BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Home Improvement Things have slowed down

I haven't seen any workers here since the bathroom was finished 3 weeks ago (but I really love my new bathroom). I've been doing little bits on my own, but haven't really seemed to get anywhere. My painting is on hold because I have a bunch of furniture in my livingroom in preparation for the new floor doing down in the diningroom and sunroom so I can't move anything to finish painting the last little bit of the livingroom. Tomorrow I'm going to paint the diningroom ceiling though, so that room will be finished except for the floor.

The back porch is on hold because there are a few boards left to remove, but they are out of reach & since they are over the stairs, I haven't figured out how to get to them. I think I need one of those ladders that can be put up several ways. Most of the cracks have been filled and I will sand & paint the walls and ceiling once I get the last little bit done.

Then I started peeling the wallpaper off the stairway going upstairs. I wish I knew how to repair the wall, as the wallpaper was covering up a pretty nasty looking wall. Its a lath & plaster wall and there are pieces of loose plaster in several spots. No wonder the wallpaper was peeling off by itself.

Its too bad I have to work full-time in order to survive (I kind of like eating & stuff like that), because I'd love to be able to spend more time getting these things done.

Although all the paper isn't off yet (there were 2 layers), here is where most of the damaged wall is along the steps. Its hard to see here, but especially on the lowest step shown, the wall has bulged out about 1n inch or so. I guess I'll have to just rip that part of the plaster out.

Sounds like you are getting close to finishing a few things.

Living with old house plaster

I found this article about plaster and it was interesting, maybe it will be of use to you.

Thanks Connie.
That was a very interesting article.

Hey Mavis, how's it going with that stairwell? That was a pretty informative article Connie shared. I'm only familiar with drywall - plaster is over my head.

Did you ever get your dining room ceiling painted?

Donna

I haven't got any further on the stairway yet because the weather has been good on my days off work, so I've been getting the yard in shape. I did get the ceiling painted though, so whenever my guys want to show up to fix my floors would be great.

What is going on with you Mavis? We worked in the yard yesterday as it was so windy that we couldn't paint (we are still working on that garage). It sure is nice to have all those flowers and ect but when it is time for it to be gone, it is time!

Nothing has really happened here. I have also been doing yard work and there is still lots to do. I've taken some of the loose plaster off the wall on the stairway, but its been kind of a "when I pass by grab a piece" sort of job lately. Once I see how much I actually have to replace, I'll get some drywall to cover it. That article you sent on walls, sure gave me direction on that and the piece I have to replace shouldn't be any larger than 2' x 3' or maybe just a couple of smaller pieces.

I don't know if the exterior painting will be done or not since they haven't shown up to get started. I know we'll still have some nice days left this year, but its getting pretty late to paint.

I guess I spoke too soon this morning. The painters showed up while I was at work today. It looks like the whole house has been scraped and is now ready for painting. Hopefully they will do that tomorrow as it is supposed to be a perfect day for painting. The rain is supposed to start on Friday and may last for several days.

I hope your painting goes well. I didn't get to paint yesterday as it was overcast/sprinkly. I do have one end of my garage done and another one almost done. I had used the last of a paint can and hated to open another one to paint for maybe an hour. And anyway the siding salesman showed up to inspect the house. I think today will be more conducive to painting and I hope to have all but one side done today.

It was getting dark by the time I got home from work tonight, but it looks like they've painted everything except the trim. My windows are all still covered up with brown paper, so we're kind of closed in here, but I'm really liking what I've seen. Hopefully the weather holds out and they paint the trim tomorrow.

They also told me this morning that they were going to start working on the floor too. Of course, I didn't have enough notice to get all the furniture out, so they said they would look after that too. I did get out most of the small stuff and all my plants, but left the other stuff for them to move after I went to work. The got all the old flooring ripped out and the new sub floor almost all down. Right now there is so much stuff in my living room that I can hardly move.

Sounds like your house will be done fast! Are you changing the colors? Pictures!!

The outside of the house is staying the same colour. I have vinyl siding on the addition (sunroom) and instead of changing that, I'm matching it again - so beige & brown are the colours. Here is the finished job.


