Stairs, Windows, and Random Plywood

Mike was feeling much better this Sunday. And, with cabin fever setting in, and Timmy due over (haha due-over) to work on the stairs, Mike decided to get himself back to work on the kitchen window. I had some friends coming over at 2:30pm, so the guys were on a strict stop-everything a las 2:30 deadline.

Mike measured the wall and the window, allowing for new-fridge and future-corner-cabinet width. Then, we decided on the exact placement of the new window.

Next step was to create the window frame and insulate the sans-window area. Then came the difficult part. You see - our mudroom was an addition, tacked on to what used to be a cement porch. Unfortunately, when they joined the exterior mudroom wall to the exterior kitchen wall, they did not do a very good job. The two walls are at two different depths....

So... if we want to side that entire side with siding and make it look like a nice, one-piece, continuous house with no stoopid additions that weren't done correctly... We would need to build out the kitchen wall to match the depth of the mudroom wall. Build it out how? Plywood. Layers of plywood.

Lucky for us, we happened to have plywood. Plywood in the basement, plywood in the garage, plywood in the garage addition... plywood plywood everywhere! Leftover from this that or the other project.

 

You can see here the puzzle of plywood Mike and our neighbor Richard put together. Amazing that we just happened to have just enough to complete the job. Unfortunately, the hunt for plywood + cutting of the plywood + installation of the plywood = longer then expected. Mike was hoping to be able to install the window before the 2:30 deadline, but just couldn't make it. He papered the plywood and called it done for the day.

MEANWHILE! Timmy was hard at work on the side steps. To start, he had to pull up some of the decking to make room for the first post. The second post went down on top of the footing Mike poured last weekend.

From there, it was a simple matter of framing and decking the landing, then the first step. By the time my guests were arriving between 2:30 and 3:00, they had a step to enter on. And by the time they left around 5:30, they had a second step to exit on.

Mike will need to pour some additional concrete for the final groundish-level landing step, but all in all, I'm totally psyched about how the steps came out. Mike decided to make them nice and big - key for bringing up large items, large amounts of people, large people, and holding hands with kids down the stairs.

To finish off the kitchen wall for temporary, Mike put up tar paper. This weekend, the window goes in, do or die. And Timmy will be back on Sunday as well. It's a whole new look for the holidays!

We're so happy to be wrapping up our summer/fall projects. Winter once again will take us indoors, where the basement bathroom will be taking shape soon.

PS - Guess who couldn't resist the Home Depot black Friday appliance sale? I GOT MY FRIDGE! It's the LG model lfx28978ST.... and I saved over $800. The MSRP is $2700 .... I bought for $1899. WITH 18 months of 0% financing and a 4 year extended warranty for only $80 extra!!! Boo-Yah! Only problem is I'll have to wait until Feb 5th for delivery. Backorder.

Second Time These Windows Sent Somebody to the Hospital

An explanation for that title is certainly due. Several years ago - pre-baby, pre-prego, for sure, I had a TRIP at my house. (TRIP = Totally Random Incredible Party) This TRIP was in honor of my bday, a small affair that turned a little crazay thanks to a little green fairie.

We were all in the kitchen when Mike tripped (literally this time) and his hand landed on one of the old windows... and when right through the glass. And me? I was so excited about the window breaking. "I hate these windows!" I think I yelled, and started punching out the remaining glass panes. I may have destroyed the neighborhood had the guys not pulled me away to the sink, where they washed my now bloody hand and bandaided me up. Then I ran off and started dancin' but that's another story.

Mike and I post-accident at the TRIP with Wigs!

The next morning, Mike and I woke up with swollen, painful wounds on our punching hands and had a nifty story to tell the morning crew at the ER.


That was the FIRST time the old kitchen windows sent someone to the hospital. Now let me set you up for the second time.

Sunday, Timmy's son had a brand new baby - so he was definitely excused for stair-duty. But Mike decided to get started anyway. He dug and poured the one needed sonotube footing.

He also prepared and poured the larger slab footing.

But after that, he was excited to rip off the siding on the kitchen. Excited... PSHAW. You couldn't keep that man from his mission. But I'm proud to say, he set himself a stop point. He'd take the siding off, but not the old shingles underneath. Good thing. If the shingles came off, that was the point of no return. Shingles off - you have to put up plywood, take out the old windows, and tyvek. And at this point it was 1pm, soooo... yeah. Shingles off - he'd be working til midnight.

I'm proud to say he stuck to his stop point too! He took off the siding and then cleaned up and that was it!

Here was the outside of the kitchen - this morning.

We're getting to the hospital story now...

