The Invisible Slurry

It's just been one of those weeks.

The contractors swore that they re-slurried the crawl space before they put down the subfloor. Three different people promised us there was cement. The termite barrier. The rat-slab, if you will.

But a little doubt can be a good thing.

This past Sunday Todd took about 30 screws out of one of the plywood sheets, lifted it up...and would ya look at that. Looks like dirt to me!

Needless to say we left it open for them so they could see we had discovered their little sneaky trick.

My faith in their honesty has taken a serious blow.

Our salvaged doors at work...

Here is one set for the gas and electric meter closets.

If you think it's weird that the knobs are located on each end (as opposed to both at the middle) you might find it weirder still that they're not actually made to open...because if I did the one on right will hit against the ceiling light. D'OH!
And these are for the tenant's closet.

Salvage Exhaustion

So, check it out. This is just one out of TWO rows of nothing but doors at a salvage yard in Mass. Our mission this past Sunday: Find 2 sets of matching doors, specifically sized, for closets that have already been framed out. Needless to say, there is no system, no order... whatsoever.

After several hours of being covered in dust, and breathing lead paint-- we succeeded...for the most part. They may not be exactly the right sizes, but they're pretty good...and that's my standard right about now.
These are for the tenant's closet...and they'll be darn lucky to have them.

New Stairs!

One flight of (correct!) new stairs have arrived--and are actually not too bad! They'll be painted in the long run...
And those are the contractors framing out the door at the back of the hall. Wrong place, of course--but Todd caught it!

More Walls

One nice thing about passing the plumbing inspection is that they can finish the walls!

Below is the Parlor kitchen (where the sink will be)...
and this is the office/guest room...
(The fireplace here in the guest room has been prepped for a wood stove. Come visit! It'll be warm!)

Double good!

So I have 2 good things today!

1.We passed our plumbing inspection so things can finally move forward. Yay!

2.Manny-- who installed the mantles and prepped all the chimneys is DONE! They are beauties, and fully working...and he did an amazing job. Another person I can recommend wholeheartedly, just let me know and I'll pass on his info.

(oh yeah, and the roof is going to be completely re-done)

Tomorrow starts a brand new marathon of salvaging mania. Doors, gates, hardware....Woohoo.

I've been told...

that it's time to blog something nice. And I agree. Steve from Historic Flooring (he's the best) has sent me some photos of my beautiful reclaimed white oak, wide-plank (6"-9"!!) flooring. It's currently stacked in his shop in Tennessee, waiting to be shipped up--3 tons, and it's mine, all mine. This stuff is just going to make the house. It should be here in roughly 3 weeks.

I just can't wait.

What the...??

So, the building next door has been slowly falling away from mine, revealing mostly intact and beautiful clapboard original to the building. The exception is the very top part where some of it is rotted off and needs to be replaced.This is how my contractors decided to resolve the situation:
Pretty, huh?

Needless to say we've already been in touch with the wood supplier to see if we can get a little replacement clapboard--which is inexpensive--and will actually look....uhhh...normal.

Don't get me wrong--I'm all for creative problem solving, but this looks like a band of hobos attacked the side of my house.

I never thought I could dislike a donut.

If you say that this photo is not blog-worthy I will not disagree, but somehow this ant infested donut (damn the iphone--the ants hardly show up!--you'll have to trust me) that has appeared in the backyard (among other discarded lunch items) has begun to symbolize the respect that the my contractors have for this job.

Other things found today, not as pretty in photos:

Cats have been peeing in the house--in earnest.

Two birds nest thrown off the roof--birds still in them.

My 1840s claw foot tub is being used as a work station and getting increasingly damaged.

And the contractors are using the waste pipe in the garden level as a toilet. Still.

Help.

The only thing worse...

...than having your beautiful old stairs destroyed, being forced to pay for brand new not-nearly-as-nice stairs, and waiting weeks for their delivery?? Having the WRONG stairs delivered.

Am I on candid camera? C'mon. You can tell me. The right stairs are somewhere hidden close by, right? Because the alternative reality, that these people can't even order correctly...oh not a good sign.

I never thought I'd see the day...

Holy cow, we have windows.

Red Hook Stoop Sale!

Apparently, next weekend on Saturday the 12th there is a neighborhood wide stoop sale.

Mark your calendars!

I'm not sure if I'm contributing, or just buying more stuff I don't really need, but either way, I'll be there.

The Brooklyn Paper: The biggest stoop sale — ever — on June 12!

The long wait.

After failing the plumbing inspection (which should SO not have happened, if only the contractors had done what they were supposed to) the DOB was supposed to return in 2 weeks to re-inspect. Now it turns out the appointment is for the 21st of June. Aside from a little fire-place work, this week was a complete and utter waste --the contractors didn't even show up.

While we're waiting, I'll leave you with a photo at sunset behind the Fairway.

Priorities.

We don't have toilets, we don't have sinks...

Floors, and stairs....? Nope.

But marble mantles? Yeah, we got that.

Two out of four total, the living room is almost done, the kitchen is following close behind.

(They'll look better when the brick is white)

These were all salvaged by the guy who is doing our chimneys...

The 5th fireplace is being prepped for a wood stove, and the 6th is just staying closed for now as decoration in the tenant's kitchen.