Rock On

(Maddie here, catching up....)
Pog and Gregg have been working very hard, and it's quite a tiring process! So the updates are not as frequent as we'd like, but here's the latest.

Monday and Tuesday were the skylight installation days - we had an outside contractor (even more outside than Gregg, that is) come to cut the holes in the roof. Gregg did as much prep work as he could with framing and preparing the spaces. David and Mike, the roofers, installed the kitchen skylight on Monday morning, and the bathroom skylight on Tuesday morning. Thank goodness we had water for them, since they didn't come prepared and would have otherwise died of heatstroke! The weather has been awfully hot - it topped out about 97 degrees on Wednesday, and on a black rubber roof it gets probably closer to 2,000 degrees.

Depsite a few struggles with the contractor (let's just say Gregg almost got thrown off the side of the roof by the 300 lb roofer) - success! The kitchen and bathroom both have a new wonderful source of natural light. A little more (ok, a lot more) framing and finishing work remains to be done, however.


The next task was to begin finishing the walls of the bathroom with sheetrock and backerboard, in preparation for the tiling. Pog is an expert "rocker" at this point! All this screwing is fairly strenuous work...



Gregg continues to finish the skylight details (or fight being abducted by aliens, depending on who's conspiracy theory you listen to....), which will then need to be rocked too. Vic and I show up in the evening after work, and try to make some semblance of a contribution, but the weekends are our most productive time. We have high hopes for this coming weekend, and making some major progress on the bathroom and kitchen reassembly.

If you've been reading and enjoying our blog, and living vicariously without sweating as much as us, then let's have some more comments, people! Comments make us happy. Comments keep up going. Help us, or Maddie and Vic may be wall-less and water-less for way too long and Pog may never see her kitties again ...

Don't Sweat It (plus a tool obituary)

It's Sunday, Sunday, Sunday. All four of us were busy today. Gregg spent the day plumbing the bathroom. I have learned that this requires sweating the pipes. Meaning Gregg has a propane torch in the bathroom and solders the pipe sections together using flame. With a fire extingisher nearby. We
did not need the extinguisher today, thank goddess.

Vic and Gregg then were able to fit the new tub in place (much lighter than cast iron, by the way) . During the process of getting all the new plumbing together Gregg seemed to have lost three items down the plumbing wall two stories below where we are working: the almighty Leatherman, an 8" piece of copper tubing, and a bit holder. Gregg plans to procure a heavy duty magnet and attempt to retrieve the Leatherman by fishing down two floors with the magnet on a string. Stay tuned to see if Gregg and his beloved Leatherman are reunited tomorrow. Or if he purchases a new one during our next visit to the Depot.

Since Gregg lost his Leatherman (along with its trusty file blade) I got to become a plumbing apprentice and sand down the ends of the pipe with sandpaper. Gregg informed me that sanding is the job of plumbing apprentices (especially since he lost the file along with the Leatherman tool).

Maddie, Vic and I took turns wire brushing the newly exposed brick in the dining area. This is a tiring (and dirty) job, but after the cleaning the wall looks great (while we all looked like chimney sweeps). Showers never felt so good. Gregg, Vic and I will be over to the condo early tomorrow (7 am!) to be ready for the skylight installer. I've got to get some sleep.


PS - Addendum by Maddie: "A Shocking Experience"

Pog neglected to mention the most memorable moment of the day - Vic was assigned the enviable task of cutting an old electical conduit with our faithful Sawzall. Gregg said he was about "75% sure" that there was no live current running through the tube (ok, maybe he was just kidding)...so Pog got to hold the metal tube taut while Vic cut into it. Needless to say, she was a bit nervous! Gregg had already fooled her twice with the faux electrocution trick (as seen almost weekly on America's Funniest Home Videos), which she fell for both times. As Vic began to cut, I snapped this photo, and my flash happened to go off - which Pog thought was a spark, and she immediately let go of the conduit and jumped about 3 feet in the air in fear. We all cracked up, and that one kept us lauging for the whole afternoon. But don't worry, no actual siblings were injured in this task....

