The Petch House

The Spinning Blade of Death

2008-07-20T18:19:00.000-07:00

That’s what I call the monster router bit I bought to do the panels for the cabinet doors. I’m accustomed to working with little ogee bits and small rounder overs and straight bits. This thing must be 4-inches across and it has two sets of blades so it cuts the front and back of the panel at the same time.

I had to make a new fence for the router table because the original one was not big enough to accept this bit. I also extended the size of the table so the panel would have more area to rest on.

When you turn it on the bit makes this odd humming noise and creates a vortex that sucks in surrounding dust and debris. Then you kind of clinch up every muscle in your body and ease the board in to it. It cuts very nicely, but throws off incredible amounts of shavings and saw dust. Frankly, I was just glad when it was all over.

The good news is, the doors are done and they are hung. This was definitely a learning experience for me. I’m thinking next time I’ll make a template out of quarter-inch MDF or something. I can use the template for both the face frame and the door.

Now that the cabinet is done there is nothing standing between me and paint. The good people at FedEx sent me an email telling me my tin ceiling will be here by Friday. Unless they are filthily, lying bastards I can start to put that up next weekend. That is, if I can get the room painted by then.

After that I have the floor, and I need to rewire a ceiling fixture. Then this baby will be done!

Worst Doors Ever!

2008-07-19T17:31:00.000-07:00

Ugh! What a nightmare. I’m not sure where I went wrong, but these cabinet doors are not working. Unfortunately, I have so much invested in them (More time than money) that I must make them work. First they were too narrow, and, if the truth be told, and bit crooked. Fixing these issues took a lot of time.

I knew they were too narrow because I cut the rails a little short. Even before I glued them up I fit them in place and saw the problem. What surprised me was that they were a little crooked. The trick to making sure they are square is to measure the two opposing diagonals. I did that and they all came out at 42-inches. I think maybe as I tightened the clamps at the end something slipped. I’m not sure, but they needed to be fixed.

I trimmed the two ends to square them up. Its not so much that it will be noticeable, but it was time consuming. My table saw is not big enough so I had to do this with a straight edge and template bit on the router. It is a lot of clamp-trim-fit-clamp-trim-fit-clamp-trim-fit. Before you know it, half of your life has gone by.

I decided to put a 1/8-inch bead around the edges to make up for them being too narrow. Its called an 1/8th-inch bead but its actually a ¼-inch wide. I think the 1/8th-inch is the radius or something. Anyway, what I ended up with was more like 5/16th-inch wide trim around the edges. This ends up adding 5/8th-inch to the total width and height. This means I need to trim even more. Very, very time consuming.

To make matters worse, I installed the panels before doing all of this. With the panels in, these doors are kind of heavy and the back of the door where the panel is kept getting hung up on the edge of the router table. It just did not go smoothly at all.

Noooooooow I have them straight and with the bead on and they are a little too big. I’m talking very little here. One fits in the opening and will stay there with not visible means of support. It’s a little too snug. The other is equally as snug in width but won’t even go in the opening for height. Like I said, it’s a disaster.

So tomorrow I’m going to plane down the hinge side and bit and install the hinges and then I will plane down the other three sides until I get a nice fit. I’ll just keep 40 watt bulbs in the ceiling fixture and maybe know one will notice.

Maybe tomorrow I’ll tell you about the spinning blade of death {No, its not a Buffy thing}

Disastrous!

2008-07-15T22:29:00.000-07:00

It has been just one disaster after another. It is just unbelievable. I mean that, really. It is hard to believe that so much catastrophe could befall on one person in such a short time. Just when you think things are going to work out, something else happens that would cripple a normal person, but some how it works out.

Oh, I’m not talking about myself. I’m talking about Buffy. I’m part way in to season 3 and it is just one God Damned thing after another. Her boyfriend reverts back in to a vampire and its her fault. She runs away from home and ends up in the demon realm. She goes back home and gets crap from family, friends, and school. Then her boyfriend comes back and seconds later she is forced to kill him or it will mean eternal hell for all of mankind. And when she runs for home coming queen her new boyfriend breaks up with her and a half a dozen paid assassins come after her on the night of the home coming dance! I mean really! How much more can she take?!?!!!

What’s going to happen next? Her best friend will become a lesbian witch or something and she gets a make believe sister or something?!? You can’t make this stuff up people!!!

Oh wait, I guess you can. Still, its good theater.

On the plus side, I got the frames for the cabinet doors made for the butler’s pantry cabinets. This is my second time to make mortise and tenon doors and these came out way better than the first time.

If I had to do it over, the only thing I would have done differently is made the doors a bit wider and then trimmed them to fit after they were made. I think if these were a few sixteenths of an inch wider they would be better. Its good practice though. My tenons were nice and snug in the mortises.

Instead of painting last weekend I cleaned all of the crap left behind by a tenant in one of the two garages she rented. Three dump runs later and most of it is gone from the first garage, and the rest I will try to sell at a garage sale in a few weeks. The leftovers are nothing too spectacular. I think most items will go for less than a dollar. Its better than taking it to the dump, though.

I was able to get in to the other garage and it is not as bad, but again, its mostly worthless crap. There is a nice clawfoot tub, and I found 5 1920s doors that were originally installed in the apartments. They are in great shape and it was a pleasant surprise. Of course, they were leaning up against a shelf with 20 or 30 old, partially filled paint cans I need to deal with. Ugh! I’m beginning to feel like Buffy The Dead-Beat Tenant Slayer.

I’m hoping that I will be able to paint the butler’s pantry some time between now and the end of the year. I originally thought that I would have been painting last weekend, but that didn’t happen. I at least want to get the paint on before the tin ceiling arrives. If it happens I’ll consider that a moral victory. With my luck, it’ll arrive sooner than I thought.

Tin Ceiling Ordered

2008-07-13T12:54:00.000-07:00

After conferring with friends and colleagues I placed an order for a tin ceiling to go in the butler’s pantry. I’m going with American Tin Ceiling even though I despise their web site.

Originally the plan was to go with all panels and forgo any filler around the edges. The room is 8’3” X 10’6”. The panels are 2-feet square and it seems that that should just about work. The gaps at the edges would be covered by the cornice. The panels most likely have a little over-lap though, so I would loose a few inches. The big concern is the 10’6” length. If I loose a half inch per panel that pushes that gap out to about 9-inches (4.5 and each end). To cover that I would need to go with a larger cornice and I think the scale would look wrong for the room.

The filler is actually the same size as the panels so it seems like it would be a wash. However, there is a trim piece that covers the gap between the panels and the filler. The idea is (fingers crossed) that I can play with this at the edges to make it so the filler can actually fill the space it needs to. I’m not sure if that makes sense, or not.

Anyway, I’m going to do a 1X3 wood cornice, like the one I used in the bathroom and laundry room, which I will buy locally after the tin is up. If the wood cornice won’t cover the gap, I can always go back to a larger tin cornice. One way or the other it will get finished, but this way I don’t need to order a tin cornice now only to find out I don’t need it.

The big debate was about the finish. To be sure, “tin ceilings” are not really tin, they are tin plated steel. You can also get aluminum, but you pay more for that. Tin ceilings can rust and oxidize if left unfinished. The basic, unfinished tin panels run $7 to $9 each, depending on where you buy them. The one aluminum panel I saw was $14 and powder coat is $16. After that, prices for different plating and faux finishes rises quickly, ranging in price from $23 to $49 a panel. Of course, you can finish them yourself, but you really need to do both sides.

