Helping Hands

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It was hard to admit, but my better half was right when she said I had not built enough raised beds for the bulbs ordered. So...back to it. Luckily I had extra hands this weekend in the form of Oren, Emily, Naomi and Asaf, hard working and very generous friends. With their help we were able to knock out two more beds and get top soil in them in just a couple hours. 

That's Oren using a nail gun for the first time, he got the hang of it pretty quick. 

One lesson learned from this was that we need another wheelbarrow. Preferably a bigger one, so that we can size the tool to the task, things would have gone even faster with two going back and forth. The six yards of topsoil are finally starting to dwindle, but we probably have another bed or two worth. 

Twilight is settling in and we are just about done on this bed. Testing out the concept of leaving wire mesh on top of the beds to see if it helps deter deer from digging for bulbs. 

Meanwhile, while the guys were tackling raised beds and throwing old lumber out of one of the attics, the very industrious ladies were demo'ing the back room (future solarium).

Que 80's montage music....

Efficient, organized and fun, those girls make one hell of a construction crew. 

End of the day tally: Girls, one broken window. Guys, one broken window - tie game. 

Anyways, thanks go out to Oren, Emily, Asaf and Naomi for taking a precious weekend day to come play on the farm. 

Turning a Window into a Door

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The space formerly known as "Ugly Wallpaper Bath" is being reconfigured to allow direct access to the downstairs bedroom, to do this we had to cut a door. Fortunately for us, when they added the new room the previous owner covered over a window that used to be in that external wall. All of this is very exciting because it means we get to use the sawzall! 

First step: get the electricity turned off to that outlet in the middle, easier said than done considering the mess of wiring in this old place. After 20 minutes of flipping breakers and yelling back and forth we managed to get the power turned off. 

With the power off we removed the outlet, capped the wires and got ready to turn the saw on.

Woohoo! This is one of those moments where hours of prep allows for a few brief moments of obvious progress. Cherish these moments, they are what keep you going. 

The door starts to take shape, revealing a beautiful view of our old powder blue toilet...a true classic, perhaps collectors item?? 

This is where the versatility of the Dewalt reciprocal saw really comes into play. Notice how the handle is facing up? The blade can be inserted four different ways to allow for all kinds of different cutting positions; in this one we needed to cut down and end flush with the floor. At this point we are cutting below the window sill of the old window so the original exterior wood siding is partially exposed, you can see the many layers of siding and drywall that were built on top of each other.

Notice the not covered floor vent? That is not due to negligence, the vent is getting replaced with a wood one and the useless flex vent supplying it will also come out and be replaced with a nice efficient oval sheet metal duct. The flex ducts tend to kink and not actually supply much air, a big drawback which outweighs their ease of installation benefit. 

Once the door was open we looked at it for a while and realized it was suitable for a skinny hobbit, so back out with the saw to do some more cutting back. Originally we were going to use the inside of the window frame dimensions, but after walking though it a couple times opted to cut back to the outside of the window frame instead. 

Ermela turned out to be the best with this piece of equipment, Graham cut like he drives, a little random and Mama C was very unpredictable. Well, now the opening is cut, width is 31" and height is 6'6", perfectly comfortable for our purposes. Next step will be to frame the actual door and see if we have any old doors that might fit the pace. Because we stayed within the original window framing we didn't to deal with new headers or king posts, all in all a very easy modification, and one that did not require any kind of structural considerations. 

Cellulose Insulation - Round #1

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This looked like it was going to be a daunting task. The machine is big and heavy, comments online are all about the hose being difficult and unwieldy, and that at minimum you need three people (an issue because Ermela had to be away the day we rented the equipment from Home Depot so there were only two of us). In reality, it was easy, took a few minutes to get the hang of it, and you definitely need a couple strong guys to load and unload the truck, but the process it's self is painless if a little messy.

For about half a second we flirted with the idea of skipping this whole step. The area in question is a 10' wide area of a North wall, hardly worth the trouble, but one look at the split copper pipes from the old shower reminded us of how important proper insulation is.

