ONLINE JOURNAL
These journal entries track our progress as we undertake our adventure of restoring this very old home. The main reason for keeping this journal on the web is that we have found that there are very few resources (books or websites) that follow all of the trials and tribulations of restoring an old home...from start to finish.
February 2, 2003
Not much to report for this weekend. We're one step closer to once again having a working toilet upstairs. I installed the flange for the rear discharge toilet and then ran out of crucial parts...and time. -- Bill
February 9, 2003
Forgot my camera this weekend, so no photos.
The upstairs toilet is in and working! I also installed baseboard and shoe moulding and sealed the floor with Velvit Oil. I think I love this product! It gave the sanded, unfinished floorboards a great old, hand-rubbed finish without the sheen of a varnish or polyurethane. After a second coat the floor should be well protected from any water. If this finish wears as well as it looks, I'll be using it everywhere!
We have run into a snag with the landscape master plan. The landscape architect really feels that we should have a full survey done...including topographical...in order for him to be able to give us a truly useful, long-term plan. But the price tag for that survey has come back at almost $4,000!! Even he was surprised when the estimates came back from the two survey companies. Then his fees would be on top of that. As much as we'd like to have this, I think we're gonna have to put the master plan idea on the shelf for a while. We certainly have more pressing issues that could use that money.
We spent some time in the new lot today and have decided to just start clearing out the trees we don't want so that the good ones have some room. Then we'll probably get everything bushhogged and put down some grass seed for the spring. May even put up a fence along the road.
So it looks like our major spring project will be the new lot and exterior painting and then this summer I'm gonna finally start work on the kitchen quarters! I already have spring fever and am looking forward to some outside work. -- Bill
February 16, 2003
Ugh. Snow, sleet, ice and William's fever kept us from working on the house this weekend. So much for spring fever... -- Bill
February 23, 2003
Remembered the camera, but unfortunately this time the batteries were dead. We cut down about two dozen small trees in the new lot; thinning out so that the better trees have room to grow. Didn't make much of a dent, but it's a start. We've decided not to try to move any of the cedars to line the road...at least not at this time. Since we only have one side of the road, we're concerned that it will just look too unbalanced. Instead we are talking about a fence on the front edge of the property. -- Bill |
