Building a Better Bungalow

When a DIY plan works ...

2012-01-21T21:46:00.001-06:00

side by side comparison
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Man, it's great to see the fruits of hard work actually come to fruition.

On the right is one of the faces of our bathroom vanity, sanded down by me (about half with my palm sander and half sanded by hand). On the left is the other face (or, what they both looked like before I sanded the one down).

I'm thrilled that this worked, I really thought it was going to be much, much harder to sand in all the crevices and such. It sure wasn't "simple" but taking my time and tinkering around got the job done.

I've also sanded down about half the face of the actual cabinet, and that's coming off nicely as well. I'm happy that this is going well thus far. Again, it's a lot of manual labor, but that's OK. That's the whole point of DIY -- it makes the finished product that much more satisfying!

The benefits of half-assed previous work...

2012-01-20T22:49:00.002-06:00

Well, for once, I benefit from the previous owners' half-assed work.

This photo is the old sidesplash for the vanity/sink top that we're getting rid of in the upstairs bathroom. Note how well this sidesplash was attached to the wall. That bead of silicone seal or whatever it is? Yeah, that's the only thing that was holding it to the wall. It was just resting on the top.

Furthermore, I was pleased to find out that these geniuses didn't bother attaching the entire top to the vanity in any way. It was attached to the plumbing, which was the only thing holding it in place. Nice.

That means that removing this will be much easier, which further means that we can keep the vanity and refinish it, rather than spending hundreds of dollars on a new one. Also, because I'll be able to lift this top out undamaged, I can donate it and get a tax writeoff, potentially, as it won't be a broken or damaged item. Score!

So, today I disconnected the plumbing for both sinks and prepared to remove the sink/counter top when I can get some help. I also played around with the sander, seeing how easily the finish would come off the vanity, and it looks as though this will be pretty much a no-brainer of a project.

More this weekend, I'm sure...lots to do. Also, will try to post some pics as I go along.

It begins ...

2012-01-15T22:27:00.001-06:00

As mentioned in my previous post, we've finally replaced the bathroom skylight with roof. Finally, there will be no more leaks.

Anyway, to save money on the final bill from the carpenter, I decided I would finish the interior of the project myself (insulate and drywall), mostly because we've decide to us this as an excuse to partially remodel the bathroom.

What's staying: The floor, the toilet, the shower and the shower surround. Also staying: the linen cabinet behind the door.

What's going: The sink faucets, the counter top.

What's changing:
-- Because we're afraid that a 60-inch vanity won't make it up the stairs of our fine Chicago bungalow (we've had trouble with getting the furniture we wanted for upstairs because of the narrow, steep staircase), and there's really nothing wrong with the vanity at the end of the day, we've decided to sand it down and stain it to our liking, along with the matching linen cabinet. We were going to get two separate, smaller vanities, but I checked and found that the floor tile was not run all the way under the current vanity. So if we had gone that route, we'd have had to redo the floor entirely.
--Currently, there are four recessed can lights in the bathroom. They provide plenty of light, but not the kind conducive to shaving or showering or things like that. I hate them and want them out. I'd like to have a more traditional, center-of-the-room light that illuminates the entire room, and then sconce-type lights by the new mirror/medicine cabinets.
--We're definitely getting a new vanity top and new faucets, so we're psyched about that. We might even be able to use both sinks!

What we're "afraid" of:
--Well, I'm nervous about the water pressure. When we changed out the shower head and toilet up in this bathroom, it solved the water pressure issues in those two areas. I'm hoping the same thing will happen here. If not, we will have to have a plumber come out and figure out how to fix the situation.
--We're not sure how the refinishing of the cabinets will go. Hopefully, it will be no problem at all, and that will save us some real money when all is said and done.
--Hopefully we can get the vanity top off the current vanity without any damage. Otherwise, it's square one for the vanity.

So, here's hoping I can keep up and give you all some great updates, with construction now getting back on track here at the bungalow!

Where the time goes ...

2012-01-07T22:10:00.000-06:00

Wow, it has been since September since I posted.

Yikes...well, I guess, though, that makes some sense...you see, we've been dragged away from normality by a few things, so it happens. Here are some updates...

First, at the end of September, we got into a serious wreck on the interstate in N.W. Indiana, heading off to the apple orchard. Fortunately, none of us were hurt, but our Altima sure got hurt pretty badly. After wrestling with the other driver's insurance and her own inability to get a statement in, we were found completely fault-free (which we'd figured), and all was paid for. But this took until the week of freakin' Thanksgiving to get sorted out. With that potential budget drain over our heads, we had to hold back on our spending, just in case.

Next, we bid adieu to my roommate and friend of the last 11 years, my dog, Kazak. His hips had started to really go bad on him, and his appetite was also slipping. On Dec. 7 (the day that will live in infamy, which is the only reason I'll remember that was the day that this happened too), he fell down the back stairs and couldn't get up. His liver, it turns out, had also begun to give out on him. The vet believed he had liver cancer as well, and that it was just a matter of time. That day, at the vet, after carrying him to the car and into the vet, I decided to have him put down. R.I.P., my friend. I know you will.

Then, of course, the holidays always get in the way of things. But, we've moved on since the holidays -- not only have we rescued a young pup from Chicago Canine Rescue Foundation (Pillsbury, or Pils, as I call him), but we also had a carpenter come out and finally take care of that stupid, leaky skylight in the bathroom ceiling. It was a dumb idea by some previous owner -- actually, a great idea, just piss-poor execution...or maybe not. So, here are a bunch of before pictures, to give you an idea of what it was...

And here is an "after" shot of the roof patched up.

What does this mean? Well, more or less, "We're back in business, baby!"

Stay tuned for my next post...which follows up on these developments, of course!

It's a butterfly garden party...

2011-09-01T22:00:00.001-05:00

Butterfly garden party 8/31/2011
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

...and apparently, had I not taken the day off and stumbled upon it, I wouldn't have even known that the butterflies were abundant on the butterfly bush today. While assembling my sons' swingset, I'd look over every now and then, and I counted no fewer than 6-7 Monarchs at one time, and there are at least two yellow swallowtails enjoying the flowers of the butterfly bush. It truly is magical.

Then, later, I took a good look at my swamp milkweed plant, wondering if the added Monarch population could be tied to the addition and growth of that plant since last year. Well, I found a Monarch caterpillar, chewing away on one of the seed pods. So damned cool! I love when nature works out well in my urban garden. I've never seen that many butterflies in one place together other than at the zoo's butterfly tent every year.

Now, to get some hummingbirds to come through...ha!

Tomorrow, the roofing company comes to replace the garage roof. It'll be nice to get that done and out of the way. Hopefully it will be simple and straightforward, with no issues. We'll see how it goes. I'll post pictures of the new roof and maybe some of the work-in-progress. We'll see how it goes.

Final corn harvest...

2011-08-22T10:18:00.001-05:00

Garden Aug. 21, 2011
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Here are the last nine ears of corn from my garden...what a great year for the corn. It did so well. I'm thrilled, especially given that I got nothing last year.

I had to cut down my tomato plants because many of the tomatoes had split, and the whole bed was infested with flies. Maybe they'll grow more before the season is over, we'll see. But I'm not hopeful.

I also had to cut back the cucumber plants, because they were trying to grow on the roof of the garage. In the process I found a few really large, really nicely formed cucumbers.

I'm getting some sweet banana peppers, so that's good. But the red and orange bells are still not really producing. Ah well, you win some and lose some, I guess.

Lastly, I've got a boatload of carrots that I'll need to start harvesting -- good thing I like carrots...hopefully Nicky does too, as I'm probably going to process some of them into baby food. :)

And there's more where that came from ...

2011-08-08T23:39:00.001-05:00

success with corn!.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Having had no success last year with the corn stalks I planted, I wasn't sure when, exactly, I was supposed to pick my corn this year, which is doing really, really well -- many ears, growing nicely, on many stalks.

So Friday, I decided to pick the biggest one and cross my fingers...and this picture is what I got -- AWESOME! A little dry at the top, but I cut that part off and had a nice-sized cob.

So, our block party was Saturday, and I decided to pick more and serve them up...it was delicious and awesome! There are quite a few ears left on the stalks, so I'm really psyched about it. Obviously.

In other garden news, I picked about 16 cucumbers last week too...now the plants, which are growing like mad (trying to bridge the gap between the arbor and the garage, to grow up on the garage roof), are in "rebuilding" mode, growing a few smaller cukes, but it will be awhile before they're ready.

I'm losing my Big Boy tomato plant (it's dying back, drying out, and I'm not sure why), but it's producing nice tomatoes on its way out, so I'm OK with that. The cherry tomato plants are producing as expected, but the problem has been tomatoes splitting while they're orange (rather than red), which just becomes waste. Nonetheless, the two plants are producing really well, and A.J. of course loves going back there and picking the tomatoes.

The onions were a little more of a success this year than last -- got a few decent-sized ones, and a bunch are still in the ground.

Carrots are still growing. I've harvested a few, but am waiting on the rest for now.

And, sadly, the three pepper plants I bought have been tremendously disappointing from a fruit production standpoint. I've gotten ONE pepper off all three, even though they're growing quickly and large. I haven't even had flower production much, to be honest. Maybe it's been the rain or humidity or both, but I thought the heat would really bring out the peppers...so far, no such luck.

Lastly, the strawberry plants I put in the planters are growing like mad as well...with a few strawberries here and there for the picking. If they survive the winter in the containers, we should have a bonanza of strawberries next year, I suspect.

Corn capacitor, um....corning...

2011-07-17T23:03:00.001-05:00

pollinating beginning.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Here's a shot of the corn stalks, with pollination getting underway about a day or two ago. More of the tassels have opened up since, and I'm really, really hoping that we get some corn this year. Last year, I had half as many stalks (really fewer than that, because some didn't even sprout), so I'm hoping that this year, with twice as many stalks I'll have more corn. I have silks on a few plants, but I had a couple silks last year too. So we shall see.

The rest of the garden's doing well, for the most part. Carrots, growing nicely; onions, growing OK...taste great, but still kind of on the small-ish side; Big Boy tomatoes, going well; Sweet 100 cherry tomatoes, going nuts as usual; all three pepper plants are growing well, but I only have one pepper to show for it at the moment; both cucumber plants are growing like WEEDS, so I'm going to have an overabundance of cucumbers I think. The only plant that didn't do well was the tiny Yellow Pear tomato plant, which dried out no matter how much I watered it. So I pulled it the other day...I got some Swiss Chard seed from One Seed Chicago (www.oneseedchicago.com) because they wanted to use one of my older chard pictures -- I hadn't planned on growing any chard this year, but maybe I'll drop a few seeds in the spot where the yellow pear tomato plant was and see if I get anything by the winter. We'll see.

Otherwise, I'm hoping to schedule the roofer to come out and replace the garage roof, and also to give us an estimate (and probably schedule time) to replace the damned leaky, incorrectly installed by the P.O., bathroom skylight with solid roof. That should be interesting, as it basically will wipe our "master" bathroom upstairs out of commission for a bit (and will create more work for us, in the end). But, it's gotta be done. The leaks are getting worse, not better.

And, of course, there remains the loads of backyard work that needs to be done, starting with replacing the sidewalks and adding a concrete pad next to the garage by the alley. Still worried about how the hell much concrete work will cost...and kinda scared. :) Any of you Chicagoans who have had concrete work done lately, I'm taking recommendations (and any information on how much the going rate for concrete work is around here nowadays).

"You picked the hottest day of the year..."

2011-07-02T19:14:00.001-05:00

IMG00468-20110702-1250.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Yes, yes I did. Well, my buddy Luis came over this morning to help me get further with the re-fascia-ing and re-soffit-ing of the garage. My brother Eddie and I did the north face and soffit, and Eddie tore down the rotted fascia and soffit on the east side of the garage last week. I put an additional coat of paint on the north fascia and a single coat on that soffit yesterday, then went to get the lumber for the rest of the garage.
First big score was that standard lumber was on sale at Menards for some ridiculously cheap price...so that was huge.
So, despite feeling like Ted Stryker (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Iuc8uWMdaDg) for much of the day because of the heat and humidity, we were able to get the entire stretch of fascia up for these two sides.
The soffit on the alley side actually is the first run of soffit on the garage that is NOT rotted and is in pretty good shape, so that was another huge score -- we left it up and intact, with the exception of a piece near the west corner.
Tomorrow, when it's supposed to be a little less hot and humid, I'll head out again and try to paint these two sides and possibly put up the east soffit.
Then, the west face of the garage becomes the issue. I put up a gutter (haphazardly, but it's there) years ago to stop runoff from bombarding my raised garden beds and to collect rainwater for my rainbarrel. At the end of the day, because I'm lazy (even though I love DIY work), I'm hoping against hope that it's in great shape and that I can either leave the soffit up or leave both fascia and soffit. But we'll see...I'm sure I'm not so lucky.
Then, finally, I can get the roofer out here to replace the roof.

New fascia and soffit ... on one side ...

2011-06-26T21:12:00.001-05:00

IMG00466-20110625-1646.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, my bro Eddie came over to help me rip down what was left of the soffit and fascia on this side of the garage...and let me tell you how brittle it was...quite brittle. For the most part the area closest to the camera in this picture was like paper...which I inhaled quite a bit of...oops. I was hacking up something fierce after we bashed out a few of the soffit boards. Yet, too lazy to go inside and get a mask...as Eddie and I joked, the disintegrating soffit wasn't going to give us cancer any more than our Mom's smoking for our entire lives would. We just kept at it.

The other end was a little more solid, but we got it down, no problem. Then, Eddie went around the corner in this picture and pulled the fascia and soffit off the east side of the garage...so now we have a gaping hole on that side of the garage.

A couple things of note...we had a blast tying two 4x8 plywood boards to the top of the Equinox with pathetic twine, since Menards, apparently, will not cut a plywood board in half for you. That's because they can charge twice as much for the 4x4 plywood boards -- assholes. Had I not wanted to get this job done sooner than later, I would have taken my business elsewhere. So we had to strap the 4x8 boards to the top of the Equinox and drive about 25 mph home through Edgebrook, Jeff Park, Forest Glen, Portage Park, etc. It was so much fun, we stopped at Dairy Queen on the way back to grab lunch.

Secondly, thankfully, the dozen or so yellowjacket nests we found were abandoned, except for one, which was only in its infancy, so there was only one yellowjacket hanging around by it. Fortunately Eddie was not stung when he ripped the fascia off it.

So now I have to put up the new boards on the east side and then rip and replace the south (alley) side and west side, which has a gutter on it (protecting my garden). Should be tons o' fun.

But at least this looks nicer (though not spectacular) and gets us one step closer to erasing any signs that there was a broken hot tub and piss-poorly built "carport" over it. Step by step.

Not in Kansas anymore ...

2011-06-23T23:16:00.002-05:00

Well, I did go to Kansas for a few days for work, and I'm back, so that works on two levels here, I guess. While I was gone, apparently, Mother Nature decided to torment Downers Grove and Mt. Prospect residents with a tornado (not near us, thankfully), and some serious straight-line winds and strong gusts.

Our house (and neighborhood, for that matter), fared OK, and so did my garden. One of the tomato plants had been completely blown over, cage and all, and all my corn stalks were leveled. I'm hoping that I can straighten them up again, and I may have to stake them, but we'll see.

Otherwise, things have been so-so here at the bungalow. We have ants, so I tried to get rid of them tonight and will continue to spray outside tomorrow. Beyond that, however, there isn't too much on the docket, other than getting the upstairs carpeting deep-cleaned, which a friend of the family's is scheduling soon. We haven't had that done in the four years we lived here, so really, with the boys crawling and running all over up there, we should get it taken care of.

Then it's on to garage repair and concrete search for the backyard. If anyone reading this in Chicagoland can recommend a concrete (sidewalks) guy, please post in the comments field. I'm looking for quotes to start with, and then we'll go from there.

Probably a little fear...

2011-05-20T22:14:00.002-05:00

All of a sudden, I feel as though I know everything I want in the rest of the backyard. I can almost envision it.

Problem is, I'm afraid to start any of it, mostly because, it's no longer a "bang one thing out and move to the next" kind of project -- everything has to be planned for and tied together, or it will look patchwork. Problem with THAT is, there's no money to be had for such a monumental project, especially with the garage roof needing replacement and the skylight upstairs needing to be removed and roofed over. Those two things will cost some dough, and they're definitely not DIY projects, particularly for this DIYer.

Right now, there's still a sand/soil pit where the hot tub used to be, surrounded by bricks and concrete slabs...I want to reuse the slabs as a patio in some portion of the yard...then replant the pit with grass (I'd love to turn it into a garden, but with two little boys growing up quickly, they're going to need a serious play area in the backyard -- like *I* had growing up).

I also want to set up and plant a long thin garden along the west fence, in part to eliminate the grass up against the fence, allowing me to not have to get out the trimmer when I cut the grass, at least there, anyway. But this garden can't be too wide, for the reasons mentioned above.

Then, we have the boys' swing set to put somewhere. I wanted to landscape around it with mulch (or rubber mulch, or whatever), raised up a bit too -- not really for safety (we didn't have that in our yard, and we were fine), but more to give it a feel that it belongs there, as part of the overall landscape back there.

On top of this, the deck really is going to need to be redone in the next couple years, I think...and part of me wants to just do it now, but expand it to the west, along the entire back of the house. This, of course, is where the "no money for that" problem really arises.

So I guess one of these days, I will go out and start measuring, and then maybe sketch out a plan...maybe I can do everything with the exception of the deck, but incorporate it into the design for future inclusion. Who knows? Again, it's not like other things around this house don't need to be finished/started/fixed.

