This evening we continued to work on our wiring. Jonathan pulled the wires down through our 'wiring closet' to the basement. He stapled them into place and got them ready to be connected in the 2nd floor tower room. While he was working on this, I started connecting the outlets to the wires we had put in all of the boxes. Soon we will have power and lights in the room.
We are getting a little worried about the coming cold weather. Tonight and the next night the low will be 37 or 38 degrees. And the high will only be in the low 50's. We need to get that wood stove hooked up and ready very soon.
Wednesday, September 30, 2009
Tuesday, September 29, 2009
Monday, September 28, 2009
Day 167
Today the kids and I went over to the house to work. I started the day out by mowing the lawn. Then as I was waiting for them to come and haul the dumpster away, I decided to haul down as much plaster as I could from 3rd floor. The kids and I got most of the plaster (that we had already knocked down) taken out to the dumpster.
This evening with Jonathan we did some more wiring. This time it wasn't electrical wiring. But Cat5 for all of our networking needs. Some of this wire will be used for our home automation. We got most of the room wired and ready to go. Now all we have to do is hook everything up.
The blue wire is the CAT5 wire that we were working on. It will be how we control our house.
This evening with Jonathan we did some more wiring. This time it wasn't electrical wiring. But Cat5 for all of our networking needs. Some of this wire will be used for our home automation. We got most of the room wired and ready to go. Now all we have to do is hook everything up.
The blue wire is the CAT5 wire that we were working on. It will be how we control our house.
Sunday, September 27, 2009
Day 166
Today we worked on wiring in the tower room. We got wire to all of the outlet boxes. We still need to connect them and then bring the wire up from the basement.
We also got the boxes on the ceiling for the lights. We are going to have a ceiling fan/light and two other lights in this room.
In this picture the black pipe on the right was for the original gas lights in the house. The fixture hanging from the scary black wire on the left was from the light fixture that had been in the room. The shiny silver box in the middle is where we are going to be hanging our ceiling fan from.
At home in Hickman, Jonathan was working on some of the home automation things. He wants to get the box ready to put in the wall in the Tower room. But first he has to get everything soldered and ready to go.
Saturday, September 26, 2009
Day 165
Mom and Dad are here on their way back from the hospital in Omaha. We are having some more wood delivered this morning.
Jonathan and Dad spent much of the day getting all of the pipes out of the floor and wall. There was a lot of unneeded pipes coming through the floor, as this space had been a bathroom and a kitchen. It looks a lot better. Then they built the frame wall that we will run the pex through for the radiators and also the electrical wires. We are almost ready to go.
Here is the wall. The hole in the floor goes all the way to the basement where all of the wires and pex will come from.
Mom and I were on clean up duty, hauling things out to the dumpster. We were also sorting through the boxes. We started moving the girls' things to their room and Zeb's to his. Then we were attempting to organize the others so that we will be able to find things when we need them. We also got a shelf set up and filled with the kids' craft things. :) Now Melinda will be able to play with Play-Doh.
Jonathan and Dad spent much of the day getting all of the pipes out of the floor and wall. There was a lot of unneeded pipes coming through the floor, as this space had been a bathroom and a kitchen. It looks a lot better. Then they built the frame wall that we will run the pex through for the radiators and also the electrical wires. We are almost ready to go.
Here is the wall. The hole in the floor goes all the way to the basement where all of the wires and pex will come from.Mom and I were on clean up duty, hauling things out to the dumpster. We were also sorting through the boxes. We started moving the girls' things to their room and Zeb's to his. Then we were attempting to organize the others so that we will be able to find things when we need them. We also got a shelf set up and filled with the kids' craft things. :) Now Melinda will be able to play with Play-Doh.
Friday, September 25, 2009
Thursday, September 24, 2009
Day 163
The kids and I went over to the cool park this morning. I took a bunch of pictures there it was a lot of fun. Then we went over to the house to work. I finished getting all of the boxes and tubs moved out the the Dining room. :) Now we are ready to get the smelly, wet carpet out of there.
After supper, Jonathan and I got the carpet cut into smaller pieces and carried out to the dumpster. YAY the house already smells better!
After supper, Jonathan and I got the carpet cut into smaller pieces and carried out to the dumpster. YAY the house already smells better!
