My Home

Walk around Holyoke…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 13 May 2014 02:57:00 +0000

I recently took a walk around Holyoke and well here are some of the pictures that I captured during my afternoon stroll…

On this day I met some wonderful people and was honored in touring their facilities. Thank you for this wonderful opportunity..

20 Years Ago this Month...

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Thu, 19 Sep 2013 11:43:00 +0000

Recently while on Facebook, a friend of mine had posted, “20 years ago today, I earned the title”. At first I had thought about his statement, to be honest I was a little confused. I thought about his statement for several minutes until I realized what he had meant. 20 years ago in 1993, we had both graduated from the same High School and had gone our separate ways. His path took him to a place where he had trained and learned the ways of becoming a Marine. So, I started to really think about that time and realized that 20 years ago this month (September 1, 1993), I had reported for basic training in Fort Benning, Georgia.

Funny, the memory that sticks out is how on that day that I had to report to the Military Entrance Processing (MEP) Center in Springfield Mass, I had to sweat as a military member prior to ever even signing any paper. See my recruiter (Sgt Cartwright) was going to pick me up at my house. I don’t remember the time. But, we lived in Holyoke, over by the Southampton/Westfield line at the time.

That morning started with my dad waking me up to bid me a proud farewell. He had expressed his confidence that I would do fine and this path would be a start to a new beginning in my life. But most importantly that he was proud of me. Then he had informed me of a death within the family. I remember him saying don’t worry about having to go to visit family, that I must continue my mission. That he would inform the family of my situation and explain why I would not be attending the funeral.
I remember feeling hurt. But, I also felt that he was right. But that is not the reason why I’m telling this story. I was standing outside on the porch when the recruiter had driven up my driveway.

I got into the car and his first words were, “is there a gas station around here?”
“No, it’s about 10 mile from here.”

He looked stressed and express, “I don’t think we will make it, I’m running on fumes”

Our goal was to make it to the Mobile Station on Northampton Street, close to the Old Lynch Junior High School in Holyoke. We were driving down Cherry Street/Beech Street coming from the Soldiers Home. As we are turning left onto Northampton Street, by the Yankee Pedlar Inn, the car dies…

I remember his statement to me, “Son, your basic training starts now… You must get out of the car and push us to the gas station”…
So here I am, a measly 100 lbs soak and wet, being ordered to push the car to the gas station down the road. Yes, I push that car for 1 mile while he sat in the car. I bet when he dropped me off at the MEP station, he laugh.

I never really told anyone this story… But 20 Years ago this month… I pushed a car to jump start my military career…

Yea Baby!!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 20 Nov 2012 12:57:00 +0000

For several years now, I’ve been travelling to various places like Italy, Paris, England, Florida, Puerto Rico to name a few. Each place that I’ve gone to would required a plane ride of some sort. I have to admit I’m not a frequent flier like most of my fellow employees and/or friends, but I’ve had my share of flights. Recently I had to travel to Joplin Missouri for work. I was part of team that had to visit a vendor to determine if they could meet our company’s needs.

Joplin is a small town in Missouri that about a year ago, a tornado had passed through the town which created a lot of damage. The devastation was still pretty evident while there, but you could certainly see a lot of improvements. This story is really not about Joplin but my flight home from Joplin.

I had placed a Facebook status that read, “Interesting day... Emergency landing into Atlanta, Georgia. Because steering didn't work. Landed safely however. God was looking over me today.”

I felt compelled to explain a little more with regards to this statement I had posted. I was returning home on November 15, 2012 from my business trip. My flight was from Springfield, Missouri to Hartford CT via Atlanta, Georgia. The incident happened when I was flying into Atlanta Georgia in a Canadair Jet. Let’s call the Airline Bob….

The flight was going well when we unexpectedly hit a pocket of turbulence. Usually on flights you get small turbulence and eventually it works up to a bigger one. But this was big enough where my book closed on my tray table and fell to the floor. If I had a soft drink, the fluids would have landed on me and/or the person next to me. The plane drops a couple of feet. But, then it was over. The turbulence was instant and quick. I didn’t think of anything of it at the time, nor did anyone else on the flight. The stewardess continued on her business working the cabin as if it was normal.

As we were in our final approach to land into Atlanta, the plane was descending and you could hear the mechanics of the wheels coming from the bottom of the plan. The plane was slowing down. Everything was normal. About 1 minute into our final approach, the plane started to accelerate and gain altitude. The plane then banked hard to the left, away from the airport. I had looked out my window and realized that we were climbing rapidly. I had looked to the person to my left and we both had the same expression. “I think we just got waved off” I said.

After leveling out, the pilot announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, we have to conduct an emergency landing, there appears to be a malfunction” Then he signed off.

The plane was silenced. Mentally, my mind started to race, what could it be? Why are we not turning? Is the plane unable to turn? Are the wheels unable to come out? What are we going to do? How are we going to get on the ground?

Then I start to think of my love ones; my wife, and my kids and my family and friends…I said a prayer and it calmed my nervous. I begin to focus on the situation. Control what you can, you can’t control everything ran through my mind. Something I had learned when I was in the military.

The gentleman besides me attempted to make small talk, but I was too focused on the situation and don’t remember what he asked. It felt like an eternity before the pilot returned and announced, “Ladies and Gentlemen, the malfunction is that we are unable to steer the plane when we land. Because of this we have to announce that it’s an emergency. Basically we can land ok, but we are unable to steer to the gate. So we will have to have a tow truck pick us up at the end of the run way. When we land you will see fire trucks, it is only for precaution, do don’t worry”

My mind was a little at ease for a moment. But, I have to admit the mind is powerful and could be your worst enemy. I started to think, ok we can’t steer, and so does that mean the wheels are turned to the left or right? When we land will the plane turn instantly to the right or left? Will the front of the plane wheels break? Will the front of the plane collapse down and screech across the tarmac? What other malfunctions are there?

Control what you can, you can’t control everything…

I felt thirsty; I had a soda bottle in my backpack and decided to take a drink. As I opened the bottle, the carbonation pressure was built up and had released a loud “ssssssss”. Instantly everyone around me looked in my direction, I responded with, “my soda bottle, sorry” as I lifted up the bottle to show the source of the noise. I kind of smiled internally realizing that I wasn’t the only one with the built up stress.

The mental pressure of the passengers within the cabin was extremely high. If the engine wasn’t rumbling, you would be able to hear a pin drop. The final approach… The longest 20 minutes I could remember.

As the plane descended, the ground was approaching rapidly. You could hear the wheels expose themselves from the bottom of the plane. I double checked my seat belt. The plane continued to rapidly descend to the ground. As I looked out the window I started to see the runway lights. “Here we go” I stated… I placed my hands on the chair in front of me to brace myself if there was a situation…

The first impact of the rear left wheel hit the tarmac. The plane swayed to left then to the right as the right wheel hits the tarmac. The front of the plane was still angled towards the sky as its dual engine began to whine even louder, as to reverse the forward progression of the plane. The front of the plane began to descend down towards the tarmac. The impact of the front of the plane was minimal. I remember thinking as the wheels touched the ground, no cracking sound of metal, thank you Lord…

As the plane continued to decelerate, the relief of being on the ground grew within me. I began to realize that we were safe, that the main danger was now behind us. Blood began to circulate into my fingers as I gently release the death grip that I had on the seat in front of me.

The joy of passing this test had overwhelmed me. I scream loudly, “Yeah Baby!!! That is what I’m talking about!!!!” I then proceed to clap loudly as the plane came to a complete stop…. The passengers within the plane instantly realized my emotion and begin to cheer and clap as well…

We sat on the tarmac for about 30 minutes before the tow truck arrived. But it didn’t matter; I was on the ground, safely… While writing this I do remember telling someone that, landing a plane is really a controlled crash…

Happy Thanksgiving everyone....

It’s been awhile… More like a year…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Thu, 02 Aug 2012 03:32:00 +0000

It’s been about a year since I’ve written anything. I guess I should provide some updates to what has been going on in my life…

After the storm in July 2011, I had walked the town…

Then in August I had travelled to Den Helder Netherlands for work… Here are some of the things that I saw.

There was a moment one night, when I was working in the hotel. The room desk was situated in front of the window. As I was working on the computer, I kept seeing a flashes at my window. I had thought it was traffic passing by in front of my window. I kept typing away at my computer but the flashing kept popping up. I then realized that I was on the fourth floor of the hotel…I opened the window and saw….

Then we had the a snow storm in October 2011. Power was out for an entire week. While driving to work one morning, to shower at the office, I lost my brakes in my truck and almost rear ended another car. But thank god, I was able to turn the wheel in time to not hit the car…But here are a couple of photos from the snow storm…

The same week of the storm I was sent to Bologna, Italy for work.

