The Sunnymere Project

Oy! The pains of going legit.

2012-01-18T14:24:00.000-08:00

Okay so the last entry was around 5 months ago. and since then well not much. The house stands, waiting for us to return and continue working on it.

Actually no, that's not entirely true. We've finally gotten to the point where we can go ahead and start gathering permits from the city. However I've been unfortunately side-swiped by the budget cuts and now the City is requiring that we pay ALL permit fees up front, rather than one at a time. Its a huge chunk of money that I wasn't expecting to have to pay all at once. I mean I understand that when a City or state is hurting that you'd expect that they'd do a little financial trickery to make ends meet, but most people doing renovations aren't going legit.

So then why are they punishing those of us who are trying to be legitimate? I'm not saying no fees anywhere... but how about a schedule of fees and timelines? Possible payment schedules with penalties rather than a huge lump sum? I don't think I'm being too unreasonable? am I?

going legit.

2011-09-18T11:41:00.000-07:00

Once the decision was made to go and do the work legitimately it meant that we had a fair amount of work to complete before we ever even broke ground on repairs.

this was back in... hrmmm have to think about this for a second and do some research.... yeah March of 2010. That was when we encountered the biggest hurdle to this DIY reno, and what ultimately made us decide that we were in-over-our-heads.

That being said we'd been in a sort of a holding pattern, as renovations are notorious for going in cycles. Incidentally if you let it get away from you the "holding pattern" can turn into a work-stoppage, which is what happened to us. Demo had gone as far as it could go with a meager staff of my husband and my then pregnant self, and we were forced to face the fact that we could not accomplish what we wanted without both professional and financial help.

OMG!!! Finally a permit!

2011-09-18T11:25:00.000-07:00

It only took 4 times longer than expected, but we finally got a design permit approval.

Turns out that the piece of paper was literally sitting on the desk of an 'administrator' waiting to get signed. All I had to do was pester and cajole, and literally become a nuisance to the point of obnoxiousness to get some motion on the permit process. Had I known this before I might not have been so passive.

Looking at the photo, you might not be able to see it, but its there is solid black and white... APPROVED! It feels so good to be validated. Even if it was never really in question, it still feels good.

Layouts and changes... again

2011-08-25T11:01:00.000-07:00

Okay, so the last time we showed you anything there was the assumption that the work would be done by us and therefore cost and construction was a key piece of the design.

Well now we've chucked that all out the window.

We're at a point where we've been through one 'designer' (really a structural engineer... who was NO help whatsoever), and have now submitted designs to the Oakland Housing authority for review. That being said, we've finally done another key change to the layout of the house.

After much discussion, much feedback and much fighting, we've changed the layout once more.

Key thing... we got an architect (an actual professional, certified by the state, with papers to prove it) and he's actually responsible.

Thanks be to family for the feedback - as it was good.

As you can see we've killed one bedroom in favor of creating a massive dining room. We've also added an internal staircase that will go down to the lower level. Plus what's not shown, is that we've gotten bigger; Both sideways and lengthwise, we've added around 250 sq ft to the original drawing by going out 10 ft more and 3 feet on either side. This creates a kind of 'wing' effect to the house.

Positives: we gain an awesome dining room, a formal foyer, an even awesomer kitchen... and I even get a walk-in closet. (i hope.)

One big note to keep in mind, this was the first pass - and the actual design has changed somewhat for relevancy to us, and structural requirements. So this is NOT the final plan that was submitted for review by the design board for the county, nor is it the design that we'll be building to.

Now comes the fun part, getting someone to build this for us.

More advice - the worst kind of vice...

2011-08-25T10:44:00.000-07:00

So it has been a very long time since there was an update regarding the house, its progress and any new information.

That is partly due to the fact that after discovering the 'hack-job' that was completed on the underside of the house we came to the conclusion that we couldn't finish this project on our own. It simply got too big, and too complex. What started out as moderately complex, now became unrealistic for two DIY-ers to do on evenings and weekends.

We bit the bullet, hired an architect, and began researching the permit background on the house. In the time that we've done that I've learned several things:

1. DO YOUR RESEARCH before starting any job. OMG, why don't I follow my own damn advice I'll never know.

If we'd done this first, (which BTW is really quick and easy to do in Oakland) we would have found out that the 'addition' wasn't legal in any sense of the word. It was originally a porch that was enclosed, poorly at that, and even the porch wasn't in the original plans for the house.

2. If you hire a 3rd party, DO YOUR RESEARCH!!!

Again, I am stupid for not following my own advice. The first architect that we went with... well he was a complete and total flake. To just avoid further pain we paid him off for 4 months of not calling, producing substandard drawings and leaving us in the lurch with permits. (e.g. he'd never filed for permits, and provided only external elevation drawings - no structural drawings of any kind)

3. Be patient, but consistent with everything.

One piece of advice we got from a cousin who does commercial and residential renos; Make sure that you hire someone who has solid business sense over an expert craftsman. Truer words could never have been spoken.

In my limited experience with contractors and subcontractors, I'd rather deal with the business person who shows up on time, provides updates, checks in with me (without me having to hunt him/her down) provides paperwork and completes the job as requested; than work with the craftsman. Remember the craftsman is an Artiste in the truest sense of the word... as a result the work, (when and if completed) is a thing of beauty. But its worse than having your molars pulled by a team of Clydesdales hopped up on amphetamines to get the craftsman to actually do the work, and do it on a budget and in a reasonable amount of time.

______

editorial note: I added this entry, as this was about the date and time when we expected to get a response back from the design office regarding our permits. unfortunately we didn't.

The Blackberries "Strike Back"

2010-10-19T13:23:00.000-07:00

As mentioned in the prior post, my husband has been attempting to 'remove' the blackberries from one corner of our yard. Initially my thoughts were to keep them alive so that I could make lovely blackberry preserves, pies, tarts and so forth.

