January 9th, 2012
the moment you’ve all been waiting for (; well… ok.. that we’ve been waiting for! a shower, hot water! woohoo! it’s not done as you can see, but it’s working, and that is fabulous to us. we knew all along that we wanted a walk-in doorless shower. we didn’t know what material we would use, we thought white subway tile would probably be most affordable (and thus what we would buy). lucky us though, when we went shopping we found beautiful carrera white marble to be only a smidge more, we chose 3×6 tiles for the walls and 12×24 tiles for the floor (the shower floor is 12×24 tiles that were cut to allow sloping to the drain).
we went 10 ft up the shower walls, to the point where the ceiling starts to slope, and then are drywalling the top for a smooth transition to the drywalled shower ceiling. this is the only portion of ceiling in the entire house that will not be blue beetle wood. (due to moisture concerns) the rest of the master bath will have wood, but the shower will not.. also, we put in 6 can lights that would have been a real challenge to cut wood around. in the rest of the bath we went a little less than half way up the walls with tile, leaving the remainder for pictures. we wanted a fancy shmancy, luxury hotel feel and we love it!
i don’t have diy (sean did the drywall & lighting, but for time concerns we hired out the tile installation) photos or in progress photos because of the timing of the work, middle of winter, it was quite cold and the tile guy ensconced himself behind layers of plastic and tarping to maintain high heat in the bathroom while working, and after, to help set the tile. not wanting to intrude i basically stayed away and only at the very end started getting these photos. depending on your time frame (and skill set) would you want to take on a job like this. our bathroom has almost 3000 tiles, that is a.l.o.t. of tile to set and a lot of cutting, making sure the floors lay right, oye and double oye if you don’t know what you’re doing.. even with a professional this job took a ton of time, so be prepared!
December 14th, 2011
we drove just under 1600 miles in two days (with a quickie visit in between) and we are really, really glad to be home! our first travel day was sunny and beautiful, but day number two, not so much. non-stop rain and foggy like pea soup for the first eleven hours. the most perfect welcome home? only five minutes after crossing into colorado we had sunny blue skies. it was cause for celebration.
the last thing we had hoped to show you before heading out to the carolinas was the porch roof but it wasn’t finishes until late in the evening and then we left in early morning darkness. i tried taking a photo anyway but night photography and a point and shoot don’t really go together (at least with me manning the camera). so our first thing to show you coming back is that we finally got all of that pretty silver metal installed.
we have a long to-do list. this seems to be a recurring theme, one that we’d like to reverse for the upcoming year. (; we are getting to some fun DIY so be ready.. like finishing walls, tiling the master bath (big big BIG fun plans for that little space), doors, a fireplace, a new age fancy pants heat and ac system.. lots. of. stuff. be patient, we’re both scrambling around like crazy, but we’re feeling it, we must, we must, we must create more dust… here we go. again.
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Tagged: camp 1899, colorado blog, edgewater co, home diy blog, home renovation blog, small houses, tiny house blog, tiny houses
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November 21st, 2011
it’s amazing how what seems like such a huge project is really very simple and fast. water + self-leveling cement + a long mixer attachment for your drill + a couple of hours = concrete floors. (well, with a lot of quick spreading and mixing and spreading and mixing by the husband) we now have smooth, even, wonderful concrete floors. sometime in the future we’re considering wide plank wood floors, but we love the mix of a little industrial so we might end up keeping them. it’s definitely a two person job, one to help pour the dry mix, get more water, keep the “cement cocktail” turning in the tub and then help pour, otherwise, move steadily and make sure to buy more cement than you think you’ll need so you don’t run out mid-project.
prior to pouring, we laid sheets of metal mesh throughout the house to grab onto the cement ↓
November 14th, 2011
happy happy joy joy. a toilet!!
no base to clean. energy efficient. ready to use!
(see our first post here. and if you want one, it’s a toto)
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Tagged: camp 1899, diy blog, home diy blog, home renovation blog, tiny house blog, toto, toto toilet, wall hung toilet
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October 27th, 2011
we had planned a pretty wrap up of our front porch for you today but it snowed. two days ago he was fast and furiously working on the gingerbread siding (don’t you love it?) and the last of the metal roofing for the porch; he just needed one more hour to finish but the weather had other plans. which means stay tuned for part six (the finale.. we hope). the gingerbread siding is made from cement board (ours is hardieboard) and will be painted white sometime in the (semi) near future.
missed some… the porch: parts one, two, three, and four
September 27th, 2011
the entire bottom of the house has a border on it, an extra layer of mortar or stucco over the brick that was painted gray. we liked the overall look but had planned to repaint a less blue gray sometime in the future. then while the brick people were here working on the windows & doors they suggested re-doing the border with a new layer of stucco for a smooth, continuous look, and with a slight edge for a more polished finish. (the border was a bit rough and uneven) they gave us a couldn’t-beat-it price so we went for it. they didn’t do it at the same time because of scheduling, instead, they just recently came back and did the whole job in an afternoon. the finish is so much nicer than we had imagined, well worth the little extra cash over just repainting. in fact we love the color of the stucco so much, we aren’t even going to paint it. less maintenance and less work for us, yes, please!
