redesign59

Retro Restoring

2012-01-06T16:41:00.002-07:00

Before:

After:

Mcgyver's Got Nothing on Lil' Ol' Me

2010-07-15T16:04:00.005-07:00

What can you do with a car cell phone charger, ...a red felt-tipped pen, ...a garden hose, ...and a lotta water?

Why, break into your own RV gate, of course. Yes, folks, I locked myself out of my house. Go, me.

For some reason I had pushed the stanchion post into the ground lock on both sides of my gate. So, in order to get the swing side open, I needed to either get over the gate (dangerous, and not likely to happen in my work clothes), or turn that devil and push it out of the ground. Thus, the water and the garden hose. The car charger was a nice lasso. And the red pen guided everything the right direction.

An hour later I was in... just to discover I didn't have a spare key hidden anywhere.

So, I am now replacing my back window.

Fun times at redesign59, fun times.

The Green Lady Must've Bit Me

2010-07-11T21:47:00.014-07:00

It might be a phase, but I have this affinity for all things apple green (-ish). Okay, really only in context of grays and blues and whites. However, I cannot seem to turn it off.

For example, it started last year, sometime in April or May I bought a gallon of paint for my bathroom on a whim. This was the result (which looks a lot darker in this photograph than it is in real life):

And, then, everywhere I see it in use, I really really want more of it...

Chloe and Matt and I exchange furniture and household stuff from time to time. Chairs here. Headboards there. Curtains. Tables in-between, dog beds, and all etc. And, I inherited their awesome lime green wingback chair and...now I want to repaint the living room around it. Slate grey walls, green patterned curtains, or black and white abstract bamboo... Someone cut me off, please, this could go way too far. Therefore, I will not photograph the chair, to prevent myself from getting inspired by a past idea...

It's not just ANY apple green shade, or lemongrass, or green in general. It's things like this oh-so-sexy Apple Green Kitchenaid Mixer (comes in Boysenberry, too... Which is a second lust color that will maybe make another blog post). It has to be that clean, crisp apple color, or within that range of cool crisp oh-I could-eat-you-right-now apple green.

See?
I even bought storage containers with green lids last year. And, when Chloe and I were on an Ikea run the other day, I made a beeline across the aisle full of screaming babies and distracted parents for the countertop section where they had a beautiful 1' square slice of Apple Martini Green recycled glass countertop sample on display.
Seredipiditously, I picked up a random tin from cookies that came in for the Holidays last year that no one wanted that was.... lime green. And, Vic left behind a vase that was a 100% color match, and none of the other six-pack wanted anything to do with the vase (engineers, and men, all of them).

I would love an acid green front door.

/sigh

There is such a thing as too much of a good thing. I could not imagine trying to sell my house with apple green countertops or backsplash and lemongrass tile in the bathroom.

ModWalls makes it looks so good, too. I am considering one of their glass 3" x 6" glass subway tiles in lemongrass for the bathroom walls surrounding the tub:

Out of practice apology...

2010-07-11T21:28:00.001-07:00

Friends, family, extended family, and friendly strangers who stumble upon this... I apologize, it's been almost a year since I blogged on here. I will try to improve... I can only promise to try. /feeling sheepish

Same goes for the renovation! One step at a time...

Agonizing Over Design Details: Bathroom Tile Woes

2010-07-11T20:46:00.006-07:00

The paradigm that doctors are the worst patients definitely could apply to architects being their own worst clients. Maybe it's because I am an doctor's daughter who went to school for architecture and no longer really practices design, but... I cannot seem to figure out what I might do with my teeny tiny bathroom.

For starters, let's just explain the current context. And, that would be 100% Home Depot, all of it, as in: walk-in, ask for a "basic bathroom setup under $500." White, brown, white, brown, chrome. Think, every apartment you've ever been in that was post-1970's construction.

I get it. There really aren't many signs that the house has been touched in years, except in case of emergency. No layers of paint, really, or anything that shows signs of anyone else attempting any ingenuity to the layout, finishes, etc.

Beige. Beige. Beige. And more beige.

So, the tub has been refinished in place. I have the receipt for that from the previous owner, at a whopping $500. I'm trying to understand why that was cheaper than replacing it, and it makes me worried that there is a reason I cannot see... some hidden underlying flaw in the dimensions of this teeny tiny bathroom, but I can't see it. It's your standard 5' x 8' tiny bathroom for all extents and purposes. I have been doing my homework, a new tub is $300 at average lower-end costs... What am I missing?

