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Welcome to The Kester House & Garden Project!

This site has been created to document our rather in-depth home renovation project. Friends and family ask about the status from time to time, so this will serve as a place to keep track of our progress. I also use the site as a place to store photos, plans, and technical information (like paint colors, etc.) so I can find that information when I need it.

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The usual Spring garden shot (1 photo).

If you're visiting the site for the first time, after having a look at this Welcome page I recommend reading the House and Inspiration sections before you dive right in, so you'll have an idea of what we started with and what we're hoping to end up with. I've been writing about the project in the order we've been working on it, so the Garden sections would be next, followed by the Exterior sections and finally the Interior sections.

I often add new information or photos to various sections, so the News section below will always have links to the latest updates. There's also a Table of Contents at the bottom of this page with a brief description of every page on the site. Additionally, if you're looking for information about a particular project, you may find the table available on the Project Timeline useful, since you may click on the project name to go directly to the information regarding that specific work.

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2025.05.21
The House: It's somewhat hard to believe how fast Spring seems to be going by as I'm making very slow progress on getting more work done on the interior renovation work. I haven't really done any more work on the living room ceiling light, although all the ribs are glued up and waiting for me to spend a day on them with a hand plane. I've also gone through that heap of saobuchi ceiling trim and given it all a light sanding, then stained it with two colors to closely match the ceiling panels. Clear-coat on that stuff is next to move things along inside (when the weather is a bit more cooperative – lots of rain and high humidity lately).
The good news is that we're actually making some progress taking care of the garden, as that was pretty much neglected for the last couple of seasons while dealing with the bamboo containment project. The lovely bride's been doing an outstanding job of collecting leaves, and I've been trying to get our outdoor power equipment up to snuff for another year (the lawn mower needs a new throttle cable and control cable, which I have and need to install. The leaf vacuum/shredder thing hasn't run for years, and I've had to do a new pull starter, coil, and now a carburetor to see if I can save it). I also intend to get after a lot of pruning that needs to be done out back, as well as clean & re-stain the tsukimi-dai deck.
The Vanagon: I've finally managed to get the Vanagon into decent running condition after lots of tinkerin'. With the new Oxygen sensor installed, I was able to get the idle mixture adjusted to that happy place of 0.4VDC average output after lots of adjusting of the mixture set screw and idle speed setting, and that output is consistent at idle, 1,000RPM, 2,000RPM, and 3,000RPM (which means it's correct). I didn't need to fiddle with the wiper arms or spring tension in the air flow meter (which is sometimes required to keep the mixture correct at those higher RPMs), so I was also able to seal the AFM cover back into place as well. I also installed a new throttle cable, since the old one had lost the sealing boot at the engine end of the cable and that allowed water to get into the cable sleeve and cause issues in the Winter when it would freeze. I then finally replaced the idle control valve (which is supposed to "vibrate" when powered on, and did not), and that's now humming along as it should. I got a spare idle control unit from my mechanic, so I'll likely send that out for a rebuild to ensure it's working properly. When I took it for a quick test drive after finishing up in the engine compartment, I was presented with a lovely oil pressure warning light & alarm (the above-2,000RPM buzzer and blinky light warning, as opposed to the below-2,000RPM light only warning), so I limped it home at low revs and ordered more stuff to deal with that. After a new proper MANN W719/12 oil filter, five quarts of Castrol 20W50 high-mileage motor oil, and a replacement high-RPM oil pressure switch, there was no more oil pressure warning. More than likely it was caused by the improper fuel mixture setting (it had been running very rich, which can thin the oil significantly and cause that oil pressure warning – the engine already has a replacement GoWesty 30mm high-volume oil pump, so I'm confident is was just thinned oil that was the problem, and it hasn't re-occured after the oil change).
There's still plenty of projects I'd like to take care of on the Vanagon (the upgraded wiring and relays for the headlights, installation of the fog, driving, and auxiliary back-up lights, replacement of the bearings for the sliding door, addition of the third brake light, and more), and I also need to get it back to the shop for them to install the new clutch master and slave cylinders. For now, it's running and driving quite well, so I'm just enjoying the ability to run errands for supplies without issues while we try to get caught up on yard work.
The Site: Other than this rather lengthy status update, I didn't add anything to the rest of the site this time around. That is all.

