We made it! (sort of)

So we did it! After almost 17 months of renovations, we are now residing in our house. Please note that I did not say our house is done. Since our last post, this is what we’ve done:

installed cork flooring

more cork floor

built some ikea kitchen cabinets

installed a permanent-temporary ikea countertop (ryan plans to make another countertop)

and then we made some more cabinets

And then we moved our stuff. So that is more or less what we are living with – notice I did NOT say “we installed a shower” or “we installed the stove/refrigerator/oven.” That’s right, folks, we are  currently doing without. Not to say we have given up showering for the duration, we’re just being a bit nomadic and taking advantage of our friends’ and families’ showers – and food. And also notice that I did not say “we installed doors.” We also are doing without interior doors, which is fine while it’s just the two of us, but I think someday doors would be nice.

But it is kinda refreshing to have almost all of our stuff in one place again. And climbing a ladder to go to the bathroom isn’t so bad (except in the middle of the night). At least we have walls, heat, hot water and internet. What else do you really need?

More Pictures

Here you can see the orange/red ceiling of the dining room. The floor is shiny because we had just poured a self-leveling underlayment to prepare for the finished floor installation!

The self-leveling stuff is dry…doesn’t it look level? Part of the green ceiling is visible in this picture, too!

Downstairs…we have lights! With functional switches! The ceiling in this room (and the one behind it) is a light blue/lavender.

Another picture of the dining room.

Ryan asked the contractor to install a toilet temporarily…this is in the downstairs bathroom. It will eventually have to come back out so we can finish the floors and stuff.

Hard to tell by looking, but that is HOT WATER running out of that faucet. The contractor set up the utility sink in the garage, so after you use the toilet in the bathroom, you can walk out to the  garage to wash your hands. (Please wash your hands after using the bathroom. I really appreciate it.)

And, last but not least, this is our furnace. And it works! It is now warmer at our house than at our apartment.

Primer & Paint

As always, a lack of posts from us does not mean that progress isn’t being made on our house. In fact, we’ve been moving along a little faster than we have in the past. This is for a couple reasons:

1) Ryan is no longer at a full-time day job. This gives him a lot more time to devote to working on the house, and since he is there more, Denise is also there more.

2) We have a firm deadline now; our roommates (my sister & her husband) are expecting a baby and need us to leave by the end of February. Because we really don’t want to camp in our backyard, we are trying to make the house livable.

In the last couple months, we’ve seen a lot of visible changes in the house. This all started with the sheetrock (or drywall, if you want to be really technical about it) being installed. And then after a lot of sanding, vacuuming and wiping, Ryan painted on the primer.

This whole priming/painting business turned out to be a lot more complicated than we thought. We went back and forth for awhile on HOW to apply the paint and primer; the options being either rolling/brushing or spraying it on. We were torn because we heard that spraying would be a lot faster, but that there would be more paint wasted. Rolling/brushing would be slower, but the paint would stick to the walls better and it would be more efficient use of paint. Ryan was also concerned about roller/brush marks, which is why we ultimately ended up spraying all the primer and the finish white. However, because we ended up having some issues with the paint sprayer, we decided to roll on the colored paints we chose.

done with the primer coat – it was awfully white

downstairs

For those of you interested, all of our walls will be white. As in WHITE WHITE, the whitest white we could find at the paint store. The ceiling downstairs, however, is a light lavender-blue color, the ceiling of the dining room is orangey-red, and a low part of the ceiling in the ceiling is green. The ceilings in both bathrooms is also a light green. More pictures to come.

Overdue Update

Hi everyone! Obviously, we are not doing well at keeping up with this blog, and for those of you who are friends with us on facebook, you know that many things have been happening over the last couple months.

First big thing – we passed our inspections! Whoo-hoo! That was a huge hurdle for us. It basically means that the city approves of our house and has deemed it safe and up to code. It took 3 tries and lots of back-and-forthing with the building department before we were finally able to satisfy the inspectors.

The most exciting part of passing inspections meant that we could start “closing up” the walls, i.e. putting in insulation and hanging sheetrock! So after a couple weekends of finishing up last minute things, we hired some day laborers and they installed our insulation.

Who doesn’t love insulation? Keeps the house cool when it’s warm outside and keeps it warm when it’s cold…very good stuff. Unfortunately, it is also very itchy. Itchy, itchy, itchy.

