Re:Building home page

Re:BUILDING

A Preservation Newsletter

Volume 19 - June, 2004 to October, 2004

Published by Martin Hackl, Oak Park, Illinois

Page 2 of this log for July 2004

(click here to go back to page 1 for June)

(click here to go forward to page 3 for August)

(click here to go to page 4 for September)

(click here to go to page 5 for October)

July 1  Inspections today went well, but no other work on Cassandra's kitchen today. I have other work to do, and need to get a little time in on my fiddle. 

Today is our anniversary.  We've been married since about 1492 - or so it sometimes seems that way (I'm sure more for Avey than for me).  Actually 22 years.  It is work, but worth it.  Funny thing is, we both forgot it until this morning!  Just a quiet dinner out tonight.

This is a picture of us on our "wedding day".

We had a very small ceremony.  City hall, no friends, no family, just us.  They all bitched about us living "in sin" together for several years, so we said "just f___ it" when we did finally do it.  But both sets of parents did put together a couple of nice parties for us after.  I not sure what we were inhaling from that balloon though:

July 2  Another long day at Cassandra's.  Got the cable and phone lines in.  Cleaned up the floor (I had to remove the linoleum and the stuck-on backing and smelly glue - - as well as TONS of staples.   WHAT A PAIN.  I just couldn't get the floor flat and smooth otherwise.   Then got the plywood underlayment cut and screwed down.  I'm sure that whoever has to remove all my screws in 60 years or so will curse me as I cursed the one who put in all those staples.

Oh, also ran some 3/4 inch conduit up from the basement to just under the floor upstairs.  Same idea as the water pipes.  Now if they ever remodel upstairs, it will save a lot of effort (and money - easily $1000 dollars for both).

I have to still frame in a ceiling corner before the drywallers arrive tomorrow.  Only about 1/2 hour.  I'll get there early A.M.  Here are some pictures before the drywallers cover it all up.

July 14  Drywallers arrived today.  Everyone is so busy.  John our drywall contractor is no exception.  But his good work is worth the wait.  Will have pictures and updates in a couple of days.

I had a week off the project, so I've been busy with other small projects that need attention.  I also need to get my violin-playing chops back in shape for a couple of fall recitals and the concert season.  I'm really looking forward to it!

Drywall should be done by next Monday.  Cassandra must be getting real tired of microwaved food, and washing dishes in the bathroom sink!  Cabinets arrive next Friday, and I start on Mike and Rachel's job Monday or Tuesday.  It looks like a couple of weeks of 16 hour days for me.  Well, I could lose a few pounds.

July 19  John (and friends) finished the drywall today.  One of the finest jobs I've seen in a while.  They carried 18 sheets of 5/8 drywall up 2 stories and hung it in about 3 hours.  3 short days of mudding and only about 1-1/2 hours of very light sanding. 

I primed this afternoon and will get the ceiling painted tomorrow and install the speakers in the ceiling.  Did I mention the speakers?  Well, in for a penny, in for a pound.  Cassandra will have some nice stereophonic sound as she produces her gourmet meals.  Actually, I don't know if she cooks much - but her son, Chris seems to be a master in the kitchen.

"Stereophonic".  Boy, that's an old word.  Like "Hi-Fi", and "record" (as in "LP").   These things might be giving away my age a little bit.  Yikes.  My daughter, says Avey and I are OLD!  Avey just bought a new Camry (the Saturn finally broke down completely).  Rosina said, "Mom, a Camry is an old person's car, why didn't you get something cool?  (meaning 'so I can drive it')".  As if Avey would let our 16 year old daughter be tooling around Oak Park in any new car she just bought!

Actually, I think we're probably considered the most "uncool" -  and nasty - parents in our neighborhood.  It seems that a usual birthday present for a local teen in OP or River Forest, a child with that now common "Affluenza" virus, gets a new car on the day of his/her 16th birthday.  I pretty sure not doing so is considered child abuse.  Of course she wants her own car.  What 16-year-old doesn't?  Rosina has asked us for years for her own TV, her own Computer, and her own phone.  So far, she has none of those.  She recently told us that a school friend, for crying out loud, has his own own floor!  We could probably put three of our house inside one of theirs.

However, we are generous parents after all.  She does have a cell phone.  So we can check up on her all the time.  She pays for it.   No she doesn't have an allowance, she has a job.  She's a Lifeguard.  She already saved two lives this summer.  She's so proud!  So are we.

If we bought her everything, she'd have no job.  She'd have no pride.  We'd have no pride.  Boy, are we mean parents!

Here's some more opera music.  This record carried me through the afternoon.  Only four words need be uttered:  "Maria Callas.  Oohh...Ahhh."

