Spring!

So, it's been a long time since the last post. We've been busy painting, arranging furniture, and what-not. We'll update with pictures of this later, but first I'd like to show you what we've been up to most recently. You see, after many months of being cooped up in the house and getting burned out on inside projects, it is finally time to work outside.

We decided in March/April that we wanted to make raised beds based on an article that Becky read online. Three beds sounded like the perfect number for what we wanted to plant, which will mostly be vegetables. So, here's what we did one sunny spring afternoon:

After priming and two coats of paint, the boards are almost ready to go. Some of the get cut in half to make the 4' side of our beds. Then the ends get painted. It's important to paint everything well in order to prevent much moisture from entering the wood. Once everything is painted, I use metal straps and screws to join all of the 8' boards into pairs. This gives the beds a little reinforcement and will keep gaps from forming between the boards.

If you'll note the brace I'm using, you may be thinking I'm Amish or a Luddite or something. Nope, I'm just thrifty (read: cheap). I got the brace a few weekends ago at an estate sale for under $1.

 
I'm using metal corner braces to hold the sides together. They're on the inside because I don't want to look at them. They're kind of ugly and they'll work just as well if they're placed on the inside. I'm using an old "eggbeater" style drill to put the screws in.

One down, two to go.

All done! They've been roughly spaced out where they'll go permanently. We plan on planting creeping thyme between the beds and along the fence so we don't have to mow it regularly.

A note: We're using regular douglas fir 2"x6"x8' boards for the beds. It's usually suggested that you use green treated or cedar for outdoor projects, but we're throwing caution to the wind here. Green treated lumber is full of chemicals that I don't want to ingest as they leach into the soil and cedar is expensive. We're building three beds out of regular 2x6's for what it would cost to build one bed out of cedar 2x6's. Also, we're lining our beds with plastic tile underlayment and painting them with outdoor paint. All of this we've salvaged for free. The rest of this has cost us about $142.

Next up: Dirt

A Stove by Any Other Name

Since it was a foreclosure, the house came with no appliances whatsoever. We had been able to score a free fridge from one of my mom's friends, but that wasn't going to cook bacon so I had been perusing Craigslist for a stove. I found this gem for $10 from a guy who said that the oven didn't work. For $10 I couldn't pass it up, even if it was just going to be temporary. It has a griddle in the middle of the stovetop and some sweet retro styling. The plan now is to try and get the oven working and hold on to it for a while (at least until I can find a Chambers at a reasonable price).

Floor Sanding for Fun and Profit

The floors in our house were in pretty rough shape. The bedrooms and hallway were carpeted when we purchased the house, but the carpet had been pulled back in the corners to reveal beautiful maple floors beneath. The living and dining rooms were uncarpeted and we could see that even though the oak was water stained there was potential in them. The first thing we did after closing was to rip the carpet up in the bedrooms. So, with a borrowed floor sander, I began a solid couple of days worth of work.

Sanding Equipment Ready to Go

I began sanding at 45 degrees to the grain of the floors with 36 grit sandpaper to flatten them. Even though they were actually quite flat, sanding in this direction helped to remove the surface finish. After sanding across the grain, I sanded once with the grain with the 36 grit. Following the 36 grit I progressed to 60 grit and then 100 grit, all sanded with the grain.

Staining on the Maple Floor

The oak floors were quite easy to sand, but the maple floors required more work. I know that maple is a harder wood than oak, but I didn't think it would really be a noticeable difference. I had to go over the maple floors an extra time with the 36 grit sandpaper to get them down to a more consistent bare wood. I also noticed that the sander appeared to burnish the wood while sanding it, causing some color variations. After a bit more sanding on the maple floors I did manage to get most of the stains out of the floors.

The Floors After Sanding

After two days of sanding, Becky and I went to Chicago for our honeymoon. While we were gone my dad cleaned up the corners where the edging sander couldn't reach. When we returned  from Chicago my dad and I lightly sanded the floor with a Fein random orbiting sander in order to smooth out any lap marks that may have been left from the floor sander.

The oak floors were originally stained a color that was close to the color of the woodwork, and it seemed best to try and stain the floors to a similar color. I had thought about leaving them natural but with the water marks around the door it seemed like coloring the floor would obscure them better without sanding too much off of the floor. So, I chose a stain color that was close to the color the floors originally were. I used Pratt & Lambert Fruitwood colored stain from Hirshfield's. the maple floors were given a coat of Benjamin Moore Natural stain to add depth.

