Karson finished his frame and posted his blog detailing how he built this project.

When we first started talking about this memorial for Mark we were kicking around various ideas for the project and frame. Karson called me ; Quote ”I called Dusty, he wasn’t any help at all. He said whatever you create will be great. So it was back in my court again.”
For the record; telling Karson how or what to build would be like trying to tell Tiger Woods how to golf or Sam Maloof how to build rocking chairs.

Nice try Karson, but that didn’t wasn’t going to work. I knew better.

To illustrate my point further his blog stated ; Quote ” I was overwhelmed with their support in suggesting that I do that. I mean I’ve never created a picture frame in my life. I made a backing that my wife and I used to stretch some fabric over as a picture. But that was pine and no one saw it.

My point is; the sign of a true craftsman and the spirit of a Lumberjock and woodworker is to challenge yourself while practicing your craft . You not only come up with a practical solution but a final piece that is not only a work of art, it is a stunning piece of craftsmanship.

Karson’s frame is a testimonial to this and serves as a fine example of challenging ones self to get out side of our comfort zone in our craft and to create something extraordinary that we never felt we could or had ever done before.

That is what Lumberjocks is about, to inspire, challenge and share with others what our passions are and where they might take us while we are practicing our woodworking and various other crafts.

I would like to point out after the sent the first stained glass panel to Karson, which arrived shattered from shipping we decided in the interest of time Karson would built the frame from my verbal measurements of a panel that had not been built yet.

It was then agreed I would build the piece and he would build and send the frame to me when completed. We both felt the less shipping the better considering the problems we had shipping it the first time.

By the looks of the shipping box and packing Karson did on the second panel he was not taking any chances. He could of shipped the queens crown and jewels in this crate.

Lessons learned for sure!

The frame arrived and I assembled and installed it on to the final stain glass panel . The frame fit like a fine leather glove.

A truly professional piece of work. Only minor tweaking was needed.

The mark of any master craftsman is to be able to build things from scratch, with out any plans , vague instructions and only the final dimensions, which resulted in having the final piece fit like it was all built at the same time.

True craftsmanship!

My hats off to Karson and his talent he has and uses in practicing his passion and craft of woodworking.

That said, I invite you to see the final project entitled ” Marks Heavenly Flight ”.

I also ask that you consider making a donation here, which enters you into the drawing that Martin be conducting at random a drawing in order to win this piece.

I have no doubt that by supporting this web site, this would please Mark, who this simple memorial is for.

I am sure he is smiling from Heaven as he sees this community stay together and continue to grow.

My sister walked with me down the hall to the ICU unit in the hospital to see my father for the first time since his accident the day before. As best she could, she had tried to prepared me for what I was about to see.

He had several broken bones and to make matters worse a face full of stitches and two black eyes.

I had just got off the phone with Karson.

That news he had called me with wasn’t much better.

Marks memorial, “The Heavenly Flight”, had arrived shattered and broken. Several pieces of glass were cracked, fractured, broken or had just fallen out.

I remember saying while I still had him on the phone, “Oh no! Well I’ll just have to build a new one”.

Not only did I face time constraints, I was sure that I would run short of the specific glass I had chosen for Mark’s memorial. Also, I had shipped the one and only and original drawing to Karson.

Karson understood, and agreed to ship the original drawing back.

Because of all that was going on at the time and the fact I was standing outside my father’s room it’s all a bit of a blur now.

I told Karson that I would likely be making a new panel rather than attempting to repair the damaged one. Considering the time that it would take to return the panel, and the likely shortage of glass, there comes a point in repairing stained glass windows where the time to do so, exceeds that of building a new one.

Although I had insured the panel for the cost of the materials, I knew that there would likely be a lengthy insurance claim process. I didn’t want to delay the memorial project because I felt a timely memorial was important.

The remainder of my day was an emotional roller coaster. The doctors and staff had prepared us for the worse regarding my father. We all hoped for the best but were preparing for the worse. Each family member was only allowed five minutes with dad. We also needed to limit the total amount of time. The time had finally come for each of us to say our goodbyes; we had no idea if this goodbye was for the day or forever.

This moment will never be forgotten and is etched in my mind and remains as fresh and raw today as it was at that time.

I walked alone down the hall as the rest of my family said goodbye. I found a empty seat off to the side in the hallway and sat down. The tears started to roll off my face, like rain off a hard road surface.

Both my father and the memorial piece lay fractured and broken. I saw some irony in this. The combined affect had extracted its toll. I was drained. All I could do was pray for my dad, and go home and rebuild another memorial, but I knew I was helpless to rebuild my father.

The trip home with my brother was almost in complete silence.

I needed to go home and start on the project for my own peace-of-mind and what I hoped would be a symbol of my father’s resurrection.

The only question was, could they both be saved, the panel that lay in Karson’s shop and my father who lay in the intensive care unit of the hospital. I had no idea the outcome of either. I would do what was in my control to assure the outcome of the memorial panel. My father’s restoration was in much better and talented hands than mine.

That thought gave me some comfort.

I arrived home and looked at the pictures that Karson had emailed me showing the shipping damage to the panel. There was no question in my mind that that the only real option in the time we had available was to completely rebuild the piece.

This meant starting over from scratch. I knew this would be challenging, however I was ready to take this challenge head on.

The first obstacle to over come was to call Karson and have him ship back the original drawing so I could start over on the new piece. The fact that this would take a few days weighed heavy on my mind. I wanted to get started as soon as possible.

I needed to for my own sanity. I had to keep my mind occupied on something besides my fathers condition.

In the back of my mind was another worry. I was very aware that I would be short glass to rebuild the same piece. One of the problems with building original pieces is just this. I had enough glass for the first piece and some excess for minor repairs at best.

I had chosen some very special and unique glass for the memorial piece. All the glass chosen had either a very special story behind it or a special meaning.

The majority of the glass, the portion making up the main theme of the panel, had come from glass salvaged from a very famous church. The more I looked at my existing inventory the more apparent it became how short I would be.

I had a picture of the final project on my computer. I pulled the picture up and displayed it on my laptop. It became very evident that I would run short of one of the primary pieces of glass that I used for the rays as well as some of the other key pieces in the project.

The more I studied the project, the more convinced I was that the glass shortage would force me to redesign and redraw a lot of the project. Because Karson had the original and time was of the essence, I decided to redesign and draw a new panel and cartoon.

I just started drawing again.

I had sent Karson several pictures of the first panel and one of them showed the project with light shining through the panel from my light box. He made a comment at the time, “that really looks like clouds behind the dove”. I pointed out that it really was the light that he was seeing shining through the panel.

I remembered this comment and felt this time around, as long as I had to redesign and redraw the project, I would try hard to make the background behind the Dove look more like a “hole in the sky” and “live clouds”.

It is not uncommon for me when I build furniture, especially when it’s something new or a bit more complicated, to build a prototype. I find this very helpful and a good way to make changes before I build the final project.

In stained glass work this is much more difficult, not only because of the much higher cost of the glass but also the time it takes. Once the glass is cut and used in a piece it is, for all practical purposes, not able to be used for anything else.

Utilizing the existing resources and time I had to complete this project, I made several small changes to the project and drawing, keeping as close to the original theme and drawing as I possibly could.

I really hoped the new panel would be at least as good as the first one. I wasn’t at all sure and was feeling quite anxious about this. Never-the-less, I moved ahead with the project.

Before long I had a new cartoon redrawn and transferred to the old cartoon that was used when fitting the previous panel. This was no easy task. I knew that each and every piece would now have to be cut without a pattern and with only a rough guild from my new print. Without “a blue print” to follow, each piece would have to be custom fit and ground. This is not the preferred way to do any cartoon because of all the variables. It tends to cause fitting problems and can add hours to the final assembly.

However, I simply had no choice and was committed to rebuilding a new piece and getting the project back on-track. Although I was well aware of the work that was ahead of me, it was irrelevant. I was determined to finish this, whatever it was going to take.

I worked on the new panel almost non-stop for two and a half days. Each step of the way was like being in the dark. Without a set of “plans”, patterns and a scale cartoon I was left to mostly hand fitting.

Perhaps a better way to describe this process is to think of a project like building a hutch without any plans, dimensions, scales, pictures or notes. Imagine starting out from scratch and building this to its completion.

To say this was a challenge is a understatement. The good news for me was that I had designed, drawn and built the first piece, so I knew what I wanted. It helps to be able to visualize the end results.

I kept Karson and a few others informed about the progress. However, I had really restricted my pictures and new design to only a few people. Frankly, I wasn’t sure if it would turn out or even work, let alone how it would compare to the first panel.

In the meantime, I had received several pictures and updates of the frame Karson had designed and built. There was no way I could describe what he had done. Words simply escaped me to describe what the frame looked like and what a beautiful and creative job he had done.

I really began to feel very self conspicuous about the new project piece and was worried that it would fall far short of expectations.

Never-the-less, I forged ahead the best I could with the panel. I finished the total project in a little over four days.

I emailed Karson the final pictures and hoped that he would approve.

Only time would tell, what his reaction and that of others would be. For the time-being, all I could do was hope and pray.

Considering the fragile status of my dad who was still in the hospital, this was a very familiar feeling.

Once again I couldn’t help but think about the irony.

Some things, particularly when they are fragile, are better just left alone.

Leaving his care in the hands of other people, I had to trust the outcome. I would have to do the same with this memorial project for Mark; trust that others would see the caring that all of LumberJocks had placed in this project.

Only time would reveal the result, for now I had to let go.

Totally exhausted the previous evening and before I headed to bed I had taken some pictures and emailed a progress report to Karson, asking him to be kind in his criticism. It had been a long day.

The next morning I called Karson and his wonderful wife Linda answered the phone. She was so kind and supportive of the project. Karson had showed her the pictures along with a few other people. They all were encouraging and supportive.

That certainly made it easier to start the task of final fitting the next day. They will never know how that gave me the jump start I needed. Those encouraging works gave me my fuel to propel forward with the final phase of the project.

I had run out of gas, and now my tank was full again.

The final fitting of any panel is always a crap shoot. It can vary with every project. Each has its own personality. What I mean by this is, one never knows until the work is started as to how the final fit will go. Some projects have to be fought every inch while others seem to assemble themselves. Worse yet, there is no way to determine which project will “act” in a certain way.

Welcome to the craft of stained glass.

There is no set way one can predict how long any given project with take.

I have come up with and use as a general guideline which only gives me a rough estimate of determine how long a project should take. This guideline can vary considerably however I have found this to be helpful with planning. I usually count up all the pieces and add one hour for every piece. This comes close to the time required for cutting, layout, assembly, and welding, soldering and final finish. Of course, any design work and anything else you do outside of actual construction add to the overall time.

There are forty seven pieces in this project. I was keeping a daily journal of not only my personal experiences I was tracking my time to test the theory and accuracy of my formula. Thus far I had sixty three hours involved. This confirmed and seemed to be right on track for my estimate as to how long it would take.

Regardless, time was irrelevant to me. If it would of taken five years to build I would of did it. Mark would in my mind protest all the fuss, however he deserved so much more than I could possible do for him and his family.

I was trying my best. In the end that is all he ever wanted from himself and other Lumberjocks as he gently coached them and provided his encouraging words and greetings as Lumberjocks ambassador.

I always thought as a early member he set the tone for this community which continues today of which is referred to often.

I was well aware of needing to move the project forward and take advantage of the time I had off for the holidays. I knew this project had to be timely and moved from idea to completion as quickly as possible, because of the nature of the memorial and the fact Karson also needed time to build and fit the frame.

I still was working two jobs and knew my time would be limited after the holidays.

I got up early the following morning and began the tedious job of grinding and fitting stained glass. Grinding is akin to sanding. It has to be done but is often tedious and certainly not my favorite part of the project. However like sanding can make or break the appearence of a project, grinding the glass to fit will determine a lot of the appearance and outcome of the project.

For the most part this panel went together like most do that have a lot of curves. In other words, it pretty much was a fight all the way.

That is one of the traits of stained glass, you can’t be impatience and it will take whatever time it takes regardless of the urgency. I worked 15 hours straight and finally finished my last piece at 9 pm that evening.

Exhausted, I quit for the day. I sent updates to Karson, feeling unsure of how the project would be received. I was concerned that it might fall far short of expectations. I knew I had put my heart and passion into this project, but I didn’t know if that would be enough to carry it.

Time would tell.

I hit the send button and took a shower before getting some rest.

I knew that another long day was awaiting me the next day when I would begin welding and soldering up the project.

I awoke early, ready to start soldering the panel. I couldn’t wait to get started, but I really found myself struggling with thoughts about the adequacy of this memorial project for a wonderful man like Mark.

I had to stay focused which wasn’t always easy.

In my heart of hearts, I struggled with the feeling that this project was in no way worthy of what Mark has represented to so many others. However, I was comfortable with the passion and pure desire of my heart in trying to convey my sincere feeling about how much he meant to so many of us. I simply had to accept that Mark would know our intentions and being the humble man he was, understand.

I was then able to move forward.

I began welding the panel and completed that part of the project several hours later.

Again, exhausted, I took progress pictures, e-mail an update to Karson and quit for the day.

I then answered several messages from other Lumberjocks who were involved in trying to come up with ideas how we could make this an ongoing way to memorialize Mark, as well as to continue into the future benefiting the Lumberjocks site.

The logistics for this were being refined and now all that had to be done was to approach Martin.

MsDebbieP had been involved with the ongoing discussion all along and would be our sounding board and logical liaison person to approach Martin with this idea. This she did obtaining Martin’s commitment to take this idea under consideration, promising to get back to us in a few days with his response.

During this period there was uncertainty and a lot of anxiety. I knew this would be a difficult decision and needed to be a well thought out process for Martin. His integrity and reputation is at stake and he would have to carefully consider all sides.

Regardless, we moved ahead on the project because whatever Martins decision, I had decided I would take the project and sell it if needed and donate to Lumberjocks anonymously in Marks name.

I sincerely hoped Martin would allow us to use the ideas we had as an ongoing way to memorialize others in the future.

I got home from my early morning job and found a message from MsDebbieP. Simply stating, we had the green light from Martin and his outline about how he wanted it handled. It had to be done with integrity, sensitivity and safeguards.

I was relieved that all these issues were resolved and the concept would become part of Lumberjocks.

I went back to work on the project. My Christmas and New Years break was beginning to run short and I knew I soon had to return to work and wouldn’t have a lot of time to work on the project.

I finished up the project and was planning to ship it out Saturday January 5, 2008.

A good friend of mine, who lived four doors down the street from me, had been following this project with interest. He was the person who had bought and helped with the “This Old Mold House” project. Although not a Lumberjock himself, he was very aware of several of the projects and various Lumberjocks that I had been keeping in touch with over the last year.

He was very taken back and had been touched from all the outpouring of the Lumberjocks regarding the passing of Mark. He was very aware of this project being a memorial for Mark.

I had completed the stained glass panel and had it sitting on my work bench drying from being cemented which gives the panel its rigidity and lasting protection. All that remained now was the shipping. He had occasion to visit me and inquired how I planed on shipping the piece. I told him I wasn’t sure yet I needed to contact Karson.

He then offered to pay for the shipping as his small gesture towards the memorial because he was so taken back by the Lumberjocks genuine outpouring of support for this memorial.

He stared at the panel and the pictures of Karson’s frame in awe of his work. He was truly touched.

Working for a major airline, he has an employee benefit that allows substantial discounts for shipping with FedEx. As his small jester towards this project, he insisted that he pay the shipping cost and wouldn’t take no for an answer.

We agreed to meet the next morning take the panel to FedEx Kinko’s for final shipment. I prepared the documents for shipment. This at MsDebbieP urging would include a signed drawing. I decided to include the signed original drawing with the panel. This was done so whoever won the drawing would have the one and only drawing of this project.

