Well, it's Friday afternoon, and that means it's time to decide which project I'm going to tackle this weekend.
Given the economic downturn of the past few weeks and the continued downward trend of home prices, I'm going to be doing lots of minor improvement projects to The Dump so I can postpone the full remodel until a more fiscally prudent time. I'm still going to take care of the foundation and drainage stuff ASAP, but the big, extensive, expensive work is going to have to wait.
Since I don't know exactly when the remodel is going to happen now, I'm motivated to get my stuff out of storage since I'd like to put that $202/month to better use. Obviously, it's easier to work on the house when there is nothing around, so I'm queuing up tasks like crazy.
Here's the short list of what needs to happen so I can move out of storage and into the house:
Overall
1) Tent for termites
Back bedroom:
1) paint
2) repair popped floor planks
3) figure out some sort of insulating covers for both windows before winter since they leak like crazy
4) possibly refinish floor
Kitchen
1) Sand and repair cabinets
2) paint (walls and cabinets)
3) pull up linoleum floor tiles
4) refinish wood floor (if possible) or install new vinyl peel-and-stick-floor tiles
5) figure out some sort of back splash solution (to replace the crappy vinyl tiles used last time the kitchen was "upgraded")
Living Room:
1) paint
2) install drywall over fireplace opening since it has no damper inside
3) possibly refinish floor
Given that I am away 12 out of the first 17 days of the month and EVERY weekend in October (Boston, Amsterdam, SF-Nike marathon, and Seattle), I'm guessing I'll move out of storage over Christmas break. I hope the foundation work will be done by then. I'm going to go ahead and paint when I can and will repair cracks, touch up paint etc rather than wait to start all the superficial work.
That brings me back to what project to tackle this weekend. It needs to be something I can complete in one weekend otherwise it will likely sit unfinished for approx 1 month. I'm leaning toward starting kitchen paint prep. If I'm lucky, I'll get it all primed by the end of the weekend. Those cabinets are going to take quite a bit of work...
Friday, September 26, 2008
Monday, September 15, 2008
High tech TV and further oven experimentation
I'm resigned to the fact that I'll be spending at least another 6 months (possibly more) with The Dump as is, so I decided it's time to commit to some infrastructure. Late last week I called AT&T and signed up for home phone, DSL and wait for it... DISH TV! All bundled together gives me a pretty good discount.
Now, for those of you who know me quite well, you know that I don't watch TV. The only reason I own one is because it gets connected to the DVD player. However, there are some show that I've come to enjoy, and I'm setting up the house for winter hibernation, so I went ahead and ordered TV for the first time in 10+ years.
The friendly (and chatty!) Dish technician came out on Saturday and installed my dish and DVR. I now have 200 channels, which is somewhat overwhelming, but considering that I can record it to watch later and then fastforward through commercials, I think I can handle it. :o)
Since I had to commit to being at the house for the Dish installation sometime between 1 and 5 on Saturday, I decided to bake a cake in my newly accepted oven. Armed with an oven thermometer, the cake came out decidedly better than the cookies (the oven temp is off by about 125°). However, this experiment told me that I have a cold spot on the left side of the oven as evidenced by that half of the cake collapsing into squishy under-doneness after I pulled it out. Hopefully that is easily resolved by setting a timer to rotate all baked goods halfway through baking time.
Now, for those of you who know me quite well, you know that I don't watch TV. The only reason I own one is because it gets connected to the DVD player. However, there are some show that I've come to enjoy, and I'm setting up the house for winter hibernation, so I went ahead and ordered TV for the first time in 10+ years.
The friendly (and chatty!) Dish technician came out on Saturday and installed my dish and DVR. I now have 200 channels, which is somewhat overwhelming, but considering that I can record it to watch later and then fastforward through commercials, I think I can handle it. :o)
Since I had to commit to being at the house for the Dish installation sometime between 1 and 5 on Saturday, I decided to bake a cake in my newly accepted oven. Armed with an oven thermometer, the cake came out decidedly better than the cookies (the oven temp is off by about 125°). However, this experiment told me that I have a cold spot on the left side of the oven as evidenced by that half of the cake collapsing into squishy under-doneness after I pulled it out. Hopefully that is easily resolved by setting a timer to rotate all baked goods halfway through baking time.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Another step in the right direction
After several months of inactivity, things are picking up again. However, it's a lot of "spend money, then wait several weeks for reports, then move on" sort of action.
In July, I authorized Architect Pete to get some soil engineers out to The Dump (Redwood City soil is problematic) to drill some holes in the property at each end of my house. Their initial findings: "you have very dense, spongy, clay soil." Duh. I could have told everyone that after spending a season trying to get my garden moving in the right direction. Next step: wait four weeks for the official report before moving on.
The official soils report has now been sent to a structural engineer who will analyze it and determine what sort of reinforcement needs to be done to the foundation. I signed his proposal and sent him a check yesterday. Next step: wait four more weeks for his official report/foundation designs (Pete is going to try to prod that to completion a bit faster).
I've already booked some house jackers/foundation specialists to come out to estimate the job, but to do so, they need Pete's site survey, the soils report and the completed structural report/design. I tentatively booked them for 10/8, hoping I will have all the necessary components in my hands at that time.
I'm guessing it's going to take them four weeks to complete their estimate. That seems to be the going timeframe. :)
Whatever the case, I'm now feeling the pressure to complete the foundation and drainage work before the rainy season starts to avoid the flooding issues of last winter.
In July, I authorized Architect Pete to get some soil engineers out to The Dump (Redwood City soil is problematic) to drill some holes in the property at each end of my house. Their initial findings: "you have very dense, spongy, clay soil." Duh. I could have told everyone that after spending a season trying to get my garden moving in the right direction. Next step: wait four weeks for the official report before moving on.
