THE SHOP BECOMING AND BECOMES A SHOP...

In the beginning...

The wall frames go up...

From the living room looking towards the bedroom and kitchen...

The kitchen sink will go in the corner. The door is our old mud room door. The "hieroglyphics" is the plans for the cabinets, stove, and refrigerator

From the kitchen to the bedroom

From the bedroom to the kitchen and living room...

Update for 03-22-14: Designs...

UPDATE 03-26-14:

With the help of my MIL, my wife and I go to Lowes to order and purchase the following: 40 gallon water heater ($192), white 30-inch undercabinet range hood ($71), bathroom fan, bathroom heater ($101), one-piece tub/shower ($546), faucets, garbage disposer, three 72x48 Pella windows ($521), 36-inch 6-panel prehung interior door, two 36-inch 6-panel hollow composite interior doors ($61), 24x36 Pella window ($90), pet door, kitchen faucet, bathroom faucet, door knobs, mirrored closet sliding door, 30-inch 5-cubic foot gas range ($525)...

UPDATE 03-31-14:

My MIL decided NOT to move in with us citing personal reasons for not wanting to relocate. My wife and I have decided to convert this project into a shop area. There will be very few modifications to the floor plan. In place of the kitchen, there will be a huge walk-in closet for our clothes...my wife's especially. The work is progressing slowly but it is getting there.

UPDATE 04-02-14:

We canceled a majority of the stuff we ordered at Lowes.

UPDATE 04-03-14:

The drywall goes up for the walk-in closet and the door frame in place.

WHERE'S "WALL"DO...

In the "bedroom" looking at the "kitchen"...

In the "kitchen" looking at the "bedroom"...

In the "living room" looking towards the "bedroom" on the left and the "kitchen" on the right...

The beginning of the new bathroom for my MIL...

SEPTIC, O SEPTIC

I dug all of the dirt out with a pick axe and a spade. Fortunately, the ground was soft from the rains, but the dirt was laden with moisture.

The leech line to the left had to be repaired due to the brittleness of the existing pipe.

The aqua-colored pipe is from the house. The white will be replaced with...

this new connection...

The view of the sarcophagus.

UPDATE:

The septic, repairs and all are complete.

The pipe into the septic (left side) was cemented in and could not be removed. We had to take a replacement pipe and cut it along the longitude in order to compress the new pipe and squeeze into the existing pipe. Glued and sealed, that pipe is going nowhere. Septic ingenuity.

I will wait until I am sure that all of the piping I will need is in place. I ain't, and I repeat, I ain't gonna dig this stuff up again.

Update for 03-22-14: There was a malodorous aire emanating from the leech line. It appears the plastic wrap had hidden a bad connection...correction...a bad installation job. There was no connection...the pipes were never connected. The wrap was used to "finish" the job. The problem was fixed.

Before...

After...
Dirt had to be shoveled in to soak up the black water and to keep the odor at bay....

peeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee-uuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!!

THIS SIDE UP...79 PLANKS AND THEN SOME

A before...

No more vapor barrier showing the eyesore "es top roving."

Well, maybe not...

As of March 19, 2014, we have purchased and used 79 cement planks...





These doors made with the cement siding were installed below the kitchen bay window. We will install the hardware later. It will be used for storage.

The electrical box will soon be "hidden." Sorry, PGE, but your SmartMeter will still work. The conduit and box will be encased with only an inch of the meter's face sticking out. The line you see from the box to the deck floor will be covered.

And this what it looks like in the early evening hours...

Another update...

We are slowly making progress...

As of this date, we have purchased and used 79 cement planks.

AVOC"ART"O

I came upon this piece of oak loading up the wheelbarrow for firewood. The hole had the shape of an avocado and I thought I might as well take a picture.

My wife thinks I have way too much time on my hands...

Anyhoooooo, I think it looks pretty damn cool!

Avocado art.

ANOTHER "PERFECT RAIN"

This morning, the wind and the rain...

By this evening, a warm fire, a cold drink, rain, and sitting on the porch.

Perfect.

URYO

Uryo...Japanese for rainfall...

Since the snow fall on December 7, 2013, we finally got some rain (01-30-14).


1.46 inches of it thanks to the orographic lift.




Need more..



UPDATE 02-27-14: Another storm system moved through last night and dumped 0.72 inches and this was just for 02-26-14 and does not include this morning's deluge.

UPDATE 02-28-14: The "Pineapple Express" delivers another 0.86 inches for the 24-hour period for 02-27-14.

UPDATE 03-01-14: The "Pineapple Express" delivers a whopping 1.93 inches of rain for the 24-hour period for 02-28-14!

"BEAM" US UP

Now what?

One of our friends, who owns his own lumber mill, cut these beams to our specifications for our next project.

My wife and I were just toying with the idea of adding pizzazz to our south porch. We talked it over with Raymond and that is how it all started.

This is just a rough sketch of what the project will look like when complete.

Now, things can and do change and we have left our options WIDE OPEN.

From the front, it will look like the Roman Pantheon or Greek Parthenon (I married into a Greek family). The two outside pillars will be made of shaved pine logs 16 to 20 inches in diameter.

The middle pillar of the same type of pine log will be from the ground to the top. The beams that are being cut will provide character and structure integrity. The beams will be secured with heavy metal brackets and bolts.

We were going to go with cedar but decided we didn't want any carpenter bees ("cedar bees") buzzing our porch. It's bad enough with yellow jackets ("meat bees"), and mud daubers ("mud bees").

There will be a series of five cross beams running from left to right in the diagram that will replace the original trusses. We plan to purchase indoor/outdoor ceiling fans. Our intent is to build screens to keep the insects out as we either eat or entertain on the porch.

We are contemplating installing low voltage Malibu lights for aesthetic effect. There is the solar option, too.

The underside of the porch roof will be covered with log offcuts and remnants that cover up the OSB plywood for that log cabin feel.

As for underneath the porch deck itself, it may be prudent for us to reinforce with cables, heavy brackets, and posts.

Not only are these beams huge, they are heavy...

The dry rot will be removed.

Our friend milled one side straight and the other side was hand hewn. He scorched the wood with a propane torch and sanded it smooth. The grain in the wood is something to behold.

The beams exposed...

After seeing these beams, we may have to redo the mantel in the house.

UPDATE 04-01-14:

Work began by removing the corner posts and reinforcing the porch with some of the scrap lumber. Didn't think we could pull it off, but all went will without a hitch.

The dry rot will be removed. Thankfully, this is the only area where there was damaged.