Oh where, oh where has my cricket gone?

I knew when we bought this house that there should be a cricket to divert the water around the chimney here. You can't see it in the photograph, but the chimney is about 3-4 feet wide. Thus, there's quite a bit of water hitting it when it rains - and some of that water is leaking in.

Today, I climbed the extension ladder to investigate the condition of our roof.


And then...


The site of the missing cricket.

It seems that there was a cricket to divert the water around this chimney, but at some point in the past, some idiot, likely the one who installed this lovely bit of flashing, removed it. Meh.

If there's a reason why this would be a good thing, please, let me know.

Perhaps I was a little too smug...

I've gone on and on about how incredibly not messed up our house is. I've talked about how I couldn't find one bit of dodgy electrical work, etc., etc.

Note the massive crack in the joist in the center of the picture. This joist happens to run right underneath the center of the bathtub and the shower pan in the master bathroom. Further, note that there appears to be a chunk missing from the bottom of the joist. At the point that the electrical passes through the joist, it is about 1.5 inches below the next joist over.

I don't have any way to know whether the joist was cracked or if just the piece was missing when the ceiling was replaced and the plumbing work was done, in 1967. Either way, I place the blame on whoever did the work. When presented with a joist that was so compromised, it should have been addressed.



They also saw fit to notch the joists enough to properly insulate the pipes, which resulted in two of them cracking. Further, they stuffed enough fiberglass around the knob and tube wiring to start a good fire, and closed up an electrical box in there as well.

Of course, I shouldn't be surprised by the quality of the plumbing installed by the same individuals. There is corrosion around every single fitting - and in some places where there aren't even any fittings. Not good.

As if this all wasn't bad enough, the framing under the shower pan, which was redone more recently, doesn't look too hot either.

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I'd love nothing more than to replace all of this plumbing while we have the ceiling open. However, that simply isn't in the budget right now. What we'll probably end up doing is addressing the structural issues before the ceiling goes back up, use greenboard for the ceiling, and deal with the plumbing when we can.

Library ceiling demolition

Demolition for the library ceiling is proving to be more of a challenge than expected. This house was built like a tank. While I'm sure that the celing in this room has been replaced, I'm unclear as to the age of the crown moulding. It is so firmly attached to the plaster, using metal lathe, that I suspect they were installed at the same time, however, I cannot be sure.

The problem with demolition is that the plaster moulding appears to have been made in place. It has a backing of metal lathe, which is held into the wall with nails and mortar. The plaster is built up on top of that.

The plaster is just about bulletproof. With a hammer and chisel, I'm able to make slow progress. If the moulding was in any better condition, I'd feel guilty about tearing it out. As it is, it's merely an annoyance that slows me down.

I've uncovered all manner of surprises. The plumbing for the two second floor bathrooms was redone at some point in the past, in copper. Most of solder joints are suspect - they all show at least some corrosion.

There is a joist under the tub in the master bath, that cracked and deflected downward about 1.5 inches. When the ceiling was torn out, they just chiseled a chunk off the bottom of it, rather than supporting it and sistering it up. Ack.

The shower pan in the master bath was replaced by the previous owner. Their choice of tile left quite a bit to be desired. The framing under the pan clearly suffered from the leaking water. Further, a significant part of the shower pan that seems to be supported by a piece of plywood held in place by some randomly placed drywall screws. At the very least, I'll be adding some support there.

A beautiful new refrigerator

This morning, at the exceptionally early hour of 8:15, we recieved our new LG bottom drawer refrigerator, a Christmas present from my dad and stepmother. It is a bottom drawer model, in white - not the stainless steel that seems to be all the rage these days. We take great pride in our excellent color choice, bucking the trend from the dark monotony of stainless steel.

We had expected a phone call from Sears to inform us of the delivery time, but evidently, they had not heard the phone number correctly. This made for an interesting series of events when A. informed me, while I was in the shower, that the appliance delivery people were here.

They determined that the refrigerator would not fit through the path I had hoped would work. This necessitated the removal of the swinging door between the kitchen and dining room. I dinged the dining room door frame a bit with the door in my efforts to get it out of the way. Ugh.

Much to our surprise, when the old refrigerator was removed, there was a water line underneath it, albeit one that was crushed to such an extent that water would not flow through it. This was a surprise because the previous owner had told us that the reason why the icemaker didn't work was becuase there was no water line running to it. Surely it will be easier to repair this existing line than it will be to run a new line.

Additionally, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that the area underneath the refrigerator is tiled, unlike the area under the stove. This will provide us with a source for matching tile, should we ever choose to fix the cracked floor tiles.