Rain and Mud, Vacations and Solar

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There's always something about rain, whether in the forecast or in our blog, it seems. This time the news is that the rain has somewhere to go, the downspouts! Now if only the downspouts were located where they're supposed to be. 

Brian is going check with the downspout guy, but he posits that the pre-manufactured bends in the downspouts can't meet the angle needed for the design. We'll find out Monday. We may have to consider custom downspouts (who knew that was a thing), because the current locations don't work. There are times when function trumps form, but in this case I think function can work with form as designed.

Living room, looking east

The sheet rock guys came back this week to sling mud all over the house. They sanded in some areas and applied the second coat of compound everywhere in the house. To quote our fan, "It's really starting to look like a house!"

Living room, looking west

Butler's pantry and refrigerator/pantry cabinet area, facing west

Kitchen, facing south

Living room, facing north

Stairwell, facing north

Primary bedroom, facing west

Primary bath, facing west

Rueben and his minion were on site several days, prepping the primary bath for tile, and placing the Schluter edging around the shower and baseboards. This needed to be done now so the sheet rock guys can do their finishing on the other side of the Schluter edge.

Primary bath, facing east

Den, facing east

Den, facing south

Laundry/mud room, facing north

Entry, facing south

There are lots of plans and moving pieces over the next few weeks. The biggest thing is Brian is traveling to the other side of the world for two weeks. We're not sure who ok'd his vacation. Rob will be in charge while he's gone. While we trust Rob to do all the right things, I'm not sure he's thrilled with the arrangement.

Before Brian leaves he is trying to schedule out as many subs as possible. After sheet rock is complete this week the painter comes in – primer, two coats of paint on the ceiling and a single coat on the walls. Then the electricians, followed by flooring and trim. Then more paint. If half of these things get done in the next three weeks it would be amazing. Brian has also scheduled meetings with us and several of the subs this week to make sure things go smoothly while he is gone.

New fireplace surround design

We need to wrap our collective arms around what we're doing with the fireplace. The original plan was a one-piece blackened steel surround. We recently went around with the architects about how to accomplish this. We've decided on panels instead of a single welded piece. But the spec'd material is not available in the right thickness and hot-rolled steel has a mill grain (?) that messes with the desired finish. The fireplace surround should be in place before the flooring is installed in that area of the living room. So, timing.

Solar panel supports installed

We're always pleasantly surprised when the solar guys show up. It's not their fault, the weather has been, well, crap. But they were on site last week with enough clear weather to install the rest of the solar panel supports and wire the solar panels themselves. We are supposed to have some clear and mild weather days this week. Should be eventful!

Ice, Rain and Sun

The ice storm that hit Astoria Saturday was followed by cold temps through Wednesday morning. All activity at the house was stopped. Rob tried to get to the house via Jerome on Wednesday morning and "Almost hit four cars parked on Jerome and fell on my (keister)". The rain and warm temps on Wednesday were trying to melt the ice, but it really wasn't happening. Fortunately, the city worked to keep several roads on the hill accessible during the ice event. 16th Street, Irving Avenue, and 7th Street. Each of these streets are necessary for emergency services to access homes on the hill. 

The meeting with the painter was postponed from Tuesday to Wednesday afternoon due to the ice. Brian texted us that we should approach from the west and park on Kensington (which is on the southern slope) as Jerome was a sheet of ice and Brian's truck was stuck at 4th and Jerome. As we walked on the grass Brian was scrapping a path with a coal shovel so we could cross the street safely. We need to get some crampons if we plan to move around in the winter. The meeting with the painter was good, no surprises and we settled on a plan that has them starting in about two weeks.

Thursday brought more rain and cleared the streets enough that Rob didn't fall on his (keister). The dry wall guys were on site Thursday and Friday prepping for taping and mudding. This entailed papering all the floors to make cleanup easier and installing corner bead at all the corners. To those in the Pacific Northwest an orange peel textured finish is pretty standard. Coming from the midwest, we had never even considered a textured wall finish before we moved out here. We have specified a flat finish to the drywall. 

