rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

That was an old picture...although we are trying to keep with the less is more theme and leave our hoarding lifestyle behind.

Acura_Dude

Nice updates!

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Thanks brah

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

What are you tackling next?

maharajamd

iTrader: (1)

Cabinets! Gogogogo

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Patching a bunch of holes in the plaster walls to get ready to repaint the living room, dining room, hallway.

Probably going to paint the spare room first, before I paint the whole rest of the house, since it's a small job.

CCColtsicehockey

Just stumbled on this thread. Great updates to the house.

Oh my that kitchen though. I have no idea how you lived with those colors for 5 years. What was she thinking.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Thanks Jason, I literally just tolerated it as best I could, I was waiting for things to calm down in my life so that I could deal with it. The last few years have been a non-stop whirlwind of crap. However, every single time I would walk into that kitchen, my blood pressure would rise because I hated it so much. It's nice to walk in there now and actually enjoy the look of the kitchen for the first time since I bought the house. I actually go out of my way to clean things and do the dishes more frequently just because I don't want my kitchen getting too messy

CCColtsicehockey

I can't imagine going through hating part of where I live for 5 years. Glad you finally can enjoy that part of your house again.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Nothing real exciting, but I got rid of my old dishwasher (on wheels) and a recliner out of my basement, and my buddy and I decided to do some rearranging in my garage. The area in front of my ack had 2 bumpers, my old acura bumper and my new fresh painted Toyota bumper taking up tons of room, so we hacked up the acura bumper with some tin snips and threw it out.
IMG_20150209_213953_zpswgohdphl.jpg

We covered the Ack, and put both of the WW Lips that are going back on the car in the spring, and the painted Toyota bumper on the roof, since that's going on the truck in a month or 2. Never thought I'd store parts like this

IMG_20150209_233050_zpsvdtfquza.jpg

We were then able to utilize the space on the pallets in front of the Ack to actually store things that were in the way in the garage.
IMG_20150209_233020_zpsipaytgkl.jpg

Acura_Dude

CCColtsicehockey

bumpers should not be stored on top of other cars

Yumcha

Would've been hilarious if Ack bubble-wrapped the car.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Not hurting anything

My buddy's original idea was to lay the bubble wrap on my roof and then the bumper, I'm staring at my car cover like... No

Yumcha

michimonster

What about THAT poster?

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Haven't hung it yet

michimonster

Interesting choice of words.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Yumcha

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Busy few days, first the small stuff. My buddy gave me this brand new chandelier because he "didn't like the bulbs"
Before
IMG_20150214_160859_zps3piug4yr.jpg

I didn't either as they were way too bright, so for $20, problem solved!
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IMG_20150214_161230_zpsrcq2wta3.jpg

IMG_20150214_161720_zpszagsfkns.jpg

Now this light is tolerable, still bright, but not the power of the sun bright
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97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I changed out 7 more light switches on Friday, 2 in my bedroom,
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1 in the office, 1 in the spare room, 1 in the hallway, and 2 in the bathroom.
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97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

My walls have taken a beating over the last 7 years, between playing ball with my dog, and my new dog chewing holes in the plaster, the hallway needed some serious work.
Here's the corners of the walls between the kitchen and hallway.
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IMG_20150213_204719_zpsdjhjnln4.jpg

I didn't take a before of the holes my dog chewed in the plaster, but here it is after 1 coat of patch. The 2 big patches on the top is where he chewed into the wall, he's a douche

For another prime example of my ex's painting skills and stupid ideas, check out the beautiful dark wood border trim that she painted with white ceiling paint, which has since been worn off by the dogs playing
IMG_20150213_233733_zpsn4kp4l0t.jpg

And yes, the wall's dirty, I already scrubbed it twice before patching. It's getting primed and painted once the sanding is done.
IMG_20150213_233742_zpsfbjzpvff.jpg

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

And now for the big one... Probably 5 or 6 years ago, we had "snowpacalypse" which dumped multiple feet of snow, and caused lots of structural damage around Pittsburgh. I didn't have too many issues, but when the ice/snow melted off of my roof, it ran down the back of my siding, and found it's way in through the bottom of the window. It bubbled out the plaster with a big blister full of water, which I then popped with a knife, and drained out to prevent mold, etc from growing in there. Well, here's the remnants, this is in the far corner of my bedroom near the powder room. I took LOTS of before shots here, since it was a bigger task.

