The Doors

Not about the band either. I've been staining and varnishing doors. Twelve are done and as good as they will ever get. One is going to be picked up by the supplier and swapped for a new one. One needs a final touch up.

The jambs will be coming along. Need to get stain just into the crevices, and they will be good for varnishing too.

Soon time to cut the ties that bind, or striking off the last fetters of wage-slavery.......

I've been a punch-list guy for almost 2 months. The boss is neat, and my workload is huge, which makes me happy.

Spent most of the day tightening up the siding. It looks quite bit better. The siding after nailing the loose pieces, still looked not good at the front porch, so I did my usual nit-picky, perfectionist caulking of the pieces near the ceiling. Looks a whole lot better now. Oh yeah, stained my heart out. Second coat on doors. My own druthers, if something is going to be stained and finished, buy it that way. Just too much of a headache for production work.

My own place, the skirt board has been painted its finish coat of dark grey. Been trying to figure a way to get a 2 by 8 to double up the joist under the utility room without disturbing the gas pipe. That's so some of the decking can be replaced by the chimney. The coaxial cable is just going to be disconnected and coiled. There's a pile of joist hangers in my living room. It will be safer with them installed then under bare feet. Boss wants me to do part of the weekend, I think, and my house still needs another two full days of work to finish up the underside. The top of the chimney chase needs to be flashed and repaired.....otherwise, all that rebuilding and rot removal will be for naught. So my new ladder will need a stand-off to keep from crushing my new gutters. That will be next next weekend.

John McCain is in the race. It will be interesting. He's his own man and always has been, and he also has a temper. In short, he's more of a human creature then some of those plastic politicians. John Edwards, Barack Obama, Mitt Romney, and Sam Brownback to name a few of the synthetic persuasion. Hillary Clinton is also non-plastic, as is Rudy Giuliani. It would be nice to have someone with a quick temper in office.

The very YELLOW green house.

Really didn't want to work on my , or anyone else's house after the "green" house, but found my neighbor digging into his front walk post with a sharp end of a rip hammer. So, hauled out my sawzall, crawled under the walkway, and cut the sucker out. It took about ten minutes. Banged in a new one, routed the top and then spent ten minutes bs-ing. Our townhouses sit across a dry moat from the parking, so we all have bridges. Often thought of hinging mine and having it going up.

Spent entire day yesterday staining, sanding, more staining. Just me at the green house which is now YELLOW. Very YELLOW. Got caulking, block laying, and rail fixing to do, also door adjustment, two pieces of trim, one outdoor outlet, and so on...........

Banging, Sawing, Caulking, and Painting.

Remember this picture?


It's now been replaced with this.
Here's a beauty shot.

It's slightly crooked but that's the way it was originally framed, and to change that would have required a lot more work. So crooked it stays. Other then that, the rotten stuff was replaced with treated wood, the deck got yet another doubled joist, and with the aid of my bro-in-law, and a friendly policeman, we got the heavy stuff up and in, and then did a nice casing of the cantilevered framing with 5/4" X 6" decking boards. The vent goes to the fireplace insert, that's the supply for the combustion air.

I know the coaxial cable is hanging down, but I don't have a subscription anyway. It will be carefully put in place next weekend. The white paint is primer. The casing will get a coat of primer next week Then it gets painted grey along with the new skirt board beneath it. I still need to add more strong-ties and about 8 BFNs*, but the deck is now pretty sturdy.


*......Big F*****g Nail

Two Months

Short quick post today.

I turned down a job yesterday. It would have been nice. Nine bucks an hour to start, and twelve if I'm permanent, and from 3PM to 11PM. Bennies too, of which now, I have none.

Sticking with the "green" house for now. Two months to go on the house. Progress good, house painted by the end of the week. I got to get the outdoor fixtures cut in, and the vents attached. I got stainless steel screws for those. Caulking of course, back porch, vents, and possibly garage. Also, replacing two pickets in the front porch railing. I got the worst ones yesterday. I also got to get some nice 1 X 6 treated. The Suby can suffice for that. Big tree fell across the driveway, missing some painters by a few feet. High winds yesterday. We saw one go down in the woods too. Pretty neat.

More Rotting Chimney (and house) Blues.

For some strange reason, I decided to tear off that weird white plywood box nailed to the underside of my deck under the chimney. What you are about to see is not pretty.



After I got nuts with the sharp end of a rip hammer and a sawzall. Yep, the previous owner was hiding something.


This is actually "supporting" the middle of my back deck. Actually, it's now the decking that carries most of the load to joists on each side of the chimney chase. Yikes. Still, it's holding my weight.



Note the wedge. I could slide it out with my finger tips.



