much faster than Eric, not because Eric was out till 3 am (so was Isaac), It's twice the roller! If you have a big project coming up, get an 18 inch roller! It will be so worth it!

So the color in all three areas is up and looks great. A mild earthy tan for the master bedroom, a light soft yellow for the hallway which has no windows (suntube to come within a year!) and then a very light blue for the nursery. It feels so good to have it all done. I put more pictures over on Flickr for those really interested.

Dust Free Ipod jams and a very sore arm.

2007-03-04T05:33:00.000-08:00

Dust free- Yesterday brought the primer. I can not tell you how exciting it was to vac up and mop up all of the drywall dust. While I did use a porter cable drywall sander and vac for a virtually dust free enviro, the hand sanding created a mess like no other. My respirator was covered, that's why we wear them right? Thank good ness for ipods and widespread panic. There is just something about a good jam band while your are having flour tossed at you ( my analogy for sanding drywall)

So now it's sunday morning, breakfast is on the stove, coffee is in my cup, and in about 24 minutes or so Eric and Isaac will show up with 18" rollers in hand ready to knock it out. I worked as hard as I could yesterday getting 5 gallons of primer up, but I will gladly take some help today. Here are some shots of where we stand right now and where we were. I hope to have some pictures of color and paint up this evening. 3 guys should be able to knock it all out no problem.

Yesterday we picked up our bathroom furniture. Now that makes it sound like we have a huge bathroom now doesn't it? We had a double sink vanity and linen cabinet made by a local carpenter / woodworker / talk your ear offer. Great guy, great work, and GREAT price. Here is Dave showing off what he made for us.

I would rather be........

2007-02-25T15:40:00.000-08:00

Sanding drywall just stinks! It's like doing the whole karate kid wax on wax off thing while someone stands in front of you and above you throwing cups of flour at you. How much fun is that?

All of last week I had to work a trade show in FLA. Nothing like standing on your feet for 11-12 hours a day on concrete is there? Oh maybe it would be more fun to sand drywall while standing on concrete? Nah! It's good to be home.

The plan right now is to get the sanding done by friday and get a little bit of help with the painting this upcoming weekend. We need to get that done this weekend so that the flooring guys can get up there to finish the 2nd part of the house before mid march. Then it is on to flooring of the bathroom and getting the shower tiled in. The list is getting shorter believe it or not, sometimes I think not. So a couple more days of getting flour tossed on me and then it's on to paint.

OK so now I remember why

2007-02-18T17:34:00.000-08:00

Why drywall work just sucks! The mud, the tape, the angles, the sanding, the mudding, the reaching to the ceiling..........

I knocked down the 2nd layer of mud yesterday, and we quickly started to do the final coat. It is going to look awesome! I have to work in Florida all week so I won't be able to get the sanding done until next sunday. Next sunday is also the day we pick up the cabinets for the bathroom.

Future updates - Tile for the bathroom, cabinets installed, shower floor poured, paint on the walls, floors re-finished......oh my we have a ton to get done.

The drywall ninja stopped by

2007-02-11T17:35:00.000-08:00

Our friend Damon ( who is friends with charlie babbitt, a fellow antiochian) stopped by today to let his dog play in our yard with Kelsey (now 7yrs old!) and he wanted to help out here at the oldstonehouse. Damon wanted to learn more about DIY work on old houses, and what a better way to learn than tape and mud. It was fun to show a newbie how and what to do for butt joints and tappered joints of mud and tape. Not that we are pros here....but we sorta have a clue about it. The kid did a good job for his first time.

It's going to be a long week. I have my manager coming into town, 2 classes during the night, monday and thursday. So not a lot of time to get the second coat of mud up. Gotta try right?

Listen up other DIY'ers!

2007-02-10T18:46:00.000-08:00

1. Don't use plastic mud trays!-

"Oh yeah that won't happen to us....." RIGHT! sometime last week another houseblogs.net geek advised to not use plastic mud trays for drywall mud. Did we listen....Oh no! Why? because the cost of metal as 3X's that of plastic at the big box. While you can get it from www.amazon.com for less, we were in a pinch. BUY THIS over THIS! The plastic used in those trays is softer than....well I won't go into it...but it is way too soft for the use of metal tools.

Anyways.....you can tell what we are up to.