Well, there is the fact that in the heat of summer the grass outside my bathroom window is the only thing growing on that side of the house... Makes one wonder.

And, anyway, it gets a LOT of light, all year long. So much so that I often forget to turn the light on, and that is BAD because the fan and the light are on the same circuit (something I desperately wish to fix in the renovations so I can enjoy a midday shower on the weekends without having to turn on the light unnecessarily).

So, it's currently bright and white.

And as much as I like white, I wonder if that is the right direction to go...

I am currently testing out tile samples. I am living this week with an off the shelf Dal-tile variety that Chloe helped me pick out at Home Depot that seems to be fitting for the age of the house, and the necessary detail I am looking for on the floor. I want something patterned for the floor. It's too small for the large format tile they put in (same as the kitchen). This is the most cost-effective option, by far. And it's nice.

However, I also found this by Merola (which of course, my local Home Depot does not carry, and I will have to order online if I want a sample):

And, I was hunting around on the web and I have always been in love with both penny tiles and cork. I have this fondness for penny tiles that has withstood the test of several bad bathrooms using them, and even through my old landlord's design that afflicted me with floor to ceiling cobalt blue penny tiles with white white grout for a few months (so bad that when taking a bath, you had to turn the lights down and close your eyes, or you'd end up following all the diagonals all over the place). I love cobalt too, despite that disaster. (Sorry, Nick, it was a cool place, otherwise). Back to cork, I found a penny cork tile on Modwalls. These are the CorkDotz and I cannot help but be in love with them at first sight.

Cork also has a lot of the properties I am looking for in a product for my bathroom, including sustainability. It's a naturally water-resistant product, which makes it perfect if you want a wood look in your bathroom. It is also naturally insulating. Not exactly a concern on the floors in Arizona for 75% of the year, but still an important inherent characteristic of the product. I just love the warmth. And one of my issues with most cork flooring products to-date has been the graininess of the tiles, as if they needed to be smaller.... And, then I find this! Woot!

I ordered a sample to see how they feel/look in the space, although judging by this photo from their site, I am pretty in love with these as they are, so we'll see when the samples come.

Wish me luck.

By the way... the bedroom is 50% done!

2010-07-11T14:01:00.003-07:00

Quick updates (quick only because there isn't too much to show...)

New ceiling fan + medallion.

A Live-able Living Room

2010-07-11T13:46:00.005-07:00

At some point, life took over my design sense and I caved to comfort in favor of high design. However, I have no regrets, this is my favorite room in the house now, and with all my travels I come home to this room first and always feel at home.

Before:

Somewhere in-between:

After:

& ahhh.... (thank you, Craigslist).

Dog approved, too:

Making Things Prettier

2010-07-11T13:36:00.003-07:00

This Spring, I finally decided to tackle the overwhelming naturally re-occuring nastursum bed that I inflicted upon myself when I first moved in. So, I ripped out all the vines and left the seeds to come back again in the Fall, and went out and picked up some gazanias and hibiscus plants.

When I had finished putting it all in... it occurred to me that this looks exactly like what the previous owners had attempted to add curb appeal. Except, theirs were fake flowers in the same planter bed.... just the same coloration... and nearly the same spacing...

I had to laugh a bit. Same time of year, too. I've lived here two years. Cheers!

House Reno Paused

2009-09-20T14:31:00.001-07:00

Back soon...

Floor Progress

2009-03-09T22:15:00.005-07:00

Before...

During...

Someone Left the TAGZ On My Floor

2009-03-09T22:12:00.004-07:00

One acid cleaning effort later...my bedroom floor is looking better, but I found signs of vandalism (not surprised) and it's the spray paint that the etching fluid isn't touching. So, back to the home store to pick up some paint thinner. Here's a detail shot of what was under the white paint:

Vent Stack, Revisited

2009-03-01T20:23:00.008-07:00

And, let me emphasize the pun on "stack." In removing the wall, I noticed that the GWB was oddly cut at a couple of locations, but in all the mess, I did not notice why. It turns out that this lovely vent stack that should fit snugly between the GWB within the wall cavity itself, actually sticks out into the bedroom beyond the face of the studs about 1/8" which is just enough to bulge the GWB visibly. Need a pro to decide how to approach it. If I put the GWB right up on it again, I worry that in the event of any future leaks, the rust here will leech through again, under the baseboard, and through the wall directly. I guess someone didn't mark the line all that straight for the wall. Whatever happened, it's just another little quirky snag.

