Buzzy's Renovation

Teeny Tiny Tiles

2009-04-13T05:01:00.004-04:00

The week and weekend has flown by and a lot has been accomplished. The bad news is that the bedroom didn't get painted as fast as I had hoped. There were a lot of areas to patch up and cracks along one of the upper corner seams. EZ Patch saved the day and it all look really good.

My gamble with the red accent wall was well worth it too...although it took a worrisome 4 coats and an additional trip to Sherwin Williams. So, everyone ended up crashing at Jens. Here's a few pics of the 'blood' being applied.

Teeny tiny tiles were the good news theme this weekend...and it's great they come on 1 ft x 2 ft sheets. Dad and I learned a few things about tiling from Uncle Steve and the bathroom made a lot of progress. It's exactly what I thought it would turn out to be...awesome! Here's a shot of Dad in action.

One of the humorous moments of the project this weekend was Dad hauling out a toilet for me from Michigan until I decide what I want to get. Just imagine the look on people walking by when we hauled a toilet out of the car and Uncle Steve was sitting on the throne, guarding all our stuff as the rest of us hauled it up to the apartment.

Humor aside, it was good that he brought it out as I found out it just fits with the tank touching the wall.

It's nice to have a toilet again though instead of running to the neighbors, down the street to Jen's or...well, you know...

Finished Floors - Finale

2009-04-06T22:21:00.005-04:00

It's been a jet setting week and a bit going through London, Oslo and Copenhagen and the week before it all was a trip trip to Belize. Yeah....haven't done much with the apartment.

While I was gone though, I did have the rest of the floor refinished (bedroom, closets and foyer). Jen was able to take some pics during the sanding progress. It's crazy to see how much paint was on the wood floor in the closets.

The finished floor looks great! The only odd thing is that they didn't lighten up as much as the living room did, but they are still a lot lighter and in a far superior condition to what they were.

My Dad and Uncle Steve are coming out this weekend to help with tiling mainly and odds and ends. My goal is to get the bedroom painted this week so people can sleep here this coming weekend, assuming we get a toilet installed after tiling too. It's ambitious, but could happen.

Looking forward to this half of the apartment being painted too and using both areas of the apartment.

Pretty Paint

2009-03-15T04:51:00.003-04:00

The finishing touches are happening, mainly in the form of paint in the kitchen and living room. It's all looking amazing!

Bryant's advice on color choices was wonderful and after slapping a few samples on the wall, we narrowed down the the colors for the whole apartment. I used my painting contractor connection again and bought paint at Sherwin Williams.

If you're curious, here are the colors for each room.

Jen helped me paint the living room and kitchen and we were able to get all of the walls and ceiling done in just one weekend which is pretty darn cool. Here's an interim progress pic.

Unfortunately, I've been lagging behind on the bathroom and I'm still without a toilet and shower. It's not too bad since I've been able to stay nearby and use my neighbor's facilities when they are around. I've got another few trips coming up so I'm eager to get the rest of the flooring repaired and refinished while I can't physically do anything.

I'll start shuffling stuff out from the bedroom to the living room again slowly.

Stitched Up

2009-03-10T04:45:00.003-04:00

I called in sick yesterday to work on the bathroom drywall and tileboard to get this thing moving. It was all going great until I nearly cut my thumb off.

It was pure stupidity on my part. I didn't have a carbon blade to properly cut the tileboard so I was using a Stanley knife which did the trick, but required a lot of force. It was also just after 5 PM (yeah, I broke the construction hour rules again) and I was fairly tired and not wearing gloves.

Idiot!

With one strong stroke and a small slip the Stanley knife went right across the T-square and across my thumb on a diagonal. I immediately jumped up for t-shirt to compress it and ran it under water. I called my neighbor to help me bandage it up and after a bit of inspection figured it might be a good idea to head to the ER, which is luckily a 10 minute walk away. Sitting in a chair for nearly 4 hours in
ER is an experience I don't want to relive, especially since (a) I was in 'Fast Track' and (b) the mental patient ward was right next to my waiting area. So I saw enough weird stuff for one day.

The damage added up to 6 stitches in my thumb and a sliced finger nail. It hasn't been a good few months for my left hand after whamming my other finger with a hammer when installing the wood floor.

Yet, almost all the drywall and tileboard is up. Fair trade...???

Finished Floors

2009-02-24T04:35:00.005-05:00

I arrived back home from Aspen late last night and didn't get a chance to go to the apartment and see the floors. I went straight away after work today and was so pretty stoked to see how it turned out.

The area around the radiator that needed to be repaired turned out great. I'm also really pleased how it all lightened up nicely too.

Now the floor is done, I'm going to get onto painting. I've scheduled some time with my interior designer friend, Bryant, to talk about paint colors for the whole apartment. I still don't like making these types of decisions so I think I'll leave them to Bryant.

Refinishing Progress

2009-02-21T08:31:00.000-05:00

I just got a message from my neighbor who is overseeing the floor refinishing for me while I'm gone. He took a quick snap of the refinished floors in the living room and kitchen. Not going to post it here as I'm sure it's not representative of the real thing, but it looks awesome and I can't wait to see it in person!

Bathroom Progress....Finally

2009-02-15T04:25:00.001-05:00

I've been able to get all the framing in the bathroom up this week and it's looking fairly plumb. Like the ceiling, the lathe has come in handy to level out the shower wall. I was concerned about being able to conceal the cold water plumbing. The main riser is by the toilet and runs all the way around the bathroom to the tub and sink, but I seem to have framed it all out just enough to hide all the copper.

The other small challenge was deciding what to do for a medicine cabinet. The surface mounted one looked hideous before and I didn't want to integrate it with a mirror. I've seen some neat ones online that are concealed by a picture frame, but they were too deep for my shallow NYC walls and far too expensive. For the moment I've framed out my an area beside the sink for a custom medicine cabinet when I get around too it. I just need to cut a bit of laminated wood to fit in there, so it should be fairly easy when the time is right.

So now it's time for drywall and tileboard. I'll tackle this over the next few weeks as I'm traveling quite a bit still and I want to use that time to get the floors refinished. Time to start stacking everything into the bedroom! Yikes!

Blackhole Bathroom

2009-02-08T19:49:00.002-05:00

After shelling out money to contractors, the major repairs to the bathroom plumbing and flooring is done. I used the same plumber as I had for the work in the kitchen and he finished things off in a day which was great so I didn't loose all my running water in the apartment.

The floor was also done quickly, but a bit trickier. I hired the same contractor that I used to install my recessed lighting back at the early beginnings of the project. His crew were very professional, on time, and clean. They ripped out the whole concrete subfloor and tiling, installed a new standing waste valve for the tub (that's a drain valve if you're not familiar with that term) and poured a new floor all in one day.

The new floor has helped two fold by leveling the floor and sealing up piping penetrations, reducing noise traveling up from the apartment below (not that there was much before, but you can certainly tell the difference).

With the floor and plumbing finished it's time to finish framing out walls for drywall and tile board. The small space and odd brick corners is going to make it a bit tricky and time consuming, but it's nothing that won't be done in a couple evenings and some noisy mornings of sawing and screwing.

Color this, color that

2009-02-01T21:50:00.000-05:00

Work on the apartment has been dormant. The plumber is coming soon and it has been made clear to me the bathroom floor is beyond simple repair and will need to be torn up. So, the most recent activity has been making decisions on tile and bath fixtures and counting down the days until I loose the toilet.

This weekend has been filled with making decisions which I don't like to make on bathroom tiles, fixtures, etc. Yesterday I took a trip up to the Bronx to look at tile after a few unsuccessful tries in the city. Luckily, this store had everything I was look for. I picked out a small gray mosaic tile, 1" x 1" for each tile. I'm thinking this with a white or light grey grout will really help the chrome fixtures pop off the walls. The price point is right too, just under $5 per sq. ft. Way better then the stuff I was looking around $20 per sq. ft.

With the tiles picked out, I had to tackle the bathtub spout and valve. In order for my plumber to do the work that needs to be done, this also had to be picked out since a new water mixing valve is needed. So, after looking long and hard at Restoration Hardware, I picked out the following 'vintage' tub spout and handle.

Unfortunately, it was more expensive then all the tile I'll need to do the wall and floor...and the set didn't include the shower head. I'm beginning to understand why bathrooms are so expensive to renovate.

The Joys of the Noise

2009-01-29T21:45:00.001-05:00

After returning home from vacation, I received a letter from the building's managing agent that he had received complaints from people in the building I was making construction noise on weeknights and weekends. He kindly reminded me of our stupid construction hours (8 AM - 5 PM Mon-Fri, no work on any public holidays) and stated that further complaints would result in legal action.

I was pretty ticked off at first and rampant that there are so many people who aren't forward thinking about improving our property and their apartments. Here I am, a young 20 something guy trying to make a better place to live and eventually get a nice return on his investment and I've run into so much opposition, it's not even funny.

But then I realized I've gotten away with a lot of stuff the past year. I've sucked all I can out of the NYC Department of Sanitation, done construction on weekends for almost a year now, received my own building permits from the NYC Dept of Buildings and was able to convince the Board of Directors to let me do all the renovations to my apartment on my own (given that I follow regular working hours and raise my insurance....I did the latter). Not bad.

So, if my fellow neighbors can't get it and are whining about noise, then I'll abide by the rules...and ensure that I start any construction which may be noisy at 8 AM. Since my neighbor below me has been the real complainer, I'm sure he'll enjoy power saws, drilling, etc. at that hour.

Ah, the joy of living in NYC.

Bombing the Bathroom

2009-01-19T18:36:00.004-05:00

It's been a long week and as you can tell I've been pretty busy. The bathroom has been the focus this week since it's really all that is left in the major construction picture.

So, after cleaning up the mess from the weekend Monday and Tuesday, I dug into the bathroom on Wednesday night. I quickly found that Travis's work over the holidays eased the process since most of what was left was plaster on lath and some tile on tileboard.

The shower wall proved to be the most difficult as the tile was on a greenboard and cementboard in some places.

Friday night I finished up the demo and Saturday was spent bagging what was left up and working on electrical and insulation. Sunday was more electrical which resulted in two trips to Home Depot which took forever compliments of slow work on the A train.

I woke up early today to tidy things up and get ready for Roy to help me hand the ceiling drywall. It took us 2 hours to cut the drywall and hang it with the main challenge being working in such a small space with one person on a ladder in the bath tub, another on a sawhorse and attempting to vault it up around corners and over the steam pipe.

After a bit of struggling, we got it all into place and it feels good to have gone from demo to insulated, re-wired with a ceiling in less then a week.

Still, there is a lot of work to do so I can get a sink back and not have to take baths (I've never taken so many baths in my life as I have this week!). It looks like the plumbing for the bath tub will need to be replaced and the subfloor has holes and oddities around the edges.

I have a few contractors coming this week to look at these elements and give their opinion.

In the meantime, I'll haul the bombed out debris to the curb each night this week and shop for tiles.

This is where I poop

2009-01-16T23:34:00.000-05:00

Enough said for now.

If Picasso taped and mudded...

2009-01-11T10:12:00.000-05:00

If Picasso taped and mudded his seams would probably look like the ones my dad did in a modern art style. OK, they weren't perfect but the having help with that process certainly kept things on schedule and moving forward these past 2 weeks after Christmas. Last weekend I finished mudding and sanding the kitchen and slapped on 2 coats of primer.

This week was some more mudding of the living room and yesterday was a full 8 hours of sanding and priming.

