Here is a list of things that happened tonight.
- Mr.LL broke a glass in the sink (an omen of things to come)
- The tenants turned on the heat for the first time. About 20 minutes later there was a mini waterfall coming through one of our recessed kitchen light fixtures. It was one of those delayed-reaction moments, something like:
"what's that noise, do you hear that?"
"huh? It's nothing, its just the radiators hissing"
"Wait, no.. that sounds like dripping.."
"what the---"
"OH my.. &@$!!&$#@!!!!!!!!"
We dashed upstairs to find the leak... it was leaking profusely from the radiator side of the connection between the radiator and the steam valve stem. I sprinted downstairs for a towel and pipe wrenches to find that the dogs had gotten into the dogfood cabinet and were gorging from the bag of spilled dogfood on the floor.
- Back upstairs, in the process of attempting to tighten the leaking connection, we sheared off the radiator threads, breaking the connection completely. luckily by this time most of the (additional) leaking water had drained out and been caught into the bath towel. We were able to shut off the steam valve and call the plumber for a visit tomorrow.
- Nevertheless, the kitchen ceiling has surely sustained some water damage. the only saving grace may be that the water mostly ran out through the light instead of collecting in the ceiling. Time will tell. I've got a fan blowing on the wet spot and hoping for the best. I don't want to jinx it by saying it could have been a lot....but, you know.
- After recovering from that incident and settling down to a glass of wine, the SNL primetime special and a nail-filling/trim painting session, I proceeded to knock the cable box, along with my glass of wine (white- a minor blessing) onto the floor. Not breaking the glass, mind you, but in fact breaking the cable box.
- yes, thanks I'll take yet another glass of wine.. this one in a sippy cup please.
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Ole! The Dining Room is (pretty much) dine-able!
Look there, is that the dining room floor? And-hey, theres actually a frame..around the door way..and check out my new FABULOUS SCONCES that I'm in LOVE with (Thanks Rejuvenation.com) ..no matter that they dont have lightbulb power yet, candle tealights will do for now..
yes we were able to have a cooking party in our kitchen and dining room last Saturday. It was a fantastic time with great friends, amazing food cooked by everyone, and a cozy new space taking shape. The added bonus was that the Sox won to force a game 7 with TampaBay. Hey-they didn't make it to the series this year, but at least they made us proud trying their best to get there.
Another good thing about the party was that it forced us to bust our butts to get all the baseboard and door frame trim in place and to clean up the space for the party.
LOTS more detail work to do (filling nail holes, caulking gaps in our less than pro trim handiwork) and painting trim. Oh yeah, and those windows.
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Breaking Point
I've cracked
This broken window pretty much represented my mental state last night.
I @#!$*# hate windows. There are so many bloody components. Sashes, sills, balances, casing, glass, glazing, stops, trim. And when all of these components are either broken, rotted, cracked, missing, falling out, and/or all covered with lead paint... you think MAYBE its time so dig into that bank account and say goodbye??
Why on earth did we not just plan long ago on buying new windows for this project? Well, for one, I got it in my head years ago (bolstered by our experience with vinyl replacement windows in our last apartment) that somehow replacement windows were useless expensive hunks of earth-destroying junk. And in fact i'd still say that about cheap crappy vinyl replacements. And secondly, new windows are so damn expensive if you want good ones. So I set out on an excruciating crusade to restore the old wood windows. And after 6 years, I have restored exactly 3 of the 26 windows in the house. Even at that I paid the building co-op to reglaze them, because for some reason I just know I don't posses the patience to learn how. Notably, those three windows are in the living room. So there are two remaining nasty ones.
So I procrastinated and procrastinated all summer on getting to these.. but now as the nights dip into the lower 40s, there is no time to waste. Mr.LL and I set forth with conviction last night to mount an all out assault towards the restoration of the remaining two. As the true scope of the mess unfolded, my brain began to become paralyzed and I spent 15 minutes staring at the rotted glazing wondering what the hell was I thinking.
I snapped myself out of it, commenced with the paint removing heat gun, and was just breathing that first sweet whiff of lead fumes and... crackle.. the broken pane.. followed by a meltdown of disproportionate size to the issue at hand.
This broken window pretty much represented my mental state last night.
I @#!$*# hate windows. There are so many bloody components. Sashes, sills, balances, casing, glass, glazing, stops, trim. And when all of these components are either broken, rotted, cracked, missing, falling out, and/or all covered with lead paint... you think MAYBE its time so dig into that bank account and say goodbye??