The veggies are ... vegging out...

2011-05-13T21:59:00.001-05:00

IMG00445-20110513-1921.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, I got the back two raised beds turned over, supplemented with more topsoil (erosion in a contained bed? Really?), and planted. I'm trying, this year, to give plants like my tomato plants a little more space to spread out and not overcrowd each other (or the walkways), especially since A.J. will certainly be out picking them with me a lot of times.

In fact, A.J. helped me plant the two tomato plants you see here. He dug part of the hole, and when I gave him the plant to put in the hole, he literally threw it in the hole. Good thing they're resilient. :)

The bed partially visible in the lower left-hand corner has carrot seeds and two more tomato varieties. I have one Big Boy plant and a Yellow Pear cherry tomato variety, just for the interesting-ness of it. We'll see how they do and if the Yellow Pear tomatoes taste any good.

All that's left in the garden now is to fill up the expanded end bed, which is now 4 foot by 8 foot, and then plant my corn. I should be able to pack quite a few plants in there, so I hope I'll get some better ears of corn this year. We shall see!

In other news, I have to get the garage fascia and soffit repaired so that I can have the roof replaced, as it's coming down in the area that was attached to the "carport" that covered the hot tub. That's really important to get done, because right now my garage fascia is open for business for any wildlife to sneak into the garage and make itself at home. Thankfully, it has been too inconsistently cold for bees/wasps, which is my biggest concern, honestly.

Then, we just have boatloads of things that need to be done around here, particularly outside, though not limited to outside. I love my boys, but it's tough to get things done when you have the two little ones running around and all that. And, unfortunately, they're nowhere near old enough to truly help (though A.J. tries and wants to help me with things all the time).

C'est la vie, right? :)

Talk about contagious...

2011-02-05T01:26:00.003-06:00

Thanks to Denise over at The Bungalow Chronicles, I too have caught the posting bug and have decided to at least give a 2010 roundup...because looking back, though much was NOT accomplished or was only partially finished, well, we got a decent amount done...so, here goes nothing...

First of all, an unnumbered "accomplishment" was the successful birth of our second baby boy in October. He's a BEAST of a boy...was already 16 pounds and super tall at two months old. I might have to shore up the floor joists. ;) He's been great, has been healthy and is a happy, easy-going little guy. His older brother is fast approaching his third birthday already and loves his little brother a ton. So we're thrilled at that...

1. Finally, FINALLY, laid the floor in the basement...laminate over padding over Platon. The final steps to the basement refinishing, however -- the baseboards, chair rail and crown, as well as the final outlets above the crowns (for rope lighting) -- remain unfinished. That's because of No. 2...

2. Dealt with a serious sewer backup into the basement -- floor performed as I hoped, with the Platon keeping the water away from the floor itself...however, had the baseboards been in, the water would have come up on the floor. This sewer backup seriously hurt my motivation to get the trim work done.

3. Also hurting the overall project work around here was the bill for installing a sewer cleanout in front of the house -- to attempt to prevent future sewer backups by getting the line power-rodded every year. That wasn't cheap...but it's done AND the city replaced several feet of sewer pipe out in the street that had become misaligned and broken.

4. Much, much progress in the backyard in 2010. I tore down the entire east privacy fence, which was falling down anyway.

5. Built a half-raised (to level with the neighbor's yard) bed in the back and planted five shrubs that will provide somewhat of a privacy screen, be attractive AND provide food and shelter for the birds. All key factors I wanted from these shrubs...now, hopefully they'll grow as expected and not get really, really wide. :)

6. Modified and improved my four raised veggie beds in the back and installed patio pavers around all four, making it way more presentable and lifting the pathways to above flood stage. I still have some minor alterations/additions I need to make, but for the most part, it looks good back there.

7. Tore out the broken hot tub and tore down the "carport" providing shelter for it -- the yard looks about a thousand times bigger. I used College Hunks Hauling Junk to take away all the demo debris...they were AWESOME and I would recommend them, for sure.

8. Finally, in the very late (but warm) fall, I built a chain-link fence in the east gangway to replace the freestanding privacy fence that, again, was falling down. The last entry on this blog shows the first post going in. Well, I busted my butt working by floodlight at night even to get the fence up, and I only got some help from my buddy Luis, digging the post holes and sinking some of the posts. The rest I did myself, and it wasn't too bad, I'd have to say.

Maybe, if I can hold up this motivation, I will post a "2011 hopes" entry soon...until then, stick with me! :)

chain link posts done...

2010-11-07T00:10:00.001-05:00

one post done.many to go.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, there's been a lag in updates because Gina and I welcomed our second son into the world nearly two weeks ago. But, here's a picture of the last thing I did before the baby was born. :)

I had dug this post hole, and I knew we were going to the hospital the next day, so I wanted to stick the post and lay the concrete. Done and done.

Now, over the past two weeks since, my buddy Luis came over to help me dig the other post holes and stick a couple other posts. Today, I finished the posts up. It's "easy" hard work...and, I discovered, it's best done during the day. One post that I hurriedly stuck during the week after work as night rolled in is, of course, slightly off...not happy about that, but ah well...We'll see what happens, I guess...

Anyway, the chain link fence is almost done...I'll post some pics once I get it going. Now, to go take advantage of the end of Daylight Savings Time and get that extra hour of sleep...aw yeah! :)

Just another brick in the ...

2010-09-10T22:40:00.001-05:00

Paver path around veggie beds
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Finally, about a week and a half ago, I finished the paver path around the four raised veggie beds. It actually looks better than I thought it would, to be arrogant and honest. I did all the work myself.

Just for recap, since this is a bit of a DIY blog...I basically followed the directions I found everywhere for laying patio pavers. The beauty, though, is that I didn't have to dig one inch here. See, this is the area that floods about 5-6 inches deep. So, there you go.

I bought basic paver stones from Menards, as well as the paver base and leveling sand. It took 300-plus paver stones to do this spot (keep in mind, there are three paths that branch to the left between the beds too).

I threw down bags and bags of paver base first. Built it up about three inches or so. Because of the space here, though, the hard part was the tamping down of the paver base. I had to buy a tamper tool and do it by hand (really, by arms and back). One thing I realized though, too, was that rain actually does a really good job of settling paver base for you as well. Since this took several weeks to complete, I found that out during the process. The rain settled the paver base quite well.

I then got the leveling sand and put down about 1-1.5 inches of it, filling in with pavers as I went...leveling each individual one as best as I could, all the while keeping with my (non-level, for drainage away from the garage and out toward the alley) line.

The tricky part was up against the fence on the right, for two reasons.

1. The fence panels now go below the level of the paver path, but I had to find a way to prevent the sand and paver base material from running through the fence pickets into my neighbor's yard -- both permanently AND temporarily. I didn't have the room to install those plastic paver stakes (I wasn't taking the fence down and then putting it back up), and I didn't want to "waste" space either. I ended up buying plastic garden edging -- the rigid plastic, not the rubbery, flexible stuff. I pounded it down into the ground a bit and then kept it wedged tightly between the paver base, leveling sand, pavers and fence pickets. You don't even notice it, really, and it should hold up over time. The fence is likely to wear down before it does.

2. Some idiots (looks in mirror) didn't put the fence up exactly straight, as evidence but the second full row of pavers on the right. That last "freestanding" post is a hair too far to the left of the straight line of the fence. And, as we all know, a hair stretched out over 16 feet of pavers creates a real pain in the ass. So I had to cut about a dozen pavers LENGTHWISE to fill in that gap. Thankfully, I got a wet saw for cutting the end pavers (since I used a running bond pattern) and was actually able to knock out all of the cuts in about two to 2 and a half hours.

For the fill, I wanted something that would not just be sand and flow out of the areas in between over time. So I bought polymeric sand...got the Quik-Crete paver bond stuff. Had heard mixed reviews about it, but I had confidence that I could do it right, and hopefully it would harden up nicely and last. So I swept in about a bag and a half (50 lb. bag) slowly and thoroughly, and followed the directions to mist it lightly a couple times. I built up (as you can see) a couple mounds of it around the fence posts too, for added stability and to try and help prevent washout (or wash-in) of any materials. A few days later, I went out there and checked, and the mounds were solid as a rock. So, score!

For now, as you can see, I have a board at the close end -- I'm going to have to cut that board down, both ways, so that nobody trips over it and it looks a little more "purposeful" there.

But overall, it's really allowed the beds to look nice, and I'm hoping it really helps diminish the flooding problem back there (given that it's now "high ground"). At the very least, I won't have to stand in mud and weeds galore while working in the garden, and that in and of itself is fantastic!

Sunflower harvested...

2010-08-06T00:03:00.001-05:00

aj and sunflower 2
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

So, here's a picture of the 11-inch sunflower I harvested earlier this week. I know I promised pics of the gardens, but of course, the minute I promised them, the storms rolled through and mowed a lot of things over on me. So the nice, straight-standing flowers and veggies were pushed around pretty badly.

Anyway, this sunflower head produced enough seeds to fully cover a standard cookie sheet for roasting. Quite a lot of seeds...and this is the first sunflower I've EVER grown in my life. So I was psyched!

Plus, I've been working whenever I can on the paver walkway around the raised veggie beds in the back. I'm making so-so progress, though I'm not in any particular hurry, to be honest. It should look good and should solve the problem of drainage back there once and for all.

That is good, because I'm having a tough time with my cherry tomatoes this year splitting while on the vine. I've read in a couple places that means that they're getting too much water (and thus the insides are growing faster than the skin can keep up)...well, since the storms have left standing water in between the raised beds back there for a day or more at a time, yeah, I'd say they get too much water. So, hopefully the paver walkway (with its crushed base foundation and such) will help keep the standing water away from there.

Sigh of relief...

2010-07-24T21:15:00.003-05:00

Well, I saw the thunderstorms coming yesterday evening and went to bed around 10:30 because I had a feeling I'd be getting up. The storms woke me up around midnight, and some of the bomb-like lightning strikes spooked the dog. So I had to go down to the living room to ease his fears and try to catch a glimpse of radar.

I have DirecTV, and I have no complaints...I expect that it will go out during a severe storm, and it does. OK. But, from about 1 a.m. to 4 a.m. yesterday, I think the Weather Channel showed a closeup of the Chicagoland radar maybe once. All they did was talk about stupid tropical depression Bonnie.

I digress. I happened to notice the insane amount of water in my backyard. I began to get nervous about the basement flooding again. Fortunately, the sandbags are a near-permanent part of the landscape around the stairs by now. But I was worried about the sewers backing up into the house. The street in front looked fine -- no flooding. But we just dropped a pretty penny to have our sewer line power-rodded and scoped, and the city had replaced several lengths of damaged sewer line in the street that may have contributed to our last sewer backup.

So I waited "in between" storms to go out, check the catch basin (no backup!) and drop my pump down it, just in case.

Thankfully, for once, we got only a minor bit of seepage in the laundry room, which I knew about from last year's not-so-epic-anymore flood. That flowed into the drain and out of the house. Same with the little bit of water that seeped under the sandbags.

So, even though we had more water in our backyard than I've ever seen (O'Hare airport, which is due west of us, recorded 6-7" of rain in 24 hours), the basement survived this round. It's nice when investments pay off, particularly in the realm of mental sanity.

Several bloggers I follow weren't so lucky, and my condolences go out to you...and, even though I didn't suffer any damage, I will be heading down to my buddy's house in Elmwood Park to help him tear tons of stuff out of the basement. He had about a foot or more of water throughout. So my thoughts are with all of you...

Vegetable raised beds retrofitted and extended...

2010-07-22T21:51:00.002-05:00

In order to lay patio pavers around my raised veggie beds in the back (and once and for all end the flooding back there!), I had to make some modifications to make life easier -- in other words, limit cutting of pavers as much as possible. I'm not looking for "perfect" or "beautiful" here, I'm just trying to get the pavers down right, but easy.

Anyway, to refresh your memory, here is a photo of the four raised veggie beds as they originally appeared (this is actually a picture of three of them...the fourth wasn't finished yet in this photo, in the back).

So, I had to pull out all the blocks and bricks and replace them with more permanent cedar boards. I also took the closest bed to you in the picture and doubled its size to 8 feet long (toward the camera). So now it sticks out past the garage (see the corner of the garage in the lower left). My plan is to "build" a sandbox for my son (and second kid too, obviously), to the left of the long raised bed, in the new corner created by the bed and the garage. That would give them some shade when they're playing. But that's a project for another time.

So, today I finally finished replacing all the blocks with wood, and that means I can move on to starting the paver process. I will try to take pictures next time I'm out there, because I should mention that I did all this replacement and adjustments without digging out any of the veggies I had planted. :)

It took roughly 3 summers...

2010-07-01T22:51:00.002-05:00

east fence garden no privacy fence.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

...but the east fence is down (with an assist from Mother Nature) and the entire length of it is garden-ized...no more lawn. You can see way in the back of this picture the hedge-row I planted.
I had to raise the ground up next to the sidewalk, so I had to build a half raised bed type of thing to level off the ground. It's part of why the back floods. The sidewalk is a good six to nine inches below the alley and the neighbor's yard.
Since the neighbor (as evidenced in this photo) doesn't have a garage, I wanted to create a little bit of privacy without the privacy fence. Plus, my neighbor's garden is beautiful and quite large, and blends really nicely with my thin garden here. You almost miss entirely the chain-link fence in between.
So, in the back, there are five shrubs -- two varieties. I needed something that wouldn't get much wider than about 5 feet (and that would need to be pruned, likely), but would grow 6 feet or higher.
I went to Lurvey's nursery in Des Plaines after researching my brains out in books and online. I had two plants in mind...and thought -- with the help of the helpful consultant there, that getting both would lend some variety to the row.
I did not want a plain-old boring privet-type hedge, and definitely didn't want evergreens. I wanted to have multi-season interest, and was hoping to be of assistance to the birds, even.
So I bought three Red Chokeberry bushes and flanked them with two Blue Muffin Viburnum bushes.
In the fall, I should have a burgundy and red leaf show. In the winter, red and blue berries, and in the spring, plenty of white flowers.
As for the rest of the garden here, this year (knock on wood) has been the best year so far for my perennials (which is, actually everything you see here). This photo is a little older, so I'll try to take an updated one sooner than later. But things are just blooming, growing and staying "under control" pretty darned well.
I'm really pleased, and wishing I had more space now! :)

aj digs in the dirt

2010-03-27T16:13:00.002-05:00

I have a future helper in the garden, it appears.

Curses, foiled again...

2010-03-08T23:09:00.002-06:00

The point of this blog, other than to share with all of you my successes and failures, is/was in order to also provide a fail-safe way of cataloging for myself everything I'd done, to learn from failures and reap the benefits of success over and over again.

Of course, fail-safe proves to be a failure in this case!

I've been hunting all over the house for the seed packets for the veggies I bought and grew last year, specifically the broccoli and carrots. They were so tasty and very successful, I wanted to buy that variety again. Haven't found them yet (I swear they're here somewhere), but I thought maybe I'd mentioned the varieties here -- of course not. DANG!

Ah well...as you can tell, I've got the itch to get the garden plans going -- especially since I got a huge 30-pound load of processed poultry manure fertilizer pellets that supposedly will make my veggies ROCK this year (even more so than last year)! Since I got this for free (a random job perk, believe it or not), they have no reason to sell me on the effectiveness. We'll see how it goes, of course... :)

Anyway, I gotta figure out the varieties of carrots and broccoli...where did I put those packets!? :)

The pain of DIY work...

2010-02-07T22:26:00.001-06:00

main part mostly done.jpg
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

I was going to not take the pic and/or share it until I was completely done because I didn't want to give away the big reveal yet, but I had to. I worked too hard and killed myself too much to not. Anyway, here's the basement family room at this stage. You can now see the paint scheme/colors (more or less), and here's the floor, with the main portion of the room finished. This space is about 30 by 12 feet. I did all of this MYSELF -- a little more than half the room on Saturday alone...(from just right of the outlets on the far wall to the left edge of the floor. I was a machine.

Laminate flooring is "easy" but it isn't as easy as they say...it takes a lot out of you. I'm not a marathon runner or weightlifter, but I'm not terribly out of shape. There's a lot of pushing, pulling and the like, and it KILLS your knees and back (even with kneeling on a foam pad). I was dead-tired today and still sore a bit...thankfully, I was able to sit down and watch the Super Bowl and do mostly nothing else.

There's another picture on my Flickr site of the "layers" of subfloor too, if you're interested. It's Tarkett Heartland laminate (I believe it's discontinued...bought it at Menard's more than a year ago, because it was something like 79 cents a square foot and came with a 25-year warranty!) on top of a vapor barrier-enhanced pad (DuoFoam with Self Seal), which is on top of Platon (www.systemplaton.com, if you don't know what it is). The Platon is placed on top of landscape fabric, per recommendations on the package (for sound dampening against the concrete floor, I believe).

I still have to finish the "wing" off to the left, but that's a much smaller room (13 by 10, or so, I believe), and then I have to cut smaller floor pieces to fill in the gaps near the walls (such as the one in the lower left). I should be able to knock out most, if not all, of this in the next week -- assuming all goes OK.

So, enjoy the sneak preview of the family room...once we get it all settled, I'll take another pic...there are a few other cool things we have up our so-called sleeves. :)

Hit the deck...well, it's concrete, so be careful...

2010-01-29T21:48:00.004-06:00

As promised, here's what up with the basement floor...

