Beer Update 2, and Home Improvements (Not at Our House)

Scott came over last night and we completed the next set of tasks in the creation of my "End of Term" beer to celebrate the completion of my tenure on city council.

Rather than work in the basement this time we worked in the kitchen. I set the carboy on the work table.

We had already sterilized 60 or so bottles, the bottling bucket, the siphon system and the bottle filler. This is done by washing them all in bleach water and the rinsing in clean water. Scott inserted the siphon system and we started to fill the bottling bucket.

 After we had started the siphon going we decided to have a little taste so we partially filled a mug and tried it. I don't want to jinx this process, with a rash prediction, but we were both pleased with what we had.

 After the bottling bucket was filled Scott attached the bottle filler to the siphon hose and started filling our sterilized bottles.

 My job was to take the full bottles and cap them. I bought my bottle capper in 1982, when as a first year teacher I made root beer with my 5th graders for our Halloween party, a tradition I carried on for three more years. Scott had never seen a capper like that so he wanted a turn at trying it out. So he capped our final bottle.

 In the end our batch made exactly 50 12 ounce bottles of beer.

 Youngest daughter saw my photo above and said it wasn't artsy enough so she shot a better version. Her's does a much better job of showing off the hops cone bottle caps I bought for our brew.

So despite working on our home at glacial pace, I've actually picked up a few jobs on the side. I finished one last weekend, so here are some shots from that. "Susan" (not her real name) is a new faculty member at the University of Iowa and has bought a nice bungalow on the east side of Iowa City. Over the summer I did some work in her kitchen and installed a correct period front door. She said that she wanted a tin ceiling in the kitchen to cover a not so great plaster job and I agreed to work on it with her.

First thing we needed to do was cover the ceiling in 3/8 inch plywood.

 After doing that I snapped out lines and started to install the ceiling panels.

 A couple weekends after finishing the ceiling panels I went back to install trim around the walls to make the project look "finished." In the shot below you can also see the paneled box I created last summer to hide the soil and water pipes that run to the upstairs bathroom. Originally this area, and the furnace chimney were covered by a plaster wall bump out. Susan wanted the get some exposed brick in the kitchen so she had the plaster removed, but wasn't expecting to see pipes. She is pretty handy herself and has been stripping the woodwork on the window and doors and will take them back to their original varnished condition.

 The kitchen is not big but it certainly had interesting challenges, working around the stairway to second floor led to some creative cutting but I think it looks quite good now.

2 Years On Foxcroft: A Pictoral Celebration

Today is the second anniversary of the first post on Foxcroft. Here is a link to that humble beginning:

In the Beginning...

In the two years since, of course the biggest change has been completing the upstairs. Here's Bess' the builder's description of the attic:

"Increase the pitch of the roof making the attic higher. Have it high enough so two or three rooms could be finished off later if desired. I want window at the east (front) as shown in the picture, then would like one on the north and one on the south. The roof pictured is not high enough for these last two but when you increase the pitch, I think they can be put in. Saw a house this style not long ago that had them. Want them all so they will open, with weights like those down stairs."

Here is what the attic looked like in 1928:


Here is a shot of roughly the same place when we purchased the home in 1993:


Same spot when working on framing, summer of '05, when it was known as the "Lumber Room"


Same spot with framing of the other two bedrooms complete:


Same spot, Master bedroom today:


The biggest part of upstairs was opening making a new gable in the back of the house:

Before we started '05:


After we opened it up:


In progress:




Shingling Summer '06


Today:


New gable from the inside:

Summer '05


After cutting the roof off:


Framing in place:


The three above pictures were all taken on the same day

We went quite a while before the window got put in:


But it finally happened:


I'm afraid I don't have anything more current than this:


Laundry room:







I think that's enough for now...

War Council

Last night I got my architect, builders, and geothermal contractor together to talk about our plan for finishing the upstairs and renovating the heating system. I think it was time well spent. We now have the beginnings of a timeline and are able to think out what needs to happen when. The first step will be to bring in new electrical service, the geothermal needs 200 amp, even though it won't pull nearly that much. We'll put in a 200 amp 40 circuit box. The builders will start on June 9th and open up the back roof for the 2nd floor gable. That will need to be framed and covered by June 20 when the roofers will arrive. I will start pulling radiators on first floor as I am finishing floors downstairs, and once the framing is in place upstairs ductwork can be run throughout the house. Drilling for the geothermal pipes can happen any time this summer. Now the plan is in place we can begin to watch it fall apart!