November 19, 2011

Yea, I’ve been pretty busy…I hope to have more to come in the near future…

I guess we live in Tornado alley now…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Wed, 27 Jul 2011 03:45:00 +0000

I just finished watching the local news, they have reported that a Tornado may have touched down in the Western Massachusetts area… If it was a tornado, it was certainly closer to the house this time. I’m happy to report that no one was hurt and/or anything at my house was damage. But here are a couple of pictures that I took by my house… Currently the power is out…

The end of this journey…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 01:58:00 +0000

“Every great dream begins with a dreamer. Always remember, you have within you the strength, the patience, and the passion to reach for the stars to change the world.” ~Harriet Tubman (American escaped slave, Civil War Soldier and Abolitionist, 1820-1913)

Funny, it seems like yesterday when this “little” project actually began. About three years ago I started this little road trip. To be honest, I began this journey as a man, alone, scared, depressed with only a dream to succeed. I had started this journey for many reasons. But while traveling through this little adventure, I became surprised that I’ve made it this far. I have to admit about the third week of owning this house, I started to question what was I doing? Would I survive?

I remember walking into this house and instantly realizing that this house needed me, as much as I needed it. I purchased this house knowing that it needed work, but to be honest, I didn’t know what I was really getting into. When I was looking for a house that I wanted…or rather needed…I was looking for a home that would occupy my mind and emotions while I was working through my personal issues (divorce). I wanted to change my world.

I began this journey running away from my problems, but, at the end, I ended up confronting them and eventually concurring them. Although, that was before the house being accomplished. But I’m also happy to report that I have completed the house and now have both apartments occupied.

After all of the electrical shocks, the hammer smacks to the thumb, the falling down the stairs, the bat running, the hernia surgery and the back issues… I can finally say, WOW, I’ve survived!! No seriously, the sense of accomplishment is certainly high. But most of all, I really happy for all of the people that I’ve met during this road trip. Without them, I would not be who I am today…

Here are a couple of pictures of the first floor apartment…

I guess it’s time to take the off ramp… However, I’m going to continue being the Landlord… or rather Property Manager…I need a retirement fund… But what is this new project I’m doing, you ask…

Well I’m going to just take it slow at first… But, I have started a new project… I’ve returned to school for photography… I guess, we’ll see where this off ramp takes me next… No map and no real place to go… I guess I’m just cruising… Well until next time… Happy Building… or rather Happy Cruising…

Where did you go?

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Thu, 16 Jun 2011 01:09:00 +0000

I honestly don’t know, last month was a complete blur. I guess I can attempt to describe what I’ve been up too, but to be honest, I’ve come down with writers block. The last month I’ve been bombarded with my attention going in all different directions. I wish I could say I’ve recovered gracefully, but then I would be lying. But let’s just touch the high points… New tenant for upstairs, new tenant moving in July 1, recently returned from vacation, moved to a new place, tornado in Springfield and still much more… Because I’m not focused at the moment (Brown shirt below says it all). I’ll decided to do a picture story for this entry…

Painted Bi-Fold Doors

Painting baseboards

Vacation location

On vacation somewhere tropical sporting the Black and Gold… Game 7 here we go!!!! You can do it B’s!!!!

View by my new home

Baseboard painting

Window trim painting

Hole in the ceiling

Fixing the hole in the ceiling..

Raining day at the rental property

Tornado destruction photos in Springfield, Mass… June 4, 2011

Until next time, may the reconstruction be a safe one… ( I don”t feel right saying my normal building statement). Although, I’ll be returning to my normal statement soon..

Next in the batter’s box is….

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 10 May 2011 02:46:00 +0000

Now that the hardwood floors are completely sanded, stained and have their final coat of polyurethane applied, I can move onto another project. The polyurethane smell was pretty intense. Even with all of the windows open, I still got a headache from the fumes. On a side note, while I was reading the back of the polyurethane can, I was reminded that oil-soaked rags are a fire hazard. Basically, the heat from the dry, oil soak rags can set the rags on fire, It is recommended that you hang the rags outside and allow them to dry before disposing them. With that caution out of the way, I was thinking what am I going to do with myself when all of the projects are completed… I guess we’ll find out soon enough, but until then, we got an apartment to get fix up and rent out…

Next on the list were the bedroom closets doors. Prior to doing the floors, I had started to install the bi-fold doors to the bedroom closets. I discovered really quickly that the bedroom closet entryways were not a standard size. I had decided that to save money, I would modify the entry way and order stock doors. Funny, the big box hardware store didn’t have the standard size that I was looking for, so I had to special order them. However the price was the same, as if I purchase them off the shelf. If not, I did see a sledge hammer and a reciprocating saw in my future… However, being able to order the “custom” doors, I do see a couple of 2 X 4’s, framing nails, compound saw, air compressor, dry wall and my favorite pneumatic framer in my near future.

So I have to build a supporting wall… I had to build about 6 inches from the wall in one room and about 10 inches in the other room. Below were the pictures from my office.

New drywall installed covering the new frame 2 X 4’s

New Bi-fold doors…

It was funny, after feeling ~~felling~~ rushed in the previous month, I’ve decided to really take it easy. It didn’t take me long to install the new bi-fold doors to both bedrooms. I have to admit, framing the wall took more time than actually installing the doors. Now I just need to mud the new walls, sand and paint. I also need to install the trim around the new door way. The new bi-fold doors are certainly an improvement over the previous doors. They also match the entry doors into the rooms. I have to admit, that wasn’t on purpose…

The list of things are still plentiful. However, things are certainly getting done. I can now see the light at the end of the tunnel.. But I’m still hesitant in pulling the trigger on placing an ad for the apartment yet. However, I am in the process of moving to a new place in Connecticut at the end of the month. I figure the move will push me to really finish the apartment and place an ad. I guess, well see what happens next on that subject… Anyway, next on the list, I’ll be painting the damage trim from when I stained the floors. But until next time, happy building…

More than just another moving day/week….

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Thu, 21 Apr 2011 17:52:00 +0000

The month of April has certainly been an interesting rollercoaster. I still have my health, thus I assume that is a good thing. The blessing in disguise has certainly allowed my mind to relax and focus on the task at hand. Prior to getting the news, I was beginning to feel rushed into things, which then I felt overwhelmed. The entire process was starting to make me feel unrest. I felt that nothing would be accomplished on time. The pressure of time and energy was getting the best of me. But I still created a plan and attempting to execute accordingly. I first set my priorities to the second floor.

The second floor wasn’t a total disaster. I only had to clean/scrub the refrigerator,stove and bath tub. I’m happy to report that nothing was damage. The second floor is now cleaned and also scheduled to be occupied for May 1st. It was originally scheduled for April 1st, however, apparently not many people were looking for a place in April. Now onto the next task… First floor…

The first floor was a disaster… I needed to move my stuff out of the three rooms so that I can sand and stain the floors. I rented a storage unit and started to move things there. Thanks to Wilson, we were able to move out the heavy things that I couldn’t do myself. Yes, I’m a strapping young lad of 35, however, let us not re-live the umbilical hernia incident, again (Thank you)… Ok, moving on… After Wilson’s services were completed, I began to move the small things myself. I realized that my stereo and TV manuals were missing, so, I decided to take a picture so that the picture could assist me in recreate this mess later..

What a spaghetti mess…Not sure if I’m mentioned this before, but I hate moving… The packing, the lifting, the cleaning… The entire process is depressing… To me, moving is the realization that “I” have way too much junk and that about 90% of it can be thrown out…

After feeling a sense of “dis-accomplished”, I decided to take a walk. I walked down to the Hadley Falls bridge to clear my mind. The Holyoke Dam has been working overtime for the last couple of days due to the melting of the snow. In the summer, when the windows are open within the house, you can hear the rush of water from the dam… The soothing rush makes sleeping at night, extremely relaxing. However, the only drawback are the frequent trips to the bathroom during the night..

The Holyoke Dam is owned and operated by the Holyoke Gas and Electric Department (HGED). The dam has been in service since 1906 to initially supply power to the textile and paper mills within Holyoke. I was able to find some history of the dam (Holyoke Dam History by HGED), hope you enjoy it. The file within the website, has a lot of information about the construction and debate about the dam…

Here are a couple of pictures from my walk.

After returning from my refreshing walk… I was hit with the reality that I need to get this place cleaned out.

I’m fortune enough that I’m starting a new job soon (April 25). Thus, I decided to take a week off before starting the new job. This break allowed me the time to sand and stain the floors. The first thing that I needed to do was clean out the rooms and get a sander… Here are the rooms prior to sanding them.

I have to admit, the floors were horrendous. The floor had paint spots and dark black spots that looked to be animal urine stains. Thus enter the beast….

I’m a big fan of tools and equipment that conduct a job efficiently and properly… I guess it is correct when people say ”Time is money”… This beast, has 4 orbital sanding pads and a vacuum to suck up any dust. I was done sanding the rooms within 3 hours. I was surprise how minimal the wood dust was flowing through the room. It certainly worked like a charm…Here are pictures of the finish work…

The paint spots and unwanted stains were all gone. After completing the sanding, I discovered some marks on the floor in the master bedroom. Within the photo’s above, top right, you will see subtle uniform lines going perpendicular to the grain of wood. It looks like the previous owners used a paint roller when they stained the floors. It is recommended that you use a rag to stain the floors. By using a rag, you minimize streaks and stain build up on the floor. Because of roller streaks, I decided to go with a dark stain color (red oak). I wanted to hide any imperfections like this with the darker color. Also, I’m a big fan of the rich bold color.

I was sure to not stain myself into any corners…Once the staining process was completed and dry, I was able to put down a nice clean coat of semi-gloss Polyurethane. The following picture were taken after putting down the first of two coats of polyurethane.

