Why I Oughta...

Last I posted about my backyard DIY pizza oven construction project, I was showing the foundation slab after I had stripped the forms .  The pour went well - thanks to the MudMixer.  Now that the reinforced slab was done, I can move on to building the stand.  That stand is made out of 8x8x16 cinder blocks.  If you go back and look in the archives, you'll see that I went back-and-forth about the dimensions of the slab and stand and after a bunch of thinking/tinker'ing, I ended up deciding on these dimensions : Slab: 72" wide x 80" deep. Stand: 4 blocks wide x 4.5 blocks deep - 62.5" wide x 70.312" deep. Hearth: Same as stand. Oven: 39" interior, 51" exterior side-to-side x 64" front-to-back. That's the slab that I poured: 72" wide (6 feet) by 80" deep (6 feet, 8 inches).  And, so I could go about building the stand with four blocks wide and four-and-a-half blocks deep.   Setting these blocks square is important and I had to pl...

Over the weekend, I went out and picked up four 2x6x8 boards and brought them home to begin to figure out if I've done enough excavation for our wood-fired pizza oven project.  I've been using a tape measure to figure out how much I needed to remove and if my dig was large enough to support the slab framing - along with the necessary bracing.  But, that's an imperfect science, so I decided to just go out and cut the lumber down to the final dimensions and place them in the hole to see - without guessing - if I've excavated enough. As a reminder - mostly to myself - my final dimensions are based on 8x8x16 construction blocks:  Slab: 78" wide, 86" deep. 6.5' wide, 7'2" deep). Stand: 72 wide, 80 deep (4.5 blocks wide, 5 blocks deep) Leaving reveal of 6" total both dimensions. 3" all ways. This allows for 2" face brick and a 1" reveal. I cut the two side pieces of the frame to be 86" and the front/back to be 81" (to acco...

This past week saw the start of the excavation for my backyard wood-fired pizza oven .  After going back-and-forth with various versions of math...I settled on some dimensions.  The hole needs to be 90" wide and 98" deep.  That allows for a slab to be poured that is 78" wide and 86" deep.  12" each way to allow for framing, supports and what I'm calling 'wiggle room'.   I opted for the 'on top of the drywell' location ; which means that the excavation is going to be light in some parts (6 inches) and deeper in others (10-12 inches).   That means that I'm going to be removing A LOT of material.  Soil.  Clay.  Probably some rocks.   What do I do with it? What I'd *LIKE* to do with it is to either build a berm in our front yard .  Or...use it to build a waterfall for a backyard pond.   But, I'm not ready for the pond.  And, I'm too chicken to do the berm in front.   Will it look silly?  Will...

I've posted a bunch of Walt Disney quotes that have appeared on Disney World construction signs (sponsored by Stanley!) over the past year or so.  This one is another one that we spotted on the walk from the Boardwalk to Disney's Hollywood Studios - right outside the Disney Skyway station construction zone. "I've wanted to do things; I wanted to build things, to get something going." -Walt Disney 

Just a few days ago, I posted about the progress being made in the construction of my #newoldworkshop down in the basement.  I shared a photo of the wall being framed in here .  Today, you can see the door installed and the sheetrock attached to the outside of the framing.  If you look closely, you'll also see the dust vent up near the top of the framing.  The door on the right is the door to our "Christmas Closet" and was already built by our builder's team.  As I mentioned in the post outlining all the 'to do's' for my shop , I used an exterior door with weather seal to keep the dust contained.  I'm also planning on painting the walls in the shop to brighten up the space and lay down some of that epoxy garage floor coating to spif the place up.  And, I've been reading up on dust collection systems including this one from GeekBea t.  I like his ducting/routing/termination system.  But, I'm thinking of going a different route in terms o...

After months of planning and thinking and posting about my eventual workshop, we finally have progress:  the wall that divides the rest of our basement with my shop is getting installed.  In the photo above, you can see the wall being framed and the steel door - an exterior door - installed.  On the right side of the photo - through the framing - you can see the existing stairs and banister coming down from the first floor.  In the middle of the room, you can see an existing door/wall that built out by our builder to contain the mechanical room.  They used a steel, exterior door on the mechanical room, so we replicated that with the door for my shop.  They're going to be so close, so it was important for them to match. Right after the wall framing is done, drywall is going on the outside, but I'm going to leave the inside unfinished.  I'm still planning on cutting in a spot for a vent ( see here for inspiration ) and stuffing the joist cavities wi...

