We call this spot The Dungeon. Under the stairs at the back of the house, this was the old coal pit based on the black walls. Since then it seems to have been used as storage. When we first saw it, there was insulation in the rafters growing the most bizarre white curtains of mold. It was terrifying. The floor appeared to be dirt and it always seemed to be moist.

I started cleaning this out a few months ago. The floor wasn’t dirt after all. The inch or so of soil on the ground was actually boards, boxes and other things stored in here so long ago that they had turned into dirt! Under it was a thin (1/4″ in places) layer of concrete on top of old bricks and sand.

My theory is that this is the mortar and brick leftovers from construction 150 years ago that had fallen to the ground during construction. I sifted each shovel of dirt with a 1/4″ mesh. This helped separate out the sand from the larger pieces. It also helped me to find a trove of old porcelain shards, glass, coal, oysters, even bones. Iris and I are cleaning these up and will make a shadow box for the front room.

I planned to dig down until I found the footers, but no further. It didn’t take long. Once the rubble was out I hit dirt. On the edges I tested a few spots to see how far down they went. On at least one side, not far. It looks like they just laid the bricks right on the dirt. No footer or anything. We were ready for new concrete.

We next had to line up all the materials and tools. Pemixed concrete would have been like 20 bags. Luckily we found my grandfather had an old cement mixer which meant we’d have a much easier time. We had all the sand we needed and only had to pick up 2x 94lb bags of Portland cement and a half ton of #57 stone. Our friend Ian gave us the last materials: 3mil plastic and metal mesh.

I relaid some bricks at the mouth of The Dungeon to get it up to a level the concrete could come to. Next I threw in a few buckets of crushed up bricks from the rubble piles and stones on top of that. Next was plastic. Dad came down to help on Saturday and we cleaned up the remaining piles of rubble to have an area to work. He then started mixing. I started carrying.

Dad at work

Pouring… half a bucket at a time (they’re heavy!)

Other than seeming really wet, it went smoothly. We checked it for level side to side and to have a 2 course drop from back to front. I floated it nice and flat and then took his advice and not mess with it too much. I did a round with the float around 8pm and another with the trowel at midnight, about 12 hours after we started. The next morning it was able to be walked on and I could knock down some ridges. Looks professional!

Finished! Going to store some light boxes on it and let it cure for a month before I get to work on those awful bricks.

I’ve already started to store boxes in there.  I’ll let it cure for a month before I get to work on those awful coal dust coated bricks and joists.

Organizing her books.

This week we sealed the first of 4 sections of bricks on the 1st floor.  This allowed us to seal the bricks and put up book shelves.  We used leftover rough cut joists for this.  I screwed small oak supports on both ends of the shelf and the big joist just hangs over it hiding it.  Need to redo the trim around the window eventually, but at least we have a place to put the books.  We’re trying to clear out space on the basement bench shelves so we can clear out the little storage area under the stairs in the basement for major brick / floor work once we get back from vacation.

Monday afternoon, returning from work, I declared success. We finished up the wiring on Sunday morning and by Sunday afternoon we were relaxing in a 65 degree house. The weather forecast for the week is 99 degrees F and high humidity. Good thing we have air conditioning.

And then the power went out… and stayed out. Its been nearly 48 hours now and BGE is still working on the issue. News crews have been in the area so our discomfort is not in our heads, its news worthy! Without electric, there is little work I can get done on the house, if I could stand doing it in the heat.

Kitty and I tried to find comfort on the roof, but the breezes were not enough, so we packed our bags and headed to Ian’s house for the night.  Hopefully power comes back on tonight so we can get back to work.

Cat on a Hot Tar Roof

We should have started the process of installing air conditioning a month earlier.  Its June now and in Baltimore it can get into the 90s with high humidity… and has.

We’ve decided to stay ductless.  We’ve compared brands online and settled on the Mercedes of Mini-split systems: Mitsubishi.  After a visit from a contractor that Home Depot lined up, we got a quote for a Mr. Slim system: $14,000 installed.  HA!  That’s not going to happen.  We looked up the exact parts he quoted and found the parts to be around $4000.  We’ll see how I feel once its installed, but $8000 for labor is a bit ridiculous.  In classic Mike & Siri manner, we’ve gone and jumped in with both feet (4 total) and bought the same system online.  We can do this ourselves.

