Monday Blaine, the Marion County inspector, came by to check our final inspection corrections and everything passed. He signed off & we are approved to move in. Lynna had two moving companies out for estimates & it won't be very expensive since it's a local move with no milage charges.

We decided to put another finish coat on our floors as neither of us liked the matte finish. I vacuumed, mopped & went over everything with a tack rag to get them as clean as possible, then put on a light coat of Daly's oil floor finish. It looks pretty good but may have too much gloss, so we might rent a floor polisher to buff it some and (hopefully) end up with a semi-gloss finish.

We picked up Lynna's cabinet doors from the shop that installed the glass and I hung them this morning before I put the finish coat on the Kitchen, Nook & Family Room.

My Bosch mitre saw has been showing its age. The motor takes about 10 seconds to get up to speed and if I cut to soon, the blade will stop. Also, the shut-off brake doesn't stop the blade very well any more. It can be overhauled, but doesn't have the laser cutting guide like the new models, so we made another trip to Western Tool. They just closed some stores & are selling excess inventory at fire sale prices. I found a brand new Hitachi 12" mitre saw for less than I paid for the Bosch 15 years ago. I had also been watching a General cabinet saw that was a marked down display model from another store. It had been in the clearance room since before Christmas & the price was down another $500 since our last visit. At $1,000 off their regular price, it was just to good a buy to pass up. I bought both & asked if they could hold them until I have time to pick everything up. Now I have to clean up my old saws & sell them along with the Stanley floor stapler and the old Emglo air compressor.

Today I did a test of Daly's floor finish on the pantry floor. It was the tung oil product we used on our oak floors in Olympia and we liked the easy upkeep. Traffic wear & scratches can be touched up without removing the old finish & the touched up area blends with the old finish, so it doesn't show. We liked the Pal Oil finish on our Maple floors but it is a bit to flat & has no shine. I called Daly's about using it for a finish coat. They thought it would apply right over the Pal Oil with no problems but suggested I test in small area. It doesn't show well in the picture but we like the look. It applied with no problems and was easy to get even coverage. It deepens the tone that the Pal Oil gave to the maple & it appears there will be a semi-gloss finish when it is fully dried.

Next I put down some laminate flooring on the landing at the top of the Bonus Room stairway.

Lynna found & collected all the shelves for her cupboard and only a few had their oil finish, so I started to put finish on the rest. I completed all the kitchen shelving & will do the Laundry Room and bathroom vanity shelves tomorrow. If we pick up the glass cupboard doors tomorrow, I can hang them in the afternoon. The counter top cabinet doors swing upwards & lynna decided to put handles on them. They are taped into place for a trial fit & when she gives the go ahead, I'll make a template to drill & mount them.

Mike, our electrician came by around 6 PM and dropped off the replacement air switch for the jetted tub, so I can work on that tomorrow also.

Final Part II

I finished closing off the stairway this morning and moved on to the jetted tub. There were two problems to fix: We needed a service hatch that was easily removable and the air switch didn't activate the pump.

I had lightly nailed a small piece of hardiboard on the end of the tub surround where the manual recommended a hatch, but then we tiled over it for a clean look. I used a linoleum knife to score through the grout line and popped the board off without breaking any tiles. I plan to use a magnetic latch to hold it closed this time.

The tub had been tested after wiring & everything worked fine, so why wasn't it working now? The inspector had been tripping all the GFI circuits, perhaps one was still off. I went through the house & found a circuit in the basement that was tripped, but the tub pump was still inactive. I soon discovered the hose from the air switch to the relay box was disconnected at the switch end. The switch is located in the center of the tub on the side against the wall. Insulation was stuffed around everything & that was probably how the hose came loose. The switch was held in place with a nut on the back side, to far to reach from the hatch. I could remove the switch & re-attach the hose, then fish tape it back to the pump but it would be difficult, and the switch would need to be glued in place. I decided to get a new switch & relocate it near the pump for easy service in the future. No place in town could get a new switch without several days wait but Mike, our electrician is bringing one by tomorrow.

