Re:Building home page

Re:BUILDING

A Preservation Newsletter

Volume 19 - June, 2004 to October, 2004

Published by Martin Hackl, Oak Park, Illinois

Page 3 of this log for August 2004

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

(click here to go back to page 2 for July)

(click here to go to page 4 for September)

(click here to go to page 5 for October)

Aug 1  Saturday, I grouted Cassandra's tile on the porch floor (pictures below).  Am picking up maple (and some birch for another small project) from Owl Hardwood tomorrow, and will start milling it sometime this week.

Electricians, Tim and Pete started their work on Mike and Rachel's kitchen today.

Aug 9  Tim and Pete worked on electric all last week at Mike and Rachel's.  Tim will finish up today and I'm trying to schedule the inspection. 

The home center finally delivered the rest of Cassandra's cabinets.  everything is in good order and arrived safely this time.  I'll get those installed this week along with some of the trim.  then as soon as the countertops arrive and are installed, we'll hook up the plumbing and then we can have the appliances delivered.  After that, I just need to finish the fill-in cabinet and trim and then install the tile backsplashes.

I decided to make time again to meditate and help reduce some of life's stresses.  For me meditation is best found in nature.  Music sometimes works too, but music often excites me, where nature always relaxes me.  (And walks in the woods and in natural areas often inspires musical thoughts as well.)  When I can do this in the morning, then I've already lived my life completely for that day - then everything else good that occurs in the day is extra joy.

For about the last two weeks, I re-started taking my daily retreats over at Thatcher Woods.  There was a lot of flooding this year and for much of the Spring and Early Summer the river banks (Des Plaines River) had been pretty inaccessible.  I did see my first beaver early in the Spring.  There are ample signs of them all along the river, but the animals are very elusive.  I surprised him (her?) early one morning about 7 A.M.  I've since returned many mornings but haven't caught sight of one again.  Other people have also seen them, and there is a beaver family reported near the island:

I think I know where their den (or whatever you call a beaver's home - they have no dams on the river) is.  This area is often just under water when the river is over its banks.  There is some adjacent high ground where they can stay dry.  They have really been busy beavers here as you can see:

Several of my friends are skeptical that there are still beavers living ten minutes from their doorsteps.  Well it's true.  That's what brought good old Gurdon Hubbard to the area in the early 1800s.  (Hubbard was a fur trapper).  The beaver is one of Chicago's first "resources".  In many ways, the beaver is why Chicago is here.  Fortunately, beaver hats have gone somewhat out of fashion.

I'm determined to get a snapshot of a beaver before winter.  This morning I took my digital camera for the first time.  But I think I'll have to get there a little earlier in the morning.  This tree was visited a short time before I arrived:

You can see where the beaver has been doing some of his carpentry work, and the fresh shavings on the ground.  I know this tree will be included in his daily rounds for a few more weeks.  And yes beavers do slap their tails on the water.  It's actually pretty loud.  And they're bigger than I thought!

The electricians have finished the work for inspection today.  This first picture shows one wall after they finished making Swiss cheese out of it and the rest of Rachel and Mike's house:

Just joking.  But they do like to make lots of holes!

And here's another example of past do-it-yourself "electrical work" in the house.  This photo is of more knob-and-tube wiring (still live!!!) terminated inside a basement closet right at eye level - with just wire nuts.  This fed an old gas/electric light fixture (along with the gas line you can see).  We can't just leave it, so Tim will fix it.:

Aug 10  Dan came today to start the plumbing.

Well...nothing is ever simple.  There are a few issues of modern building codes that we have to deal with.  Even if we were to keep the sink in the same location, it is tied in with the upstairs bathroom sink - sharing the same vent and waste.  The problem is they empty into the catch basin, not into the main sewer.

Another separate problem for the homeowners: there is no floor drain in the basement.  This is a issue when there is a water heater, laundry and the boiler, all of which have the potential to leak and flood the basement.  On the other hand, if the basement did have an old floor drain, the likelihood for basement flooding due to sewer backup, during storms and such, could be a problem.  The modern solution would be a sump pump with an over head sewer drain.

