Up on the Rooftop...

 For the last few days, Rick and I have tried to get back into our routine of completing one chore around the house in the morning (when our energy is up and the temperatures are down), and then relaxing and taking a long walk in the afternoons.

On Monday of this week, we started that routine by starting to wash our very long fence. We started with the south side gate and fence. He scrubbed the inside of the fence while I tried to get the dirt off the top of the fence and the fence posts.  About mid-way through that day, though, Rick got side-tracked into using a black streak remover to scrub down the very dirty eavestroughs.  He also found one gutter that has started to leak and damage the fascia board behind it, but that is a chore for another day...

The left side of the gutter is washed while
the right side is filled with dirt and streaks.

On Tuesday we moved our efforts to the back (east) fence.  We made that job a bit trickier since we put the garden in front of the whole fence last year, so we had to work around brick edgers, stones, and plants.  The neighbor's tree is pushing up one section of the fence, and someday we will have to do something about that problem, but that, too, is a chore for another day...

Although the plants have grown up since this photo,
the fence line remains just as long!

Yesterday Rick washed the inside of the north fence.  While he was doing that, I went into our neighbor's yard to cut back the vegetation that technically is on our property.  Vegetation should never touch a fence or a house as it tends to damage both surfaces, so while Rick washed one side, I dug out Mother-in-Law's Tongues, ferns, vines, small trees, and other vegetation that got in our way.  Our neighbors are gone for the month, so they were not around to watch us; however, we have done this in the past, and they never have cared.  I filled almost two full bags of yard debris from the fence line, and after he was finished with the inside of the fence, we also scrubbed the outside of the fence on the north side.

Yes, we still have to wash the outside of the fence on the east and the south sides.  The east side will be done on a ladder, over the fence, with a long-handled brush.  The south side will wait until our neighbors can keep their very large, very protective dog in the house while we are in their yard. I am not one for upsetting dogs or losing limbs just to wash a fence.

While Rick was on the ladder scrubbing the eavestroughs on Tuesday, he noticed that the white rubber/ vinyl blend roof that we had installed in December 2019 was almost black with dirt and mold, so today he climbed up on the roof to see if we could restore it to its original condition.  I stationed myself on the ladder to watch him and to call 911 should he slip or do something else equally stupid.  All went well. After a morning of Rick's hard scrubbing, the dirt is gone and the roof once again retains its rain-shedding qualities.  He spent a little time on our lanai roof with the scrub brush, too, so the roof-scrubbing chores are finished for another couple of years.

While on the ladder, Rick tried to clean
off a bit of the roof (as seen in the corner).
That told him that most of the dirt COULD
be scrubbed from the Florida Room roof.

Water, car wash soap, a good soft brush,
and lots of labor did the trick to clean the roof.

Add a little water from the hose after scrubbing,
and the soap and dirt wash away.

Progress as Rick nears the end of the job.

Our "to do" list seems endless, but that is all part of the joys of homeownership.  We will do a little bit each day to keep Gladys looking her best. 

Time to Trim

 After a tense, long, long, long, long day of travel, we arrived safely back in Florida for the winter.  Let it be known that snow, delayed flights, missed flights, early departures of connecting flights, bad and expensive airport food, and airline agents who do not know how to or who just do not care to do their jobs correctly all make for less than enjoyable travel. 

But we are here.  We spent the first full day spending more money than one could even imagine on restocking the pantry, the refrigerator, and the freezer.  Although Covid cases are far less here right now than in Wisconsin, we have more elderly people down here, so we tend to see more masks being worn in grocery stores.  That is the good thing.  The outrageous price of groceries in Florida is the bad thing.  However, one must eat, and it is only money, so life goes on.  We both are just thankful that we HAVE the money to buy what we need.

The hibiscus try to reach over the fence while the Duranta gold
mound bushes add greenery.  One of the purple cordyline is on the far right.

On the third day here, we started to tackle the very overgrown landscape. Rick had always claimed that if everyone left Florida, it would return to the wild within 12 months.  I believe that is true.  Our back garden that we planted just last year was both a great success and an utter failure.  The two podocarpus -- one on each end of the garden -- both died.  We have one tiny, scraggly stalk of the podocarpus left next to our live oak tree (more shade there), but the other is totally gone. 

