Demolition derby, continued

11/4/11

More hackery last night. As you can see, I got more cabs down- had to take that one off the back wall for the gas line guys today. The bottom cabs that jut out are proving to be kind of a bitch, but I just figured out how to get the icky laminated countertops apart, so that should help. And today I get my own drill back ($32 to fix it), so that'll help. I still have to get ALL the cabinets out including the sink, and I'm pulling down that entire ceiling "drop" and all the fluourescent fixtures and ceiling fan yuckery. Gonna make the ceiling uniformly level- I'll probably need some (semi) professional help for that.

BTW, in case anyone was wondering "where it all goes"...

That doesn't even include the cabs I hauled out to the side of the house...

Kaopectate, please

11/4/11

Today is gas install day.

This one of what's sure to be many "costs you didn't account for". The kitchen, laundry room and hot water heater are all electric. This was probably swell in 1963 when Hoover Dam power was el cheapo, but not so swell today when power is pricey and gas isn't. So... this is the part where I'm trying to remind myself that the $1200 I'm dropping to get gas run all over the place will pay for itself.

The good news it that the plumber guys are cool, and they're pretty much setting up the lines for my future kitchen lovlieness. They're also pulling out the ghetto gas lines for the fireplaces (which I'm gonna make "regular"). This means it'll be easier to knock down that wall over there...

Best of all, I'll get to use my new (used) dryer. I've never been so excited about the prospect of doing laundry!

The eve of destruction

10/30/11

My kitchen, approximately 11:AM this morning:

And now, at 5:PM:

Though all my destructive friends would love to believe that this kind of thing simply entails banging the bejesus outta stuff with a sledgehammer, the reality was considerably more scientific- I don't even own a sledgehammer. I do own a rather large and wicked pry bar, but it's mostly a lot of "what the heck is holding this together" followed by unscrewing and prying, and trying to make sure nothing falls on your head (succeeded at that) and that you don't shock yourself on all the electrical in there. (fail... I thought I had all breakers off, but I missed one. Luckily the jolt was pretty minor) Also had to make sure I cut off all the wires and electrical taped them so as not to blow anything up. As I suspecting, the brown backing wasn't a wall at all, just 1/2" particle board, which I pretty much yanked off with my bare hands. Rarrr!!!!

All was going well until my DeWalt drill crapped out. Both of its batteries died over a year ago, and I haven't gotten around to replacing them. This week I got a new battery ($70!!!), but the drill was emitting a weird smell. I figured either the new battery had too much juice, or the motor was dirty from sitting. I called DeWalt this week and they assured me that it was the correct battery, and it should be fine. Well... today that smell got even worse and was accompanied by smoke, and a large reduction in speed. Which I'm pretty sure is bad. This brought my efforts to a grinding halt. Tomorrow I shall call DeWalt and see if I can get some satisfaction. The drill is around eight years old, but it shouldn't just die, right? If they don't help set things right, I'm going to explain to them in no uncertain terms that I'm marching over to Home Depot to buy a replacement DeWalt drill... the kind that says "Makita" on the side.

Actually not always better to burn out than to fade away

10/29/11

Since I moved in last Sunday, there's been no light in my foyer, which obviously complicates night time entry. Tonight I removed the glass from the ugly fixture and discovered three bulb locations but only one bulb present- this little compact fluorescent bastard here:

Now, I was under the impression that these never burn out, so I thought maybe there was an electrical problem (sigh). But I popped in a new standard incandescent bulb and it worked just fine, proving that CFL's do in fact burn out. Which could explain a lot of the lighting (or, non-lighting) issues in Casa Brookman. I guess I'm confusing them with LED's (which don't burn out unless you do something real stupid- like running a ton of current to them. Don't ask me how I know that.)
While we're on the topic,  this place is literally the Winchester Freakin' Mystery House of light switches. Apparently Rabbi Ba-ruchman was a somewhat harebrained contractor (according to my neighbor), and boy was he big on an extraneous outlet and/or light switch... usually not aligned properly, often with mismatched switches and plates. Anyone who knows me should know that this is my equivalent of waterboarding torture. 

