End of Evening Light

I finally got an honest day’s work in on the house yesterday. I finished putting the collars on all three of the columns in the back porch and started putting the molding up. I got as far as getting the ‘thin-side’ molding on the north and south sides of each column. The thin-side is only an inch and a half wide and will be overlapped in a butt joint by the 2 inch molding.

Today it’s raining like a bastard again and I probably won’t work out back tonight. Besides, it’s Monday Night Football and I’ve already bought myself a pizza and a bottle of Italian wine. Ciao, baby!

However, this weekend is the end of daylight savings and it will be dark every evening after work until April. So, after this week all work outside is going to have to be done on the weekend. Oops, better get things done.

The shipment of oak plywood came yesterday. Looks great! But then, for $720 it had better look great… This is the first time I've ordered lumber over the web. I got it from Cross Cuts in Portland. All together I got 20 sheets of two sided ¼” white oak ply. That’s 640sf! This will be used for a variety of applications. I plan to use it to cover the glue-laminate beams inside the house, for the risers on the stairs, and for the wainscoting. Also, I plan to use it for miscellaneous wrap around whatever. For example, I will use it to wrap the 2x4s that were used to support the stairs. Oh, I’m also going to use it to build the vanity cabinets in the bathrooms. I just hope I have enough!

I’ve been thinking more about the flooring. I’ve been thinking that I should try and install the wood floors next. I’m thinking this for several reasons. One is that a lot of things are depended on getting the wood floors in. For example, I can’t put the doors in, I can’t put the closets together, and I can’t put pretty much any of the trim in (especially the base molding). Also, if the flooring in the bathrooms are not going to be wood, I need to make sure those floors match up (level wise) with the main wood floors. It will be a lot easier to match up the bathroom floors with the main floors rather than the other way around. In other words, I should install the wood floors first.

I’m also thinking about what kind of wood floors to get. Before, I was thinking about #1 common white oak. But, I’ve also considered getting red oak. I like the extra color in the red oak especially if I use the water base seal which doesn’t add any color to the wood. But, I’m concern that it won’t match the trim, moldings, and stairs, which I was planning to use white oak for. However, wood typically matches wood, and certainly red oak will be ok with white oak. The trim will be stained a different color from the flooring anyway. I’ll just have to decide. Either way I’m planning to get ‘select’ grade, which is one step better than #1 common.

Also I need to decide for sure that I don’t want wood floors in the bathrooms. Jenn makes a pretty good point that wood floors don’t like water. But, as long as we’re reasonably careful not to let water sit on the floors, it should be ok. Besides, we currently have wood floors in the first floor bathroom. But, to be honest they don’t look all that good. Although I think they look bad because they’re just cheap parquet floors that have been scratched up by the previous owner’s dog. I can’t say there’s much in the way of water damage. One compromise might be wood floors in the master suite, but vinyl in the 2nd bathroom. Or perhaps tile in the 2nd bath. Tile looks great, but my concern is that it is cold and hard. Vinyl is warm and soft and can look almost exactly like tile. That was the original plan and we’ll probably just do that.

One More Permit Extension

Well, I haven’t worked on the house much at all lately. Last weekend we went to the coast with Dannie and Greg. Before that I was sick with a cold. Before that we were in Ashland. So much needs to be done and yet the weeks just fly by without much progress.

I decided to call the city today about the status of our permits. Turns out it was good timing since the permits would have laps tomorrow. I got an extension until April 19, 2005. That’s 6 more months, which seems like a long time, but with so much left to do, it’s going to be a challenge to get that house inspection ready by then. In fact, I think I’ll need to get it ready at least a few weeks before then in case something is found and I have to spend some time fixing it.

Jenn has agreed to work with me to come up with a list of things to do and a schedule. Hopefully she’ll help more with the project itself.

Plumbing Not My Thing...

I spent a little time yesterday assembling the plywood on the columns, but not enough to get the job done. Oh well. I’ll try again tonight.

I tried to install the tub faucet assembly in the 2nd bathroom. The good news is that the parts fit. The bad news was that I couldn’t put the tub spout on because the pipe that came out of the wall has a cap on it that I couldn’t get off. I don’t know what the plumber used to put it on (super glue?) but it’s not coming off. So, I’ll have to go to the Hell Depot and get the exact same size pipe without the cap. Stupid plumber! But, now since I know it fits, I went ahead and ordered the same faucet for the master shower, except the finish is brushed nickel to match the tub.

Bought a Wood Stove!

I finally got back to work on the house this weekend. I’ve been sick and not really up to or able to work on the place. But, Sunday I finally did something productive. I cut all of the plywood needed to build the columns for the back porch. It took nearly 3 hours to do it. But, I got it done. Now all that I need to do is attach the plywood, trim them out, then prep and paint them. I’m hoping I can do that all this week. We’re going to the beach this weekend so I won’t be able to work on it then. Once the columns are done I can start getting bids for the gutters.

I went ahead and ordered the fireplace insert on Friday. It’s an Avalon Pendleton. Even though it’s not supposed to require a blower, I got one anyway. It is scheduled to be installed on Thursday, October 28. I can hardly wait!

Wood Stove

I haven’t been working on the house at all lately. We were on vacation in Ashland this weekend and then I came down with a cold. So, things are exactly where they were more than a week ago. It’s kind of frustrating. I wish I could get more done. It’s very frustrating when you can’t see any progress, but you can see how much work needs to be done.

At least I have been shopping for a fireplace insert. I got an estimate for a small insert called Avalon, which I like. It’s supposed to work very well without the blower, which is a big plus. The estimate came in at $2650. Ugh. Oh well, it should work great and be a good investment in the house. I’m not sure if I’ll get another more estimates or not.

I still haven’t called any gutter people yet. I was hoping to at least finish the columns first.