My floor is almost finished too. They removed all the old carpeting and the old hardwood floor that was buckled and in a mess, and they have the new sub floor down and ready for the new flooring. Since this is Thanksgiving weekend here, the earliest they will come to finish up is on Tuesday. Hopefully thats when they will be here because I can hardly move with all the extra furniture in my livingroom. I have enough space to get to my computer with paths to the bird cages.

It looks very nice Mavis! I bet your floors will look fantastic when they are finished. We are so glad to have the siders gone so we could clean up the yard. They were pretty messy and did pick up but didn't do a great job. This weekend we finished the garage and started painting the base of the house but it was so windy that dirt kept getting in the paint. Hubby says we need a calm day for painting and I tell him right, we live where the wind blows every day!

I'm so glad they got the painting done. I was really getting worried that they left it too late to get done this year, but they picked the right couple of days to get here and get painting.

Once the floor is down (& I'm really hoping that gets done tomorrow), I can just work away at my own projects at my own speed for the whole winter.

The weather here is beautiful. We slept with the windows open last night and I woke up cold. We worked on painting after hubby got home from work yesterday. I should've worked on it during the day but my sister is coming this weekend and so I was trying to get some things done that I have been putting off for a while. I hung up photos in the stairwell hall and cleaned up the horrible mess in the basement. I have an area down there that has all my handywoman stuff in it and it was just a big old mess! So now it is all clean and tidy. It has been almost 3 years since my sister came here and so I want things to look so nice.

Mavis & Connie! You've had so much going on, I can hardly believe it! So sorry to be MIA. My kids & husband all got sick on a kinda rotating basis the last several weeks. Then yours truly got sick. It's been really crazy around here! I think we're all starting to pull out of it. Anyway...I will be catching up on all the posts asap!

Donna

I am sorry to hear your were sick Donna, that is always the way it went here, I would take care of all the sickies and then I would get whatever it was but it would be the worse case! Take care of yourself!

Glad you're feeling better Donna & welcome back!

Here is my drum roll! My flooring is finished (except for a couple of small thngs - but I'm still calling it finished! And I love it!

Here is the "before" picture.


Here is 1 "after" picture - with Dakota picking her spot.


Here is the 2nd "after" picture from the other direction - with Chester checking it out.


Now - I just have to get some furniture back in the rooms. The rest of the work is all in my hands, since there is no money left to hire anyone - so it will take awhile.

Ok, I have to join. My husband's buddy refers to me as the queen of remodel. I say that's good. You have to be queen of something! Is your new floor tile or vinyl? And I love the front veranda Conniem. We are currently building a garage and breezeway. Waiting for contractors, electrical and rain gutters. If it rains one more time I'm going to have to hunt him down. My basement gets damp because of no rain gutters! Then it can make the walls look like your stairway pic. Any suggestions on how to get them to show up?

Mavis, your floor looks great! Dakota and Chester look like they will be great help moving all the furniture back lol. Is that wall curved? And I love the paneling on the wall, I have never seen it run horizontal like that.



Hey Iwonder!! A new person to play! We have had the same problem with our basement. We had guttering put up and also we painted this stuff called Drylok (I googled it and it said "Drylok makes damp, unusable space bright and waterproof. Available in latex, oil, and powder formulas, Drylok penetrates tiny pores in the masonry to form a watertight coating that stops leaks. It also comes with a five year warranty, when applied according to the directions.") around the base of our house. Our footing was cracked and so I applied this 3 times, probably overkill, but I figured more was better. I also used the Drylok in the basement after I cleaned up a horrible mold mess. I had to throw a lot of things away and not that I am glad for the mold, but I am glad for my neater, cleaner looking basement.

You want to know how to make people show up? I just got done with siding installers and they worked (ha I wouldn't call it that) maybe 6 hours on a good day. Some days they worked a couple of hours. It was very frustrating! Maybe call around and see if you can get someone else to come.

Thanks Connie - yes, Dakota & Chester have really "helped" through this whole thing - LOL
The wall behind Dakota is curved - yes. Here is a better picture of that.