So today Mike got some free time and decided to finish up the job. He took off all the shingles and repaired the sill, which was leaking air like crazy. I talked to Mike on the phone and he said he could already feel a difference in how the room was holding heat. Awesome, I thought.

Now... somewhere between the shingles off and the plywood on, there was an incident. I'm still not quite sure of the details, but basically - nail gun + foot = mucho malo. (Our framing gun has gained itself a little bit of a temperamental reputation. I'm scared of it, personally.) Thinking it wasn't so bad, Mike kept on working. He took out the windows and completed the plywood.

Unfortunately, by the time I got home from work, he was in a whole bunch of pain and decided to go to the ER. He's probably on his way back right now, actually. He sent me a text and said they had to cut into his foot. Sounds terrible! I almost don't want to hear the details. And I definitely don't want to see the foot, but I know that's the first thing he's going to want to show me.

Anyway! (I'm not thinking about it!) Those windows were cursed, and I'm so happy they're gone. This is not a trilogy!

Electrifying

Gung-ho, that was me. Bloggin on a mission and then POOF, drop off the face of the blogosphere for near to a week... leaving thousands in anger and suspense.

Or not.

But flaky and manic as I've been, it's all been for good reason. I've been extremely focused on crossing off items on that 'ol to-do list. First off, the electrical hook-up on the porch. Turns out, we had 9 of the 10 needed outlets in stock. And, Mike decided to patch the porch in with an already under-loaded breaker. So we didn't need that either.  So so... we were able to complete the wiring without having to head to the DeepHo.

But that doesn't mean we didn't head down there anyway. I still had a pole to return! And despite his grumblings, Mike was as glad as I was to bring it back and receive a $33 store credit, which we used to purchase porch outlet covers and concrete.

*TANGENT!*
While at the HD, we checked out the garage doors, which I'm planning to purchase for Mike for X-mas. (No secret. He knows, I know, and we're both happy about it.) This whole freakin' time, we thought they were mad expensive.

*SECOND TANGENT*
Years ago, when we were still in drywall-phase of the house, I had Overhead Door come and look at my garage for door-cost estimation purposes. Well, I don't know whether it was me looking so young, my house looking so old, or my vehicle and yard looking so.... redneck.... But the door dude had the audacity to ask my drywall guys if I "paid my bills." And I was so insulted that I completely severed contact with them - despite the fact that I had the cash and was ready to go at that moment.

But I realize now, it was meant to be. Because the HD has insulated garage doors in stock in store.... for the price of just around $250. When I saw, I sh*t. We don't need no fancy pants doors. We don't need no windows. (And we don't need no grammar either.) And apparently, we don't need to pay upwards of $1,000! Another $150-$200 and you can get yourself a nice garage door opener, complete with two remotes, an exterior keypad, and an interior button.

So, back to the current HD visit. After I had seen the doors and the prices on the internet, we just had to find out if they came with all the springs, tracks, etc. needed to install. Sure enough, everything came in the box! Amazing, isn't it? Three doors, coming right up this holiday season!

HD visit: successful on so many levels.
Electrical: complete!

And now for the bad news. Or, I should say, postponement news. Timmy was called into work on Sunday and couldn't come over to work on the stairs. Mike used the time to complete the electrical, so I can't complain too much. I was really hoping and dreaming that we'd be able to get the concrete poured.

I found out, by the way, that we in fact do not need sonotubes because we're not going to pour footings. We're going to pour pads. Big pads! iPads! (Sorry, couldn't resist.) So the entire footprint of the stairs will be concrete. This is beneficial in a few ways. First, it is a far lesser pain in the butt then to dig and pour footings. Second, with concrete under the entire stairway, there's no chance of annoying plant growth. I'm cool with that.

Unfortunately, we don't know what materials we'll need for the stairs, so we couldn't purchase those. The railings, however, I am going to have Mike purchase tomorrow for delivery on Friday. I figure, if the guys pour the pads on Sunday, they're going to need to dry. What to do while the concrete is drying? How about some railings! Sounds good to me, I just need to remember to send Mike to work with the paperwork that shows what to order.

Pole Wrapped

Yesterday was a perfect day for pole wrapping. Sun, fair temps, low wind... heavenly fall to say the least. And within a few short hours, the three guys had finished 4 poles!!! They would have even finished the last and final fourth pole, but this one is currently holding up our temporary steps... which, we're still in need of at the moment.

