Where have I been?

Sorry for the hiatus.

I had another project I needed to take care of: My PhD dissertation proposal was ripe for completion. So I completioned it.

When I have the final first draft ready this week maybe I'll post it here.

Now, I'm not saying I worked only on drafts these last two months. Whenever I got frustrated with the proposal I would work on the electric at the house. And whenever I got frustrated with the electric I would return to the paper.

And there have been awesome developments other than me teaching myself how to be an electrician from a book I bought at Home Depot.

(1) Carrie found a smell worse than the dining room.
(2) We found the well from Silence of the Lambs that I knew must have been in the house.
(3) I went ape**** and tore the walls out of an entire room just to feel a sense of progress.

Pictures and stories to come. Thanks for your patience.

This Project Wil Have to Wait.

The 1st floor bathroom is turning into an awesome project, the best part being I get to rip out this nasty and out-of-place shower (the big white thing in the middle of the picture with the copper plumbing is the shower head). But there is no water cut-off for the shower itself - it is tied into the main water line. I would have to turn off the water to the whole house to cap the shower plumbing without flooding the first floor.

Not such a big deal?

The plumber suggested I not touch the cut-off valve. It is "as old as the house itself" and it would probably crumble in my hand like a cookie. And so we'll wait.

When this bathroom is finally ripped out I will be able to reveal to all the new design. The interior decorating firm I hired, Carrie and Corey Gray and Associates has something stunning planned.

You will drool.

Coal Hole.

Attached to the side of our house along the drive way is our coal hole. Back in the day, the coal delivery boys would don their top hats and shovel coal for the furnace directly through it to the basement. But that was the late 1990's and we have moved on.

Because it is like a big open window to the outside, you would suspect this had been locked and insulated long ago, wouldn't you?

Wouldn't you?

Would you expect our house to have a cistern as well? How about a cistern that hasn't been decommissioned and continues to sit with fetid water at the corner of our house in the back yard?

Full of awesome.

Treasure!

Just out of range of this picture of bedroom # 5 is a wicked cool surprise. Let's play multiple choice.

The surprise is:
A) Pirate Gold.
B) Severed Human Hand.
C) Mr. Freckles, Cat Lady's missing tabby.
D) Secret Room.

Unfortunately for all, the answer is merely D) Secret Room.

From the inside it looks like bedroom #5 is just small. But I got crazy and angle-grinded a hole in a wall I felt shouldn't be there (to the left of this picture) to see what was on the other side of the plaster and lath.

Et voila! Another 400 sq. feet of space! It looks like the original builders back in 1912 either got bored, ran out of wood for the floor, or needed a place to seal off the bodies of their enemies. And here we are today.

If I tear down this wall and clear out the old shredded-paper insulation they spread across the floor joists, not only will I 400 extra square feet of space on the 3rd floor once i put down new subfloor, I will also have easy access to the ceiling of bedroom #1 for electrical installation!

#$&%ing Nails.

The stairs were covered in carpet at some time in the past. Whoever took off the carpet missed quite a few nails. Every time I hit one, the sandpaper I am using is ripped to shreds and I have to reload the orbital sander one more time. The belt sander takes a bit more abuse. Other than these frequent and steely blocks to progress, the stairs are coming along nicely. I'll have pictures in a few days.

Behold!

Our air vents.

Carrie Uncovered A New Smell!

This is the dining room where Cat Lady kept the two hulk dogs. The foundation sank fifty years ago, giving it a slight slope at the middle of the room pouring out toward the French doors you see in the picture above. We'll talk about the foundation contractors after they have visited next week.

Who would have guessed this room would be the smelliest of them all?
It didn't smell so bad at first. Carrie was nice enough to mop it before I tore the tile up with a hammer and crow bar.

Then it started smelling.

And it smelled some more.

It looks beautiful in the picture above, but it smelled like a 400 square foot wet dog. Why, you ask? We realized that when the dogs wee'd in this indoor bathroom it all rolled down the sloping floor to the area nearest the door. Here it sank beneath the tile and festered. It is difficult to see, but there are actually white and salty urine stains marking the outline of the tiles at the far end of the room. Glorious.