Architectural Refinement

Renovating A French Door

2011-08-20T19:20:00.000-06:00

I had the recent opportunity to renovate a French door. It is from my own home, one that my brother gave to me when he replaced it with something else at a house he owned for a while. It was a Craftsman Style home that is about 100 years old or older. The glass had been painted over at some point, probably to be used for a private room. I did pull out a couple of obstructive nails where curtains might've hung.

It took about two quarts of orange stripping gel. I removed about three different colors of paint, and it took a total of about twenty hours.

Bi-fold Doors

2011-08-05T21:57:00.001-06:00

I was asked if I could create a set of bi-fold doors to match the southwestern style cabinets that one of my clients had been installing in his residence. The furniture maker said that he couldn't do that for one reason or another. In order to make them rustic-looking the lumber chosen to do the work was less than FAS. It was 2" x 6" tongue and groove decking and 1x pine stock. I planned on using the groove as a pre-set gauge for the raised panels, which I would shoulder rip out of 1" x 12". I just copied the existing press-board bi-folds.

The decking would require a little planing with a 12" planer that I borrowed from my brother. Drilling dowel holes into the stiles was a little tedious, not really set up for this, and the horizontal boring into the rails I had to improvise with a scrap of tongue and a 3/8" piece of pipe reamed out to 7/16". The formula was shared for the stain which was Minwax with 50% turpentine.

Gallery Space Expansion Ideas (continued)

2010-12-24T15:25:00.004-07:00

This is what some of main lobby space of the Historic Federal Building looks like. The above depicts the entrance with its vestibule. These are taken from photos I took a couple of years ago around the winter holidays.

Above, a look west towards the elevator and north vestibule with a great source of natural north light coming in through the arched tops of the windows.

A sample of one of the post office box walls. There are about 2,500 of these. I had thought at one time that auctioning these off as curio items might fund some of the renovation. Behind them is a large sorting room with more high ceilings and giant heating and cooling ducts. At one time the space was considered very favorable for an upscale restaurant. I think the end reason it didn't happen was the problem of parking space.

These would be in reference to the previous entry here a while back,

http://ryecraftsman.blogspot.com/search/label/3-D

which was made last year on Wednesday, December 23, 2009.

Refrigerator Solutions ~ Kitchen Cabinetry

2010-06-22T16:45:00.003-06:00

Here are two views of a preliminary sketch which shrouds a large refrigerator with a broom closet and upper cabinets. There are no off-the-shelf broom closets larger than 24 inches deep, so this will have to be custom made. This carries the line straight across the front of the refrigerator, making the broom closet and upper above that 28 1/4 inches deep.

Timber Frame Studio - Additional Features

2010-06-13T13:02:00.002-06:00

I've added a shelter from the elements over the entry in a balcony deck, a wood stove, and a sink for washing brushes or hands. This drawing also illustrates the north-facing bank of fixed safety windows.

Backyard Studio Plans

2010-05-30T15:33:00.000-06:00

I am working on a design for a backyard studio. The footprint would be approximately 17' x 27', and be 24' in height done in timber-frame style. The roof would be a steep sort of barn-style gambrel, and allow for a second story office or small sleeping loft under a single dormer. It would also be open below in the middle with a guardrail running the length of it down the middle.

I am looking for feedback on this if anyone has any to offer.

Renovation Work On An Old, Large, Storefront Door

2010-05-01T16:05:00.001-06:00

The storefront loft where I've been working Mondays. This door is about seven-and-a-half feet tall, four wide, and two-and-three-quarter inches thick.

It needed adjustment at the doorstop to seal better after the window replacement guys made a good effort. The green stuff is Duraglas. It's like Spackle plus, or wood filler on steroids. I ran a belt-sander on the high spots first.

My client is switching out all the black metal to brass. I had to heat up the paint with a heat gun to unscrew the decorative brace. I guess he has it sandblasted and plated somewhere from here.

I also installed a commercial door closer, and patched a hole - also with Duraglas - that was left when I took out the extra deadbolt he had at the bottom. That was made obsolete by the metal security door a while back.

A Plea To Blog Viewers

2010-03-11T00:07:00.000-07:00

Hire me!

Hire me for something. I'm single and unattached. I have some cats, but my neighbor has fed them for a week at a time when I tried to see if I could commute once a week to Amarillo looking into a job as a mold-maker. Make me an offer. I'm used to $20.00/hour, which as a contractor with vehicle overhead is just scraping by after 70 miles per day on a part-time basis.

Look over my resume. I'd be willing to travel if it meant a career change with a steady role and respectable salary.

Picture Mould Adaptation

2010-03-03T01:01:00.003-07:00

I've been asked to try and make a picture mould adaptation that might accommodate the architectural details of the Historic Federal Building's main floor lobby, which also serves as The Fifth Street Gallery. It will allow artists to hang larger canvases without damaging the wall surface. And so I've taken a survey of what's there and tried to see if there were any stock millwork in Pueblo at the various yards and home improvement stores. Since they were originally installed in 1897 it is doubtful I will find a match.

I imagined that I could saw or plane off the bottom cove piece, but strict adherence to the design was lifted. I will be putting up a three inch crown below the venting, approximately eleven feet high that will butt end the walls and two columns. I will begin by installing a flat board onto the wall that leaves about two inches of wood exposed, then the crown, followed by a cap that imitated the cornice below.

[Added March 20, 2010, pictures of it in application:]

Painting Over the Stairwell - 2010

2010-02-12T15:46:00.003-07:00

The second to last move. Where once it was thought that a special stagger piece could be used - incorporated with the larger S-Style Scaffolding - an additional section of Baker Scaffolding was used instead, and "marched" down the stairway with angle braces clamped onto the decorative iron to stiffen it.

An improvised method of catching as much debris or fresh plaster as possible.

Chipping out the plaster in areas where it was delaminating, then filling with Structo-lite plaster.

Floating over the Structolite filler with gypsum compound.

With the last gypsum float dry and primed.

Painted!

Chandeliers

2010-01-29T14:36:00.004-07:00

In making modifications to the elevator lobby at the Historic Federal Building I was called upon to float gypsum over the ridges of paint left around the florescent fixtures that were taken out, patch holes in plaster, and touch up paint. A large chandelier was hung in the center of the lobby, which after assessment of the owner for it's color was changed from antiqued bronze to a bright gold. This I painted by hand with a small brush and Modern Masters metallic paint.

Before

After

There was a banquet scheduled for the evening when it was just getting the final touches.

Fifth Street Espresso Bar

2009-12-29T10:10:00.007-07:00

I recently painted the coffee shop inside the Historic Federal Building in Pueblo, Colorado. With a new tenant it is back in business late in autumn. Here are some before, during, and after photographs of the process with notes:

Previously it had been painted orange. There was paper damage to the sheet rock where something had been pulled down. It had double-sided stick adhesive tabs that would not let go. So I floated that over with broad knife, setting mix and primed it. The result looked like some kind of confused Robert Motherwell painting. A dark red of the owner's choosing was put up as a sample. I also put up a sample that was a dark cherry for comparison and contrast.