The first coat of mud is up in the new bedroom. All of the corners, seams, and edges are taped and mudded. What fun this is. Actually it isn't that bad. Sanding will be the part where I use $*#)($ symbols to express myself.

Sandy worked hard today on the ceiling seams. I was the corner and screw head guy for the most part.

We are a little behind and we don't see how we are going to make any of it up. Oh well....so is life. Do it right, don't rush it, and enjoy it as you send the check to the mortgage company right?

HUNG!

2007-02-04T14:58:00.000-08:00

All of the walls, all of the ceiling, all of the corners and angles. The can lights are in, the boxes are in for the light fixtures, and switches are ready. Now comes the fun part.....mud and tape...tape and mud. OH Joy!

I hope to get the majority of that done this week during the evenings and nights. Of course that is what I blog, but what will actually happen? Focus luke...focus! Why do we all hate to mud and tape? Why do we hate sanding? I know that I do, but I couldn't tell you why. I am sure that the photos from it will be funny. We hope to get the tile on the floor done next weekend. That reminds me, I need to call in Isaac to pour the cement in the shower floor. Isaac if you read this get over here and mix up some cement!

My skin is getting dry

2007-02-03T18:36:00.000-08:00

All of this drywall is making my skin dry dry dry!

98% of the 1/4 inch is up. We have one more trip to make to the local dump, of course another stop at church (LOWE'S) tomorrow, and then we will finish up with all of the hanging. FINALLY! I hope to mud three nights this week. Tape and mud...tape and mud. Here we go.

2 sheets short

2007-01-28T18:14:00.000-08:00

While the 1/4 inch project went much slower than I expected, the results are looking good. With several roof lines, stud spacings and rooms joining one another, the project has taken a while. And now I am 2 sheets short for the bedroom portion. So another trip to visit a friend of mine and we will be ready to tape by wednesday.

Drywall-ing really sucks. Thanks to some knuckleheads in the 40's-90's who believed that multiple layers of wallpaper might just cure world hunger and the cuban embargo, we have spent the past week working on ceilings and walls. 1/2 on the ceiling 1/4 on the walls. And we have not even gotten to the messy mud and sand part....it's coming ( and I know that some of ya'll are waiting on pictures of me covered in that nasty dust ) But all and all it looks like it will turn out better than what we had hoped for. When will it be done? hmmmm 2.5 months I hope.

Why don't our plumbers / electricans ever leave before 10?

2007-01-27T05:56:00.000-08:00

10:30 pm and Mark is still working upstairs on the shower rough in. Of course he didn't get here until 8:30ish and he worked a full day as a commercial plumber, but what in the world? Since last Feb our house has been a buzz of activity. I believe that it all started last year with removing one little floor tile in the kitchen. And the ball just kept on rolling.

The bathroom tile arrived yesterday. 500lbs of it. Small hex for the floor of the bathroom and 2" white squares for the shower stall and rim of the shower (well at least I think that is the plan) But that won't be todays project at all.

Todays project will be 1/4 inch drywall. Yep the time has come to attempt to cover our old wallpapered walls with 1/4 panels of new drywall. Our goal is to make the walls smoother than what they are right now. That's our goal. But this is our first attempt at a full room of board and mud. I guess we'll see how it goes.

Ceiling --- Check! Electrical rough in----CHECK!

2007-01-22T20:05:00.000-08:00

10:30 pm - Adam / Electrician finishes up and leaves

So now all of the electrical is 'roughed' in and the walls are ready to be covered with a new layer of wallboard. AWESOME! It's been over a year now since Adam finished the downstairs electrical, and it just feels like some closure has begun for one of our many tasks. Nahhhh it will be at least a couple more months before we are DONE done.

10:15 - Final piece of the new 1/2" drywall goes up on the Ceiling!

I was able to get the entire ceiling done today after work BY MYSELF! How you ask? Am I some super human? Some gigantic myth of a man who has 5 arms? NOPE! The panel lift that I rented from my friends at United Rentals allowed me to hoist the sheets in to place with no issues what so ever. It really wasn't that bad. Now comes the fun part, those pesky little angles!

Late start...not so much on progress-

2007-01-21T16:16:00.000-08:00

sleep in but at the dump by 8 am. Unload-return home-reload-dump again by 9. We really didn't have too much to do to prepare for Adam, but we found enough to keep us busy. Thank goodness cause the boy slept in until something like NOON! Good for him though. A mid-20's business owner who works his butt off. But noon was a little later of a start than I had planned on. Oh well, what are you going to do or say when you have a friend doing the work? Not much. But take a look at that freakin light! YEAH!