Plus, Timmy had a marvel idea. (And once I explain this, you'll see why I just love him to death!) You see, to fit the posts, the white pre-primed wood needed to be cut down by just a smidget. Obviously, that leaves us with a bunch of scrap smidgets. Trash, you ask? I would have thought so too. That is, until Timmy held one up to the ceiling where the trim meets the bead board. USE THE SMIDGETS TO TRIM THE CEILING! Oh my god, it was a revelation and it looked fabulous! So simple, but we never would have thought of it. We would have just gone out and spent hundreds of more dollars on trim, then burned the smidgets come January when burn season opens up.

Timmy, once again, saved us some big bucks. So I was so happy and excited to write him out a big check that very afternoon. (And, he never asks for any money... usually refuses it, actually. Which made me all the happier to finally be able to give him a substantial amount.)

Anyhoo - check out the new frontal view:

 

 

 Pretty swank, isn't it? (I forgot a pic of the smidget trim - I will try to grab one tomorrow.)

Once the poles were finished, the guys attempted to complete the trim up on the gambrel. (At the peak there.) However, something about having the wrong saw or no blade or something like that prevented them from completing it, and they ended for the day.

Plans for next Sunday - the steps begin! Concrete will need to be poured for the step footings, which I had never realized before. Once it cures, the steps can be built. Then - duh duh duh duh - railings. With the Halloween season upon us, I'm hoping to get an early jump on the railings. I have these crazy imaginings that I'll order them and have Mike pre-assemble all the sections so we're ready to slap them up as soon as possible.

Whether he'll be hip to that idea is another story. Hopefully, (oh please oh please) his new truck will be arriving via pro vehicle transport tomorrow. And once it's in our driveway, he's going to do nothing until he installs the needed fuel pump.

But I warned him last night! I said, I'm going to need the electrical on the porch hooked up for Halloween lighting. And I'm going to need it like, this week. On the shopping list there: all the outlets and a new breaker. With the truck arriving tomorrow, we should actually go out and purchase those like... oh, I dunno... NOW.

Halloween Party is Nov 6th.... the race to the finish is ON!

How's Everything Since the Stimulus?!

I can't say that the stimulus saved my life... just my week. And it possibly saved this weekend too - since I'll be able to get my hands on some materials.

But first let me rewind back to last weekend. This has been such a crazy week that I've barely had time to breath out, let alone blog anything! Saturday we were even so busy that we didn't manage to start the footings until 4 or 5 in the afternoon! At at that point we were so wiped - it was really hard work.

We had to get it done, though. We had rented the cement mixer for the weekend only.

So we got out the hose and the cement and started just mixing away. The actual pouring into the sonotubes turned out to be a little difficult too. Mostly because we've had so much rain that the sonotubes were moist and the cardboard layers kept peeling off of the edges. Not so much to compromise the structural integrity of the tube - just enough to be a pain in the butt while pouring in cement.


Mike tilted the mixer as I kneeled down by the hole with a piece of plywood that I used to direct the pouring cement into the hole. The system worked relatively well. And, it turned out we had nearly the exact correct amount of cement. We only had two bags left over. Very cool. I love a day that I don't have to run back to the DeepHo for some stupid thing.

After each tube was full, we put a bracket into the cement at the exact tube center. These will later hold the posts of the porch. We had a problem with the footing nearest to the house. Somehow, it had gotten off center! I don't know whether we were just off on our calculations initially, or whether all the rain settled the soil in some weird way - the world may never know. But on that one we had to offset the bracket so that it would line up with the other footings. I was pretty nervous about that, but Mike assured me that we'd be able to make it work.

We finished the footings around nightfall and just crapped out. Sunday morning was even more hectic and the weather was terrible! But we managed to make it to the blessing of the bikes anyway, and then enjoyed lunch with some friends over at The All American... soaked mind you. By the time we made it home from that we totally just wanted to poop out. And we did!

That was our last weekend.

And if you were thinking we'd start building the porch this weekend - well, you'd be absolutely... WRONG. Nope - we still have some other stuff to catch up on first - plus, the weather's going to be terrible. Again. But no worries, cause we've got so much stuff to get a jump on.

Number A - We've got a scrap metal run to make on Saturday morning - and then, hopefully, a dump run.

Number B - We need to install that new dryer vent, especially with all this rain heading our way.

Number C - (Cause I like numbering my letters.) We have to nail up the exterior window trim we cut and painted like a million years ago.

Number D - We have to pull back the siding on the front of the house, fix any rot, and install plywood in prep for the new siding.

Number E - If I get any time to myself, I need to scrape and repaint some peeling areas of the current window trim.

Number F - We need to get up into the attic and figure out where the mudroom track light wire goes so we can get that fixed and/or hooked up.

Number G - We NEED need need need need to reinstall the french doors. Yes, we just got the glass fixed and all that - but the thing is, we need to caulk the whole thing and install some flashing at the bottom. That's been missing from the start and if nothing else but this gets done this weekend - I will be a happy happy camper because I've been complaining about this since the beginning.