Quick snapshot!

2009-03-01T20:10:00.003-07:00

So, here's a quick floorplan update, still working things out...

Update on the bedroom reno...

2009-03-01T19:53:00.010-07:00

Okay, so things are going very slowly... In the middle of working on ripping out the wall, un-reno related things happened. I picked up a puppy from a good samaritan who rescued her and had to hand her off with the intentions of fostering. Well, she stole my heart and four weeks later, she's here to stay. But, training a new puppy and keeping the house clean with two dogs and a full time job has kept me far away from the back room reno.

I chickened out on calling in the pros, the mold is mold, but I don't think it's too much to handle myself on the bedroom side of the wall. So I got some mold DIY treatment and it seemed to nix it good.

Remember the to-do list? Well...

Complete
>Remove carpet, padding, and tack strips
>Pick new flooring: Concrete wins! I'm either painting it white, or staining it with the distressed edgy loft look it has now, really skuzzy... I love it.
>Select baseboard
>Select molding

In-progress
>Scrape/sand off paint, glue, caulk, etc. from slab and walls
>Patch walls
>Patch concrete
>Pick new wall paint/surfacing
>Pick new ceiling paint/surfacing
>Select new register for wall supply
>Select new ceiling fan/light
>Select new curtains

So, all that leaves left to do...

To-do
>Seal concrete
>Install flooring
>Install baseboard
>Install molding
>Create box frame for window
>Select new blinds
>Paint mouldings and trim
>Install blinds
>Apply paint/surfacing to ceiling
>Install new ceiling fan/light
>Apply new paint/surfacing to walls
>Replace plug boxes + plates to white
>Replace switch box + plate to white
>Replace door knobs, hinges

Wait a minute, forgot: FINISH REMOVING PLASTER AND EXISTING BACKER BOARD AND PUT UP NEW DRYWALL (the mold-resistant kind this time). Yeah, this is the one thing that is holding everything up. And I'm admittedly out of my league now.

So, I have a few calls in to some local handyman/renovation guys to help me finish removing all the plaster and the door frame at the closet in the bedroom and then re-finish the wall with new greenboard.

Once the wall is done, I can re-commence with the rest of the To-Do list. Just that one little snag...

But, from Revit, I took my perimeter takeoffs for my moulding and baseboard and am getting estimates:

BEDR 1
Area: 115.12 SF
Perimeter: 45' - 5"
CLOSET
Area: 8.85 SF
Perimeter: 12' - 9"

Yes, I did take it down to the 1/4" but I am still ordering 10% over to accomodate wiggly 1950's plaster walls.

Interim Kitchen

2009-01-18T21:28:00.012-07:00

The kitchen drives me nuts. Sorry. I'm not complaining. It's too cute to be angry with. Like an ugly puppy. It's just so little, but there's all this dead space. Example of how tiny: I can't open the upper cabinets if I am using my blender on the counter, or if I have dishes in the rack drying. So, I've got plans for the kitchen stewing on the back burner, thinking it will be a while before I can get it right. What was:
My immediate reaction was that it needed to be brightened up, so I tried a few things. Below is one attempt that was the wrong color, so it didn't last too long... And I felt a bit weird with the knives on display right in the middle ("Look at me, I'm sharp!"). I honestly don't remember why I picked that particular shade of orange. The brightness was great! The color itself, well, was just a little off against the countertop.

After much agony and debate, it's really the bedroom that needs to come first. Then, the rest of the house. So, in the interim, I've done what I can to clean up the kitchen to make it less...beige, less sharp, more liveable, and most importantly more me (so I can deal with it). First thing I did the first week I moved in was to take off the gold drawer pulls and handles. I will readily admit that I just couldn't cope with the brassy brashness of cheap parts. Too many childhood memories stirred up with those. When I did take them off, they ripped the paint off with them. Go figure, right? So, I thought I could patch them and move on, but the orange paint and the patches didn't hide the footprints of the old hardware. The orange lasted about a month.

