Who's hungry for some hardware?

I asked the dude at the lumberyard for some Tarn-X.

He asked me if I own a crock pot. (I do.)

Then he asked me if I own a dishwasher. (I do.)

Turns out that a little dish detergent in a crock pot of water set to high overnight can strip hardware. Who knew?

In my case, it removed the grime from my kitchen cabinet hinges and latches and pulls, only to reveal the rust underneath. It was a useful excercise, but I still need some Tarn-X. And a new crock pot.

If you see me at the church potluck with this slow cooker, don't eat my food.

Progress as of Feb. 12

Plumbing is all roughed in.


The mudroom has a tray ceiling.

Pat's working on insulation.

Larry will finish plumbing and work on heat runs.

Four steps forward and one step back

We had water in the basement. Again. This time it was 7 inches. The sump pump burned out overnight. We now have a brand new one. Ugh. This is the water gushing out of the basement through an odd set-up of tubing and an old stove pipe. Temporary, of course.

A remodel can be mighty ugly

This Old House just did a piece called Debris Removal 101, noting it can cost up to $10,000 to remove all the debris from a whole-house remodel.

We've managed to get by so far filling only one dumpster, making frequent trips to the scrap metal yard, burning a lot, and saving the rest to burn under the maple syrup evaporator. We still have more junk to remove.

The two pics at right are things removed after the basement was thoroughly cleaned! Most was attached to the house in one way or another until recently.

Thank God for Google

I've had visions of bronze faucets dancing in my head.

They're often much more costly than standard chrome faucets, but thanks to my nightly Googling for home supplies, I figured out which quality deep bronze bathroom accessories I can actually purchase on a polished chrome budget. I could never do this if I had to drive from home center to home center, or even if I had to call them all.

I don't expect anyone else to care, but I'm excited about this:

Ta dah!

If you ever find yourself yearning to know the difference between Moen Oil-Rubbed Bronze, Delta Venetian Bronze, and Price Pfister Tuscan Bronze, I'm your gal.

Wow!

The house looks more like a house every day! Framing is complete. Furring strips are up. The initial plumbing and heating work is in. The electricians have worked part of the last two days. Whew!