I primed over all those when a dark metallic green was chosen out of Ralph Lauren's paint. (There is an accent of Modern Masters copper metallic done in a band above with random brush strokes.)

After the first coat.

Then I brushed the door and randomized the FRP panel that ran up to the chair rail.

To effect a sort of delineation I tried a trick with some Frog-tape at a line parallel to the bottom of the header above the bar at 7'6" high. The owner wanted the texture to be single brush strokes and I couldn't figure how else I would straighten it up, sophisticate it (or even accomplish that) for a wall that ran up nine more feet above the chair rail. I brushed up to that, over-lapping the tape. Then taped to the bottom edge after that dried. Then I removed the top tape, and brushed down overlapping the new tape with the help of two ladders and a plank at about five feet high.

I randomized the magazine rack, perhaps getting a little too strict with the linearity. Everything else was curviliniar. I think it breaks things up though.

After the owner, Todd Pasquin, put up decorative tapestries and the new tenants, Jacob and Cecilia moved in.

I took some additional photos of the Fifth Street Gallery that Starworth Properties leases out. It is my hope that I can assist in promoting it's increased use, and possibly expanding it in the future.

The additional treat of a baby grand piano at present.

A painting by one of the artists whom keeps a studio on the second floor, Robert Wands.

The marble-cased end wall to the old post office, and the entrance to John Wark's Giclee print shop. He leases the giant sorting room on the main floor in the "new" part of the building built during the 1930's, and turns a healthy business here reproducing all manner of two-dimensional artworks and photography.

The long look back through that same door. You can just make out the tall Christmas tree in the east part of the lobby. It's quite a wonderful space kept with loving care by the owner.

Art Gallery Space Expansion Sketches

2009-12-23T21:26:00.008-07:00

I've drawn up some sketches of an expansion plan to The 5th Street Gallery, which is set up in the Historic Federal Building. It would incorporate parts of the old Post Office lobby that was the access to the mail boxes. It would mean either acquiring or building portable, collapsible walls, seven that would be freestanding except for attachment to one side at the pilasters, and seven that would cover the old post office box walls, making that area usable for exhibition. The usable space would be approximately 1,900 square feet total. The space is also quite well lit during the day by the high ceiling, but some sort of lighting will have to be introduced for any presentation in the evening.

"Free" Stone Masonry~ Surveying For Google Earth Modelling

2009-08-10T10:27:00.008-06:00

In re-assignment to work on the Historic Federal Building in Pueblo, Colorado I found that there were no corresponding American Institute of Architect models of buildings. This does not compare well to even one town further north, Colorado Springs, which has many only in the Google Earth programming online.

To that effect, I am trying to D-I-Y a model drawn up with the skills I have accrued in drawing with Google Sketchup 6. If there are any interested parties whom would like to assist in this project I am be able to share some of the information from the blueprints to which I have access. The past two weeks my spare time has been devoted to scanning some of these blueprints at our local Kinkos. They's been instrumental in re-assessing all the free masonry for which there are no working drawings. From four elevation drawings I have found that there are 30 individual styles of stonework. Some recurring in use, some bespoke, such as the eagle figures over shields or chevrons above the Main Street entrance. It will be my attempt to catalogue all these on the building , draw them accurately, faithfully, and maybe write a book about the whole inventory process. Perhaps someday such information may be useful towards cast stone replication.

Below are my intial efforts in drawing of some of the cornice work. (Yesterday before sunset I was even up on an extention ladder verifying measurements to get some of the mysteries solved.)

A mid-summer portrait in the early afternoon from the east.

An improvised photograph of one of the renderings in the basement file, probably dating back to when work was done to add onto the building during the 1930's.

A photo import from my Google Sketchup drawing showing attempts to use cut and paste imposition. The camera distortion proved to be to great at this juncture.

My first side-by-side comparisons of all three, contemporary photo, photo of rendering, and Sketchup drawing. From the ground up this must be what it is like to begin writing a novel.

The intensity of the first targetted area, the first floor cornice banding with the second floor.

Rudimentary first sketch incurring questions of distorted dimensions.

Second sketch after verification, incurring even more desire for clarity!

Final Stage ~ Finish Out, Cuerno Verde Estates

2009-06-08T11:39:00.002-06:00

With the last load of panelling stained we finished out the job. There were quite a few more angles to work out.

The valley rafters were capped with rough-cut pine stained a cherry color, the same as the floor.

(Convergence of the valley rafters above.)

It is a challenge to try and depict it with photography because the end feeling is like a cozy tent made of wood.

The point at which the three rafters merge with the shed roof to the southeast proved to be a puzzler resolved with creative trial-and-error framing, leaving a triangular cubby hole.

This swing-arm wall sconce will make a cozy reading lamp some late evening.

I got to put a decorative edge on a plank to be used for hanging coats.

(View out the door to the rest of the house.)

We also hung a wooden screen door...

...and built a potting bench out of rough cedar...

...and put it in where the client wanted to have it for work on her gardening.

Guestbook

2009-05-22T12:01:00.001-06:00

Please sign my guestbook. Visitor's interest in what I have put up here, and where they are located also interests me.

Finishing Work

2009-05-16T12:54:00.006-06:00

This year I was called in by a co-worker I'd met on a job more local to me last year. We'd worked on an addition near the San Isabel National Forest for a general contractor. With gasoline prices soaring at the time I'd decided to get more local work even if it meant a cut in pay. It would last off and on from April to September of 2008. He'd stop sub-contracting with this general contractor about the stage of installing windows. I would hang on until a little after the painting stage had been completed. Throughout the winter we would intermittently work together for another remodeller in refurbishing foreclosure homes for rental. It was quite a surprise to get a call to help finish this addition out. Suffice it to say it did not get finished by the previous contractor for one reason or another. We were given a chance at remedying that.

I proceeded to draw up some sketches to facilitate it. We would be changing the sheetrock ceiling in removing it and putting in decorative beams under the rafters. It seemed quite simple and made me wonder why these could not have been installed during the basic roof framing stage. After demolition of the sheetrock some insulation was installed. The frame was bolstered where the beams would sit, creating a beam saddle of sorts high over the windows.

Stringline would give us approximate positioning, intersection points, and visualization if clearances needed to be removed from the rafters along it. With one extra hand we levered them up and fastened them with timberlock screws. We opted for a small housed joint at the center, then drilled it for the ceiling fan wiring and light that was previously installed.

Beforehand we had hauled the beams and panelling up into the addition to condition for two weeks before staining it on a sunny day outside.

This photo above features some of the blue mineral stain of "Beetle Kill Pine" before receiving a conditioner and Puritan Pine Minwax stain.

Toward the end of the day we ran out of saw horse space, the drying time slowing after the sun went over the mountain.

The compound angle at which the panelling edges would be cut was only half a degree off the sketch. This would be where the gables intersected each other at the valley rafter.

Where these gables met a deflecting curve was found on one one of the valley rafters. The stringline would again be used from the top to the knee wall to have something to follow, and to compensate for more exact lengths. A test block was also made to help find the actual fitting point or compensate for any final deviations.

The first few boards above.