Since the orange attempt and taking it all apart again, the result was that for months I have been living without any drawer pulls and picking at the doors to open them, or opening the door under the drawer to push the drawer out by pushing on the base. Ug, it's been a disaster. I finally patched up all the holes and all the paint, and settled in on this scheme to hold me over until I can start some serious demolition. That is, unless the plumber tells me that the wall supporting the cabinets has to go... We shall see. But, this is a nice, peaceful simple room now, and I'm just happy to have drawer pulls...that aren't gold!

(Yes, there's a rubber ducky in a frame on my wall.)

I guess it's no easy to see the details in these, but think soft minty green, warm suede, and glass retro knobs for handles on the upper cabinets.

The Perfect Sanctuary

2009-01-18T20:24:00.020-07:00

The bedroom in the back is the best room in the house (if you have the window closed and can't hear the neighbor's rooster, that is). It's sunny, and private, and like the other rooms in the house was/is plain, square, and beige. All beige. And while I don't mind Hampton Bay ceiling fans, these really overwhelm the small rooms in this house. They also overwhelm you when they're on... like sleeping under a jet wash (even on low). My goal is to turn it around, into the perfect sanctuary.

So the reno work has begun. My list for the room so far:
>Remove carpet, padding, and tack strips (Complete)
>Scrape/sand off paint, glue, caulk, etc. from slab and walls (In-Progress)
>Patch walls... (On hold, pending mold problems...)
>Patch concrete
>Seal concrete
>Pick new flooring
>Pick new wall paint/surfacing
>Pick new ceiling paint/surfacing
>Select baseboard
>Select molding
>Select new register for wall supply
>Select new ceiling fan/light
>Select new curtains
>Install flooring
>Install baseboard
>Install molding
>Create box frame for window
>Select new blinds
>Paint mouldings and trim
>Install blinds
>Apply paint/surfacing to ceiling
>Install new ceiling fan/light
>Apply new paint/surfacing to walls
>Replace plug boxes + plates to white
>Replace switch box + plate to white
>Replace door knobs, hinges

So, first things first, when I got the carpet up, I discovered to my dismay how poorly the previous owners had treated the original floor. In many of the houses in these neighborhoods from the 1950's the original flooring was actually concrete. No kidding, before Retroplate was a brand name and it was hip for Starbucks stores to have that edgy "loft" look with a polished raw concrete or a nice stain, it was pretty common in the 'burbs. I looked at at a few places that had it. Several had been carpeted over. The foreclosed-upon houses were where I found it more prevalently, because they'd taken the carpet with them (and the fixtures, the copper wiring, and anything else they could carry). I saw green, tan, and red floors. One was perfect, absolutely beautiful original, untouched, and throughout the whole house was a nice terracotta reddish brown stained concrete.

My floors were once an earthy brown, almost a hint of goldenrod in them. But, this is how they've been treated...
Not everyone values concrete.

I wish I could restore it, but the tack strips ate a nice nibbling mess of holes all around the perimeter of the room and I know a fight to back down from before getting engaged in a sure loss. I could paint them. I did think of that, but decided against it in case those fissure cracks aren't just superficial in a topping slab.

So, once I get the gummy glue (and caulk droppings) removed and everything sanded down, cleaned, and washed, I'll seal the concrete and cover the floor.

I've, like many people, fallen in love with white floors, so I am hunting for a nice product that is either white, or as white as wood can get. Or cork, but haven't quite settled on a material.
There's a lot of repairs that need to come first.

But, the concept is...

The old fan...
...gets donated to Habitat and gets replaced with this:
"Jellyfish" by Quorum International

The ceiling, I am considering something a little different. Contrasting eras and styles together, I may go with a paintable textured vinyl wallpaper, applied to the ceiling. Specifically, Graham & Brown Paintables Victorian Effect. And, probably Graham & Brown Paintables Bead Board for a few select walls. I am planning on going with vinyl in favor of real bead board because I am not sure I can spare the loss of SF, the room is very small.
One last touch I am contemplating is replacing the supply grille over the door with something more delicate. Also, I figured it would be a worthwhile investment since this is only half painted, and only half way works... So, I found a company that I think can accommodate the custom sizes I need. Craft Home carries this gorgeous Casa Blanca register and several other styles that vary from very ornate to plain and simple, this middle of the road, and I fear the room may be getting too feminized... Still thinking, though. Once the floor, ceiling, and walls are all done, I can move back in and have my room back...which will be a welcome relief from the disaster that is on the other side of that door right now.

