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Lake House Remodel Pics and Notes
Why document all this? Well, mostly for historical and future reference. I usually try to future proof things. So I may put an electrical box in a ceiling for a fan, but not install the fan. I still wire everything up and may need to know where the wires run, the fan mount is, etc. Plus it's fun to remember all the pain and suffering that goes into the process! :-)
Some preliminary notes...the house was not in bad shape. It has a good skeleton, but was just neglected. During the home inspection, we attempted to gauge the age of the house. It was determined that it had to be from the 1930's or 1940's. So that makes it almost a 100 year old house. That was determined from the knob and tube wiring. The more digging I do, I'm finding (based on the materials used) that it went through several renovations. For example... 1 - Initial Build (circa 1930-1940 at the latest) 2 - Knob and Tube Wiring Added (circa 1940-1950 - no interior walls, just exterior cedar siding) 3 - Some romex wiring added (circa 1960-1970) 4 - Upson Board/Beaver Board Added for interior walls and spliced-in wiring (circa 1960-1970) 5 - Upstairs Open Area Attic Converted to Living Space (unknown) 6 - It looks like there were some walls and ceilings added around 1994 upstairs
The roof probably could have waited another year or so in my opinion, but the windows definately needed replaced. They were old weight-driven single pane windows. Horrible at keeping out the drafts. Oh, yeah....this house did not have one ounce of insulation. Not one bit! Upgrading the roof, windows, gutters, electrical wiring, and adding insulation and drywall was tops on my list. I wanted to bring all this up to code and basically gut the entire place and make it feel like home.
Note that I'm just throwing up pictures here, not editing them, etc. This is all for my historical or future reference. Deal with it! :-)
Right after taking posession, the locks were changed and the drop ceiling in the main family room was sagging
pretty bad. I just started taking it down - literally minutes after owning it. It had to go.
Even doing something as simple as that you find some strange things (like a dead bird).
Tons of crap came out of the house the lady didn't want and couldn't move. So I negotiated a dumpster during closing.
Next, I figured I'd start upstairs and work my way down. At least if I got one room done, I could start sleeping
and working in the place. I'd basically work myself tired so I could sleep each night. Too many thoughts
of everything that needs to be done.
Looks like they put up walls, and painted them - destroying the top layer of the wood floors. They look to be
pine floors...they may sand up well. I'm going to try that first before I contemplate carpet, etc. I'm just
not sure what the final floor is going to look like. It's pretty cheap to rent a floor sander and try it. Cross
your fingers!
Another indication of a very old house. The old wood burning stove plate flue cover, etc that existed in the middle of
the first floor.
Time to start looking into the walls - I knew what I was going to find. Probably some timber framed walls,
no insulation, and questionable wiring. My goal was primarily for safety (electrical), upgradability, and
heating/cooling savings. So I filed a permit with Luna Pier's building department. That's a pain in of
itself. I forget what dealing with a small town can be like. (Open at 10:00am, Closed for Lunch from 11:00am
until 2:00pm and Closed for the day at 4:00pm). Hah! Oh, boy - can small towns talk also!
I thought this might be Beaver Board. I just didn't understand why they had holes marked out on the walls.
There was no insulation or electrical work done behind any of these markings. Just plain weird to me.
Looks like the walls are going to be a project.
Took me about 2 hours per room to take back to studs. Not bad...the only thing that freaked me out
was the nests.
These are Mud Dauber nests. They are actually a beneficial type of bee. They will not bother you, even
if you bother the nests. Basically, they take mud, build a nest around a spider they catch, lay eggs, hatch
then fly away and repeat the process. Obviously, there was a place they were getting in the attic!
It was purely amazing. This could have literally been almost 100 years of nests! The house was almost
never used. I'll bet those walls were literally buzzing!
This was the only readable label I could find to prove the walls were Upson board.
Roof materials delivered. That was quick!
The roofers had it done in 2 working days. In the middle of February in Michingan. (The crew
was from Minnesota - so they didn't mind the snow!)
Found out that the sunroom was probably a screened in porch. Windows added later and the
family room bookcase used to be a window facing the lake. Removing that lets lots of
light in and a view of the lake from almost every room!
Another indicator of age/remodel. This was typical in the 1950's. Probably when they decided
to think about adding the upstairs steps.
When, I'm stressed, I head to the sunroom and watch the ducks or waves crashing toward the shore.
Eventually, the backyard will house a summer garden, deck, floating dock, etc. It's gonna
take some time.
New windows were installed mid-February also. They look great!
It will take some new mouldings to handle the fact that these were replacement windows and not
new construction type. Now that the exterior is handled (roofs, gutters and windows), I can
begin the process of insulation and electrical wiring. I'm hoping to have the final inspection
complete by the end of February and start drywalling in March.
Happy, I'm finally almost done with gutting the place and I can start making forward progress!
Another nest. Probably a different bird! Wow! Just plain crazy!
Here's what the master bedroom will look like space-wise. It's still small, but should
suffice, after all, the action is "at the lake" and in-town at the bars! Luna Pier is
a nice little small town (about 1500 people). It's a golf cart friendly community and they
have a heck of a July 4 party. That'll be summer highlight for sure!
