Empty shelves....

Ever since moving into this house, I’ve been dealing with the heating system. Some of issues that I’ve been having are extreme water evaporation from the furnace, cracked radiator, incorrect air valves and a steam locomotive racing across the tracks trying to get Marty McFly back to 1995… It’s really not a locomotive, but when the furnace kicks on, steam builds up in the pipes and after several minutes a banging sound could be heard throughout the entire house. It is normal for steam pipes to bang when pressure builds up within them. But imagine a construction worker swinging a hefty sledge hammer against the pipes. Yes that is pretty loud… I normally don’t have a problem with the noise until about 5:00 o’clock in the morning when the furnace kicks on. I’ve mentioned this issue before; however, recently the noise frequency has increased.


Enough is enough; I finally decided to contact a furnace repair person. I had a company look at the problem about a year ago and their initial assessment wasn’t cheap. They had recommended that several pipes would need to be cut and adjusted. A co-worker gave me a recommendation of a person and it turns out that he was awesome.
Ken looked at the system and concluded that the air valves were damaged and need to be replaced.

Rusty hell...

At the time of the repair, Ken didn’t have the appropriate replacement valves however he had instructed me what was needed. Thus the hunt for the replacement valves was on…I first went to the local big box store with the orange sign and found nothing. I then went to two high end plumbing stores in Northampton and yet nothing… I knew then that the search wasn’t going to be easy, however, for a long time I’ve known of a place in Holyoke. It is a place that has always been helpful when the big box stores couldn’t come through.

The name of the company is Holyoke Supply Company on Race Street. They specialize in Plumbing equipment for steam, gas and water. On the day that I went to the store, the rain was coming down pretty hard as I walked up to the door. I noticed a for sale sign on the building. The significance of the sign didn’t hit me until I looked into window. The shelves were completely empty… I walked up to the door expecting to see a sign stating that the store is closed, but instead I found an unlocked door. As I walked in, I notice the entire store was completely empty. However, there was a desk off to my left with stacks of paper on it. Behind the desk was an older gentleman. As he rose from his desk, I noticed his tired eyes. I instantly knew something wasn’t right. I asked, “Are you still open?” I was honestly hoping that he was going to tell me that the company was moving, but instead he stated, “We are closed” We talked for a couple more minutes. But he never mentioned why he was closing… Except he did mention that, “it was easier to close then try to stay open.” I left the store wondering why, competition against the box stores or possibly the economic situation… I don’t know… But it was certainly a sadder day and the rain that fell was truly fitting…

Here is a picture showing the store front….

I was able to find the valves at another store. I went to Haberman’s Hardware Store on High Street.
I began the weekend by removing the wall paper in the kitchen.

Here is the lovely design of the wallpaper and the room layout.

As I was removing the wallpaper, I noticed how grimy the drop ceiling tiles were. I then decided to finally remove the drop ceiling completely and expose the tin ceiling. I mentioned the tin ceiling about a year ago. http://redcano.blogspot.com/2009/03/finally-some-motivation.html

Here is a wonderful list of things that I discovered as removing the drop ceiling.

The light fixture was not secured properly to the ceiling.

Over by the refrigerator there was a large portion of tin missing from the ceiling.

The electrical wiring not properly done, nice mounting board.

Damage tin

And finally, A large amount of mouse poop from the drop ceiling..
Yes I said mouse poop… I was so overwhelming that after taking the drop ceiling debris to the dump, I cleaned the entire kitchen until the entire mouse poop situation was removed… So disgusting!!!

After cleaning the floor and washing the dishes once again, I decided to remove all of the wall paper and fix the electrical situation. The main power comes in through ceiling and powers both the main light fixture and a light fixture over the kitchen sink.

The problem was that the wires were exposed for the world to see. So to minimize the cable exposure, I decided to install an external conduit that will house both cables. The conduit is also paintable, thus allowing me to match it to the tin ceiling when I paint it.

After installing the wiring, I then installed a new light fixture.

Now that the light fixture is installed, I plan on adding new crown molding. The problem is that I have to build it out further to cover the damage of the tin ceiling and walls. So that will be an interesting fix… I also have to come up with a fix for the tin damage away from the walls. So I’ll have to think that one out… Anyway, until next, happy building…

The five year plan in becoming a "Slum Lord"...

