Timberrrr!

Well, the past few days we've been dealing with cutting down half dead and already dead trees in the rear yard. We got a semi reasonable quote to cut, but to haul away was triple the price, so Dick said "we can do it!"  Many Aleve later, and about 4 trips already to the transfer station, we've hauled about 10 tons of dead wood in the truck and attached trailer and still have about that much more to go. (By the way, I never knew the dump could smell so bad-no wonder the people who work there are such Nazi's-I'd always be in a bad mood if I had to smell that mess all day!) Good news is the yard in rear now has sunshine pouring in and I can plant grass and beds instead of looking at brown dirt.  The rear faces east, so sun in the morning and shade in afternoon! A deck is in the plans too so we can plant the new red oaks to shade that.  Now, time for a good hot bath and scented candles.....

Shovels needed!

Hi all,
Well, today I was meeting the guy to install a chimney cap but again the rain has interrupted our plans. Being a 90 year old chimney, it was in need of repair along with adding a new damper and chimney cap, and gas logs. We have aleady removed the old fixture in the photo. Unfortunately, rain doesn't mix well with working in mortar and climbing up on a roof, so we are rescheduling for next week. I think we will still go up anyway and meet with a tree expert to see how bad off the pecan and elms really are before we take them out. This yard is half an acre and you would think there would be some decent trees on it.  There may have been at one time, but all the nice big ones seem to be too close to the house, power lines, or have holes in the trunks and look decayed....maybe time to go!  I bought a couple of live oaks and red oaks on sale at a nursery in Ft. Worth to replace them.  We have a chain saw, anybody got a good shovel?

Knob and tube anyone?

I know, by now you want some good news right?  Me too! Sorry...I had the electrician out yesterday and we have electricity issues. Good news is we have two new breaker boxes and the kitchen and hvac have been rewired already, but when I was attempting to clean the other day my vacuum blew a breaker. I found out several rooms are all on one circuit and a lot of the house is still on "knob and tube" wiring. Many of you probably never heard of this, but it was all that was used in the old days.. Dick keeps saying, "Remember Jane, you bought an old house." Since I want to be able to run several things at once - like have lights on while vacuuming, or watching tv and being on computer, or run the hairdryer while ceiling fan is on, etc. etc. and NOT go outside and flip the breaker, some of the old wiring will need to be replaced. I know the house has been fine for 90 years with this, but I'm a worrier and better safe than sorry!

Water, Water Everywhere

Well, water is not our friend. First it was the rain now it is the leaky  plumbing....Dick keeps saying "YOU wanted this old house- it has lots of old problems" Yeah, like I keep forgetting - ha! We had an inspection, which I always advise my clients to do, but when it says "various leaks in pressure lines" on reports, be careful!! We had our regular plumber, George, come and fix all the faucets that were broken, replace the water heater, which we knew was at least 12 years old, the exterior faucets, the bath drains, etc. but George REALLY didn't want to crawl under the house to look for any leaks. Did I mention this is a 90 year old house built on bois d'arc (pronounced bo-dark) posts?  Early settlers found these Bois D'Arc trees native to the area and found they were impervious to termites and decay. No concrete slab here.....all the duct work, plumbing, wiring, etc. is suspended under the home. So, that should make it easier to get to I think, right?  George didn't think so...he said, " I'm an older guy, and what if I died under there and no one thought to come get me? I could be stuck under there for 3 days!"  Well, I didn't want that to happen, so I let George off the hook. I was lucky to have an old high school friend who was building in the area give me some names of local guys who could come to the rescue. Only problem now is the pipes have been leaking for God knows how long and it is wet underneath the house. The new plumber tells me I have to turn off all the water to the house and let it dry out. Ok......how long will this take?  I also met with two foundation companies to get a bid on stabilizing the foundation piers and they also confirmed the wet areas.  Everything hinges on the plumbing getting fixed first, so now we wait. Patience, Jane!

Roofing 101

Who would have thought it would take two weeks to roof a house of only 2800 square feet?  More problems were encountered when one of the crew removed all the previous siding on 2nd floor, which we intended to do down the road sometime but not now! We knew they had to remove one course to put in flashing, but due to some communication issues - me no habla espanol/they very little English - they removed ALL the previous siding. Supervisor of job was off having new grandbaby but he really came through and fixed everything so it was "in the dry" until we could order some new siding. Early September is not usually such a wet time in Texas, but of course, for us, it was! The home was originally built in 1920 with cypress siding, so we are deciding whether to go back with that, which has to be special ordered and milled to order, or go with Hardie or Smart Siding.

Closing Day!

We closed on our home on September 1. The closing went well, but the weather didn't. It hadn't rained in weeks, but of course when the first thing we wanted to do was put on a new roof, it rained cats and dogs. The roofers had just torn off the old shingles and started to redeck with radiant barrier when the skies opened up. The previous roof was really in need of repair, but we didn't expect the problems that came with re-roofing. First, we found no insulation at all in most attic areas, so that was added. Second, some of the rafters were rotten and needed to be replaced. When the rains started, the roofer resorted to putting buckets under the leaking areas in the upstairs bedrooms....what a mess! Now, in addition to painting, we have to replace some ceilings. The fun has just begun.