In my mind, there was only one Mark. I felt this was a fitting tribute to him.

I built a packing crate out of ¼ inch oak paneling that had a heavy duty oak frame.

I enclosed a few other small things and a final farewell I had written to Mark as a memory and closed the case.

This was a very emotional moment for me. Tears streamed down my cheek as I closed the shipping case I realized I was saying good bye to Mark for the last time.

I stood in silence staring at the crate with Marks memory panel inside. I stood and reflected for a few minutes until my friend arrived to take me to FedEx Kinko’s.

He picked me up at two thirty to go to FedEx Kinko’s. I felt a sense of relief that that project was done. I wanted the project to be done in a timely fashion and to allow ample time for Karson to prepare his frame. I was happy to have taken part of this memorial project and excited to be shipping the project that day.

The ride was a quiet one; my friend sensed my somber mood.

FedEx Kinko’s is about 10 miles from my home. Half way there he broke the silence and asked where we were sending the panel. At that moment it hit me like falling rain, I didn’t have the address with me.

I felt so stupid. I confessed this and offered my apologies to him. We turned around to go back home to get the address. He never said a word he seemed to understand.

I felt relieved. It occurred me to I was struggling to let go of Mark.

I guess I was, even though I knew he was in a much better place in my mind.

We had already missed the FedEx pickup for that day, so the project wouldn’t go out until Monday morning. Therefore, we decided to ship it second day air.

I watched as the attendant packed the crate. I insisted several times that he include more packing material and be careful with this panel as it was fragile and special.

He looked at me like “Dude I do this for a living, get off my back”. Although he was professional I was going to err on the safe side and be over cautious. He seemed annoyed at all the fuss.

My buddy filled out the shipping documents, we paid and left.

I then went home and e-mailed Karson all the shipping details. I had been feeling under the weather and frankly was exhausted from all the hours I had spent in the shop so I decided to take a nap and prepare myself mentally to return to work the next day.

What a drag this would be and how I was dreading this after such a nice long stretch off work.

Monday morning came and back to the grind. I was still feeling a bit under the weather and awoke felling tired. I called Karson and told him about the shipping and to watch for the package.

I was swamped at work all day so the just day shot by. My phone rang at five thirty in the afternoon. I was still in my office. It was my mother. My father had had a bad accident and had fallen off the roof while raking snow. He had been taken to the hospital via ambulance and was being stabilized for transport to a much larger trauma-two hospital.

I knew things weren’t good. All I could do was to wait, pray and hope. I did a lot of praying, waiting for any word of his condition.

I got a call that he would be transferred to another hospital and as soon as they knew anything they would call me.

I never slept another wink that night.

After a sleepless night in bed, I went to work. It was all I could do until they called. I was unable to be with him because of the distance and the fact that they wouldn’t allow anyone, not even immediate family, to accompany the transfer. At that point, the final destination had not even been decided.

In short, I was a wreck inside but somehow held my composure. I felt so helpless and vulnerable.

Silence and prayers were my only comfort. All I had to do was wait for word.

And wait some more.

The phone rang. It was my sister. She updated me on dad’s condition. It didn’t sound good.

I called my brother and we made arrangements to meet and drive up to the hospital. They said we could see my father after one o’clock and would be allowed five minutes an hour to visit.

My brother and I met in a nearby town on the way. We pretty much sat in silence the whole trip to the hospital.

We arrived at the hospital parking lot and were walking up to the main entry when I noticed I had missed a phone call. It was Karson. He had just called one minute before. I hadn’t even heard the phone ring.

He had left a message, but I didn’t take time to listen to it. I called him back directly because my cell said “missed call Karson”.

I called him right back to give him an update. I hadn’t seen my father yet, and didn’t know what to expect other than I had been informed he had several broken bones.

He listened as I updated him on what I had been told about dad’s condition as I walked towards the front door of the hospital.

He was very subdued and tried to comfort me. He also had news for me. The news wasn’t good.

At that moment, I stood at the front door frozen and numb. Helpless, I responded the best I could at the time.

I remember saying two things. One of which was, “Oh no!”

That response somehow seemed so inadequate.

This was a very familiar feeling for me at this moment. Suddenly I went numb from disbelief! I was overwhelmed at this moment which coincided with my sister greeting me at the front door at the hospital.

She didn’t look good, nor did I at that moment, I’m sure.

I said goodbye to Karson, and took my sisters hand, as we walked she talked, with tears running down her cheek.

As were mine.

To be continued here

Finally I was able to get down to the actual building of the stained glass piece. The drawing had been completed and copies had been made of the cartoon so I could cut out the patterns which I would use to cut the glass. I also made a pattern which provides a guide for laying out the individual pieces of glass when cut and ground to size.

The best way to describe this is to look at the pattern as the “template” or blueprint for the pieces of glass that will form the final piece. It is just like putting a jigsaw puzzle together.

After applying contact paper to cover one of the copies of the cartoon and placing it on the board that I use as a jig to assemble the glass, I am ready to cut the zinc that will be used as the outside frame. The reason for covering the copy of the cartoon with contact paper is that after grinding the glass, water and sediment from the glass can ruin the pattern in short order. I learned this the hard way.

This also will protect the cartoon when soldering the panel up during final assembly.

I then began cutting the zinc that will be used for the frame. Like woodworking, this part, although simple, has to be accurate and square. If the frame varies at all, you will fight the fitting and assembly every of the way to the final completion.

The margin for error is less forgiving with glass than wood. The main reason for this is the nature of glass in lead. The lead, known as Lead Came, forms channels that have to fit exactly, or there will be gaps that will show through the cartoon and look like a “hole”. These holes stand out like a carpenter’s sore thumb, or worse yet, the glass will fall out.

One of the unique properties of Lead Came is, as a metal it is the only metal that will expand over the life of it but will not contract. This poses some very challenging design considerations. Lead comes in six foot sections and various withes. Lead has to be stretched prior to use. This process of pulling and stretching the lead roughly two inches causes the lead to become rigid and puts tensile strength into the lead.

The end result is a piece of lead that can be formed and cut to fit the glass.

The nature of stained glass work parallels a lot of woodworking. That is, accuracy is very important and the margin of error very small. However, stained glass with its fragile and ridged properties it is less forgiving. Overall, I find this to be one of the biggest challenges; constantly keeping tolerances within acceptable limits.

For example, whom amongst us hasn’t had to get the “wood stretcher” out and make a repair. There are far more ways to repair “oops” in woodworking than in stained glass.

No such luck with glass. Once glass is cut its cut. Glass is unforgiving and fragile.

One other major difference in working with glass is the total unpredictability of what it will do or what will happen when it is scored broken into smaller individual pieces that become part of your cartoon.

To begin with, every piece of glass is tempered differently. To add insult to injury there are several textures, natural flaws, man made designs and intentions added to the glass to achieve the desired result. Every piece of glass is one of a kind; the “hues”, patterns, colors and appearance will vary slightly.

I have learned to “buy enough” to allow for at least a 25 percent breakage factor plus extra, so if called upon, I still have the original run available to make repairs at a later date.

Due to the volume of glass I do, it has forced me to have a good recording system and ample storage for the extra glass. Over time, this can become very expensive, thus if possible I try choosing glass that is readily available and where small variations won’t matter.

Compared to the investment required for woodworking, the tools used in stained glass making are really very inexpensive. Of course like any craft one can spend a large sum on money for things like kilns, special equipment, and inventory. As a general rule, one would be well equipped for an expenditure of less than two hundred dollars. With the tools that this money would buy, one could pretty much build anything. Although, certainly, the lead came, solder, flux, and of course the glass itself can add several hundred dollars to the cost very quickly.

My tool investment is relatively small but I have a substantial investment in inventory. Certainly, a well lit comfortable work area or shop is desirable.

For the most part, the tools I use today are the same as those used hundreds of years ago. Some things just don’t change nor can be improved upon.

One of the questions I frequently get is, “Do you have a band saw that you use to cut the glass?”

The short answer to this is, no. The truth is, I have two band saws; for the most part they are worthless.

They are not only cumbersome, slow, and of very limited use and mobility when cutting curves or elaborate designs, but they are time consuming to set up and expensive to maintain.

The diamond blades are outrageous in their cost.

By nature, it is hard to keep the blade aligned in these saws. They are in constant need of adjustment and attention. The machine sellers would tell you different, but most of the old master crafts people I know feel the same way about them as I do.

Never-the-less, I have to admit that when it comes to complicated cuts with only a very limited amount of a particular glass or especially on any repair jobs where the glass is no longer available, then the band saw really does minimize your changes of breakage.

However, over all it won’t save you much labor. After one becomes proficient with this craft one can work extremely fast by hand. With experience ones accuracy improves.

This argument is the same one we hear in the woodworking fraternity when it comes to hand verse power tools. The main difference is, in glass work, rarely is mass production a desired result.
One factor to consider is, labor in glass work is accepted and understood to be a large part of the cost. In woodworking labor costs need to be held more in line with the overall project size and value.

Similarly to a lot of woodworking, I cut out and use patterns. If I have a cartoon with several pieces and a lot of curves or varied cuts, I immediately cut out a pattern from my original drawing and use it to trace the pattern onto the glass. Once that is complete, I cut the piece out using the hand glass cutter.

The next several hours consisted of the same routine of copying the pattern onto the glass and rough cutting the glass to size which later will be ground to final tolerance and fitting. Most often these days I skip the “tracing step” and use the cartoon pattern and cut my glass “live” with my glass cutter with out drawing or tracing the cartoon piece.

Of course this took a lot of practice to get to this stage. I wouldn’t necessary recommend this to others with out ample experience. The price of glass makes this almost prohibitive anyways. However it really can speed up the project eliminating a complete step.

There are several ways to do stained glass fitting and over time every one develops their own preferred methods. I like to rough cut all of my pieces first then come back and do a final grind and fit to the lead came as I assemble the cartoon. I have found this to be the most efficient way to progress the project and help break the monotony of the repetitive tasks involve.

Without a doubt, learning the stained glass craft has taught me patience. By nature I am a restless and impatient person. I tend to be very production oriented. There is no such thing when doing stained glass work. It can be very tedious and requires a lot of attention to detail.

I took a lesson directly from nature. That is she is a very patience person. Let things evolve as they are or will be with out pushing them and they well turn out just fine.

I find that both stained glass and woodworking are very complementary to one another in teaching new skills that can be used in either craft for their betterment.

Like any craft, the more you do or practice and learn about the craft, the better one becomes. Stained glass is no exception.

Anyone can do stained glass; I am a living example of this as I am with woodworking. All either requires is an investment of time and a willingness to learn the craft using whatever means and tools are available.

Then practice!

It really is that simple.

This project to commemorate Mark certainly could be done by any number of others. I am humbled to be able to share in a small part of this project.

Due to the holidays and little or no distractions because of this time of the year and having extra time off from work I was able to make a lot of progress on the project.

I was very aware of the task at hand and quite frankly feeling very inadequate and a bit overwhelmed. Doing the best I could, I simply wanted to produce a tribute worthy of Mark’s memory. Although I was somewhat concerned that I would fall short of this goal I moved forward. My passion and commitment to do my best poured from my heart.

I couldn’t allow myself to become overwhelmed with the task at hand and relied on the constant encouragement of those around me and the fellow Lumberjocks who were part of this project.

I don’t claim to be an ‘artist” and have not had any formal training in art. Therefore, I feel very inadequate whenever I create any project. This feeling is prevalent regardless whether it is woodworking, remodeling or a stained glass project.

One thing that comforts me somewhat is when I talk to real “artists”, is I am surprised how many of these “artists” have confessed having the same feelings of “inadequacy”. I admit, I also am a perfectionist and my own worst critic. However I don’t feel so alone when I hear they also suffer from anxiety and feeling rather insecure about there work.

No doubt, some of my feeling of inadequacy comes from the self-consciousness I feel about having only one functional hand. This was the result of a serious construction accident I had culminating in several surgeries but never really rectifying the condition of my hand. Although I no longer allow myself to feel self pity, this embarrassment is still deep-routed in my psyche. Never-the-less, I have made great strides overcoming a number of obstacles over time. I have accepted this will be a life long journey. I simply try taking it one step, one day and one project at a time.

One thing I can say is that I have never given up. Despite arthritis pain, a build up of scare tissue, and hyper sensitivity to the hand, I have found the strength to keep doing what I love. I plan on doing so until I can’t possibly continue. I practice my crafts like there may be no tomorrow, because that is reality – we have no assurance of tomorrow. I don’t want to someday find myself looking back with regrets about what might have been had I…

I had been working virtually non stop for over 14 hours. I was exhausted and ready to quit for the day.

Karson had called me and asked if I could send a picture to him of the dove that I had drawn and was going to be used as the center piece to this project.

I cut the dove out and added a note and gladly sent him a picture not completely sure what his intention was for this request. I was sure what ever it was it would be awesome.

I had serious doubts about how the project would be received now that I was nearing the end if the rough fit and was ready to start the final fit and assembly.

I quit for the day.

Doubts lingered, I really needed sleep but was worried how the project would be received when I mailed the progress pictures.

I would know soon enough, for now I needed sleep.

**

Several of us Lumberjocks were still kicking around ideas about what would be the best way to create a lasting memorial that could also be ongoing way to raise money to help defray the expenses of the Lumberjocks website.

Concurrently, along with the exchanges and various ideas flowed back and forth between the Lumberjocks, I needed to move forward with building the stained glass piece. The drawing in stained glass work is called “the cartoon”. From the cartoon comes the panel or finished piece. I had to take my final drawing and have it reproduced in order that I could cut patterns, number the pieces, and use as a template and layout guild for the piece.

I neither have, nor could justify the cost of a scanner and plotter of the size required to reproduce the drawing to the size I wanted so I took the final drawing and headed off to Kinko’s.

I always dread this part of any project because of the uncertainty and unpleasant experiences I have had with these “evil machines” that have eaten my drawings in the past. I picture this menacing machine with a smirk and grin that says “about time you got here – I am hungry”.

I hate them. Those machines are predators! They pray on those of us who are electronically challenged.

I know of very few feeling of helplessness like that of a machine munching down on one of your original drawings on which you invested hours and now is lodged in the throat of some roller on a cold lifeless machine with a blinking error light that says, “JAM”!

The thought of this sends shutters up and down my spine.

Have I told you how much I hate these machines?

Moving forward with great confidence I go to make copies of my drawings.

I enter the back door and walk past the machine. I swear that it looked at me with an evil eye and I even heard it burp!

Have I told you how much I hate that machine?

I seek out help from the assistant manager who gives me the confidence to feel a little smug as though I have outsmarted the machine. As I walked by it, I stuck my tongue out at it.

The assistant manager gladly helped me and took my drawing making some very nice comments and small talk. He recognized that this was going to be a stained glass piece and impressed me with his knowledge about the craft.

He even commented that the dove featured in the cartoon looked like it was ascending into the heavens.

I smiled, because that is exactly my intent and hope that others would recognize this theme.

As we waited for the machine to warm up we were engaged in some pleasant small talk. It turns out he was a framing carpenter for several years and we were able to share some of our experiences.

The machine is finally warm and he presses the button confidently. The machine takes my drawing as it disappears behind the rollers.

The machine stops!

So does my heart!

That sick feeling returns. You know what I am referring to. Every one of us have e experienced it at one time or another.

That sick feeling is back again, this time with a vengeance!

I take a deep breath as he fumbles still sporting a smile.

His smile seems fake and forced.

Nothing happens.

I felt like a deer stuck in the headlights.

Helpless!

None of the thoughts at that moment can be printed here for fear I would be accused of being a verbal terrorist and risk being locked up for a long time.

For a moment I thought, “It just might be worth doing the time”, fearful that my original drawing had been destroyed.