All of the cans are in (5 in total for the bedroom, 2 in the shower) and all of the circuits are fun for the outlets, switches, closet lights and I think he may have even wired in an elevator back in the dark corner of the attic, he was back there for a long time.

So while Adam and I worked on getting all of the electric done, sandy was hard at work removing trim, drywall, wall paper, and glue. She found one wall that had some really nice plaster on it. Too bad they didn't do that in every room, but hey, she's really proud of this wall and she made it look really nice!

So we didn't get to putting the drywall onto the ceiling, 10 hours of work on a sunday was enough. Maybe tomorrow we can get after it?

Down to the wood!

2007-01-20T18:31:00.000-08:00

Thursday I made the trip in the rain (it was rain, but most people from this part of NC called it wintry mix and were realllllly freaked out) to go get the 1/2 drywall for our upstairs remodel. I have a good friend in the drywall supply business and he was nice enought to hook me up at cost! So yeah I drove 150 miles for drywall supplies.

So there we were this morning wondering how and what we were going to do. Our first plan was to install 1/2 drywall over the existing. WHY? Because the ancient people once loved wallpaper and thought that it might be a great idea to install millions and millions of layers of it. We were all set to do it and then I just started pulling down the old sheetrock. All of it from the ceiling, and all of the old insulation that was above it. And why? Well once i pulled down a small piece we realized that it would be much easier to install our new stuff if we got down to the wood. So we did. And we made 5 trips to the dump in one day ( Thats 125 miles if you are keeping track)

So what are we into tomorrow? Well ADAM is coming over to install the can lights, and run all of the new electric for the bathroom and bedroom. Hopefully he gets it kicking early and we get to hang the drywall on the ceiling. Why am I hoping to hang drywall? Someone help me!

Progress made.....

2007-01-07T18:21:00.000-08:00

We made a little bit of progress today. After we spent about 2 hours talking with Dave (bathroom cabinet maker) we got back to the crib to frame out the the rest of the bedroom wall. Along with framing it out, came hanging the door. The door came from one of the old bedroom walls that we took down to open things up. doors aren't so easy, but they aren't hard....they just require some thought.

After the wall we finished up framing the duct work out. When we had the AC put in back in what...march we ran into an issue with getting the duct up to the other rooms. It pops out of one wall and shoots up into the attic. That "shoot-out" is what we had to frame in so that we can hide it with some drywall, paint, and old VW bug...something other than ductwork.

And finally, sandy tried her hand at rolling on watered-down joint compoun to the walls. WHY? well...here goes. After you remove 100 layers of wall paper off of 1940's drywall the paper comes off with it. SO.....shelac. Cadillac, scooby snak, shalac! We applied one coat of shelac to the walls after the wallpaper came down so that we could apply the skimcoat. Not so sure if it worked or not, but it's worth a shot right?

10 things I am enjoying-

2007-01-06T18:23:00.000-08:00

1. Houseblogs.Net and my morning coffee
2. DW718 slide compound mitersaw
3. Concrete countertops I made myself
4. Inmotion I-Pod speaker system my wife gave me for christmas
5. My dog Kelsey who will be 7 this Feb.
6. Crocs. How did anyone live with out them? It's like flip-flops meets my Berks....
7. Checking the snow report at Mtbaker.us or Skicrystal.com and knowing Josh is gettin after it!
8. Measuring twice and making it fit.
9. Putting on the work gloves, grabbing my hammer, and putting more dents in my pry-bar.
10. Calling my dad on the phone, knowing that he won't be going in the coal mines again.

And life goes on.....
The weather in Raleigh NC is just horrible. Honestly I am hating it. 74 and sunny in the first week of January? I hate it.

What has happened in the past couple of weeks? - New bathroom subfloor is in and leveled. The new shower is framed. The new bedroom wall is framed and.....well that is just about it. I wish that I had more to report on...oh wait I did order a sample of this TILE off of ebay.

Maybe I will have more by the end of the day tomorrow?