But now it looks great and I'm super pleased with how it all turned out and turned around so quickly. It took me from March - October to do bedroom from demo to primed drywall. The kitchen and living room only took me from the end of October to January! Maybe I learned something along the way...like rent a dumpster...as well as the process in general I'm sure.

So now the saga of the bathroom starts. I'm sure it will be interesting as I lose functionality in there and will need to figure out where to shower and do my #1 and #2. I may find myself showering at work quite often.

The goal is to get all the demo done in there and also get the work done on capping the dumbwaiter before I get any floors refinished. Ideally floor refinishing will happen while I'm gone in Aspen.

We'll see what the week brings us.

Super floored!

2008-12-29T22:04:00.001-05:00

Today was a long back breaking knee grinding day laying down the kitchen floor...but it looks awesome.

The flooring took us a bit longer to complete then I expected. We had a bit of a learing curve with the manual nailers Dad got from a friend in Michigan. The short story was that you really have to hit these things a lot harder then you think.

Once we sorted that out, we got a system going where I was tapping in the boards and holding the nailer while Dad swung away to pound them in.

We finished things up around 4PM, 4 hours later then I expected, but that's OK. Both of us were extremely tired and sore from crawling around on our knees all day, so we decided to call it quits despite the large amount of mudding left.

So much was accomplished this weekend and I'm excited to finish up most of the mudding this week and hopefully begin priming half of the apartment this coming weekend.

Merry Christmas

2008-12-28T23:33:00.002-05:00

The holiday glitz and glam of twinkling lights and Christmas carols quickly left with my tree on Saturday morning and construction dirt and grime started back up again with my Dad and brother in town.

Saturday was a busy day. I orchestrated the team and put Travis to work in starting the process of demolishing the bathroom.

Dad tackled finishing up framing the kitchen wall, primarily so we could level it out and place in boards to eventually mount cabinets to.

While this was all happening, I worked on mudding until we were ready to drywall the kitchen wall. Once it was done, it looked great and I was happy to say good riddance to the wall that has slowed this whole process down for the past couple of weeks.

The bathroom was a bit of a disaster with all the trash and other items in the tub we we could mud the walls in the living room and kitchen.

After a long day of work, Travis and I went out with Jen to grab some bar food and drinks...and pomegranetes.

Sunday was spent mudding. Dad and I tackled what we could but still didn't finish it up.

Tomorrow I'm taking the day off of work to lay the wood floor in the kitchen. I don't expect it to take too long, but we'll see.

"Trucking" Ahead

2008-12-21T23:31:00.004-05:00

I can't believe how fast the past few weeks have gone by. A lot of work has been done with help from many hands, and trucks. I've been in the local ZipCar Toyota Tacoma all too much in the past 4 weeks. I think that I may be the only person renting it as the mirrors and seat position always seem adjusted perfect for me.

Yet, while the price of gas has gone down the cost to rent the ZipCar hasn't, nor has drywall and other construction materials. Yet, just about everything I need to finish the major construction is in the apartment now.

The plumbing was even finished on the 16th. The sink was successfully moved over 2.5' I know, it was probably dumb for me to pay that much to move the sink over but I really feel it is going to make a world of difference.

Although the plumbing is in, my permits haven't cleared yet compliments of someone else in my building who has a violation for construction without a permit...grrrr.

The lesson of the week has been to relate the finishes to the placement of the infrastructure. In my hurry to get the electrical done on the last visit from the Michigan crew I forgot about the mounting height of the outlet boxes in relation to the picture frame molding. Long story short, I ended up moving every electrical box down a few inches...which proved to be difficult for some.

Despite my earlier lack of attention to detail, everything else has been moving forward. The last of the drywall was hauled up on Wednesday night last week and I began to hang it last weekend. More was tackled this weekend and I'm really happy with how the room has been shaping up. I spent a fair amount of time last week running all the power and light switches to the island position.

Today was a bit frustrating as I tackled re-doing the 2x4 framing for the kitchen wall. The pipe re-routing threw a bit of a kink into the original location for 2x4's, but I think I worked out a decent solution. My internal interior designer started thinking about whether or not to extend the wall to the door or stop it at the drain pipe. I'm pretty sure that I'm going to extend it to the door but I'll sleep on it tonight.

Finally, I wired up everything for the kitchen - 2 counter outlets, 1 dishwasher whip (loose wires), 1 stove outlet and one whip for a range hood.

All this took much more time then expected so my ambitions to finish the ceiling were kill joyed.

Yet, I have started a bit of mudding and plan to do more this week in preparation for Dad and Co. arrival on Friday. The ideal plan would be to have everything mudded before they get here so we can sand, prime, install wood floor and demo the bathroom walls/floor.

More to come this week.

Last Lug

2008-12-17T23:51:00.000-05:00

I am still amazed at the wonderful core of people I have helping me with this renovation. After last month's complaining, this month's drywall haul should be a bit more memorable...physically the next day at least.

I (hopefully) made the last run this evening to Home Depot with Jim and his big truck. This time, I ordered everything I need for the rest of the renovation ahead of time. When we showed up, it was all stacked up and ready for us to take it out the door. Thanks HD!

But the even larger thanks goes out to Jim, Joe, Rich, Anu, Jen, Roy and Dorn for sparing the time to physically kill themselves hauling drywall up five flights of stairs. You're all officially on my road crew. I'll let you know when we go on tour.

Jacked Up

2008-12-07T22:48:00.007-05:00

A bit of radio silence for the past few weeks, but that doesn't mean there hasn't been progress. After a early AM trip to Brooklyn and a few weekends of work, the ceiling is insulated and the drywall is up. Leveling this ceiling in this area was a bit more tricky with the twisted beams. I tackled it as best I could but its far from perfect. Hopefully it won't be too noticeable.

Furring strips are up on the wall and I made the important decision today to glue/screw on 2x4's around the kitchen window. For some reason the plaster was directly applied to the brick on the West wall in the kitchen, unlike the living room. Of course this never posed a problem when the 2 rooms were separated by a wall, but now it is a different story. This should turn out to be OK.

Besides the basic labor of gluing and screwing there have been some other bits to figure out with flooring and plumbing. Moving the kitchen sink to the right has become more complicated then I first thought. All of the piping needs to be moved over quite significantly which involves shutting off the building water in addition to filings with the DOB. Making a long story short, I got three estimates that ranged from $1275 - $3300!!! Guess which one I went with...yes, the cheap one. Work starts on the 16th of Dec.

The flooring quest has really just been one to find a cheaper way to do the kitchen. After debating whether or not I could install flooring I just convinced myself I would learn how to do so. That's what the Internet is for, right? I got the goods and they are sitting in a warehouse in NJ waiting for me to pick it up. The plan is to install this when Dad is here just after Christmas.

I may appear a bit behind on schedule, but I'm around every weekend through the end of the month, so I feel I'm make some more progress rapidly. I expect to start mudding the ceiling this week and I've already scheduled another drywall haul for next week. Back to the grind after entertaining my friends from the UK who decided to sleep in this crazy mess for a week. Who knew these wonderful workhorses could double as dinner tables?

In the mean time, the Christmas tree will take up a bit of space to add to the holiday construction cheer.

Flat and Flipped

2008-11-19T18:22:00.000-05:00

Last night a wonderful crew came together again for hauling up 10 sheets of ceiling drywall.

While the weather was cold, the pizza was warm and the beer was....well, beer. For the first time ever, the gang complained that I didn't buy enough drywall! Wow! I'll remember that next time I do this in 20 degree weather!

Thanks again to Dave, Joe C, Jen, Adam, Brian S, Rich F, Jim, and Bryant.

ZAP!

2008-11-09T22:54:00.002-05:00

After the dumpster day on Friday, Saturday and Sunday were dedicated to electrical work. Dad flew in with Uncle Steve and a with a surprise guest, Dr. Bob Armstrong who also had electrical knowledge. I attempted to clean what I hadn't the night before and get things ready to go. I jetted out in a Zip Car at 11:30 to pick up the gang...and yes, the dumpster was already gone.

After doing some damage @ Home Depot we grabbed some food and dug in. We re-wired a lot of old stuff and decided to make another Home Depot trip to get lumber, a new fuse box and other small supplies. The night dragged on and before long it was 12:30 AM and we were in bed.

Sunday we tackled more of the same. I got Zapped by the new fuse box and hit my lip with the leatherman that flew out of my hand. Luckily that was the only stupid move of the weekend. The best part is that the doorbell works for the first time ever!

Dad and I felt a bit lost with all the electrical, but we got some other things accomplished, particularly framing for the kitchen wall cut to size and the old sink back up and connected.

I'm off to Miami on Wednesday but should be able to get the cable TV and loudspeaker wire run this week so I can think about insulation and drywall the week after.

Dumpster Day

2008-11-07T23:23:00.002-05:00

Work has kept me at a distance from the renovation although I can't complain about a week in Los Angeles.

Before I left I ensured I had a dumpster rented for a few days of cleaning out the trash. Although it is easy to rent a dumpster, there are a lot of rules and regulations that I had to work around and just take the risk of breaking them. I'll spare you the details, but do enquire if you are interested.

I flew into NYC on Thursday morning, a bit tired from the work week and the red eye flight. I took a light nap while waiting for a phone call from the dumpster dude to arrive. I slept through alternate side parking and went outside at 12:30 PM to make sure it had been placed on the SW corner of Cabrini and 181st. I smiled when I saw the beautiful 5' high, 12' long, 7' wide, empty 15 cubic yard dumpster. It was all mine!!!

Although I had the New York Yacht Club awards ceremony to attend in the evening, I thought I'd make a few trips and throw some bags of plaster in just to stake my claim. After 15 bags, it was time to jet.

Friday, a bit hung over and tired, I was eager to begin work after a few morning meetings. Just after the meetings, the elevator broke and trash time was on hold. Just my luck! Take a day off of work and now I'm stuck in my apartment 6 flights up with a load of trash!

I ran some errands and it still wasn't fixed. My neighbor was also doing a bit of renovation work and asked to throw some plaster in there. He offered money and I grabbed $50 from the deal, helping to defer the $550 fee for the dumpster.

Just after 1 PM the elevator was back online. I immediately started taking bags out to the courtyard with a flat cart and lined them up in anticipation of help from volunteers.

By 3 PM, I had 90% of all the bags in the courtyard. Jen, Brian and Alyssa arrived around 3:30. Brian and I tackled throwing the bags into the dumpster while Alyssa and Jen bagged up the lathe and kitchen floor.

By 5:30 PM, everything was in the dumpster and it was about 2/3 full!

I celebrated with a photo finish....

and then I took everyone out for dinner and drinks.

Dad and Uncle Steve are flying in tomorrow and we plan to tackle lots of wiring tasks. Stay tuned for more blogging...

Dirty Demo Days

2008-10-26T22:39:00.006-04:00

I was almost convinced earlier this week that demolition isn't too bad. Then I started in on the ceiling this weekend. The long evenings earlier this weekend definitely paid off and I was glad that I didn't have to deal with the walls. Yet, the wall area didn't quite equate to the total ceiling area.

Despite the large task at hand and lacking troops to help, I dug in at 9 AM on Saturday chipping away at the plaster. Jen came around 1 PM just as I was loosing some steam and revitalized me with a breakfast sandwich. We continued to work and by 5:30 PM the ceiling was down.

Today was more of a cleanup day, having given the dust a day to settle and just the need to not live in a construction site. After 4 hours most everything was spick and span and 2/3 of the kitchen floor was ripped up (I plan on replacing this with oak to match the living room floor).

