Category: Stuff you can’t see

2017 at the Ranch

On By juliestrubIn Garden, Kitchen, Stuff you can't see1 Comment


It’s been a big year. There hasn’t been a new blog post since March(!), but here’s a recap of what’s been going on this year with Ranch and its occupants.

After the initial push to renovate the interior in Fall of 2016, and to deal with the surprise that the roof was actually made of Swiss cheese, we took some time off from any big and/or expensive renovation projects. In addition, after 12 years with my previous company, I switched jobs in May. This has been a smart move and a life upgrade, but has taken some focus away from house projects as I’ve come up to speed on a new platform and life at the early days of a technology start up.

We’ve felt good about the complete renovation of the interior. We’ve been luxuriating in the spa-like shower experience that Mrs. Snodgrass designed & executed, and hosting many holidays in the open plan kitchen/dining area. We reclaimed the backyard kitchen garden, successfully grew tomatoes (for the first time!), planted a mini fern garden, hosted about a billion BBQs and dog romps, and have discovered that our friends’ first choice for a birthday celebration is usually a home cooked meal at the Ranch.

2016 and 2017 have had their fair share of shit (you know what I mean). I won’t get into that here. However, there has been a positive by-product of this downturn of events for our community and our country. We have declared the Ranch a safe haven for our circle of friends – those we’ve known for years as well as some the amazing new friends we’ve made here in Portland and beyond.  2017 has brought us together with a number of folks from near and far that we’ve met through fandoms, Clexacon, Thorns soccer, Instagram (yep!) and being open to creating a supportive community.  The ranch has been a key part of this because we have the space to host guests, an open plan to sit and eat, play with the dogs, enjoy the fire, watch Amy Sedaris, etc. This place has became a default home base for our little community.

P.S. Here’s one update that is the kind of thing I would usually post: we had the gutters cleaned a couple weeks ago. During the Thanksgiving downpour, the most prominent gutter convergence near the front door was overflowing, which is about the worst place for a gutter failure. We thought: do we get up on a ladder (well, first buy a ladder that tall) and do this ourselves? I did a little research and it was about $125 to have them cleaned by “Neighborhood Gutters”. Sold! They even sent us some grainy before and after photos (my personal obsession):

Roof Drama

On By juliestrubIn Roof, Stuff you can't seeLeave a comment

The roof saga continues! The roofers put on the roof last week. It took them about 2 and a half days, and despite the discovery of some dry rot, everything seemed to go pretty smoothly. The roofing company was pushy about getting their final payment, but we told them to hold their horses while we had an independent roof inspector come take a look. If there’s one thing we’ve learned from this shit with the roof, it’s that you have to micromange every process and get specialist inspectors (not just general guys). Plus, this roof looked fine when we bought the house, but has given us a ton of problems, so we’re not signing off until we know it’s done correctly.

We had our roof inspector come out, and the guy is very detail oriented and loves roofs. When we worked with him in August to identify the source of the leaks, his whole thing was that there is a very exact science to putting on a new roof (nothing fancy) and that he would help us examine the work to make sure we don’t have the same leaking problems a few years down the line. THANK GOD WE HAD HIM OUT TO LOOK.

There were a bunch of issues. Sigh. First of all was their invoice for materials appeared to be about double what they actually used, and one of the items was a 14x mark up from the material pricing. Ok, got that – we can ask for receipts instead of estimates.

The other issues were due to incorrect installation and they were numerous:

  • Incorrect nailing (pics below)
  • Flashing not glued down (also in pic)
  • Ventilation incorrect (the contract specified ventilation would be done per Oregon code)

nails-1

Here’s how they should be done:

nails-drawing.png

And this shit needs to be glued down:

should-be-glued.png

We emailed the roofers that we saw some issues and they needed to come see and fix them. They pushed back over email, saying that it was unlikely if not impossible that 85-90% of the nails were installed incorrectly. They also argued our other points, but agreed to come out and look.

The owner(?) came out and got up on the roof with us and we showed him the nails. The conversation up to that point had been us getting bossy and arguing, but this is when the conversation changed. When the owner saw how badly the nails has been done, he kinda flipped out. He started yelling at his manager that he brought with him that all of the nails had to be redone. Then he apologized to us, told us they could acually lose their Certainteed installation certification for this, and that he would have the entire team out after Christmas to redo the whole thing, plus bring the ventilation up to code.

