Raising Seedlings in the Cold

Basement Stairs and Other Such Items. Among the many issues with the Victorian property when we purchased it was the basement stairs.  I'm not sure that the term dysfunctional even begins to describe the state of the stairs which led to the basement.  There were a couple obvious issues, probably most notably the "cross slope" at the bottom flight which lead me to believe that the stringer was less than structurally solid.  Also an interior post that should have been holding the stairs up was dry rotted out at the base and clearly not supporting anything.  Luckily for me, and anyone who has used those stairs in the more recent past the stairs were also attached to a sidewall, and essentially hung from the main floor which provided enough support that I did not fall through.  Needless to say replacing these stairs was one of the earlier issues needing to be tackled.   The Existing Stairs       Of course when remodelin...

 Some photos of the more recent work at the NE corner of the house.  This shows the new rear door, and the new electrical gear installed on the reconstructed rear porch area.  A closer view once I have turned on the lights (plugged in the drop cord to the neighbors back deck.  The neighbors have been great while I have dealt with the somewhat forgetful electrical inspector who has forgotten to call in the turn on order to the utility twice now. Demolition.  This is much cleaner looking than the actual demolition, which involves lots of dust.  I generally hate dust masks, but the use of them is absolutely essential to this work. Some mopre demolition in the background with new construction in the foreground.  White pine is new construction, either around the new rear door, or as a crib wall to support the previously failed exterior wall which had suffered extensive termite damage.  Also note a couple old radiators that have been removed to...

                                        So where to start this odyssey of home remodelling; I suppose I'll start this story where every story begins, the beginning.      By now anyone who has happened upon this blog has seen several interesting cooking and home-maker posts by my wife, and the occasional dryly written technical account of something I have recently built or grown.  As we have been quite busy the last year our posts have been few and far between, with the last one in April after we had begun the process of buying our next house.  Now, when I say process, I mean PROCESS of buying a HUD repo house.  Actually this was fairly straightforward from our end as the buyers, but it did take quite a while.  As a point of fact it took about two months from writing an offer to the closing, even though our offer was accepted by day...