Merry Christmas!

It's been a couple of months since the last post, and an unfortunate event occurred.  A virus infected my computer and I don't know that I'll be able to recover pictures from the last couple of months.  I would've had a majority of them on my phone, but as luck would have it, I purchased a new phone and wiped the old one clean since I had all the pictures I needed on my computer! Doh!

So going back through what I can recover, the following is what has been happening over the past couple of months.

November 14th






These are the original window frames from upstairs that Dale threw into the dumpster only to have our neighbor stop by and mention that they'd make great picture frames!  So Dale went dumpster diving.  Our plan is to use these throughout the building once it's finished for the artwork that'll be hung in the hallways.





Windows being added to the back of the building now and tuck-pointing of the brick is complete.

December 12

 

 

 



This is what used to be the bathroom at the top of the stairs.   Major leaking occurred in this room and as you can see, the floor is shot.

You can actually see the offices coming to life!



This was taken from the back door that we always enter on the 2nd floor.  The foreground used to be a kitchen and you can see where Dale took out the wall for what was the little bedroom in the background. There used to be a doorway along the right side which is now framed in with a solid wall.

Here's the bathroom floor.  Obviously new hardwood floors will need to go down in this room.

The board laying on the floor are a visual Dale created for me so that I could see where the new hallway would go.  This will provide better access to the offices on the front side of the building.



Different view of the future hallway.



See the difference in wood!  We have new walls!

 December 26th

Ready to start ripping off the lathe and now the headlamp has been added!

Inside that doorway used to be another bathroom, that's where I'll start.



This is the view from that doorway.  Dale is working on the new hallway, but he's nowhere in sight.  mmmm....

Halfway done.  The bottom lathe have been removed.  The other side belongs to the neighbor's apartment.  Don't want to accidently go through there!

I'm standing in the big hallway looking out towards the front of the building.  Straight ahead is what used to be a closet when we first bought the building.  Dale added a doorway at the end for that office and that's also where the new hallway is being built.

Closet stripped!

This is a random shot since we're hungry and heading to Dave's Town Club for lunch.  For those that live in town you may have seen this dumpster located on the backside of the building.  Ever wonder what it looks like inside?  I'm sure you have.



Well here you go!  It's getting filled up with all the materials being pulled out of the building!



New hallway almost complete!

Dale's wiggling the wall showing me that it also needs to be reinforced.  A lot of the framing was done in oak and has twisted over the years so plenty of work ahead getting everything back in line.



Remember that bathroom floor that needed to be replaced?  This is that bathroom, it has new plywood on the floor and the lathe has been removed today.  Dale just needs to move the two trashcans down to the dumpster.

This Christmas was very special because it was the first one with our new granddaughter.  Santa brought me everything I could have wished for, but I neglected to add new work gloves to my list.  The electrical tape isn't holding up.  Maybe if I'm really good, I'll get a pair for Valentines Day!

It only took two years!

It only took two years to get this building looking respectable!  As many of you know from driving by, we spent the past week painting the front of the building. Next spring the top will be painted, but we're just thankful for the great Fall weather we've been having!  (We've decided that the building used to look like Mimi from the Drew Carey show!)

The last of the "feet" were painted this morning.  I had to hold off on them because Dale made repairs and the new cement required time to dry.

The process of painting using the scaffolding had many steps, which had to be repeated multiple times.  In this picture, we're working left to right and are about two thirds of the way done.  You can tell by the 5th window that is partially painted.  Looking back, it would've been nice to have had a picture every time we moved to the next window. 

So our day went like this...  The scaffolding was set up on the far left side of the building so Dale could paint the white parts above all the windows.  As you can see, he can only do one window at a time. While he was painting, I was sitting just below him cutting in the gray/green on the white beams.  I got a little ahead of him and had time to kill (and paint on my brush) so I used it as an opportunity to sign the building. :)  Now that we're both done with that section, we climb down to the ground, unlock the four wheels and move the scaffolding to the next window.  Zoom in on the picture and you'll see the wood planks on the ground.  Those are there because the sidewalk slopes away from the building and we need it to be level.  While move the scaffolding it's very important not to let the wheels fall off the plank.  The scaffolding is moved, wheels locked, and we climb back up to our posts.  We continue this working our way to the right until all the windows are done.