The view from the bottom upward. I took a pencil and marked a dotted line underneath the stringline. It was perhaps 3/4 of an inch at it's maximum.

The view from the top downward.

The chop saw set up. We'd have to reset positions a few times to accomodate the installation platform.

Going up one side.

Going up the other.

Finishing out one cubby hole. (The joint at the valley rafter will later get covered with two rough pine boards stained the beam color.)

Finishing out the entryway.

More Aerial Photography

2009-04-24T21:59:00.003-06:00

I've been provided with a link by my main client to be able to view recent aerial photography of the Historic Federal Building. It shows a better view of the gold paint that I applied to the roof, which I estimated covers 12,000 square feet:

http://gallery.me.com/jw051#100138&bgcolor=black&view=grid

John Wark's photography also captures some of the work I did on the interior, such as in the Federal Room Banquet Hall, stairwell decorative treatment and elevator lobbies.

More of his work can be seen starting at his main site:

http://www.johnwark.com/

My Work As Seen From Earth Orbit

2009-03-19T09:28:00.004-06:00

As soon as Google Earth's next update on Pueblo, Colorado I will have the oddest brag of having work that can be seen from outer space:

Staggered Section ~ Key Piece

2009-03-02T09:14:00.007-07:00

[In the continuing study of how to scaffold above the Historic Federal Building stairwell:]
To use the scaffold here there are three special pieces needed to add into the regular arrangement of the owner's "Brand" scaffolding:

1.) The staggered piece, with one tube 3', 4" long, and one tube 1', 6 7/8" long connected with two pieces of tubing as rails. This levels out the first section that is 6', 4" tall.
2.) Two 5 foot pieces that form the second section (which is neccesary to make clearance beneath the horizontal beam on third floor). These are the pieces that are already on hand.
3.) A 4 foot piece to get the platform above the top railling by one foot.
4.) A 7 foot piece across from that as its levelling component to the third section. (Something special will have to be arranged with the X-braces which would go through the ironwork at this point, as well as with the staggered piece.)

The key is the staggered piece that sits upon the first landing between 3rd and 4th floor.

The red tubing on the bottom was a previous design to allow for leveling. I'm incorporating that now into the total height desired, and will use small wood shims if I need any adjustment there, using the opposite end of the scaffold for the coarse adjustment in levelling.

The other piece remains the same from an earlier drawing, which is basically a seven foot section attached to a four foot section at the top. This stack can be "re-cycled" up the stairs to the point where it climbs one complete six-foot section, or planked across to a "Baker" scaffold of different manufacture.

[Drawings added to illustrate this process March 13, 2009

Staggered scaffold as it would look with just a human figure for scale, above.

As it is to be used, above.

The full complement.

Finishing Up The Stairwell

2009-02-28T14:40:00.005-07:00

With nearly everything taken care of on the roof painting project, it is back inside to finish up the fourth floor elevator lobby. Work on this was shelved for a while. (To see where it started please see Painting The Stairwell, May 10 2007) There were a few patches to take care of on the ceiling, but now that the roof has been repaired and given a high performance coat of paint finishing it will have a great deal of insurance in holding up.

With a few creative steps applying the scaffolding available it is time to take it all the way to the top to get to the hardest to reach portions of the building's interior.

There are also some portions of the third floor to catch up in the new paint scheme.

Industrial Painting ~ Warehouse Improvement

2009-02-08T13:16:00.004-07:00

I recently had the call to improve warehouse space block walls. What used to be a storage for rock wool insulation was being updated for use to store food stuffs, and food distribution materials.

At some point, so the legend goes, the rock wool would be adhered to a paper backing before it had time to cool and in some cases would smolder and create soot on the ceiling. In order to go from this sooty black to a more maintenance aesthetic white I would have to:

1.) Block fill the cinderblock with 15 gallons of block filler.

2.) Roller seal its resiny nature over the "twin T" pre-cast concrete ceiling with 10 gallons of Kilz.

3.) Spray a "dry fall" white over that with 10 gallons .

4.) Spray and back-roll 10 gallons of a high gloss white acrylic paint.

Before.

After.

Afterwards I would also be called back to help make a perimeter line around the rough asphalt floor surface with a quick-set mortar mix, and paint over that to a sharp 18 inch line.

Handicapped Access Door ~ Historic Federal Building

2008-10-06T10:37:00.000-06:00

I fixed a rusty steel door yesterday. I used Duraglas on some metal lath.

Brushing on Hammerite paint is like working with marshmallow cream. You get one or two good brush strokes and that's it. Done. No more trying to correct anything...and it stinks. Xylene! Duraglas is interesting. While it is curing up you can cut it with a sharp wallpaper knife. When it's hard you can't do much with it at all. So you have to stand by and feel it for the right time to trim it. I used it at Haddonstone for repairs to their ornamental models and some molds.

Continuation In Early September 2008

2008-09-15T14:03:00.000-06:00

With an idea that a commercial corner roller could be implemented in painting these standing seams without having to bend down I finally use the one I bought years ago in anticipation of rolling in interior wall corners. After a couple days use it is falling apart. Presumably from the interation of the paint medium's Xylene with the closed-cell foam. Not wishing to go back to brushing the seams bending over or kneeling I made a new roller core shape out of plywood, then delicately perform the surgery of sewing it while still soaked with noxious Hammerite, as cleaning it would have been a long process. (At the end of the project it will just go into the trash.)

I resolve to try and take pictures of progress from a further distance, since it is a larger edifice, and more prominent for it's more decorative flourishes.

2008-09-13T19:14:00.004-06:00

After the roof painting project was shelved for the summer work now begins with 30 gallons of gold Hammerite in reserve. Below are some of the initial forays getting used to a repetoire with all the safety equipment, preparitory scrubbing, and rinse which required an additional 100 foot of water hose coming up from the second floor deck.

Roof Painting ~ The Historic Federal Building, Pueblo Colorado

2008-08-10T19:14:00.005-06:00

After repairs and preventative measures painting can now begin upon the metal roof of the Historic Federal Building in downtown Pueblo, Colorado. The paint to be use is a gold Hammerite Rust Cap, and ten gallons have been initially acquired towards covering its approximate 12,000 square feet. It is a little tricky washing and rinsing the old paint and rust off, and a couple of long water hoses and valve-controlled brush designed for washing cars is employed.

The temperature has to be below 85F to insure a good coating, but the afternoon clouds are helping out somewhat. Other than that, this painter will have to adjust to gettting up very early in the morning and get off the roof, or wash down the next day's section once the temperature reaches that point. It is possible to do two coats if it is done within 45 minutes of the first application. Barring that the product also says to wait seven days before giving a second coat. It is entirely possible that I may make a circuit in a week, and begin the second coat there. For now the only difficulty is insuring that the ridge seams are done first. The more thorough method is to brush them, but that goes much slower. I am avoiding brushing the tops, since a roller can hit those just as well during the rolling of the wide panels. Using a roller on this small vertical surface might be done quicker with a small roller, but it might also use more paint if not done properly. For a test amongst the practice of application, weather, heat and author's discipline, the northeastern hip roof will be done first to see how it goes.

