Our Home Renovation

The garage roof is about 75% done. It’s looking fantastic - such a huge improvement (before photos). I can’t wait to see the garage painted and the carriage doors tuned up.

My brother and a friend have been working on it the last couple days. Hopefully I’ll be able to get up there tomorrow and help finish it (I have to admit that I really like roofing, though I know that probably sounds like a kid saying that he likes homework).

Once the garage roof is finished, we’ll move back inside. The drywall/plaster guys are coming either on Wednesday or Thursday this week and hopefully we’ll get the front sidewalk formed up so we can have concrete delivered on Friday.

As far as the list from the other day goes:

• toilet is installed
• drain isn’t unclogged yet
• bathroom has first coat of paint, but the color is a little off, so we have to adjust that
• front sidewalk is all broken up and half has been removed

Visible progress feels so good!

So, these aren’t the pictures that I promised, but they hopefully explain the quietness around here the last couple days.

On Sunday, we left our one year old son with a friend (it was the first night for mom to be away from her baby ever!) and went down to Peoria, IL to see Nickel Creek and Fiona Apple in concert. It was an amazing show and we managed to score 2nd row seats, which was a great bonus. Afterwards, we camped (which ended up being free because the campground hosts were away for the night and there was no other way to pay) and got home by 10:30 this morning. It was a great day/night away from house stuff.

Tonight we were back at it (until 9:45!), working on the garage roof. All the new decking is down and 75% of one side is shingled while the other side is all tar-papered. Hopefully it’ll get wrapped up tomorrow so we can move on. House photos tomorrow, for real!

Mid-day update: We started tearing off the old shingles on the garage this morning. We got about 70% done before we got into a fight with a wasps nest. Jay finally won that battle thanks to some nearby gasoline (nobody light a match near the garage now!).

We then headed over to help some people clean out their basement. They had just moved back into their house 3 weeks ago after spending everything they had fixing up the house after the flood a year ago. A year ago, the water came through and the force of the water completely blew out an entire wall in the basement. It’s taken almost a year to get the wall rebuilt and the house habitable. At 2:30 am on Tuesday, they woke up because of the intense thunder and lightning and a few minutes later the whole house shook and they realized that the newly-rebuilt wall had blown in. The house has now been condemned and they’re hoping that the city will buy the house and turn the property into a retaining pond. The house is the low point of a several mile wide valley that has been totally built up and was poorly planned. All the runoff from a large area of town converges on this house and the force of that rushing water is what blew the wall in both times. So, a bunch of people helped get what they could out of the basement - washer, dryer, furnace, water heater, etc. We started shoveling out the mud and carrying out the cinder blocks, but decided to stop and wait until the city decides whether or not they’re going to buy the house and bulldoze it.

Now, it’s a short break before we head out and drive around giving out free ice cream (again, I’ll explain later) and then head back to work on the roof. And hook up the toilet. And unclog the 30+ year-old drain. And paint the bathroom. And tear out the front sidewalk. Stay tuned for tonight’s update along with more photos.

Last night we finished getting the old wall removed and got the new beam in place. Even though there was no doubt about the beam holding the weight, there’s always that moment of anxiety when you remove the temporary support walls. I’m happy to report that the house didn’t fall down and that the beam is doing a great job holding it up. I’m really excited to get the drywall/plaster done in here to see how will look all finished.

Just a quick update on the bathroom. The tile around the tub/shower turned out great:

I used a matte white tile for the field and a double row of khaki colored accent tiles all the way around with bright white unsanded grout.

The floor is slate with a natural gray colored grout. Both the shower and the floor still need their final cleaning, ao the floor especially will look a lot better than it does now.

Still to do: wainscoting on the walls (hopefully later today), paint, trim, install light above sink, mirror above sink, sink and toilet.

Here is a series of photos showing the front of the Sheridan House before, during and almost done. A couple things to note: You’ll have to excuse the garbage cans in front of the house, as Friday is garbage day and they’re full of plaster debris so I didn’t feel like dragging them out of the way. Also, there are still shutters to be put up. If you’re anxious and don’t want to wait until both sets are up, you can look at the photos I just uploaded to Flickr and see how the small (bathroom) window turned out with the shutters.

It’s so good to finally see things starting to come together. The new front windows make a HUGE difference and the shutters will really bring everything together and add the extra cottage appeal that the house deserves. (As an aside, the shutters I’ve mentioned a few times are original from the house. They were taken down when the aluminum siding was put on a while back and haven’t been back up since.)

Here’s a few other exterior photos (click to see them larger):