Knob & Tube

Back in the day, electricity used to run through homes through knob & tube wiring. These wires were wound around ceramic knobs and threaded through ceramic tubes. Positive and negative leads would run different tracks throughout the house and find themselves joined around outlets, switches, and light fixtures. This was done to limit exposure of positive and negative terminals from shorting out, and to air cool the wires.

 

Unfortunately, this means there is no ground terminal. A lot of electronics nowadays depend on ground to prevent DC spikes from destroying the expensive equipment, eliminating static build-up, and provide a common point of reference between connected components. Surge protectors do not work unless a ground wire is present so nearby lightning strikes, or irregularities in the power grid may fry electronics that would have otherwise could have been prevented by the presence of a ground wire.

Also, you cannot put in modern insulation into the house in the attic or the walls because the these wires need air to keep cool. (There have been some exceptions in the U.S. given the recommendation of a certified electrician.)

The insulation on these wires typically have not withstood the test of time. If time doesn't corrode them, critters may. Some insurance companies have refused to insure homes with knob and tube because the corroded wiring can lead to fires.

Fortunately, my wiring seems to be in some good shape. However, previous owners have tapped straight into the circuit rather than replacing it when updating some rooms/lighting.

So I called some electrician that I found on Yelp what it would cost to replace the electrical wiring in the Money Pit. He quoted me something between $10,000 to $20,000. Yeesh!!

I think it's time to put some of that electronics knowledge into good use and perhaps do this myself, or learn enough to cut down costs drastically.

Reading through the web, I've decided to start by reading Your Old Wiring by David E. Shapiro:

From the back cover:

If you live in an older home, you never know what lurks behind switchplates and outlet covers, inside fuse boxes and breaker panels, writes master electrician David Shapiro. He's conquered the tangles masquerading as wiring in hundreds of old buildings, and in this book he shows you not just what should be in your electrical system, as other books do, but also what really may be there--and how to deal with it. YOUR OLD WIRING is the only guidebook available with this important feature.

I hope it's a good book.

California Bungalow

So just reading through Wikipedia on bungalows.. did you know...

A bungalow is a type of single-story house that originated in India. The word derives from the Gujarati બંગલો baṅgalo, which in turn derives from the Hindi बंगला baṅglā, meaning "Bengali" and used elliptically for a "house in the Bengal style".

The term is first found in English from 1696, where it was used to describe "bungales or hovells" in India for English sailors of the East India Company, which do not sound very grand lodgings.

Developers began to use the term for smaller houses. In Australia, the Californian_Bungalow was popular after the First World War.In Britain and North America a bungalow today is a residential house, normally detached, which is either single story, or has a second story built into a sloping roof, usually with dormer windows ("one and a half stories").

The American Craftsman bungalow typified the common styles of the American Arts and Crafts movement, with common features usually including: low-pitch roof lines on a gabled or hipped roof; deeply overhanging eaves; exposed rafters or decorative brackets under the eaves; and a front porch beneath an extension of the main roof.

California Bungalows, commonly called simply bungalows in America, are a form of residential structure that were widely popular across America and, to some extent, the world around the years 1910 to 1925.

Bungalows are 1 or 1½ story houses, with sloping roofs and eaves with unenclosed rafters, and typically feature a gable (or an attic vent designed to look like one) over the main portion of the house. Ideally, bungalows are horizontal in massing, and are integrated with the earth by use of local materials and transitional plantings. This helps create the signature look most people associate with the California Bungalow.


Unlike earlier private homes, true bungalows do not include quarters for servants, and have a simple living room, entered directly from the front door, in place of parlors and sitting rooms, as well as a smaller kitchen. The focal point of the living room is the fireplace, and the living room often has a broad opening into a separate dining room.

All common areas are on the first floor with cozy atmospheres. Though the ceilings are lower than in homes of Victorian architecture, they are usually higher than in ranch and other homes built later. Attics are located under the sloping roof.