Calm prevailed as he opened covers and began what looked like major surgery on this machine. I secretly hoped the darn thing had finally died its rightful death. However, I wanted my drawing back first.

After all this was the only one I had.

What seemed like an eternity came to a conclusion in short order. Soon he had the machine spitting out copies.

The color returned to my face and I started breathing again.

All seemed to be going well, but knowing that any minute this could change I remained silent and in prayer.

I gathered up my copies and headed for the cashier and paid my fees. I walked right past the machine as I left the back door and gave it a dirty look.

I swear that machine winked and burped!

I headed home to begin the layout of the cartoon and to select the glass.

I looked over my shoulder as I entered on to the freeway, to be sure that the machine wasn’t following me. I am still not sure whether it did or not.

For the record, I take back everything I said about it.

I have to return to use that machine again.

I forgot to reduce the drawing to 18×24 which Karson and I had talked about rather than the 24×24 size. We felt this would be better in the event that whoever won the piece may elect to hang it in a window, in order to allow natural light to shine through.

This had all the makings of not only a long day but an interesting one.

I was determined to win this battle.

I was so happy to be back in my shop and ready move on with the layout and glass choices.

Laying out, along with choosing the glass, is in my opinion, every bit as important if not more; as cutting, soldering, and putting together the final panel. I feel that this step can be and often is the make or break part of the project.

In woodworking, finding interesting grain patterns and wood that complements the project that will be well placed and thoughtfully incorporated in the design of the project, is very important.

Glass is no different in this respect. Glass, like wood also needs to be well thought out regarding its placement in relationship to the project. This step often is the most important thing you can do for that piece.

This is a simple rule of design many woodworkers use in there projects.

In fact, there are many other complicated factors such as density, texture, light reflection and retention, along with multiple other considerations in choosing glass for your project, that also need to be taken in to consideration.

It is not uncommon to take several hours trying different glass combinations, only to start over after you expose the various pieces you choose to various light exposures and color combinations.

Simply stated, this step in the process of creating the stained glass panel can not be rushed. This part of the project must be done with patience and care.

Glass choices are abundant; however few rules apply in helping to guide you when making these choices.

For me, this is also complicated by the fact that I am color blind in several color ranges.

I have to rely on my instincts along with the studying of various hues, textures, densities, and patterns taking into consideration the relationship to the setting they are going to be used in.

This is easier said than done. I find my self second guessing my choices all the time.

Eventually, you have to make decisions and move on.

I selected eight different primary colors along with four possible alternates to choose from.

My preference is to lay these various colors choices using the actual pieces of glass that I plan on cutting out for the panel.

While building the frame and setting up the rest of my board, I layout and move these various pieces of glass in that are of varying colors into several different combinations.

Often this takes time to find the exact combinations that you like and want for the final pieces to be used in the panel.

Glass, like wood, needs to find its place in your heart, as well as a place in your project.

Admittedly, I know what I don’t like or won’t work more often than what works.

More often than not I feel a sense of restlessness with my choices.

The single most important factor in making my final choices is very simple.

That is, I ask my self one question.

Is it interesting to look at?

It is that simple!

After that, it is up to others to decide and answer that one simple question.

Is it interesting?

December 30, 2007

The idea was very simple and straight forward; create a memorial project to Mark (Osconer) that would generate funds for Lumberjocks, the common dominator amongst all of us. Simply stated, without the website as the common thread we wouldn’t have been introduced to Mark or been brought together as a group.

For this reason it occurred to me that the best way to memorialize someone would be to see to it that the vehicle that brought everyone together had the resources to continue operation . This could be perpetuated and perhaps expanded in the future as another way to contribute to the constant financial demands of developing and maintaining the Lumberjocks website.

The economic reality of any website is that its growth will also fuel financial demands beyond what an individual is usually able to support on their own. There comes a point in any hobby or business when that “invisible” line is crossed and one is at a point of no return.

Obviously, Martin and Lumberjocks reached this point some time ago when he sought revenue from advertising sources and when he began the donor program to help offset expenses.

The sad reality is that it took the passing of a good friend of the Lumberjocks community, Mark (Osconer) to generate this idea.

However, this provides an opportunity to honor and memorialize a good man and at the same time, become a positive method of contributing more funds to ensure that Lumberjocks is able to continue in the future.

The following is the actual text of the message I sent Karson. This will help put in context the idea…

“To Karson Sent 7 days ago Subject A memorial Idea, Message

Karson,

I have a idea that I would like to bounce off you.

As you know I like many others was profoundly sadden and taken back by Marks passing.
I was thinking one way to ensure his contributions would be create a memorial to him via this web site.

What I mean is this, one of the ways to ensure that all of Marks contributions stay alive is to be sure this web site continues to exist.

I propose, (and welcome any ideas you and others may have regarding this) that I design, create, build and ship at no cost, a stained glass window to the highest bidder in a silent auction that is conducted here in Lumberjocks of an original piece of my stained glass work.

All moneys would go to Martin via PayPal.

If willing, Martin would then accept and acknowledge receipt of the money but not state the amount.

This is the proposed piece I would make. I would do a blog about creating this piece and a step-by-step detailed pictorial.

I would then ship the piece to you in the raw and, if you agree, you make the “wood frame” and perhaps stain it and then ship it to the winner of the silent auction.

Let me know what you think.

If you would like to talk about more feel free to call me.

612- 916- xxxx

I am very open to suggestions.

Perhaps others could make things like small boxes or whatever to create ways for this to allow for others to contribute to keeping this web site alive.

That to me is one way to keep “Marks and others” alive in memory.

Here is my suggested piece … I would call it ”Marks Heavenly Flight”.

This piece would be a new one I would create especial for him, but would be very close to this design.

It would be 24” x 24” and you or whoever, could make the frame to hang it. Stained glass needs to be hung in a window or someplace where light can shine through it.

One possibility would be for me to donate the one I created and built that hangs in my front window of my home “This Old Crack House”, if this would be timelier. That could be shipped to you in a mater of just days.

The new one I would build would take approximately a month or more to design and build and to blog, ect. I am open to ideas.

I would prefer to build an original piece, and detail it in a blog so others could be part of the whole memorial process.

I will email you some pictures of what I had in mind.

Regards

Dusty

The text of Karson’s reply was as follows.

“From Karson Sent 7 days ago Subject Re: A memorial Idea, Message

Dusty that is a beautiful suggestion. I think a special stained glass would be best, That way it would be more unique to Mark. And an offer of others to make items and put them up for bid would also make a great purpose of this memorial.

We are having our family Christmas here this weekend so I’ll call you later. My number is ….

The idea had been born and all that had to be figured out was how and what could should and would be done and by whom.

Besides getting Martin on board with the whole idea, the best way to “donate”, auction, sell, or give the piece of stained glass with Karson’s custom frame had to be worked out.

Ideas could be sought from other Lumberjocks who also knew Mark and perhaps wanted to help with the memorial.

Douglas had already set up a memorial avatar for Mark and had it posted for any other Lumberjocks who wanted to use it.

Due to my limited computer skills, he downloaded my picture and set it up for me.

That is the spirit of this Lumberjocks community that I was referring to when discussing with Karson the reasons for a lasting memorial.

He agreed.

Over the next few days several back and forth messages between several Lumberjocks kicking around various ideas that might be the best way to both memorialize Mark and expand the concept into the future.

Karson rightly pointed out that Mark was the first Lumberjock that we knew had passed away. Sadly, he certainly wouldn’t be the last Lumberjock to pass on.

One of the inherent problems of the internet, is just that, a person can remain anonymous or suddenly drop out and never be heard from again and leave many wondering what ever happened to that person.

The very nature of close-knit cyber-communities is that they remain elusive when attempting to track the individuals of which they are made up.

Many ideas and thoughts were exchanged with a handful of Lumberjocks about the best way to raise funds and yet memorialize both Mark and others in the future.

The idea of e-bay was floated however this introduced several problems and for the most part was set aside as the least effective way to create a simple lasting memorial for Mark and to serve future needs of this community .

Dan Walters, suggested in his discussions that a lottery could be held, where a small donation via Pay Pal which was already set up on the Lumberjocks site could be made. In turn this donation would enter you into a drawing and from that pool of names a winner could be drawn at random.

This idea would not only give everyone an equal chance at winning but would remove the competitive nature for someone who is unable to afford to bid on a project.

This idea seemed to be the fairest with the most potential to become an ongoing concern.
For example, if someone wanted to build a box, piece of furniture, or even offer up a tool, or something of value that they no longer used or wanted to build or donate to Lumberjocks with all of the proceeds going to support the website this method would be the simplest.

This also provides several avenues for others to participate in various ways other than just giving cash as a donor. One thought was not only through memorials for Lumberjocks but someone mentioned they would like to donate a piece of furniture that they built in memory of their long time pet.

Ideas are endless for this fund raising vehicle. If one chooses not to participate in this, there is no obligation to do so.

This way as a neutral party, Martin could be the keeper of the funds and have control over the intake and the final disposition of the funds once they had been received. He would then notify the donor to ship the project.

One other safeguard in this method is, if for some reason the project wasn’t shipped to the winner, the money could be refunded to those who wanted a refund.

After several ideas and exchanges back and forth between various Lumberjocks, the basic idea and concept had taken a rough-draft form. What had to be worked out were several of the final details along with presenting it to Martin for his approval. It was anticipated that Debbie would be the one who would approach Martin with this idea and present it.

Regardless of the outcome, and I hoped it would become reality, I decided I would move forward with creating, designing, drawing and building a stained glass window in memory of Mark.

My reason for starting this project without all the details finalized with Martin and the Lumberjocks site was very simple; I wanted to do something in memory of Mark.

Period!

This felt right and was the right thing to do in my mind.

I have a natural outlet for stained glass projects anyways and would sell whatever I built for a memorial to Mark and in turn simply donated the proceeds from the sale, in the event Martin felt uncomfortable with this idea.

However, I preferred to involve as many other Lumberjocks in this project and felt strongly about helping set up another method of an ongoing way to raise funds.

Later in the day, after I had sent Karson a message detailing some of the ideas and asking for his help, he called me.

We had never spoken previously.

We spoke on the phone for over 41 minutes the first time and it felt like I had known him my whole life.

It was a tremendous pleasure.

What a selfless, gifted man he is and his offer to help was very touching.

We agreed on a ‘general idea’ for the type of stained glass window. From some pictures we had exchanged, we decided on what we felt would be the most appropriate as a tribute for Mark.

One of the pictures seemed to capture the “essence” of Mark. I had sent a picture of a stained glass piece that hangs in the living room of my home, “This Old Crack House”. Although one of my own creations and favorite pieces, I wanted to create an original piece just for Mark.

It was decided that I would use that piece as a theme but start over and create, draw and build a one-of-a-kind original piece in memory of Mark.

Although I was honored to be able to do this, yet I felt so humbled and inadequate. I knew no matter what I created, it would fall well short of expectations and never ever be deserving of being an appropriate memorial for Mark.

Never-the-less, I would try. The only thing I knew for sure was my heart was overflowing with passion and desire to create something worthy of a small memorial of Marks life and worth the time and effort that Karson would put forth to create the frame.

I felt somewhat daunted with the heavy burden of making something worthwhile of the frame that I knew Karson would build.

I accepted this was going to be an impossible task but would do my best.

I would try.

That was all I had to offer, was my word I would do me best. This was all I could do.

I began with first cleaning up my shop and clearing off an area on my work bench to lay out a single piece of off white 24×24 paper.

On top of the paper I had pencils, a few rulers, several erasers and some other drawing items.

I just stated drawing. I had no idea what I would create. My shop was total silence.

I noticed that my paper has a few wet spots as I rough sketched a design I had in mind.

Their were tears that were running down my cheek and falling onto the paper.

I stopped drawing, and they flowed freely.

My hand shook.

I thought to myself, I can’t do this.

I stopped, and just sat in silence.

I tried the best I could to compose myself.

I started drawing again.

I didn’t stop until I finished.

I have no idea how long it took or what I was doing.

I just did it, it just happened.

When finished, I stepped back to look over the drawing.

There were a few smudge marks on the drawing from where my tears had fallen and caused the pencil marks to run. I was thinking to myself, ‘I hope whoever ends up with this drawing (I intended to send the original drawing with the piece so that it could never be built again and was really a one of a kind creation) would be understanding and look past the smudge marks and be forgiving.

Time will tell on that thought, I will just have to wait and see.

For the moment it didn’t seem to matter, the drawing was done.

It was the best I could do; I had put my heart and tears into the drawing.

Literally!

Foot note;

To be continued ; there will be several parts to this blog and project .

The story about creating this memorial from various Lumberjocks and others who have so unselfishly contributed to this project will move you.

These Lumberjocks are what makes this site so special.

I promise you, that there efforts are not only moving and a reflection of the Lumberjocks community spirit but there work and creations are nothing short of stunning.

Please stay tuned in days and weeks ahead as this project unfolds.

I can honestly say this had been one of the most moving experiences of my life.

I am so humbled to be a small part of this project.

The best part of this is it involves so many members and each and every one who chooses can be part of this memorial.

That is the what Lumberjocks is all about, the coming to together as a community and sharing what our passions are.

Nothing more, nothing less.

Enough said!

After demolishing the basement and cleaning it out, I had a chance to assess the real condition of the plumbing, electrical, heating, and various other parts of the house.

Not good!

I confirmed pretty much what I expected and that for which I had planned, and budgeted.

This included breaking up the floor and replacing all the floor drains and pipe, the plumbing needed to be redone.

The electrical wiring was in dire shape.

The heating plant (hot water heat boiler) although less than 10 years old, was in bad shape. The boiler had been replaced however the bathroom shower stall had rotted out and had been spraying water on the side of the boiler where it also rusted out.

The old radiators were outdated, improperly installed, and had over sized pipe that was unsightly and very inefficient. Several of these old cast iron relics were rusted and full of sediment and was surely trouble waiting to happen.

You could add all of the following to the list of “needing immediate replacement”.

1. The existing water heater that was full of sludge and had been leaking for a long period.
2. The newspaper that was dated in the nineteen forties that was used as insulation for the ceiling and walls.
3. The lead laundry tub.
4. The washer and dryer.
5. All of the basement plumbing fixtures in the former bathroom.
6. The well had to be abandoned.
7. All the basement windows besides being inoperable were rotted and contained only single-pane glass.
8. All fuse boxes and wiring.
9. The crawl space that lead from the basement to under the porch was not closed off from the outside elements.
10. The old heating system piping had been oversized and built in to all the former spaces. These pipes now stood out in the open and took up valuable space. Not only was this unsightly, it was impractical to build around.
11. The gas lines no longer met code, nor did anything else for that matter.
12. The floor covering was asbestos containing floor tile that had been breaking up for years.

There really wasn’t anything I had not planed for from my initial assessment. You always hope you find something that didn’t need replacing or was in better shape than first thought.

I can dream right?

The next step would be to break up the floor and replace the plumbing.

This would need to be done along with pouring a new floor before we could finish frameing out the new bathroom and bedroom.

There is only one way to describe what breaking up concrete and replacing the existing plumbing is like.

It sucks and is hard work.

Period!

Oh, did I mention also expensive, dirty, smelly and time consuming?

Enough said, and suffice to say not my favorite work to do. It had to be done and the sooner I got going on it, the faster it would be done.

It is funny how any talk of demolition work being fun abruptly stops when it comes to breaking up a concrete floor with a sludge hammer and bars. I have also notice how quickly laborers start bitching when tearing out old smelly rusted pipes leaking toilet sewage all over while struggling to carry them up a flight of stairs to an outside dumpster. I was that laborer.

It is part of the work in any rehabilitation project and certainly I had no budget to hire a professional plumber. You also begin to better understand why and how they charge the rates they do.

After spending a day breaking up the floor and digging out the old plumbing, it was time to start the rough-in of the new plumbing.

