Day One-forty: Closer to the end than the beginning

It can be amazing (and somewhat sobering) to put in hours of work and seem to make only incremental progress. But at least it is progress.

We made big strides on the kitchen, getting the last two cabinets installed. And don't worry, that's some weird fish-eye optical illusion going on. We do not either live in a House of Mirrors or have wavy cabinets.

Even more importantly we added a shelf in the 90 degrees between two cabinets. Considering that part of our heavy (probably granite) countertop will rest on it, we needed to make the shelf level, strong, and secure. We couldn't get by with two out of three. Power tools (circular saw) both made the job easier and harder. Easier because the cuts went much faster and were smoother than we could have done with a hand saw. Harder because this brand-new saw was so inaccurate that every setting on the guide put the cut in exactly the same place. So we had to figure out a new siting guide.

Our new tile guy also finished the remodel of our remodel to the upstairs bathroom. He was a bit of a pokey Pete but did a generally good job.

Day One-thirty-six: If at first you don't succeed...

So you know that old saying, right? How else to explain turning this:

Into this?

With a little more accent border to be done on the short sides this should be all done except for the grout tomorrow.

If you've been playing along at home, yes, we're redoing one of the first things we did on the house. We were rushed back in December and made some choices (including to give the whole house project to our former contractors) that we now regret. So with the benefit of that hard-earned wisdom, about 50 square feet of new tile, and 3+ days of labor we will have more of the bathroom we wanted upstairs. Some lessons are learned the hard way.


In other news, we're making some progress on the kitchen, too. We replaced an old, musty part of sheetrock that will do behind the stove and are making headway getting the cabinet ready. Who knew that a drywall saw could be so much fun? We plan to install the last of them this weekend and have a template made for the countertop next week.

Day One-thirty-three: Dr. Fleming is this yours?

Not satisfied with our little Home Depot mold test--which only tells you about the presence of mold spores and not how bad the situation is, what kind of mold you have, or how the indoor mold level compares to the surrounding environment--we had a mold expert come by this week. The good news was that in his two hours of digging and discussing he couldn't find very much mold and thought much of what we were already doing or had planned would remediate any lingering problems.


He did peel back the baseboard off a basement wall that runs along the front of the house. He thought there was some mold but couldn't quite tell without tearing open the wall, which he was loathe to do. Fortunately, we own the place and have no such inhibitions (anyway we prefer the cinder block/cement look in the basement, in part to remove areas where humidity can collect and nurture mold). So with our trusty hammer, pry bar, and screwdriver we took down the panelling on that wall. Of the roughly 25 feet width, there was one 4-foot panel that showed obvious signs of mold. It happens to be directly below the front door, porch, and walkway. We already know that the walkway has settled and opened a gap between it and the porch and are planning to fix this.

The good news is that after getting an estimated 3 inches of steady rain on Saturday and Sunday there were no signs of water/dampness on the cinder block wall. How do we know? We taped a half-dozen pieces of painter's paper (what many tape down in lieu of drop cloths) to the wall behind where the mold was worst and as of this morning that paper was dry as a bone.

Day One-twenty-five: We're on our own now

So now we're into the heart of the "Y" portion of DIY. We're making progress on a number of fronts in about a dozen hours spent at the house this weekend.


So this used to be a vegetable and herb garden. We're not much into victory gardens, so we dug it all out yesterday and will plant flowers in the 20x5 space. It should bring some nice color to the yard and get plenty of sun now that the apple trees are gone.

Elsewhere in the yard, this was the first time we've had to cut one in 13 years. Like riding a bike...except with more sweat, strain, and pollen and less wind whipping through hair. This will be easier once we've had the stumps ground out and sod or seed put down to make a more even lawn in the back.

The bits and pieces of the kitchen are coming together as well. These drawers are all set after we attach the handles. We'll probably wait to install them until after the countertop is put in.

The house has a beautiful front door, but like much of the house it was slightly shabby from a lack of attention (we're hearing lots of stories from the neighbors). So we sanded and stained it today. With a second coat it'll be tip-top.

Back down in the basement, we had our new contracting company come on Thursday morning to replace the creosote-covered 2x4 and a couple others that were rough-hewn and definitely out of place. Now we have spanking new 2x4s and are quite happy with them.

This is where the creosote-covered board was.

Finally, because of the dampness in our basement, we decided to do a home mold test. This is after 24 hours. The proof is at the 48, 72, and 96-hour marks. Here's hoping it's not too bad.

Day One-fourteen: We learn the Pottery Barn Rule

You break it, you buy it. So we decided to excavate to see if there was more to the problem than the one 2x4 we found yesterday. This required taking a perfectly fine closet in that basement room:

And turning it into this:

We found plenty to give us cheer. Not only did we find no signs of active mold. )See all that nice, clean wood?) There were a couple of non-essential pieces--all they did was hold up paneling--that had some possible old mold stains but they didn't pass anything to the wood they were touching. As for the other side of that offending 2x4, it would seem to confirm the suggestions by several people that it's a creosote coating, which was more common in the days before pressure treating wood. As far as we can tell, and we've seen many of the 2x4s in the walls, this is the only board like this in the whole house. And it's definitely non-load bearing.

In more happy news, the new contractors came to seal the tile in the basement bathroom. After letting it set for a couple days that project will be officially done. Well, the contractor's part is done. We need to put in some small touches (e.g. baseboard). But for now "Hoo-ray!"

Day One-thirteen: A clue, but to what?

So if we haven't mentioned it before, the new house has had a confounding odor. We figured that it was the 25 year-old wood-burning and creosote-belching stove. That's long gone and the smell remains. Then we thought it must be the ceiling tiles in the basement that soaked up the creosote. We'd replace those with new drywall and be all set. Nope. 


The smell was fairly localized to the side door entryway and the stairway to the basement, so we thought that once we pulled up the tar-covered (for waterproofing) landing in the entry and installed new, maple stair treads that we'd resolve this for good. We did all that and still the smell persisted. What the heck was going on here?


One other place where the odor was strongest was in the little basement side room where we discovered the dampness and mold. A-ha! This must be the root cause. So we've removed all the moldy wood, bleached the heck out of everything in the area, and taken several steps to waterproof the room (cement caulk along the cinder block-to-slab seam, hydraulic cement into identified gaps). Clearly, success awaited us. But still there was something lingering. 


So tonight, while poking around in that basement room, we noticed something we hadn't before and couldn't when there was panelling up--one 2x4 with an odd discoloration running the whole length. We're pretty sure it's not mold because there's no water source and it absolutely covers the surface of the 2x4, so we're a bit at a loss. But one thing's for sure, we're fairly certain this time that it's the source of the odor. Any ideas from the crowd?