The world moves at its own speed. People and objects move around us in different direction. We learn to adjust and focus on ourselves without really understanding our impact in life. Many times we don’t know our influence onto others until many years later. I look at my little slice of heaven and wonder how my actions will influence those around me. I mention this because of my recent experience.

I promise I won't bore you with the specifics, but at the beginning of this year, it looked extremely promising in the romance department. It had occupied my time and caused me to neglected doing things around the house. Let’s just say, that little project is over... However, I’m truly not complaining. Seriously I’m not. Although it allowed me to catch up mentally and financially...

Around Christmas time I’d discovered that financially, I was running pretty thin. I had overlooked a couple of bills prior to purchasing some Christmas gifts. The break allowed me to catch up and refocus. Basically take control of my spending and get back on course with the house.
Since my last entry, things are starting to return to normal. The travelling for work has been helping. Kind of like a mini vacation from the house. So within the last two months, I’ve travelled to Boston, New Jersey, Connecticut, and Virginia. The mini vacations gave me a chance to clean out my mind and get away from things here. But most importantly catch up in the savings department. However, the traffic violation in New Jersey didn’t help.

Anyway, the projects around the house continue to stack up. But I’ve come to a point where I want to update the kitchen. I am truly ready to update the kitchen. So I think I’m going to pull the trigger and make it happen sooner than later. Before I talk about the kitchen, I guess it would be a good time to let everyone in on my five year plan. I feel like I’m reporting to the board of directors…

My goal is to rent out both floors and purchase a second rental property. Yes I said it, another property. But to accomplish the overall goal, I need to fulfill several things. Currently the schedule is to complete the first floor apartment this summer (I estimate sometime in August) and move to an apartment for a brief period of time. I recently spoke with couple of mortgage managers about this plan. Before I could get approved for a loan the banks like to see a positive cash flow for more than three years. Personally, I think the current economic situation doesn’t help. But I need to prove to the banks that I can generate a positive cash flow that is more than 75% of the current mortgage expense. Basically the rental income must be more than the mortgage, taxes and insurance.

So with me moving to an apartment, the new added income would cover both the mortgage and a good portion of the new rental. Depending of course on the cost for the new apartment. The benefits of having the additional income for one year, I will meet the three year positive cash income that the banks requires. After which time, I would purchase a second rental property and begin the process of possibly looking for a third home. Thus the five year plan…

Ok, to meet that plan, I need to finish several projects that are currently in progress. But the biggest project that I think that needs the most attention is the kitchen. Honestly I’m just tired of the prune hands after doing dishes...
Here are a couple of pictures of the current kitchen…

At first glance the kitchen looks pretty good… Right? Well look a little closer… First you may notice that there isn’t a dishwasher… The next thing you should notice is the drawer next to the fridge… Yes it’s missing… All of the drawers are off their tracks. Basically they are not working properly.

Yes the drawer is also missing in the above picture...

My plan is to replace the countertop and drawers. Install a new dishwasher, sink and faucet. The current faucet leaks pretty bad… For the cabinets, I think I’m going to paint them and update the hardware. They work pretty well. I hope to start removing the wallpaper and begin to paint this weekend… Ok until next time, happy building…

Happy New Year...

I would like to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year… May all of your wishes come true in the year 2010.

~Angel

The photos above are a collection from Saturday Evening Post covers. They represent the baby new year through the eyes of J.C Leyendecker. I certainly can not take credit for the wonderful photos. It was put together by: http://www.linesandcolors.com/2009/12/31/happy-leyendecker-baby-new-year-2010/

So much to do...

Over the last two weeks, I’ve been trying to finish certain things around the house before Christmas. Not sure if you remember, but I’m having family and friends over for Christmas Eve… Well I did have a couple of personal set backs, but nothing that was unexpected per say. But that is another story… I can say thou that this will be the first Christmas where I will have a Christmas tree in my home… So because of that I wanted to set a tone…I wanted people to look at my Christmas tree and say that tree looks classy with a hint of boldness. Thus I decided to decorate my Christmas tree with silver and white colors. I decorated the tree with silver and white ribbons that raced down from the star. The star is a wicker basket that was painted silver. The ornaments are glossy silver, frosted silver and white bulbs. I want to say that the picture truly doesn’t give it justice.
But here it is anyway,

Also here is a picture of the front of my house on the first day of snow, December 9th...