I love the reflection of the door and window frame on the floor. The house may smell for a few days, but I’m loving the floors. By the way, here is something for you to think about… I was talking with a friend about the cost of hiring someone to do the floor. Basically do the same thing that I just did. The estimating cost to do 3 rooms was about $1000… With the sander rental, 1 can of stain, 2 cans of polyurethane, and miscellaneous supplies it cost me about $200… The best part of doing the job yourself is the pride, satisfaction and $800 towards a vacation trip… And knowing is half the battle..

Anyway, next on the list is to add a second coat of polyurethane and then repaint some of the trim that was damage from the staining process. Well until next time, Happy building…

A blessing in disguise…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 19 Apr 2011 17:22:00 +0000

The pressure of accomplishing things around the house has been pretty high lately. Of course, I’m the captain of my own ship and must stay focus. For the month of April, my agenda consist of attending a wedding in New Jersey, starting a new job (Yes again), move out of my apartment, finish fixing things in the first floor apartment and clean both apartments. By the way, did I forget to mention that all of this must be accomplished by May 1…The list of things that still need to be accomplished for the first floor apartment continues to grow of course. But the show must go on…

I was able to install the bi-fold doors in the master bedroom. It was certainly much more easier than I had originally thought. The installation was simple, however, I was unable to get the doors squared properly…However the doors look a lot better than the original sliding doors. The good news, I didn’t get hurt…

I next decided to install the light fixture in the living room. I had to first remove the old dust infested ceiling fan. The removal of any electrical fixture is far more easier when you (or I) shut the power off properly. I also replace the dimmer switch with a standard toggle switch.

Ok, one bi-fold door down, two more to go. One light fixture down, two more to go… But, I do have some bad news… The first floor apartment will not be occupied in May. The potential tenant had a personal issue, thus withdrew their request to occupy the first floor apartment. However, in reality, like the title of this entry states…”A blessing in disguise” which it certainly is…I can rest a little more easily… Anyway, I have a week off and will be sanding and staining the floors shortly.. Well until next time, happy building…

That isn’t a frown…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Fri, 25 Mar 2011 20:24:00 +0000

If you ever happen to touch a negative and positive hot electrical wire at the same time, you may first notice a numbing sensation flowing through your fingertips and up to your forearm muscles. If your mind doesn’t register what is going on, the next thing you may feel is the heat generating between your fingers tips.. Luckily around this time, while I was actually experiencing this marvelous tingle on my forearm, my mind triggered my sensors within my hand to let go of the hot current copper metal…

Let me restart the story to a point before I felt the world violently shake between my fingertips…The morning started with me making coffee with no coffee filters… Yes the first hour of debating of what to do was pretty comical. However, thanks to all of the wonderful suggestions from my friend on Facebook, using the paper towel as a coffee filter actually works. Still not sure about the sock. However, talking with a friend, the sock practice is quite common.. Anyway, after satisfying my caffeine addiction, I had decided to install the baseboard trim in the spare bedroom.

I measured the room to determine the amount of materials that would be required. After completing the task, I realized that one electrical outlet was installed way too low. I re-calculated my numbers and determined that the new baseboard trim would certainly hit the outlet. I had decided to replace the outlet entirely. Thus when I removed the electrical outlet cover and to my surprise I discovered…

The outlet was broken and was attached by friction to the outlet protective cover. The glory of having an old house allows me to do more research in finding the correct circuit breaker switch associated to a specific room… I couldn’t find my electricity tester, so I decided to plug in a light. I figured I’ll hit the circuit breaker switch in the basement and then check if the light is on or off… If the light is off, then the circuit breaker switch is associated to that specific room.. Sounded like a good plan at the time.

After hitting the switch, I unfastened the treaded screws that held the outlet to the junction box. Once completed, I place my thumb and index figure on the electrical outlet to remove it. As I’m removing the outlet from the junction box housing, my mind instantly registers a discomfort that I have felt before. The vibration of my right forearm muscle began to increase and I instantly knew that the light bulb test had failed.. The light bulb had somehow blown out when I disengaged the circuit breaker switch. The current ran through me within a nanosecond. My mind registered that electricity was traveling through my body. The discomforting pain was felt like it lasted forever. Once my mind fully registered what was going on, my brain told my hand to disengage…

Now that I got that out to way, I had evaluated my fingers and hand. I was satisfied that I was safe, but I realized that my stupidity could have been more lethal. I was lucky once again. This was not the first rodeo that I’ve gone too.. But I need to make this my last… I need to find that electricity tester…

I dusted myself off and gathered my thoughts. At that moment I decided to completely shut the electricity off throughout the entire house. I safely replaced the electrical outlet and then installed the baseboard. The picture below shows the workaround of having the outlet too low.

After completing the baseboard installation, I move my building motivation to the kitchen… I’ll be painting the baseboard another day. A while back I had updated the kitchen and removed the trim from both windows. I was able to reuse the old trim.

I’ll need to next paint the trim in the kitchen to match the current colors. But that will wait until next time. I then moved to the living room. The window trim in the living room was also needed. This time I had to cut the trim from scratch. The old window trim had taken a trip to the dump.

Next on the list was the master bedroom closet. I’m not a fan of the sliding closet doors. Thus I’ve decided to install new bi-fold doors and replace the wonderful smiley face of a closet pole.

The wood smiling pole was tied at the center with a piece of string. The wood pole was retrained at three points, side walls and the string. I replaced the wood pole with a metal pole and four metal brackets. Each metal bracket are rated to hold 250 lbs. Thus, by installing the four brackets the weight capacity would be for a total of 1000 lbs.

Next on the list was to install the bi-fold doors. Of course, nothing is ever standard with older homes. The doorway opening for the closet was of course 1 inch smaller than a standard bi-fold door requirement. I had purchased standard wood bi-fold doors and figured that I could cut a 1/2 inch of wood per side of the panel. By modifying the standard door, I calculated that I would save about $100 from not ordering the custom bi-fold doors…

But after further inspection, I realized that I could remove part of the doorway wood and gain the required inch.

The bi-fold door preparation was complete. The closet doorway was now ready for the bi-fold door installation. However, the exhaustion had started to kick in and I had to stop.

I’ve been pretty busy with working on the apartment and interviewing potential tenants for upstairs. I’ve had about 10 showings of the apartment thus far. Out of the ten, I’ve had 2 interested in my place in the first floor. I have one person that actually put in an application for my unfinished place. So on May 1st my apartment will be available. Next month is going to be extremely aggressive in getting the first floor into an acceptable living place. Additionally, I have a potential tenant ready for the second floor. I’m happy to report that things are going extremely well… Until next time, happy building…

How did you get poison ivy?

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 15 Mar 2011 03:43:00 +0000

The motivation of completing both apartments has certainly taken hold of me. I think it might be the fact that I can finally see the light at the end of the tunnel. However, that could be just the reflection coming off my flashlight. Regardless, the “Honey Do List” is certainly getting smaller (You may notice the new list on the left). I’ve decided to highlight things that I would like to accomplish prior to renting out the apartments. The exterior stuff doesn’t necessarily impact the individual apartments, however, I guess you can say they are nice to have items…

So with this new found motivation… Could it be that over the last three years, my canvas is finally going to be finished… Maybe I should go to the local gallery with my new painting and display it for all to see… I guess I need to dust off my old wool French beret labeled, “Rusty” and light up my Gauloises that’s being held by my quellazaire…Wait I already do that, except for the beret and cigarette part…

I did spend some time in Paris, France. I honestly don’t remember seeing anything like what I just described… However, I certainly do remember the wine and bread…. So good…But, ok let us switch tracks here… I’m really not sure where that thought was actually going… Except that I’m pretty excited that things are truly starting to come together with the house.

So with the tenant giving her notice. I’ve decided to hire some help… I originally ask for quotes from several individuals to paint my 3 bedrooms and a storage area. I figured I could focus on other things… So instead of painting this coming weekend I can work on the apartment upstairs. The quotes were all over the map… Sadly a friend was just laid off and needed some help… Luckily, I was able to help him out.

Prior to the painter coming over, I had to prep the rooms… I initially moved all of the furniture to the middle of the room. Below you will notice the 4 rooms that needed to be painted. The blue room was once the workout room, now its just a spare bedroom… The flesh colored room is my office. And the wonderful wall paper room is the master bedroom… The wood panel room is a storage/front porch.

Once the furniture was moved to the center of the room. I then started to remove some of the electrical outlet and switch covers. To my surprise, (actually nothing surprises me anymore) I realized that the junctions boxes were not mounted to a stud and/or wall… They were floating… note the pictures below.

With this new found discovery, I replace the junctions boxes. They are now mounted directly to the wall and should not move. I also switched out the outlets. The original outlets did not socket the plugs properly. The plugs would easily fall off the outlets, causing the electrical equipment to shut off easily.

Additionally, the office walls were pretty beat up. The walls were covered with hole from tacks and/or nails from the previous owner… So I filled the holes with putty and sanded the excess material after it dried…You think that is enough calamine lotion?

The painter came to the house and was done within two days. Here are the results of his work. Sadly the photo’s don’t give the color justice. But the color is of a light brown/yellow color with white trim work.

