There was an oakum smell...

56-year-old oakum smells good. Is that strange? Mildly remniscent of the smell of Robertson's Real Beef Jerky -- the stuff they sell at the Love's truckstops! My very favorite!

http://www.robertsons-hams.com/store.htm?mode=shop&cid=7

Anyway, I spent a good 1.5 hours pulling lead and oakum from a 4-inch hub in my main DWV stack. I figure I removed a good 4/5 of the stuff before the toilet arm even budged.

No pictures today. I'm cameraless.

What's worse? No camera...or drilling/picking/pulling lead and oakum from an old, stinky hub?

My vote is with "no camera".

Spring Garden

The weather was too wonderful this past weekend not to be working ouside on the garden. Here are a few pics...

Alyssum...smells sooo good:
A cool sprout...Mallow maybe? Sedum!

I planted many new sedum, hot peppers (habernero, jaloro and mariachi), horsetail reed, some salvia, germander, thai basil, greek oregano and cucumbers. Also, my angel trumpets (datura) are both sprouting like mad and returning from the root.

"Eat Mor Chikinwire"

Here is what I started with today:
The above is actually how I finished last night. I usually take pictures at the start of the next day's work...after the dust has settled.

My goal today was to remove the 2+ inches of concrete/mortar/whatever, tile and chickenwire:

Mission accomplished! Not nearly as difficult as the tile surround. I really did like this tile...sad to see it go. I retained a small box of these domino-like tiles. In addition, I kept a few unbroken chunks of concrete/tile to use as stepping stones in some corner of the garden.

The floor demo uncovered some good stuff. I've seen this from the crawlspace, but the fact that the toilet and/or my wife or I never fell through this hole is testimony to the strength of chickenwire-reinforced concrete. I managed to get all of the rubble cleared out...a very productive day, indeed.

And finally:

"cohhhh...cehhhhh...cohhhhh...cehhhhh..."

"Luke..."

John Spartan Would Be Proud!

I started gutting the guest bathroom on Saturday. To ease into things I removed all of the shelving and door trim from the closet. Then, I limbered up with a few swings of my 4-pound "mini-sledge" on the drywall. PUNCH...easy enough. Finally, feeling pretty tough, I took a shot at the tile that surrounds the bathroom and shower... CLINK!

Nothing.

Whoa...this stuff is tough. Talk about "built to last". Basically the tile rests in 1-2 inches of concrete spread on a thick metal lathe that is nailed to the studs. No suprise in a house of this age.


Of course, there is no insulation -- this partly explains my A/C over-usage during the hot Texas summers. Not to worry, I'll get that fixed when we replace the siding later this year.

After much pounding, day two of demolition ended with the shower surround reluctantly coming down:

As you can see, this bathroom originally had a window. A big window. It was easy to punch out the siding since these pieces were cut to fill the window space. So far proving very useful for ventilation and for clearing out trash and old-timey fixtures.

I definitely plan to re-frame this "opening" to include an awning window in the upper part. We need the light in this part of the house...textured or frosted glass, of course.

Tomorrow, I'll evaluate the tub and begin to tackle the floor and it's 2+ inches of concrete and chickenwire lathe. Yea!

***High-quality respirator and earplugs...priceless!***

Greenlighted!

The City of Austin gave us the official GREEN LIGHT (literally, a green slip of paper) to proceed with the remodel. The first order of business is the guest bath. Built in 1951, this bath retains a hint or two of its original charm (read: floor tiles and bathtub). Here is the obligatory "before" photo in all its glory:


I'll do what I can to salvage this tub...I love the shape and lines on it. I need to see it from underneath before I decide what to do with it.

Here are the floor tiles. These tiles have served the house well...now it is time for them to go. We're looking for something a little less busy on the floor.


The toilet is not quite original. Judging by the stamp, this toilet replaced the original around 1967. Regardless, it too has also served the house well...for forty years.


Interestingly enough, 1967 marks the same year that American Radiator & Standard Sanitary Corporation Standard Sanitary Corporation merged with American Radiator Company to form adopted the name "American-Standard". The stamp on the toilet in the master bathroom (see below) only reads "Standard".

Outside stamp on the toilet.

We'll pay homage to A-S by installing their Ravenna sinks in both bathrooms. We like the clean lines and the built-in towel rack which makes for a cleaner wall plane which is great for our limited space:

http://www.americanstandard-us.com/Products/productDetail.aspx?area=bath&cat=2&col=&prodID=1243

The stamp in the master bathroom toilet says '56. This coincides with the 1957 remodel where the original owners turned the garage into the master suite -- more on that later!

