We've got the construction drawings!!!

OK, at least we've got an email from our fab architect Steve telling us they were actually done today. But E-man headed off on a scooter for Cincinnati this afternoon and I wasn't sure if the proliferation of copies we requested were done when I left work at 4PM, so on Monday we'll have drawings!

Getting along!

This is a photo of harmony at our house. These two canines are enjoying a proximity heretofore unknown in this household. Wiley has figured out that Bogart is a meddlesome, but otherwise harmless puppy who she can pin to the floor at a moments notice. Bogart dotes on Wiley, licks her ears, whines at her to play with him, rolls on his back during wrestling and lets her win at tug-of-war!

Houseblog HIJACKED!!!

This is at the request of sister Heather who demanded more photos of the new lad.

Top pic is Bogart (then Bart) lounging at his foster mom's pet store. He'll not be running for Congress with that Playboy pose in his history and now out on the web.

Middle pic is him contemplating chewing on Eric's shoes- a favorite past-time, but he's passing because it's not his favorite pair of tennies- E's Ponys! Those hiking shoes are too tough.

Bottom pic is him in his favorite observe-the-household-spot, the couch. Either curled in a corner or stretched out in the middle he's quite content and Wiley doesn't seem to mind sharing!

Back At It

Wednesday we returned to the house to finish pulling the kitchen wiring. While Eric worked on the wiring, Mary cleaned up the second floor, which had what appears to be recently moved insulation scattered across the floor. It looks like one of the wild creatures who live in the house is trying to adapt to the new environment and make space for a new home. Is it the squirrel from the front eaves or the raccoon which lives in our chimney? Can't say. But it looks like our animal issues are far from over.

Today (Friday) we walked through the house with our architect and a structural engineer. The engineer was being consulted regarding the removal of two walls, lowering a floor and modifying the roof line. The good news: he had ideas to accomplish everything. The bad news: it seems every design element impacted some other part of the house, and each of these other areas will likely need some modification to make it work.

We really MEANT to go to the house today!

I got home from work at 4 just as Mr. Martineau and our friend Brian pulled up on their scooters. Obviously mischief was afoot and they were both playing hooky from work. E and I were going to go to the house and remove the last traces of wiring, do general cleaning and get stuff out of there in preparation for the day (someday) that the contractors will start to work. Alas, it was seventy degrees outside and the park beckoned. So a new plan was hatched and we drove to Bri's with the dogs, then walked them (Bogart, Wiiley & Buddy) to Glen Echo Ravine for a romp...and for Wiley a swim in the creek then a slosh through the mud. We hiked back to B's where Wiley got a hose-down and we got beers on the patio. Bri's dog Buddy is a little cattle dog mix who's as friendly as can be to dogs and humans alike. The trio got along fabulously and Wiley and Buddy did their best to wear out Bogart. A great time was had by all. The humans were rewarded with dinner at the Dube.

The Waiting Game...

We've interviewed numerous contractors and handy-people to assertain what component of our project they are willing and able to undertake and to find folks we can work with. With the exception of one contractor, we're still awaiting bids (the one we received being virtually twice our budget, although we REALLY liked the guy). We're awaiting bids because these folks are awaiting construction drawings to give them a better idea of the true scope of the work to be done. We signed the contract for the construction drawings today. Now it's "hurry up and wait" for two weeks while Steve and Dean consult with a structural engineer and put their pencils to paper and create the technical drawings. That will enable us to obtain the necessary permits, hire somebody (ies) and get to piecing the place back together! In the meantime, I've discovered the joy of "purging" on Craigslist and the bathroom cabinet from the house now has a new home. As does an old green cabinet with glass drawers from our bedroom. With the first two transactions successfully completed I am contemplating what else I can drag out of the basement and post for sale online. And given the nature of the first contractor bid on the house, it may be a newfound method of funding! Only 1,000 more transactions to go!

