Drywall, Stucco and Asbestos

The guys in Tyvek suits just left with a bin full of asbestos flooring. 1940s tile glued to hardwood which was nailed to a subfloor on a subfloor. On top of the 1940s tile was 1960s linoleum, 1970s linoleum, and 1990s white, pink and grey tile glued to wire mesh. Yup. All 5 layers plus a layer of subfloor are gone. It took 2 days of slamming, cutting, and smashing. The drywall screws in the basement ceiling all popped out, along with a couple of junction covers and a light fixture. I wonder how much asbestos dust ended up in the basement...and into my vacuum cleaner?

before

during

The drywall guy came and did his thing for two days, plastering and drywalling. The stucco guys were here too. Today, they flung rocks at the wall like it was a Jackson Pollock painting. Very cool. Here are some pics:

Wall comes down

The wall came tumblin' down! They left the sink for me to use for the weekend...

Boring stuff III: the back yard

Before

The mud pit

The design

During building

Patio and turf

We decided to do something with the back yard, since it was a mud pit, and Max was tracking most of it into the house. We hired a landscaping company to do the patio, then we got a little excited and had them install a drainage pipe, turf, and privacy screens. Ka-ching!! Not quite, but almost as much as a kitchen...

The "God, this takes forever" phase

Here is a list of some necessary items that you will never see on an HGTV show: choosing where electrical outlets go (which side of the door will I put my light switch? And in which order? Outside, kitchen, under the counter lights left to right? Or right to left? How many pot lights? Pendants over the peninsula? Does that alcove need a light? And the deck? Over the sink? What about outside lighting?

Heating. I can have a duct go up or down, not both. So, my kitchen will be warm and I have a wire for a heater in the laundry room. Hey, it's just the magical laundry fairy in there anyway. Fairies don't feel the cold. We're tough.

Drop-in sink or under-mount? Will we have granite $$$ or laminate countertops? Now, that you will see on HGTV. All those whiny, house-hunting entitled folks simpering over granite - which makes a great drinking game if you combine it with "man cave" and "walk in closet."  Just make sure it's not a school night! Granite is nice, and we like quartz (hey, it's the new granite!) and recycled glass (very cool), but decided retiring before we're 100 is also cool. Maybe we'll throw some stone at the peninsula - add a little bling... Hell, we're up to 61K before electrical, plumbing, stucco, or any of the fun kitchen design decisions. We might end up with plywood...the undermount sinks go well with stone, but I dunno. I'm not sure I love the look - although they aren't as dumb as the giant country pantry sinks. I'd like to be able to stand upright and reach the bottom of the sink. But maybe that's just me.

Counters and cupboards in the laundry room? Hmmm...maybe re-use the upstairs counters and cupboards. Which side do the dryer and washer go? I hate that the doors crash together.

Cupboards to the ceiling? Yup. Because we're tall and we have limited storage.

Choosing a fridge took us days. Counter-depth? Side by side? Water and ice? We went with double bottom-freezer, French-door and ice, but no water dispenser. Why? Because we have a narrow, galley kitchen and a full door fridge wouldn't work. Plus, I'm sick of bending down to find stuff in the fridge. And no water because they're a pain in the ass and need repair. Ice, because it has an easy "off" button, so what the heck. I didn't go counter-depth (see Retire by 100 comment above); besides, it didn't fit a pizza box (mandatory!).

The range. I'm still getting google ads for Wolf ranges. Sigh. So pretty. BUT, the 100 years thing, right? So, KitchenAid, all gas. I haven't cooked on gas since university. Should be interesting. Apparently, roasting peppers is a must on an open flame. If you read the foodie websites, roasting peppers is hugely important, so choose your range carefully! Induction cooktops won't cut it. Although they are very, very cool technology. And, very, very expensive in range format - and guaranteed to break immediately, should I drop a pot on the top, which I would, since I never ever have, but now mustn't, so, obviously, would.

The flipping hood fan? I don't care. But apparently I should have because I chose the wrong one and had to go back and re-order an "inset" model. It's going to look very pretty, and it will hopefully not sound like a jet engine when turned on (because it's 600-1200 cfm variable settings, which is loud, but has a 10 inch pipe which should soften the sound). So there, another decision no one is interested in, but that makes a difference. Of course, by buying an inset, we require millwork, which will be pretty, but that 100 year thing again...

I chose a chunk of granite - for the bling - which will then determine the laminate colour, cabinet colour (some sort of off-white), and floor colour (marmoleum, by the way - very durable and not as cold and nasty as tile or as comfy but ugly as cork). Of course, I am about to meet with the kitchen guy - something to do about arches, peninsula depth and cupboards versus drawers.

I should point out too, that in choosing some of these items, we realized that our bed will be on the other side of  the fridge and stove, so soundproofing must be considered. So that I am not awakened when the coffee-making fairy turns on the jet engine fan after burning peppers over the gas range.

Kitchen guy is here. Must go!

Boring Stuff Summary Part 'II: the laundry room

Not much to say about this space. It's probably the warmest room in the house - nicely insulated. A door will be cut where the sink used to be, then the laundry moves into the new space. Hopefully, we can move some of the kitchen cabinets down into the laundry room. They're putting a warm water tap on the outside of the door for washing Max.

Boring Stuff Summary! Part I: The Furnace

Something else they don't show you on HGTV: the long, long days where it seems like nothing is happening. It is - the headache-inducing racket is proof. So I'll skip to the before and after photos to borrow a bit from the 3 months in 30 minute TV shows. The list to the left is pretty typical: back fill gas line, sheathing, dig trough, break concrete, drill soffit vents, clean and organize site.

More boring stuff

The furnace switch to gas was a bust. We started wanted to get rid of all our ductwork. We looked into ductless heat pumps, but they were expensive and not very effective for an old house like ours. We'd have to spend thousands on supplemental electric heat. Very cool technology though. We briefly looked at wood heat (cheap, but dusty and a lot of work), then into switching to electric heat, but our electrical service would have to upgraded, our floor isn't insulated, and smart meters are coming. Maybe not the time to switch to electric heat. So...gas. The gas furnace arrived and I was please to see how small it was. Hurray! Then, they installed it and I realized that by having to hook it into the existing ductwork, it takes up the same amount of space. Plus, it has all these idiotic pipes coming out of it. The big white pipe in the photo is the worst. It has to be on an angle and it has to vent to outside. So now I have a giant white pipe running across a wall I was hoping to put a TV on. It also pokes out of the outside wall beside the gas meter which covers half my walkway. There's also the copper gas pipe, a second white pipe for fresh air intake, AND a water pipe. To top it all off, the high efficiency fan sounds like a jet taking off. Not what you want in a music room. Now we have a giant, insulated room inside a room. Such a disappointment!

At least we seem marginally warmer. I haven't seen my first gas bill, so the jury's still out.