You can also see the first Christmas wreath on the front door…

Now that is out of the way, I can return to the front hallway, I first put in new ¼ inch Luan and then the new hardwood flooring. Here are the pictures showing that process… I rented a pneumatic air gun that is specifically used for hardwood flooring. Basically it uses compress air and a rubber mallet to install the nails into the hardwood floors.

Here is a picture with the new hardwood floor installed on the first landing.

Here are pictures taken later in the day with the new hardwood flooring installed throughout the rest of the room. I’m really impressed with the new flooring. But I was also pretty exhausted after installing that floor.

With that accomplished, I decided to start another project. I decided it was time to work on the back hallway that connects the living room, bathroom, workout room and kitchen. The walls were painted a teal green. The drop ceiling will someday be taken down. That is the ceiling with the tin roof underneath. But I’m going to wait on that adventure at the moment.

The light switches were….well I’ll let the picture speak for itself….

Yup…bears and a light house with a sail boat…
The flooring was the same laminate flooring that was in the bathroom (before I change it). The edges of the laminate flooring are pealing up by the living room..


The back door had the original paint on the glass that the previous owners did.


Nice job on the paint…

Anyway, I primed the room and painted the walls the same color as the bathroom. The wall trim is painted with a cottage white that also matches the bathroom.


I removed the bears and decided to replace the junction box and switches.

Well the next step is to remove the laminate flooring and replace it with more peel and stick tiles. I plan on using the same ones that were installed into the bathroom. Anyway, until next time, happy building…

Christmas is right around the corner...

Thanksgiving can be a relaxing time of year. I have to admit it is one of my favorite holidays. The origins of the holiday is said to be a harvest festival celebrated to express gratitude onto others. On that day I am thankful for football, beer, tons of food, laughs with family/friends and most importantly the midday nap…

However, this year may have ended with an unexpected request. I was at my sister’s house enjoying a wonderful Thanksgiving dinner when I asked, “Where are we spending Christmas Eve this year?” There was a slight delay, when my younger sister replied, “how about your place?” I attempted to shrug it off with “No, my house isn’t ready for anyone” But the chancellor (mom), also known as the Queen Bee, responded with “Yea, that is a wonderful idea… We’ll go to your house this Christmas” Then everyone agreed... I felt like I was just voted off the island…

The gears began to turn in my mind… What do I need to fix before people come over? I mean people have come over to visit, but not for any functions… I may sound a little put off about this, but actually, I'm pretty excited about the Christmas party being at my place. It gives me a chance to fix things before anyone comes over… Kind of puts a fire under my seat…

Anyway, upon my return home, I looked around and thought about things that I could work on. I had originally planned on remodel the kitchen over the Christmas break… Which I still might do, but it won’t happen until after the party. Then I looked at the front hallway… I had purchased hardwood flooring for that room about a year ago. The wood has been sitting around collecting dust…

I know I still have the living room to finish, but I’m a firm believer that the introduction of your home sets a tone for the rest of the house. Thus with that said, I began to evaluate what would it take to make it happen. The room already had a ¼ inch thick Luan in it. But what bugged me was that the room sloped down towards the radiator. With the history that I have with radiators in this house, I decide to remove the Luan and determine the condition of the floor.

Here is a picture of my nephew Fredy helping me clean the front hallway.

When I purchased this house, the front hallway had always been prepared to have something installed. The previous owners never informed me what they planned on doing to the room. But like everything else, I assumed they were planning on nothing…

I began to remove the Luan flooring and instantaneously realize the excess nails used. The previous owners used a nail every 1 inches of space. I knew I would be in trouble.

Underneath the Luan was the same laminate flooring that I removed from the workout room. After removing the laminate flooring I noticed that the planks near the radiator were extremely weak… Part of the planks had deteriorated away. I immediately contacted my dad for advice. I called him because I wasn't sure if I should jack the floor because of the slope. After talking with him it turn out that the slope wasn't as critical as initially thought. Basically what I do next is what he advised.

