Out with the "old"

Saying goodbye to our "old"
refrigerator.

 I'm old, but not quite ready to head "out". My age does give me a longer perspective on what else is old, and what is not. Our refrigerator, for example, is not old, but unfortunately, it headed out. Turns out, refrigerators do not last anywhere near as long as they used to. We have a freezer in the basement, that we bought 30 years ago, and it just keeps going. Our original refrigerator, that we bought when we moved back to Binghamton, was running like a champ when we gave it away, 7 years ago. It's replacement, quit a couple weeks ago. This surprised me, an old guy, that expected major appliances to last for decades. Turns out, 7 years is about average for modern refrigerators and freezers, according to a couple repairmen, and 3 appliance salespersons. The explanation, according to them, is that in an effort to make these types of appliances more environmentally friendly, they have become less durable. It seems like you are defeating the purpose, if the machines that are better for the environment last less of a third of the time, than the older machines that they replace. It's expensive too. Have you checked the prices of refrigerators lately? Plus, they can be hard to get now as we still have a supply side covid hangover. 

A window worth saving.

Renovations and repairs continue at the Morford estate. Two major projects currently underway are the renovation of the den, and the bigger project is the re-glazing of every window in the house. There are 24 windows in our home, not counting the basement. I have repaired and glazed 5 so far, and they were easier ones. I am now working on the diamond pattern windows, which are truly the ones were saving, and are the most difficult to glaze. The glaze is the putty like sealant between the glass and the window frame. Each diamond pattern window takes one tube of glazing, 3 Yuenglings, a truckload of patience. It is a good project to have going in the background since I can dive into it when I get a little free time. I'm getting better at the glazing now, so its time to tackle these difficult windows. The repair also includes repair and painting of the sills and frame. I also replace the old ropes that go the the counterweights hidden behind the frame. I will give credit to my late father in law Gene for showing me how to do this. The old cotton ropes rot and eventually break leaving you to prop open the window to get some air in the house.

My glazing is improving.

The den is stuck where all our renovations get stuck, and that's with paint color. We really struggle picking a color, with Cindy being pickier than me. We want something both bold and rich, but not overwhelming. Since I fixed the ceiling, and for now we are going with a simple white, not tiles, it allows us to go a bit more striking on the walls. I'm leaning toward a green, perhaps a spring green, but its hard to find one that's not either too bright, or too dark. the sweet spot is narrow on this.

In other news...Cindy pointed out to me that I never repaired and painted the heating grate in the kitchen. That turned into a bit more than I expected as removing the faceplate allowed the duct work to fall into the basement. That faceplate was the holding the duct in place. Oof. I went with a dark steel paint that matched our old refrigerator (ha ha) and it came out nice. We special ordered our new refrigerator to match it, further delaying the delivery. 

We are researching whole house AC. I'm still a bit undecided on this as the number of hot summer days around here is kind of limited, and I am a "windows open" kind of guy. Still, we must have a window AC in our bedroom for use on several nights each year. I am getting tired of lugging that thing into and out of the window each year. Another issue is the cost. Estimates are coming in at least 50% higher than I expected, but by all accounts we will see a corresponding increase in the value of our house. We'll see.

The Bar is Open!

In this corner...the bar.

Our multipurpose bar/breakfast/sun room is finally completed,other than a few minor details. The wainscoting came out really nice. The bright paint helps set off the darker stained wood. We got a light colored weaved indoor/outdoor rug which should handle any spills. We purchased a bar at Olum's that included the stools and a nice mirror that help bright the room. I have rigged the mirror with electricity so we add LED lighting and have lit Department 56 pieces on the top. The bar itself has a rustic outdoor look and fits well in the casual atmosphere.
 

Broken

In the other corner sits my "mistake" electric fireplace. Kind of chintzy but it fits in the overall theme of the room and will take the chill off in the winter helping make it a four season room. We are still looking for a high top table we like to increase the occupancy of the room and make it more breakfast friendly. Finally, we are struggling with window treatments. We had a nice set of valences picked out but when we contacted the seller heard nothing back. Finally, I fixed all the window weights and now the old windows properly open and close, and do not need a piece of scrap wood to prop them open. I plan to buy a small TV and mount it in the corner. It will be nice to sit there in the winter and watch NFL games while the snow blows by the windows. 