The five hibiscus that we planted all went crazy.  They were two feet high when we left and were towering over our 6 foot fence when we returned.  Sadly, they became tall and  "woody," so I hope that by trimming them down, they will fill in with leaves and flowers lower to the ground. 

The nine Duranta gold mound bushes, which I had little hope for, were the clear winners in the garden.  They both spread out and grew taller.  Thankfully, they also trimmed back nicely, so I am pleased with how they look. 

The more neatly trimmed garden needs some replanting and a lot
of water to keep it looking good.  I think I will move the two
remaining cordyline to a more shady location.

The last plant, the spiky cordyline, were on almost equal par with the podocarpus.  Of the five that we planted last year, the two that received the most shade were healthy and grew while the other three that got more sun burned out to dead stalks.  Lesson learned.  The cordyline need shade. 

This is one of four piles of clippings I need to move to the curb.

As usual, the Areca palm tree in the corner garden tried to dominate the entire area.  It grew both tall and wide, so that always becomes a major trimming area for us.  Afterward, we have a two foot high by four foot long bundle of branches to haul to the curb.  We have an additional two bags of clippings from what Rick cut down of the neighbor's trees that grew over our fence line.

The Areca palm, now neatly trimmed, fills the corner garden.

The nice thing about this city is that homeowners can put landscape bags of clippings or branches out each week with the garbage.  Our garbage pick-up is on Monday, so the clippings all will hit the curb today.

Of course, that is only the BACK yard.  I still need to do some trimming of the crotons in the back and all of the trees and shrubs in the front yard.  The good news is that we are having an unusually warm December here, so working in the yard is sweaty but fun.  I'll take this weather over snow any day of the week.

Finished at Last!

 The installation of the new carpet in the basement on Tuesday went off without a hitch.  We are so happy to finally have the basement complete.  The installers came at 7:30 a.m. and were out the door before 2:30 p.m.  That gave us some time to start moving items back into place.

A new, thick pad makes the stairs safe and soft.

The same color carpet starts at the stairs
and goes down the hall, into the bedroom,
and into the exercise room directly ahead.

I started with the closets since we had closet items piled on everything in the storage room.  We finished the closets, and then Rick hassled with the closet doors.  Of course, with a thicker pad and carpeting, he had to make adjustments to all three sets of doors to get them to open and close properly.

A left turn at the bottom of the stairs leads to the bedroom.

We spent part of Tuesday afternoon setting up the exercise room with the TV and the three big pieces of exercise equipment: the treadmill, the rowing machine, and the bike.

The exercise room never looked so good!

The equipment fits well, and we can turn off the
front row of lights if we want to watch TV.

The couch adds another type of seating for TV viewing
downstairs.

On Wednesday morning, we finished the "moving back" process.  The extra furniture that we can't quite part with yet now fills the spare bedroom.  The couch is back in the exercise room, and we even had time to hang pictures on the wall.

Closet doors and a Renoir on the wall make the bedroom complete.

The weaving above the couch is a coverlet pattern that Rick wove years ago.  The other art prints on the walls were something we bought at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, D. C. probably 20 years ago.  I found the prints when I was cleaning out the closet and decided that we might as well enjoy Monet's art. We have one Renoir, but the rest are all by Monet.

I will let the pictures tell the real story of the outcome of our basement remodel.

The spare bedroom holds everything but a bed!

Artwork adds the finishing touch to the basement.

Finally Almost Finished

 We started the journey with the flooded basement back in April, and as of tomorrow, we will finally get the first of the finishing pieces in place.  The installers called today to tell us that they will be at our house at 7:30 AM tomorrow to bring in and install our new carpet in the basement.

We spent a few minutes today doing the last preparatory steps.  Rick brought up the remaining hallway carpet which found a new home as throw rugs in our garage. Then we took off the basement door so the workmen can wrangle the carpet down the stairs. 

Right now, the main exercise room has the new lights installed, the closet doors removed, and the floors scraped and ready to be covered again.

The main exercise room has new lights and new
paint. Now we just need new carpet to complete it.

The main room closet is ready for carpet, too. Note
the outline on the floor where a bar once rested when we
bought this house 31 years ago.