Here you can see the bottom of the blister, and the damage left behind
IMG_20150213_231430_zpsransolg3.jpg

Closeup action
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So I started prying back the plaster with just my finger, and made a nice hole, then we started with the scrapers.
IMG_20150213_232618_zpsvlcc4rt8.jpg

You can see that the frame is rusted, and apparently had leaked before this
IMG_20150213_232802_zpsbjwoqcd3.jpg

Here you can see mesh, and a difference in the plaster, clearly someone had tried to patch this before...
IMG_20150213_233019_zpsqwn76tmk.jpg

And here's the culprit... No one bothered to seal this whenever the window was put in. This hole literally goes all the way outside to behind the vinyl trim. You could feel a rectangle sized line of cold air coming straight through the wall. This is where we believe the water got in. You can see that there was also mesh patching over the hole, but they did nothing about the hole behind, just tried to plaster it over
IMG_20150213_233905_zpsfmrl4uq6.jpg

Here's the aftermath of the demo.
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Since I didn't have spray foam insulation since we weren't expecting this giant hole, we mudded around the hole, but left the hole exposed for the future.
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First coat of mud on, we tried to texture it a bit to match the textured plaster around it.
IMG_20150213_234309_zps6b94vd28.jpg

We originally tried mixing plaster of paris to use plaster to repair the plaster walls, but my buddy had never used it before, and after several youtube videos and mixing failures, we went with what he knew and had used in the past.
IMG_20150213_233215_zpssmafkpkx.jpg

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I got a can of Great Stuff spray foam insulation, and filled in the hole as best I could. I also filled in a hole near the floor where someone had tried to run a cable line to the outside and just left the hole. We trimmed back the excess in order to smooth it out to mud over, these are after we trimmed the excess off.
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IMG_20150216_224516_zpssb8ye65w.jpg

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

More pics to come...

Acura_Dude

CCColtsicehockey

Good repair. Are you going to seal the outside with some type of silicone window caulk?

maharajamd

iTrader: (1)

Window probably needs reflashed...

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Yes, once it's above freezing...

thunder04

iTrader: (1)

Nice progress! Those old light fixtures..... Glad to see them go!! Makes a HUGE difference even if replaced with budget fixtures (which there is certainly nothing wrong with that! I'm all for cheap! ).

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Nicely done, man...can't believe you sat on that for so long. One thing I learned as a homeowner...water and fire, don't fuck with. Fix it immediately before it costs you big bucks. I'd guess the intrusion didn't stop at the sill...I'm hoping your walls aren't fkd on the inside!

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Thanks man, it definitely made a significant improvement just about everywhere in the house. It's nice to see small things like this add up over all.

That was my fear as well. We were not able to see any indication or remnants of the water on the outside, and the only place we found that the water could go was that channel, so hopefully that's it, I can't see any other evidence on the internal wall other than that spot where the water came through. And mind you, this was 5-6 years ago and has not reoccurred since :knockonwood:

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I actually commented to my buddy last night how nice it is to have brand new light switches and not be afraid I'm going to get shocked when I walk into my bedroom. Last night, we repaired the arm on my recliner and put a slip cover over it to hopefully protect it from the dogs

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Awesome, man...wow, sounds like you had a lot of things you wanted to get to. I'm like that too...domino effect. I'll sit on it for a bit, then once I get something done, I get motivated and knock everything out.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

Oh yeah, my buddy has been a huge help as well. Last night we were talking about prepping and painting the living room, dining room, and hallways. It's gonna be a lot of work, but we want to get it done before I get carpet put in, in about a month. Can't figure out a color though. Last night after we fixed the chair, I went beast mode on some fish tank filters

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

good work.

Might I suggest you stick with the gray family? Yes, there are at least 50 different ones of them, and I lean toward the greenish gray ones...

My wife knows color, I used to shy away from it, but she is adamant that the walls should be very subdued and the way you spruce and accent is with colors you add to the room in the form of pillows/artwork/furniture. She said it's a lot easier to swap out a painting for another entirely different look, instead of having to keep repainting the walls.

97BlackAckCL

iTrader: (6)

I've been thinking a light gray would look pretty nice and stand up to the abuse from the dogs and such better than the off white I painted it 8 years ago... My buddy has a whole 5 gallons of beige, but I'm not really a beige fan. We're thinking to do the spare room that color so I can see what it looks like before I make a decision

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

Don't cheap out, buy the paint. You'll regret another 10 years staring at a room you hate the color of!

rockstar143

iTrader: (6)

never thought it mattered, but boy does it...to walk into a room where the color is soothing and visually pleasing rather than a room with a color you don't like. Odd how the mind works.