Category: lakehouse

Should be hot here at the BOL, and in Houston. It was hot yesterday and most of the day was saturated. There was a short period where there was some shade and a cool breeze off the lake, but thankfully, I was working either inside, or in a giant hole in the wall.

I did get the window mostly installed. I got some sheathing up, and some flashing tape. I still have housewrap and more flashing to do, as well as figuring out trim details and what I want to cover the foot of wall above the window and below it. I might put the brick back eventually, but probably not this year.

With my buddy helping to steer, and a “skate” under the window, it wasn’t as hard or scary as I expected to get the window in place. I bought the skate years ago, but knew where the box was in the shed within 2 feet. Worked a treat too. Prepping win! Now if I could just find the leftover housewrap I’m pretty sure I have somewhere…

I was supposed to go home last night and be meeting the A/C contractor at 8am to replace my coil unit, but he couldn’t get the warranty approved. We’re going ahead with the replacement and will try to get the compensation afterward if needed. The family will all be home Sun, and I need the air working. So I’ll be up early to head home, and meet the guy at noon.

Three years. The enshittification of everything is spreading. Even a brand like Carrier uses mexican factories and NAFTA (and what replaced it) to destroy the working class and make the financial shenannegans boys happy. Warranty payouts are three years away boys, let’s make those quarterly numbers! That’s a problem for future us…

All the more reason to buy older proven stuff when you can, to buy for quality and longevity when you can, and to have spare parts if they are available for simple things.

There will be a reckoning. Some people are not going to like it.

Meanwhile, stack money. It’s the universal prep.

nick

More hot and humid? Or more overcast and relatively cool? Only time will tell. Yesterday was hot and humid when the sun came out but it got cold and windy before too long. And I set up the umbrella for shade… But just as I finished up it came down in buckets.

Fortunately, I had finished for the day. Well, with brick removal. I’d have done another hour or two of carpentry getting ready for today if I didn’t need to make a supply run to Lowes. I got the whole in the wall covered with plywood to keep the rain and critters out overnight, and did my run. Neighbor drove his truck so I didn’t need to unload my window from mine. I bought gas and dinner.

Today I need to be weather tight by about 6pm at the latest, and it’s definitely doable. Getting started in the morning will help, but honestly, morning or afternoon, I’ve only got so much gas in the tank, and when that runs out I’m spent. If I had Saturday here I’d have no worries. As it is, I think it will be tight.

But we do what we can. And work on improving…

nick

(and stacking just in case.)

But as long as the weather cooperates, I think I’ll get there. Yesterday rained just enough, and not too much, so I could work as long as I was able. It was hot, but no direct sunlight for most of it, and there was even a cool breeze for part of the day. Late afternoon the sun came out and started to broil me, even though it was in the low 80sF. So I looked around and found an umbrella to set up for a little shade. Then the wind picked up and a storm blew through… but after I went back to work outside and reset the umbrella. Adapt improvise, overcome.

I got almost all of the chimney removed, except for the firebox insert, and the hearth. Indoors, I removed the top 2 ft of the fireplace above the mantel. I could be quicker, just pulling the whole wall down and letting it break apart on the floor, but I’ll have a heck of a mess to clean up and it goes pretty fast removing one brick at a time.

I did a better job staying hydrated too.

Today I have to get all the brick work out, and start the process for roughing in the new opening. I have to support the ceiling joists temporarily during that, and I hope I have enough materials. I was planning to make a Lowes run once I had the wall and ceiling open and knew for sure what I’d need. Pretty sure I need at least one sheet of plywood for the roof opening, and one sheet of drywall to repair the ceiling. I’ve got studs and wall sheathing. And plastic sheet if I have to just cover the whole thing and staple it up to make it weather tight.

Then Friday, I’ll install the window, wall and ceiling sheathing, and button up to head home. Still have to be up early Sat morning for the A/C guy to install the new unit. I have a feeling I’ll be back up here soon to do the trim out and final finishes. And it just occurred to me that code will require an outlet in the wall under the window. I’ll have to at least install the box and romex up to the attic. Without opening walls there’s nothing nearby to grab, and none of the old system is grounded anyway. Fractal.

Always be working. And stacking doesn’t hurt.

nick

I just hope this cool spell continues. It was a light misty drizzle for part of the day, and it stayed cool with a cool breeze throughout the overcast day. The drizzle stopped early too. Just enough to get the grass too wet to mow. I want a couple more days like this.

I got a bunch of brick removed. I’m down to the last couple of feet of chimney, and the firebox. All the indoor brick is still up. It’s progress.

