All the stucco is now off the house and has been taken to the dump.  We do not have to deal with stucco again.  It had so many nails in it that you really need two people to work at it. One to pry and remove nails and one to pull on the stucco.I am so very happy.

Still not sure what to do about the 125 year old siding.  It is in better shape than the stuff we just had installed last year so we may just repaint but since it was such heavy work we will wait awhile to make any decisions on that part of the job.

Now we will move on to finishing up either the screened in porch or the trim at the roof line.
May just rest the back for a few days first.

E/B

We will just paint the window.

Can't wait to replace that ugly screen door.

Cracked paint but dry wood and tight seams.

The dimples on the porch posts.

We'll use heat to take this off because we are sure it is lead paint.

As I was saying yesterday Brian was very unhappy with the siding job once you get up close.  Needless to say our plan was to get Eli back to finish the front porch but I guess we will be doing that ourselves now.

We have removed some of the stucco and are impressed how good the original siding is.  We now think we might just remove the rest of the stucco and try repainting the original exterior.  We'll see once we get moving on that again.

The biggest problem will be rebuilding the deck from the ground up with out having to replace all the posts and rails.  The stairs are newer and not well built anyway but everything else is original to the house.

E/B

Not far off the colour now.

I guess the idea was if you put stucco on you would never have to paint again.

It is heavy work ripping that off but with two of us it can be done. Thank goodness for hot tubs.

Front porch is on hold while we oversee getting the back patio finished.  We are not doing it because I cannot lift those stones anymore.  Once I hit 60 my body is just not that strong anymore.

So the guys have been here for eight days and they are still not done.  I hope we do not go over the budget but it looks like that is where we are headed.
Once again we have been led down the garden path since Andre the boss of the crew has been absent from the site almost every morning so the two guys left fill in the hours until he gets here because he seems to be the only one to be able to lay stone.
It will be really nice when they are done and the work is great but man is going to cost us.

Meanwhile Brian is starting the trim above the siding.  It is causing him a lot of grief because it turns out none of the space that was to be left for the trim is the same height.  It was supposed to be 8 inches above the siding so The detail moldings could go on.  Not to be some is 7" some is 6"  some is 8"  not much of it is level and you would not notice until you get up on a ladder with an 8" piece of beadboard and it won't fit.

Much anger.

E/B

The stone is so nice.

Laying it on sand which has caused a few problems with it getting too wet.

I don't like heights so Brian is doing most of this himself.

Touching up paint mishaps from last year.

Brian does not mind working up there at all but his feet and legs do get sore after a day of this.

We have moved on to the front porch.  The new front porch which will be screened in so we can sit outside and not be swarmed by mosquitoes.  Horrid things that they are.

It was another job where the last contractor screwed up and we had to find a way to fix it.  When they put in the posts for the porch it seems they forgot to measure correctly so some of the posts were hardly on the concrete base.  With one we had to install another bracket and sledge hammer the post over.  It is so annoying but we did get it done and the base was fairly easy to install once a system was picked out.

The cedar deck should look really nice.  We took 14 foot boards and cut them in half then put in the tongue and groove so we get a nice fit.  We don't want any mosquitoes coming up to bite us.

None of the posts are equal distances apart.

A very strong base for the cedar.

The boards cut and ready for the saw then the router.

Brian's lovely router table setup.  A Jess-em and it made the job easier.

Lots of steps to get it right.

We have a poplar in the back yard that makes it look like it has been snowing.



E/B

We have not been very busy lately.  Our three projects were done(sunroom floor, mainfloor bathroom and linen closet) and the drywalling in the garage became a priority so that is what has been taking up Brian"s time.

It is not an easy job but the drywall lifter has really made it a job one person can do.  I did have to help with some sheets that were too awkward for the lifter.

We have started a few projects again but are finding it hard to get extra help.  I hope we can get some help with the old porch because it requires some tricky bracing.

This is a lot of drywall.

Brian just does some every day and it eventually gets done.