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2025.04.02
The House: We've actually gotten one of our interior rooms finished! Well, it still needs some proper wardrobes for the cloths, but I consider that in the category of "furnishing" the space and am happy to call the "renovation work" for that room completed. We often find ourselves just walking to the closet doorway to look over the space, letting the fact sink in that something's actually done. Progress!
The Vanagon: As I was workin' on idle issues, I decided to replace the Oxygen sensor so got a new, Bosch 3-wire unit (as opposed to the single-wire things that need to be spliced to the existing harness, and rarely does the job correctly). I installed a complete stainless-steel exhaust system a few years ago, so I was hoping the thing would come out without too much difficulty. Wrong! I instantly rounded off the existing sensor while trying to un-screw it with a 22mm wrench, then tried vise-grips and it wouldn't budge. I ended up trying to break it loose with a hammer and sharp cold chisel, which resulted in just tearing the sensor's mounting flange off the side of the catalytic converter. So, after I dropped the cat with the muffler and tailpipe, I then chiseled out the old sensor at the bench. Joy. I took the cat to the shop and they re-welded the flange (so that saved a few hundred bucks for a new cat), and they even ran a tap through the threads of the old flange so the new sensor should go in fine. Just waiting now for the new cat and muffler exhaust gaskets, as well as new stainless-steel hardware to put everything back together, then we'll see if the new sensor allows me to properly adjust the idle mixture.
The Site: The Bedroom page of the Interior section got a few new paragraphs and photos to cover the Closet/Laundry Room Flooring Installation work for that space. That also led to the usual update for the search index, and a new entry to the Project Timeline.

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2025.03.03
The House: I'm pleased to report that the finished ceiling panel (tenjou-ita) installation work for the living room has been completed, and I've even managed to save a few 2-foot lengths of the ceiling panel stock to use for the attic hatch when the time comes to work on that thing. I also got together with my friend with the pick-up truck last weekend for a Home Depot run and then spent some shop time at his place. We got all the stock for the bedroom and living room ceiling trim (the saobuchi) milled to size, and that stock is now waiting for finish to get applied once the weather gets a little nicer. I then spent a few days taking care of the last few details for the living room ceiling work with the painting & installation of the recessed light trim rings and the in-ceiling speaker grills, and then installed the last interconnected smoke/CO detector between the bedroom and kitchen on the new living room ceiling. The final little "side project" for the living room ceiling is to make a new pendant light fixture for the space, which I started working on last week (but we replcaed the paper lamp shade with a better looking pendant fixture for now).
Next up is to get started on finished flooring installation in the closet/laundry room and bedroom (so I can get all those Ikea® boxes of bedroom furniture out of the living room and finish the GWB work in there). Unfortunately, Lumber Liquidators no longer sells the laminate flooring we originally selected (and already installed in our offices off the genkan), so a new search for flooring began in earnest a couple weeks ago (we figured out our flooring was no longer available back when the flooring underlayment work got started a couple years ago, so I've been doing a little browsing for new flooring for a while now). We ordered a few color samples of various Pergo® Outlast+ laminate flooring to get a better look at the stuff, and decided to go with their "Cocoa Walters Oak" 12mm stuff with attached underlayment. We picked up a few boxes when we got the ceiling trim stock, and I plan to order the remainder to do the rest of the house soon, since HD has free shipping on this fairly heavy material (oh – I also recommend if you plan on buying flooring from HD, certainly order a couple samples for $3 ea., as they come with a 10% off flooring coupon).
The Vanagon: I got the Vanagon Synchro cooling system and engine compartment work taken care over the last few weeks (when we weren't getting dumped on with snow and ice). It's running again, although I'm not thrilled about how it idles and haven't really been driving it much. I've done a little trouble shooting to try to eliminate what could be causing the problems (temp sensor II and air-flow meter are relatively new and tested properly), so I'll likely need to replace a couple pricey items to really make it right (like the idle speed control valve & control unit – which is made of unobtanium so that'll be a pain, and probably a new throttle body unit from GoWesty). As the weather continues to become more tolerable to work outside, I'll keep pickin' away it the thing.
The Site: Once again the Living Room page of the Interior section got a couple more paragraphs and photos added to the Finish Ceiling Panel Installation section to wrap up what went into that project, then I started a new section on the construction of the Main Ceiling Light that I'm working on now. I've also updated the search index, and the Project Timeline to include the most recent changes.