Why on earth did we not just plan long ago on buying new windows for this project? Well, for one, I got it in my head years ago (bolstered by our experience with vinyl replacement windows in our last apartment) that somehow replacement windows were useless expensive hunks of earth-destroying junk. And in fact i'd still say that about cheap crappy vinyl replacements. And secondly, new windows are so damn expensive if you want good ones. So I set out on an excruciating crusade to restore the old wood windows. And after 6 years, I have restored exactly 3 of the 26 windows in the house. Even at that I paid the building co-op to reglaze them, because for some reason I just know I don't posses the patience to learn how. Notably, those three windows are in the living room. So there are two remaining nasty ones.
So I procrastinated and procrastinated all summer on getting to these.. but now as the nights dip into the lower 40s, there is no time to waste. Mr.LL and I set forth with conviction last night to mount an all out assault towards the restoration of the remaining two. As the true scope of the mess unfolded, my brain began to become paralyzed and I spent 15 minutes staring at the rotted glazing wondering what the hell was I thinking.
I snapped myself out of it, commenced with the paint removing heat gun, and was just breathing that first sweet whiff of lead fumes and... crackle.. the broken pane.. followed by a meltdown of disproportionate size to the issue at hand.
Wednesday, October 1, 2008
Words Cannot Express...
How happy we are to have walls again...but beautiful, smooth, flat walls this time..So I'll just let today's photos speak for us:
They did a beautiful job. Now all we need to do is pick out a paint color. Fortunately Chippy has an impeccable sense of style....
But picking out color swatches is taxing and requires much rest. Sleep on it, Chip and let us know your decision tomorrow. (For some reason he has such a bias towards the oranges and butterscotch tones...)
Monday, September 29, 2008
Sunday, September 28, 2008
It's Been Four Months......
"When are we going to have our living room back Mom?"
Sigh. I guess when you decide to hire your buddy/neighbor you trade off on a great price for being continually bumped down on his job priority list. Maybe this week???
Sigh. I guess when you decide to hire your buddy/neighbor you trade off on a great price for being continually bumped down on his job priority list. Maybe this week???
The Great Grover Massacre - Soundproofing How-To DIY
One of the main benefits we hoped to achieve from this renovation was to dampen, to the extent feasible and within budget, the sound from our upstairs tenants. Upstairs is all hardwood flooring, and with no insulation between floors, you can -almost literally- hear a pin drop. At least you can hear EVERY squeaky footstep (this is called 'impact' noise- we don't have a problem hearing people's voices, thank goodness).
SOUNDPROOFING - STEP I- Mineral Wool
When we gutted the kitchen 2 years ago- we used Thermafiber mineral wool blankets to insulate the ceiling, on the advice of the fire-obsessed inspector, but what sold us was the soundproofing benefits of mineral wool (rock wool-same thing). And it does help. But, in the kitchen we used sisterboards bolted into the existing joists, and you can definitely still hear the footsteps above.
For this project we again used Thermafiber blankets as the first layer of insulation, which you see as that yellow stuff in all the pictures below. But we knew that would not be enough.
By the way- a word on mineral wool: GOOD GRIEF, is that stuff nasty to work with. This is not like the cute happy cotton candy pink crap. This is seriously nasty. Long sleeves, gloves, APPROPRIATE LUNG PROTECTION, bandanna around the neck, hat, eye protection, you name it. Then take a cold shower and dont rub your skin until after you've washed off the fibers. and for heaven's sake dont wash those insulation-y clothes with anything else. UGGH. Need i say more?
SOUNDPROOFING STEP II - Ceiling Frame
So in planning for this project i became obsessed with soundproofing and spent many hours on the web researching. What I learned right away, and our kitchen is case-in-point, is that no matter how much insulation you put, if you still have direct wood-wood contact you get vibrations, and that transmits the noise. So, you kinda have to either commit and do it up right, or else not bother. If you are going Pro- the best option is to request a suspended system for the drywall using resilient channel strapping. Since we went D-I-Y, this system seemed a little too complicated for us to wrestle with, so we looked around for other options.
First and foremost, was the decision to build the slightly 'dropped' ceiling frame as we've described in earlier postings. The frame is secured to the perimeter joists of course, so there is wood contact, but the only direct contact with the ceiling joists is via the hurricane ties.
SOUNDPROOFING STEP III - Muppet Massacre
After some research, we knew that installing a second layer of insulation was going to be a key move. But what? More of that ITCHY mineral wool?? We just couldn't bear the thought. Then I read about recycled Denim insulation on my favorite soundproofing web resource: http://www.soundproofingamerica.com
The product picture shows a dude in *shorts* stroking this cozy looking furry blanket.