The painter thought it would be funny to leave the shoe switch cover on… However, the rooms look 20 times better than before…

I feel that the painting is completed for the bedrooms. Thus I’m free to work on other things. Like place a new ad for the apartment upstairs today (Apartment Ad). Within 10 minute of placing the ad, I received 3 calls…Thus far, I have two potential families coming to look at the apartment upstairs on Friday. Everything is truly coming together. Anyway until next time. Happy building.

You can’t go!!! All of the plants are going to die…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 01 Mar 2011 01:00:00 +0000

Wait, I don’t have any plants… Ok, as I’m sitting here writing, I have the movie Stripes (1981) starring Bill Murray and Harold Ramis (Movie link) playing in the background. The opening scene has Bill Murray’s girlfriends walking out on him. The scene is pretty funny especially when he says, “You can’t go!!! All of the plants are going to die...” I guess in a way I feel the same way with the tenant upstairs… After about two years of occupying the apartment upstairs, she officially gave her 30 day notice (It's Official). I do have to say the experience thus far has been pretty good. I certainly have no complaints. In reality, I should never expect anyone to stay in that apartment forever.

I will be attempting to have the apartment ready by April 1. I have a couple of things that I want to accomplish upstairs before I rent it out. But that won’t happen for a couple more weeks from now. So until then, lets focus on the first floor.

Yes, I’m still working on the hallway floor. I began my work on removing the corkboard flooring. Yes, the wonderful Search and Rescue crowbar was once again my weapon of choice. As I was chiseling the corkboard flooring away, I discovered a black paper that I think was a poor attempt to level the floor.

As you can see from the photo above, the door was wide open. After so many days of being below 32 degrees Fahrenheit, it was finally above 40 degrees… It was really nice outside, but I was working inside…of course….

However, later in the day after experiencing a beautiful sunny day, the snow decided to give us a visit, once again…

I guess I should focus… So after removing the rubbish, I started to install the 3/4 inch plywood. I had to shim plywood between the back door and bathroom. It would appear at one time there was a cast iron radiator and the weight of it had sunk part of the floor.

I had to cut the plywood to fit around the baseboard radiator.

As I was crawling around the floor, I had felt a cold blast of air coming from the floor by the door. So, I decided to fill the crack with an expandable sealing weather foam.

After filling in the cracks with the expandable seal weather foam, I was then able to install the new flooring. The plan was to install the same peal and stick flooring that was used in the kitchen and bathroom. However,I decided to wait until the following morning. It was pretty late and I was pretty tired from all of the work thus far…

So the following morning, I awoke to find that the expanding weather seal foam had preformed as designed… However, I think I over did it…

Prior to installing the new floor, I had to cut the excess foam back. But I was even more shocked when I found the expandable weather seal foam can. Apparently the can shutoff had malfunctioned, thus, here was the results.. OOPS!!!

Once my foaming issue was taken care of, I was able to finally install the peal and stick flooring.

Here is the result… I’m so excited that this project is finally complete. It’s now time to move onto another project. But, I won’t worry about that now. Until next time, happy building…

The crowbar that rescued me…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Tue, 08 Feb 2011 22:58:00 +0000

The 2011 winter season thus far has certainly been an interesting one. Recently mother nature poured enough snow on our wonderful Massachusetts state that I think it will be well after May before it’s gone… On one day, mother nature poured about 2 feet of snow. Since that day, the snow has continued to fall. The snow has been piling up and I really don’t know where it’s all going to go… Well that is a silly statement, we all know it’s going to eventually melt… But if it snows again, it’s going to be extremely difficult to enjoy summer…

I have to admit, beside having to snow blow the driveway every other day, I can finally have time to finish the apartment. I’ve been working on this house for a long time and I still have a lot that needs to be done. I have one final major renovation that needs to be completed. A lot of the things that still need to be done to the apartment are small. But this one project could not hold out any longer. The lovely hallway floor… I started this little project back in December 2009 (So much to do...). Yes it has been awhile… But it’s time to push this bad boy to the top of the list..

For the last year I’ve been living with the floor looking like this. I had started to remove this portion of the floor, but it was extremely difficult at the time, so I decided to change projects… Well later is now…

This pictures shows a good reason for my problem. The floor has two layers of Linoleum floor and a concrete backing…Actually, the concrete backing is a floor level that cures like concrete… The entire floor was covered with this stuff. The flooring level was more of a headache then doing any good.

I had to peel the top layer of the linoleum like an orange. I have to admit, removing the floor layer was extremely exhausting. It took me about 2 days to remove the rind like surface. Two days later, here I am…The first layer of the floor completed.

The next step was a little more difficult to complete then removing the linoleum flooring. Once I removed the top layer linoleum flooring, I discovered two layers of Luan plywood that were .25 inch thick. This could explain why the floor had an excessive amount of drywall screws and floor level compound…

Initially, I was going to use an adhesive remover to get access to the drywall screws. Basically, I was going to remove the rind like surface and then unscrew the Luan Plywood off… But I realized that it would take me even longer… So enter the Search and Rescue Crowbar…

The search and rescue crowbar was my tool of choice when removing the Luan Flooring… As you can see, underneath the Luan flooring was the wonderful corkboard plywood…

As you can see from the picture above, the corkboard absorbs any liquids that falls on it. You can also note the drywall screws used to secure the Luan Plywood in the top picture

I finally removed the crappy flooring… Next on the list is to remove the corkboard flooring and replace it with 1/2 –3/4 inch plywood. After that, I’m going with the peel and stick flooring… Anyway, until next time happy building…

‘Twas the night after Christmas..

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Wed, 19 Jan 2011 15:49:00 +0000

One night after all of the Christmas celebrations were completed, I awoke to hear a dreadful noise from the basement. The furnace/boiler had started to act up that night. After fixing the issue I thought of this poem. Below you will find a modified version of Clement Clarke Moore’s, “ ’Twas the night before Christmas” Poem. I just happen to change it around to include the recent furnace/boiler frustration that I had encountered that night. Please enjoy.

‘Twas the night after Christmas, when all through the house, Not a creature was stirring, not even a mouse… The stocking were empty by the radiator, the dishes filled in the sink In hopes that the Cleaning Fairy would soon appear.
I was nicely snug in my bed, so warm and sweet, with visions of warm beaches danced in my head. I had just settled my brain for a long winter’s nap.
When out of the basement arose such a clatter, I sprang from the bed to see what was the matter… Away to the thermostat, I flew like a flash, Pressed on the button with no response
The thermostat light gave way to brightness of mid-day objects. When, what to my wondering eyes should appear, But icicles from the radiator vent.
With a little old puff, so small and quick, I knew in a moment it must be sick. It didn’t whistle or clang, and or called no names… And then, in a twinkling, I heard from the basement The prancing and banging of each pipe.
As I walked down to the basement, and through the door Down the pipes came the pressure with a bounce. The pipes were covered with rust and dust, from top to bottom.
The furnace/boiler all blue with ashes and soot. A bundle of pipes that were hung from the back It looked like a B1 Bomber, but hummed like an engine with a cough. The flame how it twinkled! The fire was merry. The warmth was welcoming, the color was red and orange
The furnace/boiler was small and square, It shook when it stopped, like a freight train racing through the air.
It was loud and old, a sad little elf, And I cried when I saw it, in spite of myself! A bang of the pipe and a thump from the water, Soon gave me to know, I was in trouble.
It spoke not a word, but went straight to a cough and filled all of the pipes with heat, and then banged with a jerk
And giving a puff and poof, up the chimney the heat rose!
I sprang to my feet, to a whistle from the vent, And away I flew to the radiator vent for repair, But I heard the furnace/boiler exclaim, ‘ere the noise died down, “I’ll keep you up all night, and to all a night of no sleep”

With that said, my furnace/boiler was recently repaired to remove the locomotive noise that had been haunting me for sometime (All Engines are a go). But recently, the noise has returned. This time I believe I may have found the smoking gun. The icicle air vent…

George D Hoffman invented the first thermostatic steam air vent in 1912. Hoffman design incorporated a float that sat in a alcohol/water mixture. When the alcohol/water mixture reached temperature, the float would claps and shut the vent to create a seal that would prohibit steam from escaping. Today’s designs are similar to the original Hoffman’s concept but I’m told with a diaphragm.

The maximum operating pressure for a shut off valve is 10 psi, which is the highest pressure that can be utilized without it breaking. Furnace/Boilers are equipped with a high pressure limit switch that turns off the burner when pressure exceeds a preset level usually 5 – 7 psi. A residential steam heating systems are always designed to operate at a very low pressure, about .5 psi. My system has been operation at a level higher than required (of course). If the system is too high in pressure, the air vents might stay closed.

The differential was set at 4. So if the cut-out pressure was at 5 psi, the system could possibly see about 9 psi. This is pretty close to the maximum operational pressure for the vent. As you can see from the photo above, I adjusted the differential to about 1.5.

The demand of heat to fill the room may have caused the furnace/boiler to work overtime. Thus causing the valve to stay closed due to the large amounts of pressure that had continued to build up within the piping system.