The official soils report has now been sent to a structural engineer who will analyze it and determine what sort of reinforcement needs to be done to the foundation. I signed his proposal and sent him a check yesterday. Next step: wait four more weeks for his official report/foundation designs (Pete is going to try to prod that to completion a bit faster).
I've already booked some house jackers/foundation specialists to come out to estimate the job, but to do so, they need Pete's site survey, the soils report and the completed structural report/design. I tentatively booked them for 10/8, hoping I will have all the necessary components in my hands at that time.
I'm guessing it's going to take them four weeks to complete their estimate. That seems to be the going timeframe. :)
Whatever the case, I'm now feeling the pressure to complete the foundation and drainage work before the rainy season starts to avoid the flooding issues of last winter.
Wednesday, September 10, 2008
An experiment
Lately I've been feeling the lack of an oven quite acutely. I have an intense craving to get my bake on and can do nothing about it. The toaster oven just will not cut it this time as I cannot fit a cake pan in there.
On Sunday I made pancakes and used the central griddle of my 1953 O'Keefe & Merritt. I quite like the retro-funk it offers but I have two fundamental problems with it:
1) The oven is teensy-tiny, and there is no insulating seal around the door, so I'm sure it cooks horribly.
2) The oven is "match light" which scares the crap out of me.
The very nice PG&E man who inspected my pilot lights last fall says it works just fine and I need to make sure others who may use the oven know not to set the dial to 350 and walk away or else it will blow up and possibly torch the whole house. Mmmm, yeah. that definitely makes me want to try to use the oven...
So, Sunday's pancakes did not resolve my baking craving, but it did prompt another very thorough cleaning of the range. Boy, is it cute when it's all shiny clean! There is still some persistent baked on grime that just won't budge, but I keep working on it.
Last night I stopped at TJ's on my way home from work to grocery shop. I got a box of their frozen oatmeal-cranberry cookie dough. It's pre-formed balls, so I've been able to do one or two at a time in the toaster oven whenever the mood for a cookie strikes. Quite yummy. I decided last night that I was going to attempt to turn on the oven and cook a whole tray of cookies to test the oven.
Four matches later, the oven was lit and preheating! Heating up my house too, I might add, so I'm glad our 90+ degree weather had passed. I spread the dough balls on the sheet, popped it in the oven, set the timer and sat down to wait. and wait. and wait.
I knew it was likely to be somewhat off and heat inffeciently, but I was not expecting the cookies to take twice as long and require cranking up the heat 50 degrees midway into it. But there you have it...I was baking in my teensy tiny 1953 oven! I'm sure the fact that my cookie sheet was covering the rack wall to wall and front to back was not helping the airflow issues, but it's what I had on hand.
I go back and forth on whether I should try to restore the range and see if they can improve the oven function while there at it, and really wanting the double wall ovens I've been planning for my kitchen since day one. Fashion vs function. Those double wall ovens are what has kept me form buying a replacement range until now. I do love the vintage charm of the O'Keefe & Merritt, but I think I love baking performance more. Anyway, this prompted me to do some more research on restoration. I had a horrible experience with a vendor last time I researched it, but there has to be some alternatives out there. Considering I'm in no real hurry, I think I'll look into it a bit more.
In the meanwhile, I will get an oven thermometer to more accurately gauge the calibration of the oven. I may go so far as to bake a cake this weekend.
On Sunday I made pancakes and used the central griddle of my 1953 O'Keefe & Merritt. I quite like the retro-funk it offers but I have two fundamental problems with it:
1) The oven is teensy-tiny, and there is no insulating seal around the door, so I'm sure it cooks horribly.
2) The oven is "match light" which scares the crap out of me.
The very nice PG&E man who inspected my pilot lights last fall says it works just fine and I need to make sure others who may use the oven know not to set the dial to 350 and walk away or else it will blow up and possibly torch the whole house. Mmmm, yeah. that definitely makes me want to try to use the oven...
So, Sunday's pancakes did not resolve my baking craving, but it did prompt another very thorough cleaning of the range. Boy, is it cute when it's all shiny clean! There is still some persistent baked on grime that just won't budge, but I keep working on it.
Last night I stopped at TJ's on my way home from work to grocery shop. I got a box of their frozen oatmeal-cranberry cookie dough. It's pre-formed balls, so I've been able to do one or two at a time in the toaster oven whenever the mood for a cookie strikes. Quite yummy. I decided last night that I was going to attempt to turn on the oven and cook a whole tray of cookies to test the oven.
Four matches later, the oven was lit and preheating! Heating up my house too, I might add, so I'm glad our 90+ degree weather had passed. I spread the dough balls on the sheet, popped it in the oven, set the timer and sat down to wait. and wait. and wait.
I knew it was likely to be somewhat off and heat inffeciently, but I was not expecting the cookies to take twice as long and require cranking up the heat 50 degrees midway into it. But there you have it...I was baking in my teensy tiny 1953 oven! I'm sure the fact that my cookie sheet was covering the rack wall to wall and front to back was not helping the airflow issues, but it's what I had on hand.
I go back and forth on whether I should try to restore the range and see if they can improve the oven function while there at it, and really wanting the double wall ovens I've been planning for my kitchen since day one. Fashion vs function. Those double wall ovens are what has kept me form buying a replacement range until now. I do love the vintage charm of the O'Keefe & Merritt, but I think I love baking performance more. Anyway, this prompted me to do some more research on restoration. I had a horrible experience with a vendor last time I researched it, but there has to be some alternatives out there. Considering I'm in no real hurry, I think I'll look into it a bit more.
In the meanwhile, I will get an oven thermometer to more accurately gauge the calibration of the oven. I may go so far as to bake a cake this weekend.
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