Garage Doors

The garage door people had called late Monday to let us know they could come Tuesday if we were ready for them, so we said come ahead. They had just arrived & were unloading our door panels when Eduardo, the sheetrock foreman arrived followed closely by a Stayton police car. Seems he thought he saw Eduardo driving without a seatbelt but I could see he had the belt on as he pulled into our driveway & it was hard to miss. I have never seen him drive unfastened. The cop talked to him a while then wrote him up & said he could tell his side at traffic court. Pretty high handed I thought & wondered if it had been me, would he have apologized & gone on his way?? I told Eduardo I am willing to go with him to traffic court if he fights this & hope he does. The new garage doors are blinding white for now but will be painted to match the house and then have false hinges & handles added so they will look like the old fashioned carriage house doors.

Lighting The Stoves

Yesterday, Monday, I set about determining why I couldn't get the stoves to light. There are 4 appliances so the main supply line is quite large. I concluded the lines must still be full of air, so I went to the farthest stove and bled the line. In only a few minutes more, I had both stoves burning nicely. I also found a spot on the red stove where the paint was chipped. The Vermont Castings people had supplied touch-up paint so I made it look like new. The sheetrock crew worked Saturday & made good progress on the tray ceilings and the arches are almost done. They also worked some in the daylight basement and garage.

Skylight

We really like the guest bathroom with its outside entrance from the covered porch and inside entrance from the main hall. We expect it to get the most use of all the bathrooms. Tonight I tried to light the pilot lights on our gas stoves but had no success since I only had a few minutes & it will take some time to bleed off all the air from the supply line.

Hauling debris & Mud gets spread.

Yesterday, my teen aged helper Cody & I loaded up another trailer load of left over lumber & fasteners which we returned to Frere's Lumber for credit. After that, we loaded up all the scrap Hardie Plank & Hardie Shingle left by the siders. We hauled it to the transfer station but the gal there recommended we take it to their demolition disposal site where non-burnable construction debris can be dumped for a minimal charge. Sounded good to me, but the directions were vague & the place was poorly signed (actually no signs at all until you reached the front gate). We wandered around along the Willamette River South of Salem and eventually found the site. While we were doing that, the crew had started taping joints.

Thursday morning I walked up to open the house & noticed our sheetrockers had not put in a ceiling hatch for attic access despite my earlier showing the foreman & one of his helpers where the openings were framed. There is a language barrier but I thought they understood. This was a problem because we had scheduled a contractor for 1:00 PM to install a Sola-Tube skylight in the South bathroom. Not going to happen unless they can get into the attic. I called Jose: soon Eduardo & one of his helpers showed up to fix things. Cody loaded the trailer with sheetrock scrap while I mowed the lawn. We hauled the load to the demo sight & off loaded it. Then we moved 4 squares of left over shingles into the basement to store for when I build our shed. The skylight is installed now & we like it. Its just like having a large overhead light but needs no electricity. I tried to get a good picture of the entry hall from the garage to house. We added 2' to the floorplan so Lynna could have a larger Kitchen and Family Room. It also gave us a hallway that is 5' 8" wide. It will serve as a Mud Room for dealing with Winter Clothing, shoes & gardening stuff.

More Sheetrock

The sheetrock crew came about 6:20 AM & worked hard to finish hanging today. They did the basement workshop/storage area, finished the garage & then worked in the house. We found a few minor corrections were needed but overall they did a superbe job. We hope they clean up as well as they have been working. If you look closely at the kitchen shot, you can see the pipe for Lynna's Pot Filler. The gas company came this afternoon & activated our meter so we can have heat if needed. Lynna & I loaded up my trailer with leftover siding, shingles, trim boards and a few pieces of cedar and returned them to Frere's Lumber for credit. Lynna was pretty tired & I have Cody, Bert's son , coming to help load the rest tomorrow then we will haul some debris to the dump.

Eric from Stayton heating came today & finished installing our two gas heaters. They look good & we will need heat if it gets cold again while the crew is taping the drywall. The crew kept on hanging sheetrock. They are almost done and Eduardo has been putting the edging onto the tray ceilings. Lynna went downtown & did some banking then stopped by Frere's Lumber & ordered the rest of our locksets while I sprayed weeds. The repairman came this afternoon & replaced the door on our refrigerator (dented by the movers). Jose came by and Lynna went over the paint colors she picked out. We got word from Don Albert of Stayton planning that the city will share 15% of the fire hydrant cost up to a limit of $1500.00, this is not as much as we hoped but every little bit helps.

One Armed Framing

The drywall guys worked Saturday from 6 AM to 9:30 PM, then asked me if it was OK to come back Sunday. I said fine & was glad to see them arrive around 8:30 AM. They have been pushing themselves pretty hard. I went up for an hour or so & managed to frame the West wing bathroom doors down from 8' to a 6' 8" opening. Lynna continued burning scrap wood & clearing the piles of siding & framing debris. Saturday a local locksmith came by & installed the re-keyed locksets we got on e-Bay. They look pretty good but we still need a couple more to secure the house. We have some heavy clay soil here & Lynna showed me a sample of home fired brick from her fire pit. I forgot to use the macro setting so my picture stinks!

Alcove

The plans called for an alcove at the end of the hall but it wasn't framed to suit the sheetrock crew so I added an arch made from a piece of formica panel. It still needs sheetrock on the back side which is in the West bathroom, but I think it turned out OK & Lynna likes it. The two doors into the bathroom were mislabeled & got framed for 8' doors. I will fix that Saturday so the crew won't be held up on Monday.

Gas Stoves & More Sheetrock

The sheetrock crew started work at 6:00 AM & were still working a few minutes ago when I took the dogs for a walk. They are really earning their pay. Our visit with Doctor Gardiner went well. My left arm will be a bit shorter but the bones are knitting well, there is no serious damage to the rotator assembly and no surgery will be necessary. I have two more weeks of restraint, then I will need to increase physical therapy. On our way home, we stopped at Sherwin Williams & Lynna picked some colors. They had work pants & shorts on sale so we bought some for this Summer's work. Eric from Stayton Heating came while we were gone. He unpacked the Vermont Castings stove for the Family Room & moved the Jotul stove into the Master Bedroom but he found some of the parts he ordered don't fit, so he called for replacements & will return Monday to finish the set up.

Another Busy Day

Eduardo's men worked until after 7 PM yesterday & returned early today. John & Ron came to finish the deck framing, build a railing, add a few more blocks for the drywall guys & then build Lynna's wide garage steps. They also re-hung the garage to outside door that was binding up after the siders attempt at door hanging. Lynna continued with her clean up, burning brush and construction debris.

The locksmith came & picked up the bargain locksets we got on e-Bay for re keying. Later this afternoon the Jotul & Vermont Castings stoves were delivered. The store owner had told Lynna they would only deliver them curbside & wouldn't consider placing them into a house under construction(because they weren't hired to do the install), but I got his two workers to bring them in & place them all ready for Eric to hook up tomorrow.