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just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
The City
Welcome to beautiful Prince Rupert, British Columbia.




It's a port city of around 13,000 about as far up the B.C. coast as you can go before you're into Alaska.



It's a fairly young city, having only been incorporated in 1910. Among it's major draws were a very deep, ice free and protected harbour. The 1907 city plan was ambitious and optimistic, with a solid grid plan broken up by leisurely boulevards.


The then-president of the Grand Trunk Railway had grand plans for Rupert. He claimed it would one day rival Vancouver. He died on the Titanic, and with him the dream of Rupert becoming more than a boom-bust resource town.


A pulp mill and the salmon canneries were once the lifeblood of Rupert, and the population peaked near 17,000 in the early 1990s. Then the fishery collapsed and the pulp mill closed. The economy has relied largely on the port and its associated businesses ever since. On the bright side, the economy has been growing again in fits and starts. An attempt to bring a liquefied natural gas pipeline and terminus to the city was divisive, both in Rupert proper and in the nearby First Nations communities, but that seems to be kaput. On the other hand, cruise ship traffic is increasing, and there is some new industrial growth as well, such as the installation of a propane export facility. Rock bottom is hopefully behind us.

Prince Rupert is a rainy city. It's Canada's rainiest city. We get 2,590 millimetres/102 in of precipitation a year, almost all of it as rain, and precious little sunlight. When we do get a sunny day it's absolutely gorgeous, but on average it looks closer to this:


Rupert is also built on the un-ceded territory of the Tsimshian people.





"Tsimshian" is sort of an umbrella term for seven separate tribes that inhabit the northwest coast around Rupert. The area's been inhabited for at least 10,000 years, and some of the earliest archaeological evidence of migration into Canada can be found (relatively) nearby in Haida Gwaii. There's also been some interesting genetic work done with Tsimshian volunteers. The culture is strong here, and you can't understand Prince Rupert if you don't appreciate its relationship with Tsimshian culture, but Rupert isn't exceptional when it comes to Canada's settler history. There's a weird racial thing going on in this town that wasn't very obvious when we first moved here, but which I'm growing more attuned to.

The House
So that's Prince Rupert. This is the house:


Built in 1920 and in desperate need of a makeover, this house nevertheless has some pretty important features for us:
1. For this city, it's on a big lot. 75x100 feet on our title, plus the house beside us is a fire-gutted teardown waiting to happen, and I'm pretty confident nobody will rebuild there. That means privacy, which was important for myself but especially for my wife, who grew up in the country and for whom moving to Rupert was a major compromise.
2. It's on a dead-end street.
3. It's up a hill rather than at the bottom of one.
4. It's got "character."
5. It was a very good price.
6. The home inspection was very positive (but more on that later).

The house wasn't completely neglected, and in fact had some major work done to it over the years. The attic was turned into a second floor, an apartment was added to the basement, (most of) the electrical was changed over from knob & tube, etc. The water heaters need replaced sooner rather than later, but the furnace is good and we have newer fuse boxes. The roof should last us another ten years or so and the foundation is apparently solid. The house is musty and needs TLC but we're cautiously optimistic that there are no unforeseen time bombs ticking away.

It's just so... Bland.



And when it's ugly, it's consistently and effortfully ugly.




"Beige walls with brown trim in a town that already has issues with natural light" ugly, made worse by the hints of what the house used to look like: an old window moulding that would stain beautifully if its neighbours weren't already thick with paint; a hardwood floor beneath ratty old carpet that's now too far gone to refinish.

So join us as we try to breathe life back into this stale old house. It'll never be beautiful, but with enough sweat and patience, it just might be nice.

just another fucked around with this message at 19:58 on Jun 10, 2018

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just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
Week 1
We took possession June 1st but we haven't moved in yet. We're doing as much as we can before the furniture gets in the way.

Priority #1 was tearing out the old carpet on the main floor. We were hoping there would be hardwood underneath, and there is, but we don't have the time to stain it and it seems to be in very rough shape regardless. My wife wants to keep as many of the original features of the house as we can, so we are thinking of painting the floor rather than laminate or new hardwood.