July 24  Wednesday;  painted the ceiling.  Pulled permits for Mike and Rachel's kitchen and then tended to other chores for the rest of the day.  Thursday, painted ceiling second coat.  Other projects to attend to.  Friday (yesterday) cabinets were delivered.  I went against my better judgement and OK'ed Cassandra buying cabinets at one of our local, to-remain-nameless, mega home centers.

The cabinets were delivered and several cartons looked liked they'd been tossed around a bit.   We opened and checked all the cabinets right away.  Four cabinets were damaged.  Three I could repair and one needs to be sent back.  Cassandra called the to-remain-nameless "home center" and they said they'd replace all the damaged cabinets, but the replacements would be two weeks out.  I can't wait.   Anyhow, the cabinets are so inadequately built, that my repairs were an improvement on the original construction.  These cabinets are made without a screw or nail anywhere.  All hot-melt glue and staples -- TONS OF STAPLES - many missed their mark.

These are obviously assembly line cabinets - which is OK.  However, it doesn't look like there was an ounce of skilled labor involved anywhere in the process.  For what they charge, one should expect a much better product.

Here is my strongest recommendation if you want to buy "stock" factory type cabinets in the Chicago area.  I suggest either Schrock, or Medallion cabinets, which can be bought at another home center, namely Menards.  Unless you are going to go with high-end custom cabinets, these are by far the best cabinets for the money.

Another suggestion, always buy cabinets with the best hardware (hinges and glides) and with solid plywood interiors.  The ones made with particle board just don't hold up, don't make a high quality installation, and in general, ARE JUST PLAIN LOUSY!

Our to-remain-nameless home center also screwed up on the order.  We originally ordered a 24" high cabinet for over the microwave.  However we called and changed the order the next day and asked them to change it to an 18 inch.  They said "no problem", although the 24" might still come with the order ,and we could just send it right back.  Well, we did get the 24" cabinet, AND we got a 15" cabinet that we didn't order, but not the 18"!  So we have to reorder, and I can't finish hanging my uppers or install the microwave for another two weeks.  Oh hell!

I installed all the cabinets that I could today, and started making some of the custom fill-in cabinets as well.

Here are pictures from today:

I need to get started installing the floor on Monday, so I will just mark off the locations of the missing cabinets on the underlayment, and then go ahead and lay the floor.  I also bought the Bruce engineered flooring at the to-remain-nameless home center.  But I picked it up myself, so at least it won't get ruined in shipping.  I checked the packages and everything looked OK.  Phew!

The countertop fellows are coming on Monday or Tuesday to measure.

July 26  Floor is down in kitchen.  Pretty easy -- just follow the directions.  This  is Bruce brand "engineered" flooring.  It is 1/2" thick, tongue and groove, and has a top veneer of solid cherry, about 3/16" thick.  That will get you one future sanding.

You can either install this floor "floating" like I did, glue it down, or nail it down.  The floating method required you to leave a gap of 1/2" all around to allow for expansion.  After laying the liner underneath, all you need to do, besides measuring and making all your cuts, etc., is to glue the tongue of each piece before installing the adjoining one.

This is the first time I installed this type of floor.  It took me about eight hours, including set-up time and cleanup.

July 27  Did most of the demo in Mike and Rachel's kitchen today.  I'm really whacked, and this bottle of wine will probably knock me out rather quickly, so if things start to get a little disjointed, please forgive me.  (It's a good little Spanish wine - a nice semi-dry red.)

To start with here are some pictures of the interior of the house.  You can see how much originality is still extant and why this house is exceptional.

Here are some pictures before I started.  (Mike took some pictures with all the old appliances still in the kitchen - I'll post those soon.)

This is the built-in in the pantry which we are preserving.  However, I am going to fit new undermount drawer glides.  That way the old worn drawers will function a lot better, but will still look as they always did.

Mike and Rachel have set up their temporary kitchen in the basement.  It looks like microwaved food for about a month.  They emptied everything from the kitchen for me.  That makes it a lot easier.  The first order of business was to seal off the two openings (doorways) to the rest of the house.  This is especially important because of the two young children in the house.  Dare I say that dirty word "LEAD".  I always work assuming there is lead in the fabric of these old houses - even if I'm not sure.  Better safe than sorry!

If you've never used these "Zip-ups", they're great.  They give you a completely tight opening and yet easy access to other parts of the house if you need to get there.