The spare bedroom also is newly lighted with newly painted walls.  The closet doors are stored away, and the floor is prepped for a new covering.  We still have not quite decided what will go back in that room.

The spare bedroom looks blue in this photo, but
the new wall color is more of a teal.

This is the only room that we ran out of molding
to put into the closet.  Ah, well...

Rick finished removing the carpet and scraping the hallway today.  Now it, too, is ready for new carpet.We both will be happy to get carpet back on the stairs to cover those pointy tack strips.

The hallway closet, hallway itself, and the stairs
await the new carpet.

Once all of the carpet is complete, we can move back the furniture and hang pictures on the walls.  Only then will we truly be finished with this unplanned basement remodel.

Stay tuned for the "after" pictures, coming soon!

Rewired, Relighted, Patched, Drywalled House

 Since my last post, Rick has gone off on a tangent to rewire the whole house with new cable/Internet wires so everything is "up to date" electronically... for the moment.  We all know that electronic components and systems change way too quickly to ever totally be caught up, but we do the best that we can.

This is the access hole that started our 
latest recabling project.

The tangent all started when Rick took down one of the fluorescent lights in the exercise room.  That left a cavity in the ceiling with a hole which contained access to the wiring for the living room electronics.  Well, before we patched THAT hole, we just had to make sure that the cables were up to date.

So Rick spent the last few days running new cables over the finished ceilings in the basement and through walls.  Now his computer and my computer are hard-wired into the Internet.  We moved the router to Lindsay's old bedroom. With the router being more centrally located, reception is better throughout our property.  

He took time out from the rewiring to repaint the stairwell walls and ceiling to the basement before the new carpet arrives.  We ordered a carpet called "Down Home," which is a combination of an ivory, tan, and brown plush weave.  The carpet will be installed on July 27.

 

The repainted walls and ceiling on the
staircase make the area brighter.

While we were at it, we also bought and installed new can lights in the storage room.  We had many dark corners in that room, so adding more lights was a welcome addition.

The new can light to the far right finally illuminates 
that dark corner of the basement.  The storage room
is overcrowded right now with furniture and items
from the two other rooms we are refinishing.

Yesterday, we added cable access from the router in the basement to the living room, and today we are working on adding new cables to the TV in our master bedroom.

Meanwhile, Rick is patching the old fluorescent light cavities in the ceiling in the exercise room.  He also recabled the TV in that room, so reception is good down there, too.

Left-over drywall makes a perfect finish to the 
basement workshop.

Then Rick used the left-over drywall to finish a part of the wall in his workshop that never had any covering over the insulation.  That area was great at collecting sawdust from his saw!  Now, with the drywall installed and primed, the room will be much easier to clean after a project.  Additionally, we were able to use the expensive drywall that was left over from our latest wall projects.

Building materials in the last year have skyrocketed in price, so we are happy to use whatever materials we have to make this house as comfortable as possible.  With the prices of houses, we are in no hurry to move anywhere else!

Out with the Blue Painted Walls, In with the New "Cookie" Walls

Much has happened since my last blog, including several major decisions regarding the walls and the flooring.

Our original plan was to put rolled linoleum or vinyl plank floors into the downstairs bedroom, cutting out only the amount of carpet that was still good so we could patch the hallway carpet.  To paraphrase Robert Burns: The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.  And that is exactly what happened to those plans.  

Rick adds a new coat of aqua paint over
the blue walls in the bedroom.

Step Seven of our original scheme was to paint the new drywall in the hallway and the bedroom.  Rick did that, painting the hallway a bright white and the bedroom a soft shade of aqua green (although I admit that it looks blue in the pictures I have taken). 

Step Eight was to splice the carpet.  That is where our plans changed.  A close look at the hallway carpet revealed that it was badly worn in places, and any splice we tried to add to that wear pattern would not have looked good at all.  OK, ditch the splicing idea. 

We then decided to investigate either solid sheet linoleum (since this IS a basement!) or try luxury vinyl plank flooring.  We learned that linoleum was not a good choice both because it would have been a nightmare to lay both in the bedroom and piece into the hallway, and because the size of roll that we would have needed to cover the bedroom was impossible to fit down our basement stairs.  OK, ditch the sheet linoleum.

