On the brighter side

Lest ye think it's all "doom and gloom" at the new house, here are a few developments we're happy with at the new place. (By the way, the new house is also referred to as 5127, the East Farm, Purpalicious, "the other house", and probably a few more things. It is where we plan to actually live — and soon, we hope.)


First, new landscaping. We've been hard at work on this since just about Day 2. While there are many, many more months (nay, years!) of work to do, we're pleased that it's looking cheerier and more like us. (Although with this continued drought and relentless sun, some things are not so happy any longer.)

Second, new windows (Jeld-Wen and Simonton). Big, big panes of glass allow unobstructed views of the outdoors from pretty much every room in the house. We've had big, clear Simonton windows for years in the old house, and very much enjoy looking out of them.

Third, Ed re-purposed the old electric dryer circuit for a whole-house surge protector. Now all of our electronic controls on our microwave, gas range, French-door refrigerator, etc., are protected from power surges coming into the house. Dirty power from Hurricanes Rita and Ike did a number on the last microwave we had.

Fourth, one of the few worthwhile items in the original landscape was this poor, much-neglected fig tree out back behind the garage. We have been faithfully watering it, and it has been faithfully putting on figs. Well, the first figs are finally ripe! We had a few figs over the 4th of July weekend. They are pretty tasty.

Fifth, and this is probably our favorite change of all, Ed hung our Meyda Tiffany pendant light in the breakfast room recently. Roy & I both absolutely love it. It was well worth the hours spent Googling and perusing lighting online, after we had a vague idea of what we wanted (a Tiffany-style up-light pendant in certain colorways). Serendipity? The blue in the pendant goes very nicely with the blue we chose for the kitchen.


There is a sixth major project, however, it is still in progress, so no pictures yet. Hopefully, it will be finished to usability in the next two weeks (there will be additional work later), and we'll post pictures of its time line and talk all about it then.

Breaker 1-9, what's your 10-20?

Ever had something that just didn't make sense and that you couldn't let alone? We have two of those things, both electrical in nature.

Ed, our electrician, has worked his way through most of our electrical panel. He reclaimed the old 30A electric wall oven circuit, the old 30A electric cooktop circuit, and the old 40A A/C circuits and re-purposed them so that we'd have new circuits for the kitchen. He mapped the other circuits to what they controlled, but there was one circuit that he was not able to trace. Circuit 19.

Since the utility room is gutted, Ed tagged the wire for us yesterday after tracing it from the panel, so that we can see where it begins heading north in the attic. We work a lot cheaper than he does, especially on wild goose chases.

We traced that wire this morning into a wall in the kitchen (where we know it services nothing). There was a wire coming back up that wall cavity, so we guessed it was the same wire, continuing its mysterious journey. We found that it led to the formal dining room. We left the attic and headed for that area. Sure enough, 3 lone receptacles in the dining room were without power. That's bizarre, an entire 20A circuit to service 3 seldom-used receptacles...in a seldom-used room!

But, that may mean that we have a circuit available to tap into for exterior receptacles. We need one on the west side of the house (or northwest eave) and that's exactly where that line runs.

Now, to the second puzzle. There is an existing, seemingly original, exterior outlet on the north side of the master bedroom (northeast side of the house). It has wire coming into the receptacle and leaving the receptacle...but no power. Digging around in the attic yielded no clues - no wire seems to be going to it from the attic, which would lead you to believe that it would be connected via the two indoor receptacles on either side of that window, with the wires running through the wall. I've never wanted to cut into a perfectly good wall so much in my life. Not knowing why that receptacle doesn't have power is infuriating!

We have contemplated that maybe it should be wired from the exterior light, so I want to turn off that breaker and pull that lamp off the wall and see whether there is wire leading away from it that is no longer connected. Yes, I'm grasping at straws. The deal is, if we can't find where it should be powered from, we're going to have to install new receptacles someplace else where we can get wire to them without cutting into the interior walls (and keeping it under the window would necessitate cutting into the interior wall).

One mystery down, one yet to go....

Failing score

This week was window week. We were supposed to have all new windows throughout the house today (save for one window that will be replaced when we expand). That was the theory. How'd that work out in reality?

Total windows to be installed this week: 9

Window #1 was mistakenly ordered in tan. TAN. That one didn't even make it into the house.

Window #2 (double-hung aka DH) has its lower lift rail deformed in two places, and had had red coloration (on the white) that the installer had removed before we ever saw it...not sure why he went to the trouble of removing the red, because we sure are not keeping that sash. Also, it has obscured glass in both sashes, only the orientation of the "pebbling" results in the sashes rubbing against the locks when operated, which results in an irritating grinding sound. That ain't right and isn't acceptable. The proposed resolution is to re-make the upper sash in clear glass, which should, in theory, fix the problem.