Now that we've been messing with these wild blackberries, I too am ready to see them gone.

We've been putting off any work on the house and been focusing on the yard, as we don't need permits to at least clean and clear up what was left to us when we got the house. In addition we've also cut back how much we can work we can commit to the house, due to our own new addition.

She arrived on September 11th, and as a result we've pretty much come to a screeching halt. For those of you who didn't know I was pregnant and working on the house and yard until my 8th month, when it simply got to difficult to 'labor' in the sun and heat for more than 20 minute stretches.

(As a side note, I attribute my work on the house, and constant activity, to contributing to my easier than normal birth.)

Anyhow...the branch that launched the aerial assault, well it came back, with a vengeance.

Incidentally for scale, my husband is approximately 6'1" ft tall, 6' 3" in his work boots... so that makes this branch alone about 8' long.

Here is another scale photo... My hand is literally on top of the vine, and notice that it is the same thickness as my thumb.

Blackberry Invasion.

2010-08-10T11:09:00.000-07:00

Since major work on the house is suspended due to permit issues, It leaves me some time to work on the other Herculean task … the yard. When we bought this house we where particularly wowed by the yard. The size of it excited all of my American Gothic fantasies. Well..ok maybe not that, but I do fantasize about many an outdoor Barbecue, grilling up a Porterhouse, and other assorted meats.

For the most part the yard is pretty unremarkable, a wide open lot with weeds in the middle. I think of it like a blank canvas. The prospect of which was very exiting for my wife. My only worry is the blackberry brambles that cluster in the rear of the yard against our fences.

For those of you that are not familiar with the plant the best description I can give you is persistent. The I am not certain of the species or genus but this plant is very common in California and the Pacific North West. I am more that sure that there are plenty of varieties but I am not a botanist but so I will just talk about what I have seen in my lifetime.

The blackberry plant is a fast growing spiny vine that bears a wonderful fruit. In the wild it can be a real pest. It grows extremely fast and I have seen it take over entire yards in a couple of months. Unfortunately for us, the Blackberries have taken up residence our neighbors yardson all sides and have made major incursions into mine.

So I got the idea of "Keeping blackberries under control"

This what the yard looked like when I bought the place. If you look close, that greenery is the entire back fence covered with blackberry vines.

My father and I got out the shears and made what I thought was good progress. I come back a week later and what did I find...

The vines mounted a counter offensive

I have since discovered that the Blackberry vines have a very extensive root system (which was total news to me.) I had only been concerned with the vines and never bothered with the roots. To be very honest I have NEVER given it much thought. I always thought that vines did not have roots but rather came from a central location. I am sure the whole world knew this but me. So I began my second attack.

Upon further digging I fond that the root system in my yard is rather extensive. I also seems that the roots form I kind of a stump and form there the vines grow and make others in different locations. A root strand may connect a bunch of separate "stumps" together. I have to admit I was rather impressed to witness the plant's hardiness, and it's persistence as preservation

An example of a root "stump."

The Vines grew up the neighbors tree and began their assault from above.
A most formidable foe.

Revealing the truth behind the lies...pt 2.

2010-08-04T08:04:00.000-07:00

To add a little visual perspective to my wife's earlier post, I though it would be help full to add a few photos to illustrate our findings.

This all began with trying to repair the floor in the now infamous add-on section of the house. This proved to be a little more of a challenge than I thought.

If you look closely you may notice the the floor is listing to the left.

After removing the floor boards we discovered lots of nifty things. That were listed the earlier post.

1. The joists were of uneven sizes.
Yes, they where and I am not sure why but they were. I unfortunately removed them before I took a photo but you can get the idea.

2. The joists didn't overlap across the center beam.
This was particularly odd to me. Although not necessary as I have heard from some of the carpenters that I have spoken to. I think this is a think it is a good idea in this house due to the size of the center beam.

In this you should note that the joist barely sits on the beam and not nailed to the beam but rater it is nailed to the block of wood that makes it even with the other joists

All of the joists had this problem. It was a cause for some concern. I was thinking shear, a joist on top of a block of wood on top of a beam with 3/4" overhang does not seem safe if the ground starts to shake. (which tends to happen in the bay area.)

Chips and blocks where all over the place. I was as surprised on how much "board footage" was in the house. Why the floor board where different sizes deifies my comprehension. My guess is that the previous owner used what wood was available. Either it was not going for work for me.

Another nice find was the notches on the joists to make room for the water pipes. This I know for a fact this is BAD BAD BAD. There are rules and calculation about how you can but I go with DON'T.
Things like this may happen:

This split as my brother sat on it. If you can see the wood split right along the grain of the wood starting on the notch. If you want my advice, do not make notches in wood on the underside at all.

Here are some slick files that explain it:

Notching_&_Boring_Guide_A11.pdf
Fig 11 cut floor.pdf

After looking at these issues I admit I was a little muffed. I had some friends that are in the trades to take a look. Most of them said the same thing "This is some really shoddy carpentry I would not bother to try to fix it." I was rather sad to hear that because that is very much outside of my manpower and skill-level. It is hard to ignore the a carpenter and engineer and two stage hands.

Needless to day I had to look for a general contractor.
Lesson learned: It is surprising what can be hidden under Sheetrock.

Revealing the truth behind the lies....

2010-07-01T14:36:00.000-07:00

As you know, from previous posts, the roof was in horrible condition, prior to the replacement. One of the side-effects of the status of the roof was that it leaked. No it more than leaked, at one point we had an indoor waterfall during a mild rain. As a result of the water damage that came with the leaky roof, some off the flooring needed to be pulled up so that it could be replaced.

