Casa Decrepit

Making the World a Less Pink Place

Authors: ayse

Yesterday afternoon we went to Economy Lumber to talk to a guy about railings (I mean, seriously). While we were there, Noel mentioned that he'd like to replace the old respirator he's been using. Having had my OSHA respirator training, I thought this was a good idea: respirators should be replaced every couple of years because the...

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Nothing Doing

Authors: ayse

We tried to buy railings this weekend, and came up short. It turned out that the list of parts we downloaded from the railing manufacturer's web site didn't match the list of parts available at Economy Lumber, so we got the name of Economy's railing guy and I will call them as soon as it's a weekday to resolve this. It may just be a...

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Signed, Sealed, and Delivered

Authors: ayse

OK, not actually signed or really delivered. But sealed!

I was working on a job site close to home today, so I got home relatively early. We'd taken a pass on sealing the deck last night because I ended up home later than I expected, and the thought of spending three hours sealing the deck in the dark was not super appealing. So the...

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Final Touches

Authors: ayse

Today Noel sanded the deck multiple times. First he finished sanding it at 60 grit (he did three passes to really knock the junk off the boards), then he did a pass each at 100 grit and 150 grit.

In between he finished a couple of little details on the deck. Like the cover for the oubliette. (It is not an oubliette. It is the water...

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Home Stretch

Authors: ayse

We're on a big push to get the deck moving this week. Today Noel replaced a bunch of damaged plugs.

He even plugged on the side of the lower stairs, where we paused a few weeks ago and never finished trimming the long boards to a nice line.

And of course, more sanding.

Our plan is to get the deck to the point where I can spend all day on...

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Tile Takeoffs

Authors: ayse

We've started planning the bathrooms, which we will get started on doing in a few weeks when the deck is done. This weekend we went to a tile showroom to look at waterproofing membranes and drains, and we browsed some tile catalogs (OK, I browsed some tile catalogs and ran a few things by Noel).

And I did some quantity takeoffs for the...

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Bringing Sand to the Beach

Authors: ayse

This week we got back to working on the deck. I've been buried deep in a pile of plumbing and tiling research, but it would be nice to get the deck squared away before we move on to working on the bathrooms. So one weekday evening, Noel pulled out the sander and began the sanding.

I know it looks like unending fun. It really does not...

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Honey Harvest

Authors: ayse

I really wasn't expecting a honey harvest this year, but the bees have been hard at work and things were starting to get a little tight for them. So we took some frames off each hive (fewer than I thought we might, but the nectar flow has been slowing down a bit).

I am going low-tech and was going to crush and strain, and our neighbors...

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Attacking the Accordion Room

Authors: ayse

In keeping with a weekend of destroying things, I decided to turn out the piles of stuff in the Accordion Room today.

We've had this room in transition for a few months: Noel is moving his little electronics setup to the basement, and I am moving my various art and craft things in here to get them out of the rest of the house. Mix that...

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Five People in a Closet

Authors: ayse

We got a bit of a late start today. We always do, which is why we plan to start earlier than we know we need to start to get done at a reasonable hour. It's a little complicated, but the only way we can be sure to start work before noon is to plan to start at 9 am.

Anyway, people arrived and we got started with taping plastic over the...

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