Working on the second bedroom. Here I removed some small copper piping that ran across the bedroom wall (between what used to be the attic and the downstairs kitchen). I'm not sure why this was never removed...it still had some old fuel oil in it too. I was done for the night after doing that as I was getting high. Hey moron, how about opening one of those new windows for some air flow? :-)
I also uncovered a board that said "Cowell Willow Cottage Toledo Beach" while doing demo.
That was very interesting. I did some historical research. I'm not sure of the "Cowell"
part, my guess it was an owner of the cottage at the time. But the Toledo Beach area
contained a huge amusement park that existed just before the Great Depression. It had a
roller coaster, large bath house, dance hall, and gambling/casino area. It was supposedly
in existance until after World War II after a girl was killed falling off the roller
coaster. It's kind of neat - was this board from an old cottage there? Was this house
I'm remodeling the actual cottage? Who knows. Interesting indeed. I still haven't
found any treasure though. :-)
Written on the wall - looks like this goes back to circa 1919. Neat!
The old Toledo Mercury Hockey team in a Blade newspaper from the attic.
You can see the date of March 3, 1948. Before my dad was even born!
By the end of May, all the upstairs floors were sanded back to their
natural wood color. I completed all the rough framing for the new
rooms and master bedroom. I also completed all the elecrical wiring
and layout to the new main panel - I'm going to install to bring
200 amp service to the house. It currently has 100 amp service which
is probably more than adequate for this house, but I figured, why not
upgrade it incase I build on to the house in the future and I can
install any new stove or whatever I want. I didn't do a good job of
taking pictures and documenting the process, but will have to take some
pictures before I button up the walls.
Well, summer has started and I'm usually all over the place. Out golfing,
at the campground, or now at the lake and I don't have time to babysit the house
So I put up a bunch of hi-def cameras so I can monitor the house (or worst case -
flood waters during the spring time if I needed to run up there and deal with that...
I'm hoping I never have to!)
Progress got diverted in June so I could bring power to the garage. This took a little
bit due to sourcing the right size house wire - which is amazing how hard that is to
track down at the local big box stores. Was special order and due to Covid, shipping
was all backed up. I got it approved by the Luna City Electrical inspector and
Consumers Energy turned it on the last week of June. So now I can start up the air
compressors, and create my work area out there for all the finishng touches the
house needs. The garage looks a LOT better once it's been power washed clean too!
Another project that wasn't on the radar immediately, but literally drove me crazy
was the brown "shed" doors that were on the house. I put the golf cart in there
and use it as a utility shed and storage, etc. Here's a picture with a garage
door installed. Don't ask me about testing the lock on it!!! :-) Also here's a
picture of the shed cleaned out and the furnance I rewired. (I put a digital wifi
thermostat on it so I could monitor the temperature and have it on an energy saving
schedule.)
Break Time....I was exhausted, but still had time to take a break and build a motorcycle. Yep - you heard that right - you can read more about that on my Motorcycle hobbies page. Here I am bringing up in the crate to the house where I can work on it in the newly powered garage!
I finally got the bent electric pole removed from the house and all the old service
entrance wiring removed. I upgraded the electric service from 100amp to 200amp
capacity. I used 4/4/2 aluminum wire, have a 4 gauge ground wire all running in
2 inch conduit. It was approved by the city inspector and
turned back on by the electric company mid August. Man, summer sure is flying
by and I'm way behind on everything I wanted to get done. Slowly but surely
things are starting to work out. Here's a few pictures of the main panel
wired up also incase I need reference (or you were curious). If you
attempt to do any of this yourself - BE VERY CAREFUL. You are dealing
with potentially live electricity and only 0.003 amps going through your body can cause you some pain
and by the time it reaches 0.005 amps of electricity (you literally can't let go) and after
this point, you'll end up going into v-fib and your going to die of a heart attack and severe burns
by the time you get to 10 amps. Anyway, just be very careful! This is probably way
overkill for a house this size, but I figured I'll never have to do it
again (for when I build up and out during another expasion of the house, adding a hot
tub, and even wiring the dock up with power) I'm even running some extra empty conduit
inside the walls so I don't have to tear out any finished walls in the future.)
Here's a few extra pictures of the electrical panel open - things still are not done, but just
so you can see how things are ran and hooked up.
August Earthquake....I was at the campsite when it happened (about 20 minutes away)
and I thought I felt a rumble from there, but it just didn't click in my brain what it was. We're
not used to Earthquakes in this region, but it happened right off the East side of Toledo Beach.
September Weather....When the water starts doing weird things, you know you're in store for some weather changes. Here's a quick time lapse of some low water (so I could judge in the future where things are for the boat dock in Spring of 2021) and a early morning thunderstorm the security cameras picked up, then some nice weather at the end of September.
The Bathroom....The bathroom was NOT on the initial remodel list - I was going to do that at another time.
