Friday, May 24, 2013
UPDATED PLANS
I recently discovered that I had never posted updated elevation views of the house. So, here 'ya go....
Thursday, May 23, 2013
MEANWHILE, BACK AT THE RANCH....
Due to complaints from several dedicated readers, I am forced to post something even though there hasn't really been much going on. Over the past couple of days, Barb has been staining the cedar timbers that make up the front porch structure. That is, when she is not swatting at carpenter bees.
These guys have taken a liking to our beadboard porch ceiling. Fortunately, they are not overly aggressive and I believe Barb has achieved "Ace" status with 4 kills. However, the holes they leave in the beadboard are a bit unsightly. I've read that varnish may provide some protection so may have to put a coat on the ceiling. In the meantime, Barb just dabbed some stain in the holes to make them less obvious.
BEFORE
AFTER
On Sunday, we finally ordered our flooring. I believe I reported earlier that we should have done so weeks ago. At the time we placed the order, Lowes told us the lead time was about 1 to 2 weeks. Well this morning when I called to get a firm date they said the product is on backorder and it would be the first week of August (#$@**&^%). Unacceptable! So we needed to choose a different one. This afternoon we went back to Lowes and found an acceptable substitute that is priced about 30% higher. I told the flooring salesperson that he would need to do something on the price and he didn't hesitate and said they would make the substitution at the lower price. And it is in stock at the warehouse.
I've finished all the trim around the windows except for a few pieces of quarter round that I ran short on. Since then I have been working on odds-and-ends that I have been putting off....installing seal around the garage door.....cleaning a birds nest out of one of the exhaust vents (I knew I should have gotten that vent cover on sooner)......adding jamb extensions on a couple of doors.....etc.
When we were at Lowes in Trotwood a few days back, we noticed a store where the HH Gregg used to be. I convinced Barb we should check it out. The place looked like a dump from the outside but I reminded Barb you just never know what you might find. The place looked like a dump inside as well. They essentially stock a lot of....junk! But, they also have a lot of castoffs from Home Depot. Apparently they take a lot of the stuff that customers returned, closeouts, damaged goods, discontinued products...you get the idea. My hunch served me well. They had several skids full of Closetmaid items which is just what I need to outfit our walk-in closet. For about $430 I got stuff that was retailing at Home Depot for about $1,350.
CLOSETMAID STUFF
FINISHED PRODUCT (?)
Met with a tile contractor today to discuss the tilework for the master bath shower. Hopefully we can get him started soon although he is not on the critical path. Brad the electrician was out today and connected some more wires so a lot of the light switches are now functional even though there are just bare light bulbs hanging from the ceiling. But, hey, it's light just the same!
Sunday, May 5, 2013
MORE WINDOW TRIM
Juat finished up one wall of the windows in the sunroom this afternoon. The span on the header and apron pieces is almost 14 feet. This was a tuneup for the north wall which has 5 windows and spans almost 18 feet!
Thursday, May 2, 2013
WELCOME BACK!
I'm hoping that my negligence in posting hasn't caused all of you to look elsewhere for entertainment. I'm a bit embarrassed that it has been over three weeks since my last entry. Apparently, this prompted Dave and Irene Stonebraker to stop by the house yesterday so that could get updated firsthand on the status.
The most significant accomplishment over the past couple of weeks was completion of the screened porch. Barb and I tackled this project which involved installing the rail system for the screen (http://www.screeneze.com/), installing the screen itself and putting up the porch railing. The ScreenEze is a pretty nifty system although there was a bit of a learning curve. After having no screen in place for so many weeks, it was difficult getting used to the limits imposed by the screen once it was in place. I learned a hard lesson when I swung a section of railing and made a gaping hole in a section of screen that we had just finished installing. *&%^$## Fortunately, I had some extra material as it is only sold in 100 ft. rolls. I actually have enough left over to replace two more sections in the event of any future mishaps. I've heard stories of large birds coming through the screen so I guess that is another potential risk.
The screen material is called Bettervue and is sold as being somewhat "invisible" but at the expense of durability. It lives up to its billing as it almost appears that there is no screen in place. If this doesn't work out, then we'll replace with another mesh called Supercsreen which is guaranteed for 10 years and is much stronger than the Bettervue. Of course, it impairs the view so I hope we don't have to go that route.