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2025.01.29
The House: While I've been pickin' at the work on the new Vanagon over the last couple weeks while waiting for parts to arrive (and finding more stuff to take care of, then waiting for more parts to arrive), I did finally manage to get back to doing some work on the house once again. I got the daikokubashira stained, and re-stained the tokobashira, then got a few coats of Minwax® Antique Oil Finish applied to both pillars. I also determined I needed to add a piece of trim to the bottom of the fusuma door header so the living room ceiling panels would have something to butt against to get them all aligned properly. With that I've been able to make some progress on the finished ceiling panel installation work for the living room, so things are moving along on interior renovation work once more.
The Vanagon: As far as the vehicle goes, as mentioned above, that work is still ongoing. I'm taking care of alot of little things in the engine compartment that I wasn't thrilled about – lots of clean-up, some wiring repairs, and then the cooling system fixes that started it all a few weeks ago. The last couple parts should be here this week, so it should be back on the road in early February.
The Site: The Living Room page of the Interior section got a couple new paragraphs and photos to address the Finish Ceiling Panel Installation work for that room (which I'll likely expand as the work continues). I've also added some more detailed information about what I'm doing to the new Vanagon Synchro within the Old Volkswagens section of the Et Cetera page. As usual, I've also updated the search index, and added new links for 2025 to the Project Timeline.

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2025.01.12
The Vanagon Status: Not really a site update (since this has nothing to do with the house)…
Did you know that most automobiles have basically four hoses for the cooling system? There's a couple big ones that go from the engine to the radiator and back again, then a couple small ones that go from the engine to the heater core (although one of the heater hoses has a heat control valve somewhere in its run, so I suppose it should be five hoses). The 2.1l VW Vanagon Synchro, on the other hand, has over 20 hoses for the cooling system, along with another six metal pipes, and a big 4-way junction block to feed another half-a-dozen hoses for supply and return to the front and rear heater systems. An "average" modern vehicle has a coolant capacity of between three and seven liters, while the 2.1l Vanagon holds 17.5 liters. So why am I blatherin' on about the Vanagon cooling system? On New Year's Eve we were on our way back from the local grocer when I noticed a lot of steam/smoke in the rear view mirror — that's gotta be a coolant leak. The store's less than 10 miles from the house, so I decided to try and make it home rather than pull over and wait for a tow. I did my best to keep the revs low and let it coast when I could, all the while keepin' a close eye on the temp. gauge. Not too hot, and no blinky red light (which starts up when the coolant reservoir is low) and we were more than half-way home. Slow & steady… now into our neighborhood… Temp's startin' to climb but still no blinky red light. Made the final turn onto our street and the light started, so I just turned it off and rolled down the hill then into our driveway.
So my chilly New Year's Day was spent takin' apart stuff in my engine compartment to get a look at the cooling hoses I haven't already replaced (all but three of the big hoses were replaced with $ilicone hoses from VanCafe, and the metal connector pipes were replaced with $tainless $teel units from GoWesty when the engine was in the old Vanagon). My suspicion was that something for the oil cooler had popped – either one of those four little hoses split, or one of the little connector pipes finally gave up. I removed the A/C compressor to see the lines below it, then poured in a gallon of water and connected a pressure tester to the system to pump it up and see where it was leaking. Despite the crusty lookin' steel oil cooler pipes, it was actually a tiny hole in the elbow of the "peace pipe" hose that was sprayin' water on to the cylinder head when pressurized. Luckily, VanCafe still had all their silicone hoses on sale for the holiday, so I ordered a new "peace pipe" hose and the set of four oil cooler hoses from them that afternoon. I also ordered one of the stainless steel oil cooler pipes from GoWesty (the other was out-of-stock at both GoWesty and VanCafe, but I found one at Van-Again so I can replace 'em both while I'm in there with the system drained). Now I just need to wait for everything to arrive, then it'll be time for fun with cooling system work… in the driveway in the middle of Winter. That is all.