The Guts

We’ve picked everything up and it looks good.  Like our washing machine, fridge and dishwasher, this thing is a scratch and dent model.  There is a little dent on the  service cover, but once this is on the roof, nobody will ever see it.  We got a $200 discount for this which covers the line set.

The technology for this is more advanced, but the same concept as our True fridge.  There is a compressor / condenser unit that is separate.  In this case it will go on our roof.  It connects via power and a high and low line set to the indoor units.  This compressor supports 3 circuits.  One for each floor.  The indoor units are about 3′ x 1′ x 1’and mount on the wall.  A 3″ hole is made in the wall for the line set, power wires and condensation line.  We’re going to run these up the outside wall to the roof where we will put the compressor.  Speaking of the compressor, this thing is BIG.  Bigger than I thought it would be at least.  It stands around 3′ tall and is just as wide.

Siri is taking a trip next week and I hope to get this mostly set up while she is away.  I’ll need to mount the wall units and drill the holes through the walls in 3 spots.  I’ll also need to recruit some  helpers and get the compress onto the roof where I’ll bolt it in and wire it up.  Next step is getting the line sets installed. This will be tricky 3 stories up on a ladder, but I imagine I can handle it.

For the final step, we will be calling in a licensed HVAC guy who will basically turn a knob on the compressor and sign off that it works.. and then take a few hundred dollars from us.  This is lame, but we need it signed off on so we can get our 7 year warranty.

This afternoon we got a brief visit from the Goodyear Blimp.  We were watching the pre-race show for the Preakness when we heard this strange propeller sound getting louder and louder.  I thought it was strange so I ran out and looked up.  What a sight!  The Goodyear Blimp above Formstone Castle!

I climbed up on the roof to see where it was. Looked to be over Canton at first and then headed back the way it came.

It was good to take some time off after moving in, but that couldn’t last forever.  We still have a long list of things to do.  Even now, months later, the fridge is still not working, but I can’t sit still until its done.

It was time to get back to the fun stuff: BUILDING THINGS.  First order of business was the joists under the kitchen floor.  It was clear at the last two parties that people noticed the floor as soon as they went through the kitchen and that’s why we decided to fix them first.  These, at some point in the past, suffered the worst from the termites.  The original joists were half cut out and then a new joist was pieced together next to them.  Unfortunately, they did a poor job with the new joists.  They had cut them in half and then joined them by sistering a 3 foot long board in the center held together with 6 bolts.  This resulted in quite a bit of sag and bounciness.  This also bunched the floor boards together and lifted some up making for a pretty noisy floor to boot.

I pulled out the old termite damaged joists.  This was super easy.  I’d compare them to styrofoam, but that’s in insult to styrofoam.   In most cases they came down in splinters and dust.  Very rewarding quick work though.

Here I am tearing out the old joists.

After that I removed everything attached to the joists including the 3′ sistering boards.  I replaced them with a 10′ board (this is the width of the hosue) and bolted it all together with twelve 1/2″ bolts.  I’ve done two so far and it made a huge difference.  The kitchen floor, even though its not bolted down to these joists, is now quiet and doesn’t move under your feet.

Repaired Joists

I’m waiting to do the end joists for now. I’ll need to do some brick work while I have that one out and that’s just too much with a party a week away.

Another thing I got to work on was my benches in the basement.  These are based around the supports I added for the joists a few months ago.  They are T-posts made from 2x4s that carry the load down from the 4×6 which holds up the ends of any joists that have rotted out of their pockets.  I added peg boards to keep it nice and clean looking and while I was at it I removed the board that was blocking the old basement window.

Finished bench already full of crap.

