Re:BUILDING
A Preservation Newsletter
Volume 19 - June, 2004 to October, 2004
Published by Martin Hackl, Oak Park, Illinois
Page 4 of this log for September 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 3 for August)
(click here to go to page 5 for October)
September 2 Picked up plywood and lumber to start making the last two of Cassandra's cabinets. There will be one for over the refrigerator. The other one for the porch is a little complicated. I has to cover the radiator (with a grille in front) have space for the stereo, and the rest for bookshelves. Here's a picture of the cabinets under construction in my workshop (i.e. garage).
September 3 Dywall and sanding is done, so I did some more paint removal at Mike and Rachel's. I got the last two window out to remove the paint on the outside, as well as the finish on the insides.
I only got about 4-1/2 hours of work in during the afternoon. I had to take the morning off and walk in the woods for a couple of hours and just work out some stuff. We all have problems and things, and I won't get into it here. My problems are much, much less than the problems of others. A month from now it will all seem unimportant anyhow. The woods and the beautiful smell refreshed me greatly. Saw a couple of deer.
More stripping tomorrow. If I start early enough, I think I can get the rest of the woodwork stripped.
September 4 Finished stripping woodwork today. Yeah!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
September 10 Ceilings and drywall are primed and ceiling is painted. Tim the electrician had his head up his ass when he installed the ceiling boxes for the new fixtures. He used shallow round boxes with reducing plaster rings. The rings were way too small to mount the hanging fixtures. I had to knock out some new plaster and may have to install new boxes myself. I can do it in half the time - and do it right. He is way to slow, and charges by the hour. Right now, the only reason I'm using him for the rest of this job is because I'm required to have a licensed electrician, and I'm working on a permit in his name.
Three weeks ago, after Cassandra came home and found Tim working, standing on her new countertops (without protection), and then also asked him to put drop clothes down on the new wood floors (he was leaving rubber scuff marks all over from his shoes and ladder), I gave him a little piece of my mind - because he blew her off. I don't like having to lecture professionals. This is the last straw for me.
If he would take a little less time preaching his Bible he might get some good work done (and I don't mean "Good Work"). That awful inspirational music he listens to while working doesn't seem to inspire the best and fastest work! I can't have him on any more jobs. I have to cover his ass for him, and it costs me money (I can't have the client pay twice for the same job - and he always charges more money to fix his own mistakes). Sorry Tim. After this one, no more work from me. As if you care.
Floors finished Thursday (by Peter the floor guy). He used a catalytic finish - very hard and durable. I generally don't like wood floors in kitchens. This hard finish is a compromise. But you still have to keep them very clean and be careful about chairs, stools, etc, because no finish is impervious to scratches. I still like ceramic tile or linoleum best - but that's just my prejudice. Anyhow, they look great.
Today (Friday) I started installing cabinets. The floor is out of level about 5/8" in the area I'm installing all the base cabinets. It's a pain, but not so bad. I've seen much worse! In Bonnie's kitchen, I had to raise the height of the cabinets in the lower end of the room with two-by-fours, and still use shims. The room was about 1-5/8ths inches out of level. So this one is no big deal.
Here's a picture of Rachel, Mike and Abby. Older daughter, Libby was not around at the moment. I'll catch her later for a picture.
September 11 I was working today and remembering this day three years ago. I heard some beautiful music on the radio in the morning and was stirred by it. I don't like how the tragedy has been capital, political and otherwise, for so many. Anyhow, just a day of remembering. Too bad we haven't learned any lessons from it yet.
Mike and I pulled some of the "space-pak" ducting through the ceiling to the other side of the room. Mike thought it would be better to distribute the AC throughout the room rather than have all four outlets blowing just over the cooking area. That makes a lot more sense. It was kind of a struggle for both of us, with our arms pushed through holes in the ceiling almost up to our shoulders trying to fish and pull the stuff. But with patience and persistence, we won out. I don't know about Mike - he's a few years younger than me - but my worn-out rotator cuffs are already screaming back at me. It looks like a lot of aspirin this week, and not much fiddling for the next few days. Oh well...
All the base cabinets are in. Ready for the countertop measurements Monday. I also scheduled House of Heat to do their installation of the under-counter heating on Monday. Rachel scheduled for delivery of the refrigerator and dishwasher on Tuesday. I used cardboard as a mockup for the countertops so that we could see how everything will work out. It's all going to work great! It was a good day today.
September 13 Mike and Rachel's: Stripped the back door (inside) and did a couple of small repairs. Did some carpentry around the upper cabinets and enclosed the soffit. Temporarily mounted the range hood. There will be tile underneath which won't happen until I do the backsplashes - after the countertops are installed. Corna Tile measured for the countertops this A.M.
