0
0
Day 2: Very exhausted but excited and slightly injured (just a bruised hand.) Currently listening to Oliver Huntemann – Propaganda Remixes Pt. 1. Check it out, full of some amazing remixes, too many to list but Marc Houle, Shall Ocin, and Alex Stein remixes are top notch!!
Whew, just finished. Yes, it is 12:30am…yes, I did start at 8am. Ok so I did take 30 minutes to make and eat dinner but believe me, I did feel guilty.
So we started the day by ripping out some windows in Unit A and installing another set of French doors as we did in Unit B yesterday. We patched the holes around where the windows used to be, did some more insulation, ripped out 4 window AC units, which the previous owner had decided to just cut holes in the walls and install all kinds of crazy electrical outlets that we are now having to fix, got lots of quotes on new electrical service, which we need so we can install the HVAC system. Turns out we have knob and tube wiring which is that ancient wiring you see in some houses where a single wire is insulated with a cloth, picture a single wire slightly thicker than a paperclip wrapped in a cozy form-fitting sweater. It’s very prone to overheating and starting fires, so we have to remove all of it. Safety first! Also got quotes on fixing the stucco we ruined changing out windows and doors and removing AC units (by the way we have 4 window AC units if anyone needs one, first come first serve…they will end up on Craigslist at some point.) I also did a Lowe’s run scoping out some tile and other supplies and getting more insulation and plastic sheeting to cover all of our un-stuccoed work as we get ready for some rain in the desert.
I also met 4 different neighbors today. The friendly, and talkative, guy across the street was happy to talk about how he moved into this neighborhood 25 years ago and his brother and sister thought he was crazy, but now he rubs it in their faces because he has investors calling him every week asking to buy his house (we are just blocks from the Arts District, Downtown, and the Diamondbacks’ stadium), and I met the young hipster couple living across the street when I saw them putting their garbage cans on the street. I had to verify it was trash day. Met the guy that runs the non-profit helping disadvantaged (homeless) people when he saw the windows we had removed sitting out. Apparently, he just leased a historic building in New Mexico that was made of earth and it has no windows and plans to start a non-profit branch in the 505. We told him to take the windows and that there would be more to come. Finally, I met the jaded artist that lives in the building behind ours. Apparently her and her scruffy, and unpleasant to pet, dog have lived here way before it was cool and it was the murder capital zip code of Phoenix. She mentioned a lot of the same people I remembered from back in the day when I DJed at ArtWalk and at Fate Restaurant during the earlier days of the, now apparently too crowded and commercial, ArtWalk like Johnny of Fate Restaurant and Kimber of Modified Art Gallery. She’s now moving somewhere south of Buckeye or something where it’s “cool” for artists to live. That’s my cue to scope out property in that area…the emerging arts scene is always the next trendy area, but South of Buckeye???
Tomorrow (today actually) we start HVAC install and get tons more quotes of stuff, excited and nervous. You never know what kind of problems can arise in a house this old. Wait til you get a glimpse of what we have hidden in the closets! Hopefully, we will rip it out tomorrow of the next day…we’ll see.
Way past my bedtime again!