The worst part about the demo was tearing down the lath. There was a lot of dust and debris in the ceiling void compared to the wall. The air was thick and my hair was disgusting. Black water was pouring off of me for 10 minutes in the shower! I don't remember it being so bad when I did the bedroom, but maybe that's because I just tore into the walls and ceiling ruthlessly and expected the mess.

Anyhow, I'm super glad this part is done in just two short weekends. The bathroom is the only room left to be demolished.

The bags of plaster and wood are stacked up ready to go. I was hoping to rent a dumpster this weekend but didn't have the troops to back it up, so will schedule that date soon.

Oh, and don't forget to take in the spirit of all this with the new portrait.

Shafted!

2008-10-23T00:16:00.006-04:00

I came home from work with the mission to do some demo tonight and decided to take the kitchen wall down. With a plumbing riser full of gas, hot water, cold water and drain pipes, I figured that it was best I tackle this one on my own so that if I busted a pipe there was only myself to blame.

You've seen the plaster, brick and lathe pics so I'll spare you. After getting the plaster off the lath, I noticed an area of water damage on the column. I chiseled at it once, twice and the third time was a charm. To my surprise a hole magically appeared. The column was also a shaft way! Shafted!

Cool outside air came pouring out the hole. The rest of the plaster on the brick came off extremely easily.

I'm not sure what to do with this find. It clearly created a pressurization of the plaster facing, causing it to come off very easily. I can only imagine at one point the hole and shaft way was use to vent stoves. Can I re-use it for a vent hood? How should I seal it up? I'll have to hunt for the answers to these questions.

Anyhow, I finished up the demo on the kitchen wall. One more small wall section to go and the ceiling. I'm guessing the ceiling will be about 60ish bags of plaster and lathe.

Project Schedule

2008-10-23T00:09:00.004-04:00

With the clock ticking before my work permit runs out, I've got to keep things moving forward and get the majority of the work done before mid-March. Now that I have the experience, I've established a project schedule to help me move things forward and track progress.

Lots of detail work will have to be completed after all this work, but this covers the bulk of stuff that needs to be done.

Feast upon the latest edition!

Oct. 19th - Demolition, particularly moldings and removal of upper kitchen cabinets.

Oct. 25th - 26th - Remainder of Demolition, including kitchen wood floor.

Nov. 1st - 2nd - Dumpster weekend (will likely need to take a Friday off) if deemed necessary. Begin to put on furring strips and level ceiling. POSSIBLY IN LOS ANGELES!

Nov. 8th - 9th - Run cable, intercom and loudspeaker wire, begin to insulate, get plumbing estimates, begin electrical.

Nov. 15th - 16th - IN MIAMI

Nov. 22nd - 23rd - Finish electrical and insulation, frame out kitchen wall, begin ceiling drywall.

Nov. 29th - 30th - Insulate and drywall.

Dec. 6th - 7th - Mud & Tape

Dec. 13th - 14th - Mud & Tape

Dec. 20th - 21st - Sand & Prime

Dec. 27th - 28th - Install wood flooring and refinish floors

Jan. 3rd - 4th - Install kitchen cabinets/counter tops

Jan. 10th - 11th - Install kitchen cabinets/counter tops

Jan. 17th - 18th - Grace week

Jan. 24th - 25th - Grace week

Jan. 31st - Feb. 1st - Begin Bathroom demolition

Feb 7th - 8th - Plumbing work

Feb. 14th - 15th Insulate/drywall/re glaze tub

Feb. 21st - 22nd - ASPEN SKI TRIP!

Feb. 28th - March 1st - Tile Work

Tile Treasures...and a beer

2008-10-20T20:35:00.015-04:00

Having worked hard during the week to clear out the remainder of living room items, the weekend was filled with demolition. After making a huge mess earlier this year, I've gotten a bit smarter about deconstructing the plaster walls. Although more fun to swing the crowbar and take out a huge chunk in one swipe, it creates a lot of dust, makes a huge mess and is noisy...not good when you have neighbors in close proximity.

So the plaster was slowly pried off the lathe, bagged, removed the lathe, took out the nails and bagged it. In addition to the mess reduction, this was also a good technique since there are now a lot of pipes to be dealt with, particularly on the bathroom wall.

The most interesting and annoying part of the demolition was the amount of debris found underneath the tub. Left over tiles, chunks of plaster and a random Schafer beer can (date TBD) were the majority of the bits and bobs.

In addition to wall demolition, I tackled the kitchen cabinets too. I was able to take down all the wall cabinets with ease. What a crappy installation job. Here's the before and after.

At the end of the day, there were 36 bags of plaster, lathe and a few bundles of wood. Monday night will mark the beginning of taking out the trash again.

I've established a schedule (to be posted in the next entry) and the next few weeks will require a lot of work, but I'm ready to tackle it and move this project forward quickly.

The weekend was rounded out with some fun at The Blaze, a festival with 4000 carved pumpkins. This picture reminded me of my apartment and the blog....there's more to see, even if it kills me.

No show

2008-10-15T10:32:00.003-04:00

There haven't been many disappointments in this project so far and the ones that have jumped up have been very minor.

This past week/weekend I had my first major disappointment - the floor contractor no showed and didn't return my messages.

Now many of you might be saying "typical contractor" right about now, and I agree to an extent. It just seems super odd that someone with great references, who called me back promptly and gave a decent estimate would do such a thing. I can only believe that something catastrophic happened since his wife runs the business with him and she didn't call back either.

After 5 days of phone calls and waiting I've given up. It was somewhat of a toss up to do the floors now anyhow, the real advantage being that I would get the closets back. Yet, I would be stretching money a bit right now and I'm still moving stuff back and forth between rooms. Maybe it was for the best.

To keep things moving forward I began the task of clearing out the living room and moving everything back into the bedroom last night. I hope to start demolition this weekend and get the walls and some of the kitchen cabinets done, leaving the ceiling and the rest of the kitchen for next weekend.

Why worry about wood?

2008-10-06T23:27:00.006-04:00

I never really lived anywhere with hardwood floors until I moved to NYC. At first it seemed like a luxury since each apartment ad would point out "HARDWOOD FLOORS!"

I quickly learned that almost every apartment has them, varying greatly in their quality.

I wouldn't say my floors are anything to oooooh and ahhhhh about, but they have the potential to be nice with a bit of care, which I haven't been giving to them by knocking down plaster and dragging tools across them. The closet floors were painted over at one point and then had linoleum laid on top. Although they all are a bit wavy, it will be nice to restore what I belive is likely some of the original character to the apartment.

After a bit of thought, I've determined it is not worth my time to learn how to sand, repair and refinish these floors. This is common work in NYC and it doesn't take much time or money.

So after 3 estimates I've picked Brian Huch of Groundforce Restoration to re-finish the floors. I know a good contractor when I see one and Brian met all of my criteria. He showed up on time, was well dressed, had formal proposal sheets, wanted 10% down and offered references and his insurance for the co-op managing agent in our first meeting. Best part was that his price was competitive against the other two bids.

To my surprise, the floors are a red oak (who would have thought?). They should lighten up a bit when they have been sanded, which I think will be great.

The door thresholds won't be replaced. I'm trying to go for a continuous look to the floor. If I don't like it, I can always buy new thresholds.

While I'm out of town on Thursday thru Sunday he'll begin repairing the thresholds, various spots where the trim was cut into the flooring and the water damage from the radiator in the bedroom, front closet, bedroom closet and foyer.

With the room cleared, my living quarters are stuffed.

Careful in the bathroom as we don't want anyone to get a sliver when you use the toilet.

Primed in 26 hours

2008-10-05T22:29:00.013-04:00

It's been an extremely tough week at work. I've been getting home after 8 PM typically and jumped right into mudding so that all would be ready to go for the weekend.

Luckily Friday was a easy day. I woke early and rushed down to Sherwin Williams on 46th St to get supplies. Somehow I managed to connect with a friend who we hunt with to set me up with a contractor discount there although it still bit $79 out of my wallet!

Dad flew in early to tackle sanding when we could be legit about making noise. Unfortunately a dual failure of the alternators on the plane kept him in NJ much longer then expected so I started in without him around 5:15 PM.

After he arrived with Kathryn at 6 PM and I spent 35 minutes to find a parking spot we dove into the sanding. I set 10 PM as the cut off time for using power tools and shop vacs, completely ignoring co-op rules but with the knowledge from my neighbor Brian that it only sounded like I was vacuuming.

You may recall my description of mudding and how much "fun" it is. The fun of mud has now been surpassed by sanding seams. I literally thought I was on a TV set where it was warm but snowing. Our eyes burned multiple times from dust flying into them and choking/sneezing seemed like a normal epidemic. I thought about taking a picture of this, but feared I would damage the camera with all the dust.

By 11 PM, we had finished 90% of the bedroom and bedroom closet seams. Dad and Kathryn went to bed while I touched up some spots with mud and finished seams I hadn't gotten to in the closets til 1 AM.

Saturday morning's 8 AM trip to home depot sucked my wallet dry a bit more, but we also discovered Stew Leonards which was a grocery shopping experience similar to the Disney World ride It's A Small World.

With a ladder and food stuffed in the trunk we unloaded and finished up sanding by 1 PM. Jen joined us for some painting and by 3 PM the first coat of primer had been applied. With a quick hour topcoat time, another coat was applied within 40 minutes. This work goes real fast when you have 4 able hands to help.

Jen split at 5 and Dad started prepping dinner while Kathryn and I finished sanding the front closet, cleaning, etc.

By 8 PM, everything was done and we were all proud of what we had accomplished in just 26 hours and I went out to wash down the dust with a few beers.

It was nice to make progress again this weekend and its funny how paint on the walls makes all the difference, even if it is just primer.

I have to admit that I was getting discouraged this week, questioning why I was even doing this. I thought about the support from my close friends who have also spent many hours here with me as well as my crazy family who brings me tools and labor all the way from Michigan.

Maybe one of the best parts about the weekend was when David Cunningham stopped by. He's the architect who I paid to make my DOB drawings and stamp them. It was great how excited he was to see the progress and seemed happy at the attention I'm giving to the details such as the trim.

David also asked me if I had any regrets of doing it on my own. I paused for a second and then told him no. I've learned so much about construction as well as how much related services and materials cost. He made a good point saying that it makes you think a lot about when you design something and how sensitive a client may be to the cost associated with it.

But enough of the deep thoughts. It's been a few long and laborious weeks and weekends so I'm off to bed. Floor sanding takes place this week, but more on that later. Here's a parting shot of the near finished product.

Transporting Mud

2008-10-03T20:47:00.000-04:00

Making the big push this week before this weekend's priming, I ran out of mud last night. Last time I carried it from Home Depot on 23rd street in plastic bags. Carrying a floppy 25 lbs bag of mud mix that far is never fun.

This time I was prepared and brought my hiking backpack to stick it all into. Although 50 lbs of mud on your back plus the pack weight isn't easy, it was certainly a lot better to transport this time.

I've got less then 24 hours so on with the work.

Mud mud mud mud mud....

2008-09-29T00:07:00.003-04:00

Progress is slow and the mud keeps flowing. Yet, this week is the final push before the "big sand" on Friday and the "posh paint" on Saturday and Sunday.

That's right, Dad is coming into town again and he's bringing the drywall primer. Yet, I still have a bit of work to do. I made a good push this week and weekend again, getting mud on almost every last bit, minus a few closet corners. All the closet drywall is glued up, after a tight ride in the Honda Element from Home Depot to get some more drywall. The Peel Away was brought back from the dead to finish off the front closet door frame. Exciting!

