Archive for October, 2007

New artwork for the shack

Published by Gerlando on October 18, 2007 in General. 0 Comments

PinksWe’ve always wanted to fill our house with art, but we’re extremely picky about what we like. Previously our art collection consisted of one limited edition Twisp and Catsby “Tea with the Moon”Penny Arcade piece (I’ve been a fan for years) and some home made photos. I recently came across LA artist Ballookey ,on Flickr of all places. She sells prints and some really cool handmade fridge magnets through her site but, lucky for me, she had also had the canvas pictured here for sale. So now we have two pieces of art on our walls, and they both coincidentally have cats. Maybe our next piece should have birds…

Purchasing renovation items on Ebay.

Published by Gerlando on October 15, 2007 in General and Renovation. 0 Comments

Kitchen FaucetOur current kitchen renovation project hit a major roadblock when it came time to purchase sinks and faucets. We’ve always had a pretty well defined faucet and sink preference, contemporary stainless. So when it came time to pick these items I thought it would be a no-brainer, and I was completely wrong. Perhaps it was more a mental block than anything else. But it was really difficult to pay upwards of $600 for a sink knowing it was simply a piece of stamped steel. After a week or so of contemplating and procrastinating on various online retailers, I bit the bullet and tried Ebay.

I’ve had luck on Ebay in the past, minus one encounter with counterfeit bluetooth headsets. I was able to find faucets (Danze D457158SS and D457158SS from Buy Plumbing) and main sink (Kindred UC2132/90K/E from SaveALotNJ) for much cheaper than any online store front. Both transactions went smoothly with the items being shipped out quickly and arriving in perfect condition. A matching bar sink was purchased seperately from Faucet Depot.

With that taken care of, I regained focus to start on the concrete countertops.

Renovating the Shower - Demolition.

Published by Gerlando on October 9, 2007 in Bathroom, Demolition and Renovation. 0 Comments

Demolition is a quick and easy part of a project. This is where you commit yourself mentally to a project and any of the unknown issues that may arise along the way. My safety equipment consisted of some good work gloves, eye protection and a dust mask. The tools used were a Stanley Super Wonder Bar and a mallet. A large drop clotch was placed on the tub so it would not get damaged by falling debris. The water damage was centered around a soap dish in the middle of the back wall so that’s where I started. The tiles around the soap dish popped off with very little resistance, but as I worked my way out of the damaged area the tile became more and more difficult to chip off. Eventually large chunks of drywall were coming off with the tile.

A couple of things to note at this point.

  • Broken tile is SHARP! Do not attempt to handle it without glove. I received a couple of cuts while cleaning up tile debris that I didn’t feel until I saw blood covering the tiles.
  • Tile removal is easier with air tools. I didn’t have access to an air hammer for this project, but I bought one later while tiling the bathroom floor. It reduced the effort of removing tile by 90%.

Once the tile was off the wall ripping out the drywall and insulation was effortless. The first time you take a wall down to the studs there will be a moment in time in which you think to yourself “What have I done?” Don’t worry, it’s easy to put a wall back up, I promise!

Once the wall was open I could fully asses the damage. One of the studs was thoroughly rotted out, but luckily that was the extent of the damage. Now that the demolition was done, it was time to start fixing the wall so we could put it all back together.

Renovating the Shower - The Beginning.

Published by Gerlando on October 3, 2007 in Bathroom and Renovation. 0 Comments

During our home inspection, our inspector notified us of some water damage in the shower wall. He had an interesting technique of using the butt of his hammer handle to pound on the wall. It was obvious from the sound the wall made as it went from healthy to damaged wall, as well as the movement of the wall itself. In fact, if he had continued to hit the wall I’m sure some tiles would have come crashing down.

This became the obvious first target in our home renovation. Every morning I cringed at the thought of what might be going on behind the shower tile and figured every shower helped contribute to more water damage.

Continue reading ‘Renovating the Shower - The Beginning.’

About our shack - renovations to date.

Published by Gerlando on October 2, 2007 in General and Renovation. 0 Comments

To understand where this blog is going, it may be helpful to know where we’ve been. Since purchasing our home nearly 2 years ago we’ve renovated the bathrooms, added a flagstone patio, added more insulation in our attic, planted a back lawn and some minor landscaping.

We’re currently in the middle of the biggest renovation we’ve ever tried to tackle, the kitchen! Somehow that also includes installing hardwood flooring and skylights in the living room.

Upcoming posts will document each of these projects in detail. From selecting the materials to busting out the power tools, and all the thought processes and learning that happened along the way.