After the house was insulated, we had the sheetrock guys deliver their supplies…and then they started hanging! How cool is this?

It’s starting to look like a house again! I can’t even begin to tell you how excited I’ve been about sheetrock…excitement on so many levels? Can I list a few reasons?

* We’re starting to see the finish line (at least until we can move in)

* It covers up the itchy insulation

* Work is happening at the house when Ryan and I are NOT there

* I think this will be the end of all that crazy martian dust insulation that keeps showing up

…and many many more.

Now that the sheetrock is hung, we apparently need another inspection, and  then the sheetrock guys will start mudding and sanding. The excitement keeps growing!

slowly coming along…

okay. so in the last…what has it been? two months? since our last update, we’ve had a couple of fairly significant things happen.

1) We got our building permit signed off! Whoo hoo! It took two visits from the building inspector, some foam insulation installation (and then removal), fire-retardant caulking stuff, and lots of praying, but we are just about good to start installing insulation and closing things up.

2) However, we did not pass our plumbing inspection. It has something to do with the way our pipes are vented – I never even knew pipes had to be vented, but I guess it makes sense now that I think about it. So we are going to have our plumber guys re-vent things and then we will be even closer to closing things up.

In the meantime, we are doing all sorts of miscellaneous things to provide further support to our house – installing things called “straps,” putting in additional hold-downs (i.e., making sure the house is really really stuck to the foundation), and more waterproofing.

That’s right. We’re still waterproofing our downstairs room. Ryan found another waterproofing system – an acrylic surface-applied thingy – and we’ve been applying that to the concrete. Hopefully, all these things we’ve done will work and the master bedroom will stay dry this winter.

We started putting in some insulation in one of the rooms in the house. Here are some pictures of that:

before the insulation

insulation

plywood over the insulation

We’re hoping that we’ll be able to put insulation in the rest of the house in the next coming weeks…and after that comes sheetrock!

The Most Significant Thing We’ve Done

We bought our house almost 50 weeks ago and started demolition about 11 months ago. New concrete has been poured, walls have been built, a new subfloor installed, and a hole was cut for the stairs. But this past weekend, we made the most significant change to the house so far. If you recall, our house has a pitched roof – that is, it’s not flat. It comes to a point at the top. In order to maintain this shape there are horizontal pieces of wood running from one side of the house to the other. These pieces of wood are, essentially, pulling the exterior walls of the house together and preventing the whole house from going splat.

original wooden beams

The goal this weekend was to replace 4 of the wooden beams with steel rods, with the eventual plan of cutting down the rest of wood and having those 4 rods do the work of 12 or so wooden beams. Crazy stuff, if you ask me.  It was a looooong weekend, and we will be forever in debt to the friends who helped us.  

These are the steel pieces. There are 8 steel rods – 2 for each wooden beam. They meet in the middle and are fastened together by a turnbuckle. Ryan had to thread all the steel rods by hand. On the left side of the picture is one of the steel saddles. This is what anchors the steel rod to the house. Confused? So was I. 

rods and saddles

 The first step was installing the saddles. Easier said than done. In order to install each saddle, we first had to cut off the 25 foot long redwood beam, install a piece of blocking (sorta like a piece of filler wood), chip out a section of the roof framing so the saddle would be flush, pound the saddle in, drill holes for the bolts, and bolt them in. Sound like a lot of work? There were 8 of the them. 

Ryan, cutting down the existing beam

beam is down, and blocking is in

John, chipping away the extra wood

 

saddle is in!

 After each set of saddles were installed, we measured the distance between them to determine exactly how long the steel rods needed to be. Then someone had to cut the steel rod to size, which was like watching a fireworks show. 

measuring

 Once the rods were the proper length, we could finally install them…this part took at least 3 guys: one on each end and one in the middle.

Screwing the rod to the saddle

The last step was to adjust the middle. Ryan devised a clever way of being able to tighten both rods at the same time using the turnbuckle. I don’t know that I have the words to adequately describe how it works, so I’ll try to get Ryan to describe it later on. I thought it was brilliant.

Tightening the turnbuckle

One rod finished!

So with six people, we were able to get 3 of the 4 rods finished in one loooong day.