Holiday Break.....Master Bath work----

2006-12-28T15:05:00.000-08:00

Thank goodness for breaks. Not only do they give you time to get around to see everyone that you need to see, but they give you a little bit of time to get bruises, bumps, cuts and dirtier jeans than just any typical DIY evening.

I worked all day laying subflooring, framing out one wall, and laying the hardy board down for the floor. Not a bad day for a one man work crew.Tomorrow I will make a trip over to the glass place to make sure that I am doing everything right and not getting mixed communication.

The shower is 40inches wide by 7 feet long. I want to do glass up to say about 7 feet from a 6"high basin. I don't plan on putting a door on the thing because the entrance is 5 feet away from the shower head. And the doors in enclosed showers is the most expensive part.....

The mess we make.

2006-12-09T16:53:00.000-08:00

It is the part of the DIY show that they never let you see. The piles of debris that litter what was once a clean space. It's the countless trips to the dump, the rows of trash cans full of old drywall and insulation. What are they afraid of? That people will get a real view of what it is like? I sort of like making the piles and watching them change. From start to finish, the content of the piles have character and show the progress.

Today I finished up my subfloor project. Wouldn't you know that the floor joists change direction 1/2 way across the floor. I am going to have to do some work where we will be putting the drain line for the new 3" shower drain, but it shouldn't be that bad. The plumber came over today to see what the job is going to be like. It looks like we should have the rough in done next saturday!

I was able to stop by re-use on the way home and score a door for the new closet. It is a little different than the one that is original, but for 20 bucks I wasn't really going to complain too much. I had to trim it down to make it fit, but all and all, not a bad door. I hope to get the walls for the closets framed tomorrow if at all possible. Well that will be after my morning run to the dump. You know you might go to the dump when they recognize you and begin to help you unload because you are a regular.

Materials used to build this house.

2006-12-08T18:19:00.000-08:00

It's always fun to work on old houses, it's never "the usual" renovation. There just always seems to be something waiting under or behind what you are working on that will suprise you. 10% good, 90% are like "what in the bleepity bleep were they thinking back in 19#$ when they built this place?"

For instance the drywall that was used in my house came in 2ft by 3ft sheets. It either came like that or the person had a really small car and had to cut the 4x8 sheets down to a better size for his VW or whatever small car existed in 1940 when this house was built. (Yes, I know that the bug was not out in 1940 but you get my point right?)

Nails. I know that there is a current crunch out there in the world in regards to metals available for building materials. Steel is at a premium. I think that I might be able to solve the crunch here in the Raleigh market if I were to start a smelter in my back yard under that gigantic oak. The nails that were used for this place are more like tent stakes used to hold down a circus tent. We ran into them first while working on the kitchen. The second nail we didn't come across while working in the kitchen, square nails. These bad boys were used for the tongue and groove flooring that was under the old school lenoleum. What fun these are.

So tomorrow I will either finish with ripping up the subfloor or I will be starting a new blog that details my new homemade smelting operation that will solve the local steel crunch.

Extreme Home Makeover visits Raleigh NC Part II

2006-12-06T18:20:00.000-08:00

Sandy and I just made our final trip down to the EHMH and it is pretty amazing. While they were still carrying furniture and you can hear the sounds of saws and hammers in the workzone, it was ready to go. Here are a couple of pictures, left from wednesday night, right from monday night.

Help! DIY'ers...You make the call!

2006-12-06T17:06:00.000-08:00

And even if you are just an armchair, laptop DIY'er who doesn't know squat about hammers, nails, screws, caulk, dust, dirt, or the pains of 1940's remodels, you might still be able to help.

The old kitchenette that we are turning into a master bathroom has old old old beadboard. The issue is that it runs horizontal...not vertically. Our first thought was to take it all down, cut it, spin it and nail it back up. Our thought now is to leave it up half of it, from the floor 1/2 up the wall, and then do new drywall and chair-rail in the rest of the room.

1. Do we take it all down and do all of that work?

2. Leave 1/2 and move on?

3. Do the entire room in new drywall?

Here is the room in question. Please leave comments

Extreme Home Makeover visits Raleigh NC

2006-12-04T18:45:00.000-08:00

Pretty neat story. Last Thursday it all broke out among town. A couple that works very hard for the community and one of the local churches (1 of 5000 or so in this town) here in Raleigh NC had been selected for a makeover. When we visited on Saturday night they were still leveling the dirt. Tonight, Monday, they were painting, roofing, adding stone....just amazing stuff.