Oh, and with Gregg's progress on the plumbing, we were able to test the shower fixtures. Look, we got actual RUNNING WATER to come out - how amazing is that??

GREGG'S COMMENTS:

Wow - talk about teamwork..... it has been amazing being part of a team that is accomplishing what most GC's would take a couple months to do. I never thought I would get to know the inside of Home Depot so well .... amazing staff that is full of advice but a bit short on actual experience with the products they sell. When I arrived and Vic and Maddie bought two small air conditioners for their new condo I thought about telling them that there was no need for them on my account - simply open a few windows and I'd be fine. Talk about hot and humid .... I spent a few days working at or in the ceiling crawlspace and I am sure the temperature was well over 100 degress most days. I am grateful that they had the foresight to get the air conditioners! There is still much to do but today I started sweating the copper and wiring up a few outlet boxes ..... always a sure sign that the project is coming along. Hooray!

There are still some interesting things to accomplish .... framing 71 1/2 degree slopes from the top of the skylights to the bottom of the ceiling, installing a new tub and fixtures, installing IKEA cabinets on a floor that has settled nicely during the past 100 years ..... yes the next week will be an interesting one .... stay tuned!

Saturday:
(Maddie here yet again, I see a trend….)
Pog got too much sleep, and woke up WAY too early with excess energy (unlike the guys who spent all evening at Home Depot the night before loading many supplies in the middle of a huge thunderstorm). Gregg spent the night at the condo trying to catch up on some quiet work and planning, and trying to recover from a back injury.
In the morning, the delivery of lumber arrived – lots and lots of trips up to the third floor with plywood, 2x4’s, sheet rock, etc. What a fun way to start the morning! Umm, all of those dings were already in the hallway walls before we got there, right?
So Gregg started in on the plumbing in the bathroom (his least favorite part of construction, but we still need pipes...) while Pog and Maddie started to tackle some demo in the living room (Vic joined in later, after single handedly cutting a hole in the kitchen ceiling to prepare for the upcoming skylight installation). We tore off one more wall to expose brick underneath – fortunately, under the many layers of drywall, old wallpaper, plaster and lath, it was in pretty good shape. A big cleanup afterwards, but great progress.
As we sat down to lunch, the appliance delivery people arrived, and fortunately it was THEIR job to bring them to the third floor. They were amazing. One guy carried the dishwasher up the stairs all by himself! Needless to say, we were glad it wasn’t us. So a new fridge, stove and dishwasher now sit in the kitchen ready for the reconstruction.
After finishing up the wall demo, we started cleaning up the brick by scrubbing it with a wire brush. Gregg continued on the plumbing, and got the torch out (along with the fire extinguisher just in case…). At this point we were all really exhausted, so we decided to call it a day. Tomorrow we should be able to get the bathtub installed and start drywalling the bathroom. Back to the rental apartment – you know, the one with running water? Oh, have we not mentioned that the water has been turned off at the condo since last weekend??? We don’t want to get into the details – some of us are "roughing it", while others walk the two blocks to a nearby café to use the facilities. (We’ll let you guess who’s who….) Potstickers and veggie burgers for dinner, with ibuprofen chasers for most of us to avoid the inevitable pain tomorrow. Poor Vic and Gregg headed off to Home Depot YET again for more supplies. They know us by name there now.

Looking back on Thursday and Friday:
Gregg had a bit of a back injury on Thursday, so we tried to slow down a bit. Friday started out with hunting for some plumbing parts, some grocery shopping (at Margaret’s favorite store – Trader Joe’s!), etc. More IKEA assembly by Pog, and generally getting things organized and ready for the big weekend ahead.

To Sum it Up:
This is our 2nd weekend together, and we only have one more weekend to go – we’ve impressed ourselves with how much we accomplished (and thank you, Erin, for appreciating the Sullivan skills above and beyond pie-eating, though that will always be our strength!). But it’s also very nerve-wracking to realize how little time we have overall, and hoping that it all gets done in time. Once the plumbing and framing is completed, we’ll start to see the kitchen and bathroom going back together with tile, cabinets, etc. Check back for more exciting adventures from the crew!

