Staining the Front Door

9-13-08
Staining wood is a very difficult process at best, complicated by the fact that I have not done any significant quality staining in many years, and you only get one chance to get it right. Armed with this knowledge, I am attempting to do just that to the single most important feature of a home, the entrance.

I have done many color samples on the outside edge of the door frame over the last two months. Kelley and I have compared the look, color, and texture of our dining room table to the samples (see earlier posts' picture), and I have finally come up with the proper custom blend of color and finish.

Dirk Gently's Holistic Detective Agency

9-1-08

Imagine this; my petite wife Kelley and I, a 420 pound deep-soak, cast-iron tub, and a lot of hemp.

If you ever read the book in the title of this posting, there is a scene where a couch is permanently stuck in a stairwell with no way to get it in or out. People have been climbing over it for years. Kelley and I found ourselves in this very situation on Labor day. It all started when "I" had the brilliant idea that we could move this behemoth of enameled iron 10' up a stairway with a 6-to-1 block and tackle system and a few ratchet straps. I was right, Mostly. It took us all day. We turned the stairs into ramps with 1/2" plywood, and I put a large eye-screw into the framing for the block to hook into. I used a hydraulic car jack to get the tub up on blocks and onto the dolly. We heave-hoed it up the first flight of stairs, only to find that it could not make the corner (even though I had checked the measurements). I ended up loosening the leading stair-rail support, and carefully tweaking it back out of the way. The second set of stairs didn't go as well. The dolly couldn't make the corner and stay on the ramp, so as we were maneuvering it, the tub slipped off the 4X8 blocks and we ended up dragging it up the stairs. The edge of the tub came millimeters close to the window, one false move and we would of been bathing in our back yard. Our neighbor came over to check out the commotion, and helped Kelley and I haul the tub up the last part of the stairs, back onto the dolly, and into it's resting place in the bathroom.

Preston and Nathaniel were home with us, so we had alot of 10 minute breaks. We also took an hour for lunch and a swim. I didn't get video, because I was either straining my back, or my brain.

Shopping for Fixtures

6-20-08


Kelley and I had shopped just about everywhere for bath fixtures. We spend at least 5 different day-trips, going from big retailers to speciality stores. We eventually agreed upon a set of features, and then refined that by price and quality. Then I went online and looked up product name and numbers. I found a site that was constantly low. I priced them and went back to Great Indoors, because they were having an inventory clearance sale, and our product was going for 55% off. After getting a quote from them for the cheapest they could do, it was still cheaper online, even with shipping. So you guessed it, I orderd them from Plumbing Direct, and everything went great. The Tub and Urinal were on back order, but everything else about the order was perfect. This is what the faucets look like.
6-20-08
Kelley and I had shopped just about everywhere for bath fixtures. We spend at least 5 different day-trips, going from big retailers to speciality stores. We eventually agreed upon a set of features, and then refined that by price and quality. Then I went online and looked up product name and numbers. I found a site that was constantly low. I priced them and went back to Great Indoors, because they were having an inventory clearance sale, and our product was going for 55% off. After getting a quote from them for the cheapest they could do, it was still cheaper online, even with shipping. So you guessed it, I orderd them from Plumbing Direct, and everything went great. The Tub and Urinal were on back order, but everything else about the order was perfect. This is what the fixtures look like.
http://www.us.kohler.com/onlinecatalog/newproducts_detail.jsp?section=2&aid=1163361215304

Plumbing woes

4-15-08

I spent the last many months working on plumbing, along with ALOT of other stuff. Some weeks all I got done was a run to the hardware store. It's getting harder and harder to keep motivated. I contacted a few plumbers to give me quotes on the project, and I asked for some advice while they were here. I learned that if you asked 10 plumbers how to do a job, you will get 15 different answers. Some things, like parts of the drain line, I redid, after learning what framing members I could drill holes through. I also had to move the tank-less water heater from my original location because the city inspector would not allow me to put it in the garage, because of venting distances and logistics. I expanded the utility/laundry closet upstairs to mount it there, which worked out great. I added a circulating pump to get the hot water moving through the system near the points of use (Bathrooms, Kitchen sink, Laundry) and I'm building a push-button and LED light system for controlling it from said locations.