 (I hear someone asking, what is an "overhead sewer"?  "Overhead" meaning; at a higher level than the street sewers.  Basic physics, i.e. water finds its own level, etc., etc..  If you need to know more, then go to the library and find a book, for crying out loud.  I'm not freakin' Einstein, you know!)

Here is a rough diagram of the existing plumbing: 

The thing is, we need to move the location of the sink to an island in another part of the room, so we have to relocate the plumbing.  (Our challenge here is the waste only .  The water supply lines pose no problem.)

What you often see in sub-standard remodeling jobs is this kind of solution (below).  There are two problems here though.  First, it still drains into the catch basin instead of into the main sewer.  Second, we create a "wet vent" when we connect to the waste pipe below the kitchen floor: 

A "wet vent" is when a section of pipe serves as drain for one fixture and a vent for another.

And anyhow, what is a vent?  Simple physics again.  For the water to drain efficiently, its volume, as it flows through the pipe, needs to be replaced with air, or a vacuum is created in the pipe.  i.e., gurgling (glug, glug, glug - like pouring pop from a liter bottle) or water siphoning from the fixture's trap.

What do you think this is - - Plumbing 101 at Yale?  For crying out loud, if you want to learn more, do a Google search!!!  Here's an interesting site:  Interesting site

A second solution, one which would eliminate the wet vent by installing a "loop vent", might pass Village inspection.   But it is still not code because of the catch basin issue:

So here is our solution.  We will tie our waste into the main stack, but still tie into the old vent.  Dan will also put in a "tee" so the homeowners can make their connection when they install a sump pump in the future:

I've had enough. Time for a nap.

Aug 11 Today is our son, Tristan's birthday.  He is 20 this year.  Tris has been living and working away from home for more than a year now - He now manages a "Quiznos" up in the Wisconsin Dells.  The distance keeps us from seeing each other regularly, and work will keep us from celebrating his birthday together for the first time.  We really love him and miss him!  There are tears as I write this....

Happy Birthday, Tristan.

Aug 12  I spent all afternoon milling the maple trim for Cassandra's kitchen.  Four hours at the table saw and planer gave me a headache.   (Yes I use hearing and eye protection, and face mask.  It's like having your head in a bag, or something.)  Will start installing trim and staining on Saturday.  There is light at the end of the tunnel.

I wasted part of the morning, about one and a half hours, running out to the home center to pick up a trim piece for the floor (That we paid $857 dollars for - for crying out loud!) that was mis-ordered (BY THEM!).  So last week they re-ordered it and guess what?  They mis-ordered it again.  Oh well.

Aug 13  I spent Only work today.  I didn't get my morning walk in the woods.  Headache is gone, but I had no energy to practice the fiddle this evening.  This music is how I feel tonight.

Aug 15  Friday was spent all day at Rachel and Mike's house.  Worked on one window and some stripping of woodwork.  Next week, I'll describe how I'm restoring the windows.

And, the cabinets were delivered ahead of schedule and were undamaged.  And --- all the right cabinets were delivered!  I spent about an hour unpacking them in the garage and going over them.  They're going to look great installed.

The plumbers final rough-in looks excellent.  This time, the final work in the basement won't get covered up.  You can see where the pipes come up through the floor where the sink base cabinet will go.  I can tell you, I measured the location of this one more than once!!

Saturday, I installed the rest of Cassandra's cabinets - the final one arrived on Friday.  I made and installed the door jamb between the dining room and kitchen.  It is quite a wide jamb and the opening (and existing trim in the dining room) is out-of-square, and the opening is not plumb.  There was a lot of fudging going on.  Finish woodworking in old buildings can really test your mettle as a carpenter!