It really is a neat show, and even more amazing that it is a full-tilt, real construction area with hundreds of people all over working to get it done. I wasn't really excited about all of the waste that be thrown-out that was perfectly usable, but it's not my jobsite. I will try to post a finished product photo sometime next week after they move that bus!

good ideas, new camera, and a good dust mask

2006-12-03T13:52:00.000-08:00

Good Ideas- second floor remodel+driveway right below+ chunks of old drywall+ blue tarp from harbor freight (yeah Bill I said Harbor Freakin Freight) = see below

We were able to make 2 trips to the dump with one more coming early in the AM. I really can't believe that the Raleigh area dump doesn't cost me anything to visit. In Seattle it was a minimum of $12 per visit. I like not paying, but I know that it isn't the best for the community resources.

Today I was able to rip out some more drywall, insulation, and put together a plan for what we are going to do with all of our kayaking /backpacking/camping gear. The sollution was found in some space hidden behind some 1940's construction. After taking out some drywall and insulation, it should work out great.

We have recently upgrade our digital camera. I really love this thing. I have a long way to go before I am shooting like a pro, but it really is nice to end the work day with some artsy fartsy photos. This old house had BX cable all through out. That stuff reminds me of spiderman or some super hero. (link http://www.flickr.com/photos/43737467@N00/ ) I am still trying to get Flickr to work on beta blogger.

I love DEMOLITION!

2006-12-02T21:26:00.000-08:00

There is just something about demolition. Maybe it is the fear of what you are about to do really can't be undone without some investment of time and material. Maybe it is the curiosity side of me that wants to see how this house was constructed. But then again maybe it is just the fact that I love to use powertools and that I really like to destroy things. It's really all three, but the destruction that is associated with discovery is most enjoyable.

Today Sandy and I started on the demolition part of the remodel. One wall was in the way and it lasted all of about 10 minutes. The majority of today's time was spent trying to salvage old bead-board that covers the old kitchenette from floor to light fixture. We decided that we will leave the original bead board 1/2 up the wall, with some new drywall coming for the rest of the room.

No fist fights broke out and the turkey tasted great!

2006-11-28T18:17:00.000-08:00

Well the big turkey day has come and gone. With 13 people total in the house, it all worked out great. We had a couple of friends in from Oregon and California, with the remainder of folks coming from West Virginia and South Carolina. It was really nice to have the house so full, with so many people eating and drinking while carrying on so many conversations. The best part was the fact that we had 3 or more cooks going in the kitchen while some of the rest of us hung out in the dining room, but were still able to talk and socialize with those in the kitchen.

No Wall=Good Idea!

Everyone that stayed seem to have a good time, I know that everyone ate way too much and possibly made too many trips to the cooler of ice cold beverages that was on the back porch.

Now that is all done and the crowds have come and gone, we are going to start breaking down plans for the master bedroom and bathroom for the second floor. What this means is building a new wall, hanging some doors, installing sun tube sky lights, redoing the drywall, and creating a master bathroom in an old kitchenette. Now this is going to be way too much fun. My goal is to be totally done in 4 months. YEP! 4 Months. I really don't want this to drag on into the summer kayaking season.

I guess it's time to start digging out all of the tools that I just put away in the depths of the basement. It's time to fire up the XRP drills, plug in the recip saws, find a new pair of work shorts, and get busy with a new project. Till then.....

Grout! Grout! Let it all out!

2006-11-12T17:52:00.000-08:00

Everything grout. I applied the sealant to the bar tops (looks great) and then Sandy worked the grout onto the backsplash. It really is fun to complete a project. Just some caulk, some sealant on the backsplash, and a little bit of paint and the kitchen will be 100% done. March 18th to November ?? Not bad....could have been better, but not bad. We really have learned a lot on this one project.

How to take down a load bearing wall
How to refinish a wood floor.
How to do plumbing
How to do tile
How to do concrete countertops
How to use caulk to hide things.
How to salvage old trim.
How to wire can lights.
That HD nor Lowe's Have everything.

Now we are working hard to make sure that everyone that is coming up or down to our house has a good time and a full belly. We have Plenty of places to put em, now we just need to make enough food to make them all happy. With 9 other people coming for turkey day, we have a lot to figure out. Sandy started testing some recipes tonight ( I love taste tasting unless it involves green vegetables) Here are some pictures from todays work.