So that’s where we are today. I can’t wait for this all to be behind us. A couple lessons that we have known but keep getting contronted with again and again: hire a specialist to make sure contractors are doing the work correctly, and don’t let contractors rush you into payment until you are satisfied. Seems simple, but people don’t always do those things.

To prove that the drama with the house isn’t bringing us down, here is a pic of Strubgrass Ranch in the snow a coupel weeks ago, looking cozy & lovely:

ranch-in-snow.png

 

 

Hiring Roofers

On By juliestrubIn Roof, Stuff you can't see6 Comments

It’s been about a week since our roof leak debacle began. We’re getting close to a fix, but it hasn’t been easy. Last week I called about 10 roofing companies. I also put out a request on Thumbtack and Buildzoom which have generated pretty good responses. There were a couple of demoralizing moments. For example, one roofing company picked up the phone and the guy commenced to interrupt and correct my terminology for the problems with the roof, mansplaining what he thought was wrong (without having seen it), then tell me they were booked until March or April 2017. He closed with telling me that I should call him back after I find out that all the other roofers are also booked that far out, and that I was pretty much S.O.L.

Then there was the guy whose in-person sales pitch lasted an hour and a half with no end in sight. He hinted at the beginning that the estimated price would be “a couple of digits in front of a comma”. Uh, no. I have 3 other bids from reputable companies that are way less than that. I felt bad for this guy who couldn’t pick up on the signals that his sales pitch was taking way too long. More so, I felt sorry for myself since I will never get that time back.

I do appreciate folks coming out to look at the roof and provide quotes. I realize it takes time & effort and they don’t get paid unless we go with their bid. It’s just not what we thought we were going to be doing the week before we move in. The house is still largely in disarray and we have a ton of other stuff to do.

roofing-post-it-planner
This alarmingly pink Post-It note illustrates my attempt to get a grip on the roof catastrophe

Thankfully, the original crappy phone guy was wrong about timelines. I found a couple of roofers (4 solid bids) with reasonable estimates who can wrap the roof immediately and replace the whole roof soon. The unexpected expense is… annoying and scary. I’m trying not to think about it. There is no way around it. I do wish we could have planned for it. In case you’re wondering, there has been no word back from our previous inspector and the situation with the sellers needs to be approached thoughtfully.

In the meantime, the rain keeps coming down and we keep checking the attic. Yep, still leaking!

The roofers we hired are coming to “dry-in” (cover the worst leaking areas on) the roof this afternoon, and will be starting the full roof replacement in the next few weeks. I’m relieved we have it booked so we can refocus our attention on finishing touches and moving in. A shout out to Laura, who has been at the house all day every day this week supervising plumbers (and helping them, because she is a bad ass like that), installing shelves, fixtures, installing trim, venting the dryer, and general heroics.

In better news, stay tuned for the bathroom reveal. It’s gonna be a f%&*ing spa-like paradise.

Roofing Disaster

On By juliestrubIn Roof, Stuff you can't see2 Comments

Up until Thursday, we were feeling pretty good about the house. As with any remodel, there have been wildcards, unexpected challenges & expenses, but overall we were making progress and the house is looking great on the inside. We have given notice at our apartment and are moving in at the end of the month.

When Laura went over the other day to chip away at a few more lighting and hardware fixture replacements, she went into the bathroom and rain water was pouring in from the bathroom fan fixture (!!!). I wasn’t at the house yet, but she called me immediately with a “Houston, we have a problem” announcement. I immediately put out severall calls to emergency roofers, including one who said, “It’s getting dark soon, and we don’t work when it’s dark, so no – we can’t help you”.

Further investigation into the attic revealed that the roof leak over the bathroom is not an isolated problem. The roof is leaking in about 8 different places that we can see, including through the flashing around the fireplace and vents, and through cracks and nailholes throughout. Water is streaming into the house and walls at every corner, and most of it can’t be caught with buckets because it’s seeping through cracks and running into the house in multiple areas. It appears to have been leaking like this for some time (perhaps years) due to incorrect installation and a heavy does of denial.

attic-roof

We are a little freaked out. Paired with the arrival this weekend of a Pacific Northwest storm of historical proportions, we are dealing with this the best that we can right now.

I won’t go into the details here because the story hasn’t played out yet, but a few facts: we did get an inspection (which included the roof) before we closed on the house, and we did ask specifically about the area above the bathroom, and were reassured that there were no problems or repairs needed.

roof-from-above

We don’t mess around with structural problems. We prioritize major issues and fix them right away. Even with our first house, we had the roof replaced before we moved in, and that roof wasn’t half as bad as this one. It’s frustrating to be blindsided like this.

