Getting things done

Busy week so far.

We put down pink foam insulation and wood strips in preparation for laying the floor.

Below is a picture of Kenny Meeks, the guy who milled the flooring for us. He also sold us the flooring for the upstairs. Meeks lumber is located on the Athens/Meigs County border. It's a pretty neat setup if you ever want to check out a lumber mill. 

We got the floor down in two days with the help of Piper and his amazing hammer contraption. I can't explain it and if I get a photo I'll post. Let's just say that this floor went down waaaayyyyyy quicker than the upstairs. Now we just need to sand and polyurethane. 

The electricity has been hooked up. Woo hoo! Now we have pick out lighting fixtures. That is a pain. I am growing to hate deciding on design features. Maybe because they all cost money. And I am a cheapskate.

The brick wall behind the woodstove is finished. (Okay, that was done last week.)

BRICKS!

Here are some pics of the house...specifically - 

The pic above is a close up of our new pine-trim around one of the windows upstairs.  Lori and Danny worked on the windows, and they have a coat of water based polyurethane.  It dries quickly, and does not have an odor.  

 

Kent bringing in bricks.

This pic shows some of the progress of the living room / wood stove and brick work that we have begun.  The walls are have been painted, after the drywall was taped and mud...    The wood stove will be placed on the brick floor in the corner, with good old used Athens Block bricks acting as a heat sink.

 

Close up of Kent stacking bricks....Athens Block recycled and given a new life.  We love the variation in colors, reds and deep purples.  

House and more

Hello to all-

This weekend was filled with nice weather and fun visits from some friends of ours.  

We had visits from Doug, Gina and Owen, who had been vacationing down south, and stopped by to see their friends in Athens, including Beth and Andy and Sophia...we also received a visit from Dennis Miller, mechanic/woodworker/ Triumph motorcycle guru ...Lori's oldest brother Keith and his wife Pam and their son Kyle also stopped by en-route to their home in Maryland after visiting Lori's parents and friends in Cincinnati. 

 

Included in this email are some pics... and interestingly enough, as I write this email, I am watching a PBS brief on the history of digital media, including a discussion of the KODAK company.  Kodak engineers designed the first digital camera in 1976, and sat on the technology.  ...not wanting to cut into their own profit of film. 

So here are some pics:  

Aaron and his daughter Kylie shortly after Jed and Jen were married....waiting on the photographer and formal picture taking...

Our buddy Jim helping us find a wire that got buried by the drywall, with his metal detector...

 Kent and Lori, with the new couple Jed and Jen...at the reception which was held downtown Cleveland, The Flats.

Ohio Tour

Hello to all!

Lori and I returned safely from our long weekend travels around the state of Ohio.  Our trip was a whirlwind frenzy of visits with family and friends.  

Whenever Lori and I spend time on the road in Ohio, especially when we go from one end of the state to the other, I am reminded of my 7th grade trip, Ohio Tour.  Our school loaded up charter buses and sent us off on a historical trip around Ohio.  We visited president's houses, the state capital - Columbus, OSU campus, Thomas Edison's home, and a historic village or two.  I also recall a wicked sock-ball fight in the hotel room, in which my fellow deviants and I threw smelly balled-up-socks back and forth at each other.  We were big fans of dodgeball in gym class, and had tons of energy to burn off at night, after spending so much time sitting on the bus.   

I digress... Lori and I drove to Cincinnati Thursday after work, and visited with her Brother Jeff, who was in from Italy, and Linda & Barry.  Jeff experienced another mishap with his luggage, which was left in Rome by the airline.  Ridiculous.  Lori, Jeff and I ran an errand or two together, then popped over to her grandma Nonna's house for a short visit.  I think that Jeff should win an award for hooking up a new DVD player to Nonna's TV in record time.  ...and he had the remote figured out too.  Friday night, Lori and I drove up to West Chester, north of Cincy, for my Aunt Peggy and Uncle Sterlin's 50th wedding Anniversary.  I had a good time visiting with extended family and catching up with my cousins, who I had not seen in forever.  The celebration was held at a nice country club, which served a buffet style dinner that included pasta with choices of sauces: pesto, marinara, and alfredo.  There was also a taco station. ?!?  with a big bowl of guac.