Thus with the vent shut at 2 in the morning, I guess I should not be surprised to find the radiator and vent to be ice cold. The closed valve is located in the same room as the thermostat, the living room. The thermostat had never reaching its required temperature thus calling for a demand of heat to fill the room.

The new vent is now in place with the pressure limiter adjusted to the appropriate settings. I guess we’ll have to see what happens next. Well until next time, happy building…

Landlord…You have to start somewhere…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Thu, 30 Dec 2010 20:47:00 +0000

I have been getting a lot of questions about being a landlord. Several people have expressed interest in pursuing the landlord world. Some of the question that have been asked are like:

“How do I respond to someone that doesn’t pay rent?”

“What is the law on heating?”

“Where do I place my advertisements for my rental property?”

“How do I get background checks?”

“What is considered a repair and/or improvement expense?”

“Will I get rich?”

I had the same questions when I started this little adventure back in July 2008 (In the Beginning). With a lot of hard work and upfront planning, I’m happy to say that I’m successfully on my second tenant for my second floor apartment. This coming Spring, I’ll be accepting applications for the first floor apartment (my current residents). By Fall 2011, I hope to have a second property that will be accepting additional tenants.

To be honest, I really don’t know how I’ll initially respond to a tenant that doesn’t pay their rent. However, if I conduct my pre-application credit and background checks appropriately, I don’t expect to experience this… Although I do know that if a tenant did do this, then I’ll need to send a “Pay or Quit notice”… What is a “Pay or Quit Notice”…. Well it just that, pay the rent or Quit the lease, thus move out. However, evicting someone in Massachusetts isn’t that easy… There are many more rules that need to be followed when evicting a tenant. But, let me stop you here… We could do this all day, you ask me a question, then I answer. Then you ask another question and so on… But the real question that you should be asking is, … ”how do you know all these answers?” My answer to you is, I certainly don’t know all of the answers, but I do know where to get it. That is the key… So let me help you get started….

I was once told that you can give a person a fish and they will eat for a day.. Teach a person how to fish and they will eat for a lifetime or until the pond dries up… However, I’ve always wondered, does the person already know how to cook a fish? But I guess that is another lesson…

Anyway, back in 2008 when I started this little adventure, I quickly realized that getting the “correct” information was a little more difficult than I originally thought. I began my research by utilizing the internet and by visiting the local book stores. All of the information that I encountered were extremely general. Because the books were too general, I could not find the appropriate information that I needed.

Here is one piece of information that you should certainly know… Every State has their own laws and requirements with regards to renting to tenants. So you need to find out what they are. I say this, because I remember someone telling me, “Because you live in a duplex, you can tell people that you don’t have to accept them because they have children.” Let me tell you this, in Massachusetts, that is against the law, so good luck with that battle in court…

To be honest, it wasn’t until I took a Landlord Tenant Law class that I had realize that statement to be false. When the apartment upstairs was ready for its first occupant. (April 2009) I happened to be reading the newspaper and found that a local college was actually offering a class on being a landlord in Massachusetts. In the class, I was taught the “ideal” practices of being a landlord in Massachusetts… The class covered how to: generate a lease, get credit history, understand sanitary codes, communicating with tenants, generate eviction notices and procedures, manage security deposits, advertise within the law and so on…

The biggest thing that I took away from the class was the horror stories. The repeat offenders that understand the law and use it to their advantage… Basically they take advantage of a landlord that doesn’t require the background checks. The class was taught by an experience landlord that saw all aspect of being a landlord. The one thing that was stressed within the class was to conduct the credit and background checks on ALL applicants. I feel that by doing the background checks on all potential tenants, 95% of the would be bad apples, would not apply. The other 4% would get caught… And the 1% will be the new beginners… I highly recommend this class and/or a class like this…

Second advice, you have to realize that your rental property is now a small business. You have to treat your property like a business… You need to be able to manage the property, the tenant and finance, like a business. I’ve experience cost overruns and mental breakdowns. Those issue may have been caused by weather (Where's the tarp), injuries (Thank you) and/or life in general (I give you cabinet doors)… But, I’ve overcome the stated stresses because I’ve created a plan and was able to fall back to working the plan… (Finally some motivation) Most importantly you need to be patient.

Managing the three items can be a daunting task. But everything comes in stages… The one thing that is certainly a constant is finance. As a small business owner, we don’t start a business wanting to be in the red all of our life… So create a budget… Do the required research on your property: i.e. local rental cost, compare benefits, compare amenities, insurance, taxes, current utility expenses, improvement cost estimate and repair cost estimate. I would recommend basically do a cost analysis on your property. Your goal within that cost analysis is to have your expenses less than your income. Basically you want to generate a profit… However don’t shoot for the stars when it comes to profit. I have to admit, you are not going to be rich overnight… But the extra income certainly helps around Christmas time…

By having a rental property, the government recognizes your property as a small business. Thus you are permitted the same tax benefits that a small business would have, with limitations of course. Also remember, your tax season is really all year long… Everything you purchase that is required for the rental property can possibly qualify for some type of tax break… Be it a repair, improvement, overhead expense, and so on… I highly recommend the book below if you are going to be become a landlord. The book gives excellent recommendation on financial bookkeeping for landlords. If you don’t feel comfortable in doing your taxes, you can always hire an accountant to do your financial books and taxes… But remember, that will cost you money as well… When doing your tax returns, Turbo Tax, the Premier version is extremely helpful for people with rental properties.

Paperback: 547 pages

Publisher: NOLO; 7 edition (December 1, 2010)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1413312772

ISBN-13: 978-1413312775

Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 7 x 1.2 inches

Paperback: 336 pages

Publisher: NOLO; 1st edition (February 27, 2009)

Language: English

ISBN-10: 1413309119

ISBN-13: 978-1413309119

Product Dimensions: 8.9 x 6 x 0.8 inches

I’ve been fortune enough to have some excellent tenants. I think partly because I’ve been honest and upfront with them. (Its Official) The relationship of a tenant and landlord should be just that, tenant and landlord. Being a friend to a tenant is possible, but it become difficult if issues arise. However, getting to this point requires you to be diligent in doing the required background and credit checks up front.

I personally have an outside company that conducts the required background checks. The information is all stored with this company, thus if they fail your criteria, the company denies the tenant. Basically the company only gives you a Yes or No recommendation. Thus if the applicant feels that they were denied incorrectly, they must contact the company. Additionally, one item that I’ve told my tenants, “if you know you’re not going to be able to pay the rent on time, please give me advance notice of the issue.” For example, if the first of the month is on a Monday and you don’t get paid until Thursday, I can wait… But don’t wait until Monday to tell me… This has certainly helps both the tenants and me.

I also recommend that you read a lot about how to fixing things around the home. Visit the hardware store, ask for advice, go online… It’s ok to purchase the Big Box Hardware store self-help books, they are filled with so much useful information. If you are not comfortable with tools, it might be helpful to take a woodworking class. Many schools still offer after school programs for adults. The cost of doing things yourself is both rewarding and less expensive.

All of this becomes especially helpful when you have to hire a license contractor. Basically when they are trying to explain things to you, you have an idea of what they need to do. Or better yet, realize they maybe over-charging you… For example, I had a contractor tell me that to replace my windows it would cost me $1000 per window. That would include the window and installation… I have over 32 windows or $32,000… I read a couple of books and realized that I only needed to remove 4 screws and install a replacement window… At my local big box hardware store, I found some replacement energy efficient windows for about $150 per window… If I replaced all 32 windows, I would have saved over $27200 by doing it myself…(How much again...)

For my final advice, I can’t guarantee that you will be rich. I can’t guarantee that you are going to find the model tenant. I can’t guarantee that you will find the perfect multi-family house that doesn’t need repairs…But when you are fixing your place, remember it’s just a rental property… What I mean by this statement is, when you are debating on 2 different colors of paint that are extremely similar, however, one is just a smidge lighter… Does it really matter? It’s just a rental property…

I hope you enjoyed this segment. I know it’s a departure from my normal postings, but it’s the New Year and I’m not in the fixing mood… If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask within the comment section… Until next time, Happy Building and Happy New Year…

What beautiful snow…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Wed, 29 Dec 2010 00:34:00 +0000

2010 Christmas has come and gone. However, this year, it wasn’t the traditional white Christmas until the day after. It was actually a blizzard that hit the northeast. The weather was so strong that a Sunday Night football game in Pennsylvania was postponed to the following Tuesday. In some areas of Massachusetts, snow thickness reached well over a foot.

With a fresh layer of powder on the ground, I awoke to clean the driveway. I walked down to the basement to get the proper equipment to complete the job. My lovely snow blower has been comfortably sitting in the basement next to the B-1 bomber furnace all year. The snow blower has been enjoying a wonderful vacation in the cool basement during the hot summer nights. But now it’s time to get to work.

I went through the pre-start checklist: gas level, oil level and key. Ok, everything is a go… I pulled on the start cord.. But nothing… I repeated to pull on the start cord… but nothing again…I repeated to pull on the start cord for several minutes… But still nothing…Then the first curse word was mentioned…

I realized that I didn’t do my pre-season snow blower preventative maintenance checks. A couple of weeks ago as I was sitting outside enjoying the fall weather, I happened to notice a neighbor doing his preventative maintenance checks to his snow blower. At that time I thought, “Yea, I have to check my snow blower out as well.”