Tearing up the floor left behind spots of congealed underlayment. I don't know if it was haphazardly glued down or if it's the result of the underlayment decomposing, but it all needs scraped up.



Here you can see the remains of a wall that divided the current living room into separate living and dining rooms. Before the attic was converted, the kitchen wall was further back. It was moved forward to accommodate the stairs, and the living room/dining room wall was removed altogether. It makes for an awkward space, though, because the current room really isn't big enough to serve both functions.



And here's one of those old features I really like about the house. I love this door:



I'm curious where in the house it was originally, though, because it opens to one of the house's downstairs bedrooms. Not so great for privacy.

We tore up the carpet in this room as well, and it revealed a neat, painted border:



This room will eventually become our new dining room, but that will require some minor framing and drywall work first.

Elsewhere, we're priming the kitchen and hallway. It's already made the place seem bigger and brighter.

just another fucked around with this message at 01:46 on Jun 11, 2018

cakesmith handyman
Jul 22, 2007

Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

I think the previous owner left a baby, you can just see it in one of those pictures.

Looking forward to seeing what you do with this, best of luck.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

just another posted:

And here's one of those old features I really like about the house. I love this door:



I'm curious where in the house it was originally, though, because it opens to one of the house's downstairs bedrooms. Not so great for privacy.

I live in a Craftsman quadplex apartment (have not yet moved into our house) and our unit has two of these doors - one is for the hallway to divide public space (living room/dining room) from private space (hall, bedrooms, bathrooms) and the other is the front door at the base of the stairwell (we are in a second floor unit and have a second front door at the top of the stairs, which is not a glass door).

Basically, I think they are for designating/defining spaces but not for adding privacy or closing them off from each other, so to speak. I'm thinking it might have been for a hallway or something. From the looks of your pics, the layout of the house might have gotten shuffled around.

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
That makes sense. Looking at the original floor plan, I bet it was the door between the living room and dining room.

I'm also starting to think there was at least one other major remodel on the main floor besides the one that involved adding the stairs and finishing the attic.

City Hall still has a hand drafted copy of the original floor plan and they were nice enough to make me some free photocopies. I'll see if I can scan one for the thread.

just another fucked around with this message at 04:33 on Jun 12, 2018

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
Scanned the original floorplan:



Turned out pretty well. I left the original at City Hall since I figure they have a better chance of not destroying it than I do.

Here is (roughly) what the main floor floorplan is now in comparison:


You can see how the wall between the living room & dining room were removed and the kitchen wall was moved forward to fit the stairs. Some stranger changes, though. The front door was repositioned and the configuration of the side windows was changed.

It's not clear how much of the 1920 floor plan was built as-designed and how much of the little peculiarities were a result of the attic reno. I don't remember if the City Hall file had much in in pre-1980 except the floor plan. I might take another look at it.

e.
Here's what I want to get it to in a year or two:


Put in a proper passageway between the kitchen & living room, open the closet between the hall and the now-dining room, and wall off the doorway between the dining room & bathroom.

just another fucked around with this message at 22:55 on Jun 14, 2018

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Oh cool, plans! Super jealous - still need to find the plans for my house...

Anyhow, I bet you that the glass door originally went between the living room and dining room.

What's interesting about the original floor plan is the complete lack of hallways. But that was apparently a Craftsman era thing to maximize room size. And was the attic originally only accessible via pull-down staircase/ladder thingy?

You're right about some of the renovations being kind of strange. What I don't get is the window configuration change - so they took out one of the sets of windows AND moved the other one? Why not just keep both? Maybe it was a 70s energy thing plus centering the remaining window? :iiam:

As for your new plan, I think the only flaw with it is that the dining room is too far from the kitchen. But how much of an issue that is depends on how often/seriously you entertain. We're really into hosting dinner parties, so formal dining room with the kitchen right next to it was a must for us.

