Road Block

Today's secret word is ASBESTOS.


Can you say ASBESTOS?


Good!  I knew that you could!

They say that when remodeling, you should always allow for the unexpected.  I would very much like to introduce you to "The Unexpected".

Not only is the original tile under the carpet in what was the office (originally formal dining room) ugly, but it also quite probably contains asbestos, as does the glue under it.  On Wednesday the guy with the space suit will come and remove enough so we can saw out the foundation and get electricity to the island.

Maybe this will be the only big SURPRISE! we encounter.

Demo Day!

It's been about 48 hours since the beginning of demolition.  It seems longer.

This is the first time I've felt like looking at pictures and editing them (poorly) to put up and document the process.  I was beat at the end of the day Friday, and compared to the guys actually demoing/framing, I didn't do anything.

This is the view from the living room looking towards the office/kitchen.  By the end of the day, the painted paneling was gone, the arches were patched and the first coat of mud was on the wall.  It looks better already. The temporary door fascinates the cats.  They know something is happening on the other side. We've had to put a rug up against it to keep them from trying to dig into the work area.

This is a before/during/after view over 12 hours.

This gives a little bit of the idea of the barrel vault that will be over the island.  It'll all make sense later.

Here is the faux bay window that will be a single picture window when we're done.

Lumber delivery. This was not this guy's first day on the job! The way he handled this thing up and down the driveway was pretty impressive.  Very cool lifter/loader thingy.  Yes, I do believe the accepted trade term for it is 'lifter/loader thingy'.  If not, it should be.

According to the metadata from Carla's camera, it was exactly 9 hours from drop-off to pick-up.  That is our old 1974 kitchen driving away.  The dumpster was working under 'don't ask, don't tell'.  The city of Arlington doesn't allow dumpsters on the street, they have to be on the property or driveway, neither of which is an option on our lot.  The contractor's usual dumpster company agreed to do a single day drop-off and I guess just not tell anyone.  Works for me!  The other option would have been to make trips to the dump all day long in the Mazda pickup. That would not have been fun.

Yesterday, Carla told me to shut up.

Well, she actually said the whole kitchen thing has made me a bit of a "chatty Kathy", but she's thinks it's cute. This is mostly from my OCD web surfing trying to get pieces and parts ordered and in the house by next week. Things like TV mounts, wire, sink, faucet, speakers... Stuff that is much cheaper if we provide it, but has to be here when it's needed! Right now I'm on a quest to find the best price for a black volume control knob and black drains for the sink. Believe it or not, black drains are not a standard stock item for Home Depot! People want shiny, sparkly chrome or stainless apparently. Oh yeah, we've pretty much decided on 3"x6" black glass tile for the backsplash.

I heard "Shut up!". Maybe I mis-listened.

Anyway... 6 days 'til demo and here's where we stand. The kitchen is 75% emptied (it violently disgorged its contents into the living room and dining room), but the office really hasn't been touched. That's coming. Ugh.

Due for delivery next week are:

Sink (from homedepot.com)

Faucet & Speakers (from amazon.com)

And a big box of wire 'n stuff from monoprice.com

We're buying local for a lot of things, but the price discrepancy for plumbing fixtures and the speakers was ridiculous.

Let me just give a short plug here for Monoprice. If you're not a geek, you've probably never heard of them, but you should add them to your favorites anyway. Anytime you need anything related to hooking up, mounting or making your electonic toys work right (or better), check 'em out! Their cables especially are a fraction of the cost of what you would pay at Best Buy or even Wal*Mart, especially for HDMI cables! If you need to hook up that fancy new flat panel, please don't fall into the Monster (Cable) trap at Best Buy! Monster Cable is a great product, but 90% of the price is profit margin. Check out Monoprice or Blue Jean Cables instead. Great products that are reasonably priced.

Back to packin'...

Numbers are trickling in. No, trickle isn't the right word. Torrent? Tsunami? Anyway, the bids they are a comin'.

The nice surprise was the quote to run 220V from where the electric service comes into the house to the kitchen for a sub-panel for the rewiring. The kitchen is isolated because of goofy ceilings and no shared attic space. No crawl space or basement either. It's less than I was afraid it would be.

The plan for today is to order appliances since there is a 10% off sale that ends tomorrow. 10% adds up! That covers tax and then some.

We're also debating the sink. The front runner right now is an anthracite 1-3/4 bowl by Blanco and is made of Silgranit, which is an 80% granite content material. If you or anyone you know has experience with this type of sink, please let us know or post in the comment section. It looks great and sounds great, but first hand use is helpful. Here's a link to the sink: LINK

The only casualty so far is the demise of the wine fridge. As cool as it would be, that's money that can be used elsewhere. And really, do you need an expensive GE Monogram Wine Reserve to store Yellow Tail and Boone's Farm?

The previous pictures gave a broad view of the area involved, but like a fine piece of art, or a lab culture, you need to get up close to really appreciate the details. Here are some specimens.

King of Swamp Castle:

"One day, lad, all this will be yours."

Prince Herbert:

"What, the curtains?"

Since we aren't able to match these old plates,

we're stuck with buying new...

...despite the synergy between

the plates and the wallpaper.

If you'd like a hi res file of this for

your computer wallpaper, email us.

It was not 12:10 when this picture was taken.

Is this:

a.) A week old donut twist on a yard sale table?

b.) The brothel set of a low budget Western?

c.) The trim beneath our bay window?

Wood grained plastic of this quality

hasn't been seen since a mid '80s Buick.

The Before Pics

Ok all you rubber neckers and connoisseurs of mid-70's silliness, here are the 'before' pics.

This is an office area (approx. 10'x10.5') and a kitchen (approx. 11'x14') that will be combined into a single kitchen if all goes well. The pictures are numbered and there is an 'as-is' drawing at the bottom with lines corresponding roughly to where they were taken.

I cluttered up the rooms for the pictures to make it look worse. The house is usually immaculate.

1.

2.

3.

4.

5.

6.