four weeks and one day

ok so i had my weeks wrong... we are sitting pretty at 4 weeks and one day today... again we got alot of work done in a short amount of time... unfortunately there was a snafu with the camera and there are no photos... but we will soon be uploading a photo of eeh initial back of the house and the back as it stands now... it will look even nicer once we get our green thumbs back there and get some plant life...

so, what did we do today?? we mortared, scrubed, and painted the back brick wall on the outside of the house a slate blue... filled in the hole created when we removed the "fart pipe" or "stink pipe" as shorty calls it... we finished the deck... did our laundry... cleaned out the fridge... took down the duct work from the old furnace... i chipped away at the plaster on wendy and austins wall... capped off the drain pipe so we could do laundry... supported the basement floor... i feel like we did sooo much more but i guess thats it...

sean and shorty stopped by to say hi and check out the place... my mom and bill brought with them chicken and ribs for the grill and later we had a little birthday celebration... gizmo the friendly alley cat brought over a friend... but as they ate their dinner the rats had their way with our trash bag... oh well... im sure the cats are good for something just not scaring off the rats...

2 more days off work... it feels sooo great to not have to goto work mon or tue... sooo releived to have a day off... stay tuned for our next adventure...

Beth's first birthday in our new home... :) 

Three week aniversary

well today was a long and productive day... we met with another plumber who seemed to be a little more on his game and more dependable... unfortunately to the tune of 1500$ more than the other plumber... decisions decisions... crazy and cheap or dependable and expensive... we also need to decide if we will put a 1/2 bath on the first floor... it will cost and additional 700$ and we will probably have to refigure our kitchen a little... the plumber gave us a few recommendations of what we should do before he and the HVAC guys get in there and we got started on it right away... removing the cast iron pipes from the outside and inside of the house... we found that the venting pipe had been tarred over at the roof level... we got most of the pipework out... we need to reassess the drain in the basement because we werent thinking when the pipe was removed that we have been doing our laundry at the house and might need the drain... well see how that works out...

we ran into the neighbors two doors down.... they have people renting the house to people that are not so neat... they said they would be kicking them out and getting the house remodeled and they were plannig on moving in... it was good to hear they were as disgusted by the current state of affairs as we are...

we worked away on the deck as you can see in the photos... i have close to perfected my nailing and screwing technique... we got the railing down... and we should finish the porch sunday... its nice to have a 4 day weekend... we can work away on the house and still feel like we have a little time to rest... :)

Brian slaves away while I hang out with my favorite little helper...  

here's rem lending a hand to remove cast iron pipes weighing more than himself!! :) 

my favorite littl helper :) 

Day 20- FRIDAY!!!

Well, we have a long weekend of work ahead of us!!! we hope to get alot accomplished since we are both off monday and tuesday... tonight wendy and austin came over and were a huge help in tearing out a portion of the 2nd floor ceiling, cleaning up the mess, and loading it into the back of the truck... it would have take brian and i alone sooo much longer... we really owe them big...

thanks also to the girls at work for the gift certificate to lowes... its burning a hole in our pocket!!!

until next time...

Running on empty...

We'll have more pics and posts soon... We will be doing the last of the demo today. After staring at the second floor ceiling for awhile now, we think we have a game plan.

We'll finish the deck, all demo, and the last of the landfill trips this weekend.

Need to do a little work on the front porch door and get a handrail up on the front steps for insurance purposes.. By next week, we'll hopefully have the Plumber and HVAC lined up if not started after quotes from two seperate contractors. We should also have decided on the kitchen set up, where we are getting the cabinets and appliances, and a ballpark quote.

Thanks to Wendy and Austin who have been very helpful... Much Appreciated!!

Our community garden plot in Reservoir Hill, Balitmore City (The weed is mightier than the trowel, especially when you're trying to re-build a house, design another, plan a wedding, and work a full time job!)We can't wait for the honeymoon...  

Steps !! 

a work in progress... am i talking about brian or the deck?? what do you think?? 

the end of another long day : 

THE WALL!!!! 

beth, proud owner of a tool belt :) 

we happened upon a jack hammer and brian rocked it!! I gave my hand at it... was fine at the hammering part its the picking it up and moving it somewhere else i couldnt do...  

Our neighbor Joe... i say no more...  

Day 22- Sunday

well today will be short and sweet:

wendy and austin finished the wall
we built the frame for the deck

we grilled out and had a nice lunch or was that dinner...

thanks to my parents for coming up two days in a row...
thanks to wen and austin for working soooo hard for no pay...
and a special thanks to Dustin for letting us use his restroom...

when arkansas and west virginia meet sparks fly! 