Whomever did the plumbing last time hooked up the hot and cold backwards in the shower, so that was a
little chilly the first time I hopped in there! When tearing out the old electrical
panel you could tell something happened with a frozen pipe at one point....so I was
naturally curious. I had to make sure everything was hooked up correctly and functioning
I was not going to do all this again after the drywall goes up. After further investigating
and deciding to add an upstairs bathroom, I figured it was prudent to just run everything
with PEX incase I ever decided to shut the house down for the winter and go south. PEX
gives you a little breathing room with frozen water expansion. I could also be smart
about running the water lines on the heated side of the house to help prevent that. So
as the first bathroom photo shows...the floor had to go (there was a little hump in the middle
of the floor that drove me crazy anyway). This decision also put me another month behind
due to the fact that Menards was about one month behind ordering the custom shower. So that
kinda stunk. I couldn't really move forward until I had all those dimensions and rough in
plumbing completed.
Floor is all gone and re-roughing in the waste lines.
Water main floor area ripped up to expose all the waste and vent lines.
Had to rebuild the foundation wall and some rotted out floor joists.
Photos of how the PEX lines are run - keeping them all on the heated
side of the house and making sure that I have a way to blow out and
drain all the lines if I need to shut it down for the winter.
Kitchen floor (where the old cabinets were). I also climbed down into
the very small crawl area to run a new cold-air return line to the
furnace. This was like a huge sandbox down there since this is all
sitting on Lake Erie sand! The photos in this area are primarily for
showing where the PEX lines are ran (the electric lines I kept out of
the way while running all the PEX until that was finalized).
Here's some rough-in photos of the upstairs bathroom also.
Friday, October 16, 2020 - Building Inspection Day
Well, live and learn - and today was part of that process. I have a feeling that no matter the type if inspector (Plumbing/HVAC/Electrical or General Building Inspector) - they always feel like they have to find something. So I kind of prepared myself that I'd have to fix or change something. I knew going in, as soon as I exposed a wall, I'd have to bring whatever I find up to current code. I knew there was Knob and Tube Electrical and wanted to bring that up to current standards and build in safety and "over do it" on that front. I also upgraded a few other things I found too (which I documented where I could). I met the building inspector this morning and he "called" me on the HVAC and Plumbing work that was re-done, so that cost me another $300.00 in permits he said I had to file and have another inspector check that work. I'm confident in the work, but it's just a pain I have to schedule another inspection. He also said I had to add blocking between the upstairs and the attic to seal the stud bays - which I agreed on - it's easy to do and stops drafts that could spread a fire rather quickly if one started. I would also have to stuff the HVAC soffit areas with insulation to cut down and stop that area as a fire spreader also. The last thing I needed to take care of was the windows. Now note that the house has been standing for almost 100 years and they were built with real true hardwood 2x4 timbers that go all the way from the foundation to the attic. They are strong - really strong. Anyway, he said I needed to put headers over the windows where there was load bearing walls above. Which means I have to do this for seven of the windows. Kind of a pain if you ask me. This house is strong - very strong! There is no sagging above the windows to indicate a header is needed, but I guess it could not hurt.....seems to me that it's a waste of time, but I opened up the wall, so I have to deal with it.
Got some Christmas Lights up at the house. This is the first time I've ever done that. Usually
I was just too lazy and hated standing out in the cold to put up something that would last
a month, then I'd have to take it down again. Well, I figured, the weather was perfect, so why not!
The old neighbor lady liked them - so she did the same (infrared night shot). Spread the joy!
Plumbing Pressure Test...since the inspector called me on it - even though this
is a remodel - we setup the system for a pressure test and looks like it is holding 5psi for
several hours - so we're good to call the inspector again! Stay tuned.
Passed Inspections...I passed the mechanical, plumbing, and electrical
inspections! That was a hurdle, but well worth it. Now I just need to finish a couple
final touches and get the buidling inspector to sign off so I can start buttoning this
house up!
Sunday Workday....I figured a little "football at the lake" was in order
while I made electrical pigtails and get ready for my final rough-in inspection for the
electrical on Tuesday. I was channel surfing between the Browns and Bengals games. Boy
are most teams pitiful this year. But my team the Cleveland Browns....can you believe
it - they have a wining record this season and have a real good chance to go to the
playoffs if they can keep it up!
Thanksgiving Week...was doing a little cleanup at the house - what a
nice day in November!
Snow Starts....Well one day later - that sunny weather didn't last long! :-)
December 4, 2020 - about 10:30am... - I get a call from the gas company and they said we "shut off your gas
and we need somebody over 18 there to turn it back on." Now, this is winter - I'm keeping the heat on
so the plumbing I literally just put in doesn't freeze. I ask "why did you guys shut off the gas." His
reply, "because of the fire." I said, "I'll be there in 20 minutes - don't leave!"
After driving 95 miles an hour to get up there quick, I pull up and he's tightening the meter and I see
helicopters overhead and I have the discussion.....I ask, "Did you shut everybody's off or just
mine?" He replies "Just yours due to the fire." I ask, "What fire?" He said, "You don't
know? Toledo Beach Marina is gone! Literally over 100 boats up in flames. It's been burning
since 7:00 this morning." I was like "Holy crap!" We chat for a little bit more and double check
all the connections and make sure the furnace heats up when I have it call for heat. So everything
looks good. I guess the entire gas feed for Luna Pier travels under the street and they needed
to put a pressure meter on somebody's connection so when he shut the gas off to Toledo Beach
Marina he didn't lose gas pressure for the rest of the city. So they chose my house to put a
meter on it since it was pretty accessible.