See, only "Standard":

The Choisest Product of the Brewers' Art

I spent a few hours under the house on Saturday mapping the piers/pipes/girders/etc. All in preparation for the work we're poised to commence. Aside from three...yes, three...pinhole leaks, I did find some fun artifacts:

"The Choisest Product of the Brewers' Art"

Good ol' Falstaff. Looks like it's from the early 60's. Check out: http://www.gono.com/beermagazineads/falstaff/f11.jpg

Check out the "pop top"! I'm not sure why, but this is the coolest thing...very rustic. In an odd way, I'll bet yer beer tastes better when opened like this:

Only the best!

For a caffeine jolt:


These are very cool. Ancestors to the now-retired Mickey's "hand grenade" pop tops? Does anyone know what these came off of?

Kit-Kat and Barack and Peas...oh my!

Yep. We love our Kit Kat clock! Doesn't everyone? My wife suprised me with one of these a few years ago...I probably have 500 shots of this since I take a picture of it every time I walk by. Check out these hinges in the kitchen. I'm guessing the kitchen remodel occurred in the late 60's? That's a complete guess. Does anyone have an idea of the time period for these hinges? I'm thinking they were fairly common at one point. They're cozy and rustic. I've heard comments that "it's like the kitchen I grew up in" -- but they must go! I'll post pics of the complete "before" kitchen later.

Barack Obama paid a visit to Austin today -- very cool, indeed. Just a couple of pics then back to the house/garden...yay!

Here's a shot of the crowd looking back towards the old Palmer Auditorium that is being converted into the new Long Center for Performing Arts. I love that they kept the old ring that supported the convention area dome!

The first pea sprout! My favorite veggie every year is the sugar snap pea! Here's the first, sole sprout. I expect more in a day or two. I'll have handfulls of peas in the next month or so!!!

Progress Permitting...

So I had a great 40-minute phone conversation with the city permit office today. The gentleman that I spoke with was incredibly friendly, informative and willing to go out of his way to help out. The greatest thing? He had a sense of humor! NOT what I expected when I placed the call. Anyway, I'm glad to know that I can request to meet with him when I hit the offices next week.

Why the fuss? Well, I'm keen to keep the changes on the up-and-up since I'll be renewing and/or replacing plumbing and electrical systems among other things -- who knows what code details I'll miss without the inspectors keeping me honest! ;-]

Cleanout! is still in progress but on schedule. Now stuff is beginning to pile up in the office:

I got hit with the gardening bug again (darn spring fever!) and spend several hours outside pruning. Now I have several piles of brush for pick-up. Maggie, our rat terrier has been helping...

[that's the shed...I had fun building that when we moved in a few years ago]

This time of the year in Austin is great...plants are just awakening. Like this hydrangea:

I mentioned that Maggie was helping...well, that was until she sacked out:

Cleanout!

We have to move into our guest bedroom (read: Storage Room Number 1) before we can begin the fun work of demolition on the master bedroom/bathroom. This involves putting two rooms worth of stuff into one room. No small task for someone like myself -- comptometer anyone?

This is our storage...er...guest room in the midst of cleanout:


Everything gets moved from one pile to the next until it eventually finds its way to the donation pile...which is getting bigger and bigger. Hopefully we can "get moved" this week!

Spring Fever Strikes!

I was overcome by the urge to garden so I abandoned any plans to work on the house today. I'll always jump on the opportunity to throw on shorts and a t-shirt in February. This gives me the chance to make progress on my restructured beds and lay a few seeds down (veggie beds R.I.P.). Someday I'll post more about the wonders of hand-quarried limestone and the transformation of this backyard.

Yea! The beans and franks look delicious this time of year! I think some people call them "pork and beans" but I'm not in that camp.

BEANS!

FRANKS!

I threw some seeds down in addition to transplanting alyssum, blackfoot daisy and rosemary:

• Dill - Boquet - Anethum graveolens - from Botanical Interests
• Basil - Summerlong - from Burpee Signature
• Lemon Balm - from Ferry-Morse Seed Co.
• Columbine - Dragonfly Hybrid Mixture - from Ferry-Morse Seed Co.

Red and black, friend of Jack!

Now that Maggie has cleared the house of all non-poisonous threats such as this...we can begin the work of renovating our 1951 home in the Crestview neighborhood in wonderful Austin, Texas.

Dare we move forward? Dare we do! The berber carpet wants an upgrade...but that will have to wait. Stay tuned!