Beebe -- our 1935 Bungalow on Baker Street.

[Texas_Ranger]

I'm really not too concerned, as there's been no sign of the green coming out of the pipe, as it were. I just thought it was funny because when I found myself hunting up that thread after failing to find or remember the other copper I had seen in the house overall, there were the pictures--copper pipes! If they hadn't had the green on the outside, I may well have glazed right over that.

Yeah, that's a funny coincidence!

[Lily left the valley]

Lily, I see a formal Victorian look to your scetch, maybe the "overly imaginative" brain of yours deeply wants a grand Victorian rather than a grand Craftsman.

Lily, read past this several times, best get it answered. Your scetch to my eye has a formal terraced look with a fancy formal balladstraid deliniating the terrace. That, and a formal Victorian style of you plantings and every thing in it's place.

Okies, so it was those bits in particular.

The trick about the terracing is concern about erosion. The slope as it currently runs is also a bit unwieldy to weed. I will keep researching on alternatives, but perhaps if we ditch the half height fence, and maybe not make the plantings so in their place-y, that will help relax it despite any terracing.

Thanks for your thoughts. It does help guide the layout. I'll rough a few more when I have time to see what I can come up with.

[Lily left the valley]

Time to fess up something...we ran out of oil yesterday. We knew we were low, but we didn't think we were that low. We can't get a delivery until Friday, which we were hoping what we had would last until, but no. We will be using one of the budget plans available from the supplier we picked, but we want to get one last larger delivery in at the lower cash/gal. price because...not much cheaper, but still cheaper. The way the plan works, is you are quoted for a set # of gallons (I think I mentioned this the other day), but if you use up all the gallons, say, in January, and then winter hangs around, if the oil price surges, you get stuck with the new rate.

So Sean did the run with a 5G can for diesel. Then, of course, because it ran dry, no love with the push button.

I am really not used to dealing with an electronic starter like we have now, or even a burner with so much complexity to it electronics wise. Of course this one has a "secret" to putting the burner in prime mode. So I had to pull out the manual today because I had forgotten this from my former skim through.

I knew when we found the manuals waiting for us on top of the boiler at closing that they were solid gold in worth. The circuitry all makes sense when you read the diagrams, but I'm just used to much less complex variations. One thing I found very interesting, is that despite all the very well noted diagrams, the bleed valve was not labeled. I don't know if they did that on purpose because the assumption was the manual was for pros, or they were trying to prevent encouraging homeowners from DIY work. If I didn't have the experience I've already had with such, I wouldn't have even known what to look for on the casing.

I also found a fellow (in MA, but sadly too far away or I'd hire him in a hot second to be our regular guy) that has some great videos about boilers and our burner in particular, although he covers others too. I started watching them today, and I'm learning loads. He breaks down the burner lessons into nice short vids, so you don't have to keep track of where you left off if you can't watch for long.

So now I know that a tall Bush's baked beans can is perfect for a line bleed to keep the spatter down from the air spitting, although I hope I never have to do that again!

I meant to post two days ago that we had our first knock on the door about vinyl windows (first) then he slid his pitch into siding when I explained to him why we had zero interest. Then he looked downright sad when I explained that yes, we would be getting rid of the asbestos, but we were so thrilled because our original wood siding was underneath. He was really nice, though, and actually thanked me when I responded to his apology for "bothering us" that he was just doing his job, and I understood.

[Lily left the valley]

Random thought as I was looking at several pictures today of restores in progress. Now that I've seen veneer plaster, I'm seeing it everywhere, or now I'm recognizing it everywhere. The latter is probably closer to the truth.

[Lily left the valley]

I tend to poke about on the internet in between house stuff, especially anything outdoors. I have some mild allergies, and sometimes I'd rather just take a break inside for a bit than take a pill.

One thing I found myself doing today was cleaning up bookmarks I had made from when we first moved to Gardner. There were a bunch that were no longer needed (entire folders on other houses we'd looked at, for instance). One really neat one I came across is documentation of a report.

Reconnaissance Survey Town Reports, produced for MHC’s Statewide Reconnaissance Survey between 1979 and 1987, introduce the historical development of each of the Commonwealth’s municipalities. Each report begins with an historic overview, a description of topography, and political boundaries.

The report has all sorts of information regarding Gardner and how it formed in this area. It also notes in a few sections about how older data wasn't available due to "how late" Gardner was incorporated as a city, which I thought was interesting. I also learned a bit about what buildings in town were still extant, as well as what was considered typical architectural styles for early settlement. Then I had to stop myself from reading it all the way through, yet I'm glad I bookmarked it back when.

