Monster House

Everything Old is New Again

2008-11-09T10:18:00.047-05:00

This seems like an especially appropriate time to pick up the thread again after 3 months of being out of touch. Did I say fresh start? Last week's Presidential election seems to have given the nation a new lease on life after a long, dark chapter in our history. I just hope that the nation doesn't blow the opportunity that we have to get back on track. It's going to take a while to undo the damage that has taken place over the last eight years.

Progress on the house has been substantial since my last posting: the attic space is 99% complete. Our bedroom was moved up there while construction on the second floor master suite/bath and my office are being finished. The demolition was the hardest part of the process for us, the noise, dust and trauma of having our living space sledgehammered into oblivion took a toll and so far has been the most stressful part of the renovation. Now that the framing and sheetrocking have been done on the second floor, with new hardwood floors installed, the next phase is finishing the baths.

Click photos to enlarge

We made some discoveries in the attic and second floor while opening the walls and floors up for the HVAC and demolition. Billy, our air conditioning and heating guy, found two full, sealed cans of Royal Baking Powder in the attic floor, which look to be from the 1910's. One of them has instructions written in German in a thick Gothic script alongside the English text on the back. I would think that the politics of the day would have precluded on that in later years, given the country was engaged in two wars with Germany, the first from 1917-1918 and again from 1942-1945.

Click photo to enlarge

Another find, in the dead space under the attic over the stairs going to the first floor, was a legal notice dated September 24th, 1913 to let someone know that if they don't pay up, they're going to be sued. Was the defendant, E. O. Smith, the resident of this house? Was the owner of the house an attorney who practiced in the State of New York, where the legal action was filed? The house, to our knowledge, wasn't built until 1915 - I checked at City Hall - but the couple who sold it to us said it was 1913.

Click photos to enlarge

Further compounding the mystery of who may have been the house's original owner: some ledger pages from 1913, which were found in the second floor bedroom wall underneath the attic. I wonder if they were somehow related to Norwalk's hat manufacturing industry since some of the entries look as though sales were made to hat companies or of materials used to make hats, like felt and ribbon.

Also: a pair of pilots' wings from the WWII Army Air Corps, found along with the baking soda in the same area of the attic. We have been told that a Colonel lived here at one time so I would imagine that they belonged to him.

So that's it for the finds so far. Nothing that really qualifies for "If Walls Could Talk" but another rumor put forth by the former owners has a diamond ring hidden somewhere in the fieldstone mantle in the den. I don't know where that came from, I asked the son of the family who lived here before them and he wasn't aware of it, so... but maybe that's not such a bad thing, considering this story of a windfall treasure found by a contractor while working on a house.

Click photo to enlarge

It's funny how things that seem long past can surface to remind us that maybe the more they change, the more they stay the same. The very first artifact that we found in the attic was a copy of the New York Times dated June 9, 1968. The majority of the pages we found were written about the assassination of Robert Kennedy, only 4 days earlier, a champion of equal rights whose life was tragically cut short, along with Martin Luther King two months before. Who knows what the country would be like now had he won the Democratic primary and campaigned against Richard Nixon in the 1968 Presidential election.

Forty years later, equal rights isn't just a phrase, it's a reality. I hope this time the promise isn't cut short by bigotry and hatred the way it was then. The last few weeks and months during the 2008 campaign sure made me wonder.

A Very Big Week.

2008-08-15T13:34:00.024-04:00

Where to start? Muchos trabajandos en nosotros casa esta semana (sorry, the syntax is probably all screwed up). Monday, we got signoff from Planning & Zoning. Tuesday, we got our building permit. Wednesday, Dave Sciascia opened the hole in the roof and framed in/built the deck platform for the third floor walkout. Things are starting to hum along nicely.

Monday, the electrician, HVAC crew, and at least one other subcontractor I think, will show up to get started. The chaos level is sure to rise considerably. Susan can retreat to her painting studio but I'm not so fortunate. So far, the noise hasn't really bothered me, even though I'm right below where all the work is happening.

This blogging thing has the potential to take on a life all by itself and I can't forget the day job. But I can see why it holds such attraction to those who do it. After all, it seems we are living in a culture of narcissism and blogging fulfills that social trend very nicely.

The other aspect of doing this that holds much fascination for me - since web design is part of my profession - is the community that exists "out there" in cyberspace. For everything that you can imagine, there is a blog. Human Achievements . Families. Professions. Peccadillos. Armadillos. Dill Pickles. And so on. It really appeals to that part of me that wants to belong. To identify with the other souls out there who can identify with what we are experiencing.

I'm investigating the ways to connect with others through this venue, particularly with other folks who are going through renovations themselves. There is even a blog where people who are doing what I'm doing can relate their experiences: Houseblogs.net.

Lastly, I owe attribution to Dave Sciascia of Hardwood Customs, LLC, our contractor, and Jacek Bigosinski of PB Architects, who is our architect. The adventure is just beginning. Hope you don't get bored; if you're getting an automatic update from me via email it's only because I thought you might be interested. If you're not, let me know and I'll take you off the email notification list.

PS: a dandy widget I've discovered has allowed me to have a slideshow of the photos of the progress of the renovation, which is at the top right of the blog page. If you click on one of the photos, that will take you to my Flickr album where you can peruse more of them. If you want to go directly to the blog itself, click on this link.