After we removed all the old plywood and nails from the wall we drilled 1.5" holes towards the top of each stud bay. We were drilling blind so we aimed for the centers of the bays, but did not always get it right.

That little lower hole is from when we were checking to see if any insulation existed a couple weeks back. Once we had the holes drilled we drove the truck around to the north side of the house and Graham pulled the insulation blower out. The blower is provided with two 50' hoses, the idea being that people never have to bring the machine inside, in this case we got pretty close so we only had to hook up one hose length, and pull it through the bathroom window. 

 Once the hose was in we set about preparing the work area. Moving obstructions inside and pre-slicing bags of insulation open outside and putting them within easy reach. This was a step that is not really necessary when doing cavity filling, but probably very necessary when doing open attic filling, otherwise time would be wasted, but with our short 16" stud bays there was really no urgency, each bag lasted a couple bays.  

With the work area prepared we hit the on switch....and nothing happened. If you look at the picture above there is an orange sheet of metal above the house, turns out you have to pull that out in order for the cellulose to get to the hose. SO, we pulled that out, flipped the switch and we were off to the races. Graham loading and unclogging the blower and Carol handling the hose. We had one clog while trying to overstuff a bay, but other than that it went easy. There is a lot of yelling back and forth to turn on, then off, then back on for one second etc.. but all things considered that machine is a huge time saver. We only used a third of the bags of Green Fiber insulation but opted to keep the extra and re-rent the machine when we are ready to put a layer in the attic eaves and knee wall areas.  

You should be prepared to be covered in cellulose insulation at the end and it's best to close off the area you are working in (she says she is smiling behind the mask in this picture). Once we we packed the machine up we stuck the wooden plugs back in and taped over them to hold them in place. They will be covered with cement board and drywall so no need to get fancy in re-installing the plugs.  

The final touch for this wall is a little expanding foam insulation at the top and we are ready to go to the next project. 

We Have Skylights!!!!

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When we first visited the house the Realtor actually suggested we take down the oldest section of the house and just keep the front. Granted, there are valid arguments for that (no insulation, low ceilings, jam packed with ceramic cat trinkets), but we saw potential... or at least the glimmer of something.

Today we took the first step of that idea coming together, the solarium has glass. Not a lot of glass, really just three good sized skylights, but they make so much difference. On the inside we are opening up the ceiling to the attic (which is quite large) and creating a double height space which we hope will be bright and airy. A good spot to hang out next to a wood stove and feel cozy in the dead of winter; or on summer days, a nice place to open the double doors and let the breeze in.  

Planting Bulbs and Building Raised Beds

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So when we first embarked on this renovation project we knew we would want to make the land carry it's own weight so there are lots of plans in place for various agricultural pursuits. With that in mind we checked the USDA National Resources Conservation Service soil maps for the area and to our delight our farmhouse falls in what is designated as Copake gravelly silt loam, or in simple terms.."prime farmland". We naively had daydreams of being able to dig a small hole, reach in elbow deep through light fluffy organic soil and have perfect results no matter what we planted. The reality is that, yes, the soil is good and has great drainage, but it varies from point to point and has a fair amount of clay in some areas and is highly compacted/neglected in others. Being lovers of the classic European country gardens which utilize raised beds and also being aware of the benefits that raised beds provide we concluded that the bulk of our planting areas should be built in that manner. On paper that was an easy choice, in reality it's a lot of backbreaking work (especially when the 6 yards of topsoil are dumped 150' from where they are supposed to be).

The first step in this project was to check the compass and run the beds along an East/West axis. From there we pounded grade stakes in and measured off 4' bed widths and 3' walking path widths. One the stakes were in we strung lines along them to create the guides for tilling.

Once we had the rows marked we ran a mower through the area to knock the weeds and growth down and create a little extra mulch. Now, it should be noted that here that #1, we should have mowed before marking and #2, many people would advise to cut the sod out first in order to prevent weeds from getting mixed in. We are not so worried about the grass since it will be tilled deep and then an additional 6+" of soil put on top. These particular beds are set to be for perennial flower bulbs so they will most likely get various nitrogen fixing cover crops going forward which will choke out any attempted weed growth. Normally Ermela would do this next part, but she was at her real job so it was left to me (Graham) to play with the heavy (by our standards) machinery....the tiller. We use a Reardon Briggs  tiller with a Honda motor, so far it has handled everything we have thrown at it with flying colors. It takes three passes on each depth setting for each 4' row. There are four depth settings and three rows, it's a lot of walking back and forth.  