We already have found ourselves enjoying the room. I like sitting at the bar for telework sessions, and it turns out to be a nice place to just sit and talk with a nice view of the backyard.

Fixed.

I have started to work in the kitchen once again. I completed a rather more permanent fix of the tub leaking problem in the upstairs bathroom, which allowed me to complete repairs in the kitchen ceiling. This in turn led to painting the ceiling in the kitchen (again) and some discussion of doing some work in the kitchen. After many samples (again) we have decided to go with a two tone paint scheme with a light gray over white below the chair rail. I will be removing the cabinet next to the stove, moving the stove a foot to the right and installing two 12 inch cabinets on either side of the stove. This will allow us to use the two left side burners in the stove top without heating the side of the refrigerator.

The broken door from the kitchen to the pantry is another ongoing project. The frat boys somehow broke the door near the handle, so the first order of business was removing he door and the hardware. Then, I injected glue in the cracks and clamped the broken sections. That came out well. I had planed to sand and repaint the door but Cindy mentioned she would prefer a natural wood. I am now in the lovely and tedious work of stripping years of paint and stain from the door. That project will be in an upcoming blog.

The list is still long

Decorated for Memorial Day weekend. Almost more
 proud of lawn than anything else. Almost. 

***I finished this blog back in June. I was hoping it would improve with age***

Once again we had someone stop in front of our house, compliment our work and tell us how nice the house looks. It's very gratifying to hear and to reflect on the work that's been done. Problem is it feels like the list of things to do just does not seem any shorter. One thing slowing me down is regular maintenance. For example, I've now painted the porch stairs for the third time. They get full sun all year, snow, ice and the winter chemicals. Being stairs, they get scuffed with nearly every footstep. Still, I had hoped the paint would last longer. Another on going maintenance battle/headache is the leaky bathroom tub which maddeningly insists on dropping water into the kitchen from time to time, damaging the ceiling. I fear the only true fix will be a complete to the studs rip out of the tub and enclosure and re-installation. Something I *might* be able to do but with only one shower in the house, certainly not quickly enough.

Working on the frame for the screen from the pantry window.

One major project is the original windows. Every single one of them needs to be removed, cleaned, scraped, glazed and painted. Many of them need new ropes to their window weights. I actually did start this project a couple years ago when I fixed the attic windows. I figured they would be a good place to start being that they were essentially on the third floor and more difficult to see my amateur job. Then recently I decided to start what I through would be a quick job, scrapping and repainting the old screen window for the pantry. Well, as often happens, there turned out to be more to it as I accidentally poked a hole in the screen, then upon removal of the screen, noticed rotting of frame itself. I considered just building an entire new window frame, but in the end decided that there was enough there worth saving. So after a complete tear down and rebuild including replacement of some of the wood and all of the trim, the afternoon project turned into work spread over several days. The completed job came out nice.

Finished job

Since I was repairing the screen, I decided to strip out and replace the glazing in the window. Removing the window would have been difficult since it is a "pocket" window so I decided to repair it in place. That was difficult and I'm a bit out of practice so not my neatest job ever. Good news is that the window is finished, functional, and better than when I started. Did prove that in the future I need to take all windows completely down and out of the frame before I repair them.

On the next blog: The bar is open! (I meant the one in our house).

It's an old house

Before picture of the grate
 from the "bar".  A cream color
 that yellowed to a light
 mustard.

Our house was built in 1915 and it shows it's age. This is both good and bad. It's good in that it's a well built home, heavily constructed. True 2 x 6 rafters, 16 inches on center, with a steep pitch and 1 x 6 sheeting. It would support a tank. There are one foot thick block construction that make up the exterior walls give us a strong and silent home, almost like sitting inside a bank vault. Beautiful hardwood floors throughout, solid plaster on lathe walls. But there is a downside as well, old windows that are beautiful, but now showing their age so a major project looms. Galvanized steel plumbing that has been haphazardly and partially updated with copper and PEX. The galvanized pipe that comes in from the street is no doubt corroded and limiting our flow and pressure. That would be an expensive fix. An old octopus heating system in the basement that has an updated burner, but takes up too much room and runs too much despite my miserly adjustment of the thermostat.  Of course we still love the place, and our work is really starting to make a difference.