Not only did I have sand piled up from the sub floor under the concrete, I also had the smell and old residue from the rusted-through drain piping to deal with and replace.

I know why I never wanted to become a plumber.

One other very important consideration at that point was I had to not only replace all the existing plumbing, but also bring it up to code. There is no margin for error. I either did this or they would make me replace it.

I had to plan the work well taking into account any future improvements or additions that I might want to add. I had to do all of this without going over budget. It’s at this stage where the importance of a budget and all the work that goes into preplanning becomes evident.

I learned this all the hard way. It only took one experience of having to break up a concrete floor after I had replaced the plumbing and the cement after I failed to get a rough in inspection for me to learn that lesson.

I have never forgotten that “teachable moment”.

Never!

After replacing all the plumbing in the floor and while waiting for the plumbing inspector I stared my framing and insulating work. On this job, I didn’t have the luxury of completing one phase, get it inspected and then proceed to the next phase.

Time was critical.

Certainly it would have been much easier not to have to frame walls around large trenches in the floor and sand piled on the existing concrete. This never mattered because I had a tight time line and couldn’t afford to loose a single day.

When I make a trip to the lumber yard or big box retailer I make the most of it.

I buy and have on hand what I need, or will need in the very new future, without having items that can be lost or misplaced or not need at this phase of the project.

Planning!

Being organized is essential.

Having what is needed, when it is needed, is very important.

I take my “preplanning notes” that are complete with model numbers, stock keeping unit numbers, colors and whatever else is essential and fax this over to the store so that it can all be pulled in advance and waiting for me when I arrive.

All I have to do then is to pay for it and check that what they pulled was on my list and is undamaged.

This is a huge time saver.

I also stage these materials as close to where I will need them without causing other problems. I then make sure my crew knows where these materials are located so no time is wasted looking for them

There were only three of us on this job and with them being my helpers this was easy.

It’s also important to understand the capabilities and limitations of the crew to make the most productive use of their skills. I write in much more detail about this later in another blog.

Before the installation of the insulation could proceed, framing of the new bedroom and bathroom had begun in earnest, along with the outside wall mold abatement, cleaning, and surface prep. This process is somewhat cumbersome and time consuming and had to be done with care and in order.

There are very specific and detailed methods for removal of mold from porous material such as concrete walls or block. The details and steps are too varied and complex to attempt in one paragraph.

I would suggest that anyone who undertakes this process knows what they are doing and uses the latest safety equipment and methods with qualified inspectors at their disposal to confirm the absence of mold when completed.

Removing mold from porous materials such as cement is relatively easy when the proper steps are followed.

This was day four of the project. So far, everything was on time with no real budget surprises other than the need for a new water heater. I had overlooked this in my assessment.

What makes me angry at myself was I knew better. Because the water heater was leaking, I should have planned on replacing it and budgeted accordingly. Had it turned out to be something less serious not requiring replacement, then it’s a bonus.

At the same time, in order not to interfere with the framing process and hold up the project in other ways, I started cutting the block and digging the outside hole for the egress window.

I had to really watch the weather forecast so that I didn’t get caught with a big hole in the side of the house during a downpour of rain.

I really had to know project instillation times, available work hours and help, when several parts of the project are going on at the same time.

One good part of this project was the fact that the homeowner was a journeyman electrician. This made it so much simpler because I never had to babysit his work. He was able and kept himself busy doing this at the same time all the framing and other work was being done.

All that was needed was coordinating so we weren’t all trying to work in one area. This is one of my pet peeves; something that although at times unavoidable, is more than likely just poor planning. More often than not, when this happens it becomes a time killing and frustrating ordeal.

After the first week, all the week’s goals and benchmarks for the project had been met on time and within budget.

It was time to start reviewing what had to be done the second week and to be sure the crew was on the same page.

It seemed that things had went extremely well and without a hitch.

Could this be true?

Yes it was!

The other shoe was about to fall.

And boy was it a loud thud when it hit!

After hosting an open house that was open to the public in my home “This Old Crack House”, which was a fund raiser for the local food shelf, I was approached and asked if I would build a Greene and Greene Entry Bench, by a lady who was in attendance.

I explained to the lady, who later, turned out that she was one of the curators, for the local Historical Society here in Minnesota. At the time I was limiting my commissions to only a select few a year. Out of both respect and certainly curiosity, I asked what it was she would like to have commissioned.

She then pulled out two pictures from a file she was carrying with her.

One was small picture of a Greene and Greene entry bench. The other was an eight in half by eleven of the same bench; however, I could tell it was not an original. I knew right away the one pictured was a knock off of
the Greene brother’s original works. The reason I knew this was because this picture showed a piano hinge for one thing that was used to hinge the seats. In addition this and several other subtle parts of the bench I could see in the picture I knew weren’t part of the original works.

I explained to her that this period of furniture and genre was not what I specialized in building or was even remotely an expert in.

She said she knew this and had been following my work for some time and thought she would ask me anyways.

She asked me to please reconsider and keep it in mind in the event I might change my mind. She left the pictures with her telephone number. We both returned to the open house and guests.

As she was leaving the open house, she again asked me to consider her request and once again thanked me for hosting the fund raiser. She and here husband then left.

I never really thought much more about the project, even though I had to yet select any of my commissions for the year.

I placed the pictures in a file and left them for considerations at a later date.

A few months later, I was making my final selections for my commissions that I would be building over the winter months and ran across the pictures again.

I looked at the pictures and thought to myself; ’ I really don’t care for this period of furniture’.

The reasons were fairly simple, one, I am not a expert in this period and have no history or experience building this style. One other reason was there is a lot of Asian influence to the Greene brothers work. I recalled this from my reading about the history of the period and brothers. Besides, these pieces simply wouldn’t fit in my home “This Old Crack House”.

I only had room for one more project and was convinced that this project wouldn’t fit with the others I had planed on doing.

I had a long time former intern that was returning to help me select the projects to work over the winter, who saw the pictures of this bench.

He got excited about the project, and began to quiz me about doing this one. He knew it wasn’t something I would normally do.

I told him it this project wasn’t even on my radar because of my lack of experience with that style.

He then informed me that was precisely the reason I should do the project. I then got a lecture about getting outside of my comfort zone.

I said ” ok fine if she’s still interested in having the project done then we will do it”.

I then called the number she left with me. To my surprise she answered the phone.

I re-introduced my elf, and she exclaimed; “oh my does this mean you will be doing the bench for me”!

I told her that I would take the project on under these conditions.

I would not give or agree to a finish time line. I wouldn’t do a “knock off”. I would follow the period customs and techniques along with the original design and intent of the Greene’s. However I would design and build my own piece. After all, I said I didn’t want to build a Greene piece because she could buy that or a replica. I was not a Greene; I explained I am simply Dusty, who builds furniture in my garage that has been converted into a work shop.

I also informed her that there would be no charge for my labor for the project. I requested rather than payment of wages to me that she instead donate to the local food shelf.

I explained the only charges would be for any materials I used.

She agreed to the conditions with enthusiasm.

I then said, “I will call you from time to time and let you review the project as it progresses.

I then hung up the phone and started my freehand drawing of the project.

From the start this project was a challenge, because I never cared for this style or period . To be frank I never really like working on designing and drawing the project. I only had a small picture to work from to begin with, let alone my limited experience with this period.

My research showed a lot of variations and knock offs, however reading about the history was helpful.

Like most new projects I build the first time I build a prototype.

This one would be no different. In fact this was precisely one of the reasons I build a lot of prototypes. I find this very helpful when I am trying to recreate something yet this still allows for my own design changes and personal finger print to be incorporated into the project.

My sister had been pestering me for a deacon bench for some time. I had thus far stalled building her this piece. She had really liked one I had make and had placed in a spare bedroom.

I figured I would built the prototype and give it to her as a gift, after all she wanted to just put it in her pouch and store mittens and like items in the bench.

I then finalized the plans that I had drawn out by hand for the prototype.

I made various patterns along with several adjustments as the project progresses’.

At this point, I still was unsure of what type of wood I wanted to use to build this project..

I finished all the plans and set them aside.

Soon after I elected to do this project I acquired by chance a large quantity of maple from a friend. About five hundred board feet of this maple turned out to be spalted.
In addition to spalting being present their also was a lot of “worm” trails that had a very visible presence in the wood.

I thought this would be a unique application to use up this wood.

I had limited experience using spalted maple so I had to research about proper uses and techniques, when working with this type of wood.

I did this.

It is suffice to say this turned out to be a learning experience.

I began work on the prototype, using the maple I had acquired from my friend..

Several changes were made along the way with the project design.

I won’t bore my gracious readers with all the details however one of the major changes that is note worthy was how I constructed and built the frame for the bench.

I ended up doing a modified mortise tenon incorporated with a half lap dado that made the project not only a much stronger sitting bench it would also be a design of my own that I had perfected over time.

The end result from the second bench was much stronger along with a bonus of being much more visually pleasing. This change also reflected the period with more accurately.

I will admit this project took a lot longer than I am accustomed to and far more difficult than I had imagined.

Even though I learned a lot, I never did really warm up to the project.

I invited the lady who commissioned the project along with her husband to come over for two progress showing.

The first one was after I finished the drawings and selected the wood.

The second one was after I had dry fitted the basic bench. This was absent any seat design because I had not decided on a final one as of yet.

They were so excited; they took several pictures of the project.

I was relived, because I really had considered and felt this bench might end up being left in my shop as a place to sit down when I took a break.

In other words, I didn’t think much of this project. However, I did need a bench to sit on for my coffee breaks.

I also though I might be able to pawn it off on my sister if I delivered it free. Worse case I figured that she might be able to sell it at a garage sale.

I was convinced I had designed and built nothing short of an ugly disaster.

I still am.

I had more fun working with the spalted maple and really found the wood to be very interesting.

In fact, I was so excited about the wormy spalted maple that I built three different side table prototypes out of the wood as something fun to do. After all, I had a whole garage full of this wood and needed to get rid of the wood some how.

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I figured if I had to, I could always burn those pieces my fire pit if no one wanted the prototypes.

I finally finished the project and stained the bench in a natural color. I used several coats to achieve the desired result. I sanded between the coats.

The project sat finished on top of my portable bench for over two weeks before I got the courage up to call the woman who commission the bench.

I was convinced she wouldn’t like the project.

I never did warm up to this project.

In short I was embarrassed I built this and never put my name on the bottom of the bench like I am accustomed to doing with my original pieces.

I had already decided I would call here up and offer to deliver the project and if she didn’t like it I would promptly remove it and donate it to some charity or dispose of the piece.

Chapter closed, I figured. I then made arrangements for delivery for the following Saturday.

I dreaded taking this project to her home all week.

I arrived at eleven o’clock Saturday morning which was the agreed time.

When I drove up to the front of the house which I might add was very large and breath taking. This home was overlooking the Mississippi River; I noticed several cars parked in front of the house.

I thought she must have had company and I was somewhat relieved that I would just be able to drop the piece off and go.

Imagine my surprise when her husband and several others greeted me at the front door with a huge applause.

They were all gathered to see the new piece of furniture I had built.

I almost died.

I was one step from panic, I felt like just getting in my truck and driving away.

On top of every thing else I was in my work cloths and still full of saw dust from that morning projects.

I also had brought along the other three side tables in hopes that I might use them to sweeten up the deal and perhaps helping to convince her to take piece easier. Sort of like “try it out for a while” then decide.

In short, I was horrified right now and was afraid as to what was coming as a reaction to the pieces.

I had all the pieces wrapped in blankets and other moving material so they wouldn’t get scratched up in moving or wet in case it snowed or rained.

It was an early spring day and the sky was overcast.

Her husband and two other gentlemen helped bring the pieces in to the house.

There had to be thirty people present.

They all stared waiting for the unwrapping of the blankets and unveiling of the bench.

My heart was in my throat, I was near hyperventilation along with feeling any moment I might either break down and cry or perhaps just run.

I was so petrified I wouldn’t have been able to do either.

The time had come.

Finally in a room that was at dead silence; I slowly unwrapped and unveiled the bench.

The lady who commissioned the project was standing next to me screamed “OH MY GOD”. Catching me off guard.,

I nearly passed out.

She started crying, she said “it is so beautiful I never imagined it to be this beautiful, and gave me a huge bear hug.

I think I wet myself.

To this day I am not sure if I did or it was just from sweating.

Applause broke out!

I stood there with a stunned look.

I am sure I was beat red in color.

I even teared up and took several deep breaths.

I excused myself to take the blankets out to my truck, not knowing what else I should do.

I caught my breath and returned to thank them for there warm welcome.

They insisted I stay for the lunch.

I insisted I had to go.

I told them I had another appointment.

They didn’t need to know it was to change my under shorts.

I then left.

True story?

True story!

Post Script.

They kept the side tables and made a very generous donation to the local food shelf.

My sister took the prototype, and returned it later claiming “it was too big for her porch”.

I took it back and gave her the one I had built previously and had in my bedroom.

The prototype bench I took back still sits in a corner of one of my spare bedrooms to this day.

I still don’t like piece.

Oh well, that is woodworking I guess.

Shrug!

Next!

Karson, created and posted the forum topic entitled “Your Most Amazing Wood find. Some how, I had missed this posting. While “shuffling” I came upon Karson’s posting randomly.

I read Karson’s story with great interest and enjoyed the comments and various stories and fellow Lumberjocks various wood finds that followed.

Karsons’ forum posting inspired me to blog about my experience along with the end results from my own amazing wood find.

I didn’t want to hijack his thread , and elected to write about my own experience with my own blog entry.

I had a friend who had been pestering me to come and look at a pile of maple that he had stored in his garage for over five years.

He wanted to sell it to me cheep because his wife had not been able to park her car in the garage for over five years . She had got very verbal about this and had become very sick and tired of not being able to use their garage.

Besides this fact, she was still mad at him for spending the money to go in with his buddy who long ago lost interest in this wood and the projects their were to build. They had spent a considerable amount of money having the wood milled down and hauled to their garage.

The wood consisted of random lengths and varied thickness from 4/4 to 8/4 plus.

When I ask him how much he had he said “a lot”. He didn’t know for sure but there was a large pile.

I asked him what he had intended to do with the wood. He said sheepishly ” he and his buddy had planed on building some type of special spine board they had invented to lay on that would relieve back pain”.

I said, “oh, I see, how is that working out for you,” trying to be polite.

He said well ” the board will relieve back pain, however it is causing me considerable pain some where else in my body” He then said, ’’I am also tried of my wife chewing on my butt ever time she has to park outside when it is snowing and raining”.

I told him I understood, trying hard to keep from laughing.

I was very busy at the time and never got around to going over to look at the wood. Besides I did very little work with maple and was already short of any extra storage space.

About three months later, I got a panic call from my buddy, “Get over here with your truck right now and load this wood up and get it out of here, please… please… please… he pleaded.

I could tell by the tone of his voice that he was dead serious.

I asked him why the urgency?

He got quiet, and confessed his wife had moved out last night. She had moved back to her mother’s house and would not be coming home until he got rid of the wood that was piled out of the garage.

At the time he called, I was working on a remodel project in the basement of one of my helpers home and answered my phone pressing the speaker phone button because I had my hands full of glue from laying carpet.

My helper who also was the owner of the house I was working on was listening to the conservation I was having with my buddy, and begin broadcast over the speaker phone.

He chimed in sarcastically and said ” did you tell your wife, soon to e x-wife to enjoy her stay at her mothers place and when you got around to it you would drop off all here garage sale items that are cluttering up the rest of the garage that was soon to become his new workshop so he can use up all the the lumber that is stored in the garage to build several projects”.

I cringed, however thought I secretly thought the comment was funny, trying hard not to show that.

There was a pause on the other end of the phone, followed by “that won’t work , she would get all my tools in the divorce anyways”.

