Our Castle

Pocket Door Installation

2011-02-12T21:39:00.012-05:00

We have finished installing the three pocket doors that we will have in the basement. Here is a brief description of the process used for installing the doors.

Framed the rough opening to be 1.5" wider than double the width of the door (e.g. 61.5" for a 30" door) and 3.5" taller than the expected height of the door.

Screwed 2" wide strips of plywood along the middle of the top and right (pocket) side. In a 2x4 framed wall, this should leave 3/4" on each side of the plywood.
Cut the pocket door track to be 4" less than double the width of the door (e.g. 56" for a 30" door). Installed this pocket track onto the middle of the top piece of plywood.
Cut three 2" wide strips of plywood that were the equal in length to the width of the door (e.g. 30"). Installed the first piece along the floor using concrete nails since this was in our basement. Installed the remaining two pieces on either side of the top of the left (opening) side with screws.
Cut ten pieces of 1x4 that were equal in length to the width of the door (e.g. 30"). Installed pieces at the top and bottom of the inside and outside of the right (pocket) side using 2" finish nails.

Attached the remaining six pieces of 1x4 by attaching them to the plywood with finish nails.
Cut pieces of pine to a width of 1.25" and a length of 2" less than the height of the rough opening. Installed those pieces with finish nails to the ends of the 1x4's. The idea is that the 1/2" piece of drywall will be installed on top of the 1x4's, and will butt up against these pieces of pine (hence why they are cut to be 1/2" thicker than the 1x4's).

Cut down the height of the door to the appropriate height by clamping 2x4's to the door to use as a guide for the circular saw.

Installed the rollers on the pocket door track.

Installed the pocket door hardware on the top of the door.
Hung the door and adjusted it to be level.

Bathroom Vanity/Sink Options

2011-02-09T17:52:00.000-05:00

When planning the wall of sliding doors for the basement, we knew that we wanted to be able to access both the washer and dryer at the same time; in order to make this happen, we had to add another 3-4 inches onto the span of the sliding doors. In doing so, we reduced the size of the bathroom by this same amount. Accordingly, as it stands right now, a standard vanity (22" deep) would be 24" from the front of the toilet and 20" from the end of the tub. This is acceptable, but makes the space kind of tight and uncomfortable, so we started looking for a vanity that does not take up as much space.

In order to accomplish this, we need to find a vanity that is not very deep (16-19") and/or that takes up less space than a cabinet style vanity (i.e. pedestal sink). To throw another wrench into this decision, we plan to have some built-in linen storage in this bathroom, so that needs to coordinate with everything.

Option 1: Our favourite look right now is the Retrospect Console Table from American Standard. It would definitely meet our aesthetic and space requirements, and would match multiple wall cabinet options, but it needs to be custom ordered and is a little bit outside our budget ($700ish, plus the matching toilet is pricey).

Option 2: We also like the look of this pedestal sink. This would cost about half the price (or less) of the above console table. I know pedestal sinks aren't typically used in a three piece bathroom, but the added built-in storage should make up for the lack of cabinetry, so maybe that is not a big deal?

Option 3: Another option we are looking at is modifying a kitchen cabinet from Ikea (maybe the Adel?) to fit one of their smaller sinks such as the Odensvik. This type of cabinet option would not seem as spacious as the above options, but has a good depth of 18.75" and could obviously coordinate well with matching wall cabinets.

Option 4: This is probably unlikely, but we are actually considering using the sink that was in the upstairs bathroom when we bought the house. It has been sitting in our garage for 2.5 years (didn't have the heart to throw it out) and is in great shape, but we would probably need to spend about $300 to re-finish the sink and re-plate the legs. The question here is whether or not it suits the style that we are going for (probably not).

New Hose Connection

2011-02-08T22:56:00.008-05:00

Video: Custom Pocket Door Installation

2011-02-08T02:17:00.002-05:00

Here is a time lapse video showing the installation of one of our basement pocket doors (it actually took just over one hour, but we sped it up so the video is just over one minute).

Tub Installed

2011-02-01T22:50:00.004-05:00

I could not procrastinate installing the tub any longer, so Meredith's Dad helped me install it last night. I had planned to take photos of the process, but sometimes getting the job done is just more important. The instructions provided by Rona and the tub manufacturer were basically useless, so this was the process we followed:

Framed walls on all three sides for a very tight fit (only 1/8" or so of extra space).
Inserted tub to make sure it fit the space, then removed it.
Installed 1x3 pieces of strapping horizontally to support underneath the edge of the tub where it touches each wall.
Inserted tub to make sure it hung at the right height when supported by the 1x3 (in our case we tried to have the tub level with the apron 1/4" off the ground), then removed it.
Mixed three bags of mortar and spread a large bed of mortar underneath the tub at the approximate height so that the tub would rest on it.
Inserted the tub to see if it was the right height.
Removed the tub, removed or adjusted some of the mortar, and then reinserted the tub until the tub was at the right height (did this 3-4 times).
Once the tub was at the right height (i.e. most of weight on the mortar, but edges supported by 1x3), stepped in the tub to push it down onto the mortar.

Time for framing and then more plumbing. Yippee!

Basement Wall #1 Framed

2011-01-30T22:03:00.007-05:00

I got a little help from my friend and got a bunch of framing done, including the first wall with a pocket door.

Water Supply Upgrade

2011-01-30T21:45:00.005-05:00

We got the water supply to our house upgraded last month. In order to take advantage of this increased pressure, we upgraded the main lines inside our house to 3/4" pipe this weekend; we now have 3/4" pipe through our water heater and to the main branches of our plumbing.

Plan for Sliding Doors

2011-01-24T06:28:00.003-05:00

We have decided on a plan for the sliding doors to cover the appliances in the basement. We considered a number of different options for the sliding doors, including building them ourselves, but we finally decided on getting custom sliding doors from Komandor. It will be a while before the doors are installed as we need to finish the walls and flooring first, but it is nice to have another thing decided. The look we plan to go with is similar to the doors in the photo below, except we will have five doors spanning 14' ... and we won't have the fancy chandelier, shiny floors and generally spacious living area.

Stairwell Insulated

2011-01-23T22:30:00.004-05:00

With the tight stairwell down to the basement, we did not have much space to add insulation. We installed 1" thick pieces of insulating styrofoam on that wall, which has an insulation value of R5. I expect this will do little for insulating the house, but hopefully with the addition of vapour barrier and drywall, at least this stairwell will not be drafty. With most of the house now insulated at R14-R28, this will be one of the "weak spots" in the building envelope.

$5 Pocket Doors

2011-01-23T10:01:00.005-05:00

We were exploring different options for doors in our basement, and had decided that pocket doors would be the best option because they would save on space. Because the doors would have to be a bit of an odd height (i.e. short), we would need to custom build the pocket door frames and custom order the doors. I did not really like the look of the hollow core doors that are common today, so I dropped by our local Restore and got two old swinging doors for $5 each. These doors will blend well with the old swinging door from our kitchen (stained one on the right) once all three doors are cut down and painted. Total cost for all three doors: $10 including tax.

Storage Area Under Stairs Framed

2011-01-23T09:52:00.005-05:00

With the stairs complete, my young apprentice helped me frame the walls underneath the stairs. In addition to framing out the storage area underneath the stairs, these framed walls provide additional support to the stringers. The exterior wall was then insulated with two layers of R14 insulation.

Basement Staircase 3 - Stairs

2011-01-16T00:29:00.011-05:00

With the staircase planned and landing built, I proceeded to build the upper and lower sets of stairs. The first step was to draw out a stringer using a framing square, and then cut it out using a circular saw (to do the initial cut) and a jig saw (to finish the cut from the opposite side).

I then checked that the stringer fit the space and was level, and made a few minor adjustments. Once the stringer was perfect, I traced and copied it to make two more identical stringers. This process was followed to create the set of three 2x12 stringers for both the upper stairs and lower stairs.

The stringers were spaced out from the wall using a 2x4, leaving space for drywall (1/2") and a skirtboard (1"). The stringers were then secured to the landing and floor above/below, as well as the adjacent wall. Additional support walls would be added from underneath as well.

Treads and risers were then cut with a circular saw and installed using construction adhesive and flooring screws. We ended up with a rise of 7 1/4" and a run of 8" for each step, and were able to gain an inch from the width of the old stairs. The stairs were created with the intention of finishing with engineered wood, so at that time a bullnose will also be added.

... and the quality assurance department gave the stairs a passing grade.

Moving the Tub into the Basement

2011-01-12T19:46:00.002-05:00

My brother came over to help with the house last weekend, so we went to Rona to pick up the bathtub for the basement. Julian had previously helped me move the clawfoot tub upstairs, so I could tell he wasn't looking forward to that task, but he soon learned that acrylic tubs are not nearly as heavy as their cast iron counterparts. The tub we selected is kind of big (8" wider than a standard tub), so I knew that moving it into the basement would be tricky. It did not fit into the side door, so we had to move the fridge out of the way and carry it down the empty abyss where we once had basement stairs. Kudos to our kitchen designers who suggested having the fridge space accessible like this for moving things into the basement. Not-so-kudos to us for not having cleaned under our fridge in two years.

The tub is now sitting in the basement patiently waiting to be installed.

Basement Staircase 2 - Landing

2011-01-10T22:51:00.010-05:00

Prior to re-building the stairs, I spent quite a bit of time researching the project. I had purchased the book Building Stairs by Andy Engel when re-finishing the main floor stairs, and have found it to be an excellent resource for both projects.

We did not have much flexibility with the new stairs, as the location of the kitchen door and side door could not be changed. Drawing up the plans for the stairs was not too difficult, but I checked the measurements over and over to avoid duplicate work (and I did find a couple of errors along the way). I treated the landing like a big step, so the rise and run are consistent between the upper and lower staircase. It would have been nice to decrease the rise a bit and increase the run a bit, but that just was not possible with the location of the side door and first floor joists.

The first step in building the stairs was to frame the wall beside the stairwell.

Once that wall was in place, I installed the landing using 2x10's and 3/4" plywood. This landing is supported on one side by the framed wall and on the other side by a half wall and some openings in the bricks underneath the door.

Basement Staircase 1 - Demolition

2011-01-09T19:11:00.002-05:00

The next project in the basement is replacing the stairs, so we tore the old stairs out last week. The old stairs did not fit because of the new basement floor height, and had other issues (i.e. not level, inconsistent rise and run, weak spots).

Cutting Off and Capping Floor Drains

2011-01-09T19:00:00.011-05:00

I have been procrastinating cutting off the excess drain pipe since we had the new basement floor poured in September. This was easily accomplished with the reciprocating saw.

We have two floor drains that will be covered up with flooring when the basement is finished, so we installed a plug in each of those drains (see pics below). We installed a one-way plug (i.e. allows water to flow down, but not to come back up ... not sure what they are called) in the third drain that will be used for the furnace and de-humidifier.

We then covered all three drains with drain covers.

Final Basement Window Replaced

2011-01-03T22:04:00.000-05:00

We got started on the basement project last week by installing the last window that needed to be replaced. I had procrastinated installing this window because it required installing some bricks to reduce the width of the opening from about 40" to 28". This reduction in the size of the window was necessary because of obstructions on both the inside (i.e. post installed in the basement to support the beam in our kitchen) and outside (i.e. washroom addition). The brick and window installation were not too difficult though, but we still need to trim the outside of all of the basement windows at some point.

2010 Highlights

2011-01-03T21:30:00.002-05:00

Compared to the work we did in the previous year, we took it easy with renovations in 2010. Here is a brief summary:

January
We finished the installation of hardwood floors on our main floor, and then installed slate tile in our front hall and fireplace hearth. We also got started on our stairs project by installing the rough-in posts.