Along with a couple of other small jobs this week, I'm really wiped out.  Besides teaching a violin lesson in the morning, and doing a little house cleaning for a showing, today is my only day off.  This afternoon, Avey and I visited the home we want to buy.  It was idyllic.  Actually, it is always idyllic.  We didn't want to leave.

The only problem is, the owner still doesn't want to sell!  He is elderly and disabled, and knows he must move.  If he puts the house on the market, it would get torn down in a nanosecond by a developer.  The place, right now, is a wreck of cracking stucco and crumbling stonework - and overgrown with weeds.  At the same time, it is so beautiful, I don't blame him for not wanting to leave the place.  We can only assure him that we would cherish it as much as he has.

I've shared the location of the place with only a few trusted friends, who accompanied me on some of my several visits.  But until we actually have a shot at it, we're keeping it mostly under our hats.

Mulling this all over a bottle of a California cabernet.  Hmmm, not a memorable vintage - in fact, pretty yucky!!  This was was sent by one of those mail order wine clubs.  I think those wine clubs are kind of a waste of cash.  We did, however, enjoy a good bottle of wine a few days ago.  Someone brought a nice Italian red wine to a little party we had last week.  It didn't get opened at the party, but we cracked it open and enjoyed it during the week.  It was delightful.  Thanks, whoever brought it!

Tomorrow Cassandra's granite countertops are supposed to be delivered and installed at around 8:30 A.M.  I'm really excited to see what they're going to look like.

Aug 16  The countertop guys came about 8:45.  The head guy, Lujak (I think that's how he pronounced his name.  His English is not much better than my Polish - his photo below), did a great job measuring and then installing today!  It took four very strong guys to carry the granite up the stairs, and they were struggling at that.  The stuff is really heavy!

Cassandra was a little late for work this morning, but was kind of excited and wanted to watch the counters go in.  Cool.  Way cool.

I installed the microwave in the afternoon and worked on the fill-in cabinets and more trim.  Another 12 hour day.  I'm whacked.

This afternoon, I stopped by to visit my friend Bonnie, another Oak Park neighbor.  This kitchen for Bonnie and her husband, Alex, was a project I finished last winter.  This project also included a connected porch, which was turned into an eating area.  She found a nice little cafe table and a couple of chairs, just perfect for the space.   Avey and I had the privilege of being their dinner guests, for one of Bonnie's first home cooked meals, after the kitchen was in.   Here are some pictures I took today of Bonnie and Alex's kitchen.  Thanks, Bonnie!

Aug 17  Had the plumbing and electric inspections for Mike and Rachel's place.  "Approved" with no notations.  (That's good).  I'm ready to install the ductwork for the exhaust hood and trying to schedule the drywaller and the floor finisher. 

At Cassandra's, I picked up the dishwasher from Trage Brothers Appliances (come on guys, get a web site!) so it could be installed today.  Jim, the plumber, installed the plumbing for the kitchen sink and dishwasher, but could not make the electrical connection to the dishwasher because the connector at the end of the electrical "whip" did not fit.   Jim also installed a shutoff for the gas, for the stove.  Anyhow, now Cassandra has water in the kitchen.  Hurrah!!

Tomorrow, Tim the electrician will come to finish up the electrical work.  Saturday, the stove and fridge will be delivered.  Monday we have our final inspections and then Cassandra will officially have a working kitchen.  However, that doesn't mean we're done!

After that, there is still more trim to install, and all the trim has to be varnished.  Also, I still have to make two cabinets (one for over the fridge and a combination bookcase/radiator enclosure for the porch.  There's still the painting to be done (after Cassandra and I agree on colors) and then I'll and install the tile backsplashes (as soon as Cassandra and I can agree on things as far as which tile and what color grout.) 

Sometimes, I complain that I have difficult clients, but it's more likely that they have a difficult contractor.  But in the end I'm only thinking of them.  Really.

Actually, I have great clients.  They all know, way ahead of time, that I am not a full time contractor and am involved in several other time consuming activities.  My projects take a little longer than average.  Mostly they are wonderful, patient, tolerant clients and usually very forgiving of my habits and behavior.  All my clients are also my friends.  I'm not sure if that is a good thing - or not a good thing.  But those are the facts, ma'am.

