Just me, the toilet, and heat

                                             I had to cut the nuts off this porcelain throne

 After cutting three quarters of the way through the threaded brass piece that holds his majesty in place I broke it off with a vice grips and a pliers.

                             His majesties throne looks so forlorn as it contemplates homelessness.

It ain't pretty, but after sweating in the bathroom until 3 am Thursday morning I'm beaming over the magnitude of this accomplishment. It ranks right up there with cutting the lawn.

Karla reporting (you probably can tell the format as changed..hope you don't mind Paulie!). Boy I feel lazy, Paul is doing all the work while I'm away. My retreat house as NO air, so I'm logging on, before I start new work. 
Great job Paul! I'm not sure if he told you, but we plan on reusing the old floor boards somehow...as a wall feature or maybe a table? Well, it's hotter than blazes in Minnesota, but their lawns are by far in better shape than Wisconsin. 
We are pretty excited with this new adventure and plan to have one heck of a party once it's all said and done (don't make any fast plans - it'll be a year from now). Well, keep up the great work Paul! Drink lots of water! I've included a great picture of a historic Finnish village that has been restored in New York Mills...as I look toward the past and present of European design, I really like their aesthetic: simple, clean lined, and purposeful. I can't believe this is a reality.

I poured a gallon of water down my throat and nothing has come out of me but sweat.

 These little wooden strips are nailed down where the wall meets the floor. They make a complete perimeter of the whole room, and they have lots of little sharp spikes to grab the carpet or put multiple punctures in fingers. They came up easily enouth with my little pry bar.

 This is the floor after I have removed the carpeting and foam rubber covering that is between the floor and carpet.

               Lighting is being provided by the Coleman Company. The electricity has been shut off.

 The house is filled with outlets and switchs, I have counted thirty one and there is more. They are nearly new so I'm taking them out and bagging them for selling, I hope. Don't try this with my hands, at times they tremble making the job frustrating. Back in the day I'd have had enough hydralic sandwichs to tame the unruly hand and its little accomplices.

 The first board comes off. Its significents (spell check isn't functioning correctly)  is lost right after I see all the cool dirt/dust covered plaster and ancient wiring act as an alqeida(sp?) for spider webs.

 I pryed off the metal registrator lining thinking here would be a better place to start working on the tounge and groove boards. It will do. Now I have to purchase a good hand saw to start cutting the boards that are  nearest and parellel (damn spell check!) to the exposed two by four right below the insulation. Does this make any sense to you? I can barely follow it myself.

This photo makes it easier to describe. I'll start cutting at the right rear side of the hole. Once I get through a couple of boards I can pry one up that runs the entire lenght of the room. I'm going to ruin a board or two but then I should be able to get each one out without ruining the tongue on one side and the groove on the other. I still have not used the bathroom. I think I'm still replenishing all the liquid that couldn't wait to leave me.

A Floor

 Today I took more fixtures down and after taking the door, frame and trim off of this entrance to a room upstairs I pulled up some carpet and backing to have a look. Looks like a pine floor. The boards are tongue and groove, about 6" wide. Some folks would think they are good for kindling or the curb. To me they have the beauty only age can grant. Wash off the white over spray from doing the walls and I think they'd make a unique wall in our (or someone elses)  home. What are your thoughts?

Selling the doors

 Two solid wood doors. Heavy. I worked carefully to get the door, frame, and trim off without damaging any of them. There are two more up stairs just as nice. They are 1-1/2" thick. If anyone is looking for doors contact me. Each door has three brass hinges and screws. Maybe we should use them? Karla and I will talk about it. Oh, all the windows in the house a fairly new thet open to the side by turning a handle.Karla left for her two week art residency in MN. yesterday. I am positive she will bring back some great art! When I left the house I opened the back door and there was a big web stretched across the upper part of the doorway. Thank the faceless Chinese flashlight makers for saving me from getting eye to eye with a shiver creepy spider.

Taking things apart

 I went to the house this afternoon. I think it was just neigh of 90 degrees. Sweat. I sprayed the rusted nuts and bolts holding the terlet down, of course they are rusted tight. Two days of Liquid wrench and maybe I'll be able to turn them off or I have brand new hacksaw blades. I unscrewed the vanity from the bathroom wall and pulled it towards the doorway. That corner was its home, on top of a wash rag, bits of scrap pipe, solder,
                                       
 dust balls and the mystery dirt that snuggles under everything. The vanity is in very good shape, we will sell it as well as all the electrical switchs, dimmers, grounded outlets, ... All the electrical pieces are just like new. The previous owner was remodeling before we purchased, so there is a bunch of stuff to sell. Want to buy a garage?