So, we have your standard concrete slab floor. The nice thing is, it's pretty even. It's mostly level, not perfect, but there are no major mounds or valleys that would cause a problem with laying laminate.

To update, I did not want tile flooring. It was going to be expensive to cover the entire floor in the family room regardless of what we went with, and tile just was OUT of the question. Too much work, too much money and too cold a result.

So I wanted laminate wood-pattern flooring. But I was worried about water seeping under the floor and ruining it from underneath. So I decided to go with a product many of you might know about: Platon. It's used on foundation walls, but is also recommended as a waterproof underlayment for floors. It creates an air pocket between the floor and the concrete, which also helps insulate the floor somewhat too. I wanted this in case the drain (now UNDER the floor) backed up again. My thought being, if it backs up a little bit (like last time...it wasn't much and it was clean rainwater from the pit in the backyard), it will spread out underneath the floor, eventually drain back out and eventually dry (the floor "breathes" around the edges beneath the baseboards). Mold should not grow because there is no "food" underneath, and the Platon is sealed together. Yes, if the drain backed up really badly, the water would eventually overwhelm the space under the floor and overflow into the walls and onto the floor, but if that happens, I figure I've got a lot of other issues to worry about...by then the whole basement will be done for anyway.

On top of the Platon, according to manufacturer's instructions, goes the pad and the laminate right on top of that. Right now, I have to do half the basement at a time (because we have furniture already), so I have the Platon laid and sealed on the largest part of the basement, and the padding spread across about half of that area. Tomorrow I expect I'll start laying the laminate. I'm excited, as I just bought a table saw for the project -- so I'll get to open that and "play" and also get this project even closer to done. My goal is to get the floor down before the Super Bowl...it's going to be tight, but I think if I can knock out a major portion of it tomorrow, I'll be OK. The remainder of it is a much smaller section, and even better, is mostly a straight square (whereas this part of the room has a few jogs in the wall that I'll have to cut around).

Pictures when I'm finished...no fair peeking! :)

Is it 2010 yet...

2010-01-26T21:56:00.002-06:00

house decor 2009
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Here's what the bungalow looked like all decked out this year. We actually expanded our decorations to the lawn and the yew bushes, special thanks to our getting our pre-lit tree 75% off the previous Dec. 26 at Target. So we had extra lights, which we then traded in at Home Depot for LEDs (during their trade-in coupon deal prior to Christmas).

Now, I'm obviously way behind, so here goes nothing ...

2009 is in the rear-view mirror, and we're none the worse for it here at Building a Better Bungalow. Sure, there are folks out there who fared far, far worse than we did -- hell, we both kept our jobs, even though I took a tremendous pay cut and tremendous staff cuts all around me. Basically, the old adage: more work, less pay.

That led to far less time to work on the house, as did A.J.'s rapid growing up. We are preparing for birthday No. 2 -- suffice to say, the attention and love we've given him along with everyone else around him has paid off. He can recognize every single capital letter of the alphabet, can now mostly count to 12 (though he doesn't know what "counting" is...) and can "sing" a couple songs, such as a few lines from "Frosty the Snowman" and most of "Baa, Baa Black Sheep." He's a great communicator for his age...of course, with all this attention being given him, he's only now finally learning how to even consider playing or "reading" a book by himself. Either way, I love him, of course. But he has obviously taken up tons of my time (and that's a good thing, of course).

Since my last post in September, I'm not sure what I can say has gone on around here. We've fixed some things, decorated the house big-time for Christmas (as you can see). But really, there wasn't much "bungalow-related" action around here for a while. My garden indeed was a hit. I actually was able to harvest some broccoli ON THANKSGIVING and cook it up instantly for our families. It wasn't much, but as many of you know, there's nothing that beats fresh-picked produce.

Since December, though, things have been picking up. We got the family room to the point of being drywalled for A.J.'s party last March, but then work fell silent down there for quite a while. Well, aside from a few touchups, painting is finally DONE, finished a couple weeks ago. That allowed me to move on to more fun tasks, such as laying the floor...I've been waiting for this for a while. I'll post more on my progress and step-by-steps in a future post...

Once I get the floor in, we'll be ready for trim work and final electricals...we already have the TV, sectional and most of the furniture we need...so after that, we're done. That will be a great, great day!

We recently also bought new dining room table and chairs, mission style from Broyhill. They look much, much better than Gina's iron-and-glass set, in the sense of they fit the room and style much more. We're fighting through getting bedroom furniture -- but that too is another story for another day. Suffice to say, the Chicago Bungalow's staircase has foiled us once again.

I got a seed catalog in the mail the other day, and that got me itching to put in an order...I'm excited to get the veggies going again, building off what I learned last year. I also planted a TON of tulip bulbs in the backyard, and I'm hoping to see the fruits of that labor in the spring. Then, of course, there are plenty of flowers and perennials to deal with.

Lastly, I'm hoping against hope that the relatively dry winter we've had (relatively) continues. One of the main projects this year will (MUST) be to basically blow up the backyard and "start over" -- ripping down the hot tub and "carport" over it, and filling in the areas adjacent to the alley to prevent flooding of the yard backing up into the house. I cannot and will not jeopardize the work and money we've put into the basement because the city thought the alley should sit 8 inches above our yard decades ago. Too much at stake.

So, anyway, I leave you with that, for now...as things move along well into 2010, I wish you well and look forward to actually having projects, photos and stories to talk about again -- thanks for sticking with me! :)

Just insane...

2009-09-29T21:16:00.002-05:00

Well, hey there everybody...anybody who I've disappointed, no doubt, over the past two months with my lack of blogging. I'm a journalist for a living, so you'd think, you know, I'd have plenty to say and report on around here and all, but it's been just crazy.

An 18-month-old son will do that...along with a crappy economy that just affects everything you had planned to do. And then add in the need to still be social, do things and somehow keep up with the household chores and stuff, and well, you know how it goes.

So, in bullet form, here are some updates since last I spoke:

1. Garden
The vegetable garden in the back was pretty much a smashing success. But I learned a few things.
--(a) 9 cherry tomato plants and 9 Big Boy tomato plants is too many tomatoes. And don't tell me about making sauce and ketchup and all that. I tried making sauce one evening, and it took me all evening. I simply don't have the time to do that, sadly, nor the canning ability to can tomatoes either. Not at this stage. Fortunately, I made a lot of friends and family members happy with the "free" tomatoes. :) After really struggling to start the year, over the past two months, I've pulled probably 1-2 dozen cherry tomatoes off every 1-2 days. The Big Boys took forever to grow and ripen, but I'm getting maybe three per 1-2 days now. They bounced back. But, it's very much a jungle back there.
--(b) Broccoli does much better when given sunlight. In Bolingbrook, I grew it in dappled sunlight, and it did well, I thought. But now, much better. I've cut main heads that were larger than my fist a few times already. Only thing is, I planted too late, as what I'm cutting was supposed to be my spring crop. It just now is producing.
--(c) The soaker hose hooked up to the rain barrel has made a huge difference, but I'm tired of stepping over it. Next year, I'm going to look into a less "in-the-way" option...copper tubing, maybe. We'll see...
--(d) Knock on wood, for some reason, I had NO critter invasions. I hope that lasts. I know I'm lucky. :)
--(e) Grapes need a lot more room to spread out. Sometime in the last two months, a windstorm blew over my top-heavy arbor loaded with grapevines. The grapes were doing OK, but it wasn't going to work. I cut the vines down, removed the arbor, and planted some new perennials. You can go over to my Flickr account to see the result. I'm hoping next year they'll come back as strong as the others have.
--(f) Two years in a row proves you can control Butterfly Bush and get it to grow 7-8 feet tall in a narrow space, with the use of a tall tomato cage and pre-emptive "training" of branches to stay in the cage and grow upward rather than outward.
--(g) Garlic takes a long, long time to grow. Still waiting on my garlic.
--(h) NOTHING beats carrots right out of the garden. Nothing.

2. Family room
Well, this is the project that has suffered from the economic downturn. It's been pretty much static since early to mid summer. Until recently, when we bought a nice sectional from Ashley Furniture, finally paid off the floor (which has yet to be installed) and turned around and purchased the subfloor materials. We still need to do a decent amount of painting/priming, install the floor and the trim. But we do have cable down there now, and like I said, we'll be getting a comfy sectional, so there might just be motivation to get this thing done already. Stay tuned.

3. Other projects/happenings
Outside of those two things, really, there hasn't been any major goings-on at the house. My parents just had their house (a pre-bungalow bungalow, if that makes sense) exterior walls repointed, washed and the brick walls on the roof (they have a flat roof) completely rebuilt, and for cheap. So, if my dad gives me the contact info, I might give this company a call and get them out to repoint the facebrick on my bungalow. I was going to do it myself, but if these guys are as good as the work they did on my parents' house suggests, I'd be comfortable with it. But we'll see. The only other thing I'd like to do/have to do, is to weatherstrip/proof the windows and some of the doors. Gotta do that before it gets too cold...but time's ticking away.

Ah well...I hope I still have some readers left! Thanks for sticking around and checking back...I'll try to be better, I promise!

Yeah, beets...

2009-07-16T21:26:00.001-05:00

beets 71609 5
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Pulled up four Chioggia beets today...the four were more than ready! Took out the cheese shredder, sauteed them in a frying pan briefly with some butter, and they were tasty. More coming!

We have our first official harvest success!

In unison: "It's about time!" ...

2009-07-14T21:45:00.001-05:00

July14garden 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Where have I been? Very, very busy. But that hasn't stopped the gardening from continuing...and the beauty of perennials is, LITTLE MAINTENANCE!

I love it. But, check out my veggie garden...it's actually growing and growing well, given the cool, wet conditions we've had most of the past couple months...

More later...but for now, check out the pretty pictures!

It's hot and way too rainy, but...

2009-06-24T20:09:00.001-05:00

beets 62209
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

...the good news is my plants are doing pretty good (knock on wood). I didn't get any shots of the tomato plants, but pictured above is a shot of one of the beets. I thinned out the beets and carrots, and they're growing pretty well, which is nice. If you click on the picture above, it'll take you over to Flickr where the rest of my most recent garden pictures are. Looking good, in my opinion...of course, what do I know? :)

Last year/this year and before/after ...

2009-06-10T14:57:00.005-05:00

CURB APPEAL, sort of...
Last year, here's what it looked like after I finally pulled out one of the evergreen bushes and planted a rhododendron and Sutherland Gold Elderberry, as well as a handful of ferns at the base:

This year, here's the update:

INTERIOR STAIRS carpeted...
I hate covering up the beautiful hardwood stairs:

But after I slipped and dropped my son down the stairs, there was no way I wasn't having them carpeted. A handrail is next on the docket (though it would not have prevented the accident...). He's OK, but still...one hell of a scare:

Rockin' broccoli...

2009-05-28T21:10:00.001-05:00

rockin broccoli
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

As promised, I finally got out to take some pictures of the various garden updates. Head on over to Flickr to check them out...

And the rains fell, and the dryer broke, and so did my wife...

2009-05-26T20:20:00.005-05:00

So, between a trip to the hospital for emergency surgery (she's fine now) last week for my wife, the dryer breaking down and general Memorial Day madness, I was only able to construct the third veggie bed, though I need to get another bag of garden soil to really complete it.

This is a bummer, because I wanted to plant the tomatoes I started indoors. They're ready to be transplanted, but because of the rain showers, they're still inside. I had to economize my time outside in between downpours, so the picture-taking got sidelined.

It was also sidelined by us having to buy a new dryer (and then deciding to get a new washer too, since we "have to" have a matching set -- so if anyone wants to buy an older, but working well, wash machine for a cheap price, let me know!). I had to disconnect the washer and dryer, which is simple enough, except when the gate valves are seized up from years of immobility. I broke one and couldn't budge the other. Fortunately, I had two perfect gate valves laying around from a previous plumbing event, and was able to change them out without any trouble, amazingly enough. Also, I was nervous about the gas line to the dryer, but after shutting off the valve, it held (no leaks) and there was no problem there either (for a change)! I had to connect the new dryer, though, because the delivery guys did not have a vent pipe, and I wanted to replace the fire-hazard plastic pipe that the PO had put on there. Again, amazingly, no problems going to get a vent chute (UL listed flexible aluminum), installing the vent chute or reconnecting the gas line. I was thrilled.

The good news for the backyard is, the first two veggie beds are sprouting nicely.

In Bed No. 1, the garlic is growing great and was the first to sprout. Then, the asparagus started coming up. They aren't kidding about it being spindly the first year -- the spears are no wider than a typical spaghetti noodle. But they're neat to watch. Once they break the surface of the soil, they sure shoot up in height pretty fast. I was impressed! Finally, in Bed No. 1, the broccoli I started from seed began to sprout. It seems to be lagging a bit, but the plants appear healthy and in good shape, so I'll just need to be patient.

In Bed No. 2, I planted beans, carrots and beets, all from seed. The beets started sprouting earlier this week, and today I went out to find nice rows of seedlings peeking through the dirt. Yesterday, the beans began to push their way through the surface, and today, they've broken through nicely. Also, a surprise, the carrots are sprouting like mad today...I'll have to cull those rows heavily, as I simply scattered the seed in rows. So that will start soon. All in all, Bed 2 is in good shape, it appears.

Bed No. 3, like I mentioned above, is a few inches low on soil, so I have to go get more before moving on to construction of Bed No. 4. When that will happen, I'm not sure...but it has to be soon! Even though they're predicting storminess on and off for the next few days...might be sketchy.

Complicating matters is that my birthday is coming up this weekend, and my brothers were nice enough to get me Lego Indiana Jones for the PS3, and a Best Buy gift card, both of which have and will, respectively, distract me from doing "yardwork" around here! Ah well, I'll get back to it soon enough, I'm sure!

So there's the update...I leave you with this: It's a picture of my son attempting to eat a marigold when I told him to sniff the marigold in the planters out in front of the house. I did plant those up, and the flowers are doing well.

The early bird gets the truck...

2009-05-17T21:58:00.002-05:00

Well, quick post before I head to bed, following my successful completion of the Walk & Roll 50-mile bike ride today (from which I'm beat, obviously).

Yesterday, I got an early start and headed out the Home Depot to get a "load" of topsoil, peat moss and manure to make another veggie bed and finish filling the second one. When I walked in, I decided to see if they happened to have one of those nice rental trucks available. When they said they did, I decided to get 30 bags of topsoil, and enough peat moss and manure to fill up (hopefully) the last two, yet-unbuilt veggie beds.

Got home, and with the help of my bro, tossed all these bags over the fence. I felt vindicated that, for once, I was there early enough to get what I wanted and get out, knowing full well that yesterday's beautiful weather coupled with the technical passing of the frost date spelled doom for any gardeners trying to shop there after, say, 10 a.m. I was right. It was fine when I got the truck, but already a madhouse when I returned it.

I filled the remainder of the second bed and decided to plant seeds instead of start building the third bed, given I didn't want to do too much hard work given today's bike ride.

I planted a row of beans along the wall of the garage (will string up some wires at some point to carry the beans), and then several rows of Chioggia (sp?) beets and several rows of carrots. All seeds, of course. I also bought a Big Bertha pepper plant and put that in one of my freestanding pots near the deck.

Today was the bike ride, and I'm way too tired to go on...it was a beautiful day, and a beautiful ride -- but next year, we'll probably do a shorter run. We missed out on a lot of the fun at the end, because we weren't speed-demons. Ah well, live and learn...the most important thing was that we raised a great amount of money to help fight the battle against cancer. I think you can donate after the event, so if you want to, go ahead...otherwise, wait till next year!

Donate to fight cancer...

2009-05-15T21:11:00.003-05:00

OK, well, this is the first blatant solicitation you've seen here, but I'm making it for a good cause. On the left, there, you see the American Cancer Society's logo, and a link. I'm riding my bike in this year's Walk & Roll North Shore in order to help raise money to fight cancer. I've had tons of relatives and some friends diagnosed from cancer -- some won the battle, some did not.

Doctors found cancer in my Dad's prostate last year, and fortunately they caught it early enough -- he had the prostate removed, and life has gone on. Thankfully, he's a good news story. Not everyone comes out on the positive side.

Anyway, I'm riding in two days (this Sunday), and although I don't expect anything from any of my loyal readers, I did want to offer up the chance to donate. My team and I will ride 50 miles, from Skokie north to Lake Forest, down to Evanston and back over to Skokie. (We didn't pick the route, of course.) I feel very prepared, even though this is the most I'll have ridden my bike in one "sitting" since college. I've gotten some good riding in lately in preparation, so as long as the bike doesn't break (knock on wood) somehow, I should be fine.

Please consider donating to the cause -- if you don't want to click on the link, then find the Walk & Roll official page, find the Walk & Roll North Shore (Skokie, Ill.), then you can find my team, the Whammy Ka-Blammies, and find me (Andy)...(I just don't want to post my last name here...paranoia and all).

Thanks for listening...and, amidst all the biking prep, I've done some housework and yardwork, and I promise to have photos and updates very soon!

A busy week, followed by another...

2009-04-26T19:55:00.002-05:00

Since I'll be too busy for housework this week, I figured I'd try to cram as much in over the last week as I could, weather permitting. Rains and events yesterday and today kind of limited my abilities, but I do feel well-positioned to get the vegetable raised beds completed in the next couple weeks -- maybe even next weekend. That is, assuming I can get all the topsoil, peat moss and manure that I need.

Since last weekend's bonanza of work, I haven't raised any more beds in the back. But, I did assemble the former fence pickets into walls and then went to buy a few more cedar boards for the other walls of the three remaining beds (didn't have enough fence pickets or retaining wall blocks to complete the job). I cut those and assembled them too. It also gave me an excuse to buy myself a circular saw, which, believe it or not, I did not have to this point. I got a Ryobi 12-amp, which cost me only about $40. So it was worth it.

