This is the story of the never-ending mantel shelf. I have previously posted about the Octagon Room mantel. It was in very poor condition due to a chronic roof leak above. The finish had flaked off, and the mantel shelf had warped on one end. Months of leaving the shelf in the sun eventually fixed…

  Did Ross just replace the broken glass and stick the sash back in place? Nope. And why not? Because Ross is nuts. As such, Ross had to strip the sash down to bare wood, both sides. Then apply three coats of amber shellac on the inside. And only then put in new glass. When…

  These many round ducts needed to be replaced by a trunk line running east to west. Then, from this, round feeder ducts could then fit between the ceiling joists to vent various rooms. The problem? Trunk lines are too big. I would bash my head into a normal trunk line. What to do? What…

A while back I posted about…at long last…pulling down some of the sheetrock on the third floor ceiling of the Cross House. This revealed two important things: that the 1894 beadboard ceiling was extant, but fire-damaged in some areas. Then, all the pulled-down sheetrock bits just sat on the floor for months and months and…

        Recently, my artist friend Suzi came by the Cross House and I showed her the many areas of faux bois needing repair, and explained about my total inability at finding anybody to do the repairs needed. “Oh! I can help with that! I’d love to! It’s not hard!” I looked at…

    In the contract, only the ducting to the south side of the house was to be redone. After the fan/coil unit was down, Ryan said that I should also replace the trunk line for the north side of the house. With fear in my eyes, I replied: “Ryan, I’m already overwhelmed with the…

        This is a much better place for the sink and it is curious that it was not installed in this location originally. Now, there’s a window and the plumbing can easily connect with the bathroom plumbing. The height of the tiled backsplash precisely aligns with the window sill height, so…squee! The…

The other day I did a post about the return of Kenny. Who brought his dog, Jet. Tiffaney commented. And she was not happy: ROSS! You break the #1 rule of the internet: if you mention a pet, you need to post the photographic evidence. That is to say, we need to see Jet. So,…

      It is not just that we have removed wood bits and a tangle of wiring. Every single extraneous bit on the ceiling has also been removed: Old nails old junction boxes old strapping old heating ducts and so on. Then the voids between the ceiling joists were vacuumed to remove every cobweb….

So, y’all remember Kenny? For several years now he has been volunteering at the Cross House, and refinishing wood. He refinished the mantel in the Round Bedroom, and then did several windows. Ross happy. Kenny also likes gifting the house with clocks and seating and vintage lights. Ross happy. Today, Kenny came by for the…

In getting the carriage house basement ready for its new HVAC ducting, the door to the basement was in the way. It needed to be cut down on top by 4-inches to make way for the new trunk line. No biggie. The current door will later be replaced by a new entrance on the north…

          Both windows are UNDER the south porch. I have never before crawled under the porch, so never knew about this horror. What you are looking at is gobs and gobs and gobs of spray foam, covering the underside of the porch, the two windows, one AC duct, and adjacent foundation….

Today, I began gutting the you-know-Norman-Bates-lived-here studio apartment. I tore out the sheetrock on the south wall, and the insulation behind. And I tore down the sheetrock on much of the ceiling, and its insulation. It was all profoundly dirty and sweaty but satisfying. NOTE: Yes, I wore protective gear. When I finished for the…