Window #3 (DH) has no observed defects (yet?).

Windows #4 & #6 are awning windows in the (mostly) gutted utility room and (mostly) remodeled kitchen. Both are nice windows, although the wood sill they installed in the utility room isn't level.

Windows #5 & #7 are big sliders in the breakfast room and a bedroom. They were ordered without the "air latch", a small latch that allows you to open the window for ventilation, but keep it secured against forced entry. We have them in the old house and use them quite often during open-window season (yes, Houston does have a bit of that).

Window #8 (DH) has a similar deformed lift rail issue in the lower sash as #2. The installer conjectured that the damage occurred on a moving truck, being tied to a post, or something. I don't know, but it is not only deformed, but has a roughed up edge, and the lift rail still has some red still on it, as he didn't even notice the damage and attempt to remove the red.

Window #9 (DH) takes the cake, though. It's the hall bath's window and there is a foot-long scratch INSIDE the glass unit (between the two panes of glass). You can see it clear as day as you walk towards it with light shining through it. That window never should have left the factory. Quality control utterly failed there. The scratch is on the inner side of the interior pane. It also has the same "obscured glass rubbing against the hinge" problem as #2.

So, let's see. A total of 16 sashes.
- Two were screw-ups by the order-maker (tan)
- Two more were screw-ups by the order-maker (missing air latches - isn't having a signed contract by both parties wonderful? I'm waiting for him to realize this is HIS problem and not mine - because when I noticed it, I hadn't re-read my contract - yeah, I'm covered, air latches are specified! Woo-hoo!)
- Two are bad manufacturing design, requiring the home-owner to change what they want to get smoothly operable windows
- Two more were damage in transit (from someplace to someplace) most likely
- One had non-existent QC at the factory.

That's 9 problems in 16 sashes. That's not a good score, is it?

But, all of the problems are in the process of getting addressed, and we like our new windows very much.

Oh, and since I was on the phone with them half of the day, I finally remembered to locate our order number for the windows at the old house and get a replacement framed screen ordered. These windows are 13 years old, with a lifetime warranty on certain things, the screens being one of those things. It had gotten broken years ago and we threw it away. Since we're moving out now, we thought we should probably replace that full-size screen finally. And it's completely free, we just have to find a way to go pick it up when it arrives at the distributor. (David, truck, please?)

Going with the flow

You may be wondering what we've been up to. "A lot of different, exhausting things" would be the answer.

But the title of the post pretty much sums up my life (and the new house) lately: going with the flow.

The Jeld-Wen push-out casement windows across the front porch were installed pretty much without incident. We like them very much. So does the cat, who prefers to enter through windows rather than doors, a trick Roy taught her.

To bring you up to date, we've been working every weekend with our "hired hands": Douglas, Andrew, and Will (not all at once, usually 1-2 workers in 2 or 3 sessions). We've tackled yard work and more yard work, and more and more and more digging out of tree roots to expose them for whacking on. Ever tried to kill an elm tree by cutting it down and grinding out its stump below the surface of the soil so you can't even tell there was a tree there? Well, that just makes it that much more determined to live, so it sends up scads of suckers all over the place, and in a ring around the buried deep stump remains. Same with crape myrtles. And we had lots of both. And we've been painting stuff inside.

But, back to the subject matter. We were rolling merrily along on Memorial Day when Roy & Andrew started to take down the cabinets in the utility room (the ones covering up the window and routing the dryer vent out said window)...and there was nasty mold on the wall and ceiling behind two of the cabinets. Yeah, I said MOLD. Andrew went home at the end of his shift, Roy & I went home and had lunch, stunned, then we returned and cut out a stud cavity so we'd have a better idea of what we were looking at. Turns out it would be more mold of many hues, on the front and back of the interior sheetrock, exterior sheetrock, studs, insulation, etc. That was beyond our abilities to clean up properly, so we called in a mold assessment consultant for a remediation plan.

Why did we have a room full of mold you ask? Well, as it turns out, the vent stack for the washing machine was installed completely bass-ackwards, with the flange of the vent above the shingles in the valley, so that when it rained, the water just poured into the wall cavity. Oh, and the stack had no "leading" either, but that was a secondary issue.

The good news is, the mold situation has just been cleaned up and we received our remediation certificate last night.

That one roof issue led to us calling in a roofer to inspect the entire roof. We'll suffice it to say that $875 later, all of the leading on the vent stacks has been replaced (the squirrels had chewed through all of them!), the central heater has a correct vent that won't be pumping noxious CO into our attic all winter, and I forget what else.