I bolt back to work and pull up the following article and video (yes I was hauling butt to get to the house). Wow! Literally, you
can see our house on the south side of the marina - but the smoke was traveling north, so you see
nothing from Luna Pier. Some boat owners are going to have a very bad day! My guess is something
happened in that building - this is the time of year people are shrink wrapping the boats, and with
diesel fuel - that stuff is pretty oily and just burns.
January 26, 2021 - Well....it's been a while and we're into the new year. December and January were rough for me (they usually are). There's just so much going on with Christmas and New Years and all the related activities and get-togthers, it just really hard to make the time to do some work and get some projects done. This entry is more of an update for me since it's got some technical information for my future use. As a side note, I lost a couple of weeks productivity as I caught COVID-19 and was forced to stay away from everybody from January 2 to January 18 and figured I didn't really want to take that time to work on the house. Just spent the time watching movies, working remotely, and sleeping. Lots of sleeping on my side/stomach and drinking lots of water. I'm still an anti-masker! The masks have scientificaly been proven to stop nothing! I really only experienced cold-like systems for about 3 days and they weren't that bad. I think most of the concern around this virus was perpetuated by the media and pure ignorance. Sure, it affects older people more seriously, but don't most virii? Unfortunately, most of the tracking of this virus was handled so badly, that we don't know if people really caught a cold, the flu, or something else. Everybody just got labled COVID-19......It's been a year since the virus was in full swing and notice now how all the cases have been going down now? "Herd Immunity" is the way things like this get spread and our bodies create natural defenses and immunities to protect us a future generations. Some people live, some die, it's just life.....anyway, enough of my soapbox. Anyway, so for the majority of January the furnace at the lake house has been struggling to keep the house warm. I figured it might have to do with the lack insulation. Well, it happened to be an issue with the furnace itself. With cold weather coming in Southeast Michigan (we usually get some really cold weather the first week of February), I needed to figure this out as soon as possible so the water pipes don't freeze. I'm not an HVAC expert, but I can tell you that just like the above, I am a logial person and can use common-sense and science to figure things out. A gas furnace simply works like the following (actually it would be even simpler and more reliable if it wasn't for "safety" features), but again I digress...basically if you satisfy the previous step, you go to the next.
1.) Turn on Furnace Exhaust Motor to Vent combustables 2.) Make sure no-back-pressure on exhaust vent denoting a possible clogged vent. If so shut the system down. 3.) Turn on Electronic Hot Surface Ignitor (pilot light) 4.) Turn on Gas Control Valve 5.) Combustion Starts and Burners Fire 6.) Make sure Flame Sensor detects heat from burners. If not shut the system down. 7.) Once the Heat Exchanger reaches temperature, turn on the Blower Motor to send heat to plenum and ducts. 8.) Heat the house up to thermstat set temperature and shutdown and repeat the process over and over.Well this process was happening, but then the system would shutdown after a few minutes and the whole process would start over again. Usually, there's a control board that will flash codes. This unit is so old (circa 1997) that the Honeywell control board has no lights. It was pretty agravating to diagnose. I took the logical approach and just started tracing through the steps. There was no gas flow issue. There was no blockage in getting fresh combusable air. There was no blockage in the cold air return (which would make the system shutdown if it detected too high of heat in the heat exchanger and cause that to crack). I witnessed the combustion process starting and the ignitor was fine also. It had to be a bad or dirty flame sensor - not detecting the burners going. I just thought it was odd that it was firing for a good 30 seconds. Seemed to long to me, but figured that was the bad part. Well, just before I went to replace it, I pulled the hoses on the exhaust vent back pressure sensor....water just poured out of that. Odd. But since this unit is in a shed and subject to colder than normal furnace conditions, I guess it makes sense you could have condensation in the tube (it's the orange tube in the picture below). Basically, the system thought the exhaust vent was clogged, so the system shutdown. What a pain! Sometimes I really hate safety features on devices that are supposed to be so simple in their function. Here's my furance pictures incase I need to trace other issues in the future. This way I don't have to run up north to remember what things look like. The system is a Kenmore 80 percent efficience model number: NTC7075BFA3 made by the ICP company for Sears. It's basically a subsidary of the Carrier furnace group.
February 12, 2021 - Well I scheduled another meeting with the inspector for next week. Hopefully, this one goes smooth. The big sticking
point was headers over the windows. I wanted to call "B.S." on this, since there was no sagging, there was 1/2" wood tongue and groove siding which also
helped prevent any load issues - but the inspector has got me by the balls. So I couldn't do much to fight it. This is Small Town, America. There's no
real due process. Some before and after photos showing before and after below. I need to put the spray foam insulation and re-feed the electrical
lines back, but want to make sure it's ok and passes before I waste the time. The inspector did say I could start insulating, and that he would be
able to see everything he needed to see, but I don't trust him and don't want to waste my time doing work, just the have to rip it down. The temperatures
are staying a lot colder than I like to see at this time of year, but the furnace seems to be keeping the place at 55 degrees. The heat tape on the water
lines seem to be keeping the pipes from freezing too. I'm crossing my fingers we get some warm weather soon - seem like we won't get back up to
above freezing marks until after February 21 sometime according the the forecats.
