Renovation Rants

Renovation Rants http://www.maro.net/ Renovating our craftsman style home en-us Nucleus CMS v3.24 © Weblog http://backend.userland.com/rss http://www.maro.net/ns/nucleus2.gif Renovation Rants http://www.maro.net/ <![CDATA[Porch mostly totalled]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=488
What did it cost to tear down and rebuild my porch?

$3,526

That's just materials. Imagine if I hadn't done all of the work myself! Average cost my research showed for having a contractor do the work was around $8000 plus the stone work.

In addition, I spent another $571 on tools this year (cordless drill, nailgun.) And another $97 fixing the electrical damage I did to the power line for my washer while reattaching a downspout. lol.
]]> General http://www.maro.net/?itemid=488 Sat, 20 Dec 2008 13:04:34 -1200 <![CDATA[Working on the Dining Room]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=487 which project should I do next" post I've already tackled the Entertainment Center and Porch. Now I'm working on the Dining Room. That just leaves the upstairs bedroom. I know everyone voted for the bedroom first, but my daughter never could move out her stuff so I could redo the room, so it'll just have to wait until she goes off to college next year.

You may remember the before picture of the dining room:

Well I tried to remove wallpaper and paint, but the room didn't want to cooperate. Much like the upstairs bedroom I renovated back in 2005 it had seven or so layers of wallpaper and at least two layers of paint. I elected to just throw drywall up on top of it all. This time I didn't remove the trim first, and I think it was a very good decision both for time and look.

Here you can see the wallpaper layers peeled back. I've already removed the top layer or two of paper, and got down to the first layer of painted wallpaper, and behind that another layer of dark patterned wallpaper, and behind that a layer of green painted wallpaper that extended behind the trim.

We went with a rich gold color for the walls. I haven't painted the trim yet, but here it is now:

I hung 3/8" drywall directly over the wallpaper without removing the trim. Removing the trim would have taken an inordinate amount of time, not to mention probably destroyed half of it in the process. It wasn't hard to use joint compound right up to the edge of the trim, and since the trim is 7x1 boards, you don't even notice except in a few places where the wall is slightly warped and the trim isn't. Yay for old houses ;-)]]> General http://www.maro.net/?itemid=487 Mon, 1 Dec 2008 01:43:28 -1200 <![CDATA[The porch mostly done and decorated!]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=485

]]> Porch http://www.maro.net/?itemid=485 Wed, 22 Oct 2008 13:54:33 -1100 <![CDATA[Got some ceiling hung]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=484
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.]]> Porch http://www.maro.net/?itemid=484 Sun, 28 Sep 2008 12:47:00 -1100 <![CDATA[WaMu, I Get The Last Laugh!]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=483 "How Washington Mutual Wants To Screw You".

Looks like I get the last laugh.
]]> General http://www.maro.net/?itemid=483 Fri, 26 Sep 2008 03:26:32 -1100 <![CDATA[The Stone Work Is Underway]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=482
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:

]]> Porch http://www.maro.net/?itemid=482 Sun, 14 Sep 2008 11:34:19 -1100 <![CDATA[The Ceiling-Less Porch]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=478 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. :-)]]> Porch http://www.maro.net/?itemid=478 Mon, 21 Jul 2008 09:44:42 -1100 <![CDATA[Porch Lighting Complete]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=477

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.
]]> Porch http://www.maro.net/?itemid=477 Mon, 14 Jul 2008 14:15:24 -1100 <![CDATA[Low Voltage Lighting]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=476

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.]]> Porch http://www.maro.net/?itemid=476 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 13:52:24 -1100 <![CDATA[Porch Framing Continues]]> http://www.maro.net/?itemid=475

As you can see I've got about 2/3 of the framing complete for the porch. The outer bottom will be finished in stone, and above that will be screen. I've taken the opportunity to run some electrical as well so I'll have flood lights in the back yard just to the side of the back exit from the porch, and a porch light mounted to the left of the main entrance. I plan to also add some low-voltage lighting both as landscape lights around the walkway and side, and a couple as "deck" lights mounted inside the framed bottom that will light up the floor of the porch.

I've picked up bead-board panels (not cheap at $18 a sheet) to do the ceiling.]]> Porch http://www.maro.net/?itemid=475 Tue, 8 Jul 2008 06:13:37 -1100