Live from Raleigh....it's Saturday Night!

2006-11-04T19:05:00.000-08:00

Your guest host---Fosters Flooring----

John and Al came and finished up today with the final coats of Bona poly and the stuff looks Great! I guess they wrapped up today around 4 ish and now the fans are running while we are camped out upstairs. We will let it all dry for another 24 hours or so before we even think about putting our stuff back in. Till then it's Mtn Biking, shopping, and maybe just maybe a tackle on the basement shop area!

Some of you might be getting tired of seeing lame ol pictures of floors. So below are a couple taken from around our block today. Since we can't be just sitting here waiting for Poly to dry, we have been taking some nice walks See below

The Rose Garden at the end of our street>

I just love progress

2006-11-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

Sealant on......the rest to come tomorrow!

Thank Goodness for the Pros!

2006-11-03T14:12:00.000-08:00

So we are down to the wood, done with all of the sanding, and the guys are buffing up the floors with a 180 grit. Next they are going to put on a sealant. We are going with the natural stuff, something that allows the floors to be "natural" and no funky tints or color. And this stuff is suppossed to be UV protected so that it won't change color over time....We will see. We plan on being here for a very long time.....we should be here for a long time with as much work as we have done on this dang joint! So the sealant will go down here in just a bit (It's 5:30 on a Friday evening and they are just now finishing with the sanding)

Here are some before and mid-way pictures for those of you keeping track. They were all taken under the same lighting conditions, give or take an hour in the day. If you click on this picture it should enlarge and give you a better view of it all.

I'd be pulling my hair out about right now....

2006-11-02T09:57:00.000-08:00

But lucky for me we have decided to pay the pros to do the floors. They showed up around 9am this morning and at 1pm this is what has been done.

It appears that the previous owners used wax to treat the floors. And according to John Foster, this is just one of the worse things you could do. And it is making for some hard work for them.

They are taking the time to get it up with scrappers and blades, but it is still going to be an uphill battle.

Bring everyone up to speed-

2006-11-01T17:13:00.000-08:00

1939 stone house built by Ralph Butts ( Fire Chief of Raleigh NC from 41-47?)
We are the 3rd Owners. Most everything is original. Glass door knobs, skeleton keys...
New Electric ( Carrington Electric )
New Plumbing
New Central Air
Totally New Kitchen
New Back Lawn
New paint in every room downstairs
No more wallpaper in the upstairs bedroom
------Now for new floors~

We have moved out, moved up, well this isn't the Jefferson's for crying out-loud! It's just time for the original old oak flooring to be redone. They haven't been touched in something like 66 years. That is longer than my dad has been around. So we have moved things around in the old stone house and are awaiting the fine folks from Foster Flooring to show up in the morning and start sanding ! Now I know that I COULD have done it myself, but I just don't have the bloody time. Besides, this is what John and his guys do everyday. It will look much much much better than anything that we could have done ourselves, and in the end.....well come back on Friday night or sometime over the weekend to see what happened. Till then....Here is a pic of our original stuff...

Down on the corner....

2006-10-28T18:41:00.000-07:00

Out in the streets!.....welll that is some lyric from some southern rock group....

The tile is all up, with the grout yet to be done, and our floors are getting re-done this week. we are now in "pack up" mode, and will be that way for a couple of days. Wed is the first day where we will be having the floors sanded, who knows about thurs and fri?

Here are some pictures of the final tile job and a couple of the concrete countertops with the tile.

So we will continue to move our materials upstairs, and leave the floor downstairs as nice as we can. Not sure how much it really matters since it is impossible to get all the KELSEY hairs up and out of it.

My girl works hard!

2006-10-24T18:42:00.000-07:00

Now during this whole blog update / house remodel stuff I believe that I have failed to mention or state just how hard my wife works at all of this. This whole thing is a team effort. I can't really think of a project that hasn't been 50/50 other than the concrete countertops. From paint, to drywall, to floors, my wife works hard!

Anyways.....another hard night of tile. Well it really isn't difficult work, measure, cut, sticky stuff, place it, second guess, adjust, add spacers, curse, step back, adjust, re-cut, smile. (I have really only been doing the cut, measure, and curse part of all of that, Sandy has been doing the rest)

Tonight we didn't get as far as we really wanted, mostly due to the late start and the fact that the walls on this old house have some wavey-ness. After making some minor adjustments and having some small fits on some hardi-board, we started. We wrapped up around 9:30 tonight with about 60% finished product. Hopefully we knock the rest of it out tomorrow and are able to grout this weekend....oh this weekend is going to be HUGE!