Interests

2008-05-14T18:27:00.004-06:00

In continuity of sharing building innovations to processes and materials I am updating website links to things I have found of interest in my field:

Adding A Barrel Vault

The above being an article cost comparison of installation time of wood framing to metal system.

USG's Architect's, Designers & Specifiers Site

Links to innovative articles.

June 2007 ~ Creative Crown Molding

2008-05-03T11:09:00.002-06:00

[Edited May 2, 2008]

My job in this unoccupied residence was to install painted crown molding around the ceilings of the kitchen, breakfast, formal dining room, entryway and front hall. With this client a horizontal baseboard is installed underneath the crown molding. The above photo depicts the start of this process. I have come to rely on Zip-Wall spring-loaded poles to assist in support and precise positioning before shooting any nails.

Crown set against base. Midway through.

I am also painting this molding with a first coat before installation. This I do on sawhorses in the family room.

Progress On The Roof Painting Project

2008-03-18T19:48:00.009-06:00

Before any regular traffic could go on up on the roof the old decking right outside the door had to be replaced, the rails cleaned off and painted.

Redwood boards would be the deck replacement, varnished in the basement and set to dry, chopped to size, then fitted from underneath with galvanized hex lag screws.

[Editor's note: Only recently could photos be added of the decking completed some time ago. The author having taken on a job sub-contracting labor around his home community of Rye, Colorado - April 6, 2008.]

A test area was cleaned in this triangular west facing area in order to see how chalky the old paint was, preparation for a sample to be applied.

From Old Blueprints

2008-03-07T22:23:00.005-07:00

Got approximate square footage to bid on painting a steel roof in downtown Pueblo for the Historic Federal Building. (It used to be a copper roof that was salvaged during WWII.) It was interesting taking it to Kinko's. Got it on a CD in the process, an eighty year-old blueprint.

There is a wealth of information to these prints in the basement of the old building. Study them long enough and you get a sense of history passing by, a genealogy of sorts, or archaology. I've mentioned them to a former painting collegue, who's now working for an architectural firm, that he could come look them over some time, as the owner has given me the priviledge. He must be too busy.

[Addendum March 17, 2008 - for use in estimating safety lines and cordons:]

After inverting the colors I can get a basic idea with MS Paint on where I want to string main safety cables to drop down the roof from.

Egg and Dart, Finished Design

2008-03-03T14:37:00.002-07:00

Egg and Dart (third session)

2008-03-03T10:47:00.002-07:00

I've found a simple method of developing the contour that couches the egg, with a little widening of same. Still working on the darts, and a uniform method of developing them. A lot of this is learning extrusion commands and intersects.

Egg and Dart

2008-03-02T18:29:00.004-07:00

My next chosen challenge on Google Sketchup 6 seems to be a first draft at egg & dart molding.
It wasn't very hard to find a tutorial about egg shapes through their online warehouse. The main trick or difficulty seems to be merging models together. Research in existing moldings tells me that I could make the grooves and separating lines stronger and the egg a little more bulbous.

Exterior of Windows - Historic Federal Building

2008-02-29T09:25:00.001-07:00

Yesterday I started scraping and priming some windows at the Historic Federal Building in downtown Pueblo, Colorado. This should arrest further deterioration of the old paint until a new coat of paint can be put on.

The intial problem solving of ladder placement entailed re-using old lag screw holes with wooden dowels already in them for a brace for an extention ladder. A trip to the local steel scrapyard was called for, whereupon a piece of orange steel shelving was found the exact length for $2. The only modification was re-drilling the holes large enough to use a 3/8" lag screw.

These sit at three spots on each side near the top, bottom and approximate middle of the first four windows I am attending. A previous look at the blueprints showed that they once held up decorative grills.

I put some thin shims underneath the metal to keep from damaging the brick, and give it a tighter fit where it would not roll around.

Though these windows are very simple there will be time involved in scraping and painting, with a little sanding to feather over edges from existing to raw wood. After the ladder brace is set up, this takes four hours.

Scraped sound.

Done for the day.

Upon leaving and rounding the corner I decided to take a picture of the front of the building because I am interested in casting from the eagles on the facade, among other things at least cataloguing the stonework. Efflourescence is apparent underneath the roof . At the proposal a couple of years ago of painting the steel roof, I am hoping that whomever does the painting - and it might be me - they will also be able to wash the efflourescence off, which is probably being caused by a slight leak, or water sitting too long somewhere.

Here it is again high upon the south west wall.

Ideas: Shower Stall - Spiral design

2008-02-02T17:50:00.000-07:00

I have no idea how I will make curved glass this big. I suppose I could make it out of glass block.

Small Accents to Plaster Repair - Pueblo, Colorado

2008-01-22T09:50:00.002-07:00

In assisting a couple whom where renovating an old Victorian "Four-Square" I added a couple small gambrel accents above the stairway and ended up spraying oil enamel on all of the upstairs trim and kitchen cabinetry. It was previously owned by an elderly gentleman who had lived there alone at least forty years. He was not a very handy man around his house. Not much was done in the way of repairs or remodeling. This was a bit of a relief to the new owners, at least in the notion of clarity versus confusion, as some of these old homes get remodeled (or re-muddled) every ten or twenty years.

Just as soon as repairs were done on the ceiling and painted, light fixtures were installed. It created an ambiance one would rarely see in a job site.

The attic was reclaimed as living space. Stairs installed by another carpenter to it.

A Photo of the author at work. I was assigned to finishing the drywall on this attic after the drywall installer and crew "resigned". The angles, unusually going all the way to the floor line did present a challenge with a lot of bridged fiberglass mesh at the joints and setting compound down to a high baseboard. The veteran drywaller mentioned that this one drove his best helper off, and that he would lose money on it. I took over on an hourly basis and did alright. Sure it was unusual, but it worked out anyway.

The owners did quite a beautiful job in the main floor washroom behind the kitchen in Venetian plaster. The floor was done in stone tiles.

Trex Stair Replacement - Hunter House

2008-01-22T09:25:00.000-07:00

At one client's house I replaced a rotted stairway with treated lumber and Trex composite. She said that she would have no problem going up the stairs, but going down it seemed like there was less step, and would be apt to fall if she didn't slow down. The previous carpenter had underslung the tow kick by two full inches! Redesigned, I extended her stair out another two feet or so, so that she could have 9-1/2 inches of tread even with a toe kick of a full inch.

before

after

As yet I have no pictures of this project with the final rail and stiles applied. There was another deck on the other side of the house, the front. (It used to be a stable and hay barn for horses.)

As with some of these remodels I advised the couple that the concrete landing needed to extended to meet code. Some contractors would stipulate this be part of the work before starting. I let it go on assurance that they knew about this, and that they would do it themselves "some day", and took over the responsibility.

Auto-CAD Drawings

2008-01-10T20:02:00.001-07:00

During the couple of years since my brother put an Auto-CAD program designed for Civil Engineering technology onto my PC I have taught myself how to draw with it. I have already used it to present customers with exact profiles of mill works found in older Victorian style homes, such as this cornice below that went on top of a double-hung window.