The city inspector also noted that my biggest and most expensive window, which happens to be overlooking the driveway and front of the house, did not meet egress regulations. That means I need to buy another more expensive window 6 inches bigger.

Reclaiming the Dining room

2-5-08
Kelley and I were feeling a little bit cramped having to eat dinners on the coffee table in the living room for months. Since I had built false walls to separate the old house from the new construction, the time came to move them. We had also just received our new dining room set and needed a place to put it. We kept the sideboard, and china hutch in their crates, but unpacked and assembled the table and chairs.

As you can see in the background to the left of the french doors, there is an open door. That is the same door that was our Front/Kitchen door earlier, just reconfigured to it's new home.
I would like to mention, that our house is full of holes at this point. Where the front door is eventually going to go is covered in plywood, inside and out, but spiders and cold air find their way in. Also, another reason the moving of the door was good timing; I needed to run the plumbing across the dining room ceiling to the kitchen sink and dishwasher (which we haven't had in months as well), and there now is a hole in the wall where the plumbing makes it's transition to the outside wall.

I had to remove a window in the master bath, because of the new Front door configuration, so I sealed up the interior of that old window space this week with drywall.

The Front door is on order from Lowes, and should take 4 to 6 weeks to get here.

Front Door saga

3-20-07 The saga of the front door starts when Kelley and I had to shop for one. We went all over town looking at doors. We looked in Magazines, and cut out pictures. We knew the size limits of the new doorway, and definitely wanted something wood. We liked the 9-lite grid design in the windows, and also liked the curved top design of the kitchen cabinet doors. We eventually found what we wanted at Lowe's. Mahogany, curved top, 9-lite, with two small sidelights. We paid for it at the end of November 07.

It's been way over the 4-6 week delivery time, and the story Lowe's told me was that it was coming in from Texas, and that they had not built it yet. Kelley is convinced our door got sold to someone else before it ever left Texas. I've been back and forth with Lowe's, and with two salesmen (since our original guy got promoted to a different department), and no one has a straight answer.

We eventually get the door delivered March 1st, and while the delivery guys are off-loading it from the truck (with a hand truck no less), they break a 2X4 crate support, and half of it smashes into our expensive, unfinished, Mahogany window moldings, and dings the wood in 3 places, while I was watching them. I learned a few more Spanish cuss words that day from listening to those two incompetent idiots. They brought the door up the driveway to the front of the house, but told me they could not put it in the garage because the doorway was to low, and they would have to lay the door and crate down to get it inside, which was true. I signed them off, then took pictures of the damage, uploaded them on my computer, printed them, and went to Lowe's.

My salesman told me that I would have to take it up with his manager, who was in a managers meeting, and I could wait for her. I had him make a note on my account in his computer, and went to get the kids, make dinner, and eventually tell Kelley the bad news. Putting it nicely, she did not take it well. To her credit, she did help me get the front door into the garage, with a few more choice words for the delivery guys.

After days of calling and trying to get the manager, I met with the salesman, and he said I could return the door and get a new one, so I agreed. The next day I got a message from his manager, asking if she could work out a refund deal. After a week of trying to get her on the phone, I finally found out her schedule, and cornered her at work. She said she could only offer me a refund, and how much money would I like to get back, in order to smooth this over? I asked for $600+ the shipping costs of $60. She agreed, and said she would authorize it with customer service.

A week or so later, Kelley is going over the credit card statement, and finds Lowe's charged us for the door a second time. She gets totally angry. I gather my evidence, and head over to Lowe's the next day. Luckily, I ran into the manager right away, and calmly but assertively told her of her blunder. She immediately blamed someone else, and said she would take care of it again. She kind of did, but the refund was short almost $100. So once again, I go over to Lowe's, and confront her with the paperwork proof. She sends me to Customer service, and I explain my whole saga to this poor fellow, who is confounded as to why things could go so wrong, and how I got such poor service, All I want is my $100. bucks. He has to call her for authorization to release the cash, and once again she can not be found. While we wait, I walk through the math of the purchase and refund, and the third time he gets it. Just as he's giving me the money, the manager calls back and thoroughly confuses him. He walks through the math one more time with her, and eventually, over and hour later, I got my money. It took almost 5 months of dealing with the door, and it's still not done.