Yea, that is correct, I didn’t do it… So there I was standing there in the cold basement wondering what could be the issue. While I stood there, I happen to realize that my snow blower has an electric starter…Basically I get to press a button and it should start. So I plug in the required cord into their respective outlets. I then pressed the electric start button… The starter whined… But, yet nothing… The second curse word was mentioned…

So there I was standing there in the cold basement wondering what cold be the issue… The next thought was the possibility that the spark plug may be old. I had removed the spark plug to find some carbon build up. With snow still in the driveway, it would be difficult to get another spark plug. Then I had a thought, “Maybe the lawn mower might have the same spark plug”

Bingo… It worked. The spark plugs were the same. But the snow blower was still not starting…I realized that the gas maybe stale. If gas is stored in a snow blower for a long period of time, the potency of the gas will degrade. It’s a good idea to put gas stabilizer into the snow blower at the end of the season if the gas tank is not empty. The stabilizer would refresh the gas for at least two years. The third curse word was mentioned.

I had already installed fresh gas into the snow blower, thus the issue maybe the gas within the fuel lines. So I pressed on the gas primer and the electric starter for several seconds, in hopes that the bad gas would flush out. The snow blower finally cranked over. I was finally able to finish cleaning the driveway.

The lesson here… Do your preventative maintenance checks prior to the season. Anyway, I want to wish everyone a safe and Happy New Year. Until next time… Happy Building…

All engines are a go…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Sun, 12 Dec 2010 23:50:00 +0000

Winter is right around the corner… You know what that means… Snow, Christmas, winter coats and the wonderful B-1 Bomber of a boiler starting it’s engines…Yes this year the boiler began its’ wonderful thunderous banging that sounds like a locomotive racing through my basement… This was an issue last February (Empty Shelves) that was not completely fixed. But prior to addressing this issue, my hip/back injury decided to resurface once again. So I decide to take a break throughout the month of November. So doing things around the house was a little limiting.

Also part of my limitation of doing things around the house was due to a wonderful holiday that just passed… Thanksgiving… I love having a gathering of food, family and friends in once place. This year, I had family and friends came over for a wonderful dinner. Basically I was able to show off the new kitchen. I’m happy to report that there were no issues with the new dishwasher, sink and/or counter. I got positive feed back from family and friends with the accomplishments of the kitchen. Here are a couple of pictures showing the family in the kitchen.

Nieces Audia and Nylevea

Mom, Nylevea and Fredy

I was certainly grateful that the dishwasher was installed. After eating dinner, the dishwasher had efficiently cleaned all of the dishes prior to me going to sleep.Thus my cleaning time was reduced by 4 days…

The following morning the B-1 boiler had started it’s engines. At 5 in the morning, the pipes began to violently bang. The banging had carried on for about 5 minutes. I was unable to fall back to sleep. I was extremely exhausted and frustrated that I decided to contact Ken.

The wonderful cause of all of my problems

Ken evaluated the piping and realized that the vents that I had installed were incorrect. The vents that were installed are for high pressure water systems. My issue is that I have a high pressure steam system. The furnace/boiler would produced steam within the pipes when kicked on. Well once the room within the house reaches the required temperature the furnace/boiler would shut off. The pressure within the pipes would be trapped within the returned water. This would cause water that is generated from condensation to bounce back and forth. Basically the high pressure steam had no place to go… The new vents would allow the pressured steam to escape and minimize the hammering within the pipes.

The new vent

Since installing the new vents, I have not heard any noise since. I am finally able to sleep through the night… So it is certainly a good start… Well believe December will be a slow remodeling months. Thus I hope everyone will have a safe and joyful Christmas. Well until next time, happy building…

Time to install the floor…

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Mon, 01 Nov 2010 01:35:00 +0000

For me, returning home from any trip is always pretty dreadful. It’s not that I hate travelling I actually like it… It’s really just the feeling of having to return and deal with things around the house.. The enjoyment of going on any trips is the excitement of not doing any house work… Although in reality, I’m only delaying my responsibilities for another day… or actually….another week…

The month of October has been pretty exciting in the travelling department. The lower back pain that haunted me during the summer has made me a travelling fool for the month of October… I have to admit, the cold weather has helped with my travelling decisions. I was fortune enough to travel to San Francisco, California and San Juan, Puerto Rico… With the relaxing view below, you can see how the trip was worth it… Ok, I have to admit, the view of my foot and crusty toes may not help in your decision.. But, the warm water, 95 degree weather and cloudless sky might influence you…

My girlfriend and I, sitting by the beach in San Juan taking in some rays…. Boy did I need some sun

Here I am at Fort San Felipe del Morro “El Morro” in San Juan

Sentry Box at the “El Morro”

A couple of house in Old San Juan

While walking around in Old San Juan, we came across some property that looked pretty interesting and decent (Picture below)…Then of course the gears in my head started to crank… The smoke started to flow from my ears…What if I purchased a vacation home in Puerto Rico? What if I purchase a little house that I could rent year round? What if I purchase a 2 family home in Puerto Rico? One permanent resident and vacation home… HOLD ON!!! Pump the brakes… Pump the brakes… I need to slow things down… I need to finish my original project before I jump onto another one… Ok let’s move on… But the idea is certainly in the back of my mind…

The house on the right is the property we came across…

Anyway, now that I have fulfilled my vacation quota for the year, I guess it is time to really get back to working on the house. I can now say that I have a new motivation in getting thing done. Like the vacation home idea, but also the news that I will be hosting both Thanksgiving and Christmas Eve at my house this year… You know what that mean, set a bunch of goals to finish certain projects before the holidays and actually do one project out of 25…

However this year, I feel pretty confident that my project list will be much least than last years. This year, the biggest project was the kitchen and that is almost completed… After this weekend I’m certainly one step closer in finishing… This weekend I decided to finish the floor.

The green monster

I first had to clean the room and remove all of the stuff from the floor… After doing so, I realized I had missed painting the base boards…

Once the trim was completed, I began to remove the excess shims from the cabinets…

It is certainly not an Angel moment unless I get injured somehow… So here we go… I was using a utility knife to cut a line across the wood shims… After doing making the cut, I would take a flat head screwdriver and lift on the shim and snap, the shim is cut perfectly in line with the kitchen cabinet.. Easy, right? Ok so, I’m on my hands and knees cutting and lifting, tooling along… I’m on the 4th one, when I’m lifting on the screw driver, my hand slips off… I slip forward towards the floor, my hand instantly tries to brace for the impact against the cabinet and floor… But instead of feeling a solid thud, I feel a sharp pain in my left hand ring finger… As I quickly remove my hand from the sharp object that stabbed my finger, blood trickles down my finger…A shard of glass was momentarily stuck to my finger and fell to the ground…

Good cut… Bleeding through the bandage..

After cleaning and placing a bandage on my finger, I started to clean the floor. I swept and mopped up all of the dirt prior to placing the peal and stick tiles down.

So it all started here…

Well the kitchen is almost there… About 95% complete thus far… I still need to fix a couple of electrical outlets.. I also need to install the window trim… But until next time, happy building and Happy Halloween…

I give you cabinet doors...

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Mon, 18 Oct 2010 00:00:00 +0000

A couple of weeks ago, I was flying home from San Francisco and had a brief stop in Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. As I sat by my departing gate, I began to think about my life of travels. At that moment, I happen to notice three young men walking together towards the exit of the airport. The three men were dressed extremely different from each other. However, their stride was together, as if they are going to the same destination. Each person was carrying a vanilla envelope with their military orders taped to the outside.

Seeing these three young men, reminded me of my walk with my vanilla envelope. I remember the bus ride to Sand Hill, Fort Benning, Georgia back in 1993. The moment the bus entered the base, I remember a big knot formed in my throat. I also remember my gut turning when the bus stopped... I remember the Drill sergeant walking onto the bus. The bus was extremely quiet while he stood there… You could have heard a pin drop if it did. The Drill Sergeant inhaled for a second and began to yell. All I remember him saying was, “Get off my bus!!!”

But that was many years ago, as I sat there at the airport, I had looked at their young faces and was reminded of my baby face when I reported for duty. I had such a young face, that I was able to shave every other day. Today, that is a different story... Looking at these young men now, I’m proud to see that young men and women are still answering the call of duty. But, I certainly pray for them. I pray for these young men to come home quickly and safely… These days, the demands on the military forces are extremely high.

I mention this observation because, I’m proud of these young men. But most importantly, when you happen to see a young man and/or woman with a vanilla envelope, you’ll have an understanding what they are about to do. That they have joined a brotherhood of men and women that volunteered their lives to protect us and our way of life…

The layover was really because I took a mini vacation trip to San Francisco. I was able to see the Golden Gate Bridge, a Giants Game and Alcatraz. Here are a couple of pictures from my trip.

Golden Gate Bridge from Fort Point

Here I am standing in front of the Golden Gate Bridge

If you ever happen to be in San Francisco and plan on taking an Alcatraz tour… I recommend the night tour. The tour was a lot of fun and extremely informational. Also a little spookie...

But my first free weekend since returning, I was able to install the cabinet doors… Here is a picture of my kitchen with the cabinet doors and hardware installed..

