problem solving

Today I wrapped up a complicated (to me) little piece of framing, the part where the wall in the south bedroom has to go up over the door to meet the vaulted ceiling. On the back of the wall is the drop ceiling over the hallway, so the challenge was making something that could be nailed for drywall in that little spot.

I used a 2x6 as the top plate, using a straight edge laid across the rest of the rafters to locate it, so that it could double as a nailer for the ceiling and then it came together pretty well. The only tricky part was trying to nail it from above. Suffice it to say that knuckle scrapage happened. Curses were uttered. This afternoon, if time, I'll wrap up those ceiling joists in the hall and then, drumroll please, it is time to schedule some wiring and get some drywall bids, people!

Incidentally, how the crap did these people get our home address?

while outside...

On a break, took some photos of the front garden.

Columbines about to pop.

The living fence.

Freshly staked peonies.

Tulips and Subaru.

And one of the back. I think that Tica's hunting days are over.

side project

You know, however busy you might feel, you are never too busy to slow down, take a breath, and take on a side project. This weekend, it has been the pathway install. We used some bricks from the chimney that we tore out last summer (a messy, messy ordeal from which we are still physically and emotionally recovering), about 200 lbs. of playsand, and some gravel for drainage. Now way back when, when the client and I were still doing fun things outside of the house, we took a class together at the local community college on landscape construction. We both passed, even though I think that she did better on the final than I did. The only thing that either of us can remember, however, is, "Firm, stable base." As in, whether you're building a retaining wall, planting bed, patio, or walkway, you need one.

The client researched some brick-laying patterns that she enjoyed and decided on a running bond with a gracefull curve.

View from the porch. Came out ok!

30 inches of wide-shouldered pleasure

So as we won't have to walk sideways into the bathroom upstairs, the client has graciously agreed to go with a 30 inch door. Here's the rough opening. The door is back there contemplating it's new home. You'll notice the linen closet directly to the left. Right across from the washing machine! Designers are neat people.

And shimminy cricket! Those upstairs floors are whack! As Flavor Flav would put it, "Yipes." Everything kind of bends down toward the east edge of the house, so this shim is needed over the top plate to keep things from becoming too Salvador Dali-looking.

it's the little things

Today on the early morning dump run, the sun finally came out. I pulled up to the kiosk at them entrance to the transfer station, rolled down my window, and started, without looking up, writing my $25.00 check to throw some more of the house away. While I was writing, the fedora-wearing attendant wordlessly reached over and laid a Tootsie Roll so that it balanced perfectly on the open window sill of the Subaru.

Who doesn't like an 8 am Tootsie Roll?

Architectural Upshot

So. We met with our architect on Sunday to work through some things, not least of which was the door dilemma. We're going with a 30" door.



The roofdeck is still not feeling totally right with me, but fortunately we can put that off for awhile and let it percolate.



We also brainstormed some interesting ideas for getting light into the stairwell. It has a south facing wall, but there is a house close by and a big window would make for an ugly view. So we're right now leaning toward a Le Corbusier style perforated wall like at the Chuch at Ronchamps. There was a neat article in November's Dwell about this idea being used in Minneapolis. I tried to source some of those little windows and had some luck in Sodo today. It would look sweet from the outside and the inside.

Attention Dropout Smokers

This shim explains a lot of the old framing.

door dilemma

Well, a small dilemma. 24" or 30" door for the upstairs bathroom? The plans call for a 24 incher, but I'm not convinced. All of our other doors are 30. We had one closet door that was 24" upstairs and that seemed appropriate. For a closet. But a bathroom?



The client, however, loves the idea. With the 24, the door opening would be narrow enough so that the linen closet door would not ever interfere with comings and goings from the bathroom. But my thinking is that it is a linen closet door. You don't leave it open. You get out your linens and you shut the door. And it's not like the doors would ever collide. The bathroom door would swing in. Our old downstairs linen closet had a (30", now that I remember) door swing that totally blocked the door to the den when it was open. I heard no complaints.



I think that the upshot will be that I'm going to use one of our old 30s and an old 24 to see what they would look like in the space. Hopefully the client will come around.

On a side note, all of that electrical work has to go, as that is where the new bedroom door will be (to the church room). Another exciting day project.

Even more demo on the way.

Just when I thought I was out, they pull me back in. It looks as though I'm going to have to take down this wall so I can finish framing the laundry room closet ceiling and the rest of the hallway ceiling.

Well, it was going to have to go eventually anyway. I'll also have to move this door a couple of feet to the left. And then tie in the new wall to the old framing, which might be tricky.















I sometimes feel as though I may never finish demolishing, but then I remember that there is a finite amount of material to be demolished and I am approaching the end of it. So far we've put 8 tons of house into dumpsters, brought 1.5 tons to the dump in a pickup truck, and brought 5 Subaru Units, at roughly a half ton per trip, to the dump as well. That makes 12 tons of house. Hopefully, the reduced weight of the house will really improve our highway mileage.

If I had one of these, I could have made just one trip.

Since April is national poetry month, I have a poem:

Stack-Ranked Tools for Demo

Hammer
Prybar
Circuit tester
Sawzall
Lung protection
Ear protection
Broom
Shop vac
Shovel
Sports radio

Dump day!

While the client is in La Jolla, I have the opportunity to stuff the Subaru with trash and head to the dump! A major dent was made in the trash pile today, with an estimated 2 Subaru units removed. Maybe one more this afternoon?


















An estimated 1 Subaru Unit

The dump can be a pretty metaphysical place. For $25, you can literally throw a carload of crap into the abyss. It is a great feeling unloading stuff from your own pile, but you are of course just adding to our own collective larger pile. And that pile really has nowhere to go. What happens when Oregon fills up?





the abyss








I am unbelievably thankful for my days driving the old bread delivery box van through downtown Seattle. Backing up to loading docks is great preparation for backing up a loaded station wagon to the dump's drop zone. I had to wedge the car between a giant trash moving machine with studded concrete wheels and a vintage panel van today.

