Off the walls and Out the window

Trash Pile in back yard -->

Trash pile in back bedroom

<--- Bo clearing the walls & ceilings

FOR THE WEEK ENDING OCTOBER 15, 2006

HIGHLIGHTS OF THE WEEK

1. Most of the week was spent stripping walls and ceilings upstairs of the tacky 12" accoustic tiles, 1950's vintage paneling, and 1905 vintage ceiling and wall fabric, i.e., ancestor of wallpaper. The dust and soot of 101 yrs. was nasty. Each ceiling tile had 12 staples in it that had to be removed. That's me and my pliers hard at it in the master bedroom. Pat played clean up crew gathering up tiles and paper and pitching them out the window (upper left picture) to the debris pile in the back yard (upper right picture). We found some pretty neat paper in the 2nd floor landing area that will be part of the scrapbook we're planning that has samples of all the original wall coverings. We also found more "Ed Steves & Sons" signatures on ceilings upstairs.

2. Pat picked out her gas stove, microwave and dishwasher. Now all she needs are some grandkids (or adopted grandkids) to make cookies for. Still pending is a refrigerator. The kitchen is still a long way off.

3. On Wednesday, I thought that I ordered roofing material. The sales person wrote up the order but did not process my credit card information (that I had given him over the phone). When I had not received email confirmation of the order, I called but the sales person was not in. That prompted an in person visit. Much to my dismay, the supply company had me in "bid" status rather than "order" status and the delivery (that the sales person told me was on the calendar for Oct. 20) had not been scheduled. With the installation crew coming on Monday, Oct. 23, we would have been in for a disaster. The story ends on a good note. A couple of folks at the supply company helped turn the bid into an order and squeezed me into the delivery schedule for Friday, Oct. 20. Just remember one of the fundamental rules of project management, trust your sources of information --AND VERIFY!!

4. I did get a recommendation for a part time worker. Someone who had worked on the foundation repair had a guy doing some clean up and said that he was available to work if I needed some help from time to time. I was told to keep the work basic and that he was a good worker for 2 - 3 hours --- until he started drinking. It is always interesting.

5. As the World Turns - OSHA Babe did agree to a date. We had a wonderful time but I'd better not give TMI.

6. Visitor Log - I believed that we missed acknowledging Mary Dean Richards' visit from the previous week. She thinks that the plan is great. This week's visitor list was limited to 3 contractors looking at the balcony and column work that needs to be done and our neighbors (from whom we bought the house) who returned from their honeymoon in Italy and picked up their fish that we were keeping.

NEXT STEPS

1. We need a dumpster.

2. The roofing material is scheduled for delivery on Friday, Oct. 20. I'm nervous considering what was written above.

3. The work on the balcony and columns continues to puzzle and intrigue the contractors who come by. I have found a couple of architectural firms that do commercial projects but none who do "small" residential work. This one has several of us scratching our heads. The Lord will provide.

4. With the interior walls nearly clear, we need to take next steps getting a plumber and electrican lined up to do the upgrades necessary. These are back on the radar screen.