February
The huge project to renovate the main staircase was tackled in February. This included building a bullnose tread, building a curved riser, installing the first and second bullnose steps, installing a new railing, staining the entire staircase, and doing some finishing touches.

March
With the experience sanding and staining the stairs, we then proceeded to re-stain the built-in cabinets in the living room. We also built a mirror out of leftover materials from around the house and hung it in the front hall.

April
We hung the french doors in the dining room, and completed the refinishing project of the built-in cabinets in the living room.

May
Not much happening at the house in May, but we still managed to paint and install trim on the main floor.

June-July
In preparation for a summer of parties and playing in the yard, we laid new sod and installed some temporary stairs and fencing in the backyard. We also received our new dining room table.

August-September
We sprinted to do a bunch of work in our basement in August and September in order to qualify for the most possible energy retrofit grants. This included replacing the drains, moving our appliances and gas lines, removing extra concrete and dirt, installing weeping tile and gravel, installing a new concrete floor, installing four new windows, and framing and insulating the exterior walls.

October-December
Other than getting our water supply line replaced, we have pretty much taken the last three months off from renovations.

The last few months have been a nice break, but we are ready to get back at it as we have a huge to do list for 2011. Happy new year!

Back to Work

2010-12-23T22:47:00.005-05:00

We have been on an extended break from renovations since September, hence the lack of blog posts. However, that is about to change as we are about to begin (or continue) finishing our basement. It will be a slow moving project due to commitments at work and home, but we plan to have the basement finished by the end of April. Other than some final measurements, we have pretty much decided on the final layout, so that is a good first step.

Water Supply Line Replaced

2010-12-21T20:16:00.004-05:00

We learned in October that the lead concentration in our tap water was higher than it should be. After waiting about seven weeks, the contractor arrived last week to replace our water supply line. We got a quote from the City's contractor to do our side of the line at the same time, and decided to go ahead with that quote ($2000+tax). It was a bit more than quotes we received from other plumbers in the summer, but the added money was worth it to not have to deal with a second contractor and to have a contractor that has been vetted by the City. We took a couple of photos of the work in progress, which shows the holes underneath our front lawn and the sidewalk.

Our new water line looks very nice and clean, especially compared to our old line. You can see the difference in the thickness of the 3/4" pipe where it connects to the 1/2" pipe near the top of the photo. We have already noticed an increase in the water pressure, but that increase will be much more significant once we carry the 3/4" pipe through to the main branches of piping in our house. As you can see, we are also now metered, so we will have to wait and see how that affects our water bills in the future.

Inspiration for Wall of Sliding Doors

2010-10-29T06:56:00.003-04:00

While it is not yet finalized, it looks like our basement plan will involve having a wall of sliding doors blocking view of the appliances. I think this wall of doors, at about 20 feet long, could make a great focal point. I doubt we will find any (cheap) off-the-shelf solution for this space, so I have been thinking about creative ways to make this a great feature of our basement.

One idea I had was inspired by the Five Doors North restaurant located on Yonge Street not far from our house. I think an eclectic collection of doors painted in different colours would look great, but would it be possible to build this into the rest of the basement design? Would it be too clown/kid looking?

Source: Flickr

We could keep with the same door theme, but paint them a more muted colour (shades of gray?). Mirror doors are another thought, and they would probably make the basement seem bigger, but I worry about them getting broken by toys, or constantly being covered in kid hand prints. This is probably something that I will make myself, preferably using reclaimed materials, so the options are almost endless.

Source: Logan Square Kitchen

Source: Spazzi

Source: Gliding Door Company

Source: Momento Italia

Lead Testing Results

2010-10-28T06:59:00.003-04:00

We have replaced all plumbing supply lines inside our house, but were concerned that there is lead in the supply line from the City, so last month we submitted a water sample to Toronto Public Health for testing. We received the results earlier this week, and the lead level in the sample was 32 parts per billion. This is not good, so we need to be careful to use filtered water for our drinking water until the supply line is replaced (we have been pretty good about doing this already, but not perfect). I thought I would do some research to see how this 32 ppb value stacks up:

1 ppb: Typical lead concentration for water leaving a Toronto water treatment plant
10 ppb: Maximum lead concentration for drinking water in Canada (consistent with WHO and USA)
15 ppb: EPA action level for lead concentration in drinking water
32 ppb: Our unfiltered tap water
50 ppb: Pre-1992 maximum lead concentration for drinking water in Canada

I am very disappointed in myself for not getting our water tested when we first bought the house. If you have an older home (lead piping was used until the 1950s, and lead solder was common until the 1980s), I strongly recommend you get your water tested.

The good news: this means that our supply line will be replaced (and upgraded to 3/4" copper) by the City on a priority basis; the work will be completed in the next 6-8 weeks, as opposed to the previous schedule of "sometime in the next 9 years".

Basement Layout Version 7

2010-10-26T22:03:00.002-04:00

We are now on our seventh version of the layout for the basement, and I think we are getting close. We have brought back the large bedroom from our first layouts, as we decided this is important to us. However, we still kept some of the open space from our most recent layout by not creating a laundry/furnace room. This new layout includes a wash basin beside the washer, a linen closet in the bathroom, built-in wardrobes in the bedroom, and storage underneath the stairs. We still do not have a place for a freezer; the most likely spot is beside the water heater, but we would kind of like to keep that little nook for toys. Almost there!

Bowling Alley Furniture

2010-10-18T18:46:00.000-04:00

I occasionally search for "reclaimed" wood and materials for inspiration for our upcoming projects, and have noticed listings on craigslist and kijiji for reclaimed wood from bowling alleys. I would love to use planks of bowling alley wood for the sliding doors in our basement, but 3" thick slabs of pine/maple would make for VERY heavy doors. So ... I dream.

Source: inhabitat

Source: Retro Renovation

Source: Design Crave

Source: counterevolution

Blog Action Day - Water

2010-10-15T16:06:00.006-04:00

Our neighbour posted about Blog Action Day, which intends to unite the world's bloggers in posting about the same issue. The issue for 2010 is water.

She posted this great video that highlights the many faults of bottled water. Additional information can be found at Inside the Bottle. The City of Toronto has banned the sale of plastic water bottles on municipal premises starting in 2011 (similar bans have been passed/implemented for other cities and university campuses).

We recently submitted a sample of our water to be tested for lead, as I am concerned that the supply line from the city to our property line has never been replaced (we have replaced all supply lines inside the house). Aside from that concern, it is my understanding that tap water in our city is as good or better than bottled water in every way. Tap water is better regulated, MUCH better for the environment, and MUCH cheaper (our house is not metered, so I could argue that our tap water is free). We do not keep bottled water in the home; we use a quality filter in our fridge for all drinking water.

Some other notes with a more global perspective:

It takes 6.3 gallons of water to produce just one hamburger.
The average American uses 159 gallons of water every day – more than 15 times the average person in the developing world.
Every day, women and children in Africa walk a combined total of 109 million hours to get water.
Unsafe drinking water and lack of sanitation kills more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.

Ice Dam Refresher

2010-10-12T07:15:00.000-04:00

The Green Building Advisor recently released a helpful article on ice dams. Ice dams are caused by the combination of 1) a sub-freezing outdoor temperature, 2) snow on the roof, and 3) a roof/attic that is above freezing. With this combination, the heat from the living space escapes out through the attic, melting the snow, which then runs down and re-freezes at the edge of the roof. This can cause damage to gutters and shingles, and can cause water leakage into the wall underneath the bottom edge of the roof. This image from the CMHC website illustrates the problem well.

How do you prevent ice dams?

Seal air leaks in your attic.
Increase your attic insulation (this depends on your climate zone, but for us the target is R-50).
Improve ventilation between the insulation and roof sheathing.
Cover the roof sheathing (i.e. underneath shingles) with rubberized membrane underlayment.

It is important to note that the first two steps (air sealing and insulation) will also help with the energy efficiency of your home. The third step (ventilation) might help with ice damming if your air sealing and insulation is not sufficient. The fourth step (ice and water shield) will do nothing to prevent ice damming, but will help to prevent water leakage caused by the ice dam.

If none of these options are available to you at this time, you can attach electrical cables to melt the snow/ice on the bottom portion of the roof, or use salt (which would need to be regularly replenished) to melt ice dams.

New Basement Layout?

2010-10-10T22:04:00.003-04:00

We have revisited the basement layout again. Here is the layout that we have been bouncing around for the last year or so.

We were looking at photos of basements from similar houses last week, and found that the basements with open layouts seemed much more spacious and flexible. So, we completely changed the layout (see below ... the light gray areas show where we have bulkheads for beams/ductwork).

We removed the wall separating the bedroom and family room. We will probably put the "family room" at the back of the house, and we will get a comfy pull-out couch that guests can use when staying with us.
We have changed the front of the house into a play area (i.e. play table, toys, toys, toys).
We removed the laundry/furnace room, and are planning to hide those appliances with a series of sliding doors instead.
In order to help with storage, we have added a linen closet in the bathroom, and some built-in wardrobes in the front of the house.
The area underneath the stairs will be 1) left open, 2) used for storage, or 3) used for a playhouse.

Any thoughts? Recommendations?

Transparent Toaster

2010-10-09T19:50:00.005-04:00

If you don't think this is cool, maybe you're more of a RollerToaster person.

Leaning Mirrors

2010-10-09T02:42:00.009-04:00

Young House Love is currenty featuring a house that has two tall leaning mirrors made out of old doors.

I love the look of huge mirrors, especially those that are made out of some sort of reclaimed materials (shout out to the mirror we made earlier this year). I had not really considered having a leaning mirror in our house because of the little one, but I guess it could work if it was installed safely (i.e. not tippable). Maybe we can work it into our basement or mudroom renovations?

Source: House and Home

Source: Oliver Yaphe

Source: This Next

Source: Costco

Circular Saw Pizza Slicer

2010-10-07T07:23:00.002-04:00

How great is this pizza slicer? It is called the Pizza Boss.

What To Do Underneath the Stairs?

2010-10-04T18:53:00.002-04:00

We have been discussing the basement layout lately, and one topic under discussion is the space underneath the stairs. I do not have a decent pic of our stairs as they are today, but they are just a basic straight set of stairs up one wall with a landing half way up (exit to the outside). The stairs will need to be rebuilt as part of our basement renovation, and our plan to date has been to drywall underneath the stairs and use that space as storage. Here is an example I found online of something similar:

We could also do some kind of more functional storage by installing large sliding drawers, like this project.

We are currently considering keeping the space underneath the stairs open. The primary goal would be to make the basement look bigger, but could there be a use for this space? I like the look of open risers, but those are not very safe for kids, so we plan to stay with standard risers. The folks at 8 foot 6 have a nice little workspace underneath their stairs, but that wouldn't work well with our ceiling height and landing location.

Our space would be more suited for kids, since the height underneath the stairs is too low for adults. So, should we store toys underneath there? Maybe have a little play kitchen or something? Do you know what I really want to do with the space? Build a playhouse under there! This does not help with the lack of storage in our house and it does not make the basement space seem larger, but it would be pretty darn cute.

I Love Boathouses

2010-10-03T01:13:00.007-04:00

We boated by this boathouse in progress today at the cottage.

How great would it be to work on a boathouse project? I wish.