I had cut into the floor and removed three of the planks. The removal of the planks allowed me to evaluate the joists. Also look directly into my basement.


Here is picture showing one of the damaged planks.

The joist closes to the radiator valve was excessively rotted away. I created a level system using string. I tied the string in a “XI” pattern to determine how much did the floor sag. The result of my string pattern was not encouraging.

Here is a good picture showing the damaged joist and the gap between the joist and flooring.

As you can see in the picture, the gap between the floor joist and the string are about 1 inch apart. Per my fathers advice, I sistered all of the joists with 2x6 studs to level the floor and also give it strength.
The plank thickness is about 1 1/2 inches thick. I cut two pieces of plywood that were ¾ inches thick to occupy the space. I nailed the plywood flooring into place onto the new studs.

The flooring is now much stronger and closer to being leveled. Next on the list is to install Luan and then the hardwood flooring. Well that is all I have for now, so until next time, happy building...

It's brighter in here...

The last couple of weeks have been truly interesting. I’ve re-read my previous entry and realized that my mild depression of traveling may have been the result of me being extremely sick. For the month of September and October I had been getting my blood pressure reading done by the company nurse. The results were extremely high for both months (145/97 average). I had been concerned that I would be required to take medication to regulate my blood pressure issues. During the week of Halloween, about three weeks ago, I was having extreme back pains and a low grade fever (100.8 °F) so I went to the doctors. I was diagnosed with a kidney infection. For first week of November, I was laid up in bed doing absolutely nothing.

Since I was unable to do anything, I decide to contact someone to rake the leaves in the yard. Last year a landscape company own by a young gentleman had raked the leaves for about $150 for the entire yard. I had contacted him once again, but he had increased his rate to $350 for my yard. Soooo, towards the end of that week I began to feel a little better and went outside to rake leaves. My strength level was still low but I was able to fill 36 of the 30 gallon ecologically friendly bags (brown paper bags). I was extremely weak after doing the leaves, but I could not bring myself to pay that amount of money.

I was limited from doing anything else around the house. But, I am happy to report that as of last Friday, my kidney infection has subsided and my blood pressure dropped back to normal (135/70). The doctor thinks that my high blood pressure may have been the result of having kidney issue since September. The doctor is not sure what may have caused me to have the kidney problem. But, I’m just happy that my health is back to normal. Also for good measure, a cup of cranberry juice has been added to my daily liquid intake...

Anyway, here are a couple of pictures of the back yard

Here is a picture of the missing trees that I promised a couple of entries ago.

So with that completed, I started the weekend with finishing the workout room. I began by moving the radiator out of the way. Yes I said it, I move the radiator… This time I did employ the proper lifting techniques to move the radiator. It would appear that the radiator never operated due to the damaged valve. This could explain for all of the dust bunnies trapped within the ribs.

After cleaning the radiator I installed the rest of the plywood. I had to cut the plywood to clear the wall and also the radiator valve. After completing the plywood installation, I continued the process of installing the laminate flooring.

Here are a couple of pictures of the completed room…

Here is a picture of the room prior to moving the radiator

The floor with the new plywood

Here is a picture of the new floor...

Now, I need the plumber to install the new valve and radiator. But I’ll be contacting him after I install the hardwood flooring in the front hallway. But time to move onto another project.

While doing stuff around the basement, I realized that the lighting was pretty dreary. It was difficult to see things around the basement with the lighting. The pull string light fixtures were of a white porcelain material that would get extremely hot when turned on. Several months ago I had purchased a couple of shop lights which have been collecting dust in the basement. I figured it would be a good time to finally install them.

Prior to installing the shop lights, I had to replace the porcelain light fixtures with outlets. However, I had to install new junction boxes for the outlets. Here are a couple of pictures showing the new shop lights.

The light fixture in this picture didn't work. The pull string was missing.

Here is a picture of the new outlet for the shop lights.

I plan on getting some more shop lights for the basement. With the new shop lights installed, I’m starting to realize how filthy and cluttered the basement really is. So in the future, the new lights will help in the cleaning and organizing of the basement. However, next on the “honey do list” is to finish the living room. Anyway, I would like to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving… Please be safe and enjoy the holidays. Until next time, happy building...