BS: A house! A house!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 01:53 PM

Here they are. That's a good looking repair on the shower.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 01:16 PM

The new pictures are up.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 09:26 AM

Okay, I've asked Jeff to post four more pictures.

The floor in the master bath was rotten -- a combination of tiling over a leak in the shower without fixing it and a pinched gasket between the toilet tank and the toilet bowl -- which required new subfloor, shower and vinyl floor covering. That's the reason for the pix of the new shower. Yes, that's me in the shower; please try to contain yourself.

The pink toilet picture is the half-bath; the tank was cracked and glued together. THIS TOILET NO LONGER EXISTS! We replaced it with the beige one that had been in the master bath and got a new, white, one for the master bath.

It has been decided the the freezer were poor people's hot tubs. Fill with water, climb in, and use one of those "hot water in your cup" immersion heaters. We still haven't opened the second one because the snow makes it hard to get to.

We've started moving things to the house, and given notice at the rental where we've been living that we will vacate no later than February 15.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 12 Jan 04 - 12:00 AM

Whose freezer? Rapaire is the guy with all of the extra freezers under his back porch! (But my best friend's father was Hoffa's treasurer for a number of years way back when. . .)

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Peace
Date: 11 Jan 04 - 08:41 PM

Rap, I hope things are going well.

SRS, I have to ask. Did you or did you not locate Jimmy Hoffa in the freezer?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 11 Jan 04 - 01:19 AM

Hover nearby and don't let them sneak anything past you when they bring the big stuff. Moving companies hire casual labor who don't know a castor from a tuning fork and are liable to carry things wrong and hide anything that was broken in transit or as it was unloaded.

Some years ago I caught the movers rolling antique furniture up a 100 foot driveway, and told them to carry it. They weren't happy, but those castors aren't for concrete, it wears them down and embeds sand so they'll scratch the floor. They're for moving the furniture a few feet so you can vacuum behind it.

I use my own system for labeling so anything valuable in a box isn't identifiable. I can tell by where my label said it should go in the house what it is. The last move, I made on my own over the course of a couple of weeks. I moved everything except the upright grand piano.

I HATE having to use movers. It's like offering an invitation to case the joint.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jan 04 - 12:30 AM

Well, we moved SOME stuff. We'll have the big stuff -- like sofas and refrigerators and like that -- moved by big strong folks with great big trucks. You can only get so much into my Civic and Pat's Accord.

But a start has been made.

Okay, I'll see about some more pictures. Maybe snow pix.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 10 Jan 04 - 07:33 PM

We want more photos, please! I hope you had a good moving day.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 05:32 PM

Congrats, Rap!! Nice to hear you chortling in your joy!!

A

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jan 04 - 05:05 PM

For those who might be interested:

We had to rebuild the master bath from the subflooring up -- new subfloor, new substrate, new shower (!), new toilet, new tile, new vinyl floor covering.

BUT IT'S DONE!! Tomorrow, approximately two months after closing, the house will be thoroughly cleaned and Saturday, January 10, we start moving boxes and stuff.

Huzzah! Hurrah! Caloo! Calay!

Now, if anyone wants to pop over and help...preferably someone with a good pickup truck or such....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Dec 03 - 05:02 PM

An even nastier shock awaited whoever touched the exposed 220v. line. Would have been nice if the house had been grounded, too.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 09 Dec 03 - 03:53 PM

Here is part 2 of those photos.

Those exposed wires look like a nasty shock for whomever did the inspection.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 09 Dec 03 - 09:29 AM

Pene Azul has put up Part 2 to the photos. These are indicative of some of the problems we've had corrected with the electrical (and the heating ducts). I think that the second freezer is full of covers for junction boxes, since an AWFUL lot of them didn't have covers. (Why? The covers come with the boxes when you buy them, so it can't be cost. Unless, of course, you have this 'thing' for junction box covers and use them for jewelry or sew them to leathern jacks. I dunno.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 09:41 PM

You can do the tile yourself. Demolish (carefully) the wall, then get a good contractor to come in and do the greenboard if you're not sure you want to do that (but it isn't difficult). Before the greenboard, have a plumber look at the fixture and suggest the best repair or arrangement of pipes, fittings, and shower base. If you want to change out your shower and faucet fittings do it now! These fittings are not interchangeable and if you have Delta and don't want to keep Delta then find a good one and have the plumber put it on. I wish I'd known that before I had the greenwall put up. I'm stuck with Delta.

I put a lovely green Mexican tile in my hall bathroom around the tub, all the way to the ceiling. One of these days I'll get around to putting the blue tile in the master bathroom tub surround. The trade off--you get better tile but you don't necessarily get speedy service!

