You want to be disgusted, appalled, and fascinated?

Other than a hearse, this is the last vehicle you want
to see in your driveway.

Read my blog, or call Mr, Rooter to clean out your sewer. It all started a couple days after we moved in. I took a shower before work and headed into the office. About an hour later, Cindy called with the bad news that we have water in the basement. I came back home and became pretty sure that water was seeping though the concrete from the main sewer pipe. We called Mr. Rooter and  made an appointment for the next day. The technician showed up the following morning and confirmed that the pipe was blocked. While running the snake down the pipe he commented that there was a significant sludge build up, perhaps complicated by paint, likely dumped down the drain by someone working for the previous owner. However, the main problem was a ball of root removed from the pipe by the snake. After that, we flushed toilets and ran water clearing the sludge. It looked like we were all good. HA!

Root mass and tired plumber.

Almost exactly a week later, after  a shower, the problem returned. So did Mr. Rooter. Well, after dire warnings from the technician that this could be any of several expensive issues, he ran the snake into the pipe again. More sludge was found along with other unmentionables that he dragged back from the sewer main in the street. Then on what was to be his last try he latched on the something big. Pulling the item back to the clean out damaged the snake and lodged the item in the pipe. Well, I know you are dying to know what was lodged in our sewer so I won't keep you in suspense any longer. A massive root ball, likely from the sewer main, was clogging our pipe's connection to the system. Now the problem remained of removing the massive root ball out of our clean out, where it was wedged. The poor technician pulled, cut, and ravaged his knuckles on the inside of the cast iron pipe but could not remove it. He finally decided to go back to the shop and return with a new blade and for his snake and proceeded to cut at the root mass pulling out chunks at a time. He finally was able to get the last THREE FEET of it out in one piece (see photo). Since then, we've had no sewer issues, fingers remain crossed.

There HAVE been other plumbing problems. I continue to try to solve a leak in the drain of the half bath related to the stopper, and there is a mystery leak under the kitchen sink. Also, at some point I need to install hot and cold water plumbing to the clothes washer, They were removed at some point for unknown reasons. Why they had a new washer and no water is a real mystery.

*NOTE* I encourage comments on my blog but there may be an issue. If you try to comment and cannot, please let me know.

We moved in!!

With plenty of work still ahead, but a good amount behind, we finally moved into our (new) home this past Thursday. I'm kind of skipping over some projects on this update simply because I wanted everyone to know.

Moving into a home, after living in your previous one for 25 years, presents problems and issues that had not occurred to Cindy and me. Some very simple daily routines are completely different now. For example, for 25 years I walked in the house and put my jacket on the same hook. The first time I came into the new place, I realized I had no idea where to put it. I still don't. Also, we have no handy place to keep our recyclables. In the old house, you opened the back door and tossed them in the bin.

Headboard strapped to truck roof. Pro Tip: If you can't tie a
knot, tie a lot. 

There were some larger issues as well. Our queen box spring would not fit up the stairs. This has forced Cindy and I to sleep in our guest bed. FULL SIZE guest bed. Cozy. Then, like a hack scene from a bad sitcom, the bed collapsed during the night landing on my laptop computer and glasses (which were stored under the bed for the night). Miraculously, the Lenovo laptop seems fine, and my glasses, while bent at a funny angle, seem to be o.k. as well.

Also, the bathroom was not quite ready yet so we had to drive back six blocks to our old place to shower. While I don't have a picture, Cindy apparently drove back to the old house one morning wearing Christmas pajamas, knee high black boots, and a fake fur jacket. Must have been quite a sight.

Tearing down the home theater. *sob* It'll be months before I
get around to setting it up at the new house. That's Natasha
peering out from below.

The new gas range and refrigerator are in but we've been slow to bring any food over so meals have been a bit of a challenge. Internet and cable are in the new house, but it took me a day or so to get the modem, phone, and WiFi going.

We have a room on each floor set for what I've been calling staging. When we bring things over from the old house, they go into the staging room where Cindy can inspect and clean items before they are released to be welcomed into the new home. The only things to bypass staging were Natasha and our new kitty Katia. I couldn't have kept them in staging with an army of cat herders. Katia the intrepid explorer from the streets made herself at home almost immediately while poor Natasha, traumatized from the new cat and the move simply sat wide eyed under the Christmas tree for almost 24 hours before venturing out. She's much better now and ignoring the antics of Katia with a stiff upper lip like the Queen she is,

Katia seems pretty comfortable at the new house. What do
you think?

The downstairs staging room is also jammed with the queen box spring. Anybody want a nearly new box spring? Olum's is delivering a split set tomorrow so hopefully we will be in a safe and large bed this week. By the way, any potential visitors need not worry. I have repaired the bed frame and it should be damn near impossible for the bed to collapse now. I think.

That's enough silliness for now. Lots of updates coming including more plumbing issues (major), appliance delivery issues (minor), and further restorations (endless).

Lighting, Electrics, and Christmas

Strange outlet. Those two little knobs were hot! Note the
ceramic outlet box. 

These depressing fixtures were everywhere in the house.

Three items stood out from the inspection report when we purchased our new home, plumbing, electrical, and the chimney (flue). I finally got around to calling the electrician that gave me an estimate for replacing all of the outlets, and bypassing what was left of the knob and tube. Also of interest was this strange outlet in the floor of the living room and bonus room. The inspector who has done thousands of homes had never seen one before. The retired Union electrician with 50 years experience had seen one before, but didn't know what it was used for. I was fortunate to resist the urge to stick my fingers in there when I first saw it as it turned out to be live. Yikes! They have been removed and I plan to use the now empty living room outlet box as a way to run the speaker wires for the surround sound system. I plan to get around to that in 2017. (kidding Cindy).

New dining room fixture

Porch light.

The house was filled with low end fixtures (understandable considering they had student renters), so I'm going around removing and replacing them as I work on the rooms. I found so far that they have not used ANY standard light boxes instead using electrical boxes for mounting the fixtures and wire junctions. I've found two examples so far where the fixture was mounted to the drywall on the ceiling, not even anchored to the box. SO I've had to be inventive in finding a way to safely anchor the fixture. In the dining room, I removed the lower drywall ceiling, then the upper lathe and plaster to access the floor joists above. On the front porch, where there was a bare bulb in the center of the porch, and an el cheapo fixture by the door. I managed tap into the wooden slats for the hanging light, and adapted mount for the wall light. Speaking of the porch, Cindy's girlfriends gave us a house warming gift card to Lowe's and we used it to purchase two matching outdoor fixtures. Very nice.

Me, my Santa hat, and our Xmas lights. You can see both new
porch lights too.

Cindy and I both love to decorate for Christmas and the fact they we haven't moved into the Park St house hasn't stopped us. In the mild weather after Thanksgiving, I went ahead and put up the outdoor lights. A good 10 or 15 years ago Cindy purchased some old style C9 outdoor lights in an after Christmas sale. I never felt like I had a good place to put them in the old house, but I broke them out and installed them in the new place. Very traditional. Indoors, we decided to put up a fresh Christmas tree in the living room. Having the tree up is really motivating us to move in and we hope to do so soon.

Christmas tree in the living room, (it's not as close to the fireplace as it looks) just need some furniture. Finished dining room on the right. Candle is the first official flame in the fireplace