Decorating to Increase Visual Space

2010-09-28T06:22:00.002-04:00

With the basement finishing project approaching quickly, I have been searching for ideas to make the basement seem bigger and taller. With three relatively small rooms (family room, bedroom, bathroom) and a short ceiling (6'9"), it would be nice if we could maximize the visual size of the space. Here are some ideas I have found:

1) Flatten the Ceiling - We will remove as many bulkheads as possible, and move the remaining bulkheads to the walls where possible. We will use pot lights throughout the basement, and probably hang the bathroom vanity lights on the wall on both sides of the mirror. We obviously will not install crown moulding. I have read differing opinions for the ceiling paint (i.e. matte versus glossy), so will probably just stick with matte there.

2) Light Colours - We will probably use light/bright colours throughout the basement.

3) Vertical Stripes - We really are not stripe people or wallpaper people, but I have seen some rooms with stripes that look pretty good. This might work for us, but I'm not totally sold that it would help with visual height of the ceiling.

Source: The Lennox

Source: Domino Mag

4) High Wainscoting - I would like to use wainscoting in the basement bathroom, so we may do tall (i.e. higher than chair rail) wainscotting as part of a white bathroom.

Source: Hampton Design via Rambling Renovators

5) Ensuite Bathroom - We had planned to make the bathroom accessible through the bedroom for space reasons, but we are now thinking of using this "ensuite" concept to add space to the rooms as well. By coordinating colours (same colour for walls?) and cabinetry (matching built-in bedroom wardrobes to bathroom vanity?), we hope to make the two rooms blend into one. I hope to even have a double-door entry into the bathroom, but space constraints may not allow this.

6) Add Height to Windows - Our basement windows are quite large, and we actually increased the height of two windows while replacing them. We might try to enhance this further with window treatments.

7) Tall Furniture - The built-in wardrobes in the bedroom will be floor-to-ceiling with narrow doors. We will also lean towards thin, tall furniture when looking for a media unit for the family room, dresser for the bedroom, etc.

Any other ideas? Any thoughts on what is truly effective in making a ceiling look taller (#1 goal) and space feel bigger (#2 goal)?

EnerGuide Rating

2010-09-21T20:44:00.001-04:00

We received a new energy efficiency rating of 70 for our house. The rating was 49 prior to our recent improvements, and that number was given to us after we installed spray foam insulation to go from R0 to R20 on our first and second floor walls, so the original number for our house would have been even lower than that.

For perspective, here are the ratings provided online for various types of houses:

New house built to building code standards: 65-72
New house with some energy-efficiency improvements: 73-79
Energy-efficient new house: 80-90
House requiring little or no purchased energy: 91-100

We plan to make some more improvements to our home that should help with energy efficiency (i.e. vapour barrier and drywall in basement and sunroom, new front and side doors), so in the end our house should be somewhere in the mid-70s according to this scale (the target number for our style of house is 74).

Mudroom Inpiration

2010-09-21T07:04:00.006-04:00

We plan to turn our sunroom into a mudroom some day, and I have been browsing for inspiration photos since Meredith sent me one last week. This photo is probably closest to what I have been imagining, with some tall cabinetry (with doors) to store brooms and other messy stuff, as well as a bench, hooks and cubbies to store cute little boots, coats and mittens.

Source: http://stephenjmurphyinc.com.

I love the dark stained bench seats and change in bench heights in this room. We will only have about 7' to work with (our sunroom is about 10' long, but the 3' door needs to open on one end), so we do not have this much space to work with.

Source: http://thegatheringplacedesign.blogspot.com

This space has a nice clean look, but I think we need more storage than this (i.e. cubbies above the hooks). I think it would be great if we could make it so that shoes/boots can just slide underneath the bench. We have hardwood floors though, so winter boots might be an issue (but they would be an issue for cubbies too, right?).

Source: http://blog.connorbuilding.com

V-groove panelling appears to be popular in mudrooms (see Chris K's current project for another example). I think the door is my favourite part of this room though.

Source: http://www.benchmarkcustominteriors.com

I saved this photo over two years ago and still like the look, but the dividers between the "lockers" would reduce the size of the space a bit, and the wood for the cubbies could be a bit thicker.

Source: http://integritycustom.blogspot.com

Sidenote: I love this last guy's work (wish he posted to his blog more); the bay window seat from this blog also served as inspiration for the back portion of Mackenzie's window seat (there is additional storage underneath the bench behind the cubbies).

Cost for New Drains and Basement Floor

2010-09-14T21:12:00.000-04:00

I always find it interesting to learn how much renovations cost, so I thought I would share some information about the estimates/costs for the work in our basement. We got a ton of quotes for a variety of different work, so here is a quick overview of some of the quotes from the most expensive to the least. All prices are in Canadian dollars and include taxes if applicable. For reference, our basement is 600 square feet.

$54,000 - A general contractor provided this quote for breaking up the floor, underpinning, replacing the drains (including new bathroom), installing interior waterproofing, and pouring a new floor.
$38,000 - A drain/concrete/underpinning specialist provided this quote for the same work described above. This contractor actually seemed much more knowledgeable and experienced with this type of work.
$14,500 - A waterproofing company quoted this for breaking up the floor, installing interior waterproofing, and pouring a new floor (i.e. no drain work).
$8,800 - A general contractor quoted this for replacing the drains, installing interior waterproofing, and pouring a new floor (i.e. we break up floor).
$6,800 - A concrete guy quoted this for breaking up the concrete floor, removing the necessary depth of dirt, and pouring a new concrete floor (i.e. no drain work or internal waterproofing).
$5,600 - Six months later, the same concrete guy provided this quote to just lay gravel and pour a new concrete floor, so apparently breaking up the floor and removing the dirt was only worth $1,200.
$3,800 - Quote provided by general contractor from the third bullet for just laying gravel and pouring a new concrete floor. This means that $5,000 of his $8,800 price above was for the drains and internal waterproofing.
$2,600 - Price to get the plumber to do all drain work (i.e. replace old drains, rough-in the basement bathroom).
$1,400 - Price to get concrete finisher to pour a new concrete floor (i.e. we do gravel work).

So, how much did we spend? Well, we decided pretty quickly that underpinning was not an option for us, as we simply could not afford it and were not confident that the ROI was there for our house. We got multiple quotes because we really wanted to hire a contractor to do most of this work (i.e. tight timeline, busy schedule with work and baby, etc). However, the more quotes we got, the more I realized that I would feel better doing some of the work myself. Here is the breakdown of our costs (and very conservative estimates of my time):

Breaking up and removing concrete floor: $300 for dumpster, 10 hours of labour
Removing dirt: $300 for dumpster, 20 hours of labour
Drains: $2,600 for plumber, 0 hours of labour
Waterproofing: $250 for materials, 10 hours of labour
Gravel: $460 for 8 yards, 6 hours of labour
Concrete floor: $525 for concrete, $1400 for finishers, 0 hours of labour
Total: $5,835, 46 hours of labour

Obviously, this is just to do the drains and the new basement floor -- there is a heck of a lot more to be done to finish the basement. Looking back, the $8,800 and $6,800 quotes seem reasonable, but still would have required some additional work by us or another contractor. Overall, I am happy with the decisions we made regarding the use of contractors.

Basement Phase 5: Framing and Insulation

2010-09-12T23:20:00.013-04:00

The new concrete floor was poured on Saturday morning of the long weekend, so I rested for most of that day while the concrete dried. The concrete process went as you would expect: one guy using a wheelbarrow to transport concrete from the truck into the chute, and three guys in the basement distributing and leveling the concrete.

Prior to framing and insulating the basement, I had a number of other tasks that needed to be completed. This included removing some old plumbing/electrical from the laundry machines, running the plumbing stack to the future first floor washroom, and running the new duct for the dryer. The biggest task was installing three basement windows, as well as a window to replace the milk box beside the side door.

I then proceeded to frame the three exterior walls. This was not very difficult, but it was time-consuming because I had to work around ductwork and other obstacles. I then insulated those walls by installing two layers of R14 batt insulation; the first layer was placed horizontally behind the studs, and then the second layer was placed vertically inside the studs. Because of space constraints, the wall beside the stairs was only insulated with a single layer of R5 styrofoam insulation.

We have since hooked up the washer and dryer, so for now the basement is essentially a huge laundry room. We will probably take it slow for the next few weeks, and then start working towards finishing the basement.

Basement Phase 4: Weeping Tile and Gravel

2010-09-11T20:07:00.015-04:00

We decided to waterproof the inside of the basement. The exterior of the house was already waterproofed on the back and side, but the front of the house was somewhat damp, so we decided it was better to be safe than sorry and just do the whole thing. With the basement floor removed and drains exposed, this only took an additional 8-10 hours and cost an additional $250. This involved digging a 12"x12" trench around the perimeter of the basement about 12" from the foundation, installing 4" weeping tile, backfilling with 3/4" gravel, and then covering the trench and foundation wall up to grade with waterproofing membrane. Sorry for the lack of photos.

After the waterproofing membrane was installed, we laid a 4" layer of 3/4" gravel throughout the basement as a base for the concrete. Most concrete contractors quoted a price to lay both the gravel and concrete, but we went with a concrete finisher that we paid to do just the concrete portion. We bought the materials ourselves (8 yards of gravel and 5 yards of concrete), laid the gravel ourselves, and paid him directly for the concrete labour. This saved us about $1700 off of the lowest quote we got for a contractor who would do it all -- a pretty good decision considering it took less than six hours to move the gravel into the basement and distribute it across the floor.

This photo shows the first four yards of gravel after pouring it in the window.

Buckets of gravel are actually kind of light after carrying buckets of dirt.

The following photos show the basement pretty much ready for new concrete. Meredith and Mackenzie went out of town for the long weekend, leaving me with three days to lay the new concrete floor (well ... watch contractors do that part), install five new windows, frame the exterior walls, and insulate the walls and headers.

Basement Phase 3: Concrete and Dirt Removal

2010-09-10T18:52:00.004-04:00

Remember that big pile of concrete we had in our basement? Meredith and her niece helped me move it out of the basement and into a bin. I then broke up the rest of the floor and carried it out into the bin.

Our house has double brick walls, so the walls of the basement and first floor are two bricks wide. The footing consists of two rows of bricks, with the top row being four bricks wide and the bottom row being six bricks wide. After removing the concrete floor, we discovered that the footing was completely missing in one area. It appears that these bricks were removed when the drains under the front yard were replaced (not by us!), but luckily the area was small and it did not affect the overlying bricks at all. I fixed this little problem by pouring concrete to replace the bottom row of bricks, and replacing the missing bricks on the top row of the footing. Problem solved.

I do not have any photos of the most grueling part of the entire project. The concrete floor that we removed was 2" thick, and the new floor is 7" thick (4" of gravel, 3" of concrete), so we needed to remove about 8" of soil from the entire basement just to gain about 2" of ceiling height. This required digging the dirt into buckets, carrying the buckets up the stairs, and pouring the dirt into a dumpster. That does not sound like a big deal, but those buckets get heavy after a while (a good contractor would likely use a conveyor system), and we had to remove roughly 10 cubic yards of dirt from the basement. I was extremely exhausted after finishing about half of the basement, so my brother came down for a couple of days to help and we finally got it done.

Basement Phase 2: Appliances and Gas Lines

2010-09-09T20:53:00.014-04:00

The next step in our basement project was to move the washer, dryer and water heater onto a slab of concrete around the furnace. These appliances would remain in these locations permanently (as part of a furnace and laundry room). Since we are living in the house during the basement renovation, finishing this area now would allow us to avoid going without these appliances for an extended period of time.

The first step was to install a 4'x12' concrete slab surrounding the furnace. I set up forms in the dirt at the expected height of the finished floor, filled with 4" of gravel, and then finished with 3" of concrete.