Normally this would be an "easy" process requiring about a day's worth of work. Unfortunately, as things with this house are never normal that didn't work out that way. My Husband and brother-in-law got started on the project with a sawsall and began cutting out the 3/4 inch flooring. In the process of unearthing the flooring, we found an unfortunate problem. Here they are in no particular order:

1. The joists were of uneven sizes, and not just irregular by like a 1/2 or 1/4 of an inch between each. Some were 2x 10's, some 2x8's, and others were 2x6's. The problem was that where there were gaps the prior owners used other shims of different sizes to make the floor "level." What this means is that although the flooring was 'level' (and I use the term loosely here) when you walked on it, it was in fact completely irregular underneath with a patchwork of wood shoved in to make it "appear" level when you place a foot on the floor, or put a level down on it. Again a saftey issue, because one section of the floor was 'stronger' than another due to the width of the joist supporting the floor.

2. The joists didn't overlap across the center beam, some barely reached the center beam, and others were 'jimmied' to reach the beam. Unfortunately this is a severe saftey issue. When the joists (or the cross sections that form the platform of the flooring) don't overlap, it means that there is an uneven distribution of weight across the floor. Plus for those joists that were 'jimmied' (basically a 2x6 that didn't quite reach the beam so a 2x4 was placed on the center beam and then stretched across to meet the 2x6) could cause serious problems with the strength of the overall building basically making the entire add-on structurally uninhabitable.

3. The joists were also not shored up along the exterior walls. In non-contractor speak, when you build a "box" you want the structures that are going to support any weight to have an even distribution between them. In addition to make sure that the structure can support weight and shift, similar to Lincoln logs, you want to allow the internal framing to extend a little beyond where the actual weight will be placed. To get an image of what this is like, try and stack pens (or pencils) in a box by overlapping the edges. The more you overlap the edges, the sturdier the box, the less you overlap the edges the less sturdy... This is done for safety, but its' also done to make sure that the building or box won't shift too much under any pressure, say like an earthquake. The addition... well to put it mildly, didn't have this in place, so effectively a minor to major tremor would basically make the rear of the building twist off the frame like a clumsy belly dancer.

4. For those joists that were actually "big enough" (2x8's or larger) the previous owners did something that didn't make a whole bunch of sense... they notched from the bottom of the joists to allow for power and water to go through them. Now normally drilling a hole in the center of a joist is okay - so long as it is not in the edge of the joist. Why? Because if it is a circle, and in the 'center' of the joist (midway between the edges of the width) the weight or pressure is distributed around the hole similar to an arch and therefore the strength of the joist isn't compromised. Not it's not advisable that you do this repeatedly, as it will make the beam weaker. However the prior owners didn't do this, instead they cut square notches from the bottom of the joists, basically making the joists look like a Appalachian hillbilly. (All toothy, but mostly gaps) This means that the strongest point of the joist doesn't exist, and utlimately made the whole addition a sham.

After seeing all of this work. My husband stopped working on the addition.

We've got a new roof!!

2010-01-20T12:37:00.000-08:00

And it couldn't have happened at a better time. Turns out that we're in for a deluge of rain which should dump an entire years worth of water in the span of a few days.
I gotta say I was so happy once the roof was completed, and in record time (2 days.) This is also an exquisite example of when to know your limitations, and when to hire a contractor.

I mention this because in previous posts, I enumerated about the prior state of the roof. The few rains that we had before we were able to get the contractors in, showed both me and my husband how shoddy of shape it was in. There were several indoor waterfalls that we discovered during those cloud bursts.

The reason we decided to go with a contractor rather than attempt to do it ourselves was:

1. My 70+ father in law and 75+ aunt were far to eager to do the work themselves.
2. My Brother-in-law insisted that he was a "mighty-mighty stage hand" (his words, not mine) once, and therefore heights and danger were in his second nature.
3. The 2 story height from the ground was just high enough to create broken limbs, or other possible broken bits.
4. No one in the extended group of family or friends who wanted to help knew the complete process for building a roof, as they had only done bits and pieces of the actual repair or construction.

...That and my mother-in-law, my mother and I were all in agreement. Too risky, too long to complete with novices, so get a contractor.

Contemplating the cost/benefit breakdown it was the smart decision. Here's our calculation:

1. Demolition of the existing roof:
a) We do it: Cost ~ $300- 2K. Time line for completion: 2 - 4 weeks
b) They do it: $2k - 6k. Time line for completion: half of a day.

2. Putting on new plywood
a) We do it: Cost $ 200- $400. Time line for completion: 1-2 weeks
b) They do it: (same as above, and included in the price) Time line for completion: the second half of that same day.

3. Completing the roof, including felt, shingles, flashing and tar.
a) we do it: cost $2k - 3K. Time line for completion: 4-6 weeks
b) they do it: cost $4k - 6k. Time line for completion: the 1 day.

The math is generalized, and you shouldn't use it for anything other than just guesses. But the numbers won me over:
a) We do it it would cost anywhere from 3- 6k. Approximately completed in 2-3 months
b) Contractor does it, could be anywhere from 12k - 22k. Approximately completed in 2 days.

Yep. Contractor, no doubt.

Lesson learned: Ten things our home renovation taught us.

2010-01-13T18:32:00.000-08:00

So far..
Our home renovation has been an adventure. It being my first project of this scale and i am not a professional contractor, and I don't this kind of work every day, I have made several discoveries, (read mistakes.) Here are a few that will make your life easier and hopefully your project more successful:

1. Be realistic about what you are capable of doing. Hubris has always been my enemy in life. Most of my mistakes in life have begun with “Well… If he can do it…”

2. Plan, plan, plan! I cannot say this enough. You must fight the urge to just “get started.” I can build a Data center on the fly but that is because I do it all of the time. You cannot renovate a home as a game day decision. Everything always looks straight forward, at first. It is often not the case. Example: One mistake I made during demolition was that I missed a step and ended up needing 3 dumpsters instead of one.

