I love my toolbox!

As Dad used to say, "just make sure you put it back where you got it".

The Fireplace, another retrospective

When we moved in, it was covered in travertine tile with a janky gold frame and glass doors. Under that was 3 layers of paint. Under that was the original brick we wanted to bring back. We started with Peel-Away 7, then did another round of Peel-Away 7, then when to Citristrip with a stiff wire brush.

The shots date from 04/03/07 to 05/15/07.

Flooring Demo - a retrospective

These shots date from 4/17/07 through 4/28/07. I recall getting bids from a few abatement companies. They came in around $3K to $4K. It wasn't so much the cost as it was my concern they wouldn't be neat enough. I didn't want liquified mastic on the walls, and I wanted to be sure ALL the mastic was removed. So, we bought the Bean-e-doo and tackled it ourselves.

Here you see examples of all the flooring types we dealt with (except carpet, which I ripped out before we moved in). Green VCT, brown VAT, beige VCT, and a couple different types of mastic.


Here are a couple shots taken before moving in that show the carpeting.



Here you see the process of removing tile and mastic from the master bedroom. I will say that after I put down the bean-e-doo, and all the mastic became a liquified oil slick, I was a little worried. I almost retreated to the abatement company bids. But after a couple rounds of the degreaser, it came out really well.





And here's the same process in the living room:





So, the sad part is it's still not done... once the kitchen is demoed there will be more green VCTs to remove. They are the worst.

It was April 3rd, 2007

K Lin and myself jump in and buy the house with "potential". I'm a little late starting this blog, so I have some catching up to do to get you all up to speed on where we are in the process. The goal once we're "done" is to have renovated this Rancho back to it's original glory as much as possible, with some modern improvements done in the spirit of the original design.

Here's a video I shot right after we got the keys. The song is from Dinosaur Jr., "Start Choppin". That's what I did as soon as I put down the camera.