Although the photos don't show it, we also installed a 60" ceiling fan at the peak. If you are wondering about the strange appearance of the floor, it's because some of the boards are still covered with a protective clear plastic which is how they were shipped. I decided to leave it in place (where it had not already peeled off) for additional protection until we move in.
The railing is aluminum and was fairly simple to install. One of the main reasons I chose the brand (Redi-Rail by AFCO) I used is because it's one of the few that comes in sections as long as 10'. This eliminated the need to add posts between the main support columns.
A couple of days ago, I started working on the trimwork around the windows. I am planning to set all the doors after the flooring is installed and since we are still choosing the flooring I can't get started on the doors just yet.
The nice thing about the design of the trim is that there are NO miters which in my opinion is the toughest part of trimwork. If the trim is going to be painted, caulk and paint can hide a lot of imperfections. But, with stained woodwork, you can't fall back on that. On the other hand, the drawback to the design above is that the header piece, the apron and all three bullnoses (in other words, all five of the horizontal pieces) have returns on the ends. I could have just cut these ends square and then sanded and stained them but the final product would not look nearly as nice as returns.
All the trim is poplar and we are thrilled with the appearance. We don't really care for oak and cherry is too pricey so the poplar turned out to be a good choice. Although it can be a challenge for a novice to get good results staining poplar, the guy that handled our staining (windows, doors and trim) did a fantastic job.
The radial arm saw that I purchased at an auction a couple of months ago has been invaluable for cutting accurate return pieces. My old trusty table saw would not have worked so well for this. I also purchased a Ryobi finish nailer and a brad nailer, both pneumatic, and I can't imagine doing this job without those tools as well. Unless you pound nails for a living, it's only a matter of time before you miss a nail and put a big "hicky" on the face of the trim. With power nailers, that problem is pretty much eliminated.
Cabinets are due to be delivered in a couple of weeks so the pressure is on to get the flooring installed. Will probably have the flooring supplier handle the installation but first we need to decide on what we want.
I'll try to post again before too much time goes by....just hang with me folks!
The most significant accomplishment over the past couple of weeks was completion of the screened porch. Barb and I tackled this project which involved installing the rail system for the screen (http://www.screeneze.com/), installing the screen itself and putting up the porch railing. The ScreenEze is a pretty nifty system although there was a bit of a learning curve. After having no screen in place for so many weeks, it was difficult getting used to the limits imposed by the screen once it was in place. I learned a hard lesson when I swung a section of railing and made a gaping hole in a section of screen that we had just finished installing. *&%^$## Fortunately, I had some extra material as it is only sold in 100 ft. rolls. I actually have enough left over to replace two more sections in the event of any future mishaps. I've heard stories of large birds coming through the screen so I guess that is another potential risk.
The screen material is called Bettervue and is sold as being somewhat "invisible" but at the expense of durability. It lives up to its billing as it almost appears that there is no screen in place. If this doesn't work out, then we'll replace with another mesh called Supercsreen which is guaranteed for 10 years and is much stronger than the Bettervue. Of course, it impairs the view so I hope we don't have to go that route.
Although the photos don't show it, we also installed a 60" ceiling fan at the peak. If you are wondering about the strange appearance of the floor, it's because some of the boards are still covered with a protective clear plastic which is how they were shipped. I decided to leave it in place (where it had not already peeled off) for additional protection until we move in.
The railing is aluminum and was fairly simple to install. One of the main reasons I chose the brand (Redi-Rail by AFCO) I used is because it's one of the few that comes in sections as long as 10'. This eliminated the need to add posts between the main support columns.
A couple of days ago, I started working on the trimwork around the windows. I am planning to set all the doors after the flooring is installed and since we are still choosing the flooring I can't get started on the doors just yet.
THE HEADBOARD OF OUR BED WILL BE
CENTERED UNDER THIS WINDOW
WINDOW OVER THE STAIR
LANDING DOWN TO THE LOWER LEVEL
The nice thing about the design of the trim is that there are NO miters which in my opinion is the toughest part of trimwork. If the trim is going to be painted, caulk and paint can hide a lot of imperfections. But, with stained woodwork, you can't fall back on that. On the other hand, the drawback to the design above is that the header piece, the apron and all three bullnoses (in other words, all five of the horizontal pieces) have returns on the ends. I could have just cut these ends square and then sanded and stained them but the final product would not look nearly as nice as returns.