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
Now that we're done painting and I've had time to poke around a bit more, I realize there's a bigger gap between the hallway and closet than I initially thought. They may have added some support beam or something there when they put in the upstairs, but I won't know til I open it up. That (future) hallway is what makes me content with the bedroom becoming a dining room, though -- without it then it's definitely too far from the kitchen.

Ideally the dining room would be roughly where it used to be, then I could open up the bedroom wall and have a larger living room at the front. The window gets in the way of putting up a wall between the living and dining room, though, and I hate open concept living spaces so I don't want one cavernous downstairs.

Your house is gorgeous btw. It's the house we want in another life.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

just another posted:

Ideally the dining room would be roughly where it used to be, then I could open up the bedroom wall and have a larger living room at the front. The window gets in the way of putting up a wall between the living and dining room, though, and I hate open concept living spaces so I don't want one cavernous downstairs.

I, too, hate open concept living spaces so an old fashioned main floor layout was a must for us. I did note the lovely door between your kitchen and living room and approve. (I need to replace the missing door between the kitchen and dining room in my place - previous owner took it off).

If you want to put the dining room in its original position but not want to have a huge cavernous space, take a look at adding a colonnade room divider. On my phone so I can't easily post examples, but do an image search for Craftsman colonnade room dividers - it'll define and divide your living room/dining room without having to build up a wall again. The units in my apartment building have huge long living/dining rooms but with the colonnades breaking up the space and it works super well. And then you could have a cool swinging door for your kitchen. They own and are so handy for moving between the kitchen and dining room while carrying a bunch of food/dishes. I think they kinda fell out of favor with the rise of eat-in kitchens and then open concept layouts.



quote:

Your house is gorgeous btw. It's the house we want in another life.

Aww shucks thanks! So far it's cleaning up very nicely, but holy hell it's going to be so much work. Good luck with your Craftsman!

Applesnots
Oct 22, 2010

MERRY YOBMAS

I had good luck painting hardwood floors with epoxy paint. Held up for a good decade before it chipped a little and that was mostly from a 100lb dog running in circles on it.

legendof
Oct 27, 2014

Thanks for posting! I look forward to your future updates, the house looks like it could turn into something really beautiful.

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
Week 2-ish
This week was all about painting the kitchen, and getting the house tidied up and moved-in. Both went off pretty much without a hitch. Now that our things are piling up in here, it's starting to feel more like a home and less like a locus of reno angst.

Our kitchen is now a robin egg blue with a hint of green, with white trim:


Just out of frame is my wife cursing at the shelf liners she was adding to the cupboards.

The colour doesn't show up well in these pictures because I don't know how to light a shot. It's this colour here: https://www.sherwin-williams.com/ho...ingColors&p=PS0

Never in a million years did I think I'd go for that sort of colour on our walls, let alone in the kitchen, but we wanted something period-appropriate and we didn't want anything resembling the beige we painted over. There's a solid chance we've replaced one ugly colour scheme with another (from a buyer's PoV) but whatever, I like it. We can slap up a coat of white if we ever sell the place.

Next steps: decide if we're putting in drywall for the ceiling or try to make the exposed rafters look pretty. My wife likes the idea of exposed rafters but the baby's room is immediately above the kitchen and I took for granted how much drywall muffled noise. Beadboard backsplash for the counter tops. Replace the windows. In a few years, new cabinets and floor.

Next, I cleaned out the crawlspace:


Among the junk were two ancient sinks, all the leftover decking supplies, a very heavy garbage bag of dubious contents, old insulation and insulation that has fallen off the crawl space ceiling, and some sort of barrel on wheels.

After pulling out all the garbage from the crawl space, I was able to get a better look around inside. There's a drainage issue in the southwest corner of the crawl space, with the water originating from here:


I'm thinking of putting in a french drain to deal with it. I don't know if it's environmental or from a leaking pipe, though. We pay a flat fee for water usage so we can't compare consumption against a meter. If it is environmental, then that's entirely from a leaky fire hose running up our property line for some construction work, and it is going to be a mud pit after a heavy rain.