To prepare for drywall and finishing all of the excess material that had been hanging around was removed from the interior of the house.  And you'll notice in the photo above that the work desk/awning has been removed from the living room!

Brian and crew installed the awning on Thursday. It's about 18 feet long and 3 feet wide of 1/4 inch painted aluminum, with no less than sixteen 4-inch screws attaching it to the building above the sliding doors.

On Friday the house was fully sided! The final areas, the right edge of the garage, left edge of the wood storage area, west end of the front overhang and the overhang soffit were completed with about four feet of siding to spare. This, in part, because the architects changed up the design a bit after Brian had ordered the siding.

Because of the short work week there was no shortage of activity at the house on Saturday. We pulled up at 9:30 am to find a truck in the driveway.

The Solar Guys had arrived, trying to take advantage of the nice weather on Saturday morning. The weather didn't hold out long, after starting to install the framing for our future solar panels they headed out. But they left the truck! Given the forecast, the truck may be there for a while.

Rueben the tile-guy dropped off his coworker, Donald, to install the Schlueter waterproofing system in the shower. 

Now that the scaffolding is (mostly) down on the north side of the house we can see what the siding and windows really look like. I can't wait to see it all painted!

Things Slow Down and Speed Up of Their Own Accord

Things seem to slow down. We received the manufacturer's sign off on the beam penetrations. Our engineer wasn't satisfied with the calculations so they went back to the manufacturer. The manufacturer explained their methodology, apparently to the satisfaction of the engineer, and everything was sent to the City for approval. This all took about a week after we received word of the manufacturer's sign off, delaying sheet rock by another week, sigh.

Things seem to slow down. Cedar siding work continues. It is beautiful! Stained with two coats (both sides) of Benjamin Moore semi-transparent in Fairview Taupe, it is exactly the color we wanted. But weather, sick-time, project challenges and general fussiness (which we appreciate) has made the cedar siding take much longer than Brian had planned. So close, sigh. 

Things seem to slow down. Beth was supposed to meet with Brian and the tile installer on a Tuesday at 8 am, then Wednesday at 9 am. Finally on Thursday, sans Brian, Rueben and Beth went over the layout of the primary bath tile, made a bit more complicated due to shear walls, sheet rock meeting up with tile and tile baseboards while trying to keep everything on the same plane. Rueben hoped to start prep-work last week before sheet rock - install the Schluter edging, cement board, etc. Demands from a job he is finishing in Manzanita kept him busy and it just didn't happen, sigh.

Things seem to slow down. When Hank isn't on site Rob can't wrangle the large cedar siding planks by himself, so he looks for other tasks to complete. Including the door to the crawlspace on the north side of the foundation. Really nice, right? The vent was required by the city as a condition for the foundation inspection approval. "Need vents in crawl space door due to not have a foundation vent within 3ft of the corner. Special consideration made due to height of foundation walls." Who knew? 

Stairwell looking north

Things seem to speed up! We received final framing inspection approval from the City. Foam insulation was applied in the overhang under the kitchen and bat insulation installed the next day. On Thursday the sheet rock guys showed up. We had expected they would take several days to level the wall planes and shim. And they did the work. But because Brian and his crew worked hard to make sure everything was plumb as they were building the house there was very little the sheet rock crew had to contend with. They were able to sheet rock the entire house in two days!

Living room looking east

Living room looking north from the kitchen

Butler's pantry (Beth's cubicle) left, refrigerator and pantry, right

Stairwell looking west from living room

Primary bedroom looking north

Primary bath shower looking west

Things seem to speed up! In order for the tile installer to install the linear drain in the shower Brian had to take the drain system off test (finally). That meant draining the entire system without benefit of a sewer connection. The plumbers stopped by before sheet rock to provide a connection to the drain system for the shower drain. While they were there Brian had them install the hose bibs on the second floor balcony and in front of the house.

