Monday, April 16, 2012

Updates but no camera!

Hi Everybody! I cannot find my camera so I am sorry that I don't have new photos to show you of the work in progress. I will attach some old pics of areas that we are working on, tho. We have gutted all three bathrooms and I am in the process of drawing the layout of each. New plumbing will be going into each room. We have to replace the soil pipe (poop shoot) so I have decided to move one of the toilets. I have saved as much tile as I could in hopes of re-using or selling. We continue to patch and repair walls and ceilings.

I spent the weekend removing all of the west side basement windows (actually the lower sash), installing new treated lumber for the window sill, and preparing the window frame for cinder block. The block will eventually be covered by dirt. The old window wells are alligned with brick but have filled in over the years and I now have trees growing into my foundation. What a pain in the ass trying to cut all of this out without damaging the foundation any further! Its all done and am awaiting my mason (John Blair) to help me with the cinder block and mortar.





                                                MASTER BATHROOM






                                       GUEST BATHROOM





                                                    SECOND/KIDS BATHROOM




Thursday, April 12, 2012

I forgot to tell you...

Jan Wright...who owns FIRST CLASS CLUTTER which is located on Main Street in downtown Lafayette...is hosting an INVITE-ONLY open house at the Ayers Mansion on Saturday, April 28th. In order to attend, please contact Jan at 765-412-4720. She may have a few questions for you (such as what are you looking for?) and you may have some questions for her (such as what does he have?). This is my attempt to sell some of the items that were left in the house. The category of items for sale is too numerous to list so please call Jan. We will also be serving wine and cheese but the primary purpose of the open house is to SELL some stuff. So...bring your money!

Please note that although I am listing this as an open house...not all of the house will be open for viewing and the primary location of the sale will be on the first floor. If I find you loitering in any areas that you are not supposed to be in...I will shoot you and bury you in my basement where noone will ever find you. Remember...this is an invite-only gig so you need to call Jan and get on the list or I will not let you in...unless you pay me lots of money as an "entrance fee" but we will just call it a donation to some obscure charity!

Wednesday, April 11, 2012

Update for the Old House on the Hill.

Good evening, everyone. No pics this time because I am sending this from home and the pics are on my camera in my truck and I am just too lazy right now to go get it and download. The plumbing is almost done but there always seems to be something else that needs replaced or sealed or re-attached. It just seems to never really end. Someday. As for the electrical, that seems to be moving a bit slower but I am hopeful my boy JAY JUDD will be able to get over to the house and run some more lines. The guys finished the drywall ceiling in the master bedroom today and we started on the master bathroom. I am attempting to remove the tile from the walls because it is very cool and unique and I am quite sure that they don't make this kind of tile and/or pattern anymore. I have been proceeding steadily on the east side of the house replacing the soffet, guttering, and fascia. A lot of the wood was rotted from water and I have been attempting to replicate the unique trim but it has been a bit difficult since the measurements are different nowadays versus 100 plus years ago. Go figure. But nonetheless, it looks pretty good...if I say so myself.

Will try to download some pics this weekend. Cheers!

Monday, April 2, 2012

One tree down...one door up!

Thank you to all of the volunteers in helping me cut down the monster tree next to the house. Oh..wait...there weren't any...except for Michael. Thanks to Michael A....we made quick work of the tree in two days. Also...thank you to the Ebershoffs and Lafayette Tent And Awning who loaned me there mobile lift so that I could get some of this work done in quick fashion. Any time you guys want me to borrow your lift....I would be happy to! Here are some before and after pics of the tree...and now stump! The pic of the front of the house shows the tree to the left...right next to the house.












As for the window to door action, if looking at the first pic showing the front of the house, I knocked out the left window which is the dressing room off of the master bedroom and overlooking the roof of the front/side porch. The purpose of installing a door is to utilize the very large roof as a patio off of the master bedroom. Joan Ayers told me that they used to crawl out of the window and sunbathe on the roof...so I thought I would just make it easy and put in a door. I eventually will replace the railing that used to be up there and install a ceramic tile floor. To make sure that the roof would support the weight, we removed some covering to find that the entire porch roof is made up of very solid black walnut 2 X 8s extending from the interior house walls to the edge of the porch. This will add a lot of extra room to an already large house!