Ouch, I thought that was kind of harsh, but I understood his logic and knew my buddies wife well enough that and let’s just say she was a challenge and my helpers suggestion wasn’t that out of line.

Enough said!

I told him I would be over in a half hour with my ¾ ton full box pickup.

Several overflowing pickup truck trips later of lumber we unloaded all the wood in my stain shop located in the back of my wood shop. The pile was four foot high and eight foot wide and had random pieces from 12 to 18 foot long.

In this pile, I found approximately 500 board feet of spalted maple in pristine condition.

Foot Note:
(For those who are not familiar with what spalted maple is the result of activity by the white rot fungi. This activity takes place when the temperature and moisture conditions are idea)

The result of this natural fungus process produces a exotic species of maple that is very sought after by various woodworkers. This exotic wood is especially sought after by master woodworks who use it for building special projects such as Spalted Maple Acoustic-Electric Guitars (Natural) to name just one of the many uses and possibilities.

This wood commands top dollar, and must be handled with care because of the nature of the fungi.

I have built several pieces of specialty furniture in addition to a commissioned bookend matching project. This project was Greene and Greene period inspired bench.

Foot Note:
For those interested in a brief history of the famous Greene’s brothers here is a short blog wrote previously.

One of these pieces has ended up in the local historical society of Minnesota. The curator of the historical society lives close to me and has followed my work over the years. She suggested and asked if I would consider donating one of the pieces.

I did thinking so they would use the piece for a bench to sit on, perhaps in the entry way of the building.

To my surprise, it is displayed in the museum.

As far as my buddy’s wife, she is still living with her mother.

I made it right with my buddy after I found out what he had in that pile.

He now has a new workshop, and is enjoying his woodworking as his favorite hobby to this day.

True story?

True story!

The full blog entry detailing this project is here if interested.

I am very great full for the things I have been able to try or do in my life

I try not dwell or look back on things that I’ve done or maybe never did in my life.

Occasionally, I think to myself if ’ I had to do it all over again… I would…’

I am curious as to how many of us might do things differently if given a chance.

With that said, I am interested in what we might do or how we would do something different, along with what that might be.

My buddy knew the deal for the house was a good one and never hesitated when deciding to put an offer in on the house.

He did just that.

I wrote the offer up along with the contract for doing all the demolition, construction and remodeling work.

The documents were clear, and concise in addition to being easy to understand.

I called the owner’s son-in-law to inform him that the purchase agreement would be sent overnight in the mail. I asked him to get back to me as soon as possible after reviewing them with his attorney. He understood that we were dealing with a tight time line.

My buddy put the purchase agreements in the mail. It was a setback to learn that there was no Saturday delivery in the rural area where the owner lived. We had intended on starting the demolition process early Saturday morning in order to the completion of the project before I left on my annual two week hunting trip.

When I spoke to the Son- In –Law about no Saturday delivery in his area, he wasn’t surprised.

I explained that the delay could cause an extra month or better to the closing of the house. He knew that we had structured the purchase agreement in such a way that the remodeling would be done before any mortgage company issued a mortgage on the property. The house was inhabitable due to its condition. It would never pass code inspections or any mortgage appraisal necessary to secure financing.

I had read him the purchase agreement word-for-word and informed him that it was signed with a check for the earnest money enclosed and on its way.

He had already obtained his mother-in-law’s agreement to the terms and sale price on Friday night. She was so elated that I had bought the house and was going to refurbish and resell to someone whom she knew used to live in the neighborhood.

All I needed was the keys to get in the house and start the demo. Every day was critical.

When I plan a house renovation project my estimates have to be accurate and my schedules right on the money. This keeps the project moving forward, and on budget.

I pride myself for doing projects on time on budget. I am well known as an honest straightforward person who keeps his word. My word and a handshake is a contract to me.

No exceptions. None!

David, the son-in-law knew this and said, “Dusty, I know and trust you! I gave the lady across the street from the house a set of keys as she has been keeping an eye on the place. I’ll arrange for her to give you the keys so you can get in right away.”

I called my buddy and my business partner in the construction business and told them we would start the project Saturday morning at 8:00 am sharp.

I didn’t sleep well the night before we were to start the project. Even though I have done several of these projects I still get both excited and nervous. I always wonder what I have inadvertently left out in my bid or what unplanned expenses I will find awaiting me as I get into this project. It’s inevitable and expected.

The trick is to be as prepared as possible for them with a contingency fund that allows for the unexpected. The other key to dealing with this is to determine what needs to be done, put a plan in place as soon as you can, then move on.

It’s a matter of taking control and not letting the problem control me. Often, those who are new to remodeling, or doing their own project, let themselves become overwhelmed or discouraged and the end result is a derailed or greatly extended project. Frustration seems to do more to derail projects than anything else, including money issues which are a large factor.

Often I’ve found that a lack of support and good information, or simply being in over ones head without having the required resources is another barrier to finishing a project on time and within budget. Sometimes, all that is required is to ask the right questions of the right people but pride frequently gets in the way.

There is nothing wrong with asking for help; in fact it is honorable. None of us can know everything, or are born with the skills to do the tasks which others spend years perfecting.

I have found that that through networking or simply asking, reading, researching or observing someone else do something, I often go away thinking, “ I can do that”.

For the most part, most people are very helpful. Just ask. There seems to be a little teacher in all of us.

If the person you ask isn’t forthcoming, don’t stress. Just move on; someone else will be glad to help.

Long ago I realized that I would never live long enough to make all the mistakes and learn all the trades. However, that doesn’t stop me from learning something new every day and on every project.

I am a visual, hands-on learner. For me, this is the best way to learn; to watch and take part. Hands on, if you will.

Once I have tried a task, I like to read more about it. By doing this, I learn shortcuts, tricks, and hints from the advice people have to offer. I am then able to apply what I have learned, add what seems to fit or make sense from the things that I have culled from others and simply discard the rest of the information I find less helpful. It really is that simple.

My two helpers showed up early, I could almost feel the excitement of getting the project started. We stopped to eat breakfast. I took the time to do an overview of the project. I also composed a list of tools that that I needed to be taken to the house.

Several years ago some friends got together and bought me a little red wagon as a “gag” gift for my birthday. They always said I was like a kid in a sand box when I was in my shop or working on a house project.

I promptly put the wagon to use as my “mobile” tool carrier. In later years I used it in for taking my elderly male basset hound on daily walks. His bad arthritic hips kept him from making it under his own steam.

The sight of me pulling one basset hound in the wagon while walking two others was an open introduction to meet many of my neighbors. I was referred to as the “basset hound brigade”. It seemed every one had to come out to the street and bring the dogs a treat.

I often wondered if my male basset hound just wanting treats simply figured out the soft spots of humans and was coning us all about his hip. He was, after all, a smart dog.

I have some simple but rigid rules that I follow when I do a remodeling project. I have learned a number of these the hard way. They say experience is the best teacher.

Boy, they weren’t kidding.

I find one area of the house that I can use as a staging area for all my tools. The rule is simple. When you need a tool you go get it from that area and only that area. When done you return it to that area.

No exceptions.

This way, everyone knows where the tools are and if they aren’t there then someone is using them. It also makes it easy at the end of the day to take a quick visual inventory to see that all the tools are back.

It is very easy when doing demolition work, or when amongst the chaotic atmosphere of construction, for someone else pick up one of your tools thinking that it was theirs.

Consequently, I developed another rule, I spray paint every tool I have my “color” which is a very bright florescent pink. That allows me to easily identify my tools and keep them distinct from any other subcontractors who might be sharing the job site with me.

It is amazing how few tools went missing after I started doing this. Funny how others don’t find hot pink to be their color of choice. Works for me! I could care less about the color I’m more concerned about my tools remaining with me and being around when I need them.

I have also learned to bring only what I will use and need. Granted, this list has become very extensive and I have been fortunate over the years to be able to buy and assemble a compete set of tools only to be used on off site projects. None of my main shop tools are allowed off site.

This rule grew out of the frustration of going to use a tool in my shop only to find it missing or it dull, sometimes broken from the abuse they are subjected to on the job site.

No more!

We arrive at the job site and quickly do a visual overview of what needs to be done and who’s going to be responsible for what.

Even though in this case the homeowner a journeyman electrician is going to be helping with all phases, it’s important that he’s on same page as us. I always make it clear in advance who is in charge of what part of the project. When we get to the electrical work then I follow his lead.

Someone has to take responsibly for each phase of the project. Without this clearly spelled out and understood, I have found the project is subject to the high likelihood of costly mistakes. In addition, it’s a prescription for lost time.

In construction and remolding there is an order in which things need to be complete. Any deviation or departure from this can have a major ripple effect on the project.

One truth that I have come to know and understand well is, lost time will not be made up, it’s lost forever.

This becomes very important when the crunch-time comes such as when closing or inspections are set up and the work isn’t done to meet these deadlines. Where this can really hurt is when a subcontractor is scheduled but an earlier delay means the site is not ready. More often than not, the ripple effect is enormous because the contractor has other clients and appointments that have to be keep and rescheduling becomes a real nightmare. There is nothing more frustrating that to be at a dead stop with the project waiting for another subcontractor or inspector because of something done or not done that could have prevented this from occurring.

Of course, these things are going to happen. The trick is to look ahead and anticipate what needs to be done, keeping a watchful eye on the schedule and adjusting when you can.

There is a simple name for all this – organization!

It’s a matter of experience, it’s a skill learned over time. It is essential to stay within budget and on time. It’s the biggest contributor to the bottom line.

In this era of and harsh competition, it is very easy for a good job to go “south” in a hurry. Regardless whether the work is done to earn living or by a owner/builder working on his own home, time is money. It is important to keep the project moving forward. So many projects never get finished because of costly mistakes, loss of interest, frustration, or lack of funds. Most all of this is preventable.

Having a realistic schedule is important. Staying on schedule and moving forward will assure that one stays interested in the project. It seems that if one start letting up, before long the project just starts dragging. In turn, this usually leads to a loss of enthusiasm. Other priorities seem to take president, and the conclusion of the project is interminably delayed.

The plan of attack was to start demolition in the basement. The existing bedrooms, kitchen and bathroom were a disaster. They were not built to code. They were crumbling or rotting and mold was present. The rooms were well over forty years old and had outlived their useful life.

The simplest solution was to demolish all these rooms and take everything back to the bare walls.

We began in the back bedrooms that were in the basement. The walls that separated the rooms were only two by two’s. The wiring was inadequate. Mold was everywhere and the rooms were small and dark.

The new plan was to demolish the basement and to build back only one legal bedroom with an egress window and closet along with a new three quarter bathroom. The other area simply would be closed off until some day when the budget allowed for finishing off some sort of family or recreation room.

The utility room had to be rebuilt replacing the plumbing with a complete new electrical service installed.

This was in the budget and part of the plan. These items were a large part of the approximately twenty eight thousand dollars set aside for this remodeling project.

The heating system was one variable that had not been determined. We could not fully access our needs until the basement demolition work was completed. The existing heat system was hot water heat with a newer boiler that had been installed less than ten years earlier, and had seen limited use. We were unsure what condition the pipes and radiators were in and until the demo was completed we couldn’t make a final decision.

This was one of the budget considerations for which contingencies had been set aside. From the beginning, I was convinced that the whole system would have to be replaced. One compelling reason for this was the fact that the homeowner wanted central air conditioning. The cost of adding a unit from top down was more money than to replace the heating system with forced air, central air, and new ductwork built and installed.

The logistics of installing an air conditioning system in the unfinished area above the living space would have been complicated and expensive. One oblivious difficulty was to cut vent and ductwork through the existing beautiful old plaster ceilings and walls with unique cove work.

All of these things had been taken in account when the first offer was put in and the budget presented to the home owner. These were going to be choices he had to make. I had prepared bids with costs for each one of these choices. It was up to him to select which options he wanted.

That is the beauty of having everything in writing in advance with hard costs and a clear understanding.

No surprises, no mystery or disagreements later. None of this, “Oh you didn’t tell me that … or I can’t afford this” when the project is torn apart and wide open.

It is funny how, to this day, I see the same things start to happen early on in a project. For example, it’s always exciting to tear something down with all the adrenaline running high. However this cannot only be unsafe it can cause a lot of extra work and often non-budgeted costs that aren’t necessary.

It is easy to get caught up in the moment and just start wrecking things. It’s all junk and has to be demoed right?

Wrong!

What good does it do to just tear out the walls and leave the debris to stumble over or nails stick out to step on.

You have to keep it organized and work smarter not harder.

After my two helpers got going at it for a few minutes they had a small pile of demolition debris that they were already tripping over with wires still connected, dust still lingering and sweat running down their faces.

I said, “Now what? You going to file for unemployment?”

Of course they new I was being sarcastic.

However this was a teaching moment. I pointed out that they just created a safety hazard with the nails and pile of debris blocking the door. The mess they had created would have to be untangled and hauled up the basement stairs to the dumpster outside.

Teaching moment! I pointed out that if they had taken the doors off the hinges and cut the opening out first in a organized way, not only would they have more room to move the rest of the debris from the other walls in the room, they would have gained some light.

Also, if one did the demolition while the other one hauled away the debris, this would result in a cleaner job site and reduce the risk of injury.

I also reminded them this was the first hour of a very long day. They needed to pace themselves. I suggested they take turns carrying the removed material upstairs and pointed to the two large plastic garbage cans that I supplied for this purpose. If they filled these up and helped each other carry them out, this would result in fewer trips and a job more quickly completed.

I also suggested they take the two buy two and two by four studs, lay those on a tarp and when they had several placed on the tarp simply each take an end carrying the tarp up rather than only two at a time.

Normally, I like to handle something only once. For instance, if I am removing demolition debris, I like to be able to throw it directly into a dumpster and be done with it. It makes no sense to me to move it to a pile outside then have to move it from the pile into the container. From my perspective, this seems like twice the work.

However, I made a conscious decision not to do this for two reasons. First and foremost, I was unable to secure a dumpster with the delivery dates I wanted. Too many times I have ordered a dumpster for a job site having it delivered a day or two in advance only to arrive at the job site finding it half full of everything from sofas to old TVs and other neighborhood junk.

Lessons learned.

I now plan so I use the whole dumpster right away or as in this case pile it up, then spend the time to move the debris into the dumpster when I have enough to fill it and have the dumpster picked up right away.

Although, this requires more work, the cost of a dumpsters outweighs the expense of labor to move the material from a pile into the dumpster. I have found no shortage of either enterprising young adults or day labors willing to work for cash. At $400.00 to hire a dumpster that ends up being filled with neighborhood refuge material that often costs a lot more to dispose of because it can’t be mixed with demolition material, this is the best solution. This is using resources wisely, and cost effetely.

Every part of the job needs to be done with thought. Mismanagement inefficiencies with cost overruns will kill a project as quickly as unexpected and non-budgeted surprises. Every phase of the project needs close attention and management. It’s important to exploit labor strengths to their best advantage even if they it’s family or friends. Use them wisely. This alone will pay significant dividends.

Before each day started, every member of my team knew what had to be done that day.
We all knew exactly what had to be completed for the project to move forward. The deadline on this project was tight because I was going out west for my annual two week hunting trip. The project had to be completed before I left. This only left thirty days. Not a lot of time for the scope of this project. Certainly, I couldn’t afford to lose any time.

Another huge motivator was the fact that my agreement stated that I would carry the project until closing. Having up to thirty thousand dollars of your own money stuck in a project makes you very aware of deadlines.

This meant I had to pay for all materials and labor and complete the project before I earned a penny.

Enough said!

The scope of this project was extensive and at this point included several phases such as, the complete demolition of the exiting basement, a new electrical upgrade and service, extensive plumbing upgrades, a new remodeled upstairs bathroom, and wallpaper removal and painting of every room. Several floor covering had to be replaced. These ranged from carpet to tile. Part of this project was refinishing nearly 1200 square feet of hardwood floors.