 

Denise vs. The Waterproofing

If you recall, during the rainy season we had some flooding problems with one of the rooms on the ground floor (what will eventually be the master bedroom). Obviously, this was not part of the original design. So over the past few months, Ryan has been investigating various waterproofing products. After consulting with a waterproofing specialist (who knew such a thing existed?), Ryan discovered a product known as Xypex. 

 

 

 

 

According to their website, Xypex has “set an international standard for concrete waterproofing. Xypex prevents the penetration of water and other liquids from any direction by causing a catalytic reaction that produces a non-soluble crystalline formation within the pores and capillary tracts of concrete and cement-based materials.” I like the sound of that. Apparently, this is the stuff that gets used to help prevent water leaking into things such as subway stations, tunnels, power stations, and manholes. Ryan figured if it could keep water out of those massive structures, then it would probably due the trick in our little bedroom. 

As this is a somewhat contained, smaller scale project, Ryan delegated nearly all the waterproofing tasks to me. So first came the preparation: stripping the paint off the concrete, chemical etching, power washing, and patching. And then we had to special order the Xypex from someplace in Redding. I was sent to pick up the 60-pound bucket all by myself. It was quite a site to see me trying to lug it from the car into the house.

Finally, after weeks of various obstacles, came the day that I would apply the Xypex. I started the day off with another trip to Home Depot to pick up last minute stuff, including a new Shop Vac. I bought the little bitty baby one because I like things that are a size I can manage. I figured it’ll be easier to store in the future, too.

Then I had do final prep work on the concrete – one more vacuum with the shop vac to get rid of the dust and debris and then I had to spray down and saturate the concrete with water. Last step prior to applying the stuff: mixing it. The Xypex comes in a powder form and gets mixed with water and applied, either with a special sprayer-thingy or a paint brush. As we are not so fancy and do not have a special sprayer-thingy, I went with paint brush.

When I started all this, I figured it wouldn’t be much worse than any other painting project. Slap it on and you’re good to go. But nooo…Xypex is very particular. It requires a wet surface for application, and you have to mix it in small quantities to ensure that the catalytic reaction occurs in the concrete and not in the bucket in which it’s mixed. So this meant I had to mix at least 4 batches of the stuff, and was constantly running for the hose to keep the surface wet. It was slow work applying it, too. Unlike paint, this was more goopy and took some effort to spread around. I spent nearly 4 hours hunched over spreading this stuff around. I got three blisters on my hands and my hands were so tired I could barely write afterwards.  That stuff had me totally beat. Denise – 0 Waterproofing – 1. 

 

bedroom waterproofed (hopefully)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The worst part about this is that this is pretty much our only shot with this stuff. So if I screwed up at all in the application, it will all be for naught and our bedroom will be forever leaky. So cross your fingers and pray with me that I did it right!

Stupid Garage Door

So it wasn’t such a great time at the house this past weekend.  A couple of things:

FIRST off, I had scheduled the rough framing inspection for Friday afternoon.  So Thursday evening I was at the apartment, trying to get things together.  You need to things to show the inspector:  The job card (showing all the inspection sign-offs, inspectors notes, and dates) and the permit drawings (approved with stamps by the building department).  It turns out that I couldn’t find the drawings, but I easily found the job card.  Denise and I tore the apartment apart, to no avail.  I have no idea where a huge folder of paperwork went, and I just had it a week ago.  I checked at the house, at work, and at home, and the drawings were nowhere to be found.  So I looked pretty dumb, explaining to the inspector that the drawings were lost.  Even worse, he couldn’t sign off on them without seeing the drawings.

 

The SECOND crappy thing was that he wants me to go submit a revision to the building department.  We reinforced the existing roof from the inside, adding new pieces of wood to basically make things stronger.  This decision came after construction had started, so the work was not in the original permit.  The inspector said it wasn’t a big deal, but wanted me to go back to the building department (the evil place with long lines and mean people) and talk to one of the engineers and make sure the work was ok.  Good thing I planned all this out with my awesome structural engineer friend Christian (www.rough-tumble.com) before doing the work.  Still, this means more drawings, delay, and time.  Here’s a picture of our stronger roof, by the way:

 

new roof framing

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And THIRD, I was all set for a productive afternoon at the house today.  I get started with some work in the garage, and accidentally hit a garage door cable.  You see, our garage door is kinda old.  It’s not all fancy with a motor and remote control and buttons that make it open or close.  You’ve gotta put the key in, unlock it, and lift the damn thing.  There are two cables on each side, attached to a spring, that supposedly help you open and close it easier.  Those cables are actually really important.  So I accidentally hit one of the cables loose, leaving big mess of wire.  I thought that I’d fix it all later, but then found that the dumb door gets stuck without them.  So instead of a productive afternoon, I ended up fixing a garage door that wasn’t very good to begin with.  By the time I was done, it was time for dinner.  Here’s the dumb door that ought to be replaced anyways:

 

Garage Door

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

LAST, and unrelated to the house, I lost my car on Sutter street this morning, and walked around the block twice trying to find it.