All the trim is poplar and we are thrilled with the appearance. We don't really care for oak and cherry is too pricey so the poplar turned out to be a good choice. Although it can be a challenge for a novice to get good results staining poplar, the guy that handled our staining (windows, doors and trim) did a fantastic job.
The radial arm saw that I purchased at an auction a couple of months ago has been invaluable for cutting accurate return pieces. My old trusty table saw would not have worked so well for this. I also purchased a Ryobi finish nailer and a brad nailer, both pneumatic, and I can't imagine doing this job without those tools as well. Unless you pound nails for a living, it's only a matter of time before you miss a nail and put a big "hicky" on the face of the trim. With power nailers, that problem is pretty much eliminated.
Cabinets are due to be delivered in a couple of weeks so the pressure is on to get the flooring installed. Will probably have the flooring supplier handle the installation but first we need to decide on what we want.
I'll try to post again before too much time goes by....just hang with me folks!
Wednesday, April 10, 2013
HONEYSUCKLE, BEAVERS, BATS and SPIDERS
OK, I admit that the heading seems to be all about flora and fauna but it will all make sense in the end.
We spent 2 or 3 afternoons over the past couple of weeks clearing honeysuckle from the hillside leading down to the river. If any of you have had any experience with honeysuckle, you know how prolific it can be. I refer to it as Buckeye Kudzu.
Unless we clear out some of this vegetation, it will block our view of the river once the leaves fill out. So, we attacked it with a chain saw and Roundup. We used the same approach in the field behind our last house and it was pretty effective. If you just cut it off, it will return with a vengeance. The other option is to pull it out with the roots but that is a much more arduous undertaking. I guess you would say we applied "slash-and-burn" since we incinerated everything we cut down.
As for beavers, I discovered that they have been active at the river bank immediately behind our house. They have felled 3 or 4 trees there. Now, if I could only train them to chew on the honeysuckle !
The siding guys finished up there work last Friday with completion of all the trim on the screened porch. Today I started installing the screen and hope to get that done along with the railing before the week is up.
We spent 2 or 3 afternoons over the past couple of weeks clearing honeysuckle from the hillside leading down to the river. If any of you have had any experience with honeysuckle, you know how prolific it can be. I refer to it as Buckeye Kudzu.
Unless we clear out some of this vegetation, it will block our view of the river once the leaves fill out. So, we attacked it with a chain saw and Roundup. We used the same approach in the field behind our last house and it was pretty effective. If you just cut it off, it will return with a vengeance. The other option is to pull it out with the roots but that is a much more arduous undertaking. I guess you would say we applied "slash-and-burn" since we incinerated everything we cut down.
As for beavers, I discovered that they have been active at the river bank immediately behind our house. They have felled 3 or 4 trees there. Now, if I could only train them to chew on the honeysuckle !
The siding guys finished up there work last Friday with completion of all the trim on the screened porch. Today I started installing the screen and hope to get that done along with the railing before the week is up.
Yesterday, Barb was doing some touch-up on the siding under the front porch and suddenly I heard her scream. It was not a scream of distress but rather one of those you might expect from a woman when she sees a snake or a mouse. Well, in the case it was a bat that was snoozing underneath the timbers. Hey, if you can't be welcome at the Batty house, where can you be welcome??
Speaking of snakes, she also found one of those critters when we were clearing honeysuckle. It was a garter snake about the size of my baby finger which Barb described as "huge".
She also has stumbled across two spiders over the past two days. I will admit...they were about as large as I have seen.
The guy who is doing our staining delivered the wood doors and all the interior trim work today. The doors are gorgeous and I can't wait to get them installed.
We are behind schedule selecting our flooring. If you haven't shopped for "wood look" flooring lately, it is a complicated product and there are a massive number of choices, so much so that it has created lots of indecisiveness on our part. We have visited dealers from Gettysburg (Ohio, that is) all the way down to Newport, KY. I think we are getting close though. Are last house had solid 3/4" oak floors which were very nice. However, we are looking at both engineered wood flooring as well as laminates this time around.