A plan has several functions:
a. Keeping track of you work.
b. Managing your resources(time, material, labor)
c. Keeping you on target.

3. Calculate your real labor time. I calculated my time line like I was at work, (an 8 hour day.) I neglected to consider that I am only working approximately 16 hours per week, (weekends only.) As the project went on noticed I was getting further and further behind. I re-ran the arithmetic and found out why. Unless you are lucky enough to stop everything else and work solely on the renovation, the real labor time should be calculated based upon what your current schedule allows, not more.

4. Be flexible with your plan. Unforeseen things do come up. They will often adjust your time line or budget. I have always had the habit of tasking my plan and treating it like it was the word of God. This can also make life difficult for you. I had to accept that the sometimes my ideas are just wrong.

5. Manage your work force. I have had a problem with this. People that work for free or for Burger Meister and a beers, are a workforce that is giving you their spare time out of the kindness of their hearts. You must be ever cognizant of that fact. So you cannot work them like employees. You also cannot expect them to work with the same fervor as you do. (this leads back to that whole flexibility thing) Most importantly thank them often, and don't make empty promises. If you promise them food, deliver. If you promise them a BBQ once the house is done, you're gonna have to do that to.

6. Watch your contractors. This is not to imply that contractors are crooks or malevolent. In my experience the vast majority of them are honest. It does them no good to do shoddy work or overcharge you. A good portion of their business is referrals, so you are their best advertisement. Questions always come up, and you must be present to make sure that they are not only doing what you’ve asked, but that you understand why they are doing what they are doing. One blogger wrote. “Make sure to make explicit anything important to you” Cannot stress this enough, if you get a contractor you need to be there.

7. Manage your time. I am dreadful at this. I try to accomplish too much in one day and it always leads to disappointment. What I have learned to do is to pick one project to complete for that day. This allows you to see real progress and have that feeling of accomplishment at the end of the day.

8. Stop the project when you are done, not when you get bored . It is very easy to get overwhelmed and want to work on everything all at once. This tends to come from looking around and seeing a million projects that all need attention. Resist the temptation. All that it results in is a stack of projects that all need attention, and all of them are ½ done because did not finish them when you were there last time. You never want to go back things that you thought were done. I will be the most frustrated thing you will do to yourself. Finish the job then move on.

9. Do some research. I can not tell you how many times I could have saved time and my money if I would have just taken the time to look for a better way. The Library and the web are great places to start.

10. Ask for help! You don’t know it all, you can’t. There is no shame or harm in asking a professional for advice or information. In many cases they are pleased to have been asked and are more than willing to answer. Don’t worry about getting a sales pitch, most of the time if you are earnest and up front with them, they’re willing to send you in the right direction.

Pipes-a-Plenty

2009-12-19T08:49:00.000-08:00

19-Dec-09
Today we began the troublesome task of removing the pluming from the house. I will admit that that this was a task that I was not looking forward to due to the fact that in the multiple remodels of the home. Turns out that each owner added to the to the previous owners efforts. In the end the pluming looked similar to the MacArthur Maze.

After the water heater removal experience we determined that it would be best remove all of the plumbing. My reasons were simple.
1. Tangled pipes that were impossible to decipher or service.
2. Improper mixing of pipes (Copper, Steel) which had caused lots of corrosion.
3. It does not support the floor plan.

The pipes in this photo was from the basement alone
The additional wood, well that was what needed to be cleared out to get to the pipes.

The job was laborious but was 80% complete by the end of the day.

Labor time 8hours
MVP Tool: The Pipe Wrench. (the lower Tool)

So what is in your water anyway?

2009-12-12T10:00:00.000-08:00

12-Dec-09
The rains have come to the Bay Area and none too soon. We need water in California badly but I must admit that I greet the rains in with mixed emotions. I am rather happy to see the water form in the sky but it will slow work considerably. The roofer is currently had delays of his own and the rains will most likely compound that. I inspected the tarp job that was done last week and it seems to be holding. It slows the leaking down a bit, not stopping it completely, but it should hold until the roofer arrives. At this rate I am guessing early January.

Today’s task was to remove the old hot water heater and the cabinet in the basement. This is in preparation to remove the pipes and reroute the pipes properly. The water heater was in very bad shape and not very safe.

I took a couple of fuzzy shots of the offending items.

A whole lot of pipe going on there. This was only the beginning of the snaked pipe work throughout the basement. (And yes, that is a 'mix' of metals connecting both to and from the water heater.)

After removing the water heater I made the mistake looking down the pipe that connected to the heater from the main line, and what an eyeful I got. I am not an expert but but this can not be good.

What the $#%!$#% it that!

My wife and I guess this that because the house had been left abandoned for almost 2 years the sediment in the pipes has probably collected here. I am removing that pipe and I will do further inspection. I'm hoping that the salvaged pipe that we were able to keep will be suitable for reuse. I will have to see , and likely flush the lines at minimum to make sure that they are suitable for reuse. I definitely do not want to drink that.

Approximate Labor time 3.5hr
MVP Tool of the day: 18" Pipe Wrench. (Tool on the bottom )

The case of the cripple wall. Pt. 2

2009-11-29T09:29:00.000-08:00

After the demo was completed. I was able to talk a look and to my surprise there was not as much damage as I thought. The majority of the framing of the in that area was not rotten. The only wood that needed urgent attention was the last joist in the corner. The other wooden joists (uprights) were not rotten.