Unfortunately, my absent mind won again and I forgot to buy more mud so now it will be a chore to carry it from Home Depot on 23rd St. which is never fun. Luckily, I'll only need to get 2 more bags to finish the job.

Look for a big progress post after next weekend...

Mudding Still....

2008-09-15T00:05:00.009-04:00

It's been a while since I've posted a proper blog entry, but unfortunately there isn't too much to write about. I made a push a few weekends ago to get this mudding done and was quite successful at getting the two base coats on almost everything. Yet, summer has been calling still and my August and early September have been filled with long weekends away sailing, the New Jersey shore and Michigan. Top that off with a large explosion of business at the office and I've been screwed out of doing much work at home rolling in around 9 PM. Remember, each batch of this mud takes 1 hour or apply!

Yet, there have been many accomplishments. All the plaster is off of the brick around the door and has been scrubbed free of dusty plaster. The drywall in the foyer in the few spots it was missing is up. Lots of documentation, such as stud locations, has occured as well as a rigorous pricing exercise for the kitchen (still going though). Again, thanks to the friends who helped with these little tasks. You know who you are.

With that said, I made another small push again this weekend and will do so again in 2 weekends to finish up mudding. Switching over to the lightweight mud wich is meant for sanding, I had to slightly re-learn my technique. The goal with this coat is to feather out the edge so it appears smooth and there aren't any mud 'bumps' visible on the walls. I think I'm doing OK, but the true test will be when the paint goes on.

The adventure of the weekend was putting the drywall onto the plaster in the closets. Rather then chip all of this off the brick wall (adjoining with the hallway) or skim coat over it, the executive decision was made to mount the drywall on top of the plaster on brick. Although I lose 1/2" by doing this it will make the wall texture consistent...and it saves me the time of learning how to skim coat, etc. Using trusty PL200 construction glue and a makeshift mounting system the drywall went up and is staying in place and should be stuck there tomorrow.

Mudding

2008-08-17T23:40:00.007-04:00

With all of the drywall up on the wooden framing and the ceiling in place, it's been a big focus on the little things and mudding.

Now I know what you're thinking, mud sounds like a lot of fun. Somewhat wet, somewhat dense, cold and mushy. It even is great for the skin (facials anyone?).

Unfortunately, drywall mud is just about the exact opposite. The good stuff, known as "hot mud", requires mixing instead of just scooping it out of a bucket and slapping it on the wall. In addition to that, it has a setting time which exponentially decreases with each degree of temperature increase. Last but not least, there's a technique to all of this (especially the corners) which I'm trying to learn fast. All in all, this part is a bit more difficult and much more time consuming then I thought originally. The mud sets quicker due to the summer heat, the corners are difficult (I don't want to even talk about the first one), each batch of mud takes me an hour to apply and it's really a one man job since I only have one set of tools and space to work, mixing mud, etc. is so time consuming.

But there is a point to the mud - it hides the screws and seams making a smooth surface. There's an art to it though as you need to build up the layers so that the eye is deceived when everything is painted.

So far, I've spent a lot of solo hours moving forward with the mud and assigning little tasks to people who want to help. Each seam requires 2 coats of a denser mud then 1 coat of a lightweight mud. When that's done, everything needs to be sanded and then primed with paint.

Although the progress pics aren't anything to write home about, here's one of the bedroom. Note, the floors are clean and clear...but that's just a temporary point of beauty so enjoy it.

Finishing the Drywall

2008-07-27T21:04:00.005-04:00

With a lot of progress made last weekend, my Dad got the itch and headed out from Michigan again to finish up the drywalling process and hopefully to begin putting mud on the walls. Somehow, he not only convinced my Uncle to come again but also my aunt. Turns out she's never flown before and never been to NYC as well, but she's braving it out to help my get this apartment done.

I grabbed the ZipCar Friday night and headed out to Caldwell County Airport (in NJ). I've got the pickup down to a science in a one hour time frame. We dug into the drywall Friday night and put up a fair amount that was remaining in the bedroom.

Saturday morning was more of the same, but I had to zip off to Brooklyn for a softball game, which I felt fairly guilty about. In the meantime, the rest of the gang made a trip to Home Depot on 23rd St. I can only imagine the look on my Uncle's and Aunt's face when they were walking into a Home Depot in the middle of NYC. After my 5 hours of absence, I returned to find most of the drywalling done and a fairly tired crew. I re-energized spirits a bit and then we went to grab dinner.

Sunday morning we focused on finishing the foyer ceiling which was more difficult then we all expected, but furring strips came to the rescue. I got a quick mudding and taping lesson from Uncle Steve and Aunt Sandy and will be doing the rest on my own (yikes!).

After dropping them back at the airport, I finished up drywalling the front closet.

So, a fairly productive weekend and a room and closets with walls again. Yeah!

ZipCar to the Rescue!

2008-07-25T11:04:00.002-04:00

Last night I realized, yet again, that I wasn't going to have enough supplies and that I'm not ready for my Dad's arrival tomorrow evening. I ran out of furring strips the night before and not all of the insulation is in the walls.

ZipCar to the rescue! I hopped into a Tacoma pickup truck and made my way to Yonkers. After buying 4 bundles of furring strips, a bag of durabond, 5 boxes of 32 gallon contractor bags (you have no idea how hard these are to find) and one 12 pack of Coke (yeah, fuel for the weekend) I made my way back to Manhattan.

By 10 PM I was unloaded and had brought everything up to the apartment. I started into putting the furring strips up by 10:30 PM and had to saw a bit. Given the crap I've gone through with the co-op and the storage installation lately, a bit of noise at this hour should be tolerated by my neighbors.

By 1 AM, I was done. All the insulation is out of the bags and I have room to work again. Yeah!

Softball or Drywall? Pick your evil

2008-07-20T13:20:00.008-04:00

With the cancellation of Saturday's softball game, I took advantage of getting a few friends together to start drywalling the bedroom. With the sheets hauled up and the insulation in most of the walls, we started in.

Of the four of us, only 2 had real construction experience, but helpful hands are always willing to learn.After a delayed start we tackled those evil 24 sheets that made us sweat. Since our experience was different, it took some time for everyone to figure out who has what skills, we got things underway.

As well, I didn't have all the furring strips put on the studs which slowed things down a bit. We soon got in to the groove and Anu and I formed team A while Jen and Brian formed team B. Here's team A hard at work.

After about 5 hours of hard work, we called it a day and had a few beers. Anu is now a drywall measuring/cutting expert, Jen can handle a screw gun without breaking a nail, Brian likes drywall glue and I have a bedroom with walls...well, 2-2/3 out of 4 at least.

Up the stairs....

2008-07-08T23:55:00.002-04:00

I'm not sure what happened when I moved to New York City, but somehow I've found an amazing and crazy group of friends who have agreed to help me in just about any situation.

Tonight I was able to band together 7 able volunteers to help me haul up 24 sheets of 1/2" drywall 5 flights of stairs to my apartment. Can you believe it?! All I had to get them was beer and pizza. Wow!

There's not much else to say except thanks for sacrificing a good chunk of your night and sweating your butts off in the humid summer heat. Roy, Maite, Rachel, Rich, Dave, Anu, Brian and the trusty driver Jim are great.

2 Milestones in 2 Days

2008-06-09T23:30:00.026-04:00

With such a big project on my hands, it's hard to see the little changes and bits of work completed as progress. There have been many of those throughout the project thus far, but as of today there are two big milestones that are complete.

1) The bedroom and closet ceilings are drywalled!
2) I've taken all the plaster out to the curb! Complete in just over 2 months! Remember?

Can you believe it? I barely can! We worked hard this weekend to get it done though. I was up til 2:30 AM on Friday night getting things ready to go and ensuring that the AC units were in the windows since the weather report called for a hot 95 degree weekend.

At 2 AM I realized that I didn't have enough insulation to get the job done. After 3.5 hours of sleep, I hopped in a Zipcar over to Brooklyn to get more of the recycled denim insulation. It's 3 times the price of regular insulation, but to me it's worth the extra costs since it's a green product and there is no dealing with fibers all over your skin or worry about breathing them. After unloading, returning the car and bringing it up to the apartment, it was time to get my Dad, Kathryn (his lady) and my Uncle Steve from the airport in NJ. They got in just after 9 and we made a 30 minute Home Depot stop for supplies. $147 later and a 30 minute car ride and we were ready to rock.

After assessing the situation and a sandwich, we started in. Kathryn and I busted out the insulation while my Dad and Uncle started hanging drywall. We had too many people as it was, but it was nice to have a bit of a utility role to hand up tools, etc.

I was a bit intimidated by the drywall hanging, but not anymore. With the drywall jack, things were fairly simple. I'm confident I can probably even finish up the foyer on my own (although I won't...but I could if I needed to). First you level/shim, measure and cut the drywall, put it on the jack and test fit, glue, raise and screw. Easy, right? Here's a sequence of a sheet going up.

We worked through til 10:30 PM, finishing the bedroom, insulating everything and wired and partially pulled the remainder of the cable. We called it a night and sat on the roof with a few cold drinks, gazing at the moon and bridge. For the first time in months, there was an actual bed in the bedroom.

Sunday was a bit more of the same, but we were all moving a bit slower and it was harder to work in the tighter spaces of the closet. There was a bit of reinforcing of the framing too as well as some electrical wiring for the j-box in the foyer.

I can't thank my Uncle enough for braving the trip out to NYC. He's not a big city person and I know he stepped outside his comfort zone a bit. I hope it wasn't too bad for him and that maybe next time I can show him a few of the sights of the city.

4 is the Magic Number...sorry 3

2008-06-05T23:08:00.002-04:00

Tonight I went and picked up the ceiling drywall I'll need for this weekend's activities. Rachel and Jim were able to sacrifice some of their evening and Jim's truck was invaluable as we easily laid in 10 sheets of 5/8" fire rated drywall. I had heard rumors that this stuff was heavy and the rumors quickly became the truth.

Getting up to Home Depot in Yonkers and back was no big deal. It soon became apparent that unloading this stuff was not going to be easy. While Jim watched the truck, we attempted to put a piece in the elevator. No luck. We backed out and went to plan B - through the courtyard and up the stairs. To let Jim go, we unloaded the 10 sheets and set them down in the courtyard. My neighbors, Maite and Brian, we're kind enough to agree to help me unload. Poor suckers.

The first sheet was a bit difficult. We could easily take it up the stairs and partially into the hallway, but then getting it around the next corner/over the railing was a bit difficult. By the third sheet, we had a system down. One person on the door, 3 people on the sheet going up the first set of stairs. The middle man scurried ahead and became the receiver as we flipped it over the railing. The then empty handed opened the door and became the new center person.

By the time we had this figured out, it was about 6 minutes per sheet. 4 was the magic number for the job. It took us a while to get it going smoothly though and we all needed a few drink breaks. In about an hour and 10 minutes, it was all done.

I can't thank my friends enough for all their help. This really saved me an invaluable amount of time this weekend when the labor and expertise will be here.

Sorry, on picks for this one...maybe next time as I'll have to do it again soon.

I'm all 'Wired' up

2008-06-01T20:46:00.004-04:00

After another week of traveling, I came home from Denver yesterday with goals to start and finish wiring what I could of the apartment. I've bought a 500 ft. roll of RG6 wire for cable television wiring and a 500 ft. roll of loudspeaker wire. Wiring is quite simple, but since I had a bit of a master plan, it made it a bit more time consuming.