Monday, March 18, 2013
TAKING SHAPE
The contractor we hired to do all of the staining finished the windows and they look awesome. They use a wipe-on stain and then apply 3 coats of sprayed on lacquer over that. The finish is like a fine piece of furniture.
Tomorrow, all of the poplar for the interior trim as well as the wood doors will be delivered to his shop in Lewisburg. He should complete that work in a few days and get it back to me so that I can start working on installing doors and the trim. I really enjoy that kind of work and am anxious to get going.
The siding is about 2/3 done. A noticeable milestone was the completion of the siding and trim under under the front porch and around the front door. I added mahogany trim around the door and that will be stained the same color (TBD) as the door itself. Rick will take care of that when he comes back to the house for some other on-site work.
Barb and I have had meetings with the cabinet people as well as a flooring folks. The process of finalizing everything on the cabinets has been painful (for me anyway). It seems like we keep having meetings with little progress. We have settled on a design and color but it's all of the other little decisions that are making my head hurt.
This week the drywall finishers are coming back to do the garage. Since it was full of material when they were here before, I asked them to come back when we had all of that stuff cleared out. Once they are done, I will get the fluorescent lights installed and get my tools moved in so I can use the garage as my "shop" for the interior trim work.
Barb has been busy painting the exterior trim for the screened porch and also painting walls. It sure makes painting a breeze when you don't have to cut in around trim work.
That's about all for now.......
RICK THE STAINER
Tomorrow, all of the poplar for the interior trim as well as the wood doors will be delivered to his shop in Lewisburg. He should complete that work in a few days and get it back to me so that I can start working on installing doors and the trim. I really enjoy that kind of work and am anxious to get going.
The siding is about 2/3 done. A noticeable milestone was the completion of the siding and trim under under the front porch and around the front door. I added mahogany trim around the door and that will be stained the same color (TBD) as the door itself. Rick will take care of that when he comes back to the house for some other on-site work.
Barb and I have had meetings with the cabinet people as well as a flooring folks. The process of finalizing everything on the cabinets has been painful (for me anyway). It seems like we keep having meetings with little progress. We have settled on a design and color but it's all of the other little decisions that are making my head hurt.
This week the drywall finishers are coming back to do the garage. Since it was full of material when they were here before, I asked them to come back when we had all of that stuff cleared out. Once they are done, I will get the fluorescent lights installed and get my tools moved in so I can use the garage as my "shop" for the interior trim work.
Barb has been busy painting the exterior trim for the screened porch and also painting walls. It sure makes painting a breeze when you don't have to cut in around trim work.
That's about all for now.......
Monday, March 11, 2013
RAINY DAY JOB
Somehow I really blew the estimate on the tongue and groove pine we are using for the porch ceiling. So, over the weekend I bought the additional boards we needed and Barb stained and varnished them.
FINISHING UP THE PORCH CEILING
TRACY AT HIS BEST
Tracy's crew consists of him and his 20 something boy, Jake. Jake does all the cutting and Tracy does all the measuring and nailing which means he spends most of his time on a ladder. I suggested that he is getting too old for that kind of work and should trade places with Jake.
Today he was telling me about the two times he has fallen and gotten hurt. There are other times he has fallen with no damage done. I am discovering that many of the carpenters and other tradespeople who spend a lot of time on roofs and ladders have fallen at some point in time.
Met a rep at the house to discuss the walls for the walk-in shower in the master bath. Although we had tile in our old house and it admittedly looks very nice, it can be a pain in the "arse" to keep clean. So, we are probably going to go with some type of panels on the walls like Swanstone, Corian or other similar manufactured product. They make some nice looking stuff and with sheets as large as 60" x 96" the joints are minimized.
We have had one meeting with a store that sells and installs flooring. My head is starting to hurt from thinking about all the options available. Would like to get all but the carpeting installed before I install the interior doors. That will eliminate the flooring installer having to cut off the bottom of the door jambs to clear the flooring. In the end it results in a neater job.
Next on my list is to get started on a bench/cubby for one of the utility room closets. Rather than a conventional closet with a door, we are planning on something similar to this....
This will provide a place to sit down and remove shoes before entering the main living area.
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