To Do list III

Last updated
2 Sep 2008 - I'm closing this down and starting a new one here.
2 Sep 2008 - updated the past couple months of effort just for completeness.
20 July 2008 - updated French door status - installed sill and exterior light.
06 July 2008 - No longer an impediment to getting stuff done, the garage is cleaned and organized!
27 June 2008 - Brother's metal scrap taken to recycler
28 April 2008
16 April 2008 - updated accomplishments, added bedroom patio and N. side yard tasks
21 Mar 2008 - updated goals for yard
09 Mar 2008 - back yard border done, bonus chore bathtub spigot fixed.
28 Feb 2008 - another 10' of garden border constructed
23 Feb 2008 - dump run with concrete debris
19 Feb 2008 - patched around new electrical box, demoed Morea, planted Salvia apiana (ToL), received seeds by mail from T Payne.
30 Jan 2008 - Edison by to make pole to service entrance connection, finally
16 Jan 2008 - updated back border progress
15 Jan 2008 - updated yard planning and path forward
13 Jan 2008 - Copied the old list and updated the electrical status.


My loyal reader will recall that I've had To Do lists before, before and even before that. Even so, I'm designating this the third home improvement To Do list. I like to start new lists when the old ones have changed enough that I think I'd rather leave it as a record of where I was and move on with a more modern list.

This is a living document which gets updated as the situation changes, so if you happen to be the masochist that follows my home improvement progress, check back from time to time. It may have been updated.

These are rough priority order. On my old list, I instituted a priority ranking that put a greater emphasis on completing tasks 100% before moving on. I'll keep that here.


House Improvements

• Fix broken bathroom tub spigot. This is Bonus Chore status, but it's still kind of urgent so it may make may make parts of the repipe task more urgent than indicated by list position. Feb 19, 2008. DONE 08 Mar.
  
• Complete 1st phase of electrical upgrade. Finish what you start.
• Stucco around new panelDONE 18 Feb
• Remove old panel, repair stucco.
• Focus on garage improvement for use as staging area for remainder of house
• Clean and organize garage (starting 6 Aug 07 I got it ready enough for the electrical work. It's jammed with crap now that I had to get out of the rain. Progress has been backward. I need a total re-org.) Juli helped out here and it's looking great now. DONE 6 July 2008.
  
• Install attic vent in garage gable end (cut stucco, frame, paper, wire, repair stucco). I've now painted the vent white. Need to cut a few framing members for inside the garage. Finish what you start.
• Install new rear wall / rear-facing door in garage.
• Install new garage door
  
• Augment electrical install in garage with additional power outlets.
  
• Complete electrical install, sill, and weather stripping at new French door. All parts at hand. Really, it's embarrassing how long this has gone unfinished. Finish what you start.
• Pick colors and paint some areas on the house in preparation for a whole house paint job. Use Color Preview 2000 from Benjamin Moore to digitally color my house.
• Put in more soffit vents. Maybe add a fan in the gable end of my house? Would be good to do this not on the hottest day of the year.
  
• Reroute gas supply lines (to kitchen and garage) in preparation for taking my interior wall down.
  
• Install French door in place of rear-facing window in my room.DONE with Warren in early Aug.
  
• Replace / repair computer room window.
• Repipe house in copper, adding hose bibs as needed. Will need to review appropriate pipe sizing - could be undersized at present. Start by repiping only the easy stuff, saving the part about cutting into the walls for when I demo the kitchen. Use dielectric unions to couple the new copper to the old galvanized.
• Don't forget new hot and cold hose spigots.
  
• Install tankless water heater in attic.

Garden / Yard Improvements

• Recycle the scrap metal at my brother's house. DONE 27 June
  
• Get the back yard border installed - new technique with bender board and bricks instead of concrete will speed job and allow changes. (15% done 8 Nov 2007, 50% done 15 Jan 2008, 80% done 28 Feb)DONE 09 Mar 2008
• Do some planning with respect to the native plants in my front yard. Now that I've lived with them a bit, I have a better feel for them. Updated 17 Nov 2007. Planning Done.
• Get morea (Fortnight lilies) down to chez frere. Plant Salvia apiana in its place. DONE 18 Feb
• Find sources for Wyethia ovata (emails out to El Nativo and Tree of Life 15-Jan-08)Apparently none available - forget it.
• Purchase Clatonia perfoliata (seeds from T. Payne), Dodecatheon Clevelandii (T. Payne)DONE Feb, Allium unifolium (T. Payne bulbs), Symphoricarpos mollis (creeping snowberry) No more native purchases needed this planting season ('07-'08)
• Plant Artemesia in place of some Rosemary in garden hedge Done 3/24/2008
  
• Start Clatonia seed ASAPDONE 4/8/2008
  
• Prune Brazilian Pepper tree - started 16 Mar
• Install patio area for future bedroom French door entry.
• regrade back yard selectively so as not to have ponding near house
• use brick for hard surface so as to match nearby N. side yard
  
• Install brick pavers in N. side yard. Shift grading to shunt drainage water away from house.
• Rethink entire front yard garden for fall, 2008 - My plants are too large and unfocussed and the meadow is not living up to expectations
• Move the front yard native scheme onto the parking strip (between sidewalk and street) in a way that continues to allow car access from the curb side
• Planning: Continue line of meadow border. Probably use festuca rubra and pavers in the center, low bushes, taller grasses, or other ground cover at the property line edge of parking strip.
• Demolish patio behind kitchen (demo'ed brick planter 17 Nov 2007)
  
• Install new patio with California native grape arbor.
• Plan for electricity and music in the back yard.
• Plan for hot water in the back yard. Outdoor shower? (see repipe)
• Build concrete bench for front arbor area.
• Recycle the concrete in my back yard. There's a local concrete recycling place on Aviation just S of El Segundo Blvd. Yard phone 310-536-9982 which takes clean (rebar & remesh cut at concrete, no bricks, etc) but it's not cheap - $82 for a small pickup load. Ouch. Dump might be cheaper. factor of 4 less cost means the winner is the dump. Dump run 23 Feb. Another probably needed later
  
• Get rid of dirt from the back yard.
  
• Replace driveway with pavers.
  
• Incorporate design element changes: separate entry path, driveway adjacent planting, trellis over garage.