So I think that's plenty enough to keep us busy this weekend, if the rain holds off.

Our 6 Holes

It's official. We've got holes! Six of 'em! It was quite a feat to dig them too. You don't think it's too hard - 6 holes, an auger - no problem, right? But don't forget, they have to be perfectly level, perfectly centered on their measurements, perfectly straight, perfectly lined up with all the rest of the holes.... or else the entire porch will be messed up. And by messed up I mean crooked, off center, off level, off off off.

So Saturday morning's dig session was pretty stressful. First, we spray painted big x's on each marker post so we could see where the heck we were digging and to keep us on center. Then we fired up the auger and dug down as far as we could with it. This wasn't too hard, except when you get the auger all the way down in the hole as far as it goes and you have to then pull it up - then, it's a little tough. Mike, being stronger than me, of course was able to pull up harder and faster - so our holes tended to be off center because of it.

After the auger had done all it could do, Mike and I dug with the post hole digger and shovel.

Here's me, doing some digging on hole #2.

After the hole seemed close to size, we test fit the sonotube, making sure it was level (with a level), on center with the other holes (using a string), and exactly 7.5' away from the last sonotube (using the 'ol tape measure.) If it didn't match up to any of these exacting specifications, we dug more or in another direction.


Four of the holes we dug pretty much no problem. No trees or plants in the way, sandy soil - relatively easy job. But the last two were nearly right on top of where that tree was - you know, the one we took down a couple weeks ago? And Mike knew that we were going to be running into some roots.

So he came up with an ingenious plan, which I knew would either work brilliantly or get us an stoopid award from country fried home videos....

We attached the auger to the forks of the skid steere.

The plan was simple - Mike would run the skid steere and I would run the auger. The forks would help move the auger up and down as I steadied it and we'd chew through the roots without exhausting ourselves or getting off center.

I have to admit, I was damn nervous. But the idea worked perfectly. We dug the first hole fairly quickly and easily and managed to tear through a couple roots. The second hole wasn't as cooperative. We made it pretty far down, but hit a huge root that we just couldn't dig through.

We took the auger off of the forks and then used the machine's forks to stab and pull at the root until it gave way.

After he had done all he could with the machine, Mike used the sawzall to break through more of the roots and then we just kept digging. Finally we were able to get in that last sonotube and fill in everything.
Despite the hard work, we really made good time. We were pretty much done by 2, after getting a late start around 10:30am. After that we took a lunch break then cleaned up the excess dirt and put down some grass seed.

And that was it for the day. The footings need to be inspected before we can do anything else. I left a message for the inspector later that afternoon. Hopefully they'll be able to come out in the next few days. Then we'll fill these tubes with concrete and begin construction.

Plus, with rain predicted all this week - it was a great time to overseed the lawn!

Putting Your Footing in Your Mouth

That would be a task actually. You try fitting a 10" by 4' sonotube fulla concrete into your mouth. Ha ha. I'm feeling silly cause it's FRIDAY peepholes! I'm so excited. Can't you tell?

Last night was highly productive. TJ came over and the boys marked the footing holes. Mike and I will dig them probably tomorrow, since we have a bday party to attend tonight. And then what? Well, then we have to wait until the building inspector can do his thang and approve them, so I'm not sure what else is going to get done this weekend.

Mike assures me that there's other stuff we can do - like start re-siding the front of the house. That's going to involve taking down the old and gross siding and the old and gross shingles underneath the old and gross siding and putting up plywood. Joy.

Not that it doesn't need to get done, I just really want to start on the actual porch. I can't help it! It's beautiful out and I'm dying to stand/sit/lay on the porch.

We can't work any more on the mudroom, because I have no money for it right now. All available funds to porch! I realize that all I need to buy for the mudroom is a little bit of tile, since we already have the hardwood, but I'm putting my foot down. No spending!

See how gross the old siding is? And how stupid is that thing over the door?!

Here you can see the clearly marked footings - accurate at last.

And here's the side with the door. From this pic you can tell just how big the porch will be outside those mudroom french doors. We could never have a deck on back - so this will be absolutely awesome k possum.

Sunny And Bummed

It's been a tough few days after a long holiday weekend. With this beautiful weather, I can't understand why everything around the office has just gone absolutely haywire. Spring fever, perhaps? Who knows. But after just two days of it, I'm about ready to take an ice pick to the head.

Last night was really frustrating. I was really excited to get home and get to work. I planned to do my sponging and Mike and a friend of his were going to dig the porch footings with a borrowed auger.