If you clear-coat the panels you might be able to get away with one pass per side. If you paint then it is primer and then paint, and most likely multiple coats. Perhaps if you live in a dry climate and you put in the ceiling up in a dining room or something you can get away without doing both sides. I live 8 blocks from the coast in a damp environment (Think Pacific North West). Not only that, but this room is below a bathroom. I would be one over-flowing toilet away from rusty seams showing.

Gary went to the trouble of sealing his seams with clear caulk after he applied a clear-coat. Very wise, but for me, it just seems better to go with a powder coat finish. Not only for protection, but also because I really don't want bright, shiny tin. I’m sure it looks great in many applications, but it is just a bit much for me. It looks too new.

So I went with Antique Sliver in Satin powder coat. It should (fingers crossed) look like a tin ceiling that has been installed for several decades. Still metallic in color, but not bright and shiny, and it will be very durable. Delivered to my door the total comes to $410. The panel below reflects the Antique Sliver powder coat finish I'm getting. The filler is unfinished tin. You can see the difference.

Panel

Filler

Molding

Tin Ceiling Quote

2008-07-09T19:25:00.000-07:00

For the uninitiated, a tin ceiling is made up of several parts. Basically, you have the panels that cover most of the ceiling. These panels come in 2’X2’ sections and have a design pressed in to them. If your room is not an even numbered of feet wide and long you need filler pieces at the edges. These filler pieces may have a design in them, but they can be cut down to fill any gap and still look good. After that you have nosing and cornices to cover the gaps where the field meets the filler and where the filler meets the wall. All of these pieces come in 4-foot lengths. You can also do center medallions.

In my case I got lucky. The room is 8’4” wide and 10’6” long. I will use 20 panels to fill most of the ceiling and then a cornice to cover the gap where the panels meet the wall. I won’t need filler or nosing. So I went to 2 sites to get prices. Brian Greer Tin Ceilings and American Tin Ceiling. Both sites have their positives and their negatives.

Brian Greer Tin Ceilings is a better site, I thought. It is well laid out and easy to navigate. The problem is they don’t have pricing on the site. You must use a web form and submit a request for a quote. I wanted to be able to try out different finishes and designs and play around with the numbers at the same time. You can’t do this. They offer a number of different finishes but they don’t go in to a lot of detail about them. The one powder coat finish is white {Yawn}. They also offer unfinished tin.

The American Tin Ceiling site I found confusing and difficult to navigate. Once I got the hang of it I could get the information I wanted, but I still found it awkward to use. On the plus side, they list prices. This includes close-outs and specials. All of their finishes are different colored powder coats except for unfinished tin.

The finish is very important because tin ceilings can rust if they are not finished properly. If you get unfinished tin you must paint both sides before installation. Powder coated finishes won’t rust, so all of American Tin Ceiling finishes are good. The one quote I got from Brian Greer Tin Ceilings that wasn’t unfinished or white powder coat was “Pewter Plated and Lacquered”. I’m sure this would be a good finish, but it ain’t cheap.

Here is the design I like. Both sites have many designs and many of them are the same on both sites.

The American Tin Ceiling – Antique Silver

4.5-inch cornice (This would also be in Antique Silver)

So here are the numbers…

Brian Greer Tin Ceilings
Unfinished Tin
$9.00 per panel
$10.00 per cornice
$398.00 delivered

White Powder Coated
$14.00 per panel
$15.00 per cornice
$548.00 delivered

Pewter Plated & Lacquered
$29.00 per panel
$32.00 per cornice
$1018.00 delivered

American Tin Ceiling
Unfinished Tin
$8.00 per panel
$12.00 per cornice
$440.00

Antique Silver Powder Coat
$16.00 a panel
$14.00 a cornice
$578.00 Delivered

I’m leaning towards The American Tin Ceiling Antique Silver Powder Coat

A Petch House Miracle!

2008-07-07T19:12:00.000-07:00

On January 25th, 2005 I walked in to The Blue Ox Mill carrying an 1895 head block that I needed to get reproduced. As I said yesterday, sheetrockers had destroyed many, and I needed others for new construction on the first floor of my house. I had a sinking feeling in my gut that day that they were not going to be able to do it. A few days earlier I had taken that very same head block in to Tim at Mad River Millworks and was told he probably couldn’t reproduce it exactly like it was.

The head block is elegant, and seems simple enough, but it is surprisingly complex to make. When I took it in to Mad River Millworks Tim looked at and turned it over several times. He’s not a real talkative guy so I stood there silently while he looked at it. He went back in to his office and pulled out a few books. He got on the phone and called a supplier of router bits, I assume. He made a trip out to the shop and rummaged around while I stood there quietly. After about 15 minutes he came back to me and suggested maybe it was made of several parts. He pulled out his pocket knife and scrapped away the paint on one side. Nope, it was all one piece. He finally said he wasn’t sure if he could make it. If he did, it would need to be made in 3 parts and then glued together. I left very disappointed.

So then on January 25th I took it to Eric at The Blue Ox and asked him about reproducing it. Eric is also not very talkative. Maybe it’s a woodworking thing. Eric looked at it from all angles and finally said, “How the heck did they do that?”. My heart sank. Eric muttered a few more things under his breath while I stood there quietly. Finally, I couldn’t stand it any more and I asked, “Well, can you make it!?!”. Eric looks at me and says, “If they made it 100 years ago, I can make it now”. He said he would need to study it and he would get back to me. I left the head block with him hoping for the best.

A few days later I got a message from Eric, or maybe it was his wife, Vivianna, saying they could make the head blocks. I needed to come back in so they could write up the order and I would need to leave a deposit. I’m sure I was in my car before the message finished playing. As I said, Eric is quite and usually looks like he is at the end of a long day no matter what time it is. When I walked in to the office he comes up to me with the head block and he’s very animated. He goes on and on about how complex the head block is to make. I think he said it takes 17 different steps to produce one head block. At this point, the important thing to me is that he can do it, and he did. A few weeks later I had a box full of new head blocks.

I know all of this happened on January 25th, 2005 because they wrote my name, the date, and the order number on the back of that head block I took in. As I wrote yesterday, now three and a half years later, I need 4 more of those head blocks. Three and a half years ago when I counted how many I needed I didn’t anticipate all of the changes that would happen in the house. So today I took that same head block back in to Blue Ox to get 4 more made.

In 2005, when I got the others reproduced Eric told me he documented – with photos – all of the steps it takes to make one head block. I felt confident I would get my head blocks, it was just a question of when I would get them and how much it would cost.

So I walk in to Blue Ox on my lunch break today with that same head block. Eric and the book keeper are the only 2 in the office. Eric is rummaging around for something. I hold up the head block and say, “Remember these? Would you believe, I need 4 more?”. Eric mumbles something to me – at least I think it was to me, and heads out to the shop.

A lot of time goes by while I stand there at the counter by myself. I pass the time trying to get Tanks attention. Tank is a cat that in the past has been very friendly to me. She is sitting on the floor of the office, not quite in the middle of the room, but not really off to one side either. It is enough to be in the way, for sure. She is not lying down, but just sitting there with her back to me. I whistle to Tank and try and get her attention. She turns and looks and is not interested. After a few attempts, she doesn’t even bother to look anymore. The bookkeeper tells me Tank is mad about something but no one knows what. I don’t give up, because I’ve got nothing better to do, but Tank wants nothing to do with me.