March 2, 2021 - Just a little update...I passed the last inspection. I swear this inspector is getting his rocks off just jacking me around
though. He said, go ahead an insulate, but let me know when it's done so I can come back and inspect that. (Whereas last time he said, when you pass
I don't need to see you until after the drywall is done.) What a pain - another stupid meeting. Anyway, as usual, I'm behind again. Lost some weekends
due to some of Sydney's bowling tournament qualification rounds, etc. (She did very well beating all girl individuals at the District Tournament in
Sandusky.) Wow...getting off-topic....here's a picture of me insulating the main room - it's not horribly cold now with highs in the low 40's and lows
in the low 20's - so I think we're out of the woods with regards to freezing pipes. I stopped heating the place again to anything above 45 degrees.
The rest of the house insulation should take me about a week if I do a couple of hours here and there. You get to the point after a couple of hours
the itching driving you crazy - that's when I quit! Another pain in the butt is the furing out of the framing members - that's a real joy to work
around and try to shove insulation under that....NOT!
March 5, 2021 - Looks like they found a body in the marsh behind the garage last night. My guess is this was somebody that was on the ice and fell through. Supposedly the body was found by fisherman in a boat. The odd thing is that area was still freezing and thawing - and they found it around midnight. Seems "fishy" to me - it's way too early especially at night at this time of year to be boating back there. You need good visibility due to ice chunks still floating around. The cameras on the garage didn't catch anything other than the detectives and search parties lights.
March 15, 2021 - Finished the insulation in the entire house, interior wall, and the ceilings (for sound proofing the bathrooms and bedrooms, etc).
I had to handle the vaulted ceilings a little differently, due to the inspector wanting me to get as close to an R-30 as possible. It's technically not possible
to do this unless you spray foam - which is totally out of my budget - with the 2x4 truss construction that was done back in the 1940's. So it is what it is!
Here's what I started doing in the bays and just waiting on confirmation from the inspector I am allowed to do it this way. (Another picture of the sunrise
on this special day - for those of you that know me!) :-)
March 26, 2021 - Well the inspector passed everything, so time to drywall! There is no way I have the time or skill to do the entire house, so
it's going to get bid out to somebody that can do it all. Don't get me wrong, I could probably do it, but would take me a few months, and I don't have the
attention to detail to make it look nice. I've done mudding and repair jobs for an entire wall in my first house and the basement of our second house, but
nothing beats having somebody else do the drywall for you. You get a nice consistant look to it all. So here's to hoping I can get it bid out and done by the
end of April. The weather here is getting nice and I'd like to be on the water this year instead of looking at it! Here's some pics just to tide you over - the
creatures are out and about too....check out the squirrel stealing the bird food video. Mental note - get the cameras turned - they are starting to get crooked.
April 16, 2021 - Drywall Delivery Day! Finally! It's been more than a year in the making trying to get to at least this point.
All I can say is this day started as a cluster f**k. The drywall guy coordinated with Gypsum Supply Company out of Michigan. They were
supposed to deliver it yesterday (Thursday), but the truck with the boom couldn't get it down the street due to
low hanging power lines by neighbors up the street. (I don't think they tried hard enough to get down the street.) So they delivered it today and set off the
alarm at 7:00am - which caused the cops to be dispatched since I was in the shower getting ready for work. Then I guess the drywall guy paid them extra
to get it up the stairs, and they didn't. So I don't think either of us are happy with the company today. Anyway, the rough hangers are supposed to
show up later or tomorrow to handle the installation. Headed up to the campsite for the weekend - it's gonna be cold, but maybe I'll swing over and
check out the progress if they end up working tomorrow morning. Hopefully, this ends up moving things along to the finishing stages! Stay in school kids!
Trust me! Moving drywall, hanging drywall, finishing drywall...basically, anything having to do with drywall sucks! I hate it and having to unload a
truckfull of drywall must really stink!
April 20, 2021 - Well drywall hangers showed up on Saturday and did what they could until they ran out of materials. Boy did they make a mess!
Yesterday the subcontractor spent most of the day cleaning up the mess and taping joints on what he could. They still have some hanging to do, then they can
do corners, joints, etc. I hooked the heat backup to help drying, etc. Supposed to get a cold snap and snow. What the heck - it's almost the end of April and
they are calling for snow. Crazy!
