West gate underlayment- both sides now

$ 11.24 is what I spent on this project. That was for the sand to grout the joints of the brick. This landing greatly improves the experience of passing through this gate, particularly when putting out the trash and bringing the empty trash containers back. This project is both a Gardener and a Craftsman project. I charged the sand off to the Gardener account. I hope that my construction techniques endure for decades.

Project finance review

This is all the refuse I had out for Wednesday pick up. All the old paint cans are out of the house. Now it is time to clean out the storage unit. I put my monthly rent check in the mail today. It is $ 83.85 every month. We have a few boxes of records and some of our Christmas decorations in it but other than that it is full of junk. I desire to empty it out and apply that money to improvement projects on this house. I could get a great return on that money. This much of the "Goodbye old paint" project cost about $9.00 in kitty litter. I have about a quarter of a bag left over. I have spent and done the following: $ 11.24 for sand to grout the brick underlayment at the west gate 59.96 for parts for top notch dryer duct system 9.01 for kitty litter to congeal paint in cans = $80.21 total $80.21 is not enough to pay someone to do any of these vital jobs. I doubt I could find anyone to do things like this, anyway. I would still have $3.64 to roll over to next month, if I were using the mini storage rent payments of $83.85 for my revenue stream. Next month I would have $87.49 for Argenta Craftsman improvements. I gotta get that done.

Good bye old paint

This is the last bit of old paint cans that came with the house. It was in the basement and I stashed it in the crawl space under the house to make room in the basement for our stuff when we moved in. I decided to advance another step to getting rid of these old paint cans when I was under the house replacing the dryer duct. The city will pick up the stuff if you pull off the tops and stabilize the paint material with an absorbent like kitty litter. The pick up day is Wednesday. This being Wednesday and having the need to get rid of some ivy we had pruned, I hastened to prepare and put out the stuff for pick up. You can tell by the pictures that I put a light above where I was working so I could see. It is a small halogen work lamp. Then I dumped the kitty litter into a bin for ease of access. Next I sorted the containers and opened them up. I poured off the fuller cans into the empty cans to even them up. It averaged out that all the cans were about half full. Then I scooped in a generous amount of litter into each can and stirred to blend. I had to add more litter into the cans until the contents were solid. When I was satisfied I had a done good jobbie I took them out to the street. I was happy to finally have this mess cleared out. All the old paint cans in the house are gone and legally disposed of. It is something worth celebrating!

Dryer duct in the basements

The top photo is of the four way elbow protruding into the basement from the laundry room above. I like how this closes off a large gap in the barrier between the wet, moldy basement and the living area. I took the middle photo from beside the elbow connector pointing towards the discharge end. For the basement duct I used two eight foot sections of aluminum duct. I used an aluminum connector and two clamps to join them. I carefully stretched and twisted the duct into a good, free flowing position and secured it with a strap. The bottom photo is the connection to the discharge to the outside. When I started the dryer and checked, the velocity coming out at the discharge outside was at least three times what it was when we first moved in here. The clothes never really got completely dry. Big improvement! I spent a total of 59.96 on parts and we have a completely new top of the line duct work system. If I was charging for this it should go something like this: Parts x 2 = $119.92. Labor: 6.5 hours at $50 =$325.00 making a grand total of: $444.92. I would be happy to provide photo documentation of the project. I am surprised at the guys that we paid to clean out this duct that they would do what they did. I'm sorry for them. They've lost my respect.

Dryer duct fix

This is what I did from inside the house behind the dryer. I got this white plastic couple that enables the dryer and a lead of duct to be disconnected from the rest of the duct system. I put a piece of duct which has four adjustable elbows onto the flange of the connector which screws to the floor. That is the piece in the top picture. In the middle picture I have put the connector with the elbow thing on it into the hole. That's the light from the basement showing. Beside the floor couple there is the other connector and the piece of aluminum duct which I will use as a lead from the dryer to the connector. The third picture shows everything assembled and ready to go. I just need to twist it on as in the bottom picture and work the dryer and the duct into place.

