Totally Hammered

This weekend we got a lot accomplished, even if it doesn't look like it in the photos. First off, we finished attaching the roof to our new wall. Was that ever a pain in the ass! There was no room to hammer, it was hard to get the pieces in just right and hold them there while we hammered, and if we messed up in our hammering, it was almost impossible to get the nails out because of the low clearance. Still, we managed, and when we removed the supports the house didn't fall down, so we must have done it right.

After dealing with that, I nearly felt the urge to get a different kind of hammered, but sleepiness prevailed.

We also nailed up a bunch of sheathing. The whole east side is sheathed now, and it feels like a real wall. Imagine that - we have a real wall! This weekend we're going to do the south wall, and then we get to put in windows. Hooray!

You'll notice in the photos that we haven't cut out the window sheathing, yet. We will but probably after we get back from Tucson.

The patio door track (we were able to get just the track) is also on its way. It should get here in about 5 weeks. So even if we put in windows, it won't be truly sealed until we get the doors in. I'm looking forward to that.

Last weekend was also the Seattle Home Show, and after a fabulous meal at a ramen shop called Samurai Noodle, we trotted over. We talked to a couple of fireplace people and located the solatube guys. We signed up to get $50 off each solatube as a "Home Show Special," so that will save us some money, which we always like. We also will probably select the fireplace we want in the near future so we can frame for it, but not actually purchase and install it until Labor Day, which is apparently when all the good fireplace sales are. So we'll see how it goes. We'll have other heat by then, which is nice.

Until then, we can look forward to a lot more hammering. This weekend will be our last big hammering push, and then we do the windows and move on to the interior framing. We have some doorways to move and one more structural beam in, and then we can move past the framing and on into the rest of the process.

Initial Attachment

We had another great weekend this weekend. We got the east wall framed and even attached the southeast corner of the roof to our fancy new wall. The framing of the east wall went very smoothly. The weather was beautiful and we had a much better idea of what we were doing after doing the south wall.

Then we took a closer look at the patio door. Turns out we ordered it so that the wrong side opens. I don't know what the hell we were thinking- we ordered it so that the part of the door that opened was right next to the wall, which wouldn't allow us to put anything underneath the southern window (like all our poor, light-starved plants, for example). So, after some freaking out, we made some phone calls. Home Depot told us to call Andersen Windows, who told us that actually our doors were reversible. It's only the track and frame, which are pre-drilled and fitted to receive the hardware so the door can lock, that need to be reordered. Then they told us to talk to Home Depot to find out how to order just the track. Home Depot told us they couldn't answer that over the weekend (only the retail grunts were working), and they were supposed to call back yesterday. They didn't call, so we'll probably have to pester them until we get an answer.

Anyway, on Sunday we went over to a friend's to make use of his table saw. We cut two 2x4s on an angle to attach the new wall to the roof. We brought them home, put in spacers, pounded them into place, and they worked like a charm. We only did the corner because the roof beams are different heights, and the corner beams had closer measurements to one another than the others. The others we'll do individually. We pounded in the stuff, and voila! the temporary supports we had put in immediately were no longer carrying weight-our new wall was. And the house still hasn't fallen down, so I'd call it a success.

This weekend we'll finish up attaching the roof, and then it's sheathing time. Hooray!

Freeze Frame

EDIT: A link to the old post showing our floorplans has been added to the Links section in the right sidebar.

Okay, so it was actually quite beautiful this weekend and not freezing at all. The weather was warm and mostly sunny. Almost like spring, in fact!

So, we decided it was finally warm enough for us to not freeze to death if we attempted to work on the house, and work we did.

Saturday we finished demolishing the south wall. It went fairly smoothly, and we discovered that there was 3/4 inch partcle board on top of a quarter inch of plywood above the subfloor. We took up some of that flooring, too, so it'll be easier to rip it all up once we're ready for that. Then we reframed the wall, mostly, including where the window's going to be. It actually looks like a wall! And I'm so excited to see where the window will be. Now the ceiling's level, too, and it makes a huge difference in the way it feels. We were also relieved to find out that our temporary supports did indeed support the roof, since that's all that's holding or roof up right now.

