August Update

So the blog has kinda fallen by the wayside lately. Hopefully the Flickr pictures are providing sufficient info as to why we're not constantly working on the house or blogging

But we have managed to get some small projects done around the house. While Jake's parents were visiting back in July, they helped us out with a bunch of things. Rose did a ton of weeding and mulching, which greatly improved the garden situation. Rose also tested out a pink room paint color for us. She used a sample jar to test out whether we could do the pink room over in a dark red. Too dark. Hmmmm....We still need a solution to the PINK of the pink room.

John installed a new faucet in the downstairs bathroom. This project was not without its frustrations. After John completely installed the faucet we bought, Rose heard a slight leak. Upon further investigation, it turned out that the faucet itself had a leak in it. Argh! So a complete dis-assembly, and a second trip to the hardware store. But who's counting. Actually, it may have ended up being five trips to the hardware store on that one. But we have a lovely new leak-free faucet.

But because the world has an equilibrium of leaky faucets, we just discovered this week that the basement utility sink faucet is leaking. Ah, leakage equilibrium attained.

In other small improvements for the summer:

*We put carpet on the floor of the under-stair nook, where Carter has a bed, and where we park Jake's folding bike and Lucy's stroller.

*We installed a new toilet seat in the upstairs bathroom. While doing this, we discovered that there are two slightly different colors -- there's "almond" and there's "biscuit," and they're not the same. Also, toilet seat technology has evolved. We have a seat with "quiet-close" and "quick-release" functionality. Wow. We opted NOT to get the self-heating one. Ew.

*We got rid of a TON of random metal (fence posts and downspouts and the like) through freecycle. Awesome! We love freecycle.

*Jake (with the help of our fabulous next door neighbor, Lisa) got our gutters cleaned out. They were so full of tree muck that they were starting to bow out and pull out of the fascia boards.

*We got a dehumidifier for the basement. I can't believe how much water this thing takes out of the air! It makes the basement a more pleasant place for working on bikes and working out. This is good. And we've had such a wet summer, that I think it's also good for keeping the fieldstone walls a bit drier than they might be otherwise.

The garden is now giving us tomatoes, and the herb area is full of basil and sage (and others, too, but those are the big ones). We also have an apple on the apple tree!

I've been trying to fit in some crafting time when I get the chance. I've managed to make some little things for Lucy, like a tag blanket (I think this appears on Flickr a while back). I've also cut up some scraps of pretty fabric that she likes; we hide toys underneath them and she's thrilled to find them.

Today I made a few items that please me very much. The first is a simple can o' toys. I noticed that Lucy loved getting into the containers on the counter where I keep her baby products and hair stuff and whatnot, so I figured I should make her one of her very own. I just decorated an empty formula canister and filled it with fabric and some of her legos and other toys. She LOVES digging through it and dumping the can.

I splurged on some fancy fabric last week, and I've been looking for just the right thing to do with it. This evening I decided that the beautiful Mary Flanagan hand-dyed wool felt would make really lovely soft blocks. You can see the prototype (the purple one in the background) that I made from scrap fabric, and then the real one that I made with the six colors in the "Aqua" series: Mason Jar, Spring Rain, Deep Sea, Juniperberry, Evergreen, and Emerald Bay.

I'm very pleased with it. Soft and wooly. I may make more with another color set, too.

That's all I can think of for now. No promises as to when the next post will be, but we'll keep putting up Lucy photos so you can see how she grows. She'll be nine months old tomorrow! Wow!

Driveway Drainage Problems Solved (we hope!)

So there were a few troublesome things going on beside the driveway, most of which involved water draining off the roof and driveway directly into the window well, through the basement window, and into the basement. I have chronicled several attempts to fix this problem so far. I think we finally got it done right: we asked the professionals to look at it. Here is the completed project:

This beautiful site is the result of several improvements. Part of the problem was with the gutter, which first had to be lowered. Even at its proper height and pitch, however, the gutter was way too long to be draining into only one downspout. It's a LONG run -- 36 feet or so -- and a lot of roof, so it was difficult for it to keep up with the water flow. The guys suggested adding a second downspout, which seemed like a great idea. So now there's one on either end. Here's the new one up front:

[They left us some extra lengths of downspout, since we're not sure where exactly we want the water to shoot out. Right now it's set up to run into the garden area beside the house. If this results in water in the basement through the front foundation area, we can re-route it onto the driveway.]

The next part of the problem was that the driveway drain frequently backed up, leaving a massive puddle that then ran into the window well due to that nasty little force called gravity. One part of the solution was to improve upon our drain cover. You can see our previous solution in this earlier post. Here's the new one:
With a drain that is flush with the concrete, there's less chance that stuff will build up in there, and when it does get covered with gunk, it will be easier to just clean off than it was before (when we had to dig down in there through the muck and water).

Of course, there is still a chance that the drain will get filled with gunk from the driveway ("tree poop" and such), and in the winter, that drain can freeze up. So there will still, occasionally, be water sitting in this area, and this water will want to seek out our window well. This is why we also had the window well itself fixed. Regular readers will recall seeing (and perhaps laughing at) some of my previous attempts here and also here to solve this problem; I am sure you will enjoy the professional job that was finally done here. I must tell you that there was a jackhammer involved, which is, of course, the reason why I couldn't do it myself. There is no way I should have jackhammer privileges. Once they had dug down though the inches of concrete, going about two inches below the window well and into the dirt, they put in the metal window well. That is sealed in there with concrete, so now water won't run into the well. I put the old piece of plexi on top of the whole thing for the rain that falls off the roof. [I think we'll cut the plexi down to a more reasonable size.] So check it out, our complete window well solution:



Finally, all that water puddling on and splashing off the driveway also did some damage to our wood siding in that area, so the guys also removed and replaced a section of shingles with these new ones. Once they were painted, we couldn't tell the difference. It looks great!