Aug 18  Nothing much to report on Cassandra's kitchen.  The electricians are taking freaking forever!  Dishwasher is in, at least.  Today was an errand day for both jobs, picking up supplies, etc..

Stopped by my friend, and old client, Kelli.  Had my camera and so took a few photos.  I did a lot of work on her place which is still under restoration, after several years.  This is still one of the best restorations I've seen anywhere.  She is still having the wall paper installed and waiting to have her dining room ceiling mural painted by artist, Allison Meyer.  Allison already completed Kelli's living room mural.  It is spectacular.  My last job will be to shellac the rest of the floors when all the work is done.

I restored all the woodwork in the entire house.  Most of it had multi layers of paint that had to be removed.  Of course, everything is finished with orange shellac, exactly like the original.  Here is the exterior front of Kelli's house,

and here is Kelli.

My last project here was restoring the woodwork and floors in the front bedroom.  I also built a new door jamb and fit a salvaged door into an old doorway to a closet that had been closed in at one time.  I also rebuilt a damaged window sash.  You can see how great the floors look with a shellac finish.

In the dining room, I designed and built this sideboard with the help of carpenter Matt Gauthier from Oak Park.  Matt also did the turnings.  Kelli found the drawers and face frame in the attic.  That was all that remained of the original.  We recreated it using our best knowledge based on looking in dozens of books and at photos, as well as going into other houses with similar "Eastlake" styles of built-in furniture.  We knew where it was located in the dining room because of the cavity in the dining room wall and the plastered over pass-through.  Along with this Kelli had to reproduce and install several hundred feet of molding and trim throughout the house.

I removed the paint from all four plaster ceiling medallions on the first floor.  Right now expert painter, Paddy Delaney is applying the faux "weathered copper" finish to the medallions and to the plaster cornice in the dining room.  The white area will have a painted mural.

I also restored the finish and did repairs to the main staircase.

Here are pictures of the living room bay and the living room ceiling mural.

I spent well over six months stripping and shellacking woodwork in this house.  Close to 100 gallons of (toxic!) solvent were used.  And I don't think I had clean hands or fingernails for that whole time.  I don't even want to think of all the toxic fumes I breathed. 

If I ever do this again, I think I'll have to charge a lot more.  I could never live in a Victorian house (YUCK), but they are sure fun to work on!

Here's some of my past babbling about this project:

http://www.re-building.com/nl14/nl14jones.htm

Aug 19  Sometimes music expresses feelings better than words.  This MUSIC kind of describes how my day was today.

Aug 20  At Thatcher Woods this morning, I stood on the bank of the river as a crane was feeding in the water, about 50 feet away.  While a hawk was circling overhead and woodpeckers were doing their thing on the dead trees nearby, the crane was feeding in the shallow water.  I stood very still for about 20 minutes.  The crane worked its way toward me and didn't see me until it was about 10 feet away, then it flew away down the river.  Cool.

I worked at Cassandra's installing knobs on the cabinets and repairing the spice rack cabinet.  The screws were already coming out and the whole thing was not constructed right.  I had to goof around with it for forty minutes.  What a pain!  The fridge and stove arrived about 3:30 or so.  We had to return and exchange the stove.  Cassandra accidentally ordered a duel fuel stove, which required a 220 circuit as well as gas hookup.  (We did not run a 220, assuming we would be using gas only.)  Oh well, another week.

Aug 21  Yes I know it's Sunday, but a day off for me means one more day behind schedule.  Actually, my job today was a total pleasure.  Kind of a long story.

My friend Cheryl and I had played music together for several years.  She is also a violinist, and we have played together through the years in many orchestras - the Illinois Philharmonic Orchestra, the Northwest Indiana Symphony, Light Opera Works -  several others.  Who can remember?  More than four years ago, Cheryl and her husband Lewis bought a really nice, vintage condo in the Hyde Park neighborhood of Chicago.