Today I’ll keep at it, weather permitting. I’m trying to drink more electrolyte drink but keep forgetting. The sun is still there as I have a little pink even through the t shirt. And it’s filthy work. Fortunately there’s a lake right here and the water is bath water warm.

Work on something every day. And stack.

nick

But at least the temps have been held down by the overcast and rain. It drizzled on and off all day but I was able to work in between and it ended up a beautiful night. 76F when I went to bed. More like that would be nice.

Spent the day trying to do stuff and accomplished my goal for the day. Got more chimney down. I’ve got a pretty big pile of debris and I’ll have a lot more before I’m done. Hopefully someone will want some free brick rubble. Someone usually does.

Today I’ll keep at it. I don’t think I’ll try for an early start. My hands are starting to feel the strain, I’m not used to picking up brick, or holding and swinging a 5 pound sledge hammer. Getting old is not for the faint of heart.

But I’m making progress and getting work done. And stacking in between.

nick

If the weather continues to be something I can work with, I’ll keep working. It was 76F when I went to bed. Really nice. And it never got crazy hot except while the sun was shining. If we get more mixed clouds and overcast, with a breeze, it will be perfect for working on the chimney.

Speaking of which, I made good progress, tearing it down to the roof flashing. I will switch to working on a scaffold today which is shakier than working from the roof. I will continue to use my fall protection. I also got the mower running again, changed the oil, but didn’t have a filter. I dumped the dirty oil and reinstalled the filter, and will replace it when the correct filter comes in. I also ordered the gasket I need to replace on the old carb, so I’ll have a spare after that comes in. Three trailers of brick debris got hauled to my “piles of stuff” area. Then I even got to float on the water for a while at dusk.

Dinner was canned peas and a pork chop from 2023. Still delicious.

Today I’ll continue on the chimney if it’s not raining. I burned a tiny bit through my t shirt yesterday, so I’ll be more careful today. If it’s raining, there is a long list I can work on inside. There’s always more to do.

W is doing a bunch of household maintenance for her folks. The kids are sleeping. Teens.

Always be working to improve your situation, and stack what you might need.

nick

Hot and humid, some sun, and hotter when it’s shining. We did get some very light showers yesterday and they were VERY localized. Like it was a blue sky but somehow we were still getting wet, but 1000 ft later it was gone, localized. Just another day in the Bayou City.

I did my pickups, and shopping yesterday, but it definitely was a grind. Lowes is almost useless for real stuff. They had 20 ft of battery powered LED lighting. 20 ft of china plastic crap LED lighting, but not a single metal spotlight or flood fixture to replace the old incan floods on my dock. 20 ft of low voltage landscape lighting too. It’s all crap, cheap plastic crap.

Amazon isn’t much better. I had two choices for spot lights and two choices for flood light, and they were different brightnesses, so really only one choice each (120v LED fixture, to replace the existing and mount on existing boxes. Used to be you could easily do that with lampholders and R40 bulbs.) But they will be here today, hopefully before I leave.

Everywhere in the store the choices were either very restricted, the item was missing, or only cheap china crap was available. But they had aisles full of household stuff like shelves, blinds, decor, cleaners, and storage bins.

Today is my (supposed to be fun) hobby meeting in our new space. Then we’ll have a board meeting about why stuff isn’t getting done. MY STUFF is done. My ‘gimme’ tchotchke came in yesterday, all 225 of them. I even spent far too long doing half @ssed edits to a flyer that one of the other guys did using AI. Looks good but the dates are wrong, the QR code was wrong, and the location of the event is missing… and there isn’t an easy way to edit the result.

Then I’ve got an hour round trip to do an auction pickup. It was worth it, but the timing is unfortunate. Follow that up with taking the family to the airport, coming home to swap trucks, loading the pickup with the rest of the stuff for the BOL, and then heading back out of town past the airport…

It’s gonna be a busy day. Expect comments from me to be few and far between.

Use the time to work on improving something, or stacking!

nick

Hot and humid is the uniform of the day. Dress it up any way you want but Houston in Summer is pretty much the same. Rain, or no rain, it’s still hot and humid. We did get a smattering of drops yesterday while I was out but I think they were very localized. Some black sky threatened from the south, but nothing ever happened.

I did my pickups. Took longer than I hoped so I didn’t get to the Habitat reStore. I’ll go there today. Came home and did auction stuff for a couple hours. Didn’t cook any dinner. I’ll have some stuff to take with me to the BOL next week.

Today I’ll see if the reStore has any windows that will work for my project at the BOL. If not, it will change how much I want to get done, and might change my priorities up there. If yes, it will commit me to this next big project until we’re weathertight again. Oh well, nothing I’m not already familiar with. Go big or go home.

I’ve been stacking, now I guess I’ll be working…

nick