Spring and New Life

Two Thanksgivings ago, on our first official visit to our new home after closing, one of the first to-do's on my list was removing a twenty-plus foot tree that was growing against the front side of our porch.  I finished the task the day before Thanksgiving.  In the same location as the tree, there was a rather large vine attached to a makeshift wire trellis hanging on the side of the house.  This past Summer, my Wife and I removed the vine and any signs of anything ever being in the location.  The only signs that something did exist were the tree stump and the stump remains of the vine.  Little did I realize what this Spring would bring...

There are several more of the same color just to the right of the pic.  I was both surprised and pleased.  Knowing the vine had been there for a very long time, this may be the first time the tulips have bloomed in decades and is a testament to the hardiness of a flower that has received no care!  I would like to believe Viola Zirkel, herself, planted the bulbs.

We are preparing to landscape directly in front of the house this month.  Once these tulips finish their blooming cycle and regenerate by September, I'll be relocating them to a more appropriate location near the front steps.  They deserve a much better place than where they are today.

Back Porch

As I was perusing through the blog, I realized there wasn't a before-and-after of the back porch.

During the home inspection process, the ideas began swirling in my head about what to do with the back entrance to the house.  The existing function wasn't workable with an immediate step-down from the rear entrance and 2x4's, which were surprisingly solidly mounted, as hand railings.

So, in usual fashion, I began doing a lot of online research for elements that would blend with the original style of the house.  The goal was to have something that looked like it would have been an original feature.  Interestingly, houses built during this period with doors above grade didn't have covered back porches. During our many walks through the neighborhood, we journeyed through many alleys looking for an example to gather inspiration. It didn't matter if the house was valued at three hundred thousand or two million dollars, what I was looking for didn't seem to exist. The only thing I could find  were small shed or hip roofs over the rear entrance and, even, those were rare.  Decks were common, but nothing covered.  Even our house had, at least two iterations of a deck, the most recent, of which, was an enormous structure that I was able to confirm after looking at an archived satellite view and street view on Google maps.

Inspiration

The main goal was to have something which covered the rear entrance, since we would be having the sliding glass door replaced with a solid wood door. Also, the flooring directly inside the house would have the tile removed and replaced with solid wood flooring--there needed to be something at the rear entrance to protect everything from the elements, namely moisture.  Eventually, I found a design online that I thought would blend nicely: not too big and met the functional goal without being an obtrusive addition to the house.  I made some modifications that would allow it to blend in with the house.  After getting the final approval from my Wife, the next step was to get our, eventually, hired contractor to make the vision a reality...


Below is a before and after.  We are very pleased with the end product, although there were definitely some major bumps which occurred during the construction, but I won't go into the details of it here--even the most experienced contractor can screw up the most simple, foundational elements (i.e. pier locations, ensuring the perimeter deck joists were square).  The back porch is just 4ft x 6ft, but exactly the size we wanted.  It was never meant to have a party on, but, instead, to provide a simple function--weather protection.

Before & After

Winter "Pruning"

Time to catch up on a few items, the first being the trees...

Before and the first weather delay

After we purchased our house last year, we made our first, official visit as new homeowners during Thanksgiving week (2019).  One of the things I noticed was the large, mature White Poplar in the back corner of the yard.  It was very large and had 5 main leaders, each, of which, was the size of medium sized tree. One of the concerning things was one of the leaders was dead and hanging almost entirely in our neighbor's back yard.  Also, since Poplars are a soft wood, large limbs would break off during windy days and my main concern being all the power lines and telephone/cable lines within 20 feet of it.  The tree had to go, but we knew we would wait until the following Fall to have it removed.

Crane spanning over our garage to the back of the lot

The first quote we received was astronomical ($10k), which, in my mind, was the company's polite way of saying, "we don't want the job".  But, I persisted and found a company to do the difficult work.  In all, we had three trees removed: the big White Poplar in the back corner of the yard and a smaller, albeit, large one closer to the house. The second tree was between two Blue Spruce trees and it definitely was impacting their health: falling limbs, competing for moisture, and shading the Spruce.  The last tree was in the front yard along the street--a Siberian Elm.

Before and during the process

After a few delays, due to snow, the initial work was done the week of Thanksgiving. We were excited for the work to begin, since the first available scheduling for the initial date was over two months prior. It took two full days to remove the trees with the large tree being the main challenge.  The electrical line to our house was disconnected and dropped to the ground by the City to prevent damage to the overall utility service on our block. This was necessary in case a cut tree limb accidentally fell on the line. The fine to the tree company is $10k per instance!