We decided to replace our old rental water heater with an owned gas water heater. Not only would the gas water heater be more efficient, it would provide us with a much more consistent supply of hot water (our old electric water heater took hours to heat the tank once drained of hot water). We went with a power vented water heater because a chimney guy told us that it would not be wise to disturb/remove the old liner from the oil furnace that is in the chimney flue. My buddy Ox installed the new water heater for us in its new place beside the furnace. The old water heater was removed from its old location (the middle of the basement) and returned to Direct Energy.

In addition to installing the water heater, Ox completely re-installed the gas lines in our house. This was done 1) to get the gas lines out from underneath the joists to avoid bulkheads, 2) to replace some couplings that were not up to code, and 3) to eliminate the need for flexible copper.

I then framed some studs (for strapping plumbing, installing electrical, hanging shelves, etc) on the other side of the concrete slab, and we moved the washer and dryer onto that space.

Basement Phase 1: Drain Replacement

2010-09-09T20:30:00.008-04:00

The first step in finishing our basement was to replace the drains underneath the basement floor. We have not had any problems with the drains, but we figured it would be smart to replace them now and avoid a mess in the future. I broke up the concrete floor on the half of the basement that has the drains, and then dug down in the dirt to reveal the old drains. We quickly learned that the drain line from the house to the street (i.e. under the front lawn) had been replaced by the previous owner (bonus!) and that we had no signs of tree roots in the drains under the house (double bonus!).

We hired a plumber that I had worked with previously to replace the drain lines for us. I probably could have done this work myself, but we were in a crunch for time and I did not want to mess something up and realize this after it was covered with new concrete. He basically just replaced the old clay drains with PVC, as no major changes in layout/slope were required. He also roughed in the basement toilet and shower, as well as a stack at the back of the house that we will tie into for the future first floor washroom.

At this point, we just piled all of the concrete and pipes into a huge pile in the corner. Breaking up the concrete was no big deal because it was thin and mostly mortar. Removing the soil was much more difficult, as I dug it into buckets, carried it up the stairs, and piled it underneath our front porch (we had some grading issues under there that we wanted to solve).

Energy Audit Complete

2010-09-07T06:29:00.001-04:00

Our follow-up energy audit was completed yesterday, which is a big relief. We worked hard during the last six weeks and managed to finish everything on our "to do" list. Sorry for not posting information as we worked, but it was an exhausting month and I just didn't have the energy to keep up with photos/posts when there was so much work to be done. I'll post a few summaries of the work over the next week.

Here is a rundown of the energy audit rebates we hope to get:

Furnace and A/C unit - Completed 18 months ago.
Improve attic insulation from R0 to R50 - We hired Tropical Insulation to do this for us.
Insulate basement walls - Completed last weekend. We did R28 on most of the walls and R5 beside the stairs (space constraints), plus our house is a semi, so I'm not sure how much we'll get here, but hopefully at least 60% of the maximum rebate.
Insulate basement headers - Completed last weekend to R28.
Window replacements - Replaced three basement windows (one not installed yet, so we didn't get all four) and two first floor windows.
Air seal improvements - Not sure if we'll get this, but hopefully the above improvements will help.

We will have to wait to find out our exact rebate, but it should be around $5000, which will pay for a good portion of the work we have done in the basement thus far. Our biggest mistake was not doing the initial energy audit before insulating our exterior walls, as this would have resulted in another $3000 in rebates.

Overloaded Car Fail

2010-08-26T00:03:00.006-04:00

I was at Home Depot a few weeks ago and watched two guys load three carts full of lumber (enough for an entire deck) onto the back of their pickup truck. I am pretty sure it was a half ton truck, and the wood probably weighed close to two tonnes. It was obviously overloaded, but they made it out of the parking lot ... unlike these guys:

Our SUV can safely carry a load (people + cargo) of 1200 lbs, which isn't that much when you consider the weight of lumber, concrete, etc. It works well for most small projects, but I have learned that it is best just to get large quantities delivered. Most lumber yards will deliver for free, but even the $75 or so Lowe's charges is worth it in my opinion.

The Clock is Ticking

2010-07-26T07:07:00.000-04:00

We have been procrastinating big time on the tasks that need to be completed in order for us to maximize our ecoEnergy rebates. We have a long to-do list, and a little over six weeks until we need to conduct the follow-up audit (must be done within 18 months of initial audit).

Insulate attic - We currently have R0 (yes, that is a zero), so we should have done this a long time ago, but somehow it just never topped the task list. We have scheduled a contractor to install cellulose insulation to R50 later this week, as this is actually cheaper than doing it ourselves (amazing, eh?).
Replace water heater - We currently rent an old, crappy electric water heater, and will be moving to a high-efficiency gas water heater. In order to direct vent up the chimney, we also need to have a new liner installed, but if that is not possible we will power vent instead.
Replace four basement windows - We ordered replacement slider windows yesterday. Two of the windows will be slightly larger than the originals, which will add more light into the basement. We do not need to add an egress window in our basement since we have a direct exit through the side door, and our basement windows are quite large so they easily exceed light/ventilation requirements. We also plan to replace the old milk drop box with a fixed window, which should add a little bit of light into the stairwell down to the basement.
Insulate the basement walls and headers - This does not seem like a very tall order, but prior to insulating, we need to break up the basement floor, re-do the drains underneath the house, upgrade the supply line, pour a new basement floor, and frame the exterior walls.

Sooooo, August should be a busy month at our house, especially considering we plan to spend some time in cottage country and I do not want to "waste" any vacation time on renovation projects. Can we get it done? I hope so.

Loving Our New Table

2010-07-09T20:37:00.011-04:00

Our new dining room table from Wood'N'Water arrived today and we love it. The size and style of the table fits the house well and the quality of the craftsmanship is incredible. It is difficult to see in the photos (the last photo kind of shows it), but all of the pieces are covered in saw marks that make the piece very unique and will hopefully help hide little dings over the years; the dark walnut stain compliments the hardwood floors and kitchen cabinets well. There are also two leaves that we can add for larger meals, extending the table to seat 10+ people. The bench is especially cute and will be great for kiddos; I did not get a great photo of it because this furniture is heavy and I did not want to pull it out, but it's basically a mini version of the table. We will take more photos some day once we finish off the dining room (baseboards ... ugh).

Reclaimed Muskoka Chairs

2010-07-07T21:41:00.006-04:00

While walking to get coffee last week, we found these two chairs put out on the street by one of our neighbours. They were obviously in bad shape, but I thought they were worth salvaging for our backyard.

The main problems with the chairs were that 1) the finish was badly worn, 2) the screws used to assemble the chairs were not suitable for exterior use, and 3) a few pieces of wood were cracked or broken. I basically removed each piece of wood, sanded it roughly with 80 grit sandpaper (just to remove old finish), and then re-installed it with exterior grade screws. I also used longer screws, added additional screws, and/or added additional support in a few places that needed to be strengthened (primarily the arms).

My brother then cut, sanded and routed four replacement pieces out of some spare oak we had lying around. The oak is much harder than the existing wood (pine I believe) and stands out, but it was free and will work fine. To protect the chairs, I then applied some Cabot Clear Cedar stain that we had lying around from when we stained the cedar shingles. Eventually, we will paint both chairs brown or white ... or maybe a more creative colour? For now though, they should be great as a comfortable spot to sit in the back of the yard by the garden.

Oh ya ... and while shopping for hydrangeas last weekend, we saw these EXACT chairs for sale for $220 each. I realize that ours aren't new, but they are very solid now and will look pretty darn new once they are painted. This project cost us about $6 for a box of exterior screws.

More Backyard Photos

2010-07-07T21:17:00.005-04:00

I took some more photos of the backyard after the improvements we made during the G20 and Canada Day long weekends. After removing much of the overgrown garden and installing a new lawn, my brother helped me to install some new back steps, a bench seat, and a fence along the driveway. We may still add a small patio at the bottom of the steps, but we want to find the right patio set first. The main goal for this year was to give us a backyard space that our whole family can enjoy (especially baby and dog), and I think we have done that. Next year we will embark on a more ambitious project that will likely include a garage renovation, a new deck and/or patio, and a lot of new fencing.

New Lawn!

2010-06-27T00:44:00.009-04:00

We spent the last 2-3 days transforming the backyard from an unusable (pretty much) space full of weeds into a great space for Mackenzie and Owen to play. We did not take many before photos, but previously our backyard was surrounded by a large garden, so our task was to remove 80+% of the garden, and then re-sod the entire backyard. I would estimate that we went from having 750 square feet of garden to about 140 square feet.

Our first task was to re-build the back steps, install the framing for the temporary fence, and move the A/C unit to the side of the sunroom. My brother and Mom then helped me to remove some overgrown bushes at the back of the yard, clear out bags (and bags!) of weeds, transplant dozens (and dozens!) of plants to the new garden areas at the back of the yard. We then tilled the entire yard and installed sod.

I will post more photos once the fence and steps are finished. We still plan to do more work in the backyard, including a deck and/or patio, as well as removal or renovation of the garage, but those things may not come until next summer.

Bathroom Hook Finally Installed

2010-06-20T22:21:00.005-04:00

We bought this hook when we were finishing our bathroom well over a year ago. Since the recessed panel in the bathroom door is less than 1/2" thick, I tried to secure the hook using construction adhesive (as opposed to screws). This did not work at all, so the hook has just been sitting around for months. I finally attached it today using stove bolts.

In order to cover the bolts/nuts on the outside of the door, I then installed this cute ceramic "bath" sign, which was inspired in part by this water closet sign I had seen at Just Beachy.

One thing off of the "to do" list.

Revised Plan for Backyard

2010-06-18T06:08:00.001-04:00

We have decided to hold off on the deck and fence project for now. We are going to re-visit the plans over the next few months and decide how to proceed. We may even keep the existing garage and fix it up a bit ... we'll see.

Given this latest turn of events, we have decided to embark on a small project to fix up our current backyard and make it more enjoyable for the whole family. This will include:
- Installing a temporary fence from the sunroom to the garage, thereby providing a fenced yard for our dog Owen.
- Installing a small pavestone patio (using stones we already have laying around) behind the sunroom.
- Moving the air conditioning unit to the side of the sunroom (we had moved it to behind the sunroom in anticipation of the deck installation).
- Removing 75% of the garden in our backyard; some plants will be transplanted to the front garden, while many will be given away to family/friends.
- Tilling the old garden and weed-infested yard.
- Installing new sod throughout the backyard.

Hopefully it doesn't rain too much over the next week; we need to save that rain for after the sod is installed.

Par-Tae!

2010-06-13T17:12:00.006-04:00

Mackenzie had her 1st birthday party on Saturday with all of her family in attendance! It was a special day even if it was a little packed in our house... the deck and basement can't come soon enough! Turns out that it totally didn't matter as Mackenzie loved the chaos and excitement... what a party girl!

From the Garden

2010-06-13T14:09:00.001-04:00

Four Weeks to a New Backyard

2010-06-11T11:24:00.006-04:00

We are hosting a baby shower on July 11, so this has provided us with additional motivation to get the backyard done ASAP. The backyard has been on our "to do" list for some time, and we wanted to get it done last year, but it just never happened. The baby shower (and some of the beautiful weather we have had this spring) made the backyard jump past the basement in terms of priority, so four weeks from today we hope to have the deck and fence complete.

Provided below are some sketch-ups (this is more for the layout than the design). As you can see, we plan to tear down the garage, but will continue parking one car in the backyard (we will build a shed in the back of the yard at some point). We also plan to have some built-in storage for the garbage and recycling bins underneath the side of the deck. Other than that, it is a pretty simple design where we just tried to make the most of the space.

