measuring didn’t really seem to help much

however, sheetrock is a sign of progress…..I totally surprised the delivery guy from Hammond, buy helping him unload the first 35 pieces (2 at a time!). Little did he know I was numb enough to lug the sheetrock upstairs and hang it by myself. Thankfully I stopped that nonsense and did my best to be patient until help arrived.

It was a tuff day getting things to look normal in a room/house that has absolutely nothing level or square, but I think Chicky and I did a pretty good job in the master bathroom even if we only cut 1 in 10 sheets right the first time. And the first coat of mud is on! Thanks to Seamus at Rosemont Market for pairing lovely bottles of wine with sheetrock install.

andrew saves the day (again) — 2×12’s at restore!

Restore got a slew of lumber this week, so I stocked up on 2×12x8′, x10, and x14 + x16 (which Andrew will deliver!) for $4-$7 a piece. I can’t tell you how great I feel buying lumber used, even if we have to do a little ripping here and there. It kills me to place those lumber orders, although thankfully Hammond uses FSC certificated lumber, has their own mill, and supports the Maine economy.

Anyway, Elizabeth was kind enough to lend me her truck (again) but I forgot the straps (!!) so Andrew hooked me up with some rope and tied them down real good. Also, thanks Tom for picking out the good ones, and Tammy and crew for loading me up. And to Chicky who helped me unload. If I only I had all of you in residence…….

PS. Apparently a giant lot of sheetrock is coming into Restore next week. Yahooooooooo!

who knew a stinkpipe could be such a pain?

I started off with no stink pipe and plumbing upstairs, so progress is being made. I wish Mark, the plumbing inspector felt the same way!

its portrait time

So I realize documenting the house isn’t exactly art, but…I have been making pictures. To start off, we have 3 key members of this project, Chicky Stoltz: team leader; Hal Barter, City of Auburn-the man who actually secured the financing and also project manager galore; Levi Robinson, plumber extraordinaire. Then we have Chicky disconnecting the heating pipe with a sawsall down celler. And couldn’t help myself with my 2×6″ cutting station outside (love the Makita chopsaw) and the ladder ready to install windows. If they ever come….

i love you too, dumpster number 3

it would of been great if they delivered the other dumpsters with the door facing open.

was your house renovated by a jackass too?

I’m thinking of holding a photo contest of the most ass backwards renovations discovered during demolition. I mean really – are all these layers necessary? I started in on the downstairs bathroom demolition so a new wall could go up to house all the upstairs plumbing. In an effort to have at least one bathroom operational, I didn’t do the whole room (thank god). Not asking for walls or a sink, just a shower and toilet.

Behind the wall that held the door, were layers of sheetrock, particle board, and paneling. No studs.

Behind the north facing wall where my toilet is and pipes to the kitchen addition, was a layer of faux beedboard, sheetrock, plastic faux tile in sheet form, sheetrock, white plastic in sheet form, plaster and lathe. I’m guessing I just gained about 3″. No insulation except in one sketchy corner and I think that was a bed for critters.

Beneath the “tile” floor was an insane amount of glue, piece of plywood with brad staples ALL OVER, nother piece of plywood, original floor. It took about 1 1/2 hours to get up 5 sq ft.

So we did manage to get a little wall up, as square as we possibly could, but not only was the floor not level, one of the beams appears to be sagging a good 3″.

i love a square…the first new (old) window is in

So, my very first window is in (thanks Chicky and Paul) and I am elated. I spent an ungodly amount of hours on window design – and up until today, doubting myself through the whole process. I struggled with creating a passive solar design and something that opened up the dark spaces. I went with a 40×40″ window (that I got for $80 at Restore!) for the north facing wall – much to the chagrin of my radiant heat experts at Northeast Radiant Technology (sorry Rob) in jacob’s room and it is amazing. Not only because it makes the room look so much bigger, and lighter, but also the views are fantastic.

I really want to thank Michel Gaison (the architect I consulted with when I first drew up plans) for encouraging me to trust my photographic instincts on light and space. And also for just being super cool and sitting down with me and making me design, redesign, and design again. And for making me do cardboard markups. And for making me rethink how I use space and objects. And for giving me a roll of trace paper. And for not charging me a ridiculous amount of money.

So here are before and after shots – it’s been raining for days so not the best picture, but you get the idea anyway.

new old floors

I salvaged the floor of the loft of the barn and it is becoming my new bedroom floor. Pretty awesome wide planks. And that is totally not not me with the ruler measuring to make sure the nails are spaced out evenly and in a straight line.

whitney biennial installation piece or master bathroom wall?

and what does the demolition dumpster weigh?

So the first dumpster – the blue one was full of the first floor ceiling, some upstairs walls, sketchy rock wool insulation and some paneling and pergo floors. Team Hollander house took a bet to see how much it weighed. Jacob was the winner at 4.36 tons.

Chicky-6 tons

Jacob – 4.48 tons

Tanja – 3.8 tons

Hal – 5.0 tons (without seeing it)

Second one more of the same (minus plaster, lathe, and 100 years of critter poo) from the ceiling. Any guesses?

who doesn’t love a portrait or two?