A breif history lesson

Hi all, sorry its been so long so many little things have been happening and no energy to post, but I promise things will start picking up around here soon.

So in the mean time I wanted to give a little background about where it all began and why my sidekick (aka husband) and I have challenged ourselves with such large projects. We are a little crazy but there is a method to our madness. 

Like any normal stage in a young couples life we bought a house. A fixer upper of course it was what we could afford and after some renovations we built up our confidence and decided to really jump off the deep end. For some "free" entertainment we used to drive around neighborhoods and look at houses and building dreaming of what they could be etc. There was this wonderful building in particular that was downtown near our house that we actually parked across the street from and just lusted over.  It was very run down and  unloved; for some reason when we drove away I felt connected to it and knew something was going to happen with it.  A year later we found ourselves driving around again and low and behold a "for sale" sign was pitched in the front yard.  We both looked at each other with wide eyes and thought "we could never afford this" We scooted home and got online to check out the price.  With a little creative thinking, a walk thru of one unit and the basement, (a very scary sight) we were in escrow two days later.

Our walk thru of the unit should have scared us off, there was a older couple whose teeth were all but gone that were cooking on a one burner hot plate because the stove hadn't worked in months, there fringe wasn't working either but they didn't seem to care and put there food in there anyhow. A prostitute (or she looked like one) was putting on makeup in the bathroom drinking a beer and talking to a girl who was past out in the bedroom half naked. The basement of the building roughly 1500 sf had 3 to 4 inches of water in most of it because the hot water tank had went out.  They had just installed a new one but decided that cleaning up the water was not a priority and that all the sofas and mattresses used for hourly prostitution were fine. We were very naive.....

From the beginning we told ourselves that if it didn't work out thru escrow we wouldn't push it, and seeing what we had in our walk thru we did know that we had alot of things to figure out.  Our families thought that we were crazy but I knew that the bones of the building were solid and that someone needed to save this building. 

The first hour after we closed escrow we had a 30 yard dumpster delivered.  We knew there was alot of trash so we figured we would start there.  Moments after arriving we were greeted by our "new" tenants.  All of them were over friendly, twitching and itching and asking if we were good landlords because there old landlord was a slum lord.  The dumpster was full to the brim and we were surprised to learn that they had beat us to the punch and cleaned out most of the basement. I guess to get in our good graces.  Three units had people living in them, no one had leases or had paid any rent in months, one unit was open because the bathroom had been gutted and the basement apartment was used by everyone for hourly services.  If your not catching on we figured out really fast that we had just bought a real honest to god crack house.  We knew it was bad, but not this bad.  The power had been turned off and they had broken all the meters and were stealing power and running electrical cords to each unit (fire waiting to happen). They had also cut the gas line which also had been turned off and they were trying to install a propane tank in the basement for heat. (also fire waiting to happen)  Needles and spoons were everywhere, people's trash was just left around because no trash service was in service and random people were breaking into the basement and just sleeping where ever they felt like.  These people needed to go.  Period.  We gathered up everyone and politely told them that we were going to be doing a major renovation and that no one could stay, however we were going to give them a week (legally we could have kicked them out  in 3 days) but we were afraid that they would burn down the building or something.  We felt horrible questioning where they would live and would they be ok, and on moving out day we grew some thick skin.  These were drug addicts, not people who you can reason with.  They only care about one thing and will tell you anything to get what they want.  And they wanted to stay living in our building for free forever.  After a  couple of screaming matches and personally moving one person's furniture to the curb (with their permission of course) we took back our building and fortified it from the scary people not willing to listen to "Trespassing do not enter" signs.

Part Two Monday............

Buckets...

Remember when I posted that there were buckets of water coming down.........  Well it's back.  It was raining so hard that we decided not to work on Sunday due to our almost accident on Saturday. We didn't want to push our luck so we sat back and watched as the water rose and inched its way to the garage entry, and then I decided that we needed to work a little to divert the water around the garage instead of into the garage towards our tools. On the plus side, my windows on the treehouse were as dry as the desert.  Hopefully we will dry out a little this week and finish that darn Hardi Panel Sidding!

For the love of blogging...

Well it just goes to show that you shouldn't take blogging to serious, because someone can get hurt. AKA my husband. Thankfully there was no permanent damage but we did have our first official accident on Saturday.  On one hand it's embarrassing but on the other we laughed really hard after it happened, I think to relief the stress of the what had just happened.  So to recap.....

Last week we took a week off to head to Reno to take care of our rental properties (I think it's time to share those stories soon, because it relates to where we are now) anywhoo we worked our butts off in Reno and came back exhausted..... we started back on the Hardi Panel siding on Saturday in hopes of finishing it up, but we had been having a hard time getting back into the groove of things. It was a slow day to start, lots of running around, heads not really in the game that sort of day. 