Karla here! I decided I'd leave a post before my residency. This new adventure is quite exciting, and knowing, that we don't have to worry about a remodel - it's fine with me. One thing we are trying to be conscious OF WHAT WE ARE "doing" in the process: reselling /repurposing what is in the house, building as environmentally friendly as "financially" possible (one thing is an airlock room before you enter the house - saves on energy costs...and in the future possible solar panels!), and keeping our footprint (maybe 1500 sq ft): SMALL, but useful! No cathedral ceilings, no rooms that remain unused or untouched...all spaces will be used. Used for our lifestyle: 2 studio spaces, open concept, no thrills, no fancy stuff...baring it down to what we NEED and not what we want. There are few "luxuries" I want in this process: a 2 flush system for our toilet, eco-friendly floors (probably cork upstairs), flat panel water heater, doors that close so the cats can't contaminate every inch, small footprint, 2 studio spaces, and a view of the water. 

We will be leaving a home that our heart has loved for a long time, so if you know of somebody that has loves a character home and has been maintained with loving care let us know! So, this is our new journey..and I'm so excited! We are both so excited! I've included two photos: our current place and the place that (with a little more tweaking) will be ours in a year to year/half. When you look at the plans...the top area is my studio to the north and open kitchen/living that walks out onto the top of our garage. (We will be working with an architect: Matt W. from Martin/Riley architects-engineers....he's a great guy environmentally conscious/ and pays attention to how you use space!) We decided to leave this to the professionals. Once the house is razed (we hoped to keep the structure but you can see from the previous photos it was not worth keeping. The city was close to razing the property because it's below grade....so it will be a process of waiting (but we are both good at that!). Well, hope you keep on watching the progress!

 I went to the house today to start taking it apart and salvaging things with some value. In the small bathroom on the first floor there is a square section cut through the flooring tile. Its about 35"x 35". I put my jimmy bar into the cut and pryed the one side up. I got my hand under it and lifted it up to find what you see pictured here. The house doesn't have a basement, but a stone foundation is under the house and this is the crawl space. Its about 40" deep. God only knows what is down there. Plastic bags, wads of insulation, water lines, etc. I'm curious to find out what, or who is under the house. I won't be diving in real soon. Once the floors start to come off I'll see the crawl space in other areas. Gross!  

More First Day Photos

Top is the wall meeting the ceiling in the kitchen. The middle photo is (as Archie Bunker would say: "The terlet") the commode in disarray.
And the bottom shows a second floor room that was completed by the former owner. Looks like a nice room, yes?

First Day Of Ownership

                                                        Above is the custom kitchen, har, har.

       On the other side of the room(across from the end of the counter top) is where the phone was.
Karla and I got some food and went over to the house for the first time as owners. We opened doors and windows but it was still to warm. Three neighbors stopped in to welcome us. It is a very nice quite area. We lifted up carpet corners and unexpectedly found more hard wood floors. They will not come off easy, they are tongue and grooved maple I think.

After The Sale Is Final

Karla and I  at the title company moments after completion of the sale. Today we own two houses. I have lived in apartments most of my life and never thought I'd be a home owner, and I would'nt be without Karla.

     Karla and the ladies (taken in the title companies office, 7/12/12) that helped us through the final steps

Closing Day

                                         Karla signing paper work that closes the transaction.

Meet Jerry Tappy, And The Final Walk through

Our real estate agent Mr. Jerry Tappy, who works out of his Oshkosh Wi. office. Jerry is the first agent I've met that is just himself : easy going, personable, effective, and honest. He's a great guy to work with, if you'd like to contact him post your request and I will give you his number.

  Wed. July 11th we did our final walk through just to see if everything is ok. Thursday we go to Evan's Title Co. and give them the check, sign papers and by 2 pm. cst. we will be the owners. Then the work begins. First thing will be a tool belt. When we get some relief from the heat I will begin to take the Asbestos siding off. Before I do I will need to study up on Wi. law and how to safely remove and dispose of it. I'm sure Karla will be be there doing deconstruction too.

                         Here I am in the doorway of 701 Paris St. Wed. afternoon. What a dork!

The beginning

Today is the day we start to end the buying procees with our final walk through at 3:30 pm Cst. Tomorrow(July 12th 20120 we close the sale and begin our adventure of deconstruction, grade elevation, and new construction. The whole processes anticipated conclusion is expected to be in one and a half to two years.