The were starting restore the living room and to strip and refinish the woodwork.  They commissioned me to create some art glass for two windows on each side of a doorway the led to a closed-in porch.  When they bought the place, the sashes had been removed and there were just two sheets of plexiglass in the openings (pretty ugly!), with the door still in place. 

I designed and finished making the windows back in 2000 and delivered them, but did not install them.  We decided to store them away until the living room was nearing completion.

Well, as we all know, sometimes life interferes with your plans.

During a trip to Japan, Lewis had was hit by a motorcyclist while crossing a street.  His hip was completely shattered and after leaving the hospital in Japan, he had to be flown home in a stretcher - to look forward to a year and several more surgeries before he could walk again.  Cheryl was still here at home.  I can only imagine how she felt at the time!

Then about a year later, Cheryl had a mid heart attack (she is healthy now, thank you).

Well, of course, during all this, not much work was getting done on the house.  Cheryl has since lost much of her ability to play the violin, due to some nerve damage in her left arm, though she still enjoys teaching a lot.

Still, after all that, I am just so inspired by the positive attitude that they both have towards everything.

The last time I played any chamber music with Cheryl, they both came over to my house and we played some trios together (Lewis is a fine pianist).  That was right after I had some reconstructive surgery on my left hand and was just re-learning how to play the violin.  It was the first time I played with anyone after my surgery, and I was a very insecure about my playing.  They put me at ease and were very encouraging.  They may not remember, But I remember that evening very well.  I had a lot of fun!

Cheryl helped me install the windows this afternoon.  Lewis was catching up on some work today (he works over at the University of Chicago).   I hope he enjoys his surprise when he gets home this evening.

These are the largest windows I have made.  I used a variety of techniques, combining lead and zinc cames, along with some copper foil work.  The room is in a very Arts and Craft style and I tried to compliment that with the windows incorporating a stylized flower pattern.  I am happy with the scale and with the design, especially after not having seen them for a few years.

Aug 24  Just had a couple of days I'd kind of like to forget about.  (So of course I'm gonna write them down, so I remember.)  Yesterday I broke the windshield of my car loading up two-by-fours inside.  Went to get it replaced early this morning.  I wasn't too happy about the neighborhood the glass place was in, but they did a good job.  And it was cheaper than I thought - $135 with tax.

Then I stripped woodwork at Mike and Rachel's during the day.  Tomorrow I have to finish up any framing and prep for John, the drywaller, who said he can start on Thursday.  I have a deadline to get the family back in the kitchen, which is the last week in September.  I think we'll be cutting it really close. 

Cassandra had her stove delivered today.  She got a nice KitchenAid at Abt.   I came over in the early evening to install it.  I had a big problem.  I don't know if it was stupid me - - or stupid engineers who designed the thing!

Here's the problem.   Since I installed the floating floor after the cabinets were installed (the manufacturer recommends not installing the floor under cabinets because that will keep the "floating" floor from being able to expand and contract with humidity.  That made the countertops 35-1/2 inches from the floor. 

However, KitchenAid makes the slide-in stove to fit a standard 36 inch counter height, or higher.  In other words, the height has adjusting feet that adjust only up from 36 inches, BUT NOT LOWER!  So I had to rip out the flooring underneath the stove to lower the height.  That solved the height issue, but created another problem.  Then the stove does not slide in evenly.  First the back feet drop in putting the whole thing at an angle and resting the weight of the stove on the top trim pieces until it is completely in.  Also, the back foot has to engage the anti-tip bracket on the floor in the rear.  Then when the thing is almost all the way back, the angle prevents the front feet from dropping in.  It took me about 3 hours to install the thing and I was getting extremely frustrated.

You could have the same problem if, for example, you decided to put down ceramic tile over the old floor in your kitchen with the cabinets in place.

Message to stove manufacturers:  Make your stoves with a height adjustment starting somewhere about 35-1/2 inches...PLEASE!?!?