After about 5 or 6 minutes of standing there by myself my internal clock starts to wind down. I'm about ready to go out in to the shop and hunt Eric down. Obviously he had something on his mind but I’m on my lunch break here. Just then Eric comes back out of the shop with 6 head blocks just like the one I’m holding. In fact, they are my head blocks! They are covered in saw dust and they’ve been sitting in the shop since January of 2005! As it turns out, when he made the 40 or 50 head blocks for me three and a half years ago, he made 6 extra ones. It was as if they had the damn things in stock and all I had to do was go in and pick them up.

So now I’ve got my head blocks and the butler’s pantry is trimmed out. The bookkeeper hunted for the old order to find out what they charged me back then, but couldn't find it. They switched to a new system a few years ago, so the order number of the back of the one I brought in was useless. Finally Eric just says to charge me $25 each for them. That is exactly what I speculated I paid for them in yesterday's post. I could look that up if I really wanted to because I know exactly where the receipt is. I put it in the wall that I rebuilt between the kitchen and dining room where they installed a Murphy Bead in 1926. I could look it up, but I would need to demolish the wall to do it.

Trimmed Out…Almost

2008-07-06T18:13:00.000-07:00

If not for my lack of 4 head blocks I would have gotten all of the trim on today. I’m going to go down to the Blue Ox Mill and order them tomorrow. At best it will be a couple of weeks before I get them. Its not like it is the last thing I need to do in there. Still, the trim work looks very incomplete with out them. The odd mix of old stripped, old painted, and new unpainted trim in both redwood and poplar only adds to the unfinished look of the trim.

I have other head blocks that I had made a few years back, but they are all made from nice, old-growth redwood. I can’t be sure the 4 new ones will be as nice. Since these new ones will be painted, I’ll wait until I get them to finish the trim.

I also got the panels glued up to make the cabinet doors. I’m not sure how much more I will get done on that during the week. I need to buy a panel raising bit for the router, and I may need to modify the fence on the router table to accept it. I also need to make the rails and styles for the doors. I’m hoping I can get that done next weekend.

Mid week, I want to primer and paint. I’m going with SW’s Honey White for the trim, same as the kitchen, and I’m still thinking about the color for the plaster walls. I need to primer everything, and then caulk the seams of the beadboard, so realistically I won’t get to the plaster this week. Any thoughts on color would be helpful. Green is out of the question.

As soon as I post this blog entry I’m going to measure and pick out some tin ceiling patterns. This is a small, utilitarian room, so nothing too fancy. I’m looking at Brian Greer’s Tin Ceilings.

Coming Up Short

2008-07-05T17:22:00.000-07:00

Four yeas ago, or so, when I pulled down the 2 story addition, I salvaged most of the old redwood to use for various projects around the house. This was probably one of the smartest things I ever did. I have saved thousands and thousands of dollars in wood over the years because I was able to use all of this old wood in various projects.

One of the things I did with the 2X10 floor joists was to have new head blocks made for the ones that the idiots sawed off when they put sheetrock in the parlors. For those who don’t know, a head block is a very fancy, high-Victorian corner block. Most corner blocks are square with a bullseye or rosette in the center. The head blocks on the first floor of my house have an additional crown and rail detail to them. They stick up about 3-inches above the header casing. The bozos who sheetrocked over the plaster in the parlors felt it was too much trouble to sheetrock around the crown, so they sawed them all off. Thanks guys!

So I had these beautiful, old-growth redwood 2X10 floor joist that I took down to the Blue Ox Mill and had them make up a bunch of these head blocks. They weren’t cheap so I counted carefully what I needed and then I ordered 2 extra just in case. Well, I ended up using the 2 extra, plus 2 more in the bathroom and mud room. I also didn’t plan on the partition in the butler’s pantry, so I’m now 4 short. I need to get 4 more made for the butler’s pantry. I think they were around $25 each and I supplied the wood. This is proving to be an expensive little room.

Even though I still have a lot of the salvage wood, most of the good stuff for finish work is gone. What is left I need to save for the dining room cabinets. So today I went and bought clear fir to make the cabinet doors for my cabinets in the butler’s pantry. I needed some other supplies so the total was nearly $90. On the way to the lumber yard I stopped and put $51 in the gas tank. On Thursday I bought a gallon of primer, a gallon of paint, and a new brush for $62. Of course, I needed the Buffy The Vampire Slayer 7 season DVD collection for $140. No butler’s pantry would be complete with out that. Then another $40 in miscellaneous networking and paint stripping supplies on Friday. The one gallon of paint I bought is only for the woodwork, so I’ll need another gallon for the plaster. There’s another $30. Tomorrow I’m going to price the tin ceiling. I have no idea what that will cost. I think that will be the last big expense though, but it just goes on and on. There will be numerous trips to the hardware store where I’ll spend $10 to $50 at a time.

Fortunately, I got a letter today from the IRS telling me that my Economic Stimulus Check is in the mail. The letter said I should receive the check by the 11th and that’s less than a week away. I’m not sure why they didn’t just send the check instead of a letter telling they are sending the check. Anyway, I guess I should thank the Chinese for loaning my government the money so they can give me some money so I can go buy some Chinese import goods and then I can pay back the Chinese loan with interest through taxes.

Thanks….I guess.

The Legacy

2008-07-04T17:22:00.000-07:00

Six years ago when I bought this place it had some very funky people living in it. I mean funky with a capital ‘F’. I wanted nothing to do with them so part of the escrow agreement was that the current owners would evict all of the tenants before I took possession of the property. It didn’t go smoothly, and that is the main reason I did not want to inherit them.

There were tenants in the apartments, but there were also tenants renting the garages. On the last day before escrow closed I did a final walk-though with my realtor and one of the tenants was still in one of the apartments. This was a train-wreck of a woman. She was in her late 30s. She had not paid rent in 3 months. Her water and power had been cut off and in the dozen or so times I had been to the property during escrow she was shit-faced drunk. I mean falling down, slobbering drunk.

It was about 10 in the morning when I made the final walk-through and I told the current owner and his realtor that the deal was off and I was walking away if they didn’t get the tenant out. I told them I would be back after work and the tenant had better be gone. While I was at work, the owner rented her a motel room and a storage unit, and then hired some day-laborers and a truck to move her off the property. When I got back after work they sheepishly told me that there were a few tenants renting garages that they could not get a hold of. The owner and his realtor were literally holding their breath waiting to see how I would react. I reluctantly told them I would take the property and take responsibility for the garage tenants. How bad could it be, right?

Two of the garages where rented to a guy who stored two beautifully restored cars in them. He paid rent every month on time. I never laid eyes on him and one day along with his rent check was a note that said he was moving out. He said the cars would be gone by a certain day, and sure enough, on that day the garages were empty and I’ve used them ever since. A 3rd garage was rented to someone who never paid rent. One day I cut the lock and that lead to the long saga of The 80s Porn Closet.

The last 2 garages were rented to a woman, who it turns out only lived 4 blocks down the street. I didn’t know this at the time because all I was given a phone number and a first name. You can see that the rental agency that handled the property was a first-class operation. I made repeated phone calls to the number I was given to try and get a hold of this woman. After a few weeks the tone in my voice grew more stern and I finally left a message saying if I didn’t hear from her soon I was going to cut the locks and take all of her stuff to the dump. She called back that day. This sort of set the tone for our relationship over the past 6 years.