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2024.12.23
The House: Yes, it's been a while since my last update, but there's been plenty to keep my busy while I made steady progress on the interior of the place. In my last update I had said the plan was to continue ceiling panel installation work for most of the living room, which meant I would need to take care of paint and plaster work around tokobashira and the upper tokonoma walls. That work was very slow but steady through most of September and October. At the same time, I also started work in October on an old chunk of tree trunk we've had for a few years to create a "central pillar", or daikokubashira, that also needed to be installed before living room ceiling work could get underway. Working on that thing was also a lengthy, slow process, but it's finally secured in position as of a couple days ago. That means we'll be able to get after the living room ceiling panels after the first of the year, which should get things moving along well on the interior renovation work once more.
The big news however (and a decent contributor to the delay in the interior work), is that I finally took possession of the '91 Vanagon Synchro in early November! The shop took care of all the transfer work to move my good condition, mechanical stuffs from the old Vanagon into the new one. Then they sandblasted a couple body seams that were showing some rust, and coated the entire undercarriage and blasted seams with P.O.R. 15 rust preventative treatment before sending it to the body shop next door to re-paint the seams and front door steps (which took a while for the body shop to get to, but they did an outstanding job). I completed the purchase and transferred my plates the first week of November, but then spent nearly the entire month going through the thing and removing the filth that had built up while it was parked with no motor for over 10 years. I also did a lot of tinkering to install my old mud flaps and front spoiler, replacing bits of missing trim, and working out some wiring issues as long as the weather was fairly mild through November and early December. I've done all I'm gonna do for now, and other improvements will need to wait for Spring weather. I must say, it sure is nice to have a vehicle again to run errands and collect building supplies!
The Site: Even though I didn't post it here on the News page, I did make a little update to the Bedroom page of the Interior section a few weeks ago with a bit more information and a few more photos for the Finish Ceiling Panel Installation work entry. I've also added a couple new entries to the Living Room page of the Interior section to discuss the Ceiling Installation Prep Work that I did on the upper tokonoma walls, as well as lots of stuff about the Daikokubashira Installation Work. For the new Vanagon Synchro, I re-wrote some of the entry about the Old '89 Vanagon Synchro, then added a couple new paragraphs and a photo of the New '91 Vanagon Syncrho in the Old Volkswagens section of Et Cetera page. Of course, that all justified an update the search index, and new links to everything for the last couple entries to the Project Timeline to wrap up 2024.

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2024.09.02
The House: Work continues in the bedroom, with almost all the new ceiling panels for that room installed. The FRP Adhesive I selected to hold the ceiling panels in place seems to have done the job, although it couldn't initially keep the panels up on its own — I ended up needing to get each panel in place, then immediately get one of my 3rd Hand supports under it while I went over the thing with a laminate roller. Once it had been rolled a bit, I could then add a few brads and it would stay put. Unfortunately, I also tweaked my lower back pretty well when using that roller, so progress on the last couple ceiling panels is now going very slowly. The good news is that the panels feel very solid after the adhesive cures overnight, but the bad news is that I'm going to need to fiddle with some wood putty for a while to make the extra brads I needed for each panel disappear. I also think we're going to go ahead and put up most of the ceiling panels for the living room while we're at it, and that'll just leave the a short panels for the perimeter uninstalled until the GWB work in there is done. I'll have to take care of the plaster work for the tokonoma walls first (so I don't get plaster and paint all over the ceiling panels), but that shouldn't be too bad.
The Site: Once again, the Bedroom page of the Interior section got another update, with a new entry regarding the Finish Ceiling Panel Installation work. That also got me to update the search index, and add a link for the new section to the Project Timeline, as usual.