 The bungalow became popular because it met the needs of changing times in which the lower middle class were moving from apartments to private houses in great numbers. Bungalows were modest, inexpensive and low-profile. Before World War I, a bungalow could be built for as little as $900 although the price rose to around $3,500 after the war. Bungalow designs were spread by the practice of building from mail-order plans available from illustrated catalogs, sometimes with alterations based on local practice or conditions. A variety of firms offered precut homes, which were shipped by rail or ship and assembled on site. These were most common in locations without a strong existing construction industry, or for company towns, to be built in a short time. The majority of bungalows did include some elements of mass production; typically doors, windows, and built-in furnishings such as bookcases, desks, or folding beds were sourced from lumber yards or from catalogs.

Bungalows can be found in the older neighborhoods of most American cities. In fact, they were so popular for a time that many cities have what is called a "Bungalow Belt" of homes built in the 1920s. These neighborhoods were often clustered along streetcar lines as they extended into the suburbs. Bungalows were built in smaller groups than is typical today, often one to three at a time. Examples of neighborhoods with a high concentration of bungalows include the Wood Streets in Riverside, California, and Bungalow Heaven in Pasadena, California.

Resurgent interest in the American Arts & Crafts or American Craftsman movement (sometimes mistakenly referred to as Mission style), and the emergence of special-interest publications such as American Bungalow Magazine have contributed to the bungalow's recent popularity. Rising house prices nation-wide through the late 1990s and early 2000s as well as the central and convenient location of many bungalow-heavy urban neighborhoods have further fueled demand for these houses; as one example, some three-bedroom bungalows in San Diego can sell for $650,000 to $700,000, or more.

Attic

So I was admiring the structure of the attic. It has an awesome bone structure. I'll just post some pictures and try to imagine the house vaulted with an open ceiling.

 

Here are some finished vaulted ceilings that I found on the web at Heber Spring River Homes:

 

Vermiculite

So today I explored the attic a little. Eric had come over with his truck and I was able to pick up a 6ft aluminum ladder on sale from Home Depot for $39. It's light and it gets me where I need to go. So I open up the entryway and the first thing I noticed is little pebble like material all over the attic.

 I panicked at the thought of having asbestos in the attic. After all this is an old house so anything is possible. I am going to have it sent out to be tested. I believe my inspector said otherwise, but I think I'll have a lab analyze this stuff along with the popcorn ceiling just to make sure.

Reading around the web, this stuff may be vermiculite insulation. It had been mostly removed, but there still remains a thin sparse layer of it.

The procedure to have this tested if fairly simple. Put a tablespoon of stuff into a zip-lock bag, mark the bag, complete the form, and and send it off with a check. I used  the guys over at Western Analytical Lab. They give you the option of e-mailing, phoning, or snail mailing the results (or all three) within 24-hours of receiving your sample.

My only problem was taking this stuff to the post office. The security question kinda threw me for a tailspin.

Postwoman: "Sir, is there anything potentially hazardous contained in the envelope?"

Me: "Uhh.. hmm.. no."

I figure, I don't really know what's in the sample. Plus, it's only a tablespoon full. Even if someone were brave enough to eat the stuff, I doubt it'd cause any harm. There are guys who used to slather this stuff in the ceilings and the attics for years day in and day out without having any form of protection, and a bunch of those guy are still alive.

Cottage Bungalow

So Celle found out the Money Pit is a cottage style house from this article from Arts & Crafts Homes.

When we had begun to think about how we would redo the interior we agreed that a rustic old world flare rather than the modern look to the house would fit the Money Pit more.

I am a real fan of the claw-foot tub: the French bateau, slipper or double slipper. I like this setup:

 

Celle also found these neat farmhouse sinks from an Arts & Crafts Homes article as well that I think would work. Not a total fan of this particular setup.

But I am not in favor of stainless steel sinks. They're hollow, feel cheap yet are really expensive. Normal cast iron sink wears down eventually and shows its black iron core. I think something like Swanstone would be pretty cool. It's a single solid tough material throughout.

These are just our first thoughts as we think about the future of the Money Pit.

Short cut fail!