Our good fortune was due to the fact that my brother an I turned the water off and stopped the dripping before we closed escrow. The California Indian summer in the bay area made for fast drying wood, but there was still some damage left over.

The here is what we did:

Inserted a Sister joists next to the stud in question.

Removed the Rotten Stud.

Replaced the rotten stud with a new pressure treated wood.
( The pressure treated wood is not necessary but I had a piece laying around.)

That was about it. Due to some of the faulty work that was done in the past there is some additional work that has to be done. This will be scheduled for summer of 2010 when the second phase of this project begins. However this did take care of the the water damaged upright. There is however the root of the problem that still remains... the leak that caused the damage.

The case of the cripple wall.

2009-11-28T07:43:00.000-08:00

As some may or may not know there where two major concerns with this house, the roof and the wall in the basement. As per the inspectors notes “There is evidence of rot damage to the cripple wall framing along the left rear of the structure." I, as with anyone, found this to be of some concern. Taking heed of the building inspector’s advice to “have a qualified contractor look at it,” I did.

First I felt it would be best that I remove the obstructions to get a better look to see what I was going to be dealing with. That is why the demolition of the house began in the basement. Once we'd finished demo, I had my father’s neighbor Kenny, who happens to be a contractor, come and take a look for me. His words to me were encouraging “I have seen worse, but it is do-able. I can help you if you like but you can do this yourself.” I took that grain of hope and ran with it.

This was the room, and the wall in question at the close of escrow. Not a pretty sight.

With the help of my wife and my trusty nephew Dex, we were able the get demolition to this point.

Still not beautiful but I can see what is going on now.

After taking a closer look. The project didn't seem bad, so I dove in. I ran to the book store to get started.

Poll time: you need to choose

2009-11-17T21:48:00.000-08:00

Okay... here is the interactive part of this discussion. You've seen the plans so far... and I have one more to add to the mix. For a recap of the prior two plans you can go scroll down, or click here to re-read the options. The poll will remain open until 29th. **So you get to choose our new home!

Here are the layouts in no particular order

Plan #1: There 2 bedrooms, 1 formal dinning room off the kitchen.

Plan #2: Has a mud-room or entry way, 3 bedrooms, and a tiny dinning/nook off the kitchen.

Plan #3. (click on the image to see it bigger) 2 Bedrooms, 1 formal dining room, and a breakfast nook.

Which design do you like best

Getting your stuff together.

2009-11-17T11:00:00.000-08:00

Concerning Gear

If you are like me you probably have some tools. These may be leftovers form various projects in the past. I will also venture a guess that you have some experience with them. I personally have had tools around me for a good portion of my life. Between my father, (Electrician, and Do-it-Yourself-er) and by brother (Stage Hand and Fanatical Do-it-Yourself-er) and various friends and mentors throughout my life it would be safe to say I have been around a tool before.

Here are some tips that where relevant to me:

No matter what is in your garage you are going to make at trip the store.
In my own career in Telecom and my experience building model railroads, I thought I had all I needed... wrong. As work began I discovered that my tool box is designed for a Telecom person NOT a carpenter. So as a result, off to Home Depot.

Right Tool, Right job!
Let me tell you there are some jobs that are going to need a special tool. There are no was way around it. It just happens that I have never found a substitute for a crimping tool. I have ruined a lot of material or chewed up a lot of time by trying to “make it work.”

Evaluate the state of your tools.
Dull knives and raggedy tools are the road to disaster. Be honest with your self about the state of your equipment. If it is dull sharpen it! If it is damaged fix it or replace it. Trust me you will thank your self later. I guarantee that you that the raggedy tool will fail at the least opportune time. Usually 10 minutes after the store closes, on a Sunday, but most often right before you have to finish something because the contractor is arriving in 15.

Don’t be a cheap-skate.
I have fallen prey to this may times. There is a reason that one drill is only $25 and the rest are 80+. The is because you will be buying two of them. It has happened to me before and you will hate yourself, trust me. Quality is worth the the extra few bucks. I have been caught by the bargain bin too many times.

I just broke a Nail!!!

2009-11-16T08:36:00.000-08:00

Yep, it was bound to happen, I chipped a nail. Actually, no... to clarify I broke a nail. It unfortunately is not the kind of little break, where a girly-girl would whine "oww... my nail!!" in a high-pitched whine intended for attention and coddling. Unfortunately I split it down the middle lengthwise down to the root, all the way through the quick. It was my left thumb nail. There was no high-pitched whining. But there certainly was lots of cussing, and definitely some shaking out of the hand in an attempt to get it to stop hurting. (Which never helps by the way.)

The unfortunate thing about breaking a nail down through the quick is that you don't realize just how important the nail is in protecting the finger nail bed, until you don't have it. Nor do you quickly forget how it feels when everything you attempt to grip reminds you of the fact that you don't have a nail to protect that very sensitive skin under the nail. Which is particularly bad when you wear rough leather gloves to work in.

I wish I could say that this was the only injury from the work. Thankfully the list of injuries is all minor, with no one missing limbs, instances of sepsis, or gangrene (yet.) Here is a shortlist of injuries to date:

- 3 instances of stepped on nails, only one went into the foot requiring bactine and a bandage
- 1 instance of a nail through the hand, which required a tetanus shot and bandage
- 1 broken nail
- Countless bruises (all mine, I bruise like a peach apparently all over my body)
- Countless smashed digits, both hand and foot. (again... mostly me. I am a klutz as well I guess.)
- 4 separate instances of stuff falling on heads - but no serious punctures, or concussions all requiring just bandages, condolences, and some lumps.
- several separate instances of dust in the eyes.

