Month: February 2021

Categories
DIY

Century House 3: Stripping Old Paint

I forgot to stick with original title heading through these posts so I’ll have to go back and fix them.

But over the weekend we tackled the basement. We installed insulation on the concrete walls and began stripping the paint off the brick columns.

Our theme for the basement will be a mix of steampunk and Irish pub. The ceiling rafters, pipes, and bare brick will give the open industrial feel we are looking for. Mechanical accents will be added later. For now we’re building out the walls.

Originally we intended to leave the concrete bare or maybe add some paint or even brick overlay, but after some research we decided that it would be best to cover it in order to limit any heat loss or moisture buildup. This will be our TV/family room; I don’t want it to feel dank and basement-like. We will be framing up the walls this next week.

Sheri’s task was to remove a hundred years worth of paint. There are four of these and we want them to be bare brick. We tried several methods to remove grind or sand the paint off, but that turned out to be a bad idea. First, it didn’t work well at all and second, there is a very good chance that there is lead in the older paint. So, we gave up on that idea.

We tried a chemical stripper called, Citristrip. An orange gel that did absolutely nothing to this paint. The paint softened a little bit but not enough to remove it.

However, we had a savior in the paint industry. My wife happens to work for a distributor of chemicals used in paint. And the VP happens to be a chemist. Sheri called him with our problem and he had an immediately solution. Peel-Away from Sherwin-Williams. It is packaged as a kit in a bucket with everything you need. It is white paste that is brushed on and then covered with a special paper. Sheri applied it on Saturday and when she removed it on Sunday the paint peeled off in chunks! I was amazing. The product liquifies the paint, allowing it to be scraped off easily. There were multiple layers of paint on the column and it turned out beautiful. Peel-Away is an amazing product for anyone working with layers of old paint. We really had only one complaint: there is only about half as much special paper as you need to use the entire bucket. I suspect it is a marketing ploy. We’ll need more paste and paper to finish the remaining columns, but now we know how to do it. And the result is amazing.

Categories
Life Poetry - Posey

Yesterday’s Coffee

Yesterday’s coffee
Cold or reheated
Is never quite what we seek

No matter how steaming
Or ‘fixed’ up
It still lacks the warmth and comfort of fresh

Those elements must fume off and dissipate
Leaving a lesser liquid
With all the kick but none of the bliss

What remains is a faded interpretation
Of godly ambrosia
The aroma now dampened and muddy

Yet, still I hold you close
And sip your faded essence
To forego the waste of the perfect cup you were

Categories
DIY

Century House 2: Installing the new Radiator

The first floor of our century house still had all of the charm and most of the fixtures that came new a hundred years ago. We have no intention of changing a thing on the first floor. However, the second floor has been remodeled several times over the years and the charm was missing, so we chose to update the space with new fixtures, carpet and even a second floor laundry.

We pulled the bland boring institutional carpet that was in the two main rooms and found asbestos tiles underneath. I was concerned at first, but after some research found that if I planned to cover them with carpet or other flooring, I didn’t have to do anything with them. It’s called ‘encapsulating’. Basically, as long you don’t plan to disturb them, you can leave them. I love that. Therefore, we left them in place as much as we could.

The problem came when we went to hire a carpet installer. The Lowes installer refused to do the work unless we removed the tile, which I said was never going to happen. I did not want anything to do with that paperwork. As far as I am concerned, that tile will be in the house for another hundred years. Lowes actually tried to play hardball and pressure us into pulling it up, but we found Flooring Galaxy in Brentwood, who said they did that kind of work all the time. Which made sense to me. St Louis is full of hundred year old buildings. There is no way people are pulling out all the asbestos tiles in those buildings. No way. And I was right. Terry and Michael at Flooring Galaxy hooked me up and did a fine job of installation.

BUT – before we could install the carpet I wanted to replace the radiator in the Master bedroom.

The original radiator was a large cast iron beast that took up a significant section of wall. In order to place our bed where we wanted, I would have to move the radiator and the plumbing. All, before the carpet could be laid – I was on a deadline.

Hot water heating technology has advanced far beyond what it was a hundred years ago. Finding a small wall-hung unit to replace the cast iron beast was easy. Replumbing it was a much tougher task. Hundred year old pipe fittings don’t like to come a part. They were also installed when the walls were open and accessible.

The end result was a complete replumb of the heating system for the master bedroom and bathroom. The master bathroom is currently without heat until I can get around to that remodel.

The heating pipes were installed between the floors in the sewer stack access tunnel and were inaccessible unless I wanted to open up the wall – I didn’t. Instead, I purchase two twenty foot sections for 3/4″ PEX and slipped it up through the wall beside the old steel pipe. It was not easy and took a good part of a day to get it in position and connected. I cut off steel pipe and left it in place. Maybe at some point in the future I will have access to remove it. But for now it is a relic for future repairers to find.

Connecting the new piping to the larger pipe system in the basement was also an adventure. Hundred year old pipe does not like to come a part! I hurt myself and used up my entire collection of pirate words to get it done. There was some cutting and cursing involved.

This was what I consider an advanced home project and it was definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. However, it turned out great and is a huge improvement to the room.

My wife did all of the painting and hated every minute of it! That is worthy of a post in the future.