Wednesday, September 23, 2009
Day 162
Today the kids and I went over to the house again in the morning. We started out the day with a drive around a cool park. We are very excited to go there to play and take pictures. At the house the kids did their school work. And I did all sorts of things mostly clean up related. The exterminator came and took a look at our bees. :) Hopefully that problem will be taken care of soon.
Then after supper we went back to the house with Jonathan. We looked inside of the walls and tried to figure out how we are going to run the pex for the heating, as well as for the bathroom up on third floor, and all of the electrical lines from the basement.
Then after supper we went back to the house with Jonathan. We looked inside of the walls and tried to figure out how we are going to run the pex for the heating, as well as for the bathroom up on third floor, and all of the electrical lines from the basement.
Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Day 161
The kids and I went over to the new house this morning. We took a load of Zeb's things over. We were able to take them up into his future, temporary room (otherwise known as the Green Room). Then I worked a bit more in the 2nd floor tower room. I carried several loads down to the dumpster and did some general clean up in there. Now it will be easier to move around and work in there. I also opened up the kitchen and the basement to let things dry out a bit more. I also called someone about our bee problem. He will be coming over to check out the bees tomorrow. So hopefully that will be taken care of soon.
Tonight we are staying in Hickman to do some research. There are a lot of things that we need to get worked out.
Tonight we are staying in Hickman to do some research. There are a lot of things that we need to get worked out.
Monday, September 21, 2009
Day 160
Jonathan finished up the misc. plumbing. He made sure the water heater was dried out after the flood waters from the second floor bathroom had resided. He also rehooked up the the pipes to the bathtub. So we once again have hot water and a working bathtub. :) I was working some more in the 2nd floor tower room. It seems like we work and work in there. I haven't taken any pictures to show the progress, mostly because I can barely see what we have been doing. I am sure no one else would be able to see anything. But within a day or two I am hope for some noticeable changes in that room. So I will be post before and middle pictures. We will have to wait just a while longer for the 'after' pictures.
Sunday, September 20, 2009
Day 159
The good news first:
No water running down three floors of our house.. YAY!
Things are still a bit damp in the 1st floor kitchen and in the basement. But they will dry out soon.
We got all of the rest of the plaster, lathe and insulation out of the 2nd floor tower. We are getting close to the fun part of this room. Sometime this week we will be doing the wiring in there. It will be nice to have electricity in there again. With it starting to get dark earlier in the evening it gets harder to work in there after supper. We just have a bit of clean up before we can start on that.
Jonathan has been working on all of the home automation. In fact right now he is sitting at his computer working on the program to get things running. I don't think I have talked much about what we are hoping that our home will be able to do yet. We want to have an intercom system. We have already found that it is hard to find someone in the house and you don't want to run up and down the stairs to go looking for them. He is also planning on having all of the lights and fans on this system. This way if we forgot to shut off a light somewhere we can do it from any intercom box, or even my parents' house. We are going to have moisture sensors in the walls so we will have early warning of leaks. At some time there will be camera set up in place for security. We have even discussed the possibility of automating the drapes to open when we want to bring heat and light in and closing them when we want to keep it out. Oh, and being able to tell if a window is open from any intercom box. As this is the first room we are going to be finishing (along with the bathroom) we need to make sure all of the wire and things are in place before we close up the walls.
We are going to name our house "Howl". Has anyone seen Howl's Moving Castle directed by Hayao Miyazaki? It is a great movie, one of my favorites. Then who remembers Hal from 2001? Well, I hope that our computerized house turns out just the way that we want it to.
No water running down three floors of our house.. YAY!
Things are still a bit damp in the 1st floor kitchen and in the basement. But they will dry out soon.
We got all of the rest of the plaster, lathe and insulation out of the 2nd floor tower. We are getting close to the fun part of this room. Sometime this week we will be doing the wiring in there. It will be nice to have electricity in there again. With it starting to get dark earlier in the evening it gets harder to work in there after supper. We just have a bit of clean up before we can start on that.