And just my luck! I happened to time my trip with these guys unloading all their spoiled fish. Yum.

Camera found!

The camera has surfaced, along with my copy of Residential Framing. Thank goodness for both.


Look at that. Blocking is not just for football. It probably would have been easier to have the joists lap, but I needed to have them run against the existing partition walls for the laundry room and stairwell. It seemed to lay out better this way.

Here's Mar's closet, the hallway, and the laundry room all with their new ceilings!

This was the part that I was worried about the most, but I think that it will be ok. There are nailers for the rafters and the ceiling, so all the drywall should go up pretty easily.

Of course, building ceilings requires the building of some sweet safety scaffolding.

Some more patent-pending safety scaffolding.

Drop it like it's hot!

The drop ceilings are pretty much in now, I'm just getting to the spot where they follow the rafters over the stairwell. I'd have some photos, but I'm experiencing some camera problems, as in 'Where's the camera?'

I think that they look great! They're level with the existing floor, which is a bit out. They've also really tied the whole thing together. It feels bombproof now. And it looks like real room spaces upstairs! SO exciting. There's lots of blocking and it probably could have been done more Swiss watch-like, but it will do fine.

Photos as soon as I find the camera.

Ceiling time.

It's time to frame me some ceiling! Yesterday, I only mananged one dump run. The pile looks the same. However, I also did some thinking about the ceiling framing. I'm new to it, but I'm getting the idea that framing is not just about holding things up in a way that they won't fall down, but it's just as much about holding things up in a way that conserves materials and time for the framing project and for future projects, like wiring, plumbing, and especially drywall. The motivation? I'm not sure if it's that having things come together like a Swiss watch looks elegant and saves time and material and also increases insulation efficiency, or if it's just a contempt for drywallers.










So here we go. The ceiling will go all the way to the rafters on the near side of this partition, but will be dropped over the closet, hallway, laundry room, and staircase behind it. We don't need a soaring 12 foot ceiling over the washing machine.

This is where the ceiling will get a bit juicy. The ceiling over the stairs will be a horizontal plane except for one small spot on the southwest corner of the stair bay. It will have to turn to follow the line of the rafters.

My extremely detailed and notated drawings for the plan.

More extremely detailed and notated sketches.

Post Spring Break

A new week brings some new goals. I'd like to remove the debris on the south side of the house, which entails several dump runs.

Like I said before, it seems to take a lot more space outside than inside.

I'll also need to open up a wall in the hallway downstairs so that we have a place to locate wires for the four or so circuits going upstairs (for now). None of the bathroom piping or wiring is happening now, that will all go through the chase in the dining room when the time comes. I think that I'd also like to get the ceiling in Mar's closet framed and start to figure out how to frame the ceiling in the hallway, laundry room, and staircase. Unfortunately, expert framer Robert is in PA this week visiting familia, so I'm flying solo. I've also seemed so have lost my 'Residential Framing' book. It'll probably turn up, though, now that it is needed.

An unholy mess.

Yesterday I fixed my framing nailer! Exciting times. It had a slow leak that kept the compressor going constantly. That's what I get for shopping at American Pawn. Messing around with an allen wrench and an adjustable wrench has me feeling like a mechanic. And just in time...

Here's Marianna's new closet. It's big. Like bedroom big.

Here's our new ceiling gussets. It'll make a sweet little space up at the top of our vaulted bedroom ceiling for speakers, lights, or a disco ball anchor.

We also have this unholy mess. Yikes. I have to take of it before the client heads up there.

Howell for Action

It has taken some looking around and I'm not totally convinced of it, but I think that Howell for Action may be referring to Lem Howell, a prominent Seattle attorney. He seems active in lots of building and trades cases. The bumper sticker in the wall made reference to, in tiny print, the painters and decorators union.

Mr. Howell's secretary was unable to say whether or not he actually ran for prosecuting attorney, but he did run for Attorney General of the State.

objets trouve

Yesterday I found some interesting things. I already mentioned the legos. Today, I looked at them closely. These are obviously from the 'Terrifying Circus' lego module.

This was written on a stud in a partition wall. I'm not sure who Andrew Jensen is, but it's cool that his phone number has two letters in it.

The wall paper that was on the office. Most of it was under a few coats of paint and some paneling. Aside from 'train', 'clock', and 'house', there was also 'soldier'.

I'd vote for him. Or her. This was underneath some paneling. I'll need to do some research as to when Howell was running.

Sweet cardboard crawl-in-playhouse! I think that the dude leaning out the window is pointing a gun at me. These are the instructions for assembly and I found most of the parts of the playhouse, but it was too damaged to salvage. Such a shame! It really looks fun!

Here is the King Kan. 32 oz. I think nowadays you can either have a 22 oz. (double deuce) or you have to commit to the 40.

Well, that went pretty well. Of course, I have gotten pretty good at destroying things by now. You can see the old bottom plate of the wall on the right. There's a teeny bit more to do today.

First, I had to build a temporary wall to keep our hold up the rest of the ceiling and to create a clean space where we could keep our stuff.

I found some legos underneath the walls. I also found a Miller High Life King Kan in a brown paper bag in the ceiling. Now, I enjoy a Miller High Life as much as the next person, but why a brown paper bag if you're in your own attic?

So now these two rooms are all the way gone. They seem to take up a lot more room in the side yard than they did while they were in the house. It's relatively organized, though, into the ways that the dump receives things: general garbage (drywall, plaster, insulation), clean wood, and metal. Today, construction!

Today I am going to destroy this room.