One year ago today, I posted that photo above here on the blog to mark the milestone in building our #NewOldFarmhouse when we had our windows installed into the framed house.  Hard to believe that was a year ago as it feels like yesterday that we were making the regular visits to Downers Grove to check on the status of the construction job.  Welp...Nat was there EVERYDAY because she was a trooper who took our one of our kids all the way to Downers Grove for school everyday from Elmhurst.  Then made the return trip back to pick her up.  We're one year removed from the installation of the windows, but still in the thick of things in terms of getting the house situated.  I've posted quite a bit about the needs in the yard/garden, but there's also so much still to get set-up inside.  Like window treatments, furniture, wall-hangings and what-have-yous.  Nat has done a really great job of introducing elements a little at a time and we're this/close to ...

Yesterday, I posted another in the series of Walt Disney quotes on construction signs down at Walt Disney World in Florida.  All of them are sponsored by Stanley.  Today...here's another one.  This one hits me right in the belly because it is a big part of the reason why we keep going back:  The joy that I get to share with my children.  Together.   This now has become a 'thing' on the blog where I can document the various versions of the construction signs at WDW.  This one, in particular was located on the same walk as this other longer Walt quote where the Skyway construction is going on outside of Hollywood Studios.   Here   are   a   few   others .

Came across another one of these construction signs that includes a quote from Walt Disney on the walls of a job site inside of WDW.  I've posted two of these before including this one about deadlines and this one about curiosity .   This one was on the backside of Cinderella's Castle in the Magic Kingdom in an area that I think was where the crane was located as they installed Christmas lights. Unlike those other ones that were outside of Epcot, this one is definitely Fantasyland-themed and is appropriate for the place it is hung. This one, too, is sponsored by Stanley, which I continue to think is a nice sponsorship integration for both parties.

Back at the end of July, I posted a photo of a Walt Disney quote that they've hung on some construction walls at WDW in Orlando .  Here's another one that caught my eye.  Again, kudos to Stanley for the sponsorship that seems apt for the place/time/space in terms of sponsoring some of the construction work going on and to the imagineers for turning what would normally be an eyesore into something worth taking a minute to take in while walking towards the International Gateway behind Epcot. As for the quote itself, I'm drawn to it because of that word 'curious'.  Something that when I hear someone say, I always perk up and tune in to what they're talking about.  I've done hundreds of interviews for hiring folks (doing some these days to hire people for our team) and when describing themselves, if I hear 'curious' as part of the description, that always makes me sit up in my chair.

Whoops!  A week ago, I posted about the new playground going into Whittier Elementary School in the Randall Park neighborhood in Downers Grove and talked about how the PTA worked to raise money to install new equipment.  That part...was all true.  But the rest?  #FakeNews!   I posted a photo of the wrong playground.  Sorry.  Still getting my bearings. The one I posted showed a new concrete curb going in, but oddly, all of the equipment was staying put.  And the shape wasn't quite the right shape as the one in the rendering . Earlier this week, I was walking by the school and noticed that there is A SECOND playground!  See the red arrow.  *That's* the one that is getting overhauled.  Whoops. Here's a zoomed-in look at the progress they've made.  Much of the equipment has been installed and while the fencing is still up, it looks like they're just awaiting the play surface. The playground in the foreground is like...

Back at the beginning of the month, I posted a photo of a relic from a long-gone Burny Brothers Bakery on York Street in Elmhurst that had recently been unearthed by the construction crew and owners of the soon-to-open Beerheads bar right in the heart of the Elmhurst City Centre.  You can see all the posts about the Beerhead Bar & Eatery construction here .    In that post, I expressed my hope that between the owners of the building, the contractor and the folks behind Beerheads , there would emerge a sense of history and conclude that retaining this cool relic would only add to the flavor of their new place. Well...guess what?  They're all over it!  Seriously.  I heard heard from the owner of Global Builders, Carmen Gratace, who said that they've confirmed with the owners that the 'welcome mat' from Burney Brothers is indeed staying.  Kudos to Global Builders.   You can find their site here .  We should applaud both Carmen and his en...

The last update on our #NewOldFarmhouse showed off the drywall being hung and finished back a week or so ago .  Today, I'm sharing a few photos of the tile work being done in an upstairs bathroom that I think is coming together really nicely.  Nat has been the champion behind all of the design selections and she's done a really great job on all of it - including the tile. This bathroom has a retro-vibe to it and she's using 'penny tiles' that from this distance look a bit like hexagon tiles, but are all circles.  We had a hexagon tile bathroom floor in our last house, so I'm inclined to love the look, but in this one, she went in a little different direction by introducing a custom border around the room.  In the photo at the top, you can see the section that the tile guy is working on.  In that spot will be the pattern he's been building below.  If you look closely at the photo above, you can see a printout of the tile pattern right above the tile gu...