Day 21- Saturday

Well this weekend was the first time we created something rather than demolishing something... on sat we spent a few hours at home depot again getting all the lumber to build the back porch... we then went to meet my parents at the house and loaded up truck loads #21 and #22 and took them to the landfill... while we we gone my parents went to town taking up the carpet in the back bedroom upstairs, cleaning up the washer and dryer and helping us with our laundry, powerwashing the outside back wall... unfortunately power washing the back wall did not work as well as we thought it would but it was worth a try... there are still layers upon layers of paint on the back brick and we ultimately decided to paint it... we also solidified our plan for the deck and made a shopping list for sundays trip to home depot... our home away from home!! bill and brian finished up the day by fixing the back gate which like everything else was much harder to do than origionally thought... but it is now on and in working condition... :)

Who says were not having any fun???  

View out the window of the upstairs front bedroom. Looking NW in the late afternoon 

Wood floors to be sanded, and parts of our future bathroom 

What the hell did we get ourselves into... 

May 19 - Thursday

Well, we've hit a plateau in physical work, and are doing more planning, getting quotes, getting advice, etc... So we'll update the page as things become more firm.

Yesterday was our first "personal" day where we didn't go near the house, and tried to gather some peace of mind.

I did some easy tasks in the basement today. Mainly making sure all nails were taking off the bottom of the joists (they can be hard on a tall persons head), did some cleanup in order to have a decent area to put things so they weren't in the way of progress on the 1st and 2nd floor. Also put up some make shift curtains to keep wandering eyes out as we start to do some building.

Next tasks will be to put in back stairs and sister any joists that need added support. Basically making everything as firm as possible before building up. Then secure the property as best we can. Probably putting in a new basement door and back door.

Plumbing and HVAC are our next major steps which we are getting quotes from contractors for... And we though we'd only put about 8K into this place..
Yeah right !

We've decided to expose as much as the wood floor as possible. It is beat up, but we'll do the best we can, and try to give it some character.

Things seem to be coming together... Of course we might be shooting for the end of July for a move date...

I believe Pam and Bill are coming over Saturday.. and Wendy and Austin will be tackling the plaster removal Sunday. I've got a feeling they will finish the wall by the stairs.... Its not a critical area right now, but they are having fun doing it, are good at it, and well, we appreciate any work that our friends can muster. Thanks

more to come soon...

something is missing... can you find it??? 

Day 16... Monday

Well the saga continues!! today we had an estimate for the HVAC... a free estimate from home depot for the product trane... it was a bit more than wed like to spend so i think we will continue to shop around... brian removed the awenings from the front 2nd floor windows... evidently it went pretty well... (i was at the gym getting my butt kicked with squats)... it seems the second floor layout is going to take a little more thought than previously estimated and possibly more demo-ing...

on a lighter note we picked our first batch of fresh spinach from our garden plot today :) cant wait to get some tomatoes!!!

the dynamic duo.... goin at it with their awesome technique... i give them a 10! 

I dont even know what to say here!! 

Austin and Brian taking the 2pc tub apart. Cost 60 more bucks than the one piece. It took some geometry to get in as it was... 

Home away from home these days...  

Beth and her favorite Sunday breakfast (Gunny Bagel with hot sauce!) before our 4 hour Home Depot day... This was a Mother's in Federal Hill 

Day 15... Sunday

Well I think we spent more time in home depot in this one day than i have spent in home depot over my whole life!!! sunday we were lazy and didnt get out of bed until 8ish!! went to home depot and purchased many objects to name a few the toilet, tub/shower, bolts, nuts, screws, doors... etc... etc... etc... wendy and austin volunteered to come help us... they ran to home depot because they needed gloves... as hapenstance would have it we ran into one another in the lumber/glove section... that store is huge and we ran into one another!! once loading everything up into the truck (which was quite an event in itself) we headed to the house to work work work... austin really wanted to get dirty making a mess so we put them to work on removing the plaster from the wall... their technique caused them to work 1/2 as hard as brian and i did, however, got twice as much done... theyll be back to finish their wall next sunday.... what a help!!! i worked on stripping the paint off the back wall so we can cover it with clear coat and build the stairs in front of it... while brian worked on the 2nd floor getting carpet up and dropping poop bombs from the 2nd floor... i mean he was removing a portion of the return pipe from the 2nd floor bathroom... all in all it was another busy day in the lives of B&B... thanks again wen and austin for the great job on the wall so far... much appreciated!!

Beth and Bob loading up the truck early on saturday morning 

Beth loading up the truck on Saturday morning... Its just not right to have the alarm go off this early on saturday.