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...

On the road again...

“Wow you get to travel for your job, that is awesome, what a life...” You know, it makes me wonder what that person is actually thinking when they say that statement. Are they implying that I’m traveling to an exotic place? Are they thinking that I’m traveling to a place like the Bahamas, Puerto Rico and/or Cancun? I would certainly wish it was… But my job sends me to places like Arvonia, Virginia… or to a small cold shed in Providence, Rhode Island… Or even the shipyard located in Groton, Connecticut.

When I first started traveling, I would get so excited to the point where I couldn’t sleep for weeks. I would plan for weeks of what to take with me. How I would rehearse my speech front of the mirror for hours… But the last couple of trips have been pretty depressing. I think it actually started from the last trip… The excitement is no longer there...

Most of my time was spent in a small town named Arvonia… The town is so small that I had not notice a traffic light or any street signs… The nearest hotel to Arvonia is about an hour away. Thus, I’ve been splitting my hotel stays between Richmond and Charlottesville Virginia. So every morning, I would need to leave an extra hour early to get to the site on time…

Traveling has seriously driving me nuts. The angry people at the airport, the stale food, the smell of the jet fuel flowing through the airport, the late nights in a hotel reading reports. The realization that I’ve spent my entire summer of 2009 away from home, chasing the company man's dream (not sure what that means), was truly the cause of my brief depression.

The traveling had put a delay in updating my house to a suitable living space. The traveling had also put a delay in getting the plumber access to the apartment upstairs thus delaying the installation of the new radiator for three weeks. Finally on Monday, the plumber was able to install the new radiator. The pipe fitting did fit, but the threads kept jumping. So he had to install new pipe fittings and cut off valves.


While on site, I also had the plumber remove the old cut off valves in two separate rooms so that I could install new flooring. My plan is to finally install the hardwood floor in the front hallway and finish the workout room. But, yes before I begin another project, I want to first complete the "in progress" projects, the living and workout room.

To be honest, things around the house over the past week had been placed on hold. I wanted to refresh the mind and body before ramping back up again. In the living room I need to finish putting the insulation, new light fixture, electrical outlets, electrical switches and window trim.

In the workout room, I installed about 75% of the new floating floor. The other 25% of the flooring had to wait until the plumber was able to remove the radiator. As mentioned before the radiator needs a new cut-off valve. So once the new floor is completely installed, the plumber will return to install the new cut-off valve and radiator.



Well I know there isn’t much to talk about, but I wanted to let everyone know that I have not forgotten about updating the journal. I just wanted to tell everyone that I’m still here… Anyway, until next time, happy building.

What to do???

I sit here pondering what to write. So many things are running through my mind that I can’t focus on one thing. Normally I can express things freely and easily. But I’m struggling over here, partly because it’s been sometime since I’ve actually done any work around the house. I kind of forgot what I’ve accomplished around here. This double life that I lead can truly be mentally and physically challenging. I’m referring to having to work a real job and having to be a landlord, which is also known in the politically correct world as a Property Owner/ Manager. Well, technically we don’t actually own anything until we pay the last mortgage bill… The true owners of our beloved homes are the banks. But that is another story…Ok… let me move on from this depressing approach of.... Whatever it is… an introduction?

Sooooo… How are things on your end? Good I hope. And how’s the family?

Ok this is pathetic. As you can probably notice I’m a little scattered brain today. I have to admit the mind and house have me a little disheveled lately. My mother had recently paid me a visit and asked a valid question, “how do you do work in this mess?” Ok I get it… I have to clean... Everything!!!

Part of the problem, of course, is my own fault. I started another project without finishing one. What I’m referring too is that I have two projects going on at the same time… Actually like five projects. And to top it all off, I have to travel to that little place in Virginia again next week.

The projects that I’m referring too are the workout room, living room, bedroom and the radiator upstairs…Yes I said it… radiator!!! You know the radiator I had surgery because of it. Ok that was my fault also… It’s the radiator where I conducted the improper lifting technique. I was out of the “game” for like 4 weeks… http://redcano.blogspot.com/2009/01/thank-you.html

So the other day, after a cold night, I got a call from the tenants about water coming out of the radiator in the living room. As I was investigating the problem, I realized that the repaired weld had weakened and the crack had returned. So I decided instead of repairing it again, I would rather just get a new one. I went to a place called ReStore Home Improvement Center in Springfield, Mass. Here is the link: http://www.restoreonline.org/

Basically, they accept donations of quality but unwanted home improvement materials and sell them, especially hard to find items like an old fashion cast iron radiator.

I’ll tell you what… That #$%@ radiator is HEAVY!!! Thanks to Wilson, we carried it up stairs and took a 2 hour break. Actually I think I got light headed and passed out… Just kidding… Ok this wouldn’t be a “classic Angel story” without me telling you that I did fall down a couple of times onto the steps. I think I have a pretty bad bruise on the back of my leg. After the lifting techniques were followed, I did discover some good news, NO stomach pain. Anyway, the next thing I need to do is change the inlet valve for the new radiator. The install shall be accomplished sometime this week.

Hmmm... It's a little bigger than that old one... I have faith it will work... (Fingers crossed of course)
Another issue that the tenants informed me about was about some outlet not properly working. They are old and are causing issues where they are sparking. I had informed the tenants that these types of issues should be reported immediately. I don’t want safety issues like this left unreported. Everyone knows about my luck with this house is pretty thin. I was able to change those problem outlets.
So because of the on going projects around the house, the master bedroom has been at a standstill. Trust me, it’s on the list. The pink boots are starting to get to me…

I also had to take two trees down. They were leaning on my neighbor’s fence. Here is the before picture… I forgot to take the after pictures…

The good news is that the tree company has been getting more business in my neighborhood… Their trucks have been around more and more lately, although I still haven’t seen any commission… I guess I need to renegotiate that contract…

Sadly, the living room has been on hold also. I’ve decided to really focus my effort to the weight room. Not like I’m actually going to use the weight room, that is another story. But I removed the cork board flooring and the smell was instantly gone. Underneath the cork flooring was laminate flooring that was in bad shape. When I removed the cork board flooring, I realized that the floor thickness was actually about a ½ inches.

I decided to reinforce the floor with an additional ¾ inch thick floor. This would make the flooring stable and sturdier. I’m planning on putting in wood flooring. I was able to purchase some laminate locking wood flooring. It’s a floating floor that is cheaper then real wood.

I had to work around the radiator. I was unable to remove the radiator. I don’t have a large enough breaker bar to remove the nut. I figure when the plumber is on site fixing the radiator upstairs, he could possibly get this one free…

Ok plan of attack… Dishes first… Yes I’m a winner!!!! HAHAHAH!!!!

Anyway, until next time, happy building…