One Sixty: Trogdor - the old oil burninator

Trogdor - the old oil burninator

Have I told you all the story of our old oil tank? Well, if not, we turn it into a firepit with a hinged lid and handle. (We just put the hinges and the handle on last night, which made me think of it.)

Anyway, we decided to name it Trogdor, since the old feet kinda look like eyes and the opening kinda looks like a mouth. I have to say, it's pretty cool. All it needs is some paint.

4 comments:

Jamaila said...: Ooooh! Pictures? Did you need to clean it out or anything? We have an old oil tank sitting menacingly under our front porch from when they re-did the radiators lo these many years ago. We were planning on just pitching it in whatever semilegal way possible, but how fun would it be to turn it into a firepit? Do the marshmallows come out oil-flavored?; 6:59 PM
Anonymous said...: was teh tank inside your house? What did you use to cut the thing in half?; 9:08 PM
kitrainia said...: We cut the tank in half with a Sazzall - it really does saw all - with some metal cutting blades. There was a lot of sludge at the bottom of the thing - all that yucky stuff in the oil that floats down and ends up gross at the bottom. We cut a gallon milk jug into a scoop to get all that grossness out. Unfortunately it's still sitting in buckets in the garage because it's hard to dispose of. The final cleaning step is, unfortunately, just to burn out the remaining oil - and that is a big huge smelly fire. So, if you don't have nice neighbors, I wouldn't recommend it. This is the step we're at - we lit it for a while, but then extinguished the huge flames just to keep it under control. We're going to add some wood to it to try and get a cleaner burn. After than, marshmallow city baby! If the mashmallows taste funny - I'd recommend continuing to burn before eating more.; 10:30 AM
Allison said...: That's awesome!! We have one in a little room under the front porch in the basement. I want to saw a big hole in it and build a wine rack in it - like our very own wine cellar.
takoma-bark.com; 1:59 PM

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Blog Story

My now husband Mike and I purchased this quaint home back in spring of 2004 - our first home - and, being the handy folks we are, expected to have the entire thing renovated in about a year or so.

And here we still are... renovating away.

This house needed a complete overhaul. Its plaster walls were uninsulated, its attic floor covered in 2" of bat guano, its basement - dirt and snakes, its exterior - asbestos siding, and lead paint windows in every room. The electric had not been updated and light sockets hung bare from the ceiling. Plumbing featured cast iron radiators - and only one for the entire upstairs.

We began by gutting almost the entire house from top to bottom. (sans bathroom - we needed to pee) We rebuilt the entire upstairs, with a new floor (not new carpet or wood - the once unstable framing underneath) and turned 3 small rooms into two. We reinvented the downstairs by turning a closet into a hallway and eliminating interior exterior windows and doors from old half-assed additions.

New insulation, windows, electrical wiring (including phone and CAT-5 internet), plumbing and baseboards, and drywall were all added.

We purchased kitchen cabinets from a yard sale. (None existed previously.) Our families helped us replace and purchase new appliances including the once also missing washer & dryer.

Then we had the entire house lifted - straight into the air - dug out the dirt, and had a real basement foundation poured. We updated our oil tank and burner and created heating zones.

Outside, we took down trees and planted grass. We dug out an awkward hill to create a 2nd part to the driveway and used the rocks our house once sat on as a retaining wall. We electrified and repainted the garage.

And of course, we spent many an hour on finish work like paint, trim, closet doors, lighting fixtures, hardwood floors, curtain rods, dimmer switches, and many other things everyone else takes for granted. We are still working to complete all this final finishing, but happy to report that we are FINALLY nearing completion of all little things in all rooms!

In 2008 we began overhauling the exterior by creating a new french door entryway and building a farmer's porch and garage addition. We replaced our roof and then stripped off our siding and replaced with new clapboards. We then planted two new flowering trees and a maple in the front yard - our first major landscape purchases. I'm happy to report that here in 2011, the porch is nearing completion and the back yard is on the road to recovery with some new loam and grass. More plantings soon to come!

In 2012 we plan to attack the last MAJOR (emphasis on major) job in the house - the dreaded BATHROOM! We plan to first add a second bathroom in the basement. Then, demolish our current bathroom and rebuild it, adding a second bathroom on top for the upstairs.

And that pretty much brings you up to date. The battle continues day to day as we try and complete everything.