After staining, the floors were allowed to dry for two days before finish was applied. I used Fabulon oil-based polyurethane to finish the floors. I chose an oil-based polyurethane for durability and to add an amber tint to the floors. Since we were also not actually residing in the house yet it would be easy to deal with the stink for several days. Thankfully my brother-in-law didn't mind letting us stay with him for a few days longer. After three coats of the polyurethane we just had to wait about six days before we could move any furniture onto the floor. While waiting for the floors to cure, we could still work on taping and mudding the ceiling.

The Ceiling - Part One

The first area we decided to tackle is the ceiling. There were acoustic tiles on the ceiling in the dining room, living room, and front bedroom. We figured that the ceilings were in pretty rough shape under the tiles. Frankly, the tiles were ugly no matter what the state of the ceiling underneath them. That didn't mean that we expected to revert back to the original plaster, though.

Here you can see what is directly underneath the acoustic tiles. There are 1"x4" furring strips running perpendicular to the ceiling joists. They're 12" on center, originating from the center of the room. The acoustic tiles were nailed to the furring strips.

This is a closer view of the furring strips and the cracked ceiling. The plaster ceiling was sagging between the ceiling joists. The cracks run parallel to the joists and the sagging enough to actually push the furring strips from the ceiling. The nails were not doing a good job holding anything together.

This is part of the problem with the sagging ceiling. In the attic, there are 2x4's on the back corners of the dormer. These 2x4's are directing a bulk of the dormer's weight into a very small area of the floor. Directly under this 2x4 is the center of the front bedroom. This may help to explain some of the sag in the ceiling below, no?

To remedy our saggy situation, we jacked the ceiling up tight to the joists and screwed the furring strips into the ceiling joists with some beefy 4.5" screws. Everything held tight after we lowered the jacks. Next we screwed the 1/2" drywall up on a 12"x16" grid with 4" drywall screws (the ceiling joists run 16" on center, the furring strips 12" on center). We wanted to make sure that the drywall was not going to be hanging exclusively from the furring strips or the lathe.

In the living and dining rooms, we decided to not remove all of the tiles since we understood what was going on. In those rooms, we just screwed the drywall to the joists with 4.5" screws.

This is our drywall lift. My dad got it at an auction somewhere. If you have to hang any drywall on a ceiling, I recommend renting or borrowing one. It'll save your back and shoulders.

With this much done on the ceilings, it's time to move on to the floors before we leave on our honeymoon. We'll come back and do our mudding later.

Pictures of the Inside

Here are a few pictures of the inside of the house that I've taken so far. They're taken at various states of our preliminary renovation.

The Kitchen

It's tiny and minty. It's like a Tic-Tac, only you don't want it anywhere near your mouth. The cabinets are a bit grungy and it came with no appliances. A kitchen remodel is on our short list of things to remodel. Not only is the room small (9x12), but it only has about 6 square feet of countertop space. This will definitely need to be remedied.

The Living Room as Viewed From the Dining Room

Here you can see the big front windows and entry door. This photo was taken after the oak floors were sanded. The woodwork in this house is beautiful oak. The previous owners kept it unpainted, except in the bedrooms where the trim is all pine or fir. If you look closely, you can see some of the staining on the floor by the door. I've decided not to sand the staining out completely for two reasons. One, I would have to sand so much of the floor away to completely remove the stains. Two, the flaws in the floor give it character. They speak to the history of the house.

The Dining Room as Seen From the Living Room

If you can see past the tools and the general mess, you can see the built-in buffet next to the kitchen doorway. Here in this picture, we haven't yet began refinishing the floors but we've began hanging drywall on the ceiling. More on that later.

These are all of the pictures I have of the inside of the house for now.

Our House

This is our house. It's a 1928 bungalow in South Minneapolis. It has 2 bedroom and one bathroom. While it's certainly not massive (~860 SF) it is big enough for both of us. It is in very good shape structurally. The white stucco exterior is not original and is most likely the main culprit of the sagging dormer in the front. The roof wasn't designed to hold the extra weight of the stucco. We'll fix that later this spring. Most of the windows have been replaced within the last few years. While it is basically in move-in condition, there are a few things that we're choosing to take care of before moving in. We'll start with refinishing the floors and installing drywall over the ceiling tiles.