One Month Later, Elvis Leaves the Building

2008-08-12T07:24:00.003-04:00

Happy happy joy joy
Happy happy joy joy
Happy happy joy joy
Happy happy joy joy
Happy happy joy joy
Happy happy joy joy
Happy happy joy joy

- Lyrics to "Happy Happy Joy Joy", The Ren and Stimpy Show

This message brought to you by Planning & Zoning

2008-08-08T11:03:00.001-04:00

A Lesson in Bureaucracy 101

2008-08-07T07:38:00.006-04:00

Wow. Three weeks. That's how long it has taken the Planning & Zoning Dept. at Norwalk Town Hall to sign off on the appraised value of the house.

Since we're in a FEMA flood zone, the rules that apply to us are different than those for residents elsewhere. We're limited to spending half of the structure's value (not including the land) on the renovation. That's why the plans sat in P&Z for 3 weeks. The process went something like this:

1. Architect submits estimated cost of renovation via letter to P&Z.
2. P&Z reviews property appraisal from last fall when we refinanced our mortgage.
3. P&Z requests new appraisal due to different language which doesn't tell them what they need to know.
4. Property appraiser submits new appraisal conforming to language requirements.
5. Scott and Susan make a personal appearance at P&Z to plead their case.
6. P&Z disputes per-square-foot value of property based on "market value" of structure; ie, what the actual "brick and mortar" of the house is worth.
7. Scott makes a personal appearance at P&Z to find out what is taking so long.
8. P&Z informs Scott that the per-square-foot value of the house is too high, at $200.
9. Scott informs property appraiser. Appraiser lowers psf value to $194.
10. P&Z informs Scott that psf value is still too high, because Norwalk values average $130-140.
11. Scott makes another personal appearance at P&Z to find out what the &#$#!& is going on.
12. P&Z informs Scott that the Tax Assessor's office will be used to determine the accuracy of the psf value.
13. Scott informs P&Z that the estimated value that the architect used (see item 1, above) was based on the assessment by the City and therefore is probably the same figure.
14. Scott vows "to be like a booger on the finger" of P&Z until they can reach a determination.
15. Pigs sighted flying. P&Z comes to an agreement with property appraiser that City's determination of psf value of house is $160, lowering value by 20%.
14. Scott makes one last personal appearance at P&Z to find out what to do next. Is told: "Are you OK with that value?" Huh? Would I like to continue to have red hot pokers inserted in various body cavities? Of course I'm OK. Make personal note to remind Tax Assessor of property's value when the next property tax bill comes.
15. Plans now go to the Building Permit Department. Dave Sciascia of Hardwood Customs, who has been instrumental throughout this process but whom I have neglected to mention, schedules meeting tomorrow to review, and hopefully, get approval on plans so we can actually get started on the renovation.
16. Scott and Susan prepare to sacrifice small animals to appease gods of house renovation.

Day 3

2008-07-18T16:00:00.011-04:00

The attic has been subject to Augustofication, by that I mean to say that Augusto is the man. Demolition Man, to be precise. One very long (and swelteringly hot - see the shot of the thermometer in the attic) day resulted in the 30 foot dumpster bin being filled about a quarter to capacity. The attic is nekkid. Click on the photo above for a more detailed view.

I, my own personal self, experienced the same type of heat on the day before when I was clearing the junk out. I expected to drop a couple pounds through dehydration, but the bathroom scale still ain't showing the love. Looks like the deep fried Twinkies will have to go.

Oh, yeah - Augusto also cleans up afterwards. Kudos to Dave Sciascia of Hardwood Customs for making this one of his abiding principals in doing business. It's all in the details.

Day 2

2008-07-17T08:32:00.002-04:00

Leaving the things that are real behind
Leaving the things that you love from mind
All of the things you learned from fears
Nothing is left for the years...

Toys, toys, toys in the attic
"Toys in the Attic" - Aerosmith

Dave and Augusto of Hardwood Customs showed up bright and early this morning, ready to wreak havoc. We barely had time to appreciate the vast expanse of junk-free space in the newly cleaned attic before Augusto started in with the crowbar and his sledgehammer, nicknamed "The Persuader."

The noise in our offices on the floor below isn't nearly as intrusive as I had been expecting but when the sawing starts then I'll know if a retreat to the first floor or basement will be in order.

Like we always used to say in design school, it has to get ugly before it gets better.

Day 1

2008-07-16T08:37:00.002-04:00

And you may find yourself living in a shotgun shack
And you may find yourself in another part of the world
And you may find yourself behind the wheel of a large automobile
And you may find yourself in a beautiful house, with a beautiful wife
And you may ask yourself: well...how did I get here?
"Once in a Lifetime" - Talking Heads

The Big Blue Bin was delivered yesterday, exiling us from the driveway for the duration, the world's most expensive trash can. A fitting metaphor for what Susan and I are embarking on. Out with the old, in with the new. Nine years after buying the house, here we go...

No more circa-1980 formica, linoleum, hardware store fixtures, and Cold-War era heating panels (Duck! and Cover). After all, this is Fairfield County, where homeowners will drop $150k on a kitchen redo without batting an eye.

Letting the days go by/let the water hold me down
Letting the days go by/water flowing underground
Into the blue again/after the money's gone
Once in a lifetime/water flowing underground.