I won’t go in to all of the details of my relationship with this woman, but suffice it say, it has not been a good one. She is not an inherently bad person, she is just a flake. She is in her late 50s or early 60s. She smokes a ton of pot, and she is an extreme pack-rat. She has no sense of time or when she is imposing on someone. She always paid rent late - twice, more than a month late, and she would show up at my house and 9 or 10 at night to pay rent. She would show up and force me to stand there with the front door open while she wrote out the check.

I always wanted to kick her out, but if the truth be told, I needed the money. Not only that, but I knew it would be a major pain in the ass. She had rented these garages for more than 15 years. I tried to be nice, and cut her some slack, but I finally had enough of her antics. About 3 years ago I raised her rent and told her to only send the checks to the PO Box. As part of the new rental agreement I got a deposit, something the old rental company never bothered to ask for, and it was stated that if she was every late again it was an automatic 30 days notice. I figured she would be gone in a month, but I was amazed when she started paying rent on time. I honestly didn’t think she was capable.

Regardless of this, I knew her days were numbered. I told myself every 6 months or so, “This is the month! This is the month I give here notice!”. I never did. Finally, last year, I talked myself in to giving her 30 days notice on January first. Well, that didn’t happen. I did give her notice, but it was only last month. I walked down to her house in the second week of May and told here I was giving her notice on June first. She took it better than I thought she would. The garages were packed with junk and I wanted to make it as easy on her as possible.

There is a semi-vacant lot on my street and I arranged for her to be able to use it to have garage sales. I told here I was willing to work with her, but I needed to see progress. On June 1st I walked down and gave her the official notice. Immediately she started trying to get more time. I said no. I’ve given her what amounts to 6 weeks notice and that was more than enough time.

Weeks went by and nothing happened. Finally, a few weeks ago she started moving stuff out. She had some people helping her but it seemed to be going very slow. By June 30th, just 4 or 5 days ago, she had not even emptied one garage. I called her and asked what was going on. She was on here cell-phone while we were talking and she told me she was parked (on the sidewalk, as it turns out) near the garage. I went out and talked with her.

This was Monday. I told her I would give her a few more days but I had better see a truck and things moving. She assured me she had a truck rented and she would be out by Wednesday. I said Wednesday was fine, just get it done. I told her I wouldn’t charge her more rent (she never paid June’s rent) just move out. As I walked away she said, “How about Thursday. I’ll be out by Thursday”. I said fine, whatever – Thursday it is, JUST GET IT DONE.

When I got home from work on Wednesday there was a large Uhaul van but I didn’t see any people. I didn’t go over there to say anything. At this point I want her gone so bad, just the sight of her gives me knots in my stomach. I was thrilled to see the truck, but it would have been nice to see a steady stream of burly men carry boxes.

When I got home from work yesterday there was crap flowing out of the front garage and on to the sidewalk in front of the garage. I couldn’t believe it. There was no one in sight. I went to the other garage - the one she worked on first and opened it up and it still had some junk in it. It was basically a lot of garbage that she didn’t want, although there is a clawfoot tub in there.

I went inside and called her. I was pissed. I got her voice mail and I told her that I was finished screwing with her. She needed to get everything out tonight and that was it. She called me back and pleaded for more time. I told her to forget it. She needed to get over here right now and get her stuff out. At the end of the night I would be putting my locks on the garages and any thing that was left was going to the dump. This was at about 5:30. By 8:00 she hadn’t shown back up. All of the crap that was still sitting out on the sidewalk I tossed back in. I cut her locks off and put mine on.

I have no idea what is in either of them – aside from the tub. I have a $250 deposit that will cover the dump runs and June rent. It is just pain in the ass. I’m so glad she is gone. It probably won’t be for a few weeks before I will be able to go out there and go through all of the stuff she left. It is amazing how much is still in there.

In hind sight, it might have been better to be more pragmatic about it and give her more time. At least I wouldn’t have to deal with it. Being a pragmatist doesn’t help me to sleep at night though. I did what was best for me. I’ve already decided if she calls again asking for her stuff I’m going to ask for an additional $200 deposit and June’s rent. She will need to show up with a large truck and a few people. I will unlock the garages for 1 hour and if she can get it all out in that time I’ll return her deposit. I don’t think she could do it.

Hawkeye

2008-06-30T18:54:00.000-07:00

There was a little surprise waiting for me when I got home today. No, it was a big surprise. A very big surprise that came in a small package. A small UPS box was waiting on the front porch. Immediately I began to search my brain for any impending deliveries. Was there something I ordered that I had forgotten about? I couldn’t think of a thing.

I stared at the flat, square box as I unlocked the door and couldn’t think of anything I had ordered. My arms were full and I squinted at the label to see if it was in fact addressed to me. It was. I tried to see where it came from but the writing was too small.

After I unloaded on the floor of the foyer and went back out to get the mystery package. It was from HardwareStore.Com. Again I searched my memory for something I ordered. I mean, hardware store dot com, this must be something I ordered, but I couldn’t remember ordering anything lately.

Well, it turns out I didn’t order anything, but it was for me. It was a very unexpected gift from a blog reader, and no doubt a fellow plasterer. At some point I must have either complained about my crappy home-made plaster hawk, or maybe this thoughtful person caught a glimpse of it on a post. Either way, once you see my hawk, even if you’re not a plasterer, it is painfully obvious that I need a new one. Emphasis on the word “painfully”.

Here’s my hawk…

I made this about 5 years ago when I first put trowel to plaster in the upstairs bathroom. This was in my pre-blogging days. That is quarter-inch plywood with another quarter-inch of dried plaster on it. The handle is a piece of 2X2 with the corners knocked off “for comfort”. I’m a cheap bastard. I know it. What can I say.

To make matters worse with this hawk, one time it fell of the ladder with 10 pounds of plaster on it. The handle broke off when it hit the floor. Did I throw it away and buy a new one. Nope. I got a pair of pliers and unscrewed the now broken off screw. I then move the handle over an inch or two and drove in a new screw. Now, not only does it weigh a ton, but the handle is off-set so it lists to one side.

Plaster is heavy and holding any hawk for any amount of time takes its toll quickly. Using this hawk was brutal. I know it is. I think I’m both cheap and lazy. This is what makes me use a monstrosity like this for 5 years without replacing it. I think some of it has to do with the fact that I don’t feel like a real plasterer. Its like walking around with a tool belt on. Its not that the belt is uncomfortable, it just feels awkward to wear. Buying a real hawk is making a statement about how I feel about my abilities.

So Michael in Vermont bought one for me. He must have spotted a shot of mine on a blog post some place. No doubt something that would have gone unnoticed to most. It was just an unbelievably selfless, kind act. It was unexpected and made my week. Michael, I can’t thank you enough. The Blog-o-sphere is just a wonderful thing, isn’t it?

Here’s my new hawk….

This thing easily weighs one fifth that of my other “hawk”. Note the half-inch foam pad where the handle meets the plate. Notice how the handle is rounded with a tapered grip. This thing is a dream to hold. It almost makes me want to stop work on the butler’s pantry just so I can take this baby for a spin and do some plastering some place…..almost.

Michael, I can’t thank you enough. The next wall I plaster, this blog post gets stuck in the wall so future generations will know of your generosity.

