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November 25, 2003

Ongoing: roof, kitchen

Nothing new was started this week -- we've just been plugging away at getting some stuff finished. Sometimes it seems as nothing will ever be finished...

Pigeons no longer live here.
(Compare to this.)


The last remaining bit of roof to be painted.


The last remaining leak...


Pigeons no longer live here either...

The roofwork continues.

The roofers continue, at their pace. They've been here 3 weeks and we still have a leak. It is nice to only have 1 leak, but it is frustrating that water still comes in the house. Except for that, their work has been nice to watch happening. Most of the roof has been patched and painted, and most of the soffet work has been done. Except for the area around the back porch, there aren't any remaining holes (b'bye pigeons!).

The pigeons haven't really accepted that their home is no longer available. They still hang out on the roof above where the hole used to be, and for days they kept swooping down to try and fly into a hole that isn't there. It was funny to see them smack into the soffet or window and fly flustered back onto the roof. There had been a squirrel, too, that we could hear occasionally on the ceiling. Yesterday we patched the hole that he'd been using to get in, and he too hasn't really absorbed the new reality. Yesterday afternoon I saw a flash of grey at the window and then heard scrabble scrabble (pause) THUMP as the squirrel tried to get into the attic, failed, and fell to the ground.

The work on the roof has brought to light the extra-poor condition of the roof over the porch. Apparently we are missing a few rafters right here ... Getting this straightened out and the porch stabilized has become more of a priority than we had anticipated. The roof+porch have been the big unknowns from the beginning -- it is nice at least to have solid info and a plan.

Kitchen Work

What will become the kitchen is taking shape. The plaster work is done and we've started priming and painting. Some of the plaster work is less than stellar, but it is by far my best plaster work EVER (ahem)(remember this when you visit...). We had intended to strip the beadboard of its many coats of paint, but after some experimental attempts we have re-evaluated and decided that the beadboard and molding are fine for now as they are. It would have just pushed the kitchen back too far at this point... It is nice to be able to see the wall/ceiling texture gone and to have all of the holes filled in or covered up. The ceiling has been primed and painted, the walls above the beadboard primed. Today we will be repairing some molding in the kitchen and painting the walls (blue). This sets us up to start putting the tile floor in on Sunday and then be that much closer to having a kitchen again.

small frustrations

The drain for the tub is leaking. The plumbing for the tub is part of what the plumbers took care of when they were here 6 weeks ago. That leak, and that the roof is taking longer than we had anticipated, have become frustrating at times. All of this damn water going where is not supposed to be... Being bothered by the remaining leak is probably a result of our expectations being out of step -- the roofers have given us a tremendous warranty and responsive to our reports of the leak, but still: we just want it to be dry... The plumbers, on the other hand, were just incompetent.

Posted by john m at November 25, 2003 5:48 AM

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