Jonathan has been working on all of the home automation. In fact right now he is sitting at his computer working on the program to get things running. I don't think I have talked much about what we are hoping that our home will be able to do yet. We want to have an intercom system. We have already found that it is hard to find someone in the house and you don't want to run up and down the stairs to go looking for them. He is also planning on having all of the lights and fans on this system. This way if we forgot to shut off a light somewhere we can do it from any intercom box, or even my parents' house. We are going to have moisture sensors in the walls so we will have early warning of leaks. At some time there will be camera set up in place for security. We have even discussed the possibility of automating the drapes to open when we want to bring heat and light in and closing them when we want to keep it out. Oh, and being able to tell if a window is open from any intercom box. As this is the first room we are going to be finishing (along with the bathroom) we need to make sure all of the wire and things are in place before we close up the walls.
We are going to name our house "Howl". Has anyone seen Howl's Moving Castle directed by Hayao Miyazaki? It is a great movie, one of my favorites. Then who remembers Hal from 2001? Well, I hope that our computerized house turns out just the way that we want it to.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Day 158
Water, Water, Everywhere... Oh, NO.
We got to the new house this morning to find out that something really bad had happened. There was water, lots of water, spraying out of the pipes for the bathtub. We had used plumbers epoxy on those pipes. Well, we would recommend not doing that. These pipes had been good and leak free for quite awhile now. But some time between Thursday night and Saturday morning they started to leak and spray water everywhere. The entire 2nd floor bathroom was wet. Water was running down through the floor into the 1st floor kitchen. Which was puddling at least an 1 1/2 deep. The sheetrock was soaking and falling off of the ceiling. The water was running down the stairs into the basement from the kitchen as well as flowing into the 1st floor bathroom and going down into the basement through the open floor there. It was also starting to go into the Dining room. (The strangely being the worst of it, as we have been stacking all of the stuff we had packed and brought over to the house in there.) And the basement was very wet... Though not as wet as it could have been. Jonathan quickly went down to the basement, through the dripping, pouring flood and shut off the water. Then we started to clean things up.
I started by trying to move all of the things out of the dining room to see how badly some of those things might have gotten wet. I was really glad that many of the things on the bottom had been plastic tubs. And there was a shelf that lots of things were stacked on near the wettest part. There were actually only four boxes that got wet. The one marked "photos" was the one I was most concerned about. But lucky for me cardboard boxes are thick. The pictures were just fine. The boxes that was the wettest was filled with plastic tubs of craft supplies... so again nothing was wet. YAY!
Jonathan started up in the 2nd floor bathroom, as this is the room we care the most about. It is the only room that we have 'finished'. He used the shop vac, to get any water that was left in the room. And got everything out and setting around to dry. Then he went down in the basement to clean up some of the water, and putting things out in the sun to dry. We did discover one good thing. We had thought that the drain in the basement did not work. But now we know that it does. Or there would have been a lot more water in the basement. There was a 5 gallon bucket just setting in the basement. It was completely full of water. So we know how much water had been flowing down into the basement.
The 1st floor kitchen is a terrible mess. But we don't care much about that room. The sheetrock and plaster are still falling. But hey, we are planning all knocking all of that down sometime in the future anyway so no real problem.
So that was our morning. Not what we had planned on doing at all. Now we are half a day behind what we had hoped to be doing. But I guess that is how things go somedays. So after lunch it was time to start on the 2nd floor tower room. We wanted to get the rest of the plaster and lathe out of the room so we could clean up and start working. :D
Even with the "late" start we got a lot done in the tower room. When we left for the night there was only a little bit of plaster, lathe and insulation left. Ella and I got the nails out of a pile of lathe. We are going to nail these back up to the studs so that when we put on the sheetrock it will be the right thickness for all of the woodwork. And whatever is left we are going to burn in our wood stove. The dumpster is getting nearly full. :) Another thing to smile about.
And today is another birthday... Happy Birthday, Eva.
We got to the new house this morning to find out that something really bad had happened. There was water, lots of water, spraying out of the pipes for the bathtub. We had used plumbers epoxy on those pipes. Well, we would recommend not doing that. These pipes had been good and leak free for quite awhile now. But some time between Thursday night and Saturday morning they started to leak and spray water everywhere. The entire 2nd floor bathroom was wet. Water was running down through the floor into the 1st floor kitchen. Which was puddling at least an 1 1/2 deep. The sheetrock was soaking and falling off of the ceiling. The water was running down the stairs into the basement from the kitchen as well as flowing into the 1st floor bathroom and going down into the basement through the open floor there. It was also starting to go into the Dining room. (The strangely being the worst of it, as we have been stacking all of the stuff we had packed and brought over to the house in there.) And the basement was very wet... Though not as wet as it could have been. Jonathan quickly went down to the basement, through the dripping, pouring flood and shut off the water. Then we started to clean things up.