Hard Wired

2008-06-29T17:50:00.000-07:00

It was not without its difficulties, and in fact, its not quite finished, but 99% of the work for home-networking is done. This required hours under the house over the past few days. That just gets harder and harder every year. I no longer refer to it as a “crawl-space”. From now on it will be called a “slither-space”. It is just brutal working under there. But its done, that’s the important thing.

First, the finished product….

I was able to get the trim on, but no doors yet. I hope to do that next weekend. The cabinet is 16-inches deep, so I can fit the printer in there and keep it open. On the top-left is the NAS and the router. You really can’t do anything with the NAS once its turned out, same with the router, so it should not be a problem having it on the top shelf.

Below that is the Stern box with all of the wires. I’m reasonably happy with it. The thing I don’t like are the little plastic tabs that keep the individual nodes in. I broke two putting them in. If I had to pull them out and move them I would most likely break more. Aside from that, they seem well made. This routs telephone, TV, and internet to 7 rooms.

The other issue are the face-plates that mount on the wall to hold the keystone jacks for phone, cable, and networking. The original one I put in the kitchen was sized for a GFCI faceplate. I could get a faceplate to match all of the other cast brass faceplates in the house. I can’t find those anymore. Everything now is the basic ivory faceplate. Its not the end of the world, really. All of these will be behind a piece of furniture, so you will never really see them.

Now for the problems. ...

In the parlor, back in the 20s, they mounted an outlet in the baseboard. In fact, all four outlets in the house they mounted on the baseboards back in the 20s. This means that for the sake of consistency I needed to mount the new box for cable, phone, and internet next to the outlet on the baseboard. I did not like cutting in to the baseboards, but it needed to be done.

The big problem with this is that the wall that the baseboard is on is the wall with the pocket door. It was just a really touch operation. And wouldn’t you know it, where I decided to mount the box was directly over a doubled-joist. It took forever to drill the holes and I broke one of my 54-inch drill bits. Those things are like $60 each. I eventually got the wires pulled, but what should have been a half-hour job took and hour and a half.

Once everything was in place everything worked except the networking. Phone and cable work fine, but I’m not wiring the CAT6 keystone jacks properly and it is really frustrating. I won’t go in to what I tried and why I think it doesn’t work. After reading several things on-line and trying to follow the tiny, tiny instructions that came with the jacks, I just sort of put it on hold for now.

I was going to call my brother and ask him. He did this for a living for many years. I was concerned that I would get in to an endless cycle of miscommunication. (No, with your finger in the top tab while holding the clip face-up, clip the white/green wire in to the clip at the bottom. No, face-up!). I’m going to take one in to work with me tomorrow and beg our net-adim for help.

Turn On-Tune In

2008-06-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

Ok, I’m not quite there yet, but its getting there. It is amazing how much you can get done with the warm weather and long days.

After mowing the lawn, I got the cabinet hung, mounted the Stern box, and installed 2 electrical outlets. They are just roughed-in at this point. If I had a ground coupling I could have finished the wiring tonight. Instead, I'll need to make a trip to the hardware store tomorrow for a 10 cent part. {Groan!}

Next I'll trim-out the cabinet with a cornice and a base trim, and then this weekend make the doors. After that, I’ll finish off the beadboard and start to think about the ceiling. Really, I should be thinking about the ceiling right now. I’m leaning towards a tin ceiling, which means I should order it now.

I also need to finish the floor, trim out the doors, and then paint. Its getting close.

Be The Brick

2008-06-23T22:14:00.000-07:00

Once or twice a month I look at the log files to see where people come from and what pages they view. It is interesting to see how people get to the blog, but it also gives me a chance to read some of the past posts. I can assure you, no one gets more entertainment out of this blog than I do.

Anyway, for some reason, May of 2006 was popular today. I didn't bother to dig in to the logs to find out why. It just seemed to pop up a lot in Google searches. This month contained a favorite post of mine. Its the last paragraph. I still laugh out loud when I read it.

May 3, 2006

Low-Tech /High-Tech

2008-06-22T16:32:00.000-07:00

I was able to get the California Cooler/Server Cabinet assembled today. It wasn’t too bad. Getting the first few pieces together is the hardest. Its kind of like herding cats. Once it gets stable though, its just a matter of driving in nails.

It will look better with paint. As I said in an earlier post, this was all made out of the remnants of beadboard that I salvaged from D&D Motors. Like the old California Coolers from the first half of the century, the shelves are slats to allow ventilation. The right-hand side will get another shelf once it is on the wall. I’m not sure if the left hand side will need one, or if there will even be room for one.

This cabinet will be hung on the wall were that Stern box is. I’ll need to see how much room is left once it is in place. That won’t be for a few days. I’ll pull the Stern box off, mount the cabinet, run an electrical outlet in to each side, and then put the Stern box back. Once I get the electrical done I can finish the beadboard wainscoting. After that I can start to make the doors.

Scraps of Scraps

2008-06-21T16:43:00.000-07:00

During the week this week I was able to get the panels glued up for the cabinet that will hide all of the telecom and home networking hardware for the house. The final dimensions will be 4-feet wide, 3-feet/8-inches high, and 16-inches deep.

I used the remainder of the salvaged D&D Motors beadboard for the panels. This is what was deemed unusable for the laundry room. I had several of the 10-foot lengths left over and I was able to glean enough 4-foot lengths for the side and center panels.

Then, the pieces that were not usable for that got ripped down to 3-inch wide pieces for the face-frame and back-frame. I’m not sure if “back-frame” is a technical term for the back of the cabinet, but in this case it is apt. The inside, back wall of the cabinet will mostly be the plaster wall. This makes it much easier to run all of the wires and electrical up in to the cabinet.

Then, what was left over from the face-frames got ripped down in to 2-inch wide, 2-foot long pieces that will make up the slat shelves in the cabinet. As I mentioned the other day, I’m borrowing an idea from the turn of the century to make this a vented cabinet so the hardware in the cabinet can stay cool.

The cabinet that will go below it is a salvage piece I originally bought for the kitchen. It is 42-inches high, 48-inches wide, and 24-inches deep. These cabinets will be just outside the laundry room and the height of this lower cabinet will make it nice to fold close on. At least for me, anyway. Both of them will be fixed in the corner and look like built-ins. I’ll trim out the upper cabinet with a 1X3 cornice.

Tomorrow I’m going to assemble the upper cabinet and then the last thing to do for the cabinet will be to make the doors. I’m going to do mortise and tenon, raised panel doors. I did this once before for the dumb waiter style door that separates the dining room from the kitchen. The practice will do me good for when I get to the dining room cabinets. The last time I raised the panels on the table saw. I’m going to do it on the router this time.

On The Home (Net) Front

2008-06-17T17:54:00.000-07:00

I got soooo lucky. Four years ago or so, when I rewired the house for electrical, I pulled two coaxial cable TV and 2 networking cables from under the house all the way up in to the attic. At the time I knew I would be doing this project, but I wasn’t really sure where the brain center for the house would be. I knew it was going to either be some place in the scullery or the butler’s pantry, so I bundled the excess cable under the house and strapped it to a floor joist. That is where is has been until this weekend.

So now came time to fish the cable from under the house and in to the wall I built a few years back. This wall divided the butler’s pantry making one third the laundry room and the other 2/3 the now slightly reduced in size butler’s pantry.

