On Top of the World

About a month ago when we started getting all the rain, the roof started leaking again--our temporary tarps were starting to disintegrate.  That means all the other work that was going on in the building had to be put on hold to get ready for the new roof.

We new there would be some areas that would need new roof-boards, but we hadn't planned on the amount of repairs required.  Luckily, we had Marty, Matt and Mike Hackbarth helping out Dale to get this VERY dirty job done.  Those three even came back yesterday (a Saturday), to help out since it's supposed to rain later today.

This is what the roof looks like once all the layers of tar had been removed.  New plywood was installed in the areas that needed a little help.  I think that's a smile on Dale's face!  This picture was taken on the middle building facing north.  The little brick wall in the background is where the rooftop thingies used to reside.  The moisture that had collected over the years took its toll on that wall so now Craig has to lay more brick to reinforce the wall before we have the new roof installed.  The black roof on the left is the alley building.  We think (we hope) there should be minimal repairs over there since leaking was minimal.

No imagine taking a few steps (or more) to the right of the other picture.  Now we're standing on the building next to Deanne's.  So far, not looking quite as bad over here.  The covers have been built for the new skylights and are laying off to the side.  Only half of this roof has been torn off and repaired.  Hoping to get to the rest of it later this week when there's no chance of rain.

Now I'm standing at the front of the building looking south.  Marty is crouched over on the left making repairs, Mike is in the middle hauling the damaged wood over to the backside where it will be dumped over the railing and into the dumpster, and Matt is standing on the newly repaired roof.

Here's a closeup of the skylight.  The covers are temporary.  They install the new roof and then come back and install the skylights, which are already here and waiting!  That's Dale's shadow....  I wonder if I should be nervous that he's scratching his head (with both hands)!

Matt and Marty working on repairs--what a dirty job!

Another dumpster getting filled, but this time with roof boards.  I've lost count of how many dumpsters we've gone through.

I can't even begin to tell you how dirty everything is from the guys tearing off the roof.  

This is the skylight in the big hallway and this picture reminds me of how much work we have left to do!  I'm so thankful because I don't know what we're going to do once this project is completed!  I LOVE working here!!!

Skylight and rafters.

More rafters...  It's really cool being in the building and looking at the skeleton.  This will all be covered up sometime in the next 6 months.  I would like to get up in the attic to see what it looks like.  Dale ha been up there, and some of the guys that have been helping us out, but I think it's my turn.  I need to remember to talk to Dale about this.

Look at all the natural light that will come in through the skylights!  This is Suite 233 and that would the the south wall.

This was the bathroom at the top of the stairs and there was another bathroom behind it.  I think there were pics of this from a few posts ago.  There'll be no shortage of work this winter!

Now while all that was going on up on the roof, J&J Glass was busy installing glass so The Jerome would no longer be an ugly duckling to all those that don't have a vision. :)

It's going to be so bright and sunny in here this winter!

The Jerome looks kind of naked without the roof ornaments!  Can't wait to see what it'll look like with new windows on the second floor.  And when all the trim is repainted!

We are so lucky that a new street and new sidewalks also went in this year.  Beautiful!

Fly swatter found in attic!

More Brick Repair

The never ending brick repair...   Is there anything on this building that doesn't need to be touched?!?!?  Apparently not!

We're getting there!

Making major progress and we're excited to see it all coming together, but I don't think we'll have a shortage of work anytime soon!

This is a picture of the center building right after we uncovered the left window to let the light in.  The right window is still covered up and that green thing is an old bathroom (I think) that we've been using as a closet.  This picture was taken on 3/22/14.

Ta-dah! Window openings have been revealed and the bathroom removed!  You can still see the same green paint on the walls.

September 10-12th we had some great help from Marty, Mike and Matt Hackbarth.  I need to get a picture of them one of these days to add to our blog!  These guys saved me MONTHS of work!!  Not only did the get all the lathe and plaster pulled off the front offices on the second floor, but they cleaned it all up, too!!!  Now that I look at the pictures below, I'm not sure I know which office is which!   Need to go look for "before" pics before I can post these to the blog.  Be right back.


Okay, I'm back with before pictures!

Green room on 9/29/13.

Green room on 9/12/14.

This was the nicest kitchen in the whole building.  Hopefully, someone will be able to use these cabinets in one of the offices.

Kitchen no more!

Sure glad I spent a day scrubbing that kitchen last October!  Seemed like time well spent at the time!  Where was the crystal ball when I needed it!!!

This was the bathroom at the top of the stairs.  There was another bathroom behind it that belonged to another apartment.

Same shot of the bathroom, but the wall in between has also been removed so now you can see the door where the other apartment would've accessed the second bathroom.  If that makes any sense.  Sometimes it can be very tricky trying to describe what's going on!  Can you see my shadow from the light coming through the poly-covered skylight?