Dryer surprise

This morning I moved a load of clothes from the washer to the dryer. I went outside to look at a project I'm thinking on doing. I was standing by the dryer vent and I thought I would check to make sure the screen was clear. I noticed right away that there was no air coming out of the vent. Not even a warm whisper. My first thought was that what ever the problem it would somehow work it's way out. Then I came to my senses and went to find out what the problem was. I pulled out the dryer and saw what the bottom photo shows. I pulled on an old fleece, grabbed the flashlight and the camera and headed for the basement. I crawled into the crawl space and the air was hot and wet. Everything was covered with lint. The environment was thoroughly damp. I made my way to the place where the vent hose comes through the floor and I discovered what I photographed in the top picture. We paid money to a company to clean that duct just a month or two ago. I found that the hose was split and that an attempt to use tape to effect a repair had been made. If those guys just carried a splice it could have been easily repaired for less than $5.00 in parts. They are fired. I began then and there to make this right.

tunspan

This is a copy of the Argenta plan by this design firm. Here is a link to their web site. http://www.tunspan.com/argenta/docs/Argenta_Workshop_Plan%20Oct15-09.pdf

West gate underlayment

This is my excavation, underlayment and paving of the gate landing. I think it is good enough for now.

West gate inside brick landing improvement

This is my most recent improvement project. The top photo is before and the bottom is after. If I have a solid path system all the way around the house it would be a strong positive. I want to be able to walk barefoot all the way around the house in the summer without getting a chigger bite or getting my feet dirty. I also must be able to move the mower and sweeper unhindered. A path system would be worth...$15,000 in the total property value. I value this improvement at $1,500 including materials. I had to spend $11.24 on sand. The rest was material on hand. I will show in the next post that this is a solid piece of work.

Windows - thoughts so far

Our Argenta Craftsman Home has these steel casement windows. I was a painter for many years and I can say that I have never seen a house this old with the windows in such good shape. I think every window in the house opens with the exception of maybe one. And that is due to it being wedged shut because of the brick settling. They shut tightly and all. But, even though the glass panes are almost a half inch thick they are not energy efficient. The air passes freely between the inside and outside. Outside noise also seems to pass into the house freely. Only some of the windows have screens. The screens work like cabinet doors on the inside. You have to pull open the screens which are like doors to open the windows. The window situation must be improved. In my thinking fixing the windows are part of the front porch and overall brick work. I have three plans in mind as follows: 1. There are a couple of companies that make Plexiglas inserts that mount inside the window frames which will make them air-tight. What you could call custom made interior storm windows. The downside is that we would not be able to open the windows. But the widows would be much more efficient and the noise level would be lower. This would be the lowest cost improvement. 2. Pull off the interior trim of the windows and completely rework the whole frame of each window unit. In the Historic Preservation Briefs of the National Parks Service there are extensive directions for the restoration and improvement of steel casement windows. This may cost more than replacing the windows with top of the line modern casement windows. Here is a link to the National Parks historic preservation brief that covers steel windows: http://www.nps.gov/history/hps/tps/briefs/brief13.htm But given my experience as a painter, I could probably do this level of workmanship. In addition to the re-work work we would figure out some way to have the interior storms and screens. If I did the work the monetary outlay would be low, but the commitment in time would be very high. I estimate 30-40 hours per large window unit to do it federal grade. 3. Replace the windows with modern top of the line casement windows. According to our friend and neighbor Tom, an Architect who works in the state historic preservation office, this ain't gonna happen. Becky and I were gung-ho about Argenta getting the federal historic district designation to preserve property values, but that means the historic district commission has rule over us in such matters. If they say "NO" then "NO" it is. I have copied from the preservation brief what is the only condition where replacement would be allowed: Repair of historic windows is always preferred within a rehabilitation project. Replacement should be considered only as a last resort. However, when the extent of deterioration or the unavailability of replacement sections renders repair impossible, replacement of the entire window may be justified. So our choice will probably be #2: Re-work each window completely. Then find some system that will give us screens, energy efficiency, and noise reduction. Approximate cost?: $500 each window? $1,000? $250? Times something like 15 windows. That estimates to be... $3,750- $15,000. Actually that would be cheaper than replacements. It would just take an eternity of time. I was just dreaming of having these new Pella casement windows with screens that were beautiful and functional and Tom just killed that dream with a bureaucratic "ha-ha". But the necessary results are screens, efficiency and quiet. I bet the actual cost comes in at $250 per window and the time of 30 hours each. this means I would be messing with these windows for a year. If we did something that required changing storm windows with screens, spring and fall, a storage cabinet would have to be constructed somewhere handy to specific dimensions to hold them. But letting the idea of new windows die makes room for ideas of screens and insulating windows. I should be able to think of something for half the cost of new windows. The more money we have to spend on each window should equal less time I have to spend in restoration.