I've decided that everything should be concealed so I had to do some drilling through a few beams to run some cables. As well, my philosophy is the more cable outlets, the better. With that said, I'm running two stereo pairs of loudspeaker wiring and three RG6 cables in the bedroom (thus, 3 cable and two loudspeaker jacks). The loudspeakers will be 'home run' to the living room, where they can get a feed off of a receiver with multiple room outputs. The RG6 will be home run to the foyer ceiling where there will be a splitter box distributing the signal.

The smart thing I'm thinking about here is future wiring. I need to assume that my cable TV won't always come in from the facade as it is now (especially with the upcoming roof project our building is going to be going through). Thus, I've bought a combiner so I can run one wire from the dumbwaiter shaft to the foyer and the existing to the foyer as well. Thus if the wiring ever changes, I'm prepared and won't have to open up the ceiling much or completely rewire. These splitters/combiners are great devices and I recommend them to anyone who is wiring their place up (http://www.smarthome.com/7810.html). Once the signal is combined, out it goes via a 6-channel splitter (http://www.smarthome.com/7810C6.html).

The hardest work in all this was to tie together the loudspeaker wiring so I could have a stereo pair. I found the best method was to actually hang the wire out the window 6 stories in length and then twist the wire pairs (its not shielded) and tie it with zip ties. A bit of a process, but it seems to work. I'll have to mark up all my drawings with this wiring now for future reference.

Over a half mile

2008-05-26T17:33:00.002-04:00

Having cracked through the most difficult pieces yesterday, we made headway again today and completed the first finishing coat on all of the trim. It rained all night and our setup in the 3 car garage proved to be invaluable, although a bit tight on drying space. By 1 PM Mr. Sun poked his head out and the fog had cleared. We continued to finish up our last batch while the morning batch dried in the sun.
By 3 PM, we were finished painting and began to move what we could into the basement to cure for the next 2 weeks. Unfortunately, most of the trim will need a 2nd coat and I hate to leave my Dad here with it. I’ll try to get out here again to finish it up.

By the time all of the trim is painted, we will have painted about 1,000 ft. of trim 3 times...over a half mile! Yikes!

Sweet Strokes Dude

2008-05-25T22:25:00.000-04:00

Another full 10 hour day of painting. We’ve tackled some of the most difficult of the trim pieces…and learned a few lessons too. Lesson #1 – Don’t roll primer on wood when the sun is beating down on it! This caused the paint to set a bit quickly and resulted in an orange peel look. We should have followed it with brush strokes right away.

Lesson #2 – The orbital sander is a close 2nd to the Sawzall…at least for now. This saved the day in eliminating some of those annoying roller marks.

Besides the frustration of a few mistakes made yesterday and hints of rain that threatened, but didn't “dampen” our work day, my Dad and I made a lot of headway. We put the first finish coat on about 50% of the trim.

The difference is amazing. Here’s a picture of a finished piece of wall molding and the original. So much detail restored and a finish that looks fabulous.

One more day of painting…

Run Faster! We’ve got a lot of trim to paint!

2008-05-24T23:09:00.006-04:00

I'm glad I operate on little sleep as today's schedule was nothing but brutal.

4:15 AM – Wake up
4:30 AM – Shower and Eat a light breakfast
4:45 AM – Get in car and head north to Mackinaw City
5:15 AM – Register for Race
5:30 AM – Get on bus to North Side of Mackinaw Bridge
6:03 AM – Run across Mackinaw Bridge (5.5 miles)
6:38 AM – Cross the finish line
7:00 AM – Eat a salty breakfast (included in the race entry fee!)
7:45 AM – Arrive back home
8:00 AM – Shower again
8:30 AM – Start to prep painting
6:30 PM – Stop painting (yes, 10 hours)

So, as you can imagine, I'm a little tired. That big pile of wood you see is all of my trim. My Dad, Kathryn (his girlfriend) and I were able to prime everything today which is a huge accomplishment.

As a result of our unexpected progress, I've made the executive decision to put the finishing coat on the trim. Although touch-ups are likely to be needed when we mount it, it will save a lot of time not having to tape and paint it when its on the walls. The hardest part was picking a color. I want it to match the kitchen cabinet color, but I haven’t technically picked that out just yet. After comparing a few of the cream colored cabinets to paint colors in the store, I ended up with the Vermont Cream from Behr (go to Home Depot if you really want to see it). Good thing too, as Home Depot is having a sale on paint this holiday weekend! Time for bed!

Painting in Michigan

2008-05-23T21:08:00.000-04:00

It’s been a blur of a week and the holiday weekend has started out in a similar fashion. After about 2 hours of sleep, I woke at 3:15 AM to head off for Michigan via a 6 AM flight at LaGuardia. I feel like I’ve taken every form of transport besides a boat today, but I've arrive safely after flying on Northwest (of Northworst as I like to call it). Scrambling for a few hours, I submitted what I need to for work and completed the always fun trip to Home Depot to begin the painting of the trim tomorrow.

That's right, I've come all the way home to Michigan to paint trim with my Dad on a holiday weekend. We saved a few thousand dollars by having it replicated in Michigan. Although it’s a bit of an expense to fly out, there is a luxury here that I’ve forgotten: room to work!

I saw the trim for the first time tonight and it looks fabulous. The milling is spot on and my Dad has kept it inside all winter making sure it’s nice and dry, minimizing any chance for warping and splitting since it has been in a controlled environment.

Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so it's off to bed for now.

Traveling and forgetting plaster

2008-05-19T23:21:00.002-04:00

I've been gone for 10 days now on a crazy trip to London, UK and Athens, Greece for work. Long story short, I've forgotten what it's like to live in a construction site. I came home yesterday a bit jet lagged to the pleasant reminder of plaster dust on the floor, surpise pieces of wall fallen and my clothes fallen to the ground as my makeshift closet (a shower rod) fell in my abscence. Swank hotels and friends homes with clear areas to sit down on and clothing in closets has been the norm for the past week. It's been nice traveling without any plaster.

Now reality has reminded me how much work I have to go. After a good night's sleep and a day of work, I'm back into my routine of hauling out bags of plaster in the Radio Flyer cart. I took it easy tonight, just 6 bags to our building's pile, just so the trash guys don't get ticked off that I'm back. I'm sure they had a nice week and half off without having to haul away my plaster. Luckily the pile has greatly dwindled and there are only a handful of pickups left for it to be all gone.

Moving in Paralell

2008-04-29T01:16:00.000-04:00

While there is a heap of trash in my bedroom, that doesn't mean there aren't things to be done. There are many little things. For instance, I put all the twist ties on the trash bags this weekend, removed more nails that I couldn't reach before, pulled out some baseboards, vaccumed, removed nails from wood and budled it, etc. Small questions still loom like how do I want to wire for cable and loudspeakers, but these answers should come fairly easily.

There is a lot to do on the design side, an area where I haven't made many concrete decisions. This is why I hired my good friend Bryant Keller to think about these things for me. Bryant's got skills I don't have and for a small sum of money he's helping me along the way with all of the interior design.

After weeks of ON/OFF work, we finally nailed down the kitchen design. Take a look and see what you think. I think it is pretty sweet. Traditional but classy and calming.

I've now started to price it out and this is where I feel that things may fall apart. Again, this is where my contact may come into play. My other friend has an uncle who makes cabinets as his hobby. He's into doing other people's kitchens and has agreed to work with me on mine.

I've emailed him these drawings last week and we're going to price them up hopefully this week. Fingers crossed it won't kill me.

5 Hrs. of Shuffling Trash

2008-04-27T21:33:00.000-04:00

Anu came over today and we dug into the trash again. Tying up all the bags was a big help as was vacumming the mess underneath them all. The worst part was the darn nails in the lathe, but they came out with ease and patience. I'm feeling better about this mess and confident a few more weeks of patience will help it all dissapear.

After a fresh mop, the floors are gleaming again and I'm more optimistic about this project then I was yesterday. Time to relax with a movie...

Trash Setback

2008-04-26T12:09:00.000-04:00

I started getting a bit cocky this week as the city has been picking up everything I've been putting out...at three trash piles on the street.

Granted, I believe it is totally illegal to put out trash at other spots that are not my property, but I've been doing it to try and speed up the process. So after getting home at about 2:45 AM last night, I went to work and took out twelve bags of plaster, 1one bundle of trim and two bags of lath. I spread the plaster out between the trash piles at my building and the one across the street. The wood I took down the street to another small neighboring building.

When I woke up this morning, all the trash was there as I peered out the window. This is the usual thing as they don't come until 11ish to pick it up. I had a meeting with a neighbor and when I came out of it, the trash was gone...except for the twelve bags of plaster. Damn!

To top it off, either the garbage men or the building across the street hauled the plaster I had placed over there back to our side of the street. Busted!

I freaked out for a bit, as I don't like getting in trouble or dealing with people yelling at me. I started to wonder if I should leave it or call 311 and report it. I called 311 only to find out I had to wait until the end of the day to report it. Still freaking out, I finally called our weekend handyman and just asked him if I could move it into our courtyard next to the other bags of trash. He said sure, no problem.

On the bright side, I won't have to haul down plaster all the way from the apartment on Monday night. The downer is that I better back off for a bit and just put out six bags Monday and Wednesday night. I'll try to put some wood up the street too. The Great Trash Race continues.

The Great Trash Race

2008-04-21T23:40:00.000-04:00

At the same time my project is happening, the building is clearing out basement spaces in preparation for storage. Years of junk is being removed by tenants who illegally used the space for their own personal 'rat pack' habits (as my Dad would say).

Unfortunately, I'm afraid this may soon effect my amazing no cost construction debris disposal plan. As soon as the tenants move their stuff out, the building will clear out the rest and put it to the curb to be picked up on trash days. There goes my 6 bulk items.

So now I've got to step it up and take out more then usual. Where am I going to put it you ask? Across the street and up the street of course. Their trash days coincide with ours.

So tonight I disposed of eight bags of plaster and two bundles of wood. I feel criminal about all this, but I've got to win the Great Trash Race against my own building. I still believe I won't have to spend a dime on trash disposal of all this.

Yet, there is another glimmer of construction debris disposal hope. The building across the street that has a retail space which is being renovated. I'm hoping that dumpster will appear sometime soon this week. I promise, I'll only throw a little bit in it...

Organizing Trash

2008-04-20T18:00:00.000-04:00

After waking up at 7 AM and working for 5 hours straight, I have organized my mountain of bagged plaster. It was driving me nuts. I couldn't use the bedroom to put anything in there (specifically laundry to dry). After twist tying bags of plaster vacuuming the floor and then doing a final mop, it's starting to feel a bit normal again...if you ignore the open ceiling and walls, but hey, I can dream. The trash load ups should go much quicker now, which will be well appreciated since I've been doing them at 11:30 PM recently. The little Radio Cart can only handle three bags of plaster at a time, so its always 2 trips at least, which takes me 15 - 25 minutes depending on elevator traffic.

Besides organizing the trash, I made little bits of progress today. Most of the closet floor tiles were scraped up. I removed all the nails from the moldings, cut them up and bundled them to be placed on the curb.

I also made headway on taking the plaster off the brick. It took me a good 20 minutes to figure out the best technique. The secret was to make sure the edge of the plaster is scraped so that it is perpendicular to the face of the brick. A mini sledge and a flat bar are the other key elements. Put the flat bar wedge on the plaster/brick and pound away, watching the chunks easily come off. The downside is that the noise of the flat bar/brick interaction reverberates in the whole hallway....not such a good idea on a Sunday, so I didn't take it all off.