My view as I was sitting on the plank and painting the top edge of the beam that my foot is resting on.

The first beam is painted

Then we start the process all over again only this time we paint the beams and work our way to the left.  Climbing up and down, up and down.

Working our way back to the left, Dale took the opportunity to go take care of some city business since I could reach the beam on my own.  The only thing is that he took off in such a hurry that he only left one plank instead of the normal two or three.  Barely wide enough for the paint pan!

You may ask why we didn't do it all at once.  I asked that very same question.  Had there been less wind that day, we would've.  But because of the wind and three sections of scaffolding, Dale wanted the third section off as quickly as possible.

I'm not sure how he ever figured out out to set up and take this down all by himself.  

Dale is pictured here taking down the third section on Friday night.

This is where we finished on Friday. Just the feet to be painted and the window sill and doorway on the left that had to be repaired.  Those were completed today (Sunday).  I wasn't supposed to work at the building today, but I just couldn't resist!!

I almost forgot to mention, there are once the last of the windows have been replaced, Dale will have installed 79 windows!!!

Next project is the front doors.   I'm not a fan of this project, but really looking forward to see the beauty behind the layers of paint!

I need to finish the doors and also get back upstairs pulling nails.  Dale's very close to start framing the new offices!

Outside!

It's only been a couple of weeks since the last post, but I've been taking pictures along the way.  I was just reviewing them and realized how much we're accomplishing right now as we try to take advantage of this gorgeous weather we've been having!  Our goal is to have the entire front of the building painted with the first coat before the weather turns.  I've been using vacation time to work on the building and you'll find me there the next couple of afternoons.  This is so exciting!!!

This is one of two front doors as it has looked for many, many years.

Now the doors have been removed and temporarily replaced with plywood so that we can strip and refinish them.

The trim around the door was also removed and some of the paint stripped with the heat gun.

At one point, it looks like the trim was painted red to match the color of the brick.

Many people have asked if we were going to replace the ugly white doors on the front of the building.  If they had only seen the other side!  Look how beautiful!!!  Our goal is to strip the doors down to their natural beauty and leave them the natural color.  I sure hope I like doing this project! 

The first of the "pillar" is getting a new color.  I'm not 100% sold on it, but the nice thing is that we have all winter to think about it before the final coat goes on next Spring.

One the left side of the picture, the white beam above the new main-floor windows has been sanded.  As you can see the right side still needs to be completed and there there's a third one after that.  

Close up of Dale's sanding job.  Can't wait to see it painted the same color as the trim below!

The alley windows are in!!

I wonder how much time Dale has spent cleaning!

Now all the beams have been sanded and are ready for primer. 

The door and door trim have been painted to match the lower windows.  In addition, the white paint on the "pillars" above the door have been covered!  Yay!  Just waiting for Dale to fix the concrete pillars that are at ground level before I can paint them.  He could probably get that completed tomorrow if he weren't GOLFING! 

All the metal beams have been covered with white primer and are looking so clean.  Need to wait 48 hours before we paint them.  I think that's tomorrow's project.

Upper corner trim. Check!  And Dale painted the beams.

Dale asked me to paint these trim boards before he cuts them to size to put in the space below the main-floor windows to add a little pizzaz. Cool.  I can handle that.  Whipped those right out this evening.  Check.

Just as I was feeling like I checked a lot of items off the list today, Dale points over to the wall and says, "there's the rest of the trim that needs to be painted."  Well That's Fantastic.

We're thinking a deep burgundy for the top of the building.  And we may leave that to the professionals.  That is WAY UP there!!

Poor Dale has to tear down the scaffolding after every time we use it.  Which has been a lot the last couple of weeks.

Random thought as I was painting the window above the door today...  I looked in the window at all the cobwebs and dead bugs (eeeeww) and realized there will come a day that I'll be on the inside looking out because I will be painting in there.  Never a shortage of work.  Thank goodness!

And look what appeared!  We have a vine that just sprang up recently and it has flowers!  And it's mid-October!  

Tomorrow (did I mention that Dale's GOLFING?!?!), the window sills on the second floor will be painted and if that gets finished, maybe it'll be time to start stripping the doors.  We'll see what the day brings!