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2024.08.24
The House: Things are moving along pretty well now with regard to progress on the remainder of the bedroom renovation work. The last couple weeks have been spent working on one of the oddest little carpentry projects I've undertaken yet (as if creating 18-foot long "shims" to level the ceilings, then framing a raised attic floor to add 16-inches of insulation weren't strange enough). Now I've been doing a fair amount of rather finicky carpentry work on the attic hatch opening to make the perimeter square and all the inside walls plumb. With that little project completed, I also managed to get the second coat of clear on all the finished ceiling stock for both the bedroom and living room ceilings. The next project will be to install the bedroom ceiling panels, which I'm planning to do with some Titebond® "Fast Grab" FRP Adhesive. Ideally I can just spread the stuff on the panels then stick 'em to the ceiling "underlayment" and hit 'em with a roller, but I suspect they're gonna need a few brads to actually keep them in place. We'll see…
No news on the replacement Vanagon Synchro yet, but I've got enough stuff to do before I need to fetch the last few sheets of GWB for the living room so I'll remain patient.
The Site: As usual lately, the Bedroom page of the Interior section got another update, with a new section detailing the Finish Carpentry for the Attic Access Opening and a load of photos for that project. I also finally figured out where I want to have the section regarding making the plans for the attic access hatch (which I wrote back in January and stuck on the Living Room page at that time), by adding that to the Bedroom page just before this latest addition. Naturally I've also updated the search index update, and added the new stuff to the Project Timeline as well. That is all.

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2024.08.04
The House: As I mentioned in the last update, I was hoping to get all the bedroom joint compound work done to allow me to get the room painted by the end of July. I'm pleased to report that I managed to get the final coat of tinted glaze on the South and West bedroom walls yesterday, so paint work in there is complete! I've also been putting some time in each day to get all the ceiling panel stock sanded, stained, and top-coated with the first coat of semi-gloss clear. I'm thinkin' I'll give all that stuff a light sanding with some 320-grit while it's all out in the shop, then bring it inside for the second application of clear coat. Now that the bedroom paint work is done, I can stack all the ceiling panels in there as I get the final coat of poly applied to make it ready for installation.
I'm also planning to get the rest of the wallpaper up on the bedroom/closet partition walls next week, then I'll need to take care of some carpentry tweaks to the attic hatch opening to square it up before I can start the final ceiling work. Once that's done I'll then need to dig through the piles of wood in the shop to see if I've got enough material to get the bedroom trim work underway. Plenty of stuff to do!
The Site: The Bedroom page within the Interior section got a couple new entries and a handful of progress photos for the Bedroom GWB & Plaster Work and Bedroom Paint & Wallpaper (although I intend to add more photos once I've taken care of the wallpaper work). I also discussed the process for getting all the bedroom and living room ceiling panels ready for installation in a new section on the Living Room page regarding Finished Ceiling Prep Work. This new stuff warranted a search index update, and the usual matching entires have been added to the Project Timeline. Enjoy!