Thanks for joining in iwonder.
I have to admit that I hired a good company to do the work here. They showed up - did the work & left again. I had about a month's wait between 1 job and the rest of the work, and was getting a little worried, but they suddenly showed up again and got everything finished quickly. I had a lot of estimators show up for all the jobs except for the bathroom reno and this company was the only one that even returned my call for that. They then gave me an estimate on the rest of the jobs (except the sidewalk) and by combining jobs, they came up with the best price, so I hired them.

That is a really cool wall. So is that your dining room area? I bet plants love that light.

The dining room area has always been further into the house - where it was before the sunroom was built 20 years ago (behind Chester in the last picture). However, now I'm moving the diningroom table into the sunroom and yes, I have lots of plants that live in there (along with my african grey parrot). I will be moving my aquarium into what was the old diningroom and I'll put the china cabinet back where it was in that room. I'm just waiting for my daughter to show up to help move everything and then I'll finally be able to finish painting the livingroom, since there has been too much in there to move to get at the walls.

We are repairing the basement water damage one room at a time. We bought this house a decade or so ago, and redid everything. But neither of us had ever lived in a home with a basement. Lesson number one, sheet rock does not go all the way to the floor in a basement. In one room we cut off about 3 feet of sheet rock on the exterior walls, replaced it with cement board and placed it about 2-3 inches above the floor, then "set" the baseboard skiffing the top of the carpet. You can't tell it's cement board, and it seamed perfectly with the existing sheet rock. (I did marry a very handy man). The carpet was replaced with a padded back berber. None the less when the rain fell, the walls are still perfect, the carpet was simple to pull and the fan and dehumidifier took care of it in less than a day. The rain gutter should take care of it completely, and they say they will be here tomorrow.

I looked all over the place for drylok, no luck. But this is working. We have completed two rooms, with one to go. The mold thing was nasty. The worst, my children's laminated school projects, (the ones from K-grade 6 or so) were ruined. Priceless.

The electrician promised Monday. We'll see. I have been looking for some great fixtures for an extra small bathroom, any suggestions? And some great organizers for a laundry room.

I love seeing the pictures, that is just fun. And I'm still in love with that porch.

Mavis, I bet your grey loves it in that room with all the light. I bet you are so ready to get things put back in their place and get the painting done.

Iwonder, I hope your electrician showed up...yesterday Monday or next week Monday?

The lessons you learn! Our basement has cement walls and is only functional as storage and laundry room. Which is sad because it is very large! But I love being able to have someplace to put stuff. After the big clean out I have been trying not to buy more junk.

My rain gutters are installed! And it's raining! Electrician the coming Monday. Yes, you are so smart at not buying any more junk! I have a problem with comforters, too many. Well I think your basement is better than no basement.

I bet the birds love that room almost as much as you do Mavis. How nice for them.

Iwonder, we had gutters installed after the siding was done and our first rain storm we found out they don't work! I called and someone was supposed to be here Wednesday and no one showed. Hubby is on vacation this coming week and he will have to call and see what he can do.

How can gutters not work???

I know I have to clean my gutters every few weeks in the summer or they get cloged with leaves & twigs - but if yours are new, what could they be clogged with?

Luckily, I cleaned mine out last weekend because it has been raining for the last 3 days.

Hubby thinks they should have set them under the roof a little, instead they are right next to the roof and so there is a big crack between the gutter and roof. Nobody showed or called and hubby is on vacation this week and he is going to call again.

What sloppy work! I've never heard of anyone leaving a gap between the roof and the gutter. There is no way it will collect the rain that way.

Mavis, your dogs seem to be really enjoying the new floor!

Iwonder, being queen of remodel sounds good! LOL I would love to build a garage/breezeway sometime with a room above, complete with dormer windows to match our house. Course, then the whole family would be fighting over who got the room above! Dibs!

Did you design your garage/breezeway or are you using premade plans?

Donna

Okay, somehow I jumped from page 2 to 4 and missed 3. Iwonder, sorry to learn you had mold probs, too. Ugh. Really sad to lose your kids work. That would be hard for me, too.

Connie, I never heard of gutters attached like that? How's it going with getting them fixed?