While I was working on the tub, two fellows from BC Plumbing came & reversed the shower valves. They noticed our toilet base hadn't been caulked, so they did all four before leaving.

I scheduled a re-inspection for Monday. (Paul, the last picture is for you :)

FINAL INSPECTION

The County inspector came yesterday afternoon and did the final inspection. It went better than we expected, but there are three corrections needed before we can move in. He found two of the rotary shower controls plumbed hot for cold/cold for hot, I have to close off the open risers on our stairway, and the tub surround needs a removable panel for servicing. I called the plumber to come fix the controls & started working on the stairs. I was halfway done when we quit for the day. We couldn't reach our tile setter so I will begin that project when the stairs are finished.

My surgeon was pleased with my recovery so far and says I can keep working on the house with no restrictions but it will be another month or two before I am fully healed, so "take it easy". Whatever that means.(I chose not to ask & avoided a list of proscribed activities)

We picked up 3 gallons of floor finish & dropped off our cabinet doors to have the glass installed. They'll be ready Thursday, but we won't be back in Salem for a week or so.

This afternoon I managed to put down a few more boards on our deck & a state boiler inspector dropped by. He checked out our installation & it passed. He liked everything & only suggested I label the sub-panel & circuit breaker "Emergency Boiler shut-off" which I'll do tomorrow.

I got the window arch tops insulated & nailed a piece of Cedar bender board up to help keep everything in place until I do the wood wrap & trim.

Lynna noticed a few small damage spots where someone dropped a tool on the small bathroom shower floor, so we had a repairman out to fix it. Steve did a great job & chatting with him afterwards, I discovered he lives in Salem, 3 houses from our son Jeremy. His daughter is best friends with our grandaughter Madeline. The next day, Lynna was cleaning the Master Bath shower pan & found another spot which could easily have been repaired had we known.

Dogs at the work site: While I was finding & cutting Cedar boards in the garage, our new "puppie" Peaches took a few nibbles from the insulation roll. I wasn't there to scold her so things escalated quickly, bite by bite. She always carries forbidden things to her favorite spot in the Family Room & that's where I found her.

Bad weather & my surgery kept us from church for a month, so it was nice to return Sunday.

Monday I felt pretty good & spent most of the day screwing down a few more deck boards. It was a bright, sunny day, 24F in the shade down at our rental, but the covered porch was much warmer and morning sun reflecting from our low "e" windows forced me to take off my wool layers right away.

I found a spot on the edge of our tray ceiling paint that needs a touch up. Its only visible from the far corner of the Dining Room but bugs me enough that I have to fix it.

Today I have a post-op appointment in the morning which we will combine with shopping in Salem, then a State boiler inspector is coming in the afternoon to check our installation.

Spent all day yesterday touching up all the spots I spackled Wednesday & even got the cooktop vent pipe painted. I finished every room except the Library but I won't put up pictures of paint drying! Today I'm going to foam insulate some holes in my daylight basement wall where drain lines pass through and I also need to insulate a few spots I noticed at the top of our arched windows.

Yesterday I finished up the boiler plumbing. Soldered the other zone valve in place and then put caps on the supply and return lines for the house. We're just using the boiler with an indirect water heater for now with our Jotul & Vermont Castings gas stoves suppying heat for the house until I plumb in all the baseboard units later this year. I finally finished hanging a light by my band saw before I quit for the day.

Today I went through the house & patched up all the dings & dents accumulated during the laying & refinishing of our Maple flooring. Tomorrow will be a paint day & perhaps the HVAC tech will show up to do the last wiring on the boiler so I can call a State boiler inspector out. I will need his certificate when I call for the County Final.

We had to pick up our dog Peaches from the kennel this afternoon so I had a short work day. It started by ferrying some of my bicycles from our rental up to the new house. The new faucett in our laundry room leaked around the lever and our plumbers were unable to adjust it, so we had exchanged it last week. I installed the new one today & it works perfectly. I put some house numbers up and met with the HVAC tech who will wire in the zone valves and the low water/high temp cutoff devices on my boiler. We should be able to call for a final inspection soon.