September 14 Finished more of the carpentry and installed some trim, toe-kicks and other miscellanea. The refrig. and dishwasher were delivered today. The refrig. doesn't work well in the pantry the direction we envisioned it. It's just so huge! So we turned it around (with the back to the window). It works fine that way.
I don't like the "black hole" look of the clear glass in the cabinets. I found some amber art glass, which I think will look nice. Here are some pictures as of the end of the work day, today:
September 15 Like bulls in a china shop, the electricians came today to do the finish wiring at Mike and Rachel's. What they don't seem to get is that their "finish" work is taking place after much of my "finish" work is done. In other words, the place is no longer a demolition zone! Get it, you guys?
When I was gone picking up wood, Pete Let's-See-,-How-Do-I-Handle-This-Power-Tool-? lost control of his drill while boring a simple one-inch hole in the floor to run his electrical "whip" for the dishwasher, and managed to blow out the finished back panel of some of the island cabinetry that I just finished constructing yesterday. To "riot in understatement" as Gore Vidal would say, Pete is a klutz.
I have a picture in my mind of the bit stuck fast in the floor, and Pete holding onto the drill with his finger still on the trigger, flailing in rotation around the room - something like Daffy Duck or Wily Coyote in an old cartoon.
Not that Tim is an angel - though being a born-again, I will aver he thinks he has a special place saved for him in the afterlife. Wherever he ends up, I want to go to the other place. Tim's favorite rubber-soled shoes left his usual black skid marks all over our newly finished maple floor. I guess the words "drop cloth" are not in the Bible. When I mentioned to him that the floors were just newly finished, I'm pretty sure what went through his mind was "What floors?". Oh well, another day, another dollar - for Tim. Time and money out for me.
I had previously thought plumbers were bad. I was wrong. The essence of my part in a regular conversation with these electricians: "No, you can't drill a hole there! No you can't cut through that!"
Mike and Rachel, if you read this - it's not that big a deal. Just me venting - and you're just some of the victims of this "blog". Anyhow, it's my job to worry, not yours.
I picked up a few last pieces of quarter-sawn oak, and some pine quarter-rounds today. Finished a coupling on the space-pac ducting, and cleaned up the ceiling and touched up the holes I made from removing the reducing rings from the ceiling electrical boxes. I know I asked Tim to use octagon boxes in the first place. He says no I didn't. Water under the bridge (or over the dam), it merited no further argument or discussion - and the fixtures are installed (by me).
September 16 Just some piano music tonight. Just because I feel like it.
September 17 Well Tim finished up most of the electric yesterday. Still a little slow, but they got a lot done yesterday, and I must admit that the work is nice and neat.
Today, I dug a 12-by-12-by-12 inch hole through the basement slab today and poured a footing with some high-strength concrete and a little re-bar. There is a double two-by-ten beam that carries a lot of load: a header that carries all the kitchen joists, the bases of the stringers for the staircase upstairs, the west wall of the staircase, the staircase to the third floor (attic), and the bathroom and the west part of the second floor. There is already some noticeable deflection (a sag), and we'll still be installing at least a half-ton of granite countertops! A little insurance couldn't hurt. So I'll install a jack post that will help by taking up the load at center of the beam's span. I'm not trying to raise anything up - at this point, that would just cause damage - but just to assist in the relentless fight against gravity.
I'll do some more carpentry work tomorrow to finish up in the kitchen (the pantry cabinets have yet to be installed). The footing will be well set by Monday and I'll put in the column then.
September 21 Yesterday (Monday) finished cabinetry trim and quarter-rounds in Rachel and Mike's kitchen. Also got the jack post in place. I need to snug it up a little more after I get it perfectly plumb - just a little tinkering. Countertops are arriving Thursday. Hopefully, plumbers here on Friday and we'll have a functioning kitchen. Yes!
Today started to tile the backsplashes at Cassandra's. Unfortunately, I didn't have enough tile. Stupid me - I didn't check he boxes when I picked up my order, and four boxes were the wrong color. Rob, at Century Tile said he'd have them for me by about 11 or noon tomorrow. Thanks Rob.