Argenta Neighborhood Aspirations

http://www.tunspan.com/argenta/ http://www.citygrovetownhomes.com/ Argenta is the subject of a master plan creation. North Little Rock city government along with certain private developers have commissioned the firm of Tunnell-Spangler-Walsh and Associates to create this plan for the future. I have their link to the project above. I also put the link to the largest developer in the neighborhood and their their big project. We are very excited at the prospects. The developers could build things that would "gentrify" the district, in the words of the T.S.W. representative, but they have chosen, instead to work towards making this area accessible to all comers. We like that. This link to tunspan.com pretty much tells all we know. They had neighborhood meetings last week which were well attended by enthusiastic neighborhood people. I am not sure which phase of the plan we are currently in, but I do know they were going to post the findings of last week's round of talks and explorations on this website this next week. They will be busy back at their drawing boards preparing for the presentation of the next round. In attending this visioning conference, Becky had a mountain top experience. She got really excited. In one of the meetings she leaned over to me and said something like, "...When we build the garage apartment...". It was as if we had never talked about building a carport. The garage apartment had been completely off the table. She made an instant decision to do the garage apartment. The next day she found the plans on the internet. Now it is just something she is doing. To her it is done. But I am glad, because that is a big part of my purpose in publishing this blog. That is to take the vague ideas and push them down the path to crystallizing into reality. You know if you take an idea and decide to do it, really do it, maybe something like getting married, that decision makes you change your inertia. It brings something previously non-existent into reality. We had thought about doing improvements to this house over the next three years and then selling it for a profit. I told Becky, "If you really believe that this is what we are going to do you will begin to make everything in your life conform to this condition." It is a state of mind. Maybe what we end up doing is moving into the garage apartment and renting out the house. Then we could travel, and maybe get another residence somewhere up north that is in the country. I would like to have enough room for Brody to have a couple of sheep to herd around. We saw this two-story bunkhouse in the parking lot of a Lowes somewhere in Texas. It was there along with all the other prefabricated sheds. We thought something like that would be neat to put out on some land somewhere. It was just one open room upstairs and one open room downstairs with bare stud walls. The staircase was just simple risers with treads.

Car park - first summary

This is my first summary of three plans for the car park. Plan "A", the least expensive would be a simple carport built along the lines of this picnic pavilion down by the river. The second plan, "B" would be more substantial. It would have a work shop/ store room incorporated into it. I wrote this plan up in a previous post. Plan "C": A full blown two car garage with an apartment above which we would rent out. I will guess at cost estimates, if for any reason, just to have figures taking up spaces which can later be revised over and over again. PLAN A...........................$ 8,000 PLAN B........................... 12,000 PLAN C........................... 60,000 Plan "C" is the most expensive, but it should add the most value, by far. This was our first idea a long time ago, but we dropped it because we did not want any relatives living in the apartment, not paying fair value rent. That is something we cannot afford. Not only are we officially encouraged to add rental property, but an apartment that produces income for the owners would be a very strong selling point of this property. How we would pay for this, I have no idea at this point.