So, here's a shot of what is on the boards all put together:

Every new thing is a new adventure. & and all sarcasm aside, this is a blast!

Updates to follow!

Behind the Bedroom Wall...

2009-01-18T20:17:00.004-07:00

I'm glad I got to this before I got a plumber out. I took up the carpet in my back bedroom this weekend. What does that have to do with the plumber, you ask? Well, let me tell you...

In the process of taking up the carpet, I noticed the baseboard was not only crappy, but loose. Well, I noticed it was loose, I knew it was crappy. So, settling on a new flooring that was higher than the baseboard would allow, off it came. And behind it was a mess of crumbling plaster and lots of caulk. As I got around the room, the wall between the kitchen and the bedroom began to display signs of water damage at its base...and then I started sneezing... What I found is something I was dreading, but it doesn't look like the mold has spread too far...

Here's the part that I'm a little frustrated with: before I decided to tackle my bedroom first (under the premise that I could turn it into my sanctuary while I tore up the rest of the house), I used to sleep with my head... oh, I don't know... right about where the largest concetration of mold in the wall is. Great.

One more repair. Kilz anyone?

But, I'm still plugging along with the reno work. The bedroom will turn around. It will be my sanctuary... right now, though...well, not so much.

Letter to Contractors

2009-01-18T18:43:00.008-07:00

All,

CAULK doesn't fix everything.

That's all.

Thank you,

LC

Okay, I'm a little dirty, and prolly shouldn't even be typing on my computer. Covered from head to toe with plaster dust as I take off one side of the partition between the bedroom and the kitchen. Because there are critters in it. And it would appear, mold. But, my point to this post was that in peeling up the carpet in the back bedroom and then pulling off the MDF baseboard, that I found a *ridiculous* amount of caulk holding the baseboard to the wall, or should I say making a good appearance of holding the two together. It's a mess, a total gooey, unnecessary mess. I guess they didn't know that the walls were plaster when they got started nailing...and, well, if the nails don't work...CAULK it, right? But, it's all gone now. No more goo...

Aroma Therapy

2009-01-12T21:14:00.009-07:00

Okay, so not exactly about design or directly about the house, but I've decided my new favorite open-up-the-house-and-make-while-you-work-outside-meal is to create some dish around Bombay Potatoes.

Essentially, I am a sucker for comfort foods after I bike and walk the dog and feel chilled. My usual fix is to order something from Z's Greek, but lately I've been cooking at home so I can get a little house work done, (like paint, finish the yard work, or hang the porch decor that Chloe and I picked out at IKEA on Sunday). And this makes everything better, and smells great, too.

I had this prepackaged serving of Bombay Potatoes in the pantry from Tasty Bite that I picked up at Trader Joe's a few months ago, but didn't feel like eating in the heat. I finally packed them for work. They were so yummy that they're all I've been thinking about for weeks. And, for some reason, I thought I had all the ingredients... I was wrong. But, I had most of them, and substituted a few things out... and voila! A new dish:

Bombay (or should this be Mumbai???) Cauliflower + Shrimp

1 head of cauliflower, cut into bite-size pieces
1 yellow onion, roughly chopped
1 can of chopped tomatoes
1/4 c. of tomato paste
1 can of garbanzo beans
1/2 c. milk
4 cloves of garlic, minced
1 1/2 tblspns. gharam masala
1 tsp. cumin seeds
1 tsp. ground cumin
5 bay leaves
1 tsp. chilli powder
2 tsp. tumeric
2 tblsp. ground ginger (fresh)
2 tblspns. vegetable oil
20 shrimp (or prawns)

Heat the oil in a nonstick pan or wok (with a lid)
Add onion + garlic.
Cook onion until clear.
Add tomatoes (with liquid) and tomato paste.
Add milk.
Add spices.
Stir together.

<...this is where I open the windows and doors...>

Add cauliflower and garbanzo beans (with liquid).
Cook for 30 minutes on medium-high heat, or until cauliflower is tender, covered. Stir occasionally to keep from sticking.

<...and while this is going on, I can be found outside in the yard planting new climbing vines and putting up trellises or shade curtains...>

Reduce heat to simmer, add shrimp.
Simmer until shrimp are cooked thoroughly and pink.

<...and I've set up a table on the porch, with music blasting from the radio inside connected to the laptop with Pandora running on the Koko Taylor station...>

Serve with jasmine rice, or solo in a bowl.