The only thing that is left in the kitchen is the floor and window trim… After that, I can move onto another project within the house.. Until next time, happy building…

The Envelope Please...

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Sun, 19 Sep 2010 23:07:00 +0000

My motivation level over the last couple of weeks has been focused on things other than the house. To be honest, it feels like I’ve peaked after installing the dishwasher. My summer has been limited to a couch, bed, chiropractor, back specialist, physical therapy and sometimes floor… Just to name a few things... Not sure if you remember, but I was walking kind of tilted to one side for a good part of the summer. I am happy to report that I’m slowly starting to feel human again…So I’ve been trying to enjoy what is left of the summer of 2010. It is certainly hard with temperatures starting to drop.

With that said, I want to mention that every so often an invention is created to help progress our life. At the moment, I would like to nominate my dishwasher as the Invention of the Century… Ok… Ok there are other things that deserve the award… But for the last couple of weeks, I have been finding more time to escape the house. The 45 minutes of dishwashing by hand, has decreased down to 5-10 minutes… That is just loading the dishes and pushing a couple of buttons… The true bonus is the clean smell in the kitchen now. I’m also using fewer dishes with the new dishwasher. Although, I have to admit, the trash barrel smell is starting to come into question now...

Looking around the house, it feels like things are almost complete… But, the little details still need to be done… The plan is to complete the kitchen and then move on to another room. To accomplish that plan I need to paint, fix some electrical outlets and install the new floor...

So here we go… So here is the kitchen...

Cabinet Doors removed and primed

Tin Roof taped

Cabinet Doors primed

Trying to be a little artsy with the camera

New look

Old hardware

New hardware

Problem hinge...

I had a problem of getting the right replacement hinges from the super large orange box hardware store... I even went to a couple of local hardware stores searching for this hinge… But still no luck… So I had to special order them online… So until the new hinges get in, the kitchen will look a little odd with no cabinet doors… I should be receiving them sometime this week… Anyway until next time, happy building…

No More leaning towers of dishes....

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Mon, 16 Aug 2010 01:22:00 +0000

Throughout our lifetime, we will encounter responsibilities that will never go away. If we are lucky, we will be able to pass those responsibilities onto someone else. But the odds of that are extremely slim…The responsibilities that I am referring to are household tasks that never go away. As a youth, household tasks were usually delegated due to a punishment and/or a source of allowance. Some of the household tasks that never go away are laundry, dishes, trash removal, and mopping. I personally believe that most of the tasks mentioned are minimal in time to accomplish…But are needed to satisfy our cleanliness meter... I mean, to be honest we really don’t have to clean anything, but people would start to talk… There is one task that I truly dislike. That responsibility is dishes. Here is an example how much I hate dishes… As a teenage I actually had quit a job because I was scheduled to wash pots and pans for 8 hours straight. I could not deal with the soggy factor, thus I quit…

I honestly dislike the dish pan hands after spending 20 minutes of washing. Additionally the wasted time spend standing over a sink of dirty dishes. My problem is that I enjoy cooking. I would cook a large meal and have an excess amount of dishes. To be honest, I would be ok with cooking, if someone else did the dishes. However, I live alone in this house, but that is truly another story….

I have to admit that my dish washing quality is really not up to standards… I mean I fall short of the 100% cleaning mark by half. It’s completely embarrassing to offer someone a drink and realize a spot of muck on the glass. So when the installation of the dishwasher was next on the list, my motivation was extremely high… I was even more motivated when I realize that the dishes were piling higher and were beginning to fester something frightening.

Prior to installing the dishwasher, I had to cut an access hole into the side of the sink base cabinet. I then had to adjust the existing electrical outlet closer to the dishwasher access hole. When I installed the sink, I purposely installed the drain line for the dishwasher, so I would only need to install the dishwasher drain directly. Surprisingly the manufacturing dishwasher instructions were extremely easy to follow.

For the dishwasher, since I didn't want to hard wire directly to the power, I decided to install a 3 prong plug that came with the dishwasher. I figured in case of emergency, it would be easier to disconnect the dishwasher power without any true issues. I also changed the existing plug with a GFI (also known as GFCI) which means Ground Fault (Circuit) Interrupter.

Whenever electricity is used in a damp location, a minor fault can cause a dangerous shock even though the circuit is properly grounded, thus a GFI is used to interrupt that shock. Basically, a GFI outlet monitors the current flowing through both the hot and neutral wires. If there is a difference between them that usually means an external source is causing a current differential. That external source causing the differential is usually a person. The GFI watches for this difference and shuts off power to the circuit if an imbalance is detected.

When wet, you become a conductor and the GFI will detect the current flowing through you and shut the power off. A normal breaker will only shut off if your body happens to overload the circuit, the odds of you overloading the circuit is unlikely.

So let’s get to the point. So prior to installing the dishwasher, I wrote a little note on the wall… I figured someday someone would want to revamp the kitchen as well. This will at least give them an idea when it was last updated.

Here is the dishwasher installed prior to actually using it.

You will note the cluttered counter top with the dish rack.

Now look at the counter without the clutter… Nice, I’m extremely pleased with the new look. So now the dishwasher is installed. Next on the list will be to paint the walls and upper cabinets in the kitchen. Then install the new floor…That is it for now… until next, happy building…

If this was your vacation, I'd hate to know what you do for fun...

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Mon, 02 Aug 2010 03:05:00 +0000

Now that the bat situation is somewhat under control (I like to believe it is). I can now move onto other things around the house. Over the previous week, I’ve been on vacation from work. It was the perfect time to begin a large project. One that would require a lot of attention once it began. The biggest problem was that I had a serious back problem that required a lot of attention. So I called in re-enforcements to help me with the kitchen… my nephews. Without their help, I’d probably still be struggling with lifting the cabinets alone.

Prior to the bat situation, I’ve been patiently working on the kitchen. I started with the ceiling, by exposing the wonderful tin and installed the crown molding. I also half heartily painted the walls… I wanted to paint the walls completely prior to installing new cabinets but my vacation time was coming on too quickly. So I paused on the painting and started the kitchen update.

Let’s review the reasons for the cabinet update

Cabinet doors did not close properly

Drawers face missing or damaged

Repaired drawers with duct tape

Duct tape drawer

No dishwasher

Everything needed to be removed from the kitchen prior to actually doing any demolition. For the next week, my house was completely turned upside down from empting the kitchen.

Kitchen table with pots and pans in the bedroom

Cleaning supplies and utensils in the living room

Before

Once the old cabinet was removed, through the wall it would appear that there was a door. It looks like the previous owners had installed a wall to cover up the door that goes into the back hallway. I’m ok with the wall because it gives more space for cabinets in the kitchen.

Next was the main cabinet. The base under the sink was pretty dilapidated. Additionally, the faucet was old and it leaked. The wooden handles were started to get moldy as well.

The plan was to remove the dual sink and replace it with a single sink. To fit a new dishwasher within the current space, I had to get a smaller sink base thus it required a smaller sink.

A new drain assembly will be needed. A new hot water outlet will be needed as well to supply the dishwasher.

Within 30 minutes, the entire kitchen was completely demolished.
I then installed a new subfloor to support the new cabinets.

For the new subfloor, I cut out holes for the water, drain and power lines. I created a template to cut the holes out.

Once that was completed, Fredy started to help out by drilling in support boards into the walls

The cabinets were then drilled into the walls, shimmed and then together.

Once the cabinets were in place, Fredy helped me put the counter top on.

The main cabinets were then installed. For the sink base, I used the same template that was used for the subfloor to cut out the access holes.

Fast forward a couple of screws, shims and heavy lifting, the kitchen cabinets were completed. The new kitchen cabinets now have an access spot for the new dishwasher.

For the new dishwasher, I then needed to install a new water line to the existing hot water pipe. After shutting off the water supply, a new “T” copper spacer and valve were soldered on. To protect the cabinet from getting burned by the torch, I used a flame retardant cloth.

Once that was completed, it was time to install the new sink. I used blue painters tape to outline the new sink. Note the light coming through the window...

Because of the limited space using the Jig saw to cut out the access hole for the sink, I had to use a hand saw to clean out the last remaining portion of the counter. You may notice the darkness out of the window. It took a long time using the hand saw...

Once I was conformable that the sink would fit within the new access hole, I installed the faucet and drain to the sink. The new sink assembly was then installed to the counter using clips and silicone.

The next portion of the kitchen upgrade was installing the new drain assembly. The PVC piping was aligned prior to being cementing together. Note the black marker lines to ensure that the PVC piping was assembled properly. Also note the new drain pipe for the dishwasher waste line.

The moment of truth!!!!!

Yes!!!! Water is running with no leaks…

I can happily state that the main renovation of the kitchen is completed. The next portion of the upgrade is to finish painting, install the dishwasher and upgrade the floor. I also want to upgrade the kitchen hardware. I’m certainly pleased with the upgrade thus far. Yes I still need to wash dishes by hand... But not for long...

The upgrade thus far would not have been completed if it wasn’t for my great nephews, Fredy and Devyn. Without them, I probably would have destroyed my spine. The bonus was listening how they both enjoyed learning how they were able to use power tools. Well until next time, happy building...

The first shot... Hopefully the last...