Here are some before and mid-point pictures for all the picture freaks

Next stop on the subway.....

2006-10-22T18:00:00.000-07:00

The Backsplash!

In just over 4 hours we were able to tile the east side of the kitchen backsplash. It is really amazing to see what change it brings to the whole room. The under cabinet lights make a great difference, and the bright-whiteyness of the tile make the concrete countertops POP!

We are going to knock out the west side of the kitchen tomorrow. With the grout coming later this week.

Bondo? Check! Old Trim? Check!

2006-10-16T18:49:00.000-07:00

Well the boys showed up to help me out with the trim. We salvaged the trim from the old kitchen door opening and were limited on what we could use. Instead of screwing it all up we called in Isaac and Eric to knock it out. One little mess up, wrong angle, and we would have been out of luck. Something that we couldn't afford. So call in the pros

They did a fantastic job too! We don't call in PRO's that often, but we have been extremely luck with those we have worked with.

Now on the the baseboards, touch up some paint and to tile the backsplash. Not too much left to do in the kitchen or dinning room. Now for the upstairs, and the bathroom, and the floors.

Speaking of floors, we had someone by today to give an estimate on getting them redone. If anyone out there has used a contractor that has used the Controlled Dust System or CDS please send me an email or comment. This guy seemed to be a real pro and we liked his ideas.....just curious what others experiences are.

I hate / love that gigantic oak tree.

2006-10-15T13:43:00.000-07:00

It's a love hate relationship, me and the oak. Sure it was around here long before me and has some sort of "squatters" rights, but that is just crap. Hell that thing was probably a seedling back when Jimmy Carter was born, it's just gigantic. I love that tree during the summer, as it shades our house from the southern sun. Protecting us from the rays of heat that would warm our stone house and create an oven. I love that. I love the massive branches that allow for Maxwell to set up a swing and hang from it. I love the squirrels that live up in it that taunt my dog. It gives and give during the summer. And come fall.....IT'S WAR!

Soon it will begin its air-raid. Dropping acorns from 20-30-50-100 feet. Falling to the ground with some sting. Making the yard appear as if an acorn truck decided to dump its load. It will slowly fill up the gutters with tops and bottoms. And then the leaves. The leaves aren't huge, but from my calculations ( a true hillbilly guess) will total about 4.3 million come years end that will make home in my gutters, on my back porch, and all in our newly seeded yard. And there isn't much I can do about that. ......OR IS THERE?

Today while at church, yes I have started going back to church....(LOWE'S) I found some gutter filter guards that look like they might do the trick. They slide up under the first row of shingles and snap onto the gutter. In theory the leaves and acorns should roll off. That is in theory, who really knows how they will stand up to the beating that this tree will unleash in a few weeks.

The Grass in the yard is doing really well. Thanks to the rain every now and again, a small sprinkler, things are turning green. We honestly were not sure how to do it, but how hard could grass be? Kyle across the street seems to think that we have done a great job, and he is a pro when it comes to gardening.

Holding up well.

2006-10-10T19:01:00.000-07:00

Things have slowed down alot around here since Gauley season started. We knew that was going to happen, and it's ok with us. With little projects all around, and with everyone coming to our house for Turkeyday, we have plenty to do. And some projects are just starting.

The Yard is starting to grow. We are about 10 days after seeding and the little bits of green are taking over the drab brown of the straw. The next couple of days should be great for the grass, but this weekend is not. I am sure that we will be able to find something to do.

It's great to have a kitchen that you can cook in. Not just cook in, but prepare foods in. Just the fact that we have a space for everything is awesome. Spices, flour, bulk goods, pizza stone...it's all right there. The working triangle with-in the kitchen is big, but is working out great. We can both be in there, cooking and working and not banging elbows. It's nice.

Lately I have been playing with my pizza stone and the gas grill. I can't get off my Thai kick, so I made a fantastic pizza using chicken sausage, fresh basil, peanutbutter sauce, and some veggies....mmmmmmmm yeah!