Finished product. Photo by Cindy

Our peeling Easter Bunny got a fresh coat too. 

An example of the myriad of jobs are the heating grates throughout the house. They are just plain ugly. I did the bathroom grate when I redid that room, and just finished bar grates, both the heat and cold air return and they came our very nice. The process begins with cleaning, then removing the loose paint, I do this by using a wire brush attachment on my old electric drill. Then we pick a spray paint color and apply multiple coats. The trick with spray paints it not overdoing it, with multiple light coats much better than one heavy, dripping coat. Not a good job for an impatient person. The bathroom grate is a high gloss white, the half bath a gloss black, and we went with a copper color for the bar, which came out very nice.

Then there's the plumbing. Like I mentioned above, it's a mishmash of different types of pipe, which unfortunately included galvanized steel. Last summer I replaced a section that went to the spigot on the  north side of the house. The shut off on the line had been leaking since we moved in. I managed this by cutting off the connection to the copper and rerouting it with PEX pipe, which is a D.I.Y. plumbers best friend. PEX pipe uses solder-less connections to copper and other PEX, and is easy to work with.

The culprit. I added the white
 tape to show the plumber
 the leaky part. 

Then just yesterday there was a more serious problem. After my morning shower I took a load of wash down to the basement and saw water on the floor, then noticed water spurting out of a pipe near the water meter. Luckily it must have just happened. It looked like the galvanized pipe had split. I needed to get into the office so that provided me the perfect excuse to not mess with it. I shut off the water to the house, gave Cindy my regrets and good byes and abandoned the mess. From work, I called the plumber and they showed up before 11 am. Turned out to be a bad gasket in the fitting between the pipe and the water meter, and something I probably could have fixed, but I was happy to let a professional deal with it.

We love our house, our home, and completely understand what we have. It sure has given me fodder for the blog, and will for years ahead. For example, every single window needs to be removed, re-glazed, and repaired. Every single window sash cord needs to be replaced. I hope to begin to tackle that this year, starting in the bar. Don't worry, I'll keep you updated.

Stairs, a window, and plaster

Half painted stairs. They are completed now.

A decent amount has been accomplished since my last post, mainly due to a week off work and a decision to not to travel but to devote the time to projects. First on the list was to complete the stairwell painting. I had two readers suggest that I paint half the stairs (side to side) allowing access to the basement by us and the cats, kind of like a construction zone reduced to one lane (normal summer driving in Pennsylvania). I liked that advice and moved ahead. Now, I expected that Cindy and I would not walk through the wet paint, and for the most part , this was a correct assumption. It was however, a leap of faith to depend on Katia and Natasha to use their kitty smarts and stay off the wet paint, with a bit of guidance in the form of large objects placed blocking the "closed" section. Katia, whom I alternately call "smarty pants" and "Klutzia" because she is both smart and clumsy, turned out to be both. As I was working, she started down the stairs, carefully avoiding the wet paint (smart). As she passed me she cut over to the wet side, prompting me to yell her name. She stopped (smart), then sat in the wet paint awaiting further instructions (clumsy). I followed her down to the basement and she allowed me to inspect her feet, which were remarkably dry. Her cat butt, however, was a bit gray, so she was confined to the basement for a few hours, which she really didn't seem to mind. Natasha decided to simply avoid the staircase altogether and slept through the process, demonstrating her ability to "hold it" for several hours.

I finally installed (with Cindy's help of course), the final window on the first floor. In this blog I wrote about installing the windows, while also somehow forgetting to order one for the kitchen. I ordered the forgotten window back in the Spring and we installed it last week. If you remember, or re-read the blog, I was very proud of myself for measuring every window correctly, even allowing for "slop" since none of the old windows were perfectly square. Heh heh. Well, confidence is a dangerous thing and I ordered one window to complete the job, and it was wrong. Technically, I measured correctly but forgot to allow for a window frame that was off by a quarter inch. Rather than re-order and have a useless window, I decided to "fix" the old window. Cindy was notably impressed as I shaved down the inside of the crooked frame, smoothed and filled my work, and repainted. This essentially "squared" the frame and allowed the window to fit.

