After a two-day schedule shift to allow my insulator to work on an Extreme Makeover: Home Edition house in St. Paul, today is my insulation day! I thought it would be fun to try a live blog format to capture the pace of the day’s activity. I’m already a bit behind schedule, so let’s get [...]
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With the rough wiring done, the next step in the bedroom remodeling project has been to get the space ready for insulation. Some of these steps were determined by choosing closed-cell polyurethane spray foam as the insulating material, others are based purely on my own preferences. Here are my steps in insulation prep: Seal off [...]
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While working on bedroom remodeling project, I found two bricks on a piece of cardboard in one of the attic crawlspaces. The bricks are from the Belden Brick Co. of Canton, Ohio, and are in great shape. Belden has been around since 1885, so they could have sourced the original bricks for the house, but [...]
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Over the weekend I finished framing the closet for the nursery. The outside wall needed to be built out with 2X2s to provide a nailing surface for drywall over the inside of the chimney. This will also give me a bit of space for some insulation around the chimney, too. There were a couple chinks [...]
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If you’ve missed the terrific recent posts on window restoration over at Stuccohouse, do yourself a favor and check them out. The photos and instructions she provides are are excellent supplements to resources like Terry Meany’s Working Windows. Inspired by the latest entry in Stuccohouse’s window series in which she strips the paint from window [...]
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As if the lack of postings here wasn’t sufficient to tell the story, let me spell it out: finding time for house projects and blogging has been mighty tough of late. Last weekend I watched the kids so Ms. Bungalow could put in extra hours at the office. The weekend before that I went ice [...]
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With the help of a new tool, I made some progress this last weekend on my nursery renovation project. The tool? A fish tape that allowed me to run new romex from the fuse panel in the basement up to the utility run on the upper level. Then I went fishing again to be able [...]
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I’m sure he would have preferred a father and son day of fishing. Instead my dad joined me for a day of demolition work in an uninsulated attic on a hot summer day. What a guy! Before this he let me borrow his truck again, which is a hugely helpful resource to have on hand. [...]
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Let this be a reminder to all of you who scribble your lumber measurements or angle calculations on the wood itself: for posterity, use nice handwriting and check your math. As I continue the demolition in the room that will (someday!) be our second child’s nursery/bedroom, I found these nice examples of carpenter graffiti on [...]
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After the great time Truck and I had picking up mulch, I could hardly wait to hook up for another outing. This time, I thought we could pack up a few things from my place and go for a drive. I’ve been collecting debris from my nursery project for over a year just waiting for [...]
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I'm Josh and since 2005 I have shared home improvement stories and ideas from my family's Arts & Crafts bungalow in Minneapolis, MN. I'm trying to combine the best of 1923 with the best of the 21st century-- and I hope it won't take another 88 years to do it.
