Monday, January 22, 2007

tumbled marble, stained glass windows, 7/06

Unfortunately, we think that Jacqueline lost the e-mail address for these folks. So we'll call her M and him T. Sorry, we kept the e-mails. But Jacqueline didn't keep the job that had the e-mail.


There was a post on craigslist, "36 square feet of tumbled Marble - $35". Jacqueline suggested that the marble would be a good counter surface for the front apartment or a bathroom.


It was funny before we even got there because Jacqueline called to confirm that we would be arriving soon. T thought she was someone else, and was odd to her on the phone . She can fill in more of the details about that conversation.

So, we drove into Atlanta. We arrived at the house, and inspected the marble in the garage.
M suggested that we also looked at the marble trim that she had, which went with the marble, and she wasn't planning on using.

During this time we told the story about the house on Mc Kenna Street. Coincidentally, M and T had lived in New Orleans, so we played the name game about places and neighborhoods. We talked more about the house in New Orleans, and then M showed me some stained glass windows that she made for her brother's house, to his specifications. The specs were slightly off, so she ended up re-making new windows for him. I had to think about it. We complimented them on their great new kitchen -- and the French doors into the dining room.

M told us the story of the french doors. She got them from a contractor friend who was working on a multi-million dollar project. There was a big wall of windows and doors. One of the windows or doors had a scratch on them. Apparently the person who was spending multi-million dollars didn't like that, and refused the lot of them.

So, M also had some windows that she wanted to get rid of. She asked us if we wanted them. We weren't sure and said we would check the sizes with J's mom to see if she could use them.

I bought the three stained glass windows for $300. They matched the planned color scheme of the exterior of the house, and were really unique and a great deal. T brought them to Athens the next day, because he worked as a contract Engineer for a nearby power plant. He also brought the vinyl windows.

Sunday, January 21, 2007

Brief tour of pre-katrina McKenna Street


Before the storm, McKenna Street was a typical shotgun double. Katrina flooded about 2.5 ft into the house, from what I can gather, that water stayed around for a week to two weeks.

Here is a link to a photo gallery on my site which has some before and after photos.
http://www.crowleigh.com/coppermine/thumbnails.php?album=9&page=1&sort=ta



This page has many photos of what the house looked like when we got back after 3.5 weeks.
http://www.tulane.edu/~ccrowley/katrina/

Saturday, January 20, 2007

The List (so far) of Craigslist purchases for McKenna St New Orleans Renovation

1) tumbled marble, stained glass windows, 7/06
2) white doors, granite, 7/06
3) kitchen and washer/dryer (atlanta), 8/19/06, Chris J.
4) mission-style oak exterior doors, 8/30/06, Jessica and Toby M.
5) 1930's doors (knobs, hinges), 8/30/06, Michael B.
6) stackable washer and dryer, 9/14/06, Camille C.
7) sidelights, 9/15/06, Professional Painting (Bryan)
8) black kitchen appliances, 9/23/06, Jeff L.
9) shower base, 9/13/06, Giselle G.
10) bath vanity and medicine cabinet, 10/2/06, Tony O.
11) pedestal sink 1, 9/30/06, Pete G.
12) outdoor fan, 10/14/06, Clara L.
13) french doors for back apartment, 9/23/06, Miranda G.
14) pedestal sink 2 and door, 12/3/06, Tamera
15) Kallista toilet, 12/20/06, Jonah D.
16) 2 Kohler Sterling toilets, 1/17/07, Clayton W.'s neighbor
17) LG combination W/D, 3/2009

Thursday, January 04, 2007

McKenna Street Project

I considered how to repair the damage to my house caused by hurricane katrina. I navigated through the maze of insurance reports, papers to file, city building permits, ICC claims, flood elevations, greenspace, and consideration for future safety of the house.

One thing was clear, insurance provides replacement cost of like items. This meant that insurance companies consider the fact that your objects were not new, and will provide you funds to replace the object with another not new item. Is this fair? It doesn't really matter.

Another thing was apparent from the very beginning. This event generated a lot of waste. A tremendous pile of drywall and furniture dominated the side of the road once people started their home gutting in earnest. It was like a snowbank on a Buffalo, NY street. You couldn't see the houses behind it. From the city of New Orleans website, there was an estimate 25 million cubic yards of trash generated: LDEQ estimates a total of 25 million cubic yards of storm related debris (equates to football field one mile high)[from http://cityofno.com/Portals/Portal35/portal.aspx?tabid=38 ]

These factors, a sense of the inferior quality and disposable nature of many products sold by big box construction stores, thrift, and hating senseless waste contributed to a decision that was made. Wherever possible, recycled materials would be used in the renovation.

Enter Craigslist...