We were excited to try the vinyl plank flooring.  After laying Pergo planks both in our house and in Stephanie's first house, we knew that we could do that labor, so we bought all of the flooring and hauled it downstairs.  We ripped out the old carpet in the bedroom, Rick pulled out all of the tack strips, and we replaced a clean-out drain cover that we found buried under the floor.  We started to lay the vinyl planks and immediately ran into problems.  

Six rows of plank flooring proved to us that it would
split apart on uneven floors.  This is as far as we got
before we ripped it all out.

While the planks were waterproof and made for basements, we quickly learned that they did not stay together if the floor was not even.  Sadly, when our house was built, it was not built to have a finished basement, and the floors are less than perfectly flat.  Each time I walked on the part of the floor that we had down, the planks pulled apart.  To solve that problem, we would have had to spend about $1,000 getting our floors leveled.  The planks were not worth it.  OK, ditch the planks. We returned the unopened boxes to the store and discarded the rest into the garbage in pure disgust.  

As we debated our options on what to do next, we knew that we would have to replace the fluorescent lights in the ceiling of the exercise room.  We found that the lights were not properly installed and not grounded in the bedroom, and the same held true in the exercise room.  The picture shows what Rick found buried in the ceiling that acted as a power supply for the light fixtures -- an open box that could have set the house on fire.  Replacing those with properly wired and grounded can lights let me sleep a little better, even though we still had not found an answer to our flooring dilemma. 

This is what we found buried in the ceiling
of the exercise room.

So now we were back to square one.  The spliced carpet would not work, the linoleum would not fit, the vinyl planks would not stay together on uneven floors, tile would be too expensive, and leaving the floors with nothing on them was not an option.

That is when we decided that we would have to go back to choosing a new carpet for the hallway and the bedroom.  We discussed and agreed that rather than buying carpet for the stairs, we would buy oak treads and risers and rebuild the stairs, staining them to match the woodwork in the rest of the house.  Good plan... except research revealed that the stains and sealers available to the do-it-yourselfers were not a good choice.  They all either wore poorly which would have resulted in having to sand and refinish the stairs about every five years, or they resulted in a topcoat sealer that was dangerous because it was slippery.  The only stains/ sealers worth buying were sold only to professional floor installers/ finishers, and we were not about to hire someone to complete that work.  OK, ditch the oak stairs.  We took all of the treads and risers back to the store today.

In the meantime, we had gone to local carpet Store #1 to look for carpet.  The saleswoman was less than helpful.  She pointed us in the right direction, told us to choose a nylon carpet for durability and for stain resistance, and offered no additional information or help.  When asked about weave or backing or guarantees, her only solution was to read the back of the carpet sample.  Thanks.  THAT we could do ourselves.  We took a couple of samples home and decided to get a quote on one of them. 

A man from Store 1 came out to measure for the carpet.  At that time, we had still planned on using oak stairs, so he did not measure for a carpeted staircase.  The quote came in about $500 more than we expected, and we would have to add almost $1,000 more for the stairs.  Neither of us was THAT thrilled with the carpet choice.

Today, we chose to shop further.  We went to local carpet Store 2 and met with a very personable saleswoman.  She listened to what we wanted and brought us a carpet that she thought would work well for our application.  It actually was less expensive than the carpet from Store 1, and we liked it better. We brought it home but could not quite decide on a color.  I liked one variegated sample, but Rick thought it might be too dark.  Neither of us felt it was perfect for the room.  We liked it in the sunlight, but in the basement it seemed to take on a grey tint.  We even went back to Store 1, got that carpet sample again, and brought them both home to compare.  

Then it hit me: the carpet that we both liked better from Store 2 just did not look good with the blue walls downstairs, even though it was a fairly neutral shade of beige. Our solution was to go to our favorite paint store in town, taking the carpet sample with us.  Within 10 minutes, our saleswoman at the paint store found the perfect shade of off-white (called "Sugar Cookie") that made the carpet sample come alive.  Finally we had some success!

Rick starts to repaint the wall Sugar Cookie
to rid us of the blue walls in the exercise room.

