Dirty Laundry

Last spring I got my dream washer/dryer. I’d researched for a few months and decided on a stacking front-load set. They’re compact, they’re really water and energy efficient, they’re new and they’re awesome. Except for one thing… we live in the second floor apartment of a hundred-year-old house.

One of the things that makes the front-load washer so efficient is that it spins at a super high rate of speed. It’s a little like listening to a jet spin up, and as it spins up it vibrates at varying frequencies. So first the glasses rattle. Then the stuff on the counter rattles. Then the house starts to shake.

I leveled that machine within a gnat’s ass front to back, side to side and on the diagonals. I made sure that all four feet were in complete contact with the floor. I spent hours tweaking the bugger. Nevertheless, it was impossible to run the washer on the highest spin setting without getting that primal urge to flee. It felt like an earthquake. Not a big one - more like a 3.2 trembler than a full-on 6.0 rumbler – but even so it’s more than a little disconcerting.

So we ran the washer on a lighter cycle and that was better but the house still shimmied on the spin. It got to the point where I only did a load of laundry if I knew I was going to be out of the house by the time it spun up (17 minutes from pushing start). This usually worked - except for when my guy was working from home. On those days we either didn't do laundry or he'd have to suffer through the shimmy. Not ideal.

Finally, after about 8 months of mounting laundry anxiety we arrived at the conclusion that despite of all their positive green and earth-friendly attributes, the dream washer and dryer do not necessarily qualify as a home improvement.

I considered my options. I could install a concrete foundation from the ground up through the downstairs bedroom and up to our laundry station and separate it from the surrounding house structure using neoprene isolation pads. Or I could do a complete seismic retrofit of the house, adding hold-downs, seismic straps and shear panels across the main framing members in the building. Or I could put the washer and dryer up for sale on Craig’s list and go on down to Sears and buy an old fashioned energy guzzling water wasting laundry center with a top loading washer.

I chose the most expedient of the three options and went to Sears.

The dream washer/dryer set went to a friend of mine from work who plans to install it on the concrete floor in his basement. He’s really happy. He got a screamin’ deal.

And we now have a fully functioning super capacity old school stacked washer/dryer. We are very happy with it and the house is much relieved too.

A good night's sleep

The new bed was constructed in approximately 4 hours and was a joint project between me and the Flying Fish (with a little help from Ikea for the slats).


It is very sturdy.


And some more amazing improvements... we have carpet for the first time in about 4 years along with a new coat of paint. (Except for the closet door. Maybe I'll paint that this weekend.)


It's pretty cozy and that makes it very difficult to get out of bed in the morning.

All of a sudden it seems we're no longer living in squalor.
It's pretty weird. But I think we could get used to it.

It was a good bed...

... built by a master craftsman in just under 45 minutes, approximately 13 years ago.



It was made of the highest quality materials... or rather, the best materials money could buy (within a very limited budget)


and it doubled as a scratching post...


Ah, the bed. It served us well but now it is gone. Another unwitting victim of the remodel purge, relegated to the pile of construction debris in the driveway. We will miss it.


Sort of.

A window and a door

We jumped the last major hurdle in the remodel and installed a window and a door in the back wall. Actually, we didn't install it - Lincoln did. And he did a fine job. See...



Jan came in to add insulation, rock and tape in time for Christmas. So we got a Christmas tree to celebrate...

Homework update

This remodelling thing is a total pain in the neck. I do construction for a living and I swear, remodels are the worst. Give me factory, or a warehouse any day - don't care as long as the job starts with a bulldozer, a trackhoe and a hole in the ground. Add a little concrete and I'm a happy girl.

But no, we're living in a remodel. ugh.
I've been chipping away at the project and it's finally starting to feel like it might actually be getting done. Got the wood floor installed...



and I installed the cabinets and moved the plumbing over so the sink's in the right spot...





Also got the wiring re-done and new lights installed. It's nice having some lights and being able to see at night. And dimmers... I have a new appreciation for the magic of dimmers. Oh, and the venting's finally done so we have HEAT again - Finally!!! we can turn on the fireplace and get a little heat going in here. The roof's patched and now we're sheetrocking... amazing how a ceiling helps keep the heat in.




The last hurdle to jump is taking out the windows in the back wall and installing a picture window and a door to the deck we'll someday put out there.

You know, writing it all down in one place it actually does start to look like we're getting somewhere on this thing. Feels kinda good.

Chimney GONE!!

While I'm catching up on my posts, here are a couple pictures of the place with NO CHIMNEY inside! Big thanks to the treehouse people for coming out and helping schlep out all those bricks - what a huge help.




And here's a photo of the flying fish chucking bricks from great heights...


The pile of bricks disappeared within a day of posting FREE BRICKS on Craigslist. The dread chimney is now being reincarnated into patios and garden paths throughout Seattle. Yay!

a Ton of crap

Major progress on the remodel. Reframed the south wall over the nook, fridge and fireplace with J. and the roof didn't collapse while we did it. Yay.


Also hauled off the pile in the driveway that's been accumulating the past two months. Four trips to the dump totalling 2760 lbs of rubble.


I so tired.

Self-Dentistry

Oh, and did I mention we're also in the middle of a remodel?

It's every bit as bad as it looks. Only the bath is functional at this point, and only cold water. No heat. Outlets and switches dangling from cables in the middle of the room. Rubble and dust everywhere. (sigh) Remodels are just that way. They suck. You never know how you're actually going to build anything new until you take out what's there and see how it was built in the first place. Then you always run into stuff you didn't know was there. Unless you don't, and then you have to figure out how to deal with that...

Yeah, I know, I'm a buildergrrl so this should be no big deal. But to be honest, I'm a new construction type of builder. I usually start a project with a bulldozer - because I HATE REMODELS. (sigh)

Living in the remodel just makes it all that much worse. Nothing works, there's dust and rubble and crap everywhere, everything you own is in boxes under sheets and plastic - so who knows where anything is?? Trying to do your own remodel is like trying to drill and fill your own cavity - it's messy, no working space, no perspective, and absolutely no reason to do it yourself - unless you're a dentist and even then I bet it sucks.

I'm getting out of town this weekend.
Next week I'm camping in the back yard. Seriously.