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2024.07.20
The House: With the walk-in closet/laundry room mostly finished, the next step to make progress on the interior was to move all of the tool & supplies bins and the stack of Ikea® bedroom furniture boxes in to the living room to leave the bedroom clear for wall work. I then got all the gypsum wall board for the bedroom and tokonoma walls installed, and started taking care of plastering everything to ready the bedroom for finish work. The work order is to get the plaster work done on the bedroom side of the closet and bathroom walls, then get those walls primed for wallpaper (which will allow me to get the last of the wallpaper up in the closet/laundry room, as some of it will wrap around onto the bedroom side of the closet walls). Before I can get the last of the wallpaper up however, I need to finish the bedroom perimeter walls with textured plaster, paint, and glaze, which is what I'm working on now.
This workflow has been slightly delayed for a couple of reasons: The first was that I received two summons for jury duty this Summer! The first was for the Massachusetts Superior Courthouse up in Lawrence, MA in the middle of June, then I received a second summons for the U.S. District Court for the District of Massachusetts in Boston, which is an on-call summons that runs for three weeks starting on July 7th. Joy. After spending most of a day waiting at the Lawrence courthouse, those of us that were left were let go by mid-afternoon after they had selected enough jurors and alternates to proceed with the trial the next day. Even though I had fulfilled my service for the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, that doesn't qualify one to be excused from the U.S. District Court summons unless one is impaneled and serves for five or more days. That meant I had to call the district court office each Friday to determine if I was required to report the following Monday for service. I didn't have to report for the 7th, but when I called on the 12th I was told to show up at 8 a.m. on the 15th (and getting to the courthouse in Boston would require leaving before 6 a.m. to catch a commuter rail in to Boston, then a subway, and then a bus - not fun). Thankfully, I received a call from the district court office on Saturday telling me that the case was no longer going to proceed, and that my U.S. District Court jury service had now been fulfilled. Phew!
The other delay/diversion from wall work was that I got a call from my friend with the pick-up truck to say he was going to be around for a couple days while the rest of his family extended their stay with relatives in the midwest, so he thought it might be a good time to get all the 1/4" plywood for the ceiling, and run everything through his table saw while his kids weren't around. A couple days later I had a stack of 13 sheets of 1/4" plywood that had all been cut into 16-inch wide strips and proper lengths for all the finish ceiling work for the bedroom and living room. With all that stock available, I could adjust my interior workflow a little to really make some good progress for the bedroom and living room. Once the bedroom wall paint and wallpaper work is done, the new plan is to then install the finish ceiling in that space, which will then allow me to install the finish flooring for the closet/laundry room and the bedroom. That will allow me to then install the remaining trim for the closet, and all the trim for the bedroom - which means I'll finally be able to assemble and place all the Ikea® furniture and stop moving those damn boxes all the time!
So, I now spend time each day getting stain and clear coat applied to a few of the ceiling panels (I can't do them all at once, as there simply isn't anywhere to work on more than a couple at a time inside the house, and it's way to hot and humid to do finish application to this stuff out side). Then I spend a little time sanding and plastering the bedroom walls to get those ready for paint. Things are moving along slowly but steadily, and I expect to start wall paint work before the end of the month. All good progress.
The Site: Other than this rather lengthy status update, the only real change to the site this time around was to create a new News Archive page to get all the 2023 News Updates off this Welcome page. That is all for now.

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2024.06.30
The House: It's been a busy couple of months getting most of the work done for the walk-in closet/laundry room. It started with a visit from the building inspector to ensure the new bearing wall between the closet and bedroom is correct (it is). Next, all the wallboard was installed, and it also got the full "textured plaster" treatment on the ceiling and the two perimeter walls. Everything was then primed and painted, using my glazing method to bring out the plaster work (and finding glaze was no picnic, apparently faux finishes for interior walls are no longer in style). The partition walls between the closet, bathroom, and bathroom also got their grasscloth wallpaper applied, then I milled up all the trim and got that finished and installed. All this stuff allowed me to finally get the washer & dryer put into their "final" position, then get the wall cabinets installed on the wall with the laundry equipment. The only thing left for that room now is to put down the new flooring and install the baseboard trim – although that work will have to wait until the wallboard work is done for the rest of the bedroom, and likely for the finished ceiling to get done in there too.
The latest on the replacement VW Vanagon is that it's pretty much done. We need to take the Cabriolet in for some brake work next week, and we'll get the Vanagon as a "loaner vehicle" for a few days while the brake work gets taken care of. The only thing left for the Vanagon at this point is to give the undercarriage a coat of P.O.R. 15, then hit it all with some undercoating. It'll be interesting to see if I remember how to drive a Vanagon – it's been a few years!
The Site: All the latest work for the closet/laundry room has been added to a couple of new sections in the Bedroom page within the Interior section. The wallboard work is briefly described in the section on Gypsum Wall Board, then I added lots of description and photos of the Wall & Ceiling Finish Work, followed by another section regarding the Trim & Cabinet Installation. Of course, I've also updated the Project Timeline and the search index.