Today I finished assembling the walls for the three remaining beds, so they'll be ready to rock and roll when I get time to take them into the garden.

Yesterday, before the rains came, I went to Home Depot to get gutters for the garden side of the garage. The water was running off and creating a trench in the raised bed. Also, I think that diverting that water out to the alley or wherever will help to minimize the flooding in the yard, somewhat.

I was only able to get one 10-foot length of gutter up, however, before we had a social obligation, so today, the back area was flooded because of the rains. Of course, the raised bed is not affected, which is good (and was the goal). So, once that water goes down, I'll be able to work back there again.

So that's where I stand right now...I'll hopefully have pictures once there's something good to take pictures of. We'll see how much more we get done next weekend!

First raised bed finished...

2009-04-18T19:34:00.001-05:00

first bed 2
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

...and I'm tired as hell. Did all the work myself. Heck, these last three days, I've done all the work myself.

That's OK, because I didn't really want help. Mostly because I was somewhat "winging it" on this...wasn't sure how it was going to go, wasn't sure how I was going to put it together. Was just kind of building as I went along, in a sense, and troubleshooting as I came upon an issue. Not many issues cropped up though.

The construction went as follows...
I got a leftover 50-lb. bag of sand, which I used as a base below the stones and bricks (especially given the unlevel ground situation). I laid the front stones first, then laid the bricks on the left.

I left a few inches between the bed and the garage, mostly because, when I decide to raise up the ground around the beds (once THEY'RE done), I'll want to obviously raise the little strip of ground back there, so water doesn't collect there either.

I then set the stones on the right side. As you can see, I staggered the stones only slightly. That's mostly because I didn't have the patience or tools to cut the blocks. This is sturdy as it is, even if it's not half-staggered or whatever they call it. I also used.

Finally, I got two of the fence pickets from the demolished hot tub wall structure and secured them together, side by side, with three pieces of wood (one longer in order to pound it into the ground. I took two stakes and pounded them into the ground at the ends, for added stability (just in case).

I then got the Sunday Trib and laid about three layers of newspaper directly on the grass (weeds). I wet it down really, really well. I got the big, 3-cubic-foot "bag" of Peat Moss I bought yesterday, and spread that around. Then, I spread three 40-lb. bags of humus/manure. I busted out my trusty Garden Weasel and mixed those two layers together a little bit.

Then I started laying bags of topsoil. 12 bags later, and here we are. I haven't planted anything in this bed yet, mostly because I was probably going to put the taller plants (tomatoes for sure) here. But now I'm not so sure. I have broccoli which does OK in less sun than some of the other veggies (I know this from experience, albeit limited, with growing broccoli in a part shade situation). So we'll see.

Anyway, I'm pretty darned tired...and I still have three more beds to build. Obviously, with rain on the way, this isn't happening tomorrow. But I'm happy to say that, aside from being one hell of a back-breaking three days, I got a decent amount of stuff done and took full advantage of the beautiful weather we had.

Oh, the humanity...OK, that's a bit overly dramatic...

2009-04-16T22:02:00.001-05:00

halfway 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, hey there loyal readers...Wow, almost a whole month of no posting by me. That's a record that I'm sorry to admit to for this blog (I think).

Basically, I've been way the heck too busy to post of late. Much has happened, though, in the last week or two, so I thought I'd share some photos and an update. It's long overdue.

1. The basement family room has been mostly primed and is just about ready for paint. The review of the Behr New Drywall Primer is that I really liked it. I put one coat of the primer on the ceiling, and my buddy Luis (who has made appearances on this blog in the past) put on one coat of Behr White Ceiling Paint, and other than probably a touch-up here and there, that's ALL the ceiling needed. Primer on the walls was a little thinner, but it looks like it's covering enough to put paint up. So that will be the next step.

I've decided I'm going with two-tone walls. Top half will be a color called Harvest Brown (710D-4) and the bottom half will be a color called Smokey Blue (540F-5). I got the color combo off the Yellow-Toned Neutrals Style Card, actually. Even though in the style card, the Smokey Blue is only the napkins in the photo. I think this will look really nice, and I like the fact that I'm adding some color, not just beiges and yellows and browns and whatnot. I'm gonna split these with a white (or ivory, we'll see) chair rail, which will run perfectly below the windowsills and perfectly above the fireplace to form the top part of the simple mantel.

Of course, I bought the primer and paint on Tuesday, and Home Depot decided to have a $5 rebate per can offer that started today. Bunch of jerks. I wish I would have waited two stinking days...

I did get the floor I wanted, so I can't gripe too much, I guess...since it was 89 freaking cents a square foot and no interest till 2010. That gives us several months to pay it off without penalty of any kind. And that's HUGE.

2. Backyard plans are running full bore right now. I've started some tomato seeds and broccoli seeds, and have a whole slew of other vegetables waiting in the wings to be planted in the new garden that I'm working on constructing (currently in my brain, very soon in the yard). I'm going to have to get three cubic yards of dirt/compost/peat moss/manure/whatever to raise the bed up high enough in the back that floods to avoid future floods. So this garden will have the dual purpose of being a garden and taking care of part of the flooding problem. So I hope anyway.

The veggies I have in my possession (and should have room for, I hope -- I probably won't plant a forest of each of these, just a couple of each...I don't need 200 tomatoes) are: cherry tomatoes, big boy tomatoes, broccoli, asparagus, garlic, green beans, carrots and beets. I'd like to get a pepper plant as well, and maybe some rosemary.

Today, I knocked down the "walls" of the little shelter that the hot tub is under...40 pickets of a fence. Fortunately, they were nailed to the rails, so I just hammered the hell out of them to break them free. Several of the pickets are in fantastic shape still and will be used in this garden, either as backup support around the beds or as walkway planks or something. We'll see for sure. It was definitely hard work, but I wanted to get it done because the garbage men come tomorrow, and there were some unsalvageables that I had to toss.

As you can see from the pictures on Flickr (click on the photo here), the yard looks significantly different with the walls of the shelter down. You can also see that I tried to pry the roof off, piece by piece. But, after climbing up the ladder and working for about 15 minutes plus to get that one panel off, I realized that it was going to work, and that, oh, these appear to be some sort of fiberglass panels, and my forearm itches and hurts like hell. I got a ton of fiberglass fibers rubbing on the underside of my forearm because I rested it briefly on the panel to try to pry it up. Live and learn, I guess.

So, tomorrow is supposed to be another unbelievably spectacularly beautiful day here in Chicago. I took the day off today, and will have most of tomorrow off, so I think that I will do some more work out there. Maybe I'll go buy the 70 or so bags of topsoil and stuff...but that would mean I'd have to rent one of those menards or home depot trucks...anyone done that and had good/bad experiences? (Anyone still reading at this stage?)

Anyway, we shall see how it goes tomorrow. I'm pretty tired from today's adventures...more soon, I promise!

Stay on target...stay on target...

2009-03-17T20:55:00.003-05:00

It's been a quiet week and a half here at the bungalow...and that's OK. We've just had too much going on. But I haven't lost track of things that need to be done. It's been brainstorming time, and here at the house, we've been brainstorming ways to solve the backyard flooding issue, brainstorming ways to get the painting and flooring done in the basement family room, and brainstorming ways to feel a heckuva lot better about the sewer main situation.

I've also been getting the gardening itch. Ever...so...slightly.

The good news is, I visited Menards and Home Depot today, and definitely found the laminate floor I want. Let's hope they still have it in stock tomorrow, when we'll probably go back to get it. It's EXACTLY what I want, on sale and everything. Plus, the no interest until 2010 is a big, big plus right now!

Also, at Home Depot, I took a gander at primer and paint colors, and I actually think I might have found some colors that I really like that seem to go together and may very well go with what we plan to move down there too! It's Behr paint though...any reviews from any of my regular readers out there? Have you had any problems with Behr? Gina and I, since moving in together, have used exclusively Benjamin Moore. But I've not been all that impressed, specifically, for the price. I mean, it's been fine, don't get me wrong...but it's not like it's been so above and beyond that I'm dying to use it over anything else.

So, I'd love to hear your thoughts on Behr paint. I'm looking at a darker color on the bottom half and a neutral on the top half.

The tropics, without the warmth...

2009-03-08T22:22:00.003-05:00

Just when I think I have the damned floodwaters figured out, something else happens. (NOTE: This is long, but I got a lot to say...a lot happened)

Friday night, I went to two Home Depots and one Lowe's to get those stupid 60-lb. tubes of sand that people put in the backs of their pickup trucks in the winter to weigh them down in icy weather. Got five of them, knowing that I'd be gone most of the day Saturday, and I could sandbag the basement stairs in the event that water flooded the backyard and got close enough. So I set them up Friday night.

Saturday morning, I double-check them, and we were gone for the day. In the evening, I come back to find no floodwaters in the yard. Nice. But rain on the way overnight. Rained all night Sat/Sun. I woke up purposefully at 2:30 (3:30 after the spring ahead) a.m. to go outside and downstairs to check the situation. Happily discover no floodwaters in the yard or the basement.

Get up Sunday morning around 9 a.m. Electrician comes at 10, done by 11:30. Still no danger, although I notice there is some standing water in my catch basin in the backyard. Odd, but not bad. I decide to keep an eye on it.

Then, the niagara falls apparently opens above my house. Suddenly, the backyard is flooded badly, but I suspect that the sandbags will hold up fine. My plan will be tested, but appears OK to work. Then, while I'm checking the sandbags, I look down the stairs into the basement to notice that, what the hell? Water is rising up from the drain, and that kinda fast. It's going right into the laundry room, which is fine, except that drain feeds the same pipes.

I scramble (I'm on my own at this stage) to grab all five 60-lb. sandbags and try to manipulate them between the drain and the door to the basement. But I'm too late. Water is not going down in the laundry room, and I look off in the distance to my newly remodeled family room and notice that there is water now coming up through THAT drain as well...much more and much faster than in the laundry room.

I get the sandbags positioned as best as I can and at that stage resign myself to simply hoping and praying that the water coming up stays pooled "around" the drain and doesn't hit any of the new drywall or framework. Thankfully, it does. The drain is depressed in the floor, which is good, because about an 8-foot diameter portion of the floor has been soaked, and there's still about 3 inches of water over the drain at this juncture. This after two downpours.

Now, I'm pissed and confused as well. Also, the yard floodwater is now coming down the stairs slightly, only adding to the backed up drain problem. I get the pump and set it up in the stairwell drain and run the house out to the front of the house. I'm confused because there is no standing water at all on the street, and nobody else is out running around trying to bail out water except me. I surmise that I must be the only one getting water in the basement, or the only one who cares.

After talking to my dad, we realize that my main must be clogged/blocked. That means, I need a plumber/water department guy to come out with a power rodder to clear the main. Fortunately, Gina's cousin knows a guy, and this guy agrees to come out and help me out. He suspects the roots of the bushes (the evergreen-types you see in front of everyone's bungalow, practically) in front of the house have grown through the main and blocked it. I tell him that I was going to pull those out. He says good idea, because they are the absolute worst -- worse than trees. I say, good, one more reason to destroy them.

After two hours of power-rodding the main and pulling out a couple sizeable handfuls of root mass, and nearly $300 to get that done, the drain is opened again and working, and the catch basin is empty.

Supposedly, Tuesday, we're gonna have another similar freaking storm. That will test whether or not this was the real issue today. I hope it doesn't come back as a problem again, because I have enough of a problem with the backyard floodwaters. I don't need sewer backups, especially now that the family room is on its way to being done.

I'm tired as shit -- my back and legs hurt and I'm just so out of it. The basement is a total mess again, and I really don't even feel like cleaning any of it. It's such a freakin' pain in the ass. Sometimes, as much as I absolutely love it, homeownership completely and totally sucks.

Words are very, unnecessary...

2009-03-05T21:12:00.002-06:00

The title is taken from "Enjoy the Silence" by Depeche Mode...and that's what I've been doing, at least in the realm of home improvement, for the moment.

A.J.'s first birthday party went very well. We had loads and loads of people, and when he wasn't overwhelmed, A.J. had a very good time. Thanks to everyone who came out, brought gifts or themselves and joined us for our son's big day!

The basement family room walls and ceiling got done, as did the electrical work. We cleaned the floor about 3-4 times and got it decent enough. The fireplace works and definitely warms it up down there, and overall, it's just a nicer room to be in.

We still have plenty of post-party cleaning to do (the garbage men don't come until tomorrow, and there's full trash bags all over that need to be shed). But we're getting there. Work is kicking me in the ass right now; but at least I'll get back to it soon enough. I now have motivation, and something I didn't have before the party: TIME. :)

Too tired to blog...will attempt post in near future...

2009-02-26T23:55:00.002-06:00

A night that was supposed to be focused entirely on working on the basement was partially sidetracked by YET ANOTHER record-breaking rainstorm in Chicago. We got nearly two inches of rain today out near O'Hare airport. Two inches too many.

Me, my dad and my father-in-law spent a good portion of the night attempting to control the floodwaters that this time POURED down the back stairs. The drain couldn't keep up, so we had to makeshift sandbag to slow things. I had about 2-3 inches of water in the foyer out there, with some seeping into the laundry room (and thankfully right into that drain).

Eventually, the rain stopped and the drain caught up...but there is more water in my backyard than there ever has, and this water came relentlessly this time. This worries me, tremendously.

Worth noting, the family room, where the drain tile and sump pit service, was dry as a bone, and the sump pit filled up to the bottom of the drain tile pipes and stayed there. So that worked.

Too bad the backyard is a total, major problem.

Live from the new tropics: Chicago...more later.

If you've never seen our HGTV episode...

2009-02-23T23:21:00.003-06:00

Then, by all means, you should set your TiVo, DVR or old-fashioned VCR to tape it...unless you're home on Wednesday at 1:30 Eastern time...

http://www.hgtv.com/designed-to-sell/an-aging-condo-gets-a-facelift/index.html

Enjoy! It's from the days prior to our bungalow ownership (obviously), when we lived in a condo a few miles east of here, in Old Irving Park. It was a great condo...but we needed MORE! :)

Oh yeah, and the final drywall mud coat is finished tonight...sanding on Wednesday!

What a difference a day-and-a-half makes...

2009-02-22T21:43:00.001-06:00

drywall done 2
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, the drywall was hung in approximately four hours by some drywall professionals. And today, the taper came out to apply the second coat of mud. Tomorrow, a third coat. Then, who knows, to make it smooth!

Either way, we're looking good for this coming Saturday. Just will have to primer the walls and ceiling, get the last of the electrical hooked up (Friday) and clean the shit out of the floor...that floor is technically painted a dark-ish brown. Seriously.

Either way, it looks like a completely different room, and now I feel really good about how things have progressed. I'm psyched now!

I'm thermal...

2009-02-21T00:00:00.001-06:00

andy insulates 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, the insulation is done. Here's a picture of me toward the end of the work, getting ready to do one or two quick patch-in jobs.

I confess, I cheated, in a sense. I squished insulation at times, I cut it as straight as I could without using 2x4s (though with a sharp blade, it cuts pretty easily, usually, so I don't know what people are talking about).

I also cheated because I decided not to insulate the interior brick wall that is over my right shoulder in this picture. The brick doesn't face outside, and even though the room under the stairs is not technically heated, it's not an outdoor wall, so it should be fine.

I also did not staple the flanges except in a couple places. Why? Well, first off, my cousin said it wasn't necessary because he put the studs up perfectly on 16-inch centers (and he was right). Second, when I had to cut to fit, I made sure to get it right. In both cases, friction is tightly holding all the batts in place. Including the ones in the ceiling (except, again, here and there).

My dad said, "If it gets wet, it's going to sag down inside the wall." I said, "Well, given the plastic I have behind it to prevent any future seepage from hitting it, if this insulation gets wet enough to sag down the wall, it will mean much, much worse has happened."

Suffice to say, I have 7 total bags of R-13 93-inch fiberglass batt insulation still sitting in my garage. I hope that means that my cousin was compensating for the spots I didn't insulate, and it doesn't mean that I did it wrong. I also hope that the Home Depot will take them back, since I still have the receipt. Let's hope!

I also cleaned up a little more of the remaining demolition trash and stacked a ton of trim pieces left over from the PO. TONS of them. I'm hoping I can use them myself, possibly in this room even. If not, maybe I'll offer them up for sale or give away. Or something.

Next up, insulation...

2009-02-17T21:35:00.003-06:00

The framing is finished, the fireplace is finished (and it works -- we tested it successfully this evening!) and the electrical work is nearly done. Today, my wife's cousin and I ran two coax cables and two cat-5 cables from the utility room (where we can access them AFTER the family room is finished) to the area where the TV/cable/entertainment center will be.

I have to get some speaker wire and run it as well, in advance of the drywalling and such, and I want to run speaker wire for the upstairs as well, if at all possible.

Then, I get to insulate my ass off...shouldn't be too difficult (knock on wood). And it's going to make a huge, huge difference in the room, no doubt about it. Hell, the fireplace, which doesn't have a blower fan yet, coupled with the 12 can lights that are currently operational, was doing a decent job of warming the room for the short time we had them going. So it'll be great when the insulation and drywall is in.

I can't wait! Even though I drew up my overall plan for this room on the CPU, I could not have realistically envisioned this in the end. Obviously, for our son's b-day party, we're just trying to get it to a presentable, safe point. The "good stuff" will come in to play later. Then the space will really take shape and look awesome.