I didn't tackle the lath today and I'm hoping to do that with a friend. It's not fun on your own removing all those nails.

Tomorrow is trash day...again.

The Great Wall of China wasn't Built in One Day

2008-04-14T23:17:00.000-04:00

The trash pile has been slowly dwindling in the bedroom. I've been very diligent about taking out 6 bags of plaster three nights a week. There's been a few nights where I could only take out two or three due to other bulk items the building put out, but so it goes. I was pretty excited this week when I was able to see the floor again where one area of trash bags was. Yet, my engineering mind quickly took over and I distributed the remaining bags for 'structural safety'

Dad came into town this weekend to see my brother (in from SF) and I. We finished taking down the plaster in the corner of the bedroom...managing to fill up at least another 12 - 18 bags of plaster and creating a pile of lath with nails. So much for that extra space on the floor.

At this point I have no idea how many bags of plaster there are and I can only gauge the rough number based on the stack of twist ties I have. At least it's all off the wall though. I'll be consistent in taking out six bags three nights per week. As they say, the Great Wall of China wasn't built in one day.

The five hours we spent on the bit of demolition that was left was more then enough for the weekend. I need to get out of this tiny space. We'll see what progress we can make next weekend.

The Trash Man

2008-03-27T10:21:00.000-04:00

Fingers crossed, the NYC Dept of Sanitation has treated me well so far. I've been taking out 6 "bulk items" each trash pickup night this week. I feel a bit ghetto with my Radio Flyer cart in the hall and hauling it out through the courtyard after 10 PM, but its not like I'm doing anything illegal so who cares!

So far, NYC sanitation picked everything up on Saturday, Tuesday, and hopefully today (I left this morning before they came to my building). Today is the real test though as I didn't take out any bundles of wood, but 6 heavy bags of plaster. I'm going to try and keep this going for a while until they don't pick it up and my building gets angry. Another money saving technique since I have the time. Keep your fingers crossed for me.

Where are you living?

2008-03-25T00:30:00.000-04:00

A lot of people have been asking me where I've been living while all this is going on. When I tell them in my apartment, they think I'm insane, but we've already established that.

Here are a few pics of my living room/kitchen arrangement at the moment. It's a bit messy, but I thought I'd share anyways.

Bags, Bags & More Bags!

2008-03-23T19:07:00.000-04:00

There are 130 bags of plaster + lath sitting in my bedroom right now. After two solid days of work with my Dad, we're not doing anymore. It's unbelievable how dense this stuff is. You can really only put three coal shovel scoops into a bag and it is just managable to pick up. Heavy heavy stuff. I didn't quite demo the whole bedroom, but the little bit left is nothing to fret about and can be done easily later.

I'm a little worried about the structural load of all this on my floor, but that's why I have insurance I guess. I've spread it all out and plan to take some out every other night for the trash pickup. My garbage truck contact is going to come next week and give me an estimate to haul this all away, but I figure it's going to be out of my budget at the moment, so I will probably risk the city sanitation route for now.

This old construction is really interesting to me. The wooden beams look to be in good shape and there are a few spots where there is clearly some water damage, but hopefully the co-op stops dragging their feet and we get started on the roof soon. I find the combination of metal and wood lath in the bathroom oddly fascinating too.

All in all, we worked super hard this weekend. I'm so thankful my Dad came out to lend a helping hand again. I'm not sure what I would have done without him...well, I would have been bagging plaster every night this week is what would have happened.

I'm really tired, so it's off for a relaxing evening.

It's Official, I'm Clinically Insane

2008-03-21T00:35:00.000-04:00

I just the day off of work to tear apart my apartment. I've got to be clinically insane. I've made a way bigger mess then I can handle and now I've got to clean it up. The dust is killing me, much worse then knocking down the kitchen/living room wall, likely due to the bigger space I'm working in. I was able to squeek out cleaning the foyer up tonight, but that was more necessity then anything else as I do need to get out and go to the bathroom.

I'm taking Friday off (not for Good Friday) to continue working and clean things up. On the bright side, my Dad called me today and had a change in plans. He is going to come out tomorrow to help me out with this mess. I didn't know how much time this would take me so I didn't call any of my buddies to ask for help this weekend. I'm sure they are all booked with family plans anyways and this is the nasty part of the renovation process. I want to subject as few people as required to this mess if I want any friends in the future.

All in all, I'm sure this will be worth it in the long run. Cracking plaster, 1/8" of paint, no insulation and water damage were all the reasons for this. I'm not insane to try to make this place loads better...am I???

1 Bedroom to Studio

2008-03-09T19:36:00.000-04:00

With the work permit obtained, it is time to start thinking seriously about getting some work done. I've spent the day moving everything I own in my closets and bedroom into the living room and kitchen. It's weird going through everything you and cleaning out the closet. You begin to realize how much stuff you don't need and how much stuf has just been sitting there for a rainy day. I threw some things out, but I don't have time to deal with all of it now and it will be a more appropriate and rigorous exercise when I move it all back into the bedroom in a few months...hopefully.

The Jumanji of Work Permits - Finale

2008-03-05T23:23:00.000-05:00

The Jumanji of the DOB never fails me. Day 2 in a row was much better then Day 1. Bright and early, I had breakfast with Steve who kindly looked over my paperwork. All good this time and it's time to kick butt and get this permit.

First at the ticket window again, the woman will not give me a ticket. Clearly, she remembers me and what I'm there for. At this point, all the expeditors feel sorry for me and one of them just tells me to give them my folder and he'll file it for me. Great.

That plan quickly fell apart as the woman behind the window suddenly decided she had a the executive decision that I needed insurance for the amount of work I'm doing. "Yes mam, but I have an insurance waiver from the State of NY" Not good enough apparently. She must be bigger then the State.

At this point, I'm furious. The DOB is clearly designed around the business of an expeditor, not the homeonwer. I march into the Borough Commissioner's office, asking to speak to someone about this situation. No one is free (of course).

As I'm waiting, the expeditors I've made friends with are walking by asking "What's going on?" and when I tell them they respond with "Fuck those fucking fucks!" type of lines with best wishes of "good luck kid."

One person who I need to speak to in order to resolve this I recognize. It's the guy who I spoke to on New Year's Eve about what I needed to do to get my plans filed and permits obtained. While I was waiting in the lounge, I caught him walking in the hall and explained the situation. John is his name and he's here to rescue the integrity of the DOB. We head to a window and he grabs a free agent. We go through my paperwork and he agrees to file it for me (apparently the insurance waiver needs approval by someone else). I thank him profusely as I can't stick around since I'm off to work. As I cut a check for him for $35 for the work permits, I see a sign stating "DOB employees cannot accept gifts or gratuities. Thank yous are appreciated" and this makes me feel better because I'm not looking to giving the city any more money.

A few hours later, John called me to tell me everything was squared away. I could now print out my work permit. Success!!!

The Jumanji of Work Permits - Part 2

2008-03-04T23:12:00.000-05:00

After a busy week, I'm headed back down to the DOB again to file for my work permit. The early bird gets the worm, and I was there at 7 AM to try and finish this up. Confident and cocky, I didn't show my paperwork to Steve. We rushed into the maze at 8:30 as usual and I was first to the ticket window. I had a bit of trouble getting a ticket as I only have my driver's licence and the expeditors behind me are ticked off, not at me thank goodness. This lady isn't the brightest bulb in the shed so it's super annoying.

Anyhow, I'm first to the window and I proudly present my paperwork. 5 seconds later, it's all handed back to me. They've changed the forms and I haven't done the same. So after all that waiting, I need to go back to the office and fill it all out again and come back another day. I'm glad I have a friend who is a notary in the office, but this is becoming a royal pain.....grrrrrr.....

The Jumanji of Work Permits

2008-02-26T22:47:00.000-05:00

A visit to the DOB was needed again and this time it wasn't any prettier. I picked up my folder and it turns out that they decided to change the status of my plan review magically to "Assigned to Plan Examiner." Who yelled Jumanji? This has already been done and there's even a more detailed status page to prove it. So, I printed both of these pages out and went to the window to collect my folder (note that I was here at 7 AM again to be near the front of the line). Of course, this status confounded the poor window attendant and I had to argue my case. Reluctantly, she gave me my folder with the approved plans.

The next step is easy. You have to get them perforated with a little insignia that says "APPROVED NYC DOB" at a window where a ticket isn't required. Simple...until it's pointed out to you your plan examiner didn't sign the drawings. I really enjoy wasting my time at the DOB and dealing with morons, and this was just another day full of it. I had to hunt down my plan examiner and ask him to sign the plans. This took a while because signage in the DOB is like driving in Boston; you are gaurenteed to get lost and not find who you're actually looking for.

Once I pinned him down (I've got some sweet wrestling moves) and had him sign the plans, I went back and got the plans perforated. The last step for the day was to get them micro-fiched. By this time, it was near 10:30 and I decided to go back another day and finish up the work permit application. Enough frustration for one day.

APPROVED!

2008-02-16T16:55:00.000-05:00

I've been diligently checking the DOB Building Information System daily to see what the status of my plan review is. Today I found out they were approved! Rock and roll! Now it's time to get some work permits!

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Do Work Somewhere Else...Part 2

2008-02-10T14:00:00.000-05:00

Anu and Diana made progress through the week, but apparently, there is still a lot of work to be done and that's when I got the call. It's a Saturday project again with some painting (2nd coat) and finishing touches on Chandeliers, light switch dimmers, mirror hanging, etc. I think I've just become a handyman in my free time, but I'm not sure.

I was happy to help again, which after a bit of painting also involved renting a Zipcar to head to Ikea. The couch was necessary for the upcoming party and delivery time wouldn't get it there when it was needed. On the way we picked up a chandeleir for Diana, gas and a hooker (kidding on the hooker). We had a short 30 minutes at Ikea to get the targeted couch. Anu overdosed on the amount of stuff for low prices and I had to give her a tranqualizer (aka hot and fresh cinnamon buns) to get her out of the store so we could return the zipcar on time.

We squeezed everything into the Honda Element and I made a pocket for Anu in the backseat. Everything was looking great...and then we got lost in Jersey. I hate the Garden State Pkwy.

We found our way back and soon we had unloaded everything into the apartment. Of course, the couch needed construction because I was going to crash on it for the night. With the mirror hung, the couch together and the fresh coat of paint the place looks great. I'll be mounting the flatscreen TV for them next week which will be the finishing touch. To celebrate, we all went out for food and drink and brought along Christina.

Welcome to the Zoo

2008-02-07T23:34:00.000-05:00

DOB = Zoo = Jumanji. That pretty much wraps up my experience....but a bit more detail is deserved.

I showed up this morning at 7 AM to claim my spot in line. Of course, there were 3 people ahead of me, all expeditors. One guy (Steve) was very nice and chatted with me a bit. He was impressed to find out that I was a homeowner filing the paperwork on my own and offered to look it over to make sure it was all right. He found 2 little mistakes (initials) but nothing that couldn't be fixed. After waiting 1.5 hours, I was in the maze. It started at pre-filing, an area of bullcrap where someone looks at the scope of work you are doing, your estimated costs and magically calculates how much you have to pay for filing your plans.

