Fireplace Fun

Since we got rid of the wood stoves it was logical to get a Masonry Contractor over to quote some work and sweep the chimney.  When the contractor pulled the flange/hook up thing from the flue we were greated with THIS 

Yeah... that's what happens when you don't know how to work a wood stove and you burn cords and cords of wood and never have your chimney swept.....  Gross... and Dangerous!   Things got more interesting though....

"The wall got a little soft over here" or "A post about plaster"

Plaster is hard. 

It cracks as houses settle and time passes.  To really understand why plaster cracks you need to understand what makes up a plaster wall.  You often hear of these walls being referred to as "Plaster and Lath" or "Plaster on Lath" with the latter being a more correct description.  The lath is a series of wood strips nailed to the wall joists.  The plaster is made up of two different materials, the first (which can actually be a couple of layers) being called the scratch coat which is a darker and more coarse material and the second being the finish coat which is white, very smooth and usually fairly thin in comparison to the scratch coat.  The scratch coat's purpose is to lock into the lath.  This occurs when the dead men who built these homes would put a healthy layer of the scratch coat onto the lath, pressing it in deeply to create "Keys."  These Keys were the portion of the plaster which curled around the back side of the lath and held the wall onto the lath.  The finish coat was then laid on and tooled to create the wonderfully smooth surfaces we know and love. 

No more Wood Stoves

Becca and I aren't really wood stove people.  The whole hauling wood and (irrational) fear of burning the house down and or dying from carbon monoxide poisoning thing just wasn't for us.  So, we decided to sell the two we had in the house....

This is what renovation looks like.

So by now, I think the overall public opinion is "wow, you guys are working so hard and your home will be beautiful!!" Is that about right?  I bet some of you are even thinking about starting a project of your own, or maybe wishing you'd tried this when you were young and full of spit and vinegar.  Well, let me tell you a few things.  It ain't easy and it ain't pretty.  (It is fun, I won't even lie.)

We've been sugar-coating it for you.  I hate to admit it, but this blog is all about romance and dreaming and you'd better be warned before doing anything like this.  If you can't handle it, please step away from the browser window.  I am about to show you unfiltered, unstaged, uncensored view of life in a renovation.  I came home, fed/walked the dog and then took snapshots of everything as I walked through.

This is what it actually looks like.

Sump-thing needs to be done...

I'm just not sure what.....

 

We gave the house a haircut!

Hi everybody!

Once again, Emilio and I have been super-busy on a project that probably makes our neighbors wonder if we've lost our minds.  

You may remember the exterior of the house looking something like this: