jjncj.com - rebuild

Updates on the Kugler's Rebuild Project

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 17 Oct 2008 21:31:00 +0000

This is the place to to find updates on Joshua and Crystal's remodeling project. You can add a feed for just this category to your news reader, or simply bookmark this page and check every few days.

To get a little background on what's going on, take a look at our original letter. As always, donations are welcome. Thanks for stopping by!

The active todo list! Check back often to track our progress!

Upstairs wiring Done!
Basement furring Done! - 2008-09-18
Media conduit for exterior walls Done! 2008-09-24
Cleanup for foaming Done! - 2008-09-25
Have house foamed Done! - 2008-09-26
Cleanup after foaming Done! - 2008-10-01
Walls we're replacing/adding

Bathroom/guest room wall Done! - 2008-10-01
Laundry room/office wall Done! - 2008-10-06
Family room/office wall Done! - 2008-10-11
Furnace room wall
Kids' room closet Done! - 2008-10-08

Wiring for light fixtures and switches, including stair light
Floor reinforcement downstairs Done! - 2008-10-16
Wiring up interior walls
Install water heater
HRV System
Replacing stairs (code compliance)
Solid foam insulation on downstairs floor
Radiant floor heat downstairs?
Resurfacing down stairs floor
Media conduit for interior walls (including speaker wire conduit and security system conduit)
Downstairs tub drain replacement
Plumbing
Window replacements
Sheet rock
Switch/outlet installation
Underlayment upstairs
Texture walls
Priming and painting
Flooring installation
Cabinets and vanity installation
Kitchen appliance installation
Miscellaneous stuff (light fixtures, etc)
Move in!

Keeping y'all up to date

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:26:35 +0000

If you go to the rebuild category (http://jjncj.com/blog/categories/1-rebuild) the first post is a "sticky post" giving introductory information. Well, now it's going to serve double duty. I'm going to take my todo list from this post and add it to that sticky post, and update it as thing get done.

That way, you'll have a constantly updated progress chart. So, either bookmark the rebuild category or the sticky post itself. Or just add our RSS feed to your RSS aggregator.

It's warm in that thar house

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 03 Oct 2008 17:16:35 +0000

Last Friday (2008-09-26) the house was spray-foamed! This is a polyurethane closed-cell foam that is one of the best insulators out there. We got four inches of foam in the studs up stairs, and two inches of foam in the 2x4 furring down stairs. Translation: the house is very air-tight and very insulated. The boiler with a couple of unit heaters on it can keep the house quite cozy.

We spent the last week cleaning up after the foamers (studs have to be cleaned, random foam overspray, etc), removing the rest of the sheet rock on the upstairs ceiling, and sweeping/vacuuming up the aforementioned mess. Save the stairs we're redoing, no more demolition!

It's coming along nicely. Stay tuned for more!

Wiring, furring, foaming, oh my!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 26 Sep 2008 21:02:51 +0000

A lot of progress has been made since our last major update three months ago.

Almost all the upstairs wiring has been run. Just a few runs to lights from the switches remain.

The basement has been furred out with 2x4s. Much thanks to my dad for getting me started on that, and to Robb for spending several nights learning (along with me) how to do framing.

All the wiring for the exterior walls is done downstairs. Again, Robb helped a LOT

All the conduit for media (network/phone/coax) has been run to the exterior walls. (Robb, Jason)

Acquired a connex container and moved our already-purchased cabinets and flooring into it to make it easier to work in the house. (Robb, Jason T., Steve M.

The house was prepped for being spray foamed. (Robb)

And today the house was spray-foamed. We got four inches of insulation in the exterior wall upstairs (2x6 walls) and two inches in the exterior walls (2x4) down stairs. We're so excited! We've been praying that the weather would stay warm until we got the insulation in, and it did. It's expected that we'll have highs in the thirties in a few days. So that Indian Summer we've been having? Yeah, that was a God thing.

So, the house is sealed up and insulated, and should be very easy to keep warm. Other work can now continue. Our todo list as it currently stands:

Cleanup for foaming

Floor reinforcement downstairs

Walls we're replacing: Bathroom/guestroom; Family room/office; Laundry/Office

Wiring up interior walls

HRV System

Replacing stairs (code compliance)

Solid foam insulation on downstairs floor

Radiant floor heat downstairs?

Resurfacing down stairs floor

Media conduit for interior walls (including speaker wire conduit and security system conduit)

Plumbing

Window replacements

Sheet rock

Switch/outlet installation

Underlayment upstairs

Texture walls

Priming and painting

Flooring installation

Cabinets and vanity installation

Kitchen appliance installation

Miscellaneous stuff (light fixtures, etc)

Move in!

So, did I miss anything?

So, quite a to-do list, but the insulation today was a major milestone. We're getting there!

Edit: Added HRV.

1173 Cubic Feet

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 14:53:12 +0000

1173 cubic feet. That's how much storage is sitting in our driveway as I write. We have been storing some stuff in the house for a few months (cabinets and flooring) and they need to be removed so we can do the insulation and the floor, and so we don't have to work around them while sheet rocking, painting, and the like.

What we now have in our driveway is a 20 foot connex container. We'll be moving the cabinets and flooring tomorrow. You're welcome to join us. Oh, and we'll be prepping the walls for the spray foam insulation.

Fly me to the moon...

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Wed, 13 Aug 2008 17:24:18 +0000

...and bring me right back down.

It has been an interesting past few weeks. We've been searching for funding, and just haven't gotten anywhere.

Another interesting wrinkle came a little over a week ago. We got a bill from the water company for $3,200. Why? Well, they were billing us for digging up the street, filling it back in, and paving it. I thought I had been told, repeatedly, that if the line was fixed, and they didn't have to dig it up again to turn on the water, we wouldn't be charged. Either I was told incorrectly, or I misunderstood. No, I never got it in writing, and no, I never wrote down who told me. It was all verbal, and I don't think I was ever on the phone when I was told, so I didn't have anything to write it down. Right now, we're waiting to hear back from them as to how much they'll let us pay per month.

This past Monday we met with Fairbanks Neighborhood Housing Services (FNHS), the organization that helped us buy our house in the first place. They have some funding available for renovation loans, and we talked with them about that. The loan officer was very helpful, and very encouraging. It was almost a "sure thing" that we would be able to get a VERY low interest loan for $45,000 and finish the house. We were pretty excited, but still a bit cautious. We talked to him today, and were told that Alaska Housing Finance Corporation (the source of FNHS's money) is very reluctant to (translation: just about never will) loan money for work on a house in which black mold has been discovered, even when all the mold has been removed (in our case, the house is gutted). Even with an air test to prove the mold is no longer in the house, he was not optimistic. We'll do an air test and see what it gets us, but for now, that door is closed.

So, we're right back to where we started. We need $45,000 to finish the house (ideally $50,000, but $45,000 will do). And yes, I have a spreadsheet with all the numbers to back it up.

If you happen to know the source of a very low interest 30 year loan, please let us know.

God is in control! We know we'll get through this. We're just a bit discouraged right now. I'm just glad that the kids are young enough to not have any idea what's going on. Elizabeth knows that I go "work on the house," but she doesn't understand why I'm working on it, or why we're not living there. She and Jonathan-David are just happy being kids.

A Bobcat blessing

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 19:29:25 +0000

As I mentioned in my previous post, I was heading over to the house today to shovel dirt back in to the trench. After working for about two hours, you could tell I had made progress, but you had to look closely. The tops of the dirt piles were gone; that was about the extent of it.

About that time, a paving crew from Bloom Enterprises drove by to do some asphalt patching down the street. On one of their trailers was a Bobcat. Maybe, just maybe. I walked down the street and ask the supervisor how much they charged an hour for bobcat work. "I don't think we really do that," was the response. Ah well, at least I tried.

About 15 minutes later, I look up, and coming down the street is a Bobcat being driven by one of the crew, and the supervisor riding on the bucket. I smiled, but kept my enthusiasm in check, because after all, there was a trench in the street in front of our house which needed repair too. But I did get excited when they pulled in the driveway.

We worked out a price, and Travis went to work. In about an hour, he accomplished far more than I could have working all day, maybe two days. All the dirt is back in the trench, and the driveway is, oh, semi-level, but functional. It'll probably settle over the next week or so, so we'll need more dirt, but that's OK. It was such a blessing to have that done. It saved me hours upon hours, and didn't cost us anywhere near what renting a backhoe or Bobcat would have. God is truly good.

If you're in need of paving work in the Fairbanks area, please give Bloom Enterprises a call. 907-474-0625 And let them know you're calling because they helped out a friend of yours.

Water is flowing!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 19 Jul 2008 09:36:16 +0000

For the first time is many moons, we now have water flow in the house. Granted, nothing is hooked up to the water in the house, we we have water when we turn on the main valve. It's all foamed up (we have to insulate our outside water pipe in Alaska to protect from freezing), and I'll be heading over there today to throw dirt back in the hole. We'll see how long it takes me to put back all the dirt a back hoe took out in three hours.

Thar she blew!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Thu, 10 Jul 2008 21:52:01 +0000

We now bring you an update of our water rupture story.

My father-in-law Steve got way more than he bargained for when he came to visit last week. He arrived in Fairbanks the evening of July 2nd after driving for over nine hours from the Kenai peninsula. Within a half hour of arriving, he was helping me dig out the driveway while Philip L. operated the back-hoe I had rented earlier that day.

In about three hours we dug up some 40 feet or so of driveway, and we did manage to find a rupture, hopefully the only one. The rupture was about two inches long, so must have pushed out thousands of gallons of water before our line was shut off. I'm surprised our neighbor's yard didn't settle any.

The bad part in all this is that our home owner's insurance won't pay for this, as the house 1) wasn't occupied, 2) wasn't heated (true, but peripheral to the cause of the freeze-up), and 3) there was no circulation pump (not required by code if you are less than 100 feet away from the main). So, if you know of anyone that might have some "pull" at State Farm, let us know.

Pictures included for your viewing pleasure.

View of the trench in our driveway.

Close up of the rupture.

Water, water...not in the basement, fortunately

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Wed, 02 Jul 2008 18:49:00 +0000

My afternoon was interrupted at a quarter until four today by a phone call from our local water company, Golden Heart Utilities (GHU). The nice lady on the other end of the phone informed me that I needed to go to the house at 1612 Southern Avenue (the house we're currently remodeling) and check if we still had water service.

My reaction: "Huh!?" She went on to explain that a water supply line (the line going from the main to a house) had ruptured, and they had determined it was most likely ours, and they had dug up the street^* and shut off our valve. How did they know about the broken water main? Water running down the street.

At this point, I'm thinking one of two horror scenarios. 1) I had left the valve in our basement open, the lines had thawed, and our basement was "full to overflowing." That was worst case. 2) The line right next to our basement had ruptured, saturating the ground next to the basement which would cause expansion of the soil come winter, possibly compromising our basement wall. That was best case.

When I got there, it turned out to be nearly not so bad. Walking across our neighboor's lawn I noticed it was rather squishy (important!), and our entire driveway was dry. A couple of employees from GHU arrived a little while later, and we discusses what had happened. Since there was not enough flow through our water lines, even with the recirculating lines (due to non-occupancy and the freeze up last winter), our water supply froze up and ruptured. It finally thawed out (yes, I know it's July), and started leaking. The fun part? It started bubbling up in our neighbor's driveway, some 40 feet away. GHU started digging in front of our neighbor's, looking for the valve to turn off. When that didn't work, they dug up nearly 40 feet of street looking for our valve. Shutting it off stopped the "spring" in our neighbor's driveway. The guys told me they were out digging in the street until 2:00 AM this morning, and then came back later to continue digging before they finally found our valve.

So, where does that leave us? We need to dig up the supply line, find the leak (hopefully only one), repair it, re-foam (insulate) it, and rebury it. I'll be coordinating that over the next few days.

^*No joke. In our part of town, the main shutoff valves are buried about six feet under the street next to the water main. No exposed shutoff valves on the property line like we had in California.

It's slow, but it's progress

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 23 Jun 2008 20:43:24 +0000

So, it's been a while since my last update on the house. About two months, to be exact.

There aren't any "major" chunks of progress to be reported, but we are making progress, slow and sure. Right now, we're down to the "little jobs" that need to be done before we can start putting it all back together.

Let's see...what has been done in the mean time?

All the insulation is out (Izzy had that itchy job), and thus has confirmed we have 2x6 walls up stairs. Something that is rather rare for a house built forty years ago.

The downstairs got a serious cleanup. The cinder block walls were scraped with a steel brush (Robb had that fun job), and dirt and sheet rock dust was swept and vacuumed.

The rotted section of the master bedroom floor was replaced (Thanks Bill Wood!)

Removed some old coax and phone cable from the outside of the house. Will be replaced with all new runs to a network/wiring closet in the new office.

The closet doors in the master bedroom and kids room were widened to accommodate sliding mirror doors instead of the 32 inch interior doors they had.

The wall between the old family room and old guest room was removed. Its base plate was so rotten that it split in half when torqued during the removal process. And the rest of it was rotted to some degree. A new wall is going back up a few feet over to make re-size a couple rooms.

The wall between the laundry room and old family room was removed because it hadn't been installed correctly in the first place. It will go back up soon.

Stay posted...some major progress is coming soon, we hope. Furring and insulation is planned for the next few weeks. And then sheet rock after that.

Gettin' Wired

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Wed, 23 Apr 2008 16:52:56 +0000

A little more progress to report. Last Saturday Robb and I managed to get boxes and wiring in the kitchen. All the wire is there, and run back to the breaker box, although nothing is yet hooked up. We ran wire for the dishwasher, refrigerator, garbage disposal, microwave (required because our microwave is "large," i.e. above 1000 watts), small appliances (counter outlets), and the 120/220 line for the oven. The circuit for lighting will come later. Fun stuff.

Next up:

Insulation removal

New furring downstairs (removed the old/rotted stuff)

Spray foaming the outside walls (4 inches for R28)

Wiring the rest of the house.

Restoring the flow

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 05 Apr 2008 22:02:00 +0000

A couple more sub-projects on which major progress was made today.

The first had to do with the flow of electricity. The existing electrical system in the house consisted of two side-by-side Pushmatic boxes. For those who've never seen a Pushmatic box, it's exactly what it sounds like. The breakers are really large push-on-push-off switches, as shown to the right. Ancient. You can't buy boxes like that any more, even though the breakers are pretty easy to find. In fact, I've replaced a couple of them that have gone bad. At any rate, one of those boxes fed the lights and outlets in the house, and the other box fed the garage sub panel and the (out of service) electric baseboard heaters. Each box was fed by a 100AMP main from the service entrance. So, it was time to replace them.

We now have installed a brand new, shiny, Square D 200 AMP breaker box right inside our rear entry. All this was accomplished thanks to our new friend Joe Delskie. His wife posted on a local sale/trade list saying he was looking for NEC (National Electrical Code) and IBEW (Internation Brotherhood of Electrical Workers) books. I wrote, asking if he could do some work for us. He could. He does great work, and knows his stuff. If you have any electrical, HRV, other wiring (network, etc), tiling, or general carpentry jobs that need doing, he is looking for work while he does his IBEW classes. Drop me a line and I'll forward your information.

The other project today consisted of putting part of the sewer lines back together. A large section had to be replaced for a couple reasons. One was the discovery of a couple of leaks on the existing sewer pipe, as evidenced by the copper rust around a couple joints (one of those being the toilet run). The other was a puncture from a screw used by a previous owner to hang a bathroom cabinet. Yes, the screw went into the sheetrock of the wet wall, and into the copper pipe behind that.

So, we ended up removing the DWV (drain/waste/vent, refers to the drain and vent system) pipes running to the upstairs toilet, tub, and bathroom sink, as well as a large section of the main three inch DWV pipe. We worked on getting it back in a little last week, but this week Robb and Izzy measured, cut, and fit most of the main DWV pipe, as well as the runs for the toilet and tub. We now have all the pieces ready for gluing. The new runs are actually simpler than the old runs thanks to Robb's creativity and skill with connecting the pieces at various angles. Don't worry, everything still slopes in the right direction. The only thing that made it a little difficult at times was having to cut out the notches in the floors and 2x8s a little more due to the fact that 1.5 inch inside diameter ABS plastic is a bit bigger around than 1.5 inch inside diameter copper.

It was a very productive day. Felt good to see what was accomplished.

Update: Robb informs me that it was in fact Izzy that came up with the idea to use a 22.5 degree joint to match up the tub run to the oddly-angled run for the toilet. Gotta give credit where credit is due!

Plumbing!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 23 Feb 2008 17:23:00 +0000

The house has been without plumbing since it froze up last winter due to a faulty chimney stack repair. This past summer, we tore out all the plumbing, and have been "pipeless" since. Well, no more. All the Pex piping is run from the locations to which the water needs to flow back to the location where the distribution manifold will be (under the stairs). None of the piping has been terminated yet (hooked up to faucets or the manifold), but the pipe is run, and ready to be hooked up.

It was a nice feeling leaving the house today seeing piping sticking out from the various rough-out locations.

Finally, some pictures

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sat, 09 Feb 2008 18:39:00 +0000

I finally went through and pulled out some of the pictures of our house's mold damage. You can view them in all their putrescence on their own little web album.

Ze weedow, eet eez een!

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 04 Feb 2008 19:58:00 +0000

Our new (rather pricey) front picture window is in. A very nice triple-pane argon-filled number. Below are pictures from the inside and outside. You'll notice the new studs, header, cripple studs, and sub (and top) floor we put in to repair the rotted material. It looks really nice now. Much thanks to Bill Wood for helping me repair the framing and floor, and thanks for Bucher Glass here in Fairbanks for doing a great job on the window and installation.

Our new picture window, from the outside.

Our new picture window, from the inside.

WE. HAVE. HEAT. and other updates

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 28 Jan 2008 20:26:18 +0000

As of last Monday (January 21), we have, installed and working, a beautiful new Buderus G115 four-section boiler unit. It's currently keeping the house about 30 to 40 degrees right now (so cold because of the lack of a front window, see below).

We've done our kitchen design, and the cabinets that aren't in stock have been ordered.

More than half of the old wiring is out, and we're almost ready to re-wire the house (and bring it up to code!).

Our front picture window is out, and the lumber around it (sill, cripple studs, headers, etc) that were damaged or rotted have been replaced. The new window (triple pane, argon filled) will go in Thursday.

Our flooring is purchased, and is sitting in the living room of the house. Glue, underlayment, and such still needs to be purchased.

So, what's left to do:

Rewire (whole house)

Plumbing (whole house)

Repair rotted studs (there are a few)

Re-do all insulation

Sheetrock

Painting

Flooring

Other miscellaneous stuff

So, progress, but still a ways to go. Please keep us in your prayers.

Of wire and water closets

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Fri, 10 Aug 2007 16:35:11 +0000

When you're in the middle of a remodel project that is going to cost a few 10's of thousands of dollars (exact figures coming soon, hopefully, stay tuned), saving a few hundred dollars here and there might not sound like a big deal. But it is. Two recent savings.

A fellow was selling a couple of one-year-old (but hardly used) "turbo flush" toilets. He had paid $450 per toilet ($350 retail plus $100 shipping due to no retailers on the west coast), but sold them to us for $300 total. We saved $600.

A couple days ago, another fellow was selling spools of Romex wire he had acquired at an auction. We bought two 1000-foot spools of Romex 12/2 interior wire for $400. Total. About 1/3 of retail.

So, yes, this remodel is going to be expensive, but God is providing in the little ways. Yay!

By the way, I will try to put up pictures soon of all the mold loveliness.

The house, such as it is

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 08 Jul 2007 18:39:00 +0000

It's been a while since the last update, and we've gotten a bit done.

Over the past three weekends (we tooks the 15th off for our anniversary) we've accomplished the following:

Taken out the remaining cabinets and the buffet in the kitchen, and all the sheetrock is off the walls.

The upstairs bathroom is completely bare: all floors and sheetrock are out.

The entire laundry room has been stripped, including the ceiling. All the cabinets, sheetrock and 95% of the floors have been removed. I'm still trying to get up the bottom layer of linoleum off the the concrete.

Removed some 2x4's from the downstair's closets to make the closet doors larger.

Taken all the soft furniture out of the garage and thrown it in the dumpster, due to the fact that cleaning the cloth and cushions of the mold, mildew, and allergens would not have been possible.

Still working on trying to get up the linoleum in the hallway and office.

So, we think we'll almost done with the gutting part, but aren't sure. I'd like to pull off the rest of the sheetrock. I'd also like to rewire the house due to the old wiring, but also due to the crazy circuit layout (for instance, I'd like to take the dish washer and garbage disposal off the furnace circuit. Yes, that's the way it was wired. Yes, that's a code violation). We'll also have to replace the piping because when the house froze up, the pipes either burst, or the solder joints popped. We'll probably have to pull off all the downstairs ceilings (or at least most of them) since we have no idea where the pipes go for the outside faucets. And even though we've removed the ceililng in the laundry room (under the kitchen) we still have no idea where the pipes for the kitchen are.

The other issue is financing. We went to talk to a lender the other day, and well, they can't lend us money for the project because they want to appraise the house before they lend. Which we can't do since the house is pulled apart. Well, they said, just "seal it up," (meaning put up sheet rock, paint that and the floors), and we can get it appraised. There are two problems with that: 1) we need money to "seal it up," and 2) we'd have to tear it out again because there are things we want to do in the walls, like new electrical wire. There is also some insulation we'd like to replace due to water damage, in addition to probably replacing all of the interior vapor barrier.

So, right now we're really depending on God for the finances. Yes, we were before, but after the meeting with the lenders, it really drives home the point that it's Him that's going to finish out this project.

So, keep praying. We'll keeping working, and praying, and we'll get this thing done.

...including the kitchen sink

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:43:00 +0000

This past Saturday, June 2, Izzy and Beth Vonnahme helped me tear out more of the house.

The first thing Izzy and I did when we got there was move a 4.5 foot cast-iron tub out of the downstairs bathroom and up a flight of stairs. That will wear you out in a hurry. Shortly after that, Beth arrived and removed the counter, cabinets, and toilet out of the upstairs bathroom while Izzy and I finished removing the floor from the downstairs bathroom.

We then proceeded to the kitchen. Since these cabinets were built and installed on-site, there was going to be no elegant way to remove them, so we had fun with a sledgehammer. The counter itself, as well as the sink was saved, though because the Formica counter was simply set on the cabinets, not secured to it! And guess what! There was mold behind the cabinets that were on the floor! Surprised?

So, the "gutting to-do countdown" is as follows:

1. Rest of the kitchen (the buffet, closet, and cabinet over buffet)
2. Laundry room
3. Upstairs bathroom floor and walls
4. Laundry room (floor, cabinets, and probably walls)

We'll be working on the 9th, but taking the 16th off for our Anniversary (June 14).

Using the right tool makes all the difference

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:16:00 +0000

Last week (May 26), Izzy and I spent most of our day tearing out the downstairs bathroom. A couple of fun stories before I mention the point of this post.

1) When I went to remove the cabinet above the toilet, one of the screws would not back out. So, as with many things, the cabinet was removed by brute force. I noticed the aforementioned screw was rusted about 1/4" from the end. When we removed the wall, we found out why: that particular screw had gone through the sheet rock and into the sewer pipe behind the wall. It didn't matter that much, since a sewer pipe isn't pressurized, but it might have leaked moisture into the wall cavity behind the wall (which happened to the area under the stairs).

2) When we pulled out the bathroom counter/cabinets we found a classic case of "Doin' what it takes to get by." The area behind the doors on the counter (center section) was painted, but the areas behind the drawers (which you would never see) was not. Nor was the area between the counter and the wall (side of the counter). So, we had (even more) fully exposed paper-on-sheetrock. And yes, much more mold.

Needless to say, the "inside" (stud side) of all the bathroom walls, as well as the walls opposite those walls, were covered with "3D" mold. Fun.

But as to the title of this post: when Izzy and I pulled up the floor, we had to stop half way because the 4.5 foot cast-iron tub sat on the other sheet of plywood (2x6 elevated floor under which pipes were run). The tub drain would not yield to any tool I had, even one I had bought to remove the upstairs tub. What did it take? Going to Lowe's and buying a tool like this. That drain came right out. Amazing how easy things are when you have the right tool.

A great deal on a 'top.

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 04 Jun 2007 22:16:00 +0000

Even in the midst of the, at times, rather discouraging process of gutting and rebuilding the house, God still supplies and provides. Last Saturday (May 26) Crystal and I "happened" upon our local Sears having a sidewalk sale. I say "happened" because we weren't planning on going there. We were at a store next door, and Sears was having a sidewalk sale, and a local church was doing a donation only hot-dog fundraiser. So, yes, the food was the draw. As we were wondering around the merchandise, after drooling over the very nice 1/2 price Kenmore Elite refrigerator, what should we discover but a brand-new five-burner gas cooktop. Did this gas cook top have a 25% discount? No, more than that. 50% maybe? No, amazingly enough, it was marked down to less than one-third of its original $990 price. $270, to be exact. Since we had to tear out the kitchen anyway (more on that in an upcoming post), we're already lined up for a kitchen remodel. And now we'll have a beautiful cooktop to go with it.

If you find any good deals on stand-alone ovens, let us know!

An Onion Project

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 13 May 2007 11:19:43 +0000

A couple weeks ago, one of the individuals helping us gut our house referred to our project as an "onion project." That is, the more layers you peel back, the more you find needs doing. That feels so true.

So, it seems I'm a couple weekends behind on the updates. Here we go.

Last weekend (May 5) Jason, Izzy, and Bill helped us tear out more walls. The master bedroom had everything below four feet from the floor torn out (on the exterior walls), the wall between the guest bedroom and office came out, and Bill started tearing out the downstairs bathroom. Yes, we found mold pretty much every step of the way. Izzy pulled up all the carpet tack on the stairs.

Last Wednesday (May 9) I spent a few hours cleaning up sheet rock, and also tore out the wood paneling/sheet rock below the picture window in the living room. The mold there was almost as bad as as wall between the office and the bathroom.

This weekend (May 12) saw everything below four feet from the floor torn out in the second bedroom along the exterior walls. Flori agreed to the tedious (and knee-crushing) job of removing carpet-pad staples from the upstairs floor. (Thanks Flori!) After Izzy worked on some final cleanup in the bedrooms, and tore up most of the downstairs bathroom's floor, we proceeded to tear (almost all of) the bathroom out. The walls came off, the counter and cabinets are out, and the ceiling is off (taken off last week by Bill). The amusing part was the three layers of linoleum we found. The not-so-amusing part was the amount of mold. The walls behind the drawers, and next to, the counter/cabinet units were not painted. Thus, moisture had free access to the paper on the sheet rock, and had taken full advantage of it. Once the wall next to the door was off (which was moldy front and back, even worse on the back: think 3D mold), there was mold as bad, or worse, on the opposite wall (the back of the hall wall). There was also mold visible on the back of the stair walls, as well as the back of the laundry room wall. If this keeps up, we might not have any walls left down stairs. In better news, most of the studs seem solid and mold free.

As for the pipes, there were three separate joints that had come loose behind the bathroom wall due to the freeze-up. And the sewer pipe had a hole in it from a screw used to hang a cabinet in the bathroom.

So, the project continues. Stay tuned for more.

And the Sheetrock Came Tumbling Down

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 29 Apr 2007 11:32:00 +0000

It's time for another update from the wonderful world of the Kugler remodel.

We got a lot done yesterday, but of course still have quite a bit more to do in the way of tearing out. Our dumpster is probably about 2/3 full now.

All the wood paneling that was in the living room, upstairs hallway, family room, guest bedroom, and office is off the walls and out in the dumpster. It's what we found under the wood paneling that was the most interesting (or revolting, depending on one's perspective).