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2024.04.29
The House: Yeah - it's been a while without an update. We both went through a long cold/flu for most of February and March, although multiple tests showed it wasn't COVID, so that's good I suppose. I did manage to get all the stuff organized and stored in the attic to get the closet/laundry room all cleaned out, and also started putting up the Gypsum WallBoard (GWB) for the rest of that room. I used up the last of the fiberglass-faced, moisture proof stuff I had available on the wall between the bathroom and laundry room (and no one seems to sell it around here anymore), then the rest of the room got regular lightweight GWB. I'll need to get the local building inspector to stop by for a look at the new wall and header between the bedroom and closet/laundry room, then I can get the rest of that wall covered with new GWB and get busy on the wall and ceiling finishes for the closet/laundry room.
I've had no update on the replacement VW Vanagon for many weeks, although I'm sure it's still moving along well enough. I did deliver the title for the old vehicle in early February (so they could scrap it), and also put down a decent deposit to help with the cost of parts for the replacement. Because I still have no vehicle, I'll likely be heading off to Home Depot this week with my friend with the pick-up truck to grab a dozen sheets of GWB and bucket of mud so I can start getting GWB up in the bedroom too. Hard to believe I'm finally covering those plastic-covered, stud walls after all these years. Progress!
The Site: This update is only to say I'm still here and (now that I'm no longer sick) still making progress on projects. I've grabbed a few photos of the GWB work, although it's not very interesting stuff (and possibly my least favorite task — I thoroughly enjoy doing plaster work, but I really dislike the mess of cutting and hanging GWB). I should have an update together fairly soon that shows the progress on the GWB work for the closet/laundry room, but this'll do for now.

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2024.01.22
The House: We're still mostly working on organizing all our stuff into properly label storage bins and making good progress on that project. All the stuff from the old "hardware store" closet/laundry room (that isn't bothered by freezing) has been moved to the attic. We also loaded eight bins with books and family photos from bookshelves we cleaned off recently and got all that stored up there too. I'm still working on the last of the wall insulation work in the closet/laundry room, and also started going over the existing vapor barrier for the living room and bedroom exterior walls to ensure it's all well sealed before starting wallboard work. While going through the "hardware store" bins I found I had a little extra CL-2 speaker wire and a few keystone wall plates, so I decided to also add some more audio wiring to the living room wall before the plaster work begins. This gives us the ability to add front, in-wall speakers someday if we ever decide to get rid of our bulky, free standing floor speakers.
I also got an update on the replacement VW Vanagon, with news that the engine swap is finished and they're now working through the rest of the vehicle to bring over all the little goodies from the old vehicle before it goes away.
The Site: This is a fairly small update, with a little new text on the Energy Efficiency page within the Mechanical section regarding the wrap of the work to Insulate the Exterior Walls, as well as some information on the Wiring page about the Front In-wall Speakers prep work I took care of before sealing up the front wall vapor barrier. I think the most significant progress was to get some decisions made regarding the attic hatch while Working Out the Attic Access through a new set of plans, with information available in a new section on the Living Room page within the Interior section of the site (although that entry has since been moved to the Bedroom page). There's a link to the PDF for the plans on the Specifications page and Project Timeline as well. I've also updated the search index, which will take care of this update.

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2024.01.11
The House: The attic insulation work is finished, so the work in the attic is done after nearly two decades! The only thing left up there is to get the new entry hatch built, which I'm starting to plan now. We're also working on "round 2" of organizing all our stuff into properly label storage bins (which we took our first stab at back in July) so all that stuff can go back into the attic and clear out the place to get started on gypsum wall board (GWB) installation. I'm also taking care of the last of the wall insulation work in the closet/laundry room to get that space ready for GWB as well.
No news on the replacement VW Vanagon yet, but I expect to have a progress report for that project soon.
The Site: The final attic insulation work information has been added to the Energy Efficiency page within the Mechanical section, with a new section of text and photos for the Last of the Attic Insulation installation over the kitchen and living room perimeter. I also added a couple new titles from Lost Art Presslink opens a new windowto the Specifications page that Santa left for me under the Christmas tree this year. This new stuff has been added to the Project Timeline as usual, along with an updated search index.

