2007 - Page 2 of 4 - Brooklyn Row House

A Tree Blows Down in Brooklyn

Leave a Comment / brooklyn / By steve / July 8, 2007

About 5:30am this morning I was suddenly awake. I’m not sure if it was the threatening thunder approaching from the northwest or my shivering, hundred-pound Newfoundland desperately trying to crawl under the covers with me. Outside, it was like War of the Worlds. Lightning was flashing like a paparazzi frenzy and the thunder was getting progressively angrier. I heard the rain starting. Within minutes it was coming down in buckets. Seriously, that’s what it sounded like: someone dropping buckets on my roof. By now, most of you have probably heard that Brooklyn experienced its first tornado since the 19th century […]

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Robot, robot

Leave a Comment / home automation, insteon / By steve / July 5, 2007

There was a song by a Chicago band called The Flock that I used to love during my trippy teen days: Robot, robot arms and legs Teeth, bones, hair, its all there Robot, robot arms and legs Battery’s dead, head’s dead. (Mechanical man, mechanical man!) Whenever I muck with my home automation hardware this song plays over and over again in my head. It’s pretty maddening. Sitting on my dining room table since last Thanksgiving was a small pile of boxes containing Insteon controllers, in-wall dimmers, relays and the like that have been waiting patiently for me to complete the

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A Case of the Mightaswells

Leave a Comment / exterior / By steve / June 25, 2007

If you own home in progress, whether you’re a DIYer or someone who calls a contractor to change the lightbulbs, you know the syndrome. “As long as I’m updating the kitchen, I might as well make it larger.” “As long as I’m pouring a new basement floor, I might as well replace all the old plumbing underneath. And then I might as well rough out for another full bath. Then I might as well build it.” “As long as I’m opening up the wall, I might as well add a central vacuum system, split-unit air conditioning and a new 50a

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More and more sawdust

Leave a Comment / carpentry, master bedroom, shop / By steve / June 9, 2007

With a challenging software project winding up, the top floor reno winding down and my tools reunited with their friends in the basement, it was time to turn my attention to the crime scene that used to be my shop. This cleaning has to last several months because it will probably be that long before I’ll be using the tools again. I don’t mind working in a messy environment but I can’t start a new project unless everything is neat and tidy, with every tool in its proper place, the table saw waxed, stationary tools aligned, blades sharpened, etc. This

Time to buy a bed

Leave a Comment / carpentry, finish carpentry, master bedroom, paint / By steve / June 3, 2007

I can’t freakin’ believe it. All my tools are back in the shop where they belong, the paint’s up, the room is clean, the nine-month saga of the master bedroom renovation…. so OVER! Okay, there are still a few things left to do: the cabinet drawers and doors, the hallway stained glass windows, the doorknobs. I’ll get around to it unless Home Stretch Complacency strikes me down. Over the last few weeks I’ve been finishing up the hallway, the two closets and my outside plantings. There’s always a sense of closure when I lay that second coat of paint, especially

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I actually do have house stuff to blog about

Leave a Comment / brooklyn, fire, pets / By steve / May 18, 2007

After all, it’s been almost two weeks since my last blog post. However, I like to accompany my renovation articles with photos and the bedroom is currently an eyesore while I reorganize closets and get rid of clothes I’ve had since my disco show band days. No way am I posting photos of it now. A fair question would be why I’m reorganizing closets when I haven’t finished the bedroom reno yet. I have a long closet that connects the two bedrooms. That’s where I stuffed everything when I began this project. Now I have to lay a new floor

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At last, that curved baseboard!

Leave a Comment / carpentry, finish carpentry, master bedroom / By steve / May 3, 2007

I’ve been pushing off this little project for a couple of months. The bedroom renovation began with construction of the closet and the curved plaster corner I absolutely had to have (if for no other reason than I’d never done one before). I knew that was going to create problems with the trim later but, hey, later is later. Six months later, later became today. There are basically four ways to build a curve using solid lumber. One is to steam it and bend it in a jig. Bending 1″ nominal hardwood stock to as shallow a radius as I

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Engineered Flooring HOWTO v2.0

Leave a Comment / carpentry, engineered floors / By steve / April 15, 2007

I don’t like drywall. I like plaster. I don’t like composite mouldings. I like hardwood. I don’t even like prefab mouldings. I like to cut my own. So why would I like something as new-fangled and artificial as engineered flooring? Actually, I don’t. Even though I went through bloody hell to lay those herringbone floors in the living room, solid hardwood is still my first choice. But there were reasons why engineered flooring was the better option for the second floor in my house. One is that I didn’t want to add an extra 1.25″ to the height of the

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Con Ed resolution

Leave a Comment / brooklyn, electrical / By steve / April 13, 2007

Catching up on the recent fun at BrooklynRowHouse, I’ve finally got my electrical back. My electrician strapped the panel so I didn’t have a half-dark house but I couldn’t run any 220v appliances, including my Delta table saw. That brought the woodworking in the bedroom reno to a dead stop. The stories about the fried feeder line are here and here. I was very concerned that my saw and clothes dryer could be out of commission for months. My neighbor had the same problem and it took Con Ed four months to fix it. That’s why I was surprised that

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Mea Culpa

Leave a Comment / brh, carpentry, finish carpentry, master bedroom, wood finishing / By steve / April 9, 2007

Forgive me, blog, for I have sinned. It’s been a month since my last confession. I’ve been so busy that I haven’t found the time to sit down and write about what I was up to. I should break this update into a few posts. Lemme talk about the bedroom reno first. After I got derailed by Con Ed’s feeder line burning out and putting my 220v Delta table saw temporarily out of commission, I regrouped and decided to start on the finish work. The remaining trim work is mostly shop stuff so I can do it later. Three days!

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