Here are the numbers with our current plan:
- 153 linear feet of new fencing
- 32 linear feet of railing
- 308 square feet of decking

We still have a lot of planning to do, including some decisions that we may post for our readers:
- The biggest decision we are trying to tackle is what materials to use. We do not want pressure-treated wood for the deck because of the chemicals. Right now we are deciding between either all cedar (i.e. expensive) or a cedar deck/railing and a pressure-treated fence. Composite is also being explored with contractors.
- We still need to confirm some details of the plans with our neighbours.
- We have not yet decided whether to hire contractors or do this ourselves. We are planning for the DIY route while simultaneously getting quotes from four contractors. The first quote we got was outrageous (i.e. 4-5 times the cost of DIY), but the second quote should arrive today and seems like it will be more reasonable. The DIY route will require taking some vacation time from work.

Waiting for a Table

2010-06-04T06:52:00.002-04:00

We ordered a dining room table a few weeks ago, but will have to wait another month for it to arrive. We searched around quite a bit and did not find anything we liked at the usual furniture depots. Finally, we found a great handcrafted table at a mennonite furniture store in London. The table is more "rustic" than any other table we looked at, but we both liked it a lot, it is quite original, and it should blend well with the craftsman features of our house.

Here is a preview photo, but this does not really do it justice. The table will be made out of wormy maple with a dark walnut finish, and the surface of the table will have saw marks in it. We also ordered four chairs, as well as a bench (in lieu of two more chairs) that has a turnbuckle and chunky wood style similar to the table.

The Reno Turns 2, The Girl Turns 1!

2010-06-02T19:32:00.003-04:00

The countdown is on until Mackenzie turns the big O-N-E...

Well Hello, It's Been a While....

2010-05-31T16:35:00.006-04:00

Blogging has been non-existant for the last month plus but life sure hasn't been! We've both been busy working full time and then finding time for everything else so blogging has gotten the shelf. That is not to say that things haven't bee getting done though... Andrew worked hard to get the main floor trim sanded, primed, painted and installed (halfway there) and Mackenzie worked hard supervising.

Living Room Cabinets Re-Finished

2010-04-22T20:12:00.006-04:00

We are finally done re-finishing the built-in cabinets in our living room. It really was not a big project, but with a baby and work commitments, it seemed to take weeks. The original cabinets (shown below) were in good shape, but the back walls of the cabinets needed a refresh, we wanted to get rid of the orange tone of the stain, and we wanted to get rid of the wooden shelves.

We already told you how we re-stained the cabinets and the doors. We also removed the old wallpaper and painted the back walls of the cabinets. We then ordered glass shelves and installed them to replace the old wooden shelves. We then re-installed the re-finished doors.

I think the finished product looks great, and some day we will fill those shelves with nice things (I don't know if we have any? haha). We still need to install baseboards, re-paint the room, and re-face the brick fireplace, and then we can take a true "after photo" of the living room.

Staining the Cabinet Doors

2010-04-18T11:08:00.006-04:00

We have been slowly making progress on refinishing the built-in cabinets in the living room. I decided to dis-assemble the doors to refinish them, as I did not want to accidentally break the leaded glass during sanding. It took about 10 minutes to dis-assemble the four doors.

I then sanded (60, 80 and 120 grit), stained (oil-based) and finished (oil-based semi-gloss polyurethane) the wood pieces, which took about five hours spread out over four nights. The sanding was a bit faster with everything disassembled, and I did not have to tape off the glass when applying the stain/polyurethane. Once everything was dry, I re-assembled the cabinets with 18 gauge 3/4" finish nails, and filled the nail holes with wood putty to match the stain. This re-assembly process took about one televised hockey game (translation: 2.5 hours), including cleaning both sides of the glass.

All four doors are now waiting patiently to be re-installed.

The Real Castlefield

2010-04-16T20:41:00.006-04:00

We live on Castlefield Avenue, hence the clever name of our blog. I stumbled on a brief history of our street months ago, and did a little more research earlier this week, so I thought I would share.

James Hervey Price was one of the leading pioneers of North Toronto, opening up the first law offices in what is now Toronto. He owned two large tracts of land, including one that ran through from Yonge Street to Bathurst Street. Around 1830, he built a large estate on this land called "Castlefield" (see undated photo below). Price then loaned large sums of money to William Lyon Mackenzie (Toronto's first mayor) during the Upper Canada rebellion, forcing him to sell Castlefield in 1842. Castlefield was sold again for $16,000 in 1883, was torn down in 1918, and is now the site of Castlefield Community Church. There is quite a bit of Toronto history linked to Castlefield (e.g. Mackenzie actually hid from government troops in a large cradle in Castlefield, protected by a cook with a rolling pin daring the troops to "wake the baby"), but I won't get too long-winded as this isn't really a history blog. And that is how our street got its name!

The source for most of this information was Tales of North Toronto, Volumes 1 & 2, by Lyman B. Jackes. Photo courtesy of Toronto Public Library.

Crawling Baby & Dogs

2010-04-06T06:44:00.001-04:00

With 2 big dogs and an avid 10 month old crawler, we're having some issues with where to keep our big water dish. It's a tempting mini-pool to Mackenzie... what to do what to do... help!

French Doors Installed

2010-04-03T20:24:00.014-04:00

We spent some time over the last week hanging the doors on the first floor. The plan is to hang the doors as they are right now (not painted), install and paint the trim around the doors, and then paint the doors after the trim is done. Here is a photo of the two doors to the kitchen. The door on the left was easy to frame, as the door frame was not removed during the demolition, so I just had to re-shim one side so that it would close smoothly. The door on the right was a bit more complicated; the kitchen cabinets were about 1/4" too close to the door, so we had to cut 1/2" off of the door, which meant everything had to be re-framed.

I thought I might show the step-by-step process for hanging the french doors between the living room and dining room. Obviously the process is much different (i.e. easier) with new, pre-hung doors, but we are trying to keep as many original details as possible, so we bought some oak french doors through craigslist (for $30!) and have hung them to the existing door frame.

The first step was to identify the hardware to be used to hang the doors. The hardware that came with the door was smaller than the stuff used in the rest of the house, so I removed it and got replacement hardware from other doors/frames sitting around the house.

Next up I had to mount the eight hinges: four on the door frames and two on each of the doors. I decided to keep the hinge locations in tact on the door frames, so I just needed to screw those hinges in place. I then lined up the door frames to the doors and marked the locations of the new hinge locations on each door. A wood chisel was then used to remove the wood where that hinge would go.

The top hinge was then secured to the door with three screws, while the bottom hinge was secured loosely with just one screw. This gives you a little bit of play when first hanging the door to the frame. You can bolt the top hinges together and then play with the bottom hinge a bit to line up the bottom hinges and bolt together; once everything is in place, I then secured the bottom hinge with three screws as well.

To hang the first door, I put the door frame (which has been ripped down to the right width and cut to the right length) up against the wall. I drill a pilot hole into the frame beside the top and bottom hinge; the frame is then secured to the stud with two finish nails. These two finish nails should be sufficient to support the door temporarily, so I then hang the door on the hinges (see above for two part process for that). I then open and close the door to make sure the height and angle are correct with the floor. Because the floors and walls are not exactly level in our old house, this is a critical step. When I initially hung the door, it was fine when closed, but would hit the floor when opened past half way. To adjust the height, I would un-hinge the door, remove the door frame from the stud, move it up 1/2" or so (whatever is necessary), and then secure it with two finish nails again. Once the correct height is reached, the door would be secured with two 3" screws that each go through one hole in the door frame hinge. I sometimes add additional screws through the door frame itself.

One door is now hung. I then measure how much space will be needed for the other door and door frame, and then build out the studs and shim accordingly. In this case, I built out almost 4" since the new doors are obviously about 4" skinnier than the doors that used to be in our house.

The second door was then hung using the same basic process described above. However, in this case, extra care was taken to shim the door frame appropriately so that the doors are not too far apart or close together. When I initially hung this second door, it was almost 1" lower than the other door, so I had to remove it, move the door frame up 1", and then re-hang it -- this is why it wais important to hang with two finish nails first and then move onto screws only once you know everything is in place.

Now that both doors were hung, the top piece of the door frame was cut to size and installed with a few finish nails on each side. You can see the 4" of space to the side of the door frame in this photo; we will need to drywall and paint this area since some of it will not be covered by trim.

And presto - we have french doors! They are horribly dirty in these pics, but fit well in the space and do not get in the way at all (we only wanted to add doors onto the first floor if they did not crowd the space). I think these will look great when they are painted white and our original trim is added back onto the door frame.

Stained Doors with White Trim?

2010-03-30T22:39:00.007-04:00

We have started working on the doors and trim for the first floor of the house (finally!), but we're not sure how to finish the doors. By the way, I love stained wood ... Meredith likes it and tolerates my love for it. We originally planned to re-stain all of the trim and doors throughout the first floor. At some point, we decided that we would stain the doors, but paint the trim white. We had seen this in a few places, including the house on King of Queens. Now we are re-thinking that plan and considering painting the doors white as well; this is primarily because we don't want the house getting too dark, and because painting is easier than staining.

Some additional considerations:

We have five interior doors on the first floor: two solid doors separating the kitchen from the basement and living room, two french doors separating the dining room and living room, one solid door for the first floor washroom.
Four of the five interior doors are currently stained, so they would just need to be sanded and re-stained if we go that route (the fifth will need to be stripped first).
Our current front door needs to be painted (the wood has been ruined by the dogs, so it would be difficult to make a stain finish look good), and we could go any route when we replace the door in the future. I love the black front door installed by the Rambling Renovators. The new exterior doors we installed in the sunroom are currently primed white, but still need to be painted, so we could go black with those as well. I imagine if we stain the interior doors, we would go black paint with the exterior doors. If we go white with the interior doors, we could do any colour we want with the exterior doors.

Any thoughts? What do you think about stained doors with white trim? Here are some pics of stained doors with white trim I found on the internet. The stain in the third photo is closest to the darkness of our stain.

Update: I was recently flipping through a book entitled Old House New Home: Stylish Modern Living in a Period Setting. It is a great book with ideas for decorating an older home, and is very helpful with these types of decisions regarding an older home.

Front Hall Before and "During"

2010-03-29T16:12:00.001-04:00

The front hall is not finished, as we still need to install the baseboards and paint everything (white on front door, baseboards and spindles; lighter colour on walls), and some day down the road we plan to replace the front door. However, I thought this would be a good chance to show the progress thus far. We didn't take the greatest before photos of the house, but here are a few pics of the front hall from the day we took possession. As you can see the front hall was an enclosed space separate from the living room and stairwell.

Here is a dusty pic of the front hall with the plaster removed. It was at this point that we knew the walls were not load-bearing and could be removed; once Meredith heard this, there was no stopping her from taking it down.

Here are a few pics of Meredith's parents, niece and nephew helping us take out the wall.

It's funny looking back at these photos because I remember giving Meredith a hard time that she was going to need to find a carpenter to finish the stairs because that was "beyond my skill level". After another year of renovating the house, I decided that I had developed the required skills to finish the stairs myself. Of course, along the way we also installed electrical, insulated the walls, installed drywall, primed/painted the walls, installed hardwood floors, and installed slate tile. Here are two pics of the front hall today, including the new mirror. Please ignore the ugly sheet covering the front door ... ugh ... we need to get some cheap blinds until the door is replaced.

Reclaimed Oak Mirror

2010-03-28T15:27:00.009-04:00

We got this old mirror from my Mom several months ago. We thought about re-painting some or all of the frame, but it just did not go with the rest of our house, so I have been thinking about a way to re-frame it since the mirror/glass is very high quality.

When I was removing the wood shelves from the built-in cabinets in the living room, this got me thinking that we could use those knotty oak shelves to re-frame the mirror. Would that make this a "re-claimed" mirror? I think so.