The hardest part about this type of molding is trying to dimension all the various radii without crossing over the outline, taking away the clarity of it. I had not seen this type of molding in any modern houses. It has a classical cyma recta offset by a cove and minescule reveal. What I appreciated the most when working with it at this client's house was the rabbeted seat that allowed a near perfect fit over 3/4" casing and the wall, given the walls are done well.

I drew this Doric order base working from a library book. It took repeated tries at deciphering old colonial handwriting, syntax and grammar, detailing how Greek Revivalism was applied from observed formulas at the time. This photo is of the drawing with construction lines frozen for clarity.

I sold the plaster recreation and restoration of a large ornate cornice that was missing over a pilaster in the courtroom of the Historic Federal Building, in Pueblo, Colorado in 2006. This I did from a previous illustration drawn from exact measurements of a wooden substrate that a previous carpenter had installed. The owner was prepared to apply some prefabricated appliques with no real knowledge that this substrate was off dimensionally by as much as 1/2".

The drawing below was generated to present to the client for spacing of panel moldings assembled in tall rectangular frames, After a bit of consultation it was decided that the recurring motif of triples in the windows would be the way to go, also reinforcing the vertical lines of the space. Whilst painting the split oval arch upon scaffolds I took the opportunity to take a survey of the bands and ogee dimensions and added them onto the layout for aesthetic appeal and documentary interest.

layoutThe panel mold frames as installed. (For more information on this project visit my other blog:

http://www.pouredintoamould.blogspot.com )

Above is an idea for a shower stall floor that I came up with under the influence of ancient Roman floor mosaics. I imagine that aside from molding and casting these to manage repeatable accuracy one easy way of cutting them could be done with a trammel jig fastened to a water-cooled diamond saw.

The above is a layout drawing for the exterior stair I remodelled, photographs of which are documented on another entry.

Above, a top view plan for framing of porch decking at my own home. This does not show where the new walls will be (since part of the house is inside the normal setback from the property line).

Above, a top view plan estimating trenching for my new electrical service entrance and driveway re-location to the east side of the house. Since my septic tank is aligned in an odd way I also triangulated its exact location too. Never know when one may have the equipment to dig, so I thought it would be handy to have the drawing ready regardless.

My Resume

2008-01-10T14:12:00.003-07:00

Andrew N. Kottenstette
8222 Green Lane
Rye, Colorado 81069
(719) 242-6274
AKRyeGuy@Gmail.com

Qualifications
Trim Carpenter, Mold-maker, and Painter, self-employed and in conjunction with a family-owned construction corporation whose reputation requires a high degree of quality control and consistent inspection aimed more toward fine restoration of architectural details.

Carpentry and Mould-making
Installer of commercial displays, cabinetry and countertops in commercial and residential buildings; windows, doors, door hardware, and suspended ceiling tiles.
Installer and repairman of interior and exterior residential trim, including multi-layered crown moldings, fluted casings, stain-grade baseboards, stringers, bullnose stair treads, and gingerbread corbels. Replaced exterior stairways, railings and pickets in composite materials, decking, columns. Levelled sagging awnings. Management of jobs and apprentices on remote locations. Represented a family company responsibly in interpersonal client consultations, initiating and closing sales. All-round re-modeling labors including code compliant, or delicate demolitions, management of valuable salvage items and proper waste disposal. Fabrication of ornate decorative plaster cornice work through traditional mold-making and casting processes.
Journalism and photography of the above processes, publishing knowledge and developed skills regarding architectural restoration in historical buildings.
Viewing of same is available at any of my design or construction-oriented web logs: www.pouredintoamould.blogspot.com www.ryecraftsman.blogspot.com www.virtualsculptureakottenstette.blogspot.com )

Painting, Drywall, and Plaster Repair
Master Journeyman of residential, commercial & industrial painting, including planning, transportation and coordination of labor and materials on remote job-sites; operation of self-propelled extension lifts; hydraulic paint-spraying equipment; knowledge of many modern and antiquated coatings, plastering and sculptural materials and their applications complied over twenty years; Scaffold construction; Formulation and control of wood restorative materials used in building conservation using epoxy-based and hazardous materials, safety compliance in using fall-arresting equipment in urban environments.

Other Skills
Two and a half years fiberglass and rubber mold making in the Cast Stone Industry.
Self-taught Auto-CAD, 2 years.
Self-taught Google Sketchup 3-D design, 4 years.
Examples of which are also featured on my web logs.

Education:
South High School Diploma, Pueblo Colorado, 1979
University of Southern Colorado, Pueblo, Colorado 1979
Pre-engineering Major
University of Northern Colorado, Greeley, Colorado, 1981 -1983 Fine Art Major, Sculpture Emphasis, 3.05 cumulative GPA

Relevant Experience:
Self-Employment ~ Rye Craftsman
January 2005 - Present
Specialized and traditional construction contractor, new construction, remodeling, industrial and residential painting and carpentry, plaster repairs, design, layout, manufacture and installation of cast ornate plaster cornice work.

Previous Employment:
January 2006
Mold-maker, Milestone Ltd. of Amarillo, Texas
To see if I could commute once a week from Colorado to Texas, and to evaluate the prospect of re-location for a job returning to the cast stone manufacturing industry. Valuable employment, though brief.

September 2001 - January 2005
Painter, Burrer Painting ~ Pueblo, Colorado
Commercial and Residential painting service.
Master Journeyman of residential, commercial & industrial painting, including planning, transportation and coordination of labor and materials on remote job-sites; operation of self-propelled extension lifts; hydraulic paint-spraying equipment; knowledge of many different coatings and their applications complied over twenty years; Scaffold construction; Formulation and control of hazardous materials in hospital environments; Additional drywall finishing skills with custom wall surface texture repertoire; Minor carpentry repairs in framing, architectural trim work, wood restorative building conservation using epoxy-based materials.

May 2000 - September 2001
Painter, R & S Painting, Pueblo, Colorado
Commercial and Residential painters, some duties taking me on remote locations.

November 1999 - March 2000
Installer, Gunter Woodcrafting, Pueblo, Colorado
Commercial cabinetry installation and displays, some duties taking me on remote locations with some overnight stays. Valued employment, however brief.

April 1997 - October 1999
Mould-maker Haddonstone Ltd. USA, Pueblo, Colorado
Fiberglass & Rubber mold making studio. Duplicated and repaired fiberglass and rubber molds through hand- lamination and cavity pouring method. Full pattern-maker's shop machinery knowledge and use. Responsible for training employees and/or supervisiors at same position.

May 1995 - Present
Kottenstette Painting, Pueblo, Colorado
Residential painting, home improvement, plaster repairs. This is a life-long association I have kept on a vestige level with my father.

References Available Upon Request

Downtime

2008-01-06T13:28:00.000-07:00

I am having a period of under-employment, and so my attention turns to my own house and the blog of progress (or lack thereof) in it. It's a little scary, but I find part time work in other things. My family wonders, somewhat, how I can manage. Well, I'm single, have no dependants and have already done the regular grind for years in jobs that did not go anywhere, with dependants....or a sort of dependants in step-kids. I suppose I should file for unemployment, but it's such a distraction and doesn't do anything for my optimism.The weblog address is:

http://extremefixerupper.blogspot.com/

With freedom comes responsibility, and I'm striking with the momentum I have here.