No Itching! I was already sold!... plus it's a Green product due to its 100% recycled content. The one drawback... its at least 3 times more expensive than regular insulation. But, we decided it was worth it.
We just tore sections of the 'blankets' (a very appropo term, they are so cozy that the dogs just curled up on the stray pieces) and draped them up above the strapping. When we were done, it did look like a whole army of Grovers had given their furry little lives to the cause:
Sure enough, even without the drywall up yet, we noticed that normal footsteps above were barely audible!. Still, I had one last trick up my sleeve...
SOUNDPROOFING IV - Green & Sticky - Acoustic Tape
One nifty piece of advice I also found from the web was the so-called "Poor Man's Float"..a way to help reduce sound if you could not afford the full "floating" ceiling/wall system. This green adhesive tape is made of thin foam (~1/6") and serves as a cushioning layer between the drywall and the studs to help reduce sound vibrations. Again, from www.soundproofingamerica.com It was fairly cheap, and easy as heck to put up, so that went up as the final (ok, yes, anal) step in advance of the plasterers..... who are at the moment...AWOL..
SOUNDPROOFING - STEP I- Mineral Wool
When we gutted the kitchen 2 years ago- we used Thermafiber mineral wool blankets to insulate the ceiling, on the advice of the fire-obsessed inspector, but what sold us was the soundproofing benefits of mineral wool (rock wool-same thing). And it does help. But, in the kitchen we used sisterboards bolted into the existing joists, and you can definitely still hear the footsteps above.
For this project we again used Thermafiber blankets as the first layer of insulation, which you see as that yellow stuff in all the pictures below. But we knew that would not be enough.
By the way- a word on mineral wool: GOOD GRIEF, is that stuff nasty to work with. This is not like the cute happy cotton candy pink crap. This is seriously nasty. Long sleeves, gloves, APPROPRIATE LUNG PROTECTION, bandanna around the neck, hat, eye protection, you name it. Then take a cold shower and dont rub your skin until after you've washed off the fibers. and for heaven's sake dont wash those insulation-y clothes with anything else. UGGH. Need i say more?
SOUNDPROOFING STEP II - Ceiling Frame
So in planning for this project i became obsessed with soundproofing and spent many hours on the web researching. What I learned right away, and our kitchen is case-in-point, is that no matter how much insulation you put, if you still have direct wood-wood contact you get vibrations, and that transmits the noise. So, you kinda have to either commit and do it up right, or else not bother. If you are going Pro- the best option is to request a suspended system for the drywall using resilient channel strapping. Since we went D-I-Y, this system seemed a little too complicated for us to wrestle with, so we looked around for other options.
First and foremost, was the decision to build the slightly 'dropped' ceiling frame as we've described in earlier postings. The frame is secured to the perimeter joists of course, so there is wood contact, but the only direct contact with the ceiling joists is via the hurricane ties.
SOUNDPROOFING STEP III - Muppet Massacre
After some research, we knew that installing a second layer of insulation was going to be a key move. But what? More of that ITCHY mineral wool?? We just couldn't bear the thought. Then I read about recycled Denim insulation on my favorite soundproofing web resource: http://www.soundproofingamerica.com
The product picture shows a dude in *shorts* stroking this cozy looking furry blanket.
No Itching! I was already sold!... plus it's a Green product due to its 100% recycled content. The one drawback... its at least 3 times more expensive than regular insulation. But, we decided it was worth it.
We just tore sections of the 'blankets' (a very appropo term, they are so cozy that the dogs just curled up on the stray pieces) and draped them up above the strapping. When we were done, it did look like a whole army of Grovers had given their furry little lives to the cause:
Sure enough, even without the drywall up yet, we noticed that normal footsteps above were barely audible!. Still, I had one last trick up my sleeve...
SOUNDPROOFING IV - Green & Sticky - Acoustic Tape
One nifty piece of advice I also found from the web was the so-called "Poor Man's Float"..a way to help reduce sound if you could not afford the full "floating" ceiling/wall system. This green adhesive tape is made of thin foam (~1/6") and serves as a cushioning layer between the drywall and the studs to help reduce sound vibrations. Again, from www.soundproofingamerica.com It was fairly cheap, and easy as heck to put up, so that went up as the final (ok, yes, anal) step in advance of the plasterers..... who are at the moment...AWOL..
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