In one word: mold. More in some places than others. Under the windows in the living room there are panels of sheetrock with quite a bit of mold on it, and will have to come out. The wall between the family and guest bedroom downstairs had enough mold on it (on both sides) that the entire wall (save the studs) has already been torn out.

The worst mold infestiation, by far, has been the office. In general, the reason the mold has been so bad was simple physics and biology: 1) the previous owners vented their dryer into the house for 13 years, 2) wood paneling on sheet rock creates a very tight airspace; once the moisture in there, there is no airflow to remove the moisture or dry it out, and 3) mold likes paper, period. In the office, this problem was exacerbated for two reasons. First, the wood paneling was installed over wallpaper which covered the sheet rock. Second, the office shares a wall with the downstairs bathroom. It appears that one end of the wall in the bathroom was broken through from the office side (apparently for tub installation) and never repaired, so there was no effective vapor barrier between the bathroom and the office wall. Combined with the wall paper, what we had was, effectively, about as ideal a mold incubator as you could get. The wall paper in that corner of the room was so molded that it looked and felt like parchment paper. Pretty gross.

In other news, the kitchen floor is out, and it looks like a minimal amount of repair will be needed on the subfloor (pending inspection by qualified personnel, of course).

We will be doing more work on May 5th, and would welcome any help. There is plenty to do. Carpet tack strips to tear up; padding on the stairs; more moldy (or otherwise needs-to-be-replaced) sheetrock to tear out; tear out fake "bricks" in the kitchen; probably tear out the tub in the downstairs bathoom; removing linoleum in the laundry room, bathroom, and downstairs hallway and office. And just general cleanup. Bring tools, and a respirator if you have one. We'll provide particle masks if you don't.

Oh, and if anyone can recommend a good, honest, plumber, forward his or her name our way. We need one of those due to a few compromised pipes.

Gutting update...and more chances to help

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Thu, 26 Apr 2007 17:08:03 +0000

Last Saturday Crystal, Izzy, Rebecca, Fred and I went at the house and got quite a bit done. All the carpet and padding is out (except the padding on the stairs). The linoleum (all four layers of it, plus the rotten sub-floor) in the kitchen is almost all out. Some of the wood paneling is out, and yes, we did discover mold on the sheet rock behind the paneling. As a plus, so far all the insulation behind the paneling looks OK.

On Sunday, Izzy, Crystal and I spend some time at the house putting all that stuff in the dumpster we got Saturday evening.

A big thanks to Fred, Izzy, and Rebecca for their help.

But there is more to do. We'll be going at it again on Saturday, starting at 10:00AM. We have more paneling to remove, and some more linoleum to pull up. We'll welcome any help offered!

House gutting party this weekend

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Tue, 17 Apr 2007 22:50:16 +0000

Crystal and I are almost done getting everything out of the house, and we're going to be ready to gut the house this weekend (the 21st). We'll be tearing out carpet and tearing off wood paneling. We'll even have a dumpster out front to complete the party.

So, if you like tearing things apart, drop us a line! We'd love to have help! You can e-mail us here.

The pressure relief valve worked

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Tue, 10 Apr 2007 22:09:00 +0000

If you go look at your water heater, it will probably have a little valve on the side connected to a pipe that goes down to the floor. That's a pressure relief valve: if the tank ever acquires too much pressue (steam, over filling for some reason, etc) it's designed to let go and release water rather than compromising the tank. Apparently it also works if the water tank freezes up.

As I mentioned yesterday, we had an inch of water (or so) in our furnace room, and about 1/4 to 1/2 inch of water in our laundry room (and out into the hall). I couldn't figure out quite where all that water had come from. While the pipes did freeze (more later) there just wasn't enough water in them to cover that much area (I'm pretty sure). While water may have leaked from the outside (the wall was wet near the bottom, but that was probably from the puddle inside: the wall around the chimney was dry), it does appear the valve on the water heater tripped.

As to the pipes bursting, a pipe in the upstairs bathroom probably burst, a pipe above the hot water heater appears compromised, and the pipe right after our water main enters the house froze. So, an interesting situation. We'll have to see exactly how much of the floor and walls we get to rip up.

Water, water...some places

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Mon, 09 Apr 2007 21:59:11 +0000

It started out that we thought we needed to rebuild the house. As other posts have shown, it might just be a remodel. When our chimney liner collapsed, causing our heater to stop, and freezing the house, I thought we may have escaped broken pipes since water leaked into the tub down stairs.

I might have been wrong. In the past couple weeks it has really warmed up. Our water is off, thankfully, but it appears pipes leaked. We went to the house tonight to get some things, and discovered water in the laundry room, and out into the down-stairs hallway, some icicles in the down stairs bathroom (not sure which pipe leaked in the up stairs bathroom), as well as about an inch of water in the furnace room.