A Job From a Year Ago

2008-01-01T10:52:00.000-07:00

When I was with the family company we had an exterior paint job which called for some renovative attention to tall wooden columns. We also got to try our hand at re-pointing some of the stone foundation and brick.

The house is a large "Four Square" that had been remodelled with the consultation of a local architect, but previous work before the present owners had moved in included the salvage of and incorporation of some tall wooden columns that graced the entryway of the old Red Cross Building where it stood on 8th Street in Pueblo, Colorado. They suported a pediment like a portico in an unusual two-storey accomodation.

Abatron wood consolidant and epoxy filler was used. This spring I was called back to put pidgeon spikes up because they were nesting under the eaves on the drainspouts. They were ruining our paint job! They seemed to be expanding out from a tall church about a block south. This seemed to be the second best hospitable place. (Pigeons are color-blind, so I'm not sure it had anything to do with new color scheme.) That's when I finally got to take pictures of the finish. Only minor touch up was needed. A little expansion and contraction was exhibited.
(After consulting with the owner about where the column top and bottom traditionally broke as a unit I painted the scotia and torus the green color. He prefered it as above. I would have painted those the limestone color.)

I found only one quibble with the architect about a blind return on the northeast side of the garage. Even with a drain and downspout that is only a couple feet away from the corner there must be a problem with snow getting caught inside the nook made there, which freezes and thaws until it overflows down the brick, causing water damage to the paint. It can't be much better on the brick and mortar. This will be a re-curring problem until it is remedied.

Here it is in detail.

My father ran into some damage up top when concidering the chimneys. After a little consultation with the client we then re-pointed them.

Stained Stringers & The Application of Moldmaker's Secrets

2007-11-18T13:44:00.001-07:00

Below is the template-cut stringer after stain and one coat of urethane varnish. We decided to rip a baseboard in half, putting the top part of it on top of the upper stringer, and the bottom part underneath the stringer that runs underneath the stairs. (It being a WM-811, in common lumbermill pattern reference, has a recurring ovallo, or "ogee" separated by a half-round bead. These are also referred to as "Victorian" baseboards.)
Here is where breaking the mill glaze on a wide board really pays off. The character of the wood really comes across without any interference. As per the owner's request the tighter grain is above and the more open below toward the treads and risers.

In working around older manufactured stairs which are subject to shrinkage, warping or twisting trying to match their contour is extremely complicated if one assumes the course of measuring each tread and riser individually. It is better to not measure them at all! How does one do this? It's easy, hot-glued plywood strips. I cut 1/4" plywood into strips. In this case I make three types: one for the tread that starts inside at the riser and goes past the nose a couple inches, another that fits inside the riser space average by a fraction, and another that rises further than the tread piece, tread to tread and places the nose's exact location. These are all hot-glued together rather simply and braced with a rigid board so the whole assembly will not distort when it is pulled off. The short version of this method (the right side of the stairway as one goes up) of patterning the upper stringer I've show below.

Trim applied to top stringer.

Side view.

Nearing completion.

The Challenge of Staining Fiberglass

2007-11-18T12:45:00.002-07:00

Okay, the subject of Fiberglass doors and the refurbishing of their stain and exterior finish.

They are really nice for some reasons. One, they won't warp. Two, they are insulated. Three, they are not cold, hard steel.But...and this is a big "but", they so far have only faked, plainly, at being wood in texture, and are a challenge when it comes to trying to breathe soul or "life" into them that wood naturally inherits. How does one go about this, especially with one that's about twenty years old now, the finish and varnish of which is faded and questionable? First, it has to be stripped down to the fiberglass.

If you read the side of the cans of the "hard core" Ez-Strip, or Strip-eaze products it specifies that it can damage fiberglass. So, you have to make the advancement to the relatively non-toxic citrus stripper. They do work. I find that with a little stainless brush you can work the stain out all the way from the fake grains (winter annual rings). It's just brush on, let sit a while, Scotch-brite and rinse, re-apply, wire brush and rinse again. To stain these to match an existing the base color of the fiberglass has to be taken into account. Where one coat might be too light, a second coat may be too dark. It's the non-porosity of fiberglass that makes it more akin to painting than staining. One almost needs a second, lighter stain to dial it in. The joints on a door have to be broken correctly with the brush. The best stain is almost a shoe-polish consistency, and the technique is exclusively dry-brush (a balance maintained of near-exhausted content of stain on the brush). I use one of those short, thick brushes made in Turkey of late. (They have a handle that unscrews and a piece of metal that allows one to hang it over the pail the material sits in...if that pail is a paint bucket with the rim removed.)

("After" pictures to be added later. -AK Nov.18, 2007)

[Added April 6, 2008:]

The Stairway - Plain to Fancy (Part Three)

2007-10-28T17:04:00.001-06:00

It shows how the spiral patterns in the wallpaper rhythmically recur in the wooden brackets. The last few cove pieces will go underneath the stair tread and end at the carpet on both sides.

After a little assessment it was decided that the same width for the top stringer would not work. Not only would it be unstable during the notch cutting operation, it would not give a visually proportionate buffer between the wall and stairs. We went with a 1" x 10" Hemlock Fir board special ordered. (Most of our materials have been acquired from Lowe's or Home Depot, large retail home improvement stores in the USA).

Instead of measuring and marking these out individually, laboriously I made a thin plywood template by hot gluing pieces together into one piece, reinforced by a piece of molding so it would not distort. I transferred this contour onto the board (see picture below). I used a Forstner bit to cut clean holes where the stair tread's bullnose starts superimposed on the pattern.

I give the Forstner a little help in starting accurately making a divot with an awl right on my mark. Reducing the error in locating these centers will make a great bit of difference later. The stair treads are 1-1/32" in diameter. The Forstner is 1". I will have to clean up the rest with a router and a template after a test fit.Then I took the board outside to cut the notches out up to the holes.
It's a big break to have a huge patio under an awning and really nice weather in southern Colorado to work outside in. This looks like it was August, but it was really late October.

I use a Japanese style pull saw to cut the rest of the way through. This one is about worn out, not from use, but from not having an appropriate cover or scabbard.The test fit causes much anticipation because of all the things that can go wrong either in not measuring correctly, and the degree of errors that can compound. This took me four hours, going from setting up everything, marking, drilling and sawing.
It's pretty close. Just some tune up with a router and a template. Then it's just a matter of sanding, staining and varnish.

The Stairway - Plain to Fancy (Part Two)

2007-10-28T15:37:00.000-06:00

Below details the method of treating the end of the stair treads along the lines of traditional approach. First the end board was removed, exposing the treads. It's at this point one can see what sort of problems will be encountered in contouring to these. Done a couple decades ago in solid wood, glued into planks there has been some movement. New manufactured stairways have made improvements in both laminated supports, risers and treads that practically eliminate warpage, shrinkage and squeaking. Since a decorative application is going over the stringer there is somewhat of an allowance for a gap. Some of these treads deviated from level several degrees one stair to the next.