For the first time in three weeks, we both are content with our choices.  We will replace all of the carpet in the basement with the variegated sample from Store 2.  Someone from that store will be here on Monday to measure the stairs and the rooms for an estimate.  In the meantime, Rick bought the new paint and already has painted the hallway and part of the blue exercise room.  We know that if the carpet does not look right in the aqua bedroom, we can repaint that room (again) with the same Sugar Cookie paint.  

We still have to patch the ceiling in the exercise room and to take out all of the blue carpet in that room, but we will have almost two months to do that before the new carpet arrives.  Unless the chosen carpet's quote comes in at over $5,000 (which I doubt), I think that we finally are on the road to getting our basement back into a habitable condition. 

Forced Basement Remodel

 A few weeks ago, Green Bay had a power outage.  When Lindsay went to our vacant house to turn on the water so our water-back-up sump pump would work, she discovered that our furnace had been leaking and that the carpet was so soaked, it was growing mushrooms!

She called in a repairman for us, and we learned that the furnace had probably been leaking for over six months as the condensation discharge hose had fallen out.  It was not properly installed ten years ago, and it finally gave way; however, since we were not here to do "proper maintenance," and since the installation company was partly at fault, our homeowners insurance will not cover the cost of the repairs.  They told us to go to the furnace installation company for repair costs... like that would happen with a 10-year-old furnace malfunction!

So we flew back to Green Bay earlier than expected, and we have been working downstairs ever since.

Step One was to remove all of the moldy carpeting, drywall, stud walls, and carpet strips.

Rick cut out the moldy carpet to expose the
wet carpet pad and the moldy woodwork.

The wet carpet and mold went around the corner
into the bedroom area, too.

The wet stud walls and drywall were full
of black mold. 

Step Two was to spray the entire area around the furnace to kill any mold spores left in the concrete.

With the stud walls and drywall at the end of the hallway
and around the corner into the bedroom removed, Rick
sprayed the area to rid the house of mold.

Step Three was to rebuild the stud walls that surround the furnace.

First up was the stud wall for the end of the hallway.

Rick works on the stud wall in the bedroom.

Since one door was impacted, Rick had to add
new moulding to the door frame.

After a few careful cuts, the new drywall
covers the end of the hallway.

Rick screws in the drywall to the new
bedroom wall.

Step Four was to replace the old-fashioned, incorrectly wired fluorescent light fixtures before we burned down the house.  We replaced them with LED canned lights.  We figured since we had to drywall anyway, now was the perfect time to run new wires and to drywall the ceiling.  We will do the same with the light fixtures in the exercise room, too.

New can lights flank the hole in the ceiling
where the old fluorescent lights once hung.

We had to build frames inside those holes
to which we could fasten drywall.

Then up goes the new drywall to cover the old hole.

Step Five was to replace the old light box above the stairs with a canned light also.

The old stairway light box was way at the bottom
of the staircase, so it did not light the stairs well.

The new can light is further up the stairs,
and we added a second at the bottom of the stairs.

Step Six was to install new drywall, to tape the joints, and to mud it all. While the walls are just tedious to mud, the joints to the ceilings and the overhead work on the ceiling are the most difficult to complete.

The second coat of mud goes over the tape
on the seams of the new drywall.

Once the mud dries and we sand it, we
will be able to paint them.

The overhead work is the most difficult.

Step Seven is yet to come.  Once the walls are sanded, we will prime and paint them all.  Then we can look downward since Step Eight will be to cut good carpet from the bedroom that was not damaged and to seal it to the carpet that is left in the hallway.  

Steph Nine will be to install new flooring in the basement bedroom. We still are debating whether to use rolled sheet linoleum or to choose waterproof vinyl plank flooring instead.  While the sheet will be about 1/3 the price of the planks, the planks almost will be easier to install, and they will (in my opinion) look much better.  That decision is yet to be made.

While we were looking at lights, we also noticed that the canned lights in the kitchen had badly yellowed from years of heat from the lightbulbs, so while we are in the remodeling, it's-only-money mood, we replaced all of those lights with new LED lights, too.  The LEDs have a 20-year guarantee.  At our ages, I wish we had such a guarantee, too! 

So the work goes on.  In the end, we will have a repaired basement that will support the sale of this house some day when our daughters have to sell it.  Until that time, it will be safe and will look good.  We'll settle for that.

This and That

 This past week has been a jumble of non-related activities, but I guess that is what retirement is all about. We get to do what we want, when we want.