The first step in creating the mirror was to cut the boards to the appropriate lengths, and to cut a groove in the back of each board (where the glass will sit).

I then sanded the front and sides of the boards with 60 and 80 grit sandpaper to remove the old finish and round the edges. I did this prior to assembly because I wanted to have a dramatic shadow where the horizontal and vertical boards meet.

I then joined the vertical and horizontal boards using biscuits and wood glue, as well as metal brackets screwed into the back of the boards. This assembly was too large for any of my clamps, so I held the structure together by using tie-downs (the kind you use to hold lumber in a car/truck) to squeeze the frame between two long pieces of 2x4. Clamps were also used to keep the pieces from popping up at the seams (i.e. to keep the frame flat).

I smacked the frame with a bag of nails and a screwdriver, as I thought this would add to the reclaimed look. The finished frame was then sanded with 120 grit sandpaper and finished with oil-based stain and polyurethane. Once that was dry, we inserted the mirror and prepared the back of the frame for hanging. Our lovely readers then helped Meredith discourage me from hanging the mirror in the living room, so it is now hung and looking great in the front hall. We will post more revealing photos of the entire front hall once everything is painted.

Where Should We Put This Mirror?

2010-03-27T13:22:00.003-04:00

I built this mirror out of an old mirror and some scrap wood (more on that, as well as some better photos, later). However, we are having some trouble deciding where to hang it. The plan was to hang this mirror over the fireplace, but I didn't really factor in the added size of the new frame, so it might actually be too big for that space. The other option is to hang it vertically in the front hall. If neither of these options work, we really don't have a place for a mirror of this size in our house right now. Any thoughts on which location looks better?

1) Over the fireplace - This is where I want to put it as long as it won't look ridiculous. There would be about 1.5" from the top of the frame to the ceiling and 1.5" from the bottom of the frame to the top of the two higher cabinets (12" to the lower/middle mantle piece).

2) Front hall - The mirror actually fits well into this space and would reflect light into our living room. The door and trim to the left will be painted white soon and will be replaced altogether some day. The only issue presented by adding a mirror here is that we really need a place to hang keys/leashes/coats in the front hall, so adding a mirror here would take away the wall space needed for a rack.

Featured Tool: Saws

2010-03-25T21:11:00.010-04:00

Grace asked for a run-down of the saws we use on our renovations, and I don't mind talking about tools at all, so here you go.

Reciprocating Saw (Skil - $70)

We did a lot of demolition work on our house, so this saw has been worked pretty hard (I would estimate we've used up 30-40 saw blades). This type of work doesn't commonly get posts/pictures, but we used it to demo every single room, including the old kitchen cabinets and the back steps.

Jig Saw (Black & Decker - $70)

The jig saw comes in handy for tight/precise cuts, like cutting Mackenzie's name out in wood on her shelf, cutting holes for ductwork, creating the curved tread and riser, and installing hardwood floors (cutting pieces around vent holes, cutting pieces in corners and against cabinets).

Circular Saw (Black & Decker - $75)

I find the circular saw to be most useful for doing depth cuts, like cutting out the subfloor without cutting through the joists, cutting a clean line in existing hardwood, and cutting kerfs to make a curved riser. It is also good for making cuts that do not require the precision of a table saw and/or are too awkward for a table saw, such as installing subfloor.

Mitre Saw (Dewalt 10" - $250)

Most mitre saw cuts could actually be done with either a circular saw or table saw, but the mitre saw is much faster and more precise. Some of its many uses: framing (e.g. bathroom extension, kitchen), cutting metal furring strips for the living room ceiling, installing trim on the second floor, cutting and mitering pieces of MDF for wainscotting, installing trim/bullnose on the stairs, installing hardwood floors. If I had to do it again, I might spend the extra money on a 12" mitre saw, as the 10" blade only cuts pieces up to 6" in thickness, which can be a pain when cutting 2x8's and our baseboard trim (which is 7+" wide).

Table Saw (Craftsman - $?)

We have actually been borrowing this saw from Meredith's parents for the last year and a half (thank you Doug!). It is very useful for precise cuts (e.g. cutting wood for the built-in bench seat), for ripping pieces down to size (e.g. cutting down and squaring off doors/frames, cutting down window frames, cutting pieces of MDF for wainscotting, cutting shim pieces to prepare for drywall), and for ripping pieces to the appropriate width (e.g. ripping down hardwood floor to meet height of kitchen tile).

Built-in Cabinets Stained

2010-03-25T00:23:00.004-04:00

We got to work on the next phase of beautifying the fireplace in our living room. I spent most of last weekend sanding and staining the built-in cabinets. First, I had to remove the leaded glass doors and wood shelves (which will be replaced with glass shelves), and then add some extra support to the middle of the cabinets (the wood shelves were somewhat important to the structure, and glass shelves won't be able to play this same role). Most of the cabinets were sanded using 60, 80 and 120 grit sandpaper. The dentil moulding was too tight for the palm sander though, so I scraped off the old finish with a wood chisel and then tried to smooth it out as much as possible with sandpaper. I then applied the same stain and polyurethane that we used on the stairs.

Next up, we need to remove some old wallpaper and paint the back of the cabinets. We will then install glass shelves, install under cabinet lighting, and re-install the leaded glass doors.

Featured Tool: Palm Sanders

2010-03-20T21:54:00.006-04:00

I have been doing a lot of sanding lately, so I decided to buy a new palm sander. The features are pretty much the same for all palm sanders, so I just bought the cheapest one - the Ryobi 1/4 sheet sander. Unfortunately, that was a bad decision as the clamp that holds the sandpaper broke before I finished my first project. I then returned it and paid a little more for the Dewalt 1/4 sheet sander, which appears to have a sturdier construction and has worked well thus far.

Prep Work

2010-03-19T21:43:00.002-04:00

Mackenzie helps dad get the sander ready for sanding the built in cabinets!

"Finished" Stairs

2010-03-13T12:37:00.007-05:00

As promised, provided below are photos of the finished stairs. We will do a full set of before and afters once everything is trimmed and painted.

For those of you who have not been following this project regularly, here is a little history. The front hall was closed off from the stairs when we bought the house, and we decided to open it up without any real plan for finishing the stairs, which sat in limbo for over a year. With some help from our readers, we decided on a plan. We then executed by building strong posts, building the curved treads and risers, installing the posts and railing, sanding and staining the railings/posts/treads/risers, and then installing hardwood on the landings.

Hardwood Vent Covers

2010-03-11T20:25:00.006-05:00

We bought unfinished beech vent covers for all of the supply (5) and return (2) vents on the first floor. Stain and polyurethane were then applied to match the hardwood floors, and presto ... we have some classy looking vent covers.

Cleaning Up

2010-03-10T23:41:00.006-05:00

We have been hoarding renovation waste in our backyard from the sunroom and hardwood projects (which our neighbours probably loooooved), so we finally got a bin yesterday and spent the evening filling it up. Good times!

Two Very Different Rugs

2010-03-09T23:02:00.006-05:00

After months of occasionally looking at area rugs and never finding anything that we liked for the living room, we finally forced ourselves to get it done last week. We visited a few of the chain carpet and home improvement stores, as well as a few independent stores, and didn't find anything that called to us. Finally, we decided to visit Pollock's Carpet Market in Meredith's old neighbourhood of Roncesvalles, and found a few rugs that we liked.

We decided on this modern rug because we liked the combination of colours. We were both nervous that it might be a bit too busy, but we decided to go for it anyways.

I was proud of us for making such a bold purchase, but Meredith decided that the "amoeba" rug was not welcoming and had to go. We went back in search of another rug that we had seen that was more traditional, but would still blend with some of our more contemporary furniture. I think that was a great decision, as the new rug looks great and will not overpower the rest of the room.

Please note that these are not photos of the "finished" living room ... we still have a lot of work to do with the fireplace, bookshelves, trim and artwork, but we thought we would share our rug purchase.

Dining Room Inspiration

2010-03-06T13:02:00.021-05:00

We are starting to look at dining room furniture, as the table in our dining room is much too small and we should hopefully install the doors/trim on the first floor over the next several weeks, so the dining room will essentially be done. We hope to use the same furniture supplier that the folks over at Life Begins at Thirty used for their set.

We like the look of the Camden trestle table with Aaron wood seat chairs, so we will be looking for something similar to those pieces, but we are going to look around a bit more still.

Also, I love this cool vintage bar stool from Restoration Hardware. I'm not sure if we will go for that, as we will need three counter stools and it is kind of pricey, but I think it would look great with our kitchen.

Stairs Phase 6: Sanding and Staining

2010-03-04T21:07:00.014-05:00

Last Sunday, when all of Canada was celebrating a win in the gold medal hockey game, I was celebrating the end of this stairs project (of course I was celebrating the hockey win as well).

Our stairs were quite noisy, so we tried to reduce this noise by screwing the risers to the treads and screwing corner brackets to tighten the treads to the risers; this didn't seem to make much of a difference. I then applied construction adhesive to all of the seams (i.e. tread/riser, tread/stringer, riser/stringer); this reduced the noise on the stairs by about 80-90%, so I was happy with that result.

Then the sanding began! We put up plastic to try to reduce the amount of dust going into the rest of the house. I then sanded all of the old steps, posts, and railings using a palm sander and by hand, starting with 60 grit and 80 grit sandpaper. This took hours ... much harder than sanding a few bedrooms with a drum sander and edger.

Oak trim was then installed on the posts. We bought trim that was similar to the original trim from the posts. Also, beech bullnose pieces were installed on the edge of the landings. Everything (old and new) was then sanded with 120 grit sandpaper to prepare for staining.

The treads, risers, posts and railings were then stained using a custom stain that we ordered to match our hardwood floors. We had originally planned to paint the risers white, but after working hard to create beautiful curved oak risers, we decided to go ahead and stain all of the risers as well.

Once that was dry, three coats of oil-based polyurethane were applied. I will take some photos of the "finished product" in the daylight and post them this weekend. We still need to install hardwood flooring on the landings, install the baseboards, paint the stringers/spindles/baseboards white, re-paint the wall, and have a runner installed. The hard work is done though.

Stairs Phase 5: Installing Railing

2010-02-25T06:42:00.002-05:00

There were a couple of areas around the stairs/posts that needed some work to make things look finished. These will be painted and partially covered by baseboards, but we still made them out of oak. The second piece was made out of multiple pieces of oak joined with biscuits and glue (much like the stair tread).

Then it was onto the railing. Installing this short piece of railing was actually quite easy (took less than an hour), but it required a lot of thought/planning, very careful measurements, and some prep time (2-3 hours to cut spindles, drill dowel holes, etc). I didn't take any photos during the installation as I did not want the glue to start setting. Basically, the spindles were attached to both the base and the railing by 3/8" dowels and wood glue, and then the spindles were attached to the railing in the same manner. You can see the dowel holes in the base, spindles, and railing in the photo below.

We ended up using the $3 railing that we found at the local ReStore, as it was the closest match we could find to our existing railing. We used a hanger bolt as the primary means to secure the railing to the posts; some finish nails and wood glue were also used to prevent twisting. A hole was drilled into the bottom of the railing to allow for the nut to be secured to the hanger bolt. This hole was then covered by filler pieces; this area will not generally be visible.

We are finally starting to see what the finished product will look like when we are done. We have a lot of sanding to do, some trimwork to install, and then we can finally stain and paint everything.