Down but not out!

Nevertheless, these guys were very professional and took their jobs seriously and everything happened without any issues.  I may have been more stressed about the process than they were, but they did a fantastic job!  Since, I work at home, I had to force myself to stay inside and ignore what was going on in the back yard. A week later, after another weather delay (snow), they came back to grind down the stumps.

4+ feet in diameter!!!

Doorbell

I, finally, replaced the doorbell!  The one that was installed in the house was wireless with no option to wire the chime or button.  Unfortunately, we didn't know this when we, initially, moved in and had purchased a very nice, new cast bronze button this past Summer.  Because I wanted a classic style button, it would require purchasing a doorbell chime that supported a traditional hard-wired setup. And, I really, really disliked having a plastic button. Something more appropriate and solid should appear on an old home. I have, yet, found an all metal doorbell button for a wireless system.

Earlier this Fall, while cleaning up debris in the attic, I stumbled across the instruction sheet for what I assume was the original doorbell.  The wiring in the attic, which was old and sheathed in cloth, was either 18 or 20 gauge. Although it appeared to be ok and is attached to a low voltage transformer, I didn't want to take any chances. Also, at the time, I had no idea where the transformer was located and assumed it was hidden behind a wall, which is a big no-no.  Over the past few weeks, I kept looking for the transformer and realized it was right in front of me the entire time!  The transformer used for the furnace had a set of newer wires attached that I traced to the floor joists in the basement.  To ensure these wires were, indeed, for the doorbell, I purchased a voltmeter, cut the wires in the attic and tested them. The wires were live, but in order to ensure those newer wires were attached to the ones in the attic, I turned of the power to the furnace transformer--Bingo!  The problem, however, was that I was not going to attach anything to those old wires in the attic, especially, since I had no idea where the connection between the newer and older wires was located.  I would, instead, rewire the entire system and have to pull new wire in the walls. Also, the furnace transformer is 24 volt and almost all doorbell systems use only 16 volts.

During the kitchen and bathroom renovation, I had asked to have the doorbell system replaced, but the electrician, who had over 40 years of experience, was hesitant to do it.  I couldn't figure out why  he balked at doing it.  After doing all the rewiring myself, including installing a dedicated transformer, I understand why he didn't want to do it--the labor cost would have been very high. I'll spare you the details, but what looked on paper to be a simple process, was a time consuming process.  But, it's done and the only thing that's visible is the actual doorbell button on the front porch along with the new chime above the kitchen entry (this was the traditional location for the chime box in old homes...).  All the behind the scenes work will, soon, be covered by new attic insulation, but every time someone pushes the button, the Westminster chime will remind me of all the trouble shooting, problem solving, and physical work it took to update such a simple item.

Busy in the Attic

This evening, I finally have something to show for all the hours I've spent in the attic.  Since the attic is a place I hope to not frequent after the insulation is added, I still thought it was necessary to have a "landing pad" when the attic door is removed for access. Also, it provides a place to not worry about balancing on ceiling rafters and, potentially, stepping through the plaster ceiling.

I know it's over engineered, but it's definitely built to last.  A lot of platforms in attics have no insulation beneath them.  I ensured there was, at least, some insulation.  Since this is located over part of the hallway and a closet, there wasn't much concern about under insulating the area.  I was able to get the insulation to R30 using Roxul (Rock Wool) batts.  It's specifically designed for 2x4 framing.  It's not cheap but it's really dense, high quality insulation.

First layer of Roxul (R15) w/ the added framing

Second and final layer of Roxul (R15) w/ a total of R30

Originally, I was planning on using plywood for the decking, but, at the last moment, I opted for 6-inch wide planks. It eliminates any flex in the flooring, which was a concern due to having a section span of 20 inches OC (on center).

Finished and deemed by my Wife as solid enough to dance on!

The next step will be to add a plywood perimeter to keep the blown-in insulation from spilling onto the decking and attic hatch. This attic project is definitely taking up more time than I anticipated...

"Unseen" Progress

Ever since the main renovations were completed, improvements to the house have been slow, at first glance.  But, the work has been, mostly, focused on the attic.  After getting two quotes, as well as, another on-site visit resulting in no follow-up, we've decided to do the work ourselves.