So, after a late start we finally got into a productive routine.  We worked away finishing up the back side of the building and moved our way around onto the living roof, the easier side......we were about to finish our LAST full 4 ft x 8 ft panel then........stupid blogging got in the way.

We wanted to video the last panel getting hauled up the ladders.  First, because it was the last panel and second, because we are idiots....... In the last five years we haven't had one, not one single accident.  I guess this really can be called a close call  but no excuses, we will not be doing dangerous stunts anymore period for the blog.   On the flip side, we laughed really hard to the point of tears, of course after I found out that he was ok and there were no broken bones.  And believe me at the end I can't believe I caught the whole thing on film because after it happened I didn't even know I had the camera still in my hand.

100 plus pounds for 100 plus pounds

No break to re coupe after wood siding.....we have hit the ground running and the will to finish the exterior siding has put us in a motivate drive to work. 

I have three exterior siding finishes:

1: Cedar tongue and groove wood. 
2: 4 ft. x 9 ft. Hardi panels.
3: 4 ft. x 8 ft raw steel panels.

These hardi panels are basically sheets of 1/4" concrete.  They are extremely durable for weather resistance and I salvaged them at my favorite salvage store cutting the costs of purchasing them in half. Yippy!  However, they easily weigh 100 lbs + I myself weigh 115 lbs so in the event that we happen to drop a full panel on me I will no longer be posted our progress.  Just kidding...not really funny because we are doing death defying acrobatic work but it's mostly a balancing act.  Well, if you have a husband who is a super hero like my husband then it's mostly a balancing act.  Someone does have to slump the panel up the ladder.......... We started with the street front, surprisingly we are already to the south side of the building.  Its so much faster then each little 6 inch board when your hanging panels 9 feet high.  There are these metal track pieces that frame each panel so water can't penetrate to the sheeting.  Each metal trim has to be cut and screwed into place but after a final coat of paint this material won't have to be touched up for 30 to 50 years.  I'm thinking the paint will need a little touch up during that time but the material seems stronger than ever!

We did a little recap of hanging the panels, there was no way I was going to worry about setting up the camera and running to get a shot of us trying to hang the real deals.

No more wood......

I'm so excited to report that we have completed the wood siding!!! It went up relatively pain free, however,  one 6 inch board after another 6 inch board for 30 feet can get a little daunting.

I'm extremely pleased with how wonderful it looks, it has really added another dimension to the exterior architecture.  It was funny to watch people drive by who have seen the white tyvek sheeting for the last couple of months slow down or stop and just stare.  Everyone has been extremely friendly and have made really nice comments on how good its turning out.......=) Our neighbors came over for dinner while we were half way through and commented that we must have done this before.  Ha! I guess our first siding job can't look that bad!!

Our interpretations of how we felt after the wood was completed. 

My legs on the other hand were getting quite a workout.  The day went like this: Climb up the ladder take a measurement, go down ladder cut board, climb up ladder with board, place board, nail into studs, climb down ladder, move ladder to middle of wall, climb up ladder nail rest of board into studs.........that's just one board. I bet there is a better way but it was the best we could come up with! Just some corner metal pieces to trim the two edges together and we don't have to touch those walls again! Well for at least 10 years......

What was broken is now fixed

We are working away on siding still......... the wood is almost done but I wanted to wait to share it until its complete.  Its my way of giving myself a reward, I guess.  A little break to re coupe then we are on to the hardi panel siding.  We started a wall at the entry already so the stair railing could go up and its really fun......well if you consider lifting a 100 lbs in the air and setting it into tracks.  Its bullet proof I suppose against the weather but we have a love /  hate..... mostly hate relationship with it so far. Should be interesting.

So while I have been swinging from ladders my stair railings were fixed for code and reinstalled.  The metal guy I found has been perfect for this project.  He gets my thinking process and we have so many exciting details in store coming up! The top of the stairs at the landing is my favorite part, don't miss checking it out....  The lines of the railing just bend around and float over the space and into the wall.  It was incredibly complicated to make with all these compound angles and things I can't even fathom. Now all I have to do is paint them....hummmmmm what color? Will keep you posted!

Still feel like the turtle...

Just after I finish this post and press publish I have to march straight out and continue staining wood siding.  I have been staining for days, weeks...... forever.  At this point I have stained roughly 2,000 lineal feet of wood.  That is enough to drive anyone a little nut'so.  So, hope you are all doing something I little more entertaining then me and miss norah jones.