Saturday morning we drove like mad up I-71 from Cincy to Cleveland for Jen and Jed Thomas' wedding.  The wedding was in Broadview Heights, and the reception was down town at Windows on the River, which is in the same building as the Improv and Rock Bottom Brewery.  Again, it was great to catch up with friends, dance, and eat yummy food.  I had not been down town in a long time and I enjoyed seeing the flats, the Cuyahoga river, the bridges, and Cleveland skyline.  Years ago, when I was in high school, we would take fieldtrips down town with our Art Club.  Cliff Novak, my art teacher, loved down town, and relished taking us there for photography, painting and drawing.  

Sunday, we spent some time with Bill and Pat in their Fairport Harbor home.  Lori and I entertained the idea of sneaking in a quick swim at the beach on Lake Erie, but it was too too too cold.  Surprising for August.  We caught up with my folks, read the Sunday Cleveland Plain Dealer (always a treat to read a big-city paper).... and then hit the road back to Athens.

Safe travels.  No hiccups.  Photos soon.     

Mid-August update

Hello - Kent here...

We continue to tackle the building process, one board at a time.  Sometimes, it is one nail at a time, or one cut at a time.  

I think about the house project often, and want to tackle new, daily projects....however, life often dictates the tempo.  I am not always able to give the house the attention I would like too.... For example,  today, I had good intentions to leave work a little early, and jump into finishing up the drywall.  We  are preparing for Brian, the dry-wall finisher, to work on the upstairs bedrooms tomorrow.  However, at work A few things were out of my hands today, of which I had to address.  Thus postponing my departure from work.   I did manage to get home in time to work for a couple of hours before my 5:30 meeting of the Athens Municipal Arts Commission (AMAC) meeting.  

The house is looking more and more like a house, as my neighbor Jim C. has been known to say recently.  

Here are some more pics of the place.  In this picture you can see that we have introduced some organic curves to the place, to help break up the linear aspect.  We installed or cut out an arched doorway, along with an arched inset, which will either be a bookshelf / art display.

ps Lori had a new idea for a blog...titled "You always do this to me..."

Here are a few examples of this mythical blog:

A) You always forget to re-insert the flash-card into the camera after you are done downloading the pictures....as I helplessly and ineffectively attempt to take pictures.

B) You always lose your wallet or keys and I have to help you retrace your steps to find them.

C) You always move by stuff...around the house,  and I can't find it.

Drywall

With the insulation done the next step is hanging drywall. To me, this isn't so bad. Remember when your geometry teacher said you would need geometry. Well, this is it. Squares and rectangles are nothing until you get to the stairway and angles enter the picture. But I liked it! Not that I was great at it, but it sure beats slinging a hammer. Of course, I hear the mudding and taping is the nasty part of drywall. Good thing we're going to farm that out!

Here I am making a skilled cut with the saw.

Too bad Kent's bicep is covered as he flexes it to insert a drywall screw.

This shot is a close up of the insulation. I love how it just packs right in there. And stays. This beautiful gray stuff is going to keep us toasty warm this winter.

If you're in the neighborhood, stop by and we'll let you help out on the latest project!

Insulation? Done.

So glad this is done. It was a big step to get here. We had to be sure every electrical accessory was installed as well as anything that would be drilled, placed, or replaced in an outside wall because once the insulation is in, it is a pain in the arse to get in to it.

We had insulation blown in the attic and walls. The celloluse insulation is blown into the empty cavities with a little adhesive and moisture. Then, they shave it with a special tool to make it flush with the studs. It dries, or sets, to become a solid mass. Then drywall can be put in place.

It's a real mess. Cellulose is blowing everywhere, but they vacuum up the excess at the same time and shoot it out again. Ingenious.