That's plumb purdy!

Rough plumbing is done!  Huzzah!  Thanks Greg Ellis of Ellisco Contracting.  Tub is "dropped in" its place, lavatory is nearby, and there is pex running everywhere.  I'll finish framing in the master bath shower and hardi-backer the walls therein.  Then I'll put a lid on the guest bath enclosure and hardibacker the bottom part of the wall.  The top part of the walls with be the green, mold resistant wallboard.  It will be painted later.

Pouring the concrete for the mailbox has been delayed and delayed...by weather, time, and physical condition of this writer.  Hopefully this week.  The forms are up (as they have been for nearly two weeks.)  We'll get there.

As this week goes on, I have to plan again the wiring pattern.  Things change.

I'll get by with a little help from my friends...

January 2015
Things are moving in the right direction.  My friend, Greg Ellis has been "helping" with the plumbing.  I write helping with, and mean doing.  We had made a boo-boo earlier when placing a toilet drain...too close to the side wall.  While working to correct this, he offered to finish the rough-in plumbing.  What a mensch!

I've decided that instead of finishing the corner of the front fence as planned, I'm going to build a brick pillar for the mailbox instead.  I've readied the forms for the concrete pad, but ran out of daylight before I could do the pour.  I'll try to get it before the rain on Thursday.

I've agreed with the owners of the property behind to split the cost of the fence between us.  I'll buy the materials later and submit a bill.  We'll work on it together.  I've got to get the fences done.  I've had too many things stolen from the yard to leave it open any longer.  It was bad enough before, but no that they have taken the chain-link fence between us down, even more people pass straight through.  That's going to stop.

I've found a floor guy who will do the floors at a reasonable price.  I need to do that before putting in the cabinets.  Need to start the electrical soon (it keeps getting put off for other things).  I also need to get the plumber to run the gas lines.  They are needed for the fireplaces (downstairs and upstairs), the hot water heater, and both HVAC systems.

At an auction a week ago, I bought an English pub sign.  The Brookes Arms closed and was being demolished.  The sign made it to Palestine.  We'll put Nickel Manor on it with possibly our coat of arms or some other graphic.  It should look great out front.

Lots to do, little money to do it with, and not a lotta time to spread around.  Ah well, the life of a landowner.

Just Scraping By

I may not have posted much here lately, but I have not been idle.  No no, not in the least.  I cleaned and cleaned out the main floor and held a Hallowe'en party at the Manor on, of all nights, Hallowe'en.  We had food.  We had fun.  We had guests galore.  One picture included here.

Us in period-appropriate costume

Since then I have been scraping paint off of the 12 foot ceiling in said main hall.  It's been a tough job.  At times I have hired a couple of guys to work on it, but I always end up having to go back and redo their work, so I'm doing it myself.

I've also cleaned and organized the basement and nearly finished the required framing upstairs.  To top it all off we had a few close friends over Thanksgiving evening for "leftovers around the fire".  No pictures were taken as we were just relaxing and didn't care to.  Will keep anybody who cares posted.  Later.

I was Framed!

Not a long post tonight.  Having trouble sleeping, but just as I began typing, I started getting drowsy.

Life has been a speed bump in the road to complete the Nickel Manor.  Health, work, family, financial reality all have had their feet on the brakes.  But we're moving again.

The now hoisted and nailed bathroom wall.

I have finished framing in the kitchen, and I have nearly finished the the two upstairs bathrooms' framing.  I am to have some help on the plumbing (which I never finished), and then I shall tackle the wiring.  Sometime before the end of time (or December 31) I will hopefully get moving on the kitchen cabinets with Mike R's help.  There will be an ending, Bonarotti! (movie quote, so sue me)

Getting the lead out.

Okay, so the title of this one is a little tricky.  Think lead, pronounced  /led/, the metal.  Then go to its Latin name plumbum from which we get the elemental symbol Pb for it.  Finally morph that into the modern word for the pipes that carry water and waste around our homes and you have it: Plumbing!

So I've been working on the plumbing of the Manor, trying to get it roughly to where it needs to be before finishing.  As I got to the point of putting in the drainpipe for upstairs, I found something surprising and problematic.  In the space between ceiling and floor, running next to the joists, I found the original ceramic drainpipe still in place.  This is, however, when we bought the place, that was not being used as an upstairs drain.  It was sealed off and "alternative plumbing solutions" were employed.  (For that read rubber hoses run behind the walls.)  The problem this creates is that I must now remove this ceramic pipe to make room for the new drains.  That means cutting away a large section of the ceiling to get to it.  My back can't handle that these days.  And that means I have to hire someone, which in turn means less moolah for other things.

Bummer!

On the good side, Kathy and I got the big pile of rubble cleaned up and hauled off.  It was all the broken brick pieces, concrete shards, chunks of plaster, and just plain rocks that had been piled up in the back yard of the Manor for nearly a year.  Of course it kept growing during that year.  The area looks sooo much better.  Step by step-- inch by inch-- task by task--- we approach our goal.

Baby it's cold out there.

Okay, so I've been pretty lax about working down at the Manor for a bit.  It gets really cold in there!  Freezy fingers get smashed and slashed and gashed pretty easily.  Boy's gotta be careful.

Once I got my propane heater back from the "Grinch's Lair" (Jeremy Janz, Sonia Martinez, and Ian Warmke), I am able to work pretty well.  I've done some down there, but it's hard to find the time.  So much to do- so little time.  There are three upstairs windows I need to rebuild, one ground level window to finish rebuilding, and most of the basement windows to redo.  After that, rehang the garage/basement "barn door" and work on sealing it.  Those are the next things on the agenda.

After that, plumbing to the upstairs.  It shouldn't be too hard to rough it in since we will have a  "wet wall".  (Am I over-using quotation marks today?)  I want to get this done before spring break in March.  I am NOT on track for a July move-in so I must get myself in gear.

...in sickness, and in health...

You must have noticed- no blog entries here for a while.  That's because I was sick for nearly a month.  It was one thing leading to the next.  As a result, I have done almost nothing on the building.  It's a pain, believe me.  Better things coming.  Be sure of that.