rachel Posted May 25, 2006 Report Posted May 25, 2006 Best birthday wishes and hope to see you down the Indiana way soon. I second that! Happy Birthday, Jim. Thanks for all that you do to keep this place up and running. By far it's still the best hang on the 'net. In your honor, I will cheer for the Pistons tonight!! :bwallace2: :bwallace2: .... and you know how difficult that is for me... Quote
skeith Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 Best wishes and hope you had a great one! Quote
Ron S Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 I've been doing some serious carpentry the last few days in preparation towards staining the floor this weekend. Then it's plumbing (two sinks and one cold water line to the refridgerator), finishing up the countertop (grouting the main countertop and installing and grouting the backsplash), hooking up all the electrical, the ceiling fan, and the fixture over the sink, and then finally painting the door casings that I've been working on this week. Shit, Jim! Forget that music crap and come help me build a few houses! Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 I've been doing some serious carpentry the last few days in preparation towards staining the floor this weekend. Then it's plumbing (two sinks and one cold water line to the refridgerator), finishing up the countertop (grouting the main countertop and installing and grouting the backsplash), hooking up all the electrical, the ceiling fan, and the fixture over the sink, and then finally painting the door casings that I've been working on this week. Shit, Jim! Forget that music crap and come help me build a few houses! I've always said that if I couldn't do music, I would like to work with wood (cabinetry, carpentry, etc.). I even like framing! Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 In fact, here's some pics of what I've been working on. I wish I had some "before" pictures handy, but they are buried on CD-ROMs somewhere. I'll find them when I finish the project. Anyway, here's the countertop I'm installing. They are 18"x18" pocelain tiles that I'm laying diagonally (they are 25" diagonally!) I had a heck of a time cutting them on the biggest wet saw Home Depot had to rent. My dad had the idea of building a wood platform on top of the saw's metal platform that allowed us to center the tiles on the platform and cut them one-half at a time. It took a little longer since we had to align the blade in reference to the tile and the first cut, but it worked like a charm! That sink is not the main sink, that's our little prep sink. The main sink is made from the same material and is a big, single-well model. The backsplash will be some 2"x4" brick looking tiles in shades of gray, red, and brown. I'm waiting for a wet saw I ordered off ebay to start those. I got tired of spending $60 a day to rent a saw. Next is the window casing, which I am very proud of. We had a new window installed to replace the old wooden window that was broken and rotted. The old cabinets used to butt up right against the window frame, so there was no casing to speak of. I wanted to match the windows in the rest of the house, so I made a new window sill, new side panels, a new top (I found a woodshop north of Lansing that happened to have a knife that matched the original molding in the house perfectly!) and bottom. Basically everything is new and besides the molding at the very top, made by me. Like I said, I'm proud of it! Next is a shot of the side cabinet and pantry. The pantry goes from the floor all the way up to the height you see in the picture. Over 8 feet! Plenty of storage space in there on shelves that roll out. I cut and fastened the molding on top. The cabinets were installed by a hired handyman. My back isn't up to hanging cabinets! My wife and I painted them (long long process) inside and out. In the very corner you can see the unfinished door casing. Which brings me to the door casings I've been working on this week. The darker wood is the original yellow pine that I striped about 7 layers of paint off. The lighter wood is new white pine that I cut to match the original pieces which were either ruined due to being cut to accomodate the old cabinets or just had too many nail holes and paint on them. Notice the original molding on the top of the casing. The new stuff matches it almost exactly. You can also see the floor that I will be staining this weekend. It is 100 year old southern yellow pine. It's a beautiful wood and is in remarkable shape considering it's age. Probably due to being covered by three layers of old flooring that we removed! I sanded the floor myself. Our contractor was supposed to do it and I rented all the equipment from Home Depot to be ready for our Monday morning appointment a few months ago and the guy never showed. That was the last straw for us with this contractor and we fired him and I've been completing all the work myself except hanging the cabinets. The only thing our contractor did in between July of last year when this project was started and December when we fired him was the drywall, which I helped with. What a loser. The door that you see I stipped and repaired two years ago. That middle section didn't have any cross braces in it, just one big piece of thin plexiglass. The door was very unstable, so I stripped it and took it apart and my dad and I put all new dowels in it, those cross braces, and new glass. It's just waiting to be painted. Next up, a shot of the other door casings I've been working on. Again, the new wood is lighter than the original wood. All the original wood had to be stripped. Zora is about 36" tall, so you can get an idea of how high the doorways are in this old house. I still have to cut and install some baseboards after staining the floor. In the right corner is a wall-mounted pot rack that my brother and I put up the other day. I'll post some more pictures once the project is done. It's going to be slick! Quote
