1958 Ranch Home, Full of Character - First Home, First Major Project

shadytrake · 08-24-2012, 11:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Thadius856

Do share. How does it look now?

It's in my sig link below. Not quite done yet but getting there.

shadytrake · 08-24-2012, 11:44 AM

Oh and good luck on the permit variance!

Fishinbo · 08-24-2012, 03:52 PM

I liked how you kept a blow by blow account of your restoration. This should make you proud.

Thadius856 · 08-24-2012, 05:09 PM

Sure hope so. Tons of bumps along the way!

Spent my morning updating documents, cleaning the gutters, and working with the building department.

Hopefully I have a legitimized house when all is sad and done.

Thadius856 · 09-02-2012, 01:45 PM

While I've been waiting on the kitchen rewire permit process to run its course. Rough inspection on Tuesday, which was somewhat dragged out by the holiday weekend and a 8 day permit approval process. We had one dedicated circuit and one shared lighting circuit, all on 50-year-old 14-2 NM on 15A breakers. Now we have three small appliance circuits, a fridge circuit, a dishwasher/dispoal circuit, and a dedicated lighting circuit, all brand new 12-2 NM on 20A breakers. Rough-in is already done. I just need to take a few a few minutes to pull the wires down by the panel and clip one run back to the junction a few feet back in there. Pretty much playing the waiting game to throw on drywall.

While I was waiting, I replaced the surface-mount lighting fixtures in each bedroom. While they looked alright, they just weren't bright enough with two 60-watt equiv CFLs in there behind alabaster glass. At $18 for a pair of them, I'm not feeling bad about tossing them, either -- the smoke had soaked into the insulation on the backside, trappin the smell in the bedrooms. Out came the ancient 3" boxes and blocking, replaced by 75-lb ceiling fan (210-lb light fixture) brace. I tossed the included 4 screws and used eight 1.5" ticos instead leftover from some Stimson hurricane braces I used to tighten the ceiling up with. Replaced all the ratty old wiring between each box.

Up went one of the Crosswinds fans in each bedroom. The nickel Crosswinds with the cherry blades.

Added four Halo H750RICAT 6"/LED/IC/AirTite/Remodel cans and Commercial Electric T91 LED lights to the guest bedroom and the office (6 in the master). Placed them on a CFL/LED dimmer.

Thadius856 · 09-02-2012, 01:58 PM

Lighted up the T91's. Terrible headaches ensued. They would only turn on if the dimmer was above 50% ("pop on"), they had a 1.5 second delay turning on, they would surge something awful when more than 4 were dimmed on a LED/CFL dimmer, and they would flicker while the dimming level was being changed. Bought some incandescent dimmers and they worked better, but couldn't justify $60 in new dimmers just to make over $400 in lights dim properly. Though they did look great full lit. Took them back. Think they were designed for bathrooms where they wouldn't be dimmed because of the damp rating.

Exchanged for T85's. Longer rated life, bigger ballast, etc. Uglier trim, but they work great on the dimmers I had, and took the $60 dimmers off. Got something like $28 back. No dimming issues to speak of yet.

Please excuse the terrible, terrible cell phone pictures.

Thadius856 · 09-11-2012, 09:33 PM

Busy, busy, busy. Let's see, where were we.

Passed my rough electrical on Tuesday with flying colors. Only comments were that I needed to insulate the exterior wall (insulation rolls were already sitting on the floor) and to stub out the sink pipes (pieces on the cart), then send pictures of both. Interesting how those don't have anything to do with eletrical. Was instructed to call for a drywall inspection after screw down and before mud. Here's about where we were as of a few days ago:

Also stubbed out the refrigerator, dishwasher supply, and pot filler faucet.

Thadius856 · 09-11-2012, 09:39 PM

Sink stubbed out.

Six GU24 base lighting cans installed.

Added some mechanical protection.

Expanded the light switch box to a two-gang to make room for the light switch to the dining/pantry area. Did it after the rough in, but don't feel it violates the intent or code of the plans I submitted.

Replaced some staples with cabler stackers in the busier places, which really gave a lot more flexability.