Renobabies

2010-02-24T22:49:00.005-05:00

Mackenzie met her first little blogebrity yesterday - Chloe of Rambling Renovators! Chloe was a smiley cutie and such a good sport with our 2 big dogs... she was one brave girl because Owen wouldn't leave her the heck alone! Thanks for dropping by Wanderlauster & Chloe - it was fun meeting you both. :)

Stairs Phase 4: Installing Second Step and Post

2010-02-21T20:06:00.008-05:00

There were a couple of areas in the old post that had been damaged over the years, so we repaired those by cutting out the damaged area, cutting a new piece of oak the same size, and installing it with some wood glue. These replacement pieces should not be very noticeable once they are sanded and stained.

We then built and installed the second step. This was done in the same way as the first step, but was much easier as this piece was not as complicated. Bending the riser was a bit trickier this time though (wood almost cracked a couple of times), as the curve of this step has a small radius.

We then installed the second post using biscuits, wood glue, and a few finish nails. This post was a bit tricky, as the wall is not perfectly straight, so I had to trace the shape of the wall onto the wood and then cut the wood to match that shape.

Well, the difficult stuff is done and it's starting to look like our mock-up. We need to do some sanding on the posts, install the railing, install some trimwork, and then sand everything to prepare for staining.

More Plaster?

2010-02-20T20:52:00.010-05:00

For some reason I decided not to remove the plaster in the stairwell down to the basement when we were gutting the house. We decided that today was the day to get rid of it, so Meredith did the plaster and I did the lathe. Ugh ... so dusty and messy.

You can see the backs of the oak risers in this photo. We plan to try to reduce the amount of creaking on these stairs by doing some work from underneath.

We found some interesting stuff again during this demo, including a penny from 1912 and a Cadillac tobacco card.

Stairs Phase 3: Installing First Step and Post

2010-02-16T22:07:00.002-05:00

Now that we have built the stair tread and riser, things are starting to come together. First, we built a base to support the bottom step. This was built out of 3/4" plywood sitting on top of 2x8's that had been ripped down to make the finished step the appropriate height. The plan is for most of the step to be supported by this base, while using the riser to provide additional support to the edge of the step (especially around the curves).

Installing the finished stair tread and riser was a little tricky. Because the one post was surrounded by tread on 3.5 sides, the tread had to actually be lifted over the two posts and guided down to the ground ... with about 1/4" of forgiveness. The tread and riser were secured by applying construction adhesive to the base, and by drilling screws from the basement up through the floor and into the riser.

The oak components of the first post were then installed using biscuit joins and wood glue, as well as a few nails in places that will be covered later (we want to minimize the number of nails showing in the finished product). I used simple right angle joints instead of 45 degree miter joints because this is the way the existing post was installed 80+ years ago.

Stairs Phase 2: Building the Curved Riser

2010-02-13T22:47:00.007-05:00

Now that the stair tread was cut, we needed to create a curved riser to fit. Since we plan to paint the riser, we had a few options for its construction, but I decided to make it out of a piece of oak so as to match what would have been done when the house was built in the 1920's. We could have used snake ply and covered that with a veneer, but this seemed lazy to me and would not have been much cheaper or easier than using oak (and I don't know if veneers are available in a 10' length?).

The first step was to cut boards to create a form that the oak riser would wrap around. This was accomplished by tracing the curve of the stair tread onto pieces of 1" board and cutting them out with a jigsaw.

The boards were then lathered with construction adhesive, clamped together (six boards in total for a 6" form), and left to dry overnight.

The forms were then sanded with 60 grit sandpaper to make a consistent, round form.

The forms were then secured to the stair tread using construction adhesive, wood glue, and corner braces. We were actually able to use the form from the original stairs on the smaller curve; two forms that we created were used on the bigger curve, and then a piece of plywood was used for the straight portion.

Now for the fun part. The riser was created out of a 10' piece of 1" oak. I was sure to pick out a piece of wood that was quartersawn (grain perpendicular to face of board) so as to limit the risk of the board splitting when curved. I measured the length of the curved areas and marked those on the board. I then cut hundreds of little kerfs across the back of those curved areas, spacing them 1/4" apart and leaving 1/8" of board on the uncut side (I probably could have gone with 3/8" spacing since our curves have a large radius, but I wanted to be conservative). I had originally planned to do this with the table saw, but it was just too difficult and slow to cut across a 10' board, so I used the circular saw instead and that worked fine.

We then secured this board to the forms using a ton of wood glue, as well as some 3/4" screws on the straight portions. This was clamped and left to dry for 24 hours, and then the overhanging board was cut off.

The Odd Room Out

2010-02-13T00:16:00.016-05:00

I find it fun to occasionally look back at photos from early on in our renovation. I was doing this a couple of days ago, and found that the photos from the sunroom are kind of fun because it is always the odd room out. Here is a look back at the sunroom over the last 20 months.

June 2008 - The calm before the storm.

June 2008 - Evaluating the obvious sag in the sunroom floor.

June 2008 - Demo in progress throughout the house; meanwhile, the sunroom is used for trim storage.

July 2008 - The sunroom is the last room in the house to lose its plaster.

October 2008 - The sunroom is the only room in the house not to get spray foam insulation, so Meredith temporarily installs batting to keep it warm during the winter.

October 2008 - Meredith's Mom and brother help install vapour barrier on the sunroom ceiling ... at least I think that is what is going on here.

November 2008 - The sunroom is the only room in the house not to get drywall, and is once again relegated to trim and door storage. That is one of our nephews napping on the dining room floor after what I can only guess was a hard day of renovating.

September 2009 - The poor neglected sunroom finally gets some much needed improvements.

October 2009 - The sunroom with its new patio doors to the backyard.

February 2010 - The sunroom is again being used for door (and junk) storage. However, it has a lot more fun serving as the waiting room for wet dogs, and as the sitting room for little girls who like to hang out with wet dogs.

Stairs Phase 1: Building the Bullnose Tread

2010-02-12T06:19:00.004-05:00

Re-building the bottom part of the stairs is our big project for the month of February. If you're interested, you can read some background on our stair project here and here.

The following steps discuss how I built the bullnose stair treads for our stairs. We had originally considered getting the bottom two stair treads made for us, but the quote I got was quite high, so I decided to just figure out how to do it myself.

The bottom stair tread was built out of an 11' piece of 1-1/16" x 11-1/4" oak that was cut into three pieces. The second stair was made out of a single 4' piece of the same lumber.

I placed these pieces on a flat surface, and then drew a rough outline of the template. The locations of biscuit joins were also noted, ensuring that biscuits would not show through the edge of a step. The biscuit holes were then cut.

I then secured the pieces together using a combination of biscuits, construction adhesive, and stainable wood glue.

The pieces were then clamped together and left to dry for 24 hours. A straight-edge was used to ensure that the finished piece would be flat and true.

An exact outline of the final step was drawn onto the combined piece. This was based on a rough template created for planning purposes, and then triple-checked against the measurements of the existing posts.

The step was cut out using a jigsaw.

This provided the first glimpse of our massive bottom bullnose step, along with the not-so-huge second bullnose step.

The entire surface of the step was then sanded with 60, 80 and 120 grit sandpaper. This made the cut edge smooth and consistent. Since I don't have a planer, this also helped to remove any defects or slight variations in height on the tread surface.

I then used a router to round the top and bottom edges of the steps. I had planned to do this with a palm sander until Meredith's Dad brought over his router. This made for a much higher quality finish, and probably saved me an hour of sanding.

The entire surface was then sanded again with 120 grit sandpaper. The tread will get a final sanding after installation (prior to staining).

Warm Toes

2010-02-11T22:05:00.006-05:00

It's snowy outside but warm inside! One particular 8 month old's cute little toes are especially thankful for our heated slate tile in the bathroom. Cozy!

Loving

2010-02-10T14:52:00.003-05:00

I like to browse the art on etsy from time to time (and must mention that I had an excellent experience buying the print featured in this post... you can see where it currently hangs in Mackenzie's room above her change table in this picture.) and recently came across this painting by Canadian Matt Leblanc that I just love and think would look fabulous in our kitchen dining area... we have a big empty wall that is just waiting for the right art. The punch of red in this piece is right up our alley but we're not too certain if it is the right size. I think we need to wait until we get our permanent table & chairs so we have a better idea of what the room feels like.... until then, seaching around continues to be fun.

Stairs Under Construction

2010-02-07T20:44:00.003-05:00

Our project to rebuild the bottom part of the stairs is officially under way ... more on that coming soon. We're going to use every toy ... errrrr tool ... in the toolbox for this one.

Plans for a Beautiful Fireplace

2010-02-06T21:12:00.013-05:00

Here is a photo of our fireplace from the day we bought the house. Being the focal point of the living room, we knew that we had a lot of work to improve this look (especially the ugly red brick).

Here is a photo of the fireplace today. We installed a new slate tile hearth (smaller than the original hearth) and new hardwood floors, so we are making progress.

We have some plans for the built-in bookshelves surrounding the fireplace. We are about 90% sure that we are going to sand the woodwork and stain it to match the floors (and stairs and doors, which will be stained at the same time). We also plan to clean up the back of the display area and replace the wooden shelves with glass shelves.

The most dramatic change will be in covering the awful brick. We have been talking about covering the fireplace wall with stone from floor to ceiling, which would cover the brick, as well as the plaster above the mantle. Meredith sent me this photo months ago ... no matter how hard I work, I don't think our living room will look like this. ;-)

Unfortunately, I do not have the skill to do this type of stone work and make nice, clean, consistent mortar lines. I also think this look may not quite suit our house, which we have kept as a "craftsman" style as much as we can, while also adding in some more modern furniture.

We are now strongly considering installing stack stone on this wall; I am not sure if that is the real name, but see the photos below for samples. This stone can be installed similar to tile, and is typically installed without any mortar or grout lines, so it would be quite an easy install. We have seen some veneers that have a darker mix of stones that range from copper all the way to black, so these would hopefully bring together the tones from the wood, slate, etc. My only apprehension with this stone is that it might be kind of trendy, but I'm hoping that is not the case since it is made of natural stone (as opposed to some of the fake stone veneers from previous decades that now look very dated and tacky). Here are some inspiration photos.

The fireplaces in the above photos look great, but I think the mitred corners look a little fake. I prefer the corners in the following photo, as the corner pieces are interlaced, giving it a more finished look.

I am not sure when we plan to complete this work. It would be nice to do it once the trimwork is intalled so that the living room will be finished, but it will most likely be delayed for some time with projects in the basement and backyard requiring a lot of work over the next six months.

Our Toy Castle

2010-02-05T07:30:00.019-05:00

Let's face it... our girl loves her toys already and we're not anticipating the toys to disappear anytime soon! Our house now looks like a toy factory. Fortunately, Andrew has built Mackenzie's bedroom to be very toy friendly and organized. She can get everything all over the floor all she wants and then it is very easy for me to pick up and put things away at night. Her new favourite activities are pulling all of the books out of her little book cubby holes and playing with Elmo Live. Mackenzie's room usually looks 10x messier than it does in the pic below but this gives the general idea (you can see how handy the cubby holes are in the background.. not to mention the fact that they're pure fun for little miss curious):

So, bedroom = easy peasy. The current issue is the living room! Wowsers. Mackenzie loves to wake up at the ripe hour of 5am typically (I'm lucky to get a 6am day..) so we're downstairs bright and early (actually it's pretty pitch black outside as you can see by the tone of the pix below). So we need toys downstairs too! It usually ends up looking a little like this (excuse the ugly fireplace - we will be redoing this):

Our basement is not yet finished but I imagine when it is finished, we will move a lot of the toys down there and hopefully have some good toy storage options down there. But until that HUGE project is completed, what to do with our family room?? It would be nice to have some easy toy storage somewhere like in her room. I've just started browsing online and see some options that I've cut & paste below (no sources as I just google imaged quickly) but if you have any neat ideas let us know!