At first the sponging went really well. It looked good! But part way thru the second wall, a mysterious dark spot appeared and I couldn't fix it. It was frustrating, but I left it to dry and continued on. The rest of the room came out pretty good - at least until it came time to cut in. And damned if I could not remember how we did it last time to save the life of me!

I tried at first cutting a kitchen sponge and tried sponging with it near the ceiling and in the corners. It just wasn't doing it. I then tried that in combination with a moist kitchen sponge - you know, to kind of sponge on with the first sponge and blend with the second. That was working... but not very well. It was very time consuming too. Mike tried his hand at it and could do no better. I was getting super frustrated at this point, and I was out of Coronas. Not a good combo, people.

Then, I tried the first sponge with a moist paper towel - but had similarly "eh" results. Then I grabbed a brush and just started pouncing with it along the ceiling and corners. Though this wasn't matching up exactly with the sponging, it was a hell of a lot better than all the other options I had tried, so I continued with it throughout the room. It made a mess on the ceiling everywhere because I really tried to pounce with it. (By pouncing I mean just hitting the wall with the brush, straight on.) But all that will be covered with moulding - or, as a last result, I could always repaint those portions of the ceiling.

By the time I was done, that other dark spot had dried and I was able to sponge over to hide it. Phew! I think overall, it came out really well, although not as good as the first time.

Here's the main wall of it. The pattern is so subtle, you can't really tell from this pic. But in the room there's just a hint of a texture - which I really love.

(*Also, Mike bent and installed the track light for me. (This was a bday gift from my friend Becci and I just love it!) Only one problem - it didn't switch on with the other lights. So we're going to have to get back up in the crawl space and see where the wires go. That was another frustrating aspect of last night!)

Here's the side by the windows - which, by the way, I opened for the first time this morning. Exciting huh?

Here's the side by the washer drier. You can catch a little hint of a pattern in this one. Tonight I get the pleasure of putting all the switch plates back on - plus re-hanging my pictures on the wall 'n stuff.

At this point you may be asking, "Didn't you say something about an auger for the porch footings?"

Well yes I did. Another frustrating aspect. Mike's friend did get the auger. But the two of them had to rescue another friend of ours who blew his transmission near to our house. By the time they got back, they really just wanted to relax for a few. Mike told me that he and I could run the auger... now, me being Ms Tiny Arms, I wasn't too sure about that.

So we went out and dug a test hole near the mudroom door, which the porch will later cover. And I have to admit, it wasn't that hard. The auger looks big and scary, but it's really not too difficult to operate. The trick is just to pull up every 6" or so to clear the dirt out of the hole. Pretty cool how it works actually.

That's not the frustrating part.

Mike was trying to measure where exactly the holes were supposed to go. And he was getting mad confused because our house is not square and he didn't know exactly where to measure from! We both knew that this first step is soooo crucial. So we stopped everything we were doing and just decided to call The Man - TJ.

(If you're new to this blog - he's our good friend and even better carpenter.)

Mike asked him if he could come over tonight for them to measure and mark the footing locations together, and he agreed. Then, Mike and I can dig the holes ourselves.

Speaking of which, I've got to get my butt home!

Coupfusion

We received in the mail on Monday a Home Depot coupon. 10% off when you put something on your Home Depot card. Yay - since we're always needing stuff - it's great to be able to save something, ya know?

So last night - due to my exhaustion from a long walk with my mummy bread and the fact that our neighbor Rich was over doing drywall with Mike - I just could not bring myself to sponge. But we had the coupon.... and Mike really wanted to get the sonotubes and concrete for our porch footings. Great! Perfect timing.

Before heading out we called our carpenter, who knew how many 80lb bags of concrete were needed to fill at 4' by 10" sonotube - turns out it's 3-4 bags, times the 6 sonotubes we need - equals 18-24 bags. We decided to get 20 bags.

With this info in hand, we grab the coupon and jet over to the DeepHo. As we're pulling into a parking space, I get a weird feeling, and pull out the coupon.

"Coupon good 4/17/08-4/20/08"

It's the 15th. THE 15th.

I nearly died as I read the dates to Mike. He just gave me that look of "Why didn't you look at that before we left the house." and "I don't care what that coupon says, we're getting this stuff NOW."

The real kicker is that we have plans from Thursday - Monday and there's no time between the 17th and the 20th to hit the DeepHo.

We went back and forth for a couple minutes on what to do - and finally decided to purchase just the sonotubes today and Mike would go on Friday right after work and use the coupon to get all the concrete.

What a pain! Coupfusion to the n'th degree. But I hate not using a coupon because we need to buy stuff anyway!!!