The slippery slope began here. The pre-filer didn't like my estimates and decided she needed to almost double them for plumbing and general construction. Crap. While this made it slightly more expensive, it meant that I had to go back to the office and change the diskette for the PC filing process. Leaving the DOB at this hour was like jumping out of the front of the line for tickets to your favorite rock band that you've been camping out overnight for. All this just because the city wants to suck more $ out of me.

I made the quick change on the amazing PC filing software (DOS is still cool, right?) and headed back into the mayhem of the filing room at 10 AM. It's like your typical government office where you need something. Take a ticket, wait for it to come up on one of the 10 windows.

The scene was not good. There were about 150 people there by the time I got there and 27 people ahead of me for the window I needed. I grabbed a ticket and thought "How long can it be?" Well, never doubt the inefficiency of government agencies. They had one (yes, one) older woman working on filing applications (aka Rosario). In the meantime, I checked with my buddy Steve to make sure I had everything in the right order. Another nice young lady helped me out too so that I wouldn't tick off Rosario and screw up the system for everyone else behind me.

After 4 hours of waiting (including an hour and a half lunch break for Rosario) it was finally my turn. I waited nervously, hoping that my paperwork was in the right order, my forms were filled out correctly and that the window attendant didn't think I pulled any funny business (I didn't look shady enough to be an expeditor and I didn't have their cool ID).

After a few "you shouldn't place the stickers here" and odd looks at the computer, my credit card and I got out with a payment of $160.60 for filing the plans (don't ask me how they got to that number, it's a magic Jumanji formula). I think that's cheaper then paying $2k for expeditor...but maybe my math is off.

Now I have to sit back and wait until the plans get approved....or rejected...but hopefully approved.

Architects are the Best Friends

2008-02-05T01:00:00.000-05:00

I'm not really sure what I would have done without my good friend Anu's help. I really suck at using AutoCAD. I can get around and do what I need to do, but it takes me 3x as long as anyone who is skilled at it. Anu has been so helpful in making sure that these drawings are right and that I save money having the professional I hired to touch them up and stamp them. All in all, I couldn't have done it so easily without her help. Hopefully a few Saturday's at her office didn't kill her.

With that said, the drawings are done, printed and stamped. Take a look at them below :)

I met with my architect, David Cunningham, last night and transfered over the signed and sealed documents. Now the real adventure begins as I need to head down to the Department of Buildings to file all this. I've decided to make a bold move and do PC filing. Why bold? Well the DOB webpage says:

"PC filing is recommended for use only by experienced professionals."

To me, that translates to:

"If you're really scared of computers and have little common sense, you probably shouldn't use this program. In fact, you probably shouldn't be filng for a building permit. Pay someone else to do it."

And that's where the expensive expeditors come in. Wish me luck as I grapple with the DOB.

If You Can't Beat 'Em, Do Work Somewhere Else...

2008-02-03T00:00:00.000-05:00

I'm in another holding pattern until the drawings are done, so I am itching to do some construction again. My friend Anu called me up to let me know she's getting a new roommate and they've agreed they want to repaint the apartment...but have never done anything like this before. I'm not sure if they really know what they are in for, but I'm happy to help as I know that 1)Anu was a huge help with the drawings 2)I'll need the help down the road and 3) what are friends for?

At 9 AM I was on the doorstep of 65 Bank St. (that's dedication for a Saturday Morning) with a backpack full of tools and painting supplies. I broght my killer tarps to use a drop cloths. You know you live in the west village when a single tarp covers your living room + more.

We worked through the day and most of the evening, finishing up most of the painting, but there is still a lot to be done. Good luck ladies!

Insurance and Stuff

2008-02-01T00:00:00.000-05:00

Things have been moving forward slow and steady. My co-op board has been dragging its feet a bit, even though I'm on the board. I have been trying to get by with lower insurance requirements to save money and the hassle of dealing with State Farm any more then I have to. That didn't fly. Now, after a bit of waiting and money, I have $2M of personal liability insurance. Luckily, it only raised my insurance premium by $100/year. Not too shabby.

Recent vacations and a surge of work at the office have slowed me down a bit in getting this process done, but a few more signatures and I'm there. Hopefully we'll wrap it all up next week.

The Waiting Game...

2008-01-09T21:59:00.000-05:00

It feels like it has been awhile since I've posted, even though it's been only 2 weeks. It's true, things are moving slow right now as I'm waiting for responses from the Board of Directors, drawings to be made, paperwork to be filled out and asbestos testing to happen.

While all this has been happening, I've been putting my resources to forward thinking, focusing on the kitchen specifically. I've met a few kitchen designers who have come by to visit, sit down and take measurements/collect my ideas on what I want and eventually come back to me with a design.

Living in the city you have a lot of resources for something like this, but who do you really trust? I've found this great website called Service Magic where you can search for vendors in your area for all kinds of home services. So far, that experience has been good and I'm looking forward to see what comes of this kitchen design, even if it is a long way off in the project.

In the meantime, I hope to have the drawings wrapped up by next week and papers signed soon thereafter so I can go and file for all my permits.

2007 Wrap Up - Money Talk

2007-12-30T23:55:00.000-05:00

There's one more day left in 2007 and I thought it would be a good time to give an update on the financial state since this renovation is about doing things on a tight budget (of course, tight budget doesn't mean you should sacrifice quality, and I'm definitely not going to).

So, the grand total spent on home renovation supplies, labor and services for 2007 is.....

$6,186.15

Ok, you're probably thinking that's a lot, considering I've only been at this really for 6 months. Factor this into consideration:

Electrical Labor - $5,016.67 (81% of total!!)
Removal of Kitchen Wall Debris & Moldings - $300 (4.8% of total)

This goes to show what happens when you hire a contractor to do the work in NYC. You get ripped off!!! To top it off, recall that I bought the recessed light fixtures myself and got the dimmers for free. Imagine the mark-up on those if I bought them from the contractor!

With 2007 almost behind me, I expect 2008 to be even more expensive. The earliest expenses will include architectural plans, building permits, trim replication and drywall. Yet, I still think it will be well worth it and money can be spent wisely.

Two Layer Tile Cake...Yum Yum!

2007-12-25T18:29:00.000-05:00

It's Christmas Day and my Dad is visiting. I think he's the one person who's more enthused about this renovation then me and the likely reason for this is that he's not living in it. He shows up, tears apart stuff with me, and then leaves. Good plan. I look forward to the day my friends start doing this and I can show up with a crowbar, safety glasses, a six pack of beer and some Led Zeppelin to pump while we tear down a wall. Then I leave with a full belly of pizza. Good plan.

The itch got to me today, and I couldn't wait any longer to not do any work before I get these building permits. Since all my renovation work has been approved, re-tiling should be fine to start, especially since this doesn't require board approval. Remember, I've got a two layer tile cake.

We decided to quietly go-ahead and take an hour to rip up the old tile. Here's Dad hard at work on that checkerboard pattern.

The final result is the old tile is exposed. After a bit of Comet and elbow grease, it looks like...well, not new, but lts say "charming, 1923 style."

Busted - Part 5 - Details Complicate Things

2007-12-22T17:57:00.000-05:00

Obstacles to overcome in obtaining building permits:
1) Workers Compensation Insurance
2) Contractor's License
3) Co-op insurance/owning shares in a corporation

These are the three things I need to figure out in order to get building permits. The Workers compensation is actually no big deal. I just need to get a form filled out and notarized and fax it into the Manhattan NY Workers' Compensation office. I should be getting that back in 5 days.

As for the contractor's license, I need to prove I'm doing the renovations to my own home to the Department of Buildings. This would be fine and dandy, except that technically I don't own a home. I own shares in a corporation, which are assigned to my apartment. Not one single expediter I've talked to so far knows how to deal with this either. I need to figure this out in order to get work permits.

The final piece of the puzzle is the insurance requirements my co-op has for contractors, which is a minimum of $2 million personal liability. This sounds like a lot, but it's easy for me to get $1 million with my home owners policy. Going to $2 million is a bit tricky, so I've requested that the Board of Directors accepts $1 million in this case as it seems fairly special. They approved all my renovations this week, given that I get the permits and have the proper insurance coverage.

All in all, I think I may be the first person in the building who has properly gone through this mess. It's clear that the Board and managing agent have little idea how to handle it. I hope we can all learn from this and make it easier for residents to do their own renovations in the future.

Busted - Part 4 - Expediters are robbers

2007-12-15T17:50:00.000-05:00

Would you pay someone around $2000 to fill out some simple paperwork, stand in line, and get a few permits for you? If so, you believe in expediters. This concept/profession seems like a joke to me, similar to the state mandated law in NJ that you can't pump your own gas, only an attendant can.

Sure, I bet these guys know the building code in and out and have a good time bull crapping with their buddies they see everyday they go down to the Department of Buildings. I'm sure they do the job efficiently and timely. I'm sure they deserve $2000 for some work they do, but there's no way I'm going to pay that if I can avoid it.

I've started to gather the paperwork I need to fill out but it looks as if there may be a few complications. I will definitely need to hire an architect to stamp/draw the plans up. No biggie, as this shouldn't cost more then a couple hundred dollars.

I figure a day or two of my time off work will be well worth the $2000k I'll save as my piggy bank isn't endless.

Time to get back to the research.

Busted - Part 3

2007-12-11T17:46:00.000-05:00

So it's been a few weeks and I've been travelling and too busy to actually do anything in the apartment....well, I couldn't if I wanted to, so no big deal.

The building's engineer has come to inspect the wall. The most annoying part was that it took him 10 seconds to say it wasn't a load bearing wall. Thanks for the known info.

To top it off though, he decided to also put in his report that my electrical work needed to be filed for as well. Isn't my managing agent supposed to be dotting the i's and crossing the t's on this? Especially after all the paperwork I had to give him for the electrical work. Grrrrrrr...

Now I need to get building permits for the wall, which I can feel in my bones that it's going to be nothing but a big pain in the butt and cost me more money. As well, I need to get board approval for all the other work I want to do, which is extensive and I hope that they don't freak out.

More in the near future.

Busted - Part 2

2007-11-21T14:00:00.000-05:00

So the managing agent has finally contacted me as a result of the wall and ordered me to stop all work. This has me 1) freaked out a bit, as the co-op could kick me out if they wanted to, 2) ticked me off as all work I was planning to do with my Dad cannot be done and 3) delayed the whole project!

They have decided to send out an engineer to look at the wall, mainly to verify it's not a load bearing partition. A load of bah humbug really since I feel they don't trust my engineer and they are just looking to make money off of me.

In the meantime, I'm going to head off to Green Depot in Brooklyn to buy some denim insulation. It's a pretty cool product because it's natural, eco-friendly and is easy to handle. No glass fibers or masks need to be worn, so it's worth the little premium compared to fiberglass insulation to me. Plus I'm sure it will add value to the home and help keep my apartment cool in the summer and more moderate in the winter. I hope I can fit a few packs in the back of a Subaru!

The great shuffle

2007-11-20T17:36:00.000-05:00

After a weekend of shuffling all of my belongings from one room to another (with the help of the lovely Rachel of course), the electrical work has commenced again. The bedroom and bedroom closet now has recessed lighting. All the dimmer switches have been installed too, making mood lighting much easier then I ever imagined :) I've held off on buying the reflectors for the recessed lights as I want to wait until all the plaster removal is done. So, I'm ready to tear through some walls in the foyer and closets when my Dad comes out for Thanksgiving.

Light in a dark place

2007-11-16T23:00:00.000-05:00

The electrical work has commenced and it's look fabulous. The main feature being added in is recessed lighting and the elusive outlet in the bathroom. Here's a few pictures of this week's progress in the Kitchen & Living Room.

