...we have a floorplan and chart with labeling system and marked every piece with a sharpie as we pulled it. We are planning to engrave the labels on the boards though before we give them to our stripper guy because we are pretty sure his industrial strength stripper will remove even sharpie marks.
Steve's labeling system is pretty foolproof I think. We've done this a few times now for the kitchen and entry and it worked before just fine.
It's amazing what you can do when you have to- plus- our contractor said to us and I quote:
"So, you think you guys can remove all the moulding in 3 days?"
I, of course, took that as a challenge. We did accomplish our goal as of 4pm today with the exception of the coffered ceiling.
Here you see all the wood on the 2nd floor back porch. We hope it doesn't collapse after all our hard work! You can't see the door and window jambs in the photo or the doors. They are out of camera view.
We are going to have a lot of fun removing all the nails next weekend and using the engraver to mark the boards. Then we have our stripper guy who is charging us $1/per foot to strip the boards. After that, we will sand and stain all of it. That will be another marathon I am sure. Some people run marathons, we take on projects- not too much different except you have to train longer for a marathon.
I feel surprisingly OK after all this although I don't look so great. I actually used the Sawzall myself this time to cut the door jambs out. And I didn't even saw my leg off or anything.
8 comments:
Your schematic and labeling system looks great. I am afraid of power tools myself and use them sparingly. I've been known to use a hand saw in lieu of a power saw just because I can. Then when I get up enough nerve, I use the power tool and think, "now, why didn't I use this in the first place"?. What a chicken.
The Sawzall has actually become my favorite tool--and I'm not a fan of power tools. The circular saw, now THAT scares me! Your hard work will pay off when you see your beautifully stripped woodwork.
Hi, I'm about to buy a nice 2 flat on N Artesian. fortunately it has all trimwork resotred and unpainted. One question. How did you get the architectual drawings done? I'd like for someone to draw up plans of my unit. Also I'd like to create a 1/2 bath and move some walls around. Do you have a architect?
Hey anon- congrats on buying a 2-flat. We don't really have an architect, though we have one we informally ask about things from time to time.
Steve made the blueprints in Adobe Illustrator- it's his forte so we are lucky on that.
I know an architect with a good aesthetic that I would recommend. His name is Mark Miller. You can check out his website and see if you like his approach.
www.zenforarchitecture.com
I'm not sure what it would cost to have that done though. Good luck!
Joycelyn, thanks..will check him out. Do you guys have central air? the place I'm buyng does not but I'm thinking that when the 1st floor tenant moves out I might run the duct work in the 1st floorunit and spare the 2nd floor from tearing into plaster. My trim work is immaculate. the owner has spent 6 months restoring it..
Oh you are lucky on that woodwork! It is a painful process to restore it, but something special when done.
We do not have central air. At some point, we want to do unico, which requires very small tubes that send the air through the walls- no soffets needed for that. We just can't afford it right now... A few housebloggers have done this : House in Progress and Old Man and the Street and they have posted about it in detail.
FYI, it's http://www.zenplusarchitecture.com/
Mark is a really good guy and a very good architect.
With all that trim you might get 80% of the paint off with a plnner from Sears. Just run the boards through.
Good luck.
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