Dog update: the name-still-to-be-determined fellow currently going by "Bart" (the name he came with) or "Bogart" (favorite name in the running) is adjusting to life in our home. He doesn't mind his crate unless you've instructed him to go there so that you may leave the house without chaos ensuing and then he whines pitifully. He has determined that the left corner of the couch is a mighty fine perch from which to survey the house or take a nap and Wiley has not challenged him, but maintains her patch of hearth. He has not learned exactly what constitutes a "toy" so slippers, socks, hats and empty water bottles are all fair game. His first true bout of destruction came when we went out to dinner with Dad Mac on Wednesday night. His crate was moved from the guest bedroom to my closet so that Dad might sleep in peace later that night. When we returned an hour later, it was to a snowfall of downy feathers. The down comforter that is his evening bed was too close to his crate (who knew?) He dragged enough of it in with him to put a couple holes in it and get feathers everywhere. He also managed to harvest a sweatshirt, scarf and purse (sorry Heather, your Xmas gift - but only the strap- is TOAST!) from the pegs in my closet hanging next to his crate. How he managed to get all of that stuff INTO his crate between the tiny bars is a complete mystery! This afternoon, E and I were taking a nap and Bart was sitting in the doorway to our bedroom. The most woeful moaning started coming from the hallway...Wiley wanted in and wasn't sure about passing the boy. Apparently she hasn't figured out that while he's a pushy boy, he wouldn't harm a thing, least of all the bigger dog in the house. So after calling her countless times to "come" and getting no result, we decided to try a different tactic...."GET HIM!" To which her response was like, "Really? I can pounce on him?" And we were all, "By all means have at it! We're going to need your help training this (adorable) brat!" And a joyful game of dog posturing and pouncing and bouncing and bounding up and down the hallway ensued. And all parties were quite content. And the newbie was officially initiated into the family.

Houseblog Interrupted

We interrupt this regularly scheduled houseblog for an important bulletin...The Martineau household is now plus one canine...the cute ball of fur in the previous post currently known as "Bart". His foster mom had to watch someone else's dogs and rather than kennel him, she brought him to us. He's on antibiotics, ear drops and we have to do coupage (thump on his side) three times a day to loosen any remaining flem, but he's a delightful young boy. This kid who had been sooooo mellow upon our first two meetings was very animated when we received him today. First order was to go for a walk about the neighborhood. He's a very "close walker" which will inevitably result in tripping me until we teach him the proper "heel." He knows "sit" (reluctantly) and "gimme five" and would prefer to sit in your lap, thank you very much. We've set up the crate in the guest bedroom and he contentedly napped there this afternoon. We set up a baby gate and permitted him to the first floor landing for the evening. There's a small percentage chance that the variety of pneumonia he has/had is contagious so we are keeping Bart and Wiley relatively separated and washing our hands (and faces) after we touch him before we touch Wiley. Bart's very "paw" oriented and will use them to let you know that he wants you to continue petting him, or wants out of the room he's sequestered in and into the one you're in. He's pretty submissive, but demanding when he's determined to have something (like out of his room). He's supposed to not be overly exerting himself and I unknowingly set off a tasmanian devil response when I made a "zerbert" noise at him. He was like "game ON!" and went tearing about the dining room and back at me wanting to be chased. I'm sleeping the the guest bedroom with him tonight. Back to your regularly scheduled programming. But do stop by for a visit and bring an extra treat for Wiley who is adjusting to the intrusion in her single dog solitude.

Why no housework got done today

We drove to Gahanna Animal Hospital twice before noon to visit with this little guy. He's currently called Bart and he's a rescue from southern Ohio that a local animal rescue group is looking to place. We met him for the first time on Wednesday and fell in love. He had to go to the vet because he wasn't feeling well and it turns out he's got doggy pneumonia. So he was at the vet until today getting properly looked after. Turns out the little guy is feeling better and feisty. For such a calm and mellow fellow, he thrice removed his IV and e-collar. They decided he could leave, but needs sub-cutaneous fluids, and antibiotics for a few more days. So he's back with his foster mom (he might be contagious and she doesn't have any other pets) until Wednesday, has another vet appointment Thursday, and if all goes well from THERE, he might get to come to his "forever home" (ours) by next weekend! So you all say your best doggy prayers that he makes a full recovery very soon! If YOU are looking for a furry new family member, may we recommend www.columbusdogconnection.com

Home & Garden Show

Sign up to win a series of annoying phone calls! OK, most vendors at the home show offer some real prize like a house full of windows or a free chimney sweep if you sign up. But the truth is your chances of winning the prize are slim, while your chance of being repeatedly called by the vendor and pitched to buy the product are 99.9%.