It's kind of a difficult tile to set because they are very thick floor tiles. That means I have to lay on the thinset rather thick, which means I have to mix it kind of dry, which means I have to work quickly once I apply thinset to the wall. Also, the tiles (4-3/4") are not uniform in size which means I have to keep fudging the grout joints to make them look even. Also, the color is variegated or mixed, so you have to do some planning to make them look random and yet avoid having two of the same tile adjacent to each other. Some tiles are easy to set - these are not quite so easy. Also, they don't make a cap for this tile and the edges are white, so at the outside corner one edge will show white. If I had a better wet-saw, I could cut mitered corners, but not with the saw I have. And I'm not buying new tools anymore. I have to keep reminding myself that I'm trying to get out of this business. Oh well. Here are some pictures after today's work.
I also have a couple of other small jobs going. Things I promised some folks more than 6 months ago. Also, I've been getting calls to sub for several symphonies. I guess I'm still on the substitute lists for a couple of local regional orchestras. I'll have to turn most of them down as well the calls from several community orchestras. I just don't have the time and the pay just doesn't make it worthwhile. We're having trouble as it is to pay the bills. And our mortgage and taxes are just killing us.
My income doing this kind of contracting work is maybe about ten or twelve dollars an hour, after I pay all my expenses and insurance. I would not recommend this business to anybody any more. I wish I could charge more, but with all the cheap labor around, that's not possible. Like I said, I have to get out of this business! All the cheap labor is putting many small independent contractors like myself out of business.
I hope we can sell our house soon. And I hope the orchestras don't stop calling me when I do have time! I really miss playing music and teaching full time. I've been teaching lessons on Sundays - and so have no days off just to do nothing. When we sell the house, I think I'll take some time off - who knows how long. Well that's my bitching and moaning for the week...
September 22 Got a lot done today. Finished and stained Cassandra's, porch cabinet today. I got it on top of the car and then drove it over (she only lives about 4 or 5 blocks from me. I got it up the stairs by myself - not sure how. I could really use some help sometimes! Then I had to use a shoehorn to get it in. Good measuring, I couldn't have made it fit any tighter! Still have to level it and fasten it in place. The grilles are for the steam radiator and pipe (which will also radiate a lot of heat) underneath.
After that, I picked up the rest of the tile and finished the backsplash. I'm really tired and I think bed early tonight - unusual for me. Will probably grout on Friday or Saturday.
September 23 Counters are in. Cool! Better than I anticipated. All the planning was worthwhile! Though I couldn't understand most of their conversation (the installers spoke to each other in Polish) those guys work like a team. Installation took about three hours. I was nervous all last week because I knew this is kind of a complex installation. But the goal was to make the end result all look simple and uncomplicated. Like a great musical performance, the observer should not be aware of the difficulty or complexity. It should just seem natural. That's what makes it art. I think we succeeded. They did a great job in the fabricating and installation. Bravo Corna Tile!
Plumbers in tomorrow and we'll have a functional kitchen. No construction work tomorrow. I've got to spend the morning getting my fingers in shape. I nearly forgot - tomorrow I have to go to Rockford (Illinois) with my accompanist, Marika to do a short violin and piano performance Yes folks, I really do play the violin. And I still practice a lot! It's a long trip to perform just a couple of numbers, but it'll be a nice break. I hope Friday traffic is not so bad. It's a couple hours drive. The performance is in the evening and we'll come back right after. Back to work on Saturday morning.
September 24 I never mentioned Thaddeus Giddings. A kind of mentor in several ways, though we could never have met. Definitely a kindred spirit. And, from Oak Park! Giddings was a musician - published several books - started music education in the Oak Park Schools - AND - he designed kitchens in his spare time. Architect William Purcell admired him very much and wrote something about Giddings in his extensive journals. Here is some brief biographical info. of Giddings (if anyone ever comes across the book biography, please let me know!!), and here is a link to the history of the Interlochen Music Academy of which he was a founder. I wish I could accomplish half as much as him in my lifetime.
September 25 I ended up working yesterday (Friday) after all. A loooooonnnnggggg day! Plumbers finished Rachel and Mike's. They now have a basically functional kitchen. The tile is on order and I'll start that next week along with the painting, varnishing and wall coverings.
And here's a picture of Libby:
Cassandra's tile got grouted today, so that was my workday.
September 29 Installed the last cabinet (over the fridge) and Trimmed out Cassandra's kitchen today. I made the cabinet too big and found out when I tried to install in Monday. So I had to take some of it apart and cut it down today -- no big deal. A few odds-and-ends to do, but basically finished. Getting in baseboards, base shoe, other trim - just makes it all look finished. Nice finish trim really makes the job. Here's some violin music listened to this A.M. It really got me in the mood to practice my violin all day, but lucky for Cassandra I had enough discipline to get my butt in gear and get over there to do some work!
And it's already time to start a new page for October! Go to Page 5: October 2004
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