Free For All Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 Looking good, Jim. Nice work. And a belated Happy Birthday to you! Quote
Soul Stream Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 Watch out Jim, home remodeling pays better than organ playing! I think you might have found a new sideline of work! Beautiful! I wish I had the talent to do that sort of thing. I'm paying a ton of money for some home remodeling right now, and it doesn't look half that good.... Anyway, great job! House looks awesome. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 It looks great! The only thing my wife would say is "don't stain the floor - the colour looks beautifully soft." MG Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 Watch out Jim, home remodeling pays better than organ playing! I think you might have found a new sideline of work! Beautiful! I wish I had the talent to do that sort of thing. I'm paying a ton of money for some home remodeling right now, and it doesn't look half that good.... Anyway, great job! House looks awesome. Thanks, Mike. The best thing about doing it yourself is you can take your time and do it right. Most contractors are rushing to get to the next job. It looks great! The only thing my wife would say is "don't stain the floor - the colour looks beautifully soft." MG Unfortunately the floor, although in good shape for being 100 years old, has a lot of nail holes, dark spots, etc. that don't look so good. I think a good, relatively dark stain will hide some of those and still look great. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 Watch out Jim, home remodeling pays better than organ playing! I think you might have found a new sideline of work! Beautiful! I wish I had the talent to do that sort of thing. I'm paying a ton of money for some home remodeling right now, and it doesn't look half that good.... Anyway, great job! House looks awesome. Thanks, Mike. The best thing about doing it yourself is you can take your time and do it right. Most contractors are rushing to get to the next job. It looks great! The only thing my wife would say is "don't stain the floor - the colour looks beautifully soft." MG Unfortunately the floor, although in good shape for being 100 years old, has a lot of nail holes, dark spots, etc. that don't look so good. I think a good, relatively dark stain will hide some of those and still look great. Ah yes, there's only so much you can tell from a photo. Good luck, don't paint yourself into a corner - at least, not one that hasn't got an organ in it. MG Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted May 26, 2006 Report Posted May 26, 2006 Well, after taking home some small cans of various colored stains throughtout the week and trying them where the stove will be (and thus hidden from view once the appliances are in) I was not completely satisfied with my choices. So I today got creative and mixed two stains together. "Red Mahogany" had the darkness I wanted, but was too dark, and "Sedona Red" had the redness I wanted but was too light. Put them together and: The photo doesn't do it justice. It has a really beautiful deep red tone and the wood took the stain extremely well. I did use a pre-stain conditioner beforehand. I'll put the polyurethane on tomorrow. I'm hoping to get at least 4 coats on before I have to gig. Speaking of gigs, it's time to hit the shower and get ready for Kalamazoo! Quote
Herb Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 How embarrassing! A day late and a couple of bucks short again! Happy Birthday, Jim! Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 WoW! What a floor! I can't do ANYTHING like that! MG Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 WoW! What a floor! I can't do ANYTHING like that! MG Thank you! I'm really happy with it. I'm about to start the polyurethane. It really looks good considering how old it is. It gives me confidence to do the rest of the floors in this house eventually. Quote
Parkertown Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 Sorry I missed it, Jim; I hope it was great! Thanks for everything! Please come to Denver for the summertime...we could use some greaze up here... Quote
AllenLowe Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 doing your own floors? I tried that once... Quote
Jim Alfredson Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 One coat of polyurethane is on: A close-up of the grain. They don't make floors like this anymore. To think this was hidden under 60+ years worth of ugly linolium. Quote
The Magnificent Goldberg Posted May 27, 2006 Report Posted May 27, 2006 That's proper stuff! Good thing it WAS hidden; it wouldn't be there now after decades of scuffing. MG Quote
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