Also, our lawn is out of control:

(that blue house is a fire-gutted grow op. we're hoping they tear it down and sell it cheap (to us))






It hadn't been cut in some months before we took possession. Probably even longer than that. The previous owner lives 8 hours away and was hands-off, and I don't think the previous tenants did much in the way of upkeep. Cow parsnip is everywhere and it's going to make clearing the brush a thousand times harder. I don't know how much I'll be able to get done before we leave for the summer but I already hate being That Guy with the unkept yard.

In those last two pictures you can also see the shambles of a retaining wall and support beam for the northwest corner of our front porch, which has a noticeable sag. Add another job to the list.

What you can't see in those pictures is the terracing down the lot, or the little cliff face beside the house. It'll be amazing when it's finished but holy hell will it be hard work.

Anyway, here's an unrelated scenery shot from Metlakatla, just off the coast:


It's a beautiful part of the world.

just another fucked around with this message at 05:51 on Jun 20, 2018

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


just another posted:

The City
Welcome to beautiful Prince Rupert, British Columbia.

This was really interesting.

just another posted:

.. pictures of a cave pretending to be a house ..

Holy hell yes more light please.

Queen Victorian posted:

As for your new plan, I think the only flaw with it is that the dining room is too far from the kitchen.

:agreed:

just another posted:

Ideally the dining room would be roughly where it used to be, then I could open up the bedroom wall and have a larger living room at the front.

:agreed:

just another posted:

The window gets in the way of putting up a wall between the living and dining room, though, and I hate open concept living spaces so I don't want one cavernous downstairs.

I see.

Queen Victorian posted:

If you want to put the dining room in its original position but not want to have a huge cavernous space, take a look at adding a colonnade room divider.

I was thinking 3/4 width nib wall but yeah :agreed:

just another posted:

an old window moulding that would stain beautifully if its neighbours weren't already thick with paint; a hardwood floor beneath ratty old carpet that's now too far gone to refinish.

I'm wondering about this one. What do you think makes these unrecoverable? Each situation is its own of course, but if you're talking about original solid wood then they can accept quite a lot of sanding to get rid of gunk you don't want.

just another posted:

Next steps: decide if we're putting in drywall for the ceiling or try to make the exposed rafters look pretty. My wife likes the idea of exposed rafters but the baby's room is immediately above the kitchen and I took for granted how much drywall muffled noise.

I'm not being pedantic here but do you mean joists? And you're talking about potentially taking out the ceiling but leaving the floor above on top of them, and tidying up the joists? It's very possible if you've got nice wood in there, but you're right about the noise, I've lived in places with that (temporary) set up and the floor might as well not be there. Depending on the depth you have you could potentially fit some natural-looking sound dampening between the joists up against the floor above.

Have you also thought about fire safety? I know the makeup of US drywall is a bit different to UK plasterboard but here they're an absolute must for providing fire barriers between the floors. If you had a fire in your kitchen it's going to burn into your baby's room a lot faster than I would personally be comfortable with, unless you want to paint it with intumescent paint. You'd also lose a lot of smoke protection if you've got floorboards with gaps.

Queen Victorian
Feb 21, 2018

Jaded Burnout posted:

I was thinking 3/4 width nib wall but yeah :agreed:

Looks like a nib wall is similar in concept to a wall extension? Craftsman houses had a variety of styles of room dividers - some all columns (like in my apartment), some quarter or half height wall extensions with columns, or just wall extensions with decorative casing or something.

You'll have to put the windows back in their original positions though, which would mean replicating the casings for the new set of windows.

quote:

I'm wondering about this one. What do you think makes these unrecoverable? Each situation is its own of course, but if you're talking about original solid wood then they can accept quite a lot of sanding to get rid of gunk you don't want.