Design Connection, LLC - Garage Plan #DT0102

Design Connection, LLC - Garage Plan #DT0102 Posted using ShareThis In keeping with my objective with this blog to create three, separate plans for each area, this is a drawing for a garage apartment plan Becky found on the internet, with the link to it. We looked at several plans and this one is something like what she envisions. The first calculation is the money. Conversations Becky has had with our mortgage banker and others who know about such things, the rent of an apartment like this would cover the monthly payment of it's construction. However, if we construct something like this, our house would have to be brought up to the same standard. So this is the gold plan for the car park. The idea for this district begins with density. That means increasing the population of residents and workers here by something like ten times, at least. We have been told that there is a push to change zoning regulations to encourage residents to do this kind of expansion: an owner occupied residence with attached rental property.

The target

These are the three projects I am taking aim at doing for this house. One is the carport/workshop. Another is the south addition to the house, and the other is the front porch/ brick work. Do we really need to do these projects? I think we should develop a comprehensive plan from three conceptual plans to continue improving this property. For one thing this is a 1928 Craftsman in the heart of the historic district. It can't be torn down. To me this is not much different from buying a small business and building up it's profitability. This house was valued at about $94 per square foot when we bought it. Appraised at 1800 square feet the price was around 164-169K. The addition in back will add 372 square feet. The carport will add 432 square feet. All these improvements would boost the overall square foot valuation. In this historic urban neighborhood, there are some expensive properties. The new, modern town houses and condos offered around here in the urban core on both sides of the river are priced around $200-$750 per square foot. These improvements could really make this a very strong property. Also, we have a yard and no property owner association fees. We are a block and a half from Main Street. Our house is the closest single family residence to a trolley stop. It's just steps away. In this light the idea does not seem so far fetched after all. Most recent s.f. appraisal.....2000 addition s.f......................+ 372 new s.f. subtotal======= 2372 guesstimated new value x $220 per s.f. sub total============ ==$474,400 garage: 432 @ $75 / s.f. + 32,400 New property value=======$506,800 That is absolutely the most we could hope for. I have no idea of the construction costs. Of course this is just euphoric crazy talk at this stage. I have this huge challenge to create three levels of improvement plans that we can "take to the bank". Getting that done is the work at the present and of this blog.

Frornt porch improvements

This is the side porch. Most of the brick work of the whole house is in very good shape. The worst is this low retaining wall around the porch. Also the porch deck is sinking. Rain runoff floods underneath the concrete and in between the wall the the slab. The concrete caps of this wall are also crumbling and morbid. I dream of pulling down the retaining wall in the area from the column in the foreground, around the corner and to the column at the other end of the porch. Then excavating all the concrete and bad fill underneath and re-constructing a new concrete porch deck with drains. Then re-build the wall, installing a new concrete cap. In addition, the whole house needs to be gone over and pointed up by a qualified mason, especially the chimney. Maybe we could make sufficient repairs to the chimney to enable us to burn wood in it again. So all the fireplace, brick and concrete porch work would be grouped under this portion. I track the grounds keeping improvements in my Argenta Gardener blog. That is: http://bnbsgarden.blogspot.com/

Back of the house remodel

This is a scribble of my basic idea out back. I'm thinking that on the second floor, we should just improve the existing shed dormer structure and leave it the same size. The first floor may be roughly the size indicated by the outline. Improvements would be: remodeling the upstairs bath, replacing the tub with a shower. Downstairs: Remodeling the kitchen and adding a screen porch, remodeling the master bedroom and adding a nice bath there. Moving the laundry room to the area currently occupied by the bath. Putting a 1/2 guest bath where the laundry currently is. On top of all this, replacing the windows, shoring up the sagging framing, excavating out the right side of the porch and the basement steps. Repairing the damaged structure there and construction of new basement steps in an enclosure. My quest is to produce three plans: Cheap, not so cheap and whole hog for this work. Then I get realistic construction cost estimates for these projects and realistic appraisals for the value these projects will add to the property.

