The Rainforest That Is My Backyard

Meet my little friend, the Black and Decker HT012. If it stands, we will fell it; if it lays, we will kill it. I haven't thought too much about what I'll do next because the weather here blows so bad it's nearly impossible to plan but there will be some serious yard waste - heart attack serious. Took before pix and will post with the after. I am expecting miracles! - and hoping my back holds out.

Trouble is last time I met up with poison ivy, my face ballooned up and the rash was a sight for no eyes. The ground I'm clearing is at least six inches of ivy; most of it is normal but those damn poison leaves are poking up here and there. It's not good. And, there's the rain. Seems like every day has it's dose and the trick is to figure how to work around it and work fast enough to beat the new growth. I am not comfortable operating electric power tools in rain.

Wanna bet that whatever I do plant here dies? Eh, one problem at a time. Sounds like I need to have a talk with my attitude.

I'm going back in. If I don't come out, send help.

Glazin the Tub

Glazin the tub is nothing like praying the to the porcelain God; it's painting a new face on an old appliance. I did this myself with a brush-on epoxy paint. The tub was glazed once before the flood but, with moving it, the dry-out stirring up a lot of dust and dripping paint on it, the tub needed a new coat after the flood damage was fixed.

So, this is the final product. It doesn't have a perfect surface. If you could see this up close, you'd see brush strokes. If I were a perfectionist, I'd have a professional do this with a spray machine; it's the only way you have a chance at an even surface. And the fumes, forgetaboutit! But, this tub has never looked so good and, after all, I'm not going to serve dinner on it.

Water - The Silent Killer

First, postings slumped during work. I was making progress and just couldn't justify taking time to write. Then, when it looked like there was only one or two weeks before the first floor would be finished, the water pipe to the second floor toilet burst flooding the entire second floor, first floor and basement in hours. Damage everywhere! We were gone only three hours for dinner and perfectly good plaster ceilings were vertical when we returned. The edges of floor boards were turned up making each a perfect little trough for water to flow from the one side of the house to the other. The water was lapping at each of the baseboard outlets. That's a sight I won't soon forget! Here's some post-flood floor pics:

Hired a contractor for dry-out. He said that on a scale of 1 to 10, the damage was an 8. I thought he was exaggerating until I moved back in. Amazingly enough, the place looked even worse after being dried out and stripped. I could see damage where you'd never think to look for it, in the trim, in the outer walls, etc.

Been living in the tear-out eight weeks now while my insurance agent and contractor squeeze my repair discussions into their vacations. If I weren't so busy at work, I'd be furious and would have taken care of this already. When the contractor called and delivered the final quote, it was less than $2,000 more than the quoted amount before he started negotiations. I asked him to get a quote on the flooring from the company that originally installed it - Bluford Jackson. The rep assured me he would. The manager or owner said they never did. The quote allows over $15 sq.ft. for them to lay and finish the new floors (the original flooring is all removed. I asked them to save the pieces I could re-use but they didn't). I can have Bella or similar installed for $9 sq. ft. I'm thinking they have a deal with the flooring person and don't care what I want.

Should I fire the contractor or have a very serious discussion with him?


These pix show damage from the bedroom and bath pictured in prior posts. The bedroom ceiling I worked so long and hard to strip and paint is now half gone along with the baseboard on the one wall (to allow air flow). There are also numerous holes in the walls because of the demo and need for air. Water flowed down all of the bathroom walls warping the "drywall" that we had just hung and staining the tile and grout. The picture of the closet is two days after the flood; the towels however showed much more damage a week later as the water and mold came through the walls and settled in. The chairs you see here still look much like this eight weeks later. The blue machine is a hepa filter. Let's hope it did the trick. The red ones were giant fans and there were even larger dehumidifiers all around.