Tree Trimming, originally uploaded by coografik.

The big ass trees over the garage were cut back down the a reasonable size.

My back yard is big enough to have all this crap in it and not even notice. finally though, last week I got a guy with a truck from Home Depot to clear it out.

Vintage Ceiling Fan Restoration, originally uploaded by coografik.

I took this thing apart and put it back together. It’s a little more quite but the blades aren’t balanced.

Garage Restoration: Storage Area, originally uploaded by coografik.

I got a decent amount of stuff done this weekend. I built this
platform for the storage area to make up for that fact that the floor
in that section of the garage is not level. I did a little random
framing here and there, swapped out a handful of studs, wired a dimmer
switch for a vintage ceiling fan we bought years ago, capped of the
electrical, and tore out the very old and smelly stucco paper from the
30s.

I think I have a couple more days at best before I can put in the
insulation and drywall. That will be a good day.

It’s been pretty slow going for the last 3 weekends. The more I think I’m getting somewhere the more I run into little details that suck up the day. This is turning out to be less of a construction job and more of a restoration. Like, I just can’t frame something up. I have to spend and hour first pulling nails and carefully pulling rotten studs. I still have a chunk of the old electrical that has to be pulled. It’s in metal conduit so that’ll have to be pulled and totally rewired. It’s seeming pretty endless but each weekend I just do a little more.

Last weekend I stuccoed the outside and tried to seal up the roof which had a small leak. the huge storm had soaked the inside. There’s another storm on the way this week so we’ll see if I’m leak proof soon.

I fixed this. The building got a little trashed as I tried to get some of the old crappy board off. Should now be water tight.

I painted some roofing paint over all the screws and washers that is now holding the stucco on.

The cleaned up box. I still have to add some of the breaker back in. Everything was a mess. People had patched patches on top of patches—and then hacked in a few things on top of that. I’m just tearing it all out and doing it again.

It’s a good thing I know what I’m doing. Og wait, I don’t. Or, do I?

I’ve been chipping away at replacing this wall for the last 3 days. I’m taking tomorrow off but I’ll be back on it the next day to see if I can polish it off.

This is the before. Lots of termite damage from a long long time ago. I think the stucco was the only thing holding up the garage.

This is a close-up of how bad it was.

The other side of the garage. Everything is down to the studs now. Once I saw the damage I just decided to pull it all down and start over.

Darth Varder.

And the demo of the old studs begins with my new reciprocating saw I picked up at the pawn shop for 35 bucks!

So you have to saw the old ones out and trust me when I say this isn’t easy as they are nailed from behind to the stucco. It’s kinda hellish getting them out and in the trash heap.

Then you nail in the new stud and run around to the other side of the wall and screw in a washer from behind so the stucco is bonded to the wall. You wouldn’t want that to fall off in one big sheet during the next earthquake.

Since I’m going this far I decided to go all the way and replace the window, too. What the hell right?

I worked on adding some lights to the garage this weekend—added a new circuit and so on. No I don;t have a clue what I’m doing but I bought a book and it’s not that hard.

It was raining on Saturday and I noticed that my roof was leaking in one corner. I felt the wall and it was wet. I pulled off the drywall to find wet insulation, a million ants, and major termite damage. I’m going to have to replace 13 studs all along that one wall. It’s gonna be a bit of work. This is turning into a year long project.

On day Sheila is going to have a studio.

Trained Bougainvillea, originally uploaded by coografik.

12/5/2009

Garage Ordeal, originally uploaded by coografik.

Back in the garage this weekend. I have the surrround painted so
that’s finally finished. Now removing the former kitchen and bathroom
floor and then more clean up.