Walking back and forth, back and forth and all the while fighting the machine as it bucks when it hits rocks and then having to bend down and pick up said rocks. In the above picture you can see just a few of the rocks after the 2nd pass, the real big rocks came later. Time passes though and even the most tedious tasks are done. 

Time to start adding soil amendments! We keep this simple, a liberal helping of high quality top soil (mixture of soil, compost and leaf mulch) and this season's leaves to add air and hummus over time. If this were a vegetable bed we would add a lot more manure and compost. The next step...more tilling, but this time Ermela is around to take over and mix that soil up. She always claims to be the better driver. 

With the soil beds thoroughly mixed and aerated it's time for the construction bit. We are using basic 2" x 6"  lumber for this, not pressure treated, we don't want the chemicals in the soil. This will result in us having to replace them from time to time, but that's a small price to pay for peace of mind.  

These are 16' long, they look so short when in place, we are going to need a lot of lumber. One of the things we have been toying with is using some of the lumber form the trees we had to take down to make raised beds, but that's a whole different project. 

Either we messed up our math or the lumber company forgot one of our boards so we had to scrounge through our debris piles to find a few more end boards. Then it was time for my favorite new tool, a Porter Cable compressor with a Bostitch framing nailer...it's a beast! Hand nailing these beds would have taken three or four times as long and probably resulted in a few bruised thumbs/fingers. 

With the beds put together it was time to start planting bulbs. We figured it would be easiest to layout the bulbs, slightly pressed into the tilled soil and then just cover with the top soil to fill the beds. Graham got a little carried away and fell in love with the pictures in Brent & Becky's and McClure & Zimmerman's and ordered a couple thousand bulbs. It was an aha moment when the boxes were opened and it became apparent that more beds would be needed. 

These are just a little over half the tulips. They are planted closer than what would be used for long term naturalization plantings since using them for cut flower production will wear them out after a season or two in all likelihood. Before covering them in topsoil we scatter pest repellent granules over them to discourage voles, moles and deer. We shall see how well it works, if it is not repellent enough we may have to put a layer of metal wire over the beds to discourage critters from digging. 

Two thirds done. At this point the sky had started spitting rain and the wind was picking up and Graham wouldn't stop whining about his back hurting after about 30 wheelbarrow loads of dirt. We put a thing cover of topsoil over the second bed to protect the bulbs and put off starting the third. In an attempt to keep track of what is where we stapled the tags or bag labels to the sides of the beds. We still have several hundred bulbs to plant. The mixture at the end of the day will be tulips, daffodils, aliums, lilies, iris's and all kinds of exotic rarities. Our cut flower production will focus on white, green and black flowers. According to our garden master plan.. three down, about 50 to go. 

Ugly Wallpaper Bath No More

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So the ugly wallpaper bath was named for what originally appeared to be just that. Once we started demolishing it though we learned that it was actually decorated using shelf liner/contact paper (ingenious). Under the contact paper we found a rather nice old floral wallpaper and a green plaid wallpaper. 

Under the floral wallpaper we found odd thin strips of wood that were nailed to the wall vertically. Under that was a layer of generic building paper and under that was Kraft paper, the all purpose building wrap of the early 1900's. From there we expected plaster or raw studs…..

but that would make entirely too much sense. Instead we found horizontally laid wainscot over empty stud bays (hence the frozen pipes). We will continue tearing down to the wainscot level and see what surprises we come across. 

We also need to see about renting an insulation blower for the north exterior wall. Given that it took us two days to remove the loose fill fiberglass from the ceiling cavity above this bathroom we are a little hesitant to subject future generations to that form of insulation.

The goal for this bathroom is a claw foot tub, big shower, higher ceilings and plenty of storage… all pretty reasonable given it's 13'8" x 8'2" dimensions.