But for now, it's already taking on a good shape...

Meanwhile, back in the family room...

2009-02-15T20:50:00.001-06:00

fireplace ready
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

The fireplace is in, the can lights are in and ready to go, and we're getting really close. Gonna run cable/phone/speaker wires Tuesday, probably, then insulate our brains out before the drywall crew comes in Saturday to rock everything.

We're within two weeks of my son's first birthday party...time's a-tickin', but I think we're gonna get it to a great spot for the party...which is awesome!

Because then I can slow the hell down and finish at an easier pace. :)

Danged previous owners' corner-cutting...

2009-02-15T20:47:00.001-06:00

worst plumbing ever 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

As I told the electrician, even if I TRIED to do a half-assed job on things, I couldn't have done this stuff and more stupidly than these people.

Our main-floor bathtub drain sprung a leak the other day -- fortunately, we were working on the basement, in the utility room, when it happened. Otherwise, it might have gone unnoticed for a time.

This is what I was greeted with. You can read all about the stupidity in the photo's caption on the page. It doesn't surprise me one bit...and although it's an "easy" fix, it's not something I need to do right now, given all the other work in the family room downstairs.

I was framed...

2009-02-09T19:55:00.002-06:00

framed6
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, the family room framing is done. Thanks to Gina's cousin. And only 19 days left to A.J.'s first birthday party! Tomorrow, a couple more steps will be taken...you can see we decided to just install the fireplace now, so we don't have to demo the wall again. Probably a smart move...helps to know the fireplace installer personally! :)

Catching up...

2009-02-03T20:15:00.003-06:00

What a weekend and what a Monday! My wife's cousin Mike came over (he's a carpenter) and started framing the walls on Sunday. I tried to finish demolition of the shorter walls, and got about halfway before the Super Bowl rolled around and we had to stop, as we both had places to be. Mike came back Monday afternoon and evening, and he finished demolishing the old furring strips and the wall separating the boiler room from the family room. That wall was out of square, so we decided to just take it down and start from scratch there.

Mike the electrician (a friend of Mike the carpenter) came over Sunday as well to see what was going to be required, and we got a huge relief. Apparently, the electric box(es) are fine, they're just a little messy. Nothing is piggybacked or doubled up -- each breaker is legitimate and to code. Thankfully. As I mentioned, I was worried about this very thing costing us an arm and a leg. Now, Mike the electrician will probably charge us the most, because he's more distant, but at least it won't be a much bigger project (knock on wood) than we hoped, electrically speaking.

Finally, yesterday, Mike the heating/cooling guy, who is my cousin's fiance, came over to coordinate with Mike the carpenter on where the fireplace will be and plan for proper framing. We weren't going to install the fireplace just yet, because we weren't sure that (a) it would take a short time, or (b) we'd be able to afford it. But, we should be just fine -- thank God for friends and relatives. Of course, this now also means I have to think about exactly how I want it to look...so I'll have to look around and see what I can see.

And, yes, there has been talk that I will have to name the bar "Mikes' Place" in honor of the three Mikes. Or, "Tres Miguels" or something like that. :)

So many decisions, so little time! Although, it does appear that maybe, just maybe, we're on track to get this room at least presentable by Feb. 28, our son's first birthday party at the house. Boy, that would be totally awesome! Still crossing my fingers...

After careful consideration and some number-crunching...

2009-01-27T21:30:00.003-06:00

Well, I ran the numbers yesterday, and pored over what we could and could not do. Barring the electrician walking in and saying that his work would cost us a billion dollars, we should be able to squeak by and get the family room in presentably decent-looking shape for this party.

So I just went to the ol' HD and placed a large lumber order, for a load of studs, top plates, bottom plates (pressure-treated), insulation and plastic sheeting. It will be delivered on Saturday, and my cousin-in-law will begin work on it Sunday (prior to the Super Bowl). Thankfully, because of those beautiful Chase Rewards points, almost half of the total cost was covered by gift cards, which I had redeemed the points for about a month ago in anticipation of this. Of course, though, with work starting Sunday, that means I'll have to stop and get a few cases of beer too (the "unbudgeted" cost of this remodel!) on Saturday, since I'm traveling tomorrow through Friday for work.

It may take a little finagling of finances, and creative use of sales, promotions and "no interest till..." credit card use, but I think we'll be able to get the basics taken care of before the party. And that's good. That's the goal. After the party, though, things will go "on hold" until things lighten up around here.

I can't say we've "survived the scare" if you want to call it that, because it's in no way close to over, economically speaking. But, barring any insanity in the near term, we should be able to do what we hoped, which was have the walls and ceiling done by the party at the end of February.

Let's cross our fingers!

An economic standstill...

2009-01-26T21:31:00.002-06:00

Our basement remodel is now currently in jeopardy of being put partially on hold...well, it's definitely going to be on hold after my son's birthday party, but now, there's a question of how we'll afford to get what we need done by the party.

You see, the economy hath taken a bite outta my ass. No, I didn't lose my job -- for which I am eternally grateful, particularly today, a day in which tens of thousands of people were laid off in the U.S. I've been there before -- would prefer to not go back, particularly not at this stage.

No, instead, my coworkers and I were forced to take a very significant pay cut...(which came on the heels of layoffs last week, mind you). So significant is this cut that we're going to have to rein in the spending. And my wife and I are not big spenders to begin with, so it's not like we can just skip the caviar or the $500 bottles of wine.

This is going to make life a bit trickier over the next months/year(s), particularly with so many things needing to be done around here. Sure, nothing's outright falling apart (knock on wood), but there are plenty of things that could be done to make simple things work better.

I need to talk with my cousin-in-law, the electrician and others to see what we can do about this basement family room -- now even more realistically speaking than before.

Step one: Completed...

2009-01-19T22:10:00.001-06:00

drain tile
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

I only took one picture of the drain tile and pit installation, because I've been too busy otherwise. Here it is.

Suffice to say, aforementioned Contractor B, whom I now feel comfortable giving a public recommendation, was magnificent. The crew from A Better Crawlspace was great. They got in, got the work done and got out in about 6 hours. The foreman was excellent, excellent, excellent. I am typically a curious homeowner when it comes to work being done. Not because I don't trust the contractor, but because I want to learn and understand what is going on. That said, I'm not a hawk either. I think I went down there only about 4 times just to check on progress, understand what they were doing and whatnot. I also teased them about how good their lunch smelled. :)

We got the drain tile installed along the perimeter wall of the family room, into the front "cold storage" room under the front porch and stairs (where the real water problem was), and into a sump pit, which they dug and installed. No pump (probably won't be needed), but I have the option of patching a sump pump into the tile system later if needed.

They cleaned up as much as they could (which was a lot), and all that was left for me to do was to shopvac the floor to get whatever extraneous dust was left. I also mopped and soaked down a path to and from the laundry room, so we don't drag dust through the house.

Now, the next steps are to finish what is left of demolition on the walls, get the plumber out to finish his little bit of work and reconvene with my cousin-in-law about getting the walls framed and up. Followed by insulation and drywall...all by Feb. 28. This is a good start.

That was fast...

2009-01-17T09:59:00.005-06:00

So, Thursday, we fielded three estimates from basement waterproofers, and let me tell you, the three estimates we got couldn't have been more scattered about the universe than they were.

Contractor A, the contractor I'd call the "Big Dogs"...high reputation according to both Angie's List and BBB, but looked to be more on the expensive side, came first. The guy was nice (though I could see how The Box House could have found him to be condescending :) ) and explained everything they'd do for us. They would patch the 5 cracks and install a full drain tile system with a cleanout (because they'd use rigid pipe for the drain tile, not flexible). They came in at the high end, but under $8,000.

Contractor B, whom I called on Wednesday on The Box House's recommendation, and they squeezed me in, came second. The owner of the business actually came out, and he said he didn't think I needed to drain tile the family room, because the cracks in the foundation and the floor would have leaked already if exterior drainage was a problem. He said he would patch the cracks, but he wanted to get to the real problem in the cold-storage room under the front porch, where the water was coming from. With my permission (and me standing right there), he got down on the floor and started tearing out the rotted peg board and insulation on the wall. We found, stunning to both of us, that the area where the water was coming in was about a 10-inch-wide brick column in the foundation. The rest of the foundation is concrete but for this part. Has anybody ever heard of or seen this before? It's original, not a patch job. But it's obviously where the water is seeping in.
In the spring, he said, we'd have to dig up the outside and concrete patch over that, which is an easy and inexpensive fix. So Contractor B said, for future concerns, if you want, we can put a drain tile in, but you won't need a sump pump, given the small amount of water you need. But, if you're looking for peace of mind, then we can do that. So he would put in a drain tile and sump pit and patch 5 cracks for just over half of Contractor A's price.

Contractor C came in and appeared hurried. To me, HE seemed a lot more condescending, although knowledgeable as all heck. He said he would not install a drain tile, that the problems are completely related to cracks, and that he would patch the cracks at just under $2,000. He was in and out much faster than the other two guys.

We ended up choosing Contractor B, mostly because of purely dumb luck. Yes, we probably don't need a full-fledged drain tile and sump pump system as of now. But, we're planning on staying in this house for a long time, and if we're sinking money into finishing this basement the way we want to, we want at least the infrastructure to be in place, God forbid water becomes an issue. With a perforated sump pit, what little water we get will collect in the pit and drain out through the ground below. Water table doesn't appear to be a problem here (or else the cracks would have leaked), and I'll just have to check the pit during a few rains to get an idea for what we're looking at. If I notice that the pit is getting more and more full every time it rains or thaws or whatever, then I can get a sump pump installed. But if it never looks threatening, this will make me feel a hell of a lot better about my investment. We're not rich, so it's not like we can just throw money around at this stuff, but I'd rather throw the money at it now than have things ruined in the future.

Anyway, the dumb luck here is that it turns out, this bitterly cold weather had caused Contractor B to cancel a ton of work yesterday (Friday). He said to me Thursday he could knock off what amounted to 20% of the cost if we could have them come in yesterday (again, one day after the estimate) and do the work. The reason being? Because of the bitterly cold weather, all concrete deliveries had been canceled -- makes sense...something about working with concrete in below-zero temperatures doesn't really compute, you know? So his crews were without work, and thus he was without revenue. Again, makes sense. I said, heck yeah, let's do it, he sent the contract and I signed it. The Box House has a great picture and diagram of exactly what they're doing in this post from last week.

Of course, I got the call early in the a.m. Friday saying that it was too cold for his guys to even be out, and that if it was OK, today (Saturday) would be fine with them, at the same price.

So they're here today, digging up the floor, hand-mixing concrete to cover up the drain tile, and generally making me feel a whole lot better about this project's ability to get finished. Of course, they blew a fuse in the first 10 minutes of work, highlighting the need for me to get the electrician out here, but that's a project for another (upcoming) day. :)

I feel better about our ability to get this project done by my son's birthday party February 28. :) Hopefully that feeling will continue!

Moving right along...

2009-01-13T20:36:00.003-06:00

On to the basement!

My cousin-in-law, a carpenter, came by this past weekend to talk family room renovation. Our deadline is Feb. 28, which is my son's first birthday party. We want to invite folks over, and thus need a ceiling and walls drywalled, sanded, painted. So, we need to finish demo (which my brothers helped tremendously to make a huge dent in on Sunday), bleach up the walls to clean them (tiny bit of mold splotches here and there), and then, most importantly, get a drainage system/sump installed.

We had some seepage in the super-fast thaw and rainstorm last month. So, we'll need to get some cracks patched too. And this spring, I'll have to solidify and rework a few of the downspouts, no doubt.

So Thursday, I've got two companies coming out to give me estimates. The third one I called, unfortunately, can't even visit for an estimate until Feb. 4, which simply wouldn't give enough time, I don't think, to get all the electrical, framing, drywalling and such done. So, I'm hoping this won't be a brutal, terrible cost. Until this seepage started happening last year, I was willing to roll the dice (stupidly) and not get this system installed, so, in a sense, this is an unexpected expense.

On the flip side, a drain tile setup will allow us to install a floating engineered hardwood floor as originally hoped, rather than a stone tile floor. I would be OK with either, honestly, but I like the wood floor look (sound and feel) better.

I'm also curious to see what they say when I tell them that the back half of the basement is finished, and as such, inaccessible for a drain tile installation...don't know if they can do it in one room only, or if it's ineffective or what. But I guess I'll see soon enough...

I'm also also also very curious to see what the electrician says when he sees our mess of an electrical box. That could cause an unforeseen expense too, if he says, "Holy crap...I'm going to have to just redo this whole box." He's a friend of the family too, so I can trust he won't just be saying that to make money off me. :)

And hopefully, things will go OK otherwise. Hopefully!

Can someone help me make sense of this math?

2009-01-08T23:35:00.004-06:00

1. We used 323 therms to heat the house last December, during which time the average temperature (outside) was 26 F.
2. We used 116 therms to heat the house this past October, during which time the average temperature was 53 F.
3. We used 273 therms to heat the house this November, during which time the average temperature was 36 F.
4. We used 383 therms to heat the house this December, during which time the average temperature (outside) was 22 F.

So, is there a way to figure out, based on the above, if our stinking insulation job really paid off? Reason being, the job was completed right around Dec. 2-4-ish, when this billing cycle started. Soooooo, it goes to say that we should see the effects of the insulation on the Dec. gas bill, right?

Well, that came in at the highest amount we've ever paid for gas. But it appears that it was, on average, much colder than other months during which we had no such insulation.

Can someone tell me if I'm imagining this, or is there a way to prove, using numbers, that the insulation is helping? Please! I need to feel good about having gotten this project done (especially since every single person out there says, "Oh, you'll save XXX percent potentially off your heating bills if you get additional insulation work done").

I don't want to be a naysayer, so someone tell me that the numbers point to an improvement in our heating bill, please! :)

Either a breakthrough or impending doom...

2009-01-05T20:33:00.003-06:00

So, Friday, my wife's cousin is coming over to talk basement family room with me. What can be done, what can he do, how much, etc.?

I recently invested in the stock market, and one of the interesting things I read, on occasion, is the reports on which companies are going to announce earnings statements in the coming period of time, and whether they predict good or bad news. I kind of feel this way about my basement right now. So, I'm selling stock in my basement...it's an IPO. Who wants in? It'll cost you about $25 a share... ;)

Anyway, I'd do it all myself, but I need some professional help, and nothing like a professional I know and trust and am half-related to now. :) The kicker is, we're having our son's first birthday party Feb. 28, and we plan to invite a decent amount of folks. So we need the basement...the entire basement, not the cordoned-off half-basement/dungeon that I created for our Halloween party. For the Halloween party, demolished walls were OK. Not so for a first birthday party.

We have several issues that need to be sorted out before walls can go up...
1. demo-ing the current furring-strip framework and odd pegboard baseboards.
2. plugging and filling the cracks in the foundation, which are not leaking and don't appear to ever have leaked, but could someday.
3. figuring out how to solve the serious seepage issue in the cold-storage room under the front porch, which then spills into the family room on its way to the drain.
4. figuring out how/when to get my other cousin in to install the fireplace.
5. figuring out how/who to get for the electrical work, whether we're talking outlets or lights.
6. getting the cable guy to come in prior to drywalling to run cable to the new TV area.
7. and, how could I forget: figuring out what this all is going to cost and how we're gonna pay for it without sucking up every inch of our life savings.

It should be a lot of fun! I certainly can't wait.

Happy New Year, happy new storage...

2009-01-01T21:01:00.001-06:00

trofast storage 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, despite the deafening silence in response to my request for reviews on the Trofast storage system that Ikea sells a few posts ago (I was hoping somebody might have found it after Googling it or something), I decided that I'd seen enough of the pieces in the store to determine they were sturdy enough and quality enough to meet my needs.

Of course, I had to go to both the Schaumburg AND Bolingbrook Ikea stores to get everything I wanted; and I wasn't going to wait for them to get it in stock or have it shipped. Since the two stores are about 30-45 minutes apart and I was out and determined, I decided to make the drive, especially since Bolingbrook is quite far from my Northwest Side neighborhood. Having lived in The Brook for three years earlier this decade, I know just how far it is.

So I made the trek, brought these babies home and set them up in my son's room. I'm disappointed in two things, that are somewhat "trivial."

1. The selection of colors of the bins are great...across all sizes. But within the individual sizes, there are only a couple choices, and most colors are only available in one size...in other words, if you want red, you have to get the medium bins in red, or you get no red. Minor issue, but still, made the puzzle more difficult to put together.

2. The lowest part of the left piece (the three varied-height towers) was lower than the height of the right-hand piece (the three level "towers"). This was disappointing, because I was hoping for a longer plane for a seat when A.J. gets older. This will work, but still, it would have been nice for consistency's sake.

Anyway, I think this will do a good job, and what's nice is, we can add more later as he gets older, turn them into shelves or put doors on them too. It's really versatile.

So there you go...in the meantime, Happy New Year!

I'm in pieces, bits and pieces...

2008-12-27T16:03:00.002-06:00

Yesterday, I renewed my library card, finally. :)

That gave me access to several things online...and I was able to find a couple interesting things about the house AND about my family and the house I grew up in...

1. I found a 1948 Chicago Tribune story about graduating high school seniors at the local public high schools who were to be some sort of award-winners, as voted on by their classmates. A girl named Patricia Morrison, who attended Steinmetz, came up as living at our current address here in Portage Park (as the story listed the addresses of the kids up for this honor as well as their high school). So that's a lead, definitely.