I just finished reading Keep Sharp: Building a Better Brain at Any Age by Dr. Sanjay Gupta. He talks about the fact that if we all start to lead a healthy, active lifestyle and fill our minds and bodies with good things, we actually can avoid or at least delay dementia as we age.  Thankfully, many of the key things he suggests are already a part of our lives.  

The number one best thing we all can do is to exercise, and Rick and I try to do that every day.  Other key ideas are getting at least 7-9 hours of restful sleep each night, handling stress in productive ways, learning new things and trying new activities each day, eating healthy foods, and remaining sociable.  All of those things help us build rather than destroy brain cells.  His book is very interesting and is worth taking the time to read.  I endorse both reading it and following the guidelines he suggests.  

Rick and I exercise daily, and we slowly are changing our diets to build in even more healthy fruits and vegetables. We both have to work on handling stress and getting more restful sleep.  I also need to spend more time seeking new experiences that will expand my knowledge and horizons. And as far as sociability is concerned, well, Covid-19 has really disrupted that idea right now.  Interestingly, Rick and I both realize that we know and interact with many more of our neighbors here in Florida than we do with neighbors and other people in Wisconsin.  That's one thing we will have to work on more, too.

A couple of days ago, I tackled a part of the yard that was more weeds than grass, pulling out half a 30-pound garbage bag full of weeds... and I have the blisters to prove it!  Now we need to get some grass seed into that area before the weeds try to creep back.

One of the ponds in Hammock Park

An anhinga dries its wings after diving for fish.

Three days ago the temperature was rising quickly, so we decided to walk in Hammock Park again.  Walking in the shade is at least 10 degrees cooler than strolling in the hot sun.  As we walked, I noted that the terrain is very reminiscent of what Florida must have looked like when the only people living here were the Seminole and other Native American tribes.  The landscape is wild and lush, and even though we are in the middle of a city, the only sounds one hears are small animals (mostly squirrels) scampering through the leaves and underbrush.  Several varieties of palms, ferns, bushes, and trees fill the landscape.  Drainage ditches and small creeks weave their way through the park, so the birds -- like my old friend the anhinga -- and other wildlife have a perfect habitat. 

I'll use what I can to make doing laundry
a happy experience.

Four wool balls will keep my laundry
fluffy without chemicals.

Yesterday, I received a wonderful "late" birthday gift from Stephanie.  She knows that I am into saving the environment in whatever small ways that I can. I wish all stores would ban the use of plastic bags.  We all need to train ourselves to use washable containers instead of Zip Lock bags, and we all should recycle as much as possible.  To that end, Stephanie sent me two products produced by Beekman 1801, a company that creates environmentally friendly cleaning and soap products made from goat's milk.  

The first product from Beekman's was their Happy Place Laundry Soap.  This natural soap cleans clothing without chemicals, and it does not leave a residue in the washing machine.  While the powder is expensive, it will save wear and tear on my clothes, and I will not have to buy any more Affresh tablets to clean the drum in the washing machine.  That's a win-win in my book.

She also sent me four wool dryer balls.  These naturally fluff and soften the laundry while replacing the need for any fabric softener,  with is another win-win for us and for the planet.

Rick replaces the condenser on the old
garage door opener.

Today Rick changed the condenser on our garage door opener.  It has not been working correctly ever since we got the new door installed.  He adjusted the tension on the door opener once, and that worked for a while, but yesterday it stopped working again.  We really believe that a lightening strike last summer in the neighborhood shortened the life of some of our electronics.  So today he took the new condenser that he had ordered a while ago for $20, climbed up on the ladder, and replaced the condenser.  Now the garage door opens fine, and he saved us over $100 in having a garage door service come to the house.  Way to go, Rick!

He also did his good deed for the week today.  He helped a widowed neighbor replace a towel bar in her bathroom.  She was not strong enough to get the old bar off, but he had the right tool and enough strength to wrestle the old one down.  Thankfully, the new one was easy to put in its place, so Rick finished that job in a half an hour.  As always, helping others also rewards the doer with a good feeling, so this was another win-win situation.

The has been a crazy week but a productive one.  Each day we meet new ideas and challenges and take the next step forward.  And that's life.