First floor bedroom (Scott's den) looking south

First floor bedroom looking north

Entry way with brackets for floating bench

Laundry looking north

Things seem to slow down. Our new contractor for the water main we are generously (if under protest) installing on the 400 block of Jerome met with the City Public Works department on site to go over the plan and discuss "potholing" and whatever engineers and contractors discuss to make things happen. The Public Works guys were all thumbs up. The contractor started this last week potholing to make sure the lines were where they expected them to be. By 11:30 the City Building Department sent a cease and desist email insisting that no work, including potholing, be commenced before right of way permits were in place and a sub-meeting was completed. Brian was not happy, sigh. 

January 2024 ice storm

Things seem to slow down. On Saturday, with temps in the 20's Astoria had a full-on ice storm. With continued daytime freezing temps the city and county have now been shut down, streets impassable, for three days. Today the sheet rock guy was to pick up all the excess sheet rock and his taping crew was supposed to start. Nobody was going up the hill today. Tomorrow we are supposed to meet with the painter at 2 pm. We'll see what happens, sigh.

Happy New Year!

January 1, 2024

The Holidays arrived in full force and we've been out of town for a week, so we haven't updated you, our fan, on the progress at 464 Astoria View. Here's a quick update on the week before Christmas.

We received inspection approval on the sprinkler system - yay! Before Christmas we were still awaiting engineering comments on the framing. Brian had the insulation contractor add the bat insulation to the second floor ceiling - total ceiling R-value, 52.

Sheet rock was delivered, 1/2 inch for the walls and 5/8 inch for the ceilings in 4 ft by 12 ft sheets. This stuff is big, dense and heavy! And literally leaning on every available wall.

Meanwhile, they have been running a portable furnace in the house to dry out the framing to ready it for sheet rock installation - hopefully this coming week. It does make for a much more comfortable working environment for the cleaning crew.

The aluminum awning that shields the living room sliding doors was delivered - approximately 18 ft by 3 ft wide. It makes for a convenient work surface in the living room. 

Awning work surface and ceiling insulation

Brian was waiting for the delivery of the sheet rock and the awning before they could permanently close up and install the cedar siding on the west end of the kitchen (where the butler's pantry/Beth's cubicle is). So now the house is officially sealed up! 

The crew was busy the week between Christmas and New Year's. The fireplace and hearth were clad in 1/2 inch cement board, giving us a glimpse of our future living space.

The windows do not have trim around them, instead the sheet rock turns in and butts up against the window frame. The sheet rock is 1/2 inch, while the window sill is 3/4 inch. Therefore around the three sides of the window 1/4 inch furring strips are installed to make the reveal even on all sides.

1/4 inch furring strips around the windows

Since the late 1970's homes have been increasingly "tight". In fact, they are so well insulated that indoor air quality had become an issue. In the states of Oregon and Washington, HRV units were written into code. HRV (or heat recovery ventilator) is a ventilation device that helps make your home healthier, cleaner, and more comfortable by continuously replacing stale indoor air with fresh outdoor air.  HRV units are also big, ugly, noisy, require a huge amount of ductwork and they are expensive. Our architects designed a passive fresh air replacement system using a special fan in the upstairs powder room and fresh air intake vents throughout the house to replicate the function of the HRV system. Fresh air intakes are located in the den, the stairwell and primary bedroom.

Passive fresh air intake below the window and desk area in Scott's den

And of course Rob and Hank continued work on the cedar siding. Brian did comment that the cedar siding, because of the angled roof, trim requirements and shear height of the back of the house, was taking a lot longer than he had planned.

Neighbor Dennis painting his soffits on New Year's Day

On Friday before New Year's day we received word that the framing issue had been resolved with no remediation necessary. All that is needed is the beam manufacturer's opinion and engineer's sign off and the city will approve the framing inspection.  We're full speed ahead going into the new year!