My Today
Arriving at the Cross House today, I found Justin riding Big Equipment, digging up the yard to the carriage house. He had a huge grin wide upon his face.
This was to repair the broken water line. It developed that our 2015 fix in this exact spot HAD held, but the adjacent 9-inch-long piece of galvanized pipe had rusted out. Attached to this was a lead pipe, which appeared to be in good order. So, Justin removed the galvanized pipe and replaced it with PVC. Later, when we do not have such a time crunch (Cody moves in tomorrow), we will replace the lead pipe. Yes, lead is bad.
We turned the outdoor water line back on and all looked good. SQUEE!!!!!!!! Justin will refill the hole in the morning. We then turned the water back on inside the house and…oh dear. A waterfall fell from the dining room ceiling. It developed that while a new cold line was added to the upstairs 2nd bath toilet yesterday, the hose was not yet installed and…fuck!..the shut-off valve had been left open. Oopsie!
There is only one door in the carriage house, a lovely 5-panel one. But Cody will need some doors. We have been hunting for 1920s 5-panel doors without much success, so desperate measure are now underway, such as my installing this horrid solid-core door to the Secret Bedroom. DON’T TELL ANYBODY I INSTALLED THIS! On the bright side though, if Cody feels really antisocial one day, he can deadbolt himself inside!
The last of seven floor holes infilled. (The terrible flooring will later be replaced with oak.)
Y’all remember the salvaged flooring installed in the sun porch?
The Other Justin sanded it today! He’s so cute! We have worked together since 1997!
Incredible!
Zounds! I am quite bedazzled! Tomorrow, this will get stained to match the adjacent kitchen floor, which will be a kinda brown color. Next week, Justin will varnish the sun porch.
Speaking of floors…GADZOOKS! This will be Cody’s office on the second floor. It looked like this last week…
…YIKES! Who covers such beauty with carpet glue???????? Cody said he can put up with a lot, but not this. How could I argue otherwise????????
In the upstairs 2nd bathroom, there is a HORRIBLE Home Depot tile floor (oh, the horror), and a HORRIBLE Home Depot vanity (oh, the horror). Later, all this will get torn out. For now though, we dumped the plastic ‘marble’ counter and will tomorrow replace this with a plywood counter and a salvaged slop sink. This is where Cody will clean old lights. We also raised the horrible vanity by 6-inches to make things easier for tall Cody. Yes, I am thoughtful that way. An adjacent toilet will help with a quick pee. Yes, I am thoughtful that way! It will be a while before the Turret Bath is completed. Sigh.
I grouted about half the new first-floor shower. Tomorrow I will finish.
Friday is gonna be intense.
There will be soooooo much to do to help assure a soft landing for an exhausted Cody. Clean sheets on a temporary bed! A shower curtain! Some more doors! Toilet paper! A bar of soap! More grout! Everything vacuumed! Greeting cards for his two cats!
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Ross, 5 panel doors are EXTREMELY common in my area. I see them in Chestnut, Pine, Mahogany and Oak. They are very common in Facebook Marketplace and Cragslist. I wish you ‘Buona Fortuna’ and ‘Viel Glueck’ in your search.
Busy, busy, busy… but it will now be habitable. You have a great team! Such a great welcome for Cody and his 2 cats!
I wouldn’t put it past you to actually have greeting cards for his cats! And that’s because you’re the best.
I have five panel doors in my house, raised panels, and my house is 1922. I have that wide molding around the floors too and picture molding around the ceilings about 6 inches down. My house seems to have things in it older than the houses being built in 1922. It’s like the Bishops preferred older styles rather than to be fashionable to the styles of the day. It really lacked a lot of character, not because it was removed but because it was never there to begin with.
That floor looks fabulous. And I totally understand I have walked on that torn up carpet removed covered in glue type of floor in my pair feet. It is not pleasant And socks and shoes stick to it.
I had five-panel doors in my 1909 Portland house.
IMO, the door to the Hidden Room should be a Hidden Door, like the ones they have in the Oval Office.
That would be too much fun! I’ve always wanted a house with a secret passageway and a hidden room (or two).
me too! (I read too many romance novels!) 🙂
After the flurry of activity and amazing accomplishments Cody will be able to move in to a lovely home!
It’s all coming together!! Cody will have much to do! And Ross can sit and watch.
Love how you recover from problems! And yes, don’t forget the greeting cards! 🙂
The upstairs office floor and sun porch floor look AWESOME!!!
So excited for someone to be living in the carriage house again and for so much progress that you have made on the carriage house recently. Looking forward to you being a Happy Ross living in the Cross house, hopefully soon.