How nice it will be to not have drywall dust around anymore.

That lumber has been moved so many times and it will be moved again so the back wall can be done.


E/B

Partway done the sunroom but had to stop because of one doorway that is not levelled yet.  Once that is done we can at least finish the floor.

Even though these are floor tiles you should be able to cut easily they were not easy to cut.  We bought the Allure commercial grade tiles and now I can see why they say commercial grade on them.  Brian had to do most of the cutting since I could not get through them.  It took many different cutters and blades to finally find one that worked for more than one tile.
I do like the tiles but we are pretty sure they will be slippery when wet.  We did not originally buy these to go in there they are ones we had planned for a project at the last house but never used.  There will just have to be warnings posted about how slippery they will be when wet and non slippery floor mats

One thing we learned is how dangerous a sealed concrete floor is.  The floor was bare concrete so we decided to seal it before laying the floor tiles.  It looked great and was keeping the place clean but neither of us realized how slippery a sealed floor was if your feet were wet.  After coming out of the hot tub my wet feet hit the floor and so did I.  There was no OMG! moment I was just down.  It did not feel like a floor that would be that dangerous when wet.  I now have a bruise on my back that is about four inches by 12 inches since I hit the stairs into the tub.
It is the Weather Shield low gloss sealer for concrete or paving stones.  They have a photo on it
of it used on stone stairway.  That is crazy.....

We also had to empty the hot tub because it was crooked on the floor so we needed to straighten it out. Even empty it was hard to move for the two of us.  Especially when it sometimes only needed a nudge. Once we did that and refilled it to skimmer height and it was time to turn it on again, Brian had left and we thought it would be safe to do it like that, but we were wrong.  Somehow the jets came on by themselves.  We did not think they would unless we pushed the button, so the tub was shooting water all over the back wall and window.  The only thing I could think of was turn the power off again and wait for it to fill past the jets, which worked.  It was quite a cleanup but none of the room was damaged even the drywall was fine.
That was at three yesterday afternoon and the water was still not to 104 till this morning at about 10am.

We had to remove the foam and loose concrete and refill the doorways.

Bathroom one is not finished yet it needs some leveller.

First step is putting down double sided tape the cutting the ends of the edge tiles.

A good start but we had to move the hot tub.

I love sitting in this room.

E/B

Now we have moved on to the sunroom but those stories can wait so I can fill you in on the workroom.

Brian has been slowly unpacking his big machines and trying to find a layout he likes.  Once he has that done he can run his 220 wiring so it is near those machines.  This is a part of the project that he is really enjoying.  I think he forgot how many amazing machines and tools he had.  Brian got a fair number of them from his co-workers when he retired and is looking forward to using them.  He is a lucky boy.

Getting the floor done was time consuming but if you do not follow the right steps it will just peel off.  Especially on a power trowelled concrete floor .
He had to vacuum the floors a few times, then wash a few times, follow up with an etching agent, then wash a few time more, once more vacuum the floor and hopefully the paint will stick.  We did use an epoxy paint there so it should be better than the floor paint we used in the basement.

Finishing up the last quarter of the floor.  He moved everything four times .

Bandsaw to start.

Putting together the router table.

The router table all set up.  Lots left to do though.


E/B

The tiling and sink top as well as the toilet are finished.    It was surprisingly the easiest of all the jobs we have done so far.   We did not have to rip anything out and there were no long delays, unless you count all the trips to the hardware store to find small plumbing bits.  Whats odd about that is we have bins of plumbing supplies but it turns out nothing we needed that day.

We hung the medicine cabinet which is a really cool old pine cabinet we found last summer at an antique store.  Now we need to find a light and to frame the door.   We also have to decide how to finish off the top on the tile on the wall and are both thinking it will be wood trim.  Which Brian will have to cut down to fit but it will look nice.

How convenient to have a washroom on the main level.  I forgot how nice that is.