The good news is, our shingles are in good shape.

So, what else...oh, yes, on June 14, we were supposed to get our new countertops. On June 13 at 3pm, I called to confirm they were coming and they were. At 5pm, I received a frantic phone call from the company...there had been an accident. The forklift operator had backed into the rack containing our countertops. I just started laughing, which confused the poor lady. What else was I going to do? I was still in shock from the mold and trying to deal with that.

Then, last Friday, when I was meeting with the mold consultant for the follow-up air sample testing, our Simonton windows were delivered to the house, with the owner of the company we bought them from on site to receive them...and he asks, "so, would you like a tan window for your front bedroom?"...yes, 8 of the 9 windows were appropriately white, like we'd ordered, but the last one we'd changed the design of, had defaulted to tan, and he hadn't caught it. So, no new front bedroom window for now.

And that brings us up to June 29, when the first of the Simonton windows will be installed. We can't wait!

Windows and opportunities

It took a little over a month, but we managed to get all of the locks changed on the house - finally, we have a single key to open all 7 locks. We went with Schlage locks and handlesets because that is what was installed already. One of the newest (and coolest) inventions in the world of locks is the ability to re-key a lock yourself in about 30 seconds. For Schlage, this technology is called SecureKey. Baldwin and KwikSet offer similar technology under different names.

We finally have solutions for replacing all of the windows. We started with Allied Siding & Windows for the replacement window project (all the windows in the house except for the one that will be going away with the addition will be replaced this summer). Allied sells and installs a lot of Simonton windows, which is the brand we have on 5206 and absolutely love. Rob, our salesguy, was a little harried with all of the myriad home show sales calls (we weren't a home show call).

I was able to work with Simonton to figure out a window type for above the sink (awning, it turns out), but we failed to be able to spec any suitable window for the 3 full-height windows across the front porch (or from the inside, the "Music Hall"). All of the rough openings are just a little too wide to do casements, and other types couldn't be configured to give us the combination of view and ventilation we wanted - I'd brainstormed idea after idea with Simonton (the actual company, not just our salesguy) and we ultimately determined that the look and operability that we desired in those openings simply could not be achieved with Simonton, which was really too bad.

We had, when walking around the neighborhood, noticed some unique windows that we thought were very cool, so we asked the owner about them. It turned out they were Magic Windows she'd had installed a decade ago. A little hunting around found the only vendor in the area selling them these days. We set up an appointment with the sales guy.

Jonathan was the epitome of why people hate sales people. He was a fast-talking, competition-bashing, lying-out-the-you-know-what, waste of our time. It turns out that Magic Windows are very pricey, and we're not even sure that they could really build the size we need!

Even if the windows had been reasonably priced, we would not have wanted to use him. He recently moved to Houston, about 4 months ago, from California. In California (unlike in Texas), contractors must be licensed and state who holds what position in the companies, so a little online research yielded some interesting (and not favorable) things. We wish that Texas would institute something similar.

A week after the disastrous meeting with Jonathan, we met with a very nice gentleman, Michael, owner of Meyerland Windows. He worked with us for several days over the phone and via e-mail to spec Jeld-Wen custom wood windows for those 3 windows. However, we wanted technical information that Michael couldn't provide, so he suggested I call Jeld-Wen.

When I asked those technical questions of Jeld-Wen's 800 number and they couldn't answer them, Jeld-Wen directed me to their manufacturing plant for that window line, where I spoke with Bridget. I explained our problems and what we were trying to achieve and asked what would she suggest. Turns out they have a push-out casement window that should work beautifully in those spaces!!

Meanwhile, our Allied rep was frustrating us, failing to answer questions about the differences between two lines of Simonton windows, and then he never got back to me with the bid with the options we desired and simply "disappeared". So we went to Michael on Friday and asked him to bid the Simonton windows. As promised, Michael was out at noon on Saturday to measure the windows and make sure he understood what we wanted where. Michael has been very attentive and is an all-around pleasant guy to deal with.

That brings the blog up-to-date on the window situation.

As to Douglas working with us on Saturday - wow. That boy is going to keep us hopping! His main reference was not joking when she said he does not like to do nothing. He was always asking "what's next?" He's a very good, hard worker. We should be churning through some of the back-log of yard projects as well as the house projects when it gets too hot to work outside.

We may hire a rising junior at Rice as well, who is primarily interested in the gardening portion of the work. There's a lot of that to be done, too, and we can teach her quite a bit about organic gardening (which is her main interest in our job) along the way.