I picked a spot on the wall for the Stern Home Networking panel, drilled the holes and fished in the cable. I was sure I was going to be on my back in the dirt splicing cable. I just knew there would never be enough and I was dreading this job. As it turned out is was almost exactly enough. Each of the 4 cables that go to the attic made it in to the box with about a foot to spare. Whew!

In total there are 2 home-runs to the phone company's box. There is one home-run to the cable company's box. Then there is a network, phone and cable TV to both the kitchen and front parlor. And finally, the two network and two coaxial cables to the attic. These will get split to run to the four bedrooms.

Inside the box will be the distribution hubs I showed in another post a few weeks back. There will also be room for the router. I’m building a cabinet with no back on it that will hide this box. Once the cabinet is up I will run two electrical outlets in to the cabinet. This cabinet will also hold the NAS (the poor mans network server), and a networked printer or two.

Because heat build-up inside a closed cabinet could be an issue, I’m borrowing an idea from the beginning of the century. Remember the California Cooler (You can read about it here). That was designed to keep things cool with open shelves and vents to the outside. Instead of vents to the outside, my cabinet will have open shelving – slats of wood, along with an open bottom and top. With the doors closed it will look like any other wall mounted cabinet, but inside there will be plenty of air flow. I’m going to make it out of remnants of the salvaged beadboard I use for the laundry room.

That is the plan anyway. We’ll see how it works.

A-Door-ing Fans

2008-06-15T14:36:00.001-07:00

I got an interesting letter yesterday from some people who want to photograph my front door. Its not just my door that want to photograph, but rather they are recording many historic front doors in the city. I think it’s a great idea. I hope they will publish something.

My front doors – a pair of double doors – are really somewhat plain for the day. There is a 3-light transom, above 2, 30-inch wide double doors. Each door has a large glass panel at the top, followed by a single horizontal raised panel, and then 2 vertical raised panels below that. The glass panels are obscure glass, but not original.

I do wish I had painted my front door, though. It is the one thing on the house I didn’t paint 2 years ago when I painted the house. The doors need some work, and the plan was to take them off the hinges, fix them up, and then give them a proper paint job. I never did that, though.

You Know You’ve Been Restoring Too Long When…

2008-06-14T12:02:00.000-07:00

You know when you’ve been restoring your house too long when you open up a wall thinking that you’ve found new treasure, only to discover that it is something you put in the walls yourself for future generations to find.

That is exactly what happened to me. I’m always slipping little things in to the walls. Receipts and invoices are good. I won’t put a receipt for a tube of caulk from Ace Hardware in a wall, but maybe a receipt for some millwork I had made or some antique light fixture I scored. Old porn is also good.

You can see that one, lone green board next to the door in the picture above. There was a light switch installed there at some point, but I moved it to the other side of the room so it would be next to the door to the side yard. This was done about 4 years ago when I did a whole-house re-wire. At the time, I put a copy of an 1898 advertisement for Thomas Petch’s electric light shop that was located on F Street here in Eureka. I must have been doing a lot of research at time. Anyway, as you can imagine, I had long since forgotten that I put it in there.

Well, this week I wanted to replace that board so I could get rid of the hole cut for the light switch. This is 1X6, double-bead, tongue & groove beadboard. I got out the sawsall and cut down the middle of the board and then removed the too halves. You can imagine how excited I was when I pulled out the first half and saw a piece of paper behind the board.

Quickly and gingerly I removed the other half of the board so I could extract my newly found treasure. Oh, what could it be! Maybe it was a turn-of-the-century, tear stained letter filled with all of the juicy details of Mr. & Mrs. Petch’s divorce. Maybe it was an envelope filled with money that Mrs. Petch was trying to hide from her husband. Even though this is the butler’s pantry, this was were Mrs. Petch lived after the divorce when she opened up the house to boarders.

It could have been just about anything, but all it was was a Xeroxed copy of an ad I made and shoved in the wall 4 years ago. It was not only disappointing that it wasn’t something old and really neat, but the realization that I’m to the point finding the things that I put in the walls was a bit much at the time. I stopped working, poured myself a glass of wine, and collapsed on the couch thinking to myself, “Holy crap! I’ve been doing this a long time”.

PS: I shoved the ad back in the wall before I put the new board on. If I ever find it again, I'm walking away from the house and never looking back.

100th Window

2008-06-07T16:27:00.000-07:00

That is not how many windows I’ve restored in this house. Although, when I get to that job, that is how many there will seem to be, I’m sure. No, that is the title of the CD I listened at least 3 times today while I stripped the last of the beadboard in the butler’s pantry. I’ve listened to all or part of this CD every single day for the last 4 months. I have it in the car and in the house and I am absolutely addicted to it.

The group is Massive Attack. If you’re not familiar with their music you may have heard them if you’ve every watched the show House. I personally can’t stand the show, which may not be all that accurate, because I’ve never really watched more than 10 minutes of it. I’m not sure if they even still do, but a few years back when it first came on I tried to watch it because they used the Massive Attack song Teardrop during the opening. I made it 10 minutes in and never turned it on again.

The boards are for the butler's pantry, but I’m stripping the last of them on the floor in the dining room. This is the most time I’ve spent in this part of the house in a long time. Several years ago, in my pre-blogging days, it almost seemed as if I lived in the dining room. I spent more than 3 months stripping all of the paint off the burl and curly redwood dado that extends 3 or 4 feet up the wall all the way around the room. I was only working a few days a week back then. If I did that job now it would take more than 6 months to complete.

Work came to an abrupt halt every Saturday for 2 hours while Buffy The Vampire Slayer came on. I never had full cable, so I missed the first 3 or 4 seasons of the show. Then, the local Fox affiliate picked it up and started showing all of the first seasons in order. The odd thing was though, they would show two seasons at the same time. The first hour would be season one and then the second hour would be season two. After they ran through those they then started in on season three and four. This continued through all of the past seasons.

At the same time they were also showing the current season at something like 7:00 PM on Saturday’s. So every Saturday I watch 3 full hours of Buffy The Vampire Slayer from 3 different seasons. I was so in to the show, I had no problem following the plot lines of three separate seasons at the same time. The current season also aired at Midnight on Wednesday. I always recorded it just incase I couldn’t catch the 7:00 showing of the same episode on Saturday. When they aired the series finale, I set may alarm for midnight and got up and watched as it aired. Of course, I watched it again on Saturday.

I wasn’t really a big fan of Sarah Michelle Gellar (a.k.a. Buffy) before I started watching the show. The show got a lot of press, but I had never seen it. I really only knew her from a cosmetic commercial she was doing at the time. I thought she was reasonably cute, but wasn’t sure what all of the fuss was about. After I started watching show I saw her in a whole new light. Her character was troubled and flawed and had the weight of the world on her shoulders. Even I could relate.

Recently, the show and Sarah Michelle Gellar keep popping up, and I’m back in the dining room where I watched 7 seasons of Buffy while sitting on the floor amid piles of paint chips. Two weeks ago there was a commentary on NPR by a female reporter in Iraq. She talked about how she became hooked on the show while she was stationed in Iraq. She couldn’t really do much at night, because of the violence, so she bought the DVD collection of the show and watched start to finish. She talked about how she saw parallels between her and Buffy.

A few nights ago I rented a movie called Air I Breath staring Forest Whitaker, Andy Garcia, Kevin Bacon, Brendan Fraser, and Sarah Michelle Gellar. I’m not going to say it was a great movie, but I enjoyed it. It was nice to see Sarah Michelle Gellar on the screen again.

