Better Than New + Scrap $$$

While I was stripping the staircase I came across several areas that had paint and caulk deep into tiny crevices. I tried using my putty knife, my scraper, and even my dental tool pick but I still was unable to get all the residue.

In some areas all I managed to do was make the crevice bigger. So I hauled out my tiny Wonder Bar and removed the piece that was keeping me from getting to the dried up paint and caulk.Here is a photo of the pieces after they were sanded.
The sanding of the newel post revealed the original carpenter's pencil mark that he used to align the trim. Thanks Mr. Carpenter.
The joints are now tight and the the trim is straight.
The other pieces of trim that I removed were these two flat pieces that were attached to where the staircase meets the ceiling in the first floor hallway. I stripped and sanded both pieces and the first piece went back into place without a hitch. The second piece was another story.
One of the problems was that we were both trying to stand in the same place, on the same step, while one of us held the wood piece in place and the other held a pneumatic air nailer. As hard as we tried the piece just would not lay flat. After much debate we came to the conclusion that the piece was about a 1/4 inch too long. This would account for why there was a gap and why it was chock full of caulk.

R trimmed off an 1/8th of an inch and we tried again. The piece was still too long so he trimmed another 1/8th of an inch off the piece. This time it fit perfectly. But by this time my arms were so tired that I could no longer raise them in the air to hold the piece in place. Thankfully we have a full array of clamps and we were able to clamp the piece in place. Now that piece is better than new.
Yesterday I trimmed back my Pink Diamond hydrangeas in front of the dining room windows. This gave us access and space to work on the coal chute door.
Last year I was able to remove a lot of the thick peeling paint with a putty knife but the remaining will need to be removed with our portable sand blaster. But first we needed to shovel the dirt away and decide how we will keep the dirt from returning.The concrete pad has sunk down and pulled away from the foundation wall about 2 inches. We thought if we dug down deep enough we could lift the whole piece up into place. R dug down 12 inches and did not find the bottom of the concrete. We decided at that point if we ever did find the bottom that it would weigh far too much to move.
On to Plan B, which is to leave it alone and slope the dirt away from the concrete pad. We will use large rocks to build a mini retaining wall along with some landscaping fabric to hold back the dirt when it rains.

If you are wondering what is that piece of sheet metal that is attached to the center of the coal door......well we don't know. We speculate that based on the size that at sometime in the past they cut a hole and installed a dryer vent. Now why oh why couldn't they have at least placed the opening in the center of the door? We are hopeful that once it is painted and the hydrangeas grow back that no one will focus on the ill placement of the sheet metal patch.

FYI.....R just returned home from taking a load of scrap to the scrap yard. Scrap metal is currently $250 a ton which is high and should go down as the summer approaches. R sorts out his copper, aluminum, and brass because that pays more money. He received $65.00 for his semi precious metal and $133.68 for miscellaneous metal for a total of $198.68. Not only does this put money in your pocket but it keeps good recyclable metal out of the landfills.

Just the other day I was watching Modern Marvels on TV. They were showing how copper is mined and refined. The initial cost along with the amount of energy that is used is staggering.

We've Been Very Busy

We have been so busy that I sometimes forgot to take photos. But as R reminds me....."People don't need to see another photo of a trailer full of wood." He's right.....but don't tell him that!

I've lost track of the number of lawn trailer full of twigs, leaves, and branches that we have picked up so far. Far too many and far too many left to be picked up. We basically stayed outside on all the nice days picking up branches and raking out flower beds. We knew colder weather was coming so we made the best of the good days we did have.

We cut down two semi dead tall cedar trees that were on the back property line. Once they were down we were able to see why they were dying. They were completely rotted out in the center of the trunks. We haven't a clue as to what caused the rot.

Once the trees were gone we then had access to clean out the dead branches, empty walnut shells, and old leaves that have piled up over many many years. We then decided that we might as well get started on the dismantling of the old pool.

Sometimes in the past, probably whenever they decided to decommission the pool, they broke up the floor of the pool to allow rainwater to percolate into the ground. So that leaves us with removing the pool decking which is cement embedded with slate and removing the 10 inch wide cement pool coping (ledge/edge). We plan on using the slate to repair the slate walkways that need to be fixed through out the yard. The cement ledge/edge we will store because it would make great steps or a top for a retaining wall.

We can knock in the walls after all the slate and ledge removal is complete. In the meantime we removed the 24 inch high chain link fence that surrounded the pool. I wonder what the thinking was behind a 24 inch tall fence? R is making a scrap metal run in the next week and now is the perfect time to get rid of it. FYI for all you scrappers out there.....scrap metal is high right now and will soon go lower once summer arrives.

When the weather got cold again......we went back inside where we were back to stripping and sanding. We sold the two poplar doors that were too tall and are patiently waiting for the new door to arrive. The only reason I am patiently waiting is that I am waiting for some vintage ball top hinges to arrive so even if the door does show up we cannot install it until the hinges arrive.

I should finish up stripping the staircase tomorrow. That project went fairly fast because the paint was on top of varnish. The only hiccup was when I run across old carpet tacks that need to be removed. It was very difficult to get a good photo of the entire staircase because it is slightly spiral. The staircase will still need to be sanded and the treads will be stripped with citrus stripper because they will need to be stained and sealed. The rest of the staircase will be painted white with the handrail also stained to match the treads.After tomorrow I will have to make the decision of whether to move back to the living room and strip the baseboard and fireplace mantel or move on to the dining room OR finish the casement windows so when the weather gets warm enough to paint outside the casement windows are ready to go back into their openings. R is voting for finishing the casement windows.

The other day I was on the road as the sun was setting. Wow the sun was huge. There was a heavy haze so it filtered the sunlight just enough so you could see the entire outline of the sun.