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Dec 03 - 07:02 PM

Well, poop.

The man came today to regrout and recaulk the shower in the master bath and the tub in the other. The LAST things, then cleanup the first floor and move on in!

Yeah, right.

The tile around the shower is "floating" because of moisture in the wall, and the flooring has water under it, too. A completely redone shower, new floor covering, maybe a new toilet.

The sellers COULDN'T have lived there from 1989 to 2003 and NOT known about some of these problems!

Well, at least the place will be in EXCELLENT FANTASTIC SUPERB LIKE-NEW shape when we finally do get to move in.

House Warming Party tentatively set for the first or second weekend in March, 2004.

(So, how much do I make the check out for? Okay, how many zeroes is that again?)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 11:00 PM

Hey, Art, better'n 50K people exist here! It's even become a SMSA!

Oh, sure, there are few eccentricities among the urbites, but heck, I'll betcha LOTS of folks in, say, LA keep goats in their bedroom. I'll betcha that some of them even dress them up in panyhose, too.

Shucks, any town with THREE linear accelerators has got some real culture!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:49 PM

Pocateller? An URB???

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:45 PM

Sings: "On a clear day, you can see forever"...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 10:43 PM

Oh, yeah, it's not in a suburb, but right there in the urb.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 09:36 PM

Robin, there are some FINE views out the back -- that deck looks across the golf course to various mountains, which are right now white with snow. From it I can see American Falls Reservoir, about 25 miles away, on a reasonably clear day. On a VERY clear day I can see almost to the Sawtooth Mountians.

I suspect that most of our life will be centered around the back of the house -- who wants to watch a street??

We looked at houses set 'midst rolling mountains, and the fire danger was one of several things we took into consideration. Besides, THOSE houses that are worth anything aren't for sale and those that are for sale have problems that make the ones we've been correcting look like nothing at all. (We saw one, for instance, that had rather heavy mildew inside the insulation, because the owners vented the clothes dryer INTO the wall.)

This'un'll do. Tell you what, I'll take some views out back and post them. I'll try to do it on a clear day, too.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 09:15 PM

Nice house, but from your description I had this vision of it set in rolling hills, with trees, and streams and no nearby houses - now I see it's a suburban house... Sigh!!!!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 07:15 AM

That's great! You're such a nice guy! Mrs. Santa has cut back my rations of cookies so I'll be able to fit all the chimneys of the world, but I'll be hungry on my big night out, so I hope you'll have cookies for me. See ya soon. (I just remembered that I'll probably visit I-dee-ho-ho-ho before Christmas Eve.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 06:12 AM

Yes, SS, there is a chimney. There are, in fact, two fireplaces. And we had the chimney swept clean, tuck pointed, and a brand new chimney cap put on just for you! (Our bit to make your annual Evening Out just a little bit safer and cleaner.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Rapaire's Secret Santa
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 01:41 AM

I don't see a chimney in the picture. I thought there was a chimney. What will I do?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 07 Dec 03 - 01:00 AM

Okay, there are photos here.   I'll have some "before&after" in a bit. What else would y'all like to see?

(Thanks, Pene Azul!)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 08:57 AM

Good idea, Art. I've emailed five to Pene, asking for a posting in Events. There's one of the front of the place, one of the back, one showing the problems of the buried freezers, one of the cooking area in the kitchen, and one "before" photo of the stairway to the lower level.

Remember as you look at the photo of the freezer that there is at least one more, buried under the stuff at the left.

I'll see about sending some of the problems, and them of the corrections we've made. (I can't get into the walls, so you'll have to take my word for some of it.)

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 08:27 AM

Send them to Pene Azul and ask him to post them in "Events."

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 05 Dec 03 - 07:52 AM

Whew! The electrical is done. Fifty-one hundred US dollars done.

At least it's now up to code and won't burn down (from that!) around our ears. And it includes hard-wired smoke detectors.

Having seen what was before, I offer a suggestion regarding electrical work: if you can't do it right, have it done by a pro. It's cheaper, lots cheaper, in the long run.