There was some discussion over whether the decorative scroll work would be set flat against the stringer. The owner opted to avoid any further cutting into either the treads or the risers. It then leaves a small space open in between them and the stair, creating a shadow. This only meant an adaptation to the returns of the store-bought tread returns. I would mitre the front side and leave the back side alone, butting a small trim piece onto it underneath.

The picture below perhaps best illustrates how this would be accomplished. The warpage out of squareness was compensated for by marking and chiseling off the deviation. The risers were capped off with stained oak cove molding, square cut on top of the tread returns, and mitred at the top to cover a spacer which turned the tread return into a classical profile underneath. It then made a short return and butted into the stringer.

This gives an impression of what it will look like to whomever buys the house when just coming in the front door. I can additionally imagine maybe a side board with some kind of vase and flowers or sculpture on a small pedestal.

The Stairway - Plain to Fancy (Part One)

2007-10-28T14:19:00.000-06:00

When I first arrived on the jobsite and came in the front door the first thing I noticed was the notched board covering the stairways. The balusters and rail seem done well enough, but here it seemed like the carpenter had given up, or was forced to merely cap it off. It was asked if there was anything that I could do with it. My answer must have been an understated, "Yes." Over the weeks of taking care of all the trimwork all the traditional approaches were discussed. Nearing the end of the project and almost as if I were heading backwards out the same door that I came in, here are the results:

Before. Carpet ran up to the wall which had a wallpaper. One can just notice the plank covering the end of the treads. I mistakenly forgot to take pictures of the front.

Here it is mid-way. The inside end has been stained and varnish and was ready for the new wallcovering. As it turns out carpeting was done before that. It was probably a wise decision not to install wallcovering at that stage, when a lot of traffic was still occuring up and down these steps.
Below with wallcovering that the owner did quite capably by himself with assistance from his wife.

Fireplace Surround, Staining and Re-sizing

2007-10-28T13:23:00.001-06:00

I had two fireplace surrounds to work on. One just needed a little trimming tune up on the bottom of the sides, again only to accomodate the house's settling and the desire of the owner to make the focal point seem more level. Both have an angled ledger to draw them towards the wall tightly when they are set onto them. All I had to do was find wall frame and achor these into it level and very close to where the heights matched. First I stained these inside the garage (along with the carefully notched stringer that was to go under the stairs). One was a three-piece assembly. Broken down, here are the sides.

The one-piece surround was also stained to enrich the color and make the mahogany more uniform and deeper in tone.

Illustration below of the one that had to be re-sized. I had to take it to a cabinetry shop to get a more accurate table saw cut. It was installed on an octagonal angled wall in the master bedroom.

In the above picture one can see the angled ledger strip in between the halves before I put dowel pins in and clamped them together with glue.

Almost done. Taken before clamping and interior valances nailed on.

Wood Panel Jacuzzi-bath Access Cover

2007-10-21T09:22:00.000-06:00

A simple access cover for the Jacuzzi-bath in the upstairs hall was called for in the same stain match. I used marine-grade plywood, 1/2' thick made of Douglas Fir and pine cabinet facing.

A continuity of decorative application was called for there, adapting to the retro-fit of bathtubs in two hall bathrooms, and the accompanying new diagonally patterned tile and bordering. (It seemed to make an odd framing appendage seem like it was done on purpose.)

Some scraping over the heavy impasto texture had to be done in order to lay the moldings flat it the front and back sides, hence the plastic masking to keep stuff out of the tub. The top board, once contoured to the tubs rounded ends, was screwed down from underneath preventing water entry from the top.

Decorative Casings

2007-10-21T08:56:00.000-06:00

In the bathrooms decorative casing was called for on a peninsula wall between the Master Bathroom's double shower and the toilet. This was done at first by butting the back and sides of stained to-match existing Anderson-style window/door casing.

The owner then decided to accent the middle in between these moldings and was re-done accordingly with a trim molding of his choice. (This required re-sizing the plinth block below it, hence the baseboards were left for the last until final size was determined.)

Stained Tongue And Groove Panelling In The Breakfast Room

2007-09-03T11:30:00.002-06:00

Before the weekend I managed to get the tongue and groove panelling done in the breakfast room off the kitchen. I had to mold one piece of casing over the granite countertop but it wasn't too hard. They sell these at Lowe's in 8' long packages, the pieces themselves being only 1/4" in thickness. They do go with the theme upstairs in every bedroom but the Master bedroom. I get the impression that they make the room a little cozier, warmer, or more defined. I'd put some up in my house.

The trick with the lenth that they come in is to use three cuts at 32" and use all of the board with no waste. To do this one has to set the panelling bottom line at least below the top line of the base board. Luckily the baseboard here is 4-1/4" high. The top is finished off with a chair rail the same height of the belly of the granite countertop's profile, at 34-1/4".

The backside of the kitchen cabinets was kind of flimsy. Shooting some longer trim nails into the carcases seemed to tighten this up. I glued the back of the panelling with a bead of Liquid Nails - Wood Molding grade and used only 3/4" nails to fix them where I wanted them. After that it was down to the baseboards, a stained quarter-round to hide the corner joints on top, the same in a corner protector at the kitchen side, then the chair rail.

before - where casing piece needs to be molded to countertop.

after

before chair rail, corner 1/4 round and base.

after

Over the years in learning and adding little things in my trade that make a difference in the quality of the finish I have found one technique which is pretty simple to use. Most "blow and go" contractors will not take the time to use it, and so it falls to people like myself, or homeowners who will make the time, or pay to see the improvement.

During the process of milling moldings the blades on the molder get dull. If they get dull enough the wood is not cut as well, and instead gets beaten. The heat from this action hardens the wood wherever the blade would have sheared the fibers off cleanly. This is called "mill glaze". Although it is not good to get any wood wet that has been kiln dried - which will make it lose it's dimensional accuracy - you can moisten the profiled surface with a damp rag. This raises the grain ever so slightly. Although it is no remedy to reverse severe mill glaze it will allow easier sanding of the the wood where it has not been heated and softening of the areas that were and allow more even stain penetration. One lets the wood dry a half hour or so and then sands it before staining. Gel stain also decreases blotchiness in pine or troublesome woods like birch. I tend to disapprove of severe staining of light woods to simulate darker one because of the lack of control, some of the results of breaking the mill glaze are worth the try in situations in which this is done. In that situation a wood conditioner is required, adding on even more laborious steps that almost makes it worth while in total cost to simply buy darker woods, like walnut or alder and just varnish them a couple coats.

Above photo features the author spraying water-borne urethane over stained baseboard moldings. I use a two quart pressure pot around 33 psi on a high volume, low pressure sprayer (HVLP rig).

Trim Carpentry - Getting Near Completion

2007-08-26T18:58:00.000-06:00

I have made a defining terminal at the bottom of the stairway, after a hinted at what my client wanted with a piece of pre-primed, fiberboard fluted casing. I had to get the side pieces in a plain stock of the same width, but they did not sit at the correct depth when meeting up with the crown moulding. I had to use a planer and do each one to a different depth, then wrap an additional piece of wood around at the top aboveupon which I put a half-round moulding to simulate a torus or terminal. Pictured below are the results.

before

after

and at the base on top of a 1/2" piece of pine to offset it all the way around well.