For past chronological updates, please see the following pages:
     2008 News Archives.
     2009 News Archives.
     2010 News Archives.
     2011 News Archives.
     2012 News Archives.
     2013 News Archives.
     2014 News Archives.
     2015 News Archives.
     2016 News Archives.
     2017 News Archives.
     2018-21 News Archives.
     2022 News Archives.
     2023 News Archives.

Using the Site

Visitors should check this page to determine the most recent updates, or browse the sections listed in the navigation menu on the left. I'll try to always have a picture of the most recent project or the house itself on this page too.

Navigating the Site
The navigation menu will expand when you hover your curser over an item with a down arrow (↓) in the name. The section you are currently visiting will display in a different color than the rest of the menu so you hopefully won't get lost. There's an up arrow (↑) near the bottom of each page that will return you to the top of the page when clicked. Links in the body text will display in a different color than the rest of the text. All internal links (links in the body text or nav menu sections) will replace the contents of your browser's current window with the target's content when clicked, so you may navigate using the 'forward' or 'back' controls of your browser. External links (links to other sites) are in the footer and will open in a new browser window (or tab) when clicked. If an external link is placed in the body of the page, it will be indicated with an icon: link opens a new window.

Receiving Updates
If you click the RSS feed icon ( news icon ) in the News section above, your browser will open the news feed page that I usually update whenever I update the site. In order to have it display in your browser, it simply runs a little code to allow it to show up, but no longer provides a means of subscribing to the feed. In order to automatically receive updates, you'll need to use a dedicated RSS News Reader application (or browser "add-on"), then copy & paste in the address of our feed: http://kesterhouse.com/rss/kesterhouse.xml into that reader. If Google Chrome and Microsoft Edge get their "Collections" and "Follow" stuff worked out, perhaps I can get rid of the code and go back to just loading the XML in the browser.

Searching the Site
When you click the 'SEARCH' item in the nav menu you'll be presented with a search box to enter the keyword(s) you'd like to find. Hit your 'enter' key or click the little magnifying glass and your browser will load the search results page with your search terms highlighted. When you navigate to a page from the link provided in the search results, the search terms will also highlight in the new page to make them easier to find.

'Lightbox' Image Viewing
When you click on a photo it will enlarge in the browser window and the background around the image will darken to allow better viewing of the image. If there are additional photos on the particular subject, you will find controls to view those additional photos below the bottom-right corner of the image. You may also hover your curser over the image to use the Next and Previous buttons when there's more than one photo in the group you're viewing, or view the set as a slide show by using the Play and Pause buttons below the image. To open an individual photo in a new window (in case you wish to bookmark the image, or copy it for appropriate use), click the small Expand icon in the top-right corner of the photo. To return to the normal page view, click the small X below the image, or click anywhere on the background around the photo.

The Footer
The footer contains a link to send us an e-mail if you'd like to make a comment or suggestion. It also contains external links (they all open in a new window) to other sites I enjoy.

Creating the Site & Compatibility
I've created the site entirely with a text editor, since I'm still a member of the 'old-fart school' of web design. I'm using a lot of Cascading Style Sheet design controls, as well as a fair amount of Javascript to make the page do what I want it to do - some written by me, but mostly I'm using the wonderful jQuery library with plug-ins I've found here and there. If you've got Javascript disabled in your browser, the site should degrade gracefully and remain functional, although it's not going to look very nice.

I check the site occasionally for functionality with a smart phone or tablet, although I generally write everything in anticipation of having it read on a laptop or workstation. I have the latest versions of most Windows 10 browsers installed and have verified the pages display correctly with those. As stated above, Microsoft Edge is currently having issues with RSS feeds as they implement some new news reader features, so I'll tweak the XML as needed when and if they get it all worked out.

What's in the Sections

Here's a description of what's included in the sections - some are more complete than others but it's all getting there.

 

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