I'll see if I can find a place to post some pictures.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Bill D
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 04:47 PM

lots of ways to build/setup bookcases....I have done it both professionally and personally for 40 years. If your walls can support it, the cheapest good way is metal standards with snap-in supports...(and some of those can look really decent)(bricks & boards, as you say, are unstable in earthquakes)..most expensive is built-to-fit all finely finished...but $4000??? tsk! Wish I was near Idaho, I'd make you a deal! The problem with freestanding units is that they never quite fit well, and waste space...(maybe the cheap way in the back rooms and some 'nicer' ones elsewhere?) Sagging can be fought with small, cut-to-fit boards between shelves, even thinner than a book and stained to be almost invisible. And a little well chosen stain can make the cheapest boards look VERY nice. If you do use fibreboard, you can get stick-on edging that looks quite elegant...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Donuel
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 04:07 PM

Here n DC such a house runs 750,000 dollars.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 03:11 PM

I have a set of brick 'n board shelves that date back to our very first home, in Junction City, Kansas. There are two great things about them...they can be assembled in a variety of configurations, and they are free...all you need is a construction site...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 02:38 PM

Rapaire,

Since the Realtor.com listing expired some time ago you'll have to take new photos and post them somewhere for us. Before and after shots, please!

Great idea about that red carpet.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 02:14 PM

(I meant 24 feet of shelf space, of course; it's just that I bought three of them.)

I haven't, but my husband has...we're just a few miles from the epicenter of the Loma Prieta quake ('89), and when my husband first moved here in the '80s he had this deplorable tendency to contruct room dividers out of those rickety metal shelves. After one landed on him in 1989, he gave that up.

I WILL bolt those shelves, I WILL bolt those shelves. At least, in the meantime, they're sitting on a slab floor, not on the second-floor loft of a 19th century barn as my husband's were!

Hey, Rapaire, didja ever think about ripping up some of that carpeting and trotting it over to the Tavern? It would really brighten up the decor and cozy up the room. Plus it wouldn't matter if the hot tub water got splashed all over it.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 01:28 PM

We're looking at those heavy, fiberboard bookcases now. If we go that route, well, there's a company here in town that will not only deliver them, but set them up as well. And they'll discount them. The sort of service I can live with!

We'd probably put a couple of extra shelves in each unit, too, if they're available.

I think I'm going to use the Oz solution in my workshop. Problem is, Idaho is considered an active seismic area and stuff over about 4 feet high should be fastened to the walls unless it has a base wider than its top. Ever had seven feet of loaded bookcase fall on you? I have.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 01:27 PM

Yup, we did that too. And they were a huge pain to assemble, primarily due to their weight. But when put together they were satisfyingly solid and a delight to stock with books! I just hope I never have to move them...

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 01:22 PM

ClaireBear, those are the kinds of purchases that I have the "lot loader" put in the back of my pickup truck, and when I get home I climb in and tear the package open and carry the bits in one at a time. That compressed fibre stuff weighs a ton.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,ClaireBear
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 12:04 PM

I got some good assemble-'em-yourself bookcases at Costco a couple of months ago. They have 48" shelves with a center wall for extra support, they ARE in fact 7 ft high, and they have 5 movable shelves each. Priced just under $300 a unit, as I recall -- certainly not more, and possibly less. So that's 72 feet of shelf space, counting the bottom fixed shelf and NOT counting the top. They even look nice, in a light oak sort of way. The visible parts are wood; the unseen bits are very heavy MDF.

My books are now coming out of storage after ten years!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 04 Dec 03 - 02:48 AM

Aussie "Kultcha" to the rescue!

Bookshelves - take some concrete blocks (we call them "Besser" blocks here) - place 2 on floor - place board over the tops between them - repeat until shelves are high enough or floor caves in....

Robin

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 10:32 PM

No, Art, my advice was of a much more esoteric sort. There are, as I'm sure you're aware, certain, well, nuances, that any well-run "business" needs to know about. And I, with my vast experience and even vaster sources of information, was able to supply certain bits of information critical to the "business". Nothing crude, mind you. And my help was a complete and as vast as possible, as I certainly wouldn't give half-vast help.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 08:27 PM

You can find some nice nude shelves these days. I have also seen some halfway decent finished ones at Lowes, of all places. Simple, but wood, not fibreboard that weighs a ton and warps.

I'm sure you know that any shelf over about 30" long isn't going to manage to hold books without sagging. I'm considering the trick of making super thick shelves by gluing two boards together and putting a nice edge on the front.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: artbrooks
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 08:17 PM

"...probably not clinical advice for Madam and her employees..."{he says, ducking and running for his life}

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 06:24 PM

I shall be having the bookshelves done in another way than what we intended. The quote is for $4,400. We need bookshelves, but not ones made of rare booga-booga wood from Ramalamarutu!

Maybe I'll just get pre-mades and go from there. Or do 'em myself.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 05:14 PM

I dunno. I dunno what I have. I've got a bunch of Sector General though. I think I've got some of his non-SG stuff, too -- didn't he write one called "Lifeboat?"