There was substantial work that needed to be done on the outside such as the entire old fence torn out and replaced with a new six foot wood fence enclosing the yard.

Additionally, in the basement we had to frame and build a new bathroom and bedroom with an outside egress window cut in and installed. All the wiring, sheet rock, painting, duck work and floor covering also had to be done. Considering we all had full time jobs with only weekends and evenings to do the work, we had a lot of work cut out for us and very little time to complete it.

Our hands would be full for a month. Being well organized was essential in order to complete this project. Although adequate but limited, the budget was very tight, allowing for very few cost overruns and certainly no unnecessary expenditures.

Everyone had to be on the same page every day. No exceptions. This was my responsibility. I take this very seriously. However you still have to keep the working environment fun and productive. This is always a challenge.

I certainly have learned a few things along the way. The more I do the more I learn. Every job is always just a little bit different and serves, not only as a new teacher, but as an opportunity to apply what I have learned from other jobs. The short term for this is; applied and learned experience.

Priceless!

Soon things fall into place and the crew develops a rhythmic pace. That is my job to keep this pace and theme throughout the remodeling project.

Our agreement was simple for all my labor hours and those of my business partners, we would charge only what we had paid him for his electrical services he provided us on our other projects. In other words, our labor rate would be paid at the same rate he was paid.

My overall fee for finding and negotiating the price and preparing the purchase agreements along with managing and taking the lead role in construction would be a set fee of seven thousand dollars.

Compared to what my standard fee would be, this fee was reduced for several reasons.

I am a firm believer that no one in business should ever give away their services or work.

Let me explain why. In my opinion, the best way to ruin a good friendship or spoil a family relationship or cause unnecessary stress is to put yourself in a situation in which someone stands to gain on the fruits of your efforts without fair compensation. In other words had I not found the house, and prepared the purchase agreement without a commission involved plus agreed to do all the contracting work at a much reduced price, he stood to gain a significance increase of equity.

These types of one-sided arrangements tend to end badly with a lot of resentment. The fact remains he would have had to hire someone to do all the work at considerably higher prices.

This highlights why I insist on written agreements regardless be they relatives, friends or whomever. This way, there are no surprises, and everything is out in the open and up front. Both parties know what the expectations are and what the outcome will be.

One advantage with doing this is that when crunch-time comes and you are being pushed to the limit, you can simply remember you agreed to this arrangement. It is very hard when you have been putting in all you have, for nothing in return and you’re being pushed by the owner of the project to finish it on time and within budget. I can’t think of a better recipe for resentment than this scenario.

One of the most valuable lessons I learned in life is have to work for what you get and you get what you work for. It is entirely a different arrangement and your personal choice if at the end of a project you say “no charge” or tear the contract up and choose to give your services away. This is your own decision and choice. I have done this often but still used the written agreement to guide the process.

One other compelling reason for some charge is doing your craft or trade free is to cheapen the profession.

It also seems the more you do for friends or family the more they expect; and why shouldn’t they? After all, it seems your time or trade isn’t worth anything because you don’t charge anything for the work you do.

Again if you choose to do it for free after you have completed the work at least you have set a base line price for your craft and trade.

If someone balks at what you would charge, that usually is the first sign of what is to come. Project costs frequently go over and beyond budgets. This fact causes more misunderstandings, hard feeling, and lawsuits than any one other single factor in a project.

Why not reduce the risk of this happening and address the problem in advance with the client and enter into a written agreement? This way, if the project turns sour, at least you have a starting point to begin to work out the problems.

There is one word for this – business. Conduct your affairs like you mean it.

After two exhausting days of steady and hard demolition work, we reached out goal.

The old basement was completely demolished and ready for the next phase of construction.

We could now assess what additional work needed to be done.

One thing became evident. We needed to replace the water heater. This came to light when it was discovered that the water heater had been leaking but this was hidden by a wall in the bathroom. In turn, over time this leak had caused a lot of the mold to form in the wall. It also became clear that we had a problem much larger than just the water heater and the potential for thousands of dollars in non-budgeted expense.

What we found was a very serious and potentially dangerous condition. The short term outlook was not good. The long term fix was being summed up in a word.

Ka-ching!

copyright all rights reserved D. Jerzak Dec 22 007

Most people I know who are contemplating a home purchase, hire a licensed inspector to analyze the house in great detail and prepare a report for them so they can make an informed decision.

I take an entirely different approach.

If it’s not an old crack house, ready for condemnation, full of mold, falling down, in need of desperate repairs or a bull dozer, then I’m not interested in buying it anyway.

I wouldn’t know what to do with a house that wasn’t sorely in need of work. I am who I am and stick with what I know – disasters – home to me.

I buy them as is.

Yes I’m supposed to know better. After all, I am a state licensed inspector. I even specialize in advising people about these types of homes. What is the matter with me? It must be a personality flaw. I can’t figure it out so hope you don’t waste your time trying either.

On Tuesday, I had an appointment to meet with the home owner’s son-in-law. I had previously provided him a compressive analysis on a house from which his elderly mother-in-law had moved.

Then, the timing was wrong. The market had just entered a slumping period. I had no ready buyer for the house. I wasn’t willing to an offer that I thought I would have been acceptable to the owner.

How things can and do change in fourteen months. This time it seemed they changed for the worse.

The housing market was at an all-time low; foreclosures were at an all time high and there appeared no end in sight.

My buddy had completed college and became an electrician. He just landed a new job and after six years was ready to buy another home.

We had been dealing on another home but had not heard if they were interested in selling it at a fair price reflective of its value.

At the last moment I decided to once again contact the lady who owned the house four doors down and across the street from my home “This Old Crack House.

Tuesday arrived and her son-in-law contacted me when he got to the house after work. This was only the second week this year that he had work in the cities. It has been a tough year in construction.

We met at six o’clock. A few minutes of catching up with how his family was and his mother-in-law and other normal pleasantries and we got down to the business of why we were there.

He clearly understood the market had significantly deteriorated since fourteen months ago. The difference this time was that I had a buyer for the house who was already qualified and pre-approved for a mortgage that would cover the renovated value of the home.

I reiterated that there would be no commission charged because I would do the purchase agreement and we would take the house as is – mold and all. The “and all” part was forty years of deferred and non-maintenance.

He understood. He seemed much more engaged this time and attentive to what I was saying.

I cut to the chase and said, “David, if you and your mother-in-law want to sell this house and take a fair offer we can get this deal done tonight.”

I then offered him one hundred forty thousand dollars. He asked if that was my final offer. I said I am open to a counter offer but didn’t have a lot of room to budge on the price.

He knew why this was the case because we had reviewed and added to the list of things that I felt had to be done. My estimate to do just the minimum things I felt necessary was thirty thousand. To do a full renovation would cost much more.

I laid my cards on the table. No games, no double talk, just the facts.

I was honest and open. I had no agenda other than to strike a fair deal for both parties.

He then said he would like to get at least one hundred fifty thousand dollars.

I looked him right in the eye and said, “That amount wouldn’t work for us.”

He asked what would. I said we could split the difference, in the selling price and we could structure the purchase agreement that would allow them to pay closing costs and certain remodeling expenses.

I told him we were in basic agreement over the final purchase amount, now it was a matter of structuring the purchase agreement so it was palatable to all.

I also pointed out that being we both had others to answer to we would need their approval and agreement. I informed him I would be passing through the purchase of the house directly to my client thus saving the costs of a second closing. I would only be doing the remodeling of the project. My role would limited; I would be the facilitator and general contractor.

I also would be the “back up buyer” in the event that my buyer failed to perform for any reason. As I explained I would be putting the money up front to fund the remodeling costs.

These costs were estimated somewhere between thirty and thirty eight thousand dollars depending on the budget and choices my client made. Certainly, I had no interest in putting that much of my own cash into a project without performing a successful conclusion.

He had more than average knowledge about construction as he earned his living from it. He knew that I had performed on over 10 properties in the neighborhood and that I had a letter from my bank guaranteeing my performance along with a pre-approval letter for my client from his mortgage company.

I went prepared and ready to do business. We had presented a fairly convincing case. He knew this and could see the evidence right in front of him.

I told him regardless of what my client said my word was good and I would honor this deal. I stood up and looked him right in the eye and asked outright, “Do we have a deal or not”?

He responded, “We will make this work”.

He then shook my hand and said, “Prepare the paper work and I will take it to my mother– in– law”. She wants you to have the house and wants the deal to work. She left me to decide. I think it is a very fair deal and will recommend that she take it.

I told him I would prepare the paperwork and send it up to him in a day or two. I knew he was leaving again to go back home. I explained that an early start was necessary for me because of the potential for weather-related problems, not to elaborate on other scheduled commitments. I knew that we had less than six weeks to complete all the remodeling and perform the closing of the house. I also informed him that I had an annual two week hunting trip scheduled in western South Dakota, right around the corner.

He understood.

I left, walking down the street back to my house, “This Old Crack House”. I was already on the cell-phone to my buddy and client informing him of the news that I had a deal and he needed to come over right away to either accept or reject the deal. Regardless, I was going to buy the house, remodel it, and put it back on the market for resale.

I made it clear that my preference was to have him buy the house for several reasons; market conditions, my timing issues and the fact that it was a much better deal for him than the other house in which he was interested.

I would reveal the details when he got to my house.

Within an hour, he was at my house and I presented the deal.

The purchase price would be 141,000.00. For starters, this was 25 thousand or so below what the ‘range” was for the other home he was interested in. This house was also on a corner lot, had over 600 more square feet and offered a lot more potential than the other house.

The costs to bring both homes up to code and make the necessary changes to make them very livable and appealing were very close in estimate. Both houses would need between $30,000 and $40,000 of remodeling depending on which options he chose.

In short, it was a no-brainier.

He could see this, he knew I was passing through all the savings and he would likely be inheriting substantial equity.

I was upfront with all my numbers for doing the construction and remodeling including my fee. I am a big believer that regardless of who it is, there needs to be a fee involved for doing the work or practicing your craft of trade.

I have found that hiding these charges or fees usually leads to resentment or misunderstanding.

Being straightforward puts all the cards on the table giving the client an opportunity to reject the deal if it isn’t to his liking.

My policy has been and is, “In God we trust, all the rest of you pay cash and we do a detailed written contract”.

I don’t care if you are my immediate family, best friend, acquaintance, client, enemy, or the king of England, I insist on a detailed contract. No exceptions.

Let me reiterate in case I didn’t make myself clear on this; no exceptions.

When things are clearly spelled out, there are no ambiguities, nor misunderstandings, and “he said, we said, you said arguments.

End of discussion.

If this seems harsh to you or overkill, so be it. I have one word for you.

Next!

Move on because we won’t be doing business. I could and intend on writing a whole blog on this subject – moving on.

My buddy and I got together and hammered out the details and a purchase agreement for the property. The agreement was simple, concise, easy to understand and contained enough information to make it very clear what the sale of the house consisted of and who was responsible for what and how much. This agreement was only two and a quarter pages.

I will be forever grateful for my Para- legal back ground.

We hammered out the agreement, I called David the son- in-law with the details of the agreement and explained how we structured our offer and asked three questions of him.

They covered;

3. Are these acceptable to you?

I then suggested for his peace of mind that he have the agreement reviewed by his attorney. He may suggest something that we had both overlooked.

I then informed him I would be sending the offer overnight with earnest money and I had highlighted where his mother-in-law needed to sign.

I like to keep things very simple. I find there is less chance of a misunderstanding this way. I have found any and all agreements can be challenged. What it really boils down to is trust understanding and honesty.

Whenever the slightest deviation in construction occurs, or when I have not used straightforward language in the contract, resulting in a complete understanding on the part of all parties, that is when I have run into trouble.

I don’t allow this to happen any longer.

No good outcome for any of the parties has ever come from a misunderstanding or lack of clarity.

Be honest, up front and clear and you will be rewarded and happy.

From time-to-time a deal falls apart.

That is life.
If you approach ever transaction with honesty, integrity and detail, along with thorough and simple easy to understand details, the less likely you will have a deal that falls apart.

In reality, it’s better for an agreement to fall apart before you get to the closing and are in so deep that there are substantial financial losses. I find that the more thorough you are, the smoother the closing.

If you are hiding something, or not being fair and honest at some level the other party feels this and acts according.

It is amazing how human beings have an ability to sense something is “foul” without necessarily knowing what it is. They know when something “stinks” long before the smell is evident.

I then prepared the purchase agreement documentation, the construction bid and scope of work with prices and payment details for my client to take home and review with his Mother, Father, 589 attorneys, neighbors, friends and even Oprah Winfrey if he wanted.

I simply don’t care who looks at these documents because whoever they are, they are easily understand.

If they come back with a lot of “legalese” and hard to understand changes, I will review but likely decline the offer to do business.

Why? My experience and maturity tells me that we won’t get along very well and the deal has a high potential to go south and fall apart somewhere in the mix.

I don’t need or want the headache.

I would prefer to walk away than enter an agreement with the potential to destroy a friendship.

Because, you can darn sure bet that at some point down the road, it will get ugly.

My favorite phrase – “not interested!”

Next!

I then will shake hands wish the person luck and move on.

And that’s just what I do. I never look back. No regrets no second guessing.

One reason I am so adamant about this is that my time is worth something, as is my craft. The person helping you is worth the same amount, unless they have special skills that make theirs worth more. If one doesn’t feel his time is worth anything or want to charge for you for his time, that is fine but then at least seal the deal with a cup of coffee or a dime. That way there is no future misunderstanding.

I assure you that, if one is expecting things to be “made right at the end” without a clear up front understanding, then he will inevitably be disappointed and become resentful.

I also firmly believe that if the homeowners are involved in working on the project, then they needs to account for their time and the value that they place on their skills in contributing to the project. This not only helps establish the value of their contribution to the project, it helps put their expectations into perspective.

There is no such thing as a free lunch or “sweat equity”. Those are simply terms used to justify and explain working your butt off for nothing. They are warm and fussy feeling words for doing a portion of the work.

Trust me, anyone who has ever contributed “sweat equity” would tell you that, that is exactly what they did, sweat and there was no equity involved.

To avoid this, be realistic when preparing your offer or bids on any project, even if it is a small job. Be honest about your expectations for your time.

You will find the bigger the project the more likely you will be disappointed in your return on your personal investment.

This is another whole blog; I will defer that for a later date.

After preparing all the documents and papers I gave them to my buddy and asked him to take them home and do what he had to do to make him comfortable enough to sign or reject them.

Time was of the essence and with or without him; I was pursuing the purchase of this
house for my rehab project.

I told him to call me in the morning. I wished him a good night.

Regardless of what it was I was going to sleep well.

I slept well.

What would his decision be?

copyright all rights reserved D.Jerzak Dec 12 2007

Although I had spent a weekend doing an assessment, evaluation, preparing a bid and possible offer, I never heard a word from anyone connected with the house that

Not a peep.

I left the presentation open ended, though I never really put in a formal offer.

I didn’t have a buyer at the time and I felt the market was unfavorable. I wasn’t really looking for any work. Because the mother-in-law was very familiar with my work, I was asked by the sellers if I might be interested in buying the house to renovate and re-sell it.
However, based on the price they were seeking and the cost entailed in renovating the house to bring it up to could, the project was not viable, so I put it behind me.

Fast forward 14 months.

The market has deteriorated and the bottom doesn’t seem to be insight yet. Every day there seems to be more bad news about foreclosures, sub-prime mortgage woes, slow housing sales, and housing inventory surpluses. In short the market seems dismal and in free fall.

In the back of my mind I have been thinking to myself, all that noise I hear out their in the housing market maybe opportunity knocking.