I started by trying to move all of the things out of the dining room to see how badly some of those things might have gotten wet. I was really glad that many of the things on the bottom had been plastic tubs. And there was a shelf that lots of things were stacked on near the wettest part. There were actually only four boxes that got wet. The one marked "photos" was the one I was most concerned about. But lucky for me cardboard boxes are thick. The pictures were just fine. The boxes that was the wettest was filled with plastic tubs of craft supplies... so again nothing was wet. YAY!
Jonathan started up in the 2nd floor bathroom, as this is the room we care the most about. It is the only room that we have 'finished'. He used the shop vac, to get any water that was left in the room. And got everything out and setting around to dry. Then he went down in the basement to clean up some of the water, and putting things out in the sun to dry. We did discover one good thing. We had thought that the drain in the basement did not work. But now we know that it does. Or there would have been a lot more water in the basement. There was a 5 gallon bucket just setting in the basement. It was completely full of water. So we know how much water had been flowing down into the basement.
The 1st floor kitchen is a terrible mess. But we don't care much about that room. The sheetrock and plaster are still falling. But hey, we are planning all knocking all of that down sometime in the future anyway so no real problem.
So that was our morning. Not what we had planned on doing at all. Now we are half a day behind what we had hoped to be doing. But I guess that is how things go somedays. So after lunch it was time to start on the 2nd floor tower room. We wanted to get the rest of the plaster and lathe out of the room so we could clean up and start working. :D
Even with the "late" start we got a lot done in the tower room. When we left for the night there was only a little bit of plaster, lathe and insulation left. Ella and I got the nails out of a pile of lathe. We are going to nail these back up to the studs so that when we put on the sheetrock it will be the right thickness for all of the woodwork. And whatever is left we are going to burn in our wood stove. The dumpster is getting nearly full. :) Another thing to smile about.
And today is another birthday... Happy Birthday, Eva.
Friday, September 18, 2009
Thursday, September 17, 2009
Day 156
There was a sale on batting at the fabric store... So I bought enough to do 16 windows. That ought to keep me busy for a while. I think I only have enough fabric to do 8 or 9 windows. But at least it will be a good start.
We went over to the house after supper. We worked a bit in the tower room. Then Jonathan epoxied some pipes and we stacked up the wood that had fallen over.
And there was a surprise... Bats in the belfry. Well not exactly. The bat is not in the tower. It was hanging from the light fixture in the Green Room. I am NOT excited about this. Jonathan opened up one of the windows in that room and we closed the door before we left. So we are hoping it found it's way outside and didn't bring any of it's friends back home.
We are working our way through the "B" words. Bees in the wall... Bats in the belfry... bugs in the hmm, not sure where they are coming from. Not looking forward to see what other kinds of icky "b" words we will find.
We are hoping to get everything out of the tower room over this weekend so that we can start wiring and getting everything back in the walls. We also want to start getting the stove all set up.
We went over to the house after supper. We worked a bit in the tower room. Then Jonathan epoxied some pipes and we stacked up the wood that had fallen over.
And there was a surprise... Bats in the belfry. Well not exactly. The bat is not in the tower. It was hanging from the light fixture in the Green Room. I am NOT excited about this. Jonathan opened up one of the windows in that room and we closed the door before we left. So we are hoping it found it's way outside and didn't bring any of it's friends back home.
We are working our way through the "B" words. Bees in the wall... Bats in the belfry... bugs in the hmm, not sure where they are coming from. Not looking forward to see what other kinds of icky "b" words we will find.
We are hoping to get everything out of the tower room over this weekend so that we can start wiring and getting everything back in the walls. We also want to start getting the stove all set up.
Wednesday, September 16, 2009
Day 155
Off to Lincoln to get Jonathan's car back from the mechanic... No work on the house tonight.