2. I got onto the Cook County Records page and was able to find a few things out about the owners of our house just prior to us. Apparently, Ronald Schabinger (the softball Hall-of-Fame member who lived here just prior to us but died about six months before we bought the house) had this house for quite a while. Or at least, a family member of his did. There were three different members of the Schabinger family listed in the records at different times going back to 1987. In 1987, the Timko family appears to have owned the house. But that's as much as I got. Still, again, a good lead.

3. As believed, the Sanborn fire insurance map showed that the back porch of the house once was a separate porch with a side entrance (where our current stove/oven sits), much like the "typical" Chicago-style bungalows out there. However, what is further interesting from the Sanborn maps is the fact that our house apparently had NOT BEEN BUILT in 1924, when the map for this area was first drawn. In fact, the second house in from the corner was on a three-wide city lot, including our lot AND the corner lot. What intrigues me about this is, there had been confusion to begin with over whether this place was built in 1922 or 1924. What also intrigues me is that the second house in from the corner (our neighbor's house) looks like it's more of a twin that would have been built around the same time as our place. Maybe not. Anyway, this will lead to more investigation.

4. The other interesting stuff I saw was mostly related to the house I grew up in...it was apparently one of the first built on its block on the Southwest Side, because it's surrounded by empty lots in the Sanborn map for its block, and things like that.

Anyway, today I've been spending most of the day fighting the backyard floodwaters again, trying to keep them at bay and from coming in the house. Went to Home Depot and got the last pump they had, and so far, it's been great. Maybe I'll post a review at some point!

Looking for Ikea Trofast reviews/alternatives...

2008-12-26T21:07:00.004-06:00

Hey, wonderful, glorious readers of Build a Better Bungalow (and wherever else this might end up...Google? Houseblogs.net?)...

I need some help. Going into Christmas, we knew our son would get tons of toys for his first Christmas...we knew it. But we didn't have a toy box or toy "storage." Well, he did, and now we have to make our move!

I don't want just some old toy box, even though a traditional box would be, well, traditional. I want a storage unit that will allow sorting of the toys and will prevent little pieces from falling to the bottom and being forgotten or lost. I also want something that can change as he gets older and will give us some versatility. As such, Ikea's Trofast system came to mind. Here's a picture and a link:
So, aside from the Ikea Web site really, honestly sucking, and my general derision toward the thought that I would buy anything at Ikea (I don't like the quality I've seen on many things I've browsed or that my wife has owned from them, and typically I'm not attracted to their styles of furniture), this does actually seem like it would be a solid purchase to make.

My question is, has anyone out there used this system at all? Any positives? Negatives? Any better options out there at other stores that might cost less but provide more or equal to Ikea?

My wife and I traveled all the way to the Ikea in Schaumburg today, but couldn't find this particular combination or figure out how to get it. And, after dealing with a stupidly laid out store (again, my humble opinion, but I shouldn't have to lug my 9-month-old son in the doors, up an escalator and halfway across the 2nd floor to get a shopping cart -- he's not a feather, you know), invisible employees and other headaches, I decided to leave and see about getting it online. Of course, I got back here and checked, and I can't order this specific combination online...so I wasn't happy about that.

So, I'm actually hoping someone else will give me a better store/better option than Ikea! Comment away!

Merry Christmas to all, especially Target...

2008-12-25T01:04:00.001-06:00

DSC_0006
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

So, OK, this picture isn't of the tree I'm about to discuss...the picture is our tree, tonight, on Christmas Eve. Merry Christmas to everyone out there!

Here's a tip for all of you though...at least my local Target is doing this. I was at Target during the day Christmas Eve, picking up a few things. I noticed that they were selling the floor model pre-lit Christmas trees for 75% off! Gina and I thought about getting one this year, but just decided that it wouldn't be a good move at the moment, especially since the trees I liked were all regularly $250 and up.

But holy cow, 75 percent off for a floor model tree? If it was something else, I might hesitate, but here's something that has been a floor model for only about three months and is up high where people can't just grab at it and poke at it and drag it.

So I bought it. Furthering my discount was the fact that the employee gave me an incorrect tag for a tree that was $200 regularly priced (compared to my tree, which would have been $275 regularly). So I got a great, great deal, and all that's missing is the box!

I'm excited for next year!

Everyone have a great holiday!

Family first...

2008-12-18T23:35:00.002-06:00

Ancestry.com has been HUGE. Huge, I tell you...

I've found so much stuff on my family ancestry, I can't even begin to describe it all. Some of it I didn't know. Some of it, I knew but did not have confirmation. The rest, I knew, it's just nice to get it down "officially" and all that.

As such, my house genealogy has taken a backseat for the moment. Like I said though, I'm going to have to go to the library and find out what I can during my work's "winter break"...gonna have a lot to look up, that's for sure!

And hopefully, then, lots to report back here! But we shall see how it goes. I needed to get some family genealogy out of the way, given that I'm going to see my family here next week for Christmas, and want to be armed with the stuff I know in order to "interview" my uncles, aunts and parents on what they know that I don't.

Should be fun...just like the 6-12 inches of snow we're expected to get tonight...yippee.

House history: It's contagious...

2008-12-10T00:25:00.004-06:00

Spurred on by The Bungalow Chronicles and Bungalow Insanity, I decided to scratch the House History itch this evening...using their methods of checking the 1930 Census data, I found out about a previous owner of our house -- the Stoffer family. Julius P. and Margaret Stoffer were of Romanian descent, and came to the U.S. sometime between 1913 and 1921 -- I know this because they had a 17-year-old daughter (Elizabeth) who was also born in Romania, and a 9-year-old son (Martin) who was born in Illinois.

Julius was a bricklayer in building construction, according to the census data -- his neighbor to the east was a Romanian cement finisher in building construction as well. I wonder if they worked together and/or built these houses? Of course, I believe our house was built about 8 years prior to the census, so anyone could have built these homes and lived in them prior to the Stoffers. That said, the "cement finisher's house" and mine are extremely similar, so who knows?

Elizabeth, it appears, worked as a bookkeeper for a furniture moving company, for what it's worth, at age 17.

So now I'm curious about all this...I wish I had the time to research more. I did confirm that the previous owner died about six months before we bought the house, and was relatively young (50 years old). I do know more about him though, having done research and asking neighbors about him before, when we first moved in.

But I'm excited -- yet, finding out more, I fear, will require a trip to the Harold Washington Library downtown, and would probably require a day or two for it all too. That excites and scares the hell out of me, mostly because I wish I knew where to start first, rather than wasting time figuring out what to do. You know?

I did spend a lot more time today on Ancestry.com researching my family tree, rather than my house's previous owners (I hardly know any, so that's why). It's a really cool tool for that, if any of you are into genealogy of your families.

Anyway, if I figure out anything else, I'll record it here, of course.

Not a moment too soon...

2008-12-06T18:56:00.003-06:00

Well, the insulation work was done this past week, but I had to travel for work and was fighting through a tough cold the entire week. Not fun.

We got Pro Pink loose-fill insulation blown into the cavities between the first and second floor, which was my main concern, as we were getting serious drafts under the floor on the second floor that were actually cooling that level quite a bit more than was comfortable. We also had the kneewalls on the second floor insulated fully and covered with housewrap on the non-finished side of the wall. The access panels were given a foam insulation backing, and the hood vent ducts from the kitchen through the crawlspace and out through the roof were wrapped in foil insulation.

All in all, it took about a day for them to come in and do the work, and it was reasonably priced, in my humble opinion.

This all comes not a moment too soon, as our most recent gas bill arrived today and is near $400. That's ridiculous, since we spent less than $300 last year for the month of November. So I'm hoping to death that the insulating we did will put a serious dent in that number. I am concerned, though, about the fact that the roof did not get any insulation, because they couldn't access behind the drywalled ceilings to inspect for it. Personally, I don't think there's a lick of insulation up there, but I could be wrong. I'd like to know and find out if it could be insulated. I just wonder how much heat is escaping through the ceiling/roof of the second floor finished space. We shall see, I suppose.

Now, on to getting that basement family room finished already...Lord knows it's been sitting there for a while now...

Obama or not...

2008-11-19T18:25:00.003-06:00

I'm still skeptical of politicians and promises from them...but hey, at least my alderman was nice enough to answer my long-ass email and tell me he'd look into the funding issue. That's nice of him. :) Here's the response...

Mr. XXXXXX,

Thank you for your email regarding the Historic Chicago Bungalow program, and welcome to Portage Park! I was unaware of the funding problem you referred to until you called it to my attention. I will make an effort to work with the HCBA and DOE to try to find the funds necessary to implement the goals of this very important initiative.

My office has been in contact with the executive director of the HCBA and we will keep you apprised of any developments. In the meantime, if my service office can assist you in any way, please do not hesitate to contact us.

Ald. XXXXXXX, XXth Ward

It's gettin' hot in here...I hope...

2008-11-07T20:13:00.004-06:00

So, after assessing the insulation quote we got, and then (as previously mentioned) finding out that the HCBA had run out of funding for its Energy$avers grant this year, we decided that insulating the first floor brick walls can wait. First of all, it would cost us as much as it would to insulate the portions of the second floor that need insulation, in effect, doubling our ultimate bill. Secondly, I'm not entirely sold on the effectiveness of insulating the gap between the lathe/plaster and three wythes of brick. I mean, these bungalows were built originally to be energy efficient, in a sense...the brick is thick enough to keep the air out, and I'm not sold on the fact that foam is going to make a major difference, honestly. Maybe I'm wrong...if I am, and there's some evidence out there that supports it, please, let me know. I'm just operating on common sense here! :)

So, we're gonna get the floor in between the first and second floors filled with ProPink blown-in insulation, the knee wall on the slanted side of the roof insulated and house-wrapped (though I need to ask them about what that might do to the storage in the crawlspace--make it cold? make it "damp"? That would be bad. Also, there are two areas that we currently do not have access to in the corners of the dormered side. They'll cut an access hole in the wall to each and insulate behind there and under the floors there too. The only "disappointment" is that they can't get access to the flat dormered roof...I was hoping to have that insulated as well...particularly in the hopes that it would help to soundproof it, since we hear the rain falling on the roof a lot of times, and that's kinda distracting, particularly at night when you're trying to sleep. But they couldn't do it, apparently...oh well.

All in all, I'm hoping that this, coupled with weatherstripping the stupid casement windows up there (I HATE casements, especially since they have no storms and the screens are on the inside of the windows), will help us out on our gas bill, and possibly on our electric bill in the summer.

The insulation company did tell us that a lot of the upstairs is insulated and that the kitchen addition is insulated also. So that's good.

In terms of the Energy$avers grant, we're hoping that next year, we'll be able to use it to replace our water heater, furnace or see about installing some sort of energy-efficient central air system. The grant is awesome, and I'd like to get as much money out of it as I'm eligible for -- which is probably what everyone did this year, and that's why they ran out. It's not greedy...it's smart! :)

Anyway, the insulators are scheduled to come the week after Thanksgiving, so we might even get to feel some positive effects of all the insulation this winter. And that's good! So we'll see how it goes...I will certainly keep you all posted!

Taking action...

2008-11-02T20:27:00.005-06:00

I decided to post the letter I wrote to my alderman regarding the Energy$avers grant money running out...if you're an HCBA member and feel as though this crystallizes your thoughts, you're more than welcome to "steal" it, change the info and send it to your alderman as well. It's a bit informal, yes, but I'm not "defiant" about this. I understand they run out of money now and again, I'm just hoping that he'll push for more funding next year, to prevent this. I back-dated the post to Nov. 2 as well, to help differentiate it in case anyone is searching for info on it, somehow.

Dear Alderman XXXXXX,

My wife and I recently (well, 1.5 years ago) moved into our bungalow just a few blocks from your offices, actually, and were really excited about getting our bungalow registered with the HCBA (Historic Chicago Bungalow Association) and the pride that went along with it, as well as, of course, the grants and whatnot.

This year, the HCBA launched an Energy$avers Grant program that tied their previous multiple grants together into one easy-to-use, very generous but very necessary program. It made it very easy for HCBA members to be reimbursed for energy-efficient home improvements, up to $6,000.

I'm not one to complain about free money, mind you. I very much appreciate the program. It's a WONDERFUL program, and it's great that the program helps those of us who are not "disadvantaged" as well as those who really need it, financially. Many programs don't do that, and it's nice that this appears founded on the idea of conservation/environment rather than class and status.

My wife and I had our first child earlier this year, and with winter approaching, we were concerned about a lack of insulation in our 8-month-old's bedroom upstairs. Insulation projects qualify for the Energy$avers grant. So I was excited that I would be able to do this home improvement, for all the reasons you can imagine, as a homeowner yourself, I'm sure.

When I contacted the HCBA, however, they told me that because of demand, the grant's funding had completely run out. I was shocked, and I'm quite a bit perturbed about it. Although my wife and I hold stable jobs and have steady incomes, we probably could not afford to properly insulate our home without the help of the Energy$avers grant. I'm sure there are folks who are in much more "dire straits" than we are in this realm. I've attached the letter they've sent out to people applying for the grant and I've also pasted in my correspondence with the very helpful XXXXXXX at the HCBA, below, for context if you need it.

I'm not writing to complain. I'm not writing to bash the HCBA or the city. In fact, quite the contrary. The HCBA has been marvelous, fantastic and great, and is a great, great resource for those of us who own bungalows in the city. I'm also not writing you to say that my wife and I deserve anything more than others (because, truthfully, there are people probably in more need than we are) or that we need someone to go to bat for us. Not at all.

I am asking, however, that you to do everything in your power to persuade your fellow council members and/or the mayor that this program needs additional funding, either emergency funding this year (apparently, HCBA has a backlog of people who applied for the grant already and have to WAIT for approval -- which is required for the projects they want funded -- to be eligible for the grant money), or simply more funding next year in response to this year's "run on funds."

I know that the city has been all over the news for deficits, layoffs, funding, etc. I know there probably isn't much money out there. However, at the very least, I hope that when budgeting rolls around in 2009, the bungalow owners of the XXXXX Ward (which are many, given the Bungalow Belt's swath through the ward) can count on you to make our case for additional funding. Energy efficiency helps not only homeowners, but also the utilities, the municipalities and the communities, when adopted across many households. This might be only a drop in the bucket, but for this city, which hasn't been top-of-the-line on recycling/conservation like many others, this would be a good "show of force" to convince some people to minimize their energy use.

I appreciate your time and what you do to keep our neighborhood clean, safe, friendly and a nice place to live. I grew up on the Southwest Side, in a neighborhood that was once like this, until gangs took over. That neighborhood hasn't recovered since, and it's unfortunate. I hope to be able to do my part as an adult to help keep Portage Park and the XXXX Ward as good as it is, for my family and those around me.

Thank you for reading this email, and all the best to you...

Sincerely,
Andy

Another insulation disappointment...

2008-10-30T23:53:00.002-05:00

Let me start off by saying this: I'm not complaining. I'm not saying that we need financial help more than others, because, honestly, we don't.

However, I was disappointed to hear that, after I got a quote for insulating pretty much every exterior wall and the floor between the 1st and 2nd floors, that the Energy$avers grant that the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association (HCBA) offers has completely run out of money. Therefore, they're giving no other grant money this year. Meaning, we can wait until next year, but there's already a backlog of requests that get "priority" over any new request...basically, it's a "get in line" scenario.

Now, I love the HCBA...I've professed that in previous posts. I think it's an awesome, awesome association for an awesome cause. But I was kind of disappointed that they'd not said anything about it, particularly on their Web site (which, honestly, looks nice, but isn't updated that often and could be better in terms of content, overall).

So, I decided to write an email to my alderman, letting him know that I hope he can push for additional funding for this grant next year. I can't imagine actually NEEDING this funds from this grant to fix my bungalow and stay warm (like some disadvantaged folks might have to do). It's just a shame I won't be able to reap the overall rewards of having the whole house insulated this winter.

As such, I will probably have the insulation company come out and insulate all the 2nd floor stuff, as it's not as expensive as insulating the 1st floor (between the plaster walls and brick). Pending, of course, whatever else happens around here.

First time for everything...

2008-10-29T01:13:00.001-05:00

I just went to the Historic Chicago Bungalow Association's Insulation seminar today and, for the first time on anything HCBA has done that I've participated in, I was quite disappointed.

I was late, but apparently so was the speaker, as he was setting up when I walked in, about 10-15 minutes in. But, that I can forgive...not a problem.

Problem was, he didn't seem prepared enough. He asked a few questions of the group to start, answered those questions and then just meandered, train-of-thought-style, through tangent after tangent, many not even touching upon insulation and air-sealing. Further exacerbating the problem was the thing I hate MOST about these types of seminars. People ask questions of the speaker during the presentation that are so detailed and specific that no one else in the room could possibly benefit from the answer. I HATE that. Not that those people shouldn't get answers to their questions, but wait until afterward or the Q&A session to ask that stuff. This only really tends to happen when the speaker simply can't command the room with a well-put-together presentation or speech. And that's what happened here, in my opinion.

I just recently got a quote from an insulation company on doing pretty much every wall and floor/ceiling on the 1st and 2nd floors, and I was hoping to hear some good info to let me know if every aspect is worth it, or if I can buffet-style pick and choose projects. So now we'll see...I'll have to figure it out.

I also need to find another good insulation company or two to get a quote from...I've had one company out here, and although I'm pretty cool with the price they quoted me, I'd like to get another perspective too. So we shall see!

"Tis a fine barn, but sure 'tis no pool, English."