I am cautious however. Not only am I much more disciplined these days about buying properties, I no longer wear that pair of “rose colored glasses”. Any wisdom I my posses is not a result of being so smart, it’s derived from a lot of very expensive “life lesson” mistakes. It’s interesting how quickly a person can learn something if it hits you hard in a spot located on your back side – your wallet. Yes, it’s a great teacher; far more effective than someone giving advice.

Money talks.

I listen now. That wasn’t always the case. On some of my projects I was absolutely convinced that my investment, time, skills, and optimistic dreams would surely pay off.

Oh how I learned.

Reality bites. Dreams are just that.

Mortgage payments need to be made on time regardless of how the dream is progressing. How quickly the dream fades when the mortgage due-date comes around. The same can be said for how quickly the “money-tree” dries up and stops producing fruit. At this stage of my life I no longer need the practice or experience of doing a remodeling job or project. I have had a long history with these learning projects. I won’t possibly live long enough to make all the mistakes on this learning curve. My money will run out long before I find and do a perfect project.

A good friend and former client, to whom I had previously sold a house which I had remodeled, was forced to sell the house back to me after he became an unexpected victim of downsizing. Without warning, his long-term job had been eliminated.

After his initial shock, denial and a bout of depression along with his house going into foreclosure, I made a deal to buy it back. I then finished the remodeling that he couldn’t afford the first time around and resold the house at a profit.

He moved back home, returned to technical college, and graduated becoming an electrician.

After almost five years, which consisted of taking college courses, working two jobs, and paying off his debts, he completed his apprenticeship becoming a journeyman electrician. While doing this, he was able to save enough money for a house down payment. He was now ready to ready to buy another house. He really wanted to move back to our neighborhood.

He asked me to keep an eye out for a home in our area. He knew I would know about the houses that were, or would be, offered for sale.

Almost everyone who had a house for sale approached me before placing their home with a realtor. They knew that, not only could they save the selling commission, I would buy their house as is, at a fair price.

I had several clients who would wait until I found the perfect house for them.

With the market so down, I no longer bought and renovated houses to place them on the open market. I wouldn’t start a renovation without having them pre-sold.

I had been approached by the owner of a house across the street from me who was forced to sell because of his divorce. His youngest child had graduated from high school and moved out. He planned to sell his house before winter set in.

I mentioned this to my friend who indicated his interest. The timing was almost perfect. He had applied for a new position wanting to get off the night shift after almost three years.

So I arranged for a showing of the house. I had provided the owner a rough idea of what his house was going to be worth considering the market and what I remembered the house to be like. It was simply a ball-park figured or a starting point. He knew this and was comfortable with this arrangement because he wasn’t ready to sell quite yet.

We toured the house. It was disappointing for me. The house certainly had fallen on bad times. It was obvious to me that the demands of being a single father of two, one of whom was in college, didn’t leave money for upkeep.

I knew that he had taken out a second mortgage just before his divorce, cemented the driveway and had done some other select remodeling like refinishing the hardwood floors.

The house was small to begin with and poorly laid out. It didn’t flow well. It also was in need of updating and required a lot of maintenance. The biggest shock and disappointment was the presence of mold in the bathroom.

Certainly all these defects could be overcome in the remodeling, however this would be time consuming and costly. Based on my experience and a quick assessment, my preliminary estimate was about $25,000.

I felt this was a lot of money for what the end results would yield. Considering this, I knew the purchase price would have to reflect an adjusted value. If it did, my attitude towards the house might be somewhat different. Only time would tell. This was simply a tour.

After the tour, my friend and I had a frank discussion about what needed to be done. He seemed not in the least bit discouraged from the possibility of making an offer.

I less enthused. However, it wasn’t my money or decision and I would merely be a neutral resource he could rely upon for an accurate and honest evaluation.

Before touring through the house, I had indicated that the house should be valued in the mid $160,000 range. After seeing it, I adjusted the price downwards a minimum of ten thousand dollars. This figured was really only reflective of correcting the glaring and defrayed maintenance.

I really had lost my enthusiasm for this home. I gently suggested that, because of the number of houses for sale and bargains that are available due to the depressed home market, we at least look at some of these for comparative values.

However, he seemed to dismiss the idea because this was the only house in the immediate area.

Again it was his money so I dropped the topic and focused on the task of what it would take to bring the house up to code and accomplish what he wanted in the remodeling project.

To me, this was a daunting task. We had some time because the owner wasn’t ready to sell and my buddy hadn’t obtained his new.

I went to work doing a comprehensive analysis and bid for the work that needed to be done. All the time I was doing the bid work I had a nagging feeling about putting in a offer for this house.

About a week later, while my buddy and I were in my driveway, the owner stopped and asked whether we were still interested in his home.

I gave him a thumbnail sketch of all that I felt needed to be done and an honest assessment of the condition of the house with a reflected “ball park” price.

He seemed a bit taken back, but understood. I was unsure where his reluctance was coming from. I didn’t know if it was that he felt it was worth more or had hoped and was merely in denial. He clearly knew the state of the house market and that he was going to have to sell regardless of this, splitting any net proceeds with his ex-wife.

At this point I was unaware of the amount of his mortgage. However, I had a hunch as a result of re-financing just before his divorce, that he was very close to owing more than the house would bring in the depressed market conditions.

He informed us he was leaving for a vacation in Florida with his new girl friend and would let us know if he would be able to consider our ballpark offer.

I reiterated all of the reasons for the offer, the fact that there would be no commissions and that the house would be “taken as is” along with it being a sure sale because I had my buddy get a pre-approval for his mortgage.

He thanked us and said he would get in touch with me and let us know his answer upon his return.

My buddy had received and accepted his new job offer increasing the urgency to buy and renovate a home up several notches. He lived with his parents, so it was a great advantage to be able to live there while we finished all the remodeling before moving in. From experience, if the remodeling is extensive, I will no longer be the one doing the work. It simply is too difficult to work around all the dust, distractions, and obstacles of an occupied home.

Been there – done that; but no more.

Over the proceeding period, my buddy keep bugging me about whether I had contacted or heard from my neighbor on the status of his decision of pursuing our offer on his house. The answer was always the same. I had no contact and no new news.

Everything now had fallen in place and my buddy was more than ready to get a home an get going on the rehab project. He would do all the electrical work and whatever else he was capable of doing to save money. The clock was also ticking as summer was over and fall was fast approaching.

Late fall and early winter can be brutal in Minnesota. He didn’t need to remind me of these facts. I knew this only too well after doing several projects during this time of the year. I have the frost bitten scares on my hands and feet to prove this.

I could tell my buddy was annoyed and anxious with the lack of an answer.

Disappointed, and a sense of frustration. I suggested we begin to check out some other homes that were being offered for sale near out neighborhood. He was clearly lukewarm to the idea.

I hung up the phone and was sitting in my formal front parlor where my writing desk is, in full view of the house he was interested in buying. I wondered out loud if I should go over to my neighbor’s house and ask about his decision about selling his house.

Something told me no; don’t go over there.

He clearly told us he would get back to us with his decision. But I realized that I had soured on the home and felt strongly it wasn’t a good value. Additionally, with the market as bad as it was, I was convinced we could find another house that was a better value proposition for him.

As I sat looking out the window of “This Old Crack House, I looked across the street, four houses down, to see the corner house on which I had 14 months earlier done a comprehensive analysis. I never did hear a word from the son-in-law or anyone else for that matter. Then I remembered that I had not actually put in a formal offer 14 months earlier.

I had often wondered about the status of that house. I hadn’t seen anyone at the house for almost a year and knew the owner was in her eighties. She had moved closer to her daughter several miles away. The house had stood unoccupied all this time.

I wondered out loud if the house might be available for sale now. I knew that there was an ongoing expense of having the yard mowed, snow removed, heat, lighting and other monthly expenses.

I picked up the phone and called my buddy back and mentioned that I was thinking about calling the owner of that house and seeing if it might be for sale yet or again. I gave him my reasons for doing this, including my true feelings toward the house in which he was interested. I reminded him that we had heard nothing about the owner’s decision to sell or not.

My buddy recalled the corner house. He had actually given me a bid on the electrical work and helped me prepare my analysis.

Although he knew it needed a lot of work and suffered from mold, his recall of the house was surprisingly positive. I told him I had no idea if it was even available but was willing to make the call and find out.

I had to track down the number first for the lady who owned the house. I had never talked to her as I only had dealt with her son-in-law. I knew only her name and what town she supposedly lived in north western Minnesota. I got the number from information.

I dialed the number and an elderly lady answered.

I introduced myself and said, “I’m sure you don’t remember me, but I’m the one who lived four doors from you and did a compressive bid on the possibly of purchasing your home in the cities.”

She instantly responded in a friendly voice, “Oh, I remember you.”

I made some small talk then asked if she might be interested, or would consider once again, in an offer on her house.

She interrupted me informing me that is was very hard to hear me. She was 84 now and was hard of hearing.

She then told me that, for the first time this summer, her son-in-law David would be down to the house on Tuesday. I asked her if it would be ok if I called David to discuss this with him.

She encouraged me to do so. I also asked her if she was aware how much the market had deteriorated since I had last talked to her son-in-law 14 months earlier.

She was well aware of the market conditions and shared that the reason her son in law had not been down this summer was because of the tough housing market and construction economy. He was a job foreman for a large twin cities company and there simply had been no work.

I obtained the number from her to contact her son in law and called his cell phone. I reintroduced myself and told him that I had called his mother-in-law to ask her if she might be interested in selling the house.

He was driving in his dump-truck, working doing his side-line business and told me he thought she might and that he would be down in the cities on Tuesday. He said he would talk to her and if she was interested in selling we could meet when he was here.

I hung up the phone and called my buddy and told him that I was to meet Tuesday with David after he had a chance to talk to his mother-in-law.

I began to wonder what her decision might be. I really had no clue but hoped she might sell because regardless of whether my buddy was interested in buying the house or not, I was.

I had been looking for a project for a while and had been on the sidelines.

Was this to be?

What would the answer be?

copyright all rights reserved D.Jerzak Dec 4 2007

I have been part of several projects and had some very unique experiences. My woodworking, stained glass, and various other assortment of hobbies have certainly given me very rich and full filling experiences.

I love what I do and am lucky for the most part I can do what I love.

For that I am great full.

In the back of my mind I am always thinking….(scary I know) about then next project, task, dream, or “honey do list” and what needs to be done.

I am very interested in hearing and curious about what others have ahead of them, are dreaming about or are planing on doing in the future.

These lists can be anything.

They are not limited to just woodworking and can be dreams or desires in the “planing stage” or something that is a definite.

It doesn’t even matter if at the moment you have the money, skills, time or the blessing of others for these dreams or projects.

I am interested only in what others are “thinking” about. In other words, whats on your mind,

This is a chance and maybe even an opportunity and I am hoping it may help others to create, expand, commit to or even become inspired to build, finish, or finalize future projects.

Things that maybe be on the list for example but aren’t limited to… plans to take classes, buy new tools ,build a piece of furniture, build an addition, take on something new , finish a project, try something you have never did or even tried before.

What ever you are ”dreaming” or ”thinking” about.

Please share it, so we can all see what others are thinking, perhaps even encourage them , or help with with there ideas or dreams.

We can maybe up date, add to or give progress reports from time to time on how we are doing with ”Some Day I am going to…”

Of course, hindsight is genius.

Duh.

Let me take a minute to gloat.

It was July 20 2006, when I first took a weekend and worked up plans, bids and did a comprehensive analysis of “This Old Mold House” and a possible offer.

After extensive work I met with the owner’s son-in-law to present my findings and conclusions.

I worked very hard to make the numbers work. That is, I really wanted to buy the house for remodeling and resale. However, because I didn’t have a ready buyer for this house. I had to consider all of the costs in carrying the project until a closed sale.

I deemed this problematic.

Let me explain.

Sixteen months ago the beginnings of a slowdown in house sales was just becoming evident in the Minneapolis and Saint Paul market. I wasn’t surprised by this. In fact, I had stood back from participating in the market.

I was totally exhausted after finishing “This Old Crack House” . Houses had doubled in price in five years. I was a benefactor of this. Having sold our old home for twice the amount we had bought it for five years earlier, and bought “This Old Crack House”, I was a benefactor of this. Of course I was grateful and happy with the return on my investment.

Who wouldn’t be with a doubling of the original investment?

However, the troubling fact was that I knew that this simply couldn’t continue.

Over the last five years, I had bought and sold eight houses within a few blocks of “This Old Crack House” and worked hard to build a new stable neighborhood. I was able to buy houses, gut them out and totally remodel them, selling them for a fair profit. That all changed when easy money became available at record low interest rates with no down payments, and other incentives such as variable interest rates.

It was not uncommon for a house to go on the market selling in less than a day after receiving several offers over the original listing price.

As a small contractor who bought these old homes for refurbishing and resale, I could no longer compete. I had to cover the rather substantial costs of obtaining a short term mortgage as well as carrying the costs of materials, labor, and other expenses incurred with these projects. I found myself working harder and my already narrow margins or net profits were shrinking.

Rather than lose money or take those risks, I simply stepped out of the way and didn’t do a single remodeling job for resale for over two years.

Of course, in all fairness, I also was busy with my own project, “This Old Crack House”.
I also was very busy with my shop doing special commissions and expanding my furniture business and just beginning my classes in stained glass.

I am neither Einstein nor a visionary. However, I knew at some gut level that this runaway double digit appreciation we had been seeing, simply couldn’t continue.

My dad used to say “What goes up must come down”. I have never forgotten that simple wisdom.

After finishing “This Old Crack House”, I felt burned-out and was moving in a different direction and was consumed with learning about a new craft; stained glass. I was still driving a bus and had a small custom furniture shop going on the side.

I had been working seven days a week for several years. I was tired.

I stood on the sidelines watching the housing market with amusement, wondering when the “shoe would drop”.

The only real remodeling project I had done was to build a replacement garage and ramp for Mz D.

While building this replacement garage, a funny thing happened.

We had had experienced a major storm in late autumn which included straight-line winds and tornadoes. One person had been killed and several injured. There were thousands of trees down, homes damaged, roofs destroyed from the golf ball size hail. In short a mess to say the least. The local building official and his small team of inspectors were overwhelmed.

I was getting a routine footing inspection from the official local building inspector whom, with all my building projects, I had got to know quite well over the last few years.

He approached me about a temporary internship as a limited building inspector, doing mostly roofs and small residential project inspections. He would train me and supervise my inspections. He also would provide the classes necessary to become eligible after completion, to sit for the tests required for becoming a State Licensed Building Inspector.

The pay of only nine dollars an hour was very low, but he assured me, the experience would be invaluable. He also was very willing to work around my schedule and the job would only be 20 to 24 hours a week.

I was intrigued by this and told him I would consider it. I told him I never had been an inspector and felt very inadequate. He insured me with that in addition to his training my extensive hands-on experience as a contractor and having my own shop, I would be more than qualified to do the job.

In fact, one of his requirements for his inspectors was to have worked in the fields they were to inspect. He felt very strongly that the best inspectors were those with hands-on practical experience verses book-learned head knowledge.

I thought about it over the weekend. Why not? It would be a great experience.

I showed up Monday morning for my first day.

To say it was a valuable learning experience would be like saying there is a lot of water in the ocean. What an obvious understatement and tremendous learning experience it turned out to be.

What was to be a temporary 20 hour per week intern position has become a full State Licensed Building Inspector’s position. It grew to involve several other duties working in a community development city position that specializes in rehabs, mortgage foreclosures and other specialty projects.

That is a whole series blog by it self. I will save it just for that to do it justice.

But I have digressed.

Fast forward eighteen months to October 2007.

It’s well known and documented that the house market is in trouble. Foreclosures are in the news every day. Housing prices have plummeted, inventory increased ten fold and market times greatly extended.

In short, the housing industry is a mess.