All in all, hopefully next weekend will be better.

Mechanical, Electrical & Plumbing Pictures

Here are some more detailed pictures of the MEP work, now finished at the house.  Rough inspections (by the city building department) are tomorrow.  Wish me luck!

Here’s the main duct, covered now in insulation.  Not shown and to the right, the duct starts at the furnace, in the garage.  Ground floor registers are in the ceiling.  Upstairs, the air will come out of the cabinet ‘kick’ or the floor.  The duct will be enclosed in the same cabinet material.

Here’s the electrical sub-panel, with all the circuit breakers.  Power comes from outside PG&E lines overhead, to the main panel with the meter, and then to this sub-panel.  From here, wires to to all the lights and power in ever room.  Different color wires carry different amounts of power.  Orange, for example is 30 amps, going to the electric clothes dryer & oven.

Let there be light!  We tested the lights, to make sure everything works.  This picture is of the recessed cans downstairs.  They’re halogen, uninteresting, and pretty much as cheap as you can get.  At least they line up.

This plumbing picture is taken from the garage.  All the waste lines come to a point before going into the ground and into the main at the street.  All these pipes come from the kitchen and bathroom upstairs.

Plumbing waste lines not only go into the ground, but need to be ‘vented’ to the roof.  Vents provide relief of sewer gases and prevent these gases from entering the building.  With exceptions, every plumbing fixture must have a vent.  In our second floor, only one wall extends to the roof.  All the other walls are partial height and stop at 8′ above the ground.  So to hide all the pipes, they needed to come to this one full height wall, and vented to the roof.  Also in this wall are bathroom exhaust fan vents (in silver) and a flue from the furnace (black plastic).

Lastly, here’s the kitchen sink plumbing.  Since it’s on an island, there’s no place for a regular vent, discussed above.  So the piping has to be configured in what’s called a ‘loop vent’.  It loops around and connects with another pipe, eventually going to the roof.  In the picture, it’s the larger copper pipe, forming an upside down ‘V’.  The 4 smaller copper pipes are the water supply, hot and cold, for both the dishwasher and kitchen sink.  A required ‘clean-out’ is below and behind the blue hose.

Progress!

Hi Everyone,

Again, we haven’t been so great with updating.  This time, we have lots to update.  Also, a side note, I accidentally deleted 3 comments recently.  Sorry about that.  Feel free to repost.

So now, not only do we have floors, but we have walls, pipes, ducts, lights, switches and wires!  Rough plumbing, electrical, and mechanical inspections are scheduled this coming Tuesday.  So enough with words, here are some pictures:

Upstairs framing.  You can see the entrance to the two bedrooms in the middle.  The 8′ high wall is going to contain all the kitchen cabinets.  The bathroom is behind and in he middle.  Only one wall goes up to the high ceiling.  It contains all plumbing vents and is also a structural wall.

Here’s a close-up of the back of that tall wall.  All the plumbing vents from the entire house come into this one wall, and up to the roof.  The bathroom exhaust fans & furnace flue also comes through this wall.

Here’s the roof.  The lower pieces of wood spanning across the house will  be removed.  They’ll be replaced with 4 steel rods.  You can see the framing for the skylights to the left.

More of the upstairs.  The dining room is behind.  The lower wall has the kitchen sink plumbing.  The island will go in front.

View from the back of the house.  You can see the hole where the stairs are going to the right.

Close-up of the stair hole.  It starts at the far point from the camera, and turns an ‘L’ as you descend.

This photo is from the entertainment room downstairs.  It’s looking toward the stair hole and the master bedroom beyond.  To the right is the garage.  The yellow thing in the ceiling is insulation, covering a duct.  One main heating duct runs from the front of the house to the back, with registers that admit heat, to each of the upstairs and downstairs rooms.  The rectangles with circles in them are the recessed lights.