With that trauma behind me, I e-mail the manufacturer with a simple question,"what make and color puddy do you use on your mahogany doors'? Easy question right? Their answer was, "you can buy any quality wood putty filler at your local Lowe's". Riiight.

So when people come up to my house and stop at the top of the driveway, looking around confused at the lack of a Front Door, and eventually knocking on the dining room window, I tell them I have a front door, it's in the garage.

The Other 11 WIndows

1-17-08

Next I hired two of my out-of-work friends to help me. They did great. We spent two days and got 11 windows in! But we didn't stop there, we spend two more days and worked on 3 sets of French Doors!

I have not been working on the plumbing much this month, due to the logistics of family and getting ready for the window and door instalation. Plus there were numerous other things that ate up my time. Kelley tells me not to take it to hard. It'll get done in time. Just relax. "Isn't this what you always dreamed about? Building your own house" she would remind me.

First Windows

12-30-07

My windows arrived in early Dec. but with Christmas and Nathaniel's' birthday, it took me till the end of the year to get some time to install them. I did the three little ones on my own, so I could figure out what it took to do the job. Then I did some shopping to get all the supplies I needed for the other 11 windows. This is the 9-lite grid pattern I was talking about. The installation was relatively easy. I tried to do the next larger window on my own, but it was just over my weight limit. I walked across the street and asked my enthusiastic neighbor if he could help me, since he is usually ready to learn all he can about building a house. I did better without him.

AC Upstairs

10-28-07

The upstairs A/C gets installed, and preston tells us all about it.

New Roof

10-16-07
As part of the new construction, we are having photovoltaic cells installed on the new second story roof. We had the solar company install the standoffs before the roofers came so it will all be covered under the warranty. I got the plumbing vents done beforehand as well. We went with the 40 year composite tiles in a green color, since we had the edges of the roof line pained green as an accent color to the red siding. The peak of the roof is 28' high.
I also redid the roof over the old part of the house as well at this time, except for the center peak. I removed 3 sets of boards (2') from each side of the peak so I had easy access to the crawl space to do plumbing, gas lines, electrical, and so on. We also replaced the old AC ducts as well.

Plumbers helper

9-27-07

I consulted with my general contractor, and then his plumber, and laid out a plan for copper lines and drainage. I did a major shopping trip to buy supplies. I bought at least 2 of everything, and bags of 100 for the common parts. I went to the local Contractors Warehouse and found out that Home Depot had bought them last month. Home Depot is like the Borg in Star Trek, assimilate the opponent.
Preston is helping me drill holes for the copper plumbing lines.
I quit work at NBC, and we decided it was best to have me stay home and deal with the house, and wrangle the kids. I was doing all the domestic stuff already; cooking, cleaning, laundry, and working graveyard shift, so eliminating a job that I could pick up easily on a later date seemed best. Now I can try to sleep for more that 2 hours at a time. Kelley had just taken on a new position at her work, and got a raise as well, so the timing was right.

Fireplace

9-15-07

I hired a fireplace company to install my new fireplace because the regulations were daunting. I did a lot of research into what size to get for the room, what my neighbors had installed a few years ago, who was happy with what kind of unit, and what I was going to do with mine. I bought one that we could use for wood, although I plan on hooking up a gas line to it. I also did some research into the look of the screens available for this type of fireplace. I was also about this time that Kelley and I had finalized the look and theme of the major interior pieces.
We liked the look of the 9-lite dividers in the replacement windows for the bedrooms that we bought a few years earlier, and the arched tops of kitchen cupboard doors, so we used that as a guide for the interior doors, arching the tops of the room dividers that had no doors. We also finalised the windows, ordered the front door, and all new interior doors for the new AND old house. It was important to us to have the old and the new house look the same.

Framing Continues

7-25-07

We checked out the progress before heading out for the day. Make note of the sliding glass door, it will become french doors eventually. Our kids seem to make everything into a sword, even small scraps of lumber, tree branches, and anything that they can wrap their imagination around.