In the coming days I'll be posting about the floors in the attic, which were covered by about six layers of paint and a few layers of filth. The after pics are kind of mind-blowing. Don't ever write off woodwork because it looks like it has too much paint on it. Get a heat gun and some chemical paint stripper and you'll have your window casings down to wood soon enough. My next tool purchase will be a heat gun along with some paint stripper for all the fancy woodwork that previous owners painted.

quote:

I'm not being pedantic here but do you mean joists? And you're talking about potentially taking out the ceiling but leaving the floor above on top of them, and tidying up the joists? It's very possible if you've got nice wood in there, but you're right about the noise, I've lived in places with that (temporary) set up and the floor might as well not be there. Depending on the depth you have you could potentially fit some natural-looking sound dampening between the joists up against the floor above.

Have you also thought about fire safety? I know the makeup of US drywall is a bit different to UK plasterboard but here they're an absolute must for providing fire barriers between the floors. If you had a fire in your kitchen it's going to burn into your baby's room a lot faster than I would personally be comfortable with, unless you want to paint it with intumescent paint. You'd also lose a lot of smoke protection if you've got floorboards with gaps.

Another thing to consider would be cleanliness - cooking in the kitchen gets a coating of grease on everything eventually, and exposed joists mean more surfaces for it to get on. They could also hold onto smells more.

I'd also be concerned that if you don't absolutely nail a deliberate rustic-exposed-wood design where the joists are all polished up and the aesthetic totally jives, then it's just going to look unfinished.

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


Queen Victorian posted:

Looks like a nib wall is similar in concept to a wall extension? Craftsman houses had a variety of styles of room dividers - some all columns (like in my apartment), some quarter or half height wall extensions with columns, or just wall extensions with decorative casing or something.

You'll have to put the windows back in their original positions though, which would mean replicating the casings for the new set of windows.

I was thinking more like a full-height wall which goes perpendicular from the solid wall over towards the window but doesn't quite reach it, allowing you to walk past and not move the windows.

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
I meant joists, yeah. I think those concerns are all valid. The other problem is just labor and priority. Making the exposed joists look good would be a ton of work for something purely cosmetic, and there's so much else that needs done in the house. But I don't want to leave them as-is either, it makes the kitchen seem unfinished. We'll see. I'm leaning towards drywalling it.

Jaded Burnout posted:

I'm wondering about this one. What do you think makes these unrecoverable? Each situation is its own of course, but if you're talking about original solid wood then they can accept quite a lot of sanding to get rid of gunk you don't want.

I may be jumping the gun on this one. The floors just look so deeply stained, and they feel thin as it is. They may be salvageable, though.

Unfortunately, there are no sanders available for rent here so I'd either be hand-sanding the entire floor or hiring a contractor.

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
Not much of an update for this past week. End of the school year, end of an online course, plus cleaning the old house & organizing the new house = not much time to do anything significant.

A contractor with foundation experience came around to double check the piers & beams (after the home inspector gave it a pass) and basically said the same thing the inspector did. It looks solid, the piers go down to the bedrock, a concrete beam is a good touch, sills look okay, etc. He recommended throwing lime down over everything to manage the smell and then putting down a vapor barrier over top of it, but said it'd be safe to dig out some of the dirt in there if I wanted to break my back doing so.

I think I might. If I dig out the giant hump of dirt that's under the house, it'll be easier to lay a good vapor barrier, and I want to get a french drain down in the south-east corner of the crawl space before vapor barrier-ing, regardless. The water entering the crawlspace is coming in between the bedrock and the slab, and there's nothing I can really do to stop it right now. Instead, I'll have to manage it and get the water out of there as quick as I can.

While poking around the basement, he also reminded me our water heaters are nearing the end of their lives. If any of y'all have a recommendation on water heater purchasing, or any experience with the Rheem Marathon specifically, let me know.

For the floors, the only area he flagged as a potential problem was the over-spanned kitchen, to which he said to sister the joists and to add blocking. For the rest, it's most likely a matter of age and the wood (cedar), and it's fixable but at a high cost. In short, it would be purely cosmetic, and there's better things to spend the money on. I'm fine with that, then. It's just that I've watched too much Holmes on Holmes and my #1 fear is pissing away money on cosmetic renovations that are undone because I ignored a more serious structural issue.