We also had a call from one of Douglas' classmates (unbeknownst to him), though that candidate failed to leave a call-back number (and we don't have callerID). We asked Douglas to let the guy know we can't contact him. So we might hire another high school-aged boy to help us on some weekends.

Converting Two Yards

Saturday promises to be a brave new day.

I have contracted with a landscaping company to come out and aerate the yards of both houses and apply gypsum and Turface to both. We've already applied Microlife fertilizer to 5206, but they will apply it to 5127 for us. I have spent days this week trying to get both yards watered enough that they can be aerated!

But the brave and new part comes in the form of a very enthusiastic young man by the name of Douglas. I finally got around to running a "Help Wanted" ad in the Rice Thresher, which ran last Friday. We got up Tuesday morning to an e-mail inquiry from Douglas, identifying himself as a "hard-working high school student". We were looking for college kids who needed a part-time summer job, and got a high schooler. Hmm. We were dubious.

We corresponded via e-mail this week and he sent me his references, both of whom spoke very highly of him, his skills, and his work ethic. His mom confirmed this evening via e-mail that they are aware of, and support him in, this endeavor and will be driving him back and forth. He's not yet 16.

To make matters more interesting (or complicated), we came home from the new house to the old house to find the "Westbury Yard of the Month" sign in our old house's front yard! To say that the garden is in need of tidying would be like asking if teenaged boys are hungry! So...it's possible we'll be working on the old house's yard before we work on the new house's yard (which is what had been planned)!

We have more exciting news on several fronts, but all of that will have to wait for another day. I see that I've been very derelict in my posting - it's not for lack of action, but lack of time! There are several posts that I started and never got finished, so they'll follow when I get a chance.

Rug rats

Ten Thousand Villages has a traveling rug (no, not flying carpets) event. This weekend is the yearly event for the Houston area. For those who might not know, Ten Thousand Villages supports fair trade crafts from around the world. The Houston store in The Rice Village (on Rice Blvd, west of the British Isles store) will have the rugs through Monday, March 28 (open 10-6). They are also open 12-6 on Sunday.

We had never been to the rug event before, but straggled by there on Saturday between community garden and errands when we realized it was this weekend (so, yes, we were very stylish with our hat hair; sweaty, dirty clothes; and starvation). The folks traveling from Pennsylvania with the rugs were very gracious and gave us a mini-lesson about rugs and proceeded to show us the stack of rugs in the 4.5 ft x 7 ft range, which they said is the most versatile size.

Roy liked one of the rugs, and I liked the last rug in the stack, so they removed those two from the stack so that we could see the entire rug. We were admiring them and discussing the relative merits of each, when one of the Houston TTV volunteers asked if we knew about the rug check-out program. No, we did not. It turns out that you can check out rugs and take them home to see how they look in your own home! (After leaving credit card on file, of course.)

We decided to take both of those rugs, each 800 knots per square inch, as well as a slightly smaller rug, 4 ft x 6 ft, with 500 knots per square inch, home to the new house to see how they looked.

As it turns out, both of the larger rugs go smashingly with both the oak floors in the Music Hall (formerly known as the combined living/dining room) and the tile floor in the Dining Room/Den (formerly known as the den). So we'd be able to use both rugs in the Music Hall if we wanted to, or move one or the other of them to the Dining Room.

The smaller rug is indeed a great size for a bedroom (at the foot of the bed), but we're not really in the market yet for such an accessory. Also, while I really liked the design of that rug, Roy was less enthused. It's interesting what grabs each of us and what repels each of us. :)

Later in the evening, after dark, we perused the online inventory of rugs. You can, too. We are looking pretty much only at the Pak-Persians, in either the 500-knot count (16/16) or the 800-knot count (20/20). Online, we found some of the square rugs and the circular rugs just incredible.

Our salesman, Will, explained how to care for these rugs - pretty much just vacuum them (not the fringe, of course) and then every 3 years or so if they are dirty, take them out to the driveway and hose them down! The rugs are primarily wool, though some have some silk threads in them (and those are more expensive, but gorgeous). The dyes are colorfast, and the rugs have already been washed and scrubbed in Pakistan, prior to being shipped to the US. Ernie, the manager of the PA store, was at the Houston store, and he shared how he has routinely taken a Hoover Steam Vac to his rugs as he has a 10-lb, 12-yr-old dog who either has accidents or expresses his displeasure on the rugs in his home on an on-going basis.

The rugs' life expectancy varies with the type of rug (which is defined by several factors, I believe the 3 notable ones are the rug's base material, the knot-count, and possibly whether the yarns are machine-woven or hand-spun). The Persians we are looking at should last about 120 years. In other words, we'll want to put them in our wills!