Casa Decrepit

Stupid Scaffolding Tricks

Authors: ayse

We already established that the scaffolding we own is not tall enough to reach into the upper corners of the stairwell. Rather than buy another section, we decided to try a slightly different configuration, of the type that would never pass OSHA muster.

We set one piece up on the stairs, then the other half on the lower piece and half...

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Back on the Scaffold

Authors: ayse

We had a good Thanksgiving, and a nice mid-morning nap today because our housekeepers showed up like clockwork before eight in the morning (totally brutal after we stayed up too late paying cards, but all the Thanksgiving mess is cleaned up). Then I really could not put off working on the hallway some more.

This is where I started....

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How Many Geeks Does it Take to Buy a Recessed Light Fixture?

Authors: ayse

The answer, alas, is "div/0 error."

On Saturday we had a houseguest and he offered to help with some work on the house, so my great idea was that we would go to Universal Electric Supply Co. in San Francisco and pick up a second recessed fixture for the upstairs bathroom, then we could frame up the ceiling there. A fairly simple...

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Change of Season

Authors: ayse

It has gotten cold outside, and what with the large hole into the attic, it was pretty cold in the house, too.

On Friday, after a night so cold that Goldie tried to get under the bedcovers, Noel tacked up plastic over the construction zone:

That keeps the majority of the air in well enough that we could turn the heat back on. It's still...

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Stockpiles

Authors: ayse

We're at that crazy stage of the bathroom project where materials are piling up faster than work is happening. I'm sure with some careful planning I could have made this all work more like a just-in-time system but that would have taken more than I can give.

If you're Noel's mother you may want to look away for this post.

Here we have...

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Garden Report: November 4

Authors: ayse

I had shooting pains in my hands on Friday, and decided to take a weekend off scrubbing the hallway to let them calm down. The timing worked out with Noel going to DC for some research, so the dogs and I pretty much lay in bed reading all weekend. A pretty nice break.

I hired new gardeners a couple weeks ago, and this week they were...

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A Weekend Miscellany

Authors: ayse

Today was kind of a crazy day.

First, as mentioned, a woman I met over the internet came over to train the chickens. She got Björk and Amy to come to their names, which is better than about 90 percent of my interactions with the chickens.

Some people asked whether I'd lost my ever-loving mind and hired a chicken trainer, but in...

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Scrubbing the Ceiling

Authors: ayse

We're working out some possibilities with the scaffolding we have for the stairs -- this morning Noel noted that we had not in fact installed all the uprights on the pair we have, and we could get them up another 14 or so inches with no problem.

In the meantime, we put the scaffolding up in the upstairs hallway so I could get that done.

...

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We Need More Scaffolding

Authors: ayse

More work on the walls tonight. We moved the scaffolding further up the stairs so I had access to more of the wall.

As you may recall from Monday, I'd made fairly good progress up the walls. I figured if we got the scaffolding out from under the floor of the Accordion Room there, I would be able to reach up higher.

This is almost as...

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More Wall Washing

Authors: ayse

It's almost as exciting as watching paint dry! Only, like, in reverse!

In the spirit of just getting things done for heaven's sake, I got Noel to help me set up the scaffolding on the stairs so I could get more wall washing done.

This is not the recommended configuration for stairs, but it worked OK and was stable enough.

I decided I...

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