Siri had jobs to do too. A few weeks ago a small metal cup fell out of the medicine cabinet and broke the vessel sink. This was pretty annoying as it didn’t seem to have taken much force at all.  The new sink looks the same but hooks up a little differently so we had to replace the board under it.  She used some leftover waterproofing membrane and then tiled it.  This is a preview of our shower as well. In the end it looks pretty good.  I will be building a cabinet under the sink at some point down the road.

Siri’s fun tile work under the (new) bathroom sink.

While Siri worked on the 2nd floor, I took it upon myself to tick one more thing off my list, even if it wasn’t important in any way.  This was to remove the drywall and panel board that covered the transom window from the inside.  The more natural light the better, plus it will help to illuminate our house number at night when the lights are on inside.

Transom window above front door. Temporary number added so people can find us.

The stained glass window could use a little cleaning and since I was already up on a ladder it was easier just to take it down so it can be worked on at a bench.

Our house number in stained glass removed from the front door transom for restoration.

Next we tackle the shower plumbing in order to finish up the drywall in the 2nd floor hallway.

These infernal machines have been keeping us busy for weeks.  Here is a quick run down of our appliances and how they’re keeping us busy.

Dishwasher

First load in our new dishwasher

We just got this about two weeks ago.  It is a sleek Swedish model from Asko.  Stainless steel top to bottom and really quiet.  Usually something like this would be out of our price range, but we got it for $400 with a few scratches and dents.  Got a photo of the first successful load, but as with all our appliances, it started acting up soon after.  The drain pump was going and going when we woke up this morning.  Hoping its something as simple as leveling.  Crossing our fingers its an easy fix.

Fridge

Under Counter Fridge

With only 10′ of width, a fridge will always be an important consideration for how the room feels.  The standard fridge stuck out into the room nearly 1/3 of its total width and more than halfway to the ceiling.  Visually it was a wall and really split the space in half.  To overcome this we decided to go under counter.  Siri found an True under counter fridge (TUC-48).  Its a used commerical model and is 4′ wide and about 34″ high.

Unfortunately, about a month after getting this, it stopped cooling completely.  We made some calls to have someone look at it, but with fees around $120 / hour with no estimate on how long it would take, we decided to do some research first. I’ve been taking a crash course on refrigeration and have learned a bit of the concepts and lingo.

We were lucky in that the house came with a full height fridge in the basement and a college fridge in the shed that both work.  We were able to put all the critical cool stuff like milk into the fridge and all our coldest items in the freezer.

Stove/Oven

This is one of the few original things we’ve got in the house.  Its a pretty standard unit.  We found out back in the first day of demolition that the stovetop worked when a board fell onto the handle and turned it on igniting the drop cloth that was over it.  Unfortunately, it wasn’t until we had the kitchen back together that we found the oven itself was not working.  There isn’t much that can go wrong on a gas oven so I’ve got high hopes that we can find this gremlin.  I’m suspecting something in the glow igniter or wiring.

Media Center

Raspberry Pi – $35 mini computer.

So maybe this one’s not an appliance, but its important to mention (because it’s fun).  We’ve gotten my 40″ Samsung mounted to the wall opposite our couch.  To avoid clutter on the wall we’ve moved all the speakers and computer cables down under the floor to a shelf next to the couch.  This keeps the wall with the TV just that.. a wall and a TV, none of the clutter.  The few wires we do need (Coax, power, HDMI, Monitor w/sound) are all black and bundled up right down into the floor below. We’re experimenting with the speakers by putting them under the couch pointing towards the TV. Sitting above them you have no idea the sound is not coming from the TV as the sound bounces off the wall.

To serve up files we’ve gotten a Raspberry Pi set up as a Media Server running XBMC via Raspbmc.  If you’ve not heard of a Raspberry Pi yet, its a project to create a cheap but powerful computer for education purposes.  The top of the line model only costs $35 and its about the size of a credit card.  Its bare bones though, just a circuit board.  It’s going to take some playing to get it all dialed it, but that’s run… right?  I’ve connect a 2TB USB hard drive to it via a powered USB hub.  This should store plenty of photos, music and movies.  I hope to get the TV’s remote working via CEC so we can control the pi with it.