All of these minor injuries are the result of a very stringent safety environment. My Husband and I repeat to everyone who asks to join in on the work that we want a "injury free weekend." Not only for our sakes, to keep the potential of lost friendships and 'workman's comp' filings down, but also because we need to acknowledge that everyone that has helped out has a day job. It's enough to ask them to come and help out, but it would be foolhardy to think that they'd be willing to sacrifice their paying job because they helped out a friend and are now unable to work because they are concussed and in the hospital.

The other item of note that needs to be mentioned is that there are many people, family and friends alike, who are eager to help. What is the most surprizing is who and how many people have offered their support, and come through with so much effort. It has made this project feel less lonely and much more communial. We've had co-workers, long time friends, cousins, Aunts, fathers (in-law), nephews and even little ones come out and help.

(don't worry the little newphews got clean-up duty on the lawn, no tools for them.)

For all the time and effort that has gone into this first phase of demolition for me to loose a nail... I'm willing to pay that price.

Home Layout

2009-11-10T23:41:00.000-08:00

We're presented with a rare opportunity to completely remake the house in the way that we want it due to the renovation. There are a few limitations, 1) we need to stay within the existing footprint of the house, and 2) We need to keep within budget as much as possible.

Some other considerations:

The house didn't have much in the way of storage to begin with, so we will likely need to make sure that there is ample storage for what we currently have, and some space to grow.
The bathroom was too narrow at a scant 5'4" in width for mine and my husbands liking. However we can't upscale too much without taking from another room - due to the 1st limitation mentioned.
The layout of the house when we bought it was 3 bedrooms 2 baths. All of the bedrooms were on the main floor, but the second bathroom was in the basement. We'd like to keep it that way to maximize the potential for a better HELOC rate should we need it.
The kitchen needs to be big 'enough' to accommodate modern amenities and our 'foodie' tastes as we both love to cook and entertain.

So, when you step back and take a look at what should be a pretty easy plan - it sounds easy enough. We'll see. I'm currently on my 2nd 'original' floor plan, and although I'm currently satisfied, I keep getting great influences from the darnedest of places.

Here's plan #1

If you can't make it out too well, we loose one bedroom, in favor for a formal dining room that is adjoined to the kitchen.

There are two bedrooms, one is listed as an office.

The one 'true' bedroom is incredibly narrow at 8'8" wide, just wide enough for one double sized bed, and little else.

The hallway is a straight shot from the front of the house to the back- allowing a flow through the rooms.

There is ample storage, but it primarily in the kitchen.

Pro's: The bathroom doesn't change at all, so savings there.

Cons: the kitchen would require completely new water, gas and electrical lines.

Here is design plan#2

There are 3 'bedrooms' and a slightly larger bath.

I've also taken some space from the front porch to create a mud-room that is approximately 5'x5' which should be just enough for storage of boots and a few coats.

There is still a straight-shot hallway, but the dining room is moved to the end of the house, and although it appears to be cramped, our dining room table has leaves in them that allow it to be approximately 2' shorter than the image to the left shows. Fully extended it would be a squeeze, but with a pass-through from the kitchen it can also double as a buffet.

Pros: with this layout, the kitchen is already on this side of the house. So the gas line and the water won't need to be moved.

Cons: the bathroom layout is a little different, so we would need to move the toilet and bath around. Plus the creation of the mud-room would mean new siding and may not match the rest of the house as a result.

The First Steps

2009-11-03T07:04:00.000-08:00

As I have said before when I first began this endeavor I thought it would just be repairing some damage, sprucing up a bit, moving in, and all will be peachy. Well no, not exactly. A very wise woman told me that when you work on a house remember two things:
1. It will cost you twice as much as you think.
2. It will take twice a long as you suspect.

I think she might be right. I am a computer guy by trade so I am not unused to a project getting bigger more costly over time. So I am no stranger to projects running out of control. At this has not been the case thus far but I am very wary of the runaway project.

There are two major concerns that I had originally felt were the most pressing, they were the leak in the kitchen and the subsequent dry rot in the basement below and the roof.

The Kitchen leak.
It looks like it he basement was not in as bad shape that it appeared at first. My brother turning of the water allowed the wood to try. There was also some excellent weather in the area that aided in the effort.

The roof
I was planning to replace it in the first place, therefore it was a known factor and did not worry me to much outside of the cost. I was not, however, planning to get on the roof and work on it myself. Roofs are best left to professionals. Although the roof is not high off the ground and the pitch is manageable, it is just high enough to break limbs and for me to possibly die. I made the executive decision to let someone else take the risk.

After establishing what needed to be addressed most urgently, I was feeling pretty good about the project. I decided to prepare the basement for a general contractor to take a look at the dry rot in the wall directly below the kitchen sink that had been dripping.

The intention of preparing the area is to remove the drywall and strip the walls down to the studs. I did it because when I speak to the contractor I did not want to leave anything to interpretation so I made the area clear so when they came to examine it they could get a good look at the overall problem.

"Renovating is hard work"

2009-10-30T21:44:00.000-07:00

... is the one thing that our Realtor told us when we came upon the house. It was intended as a warning, but to be honest, it was more like a challenge.

Now neither I nor my husband are novices at home repair, having swung our fair share of hammers at walls and worked on our parents respective homes. Neither of us are afraid of blood, sweat, or tears.

Actually, the prospect of working on a house has a romantic quality to it, as both our grand parents, and parents are the sort of hard-scrabble folk who had built their own homes... so we should be able to as well. One of the nice things about romance is that you can sometimes forget the bad and see only the good.

The house was...well...what we could see was reasonable, and the foundation and substructures were sound. There was work... no doubt, house and the land had been laying fallow for more than two years.