So on Friday, as we're cleaning up the Money Pit. Celle is vacuuming the dust out of the outlets. She had removed all of the coverings so she could get an accurate count to replace them with newer looking ones. Since they're all open she figures she'll vacuum out the dust from them. As I'm scrubbing away at the floors I hear her scream. I walk over and she says, "what I thought was a piece of insulation wasn't coming out. So I go to take a look and it wasn't insulation. Insulation does not have bones!"

It turns out this mouse tried running across the terminals on this outlet and fried himself. No, he actually didn't "fry". There are no burn markings around the area. He most likely found himself paralyzed not able to move with all that current coursing through him and just died there unable to do anything else.

This poor guy has been mummified for a while. I'm sure his demise provided quite a feast for the roaches as well.

This is what happens when the socket outlet box does not line up flush against the wall. You get dead critters like this getting through the gaps. If he had been wet, he could have blown a fuse or worse, started some sparks causing a fire. This need to be taken care of. I'm thinking of using some putty to help cover up the gaps. It'll help keep things like this from happening, and keep bugs out.

Scrub scrub scrub

So I had taken to scrubbing the house down this week room by room. Yesterday I finished scrubbing down the entire house. I feel better walking in now. The walls are brighter, the floor doesn't feel like it sticks to you.

I knew vinegar and amonia were cheap alternatives to the name brand cleaning products so I used a common formula often found on the back of amonia containers. For every 1 gallon of water add:

• 1 cup of ammonia
• 1/2 cup of vinegar
• 1/4 cup of baking soda

Optionally add 1 tablespoon of dish soap. Ammonia normally doesn't bubble up and the suds act as a visual indicator where the cleansing agent has been applied. Plus I think it helps lift the dirt out.

Other items you need:

• a deck mop - for scrubbing floors, not those weak mops often advertised on TV, although you will need one of those too
• a self rinsing mop - I prefer a butterfly mop with a durable cloth end, not just a sponge
• mop bucket - the wringer is worth the cost
• scrubbing brush - scrub the areas that have the cleaning agent applied to it
• rag - wiping away cleaning agent from the walls and additional scrubbing
• knee pads - for scrubbing the floors, I found these thick disposable knee pads at Home Depot
• protective eyewear - keeping the soap from your eyes when scrubbing sprays soap
• large dish gloves - keep your hands dry, you also want them a little larger so you can get in and out of them quickly, long cuffs keep liquid out
• 409 - for those tough stains, like crayon markings

So this is how I go about it.

First I clean the walls with with the butterfly mop. When I'm done, I use the scrub brush to get all the trouble spots. Don't forget to wear the protective eyewear to keep spray from burning your eyes. When I reach a really difficult spot, I break out the 409 and scrub some more. Be careful about the fumes that 409 can emit.

Then I mop the floors with the deck mop. For now, I let the cleaning agent set into the walls a bit. When I cover the floor liberally with suds, I get down on my hands and knees (hence the knee pads) and scrub every inch of floor to bring up the dirt. Again the 409 comes in handy for really difficult spots.

Then I go back to the walls with the scrub brush making sure I got every trouble spot. Then I break out the rag and wet it down in the sink. I start wiping up the walls with the rag. What I'm doing is wiping up the soap and dirt. When I finish a section enough to fill the rag with soap I rinse it out and the sink and repeat. Take note of the amount of dirt rinsing out with the rag. I wipe down all the walls at least once in order to wash away the soap, and twice or more to until the dirt running from the rag is a light gray.

Then I take a look at the floors once more making sure that all the trouble spots are clean as I can get them. I empty out the bucket of all the soap and fill it as much as I can with clean water.

I do to the floors with a rinsed out deck mop what I did with the walls. I wring as much water as I can from the mop and then sop up the soap and dirt. Dunk that into water, shake the dirt from the mop, wring it of water and sop up some more. I do this until I cover the entire floor. Again, note the darkness of the dirty water in the mop bucket. Dump it out and refill it with fresh water and start over again. I'll keep doing this several times (usually more than twice) until the water in the bucket after mopping up the entire floor once is a light gray.

That's it!

WARNING! Do not mix bleach with ammonia. The combination will produce chlorine gas. This is the stuff that Germans used in both World Wars to try and get the upper-hand in combat.