April 21, 2021 - Hah! We got some snow alright. Wow....it's almost May and a couple of inches of snow fell. Looks like we got more
at the Perrysburg house. About 3 inches of snow on the truck this morning. The guys are still working on the drywall and are actively doing the
joints and corners now. I'm staying away, just so I don't go crazy - I'm kind of a perfectionist and that'll make me crazy looking at it. So I'm
just letting them do their job - but it's killing me not to say anything! :-)
April 22, 2021 - The guys didn't work very long yesterday - must have got pulled off the job to head somewhere else. Today
they are back at it again, and like I figured, they were still short some drywall. So had to get some more - but they have a full crew
working. Not sure it'll be done by the weekend, but we will see.
As a side note, I put up a bird feeder at the Perrysburg house and the birds were crazy yesterday evening. The snow melted and I'm
wondering if they are as confused as we humans are this year with the weather. Next thing I see is a "Mom" and "Dad" duck show up
at the bird feeder too. Wonder if they follwed me down from the lake. Hah! :-)
April 27, 2021 - Drywall is Done! I'll get some final pictures once the primer goes up. There's a couple areas that
need to be fixed just due to the way the house is laid out. It'll be fine in the end, so I just have to take it with a grain of salt.
There's also a couple of areas I need to go back and cut out. The guys that did the drywall covered up a smoke alarm, an outlet feeding
the entire sunroom, and the entire attic egress. As my friend Kevin says....drywall guys are the lowest guys in the construction
chain. I tend to agree. Here's some pictures of the drywall as they were finishing it.
May 11, 2021 - With wood prices going through the roof (thanks Biden you idiot) - I figured I might as well get the
product while I still can for the deck before people start ordering it all like they did last year. It got delivered this morning.
So looks like a couple of projects will be happening at the same time!
May 21, 2021 - Well...progress is starting on the deck. The weekends get lost camping and a couple of work
business meetings got in the way too, but I think I've got a plan so I can get the framing inspected by the end of this week so I can
lay the decking. Digging and leveling the pier blocks wasn't fun, but necessary, you want to make sure you get any vegetation out
of the way so there's no movement issues. I want to get this done by Memorial Day weekend so it can be enjoyed. It looks
like I missed the ducks being born again this year (see the video), but the Perrysburg ducks have been keeping me
entertained. They seem to show up for breakfast and dinner feedings pretty consistently which is fun. I got a pile of bird food
for the birds at the house, campground and Perrysburg house. The ducks seem to like that vs the cracked corn for some reason.
May 22, 2021 - I got a late start and didn't get to the lake house until around 1:00pm because I had slept in, and had
to stop at Menards and pick up a few driver bits and stuff. By the time I got to the house it was over 88 degrees and hot! I had to
just plow through the process. I'd work a bit, then take a water break and repeat. I even took the bike for a ride to cool off and
put some gas in it. I still need to anchor it with shed ties per the building inspector and put some hurricane ties and last rim
joist before I can call him and have him verify the framing. Then comes the decking. My neighbor, Ray, likes to check on the work and
progress. That's a small town for ya. You can't do anything without the neighbors knowing. :-) The lake was active today with
fisherman, kayaks, and even a jet ski or two. Was a beautiful weekend to be at the lake!
May 25, 2021 - Well, I submitted the deck framing request for inspection today....so waiting to hear back so I
can proceed with decking. A nice long camping weekend should allow me to relax for Memorial Day, then finish this up next week.
Something I forgot to mention, is that with a free-standing deck like this, you want to make sure you use something to tie it
down with to prevent lifting from high winds since I didn't dig and pour footers. Thank God I didn't - there's so much rock,
just trying to sink these Earth Augers down 3 feet was a pain in the butt. I then wrapped the main beems with 1/4" metal
cable tied to the augers and bolted them tight....so that should do the trick. My guess is that you'd really have to have some
really high winds to get this much weight to lift. You can see Charlie's also sitting on the retaining wall here looking at the activity (baby ducks and such.)
She'll feel better on the deck once it's done.
May 26, 2021 - Deck approved. So off to adding the decking - my neighbor Ray must have caught the inspector
while he was there - not sure if that's a good or bad thing. But the inspector approved it none-the-less. Once the decking
is on it may exceed the 30 inch requirement for railing so I may need to increase the grade by adding dirt up to 3 feet out
to comply, but the grass could use a little help back there, so I'm not really concerned with that or put nice shrubbery or
flower beds surrounding it to comply.
May 27, 2021 Working on the decking - looks like my math and making sure everything was square was worth it. I'm a perfectionist - which can be pretty annoying to other people. :-) But I think in the end it looks good. Will probably eventually stain the wood, but you've got to let it adjust to the environment first. So looks like another project is complete. Back to the inside of the house. Some fun facts on the supplies....yes everything got moved by hand....sometimes multiple times!! Screwing the deck boards down took about 3 hours with some help. I like to drill the deck boards so it doesn't start a premature split.