Even though I wanted so badly to buy “This Old Mold House” and rehab and sell it again in 18 months, my hard upfront work told me to pass on this project.

The house had been valued at $190,000.00 and was taxed at close to the same value.

Initial discussions with the son-in-law about the price they wanted for the house were vague. Of course they wanted as much as they could for the house. That goes without saying.

And of course I wanted it for as cheap as I could.

Feeling them out seemed to indicate that they would accept somewhere in the 170 thousand dollar range. They were well aware of all the work that needed to be done.

My initial gut-feeling was this was far too much, but I would undertake due diligence and see where I ended up.

Long ago I found out that numbers don’t lie. They are “what they are”; period.

I no longer allow myself to become emotional about a purchasing decision like I did for my personal home and current home “This Old Crack House”. Been there did that. This house was an investment and needed to be profitable. I was not prepared to take on this kind of remodeling project just for the experience. Although I am always looking for good new neighbors for our neighborhood the projects have to make good business sense. I don’t have to be greedy or hit a home run or have huge profit margins but I need a return on my investment in both time and money. Even though it is a passion it has to pay its way.

Enough said.

After spending the weekend doing “the numbers”, drawing plans, getting material bids, figuring my labor costs I came to an inescapable conclusion; this house was in need of some serious remodeling. Twenty years of neglect had come home to roost.

Added to this fact was the reality of the quickly deteriorating market conditions. All the warning signs were present and the conclusion of my numbers supported this.

In the beginning I would have purchased this house and justified doing so by anticipating that I would make it up in my labor, or in time, would recover my costs as the project appreciates. Those days are behind me.

I’m not only older and more realistic, but I have gained significant experience and from that derived a modicum of wisdom. In spite of myself, my ego is in check, as is my comprehension of reality. Although I still dream, I am long past being dreamy.

The only way this project could possibly work is if the sale price was no more than one hundred and fifty thousand dollars.

This was a far cry from the $190,000,000 at which it was appraised, and still a long way from the general area of one hundred and seventy the owners were expecting.

I had come to the conclusion, after my extensive work ups, that to remodel the house would need a minimum of $32,000 and might need up to $50,000. When this cost is added to the purchase price of, say even at $175,000, plus allowing for the costs of obtaining a mortgage, carrying costs, likely commission costs, and some reasonable profits upon sale it became very obvious this wouldn’t work. This was even truer considering the difficult market conditions with no end in sight.

The numbers simply didn’t add up. I knew this and would deliver this message at our agreed Tuesday meeting.

I put together a compressive summary to present my findings to the son in law. I opened up my numbers and showed him how I arrived at this conclusion that the house wouldn’t work for me and offered suggestions as to what he might do to sell the house.

I was very honest and open with him. I pointed out all the things that would be required in order to sell the house and what I felt the costs would be to bring the house to a marketable condition. I had nothing to hide or any agenda because I had concluded that the project wouldn’t work for me. I had informed him up front before I even discussed the details that I wouldn’t be making an offer because the numbers didn’t work.

I then gave him the option of either stopping at that point in the meeting, shaking hands and departing, or for his consideration, I would be willing to share my findings as to what I had found and how I arrived at my conclusion.

I had nothing to loose I had already invested the time and money to get to this point. Why not share this? After all, I had a vested interest as to the future owner of this house because I lived in the neighborhood. I didn’t want some slum-lord to buy it and turn it into rental.

He chooses to hear the presentation. As I presented it to him, he seemed impressed and to understand how and why I came to the conclusion I did. I even pointed out such things as to how they had been paying over $1000 a year more in taxes than they should. There was a mistake on the tax assessment concerning the upper level that had never been completed that the city had calculated as finished square footage. This was a eye opener to him.

When all was said and done he asked “just out of curiosity how much would you offer if you were going to make an offer”.

I said, “Well, I feel like I have been put on the spot, but it would be in the range of about one hundred and $150,000 or so. However, there would be a lot of variables to this price also”.

I asked him why he had asked.

He said, “I wanted to be able to give my mother-in-law a price range and also I have been given a verbal offer of about $175,000 from a neighbor two doors down”.

I looked him right in the eye and told him, “Take it and run, now”.

He then confessed he had doubts that the guy could raise the money.

I then said, “It is very easy to spend money you don’t have; be careful”.

I wished him luck. We shook hands, I wished him luck offering help with getting the tax assessment problem taken care of and I left.

I walked back to my home “This Old Crack House”, wondering what would he would do?

I had no clue but was convinced he would do nothing.

Was I wrong, I wondered?

“This Old Mold House” Copyright 11/22/2007 all rights reserved D. Jerzak

”QUOTE “

—miles125, Alabama..”Architecture is frozen music””

I could relate to having several experiences like that with customers and clients over the years.

Miles comments inspired me to start a blog listing a few of my own experiences.

I am hoping others will join in and share some of there own personal “night mares”. I realize a number of lumberjocks may have not had customers or clients and I didn’t want that to keep them from sharing in this fun blog posting.

I am also inviting you to share any personal ”CUSTOMER SERVICE NIGHT MARES” in which you might have had.

Just for fun, I thought, it would be fun to see where and what others have experienced.

I figured I have made about every mistake and several blunders that are possible when it comes to woodworking, remodeling and while practicing other various crafts.

I have pulled off just about ever bone headed mistake any one human being could possibly make.

While writing my current blog series “This Old Mold House” I began thinking that it might be helpful to share some of my experiences in order that others may learn from them and perhaps benefit from my mistakes.

I am hoping others will add to this list and share there mishaps, lesson learned , all in the spirit of sharing and helping others to learn and practice the various trades and crafts not just limited to woodworking.

Many of these experiences are related to woodworking.

One such example could be safety items or tool uses.

I am going to try keep my “lessons learned” brief and see where this goes.

I invite others to share.

If there is one thing that I have learned well about home remodeling it is that the initial planning stage of the project is the most important. This includes detailed estimates, budgets, schedules, scope of work, financing, and cost-overrun contingency plans.

So many projects fail because this step is either done incorrectly or is done in denial; what I call “the dream state”. So often, once you decide to do a remodeling project and move on to the next stage, the brain goes into a hypnotic, almost paralyzed, state. That’s when normal functioning folk seem to turn into village idiots.

I raise my hand under this scathing indictment. In fact I could be there leader.

I have learned the hard way. For several years there were several villages looking for their idiot. I am the missing idiot these folks were looking for. I admit that I am ready to take my well earned position as chief idiot.

Let me explain why I say this.

It is very easy to become so excited, enthused or consumed with a remodeling project that one almost immediately begins to display some of the initial signs. A few of these signs are as follows:

• Denial
• Overachievement
• Unrealistic expectations
• Illusions of grandeur
• False pride
• Ignorance
• Wish full thinking
• Self absorption

This by no means is a complete list. Feel free to add any others you may have experienced. Again, it is only a sampling of some of the initial symptoms.

I learned quickly that just because I could see in my minds-eye a thing or a project, there was little connection between what I envisioned and its actual completion. This was especially true if it included the project being fully completed on time, and within budget.

I can’t count the number of times I have started or seen a project in the past and got to a ‘near completion stage’, or the famous stage called, ‘it’s good enough’ or, the ‘it will have to do for now stage’.

I am convinced this is the reason so many projects have been killed before they even start. I can hear the words loud and clear. They go something like this, “No, you’re not going to start another project. You have not finished the last three!” Then, going right for the juggler vain, “A garden hose is not plumbing for a dish washer.”

Then the look follows; it’s the one that’s not only impossible to misunderstand but like slow poison. It stays with you like body odor.

Of course, there’s the, “You have 500 projects on your honey-do-list that have you haven’t even looked at for eight months.”

I have often wondered why these people seem so black and white. Don’t they understand we are “artists, craftsman extraordinaire in training? Well, in our minds, anyway.

These ‘creative blockers’, as I call them, usually are also wives, girlfriends, boyfriends, family members, who seem to delight in derailing our grand remodeling projects. Oh, the torture we endure on our way to becoming the next Norm Abrams.

I have always wondered what they don’t understand about my philosophy that consists of: trust me, be reasonable, see it and do it my way. Anyone who understands what is like to be a gifted want-to-be woodworker or carpenter understands this. No explanation is necessary. And for those who don’t understand this line of thinking, no explanation will ever suffice.

Now, back to the story.

As a result of being guilty of every sin possible in remodeling and a few not even invented yet, I have had an equivalent of a “spiritual awakening”.

I now have a ridged outline that I follow like a well-worn path to the refrigerator when hungry.

The rules are simple; I don’t deviate from them, period. They follow.

Every job or remodeling project will include the following.

1. Detail plans and an outline the scope of the project. It’s unimportant whether the plans are hand drawn or done by a professional. At bare minimum, any project needs a rough plan with the overall dimensions.

2. A material list with current and realistic costs verified. (Not based on wishful thinking or prices that you paid ten years ago.)

3. Scope of work. This is an outline of the steps broken down by each room or part of the project.

4. A realistic time schedule.

5. Budget.

6. A list of all subcontractors or suppliers with all the necessary contact details and relevant information.

7. A ‘Who’s Responsible’ list, with names assigned to who will complete the task and when.

8. Brief backup plans or descriptions of alternatives.

9. A tool-list needed to complete the project.

10. Expected delivery dates of materials and products.

11. Permits and inspections needed for project.

12. Digital camera or video along with an notebook for daily notes and journal entries.

I have learned to do all this and more, not because I like lists, but because I have made every mistake possible and more. I have extensive experience being the village idiot. This list is a good start and will cover most of the things needed to complete any project.

I use simple yellow and white legal pages and spiral notebooks.

I use yellow for estimates and white for the final draft. I use the spiral notebook for all my contacts, daily job notes and journal.

When I began my comprehensive overview of the scope of work that needed to be done for “This Old Mold House’, it was an eye opener.

I didn’t like the conclusion.

Long ago, I learned to trust the process.

With two days to complete the planning phase, and armed with my tape measure, several notebooks, and pencils I started the comprehensive scope of work and estimate process.

I would deliver the message on Tuesday as to the outcome.

What would it be?

They lied.

I knew this new project with “This Old Mold House” was not only going to be hard work, time-wise it would be a grueling challenge with my schedule.

I also had no idea how bad the mold was going to be or to what extent would be the abatement process.

As I was loading my wagon with my tools I couldn’t help but review how I had arrived at this point of beginning a project like this. In my mind, it was like it was just yesterday, but in reality it had begun almost 14 months.

Time flies.

I had been out walking the basset hounds, stopping frequently to visit with all the neighbors as I always did. Four doors down from “This Old Crack House” and across the street, was a large beautiful corner lot. This lot was home to a very big two-story stucco house, which for the most part, had been empty for over two years.

I had always admired this house. I even had commented several times how much I would like to own it and how much I would like to see inside. I saw a lot of potential in remodeling this house.

I knew this house was owned by an elderly widow in her eighties. But during the ten years I had lived on this block, I had only seen someone twice at the house.

I know everyone by name for several blocks around “This Old Crack House”; I make it my business to know everyone. My basset hounds are like ambassadors and have carved out a lucrative treat-trail during their walks, but this house had eluded us as far as meeting or knowing the owner.

I knew Pam, who lived for over twenty years across the street from this corner property. She knew the owner and her daughter and son-in-law quite well. When visiting Pam, the daughter had mentioned that the owner, Betty, now 81 years old, would like to see the house completely remodeled. She knew about the other nine houses we had purchased and refurbished over the last few years and was aware of our influence in rebuilding the entire neighborhood, rescuing it from urban decay.

Pam asked if we might be interested in this house and gave me the telephone number of the owner who was living in assisted living near her daughter some 150 miles away.

I told her I was interested in the house and took the number. When I got home I called the number and introduced myself to the son-in-law of the owner.

He knew me by reputation and was aware my work and its influence in renewing the neighborhood. He was very interested in selling the house and commented that his mother-in-law’s wish was for us to buy the home. By sheer coincidence, he would be in town and staying at the house that week, so we set up an appointment to tour the house.

I was excited.

He called me when he got to his mother-in-law’s house. I invited him to walk down the four doors and tour “This Old Crack House”. He said he would love to do this as he had heard so much about the house and was curious why everyone had always told him that if he got the chance, he should tour the house.

After the tour he said, “I now understand why everyone says what they have about your home.” He was almost speechless.

He gave me a brief background as to what was going on with Betty, his mother-in-law, the owner of the house. The only owners, Betty and her husband had built the house, living in the basement for thirteen years while they slowly finished it. It had been their dream. He made it clear that she wanted to sell it and preferred that we bought it. Her age and health made it impossible to return to the house.

When I toured the house, I was shocked. Words can’t really describe how much disrepair and hard times the house had suffered. Although from the outside the house looked like a castle, once inside, the disappointment was overwhelming. I tried not to show my reaction. Besides being badly dated in terms of its decorating, it was in dire straits. In short, 40 years of non-maintenance had come home to roost.

I knew she had been widowed early in life; this fact now very evident.

However, the lack of maintenance would be a secondary issue compared to what I discovered. Mold, more mold than I had ever seen in a basement of any house. On a seasonal basis for the city, I work as a State Building Inspector and had never come across this much mold. Besides being a non-conforming and illegal suite, the two bedroom, one bath layout in the basement was full of mold.

Although it occurred infrequently, the son-in-law had set up one of these bedrooms for those occasions when he came to town to work.

Thank God this happened rarely.

I counseled him gently about the dangers and health hazards of living in this basement. The mold was present on the concrete, various surfaces and in the walls of the bathroom and wherever wood partitions were built.

I could see the major cause of the mold. I pointed out that water had been allowed to seep in through the rotted-out windows caused by a reverse grade and rusted through or missing gutters and down pipes.

He worked in construction as a black top foreman for a large company and understood the reverse grade issue and seemed to understand the other causes, but he didn’t know about the possible health hazards of the mold and would move up stairs as soon as he could.

I suggested at this point he at least do the minimum necessary to stop the water flow into the basement when it rained. I also suggested he dry the basement out and gave him some other ideas how he could halt the spread of the mold. I explained that this would not be an easy task and he needed to take precautions when working in the basement.

He then said, “I suppose you’re not interested in the house then.”

“Not necessarily,” I told him. “But I do need to do a comprehensive study to determine what needs to be done. Certainly, if I do put in an offer the price will reflect these facts. I need the weekend to study the house.”

He handed me the keys and said, “Take them”.

I told him I would call him Monday when he returned.

We shook hands and I left.

Shaking my head all the way back home, I couldn’t help but think about all the work that would need to be done with the house just to make it habitable.

I was even wondering why any sane person would want to tackle a project like that. I never answered this self question. My mind switched to what needed to be done.

It was overwhelming.

After 24 grueling days full of challenges “This Old Mold House is complete and closed Friday October 26 2007.

The new owner took possession of his new house and is busy moving in to his new home.

I have just returned from a 5 day hunting trip out west and will soon began writing the story of “This Old Mold House”.

I think it is a story worth telling.

You will have to decide for yourself.

As always I found out how little I know, how inept I am, how every mistake possible was made, and how over my head I was with this project.

That said; I did what ever other lumberjock would do.

We just did it.

We some how forged ahead, finished the project on time and with in the homeowners budget.

After 24 days, over 300 pictures, video, and a daily log I am ready to tell the story and share my experiences of “This Old Mold House”.

Prepare to laugh, shake your head and call for the men in the white coats to come and pick me up.

Most of all I am hoping you choose to read the blog series so if you ever choose to do a project like this you can gain insight and knowledge on “how not to do a remodeling project”.

This will be a clinic.

Every trade will be visited.

Every mistake will be visited, and shared.

My ego is beyond being bruised.

However for those of you who have ever taken on a project like this I think not only will you be able to relate its my hope your humility will allow you to share your comments for the benefit of the next Lumberjock who takes a project like this on.

Game on.

Start the skill saws.