Valley of Heart's Delight (pt. 1)

So I bought a house a couple weeks ago. I am still trying to get it a bit up to a livable standard. Every time I walk into the house, I notice there's always something a little more wrong than it should be. I figured I'd start a blog to record where I am coming from, and where this is going.

The story starts sometime in November. After looking through houses for three months my real estate agent Peter sends me this listing in Santa Clara.

I've been looking for houses mainly in Milpitas. In Milpitas the houses are less expensive, the neighborhoods are getting better, and it's close to the hills and large parks. Milpitas would take a little longer commute but that's fine. We had been living in Alviso so there would not be much of a difference.

I had asked for Peter to look in Santa Clara as well. We see very few houses in Santa Clara. The houses are overpriced, the neighborhoods can be similar to Milpitas. But it's in the heart of Silicon Valley. Property value is higher, school system is valued more. Chances are in Santa Clara, you would be centrally located to work and all that's hip in Silicon Valley.

So Peter sends the listing for the Money Pit and there are no pictures with the listing. It's priced out at $400k. It's listed at 3 bedrooms, 1 bath, 1300 square feet interior, 6500 square feet of yard. Sounds a little too good to be true, but that's typical. Sellers have a habit of pricing their houses lower so they get people to look at it. In my short three month experience, it seems customary to bid almost 10% higher than the given price, even in this terrible 10% unemployment economy.

I take a look on maps.google.com to see what the satellite imaging looks like. My first problem, is that the house fairly close to a major thoroughfair. From the street view, the first thing I see is this:

 

Who wants to see trash in front of their prospective new home? But this image could have been taken quite some time ago so I didn't sweat it too much. Also, there was some weird motel complex across the street.

So a few of things already going against it, it almost did not make the 'see list' of houses to take a look at that weekend.

So the weekend comes, we take a look at a few houses in Milpitas. We find a few we like. Then there are three houses in Santa Clara we want to see next, including the Money Pit. The first two houses remind me how much smaller the houses are in Santa Clara for the same priced house in Milpitas. For $460k you would expect to get under 900 square feet of house in Santa Clara. At times you'd see that in Milpitas, so I was looking forward to what 1300 square feet looked like.

We had been trailing the same couple of people through Santa Clara. It looks like they saw all the new home listings for Santa Clara and had the same attack plan. We were one step behind. The would go in a house, we'd wait, they'd leave, we go in, we leave, and then see them at the next house. When we got to the Money Pit, we had actually arrived almost at the same time. I think they had gotten lost trying to find the place. They went in, and not five minutes later they came running out.

I should have known something was wrong then, but I figure I have some courage (or stubbornness). We walk in and the first thing you notice is the amount of people walking through the place.  There must have been something like 5 adults 4 kids running around. They seemed to be primarily Spanish speaking. The first thing you notice walking in the house is tiny living room that a few people are sitting and watching TV in. The second thing you notice is the Catholic iconography everywhere, it was a little eerie seeing so many pictures and statues of Jesus and Mary in each room. Perhaps this is what scared those people.

 

As we were walking through the house, I was thinking wow, this is a nice solid house. None of the weakness that we see in new modern homes: tiny bathrooms, tiny kitchens, soft walls, soft floors, no wood, stucco everywhere, no character. This was a house with character. As I was admiring the ancient method of home building, Celle had gone outside to checkout the yard. First thing when  I see the yard is, there's a whole lot of concrete, but that sure is a nice spacious, two car garage. As I approach Celle who has been taking it in for a while, she says, "look at the size of this yard." Then I noticed a pathway leading to a door beneath the house. I call over Peter and he leads the way through. We pass a couple more people into what is a basement. There's a bed that people have been sleeping in. I've never seen a house with a basement so that was a plus.

It seemed we had found a great house, but even then we could see that it needed a little work, like putting in a modern bathroom, getting rid of that dated kitchen and the terrible wall color. I just never realized what else was lurking to be fixed.

As a prospective new home buyer it can be hard to spot all the things that are wrong with a house. It's so much easier just thinking of the potential.

(to be continued ...)