Removing Popcorn from All Ceilings

When the house was built, the ceilings were textured with something called "popcorn".  This is a mixture of sheetrock compound (mud) and something like small pieces of paper or styrofoam which is sprayed on the ceiling and allowed to dry.  The rough nature of the result hides any flaws in the underlying sheetrock and provides a uniform, random ceiling surface.

But it's considered very dated.  So 1980's!   The current approach is to texture and paint the ceiling like the walls, which we did when the computer room was remodelled and when we re-did the back bathroom and bedroom suite.  Also I took the popcorn off the ceiling in the dining room and guest bedroom.

It takes a lot of work, and makes a big mess.  And the next rooms to be done would be the living room with a high "cathedral" ceiling and the library, where the ceiling is 12 feet, not the "normal" 8 or 10 feet.  It would seem that some form of scaffolding would be needed to rework these rooms.  So, I expected to hire someone to do this.

We were approached by a young person, a college student, for a company called "College Works Painting".  We are inclined to support college students.  They quoted $4343 to do the whole house: remove the popcorn, texture the newly stripped ceilings and paint the ceilings, which is about
what we expected, so we agreed to this.

The presentation suggested it would be done by college students, probably during the summer.  My goal had been to get it done by the end of the year, so that was fine.  The one constraint was to not do the work during April, since Linda would be recovering from her hip surgery, scheduled for April.

Linda's surgery got advanced to 18 March, and we got a call from Michael Harper wanting to start the job on 31 March (Monday). He stopped by the previous week to look everything over, and indicated it would take about 3 days.  I started removing A/C air vents, and objects near the ceiling, ceiling fan blades, light fixtures, the contents of top shelves.  No one came on Monday, but they did show up on Tuesday.  The job ended up taking from Tuesday 1 April 2014 until Wednesday 9 April 2014, including work on both Saturday and Sunday.  We were told people would be there at 7 AM, but they almost never started before 9 AM.

I took advantage of the ceiling work to remove the access panel to the attic that was in the Yoga room.  I built a frame from 2x3 wood and covered the hatch with sheetrock.

The first step for the work was to hang plastic film over the walls and floors so that it could be kept clean.

Once the walls and floors are protected, the ceiling was sprayed with water to soften the popcorn, and then the popcorn was scrapped off.  This was done room by room until all the popcorn was removed, exposing the underlying sheetrock.

 The greatest time was spent in this stage, probably a week.  Once the popcorn was removed, the new texture could be sprayed on the ceiling.

Once the texture had dried, it could be painted.

And then the clean-up can begin.  It took me days to vacuum, sweep, and mop the furniture, walls, and floors to clean up everything.  Then two days to put the air vents, fan blades, light fixtures and furniture back.

Was it worth the effort?  The ceilings certainly look better, but it cost over a week of time and effort.  They never did use scaffolding, just moving ladders around to get to the higher ceilings.

The process seemed very inefficient.  They put up plastic first for removing the popcorn, then took it down to get rid of the mess and debris.  Then they had to put plastic up again to protect from the texture spray.  Then they needed to protect from paint splatter.  The painters had the opinion that they would paint well enough that they did not need to mask the counters or furniture as they painted (they were wrong but dismissed the problems as "minor").  It seems that a better job could be done by putting up the plastic once, removing the popcorn and doing the spraying for the texture and painting once, and then removing the plastic, going room to room, rather than trying to do all the removal at once, then all the texture, then all the painting.  The painters seemed to underestimate the size of the job.

As with the dining room ceiling, we used Martha Stewart "Heavy Cream" for the color, but used Behr interior flat ceiling paint.  We needed 14 gallons, purchased from Home Depot.  They initially estimated they would need 8 gallons to paint, then, after going thru those 8 gallons, figured they needed 7 more, resulting in one left over gallon.  Part of this could be that they failed to prime the sheet rock once it was stripped of the popcorn and textured, but just started painting.

Jita

Jita, Kathryn's older cat, died today.  We decided to put her next to Pepper, in Zone 2.

Not as deep -- it's difficult to dig real deep in this soil.  The rock is gone, but it still has a high clay content, and the soil is also quite wet.

Out next step for Zone 2 should be landscaping and planting.

Another Rose for the South Bed

Back in January 2013, we planted a "Maggie" Rose in the corner of the South Bed, by the stone wall and the fence.  Now we have added a new rose bush, a bit further down the stone wall.

This new rose is from Barton Springs Nursery, $18.99, and is a Mutabilis Rose (Rosa x Mutabilis).


April 2015

We added a trellis to support the first rose bush -- the Maggie Rose.

This trellis was from Lowe's for  $43.57.

Dirt for the Raised Garden

With all the cement and stone work done for the raised garden, it is now time to fill it with dirt.  The raised garden is about 9 feet across, 20 feet long, and 3 to 4 feet deep.  The raised wall is one to two feet high.

First we build a ramp to allow us to move wheelbarrows of dirt up over the walls.