By the way, all you contractors and homeowners, in Illinois, this is the law:  Every contractor is required by law to furnish every homeowner with the State's lead pamphlet along with their bid or contract.  Don't forget this.  It covers your ass, and gives homeowners very important and necessary information regarding the hazards of lead in their homes!  Here are a couple of web sites:

http://www.pueblo.gsa.gov/cic_text/housing/finlead/leadhelp.html

http://www.idph.state.il.us/envhealth/pdf/Lead_Renovation.pdf

http://www.epa.gov/lead/rrpamph.pdf

A couple of interesting discoveries.  First of all, this is only the second time this kitchen is being remodeled - since about 1910.  Very unusual.  Which is why we're taking such great care to retain what still remains of the historic fabric.  It looks like the last remodeling was in the 1940's or '50s.  In a historic building like this, I like to document, if I can, any of the original fabric of the building that is uncovered during renovation or restoration.  After I removed the sink and cabinets, I discovered that underneath was a piece of the original linoleum.  It looked like a really cool pattern, but at first I could hardly see it.

I first tried to clean off the dirt with water, but found that the linoleum was still very obscured by several old coats of shellac, which I easily recognized.  (This was a common thing to do in the old days - to re-shellac all the floors in a house every few years.)   To remove the shellac, I used a "furniture refinisher".  This is basically a mild combination of solvents designed to soften old shellacs and lacquers. 

NOTE:  Never use paint remover on linoleum.  Linoleum is linseed oil based, just like old paint, and therefore, paint remover will dissolve it.  (By the way, Lincrustra, which you might find on the walls in many an old house, is also linseed oil based.  If your Lincrusta is painted, too bad!  I have still not found a way to remove paint from it.  Whatever dissolves the paint, will also ruin the Lincrustra.)

Here's what the linoleum looked like after I removed the shellac from a portion.  I removed the piece easily, and put it aside.  Underneath, the maple floor is completely unfinished. This is a clue that the linoleum was the original floor covering when the house was built!

Another discovery, is that the plaster walls below the chair rail were plaster, scored to look like subway tiles.  They were originally painted white, probably with a glossy lead paint.  Mike removed the vinyl flooring that a previous owner applied to the walls, and then sealed them with a primer, until we decide on a suitable coating or covering. 

What you can see from the following photo is a clue to what the sink area looked like when the house was built.  You can see the outlines on the plaster of the old porcelain sink.  You can also see where the legs were, by the holes in the linoleum flooring.  The faucet was mounted on the wall above the sink, just like the more modern 1950's one is mounted.  You can also see that there was wood trim above the sink because of the wood nailers.  Also, below the sink, you can see the scored plaster. 

There are lots of clues about old paint colors, which I may go into later, if I have time.  Here is a picture after today's demo'.  (The duct/tubing is for the high velocity air conditioning, a la "space-pak").

One last discovery today is not a good one!  That is, KNOB-AND-TUBE wiring.  What I found out today is that the old knob and tube is still the active wiring. Worse yet, previous homeowners seem to have done their own electrical work.  I found that the ceiling fan (which is going to disappear, by the way) was wired from a switch that was not mounted in an electrical box, and was just connected inside the wall to the knob-and-tube.

ADVICE TO HOMEOWNERS:  If you don't know what the hell you're doing, please don't do your own electrical work!!  (Or have your Uncle Bob or your Cousin Billy do it in exchange for a few beers.)

Anyhow, this is the first big sign that this project is going to go over budget.  I'm singin' the "Old House Blues" again.

One last discovery today is that this house originally had a combination of gas and electric lighting.  We're going to have to check and make sure all the gaslight pipelines are disconnected in the basement.  We don't need any surprises!  The pictures below show a combination gas-electric fixture still in the pantry.  The other picture shows a gas line up in the ceiling beside the water pipes for the bathroom upstairs.

July 30  Yesterday and today, I set tile on Cassandra's porch floor.  I'll grout tomorrow.

Here are those pictures I mentioned.  Mike took them several months ago of their very "dysfunctional" kitchen.  I know our solution will work much better, but to what degree?  We'll find out in about a month!

July 30.5  My music for setting tile today - here's some music by  may favorite violinist.  My Favorite Violinist 

Stephane Grappelli.  I saw him four times at clubs on the North Side, and in the Chicago area in the Seventies.  If he made a visit in the Chicago area, I was there to see it.  I've seen other greats perform; Menuhin, Milstein, Perlman, Mutter, Stern, Kremer and Chung.  I loved them all, but none were more memorable for me than Grappelli!

Alas, I'm still stuck in that "classical" violinist mold ... If I could only play like Grappelli!  Believe me I've tried!  I can't play jazz to same my life.  I think...if I die with Grappelli's music playing in the background, I will die happy.  I tell Avey that if I die during sex that I will also die happy.  I can't imagine dying during sex WITH his music in the background.  Then, I think, I'll have died AND gone to heaven (assuming they would let me in).

August  Well I guess it's time to start another new page:  The summer is just vanishing!  Go to Page 3: August 2004

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