Tuesday, September 15, 2009
Day 154
We went over to the house this morning. We only have four more weeks, so I really need to get busy. My goal today was to get all of the yuck that we had knocked down out to the dumpster. We still need to knock some more stuff down, but it feels better and is easier to work when you are standing on piles of nails and rubble.
The kids took all of their school work so that they could work on it while we were their. They also helped me to carry some of the bucket down. They are such good helpers.
The kids took all of their school work so that they could work on it while we were their. They also helped me to carry some of the bucket down. They are such good helpers.
Monday, September 14, 2009
Day 153
We went over to the house a little bit this afternoon. We are waiting for some packages and didn't want them sitting out over night. While we were there, I did a little bit of work. But just wasn't excited about going up and down the stairs with those heavy buckets today. We are still giving Jonathan's back a couple of days rest before we get on with some more real work.
Sunday, September 13, 2009
Day 152
We didn't go over to the house today. After all of the heavy lifting of yesterday, Jonathan's back needs a break. Also Mom and Dad came to spend some time with us to celebrate Melinda's birthday.
Saturday, September 12, 2009
Day 151
Happy Birthday Philip! It is my brother's birthday today.
We were at the house early this morning. We were getting three loads of firewood delivered. We are getting quite a pile of wood. But by Jonathan's calculations, it might only be half of what we need for the winter.
Here is a picture of our woodpile after the three new loads have been delivered. Ella has been begging to help carry the wood. So she was watching and waiting for it to be delivered. She has offered to bring wood upstairs every morning. I hope this attitude lasts through the winter.
We bought one of the loads of wood from one of Jonathan's co-workers. He offered to help carry the new wood stove upstairs. Oh, my that thing is so heavy. But the two of them got it up to second floor.
With all of the lifting and carrying, Jonathan's back needed to take a break. We had planned on getting the rest of the plaster and lathe out of the tower room today. But moving the stove up was such a huge help. We decided to go and look at a different antique store. And do a little birthday and Christmas present shopping in Lincoln.
We were at the house early this morning. We were getting three loads of firewood delivered. We are getting quite a pile of wood. But by Jonathan's calculations, it might only be half of what we need for the winter.
Here is a picture of our woodpile after the three new loads have been delivered. Ella has been begging to help carry the wood. So she was watching and waiting for it to be delivered. She has offered to bring wood upstairs every morning. I hope this attitude lasts through the winter.
We bought one of the loads of wood from one of Jonathan's co-workers. He offered to help carry the new wood stove upstairs. Oh, my that thing is so heavy. But the two of them got it up to second floor.
With all of the lifting and carrying, Jonathan's back needed to take a break. We had planned on getting the rest of the plaster and lathe out of the tower room today. But moving the stove up was such a huge help. We decided to go and look at a different antique store. And do a little birthday and Christmas present shopping in Lincoln.
Friday, September 11, 2009
Day 150
Happy Birthday Melinda Johanna!
Because it was Melinda's birthday today, we didn't go over to the house. We let her pick where she wanted to go out to eat. She chose McDonald's with a big Play Place.
We took her to the big antique store. She has been wanting something for her room. So we let her pick out one of her presents from the antique store. She decided on a jeweled treasure box / jewelry box.
Melinda was very excited about her birthday. :D
Because it was Melinda's birthday today, we didn't go over to the house. We let her pick where she wanted to go out to eat. She chose McDonald's with a big Play Place.
We took her to the big antique store. She has been wanting something for her room. So we let her pick out one of her presents from the antique store. She decided on a jeweled treasure box / jewelry box.
Melinda was very excited about her birthday. :D
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Day 146 - 148
We got some of our packages this week. I am looking forward to getting to use some of these things.
We also worked some more on the plaster and lathe.
Half of the ceiling down. :)
And the best news is that we have sold our other house. Now we really need to get to work. :D
We also worked some more on the plaster and lathe.
Half of the ceiling down. :)And the best news is that we have sold our other house. Now we really need to get to work. :D
Day 149
Jonathan decided to take a day off of work today so we could get a bunch of work done.
We knocked down a lot of plaster and lathe. We also carried it out to the dumpster. We lowered a lot of buckets out the door and carried them to the dumpster. The kids all helped quite a bit with this job.