Now homes, unlike dirt, need constant attention. When not lived in, homes have the tendency to degrade, as there is no one in them keeping them lit, warm and clean. Little things like spiders, mice, birds and rats notice immediately when there is no human occupying a house, and are quick to take up residence. After the animals comes nature, doing its best to reclaim the land. Unfortunately the house wasn't sealed well, and the spiders have evolved and managed to stake their claim... along with the Rats. Thankfully there wasn't any O.K. corral showdown, but we have had our share of angry rebukes from the 'tenants.' The land... well it's been a couple of very dry years, so the one cactus plant has happily flourished whereas the Meyer lemon tree is shriveled and quite thirsty.

Standing back and looking at the house... we knew that there were some things that needed to be done, immediately.

The roof, needs to be replaced. It has 4 layers.

You may be asking yourself... why does 4 layers matter? The "standard" is one layer. Think about it mathematically, (my brother in-law explained it best), Consider that the standard slate shingle weighs approximately .5 lb per shingle. Now a 25 x 40 shaped house is approximately 1000 sq ft for the roof alone. Now .5 lb times 1000 means it probably 500 lbs to cover a house's roof. Multiply that by 4. Remem

ber that roof framing (with 2x4's being the 'standard') have a stress point of maybe around 600-700 lb's. So by this point we've far exceeded that weight.

Plus, once you stand back and look at the roof from a distance, the house actually looks a bit 'squashed' under the weight of the roof.

2. The "cripple" wall on the north east corner. Unfortunately the wall has some severe dry-rot and needs to be replaced.

...and that was it for the "original plan."

By the way, we've since moved on from plan A to B, to C...

The House

2009-10-30T11:53:00.000-07:00

As I have mentioned before this house needs some love. On the surface the house looked as if all it needed some cosmetic work. Upon further inspection it needed a whole lot more.

Due to the state of the banking industry in the past year there has been a lot of turbulence in neighborhoods. I would say around mid-2008 the number of foreclosures increased dramatically. On top of the new foreclosures, Oakland does have pockets where homes were sitting empty because they were too pricey for people to buy due to the speculation of the past 5 years. As a result of all of the “flippers” and other speculators, during the "housing bubble" many of these homes were not remotely worth the asking price.

The situation on the streets had been brewing for months, properties in previously undesirable locations and homes selling for near a million dollars sat empty. What does this have to do with my house? Let me tell you.

When you have a whole legion of houses that have been laying empty for extended amounts of time you have some common side affects, vandalism and theft. I have seen this multiple times. If a house sits empty for any extended amount of time, people are going to make use of it whether they are supposed to or not. Things like squatting and looting become prevalent. The best way to say it is people went shopping.

Some one took the garbage disposal.
(I did not know they where sought after items)

Washing my face will be a challenge... no vanity or sink.

I am not sure of the actual culprits. I will not blame it on the neighborhood because that does not seem fair. Some of this could have been done by the previous occupants. I can tell you this though: someone did not behave very nicely.

Of particular of notice to me were the acts of minor of vandalism. As you can see in the above photo the garbage disposal was removed. Someone in their need for a hasty exit, left then the water on. It was not a shooting geyser but rather a gentle but STEADY spring of a bout a .10 of an ounce per minute. This may not seem like very much water but believe me is adds up over time. Imagine every hour you walked into your kitchen and poured a tall coffee (Starbucks size) onto the floor. If one were to do this 24 hours a day it would be about 7 gallons per week (mind you this is my best guess by eyeballing it.) Needless to say the sub floor and the cabinets where ruined. It had also leaked into the basement below and rotted some of the wood in the wall. The basement below had a fair amount of stagnant water in it including one of the light fixtures. At the time of discovery my brother and I turned off the water at the main so it can at least dry out. Needless to say the damage was done.

Also during the time of its listing it was real-estate agents and building inspectors left their mark as well (ripped up carpet and holes punched in drywall.) With all of this it did not seem so bad. Fix a couple of thing s and move right in right? Well yes and no…

About the blog

2009-10-30T10:44:00.000-07:00

I write this to entertain, amuse, and inform. My goal is that someone can benefit from the discoveries and experiences that my wife Kira and I are enjoying. It is always nice to be able to avoid missteps, so I offer my mistakes to aid others. I think through collaborative participation we can all have deeper understanding of the world we live in.

I believe that that the true beauty in life in the aggregate of human experience. The more we participate the more there is for others to enjoy. Here is my contribution to that.

So My wife and I bought this house...

2009-10-30T08:50:00.001-07:00

My wife and I bought a house. We had been searching for some time. For those of you who are familiar with the SF bay area, you’ll understand me when I say this... it was a long and arduous journey.

We had been searching since 2004 so we have looked at easily more than100 homes. When we began looking at houses it was at the high water mark of the housing madness. When we finally managed to find our house the search ended at bottom of the housing bubble… or at least that is where we believe where we are.

Incidentally, it is misnomer to say that there is no one buying out there, because somebody IS in fact buying houses. Since the “Great Bank Meltdown of 2008” prices have gotten much more reasonable, so homes that were previously unattainable have become reasonable. In addition there is a lot open inventory out there, depending on where you looking to live and what you want to pay?

During our Saga, I remember being outbid at least 8 times and two of those occurrences where in between 2008 and now. During the worst of the bidding wars, my wife would submit offers to homes, sight-unseen, just to make sure that we could get our foot in the door with the sellers.

Even through all of this turbulence with financing and layoffs there were still five and six bids on houses. We had bid on a home and we where outbid (again) and we where just about to give up and but really liked the area. So we did one more half hearted search and my wife found something interesting.

About 6 months ago she found this little place. I am not expert on architectural styles and classifications but my wife calls it a cottage. It was built in 1929, it was about the size we where looking for, and needed some work. After getting the opportunity to visit the house we quickly became very enamored with the place and the best part…. It was CHEAP. As with all things that are cheap there are things there are caveats. Aside from the shady listing agent, funky bank rules, and escrow drama, we did get the house.