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Tagged: camp 1899, diy blog, home diy blog, how-to blog, stucco border
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September 22nd, 2011
→ typically you line a roof with roof paper, a thin barrier between your sub-roof and actual roof and use a product like stormguard to line the edges and the ridge cap, a heavy duty tar liner that is more durable (and expensive). Paper runs about $18 a roll, stormguard is $109 a roll (and less length). since our roof is so small we chose to cover the entire roof with the more expensive, it creates a much better barrier and in the long run will give us more longevity. for example if something were to leak through the metal, it wouldn’t come through, the tar would prevent it seeping further and would instead allow it to run off. the rolls are around 66ft long and are extremely heavy. he cut 8ft. strips, applying one at a time, laying them opposite the sub-roof boards, thus never having lines meet up or an open joint. (very important because the less seam to seam you have the lower the opportunity for leaks) it is well worth spending the extra money, even if you have a larger home, it will cost more in the short run but can ultimately save you in the future. this is definitely a two person job because of the weight, so if you’re planning on diy’ing your roof, grab some help for this one!
we were so excited to see this truck pull up! it’s funny because it doesn’t look like nearly enough, it’s much more compact than we’d envisioned… we love the color, especially since silver (galvanized) was common at the time the house was built and could have been what you would have seen originally. the roof has a 25 year warranty, has bracing for up to 100 mile an hour winds, and can support 24″ of snow weight.. all of which we have no desire to prove!!
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Tagged: camp 1899, diy blog, home diy blog, roof repair, stormguard, weatherproofing a roof
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September 15th, 2011
the back of the house was a small addition many years ago.. as a cost saver the roof line was not made vaulted to match the existing roof (which would have required more framing, and also redoing the entire roof’s shingles) but we wanted high ceilings front to back so ?? amount of years later, the hubby’s on the job. in addition to not building a vaulted roof, they also had the flat roof be lower than the existing external brick walls.. creating a gap that had to be framed (up) to match the roof line (allowing the pitched part of the roof to be built off of this). we framed this part instead of using brick to add additional support. many, many, wood cuts later, we have a fully framed roof. next off with the shingles & wood from the front half of the house so the new sub-roof (plywood sheets) can be laid front to back.
we called a few roof companies to get estimates on how much a metal roof would cost to be installed (with the roof fully prepped beforehand) and wow is an understatement. let’s just say we were in no way prepared for what they would quote us. with the roof being a new blank canvas we felt sure that labor would be much more minimal, and with our house being tiny (how much could 528sq. ft cost?) that we’d be good to go. well that would be a big no way. try singing the tune of $8500. i immediately got to work researching (my major behind-the-scenes job where i try to save us as much $$$ as possible) metal roof supply companies and whether or not we could do the roof ourselves.
we are hiring out very little of the remodel work, so far only the masonry work on the windows and doors, but had thought a roof install might be one of those few things worth hiring out. no thank you for almost 10 grand for such a small roof. we can’t even imagine how much normal sized homes would cost! anyway, in short, i hit paydirt after a little searching. i found one of the major suppliers nationwide of metal roofing, they ship everywhere and delivery was very reasonable at only $150. for all of the metal sheets, trim, etc., plus spending extra on weatherproofing for the entire roof, the grand total ( i feel like we need a drumroll here) was only $2000!!!! $6500 less. basically we did a lot of happy dancing. we shall soon see his metal roof skills; but first we’ve go to tear off all of those old shingles.
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Tagged: camp 1899, diy blog, diy framing, diy roofing, home diy blog, metal roof
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September 12th, 2011
we wanted vaulted ceilings from front to back and that meant tearing down the existing flat roof on the back of the house, as with all demo, it was fairly easy, just a little bit of manpower and off it went. which means more framing and we’ll also be tearing the shingles off of the rest of the house so a new roof can go front to back. we’ve decided to go with a metal roof, i think we’re going to go with traditional silver which would have been the only color of metal roof you might have seen over a hundred years ago.
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Tagged: camp 1899, diy blog, diy roof, home diy blog, metal roof
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September 7th, 2011
the framing continues and it’s not only going up to the rafters but we’re also laying out walls.. which means we’ve got our floor plan! HUGE accomplishment… and we think everything’s going to fit. (; i am a horrible artist on paper so the floor plan i came up with was pure chicken scratch.. luckily my husband is chicken scratch certified and followed right along with me!
but it also means i don’t really have a fancy drawing to show you.. over the next week i’ll do good descriptions based on framing photos to give you a much better plan than I could ever put to paper. basic layout though.. one big (big being relative here) room that houses the living, kitchen, and dining areas. one teeny tiny loo for guests, one bedroom with one (very sad face here) closet to be shared.. a secret, my husband is a tad bit messy hence the sadness over sharing a closet. ); and finally the master bath. we’re going to have extremely limited storage.. we might be grocery shopping daily.. not to be european chic but because there isn’t anywhere to put extra soup cans. all said, we’re very excited about the layout, we fit the king sized bed into our twin sized room, we squeezed in a tiny guest bathroom, we love the open ceilings, and are so very happy y’all are following along with us! thank you!!
the first & second photos are the start of the wall that will separate our bedroom /bathroom from the rest of the house, and the last two photos are of the front wall & ceiling/roof framing.
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Tagged: camp 1899, denver co, diy blog, diy house blog, small house renovation, small houses
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