This coming week, my extendable pruner and trimmer should be coming in and so I can tame a bit of the yard before we go away for the summer.

We also found a Salmon Berry bush near the house last night, which was a nice surprise:


In the Fall, we'll take some cuttings and transplant them to the backyard and see if we can't get a proper patch growing.

cakesmith handyman
Jul 22, 2007

Pip-Pip old chap! Last one in is a rotten egg what what.

just another posted:

We also found a Salmon Berry bush near the house last night, which was a nice surprise:


In the Fall, we'll take some cuttings and transplant them to the backyard and see if we can't get a proper patch growing.

Neat, what do they taste like?

Jaded Burnout
Jul 10, 2004


just another posted:

While poking around the basement, he also reminded me our water heaters are nearing the end of their lives. If any of y'all have a recommendation on water heater purchasing, or any experience with the Rheem Marathon specifically, let me know.

Are Worcester boilers a thing in the US? They're the dog's over here.

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now

cakesmith handyman posted:

Neat, what do they taste like?
I'm still new to them as well, but the texture is something like halfway between a raspberry and a blackberry, and the flavor is like a more tangy but less flavorful blackberry. Much more watery. They're very nice, actually.

Liquid Communism
Mar 9, 2004

коммунизм хранится в яичках

Jaded Burnout posted:

Are Worcester boilers a thing in the US? They're the dog's over here.

They trade as Bosch in the US, I believe.

beep-beep car is go
Apr 11, 2005

I can just eyeball this, right?



just another posted:

I'm still new to them as well, but the texture is something like halfway between a raspberry and a blackberry, and the flavor is like a more tangy but less flavorful blackberry. Much more watery. They're very nice, actually.

I’ve heard them unkindly described as “a cross between a raspberry and a tomato “

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
:siren: ASBESTOS :siren:

Apparently it's in the plaster. The building inspector said it was a possibility but I was hoping we were going to get a break on that one, partly because asbestos in plaster was less common, and partly because I would have preferred to spend that money on other house things. Oh well. Abatement guy is coming around tonight or tomorrow to give a quote for removal. We would have left it be except one of the rooms that tested positive is a room we want to do work on.

On the plus side, as far as I can tell, the only parts of the house that still have plaster are those areas that weren't affected by the upstairs remodel (i.e. the downstairs less the kitchen and most of the hall). Hoping it comes in under $5,000.

On the other hand, one room that tested positive has a small area with cracked plaster so we're all already dead from mesothelioma anyway. RIP us.

In happier news, my pruner and trimmer came in on Tuesday so I was able to start doing yard work. It's amazing how much more sunlight the house gets with the trees trimmed back even a little.

e.
re: boilertalk, I don't think we have Bosch available here. We have Giant, GSW, SpaceSaver, etc.

just another fucked around with this message at 18:12 on Jun 28, 2018

fist4jesus
Nov 24, 2002

just another posted:

:siren: ASBESTOS :siren:

Apparently it's in the plaster.

Turn that frown upside down. Its FREE fireproofing!

just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
Mini Update
Things got very chaotic towards the end of June. Then we had to leave to visit family for the summer. So, work is halted for now.

I'll be able to post some pictures later of the work I've been able to do on the yard. Cow parsnip sucks, but the yard is opening up nicely, and there are some really nice features buried under the overgrowth that I can't wait to polish up. One side of our yard has a rocky outcropping and there's terracing all through it. Drainage in the southern section is going to be a challenge but there's a nice 25' buffer of pretty much unusable municipal land around our lots and so I'm hoping I can reroute the water towards there.

Asbestos abatement guy quoted $4000.00 to remove the plaster in the pantry, laundry room, and the roof and a wall of the dining room. Living room we'll leave in-place for now as any changes to that room are a way's away. If nothing goes wrong with the abatement then, when we get back, all the work will be focused on drywalling and restoring those rooms, and then gutting the bathroom and making it pretty.