Framing the door is going to take longerbecause we have to make the boards for the door jambs.  That is because many of the walls are concrete and more than 12 inches thick.  It is hard to find wood that will not have a lot of knots in it that is that width.  So once all the tools are set up Brian will start making those.  Once we have that started we can start installing doors.

I'm glad we did not get the 36 inch wide sink. It would be way to crowded.

I like this look.  Nothing like old pine.

E/B

We are still waiting for the sink top.  The reason we order a top is we don't like what usually comes with the cabinets and wanted porcelain top.
Brian is finishing up a few projects while we like painting the workshop floor.  The prep for that is pretty hard.

I do like the basement and still have to paint the outside of the exercise room but it is working pretty well.  Brian jokes about my short running track(don't you get dizzy?) but I really much prefer it to a treadmill.  The interlocking blocks are great I just have to put some double sided tape on the corners which is a pain because it will pull up the paint if I have to move them.  Moving them is going to happen since not all the duct work and plumbing is finished.

I know that I will use this room a lot and it is much better than the small room I had thought we could use upstairs.  You do need room to move around in when exercising.  I know other people will enjoy this as well.

When looking for new equipment I knew I did not want a treadmill again but wanted a weight machine.  Although we looked at the bowflex we really liked this old style basic.  I did not like the look of the bowflex and found it not as easy to use as the one we bought.
I had also wanted an area to do some boxing and we just bought a lighter weight because I am just doing this for aerobics not to become a professional.
The elliptical we already had so that is a nice combo for a gym.

E/B

For all the media and storage required .

I love the weight machine.

My 36 foot running circle and floor mats which are 4 by 8 feet each.

The bathroom is coming along.  We are now waiting for the counter top for the sink cabinet.  I hope it does not take forever as these things sometimes do.

Brian is happy with this one and found the tiles were easier to install  now that he has worked with them before.  When we do the shower for the sauna though we think we will go back to smaller tiles.

Today we(mostly Brian with my help to lift the sheets of drywall) are back to drywalling the garage while we wait for the rest of the bathroom to arrive.

It looks so different depending on the light.

The wet tile saw we bought has paid for itself.

A very rustic look.

We like this combination. It will work for how much traffic it will see.



E/B

All the shelves were installed in the linen closet with not too much frustration.  The painted pine shelves are much nicer than melamine and were so much lighter to put up.

One coat of primer and two coats of trim paint and we will keep our fingers crossed that that is enough to keep the pine from bleeding through.

Still working on the main floor bathroom but have been able to cross something off the list of things to do.

I love the colour and space we have now.

Before we could hardly walk into the room and now it is sorted and clean.

The bathroom is on hold while we finish the linen cupboard.  I am very happy with it so far.

Today Brian finished the rough shelves and I have primed them so they will be ready to paint tomorrow and to install by the weekend.  YES!!!!!

We will be able to at least cross one thing off our massive list of things still to do.

The brackets installed and waiting.

Brian gave me a lesson on using a level to install these and I did them myself.

All this needs to fit in the closet.

This also needs to fit in the closet.

E/B

Well it has been a while since I was on here and there is not much to tell really.  I sometimes think we are really slowing down but then if I think of all the little projects we are still making some progress.
If I don't see it in the places we live the most it does not register.

So Brian has finished painting the Workshop and has half the floor painted.  He is now stuck on the stairway in the workshop which is his "I can build all the stairs like a professional"  project.  It has been weeks of work but he could not find the posts he needed so he bought rough lumber and planed, joined and glued them up himself.  He was quite surprised the stairs installed by the contractors had not fallen down with all the use they got and how little was holding them up.

I have painted the hall closet and will install shelving.  I found the wire units we bought were not what was needed so they will get used somewhere else.

It was nice to get some of the lumber off the floor but he still needs some sort of outside storage for all the stuff he has.  We are thinking of a used railway car.

The closet but my old camera broke on us after a day at the beach and this Sony is not nearly as true to colour.

This is a little more like the colour but still not right.

The new stairs in progress, still a lot of work to do.

What will be the new posts waiting for installation.