The offending wall.

Cindy proclaimed herself to be tired of looking at our ugly upstairs hallway and so that has become the next interior "room" to be repaired. Unfortunately, there are some special issues that need to be addressed in the hallway. First, on one wall, the plaster has pulled away from the lathe.  This gives the wall a spongy feel as the plaster moves. If left like this, the plaster will eventually crack and fall away. The thought of removing around 9 square feet of plaster was not comforting, so I did some research. I found a video detailing repair of such a wall at the This Old House website. Essentially, you drill multiple holes through the plaster (not into the lathe), inject plaster bonder, followed by construction adhesive. Then, you install several dry wall screws with large washers through the plaster into the lathe to pull the plaster back to the lathe. After 24 hours, you remove the dry wall screws, fill the holes, and remove the excess glue that has oozed from the holes. Then sand, skim, and sand the wall and your done. Sounds easy, right? Wish me luck.

Ugly, poorly installed molding. I plan to replace it with
prettier, poorly installed molding.

The other problem is common through the house. There is a large gap between the wall and the ceiling that had been covered by cheap molding. I removed the molding and will fill the gap with spray foam insulation and replace with a better quality molding. That is rather tedious and although I'm getting better at mitering and installing molding, the additional difficulty of nailing the molding to exterior walls, which are masonry, will cause me to take more time. I will not be installing the fancy crown molding that we have downstairs, perhaps something closer to what I installed in the vestibule.

Finishing up old tasks and moving on to new

Finished room. Finding the right curtains was tough.

Interior wall mirror. Hope it holds, 

I think I can finally say that the guest room is done. We decided on curtains...sorry...window treatments...so I installed new rods and hung them. I also hung an antique mirror that matched the furniture set. Hanging anything on the walls of "fort" Morford is tricky, since any exterior wall is solid cement, but the interior walls are plaster on lathe and no thrill either. Of course the spot where we wanted the mirror was nowhere near a wall stud so I ended up drilling a small hole just to get the nail through the springy lathe. This leaves me with a bit of concern about the quality and durability of the anchor in the wall. I plan to keep an eye on it and if it looks like it's loosening I'll have to go with plan B.

We're very pleased with the room. It's bright and airy, really just perfect for a guest room. I think it would be a bit much for us to look at every day in the master but it makes for an attractive guest room, The trick was to go with curtains that matched the brightly colored wall without clashing against them or the white woodwork. We ended up with a tan or almost cane colored curtain that has a basket type weave. They make the room a bit less stark and warm up the space without toning down the color.

Attic widow and frame. Not good.

Glazed and painted window. Some clean up
still to be done. 

In other news, I continue to work on the attic windows. I first removed the one attic window and frame last week. That has been glazed and painted, but before I could install the window, I had work to do on the frame. On our 2 story home, the attic is essentially a third story window, with two roofs in the way, the porch roof and part of the second story roof, making the attic windows kind of a dormer. In any event, other that renting a lift, there was no easy way to reach the outside of the window. This meant repairing and painting the windows had to be done from the inside. All in all it went pretty well. Scrapping and wire brushing the old paint was the most difficult part. I was able to reach parts of the window by leaning out the other window. I ended up with paint chips in my hair and down my shirt, plus I was rolling around on the attic floor as I tried to get to the correct position. Painting was tricky but a bit easier simply because it's less physical. I did end up with paint on my shirt and arms simply because it was impossible to lean out and not bump into the frame.

As I mentioned in the last blog, the windows and screens are worth saving as they are original to the house and have character. I might be less inclined on the 1st or 2nd floor but the attic is unheated and I'm not real interested in replacement windows or screens up there. Eventually I need to work on painting and re-glazing the 2nd floor windows which are more reachable, but behind installed aluminum storms. That will make the job a bit more difficult. So the attic windows are kind of glazing practice for lower windows that will be more visible.