2008-10-12T20:44:00.001-05:00

Day 2 fence 5
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

The fence is DONE. Thankfully. I have way too many 8-foot 4x4 posts (several of which are bowed, which sucks), because we didn't have the energy (and didn't really need) to replace all the posts. So about 8-10 old posts made the "final cut" as it were. Yeah, they look marginally out of place with the new panels and new posts, but if they're sturdy, why go through all the trouble?

Anyway, the fence isn't perfect, as we had to go uphill a bit as we got closer to the house (who would think that a postage-stamp city lot would have "terrain"??? :) But it's good terrain, because it keeps the water flowing away from the house.

Now, the trick will be to fill and level the yard, particularly the area adjacent to the fence, so it doesn't flood. As you can see from the picture, we raised the fence up about 4-6 inches toward the alley, with the idea being that I'm going to get a load of dirt and fill that all in so it's more level with the alley (and the top of the concrete "piers" we created), and so the fence doesn't sit in floodwater whenever it does think about flooding.

So, the first test will be the first major windstorm...we sank those posts down about 3 feet, and dumped a helluva lot of concrete down there. In fact, I feel really, really, really sorry for the next person (hopefully it won't be me) who has to attempt to dig up those concrete piers. Good luck. You're gonna need a backhoe.

Of course, this whole project has left me tired and beaten down badly. So much so, I will probably hire someone to finish my basement family room. I'm not giving up on the DIY bit, that's for sure. But man, moving earth takes a LOT out of you. I'm not as dead tired today as I was yesterday, but I'm certainly more sore and stiff.

If I get any pictures of the full fence, I'll post them...but this gives you an idea.

Not so great progress...

2008-10-11T20:37:00.001-05:00

end day one 2
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Hopefully we do better tomorrow...we got several of the old posts up, but couldn't get the rest to budge. So, we decided to cut them off at the bottom and shift the short panel to the other side. That meant we had to dig new holes for the posts. Which then meant we had to go rent a post-hole auger. As such, we got two posts in the ground with four left to sink. The rest of the posts will remain in the ground, and we'll simply hang the new panels on those posts, as they're really solid, honestly.

I am completely dead tired though. So much so, I probably will go to bed soon here. Tomorrow, we'll have four posts to sink in concrete several feet worth of panels to still rip down, and panels to hang and, in some cases, cut to size. Also, I have to place landscaping stones below the fence in the back, because it's going to be raised above the ground level to be even with the alley (it's several inches BELOW the alley right now...thus the flooding.

We need to get this done, but I think that the worst part is honestly over. Well, I mean the absolute worst part...digging up the posts/cutting them down and digging the new holes. We'll see how things go tomorrow.

One way or another...

2008-10-08T20:09:00.002-05:00

I'm getting the fence up this weekend. Period. I just hope I have enough help to get the fence up this weekend...including tearing down the current fence.

Also, I have to, in short time, figure out how much topsoil I need to raise that area back there between the garages to level or higher than the alley. I'm not gonna install the fence in a depression where water is just going to pool whenever it rains for a lengthy period of time or when spring thaw rolls around. Forget that!

So, much work to be done this weekend here! Finally, I know...thanks for being patient out there in houseblog land!

New fence? Please...

2008-09-13T15:48:00.001-05:00

While I should have been installing my new fence this weekend with the help of my great friends and family, I was doing this, instead:

Apparently, this is record rainfall for Chicago. It's the remnants of the Pacific storm Lowell (sp?) I guess. And the remnants of Ike are supposed to come perilously close to Chicago tomorrow and tomorrow night. The water is so high in the backyard, it's going into the basement now.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbMgE3NCKm8

Now, so long as that drain doesn't back up or the water doesn't come in any faster, we should be OK. I did have to get out on the roof, briefly, outside our bedroom window, however, to bend the downspout off, as the morons who originally installed it put the elbow at the bottom on backward (bottom portion outside the top portion), so the water was shooting out the seam and creating a lake in between the houses. We had some serious seepage into the room under the front porch because of it, and that seeped into the family room, onto the carpet. I was going to tear that carpet out anyway; now I'll have to do it much earlier than anticipated.

Now, I know that, obviously, what I'm currently dealing with is minimal compared to the folks in Iowa earlier this year and the folks along the Gulf Coast and whatnot, and in Texas. But, even this "much" water is a big deal here. And it's a big deal to me too, especially since I'm going to finish that family room at some point. In a sense, it's making me rethink the next steps.

Hopefully the rain subsides enough to let some of this water soak in and go away, and stop pouring into my basement!

I think they're alive...

2008-09-06T13:41:00.001-05:00

fence panels...
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

...because five of them have moved into the yard. Into position.

Next week, believe it or not, we resume activity at Build a Better Bungalow. I have a crew of great friends coming out to demolish our fence and help me install the new one. These are the panels I sealed...I've got about 5 or 6 more in the garage, waiting to be sealed, which I'll have to do this week, in advance of next Saturday's big day.

Plus, I might be able to get the monstrosity around and over the hot tub demolished and outta here as well. And maybe, just maybe, even the hot tub will be disassembled and destroyed. We'll see. Our yard, in just over a week, could look tremendously different and larger than it does now. And that's exciting.

In the garden, in August...

2008-08-23T21:50:00.001-05:00

bumblebee hyssop 10
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Hey, it's August, and that means we have a new wave of blooms in the garden here. Since I've been kinda quiet lately (especially since little has happened), I took pictures today to show you all what HAS happened in our garden, with little help from me.

Plus, it was good practice...I like some of the bumblebee pics, like this one. They came out really good, in my humble opinion. :)

Helping out folks in need...

2008-08-14T21:02:00.002-05:00

It's been a while, but I have to post this...my conscience won't let me not post it.

I'll try and fail miserably to keep this short.

Yesterday, I was fielding a short story out in Minnesota for my mag's HR awards program. This company has a program in which they help employees who have been struck by an unexpected financial crisis with a donation/grant. It's a great program, but that's just the background.

As part of my interview time, they wanted me to talk to someone who had taken advantage of the program recently, and I met a family (the wife works at this company). About a month ago, their house was hit by an F3 tornado, only six months after they bought it. And here they were, taking time out to relive it all and tell me about that day and everything since, and how this program helped out -- just one month after it happened.

Anyway, I felt pretty helpless and terrible for them. They gave me CDs with before and after pictures, and the house had serious damage (about half of it was blown away and the rest pretty badly damaged). They had huge, 85-year-old trees all over their property, pretty much all of which were obliterated.

I felt like I had to do something to help...and this is it.

Isn't it what houseblogging is all about? Sharing your dreams for your home and your accomplishment of those dreams with others? Here, we have someone who was able to start to provide those dreams to their children, only to have Mother Nature step in and throw in a setback.

I'm just going to pass along this link. http://www.anxious1.etsy.com/ Apparently, they are using the funds to rebuild their barn and daughters' dreams of owning/keeping their horses. If you are interested, buy something and help the cause. If not, just ignore this post.

Either way is OK...I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't pass it along.

I should note, these are not relatives or friends of mine, nor would I even call them anything more than just acquaintances. I don't get any cut, nor do I want any recognition or anything like that -- I didn't tell them I had any blogs or any ability to "advertise" or post to help them out. I'm doing this out of the kindness of my heart and because, well, I can.

Obviously, none of you is obliged to buy anything or do anything. Again, I just wouldn't feel right if I didn't pass it along. Feel free also to pass it on to anyone whom you think cares.

If this offends you, I apologize...just ignore it and move on. If I were a beat reporter for a major metro, this would be blasphemy. But I'm not a beat reporter. I'm a b2b editor. And I want to help.

If this is all I can do, then so be it.

Leave them wanting more...

2008-08-09T22:45:00.003-05:00

Holy crap! I exist!

Well, not much, honestly, has been going on around our bungalow lately...I've been traveling for work, playing a bunch of softball and weathering wicked storms. All just barely getting lucky enough to cut the grass and keep the place moderately tidy. And then, when I think I've got a weekend to do something, bam, I have a wedding or BBQ. I can't, of course, deny the friends my presence, right? :)

So, today, I put aside a little time for my inner DIYer. Yes, it was time to start tackling the fence. Though, we have a very important step before destruction of old fence and installation of new fence. That is sealing new fence panels. I bought 8x6-foot panels at Home Depot a few weeks ago when they were on sale, but they're untreated pine. So, of course, I have to treat them before I put them to Mother Nature's test.

Last week, I went all over looking for Thompson's Water Seal's green-label water seal and wood protectant...the kind that supposedly keeps the wood from turning gray "naturally" as they say. Personally, I don't like that gray look and would like to keep it away as long as I can, if possible. Anyway, a finally found a place that had enough of it (I needed about 5 gallons, and nowhere could I find the 5-gallon drum of the green-label stuff) in the one-gallon size (which was comparable in price). So I bought it.

Today, I went to work. Opened the garage doors for ventilation, cracked out the new 4-inch brush and started going (note, I would have preferred to spray, but I had nowhere to spray and no help to move the panels to a spray-able location). It took me two hours to apply the sealant to both sides of two whole panels. I decided to try a 1-inch nap roller. Took half as long, but I felt as though I was totally overcoating the panels and wasting product (I'm cheap, especially with paint and the like). So I switched to a combination of hitting the flat face of the panels with the roller and the back, with the braces, with the brush.

When I was done, five panels had been sealed/stained. I called up my little bro to have him help me haul them out of the garage to dry outside (lest the fumes build up in the garage and blow up or something). It's a small victory, given the lack of project work that has been done around here. I have seven panels left to do, but I need to look ahead and pick a weekend on which I can bribe a crew of friends and family to come out and help me install the new fence and maybe take down and apart the hot tub and roof contraption.

And then, of course, there's still the basement...looks like my goal of finishing it by Halloween is going to be (as I figured it would) an unattainable goal. I guess we'll see.

Anyway, hope to have some pics of the fence panels and of what's blooming in my yard...I've got some Anise Hyssop -- let me tell you how many bumblebees are on this thing every day...tons. And I think there are some honeybees on there too, which nature-lovers would be happy to hear...I'm not sure what honeybees look like, exactly, but I think these are honeybees.

Until next time...

It's amazing...

2008-07-19T12:17:00.001-05:00

blue hat 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

...what a baby will do to your home-improvement projects and your house blog. :)

Sorry I haven't posted as frequently as I did to start...I figure quality is better than quantity for my blog. :)

Keep reading though...I promise we'll have things moving in the future...projects are lurking and time is running out on them!

What's in bloom...

2008-07-13T21:35:00.003-05:00

An idea plucked from The Bungalow Chronicles, I bring you, "What's in Bloom at Building a Better Bungalow." If it were a question, the answer would be: "A lot." Here are four examples...you can click here to go to my Flickr page for the other flowers in bloom on July 13...enjoy!

Red daylily--Chicago H. variety--planted a couple weeks ago:

Yellow coreopsis, planted last year, looking beautiful this year:
Orange coneflower with white yarrow in background...again, planted last year, looking good this year:
Shasta daisy, planted a month or so ago...the best success I've had with these, even though they're supposed to be "easy":

Back to the drawing board...somewhat...

2008-07-07T20:36:00.003-05:00

OK, I fashioned up a prototype of the basement ceiling yesterday, and found the widest joist-to-joist distance to use it on. I took no pictures (sorry Fred!) because I'm seriously disappointed in it.

1. The 12x12-inch ceiling panels don't reach from trim piece to trim piece well enough to make me feel as though they won't shift and fall out, which means I'll have to buy the molding from the original plan. I thought, well, at least maybe that will help it look "fancy"...sure, it will, but it will also cost more money. Even if I buy 1x6s rather than 1x4s, buy (or rent or borrow) a router and do the work myself, it's more money in the end. So the jury's still out on that.

2. Speaking of not square or plumb, helpful Anonymous commenter...either the whitewood trim board I'm using is warped (raising another concern for me), or the joist (more likely) is not flat and flush down the entire length. This is a more serious problem, since it basically "corkscrews" the trim board to where it's not level where it meets the wall. That's a problem, big-time. That's a lot of planing or sanding or whatever the hell you do to level off the bottoms of the joists. And a lot of hoping that I've done it right. Although, I have another idea of how to address this, and it might just work. We'll see...these prototype boards are going to certainly be worth the price once I'm done with them. :)

So, it's back to the drawing board, more or less, on the basement ceiling idea. Needing a big DIY and "project completion" win, I decided it was time to give myself a fighting chance in the battle to replace our backyard fence. As it stood, I had bought the posts and concrete and was planning to meticulously take down the pickets (hoping, but doubtful, that they're panels and not individual pickets) and rehang them on the new posts. The great prognosticator that I am, I saw into the future and saw myself cursing the god of picket fences under a hot summer sun, working with one or two other people, not finishing in one weekend (dogs necessitate that) as planned and generally getting totally pissed off. So, seeing fence panels on sale at Home Depot for a mere $25 for a 6x8 section, I bit the bullet and bought enough to replace the fence on the west side of the yard entirely. Originally, I didn't want to do this, because of the pocketbook hit, but the fence is currently being held up by a 2x6 propped dangerously against the leg of the deck. Not smart, but there's nothing else that can be done right now, honestly.

So, big win there. Even bigger win was that it cost only $59 to have them deliver the fence panels for me...would have cost me that much, if not more, to rent a truck and buy my brother dinner or beer for helping out. :)

Minor update...

2008-07-05T21:16:00.002-05:00

After having measured the space between the joists this morning, I've found two things:
1. There probably won't be much space, if any, for molding above the trim board (if I want to put can lights in).
2. Joists are not (?!?!?) evenly spaced, somehow...I measured a few spaces...some were 13.5 inches, some nearly 15. That sounds not right to me...am I missing something?

I didn't measure them all...maybe three or four. But seriously, there was a discrepancy, which I find to be odd...any ideas?

After measuring, I went to the ol' Home Depot to get some materials for a trial run...some hardwood 1x4s, some stain and the ceiling panels. I ended up bringing home a whitewood board and a poplar board. The poplar was way more expensive than the whitewood, and the two are distinctly different-looking. The poplar has a very wide grain, while the whitewood has tigher grain and several smooth knots along the face. The poplar also was less heavy than the whitewood, but not a great deal. Since I'm going to be using this as trim, I want to use as few finishing nails as possible, so lighter is better, in this case. For now, anyway.

I chose Minwax Red Mahogany and Minwax Early American stains. I actually applied the first coats to each this evening, and will probably put on another coat tomorrow morning, maybe. We'll see how they dry.

I also found a USG ceiling panel product that doesn't use tracks to hold it up. In fact, it appears to be the variety that you'd simply glue to the ceiling and slot the pieces together. No tracks means I don't have to worry about it looking too much like a drop ceiling, and the panels themselves are smooth white. So I'm pretty happy with the potential those bring. We'll see how it ends up looking.

Other than that, I'm going to try to get a prototype up tomorrow, and I'll take some pictures, but no promises...we'll see how it goes! :)

Months of thought, hours of "doodling"...

2008-07-04T00:16:00.004-05:00

...but I think I finally, FINALLY, have devised what I want my basement ceiling to look like, at least in the main area. See the pictures added here to get the idea for the rough draft, drawn up in Sketchup (sorry for the sloppiness -- there are some rogue lines and planes floating around!

(EDITED, ADDED LATE JULY 4): Here are my thoughts on this whole basement ceiling thing.

1. I tore down drywall, so I didn't want to put up drywall again, since nothing was really wrong with what I tore down.
2. To the bottom of the joists, it's about 73 inches, so a drop ceiling was out of the question. There was no way to modify it and make it look OK that I could think of, either.
3. I wanted something more "sophisticated" looking than a drop ceiling anyway.
4. Leaving the beams and such exposed and painting it was not an option either, because of the total lack of sound insulation. Also, I hate track lighting. Also, it felt like a crime to paint what appeared to be beautiful woodwork on the underside of the floor. Also, the joists were in pretty decent shape, and it just wasn't for me.
5. Leaving the ceiling exposed created the difficult conundrum of what to do at the wall-ceiling corner. Examples I saw of this were not up to my liking, and I couldn't think of anything better.
6. The more I saw boxed beam ceilings, the more I thought that would look great in our family room downstairs and could be exactly up my alley.

So this is what I came up with when I finally sat down with all the ideas bouncing around in my head. It's actually a raised "drop" ceiling, in a sense.

I will buy nice flat trim wood to cover the bottoms of the joists. They will protrude just outside of the joist widths to create a mini (like, less than an inch) "shelf" above which I'll fasten some crown molding the entire length of the joists. On top of those joists, I will rest the acoustical panels that are typically used for drop ceilings.

As you can see in the cross-section version, there will be a gap above the panels, allowing me to tilt them up and pull them out. This way, if I ever DO need access, I'll have it. Furthermore, the acoustic tiles are probably lighter than drywall, so the weight load will be better on the crown molding/trim. I'm aware I'll have to cut the panels smaller to fit, but that's easier than cutting drywall, and they don't have to be perfect, just so long as they clear the edges of the moldings on each side.

Lighting: This is the tricky part. I know that I'm going to have a few fluorescents here. In the sketchup model below, in the righthand part between the joists, you can see my plan. It's going to be inset fluorescent lighting, with the housing separated out by a couple 2x6s (or so) that will run 90 degrees to the joists on each side...the molding will be parallel with the regular molding and I will hide a fluorescent bulb on each side behind it, bouncing the light off the ceiling and to the floor. I also plan to have small can lights throughout the room, assuming there's enough "headspace" for them above the ceiling panels.

Since I haven't officially measured this, it's probably not an exact representation, and the final version may differ. But at least I got these ideas into a working drawing that I can manipulate now.