I know this isn't about Beebe directly, but I thought it worth mentioning.

[Lily left the valley]

While eating lunch, I heard something odd at the window. It seems it may have been a tufted titmouse. I couldn't figure out what it was doing for the life of me until it stopped pecking at the edge of the aluminum storm frame and had a cigarette filter in its beak that it had fished out of the tracks. It had been ripping at it to get at the fluffy bit inside the wrapper, meaning it was nest making...with a filter that could still have loads of nicotine in it.

The good thing is seeing that made me realize yet another reason why it's been worth it to pick up the oodles and oddles of filters I keep finding all over outside. We smoke, but we do not butt toss like that, not that there's any good reason to, considering the overall volume I've already found.

Welp, out I went post haste after finding some of my scrap string and dryer lint. I thought we got the butts all out of the channel, but apparently not, although I could not find any more in that sill. I did a quick walk around to the few other windows short an outside screen or storm to make sure we hadn't missed any others.

I hope it comes back to get what I left, but I know it's not likely because I just put it out there and my human smell will be strong. I've got the camera ready this time just in case.

[Lily left the valley]

I realized again recently that when I talk to folks about working on Beebe--especially those who have no experience fixing things up--because what I'm talking about sounds hard and like a lot of work, they see it as complaining. To me, it's just part of the process of getting what needs doing, done. Does some of it hurt or give me a moment of cursing the powers that be? Yes. I'm not a mastery level anything, and I don't do this often enough for it all to be second nature. I make dumb mistakes that in hindsight really were dumb, and cost me at least time. Still, I love doing it with my own hands. It is satisfying and I do take a certain amount of pride once finished when the result is good and solid.

I have, though, been having a wee bit of the "overwhelmeds" lately. It feels silly, since most of the projects I'm juggling are little--tiny, even in some cases, but I think it's also because I know the larger projects we are hoping to do in the next 1-3 years are looming in the back of my mind--especially the attic insulation when I haven't yet found a way to get the batts up to the attic that will fit since they are stiff. The few 90°F days we had already have taught us we'll be wanting to get that in mid-end July at the dead latest.

I have a short list of the "little" jobs that of course are only little in size, not time required. Some of which you don't get that satisfactory visual once done. The stove, for instance. I need to replace some of the connections on it so all the bits function, and also to find out if it's only the connection that's preventing the oven portion from heating properly, or if the thermo unit is blown. Those few broken bits could take an hour to fix, could take much longer. So I've been putting it off even though I really miss baking cookies in a real oven, since our toaster oven we don't even have cookie pans small enough to fit in there, so we've mostly been making cookie bars which are fine, but not the same. We've also had to be creative using many smaller pans or divided down recipes for quick breads and the like. Not the end of the world, just what we're doing until we can do otherwise.

I'm also having a hard time keeping my hands tied down with starting other bits--not starting the kitchen garden bed until we're sure all the mechanical rubbish from former residents is gone; removing siding off the cellar jut to get a better look at the old wood siding underneath; not lifting the rest of the vinyl in the dining room just in case the red gloriousness underneath is not in good shape; wanting to take apart the shower fixture to see how bad the leak really is, but worried that will be a Pandora's box which we don't have funds for right now; et al.

We have also started hitting the wall of where to put things. A few bits is due to cleaning still not done, some is due to the still too wet cellar and not many places to "put" all my tools yet, some is just furniture we used to have, and now don't, so that stuff has no where to live yet, although we have plans for built ins and the like, which are all down the road projects.

My biggest of late, which I am embarrassed to admit even now is the newel post. I wanted to deal with that early, thinking it wouldn't be too hard to fix the cap, then realized when it was knocked off, there was quite a bit of damage done to the trim aside from just the missing piece. Well, that led to leaving it off, and then the other day I was taking a box of eye drops up to the bathroom, and somehow as I rounded the post, I dropped it. Down the hole it went of the newel post. Tried to reach in, and immediately got stabbed. Got a flashlight, saw the likely 8p nails sticking out where they connected the railing, and also felt oddly relieved to see quite a few bits like a lighter and such already down there. Had the brilliant idea, since the box was very light to use the shop vac. Did not think to tape the extension bit onto the hose, and sure enough, as I was lifting the box out, the hose snagged on the nails and now the extension is stuck in there too. Not my finest moment, to be sure.