Additional stained baseboards were applied throughout the first floor and more was prepared for the Master Bedroom and its bathroom.

Getting Work Done Without Getting Dirty

2007-08-12T00:29:00.002-06:00

Because of my keen interest in drafting (self-taught on an auto-CAD program) I drew up a plan for solving an irregular stairstep to the entry of the house. Previously it was two steps, a 7-1/2 inch step, and then a whopping 10 inch step. My plan was to re-do them to make three 5-1/2 inch steps.

I didn't charge anything in helping to get this job done (as a sort of architect in miniature). I just get to brag a little that I have had a hand in concrete without getting dirty or exhausted....for a change.

The Tribulations of Working With Family

2007-08-11T22:48:00.003-06:00

I feel pretty lucky to have this job with this particular client. I don't have to be in at the crack of dawn, and can work until I'm either too tired, or at insurmountable odds with a problem. Most the time I work until dark (because, lazy loafer that I am, I don't get going some days until the crack of 9:30AM, especially after teaching myself how to draw on computer until 2AM) House is empty. Three bathrooms with five working toilets, the one in the basement being the only one needing some attention.

The three-part crown moulding job turned into two more rooms, the Foyer and a small side hall to the study. The ceiling in the latter was humped badly in the middle and I was called on to flatten it out with some kind of in fill material.

This I do by pulling a string (10 lb. flourescent fishing line) over the hollows approximately where the ceiling moulding will sit. I use drywaller's cardboard shims every 16 inches and then pull a product called Structo-lite over these hollows. (Structo-lite is a pinkish gypsum plaster with styrofoam fillers in it.) Once I have a pretty good fill into these just short of the stringline I pull regular air-cured gypsum mud over that to top it. I had to fill in about 3/8 of an inch of space at its highest point.

At this point I was so spread out with tasks in carpentry that I called a brother that is a school teacher on summer leave to see if he wanted to make some extra money painting. This would go on manageably for an entire week, or until disagreements in method or procedure would arise. To me this is my livelihood, attempted or not, and to him it's a convinient sideline he can walk away from anytime he wants. A certain amount of this one can tolerate. It's to be expected. He would disregard how I wanted my tools taken care of and justify it with a mis-attributed tale of waste supposedly taught to him by our father, the painter (about losing a quart of paint every time you wash out a roller.) I don't know the basis of this, what amounts to disrespect for me or my tools. It's just a simple courtesy in my book. No need to chisel it in stone: "Clean out the roller every night that you don't know if you'll be back the next morning!" I later checked this legend with dear old dad and found he'd never said any such thing. There is insult to my intelligence added into the mix knowing that this roller is a very low nap, a well-worn one I have taken care of for years, and not a stucco roller with a 1 3/4" nap that just might hold a quart of paint. I answered back with something trying to make sense to him, " It's a low nap roller!" It's only then I realise my mistake in giving my opinion, and not an order in this truly familiar process. This one brother has a quicker habit than any of the others in deciding that he is in charge when something doesn't make sense to him. Then come the philosophical sayings to justify it: "Better to pray for forgiveness than to EVER ask permission", when he doesn't do either with me.

It puts a definite crimp on calling for help. Sometimes I think I more than likely call for company than help. In the end I take solace in the fact that he left construction for good reason.

The owner decided to finish out the garage with sheetroock and fiberglass insulation stapled in craft-papered batts inbetween the framing. Such heavy lifting is my brother's forte. We bid it out by the sheet (4' x 12' x 5/8"thick) at 25 sheets total. Over the weekend before the ceiling was to be started I performed the same ceiling flattening process as I used in the den, pulling the heavy fishing line from corner to corner. I got about 1/3 of it shimmed down to the string when I called it a day, expecting to be able to finish this process before we got the overhead hoist to work in there. I was over-ruled! It would make a huge difference in finishing out later, for which he was not able to stick around. We got into an arguement of how he was splitting a rafter bottom. I was suppose to trust him, instead of listen to a decent explanation. I didn't expect all the blow-up about it concidering he was a teacher, who supposedly had a lot of patience, or pedagogy. No patience, no answers. It feels like working with someone who fakes competence and beams false pride.

School was starting up again. And I think I was actually relieved, took the trade-off well. The next day he was there hanging twelve-foot sheets by himself when I gave him a list of things he could do until I got there. By now I didn't want to get there, and when I found my roller cover still dunked in paint I cleaned that out first. He had also brought one of his boys to babysit AND work at the same time. This I thought not only dangerous, but cheating the work of his full attention. He then asked me what I thought about his cutting an opening for the electric panel in one of his humongous sheets. It's a snide swipe at me when I know my opinion doesn't count for much! Again, the degree of insult he probably doesn't understand. He blew up when he found out that I took care of the roller first, when I knew he was lifting heavy sheets by himself. That was it. Got called evil. He took his boy home.

I was overwrought about it and upset. I figured he might come back for his tools and
continue to insist on how he'd been wronged. I wanted the whole day to go away.

Now at the age of 47 I never ask for any favors, or help from this direction. And although the company might be nice I forgo that too. I end up getting too much advice and so little help. "You're just too different", says my father. And so it goes.

June 2007 017

2007-07-07T11:54:00.001-06:00

June 2007 017
Originally uploaded by coille_mor

Wallpaper and carpet removed. (The underside of the covering still needs to be removed with a paste stripper. That will best be accomplished after the stairs are protected.)

Late June 2007 008

2007-07-07T11:50:00.001-06:00

Late June 2007 008
Originally uploaded by coille_mor

Splice Illustration

Ongoing Crown Application

2007-07-07T11:04:00.000-06:00

Work goes on into the other common areas, Formal Dining, Foyer, and Entryway.
A new task is added in the matter of preparing the stairway for stain and varnish up to the wall so it can be re-carpeted. Other things come along such as repair and replacement of casement window crank hardware and the rotted or damaged wood sills where they sit. Front door hinges are replaced, having witnessed a gap in their brass from twenty years of wear. It's still sagging. A couple wood screws into the jamb may be in order to get things right. I fix the sloppy deadbolt latch gratis, fearing for the theft of my tools one night. I know full well this would only slow dedicated thieves.

Painting the Stairwell ~ Historic Federal Building

2007-05-10T16:53:00.003-06:00

Earlier this spring I was called upon, for one reason or another, to paint the stairwells in areas my father and brother (of Kottenstette Brothers Inc.) had not completed. Though it took a good deal of improvisation with the scaffolding, planking, and ladders on hand I managed to devise a way to get at these. (A more direct way, in hind-sight, would have been to make one main scaffold stack inside the stairwell from the ground floor up to the fourth floor ceiling.) It was an adventure involving a lanyard and body harness I would attach to the railings. Though at times awkward I got used to it and found myself using it to brace against to alleviate some of the body fatigue and tedium.

The mauve and pink colors on the plaster stringer previously keyed into the marble wainscotting, with the black on the rail, newel post and balustrade. Ralph Lauren metallics in green, two types of gold and bronze where used. Below is a view down from the fourth floor.