Downstairs transformation: @#$#%&* firewood

On July 28, 2008, when structural repairs to our home began, I wrote:

As I requested, the team saved the pine tree that had helped hold up the house—it had been set directly in the dirt and surrounded by concrete. Matt calls the reclaimed lumber “@#$#%&* firewood.” He is not the only one swearing: I pledge to somehow use this pole in the renovation! (Hmmm… I wonder how…)

It wasn’t the first time a group of men had looked at me as though I was crazy, but figured they wouldn’t experience my full crazy potential by simply doing as asked. In fact, I made them save every one of the five poles they replaced with structurally sound lally columns.

The largest of the pine poles supporting the house, as seen
on May 7, 2002. We had attempted to make this area an
office for me, but it was too cold, dreary and damp.

The same pole in March 2006, after Matt
and I had demolition well underway.

A view from the utility room into the downstairs area.
Note the concrete-filled steel lally columns
replacing the end-rotted pine poles.

And so, the poles waited in the shed
(with the largest on the kayak stand)
from 2006-2010 for their moment to be
reunited with the home they once supported.

In the meantime, Steve Wasko's team (hired in May 2008)
made structural improvements to the house,
including installing these two lally columns, which I
painted silver. A crew then insulated the downstairs;
in December 2008, a worker installed drywall.

Matt and I then painted, had railings
installed, tiled and finished the stairs.

In July 2009, Matt installed our Blomus wall-hung
stainless steel fireplace, which uses clean-burning
ethanol fuel. By December, we were making good use
of the room, thanks to our Nintendo Wii Sports Resort.
Last night, eight of us held a bowling tournament.

At last, it was time to do something with the “@#$#%&* firewood.”

We set up the circular saw on April 3 and started
cutting the poles into inch-thick rounds. Each cut
required flipping the log to get the blade all the way through.

Concerned we didn’t have enough rounds,
we headed into the utility room to pull out
the last remaining wood pole. It was
incredibly easy, given that a multitude
of genuine lally columns now supported the
weight of the house once supported by the pole.

Score: It was cedar, a nice accent to the pine poles. So, we cut
it up, too, which took the rest of the day. Neighbors on both
sides of our house wondered what the heck we were up to.

The next day, I rough-sanded each round,
knocked out dead worms and pulled out
spider eggs (and in some cases, live spiders).
To bring out their character, I coated the best
side of each of the 310 rounds with Universal Sealer.

The worm holes, cracks and rings popped.
This took several sessions of effort starting
on April 10, not just because of exhaustion
but due to the lack of room to spread out the
rounds so they could dry while re-acclimating
to their indoor environment.

We did actually use the scrap pieces for “@#$#%&*
firewood” in our upstairs fireplace
on several chilly spring days (including today).

While I slept in until 7 a.m. on April 24, Matt made the
curved wall charcoal with leftover paint from a closet
project of years ago. The next day, we undertook installation
and realized we had enough rounds to fill the entire wall.

The project required eight or so tubes of Loctite PowerGrab.

Our time-sensitive goal was to complete the wall by May 8 to add a cozy touch to the hotel suite for Jennifer’s visit from Minnesota. The design goal was to preserve some of the home’s original history in an interesting way.