Posting break

I haven't had anything to post lately because I've been too busy with other things, mainly my job. we're hoping to get back to work on the house soon...

Deck complete

In a few weeks we'll stain and seal it.

Deck Railing

We got a late start yesterday afternoon so we didn't get as much done as we had hoped. Lowes didn't have enough of the baulisters we used for the deck railing so we had to go to the next closest one, 35 miles away, to pick up enough.

The first thing we did was to install the posts.

Installing the baulisters on to the railings is a tedious, time consuming job. They come with little plastic washers that need to be between them and the pressure treated wood so they dont corrode. I built each panel separately then installed them afterwards.




We had to quit 2 panels short of finishing because it got dark on us.

Decking complete

Yesterday we laid the decking.







I forgot to get a board long enough for the center piece so the one that's there is just laid in temporarily. Today I'll be picking up the railing and installing it.

Deck framing complete

Yesterday I finished the deck framing. It took longer than I thought it would. I had expected to be able to install the decking yesterday too.

Framing the deck

Yesterday we worked on framing the deck. Somehow I mis-calculated and ended up 4 boards short so we couldn't finish. I forgot the camera at home again but I took a few pics with my cell phone.




While I was attaching the joist hangers to the ledger board I made a really cool find. It's an old bottle. I took it home and cleaned it up, the bottle was filled with coal. Also, it appears to be very old, pre-dating the age of the house (1888) by at least 20 years.

There is no seam at all on the main body of the bottle. The neck and the lip each have their own separate seams. There also appears to be a pontil mark on the bottom. The bottle is also iridescent.

This first picture above is before cleaning.

The next two above show the iridescence.

This one shows what appears to be a pontil mark.

This one shows the two separate seams, one on the neck (directly in front), and one on the lip (to the right on the top).

This one shows the coal that was in it.

So does anyone know anything about this bottle, what is was used for, it's general age, why there was coal in it...?

Building the deck and oven cabinet

I know I haven't posted in a few weeks but it's because I kept forgetting the camera, not for lack of work.

Last week I built the oven cabinet, installed the double ovens and the cooktop.



We also got our sink faucet in, it's a really nice bridge faucet in oil rubbed bronze from Signature Hardware.



We spent last weekend landscaping the front of the house. I probably should have rebuilt the front porch first but the yard was looking really bad.




The landscaping is a mix of boxwood, holly, gardenia, and azalea.

The big project we've been working on is the deck. First I had to tear down the old porch deck. I had to cut it apart section by section. I had wanted to save the flooring, it was a full 1" thick, but it was very moldy so I couldn't.


There is a well under where the porch was next to the kitchen door, I'm not sure what I am going to do with it.



With the area cleared out I could begin building the new deck. First I hung the ledger boards, Then I placed the piers that will hold up the brace beam. I dug holes at each location and filled them with concrete to give the piers a solid foundation. I also had to prime the side of the sunroom before I installed the ledger board on it.

Then I built the beam. It is built out of 2 pressure treated 2x10's sandwiched together. The span is 21' long, there are no 2x10's that long so I had to make each beam 10' 6". I installed an extra pier at the location where they meet in the middle.


The deck will extend another 2' 6" beyond the beam, right up to the old stairs. I plan on keeping them.

I forgot the joist hangers so I had to leave it at that today. Hopefully I can get back out there tomorrow and finish installing the joists and put the decking down.

Square Grand

Sorry for the lack of posting lately, I was out of town for work. I'm just now getting back to work on the house.

This weekend we bought a piano for the foyer area of the house. It's a Baldwin Square Grand made sometime in the 1870's. We got a great deal on it so we couldn't pass it up.

We had to drive up to Nashville to get it, it took 5 people plus a pallet jack to get it in the bed of my truck. Once we got it to the house it was only me and the girlfriend though.

Luckily I can back the truck right up to the porch steps, the drop is only about 2' that way. I was able to slide it out of the bed and tilt it up on it's side. Then I was able to get a hand truck under it and wheel it into the foyer. That was the easy part. This piano weighs at least 600 pounds, probably closer to 800.

We put the 2 legs on the top part of the piano then I lowered it down on to them. With that done we moved around to the other side, got the hand truck under it and tilted it up enough to get a bottle jack under it. Then came the fun part, I had to deadlift the piano up high enough to get a 2x8 under it cut just a little longer than the legs. We were then able to put the other 2 legs on.

Here are a few pics of it before we cleaned it up:



And here are a few pics of it after scrubbing and oiling the wood (I have not touched the internals yet):



Above the keys is a large mother of pearl inlay, and above that you can barely make out the name, D. H. Baldwin & Co.



My brother restores pianos so we hope to get the internals restored soon.

We also picked up a few other things recently. In the nursery we got a really nice mahogany crib and a really nice oil painting, it's 4' x 2.5', the frame is plaster on wood:

Granite!