 When we excavated the old raised garden, we piled the dirt in two piles in the back yard.  One is on top of zone 2, just outside the kitchen.
 

So we start digging up this pile and dumping it into the raised garden pit.  After two days, the pile is gone.

and we have a bottom layer of dirt in the raised garden.

The other pile was across the back yard.

and 2 days later, it is also in the raised garden, almost filling it.

We had one smaller pile of dirt, mostly left over from the last dirt we bought and had delivered.  That was just enough to fill the raised garden.  Now we can remove the ramp, and use the decomposed granite in it to smooth out the path around the raised garden.

and we have an empty back yard again.

Limestone blocks for the raised garden

With the concrete footing for the raised garden poured, we can now compute how much limestone we need to finish the project.  The concrete has been poured to be level all the way around.  It's not perfect, but pretty close -- we will use a bed of mortar on the bottom course to even things out.  At the deepest point, it is about 16 inches below the pathway surface.  If the blocks are 6x6, that means 3 courses will be below ground level at this point.  We want the garden to be raised about the same as before, which would be 16 inches.  So that means about 32 inches, or 5 courses total.

Each course is 10 feet deep by 16 feet long, so 52 linear feet per course, and with 5 courses, that would be 260 linear feet.  At 6x6, that would be 65 cubic feet.  I measured pallets, and they seem to be about 31 inches by 48 inches by 40 inches, or 33 cubic feet. So I need two pallets.  And then I could go get individual pieces if I need more.

We bought the two pallets at Whittlesey Landscape Supplies.  The two pallets of stone were 7460 pounds of 6x6 dry stack for $535.35.  A cubic yard of decomposed granite was $57.93.  With another $90 for delivery.  6 bags of mortar from Home Depot.

We moved all this around back, laid out a string line to define the rectangle that should be where the stones go and started laying them out. Once they were laid out, mortar was put on the concrete footing, and the stones put on that, to try to get things level.

After this has a chance to dry, we put another layer of stone on top of this for the second course.

And a third course.

And a fourth course.

The rock debris that was inside the raised garden, was put out for Craig's List or used to fill in the pathway around the raised garden.  Once that was filled in, decomposed granite was put over it, to create a smooth surface.

We still have to mortar this fourth course, but this seems to work pretty well.

There is a significant slope from left to right (North to South).

Another half cubic yard of decomposed granite from Whittlesey Landscape supplies -- this time I borrowed a pick-up rather than have it delivered. $20.84, on 15 Feb 2014.

The gaps between the stones on the top (4th) course worried me.  But if I filled them up, I would want to make it "like" the limestone.  I found that there is "white mortar", so I bought a bag (50 lbs) of that (Home Depot).  It is about 4 times more expensive than regular mortar, but it is much closer to "white", like the limestone.  I filled all the vertical gaps for the 4th course of stone, so that dirt and bugs and stuff will not sink down into that.

In addition, I used the left-over mortar to smear on the inside of the walls, giving a sort of plaster sealed finish on the inside.

Pouring the Raised Garden Foundation Walls

Once we have completely dug out the raised garden, we can start forming the walls that will support the limestone 6x6 blocks of the wall around the new raised garden.  We start at the highest spot, which will have the lowest wall.  The objective is to pour a cement wall all around the raised garden at the same level, so that the blocks will be level when placed on the wall.

Forms were  put along the entire side of the pit, and then down both sides.

This gives us a concrete wall as a footing for part of the raised garden pit.

 

We then extended this across the North end, and around the corner to the back wall.

And then across the back wall, and turn a corner to tie back in to the original pour.

This has taken 63 80-pound bags of concrete so far.  Two trips to Home Depot on 16 Nov -- 21 bags for $73.88 and 15 bags for $52.77.  Then another trip for 20 bags for $70.36 on 27 Dec 2013.  And another trip for 7 bags on 14 Jan for $30.85.

With this last trip to Home Depot, we have enough to finish the cement.  First we frame up the last section.

And once we pour, we have completed the box that defines the raised garden.

Coat Closet Door Handle

The door to the coat closet off the living room jammed and would not open.  Taking the entire door off, and door knob, I eventually got it open, to find that the slide for the bolt was broken and the shaft going thru it was twisted.  These were the original hardware pieces from when the house was built (Gainsbourgh), so it was 30 years old.

Rather than try to find the correct replacement pieces, we replaced the entire mechanism with a more contemporary lever handle, similar to what we have on the kitchen/garage entry door.  This is a Kwikset Tustin Satin Nickel Hall & Closet (720 TNL 15) Signature Series, $31.25 from Home Depot.

This is continuing the switch from the polished brass to Linda's preferred Satin Nickel finish, and also switching from crystal door knobs to levers.

More work on the Raised Garden

Our last posting on the Raised Garden said that we had the digging done.  But in fact, we only had most of it.  We had dug out to the cement tiles that ringed the raised garden.  These were originally under the railroad ties.  But the dirt from the raised garden continued under them.  The tiles are 12 inch square.

