2021 Porch Update

Okay... I finally stopped long enough to write a updated about my porch! So I will be quite...

1. My porch is fully supported for at least this year! Nothing will collapse...
2. Everything still will need repainted!
3. A little glue and TLC anything can be saved! I think you can never have enough clamps... just saying
4. The original railings are fine, they are just safe in storage!
5. I think I am going to build a lattice privacy wall to solve some of my missing railing problems! Plus it will help to keep some the elements off the side door...
6. The part of the porch in front of the tower will look under construction till next summer...
7. I had a temporary support posts was added in front of the tower to take the pressure off of the 120 year old hollow beam the bowed under the weight of the roof and the long open span... the strain it was under and with the potential weight of snow and ice of PA winters might of caused it to snap and collapse...
8. Next year that beam will need to be replaced with a stronger beam to allow for the long open span without a post!
9. Next year I have it scheduled for a major rebuild of the entire front part of the wrap around porch decking structure!
10. Next year the footers and support posts under the same front part of the porch will be replaced as well!

So I am now going to be even more busy getting everything I can back together and fixed before winter... If your from the states I hope you have a nice 4th of July weekend!

Yours truly,

Nicklas

Crazy Busy

What’s new?

Well, I’ve been supper busy...

You know with reopening the theatre after 15 months of being down, major home renovations, and of course life in general! Still no love life though... just saying!

The theatre reopening went well, we are on the slow side but hopefully as time goes on things will get busier. We just got through our second weekend! We’ve received so many lovely messages from friends and customers through it all! I have my fingers crossed for “Black Widow” to maybe pick up a little more!?!? I’ve been working tirelessly on my master suite IT LOOKS LIKE A ROOM IN A HOUSE NOW!!! My attention had to take a sharp turn to the front porch since discovering that the posts had become compromised with rot and the weight of the roof was causing the structure to collapse...

Just a joy of a old house of course I suppose!

I had the one side of the wrap around porch majority reconstructed back in 2014, and spent so much money getting things custom milled to match the original design. But I am sad to say nothing new I had made lasted and everything needed torn out... my woodwork chose to use poplar, and since then I’ve learned it can’t hold up outside! Today four of the eight of the weight baring posts got repaired, so figures crossed I can move past this issue! My gardens did take a bit of a beating around the porch but everything is perennial and will come back next year! Plus with all the cuttings I can now enjoy the flowers inside this year!

So now I am back to the drawing board to trying to figure out what I should do as a alternative especially since I am about 99 percent sure I got the original design right the first time I designed it... but with whatever I do this time I want it to still blend with the remaining original pieces of the porch...? Even though the porch is a little on the new side of thing being that it is only about 120 years old (as apposed to the 160 year old house give or take) I still really want to stay true to its feel of the architect at that time! I think classic old porches really bring out the elegance and charm of a old house exterior! What do you think, and how have you’ve been?

Yours truly,

Nicklas

HAPPY PRIDE MONTH 2021!

Happy Pride!!

Yours truly,

Nicklas

It's Always Something...

So, great start to the week! All I wanted to do today was get my car to the garage for a oil change and lay more tile wall tile in my bathroom. However only one of those things happened! I did get my oil changed, but when I got to my house to start working I had to go turn on the water main as normal...

To my surprise my basement was flooded! The water level receded down to about a 1/2-1 inch deep by the time I discovered the problem. I ended up shop vaccine 80 gallons of water off my basement floor. This was after most of the water seeped into the holes and cracks in my cement floor. Judging off the water marks on the stone walls it got as high as about 2.5-3 inches.

I proceeded to call someone to clean out the pipes and figure out what is going on. And what appeared to happen was the old clay pipes my new PVC drains tie into finally collapsed. This caused all my roof and backyard underground spring water to then back up and go under my porch and then right into the basement.

To top it all off the basement floor drain also plugged and could handle that amount of water. For the most part the check ball work blocking most of the sewer water from backing up. They were able to clean out the sewer and basement drain for the most part but it will eventually need fully replaced. 

It is cast iron in the basement floor and under the porch but then switches to clay tile to the road. The roof drain pipes will need replacing now. So tomorrow morning at 9:00 am I’m digging up my front yard and part of my gardens... which make me really sad but the house cannot flood!

On a positive not everything was up in my basement and I didn’t loose my furnace! And unrelated to the flood my hot water tank might need replaced if the pressure relief valve can’t be changed due to to much corrosion... cross your fingers it doesn’t!

Yours truly,

Nicklas 

So Big News!

Now that my whole family has been vaccinated and the entertainment industry beginning to become for stabilized as more restrictions are being lifted a reopening is finally on the horizon! Over the past couple of week we have begun to go through our list of studio contacts and attending to a lot of paperwork!

If as time progresses it looks like it will actually be very soon! Today we ordered some new posters and trailers, yet there is a lot of things that still need done!

All of the stock at the concession stand will still needs replaced. The interior will needs a good dusting after months of being closed, as well as some minor repairs need to be made...

It feels almost like starting up a new business but unlike in 2009 we know the how the inner workings of the business works! As well as we know how to make popcorn of too! 

But one thing at a time....

Our fingers are crossed for the magic of the silver screen to come be back to the community come early summer! And before we know it the house lights will be back and the smell of hot fresh popcorn will fill the air once again!

Yours truly,

Nicklas

A Peaceful Morning Walk

So this morning didn’t go completely to plan. My grandmother had her follow up appointment with her general practitioner and she is a bit of a handful for my mom to handle on her own. So as normal I go along to help out, but due to restrictions only one of us could go into the appointment.

I decided instead of sitting in a hot stuffy waiting room a nice walk in the fresh air sounded like a better idea. The calming silence and the gentle breeze was just what the doctor ordered. Nature is a beautiful thing... Hope your week is going well!

Yours truly,

Nicklas 

End of a Long Week, New Finds, and Stunning Tile!

For the past two days I’ve been starting to install the wall tile for my master bathroom! I am beyond thrilled with how it is turning out. It is absolutely gorgeous against the baseboard paint color; now don’t worry the shoe will be painted in and that raw wood is just a spacer and there is another layer of molding to still go on... If you are unaware let me tell you that in authentic victorian design the baseboard were almost always very tall, so that being said the salvaged trim I was able to tear out of another house for this project will be nine inches tall when reassembled! That will be in due time though...

When I was working with the tile yesterday though I kept hearing these loud bangs coming from outside. So of course my curiosity got to me so I got up and needed to figure out what was going on! What the loud bangs were was my neighbor throwing projectile objects outside onto his backyard from the attic! So of course I immediately spotted the hand painted solid wood antique rocking horse! WOW!!!

Now it was broken before the two story drop, but I wouldn’t lay and say it didn’t break more.... but anything is fixable! It will probably only take me a couple of hours to restore it, but I anticipate me someday using it in one of my Christmas window displays at the theatre!?!? TBD

And on a different note my grandmother came home yesterday from the hospital after a four days stay! She was taken by ambulance to the hospital earlier in this week. She had been bleeding for about a day and a half at home before making anyone aware. While she was in the hospital they gave her two units of blood, and the best they could diagnose her was with the knowledge she has a GI bleed somewhere. She is 87 and has decided to opted out of having any scopes done to determine anything more precise... it is definitely her decision not to want to know, but all I can say is we don’t know...

Yours truly,

Nicklas