Mavis, we have gutter guards. We used to have to clean our gutters and installing these babies has made a world of difference. We are surrounded by trees and never have to clean them out anymore. The problem I'm having now, tho, is the downspout has disappeared on the bottom of two of our gutters. Don't understand how that happened. Hmmm... Need to replace them so that the water runs away from the house before we end up with mold probs, too.

Donna

Well, it is raining today and no one had showed up to remedy our problem last week like they were supposed to. Hubby just said "I hope I got that leak sealed good since the rain is hitting right there where it was leaking before". He is on vacation this week and with our luck it'll rain all week and we won't get anything done!

The gutters work! But the electrician didn't ask any questions and my dh is not happy. Installed the junction box where the freezer is suppose to go, and a big ugly pipe on the outside. Not good. I wouldn't let him call, it would have been ugly. But we do have the ability to move forward now, with finishing.

I have to paint my living/dining this weekend. I'm just beside myself about the color. I love colored walls with white trim, I don't like dirty doors, a conundrum of sorts. Any suggestions?

I can see where a crack between the gutter and the roof would present a problem.

Wow, I did that too. My post above was after page 3, not 4. So sorry about not making a lot of sense. But I do hope your rain gutter situation gets fixed.

We did design the garage and breezeway. I tear out pages from magazines, can you build this? He does, and he generally does it better than a contractor. It seems to me when it's your own, you are very particular about all of it, versus the "good enough" job.

My latest find was a tile shower from the handyman mag, it's beautiful. Don't know if we'll do it, but we both like it. The craft room will be built so shelves fit around a sewing cabinet that my grandfather built. We primarily focus on storage and cubbies. I love organization, (not that it looks like it), but the thought that it could be! Someday.

The guy that put in our gutters is supposed to come Sunday to fix the problems. Hubby called the siding company and said he didn't want that guy coming to fix anything as he screwed it up to begin with. The siding guy actually told my husband that he had already paid him and if he sent someone else then he would have to pay them. So who knows what will happen. I keep telling hubby, tell that guy to come and have a look for himself!

My mom and dad redid their bathroom and he put a tile shower with glass doors in. It is a big shower that a wheelchair would fit in as my mom will probably have to have wheelchair accesibility later in life. The only thing I wouldn't like was the glass door. What a mess to keep clean! They have a squeegy that you have to use after you shower and I guess that keeps the water spots away.

Your craft room sounds wonderful. I would love to have more organization in my craft room, but for right now it works pretty good.

Well, gosh - dontcha just love it when you write out a post and it disappears on you. I hit refresh instead of submit. Where is my head today? LOL

Connie - sorry to learn you are still dealing with those gutters. We are having (much needed) rain today. It is driving in the ants, again. I'm going to try cornmeal this time. I read that they take it back to the nest and then choke on it bec they can't digest it. We'll see.

Our prob with rain is it pours down the road and our driveway and floods our front yard. We are on a slope at the end of the cul-de-sac and, well...you can only imagine what water running downhill and coming to a stop must look like.

It's gotten better since we paved our driveway - at least it doesn't look like a muddy swamp anymore!

Iwonder - have fun painting this weekend! Use satin or glossy paint on the doors & they'll wipe clean. I love colored walls, white trim & doors, too. If we didn't use satin or gloss with 5 kids running thru the house, our doors would be stained forever! LOL

I'm an organized wannabe. I love organization, but am too busy defeating it by tearing things down or creating something new. Can't seem to stay on top of it. Then you add the kids... Pfew! Just isn't working. I love an organized craft room, tho. I have a fun book called Organizing Your Craft Space that has lots of inspirational ideas. Would be fun to implement some of them in my studio. I'm pretty much set for now, tho. If I expand to the basement, it will definitely come in handy.

Donna

Well it took me all weekend to decide what color to paint. Absolutely ridiculous. Hence, it's not done. Maybe this weekend. I decided on tan with white baseboard and doors. Still haven't decided on the adjacent kitchen though. Any thoughts?

Organized I'm not. Just a few random glimpses of it. It will happen, now that those that unorganized my organization are no longer at home, they can do it to their own homes. *Sigh* Yes, I have four that managed to go through everything, over and over.