Think We Like Slate?

2010-01-27T20:14:00.012-05:00

We finished installing slate tile in the front hall and fireplace hearth (the same tile we used in the bathroom). We still need to caulk between the tile and hardwood (which will cover the light gray mortar that shows up a lot around the edges of the tile in the photo below), but we had to special order caulk to match our grout and I didn't want to wait to do a blog post. The cutting in this job was pretty simple ... just a matter of making sure everything was centered and symmetrical. Laying the tiles was a little more difficult ... trying to get the tile to be even in height with the previously installed hardwood proved to be quite a task ... it pretty much just required doing trial and error to see how much mortar was needed under each tile. It worked out though and should look good once we get baseboards installed and stuff. We have started discussing the plan to cover the ugly brick on our fireplace, but that's a topic for another post.

Featured Tool: QEP 7" Tile Saw

2010-01-23T15:21:00.008-05:00

I just finished my seventh tile job with this tile saw, which I bought about five years ago for less than $100 (the cheapest one available at HD). I considered buying a tile snapper/cutter at the time, but was talked into getting a wet saw instead, and it was definitely worth the extra money. I know there are tile saws out there with better features (e.g. faster RPM's, larger blades, better guide systems, larger reservoirs), but for my DIY stuff this saw works quite well.

Here is a quick run down of the evolution of the tile work I've completed with this saw:

House in Dallas - Guest bathroom shower wall patch job
House in Dallas - Master bathroom floor
House in Dallas - Study bathroom floor and shower
Meredith's Parents' House - Upstairs bathroom floor (no pics)
Our House - Bathroom floor and wall (angle grinder was used for circular cuts)
Our House - Kitchen floor
Our House - Front hall and fireplace hearth (pics coming soon)

We have about four tile jobs left (fireplace wall, kitchen backsplash, basement bathroom, basement laundry/furnace room), so we'll see if this saw can last just a little while longer.

Featured Tool: SawStop Table Saws

2010-01-18T20:20:00.009-05:00

I had a minor accident with my table saw last winter, whereby I cut through the tip of my left index finger down to the base of the nail. It was an incredibly scary incident, but could have been much worse (the finger healed slowly and after several months I got 95% of the feeling back). I personally know at least three people who have cut off one or more fingers with a table saw, but luckily they were all able to have the fingers re-attached.

I came across this video tonight via finehomebuilding.com: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E3mzhvMgrLE&feature=player_embedded. This table saw uses a special blade and stopping mechanism to prevent cutting accidents like these. If the saw blade detects electrical conductivity (such as that provided by human skin), it stops the blade within 1/1000th of a second; otherwise, the saw operates as usual since wood is not very conductive. The video is an interesting watch; at the 3:02 mark the creator of the saw uses his finger to demonstrate the effectiveness of the technology.

Plus, the SawStop website actually has a page dedicated to "finger saves". Imagine coming close to losing a finger, and walking away with a cut barely the size of a paper cut.

Post Re: Posts

2010-01-13T18:12:00.004-05:00

We have installed the posts for the new railing, which was the first task of our project to fix the lower part of our staircase (see discussion of the plan here and here). The posts are 58" tall above the finished floor and are very solid; they continue below the floor where they are secured into the floor joists with carriage bolts, as well as being secured to the landing with carriage bolts and screws. The posts are 4.5" thick, and will eventually be finished with 3/4" thick oak to match the existing post.

Long Overdue Vent Cover

2010-01-09T10:32:00.002-05:00

Have you ever had a small task around the house that just didn't get done because you had too many big tasks dominating your time? Cutting and installing this vent cover was a super easy/quick task, but for some reason I procrastinated doing it for months and months. It's finally done!

Estimated procrastination time: 11.5 months

Estimated time to complete work: 4.5 minutes

Hardwood Floors Installed

2010-01-07T22:04:00.012-05:00

We finally finished installing the new hardwood floors throughout the first floor of our house. Here are some thoughts and lessons learned from this project:

Following some advice from the 416fixeruppers, we bought a used floor nailer on craigslist so that we wouldn't have to deal with rentals. This proved to be a very wise decision as it allowed me to be able to do a few hours here and there, rather than trying to do a ton of work in 24 hour periods.
The most difficult part of the project was having a quality transition from the hardwood onto the kitchen tile and into the kitchen cabinets. We were able to shave down the first piece of wood to avoid the need for a transition piece. We had similar difficulty installing up against the built-in bookshelves in the living room, but we can use quarter round there, so it wasn't too bad.
We had to change directions using slip tongue splines, which is not generally hard to do. However, our house is not open concept, so moving in and out of five different rooms was very time-consuming, especially when we had furniture to move around and couldn't do the whole thing at once. Installing hardwood in a big rectangular space would be soooooo much easier.
Cutting around supply/return vents was a pain, but not too bad. We started out with five supply vents and four return vents on this floor, and now we have six supply vents and two return vents (two of the old return vents were previously closed off). We bought beech vent covers, which we will stain to match the hardwood when we finish the stairs project.
I was surprised by how many pieces needed to be hand nailed (typically the last 4-5 rows) because the floor nailer did not fit close to the wall. I drilled pilot holes above the tongue and hand nailed these rows, and then used a brad nailer for the last row (those holes will be hidden by the quarter round). By doing this, we limited the number of face nails that require touching up to about a dozen (around the kitchen cabinets and tile).
We decided not to install hardwood in the front hall. Instead, we installed a wood frame around the front hall (see third photo below) and plan to install slate tile in that space so that we don't have to worry (as much) about the wood getting ruined by wet boots.
We removed the old tile hearth, which was not adequately supported (only 2x4's for joists). We installed new 2x8 joists, replaced the subfloor, and then framed wood around the new hearth (see fourth photo below). We plan to install slate tile here as well.
Finally, I would not recommend installing dark hardwood if you have two big dogs. We love our new floors and it is a 1,000% improvement from our dirty old floors, but our dogs have already put a number of scratches in the floors. They don't scratch off the finish or anything, but you can see the scratches are there when you look in certain light. This would be less of a problem with lighter coloured floors.

Here are a few reveal photos ... we'll have bigger ones as we do the finish work on the first floor ... it's currently a little messy with lots of reno/baby/Christmas stuff.

Next up: tiling the front hall and hearth, and installing new steps/railing.

2009 Highlights

2009-12-31T12:44:00.004-05:00

It has been a busy year at our house; here is a brief summary of the work we completed:

January
We spent most of this month working on the kitchen; this included tiling the floor, painting, installing the cabinets, and getting the appliances.

February
The winner for February's most exhausting project was the refinishing of the hardwood floors upstairs. A close second was priming and painting the bedrooms and the upstairs hallway. We also installed the bathroom fixtures, including a toilet!

March
This was a busy month. We had our initial energy audit conducted before the new furnace was installed. We roughed in the kitchen plumbing, ran plumbing lines in the basement, and installed the washer and dryer. Our electrician completed the electrical finish work. The kitchen countertops were installed, as well as the microwave and dishwasher.

April
A little too much time was spent refinishing the doors in April, including stripping the door hardware, sanding/priming/painting the doors, and hanging the doors. We also sanded/primed/painted the upstairs trim, and painted the new baseboards.

May
We finally finished the work on the second floor by installing, caulking, and painting the trim. We finished installing the kitchen appliances, including the replacement microwave, stove, and faucet. We also had the back of the house waterproofed, and we finally moved in our furniture!

June
We were blessed with the arrival of our little girl Mackenzie in June. No work was completed on the house that month. Slackers!

July-August
We got to work on Mackenzie's bedroom, installing wainscotting, wardrobes, and a bench seat, and painting the room a pink colour called "Baby Girl". We were in no rush to finish the room, so we furnished it bit by bit.

September-October
Our big project for the fall was to renovate the sunroom, add a first floor washroom, and improve the appearance of the back of the house. We also installed blinds on the upstairs windows.

November-December
We put the finishing touches on the nursery in November. We also did some work in the crawlspace underneath the sunroom and washroom, including insulation and ductwork. We then started our last project for the year by tearing out the old hardwood floors, and installing the new floors (we are about 95% complete, but took a break for the holidays).

We are happy with our progress, but have a lot left to do in 2010. Our big to-do list includes several projects on the first floor (e.g. new stairs, doors, trim, new washroom, backsplash), finishing the basement, and installing a fence and deck in the backyard. Happy new year!

Easy Birdfeeder Project

2009-12-26T10:09:00.002-05:00

I found some great plans online and decided this would be a fun project to tackle for a Christmas present for my Mom. The materials required for this project are as follows:

1"x6"x6' cedar
36" piece of 3/8" dowel
Finish nails
2 screw eyes
2 hinges (smaller than the width of the cedar ... I used 1")
Sheet of plexi-glass (this plan requires two pieces that are about 5"x10" each, but with a minor adjustment to the pitch of the roof, you could get by with one 8"x10" piece cut in half)

The plans have a good cut list, which made this a quick project to complete. The most difficult task was cutting the plexiglass to fit, as I did not have the correct saw blades, so I had to do this by hand.

I pretty much followed the plans, but made a few adjustments.

Rather than drilling completely through the side pieces to insert the dowel perches, I drilled about 2/3 of the way through. This way the end of the dowel does not show through the side.
Instead of cutting 1/2" openings in the bottom of the plexi-glass to allow bird seed to flow out onto the floor, I installed 1/2" pieces of wood on each side to support the plexi-glass; this cut down on the amount of glass cutting I needed to do.
I added the cute little bird onto the roof on the front of the feeder. This was created by ripping a spare piece of cedar in half, and then cutting out the bird with a jigsaw.

Merry Christmas!

2009-12-22T19:15:00.001-05:00

Taking some time out to enjoy Christmas with our girl!

Basement Floor Follow-up

2009-12-09T22:20:00.001-05:00

We got multiple comments regarding our last basement post, so I thought I would provide an update on where we stand with that project. We got another quote for just removing the existing floor and replacing it with new concrete (i.e. no underpinning or drain work), which was around $6K. Our goal with this quote was to get an idea of what we could get if we decide to go as low as we can with the existing foundation; it appears we can get another 4-5", which would take our basement height to about 83".

Here is our plan for the basement. We are going to break up and remove the existing floor ourselves (this won't start for a couple of months). Once the floor is removed, we will then get a few quotes for the required drain and concrete work. I expect we will not underpin the existing foundation, so hopefully we can get at least 4" lower with the existing foundation. That is the plan for now. Thanks for the feedback!

Plan for Stairs Revisited

2009-12-08T21:34:00.007-05:00

A couple of months ago, we talked about the plan for the stairs in our front hall. After some deliberation, we decided on the plan below, which involves adding a railing onto the landing and curving the two bottom steps around the posts.

I really like this plan, but after tearing out the old steps, I started to reconsider the plan. With the stairs turning towards the living room like this, it might prove to be a pain sometimes when we are going in and out through the front door (and when moving furniture). Accordingly, I came up with a new option (see below). This option wraps the stairs around the landing, providing access from the front hall and the living room. By cutting off the corner of the stairs/landing, the stairs do not take up as much space as if they were square. I am considering making the stairs/landing fully rounded (i.e. quarter-circle), but that might prove difficult with the bullnose on the landing, so this is the plan for now.

Any thoughts or preferences? We are truly 50/50 on this decision. The first option looks a little better in my opinion, but the second option is simpler and more functional.

So Far So Good Dad!

2009-11-30T11:41:00.003-05:00

The floors are just over 50% completed... getting there and looking goood! They're so shiny and smooth compared to our old floors... and no more slivers in my socks - yaye!