OMG! Our House is Gone

So I have to admit, it’s kind of a shock to the system when you go to your house and it is pretty much gone. These pictures were taken this morning, however, a lot more work was done today. The forms have been dug and the rebar set for the garage. The [...]

Forms Finished Friday

Say that five times fast!

Not much to report other than the forms being finished, rebar is in.  The front door is still locked.
It is raining like mad tonight, so that may delay the concrete pour a couple of days.  This is what we have been afraid of all along.   Hopefully the inspector can make it [...]

Paint It Black

We hit Viking Door in San Ho the other night and did a little door shopping. Boy do they have you by the cookies for those things. God forbid you cheap out on a decent front door. It is the first thing that people notice. It is what gives the house [...]

Thanks

Happy Thanksgiving everyone.
Thank you for your continued support of this site. We went by the house today. More demolition. The roof is off and the house is gutted. Old stucco is been ripped away like an orange peel. The frames are laid for the foundation. An inspector needs to [...]

The Foundation Trilogy

How is that for an ultra-nerdy post title?
The roof came off and they started digging the trenches for the foundation this past Friday.

It is amazing to start seeing it take shape.  I’ve walked this outline off a hundred times, but now that the lines are definitively drawn, it is exciting to see.  The cut out [...]

Screw Ups & Sage Wisdom

There are a lot more of the former and a lot less of the latter, but hopefully my new page will lend some value to those that are thinking of undergoing a similar project.
There is a link from the top of the page (SU & SW) or click here.

No More White Tile

The rocket scientists that designed our apartment had the amazing foresight to put white tile in the entry way.  Unless you are hyper-anal-retentive about having people take off their shoes outside, you are going to be cleaning shoe marks and puppy paws up at least once per day.
My advice, don’t put white tile in an [...]

Yuck, Snails!!!

When we started this project, I was really hoping that we would have cracked open the walls and found a bag of cash, gold doubloons or an original copy of the US Constitution.  I think that everyone half hopes that this happens when they work on an old house.
What I didn’t expect was that we [...]

Just a Key

But it is the key that I’ve used to get in to the house for the past 5 1/2 years.  The door is gone, but for some reason, I can’t seem to let go of the key.
Good news is that we are shopping for doors this week.

On Apartment Living

There probably aren’t too many 2nd floor dwelling elephant trainers residing in the San Jose area, but some how, we managed to get stuck underneath one of them.  Even more unfortunate, lessons usually don’t begin until 9 or 10 at night.
They are very loud.
Photo by Kozyndan.