The one thing the incident did help with, was remind me I'm overdue for a tetanus booster. We really need to pick a primary care doc here.

[awomanwithahammer]

Oh no! I think I'd put a piece of tape over the newel post hole till you get to it! Amazing, if you'd been trying to hit the hole, you wouldn't have been able to.

I understand what you are saying. I often have to fight my ADD because everything's a priority. I'll be working on one thing when all of a sudden the light bulb goes off about how to do something else so I have to go try it. Or I'll go looking for a tool and see something else that needs to be done, so I start to do it then realize I was already in the middle of something and have to drag myself back.

The first time my sister saw my house, she had no words, except, "There's a lot of work to be done." I don't mind the work because I can already see the end result in my mind's eye, but all she could see was all the work. You're right, though, when you talk about what needs to be done, it does sound like complaining, and folks that don't know want to know why you put yourself through it! But it certainly is the most satisfying feeling in the world to have created order from chaos with your own hands.

[phil]

"We do use a BRITA pitcher, and that's from old habit because we have lived in some very metal heavy areas."

a workmate of mine said his family had serious health issues and they all went to the doctor and had been quite sick.. after much ado the issue was finally traced to the Brita! . They had stopped using it for a spell and started using it again and I guess you dont' really have to leave them on the counter long before you get stuff growing in the filter , then instead of filtering your water, they poison you!
obviously yea you should change the filter but it probably isn't too uncommon for this sort of thing to happen.


You could get it tested. lead is bad for you but is copper ? If the water is hard then there are minerals but maybe a water test cold show if it is healthy. Hard water isn't necessarily unhealthy is it ?

[phil]

I had promised to post about how to make the missing bit of molding detail that you have missing on your handrail.
I keep forgetting to photo the tool dad helped me make but here is something similar

https://theschoolofthetransferofenergy. ... ck-cutter/

now if you wanted a lot of molding you'd use a router or a tablesaw with a molding head or there are many other molding machines and you can have blades made, but in this instance where you just have a bit of molding missing it isn't practical to have blades made up.

the holder is simple if you look at the picture then you can get inventive, you could make that out of plastic or wood or whatever is around. it just needs to be able to clamp the blade and be adjustable so you can accurately position the depth of the blade and how far it is from the stop.

for the blank, you will want some wood similar to what the rest is but it's just a stick, so I'd cut a few and you could even just start with a softwood until you are happy with the shape your tool makes.

You need a bit of steel to make the blade from. we actually just used a butter knife with a flat blade, you could use a piece of an old rusty handsaw you bought at a garage sale or a piece of a trowel or what you can find. it should be tough enough that it is a little springy and it should not be so hard you can't file it. an old putty knife would be ok.

the rest is just comparing your sample to get the profile. you can make a paper one first just to get the general shape you want and then make the metal one. you can file the metal to the shape you want or you can use a dremil with a little cut disk or little grindstones.

the shape you put in the blade is actually very fussy and critical but you can just try the tool and compare the resulting shape until you have what you need, then use fir or whatever you have to match.

you could stqrt with a wood strip about 1/2" x 1/2" or 1/2" x 1" or what you want to and then you just set the blade so it is barely protruding and scrape a few times and then keep alternating between scraping and repositioning the blade , or you might rough it out so you have less wood to remove by scraping.. the piece you need is so small I'd be tempted to get the profile on a larger piece then trim it to size, just because it is a bit small to hang on to.

prepare to do a bit of fiddling to get the profile right. you can always sand the finished piece a little if you need but the blade needs to be fairly close in shape and I would expect to take a few tries between trying it and then adjusting the profile until it matches up to your sample.

since you only need a small bit of molding it isn't a lot of scraping to do , you will spend more time getting the blade filed just right. If you dont' own a dremil you might get by with just a few small fine files. I have a set that is for detail work with multiple shapes but you could get by with a little chainsaw file for the most part.

if you want you can use bluing but dont' buy that just put a little spray paint on the metal blade will do. let it dry, then you can set your sample on end and trace around it with a sharp scribe to get the rough shape, then file to your scratch mark in the paint.

once you have the blade right , making the molding should go pretty easy and you can make more of course there are limits to how much molding you will want to make by this traditional method but you can make what you want and I think it's the most suitable method just to recreate the bit you have missing. at leas there is no real cost, it's just a fiddly little job.

this is a good way to go if you have a lot of paint to scrape along a profile, for example cleaning paint off a handrail or around a profile on a window. You can make yourself a special tool that fits the profile to make the scraping of details like that go much faster.

Phil