I just painted in my house and I did the kitchen a bright color. I like it to be nice and bright in my kitchen. Everything else I did in the same color. I do lack my bedroom and the bathroom upstairs and the unfinished mold room.

Well, I don't think I told ya'll that when we had that rain the spot on the house that was leaking to begin with was leaking again! Luckily we had not put the insulation up (hubby had planned to do it the day it started raining so we would have something to do that day). One of the workers for the siding company came and he said there was a big hole in the caulk that was on the top of the window and that was why it was leaking. I still can't think how lucky we were that we didn't put that wall back together and caught that leak. So this guy is supposed to come back and recaulk everything. And the guy that put up the guttering came on Sunday and he fixed it.

My dad came last weekend and they got the doors in the house all moved and hung and the new storm door on the front door. They ran into problems with the other exterior door. The opening at the top of the door is an inch wider than the opening at the bottom. No wonder that screen door was always difficult! Dad said he had to go home and think about what to do to that to fix it. We didn't get to the resheetrocking in the mold room, but with that leak we decided we should probably wait until the next rain and see if it is fixed. I have been unhappy about the whole siding thing. For years we will probably talk about it! I just thought they would do the siding, the hole in our house would be covered and no more leaks. Just goes to show that I don't know anything lol.

iwonder...I also have 4 kids. One of them is 21 today. The last one at home is a Junior. I will miss him when he is not home anymore but some days I am ready for him to fly the nest!

What's the mold room all about? Sounds like my basement. Glad to hear your rain gutters are good. I am thinking about the kitchen paint, which color goes well with tan and white? I like red, but I don't think with the light-near-white counter tops it's a great idea?

We live in a 100 yr old house. The previous owners had installed central ac/heat. A unit upstairs (it is in the attic) and one in the basement under the house. When they did the basement they did not do much of anything around the hole that was cut for the unit. All we could see that was done was they put flashing up around the hole cut into the house and the flashing met up with the unit. So, this year we had lots and lots of rain which we have only lived here 4 years and never had that much rain. So the basement started leaking and the mold started there. We had decided to paint the house and were doing some scraping and the wall the unit is on the paint was peeling a bit. So we get to scraping and hubby tells me that there is this crack that runs the lenght of the wall and after messing with it he took off the flashing (maybe they had caulked around that) and when he removed the flashing the house crumbled and you could see the boards underneath the chickenwire and stucco. The chicken wire had even decentigrated. Also the footing around the base of the house was cracked and that area water tends to pool if it rains enough. So, we decided to see if we could get someone to repair the stucco and after a couple of days of calling around I couldn't find anyone. A company had came and gave us an estimate for windows and siding in January and we thought that might be a better alternative. They started with the windows. The day they left we were in the room above the ac unit. It has old timey newsprint looking wallpaper and it is something I was going to redo eventually. All the wallpaper they put up was peeling (we have some in the bathroom too) and under the window it was very loose. Well, hubby decided to pull it off and lo and behold right there was a big spot of mold. We pulled the wallpaper off and then I tore out the sheetrock where the mold was and there was even old mold above the window. Hence the name the mold room.

Our kitchen is a kind of manilla envelope color on the counters and backsplash. The walls were white and I put a very light peach color on the walls. I think next time I may go a little darker. My dad is going to come and teach us how to tile and I am going to replace the laminate with white tile. I figure white never goes out of style and won't date the kitchen. You can always change the curtains and paint and your accessories.

Buy a quart of red and try it. If you like it, go for it!

Grrrr, as we finish up the living room painting and moving furniture from the living room to the family room, and from the family room to my other house (that's another story), we find more water damage in the basement. The family room. Hence we'll finish this up and start over on that room. It's never ending. I think red or a green, just not sure I like green with the tan, same color tone or something going on. Thanks for sharing!

Oh, I am so sorry to hear about your water damage. Sometimes I think renting would be so much easier lol.