Rime
Nov 2, 2011

by Games Forum
I really hope you retain that :krad: tire on a cable, that's the kind of semi-lethal fun that kids just don't find anymore.

Hows the employment situation doing up there? I want out of Vancouver exceedingly and the cost/wages ratio in Bella Coola or anywhere not-Rupert is soul crushing.

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just another
Oct 16, 2009

these dead towns that make the maps wrong now
Haven't updated in a while. Things have been crazy busy since we got back and I just haven't been online very much.

The abatement seemed to go okay. I have some concerns but if I dwell on them I'll go crazy. The contractor has been a regular ol' Forgetful Jones about sending me a photocopy of the lab report so there's a possibility I was scammed, although I don't think so based on the guy's reputation. I want to know more details about the asbestos concentrations, though, because it will impact what else we do to the house, and when. I'm seriously considering just doing the living room myself when the time comes, but not if the lab results were crazy high.

Disclaimer: I know doing the abatement yourself is A Bad Idea, but after looking over the place when we got back, I'm pretty sure I mostly paid for the hassle, and to have someone else to blame when we all die of lung cancer. I could have bought the gear and done as good a job myself, for less money. And I say that without any "I exclusively watch DIY Network and HGTV" cockiness.

Oh well, you get what you get when it comes to contractors in a place like Rupert.

So, this is where we're at now:

Hallway now opened:

The wall that has been removed and you can now walk from the kitchen to the dining room/whatever it ends up becoming. It's also much brighter in the house, now, which is nice.

Pantry room:

... with gaping hole for the basement stairs that I hope to cover with a trap door.

Laundry room:


I was expecting the worst behind the plaster but the wood is in shockingly good condition. Seems like the whole house is strapped in wood planks instead of plywood. I don't know if that's good or not. There is also only tar paper between the planks and the cedar shakes. Again, don't know if that's good or not, but the planks all look dry and solid. The house is curiously not-drafty despite obvious wear and weathering issues at the window frames. Just about the biggest problem we've had so far (that wasn't immediately obvious before we moved in) has been the humidity level in the house. However, given the environment in which we're living, and given that I didn't get a vapour barrier into the crawlspace until this weekend, I don't think it's that surprising.

Next up on the to-do list:
1. Insulate the exposed walls. I never did ask the contractor if there was insulation behind the plaster, but I think not.
2. Nail in 1x4 boards into the pantry. They were a hell of a lot cheaper than wood panels, they look great, and they'll be super sturdy for pantry shelving. I am concerned about boarding the ceiling, however, what with the light being there, so I may still use drywall there.
3. Frame in a new wall in the laundry room so that we can take a foot from it, and add that to the adjacent bathroom. It's not a load bearing wall and I'm reasonably confident it won't be a huge disaster.

If any of those three things are godawful ideas, let me know. I don't intend to become another DIY horror story.

Rime posted:

I really hope you retain that :krad: tire on a cable, that's the kind of semi-lethal fun that kids just don't find anymore.

Hows the employment situation doing up there? I want out of Vancouver exceedingly and the cost/wages ratio in Bella Coola or anywhere not-Rupert is soul crushing.
Cable's gotta go :(

Specifically, one of the trees its attached to needs to come down in the near future. The property has some alders at the end of their lives, which is fine by me, because the house and yard are in perpetual shade after about 11:00AM. Taking some of the trees down should help with evaporation, too. I think.

Employment situation seems pretty good all around. We're hungry for teachers (TTOCs get steady work; French and LST get contracts pretty much right away). Port's expanding. I think CN is expanding. Propane terminal going in. Things will never be the way they were when the canneries were in full swing, but I think there'll be a lot more money in the community in another 5-10 years, which will hopefully help with some of the city's social problems as well.

just another fucked around with this message at 04:26 on Sep 18, 2018

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