Memorial Day was a full work weekend for us as I had a rare weekend off. In addition to the attic window work, we managed to get in some yard work including removing another large, overhanging branch leaning in from the abandoned mansion next door. Cindy caught up on some neglected housework. Early Memorial Day we went out for supplies and Cindy found some inexpensive flags so we decided to line our driveway and sidewalk with flags. I imagine our neighbors think we're a bit nutty but there's no shame in honoring those who have fallen, and those who serve and have served. So while Memorial Day is a holiday to be honored, there is no reason not to enjoy the freedom and liberty that has been paid for so dearly by our armed forces. Life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness provided for and protected by the Army, Air Force, Marines, Navy and Coast Guard.

A diamond in the rough

I'm happy. Really. 

So as I have written several times in this blog, my old lawn mower has given me fits since I began to use it to tackle my big yard. It did indeed run better last week but even so, a triple lot, old age, and a 22" push mower is an ugly combination. In any event,  I rarely make large purchases on a whim, and without careful research (except this house!). I've been pricing and researching riding mowers for over a year and had recently narrowed my choices down to John Deere, and Cub Cadet. I know that many people have a strong brand loyalty to things like tractors, especially John Deere, so I will tread carefully here. Entry level Deere lawn tractors are subcontracted to MTD, and, while well made, are not substantially different than most other small tractors despite being around 20% more expensive. Also, all parts and service must go through a John Deere dealer. Cub Cadet, well made and well reviewed are cheaper to buy and service, and even go on sale from time to time.

Last Saturday, I stopped into Tractor Supply since they sell Cub Cadet tractors and lo and behold they were on sale! The sale ended the next day so I left and stewed about it. In the end, I approached Home Depot and they agreed to match the price and honor a 10% coupon I had received in the mail. Done deal. I rented a flatbed from them for $20 bucks to get it home. It'a an XT1 Model with 22 horsepower and a 46" cut on the mower. My first run at cutting the grass, being slow and cautious, took 20 minutes. No more  telling Cindy I spent the day on the lawn! I still need to use the old push mower for trimming near the house and bushes and I was happy that it started on the first pull. I still plan to do some minor maintenance and keep my old buddy around for awhile.

Old glazing removed and wood scrapped.
 Ready to be glazed. Note the
diamond shaped glass 

A good friend gave us
 this sign. It hangs
on our porch. 

The other project I'm working on is the attic windows and screens. We've finally started to get some warm weather and the attic is heating up. We do have a roof vent but it really helps to put the screens in the two front windows to get the air circulating better. It helps keep the second floor cool as well.  One of my projects for this year is to continue painting the window frames on the house with the second floor on the agenda. I would like to do the attic windows as well but they are pretty much out of reach from any normal ladder. So, my plan is to paint the window frames from the attic. They are right next to each other so I will lean out the one window to scrape and paint the other frame. The windows themselves, and the screens, come out completely so they will be easy. However, the need to be repaired. The first set is on my work bench right now. The screen is destroyed so I removed the remains and the frame holding it in place. I scrapped the wood and filled the numerous holes and nicks. The window was in better shape, except that it needs to be completely re-glazed. I took all the old glazing off the window with a putty knife, and scraped and wire brushed the wood. I then re-glazed the window and am now waiting for the glazing to cure so it and the screen can be painted. Our nickname for the house is the diamond in the rough and this is at least partially because of the diamond pattern in the windows. This diamond pattern makes the window unique and worth saving, while at the same time makes the maintenance and repair a bit more difficult. We love these windows and have carried this diamond theme through the house with our window treatments and bed covers.

In other news, it's graduation weekend at Binghamton University which means the bed and breakfast across the street will be full with the families of the graduates, Something about this pleases me. I like seeing the people check in and enjoy the extra activity on our street. It reinforces my desire to maintain and improve our home simply because we have guests in the neighborhood. I like to sit on the porch and watch them come and go to dinners and ceremonies and feel a certain amount of pride in our town. With graduation weekend comes the annual bar crawl where students walk from the west side to downtown hitting the bars and celebrating. We are far enough removed from the festivities to have little affect from them, but we occasionally get a straggler on the sidewalk and an empty cup in the lawn. A small price to pay for having one of the top public universities in the nation located here.
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