All is not lost. I already doubled the joists on each side of the chimney chase. It will get a double hanger as soon as the rim joist and bottom plate gets fixed. I'm gonna to make those one solid, nailed, glued, screwed, and monolithic, block of treated wood. I'll add more nails too to the double joist. My arm was going to fall off at the end of the day. Enough nails to hold it for now.



Crappy picture, water dripping down my neck, but here it is. Joist hangers added, and the other end of a doubled joist. Deck feels much solider now, and that's with not having got to the cross joist yet. The ledger board was sneered at by yours truly, but is going back up anyway just for a little redundancy. This deck is definitely not today's code, if indeed it was remotely near code.

Rotting Chimney, Brown House Blues.

Pictures soon.......

The chimney chase, originally of wood but now partly of mulch, was so rotten that its going to be a big repair. The rot even got into part of my rim joist. No biggee though. I spent a hundred bucks today on some treated wood and Simpson Strong-ties plus nails. The first project, which is partly done, is to beef up the back deck and make it independent of the cantilevered chimney structure. Which it mostly is, because that part of the chimney framing is no longer there. If it doesn't rain tomorrow, then that will be finished. I'm really glad I got gutters now. It makes a big difference and the water that used to pour off my roof and soak my siding now goes....away.

Next week is getting under the house proper and fixing the rim joist and the cantilevered chimney structure. It would be nice to tear off the chimney and be rid of it and the fireplace, but the HOA would get upset. Also, it's another real estate agent necessity.

The week after that, I finally get up to the first floor and start rebuilding the chimney itself. I really, really hope the fireplace insert won't have to come out. That would be ugly.

The Half Bath, useless but it's there.

A half bath, is in the eyes of some people, mostly real estate agents, a necessary thing. To me, it's 18 square feet of wasted space that could hold my utilities, or be a decent closet, or even be a laundry "roomette". There's me and my cat.... and two and a half baths. For years, I lived with only one. My uncle did put a bathroom downstairs in his house, but he sneered at the whole half-a-bath idea, so his has a shower and tub. Mine sits under the stairs, so it's got a sloping ceiling right over the toilet.

When I bought the place, the previous owners had given the half-a-bathroom a sort of a redo. It was painted flesh-tone (only way one can describe that color), vinyl tiles stuck to sub floor, and a toilet that was making the town of Cary rich by flushing every hour on the hour....a sort of water closet clock. The vanity cabinet was a red oak front nailed to some bracing with a laminate counter top that was water-semi-dissolved. Not pressed wood as much as pressed wood splinters. The light was this bronzy flower thing with two light bulbs on arms. It didn't sit on a box, but was that 1980's NC standard of bashing a hole in the wall and shoving a wire through.

So, six months after the closing, away the half-a-bathroom went. The toilet was already turned off, and in the gutted space sat tools and wall board and bits and pieces of house. Fast forward nine months as I realize that the two remaining baths need much work before I sell this place and realize my dream house in the woods (which is going to remain a dream house in a busted real estate market).

By this time, the GFI was all done, the water shut-off had been repaired and moved to under the sink, and all my bathroom lights had been replaced with a simple 4-light frosted glass bar. I was planning to do both upstairs bathrooms at once, leaving just the tub and the shower in place. This meant that the half bath had to fill some functions besides being a useless real estate enhancement. My kitchen renovation was under way at the time, so it also had to function as a place to make coffee. This must be one of the few half baths in the area with a full vanity, medicine cabinet, full towel rack, and a bar sink faucet.

Pictures.......

Not a bad vanity but it was no bargain. It did go well with the theme of the room which I call "1920's Insane Asylum" A change from my usual gray and white decor schema. Yellow and terracotta. The alternate name is the Venetian Room. The baseboard is a one by four topped with an base cap molding. The shoe mold is pine, clear urethane to bring out the gold tone.

The floor is vinyl tile, found on sale at Lowe's. I love the brick repeat of the pattern and how it matches the counter. After putting down the underlayment plywood and leveling it, I measured the exact center of the room and put the first tile there. I wish it was a sheet floor, but it's a half bath. No walruses sloshing water around here. I want to get more but it's discontinued. Oh well.
The sink is an oval drop-in Kohler. The sink is offset to the left since I'm right handed and to make room for the coffee pot. I wanted a rectangular one that was vaguely 1920s in style but when I got home, found this in the box. So, Machs Nix, dropped it in. The counter is a cut-down kitchen counter, surrounded by a tile backsplash. I wanted a pre-cast terracotta color but they only come in 37 and a half inches, and the room is 36 inches wide. Cutting those down does not work well. K across the street gave me his attempt. I'll quietly toss it when he's not looking. The bar sink faucet swivels and I washed quite a few dishes there when my kitchen was a gutted mess.