- It took 1,000 pounds of stone for the foundation
- 12 Deck Blocks - total weight was 660 pounds
- 8 - 20 foot 2 x 8's, weight = 624 pounds
- 35 - 20 foot deck boards, weight = 1,260 pounds
- 16 - 16 foot 2 x 8's, weight = 960 pounds
- 2 - 12 foot 4 x 4 posts = 88 pounds
- 1120 deck screws
- 852 nails
- Deck Stars got added in 2022 = lots more screws and wood
May 28, 2021 Not house update related, but interesting...Yesterday evening the National Weather Service issued a minor flood warning. Which they've done dozens of times before since acquiring the house. Usually the warnings are meaningless because the forecast is wrong, or plain just doesn't affect the house or surrounding areas. The North-East winds for a few days start to be the issue for Luna Pier. Anyway, I've uploaded this video because the winds today are about 30-35 knots, which isn't that bad, but that combined with the rain have risen the lake quite a bit (which is ok by me). But notice the sand bar in the video. Compared to my normal pictures and videos....it's almost gone. Which I haven't seen since getting the place. So it's a site to see. Looks like the winds and waves will continue overnight and start to die down tomorrow according to the forecast. They state that the winds will remain 30-35 knots with waves 7-11 feet high with an occasional 15 foot wave or so (of course this is for locations more than 5 nautical miles off shore).
June 16, 2021 So far June has been a bust. All these graduation parties took up a lot of weekends, so
no work or camping was done. Had a huge party for 70 guests to celebrate Sydney's birthday and Graduation, so that
tookup this past weekend, but I finally got started working on the bathroom tile floor today. Got a late start to that too
because I ran down to Chateau Louise to have dinner with Kevin and Lettie. I only got 8 large format (12 x 24) tiles
laid in the field. Going to run up there tonight and see what else I can get done before vacation. If I did it again, I would
use smaller tile, because it looks like I'm going to have to cut a lot of pieces due to the large format tile butting
up against a wall, or having to notch them, etc. Stay tuned. I forgot to take a picture of it, but will do that tonight. Sydney and Bryce were selling
Brownies at the Farmer's Market too and sold out early, so they stopped by and ran around the deck too. :-)
June 29, 2021 I headed down to Cape Coral, Florida for a 10-day vacation. A few days in, I was getting
alerts about sever weather rolling through Northwest Ohio. I figured, I'd jump in the cameras and check things out on the properties.
Something didn't look right in Luna Pier. I hated to call the neighbor, but it looked like a tree fell down and was blocking the street.
I gave my neighbor Ray a call about 10:45 at night (which I hated to do) and he said sure, I'll take a look. (I have the best neighbors!) Anyway, he called
back and said looks like part of the tree fell down and took the power lines down too. He was going to call Consumer's Energy and I
figured I'd call the Fire Department just to make sure they mark the area so nobody touches the downed wires. Here's some pictures of
the damage, some trip pics, etc. It's always something! When I got back I was totally amazed that the power company re-hooked up the power
like that. The bent service mast fix will cost about 50 bucks, but just glad nobody got hurt and it didn't damage any property. My neighbor
cleaned up the entire mess and cut up the logs the fire department left. (Didn't I say I had the best neighbors?!) I called and thanked
Ray and said another part of the tree fell down and blocked the road 2 days later, so his son cut that up too. I told him NOT to move
any of it - he's done enough - and I figured I'd cleanup the rest and get a tree company to take the rest of the tree down.
I got it cleaned up and all the tree debris removed yesterday, and going to head back up tonight to finish the bathroom tile floor installation. The
tree services seem to be backed up too - so the storms must have done some pretty wide area damages. Regarding the trip....my Mom always likes us to
send back Mangoes and Avacados off her fresh fruit trees, they were pretty ripe! Sydney also jumped in the Kayak and rowed herself around the
canal too. A good time was had by all!
July 5, 2021 Finally finished the main bathroom floor, grouted and install the toilet.
The power company just disconnected the power to fix the bent mast the tree damaged. The weather should
be ok to do that other than it's going to be hot on the roof - predicted to be 93 degrees today! It
looks like the same guy as last time from the power company. It's also looks like he's going to
hang the power temporarily in the tree (like last time)....I hate when he does that - this time more so
than any because hopefully I've got a tree guy coming this week to take it down!
July 7, 2021 Reinstalled a new electrical mast last night and got the power turned back on
so I can think about finding the last thing the stupid drywallers covered up. I found my picture and video
of where the smoke detector is, so I just need to route that part of the drywall out. Let that be a
lesson to anyone doing work that might be covered up - take lots and lots of photos!
I spent last night cleaning the garage across the street since the Honda Grom clone came in a shipment
down to Perrysburg and I needed a place to stash it for a bit and work on it. I took the Yamaha TTR-230 and
the TaoTao TBR-7 for a ride since they haven't been ridden for a while, but the rain started, so I packed
them up and put the new Grom in its place so I can work on that and ride it for some non-house related fun.
July 11, 2021 Went camping this weekend - the weather was beautiful, but Sunday
was a washout. So I decided to head over to the house and have some fun putting together the
Honda Grom clone motorcycle. I just cranked some music and got the wrenches out and had some
fun. Didn't take long to put it together. Added a splash of gas and it started right up.
Tonight I'll probably do an oil change. I have to go up check on the progress of the
tree removal. I hate taking down trees, but this one has to go - it's it pretty bad shape.
