Life Among the Ruins

Life Among the Ruins.....

August 1st --   Shock treatment would be an understatement....even though my contractor told me that they would be "breaking through" my bedroom and it was time to take my bed out of the house, I thought I was prepared and knew what to expect.  I took apart the bed, carefully wrapped the mattress and box spring in heavy gauge plastic "bed bags" from Uhaul, put the bedding in a plastic zippered storage bag and was ready to move on to my "alternative sleeping arrangement."  As the construction progresses, I move into fewer rooms of the house.  I'm out of the kitchen and have set up a temporary kitchen in the living room.  As long as I have water (a borrowed 4-gallon reliance plastic water jug with spout), my espresso machine (notice the beer bottle opener!) and coffee grinder, I'm ok. 

The existing master bathroom, which is accessible from the previous master bedroom, will be the last bathroom to be renovated.  So, I'm pretty much now living in the smallest room in the house, a bedroom on the upper level that is really my home office.  I've crammed all my computer (desktop, laptop, notebook, router, two printers) and electronics (TV, blu-ray, stereo) into this room. I have a fold-up 4" thick sleeping pad that is a bit narrower than a twin bed, but is actually very comfortable.  I have my clothes and shoes in this room as well as my desk and file cabinets.  I enjoy backpacking so, this is a step up from that -- hey, I still have indoor plumbing!

When I arrived home, the framers were just packing up for the day.  I couldn't wait to see what they had done.  I walked upstairs, opened the door to my office/bedroom and was greeted by a shattered light fixture on the floor.  Hmm...ok, when they were working, there were vibrations and the glass globe from the fixture fell to the floor and shattered into lots and lots of tiny glass shards.  OK, I get it, but a huge mess to clean up.  Not a big problem.

I opened the door that led into the existing master bedroom and where my bathroom is, and this is what I saw:

Ok, this is kinda interesting.  The north side of the roof is gone, the roof rafters are exposed, the exterior back of the upper level of the house is gone, except for the 1903 framing and I'm looking at the framing of the new upper level west wall of the master bedroom that will lead to a covered deck off the back of the house (facing west).  

Here is the south wall of the old master bedroom -- that pink insulation is what I put in myself 26  years ago.  There were no closets in the master bedroom when I bought this house so I had a carpenter create these closets that would fit into the eaves -- you can see the closet in this photo with a note to "save" it so I can eventually put it into the eaves in my office (it has cool drawers behind those doors). The insulation install was memorable, although I always wondered how my house could be any hotter in the summer time without it!

Here is a view of the southern wall of the bedroom (which shows how it will tie into the new master bedroom addition) followed by a view of the northern wall of the bedroom with another built-in closet under the eaves and more of my insulation artistry.

Still, this isn't so bad and it is interesting.  There is construction dust and dirt everywhere, but the guys have done their best to clean up what they can.  If I stand on the new upper-level flooring of the master bedroom and look back at what was my bedroom and bathroom (open door on the left), this is what I see:

After I sweep up the glass shards from the fallen light fixture, I flip the wall switch and discover the light fixture is not working.  OK, lots of vibrations.  I walk into the bathroom, flip the wall switch, no electricity.  I try to catch the framing crew as they are leaving and they tell me that the electrician had to cut the electricity to the old master bedroom to remove a ceiling fan light fixture (you can see the fan in the photo above -- it needs to go into the dumpster.  Apparently the electrician cut the power to the entire upper level of my house!  My computers and all electronics on the upper level are dead.  OK, I begin to lose my uber-zen ways.  

One of the framing guys calls my contractor's partner and is told to call the contractor.  I get him on his cell as he is driving to a meeting about 45 minutes away.  I tell him there is no power and the light fixture shattered.  He tells me he is going into a meeting and will call me.  While I wait, I start thinking that I have no Internet, bad cell reception and a smart phone that is now dumb because it won't connect to the Internet (even the mircocell my cell phone provider gave me to improve reception in my house is not working).  It is now about 7:00 pm and I'm trying to figure out whether I can spend the night in my house with no power (on the upper level) and no Internet.  I am growing less zen-like and more freaked out.  Finally, about an hour later, the contractor calls me back and tells me that there isn't anything the electrician can do until the next morning.  I'm really starting to freak out.  The contractor stops by my house on his way home and offers to bring me a bunch of super long extension cords so that I can bring power from the main level of the house to the upstairs. Why didn't I think of that?  I start thinking about how I would rig up a maze of cords, and even though I thought that I had the largest personal collection of outlet adapters (non-grounded to three-prong grounded), power strips, and extension cords, there is always one connection that never is the one you need.  

