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!