That's all for today, and in fact, that's probably all for the month of July. 83 Durant is about to go on yet another hiatus while we head south for family visits. We'll be back in August with exciting updates on whether all this drainage fixage actually worked, as well as new projects like drywalling and painting the spare bedroom!

Outdoor Maintenance Project

Our roofing guys came last Thursday and fixed the fascia board on the driveway side of the house. They also took down and re-installed the gutter. Unfortunately, it's still not right. It's way too high for a slate roof (the snow will hit it) and it's not pitched far enough (water puddles in the front end). They should be back Tuesday to finish the job. They should also be finishing (or starting, really) the replacement of a section of cedar shingles on the wall beside the driveway. They're rotting from a combination of the water (compliments of the window-well puddling) and the heat (compliments of the driveway). It's not a huge section, but once it is done, hopefully the house will be completely weather-tight!

Here's what it looks like under those shingles:


Hopefully the wood underneath (the sill) isn't damaged by rot or bugs. If so, there will be some extra wood to replace. Further updates tomorrow if I have time.

The work continues

This morning at 7:30, my slumbers were disturbed by the sound of a pry bar and saw taking on the gutter and fascia board problems at 83 Durant. While this isn't my favorite way to be awakened, it does mean that another project is underway at 83 Durant, and that always pleases me. The carpenter arrived, and they are taking down the very poorly installed metal gutter, adding new wood to the undersized fascia board (that gap where we can see out to the neighbor's house through the spare room), and re-installing the gutter in the correct manner. This is good.

After some discussions with the carpenter about some of the other issues on the driveway side of the house, he suggested several solutions:
1) for the drain in the driveway, he can install a flat metal cover so that it won't get clogged up so easily.
2) for the leaky window well, he suggests a metal edging, sealed with cement caulk, and then digging out the concrete and putting in stones. This would be the best way to fix this problem, so once he gets us an estimate, we'll decide if we want to do that, or go with one of our home-grown do-it-ourselves ideas
3) he's going to replace a section of the wooden shingles beside the driveway that have rotted out (mostly because of the splashback and moisture off of the driveway). Once he gets those shingles off, he'll be able to see how much damage there is to the wood underneath and to the sill of the house. This might warrant further repairs and wood replacement, which is a bit scary. But we're glad that we will at least find out a bit more about the state of the house.

Other indoor projects -- insulation and plumbing -- will soon be underway since we have John and Rose here. Updates to follow!

The Flowering of 83 Durant

There was once an ugly brown vine thing hanging over our fence. We thought about ripping it out, as it just looked like dead vine. But a neighbor said that it had lovely white flowers on it, so we left it to see what it would do. And there it is, with really spectacular white flowers blooming on it! They're covering the (otherwise rather ugly) fence, which is great. My aunt said that it's a clematis, and a well-established one.

After the forsythia bloomed all yellow and lovely, the color moved on to this next bush. We don't know what it is, but we like it:



We also noticed three green bushes with tiny white flowers on them. We wondered what they were, until a few days ago we noticed some interesting details. Check out the photo:


We think they're blueberries!! That would be awesome. (Feel free to comment if you think they're something else -- go ahead, crush our dreams of blueberries in our yard.)

Today I did a little bit of front yard clean-up and pruning while I waited for our roofer to stop by with an estimate for fixing our messed up gutter. He was across the street, giving an estimate to the agent of the people who want to buy the brown house directly across from us (where Dmitri and Junior and the duck live, sadly). He came over, as did the lady, and the lady said: "Our home inspector was here on Friday and pointed out some problems with the roof. Then he pointed to this roof (pointing to our house) and said THAT'S what a roof should look like." It was most gratifying to hear this.

The Next Upgrade Starts Tomorrow: Roof 2.0

Tomorrow the folks from Scott Roofing will come to begin a few projects:
--replace the tar-and-gravel flat roof with both improved insulation and a white rubber-type covering that will reflect heat
--fix the small roof overhang above the front door
--fix the mess that is the busted wooden gutter
--check out the roof over the bay window
We're very excited to finalize the roof work on 83 Durant.

A gutter needs a tree like a fish needs a bicycle

On Friday, we planted a tree! On Saturday, we got new gutters. Perhaps one day, that little tree will grow to fill our new gutters with leaves.

We're so relieved that the gutter guys finally showed up. There is a new gutter on the driveway side of the house that we hope will alleviate some of the basement window leakage, and a new one across the back porch (off the flat roof) that we hope will help the condition of the ground in the backyard.

The tree is an apple tree. It should produce this old-style apple called "Ashmead's Kernel." We bought the tree (little more than a twig, really) at Cider Day.

Minor Project Updates

We've been busy with school and Halloween lately, so not much time for projects. We've done a few small things, like putting up lightswitch and outlet covers in the basement. We also put up a nice paper lantern in the kitchen. The photo shows it here attached to the ceiling fan in the kitchen. You can also see our lovely pressed tin ceiling and cheerful kitchen curtain on the window over the sink.

I also did a bunch of weatherizing, including the gaps in the door to the pink room. But that's not really photo-worthy.

The painters are all finished with the outside. We're pleased with how it looks, but a bit frustrated with the contractor. We have paint chips and paint drips everywhere. Time to bust out the shop-vac. The painting contractor is supposed to put up gutters for us, but we haven't heard from him in a while. We are learning that it's hard to get house jobs done. Sigh.