Problems this doesn't solve, however, are workload (lots of cutting, staining, fastening, etc.), what, exactly, to do at the wall-ceiling corner to minimize drywall cutting and such, and how to maximize sound insulation. I know the acoustic panels are OK, but will they be enough, I wonder? I guess we'll see!

Have a happy Fourth of July!

Scarlet and Green Leafhopper...

2008-06-21T23:44:00.002-05:00

Never saw a bug like this before in all my gardening and backyard roaming days...but today I happened to be wandering by my goldenrods and saw two Scarlet and Green Leafhoppers on the leaves. Thanks to the Internet, I was able to figure out what they were (and thanks to the shared photo via Flickr, not taken by me, since I wasn't able to get my camera and get out there fast enough). The pictures online, though, don't do justice to how pretty the colors are...though they are a little more light blue than green, and the underbelly is definitely a yellow color.

Otherwise, I'm just looking for time to do things around here, more than anything...eventually, time will come. :)

Shrubs in...

2008-06-14T21:50:00.001-05:00

shrubs in
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Here's the new look on the west side of the porch.

I went and bought a big ol' ax and a bow saw at Menard's this morning, sawed off a good foot of what was left of the stump and beat the rest into submission as best as I could. I then buried most of it underground, so hopefully that will be the end of it.

The rhododendron, the bushier looking shrub to the left, is supposed to get to about 5 feet tall and 4-5 feet wide, while the Sutherland Gold Elderberry will get to 8 feet tall by 8 feet wide. I also planted about 10 ferns in the empty spaces between them and scattered a box of marigold seed mix all over the barren ground around them. We'll see how they do.

The rhododendron, it should be noted, has been one hell of a trooper. I got it from my mom last spring and never planted it. I just left it in the store-supplied pot and sat it out in front of the porch, basically where it is now. It survived and came back even with the hellish winter we had. Granted, I haven't seen it flower yet, but the fact that it survived was good enough for me. Hopefully it will now respond with lots of ground for its roots to infiltrate.

But I can't wait for the S.Gold Elderberry to grow -- it will be a phenomenal focal point for this side of the house, what with the dark brown facebrick as a backdrop. Much more interesting than the evergreen tree.

OK, name this flower...

2008-06-14T14:27:00.001-05:00

mystery flower
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Since I didn't get much feedback on my "Name this bug..." post, hopefully I'll get somebody who can help me find out what this is. I didn't plant it, and it looks like it's in an old garden area, so it could be a reseeded perennial...but we didn't have these last year, that I'm aware of.

It only seems to open in the morning, if that makes any difference...there's a wider shot of the whole plant also up on Flickr...any help would be appreciated. I feel as though if it's something cool, I can transplant it and save it.

Name this bug...

2008-06-11T20:57:00.001-05:00

mystery bug
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

I don't know if it's a grasshopper or not...looks like it, maybe. Anyone know what "type" of grasshopper it is? I'd be curious.

Also, there are pictures up on my Flickr page of the latest garden developments, as promised, along with the major change in our curb appeal so far. Check it out!

Slow week...

2008-06-07T22:07:00.002-05:00

Well, it's been kind of a slow week at the bungalow...but today, I took a big step and chopped down the evergreen on the west corner of the front of the house, where I plan to put the Sutherland Gold Elderberry I purchased. The stump proved really tough to deal with, and I actually have a pretty good scrape down the back of my arm, from sliding down the brick wall while trying to kick the tree, using the wall for leverage.

Also, lots o' flowers are blooming really well.

But, I went to the Sox game this evening, so I didn't have any time to take any pics, and I'm off to Utah for work for a little while, so you'll all have to be patient. :)

Have a great couple of days, and I'll see you all on the other side...

In case...

2008-06-01T20:13:00.002-05:00

...you thought I didn't do anything this weekend...we did buy a new, much-needed microwave. Here's the before:And here's the after:
Have not, unfortunately, tested the new one yet. And yes, I understand that the most work involved in this before and after was lifting the microwaves to eye level as well as in and out of the truck from Best Buy. But hey, that's work too, you know! :)

Summer's here, I guess...

2008-05-31T20:58:00.001-05:00

dianthus in front
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Didn't do too much today...although we did go out and buy a new microwave, which you can see the before and after of that on Flickr as well...really exciting, right? Hey, while you're there, check out all my garden pics...I've got some great things growing out there, and finally starting to do well. Including these Dianthus that I planted last year around the base of the tree out front that have come back (with the exception of one "runt" of the litter on the left side.

I like when perennials come back and thrive, making me, Mr. Stick It In The Ground And See What Happens, look good and knowledgeable. :) Happy rest of the weekend, everyone! Hope all your projects are progressing nicely...

1 out of 3 (so far) ain't bad...

2008-05-28T22:45:00.003-05:00

Sorry that there hasn't been too much to write about over at Build a Better Bungalow lately -- it's been busy in other areas aside from home improvement and even (sadly) gardening.

But, today, I went out to the backyard to check (as I do daily) on the "bag o' plants" I bought from Costco months ago and planted in the big empty space where I lost a bunch of perennials over the winter. Thus far, three weeks later, I had not seen ANYTHING sprouting through the dirt and mulch there. I was really starting to worry.

Until today. FINALLY, I saw about three or four Acidanthera shoots protruding from the mulch. That makes me feel better that I didn't bury them too deeply and that I still have a shot at the Salvia and Black-eyed Susans coming up. So, as the title of this entry says, 1 out of 3 ain't bad. Of course, I won't mention that I planted about 12 Acidanthera bulbs, so I guess I'm still OK, mathematically, with that statement...

I'm really itching to get more gardening done...but now I'm getting the basement itch again too. I think I'm going to shoot to have it done by Halloween-time, so we can host a Halloween party. That's actually aiming very high, truthfully, given the rate of work thus far and the impending/non-impending economic recession and higher prices for everything. So we'll see how that goes. I sure would love to pull off that remodel by then, but we'll see how I find a way to ignore the beauty of summer and work inside. :)

All quiet on the home front...

2008-05-24T22:03:00.002-05:00

Well, traveling's done, and this weekend, family obligations have pretty much taken over. But, I have done some planning for the front garden, so we'll see what and when that happens. But at least I'll always know I have a plan for this spot:

This is where I want to put my rain garden, much like what the HCBA did at the North Side Model Bungalow they renovated last year...though different. But same theory. Below is my plan. I searched long and hard for just the right centerpiece for the background of this garden and finally found it in my friends' garden in Grayslake. It's Sutherland Gold Elderberry...it's so beautiful, and it will play perfectly against our dark brown brick and the shaded gangway area between my house and my neighbor's. I'm really happy about it. Now I just have to find it somewhere (then chop down the evergreen "tree" that is currently there) and get crackin' on making this garden. Here's my not-so-rough-anymore plan below. Again, for this I used Floorplanner.com for the initial dimension-based stuff, then exported a photo and worked on placement of "my" plants in Photoshop.

I should follow this up with, we still have the fence to do in the backyard before I can really dig into this project up front. Pun intended.

Leavin', yet again, on a jet plane...

2008-05-19T23:38:00.002-05:00

Could I possibly travel more than I am for work right now? I'm off, again, on business for the next couple of days, so unfortunately, all will be quiet here. But please, come back! There's much more ahead, when your regularly scheduled blog continues. :)

Legs like jelly...

2008-05-18T21:42:00.002-05:00

What a busy weekend! Unfortunately, little was done in and around the house. My little bro graduated with his Master's degree Saturday, so we drove out to the boondocks to have a family celebratory dinner. That was fun, but it pretty much shot Saturday in the foot.

Today was also shot mostly in the foot, in that, I decided it was high time to get back on the bike and do what I once did semi-regularly for a couple years back in high school and college. And that is ride my bike on long, organized event-type rides.

Today, I rode 25 miles on my new bike in the Prairie Pedal event up in Grayslake, Ill., sponsored by the Liberty Prairie Conservatory. My friends live up there in the "subdivision" that hosts the event, and it was really nice. Obviously, though, my legs and rear-end are not used to all that work. It was chilly, but nice bike-riding weather, except for the ever-present wind, of course.

I was happy with how I rode -- I rarely felt truly winded, which made me feel really good. My legs just didn't have the stamina in them to keep up the pace beyond the 25 miles we did.

Of course, my friends are big-time gardeners in the same mold as me -- buy something, preferably native, regional or perennial, stick it in the ground and see what happens. So, we went to a couple of Lake County's finest garden centers. I was impressed, more or less...though they didn't have a ton of what I was looking for (which I didn't even know what I was "looking for" either anyway), I came away with some good ideas. And, my friends gave me a FANTASTIC idea for one of my tall shrubs out front. Now, if I can just find it to buy it, we'll be good to go!

Hope all your weekends went well...

A slap to history's face...

2008-05-14T20:57:00.003-05:00

You all might remember these posts from a few months ago, about a Chicago-style bungalow being basically destroyed, for lack of a better term, and my struggles witnessing this every single day since it's on my way to work (and there's no way around it, really).

Well, work had ground to a halt for a while with the crappy early spring weather, but they had taken off the top (scalped the thing) and gutted out all the walls and floors and everything. They also tore out the back of the entire house.

Then, nicer weather arrived. To my horror, I watched (well, saw the results on my back and forth commutes) as they removed all the stained glass windows and completely removed the entire front porch, framing and walling it off. They then made the dining room windows the new entrance and began building a giant addition on top. All that was left of the original bungalow, for a short while, were the three brick walls. I thought, well, this should be interesting (in a bad way), as they build a second story and put a roof on, obviously all frame construction. I thought, boy, whatever they do up there isn't going to match the yellow face brick on the first floor.

Well, silly f-in' me. Just this week, the bricklayers appeared and began cover the entire face of the now 2-flat with the same boring-ass b.s. brownish-red face brick that every damned townhome and condo building up this way is built with. So, the yellow face brick will be behind this crappy brick.

I said it before, and I'll say it again: I don't know WHY this bothers me so much, but it just pisses me off to no end, and saddens me a bit as well, as to how this type of thing happens, especially in a city with a "bungalow initiative" like Chicago. Now, I know that not every bungalow is salvageable or worth saving, but this one, at least on the outside, was a great example to me of a Chicago-style bungalow, and with developers thinking this way, someday, they might not be any left. Furthermore, if I'm the neighbors, how do I not fight the fact that parking over there's probably already a pain, and now they're going to add more people by upgrading that building?

It's just ridiculous, and I wish there was something someone could have done. Unfortunately, too, this is Chicago, and unless you know somebody that knows somebody that knows somebody, forget it. That's probably why this happened -- it was just an election year. Somebody filled somebody's campaign coffers.

Anyway, the before pic is up above...when they finish, I'll try to find the time to snap an after, so you can all share in my disgust.

What lurks in the gangway...

2008-05-12T19:45:00.006-05:00

My blogging compadre, Fred, over at One Project Closer is hosting a giveaway for a set of two solar lamps, so you should head on over and check out his blog, and maybe enter -- but don't put forth too good of an argument, I want to win! ;) Just kidding...good luck to all, of course. Here's a link directly to the post I'm talking about.

Anyway, as promised in my "entry" for that contest, here's a picture of the unlighted gangway and the back of the house. It's a photo at night during the winter that shows the stark contrast between the lighted backyard and the dark, "scary" gangway (on the right of the photo). As you can see, it's not the safest setup in the world. And although I've been thinking about getting some solar lamps, I'd of course love to try some out for free and give them a great review, if indeed they deserve it. :)

I should mention that I have not messed with the brightness or contrast of this photo. This is the real deal. Besides, if I went to all that trouble for two free solar lamps, what kind of nutso would I be? :) I mean, free is free, but I'm not that competitive or insane. :)

A week wasted...somewhat...

2008-05-11T22:40:00.002-05:00

Well, I didn't get too much done this week, unfortunately. I spent a day in Atlanta for a seminar and thus a lot of time at airports and such. Always a blast.

Other than that, this weekend, really was more family-oriented and all, given Mother's Day and this being my wife's first Mother's Day as a mom. So I did a bunch of shopping yesterday for her and a couple other things we needed around here. I also bought a neat little pocket video recorder -- an RCA Small Wonder -- that I'm mainly planning to use for A.J.'s daily "adventures"...i.e., when he's being cute or reaching milestones. But, hey, maybe this thing will bring some video interactivity to Building a Better Bungalow as well. We'll see. Lord knows, it's really, really easy to use and get vids onto the CPU and then uploaded. So I'm psyched about that.

Thankfully, this week, I have no travel scheduled, so I might be able to do more work around the house -- I hope. There's just so much going on that it's tough to carve out a niche where I have the time to do this stuff. I'm sure you all have similar problems. :)

Decisions made (maybe), things planted...

2008-05-05T22:29:00.002-05:00

Well, I didn't get around to cutting the grass until Sunday, as I was too lazy to change the oil and go buy gas for the mower on Saturday, especially given the dreariness of the misty rain falling as well. But I did cut it Sunday, and it needed it.

Also Sunday, I hung out with a few longtime friends at one of their daughter's baptism celebration. After chatting with a couple of the guys, two of whom have done some serious work to their houses, and one of whom remodeled his entire family room in his basement about 2 years ago, I've come to a couple conclusions.

1. I'm pretty sure I'm going to put down laminate flooring, assuming it isn't cost-prohibitive or my floors are horrifyingly uneven (which they shouldn't be, as I have carpet down there now, but we'll see). My buddy did a floating floor down in his basement and suggested the same for me. I'm probably doing that. Either way, the carpet's gotta go.

2. I'm framing the walls and insulating using 2x4s and fiberglass batts. That's what he used and says I'm right in thinking it's the best for my situation.

3. The serious work will come from the ceiling, which I hope will pay off in the end in terms of the look. I've described it before, I think, but if not, well, then it'll have to be a surprise. :) But we'll see for sure, I guess...you never know until you try, I guess. :)

4. In an unrelated issue, I have to fill up and test the backyard hot tub, as this friend might want it and would be willing to disassemble and haul it out of here, assuming it works. So that's good. I didn't want to have to sledgehammer the thing to bits (which I may have to do anyway, if it's broken and no one wants it), so that'll be great.

Aside from that, this evening after hitting the gym for the first time in a couple weeks (stupid Germany biz trip!), I came home and planted a whole bunch of bare-root and bulbs from a package of flowers I bought at Costco. Included Acidanthera (which I've never seen or grown before), Black-Eyed Susans and a blue Sage/Salvia type of plant. So we'll see how that goes.

Meanwhile, my garden's doing OK...I only appear to have lost a couple of perennials over the winter, which is nice, and the plants I put in the new front porch planters are doing great, except the Coleus, for some reason. It says Part Sun, and that's what it gets, so I don't know what's up. But the other two plants are growing and blooming, and the marigold seeds I planted (that weren't eaten) have sprouted, so it should look great soon!

Now, if I only had the time/ability/money to get the other garden ideas I had going, I'd be set!

Germany pictures...

2008-05-03T09:34:00.001-05:00

me at the castle
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Since I haven't posted anything in a while, having been on business in Germany, I figured I'd at least give you all something to look at...my pictures from Germany. Enjoy!

Today, I have to cut the grass, and I'm hoping to get a few things planted/taken care of outside. We'll see how it goes and if the weather cooperates.

Guten Tag...

2008-04-26T10:32:00.002-05:00

Just wanted to send an update to all my loyal readers out there...I'm on business in Germany...was down south in the country the last two days and took the train up north today. I've seen some really beautiful countryside and some really cool home and villages and such. Wish I had my camera out during the train ride, because some of the mountain villages we stopped in were just beautiful and nothing like what I'd ever seen before.

That said, I did take pictures of the ancient castle in a small town I stayed at, as well as some homes in a pretty nice neighborhood at the top of the same hill the castle was on. Of course, I didn't bring the USB cord to transfer the pictures to Flickr, so you'll all have to patiently wait for those. I get back on Wednesday sometime, and probably will be totally jet-lagged. But I'll do what I can!

Until then, the blog will be pretty quiet...

We have plants...

2008-04-20T23:26:00.002-05:00

west planter 1
Originally uploaded by southsideandy

Well, I tried to make my rookie visit to Gethsemane Garden Center over near the Lake in the city here, but I should have known better than to try. Hmmmm...one of the very first really nice Sundays, and I tried to swing by around 11 a.m. I should have known that I'd end up just driving right by while traffic backed up on Clark to get into the parking lot.

I said, "Forget this," except replace "forget" with everyone's favorite "f" word, and headed on out to Meinke's out in Morton Grove, planning to just hit up Home Depot if Meinke's selection was lacking this early in the season. I'll try Gethsemane at some other time. As you can see, I got just enough to get the planters going at Meinke's. I am happy. Plus, I got some great ideas for more plants that I can put out in the front garden once I start cranking on that...I was looking for shade-tolerant ideas and walking around the nursery reminded me of several of the plants I used to have out in Bolingbrook in a shady spot that I liked.

So we'll see. I spent much of the rest of the afternoon sketching out and measuring the entire front yard from the house to the street and then drawing it on that Floorplanner.com site I used way back in July for my backyard garden plan. Now, I can print it if I want and/or just drag and drop potential layouts together on a whim. Should be nice.

So go ahead over to Flickr and check out the flowers I got. I like what these planters have the potential to look like. I just hope I got enough verticality in them to offset the horizontal shape of the planters and the vines. I guess I'll find out soon enough!

The new planters...

2008-04-20T10:32:00.005-05:00

As promised, here are some pics of our new stone planters on the wing walls. I'm so psyched. I'm off to look at plants and flowers today! Gotta get things going!