OK, I swore that I would not be like my contractor's other clients who cry, but I'm pretty close to utter frustration.  The contractor clearly sees that I am stressed out, but he didn't have to stop by and offer to bring me extension cords -- I really do have an impressive collection.  My contractor is an extraordinarily nice and kind human being, besides being an outstanding construction logician, he is empathetic, even though he thinks I'm nuts for living among the ruins.  I call a friend who is out of town to ask if I can spend the night if I need to.  Then, I decide to gather myself and make this yet another adventure; yet another character-building experience.  Of course, the contractor reminds me that I must be careful to wear shoes when I walk into my former bedroom to get to my bathroom because there might be construction debris and it would not be a good idea to walk through that barefoot.  

I get myself together, connect the extension cords from downstairs to my upstairs office/bedroom. 

 I get the desktop to reboot and things are starting to look up, until after I've tried everything I can think of there appears to be nothing I can do to reestablish the DSL connection for the Internet.  I recheck all the connections and then pick up the phone attached to the land line and discover that I have no Internet connection or DSL because the phone is dead.  No electricity.  No land line. Spotty cell phone reception. Very dumb smart phone.  No Internet, but I got the computer rebooted.  I grab a flashlight, I find my backpacking headlamp and strap it on, and then venture out to the bathroom, while looking at the stars through the exposed rafters of the roof.  I walk into the dark bathroom and brush my teeth by the light of my headlamp.  If I try very hard, I can make this into something poetic, right?

Poetic, well maybe not really poetic, but the way houses are constructed is an art form, just not of the literary kind.  In 1903 the use of lathe and plaster was the way to build houses. This is an interesting shot that shows the framing for the roof with the original cedar shingles and directly to the left is an example of lathe and plaster framing covered by a plaster wall.  I am amazed that the roof has actually held up for all these years even though there is about two layers of original cedar shingles and over that is another three layers of modern roof shingles, the last put on in the mid-1980s when everyone around here got a new roof when a billion dollar hail storm blew through.  Because of the huge change in the barometric pressure, about a week after that storm I came home and found that the plaster ceiling in my living fell -- but that is another story.  I knew that I needed a new roof because roofs today have a sheet of plywood over the rafters and the roof shingles are attached to that.   And, this is why old houses are so interesting --- who knew?  

This shot shows the attic and that white stuff is the insulation that I had "blown" into the attic when I moved in 26 years ago.








As I prepare to fall asleep I try to convince myself that it can't get worse and tomorrow will be a new day.


August 2nd -- I got through the night, the sun will come out tomorrow and all that stuff.  I'm no longer freaked out and after an early  morning workout at the fitness center, I'm getting back into my uber-zen mode.  You have to admit that the view is pretty cool.

Because there was so much demolition, the gigantic construction dumpster is not only filled, it is overflowing.  Remember when the dumpster was empty?

Yet another measure of progress.....

I'll admit that I am finding even the most mundane aspects of construction interesting.  For example, I never really considered what is involved in dropping off and picking up a construction dumpster.  While I'm waiting for the electrician to reconnect my power and phone, the dumpster delivery guy shows up.  He drives this huge rig that is carrying an empty dumpster.  He finds a spot on the street and "rolls off" the empty dumpster.  Then he positions his truck behind the filled dumpster, attaches it, and pulls it off the street and on to his rig with the miracle of modern hydraulics, as show in the following sequence.

Then the guy finds a spot on the street to off-load the filled dumpster that he just picked up.





Then he drives his truck back to pick up the empty dumpster that he arrived with so he can place it in front of my house.

Notice how the dumpster is placed perfectly in front of the overflow pile!  I talked with the dumpster delivery guy and we both agreed how amazing it is that he can move this several ton thing with astounding deft and precision.  And, when the dumpster rolls off the lift, it gently hits the ground -- no vibrations there!  Then, he drives back to where he left the filled dumpster, picks it up and off he goes.

By noon the electricians have restored electricity and the land line is reconnected.  It takes an inordinate amount of time to reboot the microcell, which is connected to the router.  The microcell has to link with a satellite before it restores connectivity and makes my dumb cell phone once again smart.  I just reread that last sentence and realize how ridiculous I am for complaining about how long it takes the microcell to reboot - after all the satellite is orbiting the earth -- it's not like it is just around the corner!  

Life is good once more as life among the ruins returns to the new normal and I'm back into uber-zen mode.