RUB A DUB DUB

Monday, Tuesday & Wednesday....(still guest blogging by Maddie)

While the extraordinarily heavy cast iron tub sat in the kitchen, Pog tried to find it a home. After being mislead by the Home Depot employees that someone might actually want to PAY us to take it away, we quickly found out that was not the case. No one would take it off our hands, so we tried to figure out a way to saw or drill or smash it into pieces. At one point, the plan involved a strange saw and a fire extinguisher in case sparks set our new condo aflame. (As Maddie hops on a plane to Atlanta for a gift show with much anxiety....) Finally we settled on a sledgehammer and some brute force, which finally happened on Wednesday, and was not nearly as dramatic as it was hyped up to be. But what a relief!


But back to Monday - Pog diligently continued on the IKEA cabinet construction. Progress! And ain't she sexy, too? (Ok, that's the old kitchen in the background, but I love this photo of my sistah.)

That evening was a marathon trip to Home Depot for Pog and Gregg, and Vic got some heavenly Indian food for dinner for all of the tired renovators.

Tuesday - more framing in the bathroom, preparing for an eventual skylight installation. More cabinet assembly - a bit slower progress putting everything back together after it was so quick and easy to tear it all apart!

By Wednesday evening, Maddie arrived back from Atlanta (though it wasn't any less hot and humid in Cambridge!). In the mean time, Vic had been trying to line up a skylight contractor to finally install the skylights - we are planning one in the kitchen and one in the bathroom. However, Cambridge does not make it easy - 'nuff said, just in case the Historical Commission is reading Pog Blog. (Let's just say we might not be following ALL the rules for this project.)

This is our favorite photo of the chaos, as summed up by the dumpster:

And, FINALLY, here are more and more photos of the renovations. We are working on getting them better organized, but pictures are the best way to show all of the fun we've been having. I hope this works....(as Pog is now fully zonked out on the couch, so I am going to have to rename this Maddie Blog, I think)
http://www.flickr.com/photos/pogblog/

Knock Knock.

Who's There?

IKEA.

IKEA Who?

IKEAN'T Figure It Out!!!

(Guest blog by Maddie....)

Pog is a little tired and a lot behind on the blog, so I am filling in with a little catching up (with a little help from Pog, as she dictates from the couch). Let's see, where did we leave off?

Sunday:

Pog and Maddie were the IKEA cabinet assembly team, trying desperately to interpret the cryptic Swedish cartoon instructions. Gregg and Vic were on bathroom duty , which involved trying to get a several hundred pound cast iron tub out of there (no easy feat). They managed to get it out of the bathroom, and rented a heavy duty dolly to try and get it down the stairs. After precariously trying to get it down a few stairs without crushing any innocent humans, everyone agreed to abort the plan and the tub was hauled back up to the kitchen, where it awaited plan B.

Monday was also going to be Gregg's birthday (Happy Birthday!), and who wouldn't want to spend their special day wrestling with a cast iron tub. We got some take out Vietnamese food for dinner, then back to the rental apartment for some early cupcakes, candles and birthday wishes (since Maddie was heading to Atlanta on Monday and didn't want to miss the celebration).

And the walls came tumbling down...

Today was all about more demo. Hammers and Super Wonder Bars and crow bars and cat's claws (hey, how are my cats doing???) We took down the remaining drywall in the kitchen to expose all the brick.

The bathroom! Just about every wall came down. And the ceiling. As well as the old roof which was stored (discarded?) above the bathroom ceiling. We discovered that the two units below have some creative venting into Maddie and Vic's ceiling and/or wall. There were many more trips to the dumpster. Someone finally took the old kitchen cabinets, what a relief. We are glad someone could use them.

Pictures probably speak better than my words can at this point...

After demolition noise was shut down at 6pm sharp, we were a mess. After returning to Maddie and Vic's apartment to shower, we headed out for burritos (so good) and to a hardware store to pick up a few items. (Has anyone besides Gregg ever seen Tuck tape?) We get to sleep in tomorrow because noisy construction is prohibited on Sundays, although one neighbor said she'd be out after 1:15 pm so we can get some work in.