Anyway, last night we visited to Home & Garden show at the Expo Center. While we are in a good position in that we have actual referrals to most contractors and can also use Angie's List, it was useful to meet some vendors. We learned some information regarding replacement windows and I also collected some information on glass block companies in Columbus. I have to go over the info to see which company is offering the best "home show special".

The end is near

At least the end of the Martineau-demolition work is approaching. We got in another 2 good hours tonight. I pried up vinyl tiles in the kitchen while Mr. Martineau went "domestic" and hit the first floor rugs with the shop-vac. Every time we take down a ceiling (like in the kitchen), the entire first floor is covered with a nasty black soot...all the way to the front of the house! So our brown shag rug becomes a shadowy black. Eric attempted to abate this with the shop vac. This required him to change the vac filter or shake it out in the back yard about half a dozen times. And then he changed the furnace filter...if you recall, the furnace went out last week because the filter was so clogged it forced it to shut down. One week later, the thing was black again (kitchen ceiling soot, no doubt). But we stocked up on filters at Lowe's and will faithfully change them now! I finished the kitchen floor (see the previous post for an in-progress view) and lucky us! Kenny had not picked up our weekend dumpster yet, so I piled EVEN MORE stuff on top of the already over-loaded beast. We wonder how he gets the thing out of here without an avalanche of debris, but we assume he's got some professional tricks up his sleeve! We still had some framing timber in the entry room, so that made its way out to the shed for possible reuse and we called it a day. Next steps include taking all of the tools and extra stuff home. We're thinking of having another open house this weekend for any of you who saw it "before" and want the final tour before the contractors start their work so stay tuned!

A "tile" pile

This is the plywood kitchen subfloor and the growing pile of vinyl tiles we are tearing out. Looking up at the floor from the basement it is evident that the whole mess, joists and all will likely be replaced as the PO did some "creative plumbing" that involved drilling LARGE holes in the kitchen floor joists to fit his pvc pipes.

And yet more junk

This is the final look of how much we packed into the dumpster before we gave up the fight this fine Sunday. Looking closely you'll see that we fed it the "new tile" from the kitchen. Still got 2/3 of that floor to tear up, but it's going!

Kitchen coming along

While E ripped out wiring, I removed the remaining plaster and lathe from the kitchen walls and ceiling. We loaded as much debris as possible into the dumpster. The top pic is the wall between the kitchen and entrance room. One day it will be open to the front. The second pic shows a similar angle, but also reveals the subfloor where we started tearing out the vinyl stick-on tiles. Luckily, the green marble tiles were afixed on top of white vinyl tiles. Both come up rather easily with a prybar and a little force, but after 2 hours of labor, we were tired and gave it up for the day!

No more wiring on the second floor!

Eric took out all of the scary wiring on the second floor on Sunday as well as the remaining light fixtures and drywall up there.

Funny face

Eric covered in ceiling soot.