July 13, 2021 Well yesterday the tree guys showed up and then the rain
started so they couldn't get started cutting down the tree. They came back today and
made pretty quick work of it. I got a quote from another company that called me back
and they wanted almost $2400.00. To which I laughed out loud. What a ridiculous
quote...I'll be they don't get much work! Anyway, looks like these guys wrapped it
up in less than an hour. They are going to come back and chop the main trunk down and
grind up the stump. A before and after picture just looks weird, but once I can get
a new tree planted I'll do so.....looks like the bird feeders might go there now for
the time being. Will go up tonight and do some non-house related work. It's always
funny to see my neighbors show up and interact with the crews too. Small town
folks. You gotta love them! Also, check out the stump grinder. It took all but
5 minutes to do something that a human would take days to do. Amazing!
July 18, 2021 Room painting is underway and dropped off the downstairs bathroom vanity and all the electrical outlets and switches. So I'm going to wire all that stuff up sometime this week.
July 27, 2021 Kitchen and Family Room electrical has been completed. Updates to this page will start to
fall off as things become more standard and non-noteworthly. It's just paint, basic home maintenance, and little things
like that now. Still need to tackle some little projects - trim being one of them. Also things like the upstairs flooring,
bathroom toilet and sink installation, etc, etc. Stuff like that. It's all moving forward, slowly, but surely. I'll post
pictures when appropriate. The sink for the downstairs bathroom needs returned - got the wrong one. Doh!
August 19, 2021 Lost a couple weekends due to camping, hitting the Detroit MGM Casino, having fun here
and there. Got the final electrical permit and inspection today. No issues, so it passed. All rooms painted, couches
moved in, cleaned up the house a bit and installed ceiling fans in each room. Looking like a house now.
January 28, 2022 It's been a while since the last update I posted here and things have been stalled due to other projects
going on and sometimes, I just don't want to work on the house. But things are finally moving along. I received a final
inspection from the mechanical and plumbing inspector. So I can actually shower and cook there with running water, heat
and all the other things you need to live. I've got a couple pictures of the kitchen and bathroom that are missing the
backsplash, upper cabinets, cabinet doors, window trim, etc, etc. The bathroom pic is just one showing the sink and shower location.
Again, that's missing shower trim and mirrors, towel racks, etc. That's just little stuff missing that didn't affect
the outcome of the final inspections. Speaking with the building inspector, I just have to add a railing for the
stairs and I can get out of "permit jail" and get that off my back.
March 28, 2022 Another long time since the last update. Stair Railing, Guardrails, Balusters, etc. have
been completed. That was a lot of work as I literally had to build everything from scratch. The Newel Posts,
the Stair Extensions, Railings, you name it - I made it! Staining, sanding, construction, gluing - it wasn't fun, but turned out nice.
Just took a lot of time. It was pretty dangerous before with no railing on those stairs and you could literally
fall to your death. I'm sure this will save me a fall or two after a late night of drinking! Hah! Also put up
the DirecTV temporarily as I got a little tire of watching CHiPs reruns and they replaced weekend programming with
the Commish and Magnum PI - which I hate both those shows. So I get to mount that on the roof when I get a chance.
Finally a nice day in March...Oh, I forgot, I forgot to mention the old lady next door died sometime
in February and looks like the family is dragging all the garbage out of the place and the garages. So far they've
gone through 3 dumpsters. She was a bit of a hoarder, so they are just pulling crap out of there left and right
and just tossing it. It's going to be a huge Money Pit for whomever fixes it up. It will need a new roof,
windows, etc. So I don't envy them at all. So far they've stalled cleaning it up - it's a lot of work. Just ask me! :-)
April 13, 2022 It's been a long time. A long time! But I finally passed my inspection and had the
City Inspector sign off on the entire house. It took a long time, but everything that was done was well worth the
time, effort and money. It's a safer, modern, and overall great improvement to the house. I'm glad to have done it. There's
a few things left to do that the inspector didn't have a problem with me finishing like a little trim and touch-ups around
the windows and a few things here an there like knobs on the drawers and stuff. (But I'm waiting on a cabinet over the stove to
finish all that.) I take some pictures and post them up when I get a chance. With the weather warming up now, I plan on
spending a lot of days and nights there now.
November 25, 2022Again....it's been a long time. Haven't spent much time at the lake. Spent a little time
in October making sure it was ready for winter, the furnace worked, etc, etc. Just a couple photos of the place at night -
was watching Eraser - I love that movie. :-)
May 28, 2023....Just a little fun timelapse at the lake house before the start of summer in May of 2023.
July 4, 2023 - Spent the weekend at the lake and had Kevin, his wife, Sydney, Mom and Dad, etc and a couple of friends over for a
get together. Cooked ribs, chicken and piles of sides were present. The city-wide garage sales were a little bit of a let down due to the
possibility of rain (which did happen). Luna Pier did cancel fireworks, but Sydney brought some and we set those off. You can see the Lakehouse
page for pics of the event. Charlie (the dog) was watching a Golden Retreiver play in the water - she hates water, so had no fear she'd jump in.
Debating on my next dog breed....or just have Charlie be my last dog and travel the world more. :-) Oh, caught a sheepshead fish,