Thadius856 · 09-11-2012, 09:42 PM

Much better shots of the new lighting setups with the real camera back.

Office:

Guest bedroom:

Master bedroom:

All lights are dimmed fully to not overpower the lens. The blue tape is to prevent airflow into the attic until I can get to patching the drywall.

Dinggus · 09-11-2012, 11:35 PM

Looks good!

Thadius856 · 09-15-2012, 09:01 AM

Thanks!

Hood arrived. With cord attached. Grrr. Not exactly clear instructions on how to hardwire, either.

Almost threw out my plans of hardwiring it and was almost forced to put it on yet another dedicated circuit. Receptacles would have gone here, but then might have been considered "inaccessible" behind the chimney, which is another code violation.

This one beats my old hood in so many ways. Under-cabinet 30" vs chimney 36". Non-vented vs vented. 120 max cfm w/ 2 speed settings vs 760 cfm max w/ 4 speed settings. 1 incandescent bulb vs 2 halogen bulbs. White painted vs stainless. Etc etc.

Thankfully, my inspector is cool with me using the same crimps that the manufacturer used to replace the cord. Emailed him to be sure.

Thadius856 · 09-15-2012, 09:04 AM

Wired up the main panel nice and proper.

Would have stripped back the jackets a little further, but it was pretty hard to get my tools that far back in. Circuits 3a/3b/4a/4b/5a/5b are the new kitchen circuits.

Tried to keep my neutrals and grounds nice and clean.

Clipped off the temp power and tried to clean up the bottom of the panel as much as I could. Success?

About 10 zip ties went on right after the pictures were taken to keep everything neat and organized.

Thadius856 · 09-16-2012, 07:42 PM

Right before the fire, I noticed that the Maple out front was looking a little haggered. An arborist came out, did a drive-by from the road while I was not home, and said it was fine. I asked him to come take a closer look because I was able to pull chunks of bark off with my bare fingers and found ants marching up into it. On second look, he said it looked like it had been heat stressed at one point, likely due to it being a rental property at one point, and that it may or may not be possible to save it. The difference in cost between trimming and removal/grinding was $450 vs $750. Not wanting another homeowners insurance claim or anybody to get hurt, I went with the removal option last week. Fast forward to a few days ago, they finally booked my job. In all fairness, it did save me a $100 trip fee waiting a little bit.

Lined up ours and the neighbors' bins to block off parking, as it happened to be trash day.

It certainly was a tall tree, and was well within reach of 2 houses and at least 5 cars.

Boom operator sizing it up.

Limbing off the small sections first.

Easy to see here why I was worried about the house!

Almost all the way down.

Thadius856 · 09-16-2012, 08:51 PM

Almost gone by this point.

The boom operator said that the center was squishy and had some fungus-ridden wood. Reinforced my decision.

The price included stump grinding about 6" below ground level.

And they left us with a pile of grindings about 2' deep at the center, tapering out to a diameter of 10-12'.

Was curious to see how much I could get in our 92-gallon bin when I got home.

The answer was very little. After filling it, we proceeded to fill another fifteen or so 42-gallon contractor yard bags before striking stump.

Tried to pick-axe on the stump, but it's hard as a rock below ground level. Might have to drill it out, pour in some sodium nitrate, and wait a few months... or years.

Thadius856 · 09-16-2012, 09:00 PM

Today, we got the kitchen totally ready for sheetrock tomorrow.

All of the insulation is in the exterior wall. We put the leftover pieces in the bathroom wall, just in case.

Insulated both hot and cold pipes in polyethylene. Also capped the sink (pictured) and tee'd off for the AAV (not pictured). Dryfit the AAV for now until we know the flood rim level of the new sink and cabs.

Insulated the ice maker supply line, the dishwasher supply line, and the pot filler faucet supply line. Make good use of the elbow and tee pieces they sold pre-made.

Insulated the wall under the sink as well.

Spray foamed all holes in the double top plate and where all of the pipes come up through the floor. Hopefully it prevents rodents from being able to use the large hole where the sink pipes comes up.

Also ran a wire to the chandellier and into the 2-gang switch box pictured previously, then made a 3-hour long materials run.