Tiny windows... In the wall...

To borrow a phrase from Michael Ian Black, this will totally blow your mind all over your face. Wall color drama over, drama about trim being too huge over, figuring our ladder logistics over.














It's a virtual photographic pep talk.






































It took awhile, but it's nice to have one little part done. On to upstairs walls, radiators, flooring and dooring!

New Beam Redux

What's better than one beam? You guessed it: two. I was feeling some concern that although I had put in the new beam for the client's bathtub, the studs that came down into it were really compromised because of the horizontal vent cutouts.

Another call to the architect was required. More sage advice administered.

Delete the cutouts and lay another beam on top of the one that was just put in.

So here's that. Again with the UFO photographs.

Here's a better view. The new beam is a 4 x 4 that rests on top of the other one. I'm not totally sure how the dormer wall was staying up before. 4 out of 8 studs were cut almost all the way through to accomodate the vent.

On the back side, minimal damage to the bedroom wall. It looks a little goofy pre-painting, but it is smoooooth and will look great once finished.

3M Is Not Your Friend

When two walls come together that are different colors, I thought that it was standard practice to paint one side, let it dry, then tape over the painted part and paint the other side. Well, that may well work, but don't you try to do it with 3M Painter's Tape. I painted the ceiling in the hallway and let it dry for about three days. Then I taped up the line and painted the walls. The tape was off within three hours and the ceilings were definitely dry when it went on. And yet this is what happened.

Total crap. I'll be doing it over again today with a brush. After razoring and sanding and spackling it, of course.

How Different Is Different Enough?

The Client has decided that the color for the accent wall in the stairwell needs to be more of an accent. It doesn't jump out. It doesn't highlight. It's too subtle. It's matches too closely with the other wall color.



Really?





I know this photo has a certain UFO quality to it, but I can still see the Shrek-green on the right and the camel hair on the left. The Client correctly pointed out that the fact that I would have to be the one repainting it was impacting my judgment as to what constituted different enough. True enough, but I say the fact that she doesn't have to repaint it leads to excess vacillation.

But no, the Client brought in her Sister with all her design cred and they agreed: Go from Shrek to Toad.



















But see? This still the before/not different enough shot. All we have to do is to equip anyone walking up the stairs with a flash and anyone can see the accent wall clearly differentiated.








At least my weekend is setting up.

Winter Hiatus

It has certainly been awhile, but here I am back in the driver's seat, with news from the crusty underbelly of remodeling in a recession.

Let's jump right in, shall we? Last week I met with the architect because I was thinking about a new roof load issue that first came up over Thanksgiving weekend. In the spot where the Client's Big New Tub is going to be, we are going to be cutting off the roof and building a wall with a big window where she'll be able to have her bath and look out at the lights of the big city. I didn't really think about it too much then, but cutting off the roof and propping it up from somewhere else actually does have some ramifications in terms of how the roof gets held up. Especially if, as in the Client's case, a big window has to go in the wall that's going to be holding up the roof in the new spot.

Credit goes to Peter O. for pointing this out in the first place.

Happy Thanksgiving.

Fast forward to this week. Over coffee with our architect, I found out that this was one of those situations where planning and foresight would have saved money and time. But who wants to always take the easy road? Where's the character building in that?

The new solution is to build a beam into the wall that will disperse the point load created by the window in the wall made necessary by the viewtub over 5 or 6 joists, therefore saving the roof from collapsing and leaving everyone happy, warm, and dry when it rains.

Here's the wall that needs reinforcing. Notice the horizontal vent pipe near the bottom. I had already removed the vertical part of it and patched the roof up on Sunday. That was awesome. Every time go up there, the roof gets steeper. Not literally, the construction is sound, but in a metaphor about aging way.

The next step was to screw something to the wall to hold it up while I cut the bottom out. The 2 x 10 plank for painting did the trick. By the way, avoid Dewalt driver bits. I broke 6 (!!!) while hanging this.

Then, jam in the new beam!

Jam it!

And barely disturb the new drywall on the other side. I am amazing.