The Garage goes Naked

7-5/6-07

We removed the garage door and did alot of the flooring joists, added plywood to the front of the house so it would not be so exposed, and I put a lock on our temporary front/kitchen door. During this time I also packed for Yellowstone. The family took two weeks off and drove there and back, with my parents joining us for the trip. We felt somewhat unsure what was going to happen to our house and stuff while we were gone, but we chose to try and not worry about it, and enjoy our time away.

Old House Exposed

6-29-07

Today we finished tearing off the old stucco and drywall from the old section of the house, and started to put the flooring joists in. The rest of the video explains it all.

The Roof Comes Off

6-24-07
Today I started taking off the 2X8 tongue and groove ceiling/roof of the dining room and garage. You can see the exposed beams from the dining room extending into the open space of the new construction. I hired a few guys to help rip off the old tar and rock roof. What a dusty mess. I labeled all the board so I could reinstall it as a ceiling in the dining room, after the second story floor is finished. I plan on putting in false beams to simulate the old beams. I sealed off the rest of the house from the dust as best I could with plastic walls and tape. I worked way better than nothing, and fell short of expectations. I also stapled plastic on the inside of all the ceilings to funnel the dust falling through the cracks in the tongue and groove boards, caused by removing the tar and paper roof.

Framing begins

6-21-07


Preston got out of school early and I brought him home before picking up Nathaniel. His attention to the project is appropriate for a 6 year old. This was the first day of framing.

You can see the stucco wall behind Preston is the exterior garage wall.

Concrete skating

6-8-07
I came home today with the kids in tow, and discovered the concrete had been poured, so doing what I know must be done, I pulled out the hose and kept the surface moist. Preston asked if he could walk on the new floor, and seeing no real problem with walking on the pad, since I had just done it to wet it down, I said 'Sure, just be slow and careful' like I usually say about things like climbing trees and doing homework. I did forget that I'm a grown up, but not for long. I joined in soon after this was taken.

Laying Iron

6-7-07

This shot is in the front of the house. I'm standing in the driveway, and the iron work is where the concrete for the new front porch will be.

And this is the continuing shot at the back of the house.

Prepping the Pad

5-29-07

We put plastic over the mounds of dirt in the center of the pad, and leveled them in with sand. The edges are still open so the concrete foundation is connected to the ground/decomposed granite. You can also get a view of the 'Little Shed' used for storage. The porch on the front of the house looks similar, except for the plastic.

I used the extra dirt to fill in the kids play area, and now they have soft dirt to dig with their Tonka trucks.

Breaking ground

5-20-07

I had to move all the stuff that had accumulated behind the garage, and move my lattice wall that separated the walkway behind the garage from the back lawn, to a new area. I built a little shed to house the stuff, and everything in the garage as well. I spend about a month doing prep work before the forms were placed for the concrete pad. We also added a pad to the front of the house for a porch and a portion of the driveway will have a roof over it as well.

The ground in my neighborhood is a giant block of decomposed granite. The Tujunga river didn't wash it away over millions of years, so I feel secure in the fact that we are not going anywhere in a big earthquake. It's great for foundations, but sucks to dig through. It took a week to dig the outer trenches with a pneumatic shovel. I can only imagine how hard it was in the 50's to dig the pool.

Phase 1, The Idea

Kelley and I decided a long time ago to find a house big enough to house 5 kids. We looked in our area and did some comparison shopping, and quickly realized that our house was 1. Worth triple what we paid, 2. Any house we found that was the right size was triple what we could afford. We then looked into expanding our current house, and went about the lengthy process of interviewing architects. During this time, we looked through a ton of magazines and cut out pictures of things we liked about other houses, and wanted to incorperate into our own. During this process Nathaniel (our second) was born.

We also talked to neighbors and friends about their experiences, and reccomendations. As one of our parameters, we decided to keep as much of the money we would spend in our neighborhood, and so, our local economy. We eventually found Yolanda McCausland, who lived about a mile from us. She and I went back and forth on the look and design of the room, using cool new (to me) CAD programs, and good old napkin drawings. After about 9 months of design refining, Kelley and I were comfortable with the plans.