I've also got some Spider Robinson, including "Lady Slings The Booze," in which (ahem! he shyly said) I'm named for my assistance. If you know the book, you know where it's set. If you know where it's set, you might wonder what assistance I gave.

The house is about 4,000 sq. ft. The lot is somewhat larger, but not a lot.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,LDB
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 05:04 PM

That doesn't sound too large; after all, mine is slightly over 5000 sq feet.

Oh! Wait! That's the size of my LOT!!

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: The Fooles Troupe
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 04:50 PM

MMario, stop distracting the poor guy with books! :-)

Oh Rapaire, do you have any books on books? Other than the ones in the piles...

Quotes from Robin's "Great Book Of Wisdom":

1) You NEVER have enough bookshelves. See Rule 2.

2) You NEVER have enough books. See Rule 1.

3) A phone in a bedroom may be useful in times of sickness, but not often.

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 03:48 PM

Do you have the latest James White?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 03:21 PM

Nope, Mario, they're not buried in line, but abreast and perpendicular to the basement wall. The best reason I've heard so far is that someone used them for storing potatoes, but it was admittedly far-fetched. I'm coming to believe that they're simply deconstructionist art.

SRS, we're having work done to insure safety and the functionality of the place before we move it. Once we're in, the wall of bookcases and a new carpet go into the basement and then we're doing our own stuff. But the basement stairs, for instance, is carpeted on the steps and the walls with a dark red and black carpet; prior to the installation of lights on the stairway it looking like a ramp -- and I don't want anyone, including myself, hurt. And I ain't gonna do the electrical work that has been necessary, nope, but when we move in we'll be sure the place won't burn, at least from electrical faults.

Yeah, I'm afeared that when I start unpacking books I'll start reading them, too. Somewhere I have copies of James White's "Sector General" series and all of the Heinlein juveniles and a complete run of the "Calvin and Hobbes" cartoons and books on and of music, and history, and literature, and whole books of poems, and books on science, and books on religion, and books on art, and books on lots of stuff and it's gonna be like finding them new all over again.

Speaking of crafts and sewing, ah, I must confess that I live with a quilter. She is eying one (small) room just for fabric. Of course she also has a Pfaff sewing machine, a Sears machine, a Singer treadle machine, and a Singer Featherweight machine (in the original carrying case) -- and they all work. Her cutting table consists of a 36" wide door laid on sawhorses. And all I have is a tiny room, a miniscule space, not even room to extend my legs, wherein to do my things....

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: GUEST,MMario
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 02:51 PM

any possibility the freezers are to cut down on heat transfer from the basement through the surrounding fill?

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Stilly River Sage
Date: 03 Dec 03 - 02:31 PM

Rapaire, I've been in this house for a year and a half, and though there have been times when I've shoved all of the boxes and tools out of sight, this ain't one of 'em. I'm not sure where I'll put the tree this year. On the other hand, I made sure the kitchen was in very good shape, the dining area (an extension of the kitchen, not a separate room) is easy to use, one bathroom is completely functional, the bedrooms are comfortable (though there are boxes of stuff stacked in all of them) and we have one 12x14 room at the front of the house with comfy chairs and a couch and all of the videos and DVDs and a nice televison and the usual video equpiment. So we can all play games in there or watch movies and feel like it's a "normal" house. As long as you have zones like that, then I don't worry about what the rest of it looks like while it is a work in progress.

I do try to put nightlights in areas of current construction so no one wanders in and hurts themselves in the dark.

I'm with Amos, I'd start reading your books and start a stack off to the side of books I want to look at more closely before putting them on a shelf. You'd end up with books all over the place. But then, my house is like that also. It is my theory that once I have enough shelves for all of the books that everything else will take care of itself. Well, okay, I also need shelving for craft and sewing stuff.

SRS

Subject: RE: BS: A house! A house!
From: Rapparee
Date: 02 Dec 03 - 10:50 PM

SRS, the freezers are buried up to their lids behind an 18 inch thick stone wall. There is about 3 feet of clearance at the top until you reach the deck above them. They are also about 8 feet from the basement wall of the house. I plan to fill them with dirt and let them decompose. Using them as smokers (which isn't a bad idea, really) wouldn't work, given their location. I hope that there's a body in the one we haven't opened yet, so that the police can take them out.

I think we'll have enough bookcases. At least, I hope we do. There are literally a couple tons of books in storage. I've been SO frustrated at times, not having access to them and knowing that the data I wanted was there!

When do I plan to have a housewarming? Given the way the upgrades are going, sometime in 2007. Seriously, we'll probably be in before the middle of January, and have a housewarming oh, maybe in later February or the first week in March. Wanna come?