The first step involved removing all the old wood Red Cedar shingles: yes, I found fragments of old, paper wrapping in the attic.  It was a tedious process, as it required delicately maneuvering across ceiling joists in an attempt to avoid disturbing the plaster ceilings. Surprisingly, I didn't find any random items, other than a 1970's style long-sleeved shirt buried in the existing mineral wool insulation.  Regardless, it was a dirty job, but one that gave me the opportunity to become intimately familiar with the attic.

While spending more time than I preferred in the attic, I discovered poor installation of the new bathroom vent ducting resulting in the connection becoming detached from the fan housing, a missing wiring panel plate for the bathroom fan housing (the workers didn't install it during the renovation), a barely attached range hood duct (hanging by one screw with about an inch of daylight to the roof cap, and connected wires for the bath/shower light that were not inside an electrical box, but just wire nutted and wrapped with electrical tape. *sigh*  I received a reduction from the contractor for all of these items, although he denied anything was wrong or that his worker had anything to do with the electric wires outside of an enclosed junction box. While I have detailed photographic proof of all these discrepancies, I have no desire to post them. More importantly, if someone who was quick to espouse their "40 years of experience", I was not going to let those items be corrected by someone who can't even admit fault on errors or poor workmanship.

Because of the previous items, I was sidetracked with correcting (replacing) every issue. Afterwards, I began the process of air sealing each top-plate, plumbing vent stack and electrical line penetrations, and around each ceiling box.  Ever since we purchased our home, I discovered Building Science Corporation, namely Dr. Joseph Lstiburek.  I've read numerous papers he has written and, while I won't go into all the detail of what he has written, namely "stack effect", here is a good overview of the work I have been doing in the attic and should be finished by next weekend.

The final step will be to install the insulation.  My wife and I will complete the work ourselves, saving close to 50% of the cost.  The final insulation rating will be R60, which is overkill, but inexpensive versus R49 (recommended for our area).  While I wanted to install blown-in cellulose or Roxul, I'm not certain the plaster ceilings will support the weight over the long term. Yes, I've done the calculations and the weight differences are substantial. Instead, blown-in fiberglass will be used.  It should make a huge difference in the indoor comfort, especially on those really cold days and nights. There should, also, be some benefit in the Summer against radiant heat from the attic.

When I'm done, there are some who would consider the painful detail and work I have done is overkill. But, this is a house we'll live in for a very long time--no plans to "move up" or "downsize". I believe 830 sq ft is already downsized... :)

No pics this time, but when we're done, I'll post some before and afters.

My Turn!

Now that the initial renovations of the bathroom, kitchen, and addition of a covered back porch are complete, it's time to begin jumping in feet first on making improvements and necessary repairs to our house.

The original logic was to get the "big" stuff done before Winter. I could have done most of the work, myself, and contracted out the specialty work, but we wanted be finished no later than early October. Plus, uncovering unknown issues in 91 year old house is something I had no experience and had some anxiety in discovering one of those nightmare scenarios scene on the renovation shows.  Thankfully, no major issues were discovered.

The first order of business was replacing the ceiling fans in the living room and bedroom, plus, adding one to my office. I tend to overthink everything and figuring out the style of the ceiling fans was no exception.  In the end, I decided to stick with a brand that was available when our house was built: Hunter.  The ceiling fans that were installed when we purchased the house didn't have light kits and definitely looked dated. In order to ensure the lights didn't hang too low, I chose the "hugger" variety in a traditional style. These don't have the typical downrod and, instead, flush mount to the ceiling with a more finished look. And, to stay with the lighting finishes in the kitchen, they are oil-rubbed bronze. Also, to keep it simple, I, purposefully, wanted fans/lights with pull chains and no remotes. This would ensure no modern looking light switch/controller was needed. We splurged on the living room fan and purchased the flagship Hunter line: Casablanca.

Casablanca "Durant" (living room)

Hunter "Newsome" (bedroom)

The only original fixture (c.1928) in the house was the one in the office.  It was a stamped metal fixture that had been painted and shades. I have thought about this fixture shortly after we bought the house. At first, I was going to save it; I thought it was porcelain, but after some investigating, I determined it was stamped steel with the sleeve around the sockets being porcelain. During some investigation, I discovered the wiring and sockets were original and, after, replacing the bulbs in it, one of the sockets stopped working.  After some discussion with my Wife, we decided to replace it with a ceiling fan. Since I'm superstitious, while permanently removing the fixture, I was talking to the house in hopes of not disturbing any lingering spirits. Yes, I know...   And, for now, the fixture is still in the house and safely stored in the basement utility room. Just in case. ;)