Renovation Rants

09/28/08: Got some ceiling hung

Today the kids and I hung three of the ceiling panels for the porch. It was a much bigger deal to do than I had hoped, but I think it's going to turn out just fine.

This also means I got to use my nail gun for real for the first time! It was certainly fun. I can't even imagine trying to install a wood panel ceiling without a nail gun. We'd probably still be on the first panel.

09/26/08: WaMu, I Get The Last Laugh!

Some of you may recall my scathing review of Washington Mutual titled "How Washington Mutual Wants To Screw You".

Looks like I get the last laugh.

09/14/08: The Stone Work Is Underway

The stone work is underway, and it's turning out better than I had hoped. It's certainly more art than technical skill. Once I figured out the proper mix for the mortar things started going pretty smoothly.

I'm using "manufactured stone" which is basically concrete poured into forms and tinted. It's about half the weight and half the cost of real stone, and much easier to work with. No, I didn't get it from Lowe's - there's a local concrete supplier who got me everything I needed.

I found that mixing less than a gallon of mortar at a time was best, because my skill level is low so I'm slow at it and that keeps the mortar from getting dry.

Click the picture for a larger view:

07/21/08: The Ceiling-Less Porch

Wow, this has been a long road. It started at the end of May when I tore down the old porch due to structural issues, while saving 85% of the original roof. I also had the concrete slab removed that was in the yard leading to the porch and installed a nice little paver walk.

I framed in a new porch. This allows me to have any dirt/mud splash on the bottom two feet and have screen above that. It also keeps little fingers from tearing the screen once it's installed. Then I got a wild hair and installed low voltage lighting, placing three walk lights and two lights mounted inside the framing of the porch itself for mood lighting. It looks great, by the way! Next I tore out the electrical for the old over door porch light and ran a new 20 amp circuit from the breaker box that handles the new overhead porch light (now mounted in the ceiling), a new GFCI outlet on the outside back wall and a new set of floods with a switch inside the porch for late night grilling.

And now, I've finished painting so all that's left is ceiling, screen, stone wall on the outside and tile floor:





I think I'm going to buy a nail gun for mounting the ceiling panels. I have sheets of "beadboard" plywood that is going to make an awesome ceiling. And, I'm going to be smart and paint them before they go up. :-)

07/14/08: Porch Lighting Complete

I was planning to just move the porch light to the center of the ceiling, but when I pulled off the siding to take a look at the wiring I was amazed the house hadn't burned down yet with the multiple splices. I ended up rewiring it all the way back to the panel. I disconnected the original wires inside the wall and drilled a hole through the side of the house to run a new electrical line to the porch light switch inside. A little bit of spray foam sealed the hole back up.




I installed a new breaker in the box and ran the porch light, a weatherproof GFCI outlet on the end of the porch, a floodlight set on the back side of the porch and a switch to turn the floods on and off. I cut a channel in the wood siding behind the vinyl siding for the new wiring to run, and replaced the vinyl siding to cover the wire.

I'm not an electrician but I have enough experience with this and have done enough studying that I am comfortable opening the main breaker box without frying myself (or others) and am reasonably confident that everything is done perfectly to code, even though there's no inspector way out here.

07/08/08: Low Voltage Lighting

Before I could put the cement backer board on the outside of the bottom of the porch, I decided to install low voltage deck lighting. Since it's all the same cable, I went ahead and placed a few landscape lights as well for the walkway:



You can see I've painted just around the lights themselves before installing them. I promised Kaelin that she could help paint, so I didn't paint the entire section.


It was a lot more expensive than I thought, running $90 for the transformer, $20 for the cable and another $100 for the lights themselves. By the time I'm finished with the screened porch, stone base and tile floor, I think all together it should increase the value of the house considerably.