<...and I usually fix a big plate as the sun is setting and plop down in the $10 lawn chairs from Big Lots and stare at the state of the yard while I enjoy the food that has been spreading its foreign aroma, gently and sublimly overwhelming the usual smell of roasting tortillas and pollo a la brasa in my hood...>

Makes enough for four people. I've been eating it for lunch all last week and just made a new batch, this time with potatoes (the cauliflower was actually much much better). Yummy...

Enjoy!

IKEA Product Testing

2009-01-10T21:34:00.006-07:00

5 adult humans and 2.5 dogs approve, IKEA couches are comfortable...

Identities of product testing group have been obscured to protect their identities, but we all know who we were... Go Gators!

Cooked Kitchens

2009-01-08T23:03:00.013-07:00

The cabinets and walls in my kitchen I am guessing are 100% original. The drawer pulls (e.g. hardware) are definitely post-2000 purchases from Home Depot (come in packs of 10). It's very neat. If worn. This photo (left) is from my first walkthrough with one of the realtor's setups (towels, curtains, etc.).

My little place has the best kitchen I saw in my neighborhood and price range. The others were, well, very remarkable...

Here are few images from a house in the same price range, with original 1950's or 1960's appliances. Which all still worked! Yes folks, yellow Hotpoint. And, this is curly maple cabinetry (custom). If the rest of the house had been this well kept, I might have put an offer on it, but...

Enjoy! (sorry, fuzzy photos taken from old pre-3G iPhone in at day's end)

And, here's the intercom system...

Mural, mural on my wall...

2009-01-06T12:39:00.021-07:00

Apparently, the more I research local styles, the more I am surprised. The 1950's had a lot of wall art. Some good, some bad. I found this beautiful example on the blog Ugly House Photos from a 1950's house in Scottsdale (next door).

That could easily have been my living room 50 years ago!

When I was laid off in October, I had some time on my hands. Between finishing my paper for the conference in December and fretting over new job prospects, I painted a mural on a wall that I couldn't figure out how to deal with in the living room because anything I thought about putting on it would put those objects in the way of, well, walking into the house.

No Bob Ross wall art in this house, probably over the top abstraction (in a psedo-suburban home). When I get around to installing better lights, or just buying a few more floor lamps, I'll try to post better pictures of it. LOL, that is, if I can get any of that done before I start the renovation and this wall gets demoed! The mural came before the reno plans were finalized, what can I say?

What I am working with...

2009-01-05T14:01:00.005-07:00

I finally got the shell and interior roughly documented in Revit. Just the original footprint and existing interior. Not including the porches, or the additions (garage, storage sheds, etc.). So. Many. Doors!
(NTS)
Dimensions, and sketches of reno concepts to follow.

Why there are feathers in my house...

2009-01-04T10:45:00.006-07:00

...and in my yard, and attic, and on my car, on my roof, in my gutter (note, gutter, not pluralized): my flock.

And, going with the same theme of feathered friends, in Phoenix, I've learned by word of mouth that there is a rule that grandfathers roosters and hens inside the city limits if you move from outside-in. So, at 5:30 every morning, I am awoken by my neighbor's beautiful rooster.

No joke.

Here he is...

And, this weekend, there were two more. Pecking around the neighborhood, free roaming roosters...in my front yard. At least they'll eat the ticks.

Leak (s) And Cellulose Fiber

2009-01-04T09:01:00.002-07:00

So, I have a leak in the attic. A hot water pipe is leaking, to be exact. Somewhere over the living room, there is a drip, drip, drip when you turn on the hot water in the bathroom. It's been steadily getting worse over the past few months. Upon investigation, through my one attic access in my bedroom closet (clear on the opposite end of the house) I have discovered that the leak is perfectly obscured by a perfect distribution of a layer of one-foot thick cellulose sprayed-in insulation.

The good news is that the insulation is perfect. Everything looks perfect. Perfect, perfect... perfect enough for the home inspector...

The attic shows no signs of critters or bugs or roof leaks, the wood framing is all beautifully intact and healthy, and the relatively recently installed roof vents appear to be neatly installed and flashed. And the ducts to the rooftop HVAC unit (typical for "fauxnician" houses, it's on the back side of the roof, always on the roof, but I'll get to that in another post) are well-insulated. So well insulated in fact that I can't see how to physically wiggle around them through the cellulose to get to the opposite end of the house. It's a quandary. And a curiosity.

