The Crossroads of Liberal Arts and Technology

Old Homes and Lead Paint

House SideIt’s been a hellish week here in Portland. The home we bought is very old and had ugly siding when we bought it. One of the first things we knew we wanted to do was remove the siding and repaint. Everyone told us this would be a fairly easy project; No problem. What nobody figured out was that because the house is very old there was a very good chance the paint underneath the siding would be lead based. Being lead based, removal of this paint could be difficult and very expensive.

This is exactly what has happened. Lots of lead based paint and it’s in terrible condition. Once we ripped off the siding though we were stuck going through with stripping of the paint. We could have put on more siding but nobody does that and it really defeats the whole purpose.

So here we are handing over a check for way more than I ever expected to pay to restore the outside of the house and they are taking open flame blow torches to it. I have since learned there are several ways to strip lead paint from a house, none of them wonderful or neat. The blow torch heats up the paint until it bubbles at which point it is easy to scrape off. If you heat the paint too hot however lead paint fumes are released. Not a good thing at all. For this and other reasons it’s illegal to use a blow torch to remove lead paint in Oregon. Our company insisted what they were doing was perfectly safe. They were wrong and as we found out later they were also in violation of a number of other legal requirements form removing lead paint. Not only that but the company itself was working without a proper license as it had been revoked. Now we are stuck with a house one third stripped and looking again for a company we can trust.

Action Dads PDX

After much delay, I have finally launched Action Dads PDX. This is a website and blog about and for highly involved dads in the Portland Oregon area. Rather than a generic daddy blog like so many others are doing, Action Dads PDX is hyper-local, focused on being a dad in Portland specifically. I also want to make the site a resource with great ideas and listings for great parks, cool places to eat, and road trips, all for a dad to experience with the kids. I’ll be looking for and needing plenty of input from the community, so please don’t be shy to drop by the site and add your ideas, knowledge and experience.

Introducing: New Guy In Town

Finally the question can be answered, what will become of Some Dude From California?

I proudly announce my new project, New Guy In Town.

Moving to and adjusting to Portland is going to entail lots of new discoveries and adventures and I want to invite you all along for the ride. This will be both a blog and a podcast following my first year in Portland. All the new places I discover; places to eat, play and see. I’ll share it all. It’s my take on Portland from a newcomers and ex-California perspective.

Come along as I introduce you in text, sound and pictures to my new home town, Portland OR.

On the web at http://www.newguypdx.com

Hello Portland!

Hello glorious Portland, we are home at last. We did finally make it to Portland and what a long strange trip it has been. The movers broke plenty of stuff and misplaced 16 of our boxes along with several chairs. Also, I have two boxes that were meant for someone else moving to Seattle.

Other than that, it’s been an adventure a minute. Our furniture, which was bought when we had a very large house, doesn’t fit the same in this smaller house. I knew we were going to face this kind of a problem but it’s another thing to see it first hand. The headboard for our bed still isn’t in our room because it’s too large to get up the stairs. Now we are having to literally saw it apart and then put it back together once it’s in the room. We love that bed and we’re not going to spend more money buying a new one, so whatever it takes, that bed is going in.

After the first week we all got killer colds. Maybe part stress and all the effort of unpacking, but Lisa, Virginia and I were all laid out. Only Capella came through without a scratch. Now we are finally healthy again and are making decent progress bringing the house together. It’s feels a lot less like a disaster area and more like an actual comfortable home.

In the middle of all this, through in a heat wave of 93 degree plus temperatures. I expected many things in Portland but never heat like this. The house has no air conditioning and has been brutal, especially at night when trying to get to sleep. Of course, the worst room is the kids room.

In general, I love being here though. Portland is just great. Our neighbors have been very nice and welcoming. Plenty of great, fun places to eat and a nice mellow vibe. Lots and lots of bikes, per the legend. One of the things I like most about this house, every window I look out of I see green.