In my usual fashion, I waited until the last minute to put the lighting design down on paper. I mis-measured my living room and the advice I received from Chris Rush, a lighting designer at Arup, didn't exactly fall into place with the incorrect dimensions. Yet, it all worked out when I realized my mistake.

From what I've learned in the past, you always need to leave clear concise directions, measurements, and drawings when you're doing construction. I'm glad the drawings worked out after having finished them at 2 AM.

Busted

2007-11-13T15:20:00.000-05:00

Today I was busted by the super of my building. I had this one coming to me, but thought I could defy the laws of grumpy/overprotective new yorkers. Wrong!

I knew I wasn't supposed to knock down the wall without board permission. I also knew I wasn't supposed to do construction on the weekends. It turns out that a lot of dust fell into the steam pipe collar in my kitchen. When the heat kicked on recently, the expansion and contraction of the pipe resulted in dust falling into my neighbor's kitchen. I politely dealt with him about this and offered to seal it for him. I thought this was a normal occurrence in every NYC apartment, so I didn't think much of it.

Apparently, it kept falling for 1 week while I was gone at Greenbuild (kind of ironic how I'm at a conference about building for the future as my old building is falling apart in a sense). My neighbor continuously phoned the managing agent who then told the super to check out my apartment today, the day the electrical work started.

I assured the super that it was fine and that my structural engineer had looked at it, assuring me it wasn't a load bearing wall. He freaked out, telling me the ceiling would fall down on me. It's funny how much these guys don't know and they take care of your building!

Anyways, no consequences yet, but I plan on hearing soon about it.

Debris Removal Hurts...My Wallet!

2007-11-10T21:51:00.000-05:00

I had to get rid of all the wall debris today in order for the electrician to have the proper room to work in. The city has been letting me down with the pickup and resulting in nothing but angry phone calls from my super. I decided to pursue removal by paying someone to get it done.

One company came in this morning and wanted $475 to take away all the plaster and wood. I told them to take a hike. After a few searches on Craigslist and phone calls, I found a guy who would take a cargo van full of debris for $300 if I brought it to the curb. I instantly jumped at this option as there was no cheaper way (van rental + gas + finding the dump + paying the dump + my time > $300). This also gave me the opportunity to get rid of all the trim that's been lying around forever.

After an hour of hauling bags down in laundry carts (shhhh!!! don't tell my neighbors!!) with the help of Rachel and Chris, we got everything to the curb. The money exchanged hands and all was done. The best part was that the contractor offered to bring a garbage truck next time if I had more debris! Cool! He can only bring the truck at night though....sound illegal???

Can you taste it?

2007-11-09T15:15:00.000-05:00

Dust, dust and more dust. This is what you get for knocking down an old dry plaster wall. Blah!

My floors have a nice coating on them, no matter how much I mop. It's getting better though as I keep cleaning. I think I just need to buy a new mop!

The electrical starts next week and I went to buy supplies the other night. 18 recessed cans at home depot worked out to $275. Not too bad. I got free dimmers from Matt Franks at work, 6 of them which retail @ $50 a piece. Again, connections are great!

I'm looking forward to the lighting being installed, although it will be a bit of musical chairs as I have to clear out the kitchen and living room, and then flip it over the weekend so that the bedroom is clear. I think it will work out in the end.

The Berlin Wall

2007-10-28T23:12:00.000-04:00

Today Brian and I took down the wall. Two other friends crapped out on me, but I was asking a lot for people to come over on a Sunday afternoon after all the Halloween parties that were happening on Sunday night.

We had fun knocking it down and it only took us 4.5 hours, start to finish with some relief help from Rachel. The amount of material used in plaster/lath construction is amazing! To top it off, it's really freaking heavy! I hope I can slowly dispose of this using city garbage services, but I already had a problem with the paint peeling process in this area and that was about 1/20th of the amount of waste.

Like the pizza and beer, Brian was fully paid with a diner meal and chocolate milkshake. Savings = $2500 by my best guess. I have a feeling this is going to come back to haunt me someday....

All it takes is Pizza & Beer

2007-09-19T00:00:00.000-04:00

My colleague/friend Brian Markham, a structural engineer, came over this evening to assess the feasibility of removing the wall between my kitchen and living room. We had a look at a hole a I poked in the ceiling of the foyer to assess the beam spacing. Looks like it is not a load bearing partition, so I should be able to knock it down without a problem.

It's good to have contacts that know something about structures. I fed Brian pizza and beer, which probably saved me $475 or so to have an engineer come out to look at the wall. Thanks Brian!

The goal is to knock out the wall before the electrical work gets done so that the switches and outlets can easily be re-routed to the adjacent walls. I'm aiming to take the wall out and have the electrical work done before Thanksgiving so that my Dad and I can start removing the plaster and lath in the foyer and closets with all the electrical work done.

Order of Operations

2007-09-18T14:58:00.000-04:00

So I've had an order of operations for the project in my head for a while, but I'm fairly confident that I've firmed it up now and wanted to share it with you.

1. Strip doors and door frames - Done!
2. Start to get moldings replicated - In progress
3. Remove wall between living room and kitchen - by Nov. 2007
4. Install new outlets in bathroom & kitchen and add recessed lighting to most rooms - Nov. 2007
5. Remove plaster in lath in closets and foyer, replace with drywall - Dec. 2007
6. Refinish closet floors and add custom closets - Jan 2008
7. Remove all bedroom plaster and lath, replace with drywall - March 2008
8. Sand doors and repaint - March 2008
9. Remove all plaster and lath in living room and kitchen, replace with drywall - August 2008
10. Redo Kitchen - Start August 2008, complete Feb. 2009
11. Redo Bathroom - April 2009.

Now that I've looked at the list, it's a big project, but it should be well worth it. Thoughts? Send them my way.

Doors are done, door frames are almost there

2007-09-10T14:53:00.000-04:00

Finally, after months, I've finished the doors (yes, two times to strip on each door face!) and a majority of the door frames are finished. Some more work needs to be done on the transom window and front closet, but I think I need a break from that.

My Dad came a few months back and took away the cold storage and dumbwaiter doors with him. He finished up the fine stripping and brought them back primed. They look great and I look forward to getting to that area of the project, although it's probably 2nd to last on the list.

Now, I need to strip the hardware...

Moldings 101

2007-08-02T14:45:00.000-04:00

The moldings have soooooo much paint on them, it's not even funny as I previously mentioned. Take a look at the picture and I think you'll get the idea.

And this one isn't even the worst of the bunch.

So, I've ripped out a lot of the molding in my phase 1 area - the foyer, front closet, and bedroom closet. I've also attacked the door casings so I can effectively strip the door frames.

I'd like to keep the charm and the grand scale of the moldings, so having them replicated is important to me. Yet, this is proving to be more of a task then I thought. I took a train ride out to Queens the other morning to a lumber place that does custom moldings, only to have them tell me my order was too small. So much for an hour each way on the 7 train!

Then, a contractor put me in touch with Dyke's lumber, who has a massive catalog of stock moldings...but none of them matched mine. I dropped off my measurements and samples for a custom order quote. If I won the lotto, I'd consider paying them $6,057 for 800' of molding, but that's just way out of my budget.

I've shipped some samples off to my Dad in Michigan to get a few quotes there. I don't need all the molding at once, so if can get it for $2-3k less and then just bring out a few pieces each time he comes, that would be great. As well, I could resell the blades to another owner in the building and make some of the money back....which will just go toward the renovation, but it makes me feel better.

We'll see what the Wolverines say....

Archaeological Digs....in my apartment

2007-07-25T14:40:00.000-04:00

So after a long evening of stripper application, I began peeling late this afternoon to find a surprise. There's a transom window above my bedroom door!

Before peeling:

After peeling:

Yup, didn't have a clue it was painted over! So, then I got a bit curious and decided to figure out why my bathroom tiles were slightly raised over the threshold. Sure enough, they tiled over the old original floor tiles.

Then I ripped out the bathroom door casings to find more old tiles behind the wall tiles.

I doubt that I'll save the bathroom tiles, but the transom window will be a cool original feature to keep around.

Too much surface area!

2007-07-15T14:38:00.000-04:00

So these doors are really taking a while! One for the front closet, bedroom closet, bedroom and bathroom! It wouldn't be so bad if each door wasn't over 8' tall. I haven't even thought about the door frames yet!

Breaking on Through To The Other Side

2007-06-01T14:31:00.000-04:00

Paint stripping of "The Doors" has commenced. My bathroom is now a work site with remnants of dried Peel Away and paint.

The stripping is literally breaking through layers of paint and revealing detail on the doors that I never thought was there. It's cool to see almost instant gratification when the paint comes off.

Taking the paint off is probably the best part of the whole process. You really don't have to work too hard at it, it just peels away (hmmm...sounds like they thought about the product name). What I didn't expect is the amount of water clean up that is needed. I think I have a bit of a special case with various types of paints all mixed together and a thick layer I'm trying to remove all at once. In any case, the tub is working out well for this process and I'm learning how to apply the paste in a more effective manner that removes more paint the first time...yes, I said first time. It looks like I'll need to do a few areas twice to get all the paint off!

So, this is going to take a bit longer then expected. Hopefully I can live with a dirty bathroom for a while.

Have you ever had too much paint?

2007-05-23T14:17:00.000-04:00

Not long before I bought this apartment, the unit was a rental unit controlled by the sponsor. As you can imagine, people painted it to their liking again, and again, and again.... The previous owner even spruced it up herself.

When I decided to crack open the old cold storage box and the dumbwaiter, I quickly realized how much paint there really was in this place. I probably chipped off about 1/8" of paint on some surfaces. The moldings were just as bad and really don't have any chance of being rescued.

So, I began to think about how I'm going to get rid of all this paint, especially off the doors and door frames. The walls have no easy solution. The plaster is old, dry and cracking and really should just be taken out since there's no insulation. So, that's exactly what I'm going to do.

Yet, the doors and door frames have character. I want to keep these details.

After some searching, I found the perfect product for the job. It's called Peel Away 1. Think of it as cake frosting with some kick ass chemicals (wear gloves, long sleeve clothing, and eye protection!). As an added bonus, it encapsulates lead so you can dispose of the waste as you would standard waste.
After lugging home a 5 gallon bucket on the subway (this stuff is heavy!), I started my way into the mix with a test patch in the bathroom. You put on the paste, put some paper over it that comes with the product, wait 24 hours, and like magic the paint comes off!

Now, it's time for the doors...

Adventures in Renovation

2007-05-20T22:08:00.000-04:00

New York City is one of those cities where construction is always happening. Being one of the financial capitals of the world, you can't even imagine how much money is changing hands and being pumped into the construction industry.

As an everyday consulting engineer, I'm not that guy in finance who got a $300,000 bonus last year. Mine wasn't even 1/100th of that. I was able to scrape together enough money to buy an apartment with the help of my father in Northern Manhattan.

Being somewhat of a perfectionist and always having a vision, I've decided to set out to renovate the apartment on my own, with some assistance of course from close friends and family. I moved into this place February, 2007 and sat idle for a few months, but couldn't take it anymore. It's finally my own home and I can do what I want.....well, as long as I don't break any co-operative rules....to an extent.

So this is the story of my renovation and how I can achieve a vision of a luxury apartment on the budget of an engineer. There's no definite timeline for the project and no plans are set in stone, so it should be quite the ride. I hope you enjoy following my adventure.