Mr. Vincent van Gogh your canvas is ready.....

I have some wonderful news... The two monsters that have been haunting my house were finally removed by the tree busters. During the week of 14th of this month, the tree company came to the rescue. They certainly did an excellent job of removing both trees and cleaning up after themselves. The funny part was that my tenant had a day off when the tree company was on site. So to mess with me, she would send me text telling me that they were dropping branches onto the house. Needless to say, I decided to drive home at lunch time to see their progress…

However, when I got home, I ended up getting an ear full about the tree being removed. The tenant complained about the lack of shade and how the apartment will be much warmer. After about a half hour of seeing the progress and cleaning the blood from my ears, I decided to return to work. However, when I returned home later in the day, I heard some more about the missing tree and the lack of shade. I was however able to negotiate with the tenants that if I purchased some outdoor shades would she be suffice. So I did.

So you may wonder why I was so easy in getting the shades. Well I look at it like this. I’m in the business of having a home where everyone is happy. Thus, if everyone is happy, the house is not damaged for any reason. Also most importantly, rent is paid on time. But I should not fail to mention that the shades are considered an expense, thus a tax benefit. Everyone wins.

Now that they are happy, I guess I can show the reasons behind the complaints.

Here is picture of the tree in the process of getting cut down...

With the trees removed, there are a couple of added benefits. The pollen that came from the pine trees has subsided, sap no longer drips on the cars, and the risk of it falling on the house.


Let’s count the rings to see how old… I feel really bad cutting the tree because the tree has been around for such a long time. But the potential damage that it could cause will be no more...

However, this tree was a different matter. As you can see, the tree was completely eaten away from carpenter ants… I'm suprised it lasted this long...

The next thing will be to get the stumps grinded. But until then, this completes one more thing off the master list. But, now I can focus on the bathroom. I was finally able to complete the drywall sanding and mudding. The joint compound dust alone just sucks…

Once the joint compound dried and the sanding was completed, the room was ready to be painted. I had first prime the bathroom. The result of the primer made the walls take on the appearance of a blank canvas. The color that I decided to use to paint the walls was called “Raffia Cream”. The male definition of the color is actually called soft yellow. The trim color that I had used was "Cottage White" or rather just white... Not to bright or not too dark... Just White...

Here is picture showing the first coat of paint… After putting on the first coat of paint, I also decided to paint the ceiling with a white ceiling paint. The water stains on the ceiling are now gone. The picture is really not all that great... But soon you'll see...

The next thing on the list was the floor… Initially, looking at the floor I felt I could first remove the peal/ stick tiles, and then put down a new set of peal / stick tiles on top of the existing vinyl flooring... Of course that was the plan…

When I started to remove the peal/stick tiles, the vinyl floor started to peal up also. So I made the decision to remove the vinyl flooring. By the way, have I ever told you how I really hate removing wallpaper? Well multiply removing wallpaper like 5 times when removing vinyl flooring…Basically you’re on your hands and knees scrapping up the glue and vinyl flooring residue with a 3 inch scrapper trying to reuse the sub-floor. Don’t forget painting a glue removal solution onto the floor…

Here is a picture showing both the peal/stick floor on top of the vinyl floor. While I was working by the door, I instantly found leveling compound. It looked like the previous owner tried to build up the floor by using the compound… It’s a form of cement that helps in leveling floors. Here are the results from that… I have no explanation why it was built up… But I certainly know what is going to happen to it.


Of course I can never leave well enough alone… For some reason, I just love digging into things and finding problems… It’s going to be my downfall someday… Anyway, while I was working on the floor, over by the radiator, I discovered dry rot… The sub-floor was breaking apart as I was pealing the floor up. So I removed as much of the dry rot as possible until I found workable sub-floor. It also looks like the radiator may be sinking into the floor… Sounds familiar?

Although luckily, this radiator doesn’t weigh about 300 lbs..

I think the pressure vent that was previously used on the radiator didn’t help the floor. Basically the vent would allow water vapors to be sprayed onto the floor. Thus the floor would just absorb the water.

Most of the day consisted of scrapping and stretching… It became tedious. Once I felt comfortable that I removed enough vinyl and glue residue. I moved onto installing the mirror. I wanted to let the removal solution used on the floor dry before I put the new peal /stick floor down.

The next couple of pictures show the new mirror and electrical covers installed. The GFI and switch covers were painted with a dark spray paint that gives a hammered effect. Well enjoy…

The man in the mirror… Hey look, now I can shave without having to move my face. Anyway, the only thing left is the floor and window treatments… Also on a final note, the Vincent Willem van Gogh (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vincent_van_Gogh) reference is because of the blank canvas for the bathroom. But lately my left ear has been hurting. It actually feels like a bug has bitten me inside my ear… But no, I have not cut off my ear…. But it has crossed my mind… But, I’ve enclosed a link to read more about Mr. Vincent van Gogh, enjoy…

Anyway, I figure your going to ask, "Why did you put the reference about Vincent Van Gogh?" Well my answer is, I don’t know… It sounded interesting... Anyway, until next time... happy building...