Venice

Is it wrong to go to Venice and take pictures of the infrastructure? (Just kidding; I have lots of normal pictures, too.)

Housebuilding hiatus

"Oh, sure," you say, "You already went into hibernation once this year!" Well, Gentle Reader, this won't be hibernation; it'll be estivation. We're off to Budapest tomorrow for two months, and so there won't be any House work completed during that time.

Not to say I won't find something else interesting to post here (Europe does, after all, have the occasional attractive old building), but it won't be about progress on The House.

So I guess this would be a good time for a planning post, wouldn't it? Here's something like the current list:

1. Windows in big house


• Finish painting first-floor windows
• Glazing work; several missing and cracked panes here and there, lots of putty replacement


2. Winterization


• Carriage house
• Weatherstripping around two downstairs doors
• Insulated board for small window on south corner
• Still a little caulking/plastering above the south wall and in the closet area on the southeast corner
• Insulated board for attic access panel


• Big house
• Urethane in obvious holes in basement walls (mortar later)
• Boards over vents under first back addition
• Board up two basement windows on east basement


• Tuck pointing on both buildings


3. Carriage house bathroom
• Attach and plumb vanity


4. Carriage house electrical work
• Replace stolen ground wire outside
• Overhead light for washer/dryer area
• Separate circuit for bedroom to permit use of air conditioner


5. Carriage house paint and trim
• Paint walls and trim in bathroom
• Finish trim on remaining windows (three)
• Fresh plaster patching and paint in living room, then hallway, stairs, and kitchen


6. Equipment closet in big house
• Reroute incoming DSL into closet in dining room
• Add an electrical outlet there for the Linux box


7. Carriage house garage area
• Remove superfluous fiberglass insulation (40% complete)
• Still some miscellaneous plaster, and more paint, aye!


8. Dining room
• Remove and scrape wallpaper (60% done, thanks to daughter)
• Remove damaged drywall from ceiling
• Finish restoration of plaster on walls (base coat's on)
• Drywall ceiling
• Paint (I'm still liking that semi-gloss ultra white)
• Clean and maintain the woodwork and buffet
• Shore up under floor (soft spot from long-standing leak in roof fixed in 90's)
• Polish floor


9. Carriage house kitchen window


10. Carriage house roof and gutters (the last big money job to save for)


11. Porch restoration


• Paint all pillars
• Cast duplicates of scroll work on pillars to replace missing bits


12. Big house heat (not so crucial now)


• Ductwork as needed
• Probably baseboard heat upstairs, at least in my office


13. Remainder of big house


• Upstairs bathroom plumbing (got a good plan to reroute this)
• Addition of sink in kitchen
• Cleaning
• Finish plaster patching in back stairs area, paint
• Reroute supply wire to blue room electrical (that's the one running outside right now)
• Think about plaster on basement walls, a big job
• It would be nice to insulate and finish the attic space
• Tiles in the master bath?
• Hardwood veneer in the Blue Room?


14. Breezeway/swimming pool connecting buildings


• Well, I can dream