As I renovate each room, I'll figure which ones actually do something relevant and leave what's necessary. Plus you can get nice two or three ganged switch things like this:

... so I'm sure I could combine some of these and fill in the holes with drywall.

Towel the people you love with love…

10/28/11

Today I installed this beaut, which is an Ikea double-wide towel rack I've had laying around forever. It doesn't match the massive brass array in the previous listing, but I figure it's a temporary solution until I tear into the master bathroom. You can see more giant holes where the previous brass yuckery was, as well as more evidence of the salmon/carnation abomination pink paint that surely made Rabbi Brookman feel all manly in the bafroom. These people also loved a toggle-bolt, which works great in hollow walls, but also necessitates a huge hole. More things for me to fix later.

Brass in Pocket

10/28/11

Man oh man these people loved themselves some supertacky brass and gold. I can only imagine them seeing my understated silver appointments and wondering why anyone would desire such un-garish accoutrements. First pic is a pile of towel holder crap I took down (mostly without the actual part that holds the towel. But of course...)

BTW, the shower is actually pretty trippy, and probably cost a fortune. It's totally enclosed when the door is shut, has more water pressure than almost any shower I've experienced, and has four weird random wall sprayers as well as a separate "hose" (much to my cats' dismay). They're separately engageable. There's also some kind of sauna vapor function, apparently controlled by the digital doodad in the wall, but I don't think it works- afraid to mess with it! There's some kind of scary medical-looking box in the cabinet next to the shower that runs that. I'll almost feel bad tearing this shower out. I'm pretty sure one could learn to pilot a small aircraft with less training than it takes to understand the complete workings of this shower. Set the controls for the heart of the clean.

Chain of Pools

10/28/11

This big, wet 'n' turquoise wonder is my pool. Ooh! Aah! Like everything else at the Brookman Residence, it's handsome from a distance, and 20-30% less handsome up close (just like me). For the record, I have yet to go in it- it's kinda cold at present. I probably need a thermal cover. And a pool guy...

After about four days here, it occurred to me that newly-installed pump (installed by Fannie Mae people, yo thanks) never seemed to shut off. I'm pretty sure they aren't supposed to run all the time, so I googled it, and sure enough, they're supposed to be on one hour for every ten degrees of temperature (I'm going to be NV Power's new customer of the month...). It's a lovely seventy-something degrees here in Vegas, so about seven hours.

After trying to hit the switch and having it snap back, I determined that the timer box was working wonky. This guy:

Here we see the other side, which has some sort of... I don't know what that is. The bars don't come off, so I can't see how it would work together with the world of modern toilet paper. Alas, it shall be one more thing I get to rip out and fill with drywall. Foofel the cat says hi.

Project #1: Operation TP

10/27/11

I can never understand why any and all dwellings one moves into never have toilet paper holders or towel racks. What did the savages who resided there before you do? Use their hands? Rip them out in spite? "NONE SHALL WIPE!!!" Toilet paper without a roll holder = white-trash tragedy of epic proportion. I sprung for the finest in $5 TP holders from the local Home Depot, as I intend to totally gut the bathroom anyway (see how optimistic I am?). As you can see, there's a big mess o' pink wall there, left not by a previous TP holder, but a larger grab bar which I removed. I assume that was for previous owner Eileen Brookman who grew quite old here, but it was mounted so haphazardly that I fear it could've caused her to have fallen and not gotten up. But hey, maybe she had LifeCall™.

Here we see the other side, which has some sort of... I don't know what that is. The bars don't come off, so I can't see how it would work together with the world of modern toilet paper. Alas, it shall be one more thing I get to rip out and fill with drywall. Foofel the cat says hi.

Mitch's mega house renovation

10/27/11
I decided to write a blog about the massive undertaking of rehabbing my newly-purchased sixties Brady Bunch Vegas pad. At the very least, I'll have a nice record of how things happened (or didn't), and at best, my friends and family can laugh at my dumb ass and all the misadventures awaiting me. I've been here less than a week, and already have some small things done, so I'll get on writing them up.

Without descending into false modesty, it really does look nicer in the picture. Kind of like a CG smoothed out version of how it really looks. Which is ok. But it's 48 years old. And imbued with 48 years of questionable decisions. It is my mission to undo the stupid. Hellz yeah. Bring it!