This house has been though a lot since 1929 and it really needs some love. We are going to put some time and love into this place and this is our story.

Rat Dung in the rafters.

2009-10-26T12:10:00.000-07:00

26-Sep -09
Today we climbed into the rafters to tear down the ceiling in the kitchen and the bedrooms. It was hot day in Oakland today about 80+ degrees. It was even hotter in the gable of the house. By my estimates it was at least 100 degrees if not more. The removal of the ceiling was not that difficult, technically or physically, but the conditions made the job difficult. The Batt style insulation was in relatively bad condition. A good portion of the insulation had been used as rat’s nests and lavatory. Once the air circulation hit the feces and dried urine a very putrid stench began to emanate from it.There was also no catwalk installed, so old planks were used to substitute until I can install one.

In conjunction with removing the ceiling we also started removing the walls in the blue and purple/pink room.

I had the help of Sterling, Leo and Jerrold and my wife Kira.
Approximate labor time 7 hours.

Tile in the old kitchen

2009-10-24T18:08:00.000-07:00

24-Oct-09

We extracted the tile in the old kitchen. This operation proceeded much faster than expected. We were able to completely remove all of the tile and material beneath it in about 3 hours. The tile in the add-on section was removed as well. With the spare time where able to begin extracting the tile on the bathroom walls. That was particularly difficult to remove. The plywood that was placed below the tile was installed very well. So getting down to the studs was very labor intensive.

The tile in question.

Note:

Beneath the ceramic tile was a material called Hardiback it was fastened to the sub floor by screws (lots of them.) We used the spade to get the material Hardiback up but the screws remain. Damn.

I had the help of my wife Kira, Leo, cousin Sterling, and brother Jerrold

Estimated labor time 6 hours.

MVP Tool Spade

The front room

2009-10-18T17:55:00.000-07:00

Sun 18-Oct-09

Went into the rafters and dismantled all of the electrical wiring on in the front area of the house. The plaster ceiling in the living room was also removed.

There were redwood planks inside of the wall. The redwood planks were used to even out the plaster on the top and the drywall on the bottom. These were also removed. The previous owner used drywall over the plaster in this room. I am not completely sure why. It does however lead to a possible problem concerning finishing.

That fact that there was plaster and drywall on top of each other it has left a 2 inch gap between the hardwood floor and the base plate. I am not sure if the drywall and the baseboard will cover the gap when I am refinishing the room.

In removing the plaster, drywall, and lumber at the front window it revealed the water damage below the center window. The wood is stained but does not look or feel rotted. I will examine more closely at another time. I do believe that the window will have to be removed and reset to insure proper sealing.

In the same area as the window, once we removed all of the finishing, it revealed some gaps in the framing of the structure. This would explain the draftiness of the home. This will also have to be corrected.

Workers

I had the help of my Father and Leo

Labor time 8Hours

MVP Tool: Framing hammer

Screws a plenty

2009-10-17T17:00:00.000-07:00

Sat 17-Oct-09
We spent the day removing nails and screws from the wall studs and ceiling joists in the blue room and in the Purple/pink room. These rooms are now completely free of nails and screws. This was aided by the efforts of my dear aunt Elouise. (who is incidentally 70+) We also removed the last of the plaster in front room. The ceiling has not been removed, that will be saved for a later date.
Estimated labor time 6.5 Hours

The thing about removing drywall is the screws or nails are left. The builder before me whom we affectionately refer to as "him" used both. There where plenty to remove.

What frustrated me and pretty much everyone else was the alteration between nail and screw. There was little consistency between the two. The spacing was also inconsistent along the joists and spacers, sometimes being 6" apart, sometimes nails and screws as close as 1" to each other.

My wonderful aunt helping out. She was incredibly diligent in making sure that the walls were clear of any and all nails

MVP Tool of the Day The Dewalt

Invaluable for removing screws in tight spaces, or overhead on the joists. Especially because it weighs approximately 1+ lb, and has an adjustable head and quick release for the bit. Compare this tool to the other hand-held battery powered screwdriver which weighs approximately 5+ lbs (without battery, with batter 8+ lbs) and does not have an adjustable head or quick release for fast changes of the bit.

Storm Day

2009-10-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

Tuesday 13-Oct-09

A very hard rain throughout the Bay Area this past couple of days. I went to the house with Leo to board up the broken window in the add-on section of the house. This was also the room that held the fiberglass insulation. We stored it there in the hopes that we might be able to reuse it. Unfortunately, the insulation had gotten wet and smelled really bad! I am leaning toward disposing of all of the insulation due to the horrid stink that it produces.

I inspected the roof and found some minor leakage. Thankfully a majority of the leaking is not under the main section of the house. There are some minor areas, the front left wall (facing the house) that showed signs of leaking. From what I can see the leaks are from the cracks in the siding of the house. I will need to examine this further. However the addition in the rear of the house did leak, and left a 1/4" puddle in the basement against the south-east corner of the floor.

What it does confirm is that the roof over the main section of the house isn't leaking, and that it is only the construction of the addition that was primarily faulty. There is a larger issue here that we will eventually need to deal with.

A window was mistakenly left open in the front room and the floor underneath it was wet. I wiped the water off of the hardwood floor and hoped that is would not be damaged.

Labor Time 1.5 hours

Demolition: Front Room

2009-10-10T16:05:00.000-07:00

10-Oct-090

We continued removing the plaster in the front room. We made decent progress with the help of my cousin Sterling. 90% of the drywall and plaster has been removed from the walls. Lath slats were left in place to minimize the mess on the floor. The lathe is easy to remove and can be taken down when the dumpster arrives. The ceiling was left intact.

Labor time 7 hours.