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Sun, 01 Aug 2010 19:54:00 +0000

You may already have notice, but, I have a strong dislike towards bats. I could use the word hate, but hate is such a strong word that it could imply that I want a total destruction of bats… What I’m trying to say is I don’t feel an extreme hostility towards bats. It’s discomfort that I just don’t want them bothering me. Too sum it up, they scare me. Basically, I scream like a baby. And when I’m running for shelter, I’m honestly man enough to scream, “Get out of the way!!! Scared little girl coming through!!!” Sorry ladies, this is one area, I would have to say, “good luck, man in shining armor I am not…” However, I’m ok with catching mice, squirrels and/or chipmunks. Yes I have some experience chasing and/or catching those little creatures. But the flying mice, that is not my department.

I have a strong respect for bats. I understanding that bats like many other creatures in our world have a function, a meaning or rather a responsibility. They have a duty, like many of us. Let me clarify, they are innocent creatures just attempting to live life and tend to their young ones. Too continue the cycle of life for their species. I had read somewhere that one bat can consume up to about 3000 mosquitoes in one night. So with that, there is a benefit of having bats… Thus, removal of any bats from my house would be humane. I certainly didn’t want to go in gun blazing with pesticides per say. Additionally, bats are protected by law in Massachusetts and may not be killed.

I was fortune enough to find someone with that met my requirements. His name was Enoi Chonmany, owner of Greenleaf Pest Management, Inc. (There is a link on the side bar for Greenleaf Pest Management). Talking with Enoi; he tries to avoid using pesticides when removing animals and/or creatures. But sometime when it is necessary, he tries to use a limited amount. When using pesticides there is a real concern of it flowing down to a neighborhood parks with the possibly of hurting kids and/or innocent animals. I was extremely pleased with that statement.

When it comes to bats, Enoi works at night. The time was about 5:30 pm when he reported for duty. He started by buttoning up the loose siding and access areas of the house. The last thing that would be sealed would be the Chimney-130 hatchway, after the bats exited for their nightly hunt… After about 2 hours, he was completed with the first stage.

We both sat at the back porch talking about his pest control business and life in general. I have to admit, I truly enjoy meeting new people and hearing how they get to where they are today. It wasn't until about 8:15 when we saw our first bat fly by. We sat on the porch for several minutes while more bats flew by. After about 15 minute we then decided to stand by the cars and look up towards the chimney, also to examine if they are exiting through other areas of the house.

That was when I started to count the paratroopers exiting the Chimney-130 hatchway. As we stood looking up towards the chimney, I realized I had a serious infestation of bats when I reached a count of 35 bats and still going.

It wasn't until I reached a count of 52 when I decided to run for cover. As count 51 flew by, we both look up and realize that bat 52 was flying towards the both of us. As if the bat wings weren't strong enough. Number 52 dive bombs us... like a kamikaze fighter. It would appear that he was attempting to defend his home. I honestly almost did a full combat roll to avoid its attack. It was more of a full duck down to my knees. Of course the exterminator was laugh while he bravely side steps the attack. I was freaking out. Number 52, then circles and takes another dive bomb towards us. I crash into the exterminator while he's laughing. The bat then flies by and into the trees behind us... At that instance I through in the towel, time for me to go, have fun Enoi... But I knew that there was more bats in that chimney, but I couldn’t keep counting after that experience... I jog into the house and hide under my unicorn blanket for protection…

About an hour later I go outside to check on Enoi, there he was up on the roof working on the cap.

Picture of the chimney button up

The following morning I had awoken about 5:00 am, and was leaving to do some morning errands… It was still dark out. My nephews were with me as we walked outside towards the car. Devyn looks up and says, "Hey are those birds?" I realize that about 5 bats are circling around the chimney. Sadly they came home to find an eviction notice and the locks changed. I said “no those are bats”. He freaks out and runs into the front seat of the car. Glad to see that I’m not the only one freaking out so early in the morning…

Later in the day I catch myself looking up towards the roof of the house. I was expecting that the bats would be sitting on the trim of the house, waiting to attack with vengeance for evicting them for not paying rent. But as I look up, I feel slightly satisfied that they were not exterminated, that the bats were only evicted from my residence. I don't live that far from a couple of old empty factory buildings. So I like to assume that they have taken new residence there.
But surely, next on the list is to get the chimney cleaned before winter. Over 50 bats in that small condensed area could produce a lot of guano. Well until next time, happy building.

THIS MEANS WAR!!!

noreply@blogger.com (Angel) — Sat, 24 Jul 2010 01:17:00 +0000

Growing up, I’ve been taught to give everyone a chance. Basically try to be respectful and friends with everyone. I’ve learned that everyone will have their own perspective in life. We all see things differently and will have our own needs and wants. My experience in the military also taught me that to be successful in life you need to have an understanding of your faults and strengths.

You may already know my faults… If not, here is a little flash back...

http://redcano.blogspot.com/2008/09/in-beginning.html

http://redcano.blogspot.com/2008/12/attic-protector.html

http://redcano.blogspot.com/2010/06/bumps-in-night.html

Let us continue… About a week ago, I was traveling home from food shopping. I usually leave pretty late to avoid crowds at the local grocery store. Upon my return home, the sun had just paid its last farewell to us for the night. I'd happen to hear the dreaded squeaking sound that those lovely creatures of the night like to produce. I looked up towards the chimney and notice several bats exiting the chimney one at time. The bats exited the chimney as if they were paratroopers jumping out of a C-130 airplane. I could have sworn I heard the jump master scream,

“Get ready! Outboard personnel, stand up! Inboard personnel, stand up! Hook up! Check static lines! Check equipment! Sound off for equipment check! One minute! Thirty seconds! Stand by!”

“GO! GO! GO!"

Lockheed C-130 Hercules with Airborne troopers jumping

I stood there and counted about 8 bats exiting the chimney. So of course this how my mind works… OK 8 bats... that means 4 of them are possibly female bats. It’s their breeding season, thus each female has about 3 pups. That's a total of about 20 bats in the chimney. Looking further I realized that I need a better chimney cap. OK that isn't a big problem… As long they are isolate to the chimney I’m good. I’ll just contact someone in the morning and get it fixed.

After putting all of my groceries away, I decide to go to the basement to switch my clothing from the washing machine to the dryer... As I'm walking down the steps, a dark spot on the ground catches my eyes… I'm frozen in my step. My right foot is hovering about 2 inches off the ground... I'm standing there like a block of ice.... still, rigid, and cold... After about what felt like 20 minutes of scared time (1 minute of real time = 20 minutes of bat time) I began to feel the numbness in my hovering leg and realize that the bat on the ground isn't moving. It’s another bat, but dead. I’m in shock and trembling. I instantly snap into my Elmer Fudd stance… I walk/sneak over to the washing machine and make the exchange as quickly as possible. The exiting of the basement was swift and quick like a cat…

Another long night was beginning to pan out… I fall asleep with the lights and the Television on, once again. The ironic part was that the movie the Dark Knight was playing as I attempted to sleep…

The time was about 6 am when I heard the dreaded noise of our beloved flying mammals…Did you know, that the noise produced by a bat acts like a sonar. Basically ultrasonic sounds are emitted specifically to produce an echo. The echo produces a detailed image of the bats surrounding.

Anyway, at 6 am, I jumped up and instantly shut the television off… I’m sitting there in silence… I’m concentrating and attempting to focus my listening skills to see where the noise was coming from… After about 10 minutes (Bat time) I hear nothing… I decide to turn the television back on, the echoing returns…I spin around to have my eyes lock onto a kid’s show on the TV… I notice that the kids were playing basketball and their sneakers were rubbing against the basketball floor…

I smile and shake my head in embarrassment. I’m driving myself crazy…

So after finally waking up, I realize that I need to get my clothing from the dryer… I decide to go down with my flashlight. I walk into the basement and place my clothing into the basket. As I’m walking up the stairs with the basket in hand, I have the flashlight pointing up towards the ceiling and checking things out… I feel something touch the top of my feet… I instantly freak out!!! I drop the basket and run up the stairs as quickly as possible… I’m at the top of the steps looking down… I realize that a sock had fallen out of the basket and onto my foot… I had a sigh of relief…

I’m truly driving myself nuts….

This is it… It is time to fight back!!! I’m at DEFCON 1 and my Homeland Security color has just been adjusted to, “Black and blue with a shade of purple!!!” I’m tired of feeling scared in my own home… It’s time to call in the re-enforcements!!!

THIS MEANS WAR!!!!

I contact a local pest control company. They come on site the same day. Here are some of the pictures that were taken while the pest control company representative was on site.

House Chimney-130 Hatchway

As we approached the chimney, the bats could be heard making their wonderful squeaking… The noise was pretty loud…

The Chimney-130 evaluated further... 10 bats were counted hanging. I attempted to take a picture but they dropped before I could get the picture. (I really didn't take the picture, the Pest Control Rep did)

Additional opening into the attic that will be repaired

Pest Control Representative showing me additional areas that need to be repaired

Today my vacation officially starts… You know what that means… Work around the house. Now that the bat situation will be under control in the next couple of weeks, I can now focus on the “Honey Do list…” The kitchen is currently on the radar. The current plan is to purchase and install the new cabinet this coming week. Until next time, happy building.