Then this morning I read in the paper about a three-day academic conference at Henderson State University in Arkansas. The focus of the conference will be Buffy The Vampire Slayer. The article said more than 90 academic papers about the series will be discussed at the conference. I would love to go. I've never been star struck before, but I love Sarah Michelle Gellar. I want to marry her, but alas, its not to be. I’m stuck here stripping paint and she is off in movie land some place, no doubt married in real life. Maybe even with a few kids by now. I may need to go out and buy the DVD collection of the series just to get my fix, though. I’ll watch it properly this time. Start to finish, in order.

The Nominating Process

2008-06-05T19:28:00.000-07:00

I heard back from the Office of Historic preservation this week about my nomination to add The Thomas D. Petch House to The National Register of Historic Places. As I suspected, I was asked to make some changes to the application. Most would not be too difficult to do. Basically, I was asked to move some things around and to clarify a few points.

Some of the request are nearly impossible to fulfil, though. For instance, there is no way to tell when the garage/apartment structure was built, yet the hand written notes on my write-up seem to indicate they want proof. I’m not really sure if I should not include it or just say I don’t know. There are no records that prove exactly when it was built. Also, I stated that the period of significance is 1895 to 1926. The 1926 is because of the garage structure, but I was told that the period of significance should end in 1920 when the house leaves the Petch family. Again, should I not include the 1926 garage/apartment building. I’m sure this could be cleared up with an email.

Other things are odd, though. According to the hand written notes, if I don’t explicitly say something is original it is questioned by the person who reviewed the application. For instance, when I describe the wrap-around porch there is a hand written note, “original?”. This is a little confusing because I plainly state what is not original to the house, so it would seem intuitive that everything else is original. I’m not sure if I’m supposed to explicitly say what is original and what isn’t. Do I itemize every window and stair tread? It seems that if I clearly state what is not original I should not need to state what is original.

Again, this is minor stuff and I’m not really dinked that much. They do say that “The physical description is very well organized and detailed”. Another odd thing, though. I’m told that “The statement of significance must begin with a summary paragraph stating which criteria the property meets and the level of significance”. I broke this up in to three short paragraphs, which was a mistake I guess. I was going for both the architecture and the a significant person. Maybe it would just be a matter of taking out some line breaks. Again, very minor stuff and easily fixed.

There were a few things that were not minor and not easily fixed. First, the reviewer did not think I made a strong enough case that Mowry was the architect. I will admit that the association is tenuous. There is no “smoking gun” that proves that Mowry built the house, yet the circumstantial evidence is overwhelming. I would either need to delete all of this, or go on what would be an almost certainly fruitless search to find something that says that Mowry built the house. Another house just down the street is on the National Register and it claims that Mowry is the builder/architect. Some question this around town. I’m not sure where they got the proof for this. Mowry was prominent enough that there may be an archive some place, but I’ve never found it, and no one I know has ever seen anything like it. I’ve been in every archive in the county.

Also, the reviewer did not think that Petch was significant enough to warrant being considered for Criterion B. Another way to look at it is that I did not make a strong enough case. This is another area where there just is not enough information available. Unless I just start making things up, there is really nothing else to add. Maybe I could embellish all of my paragraphs and stretch it out, but I don’t think that is what they are looking for. Again, either a lot more research needs to be done, or it would need to be removed. I don’t know where else to research. It is a small county with few resources.

The last issue that would be a stumbling block is the photographs. This was the most puzzling because the reviewer said my photographs did not meet the standards. What is most puzzling about this is that I bought a printer, ink, and paper that is listed on the National Parks Service web site as being acceptable. The person who reviewed did not really say how they came to the conclusion that my pictures did not meet the standards, she just said, “The photos do not meet The National Park Standards. If the photos are digitally produce they must be printed with the combination of papers and ink that are recommended by the NPS”. This is the only one that really made me mad. Instead of asking how I produce the photographs, I am just old that they don’t meet the standard. It’s just, you know, give me the benefit of the doubt. It goes a long way.

As for the photos, I think that is just a mistake on their part and could be cleared up. As for the Petch and Mowry connections, I’m left with the choice of taking it all out, or at least not trying to make the case for it, or spend a lot more time researching. Neither of those things is appealing right now. I know Mowry is the builder/architect and he should be recognized. I also feel that Thomas Petch should be noted for his early work with electricity in the county.

Do I cave in just so I can stick a feather in my cap. I don’t think so. It seems it is better to withdraw the nomination until the facts can be found to prove the case I know is right. I don’t have the time or the emotional strength to go back in to a researching mode right now. I wrote the following in an email to the woman at the Office of Historic Preservation that reviewed my application…

Thank you for getting back to me about my nomination of The Thomas D. Petch House to the National Register of Historic Places. Rather than make the changes you’ve requested I’ve decided to withdraw my nomination. I am in the middle of a crucial part of the restoration and I don’t think I will have the time this year to do the research and complete the changes you requested.

I doubt I will be resubmitting the nomination in the future. I have found after 6 years of working on this house that it is not so much the end results that I enjoy, as much as it is the process. Teaching myself traditional plaster work was much more enjoyable than the finished walls. Teaching myself to make cabinets is more enjoyable than using the cabinets. In this same light, doing the research on the house and submitting the nomination was far more enjoyable than actually getting the house on the register.

It is interesting that after 6 years of research and working on the house, after literally uncovering the hidden past of the house, I found that I almost forgot about the nomination once the package was in the mail. It is the journey that I enjoy and not so much the destination.

I'm going to give my nomination and the reviewer's notes to the The Heritage Society and someone else can take up the cause in the future. Honestly, it's not that important to me any more. I had my fun. I got to do all of the research.

The New Acquisition

2008-06-02T17:47:00.000-07:00

There was a time when I could calculate board feet of lumber. If push came to shove I could still figure it out with a little effort. Even so, I’m not sure I can do it with this chunk of wood. Instead, I must calculate by weight. It weighs 85 pounds, and I paid $50 for it, so that comes to .59¢ a pound. Not too bad for old-growth, curly redwood…..I guess.

I’m constantly thinking about the cabinets I’m going to build in the dining room next month. I’ve been buying curly and burl redwood off and on for the past few years in preparation for the project. Last week I was looking at the pile of wood haphazardly stacked at one end of the dining room. It is really tough to figure how much wood is there once it is milled down because I’ve never actually done that before. Regardless, I decided it wasn’t enough.

I had purchased a few pieces off Ebay in years past so I headed back to the computer. A quick search brought up a much better selection than I remember seeing in the past. One of the big sellers on there now has an Ebay store and he lives in the next town! This is great because before I was buying from Oregon and Fresno, which means shipping charges, and wood is heavy. The tourist traps that sell it along the highway around here are absurdly expensive, so there is no way I would buy from them.

He had one big piece – the one I bought – that weighed 85 pounds and the auction was ending in 6 hours and had no bids. Just to test the waters I put a bid on $1 over the opening bid. If I got it, great. If not, I would get some idea of what the going rate was. I think due to the size I was the only bidder. I got it for $49.99. Of course, I was able to pick it up, but if I hadn’t, the shipping on it would have been $75. It is a little over 5-feet long and it just barely fit in to the back on my VW GTI.

