Flat and Flipped

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!*

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

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

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!

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

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

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.