We also met our new neighbor. Turns out the monstrosity on the front lot actually sold. It's a guy who has a wife and a 10-year-old son, and I had actually seen them looking at the house quite some time ago. I was sitting in my bathrobe in the nook, and everytime they glanced at me I'd stare back. Hmmm. Anyway, the guy's lived in the neighborhood for a long time, and he seemed really nice. They'll probably be quiet neighbors, at the very least. So we'll see how that works out. I hope to high heavens that they didn't pay full price for the monstrosity. They haven't sold their current house yet, but when they do they'll move in to the new place.

Because we did so well on Saturday, we decided to rip out the east wall on Sunday. It went pretty smoothly as well, except that we broke the remaining window and it took forever to get the damn door out. That thing is HEAVY!!! It's under our carport right now, awaiting possible transport to the ReStore, where they take old house parts, sometimes do some restoration, sometimes not, and resell them by way of recycling them. It's a pretty cool place. But I digress. We didn't get as far on the framing of the eastern wall as we did on the southern, but the eastern wall is also twice as long.

We feel pretty happy about our success this weekend. It's actually starting to take shape, and I am beginning to be able to visualize what it will be like when it's built. It's very exciting, and it's so nice to make progress! We're going to try to do a little framing this week, although that will be challenging with our tight schedules, and hopefully next week we can finish up the framing and put up some sheathing, which would be wonderful. Next weekend is also the Seattle Home Show. We're going to go and check out solatubes and fireplaces, which should be a good time.

Once we finish the exterior walls, we are going to move the doorway to the kitchen and do the other beam between the dining room and what's eventually going to be the den (right now it's my spouse's workspace). Then we can do our framing inspection, put in our windows, do wiring and insulation, install a fireplace and solatubes, and finally, finally put the drywall in and have actual rooms. I can't wait. It's going to feel very, very good. And then it will be time to conquer the kitchen. Countertops at the correct height and dishwasher installed, here we come!

Drip, drip, drip...

Last weekend, I got tired of the shower faucet dripping. Even though I know that someday we will replace the fixtures in that bathroom (in fact, we might turn that bathroom into a washer/drier room), I couldn't take it anymore. I figured that if I just replaced the rubber seats, then I could get some more life out of the existing valves. Yeah, sure...

Problem: couldn't get the handles off. They are after market handles with socket screws in the sides of the handles. Most faucet handles have the screw on the front. It was impossible for me to remove the handles by loosening the screws. I then decided that maybe I could unscrew the flange (the bell shaped cover) enough to access the valve stems. I ended up being able to do that on the hot water and the deviator. The cold water valve was too deep in the wall. Time for the sawzall. I love that tool. I cut the handle off and removed the valve. Here's a photo of the extracted valves. Notice the decapitated cold water valve. Saws are fun!

After looking at the rubber seats, it became clear why the faucet was dripping. The hot water valve had no rubber left at all! It was brass on brass. The deviator and cold water rubber seats were cracked and crumbling, too. Here's a photo of the valve seats. The left one is the hot water, the middle is the deviator, the right one is the cold water. (Click on the picture to enlarge it.)

Since the valves weren't in great shape, I decided to just replace them, seats and all. The main valve housing in the wall seemed fine so I decided not to tear open the wall (actually, I already have access from the other side of the wall from replacing the hot water lines last winter).

My spouse and I drove over to McLendon's Hardware and bought new valves, flanges, and handles. I also rented a seat wrench to extract and replace the brass seats in the valve housing. The valve replacement went pretty smoothly. In fact, this is some of the easiest plumbing I've ever done. No leaking, no bloody knuckles. I could get used to this. Here's a photo of the new shower handles. Heaven.

While at McLendon's, my spouse and I saw a small retaining wall block that might be appropriate for the little wall we need to build for the hedge bed (since we won't have enough stone to do all of it). There will be trailing plants that will cover the retaining wall so looks aren't a big issue. Price is more of a concern.