We are planning on burning the lathe in our wood stove. So we are sorting them into piles. Soon we will be removing all of the nails from the lathe.
Load after load....bucketful after bucketful of plaster...
We knocked down a lot of plaster and lathe. We also carried it out to the dumpster. We lowered a lot of buckets out the door and carried them to the dumpster. The kids all helped quite a bit with this job.
We are planning on burning the lathe in our wood stove. So we are sorting them into piles. Soon we will be removing all of the nails from the lathe.
Load after load....bucketful after bucketful of plaster...
Sunday, September 6, 2009
Day 144 - 145
Time for major work on the tower room. All of the plaster and lathe has to come down.
We want to get this room ready for winter. We are putting the wood stove in here. But we decided that we should go ahead and knock down the plaster and lathe so that we can put some insulation in the walls.
Time to see if there is anything hidden in our walls..
We also want to Lincoln to do some shopping. We were looking for fabric. I need to make some insulated drapes for the house. We are trying to make sure that we stay as warm as possible. We also went to some hardware stores. We got some of the things we are going to be needing, electrical wire, outlet boxes, light fixtures, a ceiling fan, cat 5 cable, and other misc. things. We are gearing up to finish the tower room.
We also have a lot of things on order, the stove, chimney liner, pex for the radiant heat, and some things for the automation.
It was a productive weekend.
We want to get this room ready for winter. We are putting the wood stove in here. But we decided that we should go ahead and knock down the plaster and lathe so that we can put some insulation in the walls.
Time to see if there is anything hidden in our walls..
We also want to Lincoln to do some shopping. We were looking for fabric. I need to make some insulated drapes for the house. We are trying to make sure that we stay as warm as possible. We also went to some hardware stores. We got some of the things we are going to be needing, electrical wire, outlet boxes, light fixtures, a ceiling fan, cat 5 cable, and other misc. things. We are gearing up to finish the tower room.
We also have a lot of things on order, the stove, chimney liner, pex for the radiant heat, and some things for the automation.
It was a productive weekend.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Day 143
Today Jonathan was working on the tub again. He is so close to getting that thing working. He has been fighting "tiny" leaks. But I guess that is what plumbing is all about... making sure there are no leaks at all.
Thursday, September 3, 2009
Day 142
Well, now for my craigslist shopping again...
While looking for firewood, I found a cabinet for the bathroom. Yeah, I know, firewood-cabinet. Not really related, but that is what happened.
So this evening we are off to look at a cabinet in Lincoln. And of course, we really like it. :) So the bathroom is one more step to being finished.
Here is our new cabinet setting in our bathroom. Now we have a place to put our towels and things.
While looking for firewood, I found a cabinet for the bathroom. Yeah, I know, firewood-cabinet. Not really related, but that is what happened.
So this evening we are off to look at a cabinet in Lincoln. And of course, we really like it. :) So the bathroom is one more step to being finished.
Here is our new cabinet setting in our bathroom. Now we have a place to put our towels and things.
Tuesday, September 1, 2009
Day 140-141
We are to the point where we need to do a lot of planning. We are starting to 'finish' a couple of rooms. We are going to be doing a lot of home automation, and need to get all of that figured out. We also want to be sure about the electrical and Cat 5 cable that we are putting into the walls as well as the pex for the under floor radiant heating, and the pex for the plumbing up on third floor.
We are working on the second floor tower room. So before we finish the ceiling we need to get the pex in for the radiant floor up on third floor. We also need to get the plumbing up there for the bathroom that will be on third floor. We are also hoping to run up the electrical and cat 5 while the walls are open. None of this will be hooked up for a while. But still needs to be planned out.
So we have been doing a lot of research and planning as well as 'window' shopping.
We are working on the second floor tower room. So before we finish the ceiling we need to get the pex in for the radiant floor up on third floor. We also need to get the plumbing up there for the bathroom that will be on third floor. We are also hoping to run up the electrical and cat 5 while the walls are open. None of this will be hooked up for a while. But still needs to be planned out.
So we have been doing a lot of research and planning as well as 'window' shopping.
Getting behind...
Well, I have gotten behind on my posting. I will try to get all of the things up that we have been working on.
September 1-13 Coming soon.
September 1-13 Coming soon.
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