Carport plan take 2

This is the footprint of my basic idea for the carport/workshop. I have staked out an area 16' wide and 27' long. The portion in foreground is the workshop area. It is 7' of the 27' length. The structure has to be 5' off the property lines, as indicated. There would be a regular automatic garage door in the alley for the car. Already, I don't like this idea. I think the workshop needs to go on the side by the fence. But this is useful, to at least begin to get an idea of the space requirements and to lay down some numbers: 16' x 20' = 320 square feet. 320 square feet x 35 $ per s.f. construction cost =11,200 cost to construct. x 2 property value increase = 22,400 addition to property value. This is my first estimated guess at the cost/benefit analysis for this portion of the overall project. Accurate or not, I have finally stumbled over this first hurdle. I want to be careful to describe how I feel at this time for future reference. I feel like tearing my hair out. But I have made some progress. But the progress is minute compared with the time I have spent making it.

Creating plans

This is what I have so far for the carport. I staked this out and then added these lines in the paint program. The overall measurement is16'x27'. I have it divided with 20' for the length of the parking space and 7' for the storage and workshop area. This is just preliminary, but it gives a good idea of Becky and I have been kicking around. I want to document how I feel. The most difficult obstacle so far, by far, is overcoming the thought that for many reasons we can never do this, therefore what's the use in trying. Getting a tape measure, some stakes and a sledge hammer and laying it out was not hard. Nor is sitting here just working out some simple details. Yet it seems that there is this great burden, or some imaginary, impenetrable wall trying to obstruct any and all progress. I'm going to keep going. Let me reestablish my definite chief aim. I am compiling information with which to produce three plans to improve this property. The purpose of which is to improve our quality of life and to increase the value of our property. My imagination informs me that this course will reveal the most cost effective plan; the simplest and most direct plan. My imagination also informs me that certain improvements done within the proper costs will add substantial value. This study and planning phase will take time. I'm going over old ground, but I am working at beating discouragement. I set the deadline for having the plans done by January 1st, 2010.

What I learned at the library yesterday

We went to the library yesterday. I took some time to investigate real estate improvement. My basic idea of the planning phase was confirmed. I need to come up with three different plans. Plan "A" will cover everything we can dream of doing. Plan "B" will be mid way between plan "A" and plan "C" in scope. Plan "C" will be the economy plan, or the bare minimum. Each plan must be detailed and clear. Then, I have the plans appraised for the value each would add to the property. At the same time a construction estimate is prepared for each plan. The appraisals and the construction estimates must be realistic and unflinching. Our next move will be based on those estimates. In this way I begin to put our dreams to paper. This begins to move the idea of adding value to this property through definite improvements from being a wish to being an intense desire. I quote Napoleon Hill from his book, The Magic Ladder to Success: "It has been said, and not without reason, that one may have anything one wants, within reasonable limitations, providing one wants it badly enough. Anyone who is capable of stimulating his or her mind to an intense state of desire is also capable of more than average acheivement in the pursuit of that desire. It must be remembered that wishing for a thing is not the same as desiring it. A wish is merely a passive form of desire. Only out of intense desire will impelling forces of action grow, driving one to build plans and put those plans to work. Most people never advance beyond the "wishing" stage."

Carport - cost and benefit

I finally made the connection of my idea for the design of the carport/workshop we are thinking about for the back. The inside would resemble the front of our house. My current thought is to place it in the southwest corner. in the photo of the back yard that would be in the right corner. The alley side would resemble a garage with a garage door. The structure inside the fence would be an open carport looking something like our front porch. The work shop would be on the right side and enclosed. Our "Gold Plan" would include replacing the windows on the house. The existing windows from the house would be used for the work shop. We were sitting on the porch last night and I realized that I want the carport to resemble the front of the house with the low retaining wall with concrete caps and a wide opening, and columns, leaving the carport side open. The workshop would be under the roof and consist of walls with the large windows. I was amazed that I had not made that connection and I was amazed at the connection, for now that makes my ideas clear, and the plan workable. Now the thing to do is to work up some detailed drawings. With the drawings I must determine to cost of constructing the carport and get a realistic, professional appraisal as to the amount of value this improvement would add to the property. We have no money available at the present for this addition, but that should not hinder me from going forward with the plans. Something will arise to make this project a reality.