Started at eight and got home after eight.  I'm only taking the time to write this because I'm so tired and so pissed, and need to blow off some steam.  I only feel slightly better.  Some more wine please.

Aug 25  Here are some pictures of Cassandra's with the stove in.  Have to order tile tomorrow.

Rachel and Mike's - finished framing ready for drywall, did a little more stripping and wood preparation, dry-fit base cabinets in place and drilled holes on sink cabinet for plumbing.  This is the first time we got a chance to see how the space will work.  I am VERY happy!  It meets and exceeds my expectations.

John can't come tomorrow to start drywall, so I can get more stripping done.  What fun.

Aug 30  Well the old computer finally crashed on Friday and had to be replaced...sniff, sniff.  Now I'm working with more speed and more gizmos, but no time to fool around with much right now.  Time to catch up:

last Thursday (today is Monday), John couldn't make it to start the drywall at Mike an Rachel's, so I did some more stripping - I finished the pantry.  I needed to get a protective coat of shellac on all the wood that was stripped so far to keep the drywall dust from getting into the wood and having to go over it all again with solvent.

John came on Friday and got started.  He hung the drywall, got all the taping taping done and a coat of Durabond.  Two roofers I called have not called me back.  I think I'll have to cut the hole in the roof and mount the vent cap myself.  I only did that job once before, and kind of screwed it up.  This time, I'm going to get it right.   This picture is just before drywall.

I decided to run the "space-pak" air conditioning tubes (the funny looking foil-covered tubes by the ceiling) through the ceiling instead of through the soffit over the cabinets.  It will make a much better job and I wont have to fool with them during the cabinet and hood installation.

Today I ran errands, picked up my roof vent (and asked the salesman lots of questions about how not to screw up the roof shingles during installation.  He said it was easy and he didn't see how anyone could screw it up - and that you'd have to be kind of stupid to do so.  I didn't mention my last experience.), waited for the guys from House of Heat (they're installing the under-counter "Toester" heaters )to come and remove the old radiator, Dan, the plumber came to remove the old gas line, and I finally found the replacement "space-pak" cover plates the I broke during demolition.

There went my day.  I saved a few hours to practice my fiddle.  I'm working on a trio program with Marika, my accompanist and (I hope!) a cellist, who is an old friend, and in my opinion, one of the best cellists around (when she's not running all over the country).  Usually by this time of year, I'm starting to get myself in shape for the coming concert and music season, and laying low on the construction and contracting work.  It looks like this year I'm gonna be way behind with the music thing.  Oh well....music hardly pays (translation: "does not pay")  the bills, anyhow.

Aug 31  Installed the vent cap on the roof.  It was pretty easy.  Cutting and screwing and taping all the joints of the duct was kind of a pain, though.  I chose the heavier gauge 6-inch round duct, and got a few small sheet-metal cuts and scratches in the process - just a few drops of blood.  Drilled the holes for the space-pak, and as I account for the rest of the day, a lot of it was shot again running errands.

Tomorrow I have another project and so am not working, except in the morning to check up with the drywallers and let them in at 8:30.  Their work is looking very fine.

I have a "punch list" for the rest of the job, and three weeks left to get the kitchen functioning (odds-and-ends will be finished during the two weeks following that).

Mike and Rachel's Punch  List

Here is Cassandra's Punch List  These are her odds-and-ends.  I should get them finished up in the next two weeks.

If you're not aware by now, I'm doing these two jobs simultaneously.  However my sanity is still intact (I think), and before I know it, these two projects will all be over and I'll be on to the next ones.  I try no to think too much about it.  It never seem to end.  I really do need to find another line of work.  Maybe I'll run for President.  If GWBush has shown us nothing else, he's proved that ANYONE can be President some day.  (I didn't say he's proved that "ANYONE is qualified".

Well, time to start a new page for September  Leaves are starting to fall and the days are getting shorter.  Go to Page 4: September 2004

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