<<What's the mold room all about?>>

Connie, when Iwonder asked this question the first thing that came to my head was that when you get that room all done, you should paint up a little sign in fancy letters and hang it over a door or window that says "The Mold Room." LOL After everything you went thru with that room, it almost deserves an official name! LOL

Iwonder, I love red with tan! And, red is a great color for a kitchen because it stimulates the appetite! But, it is also a very warm and welcoming color - and that's a great atmosphere for a kitchen.

When I'm hung up on colors I often think of how they look together in nature or on clothing. For example...consider khaki (tan) pants and a man's blazer. What color blazer looks better to you...red or green?

It's all personal preference. While I think red is great for a kitchen, the green could look really nice (think green leaves and "tan" tree trunks). It depends on the hue a lot, too. Is your tan light or dark, etc. An apple green is a really pretty color - so is hunter green.

I always try to tie 3 colors together throughout the main living areas of my home to help the house "flow."

What kind of patterns are you using in your living and dining room that you can tie into your kitchen (assuming by adjacent you meant you can see the 3 rooms)?

If you are using red accents in the living and dining room, then a red kitchen with tan and white accents could look phenomenal. Or substitute the red for green or blue, etc.

You can use more than 3 colors, of course, but if you start with at least 3 that you repeat - using one as a main color, a secondary and an accent color and then switch them around in the next room - your home will flow very nicely.

Donna

LOL...mold room sign. I love it! The room I finally finished the floor in was originally going to be my dog's room and then we had our grandbaby and then it was supposed to be for when she was here. I babysat her every day until she was about 3. Well, after she moved we decided it would be a spare room. Then after I started doing so much beading that is what it turned into. Hubby told my dad to make me a sign that says "Connie's Beading Barn". Which I think is totally hillarious...beading barn. I don't know where he gets it.

Donna's got great ideas with the paint and accessories...chosing what to do is half of the fun!

I think I'll try the red. I just wish I had more lighting! Maybe it's time for a change... Here we go again! But the living area turned out wonderful, I'm really happy with the "cowboy tan" and white trim! I use red accessories in both rooms, I'll have to mix it up in the kitchen, nothing spray paint can't remedy. It just takes so much time, because I want to do it all at once!

Connie's Beading Barn! LOL That is cute. My husband put a sign on the outside of my mosaic studio that said Area 51. LOL

Iwonder - I bet the red will look fantastic - esp since you are tying it into the accents from the other rooms. I know what you mean about wanting to do it all at once. My problem is I start and stop too many projects so it takes forever to complete just one! I have too many ideas and need to sloooow it down. LOL

Donna

Oh, that is so me. Too many projects, so little time. Quilting, scrap booking, updating rooms and remodeling. Forget about completing anything. I also thing the beading barn sounds like a fun place to be.

We looked at a really old home in town about a year and a half ago, it has a lot of character. I love homes as such, but there was a few obstacles that were deal breakers. The house has never sold, and we have a good market in this small town, guess we weren't the only ones that saw the downside. But I love old homes!

Area 51...LOL. I need to borrow your sign. My barn is a mess. I am not near close to being out of beads yet though lol.

Hey, who doesn't have too many unfinished projects?! My husband was complaining about needing a new hobby for the winter time (he gardens in the summer) and I tried to pawn off some of my unfinished stuff on him. I told him it would be a cheap hobby because it was already paid for lol....

I just love old houses. I would love to go in and totally remodel one, but hubby is not a handy guy and his pockets aren't very deep!

I love old houses, too, but remodeling is so expensive. What kills me is when you go into towns and see the most beautiful Victorians and they are the ones that have fallen to the wayside and the neighborhoods are becoming dangerous as a result.

It's nice to see new developments that copy that old-town Victorian look with gingerbread trim, porches and sidewalks. But, I don't like to see the authentic homes ignored. It's just that they present many obstacles, so it is very difficult to spend the time and money needed to fully restore them to their former beauty.

It makes me wonder what they were like in their former glory with people riding carriages past them and sitting out on their porches sipping lemonade or iced tea. When parlors were really parlors. I'm thankful for modern conveniences (big time!) but, I have a wondering nostalgia for the past when I see these homes.

And, what about those big old trees that often accompany old homes? Wow - some properties are worth buying just for the trees alone!

Donna