In architecture school, and at work, I learned about cellulose insulation. I know how to specify it, indicate it in sections in construction drawings, I know the manufacturers, the warranties. I appreciate the technology, and its sustainability. The stuff in my attic looks generic, similar to a product called Nu-Wool. Probably installed as I would have, DIY. Made from 100% recycled paper, it's a pretty cool green product. The Nu-Wool site claims that it is also manufactured using at least 10 times less energy than it takes to make fiberglass, "Nu-Wool offers green benefits even before it’s in your walls. Working towards LEED, Green Built, HERS or just trying to control energy bills, Nu-Wool delivers premium performance in a guaranteed product."

Great stuff. But,...

...I know zilch, nothing, nada about wiggling my way through it to repair a pipe I cannot discern through the fluff to identify its material. And I am not about to play roulette on it being either PVC or copper with only 50/50 odds. Seals, I can handle on PVC. I could prolly figure out how to do copper, but if soldering is involved, I'll leave that to the plumber. Replacing pipes? Well, that's a maybe with PVC. A negative with copper. I'm over-thinking the problem again, sigh...

Google searching, I began hunting for resources. You can laugh at me, at my expense. (Go call the plumber already, right?) But, I really don't like not knowing how to approach these things and hate relying on someone else blindly. And gosh darn it, I'm supposed to be an architect!

"cellulose insulation and repairs?"

"cellulose insulation and leaks?"

Yeah, nothing.

"leak repair attic DIY"

Pinhole leak repair...nope. Bathroom fan leak...nope.

"pipes and cellulose insulation"

Uh-oh. Cellulose insulation and corrosion. Apparently, this site and several others show studies that illustrate how the fire-retardant chemicals in the cellulose products can cause corrosion of copper piping, and therefore the result is leaks. And, the other maladies that come with leaks into a wood framed attic filled with recycled paper.

But, this is Phoenix. Typically cellulose takes up to 72 hours to dry out after sprayed into place, that is if it is given the proper drying time. I doubt in Phoenix it took that long, and in the attic, it's not sealed off as in wall cavaties. It would dry out quickly here, unless they did it during the winter rainy season or a monsoon. But, wet is wet on copper pipes, and add fire-retardant chemicals (which ironically is one of the best bennies of cellulose with it's near 2-hour fire rating), and then continue to add water...drip...drip. This has some credibility that could explain the increasing drippiness, but nothing to confirm it, yet.

With little else to go on this morning, I'm back to the access hatch with a better flashlight and hunting for a good plumber in Phoenix to call this week. And thinking it may be time to cut and frame in a second hatch (maybe closer to the hot water heater and just maybe on the other side of the mechanical ducts, just maybe, and quite possibly large enough for an average sized person, not miniaturized like the existing "access" in the closet).

Updates to follow.

1959 - 2009

2009-01-04T05:25:00.002-07:00

According to the deed, my house turned 50 this year. I bought it in August 2008 for its bones. A solid, relatively upgraded 1950's classic almost mid-century modern (could have been, if, but really isn't), typical American block house with a decent layout. 1,000 SF. Rectangular. Beige. Normal.

Nothing is really wrong with the house. While, like any house, there are just a few things that need to be addressed...
>the leak in the attic
>the leak in the kitchen
>a crack in the foundation...with the grass growing through it...
>the leak in the bathroom
>the cracks in the patio, garage, driveway, front porch, walkway slabs...
>the wonky hot water pipe in the utility room
>cracked plaster in the living room ceiling
>rotting wood posts on the back porch
>the shed in the back yard that's larger than any bedroom in the house
>pits in the yard
>the yard, in general...

Well, maybe not just a "few" things that need to be addressed. I'm calling a plumber this week.

In all the repairs, it occurred to me that I could flex my dusty design skills and turn it into something better than a normal house decorated with Home Depot bargain selections. And, so it began in December with magazine clippings. The blog hunts. The website research. The long walks through historic Phoenix neighborhoods. The sketching. And more sketching. And now, it begins in earnest...

From 1959 to 2009, this house has seen a lot of changes. Hopefully 2009 brings more good changes, and changes that are both contemporary, but also reflect the architecture of Phoenix and of the original era the house was constructed.

Comments and ideas welcome! This blog is for everyone back home and back East.

Happy new year 2009!

-LC