Right now we are getting several bids for roof replacement and a report from a roof inspector with details on WTF is going on. This weekend we are at the house working on other projects and trying to stick to the plan. It’s just a house, it’s just money, and we will figure this out.

Bathroom Progress

On By juliestrubIn Bathroom, demolition, Stuff you can't seeLeave a comment

before-drywall

after-drywall.jpgThe bathroom is slowly coming along. It’s starting to look less like a pile of rubble, and more like something on its way to a delightful, spa-like environment. The former plastic shower insert that we removed a couple weeks ago had some framing and additional walls to bring down the ceiling to the height of the shower insert. I don’t know why anyone would ever design it that way. It essentially cut off all the light to the shower and made the bathroom seem much smaller and more closed in. My guess is that the plastic shower insert was a relatively quick & easy solution to create a functional shower. And when you only have one shower in your house, you can’t afford much downtime.

Our drywall guy sounded like he could take down the additional framing, but as it turns out, he had a very brief window of time to work on our bathroom, and needed us to demo that section before he could start work. Ugh. Well, not a huge deal, especially since we are resourceful and have the added benefit of having some beefy friends.

The upper framing was put together with a shit ton of nails. It looks like the person who put it together was a DIYer (no shame in that!), but they used an overabundance of long nails to really secure the crap out of the shower framing. I understand why they didn’t use screws. They are more expensive and take longer. And they weren’t building it with demolition in mind. You can see the treacherous pokey nails (and smiling menfolk) below:

bathroom-bros

Regardless, Laura papped away at the section for awhile and dismantled a good deal of it using tools & physics. Then, our brawny friends came over and added some brute strength to the process. After over 2 hours of hammering, pulling,  cursing, & bleeding, the top section was out.

The drywall guy was able to seal up the ripped up area by the vanity, seal up the peephole to the hallway, and recreate a ceiling above the shower. Looking better already!above-shower

Adventures in Bathroom Renovation

On By juliestrubIn Bathroom, demolition, Stuff you can't see3 Comments

toilet-wall
The bathroom has good bones. It has a big window, excellent light, a huge area for the vanity/sink, and good layout. The hardware & shower in there were in dire need of replacement, however. We knew when we bought the house that we had to eventually renovate the bathroom, and what better time than before moving in? I can’t imagine trying to renovate a bathroom while living in the house. There is a half bath downstairs which we have been using while renovating, but no shower. Plus, a couple of spiders live there and we don’t want to rile them up.

We think they redid the vanity in the 1960s (1968 to be exact), and the shower area looks like it was installed in the last ten years. It was an odd, slightly cramped plastic shower liner and pan. They built onto the ceiling to bring it down so the prefab plastic liner would all fit perfectly, creating a tomb-like shower experience. Ok, maybe that’s a bit dramatic. But I’m short, and it looked tiny to me. So, we pulled it all out. In addition, the shower drained slowly. That is usually a quick fix, but we had a plumber out to look at it and he noticed that there were 1.5 inch pipes leading out of the shower drain, and standard is 2 inches. So even if the drain was perfectly clean, the water would move through a narrow pipe more slowly. So that has been replaced.

So the thing is… we are pretty handy, but we don’t have any actual training on how to do all this stuff – especially plumbing. Laura helped her family build a house growing up. She got to see how it was put together. She assisted with wiring, tile, construction, etc. She’s also an excellent problem-solver and an natural engineer. I’m house-obsessed and a pretty good designer. Between that, trips to the hardware store, and Youtube videos, we have been able to figure out how to do a lot of home renovation ourselves, and learn what to outsource.

The bathroom is at the convergence of what we are willing and able to do, and what we need to hire out. We are doing all these renovations without a general contractor. This is for a couple of reasons. The first is: Good luck getting a General contractor in Portland right now! The flurry of real estate sales and credit flowing has many of the good workers backed up for weeks or months. The other reason we’re handling it ourselves is that we’re not making major changes. No big construction or moving walls. We are simply removing the finishes and fixtures and replacing them. Mostly stuff we have done before. And the last reason: saving money, of course.