The wood is great and the grain will be perfect for the face frames. The best part though, is that I now know of a reliable and affordable local source for curly and burl redwood. My fear was that I would get in to this major project – the cabinets will be 8-feet wide and 8-feet high – and not have enough wood. Now, all I need to stress about is making the cabinets, and trust me, there is enough stress there already.

Smooth as Silk

2008-06-01T10:00:00.000-07:00

If you think this is about my newly finished plaster walls in the butler’s pantry, you’re wrong. I’m just sitting here, just as I do every Sunday morning, knocking back a few shots Kessler Blended Whiskey. Hmmm, this stuff really is a Smooth as Silk.

Kessler Blended Whiskey Description "Smooth as silk." One of the best-selling blended whiskeys. Simply terrific!
Kessler Blended Whiskey Ingredient at DrinkSwap.com

It just so happens that my newly plastered walls are smooth as silk, as well. What an odd coincidence, don’t you think. Here I am enjoying my morning shots of Kessler’s Smooth as Silk Blended Whiskey, and in the next room there are my smooth as silk plaster walls. It doesn’t get any better than this.

My hopes of finishing the plaster job in the butler’s pantry mid-week were dashed. It was one of those weeks where I just had no energy at all. It’s too bad really, because the skim coating is the quickest of the three coats. All together I would say I spent about 7 hours, start to finish on the plaster work in the room.

As with the bathroom, there is no need for sanding the walls after the final coat goes on. I must say, I’m really getting pretty good at this plaster work. If I’ve learned one thing over the past few years about doing a traditional, 3 coat plaster job, that would be: Don’t Panic. Just take your time, and keep working at it. Eventually, the walls will be Smooth as Silk.

OH MY GOD!

2008-05-30T21:53:00.000-07:00

I didn’t even know I was in the running!!!!! My email account have been picked!!! This is one of those surprises in life that catches you completely off-guard. I can’t believe I won!!!!!!! Naturally, I sent off all of my information instantly after receiving this email tonight.

I think things are going to be a lot different around the old Petch House from now on. How did the Beijing Organising Committee find me???!!!! It must be an act of God!

Thank you BOCOG!!

<<-THE EMAIL->>

Beijing Organising Committee (BOCOG)
267 Bei Si Huan Zhong Lu
Haidian District
Beijing 100083, China

Dear Lucky Winner,
We happily announce to you the Draw results of the of the The Beijing 2008 Olympic Committee Online Lottery Awards held on 27th of May 2008 by the Beijingl Olympic Committee, your email account have been picked as a winner of a lump sum pay out of US$1,000,000.00 in cash credited to file REF NO. REF: BOC/74-A0802742007.

All participants for the online version were selected randomly from World Wide Web sites through computer draw system from all the participating country's, associations, and corporate bodies that are listed online to create more awareness for the Games of the XXIX Olympiad. Please note that your lucky winning number falls within our South-East/Middle East Asia booklet representative office as indicated in your play coupon. In view of this, your US$1,000,000.00 ( One Million United States Dollars Only) would be released to you by any of our payment offices in South-East Asia.
Your payment file falls within the South-East Asia Payment office. To file for your claim, please contact your Claim Processing Officer immediately with the below information.

Contact Person
Mr. Uon Sally
South-East Asia Claim Officer
Century Finance Security
Office Email: uonsally@mfe-gov.org
Private Email: uonsally@live.com
Telephone No: +855 11412946
Send the following informations along;
1. Your Full Names
2. Contact Address
3. Nationality
4. Country of residence
5. Age and Current Occupation
6. Direct Phone and Fax Numbers.
All winning must be claimed not later than June 30th, 2008. After this time all unclaimed funds will be returned to the Local Organizing Committee of The Beijing 2008 Olympics.

Please note in order to avoid unnecessary delays and complications please remember to quote your File Reference Number BOC/74-A0802742007 when contacting the payment office. You are to keep your File Reference Number away from the general public to avoid the case of double claiming by unauthorized individuals.
Congratulations!!!

Mr. Qi Liu
Director, Awards Promotion
Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee
NOTE: DO NOT REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE, CONTACT THE YOUR CLAIM PROCESSING OFFICER WITH SUPPLIED INFORMATION ABOVE.
***************************************************************

What Can Brown Do For you

2008-05-26T16:28:00.000-07:00

I wonder if I’ll get sued by UPS for that blog title? Either way, what brown can do for me is to put me one step closer to being finished with the plaster work on the butler’s pantry. I was able to get the brown coat on today and it went pretty smooth. No pun intended. The idea with the brown coat, as best I can tell, is to get the walls to the proper thickness and to get them reasonably smooth.

The scratch (first) coat is almost straight StructoLite. The StructoLite has the perlite in it and it makes for a very coarse surface. It is called the “scratch coat” because in some applications the plasterer will actually scratch the surface before putting on the brown coat. This improves adhesion. If this were a stucco job I would probably have the brown coat with some sort of texture and this would be the end. I will be putting on a finish coat of straight Diamond Finish Plaster. The finish plaster is lime, gypsum, and dolomite and reminds me of Plaster of Paris.

The brown coat is a 50/50 mix of the StructoLite and the Diamond plaster. You can get it almost perfect with one pass. I leave it like this – a little coarse – to give the finish coat something to grab on to. The finish coat is very thin, maybe a 1/16th of an inch, and goes on very fast. I’m left with almost a full bag of finish plaster and about a quarter of a bag of StructoLite. That’s pretty damn good, but I think I’m going to need another bag of the finish plaster. I think it will take about a bag and half to do the room.

The work today was much easier than putting on the scratch coat yesterday. It was the same amount of wall surface, but required more finesse and less grunt work. The finish coat is even more finesse and less grunt work. I’m not sure if I mentioned it or not when I finished the plaster in the bathroom, but there was no sanding involved once the finish coat is on. That, to me, is the best aspect of plaster – No Sanding!

Itchin’ To Scratch

2008-05-25T16:18:00.000-07:00

I got the scratch coat on the walls in the butler’s pantry today. Man, was that a lot of work. This is now the second room that I’ve done complete plaster job on, or at least it will be when I finish it. The upstairs bathroom was largely a skim coat job. The kitchen had some major patching, but there was only one wall that was a complete do-over. The downstairs bathroom was my first complete job.

This room is twice the square footage as the downstairs bathroom and the ceilings are a foot and a half higher. My arms just feel like rubber right now. I recall being a little sore after the bathroom, but not like this. The worst part is holding the hawk full of plaster. It gets heavy and my homemade hawk is not the most comfortable thing to hold. Then, squishing the plaster in to form the keys takes a lot of effort. In the bathroom I was working with traditional lath and you actually needed a soft touch. With this old redwood plaster board you really need to force the plaster against the wall to get it to fill the dove-tail grooves.

All in all, though, it went well. I have less waste with each plaster job I do. I bought 8 sacks, plus I had a half of sack left over from the bathroom. Today I went through 3.5 sacks, so I should be in good shape. I may end up buying another sack of the finish plaster. Tomorrow I’ll do the brown coat, and then do the skim coating throughout the week, next week.

If that happens, then next weekend I start pulling cable for TV/Phone/Network. It shouldn’t be too bad. All of the upstairs stuff already terminates under the floor just under this room. I also need to build a cabinet for the networking stuff, and finish stripping the paint. I need to decide on the ceiling, as well. I might do tin, but I’m toying with another idea. After that it’s the floor and paint. It could be another six weeks before I start on the big dining room built-in. Ideas are still percolating about that.