Category: Uncategorized

Demo begins in earnest this week starting today as workers removed the siding on the back of the house where the new framing will attach to the existing structure. Friday, workers will gut the kitchen and remove the current exterior wall and second back door. The new back wall extend from what is now on…

Women and girls should be pretty and have no opinions, of course. They also must have no interest in athletics, and certainly not any input in processes and in complicated subjects such as building or family interactions. At least this is what I was taught by my biological parents. When I was good at athletic…

The first week comes to a close on a high note. Today, our contractor’s team put a new post to replace the section of the fence they took down, then replaced the fencing so that the gate actually opens. That’s service. Then they removed the rotted part of the foundation, insulated the new foundation, and…

Workers made great progress digging out the area for the new foundation and framing it in concrete. In the process, they discovered some rotten wood in the corner of the house under and next to the second back door. Part of our impetus to doing this renovation was that we suspected that a house this…

This week gave us another mass shooting devastating lives near my former hometown. Tennessee faught back against a racist, antidemocratic action. Our little reno is so unimportant in context. And yet I would say that this context helps us understand what freedom in America actually means: the hope that striving pays off, such as for…

This afternoon we met with our new project manager, Rob, who thought they might be able to start on the work Monday. As he consulted with the contractor who is going to lay the foundation for the extension, they got a call that the crew that had been working on another house was finished for…

Of course there was drama! The morning before the plumbers were supposed to install the toilet and sink for our restored basement powder room, the basement drain backed up. At least one freakout occurred. (Passive voice intended). Then the hot water line failed. FIXED! All’s well that nearly ends well. We now have a functioning…

The plumber was ready to finish re-installing the basement powder room Friday, but the sink hadn’t yet arrived so we are in a holding pattern around a holding pattern; that is, we still don’t know when the major renovation will begin and the powder room should be installed Tuesday. By the time the major renovation…

Last week, I shared some of what we found about the history of the house, specifically the basement powder room. Today, the plumber is here to dig up the concrete that someone poured on top of the toilet flange some time ago. When he came to give us an estimate, he told us that the…

Bathrooms are just a practicality (and an expense at times) until they illustrate something about our culture: in our case deeply entrenched racism that impacts our residents to this very day. As a simply practical matter, we have been consulting with plumbers to update a tiny bathroom in the basement. It only has fittings for…