Tear 'em Up - Remodel One Month In

We are Just over 5 weeks into this thing. There was a shocking lack of activity between Xmas and New Years, then again, everybody deserves some time off during the holidays. I just need to chill out a little. Kitchen Wall Be Gone

I spent New Years Eve day until dark limbing the pistache tree in the back yard. It's gotta go. We have replaced that tree every 20 years or so but since we are going to extend the deck the length of the house it is now in the way. Clever fellow that I am, I got rid of my father's anemic chain saw. And though it would be nice to have a nice new Stihl chainsaw, I have my old one in Missouri. I went old school. Bought a $13 bow saw and went at it. There was a safety factor too. I'm up in a tree on a wet day with no one around... I like having both arms & all my fingers. Support When Needed

There are huge esthetic benefits when cutting down a tree with a hand saw. Not only is it a free workout, it's quiet. All afternoon I was pushing and pulling the saw, taking the limbs down one at a time... Making sure I don't rip off a gutter of shatter a window from pure foolishness. I was also listening to the birds sing. A few yards over a couple of song birds were having a territory dispute. The blue jay stopped by a few times to figure out what I was doing and shake his head in wonderment about the foolish things those humans do. Even though I ended up filthy and a little tired. It was a really pleasant afternoon. Cutting trees in Missouri with the chainsaw is a whole lot more efficient. It isn't nearly as pleasant and at the end of the day you feel like you have worked at a job. The satisfaction come more from having the evidence of a pile of fire wood than from having spent a pleasant afternoon... Over a few days I was able to take the tree down to about 8 feet or so and then the limbs were over 14" wide... too big for the bow saw. So one morning I rented a chain saw for a couple of hours and took it the rest of the way to ground level.

The house was built in 1954 so one of the things we wanted to have done is have the house rewired, bring in a 200 amp service and have all of the outlets properly grounded. Jeff Webb of Webb Electric was one of the first guys in. While the demo guys were tearing things out, he was installing the 200 amp panel and running a working circuit into the house so the contractors will have power while he is under the house running new circuits to all of the rooms. Beam It Up

It was interesting to see the steps they took to put a big opening between the kitchen & living room. In this house that is a load-bearing wall, so after stripping it down to the studs, they put in a couple of braces that will carry the weight of the roof structure once the section of wall is removed.

Beam Again

The far end of the beam is supported by the external wall of the house with is supported by the foundation. You can see that they have framed in the new opening of the family room. Please note the door to the Garage. Painted blue with flower pictures from seed catalogs pasted to it.

The Anatomy of a Crack

Yes, my mom's fantastic crack solution is gone. but once they removed the drywall you can see the structural source of the crack. When the kitchen bump was built, the contractor just added on the beam support and the new wall framing but didn't tie them to the original structure. you can see that the 1/4-inch wider space on the right stud is right where the crack formed on the drywall.

Music
    Gerluz
        The Day We Met
        Porphero's Watch Chain
        Les Langueurs Tendres
        more...
    Gort Braggern
        Prickly Pear
        Solar Wind
        Singularity
        more...
    Sonic Landscapes
        Volcanic Sounds of the Yellowstone Caldera
        Low Tide at Soberanes Point,
        Nightbirds on the Noyo River
        more...
    Nouveau Guinea Ensemble
        Idyll
        The Tiny Jalopy
        The Bunnies Parade
        more...
Photography
      Beckwourth Complex Fire
      One Last Snow
      Let's Try a Little Winter
      more...
Travel
      Bits of VA
      Wiggling the Adirondacks
      Washington
      more...
Misc
      Mister Frank
      The Ice Follies
      House Remodel (series)
          The Remodel Begins
          Tear 'em Up
          Putting Things Back
          more..
      And Then Aug & Sep
      more...

Recent Posts
Putting Things Back - Remodel Three Months In
Mar 24, 2016
We're not talking the Eiffel Tower here. We have no need for iron workers, cement trucks or dozens of unionized workers.This is a small little remodel. Nothing more than tearing out a wall or two and putting parts of them back, tearing out some cabinets.....
San Francisco Skylines
Mar 21, 2016
If you listen carefully you can hear it.... Humphrey Bogart in his best film-noir voice-over.... "They call her San Francisco... City by the Bay. She's taken many hearts... Poor saps, they think they left left'm, but they were stolen, every one."
Gravity Wave
Feb 18, 2016
San Francisco is a great walking town. I took a lot of long walks at pretty much any time of day or night, this piece came about through these walks.
  Tear 'em Up - Remodel One Month In
What are you going to do in San Francisco anyhow?
Dec 28, 2015
I like San Francisco. I always have. For my first job I was a driver for a water lab. Every morning I had to drive from Redwood City to Marin (through San Francisco, of course). I had all morning to do the drive plus my lunch hour. I would often spend my lunch hour picking a new route through the city. Way too much fun to be paid for, but i took the money anyway. Now I had the opportunity to spend all day every day in the city.
The House Remodel Begins
Dec 22, 2015
Yes, given time, everything eventually gets done. The house was all packed away. We found a Realtor® & a contractor. I shoved all of my stuff away as well. Packed what I needed into a duffel bag and have come to San Francisco a for a month or so while the house gets remodeled before sale.
Playland
Oct 22, 2015
This one is actually part of a larger suite that I call Parlor Passages. It is intended to recall the frenetic energy energy of a children's playground. It is quite short, just over a minute a bit of brightness to be inserted in a longer ensemble.
And Then There was August & September
Oct 21, 2015
The blue jay is acting a bit self-conscious. Pin feathers coming in make him look quite awkward and so he compensates by acting with more bravado and investigating things more fiercely. If I leave the back door open he will hop right up to the threshold and survey the inside of the house
The Optimistic Nihilist
Sep 15, 2015
You know how it is.... you have one of those weeks. You slog to work on a cold and dismal Monday; The office bully pins you down and steals your lunch money...
What Happened to July?
Aug 18, 2015
One of the nice things about July is that the ginger plant blooms. This is probably the last year I get to see this one do it. It's growing by the front door & some of the stalks reach 8-feet in height. This year there are about 16 stalks.
Recent Pictures
Jun 19, 2015
May & June get lumped together. Lots of packing. 56 years of house to deal with. Getting my replacements at Gryphon up and running.
Some Recent Pictures
May 19, 2015
April was an interesting month. Packing things up. A few shots testing a new Canon 100-400mm lens. Of course when packing things can get messy... I knocked over a pile of empty film reels. It looked so nice I just had to take a picture.
Starlight
Dec 22, 2014
The gentle tones of an evening breeze leads into a lively 6/4 waltz.
Savanoia
Nov 03, 2014
Savanoia... It's not a word, just a noise you can make with your mouth.... I was noodling around and ended up with a sorta swell opening and then became distracted with other things, leaving the intro collecting dust on the virtual shelf.
Parallax
Oct 15, 2014
Though I thought of this originally as a piano piece, The Nouveau Guinea Wind Ensemble kinda takes over and turns this into a lively piano-ensemble piece... Just can't keep those birds out of anything...
Plays Antonin Dvorak
Dec 20, 2012
I like Antonin Dvorak, he's OK in my book. His Serenade for Strings OP 22. is one of my faves.
Les Baricades Misterieuses
Nov 09, 2012
Also known as the spelling Les Barricades Mysterieuses. This is a harpsichord piece from 1717 by the French composer François Couperin. I arranged it for 8 wind instruments. I used the spelling from the original music for this release.
Transcendental Blues
Oct 29, 2012
B.B. King probably wouldn't consider this a blues song. There are more than three chords. Somehow it makes me think of some bizarre Eastern European dive bar.
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