So things didn’t go as planned, but they also didn’t go as bad as they possibly could. We were lucky that any heavy rain held off weekend before last, though the plants probably disagree.
Dave came over early on Saturday to get started. He hadn’t gotten the materials from Colorado, but luckily we had enough to allow him to do what was really required before any significant rain set in (which it never did).
The main areas of concern were/are:
-
a leak area above the living room that corresponds to a valley where the living room gable meets the main portion of the roof.
- another leak area above the library in yet another gable valley.
- broken tile on the gable over the front porch
- leak areas on the conservatory wall next to the dining room – this used to be an outside wall – and the conservatory used to be a balcony.
Dave fixed the number 1 completely which also helped to mitigate number 4. For number two, he put a patch in place, and will address it again when he comes back for the wrap up. Since we’re still waiting on the tile from colorado, he couldn’t do the full fix.
As of Friday (9/28/2007) he hadn’t gotten the materials, but said that as soon as he did he would be back to do the install. This will get us all the broken tile replaced, and the conservatory roof replaced. We’re also going to take this time to install two skylights in the conservatory to allow us to get more light in the area during summer (the large Japanese Magnolia shades the windows quite a bit).
While Dave was here I took the opportunity to take some pics of some of the roof using his ladder to get up to that hieght.
Living Room Gable and Valley View
Opposite side of conservatory roof – gable above the kitchen
This past Sunday my good friend Ann and I took a trip over to Green Valley to get some pumpkins for Autumn decorating fun. She, like me loves Autumn and loves to decorate for it.
I think I need to get more pumpkins – the front porch at the Casa is a good bit bigger than our former house. As such, the five I bought seem to get lost. I’ll try to get a picture of Ann’s place and update this post with them. Knowing her, she’s got her porch looking fabulous from the start. Love her style.
Here’s some pictures from our adventure and some of the resulting images from the Casa.
Ann Chooses Pears
Ann Loves Bananas!
Ann picks a big one! (She cried)
Ann looks at the purty pale pumpkins
The casa dressed up!
The casa dressed up – 2
Porch Autumn Display – 1
Looks like we have rain in the forecast for Vallejo – late Saturday night…. I hope that’s true and it holds off until the Dave the roof guy is finished!
So I talked with Dave with Ryder roofing last night, and he said he was having some issues finding the same cement-asbestos tile that we have on the Casa at what he calls the “right” price.
He says he found one source in Colorado that has the same tile, but he wants too much for them at $150 for the lot (about 20 tiles). Personally I don’t think that’s too out of line, considering:
- They don’t make this crap anymore.
- It’s a hazard
- We really need it.
He wants to take to the end of the week to try and source some from another place before he gives in. I respect his opinion. However, I told him I’d rather just get it and be done with it, as we’re getting close to the time when rain will start. Especially seeing how it’s rather cloudy this afternoon – and muggy – I feel rain in my bones.
I found him to be quite knowledgeable about the type of roof we have – he’s the only roofer that I’ve had out to look at the roof the used ladders that didn’t put weight directly onto the tiles — something I’ve learned is important – they are a lot like slate. I guess I can just be glad that all the others were scrawny (guess that’s a key trait in roofers) and they didn’t put a lot of weight on the roof.
Here’s NOT hoping for rain.
So I’ve gotten myself into quite a quandry – My plumber is coming over on friday to install the gas lines for gas log inserts into the fireplaces. We have two – one in the library, and one in the living room.
Chris and I have wanted these because we want to be green with the house (as much as possible) and a severe allergies, and smoke is no frind of mine.
The libarary fireplace is wonderful and original to the house. When I saw that fireplace, I knew I had to have the house.
Library Fireplace
The living room fireplace isn’t original – and must have been replaced at some point by someone who has no since of what’s right. Our plans are to rework the face of it and add builtin benches on each side.
Living Room Fireplace
Now – the real quandry is do we continue with the plan – gas inserts, or do we get the chimney’s fixed to have damper’s put in, and use real wood?
If we go with the inserts, which ones?
I’ll keep you posted.
So thankfully the weekend is finally here at Casa De Kitty – at least for me. Thanks to a 4/10 schedule at work, I now have three day weekends all the time. I’m think I’m finally adjusting to the longer days, but still tired out a good bit after leaving the house at 6:25 a.m. and getting back at 7 p.m.
So, now as I sit on the ferry home, I’m plotting my weekend activities and hopeful accomplishments.
- Bathroom Vanity Completion
This weekend I hope to complete the installation of the bathroom vanity – started the week before we moved in. The difficulty came in because the vanity base I bought from HomeDepot was taller than the one previously in the bathroom by about 3 inches. I didn’t think much about it until I put the new top on it in a dry fit — that’s when we hit the wall.Thanks to the ingenuity of the builders of the house, and all the neat little built-ins in the bathroom, well the back splash of the top is too tall for the soap dish, and the toothbrush caddy. After futzing with it and thinking about alternatives (cutting the cabinet down, ditching the new top and getting one without such a high back splash, etc.) I decided to notch the top to fit it into place. I had called the HD bath department and asked about a top with a smaller backsplash and was told it would be 3 weeks before it could get in. The guy then said I could cut it with the appropriate blade (fine tooth) and my handy-dandy Ryobi Skill saw. So after two weeks of putting it off, and contemplating my plan, tomorrow will be the day! Wish me luck.
- Wiring up my office!
I’ve been concentrating on all sorts of other things, and I’ve put off getting my office fully wired up. Last weekend I ran the phone line, and a LAN cable. I got the phone line wired up correctly, but for some reason the LAN line is giving me grief. I can’t get any signal through it at all. I must have it wired up wrong. I’ll have to investigate it tomorrow.
- Side Fence!!!
So this will be the weekend to start the new fence project. I’ve arranged with All Star Rents to get a two-man auger for the posts. Chris and I will be auging it baby!
The plan is simple – measure in from the existing fence line, two feet, and plant the new 6-foot fence. This will give us a border area to plant pretty things (like more rose bushes – NOT), and some gap between the sidewalk and the fence. Also, hopefully this will keep the code enforcement people off our backs. Technically we should probably go another 8 feet – but damn that’s a lot of room. Contractor extrodinairre – Jeff Lindsey – told me of a great way to do it.
- Layit all out on the ground
- Drill the post holes
- Attach the fence panels to the posts
- Stand the set up
- Stake to level
- Add post cementSounds too easy – right? Well we’ll see. I’ll take plenty of pictures.
- Cook a real meal – Friday Night
Today the new Refridgerator was delivered. In Chris’ words – “It’s Massive”… luckily he’s not talking about my backside! Now that we have something more than a dormitory fridge to house groceries, I plan on going out, buying a chicken, or four and cooking us a proper meal Friday night. This will be the first real meal I’ve cooked on the fantastic Wedgewood stove, so we’ll see how it goes. Again, pictures will follow.
- Finsih half-finished posts and post!
So I have like five half-finshed posts that I need to complete and post… and lots of pics too. This is probably a Sunday morning thing.
So after a hectic 5 days that included moving everything we own, the move is finally over.
The garden has been moved over (all 30+ tomatoes, many herbs, a few sqaush, and tons of flowering plants). All in pots or grow bags (tomatoes). Right now they are just dumped in the back yard, but we’ll be situating them over the next few days and planting some of them in the ground — our ground.
This weekend we start to work on the fence for the Monterey Street side of the house.
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