This means that we are learning as we go about who does what in what order. I thought it would be obvious: the plumber updates the pipes first, then you lay tile, then drywall and paint. We’re learning it’s a little tricker than that. The plumber fixes the 2 inch pipe, says they don’t do the pan, so you call the tile/pan guy, who is two weeks out. You also find out the infinity drain you ordered on Amazon last week doesn’t work, for whatever reason, so you go buy a new one. Then, you get a bid for tile, while your drywall guy is ready to work today, but not next week. And the plumber needs to come back after the tile is in, but when will that be? You get the idea…

Here’s the checklist and status:

– Demo: removal of existing vanity, shower pan. Check!

– Prime & paint the walls (We have to wait for the drywall guy to make repairs first)

– Shower plumbing: Replace the piping behind the shower, since there was something weird installed where everything was sideways and there was a giant hole in the drywall with a plastic cover (the shower peep hole, I’ve been calling it). Check!

– Sink plumbing: the bathroom sink was piped with the incoming water coming out of the floor and the drain going into the wall. I’m told this is not standard (and makes no sense), so we had that fixed (you can’t see much, but here is the very expensive, very beautiful new plumbing on the left:

behind-sink-plumbing

– Shower pan: When we called the plumber, they implied that they could install a new shower pan. But then they came out and said no, they do all the backend stuff but they don’t do showerpans anymore. 😐 So we called a tile guy (not an easy feet in a backed up market right now) who we found on Thumbtack and are getting this queued up

– Tiling: we were going to do this originally, but it sounds like the tile/floorpan guy will include it in a quote and heck, I bet they are faster
than we are, and time is money

tiles

– Shower glass: We are doing floor to ceiling glass shower doors, and there are installers that do just that one thing, and we’re on their list. They can’t measure or start work until the tile has been installed

– Drywall: We have a drywall guy (I’ve read in many places that drywall is one of those things that for the skills and tools involved, it’s better to hire someone)

– Sink: We have to drag in and install the vanity. We’ve got that part, as long as we get a little help from our brawny friends, since it weighs 230 lbs.

In summary, the bathroom has been a learning experience and is far from complete. The challenge has been sorting out how much we can do, what we need to get professional help for, and the other wild card: The order in which things are done. If we ever redo another bathroom (which we will, downstairs), we will get to apply the lessons. The bathroom is the most important thing right now, because we can move in with the kitchen still under construction, but the bathroom has to be 100% done first. My wife insists on being able to shower in her own home (go figure). It’s going to be a fantastic bathroom, much improved and nicer than any bathroom we’ve ever had before. But we’re not quite there yet.

 

Radon Be Gone

On By juliestrubIn Stuff you can't see1 Comment

One of the inspections we did on the house during escrow was for radon. Having always lived in places without basements, I didn’t even know what it was. So I had to look it up.

It’s an odorless, naturally occuring, radioactive gas that comes from the ground (earth farts?) in certain pockets. It can collect at unhealthy levels in houses, especially ones with basements. It’s hazardous at some levels, especially for people with other risk factors (like smokers, which sadly, the people who lived here before us were). It’s a known carcinogen for lung cancer.

We got the radon test back in April (which was optional, but recommended by our realtor) and braced ourselves for the news, good or bad. As it turns out, the house had very high radon levels. The below shows the acceptable level of 4.0 pCi/l, and the house measured way above that, as high as 16 at some times, with an average of 11.6 pCi/l.

Radon-test-before

Yikes! After a mini-panic to absorb the news and to consider the hazardous state of the home, I did some research to see what we were dealing with. As it turns out, radon is seriously no bueno, especially living in it day in, day out. However, it’s fairly easily mitigated. The fix involves having engineers dig a hole in the basement and route the gas away through a pressurized fan that runs 24/7. In addition to installing the pipe and the fan, they also provide a monitor that continuously tells you how many of these earth farts are collecting in your home.

The cost of installing a radon mitigation system is about $1600. That is a lot of money when you are doing a ton of other fixes, but not much when you consider you are removing a known carcinogen. It was a no-brainer that we were going to have it done. We negotiated a price reduction to the house by $1600, so the sellers basically paid for it. I wish that for their sake, they had installed it when they moved in.

The system was installed this week. It’s pretty unobtrusive and discreet in a out of the way corner of the basement. Here’s what it  looks like from the outside:

radon-system

It’s another weird tube coming out of the house, but considering its benefits, it’s acceptable, even beautiful. The measurement of the radon gas in the house after installing the mitigation system was 0.5 pCi/l (down from an average of 11, with a standard benchmark of 4).