So we moved the tiles back 12 inches, revealing a 12 inch wide margin of dirt that still needs to be dug out.  We started on the back wall.  The digging was fairly easy, but as we got to the actual decomposed granite walkway, it was apparent that this whole approach was badly thought out.

There is nothing between the rock and decomposed granite of the walkway and the dirt of the raised garden except a (now badly deteriorated) stretch of garden fabric.  As I removed the dirt from the raised garden, the rock and decomposed granite then collapsed into the pit of the raised garden.

In addition, digging on around revealed a couple of very large rocks still in the raised garden, in the upper right corner of the picture below.

We used the jack hammer to break these up so that we can remove them.

We also had to jack hammer out some rock in the opposite corner.

All of this work has been substantially delayed because of frequent rains which both fill the pit and make all the dirt and rock too wet to work in, so it's been months since we have been able to make much progress.

Our objective at this point is to pour a retaining wall around the perimeter of the raised garden pit, to hold out the rock and decomposed granite, and to be the base on which to build a new raised garden using 6x8 inch limestone blocks instead of the railroad ties.  We have 40 bags of concrete in the garage waiting to be used for this wall, as soon as we can finish the digging and it's dry enough to work.

Test of Palisades Zoysia for the Backyard

Someday all the digging in the backyard will be done and we will want to put grass back in.  I checked with the City and they recommend

"Palisades Zoysia, buffalo, and native seed blends like Habiturf or Thunderturf. Palisades Zoysia will do better in the shade, while the other grasses do better in sun.  You will have to find out what turf grass is best for you."

Since the hope is to make the back yard more shady, it seems like the Palisades Zoysia is the recommended type.  A brochure I found about it said

"Palisades is a medium textured, dark green Turfgrass best suited for residential lawns and commercial sites when a non-traditional lawn is desired.  Developed by Texas A&M, Palisades Zoysia grass scores high in shade, cold, and drought tolerance making it the perfect lawn for all areas of Texas."

In our case, the shade and drought tolerance will be useful.

But will it work in our yard?  To test it, I went and bought two pieces of it and put it down in the backyard, over near the fence where the digging should be done. 

Zoysia comes as sod which is cut into pieces.  Each piece is about 16 inches by 24 inches, so putting them down like this gives me an area 16 inches by 48 inches.  (Actually they seem to have cut them short, so it's about 16 inches by 46 inches).  After putting the pieces down, I walked on them to press them down to the dirt, and then watered them well.  This weekend is supposed to be wet, so they should be well watered for the next two or three days.

I bought the two pieces from King Ranch Turfgrass, for $5.41.

The plant on the left is from the raised garden and should go back once that is rebuilt.

New Roof

We had a roof put on in 2004, but in 2008 there was a major hail storm.  Our insurance company totalled the roof. They estimated a complete re-roof would cost about $24K.  After our deductible of $10K, they wrote us a check for $14K.  The roof did not seem to me to be in bad shape, so I waited.

Now, in 2013, I'm beginning to see spots where the roof is wearing out.

(Although this spot could be because of trees brushing against the roof).  And one of the skylights looks like it is coming apart.

So I checked Angie's List for roofers and choose three: Clear Choice Roofing, Masada Roofing, and Dayton Roofing and Renovation.  Each of them sent out someone to look the roof over, measure it, and discuss what needed to be done.  I figured that I needed (1) the roof replaced, (2) at least the one skylight replaced, and (3) the solar panels removed and replaced after the roof.

Each of the three companies sent PDF estimates by e-mail.  The overall costs were similar -- $15,023, 13,587, and 16,085 -- but with different attention to the solar panels (some included the cost; some did not), and the skylights.

We went with  Dayton Roofing and Renovation because they did the best with the skylights -- they bid to remove, rebuild and install 3 new (Velux) skylights, as well as including the cost of removing and reinstalling the solar panels.

It took about a month to contact the roofers, get the estimates, pick one of them, and get things scheduled.  Dayton subcontracted the solar work to Curtis Christian "The Solar Man" (512-442-8081). They came out today (Friday, 6 Sept 2013), and removed the solar panels.  They got here about 7:30 AM and were done by 9:30 AM.  They removed the panels, and put them on the back porch.

And removed the rails that the panels are mounted on.  The rails are bolted to the roof, thru the roofing, and into the roof rafters.  Originally this used lag bolts, but these were removed and replaced with large hanger bolts.  A hanger bolt has a screw on one end (which goes down into the roof rafter), and a bolt (for use with a nut) on the other end.  So these can be left in place and roofed over, leaving the bolt sticking up for the solar rails to be put on.
To make it easy for the roofers to see and avoid them, I painted the hanger bolts florescent yellow.

The re-roofing took 3 days -- Monday thru Wednesday.  First they took the existing roof off.

Then they distributed the new shingles.

 and put them on.

They also rebuilt and replaced all the skylights.

And when it was over, the solar man came back and re-installed the solar panels.