So, what I know or think I know right now:

1. Water has leaked in from outside (the "well" around the chimney has water in it)
2. It appears that possibly the water heater leaked after it thawed out.
3. A pipe in our up stairs bathroom leaked.
4. A lot of repair is going to have to be done, and a lot of walls torn off.

Well, God is in control. "For I know whom I have believed and I am convinced that He is able to guard what I have entrusted to Him." Just pray for us...we need it right now.

Another "todo" for the remodel

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 04 Mar 2007 13:44:51 +0000

[For more information and back-story on our remodel saga see our original page about the rebuild/remodel as well as other posts about the rebuild.]

Last Wednesday (2/28), I stopped by the house to pick up something (shampoo, of all things). When I walked in, the house felt rather cold. A thermometer confirmed it: the house was at a balmy 20 degrees. The heater had stopped running. Thankfully, one of the tubs had leaked, relieving pressure on the pipes. We don't think any pipes broke. The water is now off, and the two valves in the house that had not frozen are open.

Investigating in the furnace room, it seemed that the airflow out the chimney had been stopped or restricted, and thus the heat had shut down, but not before blowing an decent amount of soot into the rest of the house (this is a forced-air furnace).

So, time to call a chimney repair person. He came out Saturday (3/3) to take a look. Within about 20 minutes, I was back over at the house because there was nothing he could do. The entire inside of the chimney had failed (liner failure) and there was no airflow through the chimney. The only thing to do: replace the entire thing. We're currently waiting on a quote from from Patrick at Alaska Chimney Service.

The cause of failure? Improper repair by the previous owner. As Patrick was investigating the cause of failure, he found that a hole in the portion of the chimney exiting the house (before the ninety degree joint that turned the chimney vertical). This hole, instead of being repaired, was instead covered with heavy tar paper. This hole then allowed large amounts of moisture to enter the chimney and eventually cause massive liner failure. Not only was this repair very dangerous, it was also illegal (against code) and the house never should have been sold with this repair in place. We wil be investigating our legal options with this one.

Project scope reduced?

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 21:01:00 +0000

This afternoon the two engineers we originally had inspected our home came over, looked around, and made their recommendations. Since their experience is based on (among other things) inspecting homes for many years (sometimes the same homes as they are sold again later), their advice carries a lot of weight, and it is advice in which you can have a degree of confidence. What it amounts to is that we may not have to do as much as we previously thought. Tearing out the carpet: yup, still doing that. Tearing out the forced-air furnace: might just be able to clean the ducts. Tearing off the walls: doesn't sound like we'll have to; might be able to seal them up. If budget allows, we would might replace the wood panels with sheet rock.

But the bottom line is that it sounds like we may be doing less than previously thought. Praise the Lord!

The furniture is out

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Sun, 28 Jan 2007 20:33:42 +0000

Thanks to Jon, Jackson, Izzy, and a bunch of heavy lifting, the furniture is out of the house. Yesterday, we moved a stove, refrigerator, dishwasher, a matress, box spring, a bedframe made out of 2x8's, three couches, a washer and dryer pair, an upright freezer, two (heavy) entertainment centers (long story), four book cases, a heavy filing cabinet, two computer desks, a dresser, two lamps, two night stands, and a partridge in a pair tree. I was sore at the end. Not sure about the others. But now we can pack up the rest of the house (books, miscellaneous stuff) and start tearing up the carpet. A productive day. Thanks to all that helped!

We're moved...mostly.

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Thu, 18 Jan 2007 23:23:43 +0000

We are in our temporary living space. We started moving on Monday (the 15th) and spent our first night in the apartment on Tuesday. We are all less congested already, especially Jonathan, and Crystal can take deep breaths a whole lot easier. We have most of what we need to live (clothes, kitchen stuff, daily necessities) moved over. Some additional things will be moved in the coming days.

Things still needed while we're in the apartment:

Bean bag chairs
We don't really want to subject anyone to carrying a couch up three flights of stairs (unless they really want to), so we figure eight to ten bean bag chairs will serve nicely.

A recliner
We have one recliner (thanks Chaces!), and we've discovered that sometimes both little ones need to be rocked at the same time. So, another one would be nice, but not critical.

Thanks to everyone for their generous support and prayers. We've been without a computer for a couple days, so if I haven't responded to your e-mail yet, I'm not ignoring you. I'll get to it.

We have an apartment

joshua@joshuakugler.com (Joshua Kugler) — Wed, 10 Jan 2007 23:26:29 +0000

Tonight I went and looked at an apartment being rented by some friends of ours. 900 square feet, 2 bedroom. More than big enough for a temporary place to live. And the best part: it's about a five minute walk from our house, so will be very convenient for working on the house, doing once-a-month cooking, and doing laundry.

Praise the Lord!