Well, I didn't finish everything I set out to do before lunch, but it was a successful day. I started out by wrapping up some of the electrical - so little left to do!! I had a conversation with Jake last night in which I learned about something that I had done wrong - some of my junction boxes would be inaccessible once the wall was closed up. Hey, it's not like I went to school for this or anything! I promised him I would rectify the situation, and I did, even though it added about an hour of work and removal of some paneling that wouldn't otherwise have to come down. The result is that I won't have to tear the whole thing apart if I ever want to get into the junction box - the logic makes sense, but I missed it somehow.
Then I got to do some fun stuff. I re-hung the exterior fixture that I had taken down to do the siding on the front porch. When I took it down I realized it's not ancient, the stickers are inside that show it's probably only a few years old. But the thing is incredibly rusty, which is the way things get in the beach air, I guess. Looks good huh?
Then I hung the foyer fixture, which is one of the ones I found at St. Vincent's thrift store for $10. It looks weird here - I straightened it up later. It's going to be a headbanger, for those of you who are over 6' tall - I'll probably have to put a table underneath it or something. This is as high as I could get it. After seeing this picture I decided that I'm going to start tomorrow with a little window cleaning - Oy!!
Moved on to some other wiring projects, a few switches that I forgot about yesterday, and the outlet for the oven. This little guy really put up a fight - there are four wires (#6) which are almost as big as my pinkie. They are supposed to be 6" long when you attach them to the outlet and then you have to twist and push and force them to behave before you can screw those little screws in the front. What a wrestling match that was! He's now safely behind bars. Jake and Bobbie are going to visit tomorrow and I'm going to have him supervise putting the other end of that wire into the breaker box in the basement. He knows the number for 911.
After lunch, I moved on to some fun stuff - straightening up!! I had been making piles of wood all over the house - cypress siding, yellow pine ripped out of various places, new wood that was left over from miscellaneous projects. I went through it all, including the old siding that Steven and I had tossed off the porch by the side of the house. I decided what to keep and pulled the nails out of it. Here is some of the wood I will need to re-trim the door opening when this door is reinstalled in its final resting place. I'm going to break out the heat gun and see how much paint I can get off, and Dave is going to help me do some repairs on the door before it's put back in.
This is the load of wood I brought home tonight to throw by the fire pit - it's been so hot who feels like having a fire!? I have so much wood I am ready for a little cooler weather.
This a view of the living room wall, where the door was closed up. The cypress siding is on the outside, and I need to replace the paneling on the inside. You can see one piece in place there on the left, which happens to be a little thicker than the original stuff but once it's caulked and painted it will be barely noticeable. I'll be darned if I'm going to order specially-milled lumber for every project in this house!! (No offense, Dave). I was going to finish this today, but decided I'd better get the piece of baseboard first since it's under the paneling not on top - go figure. On the left side of the door you can see the little junction box that I moved to keep the inspector happy. It will have a solid switch plate cover when everything is done.
OK now for some real exciting stuff. Number one: the AC guys are supposed to show up at 9:00 tomorrow morning! I can hardly wait. This is big, folks!
Number two: I got a call from Marilyn, the Realtor who sold me the place, on the way in this morning. She also happens to represent the people who own the burned-out building next door. She told me that the City is going to level the place Monday or Tuesday - and if I want the lot, I should put an offer in as soon as possible... I'm thinking about it, it all depends on the price. If it's too much for me, maybe one of you out there in blog land would be interested? I'll keep you posted. I'm planning my first sleepover there Monday night - that way I'll be sure to catch all the action. Maybe I'll do another video for you, shorter this time so it's not so garbley.
No comments:
Post a Comment