Thumb and Hammer Blog

She’s a beaut….30 yards in all her behemoth glory, dominating our driveway and waiting to be filled. With a holiday weekend upon us, and with the kid staying at Grandma’s for a few days, I figured that today was the best time to have the garbage bin delivered, so I could spend the weekend gutting [...]

I would sure like to know what I was breathing in when I was cleaning up the second floor and the basement because whatever it was gave me a case of hives that peaked on Friday and had me visiting my family doctor. Perhaps it was mold? Or maybe something else? It is hard to [...]

Hot, sweaty, grimy and claustrophobic are a few words that just begin to describe my day today. I finally ventured up to the second floor to begin cleaning up the drywall dust and the assorted debris that our contractor left behind months ago. I knew about the drywall dust. By the time he finished the [...]

In order to have a “sunken” jacuzzi, the previous owner cut three floor joists, and dropped the floor down, supporting it from below with a structure comprised mainly of 4×4’s. After removing the structure supporting the “sunken” portion, I enlisted the help of a friend to sister the joists and remove the remaining structure. The [...]

Two weeks after I removed the jacuzzi tub in pieces, I set about removing the structure that supported it. The previous owner thought a “sunken” tub was a good idea. It wasn’t. Basically, the floor joists were cut and the floor under the tub was dropped about a foot or so. In the basement, a [...]