After all the build up, I hate to tell you that the building next to Grandview did not get torn down today. Could it be that my source's sources missed something somewhere? That's just the way it is sometimes. I'm still hopeful for tomorrow - it's been 30 days now since the fire.
I have to start with what happened over the weekend. Roscoe was scheduled to go in for his "Pet Visitation" evaluation with the behaviorist at the SPCA on Friday. I gave him a bath, trimmed (and filed!) his nails and even scrubbed out his ears. Loaded his tea-tree-oil-smelling butt in the car and then the phone rang - the woman who was to evaluate him was home sick! All cleaned up and no place to go! However, within minutes Dave called about the front door. He suggested that he pick up the door and take it to the shop/door hospital where all the groovy tools are, and of course I said yes! Roscoe and I visited a few yard sales, and then met Dave at the house to give him the door. I have to tell you a little about this door, and why I want to save it at all. First of all, it has that cool old-timey wibbly glass, which I think I learned somewhere is because glass is a liquid even at room temp and it's always sagging - the older it gets, the more ripples are in it. I think that's so awesome. Plus, it's one heavy SOB! I actually had to ask for help getting it from the porch to my truck. Totally worth keeping! Of course I'll wait until after all the inspections are done to reinstall it, because someone is bound to say it's not hurricane proof or some such malarky. Hey, it's lasted this long, hasn't it?
This is what the door looked like originally. The hole to the right is where the handle would have been, the deadbolt having been added later on. Back in the old days, the lock set would be a huge amount of machinery inside the door, so inside this area of the door was empty, and has been filled with a few different products - foam and putty type stuff - before modern day handles could be added. Thanks to Dave, it's going to be good as new before it's reinstalled but it's just a mess at this point.
This is the door with the router-bot attached. I think it was Doug who actually handled this part - Dave was supervising. I had no idea their shop was so technologically advanced!
This is Dave pointing to the block that was inserted to fill the void - in the hole you can see the special heavy-duty epoxy used to fasten the block. Once it hardens, and is sanded down - well I just can't wait!
Here's what the inserted block looks like from the top. So pretty:
So that was Friday. Today is Monday, and even though there was no demolition next door, the good news is that I got in early this morning, a fresh start after a wonderful three days at home. I was expecting the AC guys, and also Don... not sure what he would start on, but I was a little apprehensive about so much going on at once. Sean arrived first, and began the excavation of the left side of the back yard - just to see what was there and lay out a plan for the retaining wall. I'm going to have them use railroad ties over there, just for something different... I'm already feeling guilty about all the concrete that's going in. As he was digging, he found another old retaining wall like the one on the right side - so when Don got there he stopped working, because more excavation means more $$. Now I wish I had a picture of it, but you can use your imagination here ______.
We had a meeting and we're kind of hoping that maybe the guys that come to take the building down might not mind one more scoop of concrete chunks to add to their pile. If we ask nicely? I'm also going to hit them up for some of the landscaping rocks that are in the front yard - if I see them going into a dumpster I'll see if I can intervene.
Don and Sea shifted gears (the AC guys were already at work - they didn't finish so I have no pictures of that either) and went to get some fencing materials. Here they are putting some of the posts in - I think the whole neighborhood is going to want to come to my house if there's a hurricane - those things aren't going anywhere.
They made a lot of progress in a little time - here you can begin to see the outline of my little back yard. I love it! They put in a couple more fence panels, while I was working on some other stuff inside. Then Don came in and said the Code guy was out there and they shut him down - he said the fence was too high! OK, don't panic. I went out and we all talked. Mike (Code Police) said that we could only build 6' up from the street - which would mean cutting 2' off of that beautiful fence!! *take a deep breath* I was actually responsible for this - in my laziness I still hadn't been back to the City with my revised fence plan since the block wall went up. That's really tempting fate there.
So... The guys wrapped it up and I headed in to the City, armed with pictures and my most innocent "responsible new homeowner" face. I didn't walk in and say "what the heck are you guys talking about?", instead I put on my best Dale Carnegie, and it worked. I spoke to the head guy, Mark, and began by apologizing for not getting back with my revisions sooner. We went over all that, then I said that I decided on a 4' fence instead of a 6' fence, but someone said it still was too tall. He asked me one question: what is the level of the land INSIDE the wall, and when I said it was about a foot below the level of the block, he said I could go as high as 6' from there. Are you with me? In other words, I could put another foot on top of that fence with no problem. Phew!!
Here's a little bit of what I got done inside the house today. This is where the one living room ceiling fan had been attached - the one that was hanging by a toggle bolt? Looks like the "What Not To Do" picture in the ceiling fan installation booklet. I cut back the "drywall" which is really some kind of thick papery stuff they used to use back when. I knocked out that pathetic excuse for a ceiling brace, and ...
Here's what it looked like when I was done. Two braces between the joists, and one across to hold the fan box. I cut everything back enough that I can patch a piece of drywall in there. This stuff is so thin that I need to use something thinner than regular drywall - not sure if they make such a thing but I'll find out. The good news is that both ceiling fans were installed with huge decorative circle things that will probably cover any imperfections when it's done. I always like to think that Mike Holmes would be proud of me. He's my hero.
Then I moved on to install a ceiling fan that Jake and Bobbie had just taken out of their guest room, and gave to me over the weekend. I put it on the front porch - but for some reason it wouldn't turn on. It may have something to do with the way it was taken down - there were some wires to the light fixture that were cut. It will take a little analysis, maybe a call to Jake - I'm sure we can figure it out.
Maybe tomorrow some DEMO!!
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