As of today, July 5th 2010, in the state of Wisconsin, it is now a crime to smoke in any public building which of course means your corner bar. This is a sad day for smokers and coincidentally one day after a celebration of freedom, it’s the end of an era of freedom in the state of Wisconsin and eventually the entire United Socialist States of America. There are few pleasures left on this planet and for some, smoking was one of them. However, the recent forced introduction of FSC cigarettes and the new pubic smoking ban means you must now hide away in the privacy of your home to enjoy a beer and a smoke without getting hassled.
smoking kills - yeah, right!
Sure some people might now live a few months or years longer in the expensive care ward, having their Depends brand adult diaper changed and with a drool bucket around their neck, but I’d rather go quickly from a smoking related disease that to languish in a nursing home. Now that they’ve eliminated smoking, I wonder what is next?
Barplan.com encourages you to build a home bar where for the time being, you can do whatever you like in the privacy of your own home without worrying about some yuppie crybaby bitching about second hand smoke. So build your bar, pour a pint of your favorite beer, mix your cocktail and smoke ‘em if ya got ‘em.
Tags: smoking ban
Seventy days after receiving the building materials our duplex three season room project now sheds water. Add to that the roughly 30 days for the foundation piers and the total project time so far has been about 100 days. Keep in mind that I only worked on it about half that time due to rain, snow and other delays and this was entirely a one man project (and one wife to hand me tools and do cleanup).
Before
The top photo is a shot of the duplex before the materials arrived, with the foundation piers in place. Notice the roof algae on the 19 year old back shingles and the big ugly and inoperative roof vent blowers. The back of the house had that typical “plain Jane” duplex appearance. Little did we know at the time that the base of both chimney chases were rotted and leaking water behind the chimneys. The OSB roof deck was observed to be black and completely crumbled when I removed the soffit panels in those areas, so the roof would have required repair no matter what.
After
The bottom photo shows the newly constructed three season room built on eleven 12″ foundation piers sunk 50″ into the clay.
The roof blowers have been removed and patched and the chimney chases removed and rebuilt. Now I can slow down, relax and begin dressing out the front and interior space of the three season room. All in all, it’s a nice change to an otherwise boring looking structure. The addition completely removes the duplex appearance and since we use this as a single family home / office, it works out great for our needs. If we ever sell, it would be a very unique find for someone who works at home. Of course the new room will include another home bar installation using a portable plan that is currently in the works.
The excellent roofing work was done in two days by Powell Roofing Services Inc. of Kaukauna, Wisconsin – see their website at: www.powellroofing.com
The PGT Eze-Breeze windows and doors will be ordered in the next week or two and will take 4-6 weeks for delivery.
Stay tuned for more updates in the coming months – but for now I’m going to try to enjoy the rest of the summer.
To review the entire project, click here to see all posts – use the page navigation at the bottom of each page.
stripped and tar papered in one day
Roofing happens to be one thing I don’t do well, in fact I don’t WANT to do it well because at 6′ 4″ and 250+ pounds, I’m definitely not made for doing any roof work, so we hired a local contractor to do the work for us. The guys who work on this crew are nothing short of amazing. They stripped the roof, repaired the chimney chase water damage, removed and patched four inoperative roof blowers and tar papered the whole roof in one day, albeit a 12 hour work day. Today they pick up and should complete the whole back side and addition.
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Before you consider doing the roofing yourself, I’d highly recommend that you consider hiring a contractor who knows what they are doing and can knock it this back breaking work out fast! If you live in the central Wisconsin area, particularly in the Fox Valley, I recommend Mike & Stacey Powell from Powell Roofing Service, Inc. for fast, reliable roofing service.