The last construction update that I shared on our New Old Farmhouse was way back in early March when I showed the audio/visual 'chases' that were put in the walls to carry all the various cable-ing back to the basement.   Well, a lot has happened since then.  But let's start with what came after the chases.  The crew put in insulation.  We had a pretty cool mix of foam, batts and blown-in.  Different product for different applications.  As soon as the insulation went in, the street noise went to almost zero.  It was nuts.  After that?  What you see in this photo.  The drywall was hung. For the first time, the rooms took shape and we could get a sense for the light values in each room.  Exciting stuff.  If you're following along with Nat on the insta (as the kids say these days, right?), then you know where we are today and what's been done since I snapped this photo above.  Exciting times! Also, for those following...

If you walk by the construction site of the new Beerheads Bar on the Northeast corner of First and York in the Elmhurst City Centre, you'll see a bit of progress on the building.   I last posted about the status of the project here on the blog in February .  You can go down the whole rabbit hole of posts related to the site here on the blog . But, in addition to seeing the exterior construction progress, if you look inside one of the new doorways, you'll also see this - the photo above. It is a relic from the past. And was a stonework 'welcome mat' for Burny Brothers.  I had never heard of Burny Brothers, but 'teh Googles' quickly educated me. From this Burny Brothers archive site : Burny Brothers Bakery was founded in 1910 in Chicago, Illinois by a working-class immigrant family, and grew to become a successful, uniquely American enterprise. The founding family sold its interest in 1963 to Beatrice Foods Co., which in turn sold the wholesale divisi...

If you haven't been in the Elmhurst City Centre in the past few weeks, you have likely not seen the progress being made at the old Plass Appliance site on the west side of York Street right in the heart of the City Center.   These concrete block structures are the elevators, right?  They're set way back from York and rise vertically in the middle of the site. We last covered this project back in January of 2016, more than a year ago when they tore the old building down . If you haven't been following along on the blog, here's the site concept for the location :  it is a terraced building that will have offices/commercial on the first floor and I think it started as condos up stairs, but now is going to be offices?   They're calling it the York Building and it will border both York Street on the front, but also that "Schiller" alley thing that connects the new parking deck over on Addison and includes Nu Crepes (who, somehow has survived all of the...

Last week, I posted about the masonry work that was taking place for the fireplace outside at our New Old Farmhouse and I also gave a little update about the salvaged leaded glass windows we are having repaired for reuse in our place by the craftsman at Drebohl Art Glass in Chicago .  (Drebohl, btw, is the ' oldest stained glass studio in Chicago ', so they're the real deal.) This week, the attention on the house construction turns inside as the tradesmen undertake their rough installations.  And that includes some low-voltage wiring work.  You'd think that in today's world, there wouldn't be the need for a ton of wires running all around the place with ethernet jacks and ports and what-have-you's installed in the walls in every room.  But you'd - like me - would be wrong. As part of our house build, we're getting a bunch of different wires put in - for use now, but also a bit of 'future proofing' things of sorts.  That means, Cat 5/6...

A few weeks back, I posted an update about our new place showing the installation of the windows in most* spots (The asterisk is because not all the windows are in...as we're still waiting on a few of the more 'fancy' ones...) and how that felt like real progress.  And there's been even more progress lately including the installation (do you call it that?) of the fireplace and chimney.  This one you see above is in what I think is going to be my favorite spot in the house: our screened porch. You'll note the the cables come out of the center of the masonry work above the fireplace, so one of the first jobs is going to be finding a tv that will work out there and getting it hung.   The room isn't huge, but I'm thinking Nat will do a great job finding the right seating mix where we can hang as a family out there and also where we can entertain folks.  And, frankly, something that I can take a Saturday afternoon nap on while watching some sports... The ...

Back in December of last year, there was finally a flurry of activity on the structure that sits at the northwest corner of First and York (just on the north side of the tracks) in the Elmhurst City Center.  I covered it here on the blog and at that time, Alderman Dannee Polomsky of the 3rd Ward shared that there was a new business going into the spot called Beerhead Bar & Eatery.  If you head to the Beerhead site, they now even have a page up for the Elmhurst location . For the better part of the past 60 days, there has been scaffolding up on both sides of the building as they do some exterior work on the facade, but as I walked by it earlier this week on my way to the train, I noticed the scaffolding was all gone. And the building looks great!  They added some black stone to the top and down the sides and cleaned up the brick it looks like to me.  The building, which if you look back thru the archives was a hodgepodge of a bunch of different uses inclu...

In a major development on the construction site, we now have windows installed!  Windows!  Yeah, I know.  You're questioning the exclamation points.  But, listen....we've been at this a loooooooooong time.  And this is a real mark of progress towards having a home completed, so it is worth celebrating for our family. They're not all in - nor are the doors - so the house isn't quite 'buttoned up', but it is close.  And that marks an exciting time.  If you look closely on the right side of this photo you'll see some metal conduit that the electrician has put in.  That means that some of the mechanical work has been started, so once that's done and the insulation is installed, I think we get the drywall hung.  Then we'll *really* get a sense for how the place is turning out and what the true space is for each room. But for now, we're celebrating windows.