Home inventory

Due to several break-ins in the neighborhood, the police have provided our neighborhood association with a form to record home inventories. This is a task I need to do. I also plan to do a photo inventory and put it on a disc or a flash drive. Becky is the current President of the Argenta Neighborhood Boosters, our neighborhood association. We are having an emergency meeting tonight to explore ways to combat this crime wave. The Police will also be there.

First Things First- Yakkity Yak

Property value is at the heart of this exercise- price per square foot. The purpose of this urban essay is to assist in our efforts to increase the value of the investment we have in this house. In this sense the effort begins and ends in the financial posting. I have begun a study that looks at where we began in terms of value, and considers improvement options for future value. The aim is to produce a comprehensive report which will state a clear-cut plan of certain improvements based on the value these improvements add. This value is measured in two ways: Number 1. The increase in the amount of square footage and the increase in the price per square foot of the house because of the improvements. And number 2. The improvement of the quality of life the improvements add. For example; an addition in back will add "X" number of square feet. This addition will create downstairs, a new kitchen, a new master bedroom & bath, a new laundry room and a new powder bath. Upstairs, the bedrooms will be enlarged and each have a bath. This will add square feet of floor space and create a new level of comfort and convenience. At the same time serious deficiencies will be corrected. However, this is an undertaking of major proportions relative to the structure of the house. Correction and improvement of fundamental structural elements is the greatest priority. Real value added must be better than lipstick on a pig. I intend to discover and document dollar amounts of the costs and the benefits of these proposals. An accurate study would give us a very sure budget. A sure budget would describe the nature of the improvements in detail. In the end I presume we could have a fair idea of the value which may be added to the property based on the intelligent expenditure of treasure in these improvements. An accurate study will bring the benefits verses the costs into clear focus.

I do! I most certainly do!

In early 2005 Becky and I found each other again. We had not seen each other since High School days. When we realized we are soul mates we began looking for a house to share. We started talking about our dream house. Becky took my notebook and a pen and drew the front of a house and said, "The front would look something like this..." She had drawn a craftsman type house with a porch and a gabled roof. Then she said, "The inside would look something like this with the kitchen in the back." She drew a floor plan like that. We began to look at listings in the Sunday papers. Soon we were going to the Sunday open houses. We forgot about her drawings. Our casual search became a big game hunt. Months went by and we went through all the usual ups and downs and many near-misses of house hunting. We were just about to give up on finding a house. We were driving around one Sunday after the open houses and she was saying something like, "...maybe God is trying to tell us that we should not get a house..." and we found ourselves in front of THE HOUSE. It had a little dime store "FOR SALE" sign tacked above the porch. And that began the adventure of buying our first house. During the time after the owners accepted our offer but before the close, Becky was having doubts. Just at the time of greatest weakness her little, forgotten drawing surfaced. Much to our great astonishment, the drawing was an exact match to the house we had found. That sealed the deal to our great joy. Here we are today three years later. Since then, we got married on the trolley and life has been more about blending our mutual families and getting her sons and my sons on their own ways. There have been trials and tribulations and happy events of our parents and siblings and friends and new neighbors. Now, maybe, we have felt the need to re-establish our own dreams. It is our time to define our life together in the ways we decide. Everyone else is of age and able to pursue their own dreams. We start by saying to ourselves, "If we could do anything, what would we do?" This is where our Urban Essay, Our Argenta Craftsman Home begins.