House Made

Beth here.

Merideth and I are pro-environment, but that’s like saying we are pro kittens and daisies.  As who isn’t for the environment?  Who screams, “Down with the ozone!” while crazily releasing chlorofluorocarbons into the air?  No one.  At least no one I know.

In home renovation, I am often frustrated by the difficulty, expense and bureaucracy of attempting to do things the environmental way.  It’s much more expensive and time-consuming to do a green demolition.  Green materials are harder to come by and can double the price.  Merideth and I try to be thoughtful about our materials and our construction waste, but it can be a giant pain in the butt.  Small example: We had our bulky pickup a few weeks ago, which is our one trash pickup per year that can exceed our weekly limits on trash.  In preparation, our waste management company sent us a flyer detailing the best ways to prepare our clean lumber, non-clean lumber (painted), scrap metal, etc.  It took us hours.  If we’d chosen to just dump it all in a container, which was tempting, we could’ve spent those remaining hours on fun house projects (10% likely) or in front of a Christmas movie (90% likely).  But we did it so that things could be recycled or composted, and we felt better for doing it that way.

This is all a big lead-up for how impressed I am with the Pelmas/Eddy family, members of The Compact, a group that pledged that in 2006 they would buy nothing new (excluding food and underwear).  They rely on thrift stores and borrowing for the things they don’t already own.  The Compact was less of a nod to the environment (as I understand it), and more of a way to reduce consumerism, but whatever the intention, it’s decidedly green.  The San Francisco Chronicle had an article today about how this group fared over the past year, and while all of their results were impressive, the feat of Sarah Pelmas and Matt Eddy was downright astounding.  You see, Pelmas and Eddy bought a new house this year that required extensive renovations, and the only new thing they bought was white paint for their ceilings. 

I find this amazing, and am ridiculously impressed with how hard this must have been.  I mean, sure we look at the salvage yard for windows that fit and old wood to match mouldings, but we still make about three trips to the hardware store per project weekend, often re-buying little things we already have because we lost the first one.

Congratulations to Pelmas and Eddy for succeeding in what must have been a grueling year.  And even though they say they don’t think they’ll continue in this lifestyle, they’re owed many kudos for completing one year.

And now I’m actually going to look hard for that gutter piece I know we have somewhere, but was previously too lazy to look for.

Happy New Year, everyone.

If you’re considering using saltillo (also known as terra cotta) tile for a project, you’ve probably done all the research and know about all the…let’s call them “idiosyncracies”…of that particular medium. So, while you’ve already considered all the stuff I’m about to talk about, I’m going to talk about it anyway. Because for real.

1. Tiles are not the same size. Tiles are not necessarily square. Tiles are not necessarily out of square in the same way. This makes spacers more like a suggestion box than an actual tool. Learn to love the rhombus.
2. Tiles are not the same thickness. This makes for all kinds of fun with thin set and grout joints.
3. Surface color is not consistent. Yes, this is part of the charm. Remember that when you finish laying your patio and you have one random pink burst right in the middle of your floor that only became visible once sealant was applied.
4. The sealing on pre-sealed tiles is only there to help prevent the grout from staining your tiles. You will have to seal again when you’ve laid the tile.
5. Use saltillo grout.
6. You will have fat grout lines.
7. Sealed tile is slippery. Unsealed tile is prone to stains and chipping. Rock. Hard place.
8. Saltillo tiles weigh about 5 lbs each.
9. You will not achieve perfectly straight lines. You will not achieve uniformity. It is not the material for people who seek these things.
10. It’s rustically beautiful.

We knew all these things when we selected saltillo for our hardscape. That does not mean that we didn’t want to tear our hair out occasionally when we came face to face with them. It was worth it and we would absolutely use it again. But reaaaallly know this stuff if you plan to go the saltillo route. It’s the best way to (marketing buzzword alert) manage your expectations.

sidewalk marked for demo

Until about 15 minutes ago I hated today. Here’s why:

1. I forgot to move both the cars and today is street sweeping day. That means TWO $50 tickets #%*&@$!!
2. I checked the weather to find that it’s supposed to rain tomorrow so I can’t apply the non-skid to the patio.
3. Our satellite receiver was acting stupid requiring that I spend a half-hour on hold being reminded that my call is VERY important.
4. I burned my hamburger.

