Sanding, sanding, leveling, sanding and... Painting!

This is just a post to document some of the work we've been doing to remove the stupid whitewash finish on the cedar ceilings. Oh, how I'd love to have a word with the person who painted it...

These wonderful lights will be replaced with something from my friend John Pomp. Hi John!

That doesn't look hopeful does it? 

Jorgé is an animal - but also very patient and persistent. 

All that ceiling is done - the wall, not yet.

It's really a lot of cedar...

Seriously, that's a lot of sanding.

This is but a fraction of what we've gone through - literally 5 vacuum bags so far and hundreds of pads.

The porch and area near the entrance had strange endless mortar and we had to jackhammer forever.

The latex primer goes down for the self leveler. 

And then the self leveler go downs so our floor is nice and smooth.

This area made some nice patterns but the pour was great. 

This was a gray that I found on one of the exposed beams - I took a sliver... 

...and had it matched exactly. It's a nice medium gray. 

Each beam is sanded down, knots and nail holes are filled with bondo and sanded again. 

And finally, finally I see something I can be thrilled about...

The black satin was a perfect choice - it shows the grain as a texture and pattern but looks amazing. 

And the first wall is done as well. The space between the ceiling boards I'm waiting to see how I feel about it. 

Gas and Water

So since Judiaann and I both love to cook we wanted gas at the house. That meant running a line since it didn't exist. That meant getting a new hot water heater since the credit would almost pay for the heater. It was quite the dog and pony show when the gas crew showed up to put the line in to the house. They even used a dowsing wire to find the gas line. I kid you not. Anyway that allowed us to get a tankless heater which would work with the larger soaking tub we're putting in. In addition we're putting in some hot and cold water hose bibs so that we can fill the kids pool with warm water and wash motorcycles and bicycles with warm water as well. Nice!

Pex is fun to run but replacing the entire houses water system has really taken time. I have nothing to gauge from so I always think it will go faster. It never does. Big surprise.

In addition to the fun of the gas we also discovered that our water main was leaking under the house. Sort of good to find it now but not really something else I wanted to add to the plate.

Here's the third trench to get gas to the house. Lot of work for a good flame. 

This is some of the Pex being run - here to the laundry sink which is a new addition. 

This is the Pex manifold system. Almost there.

The tankless heaters venting and the lower bathroom vent (previously just vented into the wall...)

Here's the final Pex manifold and tankless heater - this was very satisfying to do!

A giant trench for a new 1" water main to the house. 

Inspected and then we covered it up. 

Righting Wrongs in the John

So I've been so busy that I've fallen far behind in this blog. Like almost everything else in my life besides the house and family it's fallen victim to the all encompassing void of both time and money that this house is. But I digress.

In oder to keep things in some semblance of order I'll just do the next few updates in groups and not really chronographically - it will be easier for me I think. Hence a post about a bathroom!

This "cove" or cutout made no sense. 

So it was removed.

This is the level of plumbing expertise I found...

Yes, that's duct tape holding these two pipes together.

First I cut out a panel where the sink would go. 

This makes it easier for the next step. 

And then I add 3/4" plywood so a sink can be screwed to the wall.