The grass might be greener-

2006-10-03T18:48:00.000-07:00

Well it is that time of the year where we load up every friday and head north to WV. Gauley season is one of the greatest parts of our life. Although we won't get on it all 6 weekends, we will do our best to get up there as much as possible. And since we are doing all of that, we won't really have time to be working much on the house. Here is a picture of OX and myself in a shredder on the upper g.

We did have a chance to tear up the back yard last week. I worked a tiller Friday afternoon and sandy worked out all of the not-so-level spots while I worked an event Sat. Morning. When I got home we started the seeding. I hope that it works. I have never planted that much seed before, like an entire yard. If it works out, our yard will be awesome. The concrete polishing didn't really help out that much, so its really great that we decided to just go for it. If you were going to till up your yard I would recommend something larger than the 5.5hp tiller that United Rentals rents. There is a larger version, comes on a trailer, but I don't have a hitch.

We are thinking about hiring someone to do all of the floors and on the edge about doing the upstairs. Time is a wastin.

Bocce Ball, Meatfest, and working in the woodshop

2006-09-06T19:28:00.000-07:00

Jerry did a great job this past weekend with Meatfest 2006. Chris cooked it all but thanks to Jerry's planning and use of the house, everyone had a great time. We had a fantastic Bocce Ball tournament, 17 people played and in the end Andy cheated me out of a point to take home the trophy. It's all good, I don't think Andy had ever won a trophy in his freakin life,,,,,just kidding. He played some great rounds and really pulled it off. It's all good, there will be a winter tournament and I am confident to whip his butt.

On monday Jerry and I made some nice trim for the kitchen bar tops. We could have gone to the store and bought premaid stuff, but there is just something about making what you want. We ripped some red oak 1x6 boards down, and ran them through the router table. by doing it this way we were able to make it the "just right size". It wasn't hard at all to do this.

The molding went up without a hitch (meaning I made all my cuts right) and really does look good. Now I have yet to paint it but, it has already made a difference. I hope to get the paint and grout done tomorrow or Friday. Here is a pic of the trim installed (unpainted)

On a side note, the SC in-laws have been making an extreme push on their own kitchen. We are talking a total gut, top and bottom, and underneath. I was totally blown away by the amount of progress that they have made down there. While they are just passing the half-way point, where ya start to put things back together. It was very entertaining to walk into someone else's project.

I am pretty glad that we didn't have to cut a hole in our kitchen floor. And Stoked that I didn't have to wear Tyvek to get the project done.

Crikey!

2006-09-04T16:26:00.000-07:00

http://blogs.theaustralian.news.com.au/yoursay/index.php/theaustralian/comments/the_crocodile_man/

The news from australia - http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/

http://media.theaustralian.news.com.au/20060904-irwin1_player.htm

From Australlia- http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20355109-601,00.html

http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,20867,20355589-601,00.html

Sydney - A selection of quotes from television star and wildlife enthusiast Steve Irwin, who died on Monday after being fatally stabbed in the chest by a stingray's barb.

"Crikey!" His catch phrase, exclaimed repeatedly during his television show whenever something interesting happens.

"I get called an adrenaline junkie every other minute, and I'm just fine with that."

"I have no fear of losing my life if I have to save a koala or a crocodile or a kangaroo or a snake, mate, I will save it."

"I bled a lot. I got hit across the face. We couldn't film for seven days. I got hit, whacked, underwater, across the face. I finished the shot, got into the boat and blood started coming out." On one particularly close shave.

"Crikey, mate. You're far safer dealing with crocodiles and western diamondback rattlesnakes than the executives and the producers and all those sharks in the big MGM building." Comparing dealing with deadly animals with show business.

"Crocodiles. I've been catching them since I was nine. No problem."

"Fear helps me from making mistakes, but I make lot of mistakes."

"It is all about perceived danger. In front of that crocodile I was in complete control. Absolute and complete control. That is my profession.

"I would be considered a bad parent if I didn't teach my children to be crocodile savvy because they live here, they live in crocodile territory." On the 2004 controversy in which he was filmed holding his infant son while feeding a snapping crocodile:

"To hear people say that it was a publicity stunt, that I'm just like Michael Jackson, well, it just tears me up. It makes me sick to my stomach to be compared in that way." On the same incident.

Do What you Love, Do it with excitement, Do it with Passion, Do it every chance that you get!