Tales of the deconstruction

Friday was demo day. As in demolition! Kitchen cabinets were disassembled and carried to the curb. Drywall was smashed with hammers and crowbars. Bathroom tiles were being chiseled off the floor and walls. The dumpster started to fill with debris.

Maddie is our acting construction manager and placed items for sale or give-away on Craig's List. She updated the postings and fielded the many calls and emails in response to the listings. We quickly learned that people who say they want our stuff don't usually follow through. Maddie is one organized sister.

I spent most of the day at my assigned post in the bathroom chipping off the tile floor. Rewarding work, but note that chards of ceramic tile do lodge in the skin if you wear shorts. Jack will be happy to know safety glasses provided ocular protection for all laborers on the job site.

At 5 pm, I ducked out early to meet Mohammad (a good friend and former co-worker from my Boston biotech days) in Harvard Square for dinner. And several frozen sangrias. Yum. I eventually made it back to the condo, then Gregg and I went back to soak in the local flavor of Harvard Square on a Friday evening. Sorcerers and Harry Potter fans of all ages paraded around in costumes and milled about in front of the Coop in anticipation of the release of the latest installment at midnight.

After treating Gregg to a well-deserved Guinness at Grafton Street, we drove back to Maddie and Vic's apartment to crash... it was a long and rewarding day.

Preparations begin

I picked up Gregg from the airport in the wee hours of Thursday morning. For those of you worried, he did not pack an axe and after a while, we made it back safely to Cambridge after detours all around East Boston and Cambridge due to late night construction and road closures.

On Thursday morning I helped Gregg install one of Maddie and Vic's new air conditioners, and about 68 boxes containing the kitchen cabinets arrived from Ikea. M&V arrived in the evening with Thai food and met Gregg for the first time. They didn't run away. We ate and got a game plan together for the project. Then we made a trip over to Home Depot for supplies, where Gregg mezmerized and befriended the managerial staff with a very rapid (world record) assembly of a Gorilla ladder.

We returned to the new condo and decided to cut a small hole in the living room closet to check out the brick behind the wall. But it was 11pm and we received a call from the neighbor within minutes. Ixnay on the oisenay. We geared up to start the deconstruction on Friday morning. M&V took the day off from work so we'll all be there to start the deconstruction!

Plymouth Rocks

I arrived in Cambridge at 8:30pm on Monday. Tuesday morning I drove down to Plymouth to visit Sue, Peter and Jack and to make the L&S delivery. (I do have photos, but due to uh, bandwith issues, I am having a bit of difficulty posting them at the moment. Please check back.)

Upon my arrival, we toured the grounds to view the towering fennel plants and the garden Jack weeded that morning. The four of us piled into the minivan and made our way to Shaw's supermarket to pick out some lunch and dinner items. Sue was kind enough to demonstrate the self-checkout option. After an employee intervened to save us from an "unexpected item in baggage area" we were back home to make lunch. We enjoyed german sausage (or tofu pups), then Jack and I ventured to BJ's, and I gave Sue a haircut. I stayed for dinner, then got on the road to return to Maddie and Vic's apartment for the evening. Thanks, Sue and Peter for a wonderful day of relaxation and good food before the hard labor begins in Cambridge this week!

Hitting the road

Gearing up to leave for Cambridge on Monday afternoon. Meat products from Liehs and Steigerwald's have been purchased for fans in Plymouth. We all had a great time at Anneke and Chris' groovy shindig on Saturday. Congrats to the happy newlyweds. Sorry, but at the moment I have no photos of their picture perfect event. I will remedy that soon.

I spoke with Maddie today and it sounds like supplies for the renovation are piling up in the new pad. Safety glasses have been purchased. We are ready to smash down some walls. And to update the blog via DSL!

The iPod is charging for the journey. I'm off to Skaneateles in the morning then I'll hit the road. Many thanks to Linda for cat sitting!

Congrats Maddie & Vic!

Maddie & Vic
Originally uploaded by Pog's Pictures.

Yay, you closed on your new home! Now we can get to work.