The door was trimmed out in what would normally be used as baseboard with a base cap molding around the outer edge. Picture framed doors are usually found in Greek Revivals, and I plan to do more of this upstairs.

So there it is, semi-useless but it's done. Be happy, you real estate types. I did this just for you.

Mud Mirror

Not a good day yesterday at the green house.

New cell still not "here". Maybe the old one is designed to stop working today or tomorrow.


A frosty December morning in the Trinity Alps, Trinity County, California.

Paid taxes?

North Carolina is a very religious place. The offices were closed this Easter Friday, so forget getting my business "launched", but I did pay my taxes. I'm in the second quarter now. Going to get more organized. I washed my cell phone so a hundred bucks for that. The front walk post at my brown house was cheap at 6 bucks but the router and bits cost $125.00 on sale. The front walk is actually a bridge going from the parking area to my front porch. The decking was replaced last summer.

A is not coming back to the green house so guess who took the siding down off the inside of the back porch. Me. Hardiplank is really not designed to be reused. Still, it was already the right size for the walls and I really did not want to get more. So, first a really nasty glance at it and a nail or two just slid out (with a little help). It's nailed into treated yellow pine cripples. The yellow pine in question is Loblolly. If it had been Long Leaf....forget it.

I did everything I could think of to avoid buying more. Pried from above...gently, below...gently, and behind....gently. Tapped on the back with a wide wood block, and when all else failed, cut the nails with a sawszall. The ends were problematic, and seven pieces suffered. Of that, six were salvaged for other areas of the porch. The door sides were short pieces and there's plenty of scrap, so they got blown out and new pieces cut. So, in the end, no new hardiplank needed.

I'm also adding block to extend a pier. The footing is pretty broad. Need to get that knocked out soonest, as once the green house gets painted, it's time to hurry up and get all the finish in place. The plasterers came and went. Third coat of mud and they fixed my little problem. It also has been below freezing the last few nights, so a heater is on and the house is closed as best as possible.

After ordering my new cell, I remembered people, who for a living, dry out flood-damaged servers and other electronic equipment, and salvage quite a bit. So, popped off the battery on the old one, opened it up and stuck it under a fan for two days. Stuck it all together and plugged it into the charger to see if it would smoke, spark, or melt. None of the above. The LCD lit up and it came back to life. Still, a second phone would be a good back up.

Imaginary buildings

I own a program called Brodurbund Home Architect 3D. It's a version of CAD, but somewhat watered down. Great software though, I've been using it for well over a decade. I also took a year and a half of architectural drafting.

You prospective employers who didn't believe that I can read plans.....I can actually draft them. Not only on the computer but by hand as well. Lettering and everything, No. 2 lead, resin bag, scale, everything. Oh well, you lose. I'm just one step away from being a business. I'm already paying taxes too.

The circular building is called Circus Minimus. It's eleven townhouses in a circle with a community hall. The view is from the arcade toward the hall. It's one of many that I have designed over the years.



























The modern building in split face block with the red framed blue sashed windows is a memorial to my aunt who was a physics teacher for many years at a high school in San Francisco, the same school that my father and my two uncles went to. The teaching faculty have their offices in bays that cantilevers out from the main body of the building. The top floor is for administration, the bottom has the big classrooms, auditorium and student services. The second and third floors are for classrooms.





The pyramids are inspiring, not the shape, but the great blocks rising up in a corner after the smooth casing was removed for more utilitarian needs by the citizens of Cairo. I also like the sheet metal siding saying, "This building is it's own style."

The cabin, just a building that is to enjoy the woods.


Also a street lined with attached villas from my small Roman town.

I also have a version of the grand stair hall from the Titanic, but it's a work in progress.

Enjoy.

No, No, On the Outside!

A did a really nice job of putting the siding on the solid rail over at the green house on the back porch. It's on the inside though. Boss wants it on the outside. I think it looks nice and if it were my house, would run with it. But it's not mine. A was feeling poorly at the time and from what he described, sounds like a mild case of food poisoning. At one point I was below him and he warned me to....move away. Luckily he didn't blow groceries. I'll help him remove the siding this morning. My sawszall has some really skinny blades that can cut the nails neatly, and since it's a reverse, not gonna be any time at all putting the siding on the outside.

I'm running in the black, not pulling in great bucks but enough to get by. The main thing killing my budget right now business wise, is updating and replacing tools. My hundred footer extension cord is too light a gauge for major power tools, so it has been exiled from the job. Minor power tools are fine, but it gets borrowed quite a bit since it reaches everywhere. So yesterday without my long cord, I had to piece together three cords just to get to the spot in the attic where the speaker wires were to come out of the top plate.