Picture of a closet in the front apartment of the alley building.  This picture was taken before we bought the building, so about 3 years ago.

Same closet behind Dale.  This was the first apartment that we gutted a few weeks ago.

There's the same closet.  Only now you can see all the way through 3 apartments thanks to the Hackbarth men!

So we're still in the same room.  The pictures above were taken with me standing between these two rooms.  The closet would be off to the right.   By the way... I scrubbed that floor last fall, too.

Here are those two rooms again, only this time I'm standing in front of the closet door.  All that wood on the floor is the trim that has been removed.  And the black stuff on the walls is glue from the lovely panelling that once hung in here.

This is not the plaster dumpster I filled up a couple of weeks ago... that one is long gone.  These are the two new dumpsters that Marty, Matt and Mike filled up.  What a tedious process having to sort wood from plaster!  These dumpsters are also now gone and new empty ones are awaiting us!

Dale continues to work on the roof in preparation for the roof guys to come in and install a brand new one for us.  The skylights came in this week, so hopefully in the next month, we'll have skylights and a new roof!

Now that the weather is getting cooler, we're also hoping to get the glass installed in the front windows.  So some very noticeable things should start happening!!

Rooftop things are off!

Enclosure

Filler

Need a new roof!

Dale managed to keep a majority of the rain out of the building by covering the entire roof with tarps.  When you consider the building is a total of abou 75' x 90', that's a lot of tarps!!!  Unfortuneately, they're starting to disinigrate so it's time for a new roof.  Many of you, like myself, would think you'd just call a roofer to come out and take care of things.  But NOOOOO, I'm married to Dale. :)

You can't just put a new roof on the building, you have to FIX everything that's up there, too!



More brick to be repaired before the new roof is installed.



And all the metal thingies have to be removed so the ledge they're mounted on can be repaired.

And in case you were wondering what it looks like up there, well here it is!  On the left is one of the skylights that has been covered with a tarp.  There are six skylights in total that need to be replaced.

Sunday Sunday

Sunday turned out to be a really productive day and we even finished working at 3:30!

My job today was to take a screwdriver and remove the plaster from every other groove.  I did this in the other building and it took me 40 hours to finish.  We have someone looking at the building and I need to find out if they're going to cover this wall because if they are, I'm NOT going in with a chisel hammer on the grooves I didn't do.  When I was done, I wanted to get this plaster cleaned up and out to the dumpster.  So I went looking for my tools, and mmmm....  couldn't find them!!!!  I hate when people (Dale) move my tools (ok... they really are his).  The yellow shovel is on the roof and I have no idea where MY 5-gallon pails ended up!!!  I keep trying to tell dale that the ladder in the picture is pink and he should give it to me and go get his own....  that hasn't happened yet.  But I really do love this ladder!

Thought I'd give you a different view of the building.  And Dale finished framing all the windows in the front (39 of them)!  Also, note the decorative thingys on top of the building??? Now look at the picture below.

This is what thingys look like!  We're removing them so that the new roof can be installed in a couple of weeks.  You know that rain we had this past week?  Well... Dale came into a wet building...  Rain leaked through the roof not only into the second floor, but made it all the way to the main floor.  Man... he was NOT a happy camper that day!  Needless to say, he went up on the roof and began preparing it for a new one!  These thingys will be painted... one color... and probably get reinstalled next spring.

See the nail that's pretty prominent? And that little round piece of plaster  in the middle of the wood slat?  Well that little piece of plaster is hanging from a horse hair.  The wall had lots of dingleberries that had to be knocked off!

Here's a closeup of the ceiling.  Dale pointed out that it has really cool....  I don't know the word....  Pantina, Pantene, bandina....  whatever....  multi-colored metal shtuff.  We're looking at possibly removing paint and having a metal ceiling.   Could be cool!

Before and during

I took this picture just so I could see a before and during picture of the building.  In addition to The Jerome taking on a new look, we now have two trees, a light post, new sidewalks and a newly paved street!

DURING

Last set of windows to be framed

Towards the left of the picture you'll see that white vertical trim boards have been added to the lower windows.  Underneath the windows (where it's all black) will have additional molding and detail added.  I can't really describe any more than that because I'm not really sure what's in Dale's head.  All I know is he really has an I for this stuff so I can't wait to see it!   

Dale is working on making frames for the glass on the alley building.  It's after 6 p.m. right now, and he's still hard at it (or at least I think he is since I'm sitting here at home on the computer!).  The Jerome is really starting to come together. 

Trimmings

Dale and Al are adding trim board to the front windows to add detail that I'm sure was there at one point!  

I think I may have finally figured out how to add pictures from my phone to the Blog so hopefully can start staying a little more current with posting!

Just Pictures

Commentary to follow, but here are some pics from last weekend.