But then, out on the lawn there arose such a clatter! I walked out front to see what was going on and a city representative informed me that he was marking up our sidewalk for demolition and repair. JOY!! Beth and I were planning on rolling that project into this year’s concrete work but City Guy told me that the sidewalk is messed up because of the tree next to the street: a CITY tree! Consequently, it’s their responsibility to fix the hardscape. Now there is the possibility that they could decide the tree is too big for the space and take it out. But City Guy said that right now the tree isn’t marked for removal so it seems safe. Hooray! Something that WON’T cost us more money!! And to all, a good night.

I am so bored with thinking about this project. Thank heavens we’ve finally gotten a stretch of sun. The waiting game is now in  effect. I grouted the patio and now I’m waiting out the curing time until I can seal it. Then I’ll wait some more and once that’s cured I can apply the non-skid surface. We’ll have to do that in 2 stages, left side then right side, so that people can get from the sidewalk to the front door. It should make for high comedy as guests and delivery folks maneuver the tiny lane of walkable space loaded with boxes and luggage. Perhaps a vaudevillian juggling of parcels will ensue.

As Greg just warned me the comments, there is a storm on the way.

Beth has just confirmed the updated weather guarantees both rain and hail for the weekend.

Siiiiiiiiiiiiiggggggggggggghhhhh.

Mother Nature conspires against me.

It’s the suuuuunnnnn!!! I am seriously so excited. Sun. If this continues, there’s every possibility that the tile will dry out and I’ll be able to grout and seal the front porch. Give me some crossed fingers out there, people. I need to get this done to preserve my (and probably Beth’s) sanity as I really can’t stop thinking/talking about the fact that it’s not done. For real. I dreamed about grouting last night.

In other news, a different one of the strings of lights on the exterior of the house burned out last night. Sheesh! The one year I get all complicated with my lighting scheme and this happens.

Well the one big chore we assigned ourselves this weekend was to collect all the scrap from this year’s projects into one giant pile to be carried away to the dump. Despite the rain, we did it.

We collected and sorted metal, wood, vinyl, and basic big heavy garbage and the city hauled it away for proper disposal. Weirdly, we loved seeing the the stretch of neatly separated and bound batches of material at the bottom of our driveway. Less weirdly, we are psyched that it has been collected and hauled away as of 6:52 this a.m.

Oh and I fixed the xmas lights. Everything is merry AND bright.

That is the rule.

Any.
Chance.
Of Rain.

It is supposed to rain for 9 of the next 10 days. Dammit.

Does that look like grouting weather to you? Because it definitely does NOT look like grouting weather to me. And if I can’t grout, well then I can’t seal. And if I can’t seal, I can’t apply the skid guard stuff that keeps the tile patio from being a menacing skating rink of slipperiness. Rats!

So I guess that leaves us with just one big chore this weekend: cutting any and all scrap material into manageable sizes. Next week the city will come by for our annual “bulky pickup” which basically saves us a trip to the dump. We’ve got all kinds of project remnants that need to be hauled down to the curb. That can be done rain or shine.

Oh and I have to fix that one strand of roof xmas lights that went out. That can also be accomplished in the rain.

That’s right. Merry Christmas to me and Beth. Insecticide is SO us! 

Our gift to each other this year was going to be an original piece of art. We’d talked about it, planned it out, scouted artists, scheduled gallery showings. It’s been so exciting! We were finally going to move away from prints and put at least one original piece on the wall. By now you’ve noticed that I’ve written all of this in past tense. Yes. As of 1 p.m yesterday, that dream has been stomped into crumbly, crumbly dust. Dust. 

We had our annual termite inspection yesterday and they found a small colony of FLYING termites in our south wall. So, A. FLYING termites?! Gross. They apparently fly from house to house. Our house is the latest stop on their drunken wedding buffet. Fortunately the colony is small and can be treated by injecting the wall with bug-killing foam. This is fortunate because, apparently, if the colony is big you have no choice but to tent your house. B. It’s using up our Christmas present artwork budget. Siiiiiiiiiiiiiggghhhhhhhhh. 

Now, more than anything I’m glad we happened to have the money set aside so that we could pay for this. And I’m grateful that I’m married to someone who feels the same way and won’t feel snubbed or unloved when her xmas present is downgraded to a new ratcheting screwdriver. But at the same time I just can’t help but think DAMMIT, DAMMIT, DAMMIT. 

You will, however, be happy to know that my Christmas spirit is completely un-dampened. It’s the most wonderful time of the year after all. And even termite-full and present-free we’re still full of holiday cheer.