Today I wired a thermostat to each of our gas stoves. The County inspector agreed the stoves satisfy the heat requirement if they have a thermostat so I just hung an old stat in each room & ran the wire along the floor edge to the stove . In the afternoon I mounted a hand rail for our stairs.

I'm making a quick recovery from my surgery but not allowed to do any heavy lifting for the next two weeks, so this morning I worked at getting our boiler operational. First I installed & wired the spill switch and the circulator pump, then connected the hot water maker thermostat to the boiler control module. Next I filled & bled the boiler, opened the gas valve & turned on the power. When I turned up the thermostat, the boiler ran through its start program, then shut down without lighting. There were several blinking red lights on the control module. This was because the air in the gas line hadn't completely purged out. I turned the breaker off, waited a minute then powered up again and the boiler lit right off and began making hot water.


In the afternoon, Lynna drove me to Freres Lumber and I bought some hardware and a hand rail for the stairway to our bonus room.

The plumber worked on our boiler all day yesterday. He had only done light repair work on a boiler about 6 years ago, but with my knowledge from earlier installations and his plumbing ability, we got all the new safety devices installed along with all the normal boiler fittings that the supply house sold me with the boiler. He only needs a few more fittings to complete the job.

I worked on the deck yesterday but didn't get finished. I had surgery scheduled for 9 AM today so when I cleaned up, I laid decking & scraps of plywood on the open areas of the deck framing so we have a safe surface until I can work again. I will post pictures later.

(5PM) The surgery went well and afterwards they gave me a local anesthetic plus pills, so I feel no pain & life is good. We checked Peaches in to a kennel for a week of boarding plus daily training & Lynna is taking Sunny out until I can manage again.

When we got home we found our landlord's father had come with a helper & cleared away the downed tree. They hauled off all of the brush, cut the main trunk into rounds for firewood & somehow raised the stump & remaining trunk back upright again. (later found out the tree righted itself when Wendell had cut about half the trunk into rounds. Wendell came back a day later & cut the rest of the trunk into rounds)

I took these last pictures after cleaning up for the day. If you look closeley, you can see Lynna & Sunny heading down to our rental home.(its the center house mostly hidden in the trees)

In the early hours of January 2, roaring wind noise and the sound of flying branches hitting the walls & roof of our home woke us about 2:30 AM. Then we heard branches popping & breaking followed by a tremendous thud that shook the house. We turned on the radio but the power soon went out. After 10 or 15 minutes, the wind eased a bit & we went back to sleep. In the morning, we found a large Fir tree had fallen from North to South across our back yard. I took some pictures today. Not much damage but a big mess for the owner of our rental to clean up.

It was 33F when I started work on our deck this morning but I was comfortable with a jacket over two wool shirts and a wool cap. After about an hour, the sun came out. It was only 35F out but the covered porch was so warm, I had to remove my jacket & outer wool shirt. We had sun all day & I was quite comfortable while I cut & fit the decking.

I found our framer had placed one of the deck joist ends and some L flashing a bit high which was making the deck board sit high at that point. Rather than reframe that part of the deck, I did some quick chisel work to make the decking line up.

I worked on the deck yesterday but soon had to stop & re-stack the lumber onto the completed section. It was really nasty out today, with lots of wind driven rain. At first, the wind direction changed several times & our covererd porch gave good shelter from the North East & North West which made for comfortable working conditions, but then the main storm arrived, & it settled in to a South West soaker which hosed half the porch. I tried to use the wood that was already wet in the area exposed to the rain and saved the dry stack for the remaining sheltered area. The wet & heavy boards slowed me down some, but I made progress & the finished area is looking good. These cedar boards were milled to a full 2"X6" and it takes almost a 9" cut to get a 45* angle, which is the limit on my 12" mitre saw. Lynna worked inside cleaning bathrooms & vacuuming the floor. Both dogs kept watch from the french doors.