Double dose of work

Saturday we got a double dose of housework. We got to the abode at 10AM and hit the kitchen. Ceiling plaster and lathe were flying when a contractor arrived for an interview and to check out the scope of work at 10:30. We spent the next hour and a half walking through the house, showing the "bones" to these two guys. They came highly recommended from friends in the Short North who have had work done by them on businesses. We liked them alot (as we have others), but we have to see the bid before we make any decisions! When we were done we headed to the BIAC to donate the kitchen sink, cabinets and multiple ceiling fans (two from the kitchen, one from our current house that we upgraded for the possible future sale of the property). Home for a thorough shower (Eric looked like a coal miner) before we went to the German Village Society old home workshop. It was a very informative class about how to research the history of your house. It was both fun and informative, if highly geared towards German Village properties. We went straight from there to Hilliard to pick up the French doors in the photo above. We are proud to say they are another craigslist score (can you believe they were $20?!) We think they have potential to be the doors for the study on the first floor. Then BACK to the house for another round of demo/cleanup on the kitchen. We had to give it up about six as it was getting too dark to see. Home for another big shower!

Whatcha gonna do with all that junk?

Watcha gonna do with all that junk? All that junk in your dumpster. That junk. That junk. That junk that junk that junk! Here lie the remains of the kitchen demolition, the old fluorescent light fixtures from the basement, oh, and our Christmas door wreath (sorry neighbor Bob, it was time to go!) This is dumpster number 6 as it looked after our Friday filling session.

Bring back the HEAT

To coincide with the coldest Ohio February on record, the furnace ceased to work over the weekend. While we tried to soldier on, not a lot can get done in full snow gear and when you can't feel your fingers... you can't feel it when you hit your fingers with a hammer. While that sounds like a good thing, it's not. So we called our home warranty company and had an HVAC tech come out. $100 deductible later, we were once again feeling some warmth. Turns out the massive dust storm that was created by tearing out the old basement wiring caused the furnace to crash. Makes me glad we were wearing dust masks.

Despite the cold, while I waited for the tech to arrive I did manage to tear out the first floor wiring in the dining room, bath area, study, living room and guest bedroom. So, that just leaves the kitchen and upstairs wiring to be torn out.

Other news: Monday an electrician and a different HVAC contractor walked through to give us quotes on the rebuild portion of the project. My hope is that within the next two weeks we will have ironed out the construction issues and can start coming to terms with contractors.

This week has warmed up, the snow and ice are melting, and we have a dumpster on order for the weekend, so we should have a productive next few days.

Progress resumed

We went to the house today and spent 3 hours stripping old electric wire in the basement. This involved first hooking up every utility light and lantern we had (4) in order to be able to see in the dark cavern that is our basement. We moved from room to room taking out all of the cloth-covered wiring and the porcelain fixtures, etc. Tons of rusty staples and random nails got the boot too. We only had a few scares. The first was when we thought Mary had accidentally cut the furnace thermostat wire. Luckily she cut one that looked exactly like it, but not the one telling the furnace that it is indeed freezing upstairs. We're not sure if we severed the water meter line or not and since we've cut the water, it wouldn't have anything to register anyways, but we're pretty sure the City of Columbus will be perturbed with us if we did. We're certain that our eventual plumber can remedy that. Then we spent 1/2 an hour or so cleaning up. We believe we have a concrete floor throughout the entire basement, but it appears to be covered in a very fine layer of dirt that is virtually impossible to get rid of. Sweeping just seems to push it around. For "fun" we emptied out the "wine cellar room." It's a little room just off the first one in the basement. Mary swept up umpteen piles of dirt while Eric removed debris from the upper ledge. With all of the wiring and old fluorescent light fixtures removed, the ceiling looks considerably higher (it's probably just at 6 feet). We discussed painting the ceiling while all the wiring is removed b/c it would be much easier. Maybe when it's warmer!

Work Stoppage

While we are close to completing the demo, the snow & ice storm on Monday has stopped us cold (pun intended). It's difficult to get around town with the roads such a mess, and it's too cold (zero degrees right now) to be traipsing outside to dump debris. So, we took a Valentine's week break. I'd guess we'll tackle some work over the weekend and finish up next week when the weather is supposed to be in the balmy 40's.

With the down time I have been contemplating all of the work we need to have done and I'm freakin' out over the budget. But hey, who needs a completed kitchen, right? Oh yeah, we do to get our certificate of occupancy... I guess it really doesn't matter in the sense we can't turn back now.