So, if Uncle Sammy and Cousin State, not to mention my brown house material needs leaves me a little extra, two hefty fifty foot extension cords on wind-up reels. Only problem is, that my walkway posts have routered tops, so I have to get a router plus bits, to do the replacement of the rotten ones. I did have a shop once with all sorts of stuff, but moving five times in ten years resulted in a lot of stuff being thrown to the wolves.

I really do need to look at the top of my chimney. Luckily everyone else's chimney top is now starting to rust out as badly as mine. Working away on the HOA to look into that. See what happens. If that fails, I need a 32 foot ladder to get up there but I have only a 24 footer. Maybe I can work a deal. Loan me a 32 footer for a weekend, and in exchange, not only do you get your ladder back, you can have a nice new 24 ladder....permanently for free. It's in the way.

Poly-Ticks....Nancy Pelosi went to Syria and is doing a much better job of mending fences and getting an understanding going between parties then our El Grandisimo Jefe Curiso Jorge ever did in six years. Pelosi for President!

Way behind on my punch list, getting sent out for this and that. Hopefully A the former is coming back.

53 Minutes

53 minutes before I have to grab my shower and get to work. So....not gonna waste time on poly-ticks or illegal immigrant incompetent subcontractors. My cup of coffee wandered off....excuse me while I find it.

50 Minutes. My phone bill is getting due again. The reason is, is that it is the one of the last two still done by check. The town water bill too. The latter gets a hundred bucks thrown at it, so it's good for a quarter. The only reason I have a phone bill (land line) is because of my DSL. Cable internet I could get but having worked as a support flunky in the cable (really big national outfit) company as a network operator, the network here is not great. The optical fiber gets dirty and they just don't keep up with it. Also don't watch television....any television. I have a TV but it's just a monitor for my DVD player.

43 Minutes. At the green house (where I work and punch after subs), the shower end wall is finally the way it should be, following the shower surround as it gently curves into the corner, straight on top. It took some hefty shimming and some wedges to make it right. Today I get to run speaker wires into the attic. Also going to put some drywall over the voids in the attic so the blown-in insulation stays out of the walls.

35 Minutes. At my brown townhouse (where I live), one of my walk posts is rotten. Also my neighbor has a rotten one too. I'm going to replace them both with treated four by four's and router the tops to match the others. All mine, all of them have to go. Doug Fir old growth is great stuff but not out in the weather. Also going to get a hundred bucks worth of two by six treated, and get rolling on the back deck. That and the new carpenter bee domicile, they seem to love Kilz primer. Hmmm. Maybe it was a bad idea for the EPA to get rid of the arsenic.....right now, yum yum, spicy bug food. The siding and trim out back at my place will have to wait until the last half of the month.

25 Minutes. I'm going to miss two days of work next week. Really need to get the quarterly gummint extortion payments sent in. One day for that, one day so I can travel up to my mother's and see how she's doing.

18 minutes. My neighbor is getting some kitchen cabinets so I'll help him out. As an owner of a table-saw in a townhouse surrounded by neighbors with infants, I have to keep em' sweet. Also, I'll wait till they are somewhere else if possible, and do warn them in advance. So....they get my service and help, and I can complete my repairs and renovations a little bit faster. Everyone is happy.

14 Minutes. I have the occasional need to carry a 4' by 8' sheet of plywood or Sheetrock. My Baja is a great little vehicle for most purposes, but that pickup box is vestigial at best.

6 Minutes. Time to post and fix the grammar.

More Hammers

Pounding nails at the ceiling joints the other day, my new Vaughan 99 has a nice clear ring to it. Oh, what a sweet hammer it is. I traded the other to A who had been looking for a nice hammer for years too. He'll give me something in return. My old Vaughan 99 now has a longer handle on it. I can drive nails at long distance as if it were. Nail guns are faster and I will use them, but when it counts for sheer quality and just really nice work, do it by hand.

Back at the House again? Think of "The Man Who Could Not Get Off The MTA".

Actually less then thirty feet of ceiling joint I had to nail. Thank all the gods, odd and even, that I double fastened the joints near the reinforcement blocks early last week. Caulked the shower surrounds too. Obsessed over that caulking, over and over again until it was "right".

Looked at that shower wall again. If I could just get in behind it and slip a long thin tapering wedge on the third stud, it would be so right.

Back again at the house today, measuring the soffit. Gonna get there a little early and just measure it and write it all down. Then I call the boss and that's that.

I really need to spend time at my own place. Me and the neighbors plan to wash and stain three of the five townhouse decks later this year (four if we get the guy on the end in on it....more the cheaper it is per capita), so I got quite a bit of deck repair to do (as do they). We did gutters on three and I helped do a porch repair on one. Replaced a rotten post, rail and a few pickets. Next weekend, I stay away from the "green" house and work on my "brown" house.