Laurie's World

I must say…I am enjoying the peace and quiet of the weekend. It is hard not having any privacy in your own home! I like all the guys that are here day in and day out, (some more than others), but I do like it when they go home at night too!

This is where things stand at the moment. All but one of the windows have been installed. The new one in the master bath (to complete the corner window look over the tub) still has to be framed out and installed. I am happy that we have at least one window in our washroom again…The old one was boarded up for a long time! None of the blinds are back up a they have not caulked around the inside of the windows yet.

So we are nice and bright in here the moment the sun comes up. I am going to lean on them to do that on Monday, so we can put the blinds back up.

Doug and little Andrew put in the footings for the BBQ porch…so that is close to being done now…

The siders have rebuilt the top of one of the chimney chases. Still have to do the bottom of that one and the whole one on the east side of the house though. They also started to install the siding…I LOVE how the cedar looks…probably any siding at this point would have tickled my fancy though. But it looks great and it is starting to look like a real a house again! They put the blocking for the added lighting on the back and "we" are also wrapping the windows on the whole house. The sides and back did not have trim around the windows, only the front, so we think that will class the place up a bit

Note the nice new chase on the right in the photo below…

The electrician is still in Disneyland…so other than Doug and little Andrew (vs big Andrew/Drew) coming around to do finish up their odds and sodds…there has not been much going on inside the house. We are expecting our cabinets delivered on July 5th, so it is likely they will sit for 3-4 weeks before they get installed as there is much to do before they can go in–finish the electrical, get it inspected, insulate, get it inspected, drywall, paint, install floors, then cabinets–PHEW!

One of our neighbors had a little bit of advice for us last week, as they installed almost the identical range as we we have 3 years ago. Their floor is sagging under the weight of this appliance, and now they have to get in someone to go under there and jack it up and reinforce the support in that area of their kitchen–WHO KNEW! So I called Dacor and got the weight of our range (613lb-) and then asked Doug to get us the appropriate amount of support under our floor. Seems like an easier thing to deal with now than in three years…We were somewhat likely to not have had a problem due to the fact that one edge of the range is resting completely on the old foundation wall…but we had him throw some extra support on the other side just to be sure.

Now for the big news that I know everyone is wondering about…..What is happening with our septic field?? Well I sent the guy with the trac hoe away on Friday morning—who can afford him?? After Dave and Harry found the ends of the four lines that go toward the house on Thursday, and we discovered that while they were dirty, they were all working fine (as in not plugged–which was what were afraid of) We decided that what we needed was to expose the ends of all eight lines, take the caps off to see if they were all in working order and run them till they were clean, and put in elbows to turn the end up, put in risers so we could access them easily again in the future. So, we spent Thursday evening digging up the end of the far lines in the septic field. We found two and then we restedWe found the other 2 on Sat (today). Part of this whole process is to dig out under the line and put in all new gravel, then add more gravel on top, put down fabric and caution tape, then backfill with dirt. SO the less of the line we dig up, the less we have disturbed and the less we have to fix and fill in.

This was one of our first digs…

Then we got better and this is how good we got by the last one…faint of heart may want to look away as the next photo goes by…

The one thing we have noticed that disappoints us, is that there is not very much gravel in the trenches around the lines. Enough I guess to meet minimum codes requirements to pass the initial inspection 15 years ago, but really, that is all. So the liquid just has that much harder time disipating as the soil in our back 40 is not great…a lot of clay etc. Oh well…I am not going to dig the whole thing up right now to replace the gravel. It I had an extra 10+ grand laying around, I might–but I do not, so I won’t…We cover it up, cross our fingers and move forward….

Tough day…Tough day…but tomorrow is another day–and Troy will be home

So another little issue (other than our crummy chimneys)…completely unrelated to our renovation has arisen. We are having some problems with the drain field on our septic system. No pictures…trust me, it is not a pretty sight!!

Dave was here today to finish up the grading around the house, and he agreed to dig around with his Kabota a little to see why we have wet spots in the back behind the pool and by the firepit. We actually noticed this little problem last year, but initially thought it was related to the leak in the pool (but as it turns out we fixed the leak and there were still wet spots) So we kinda ignored it this winter–‘cuz who can see a wet spot here in the winter anyway

Anyway…we can no longer ignore this issue for a couple of reasons–one is that it turns out the prior owners poured concrete patio over two of the lines–which is kinda of a No-No–DUH! And it was our plan to enlarge that patio in our new design–So we need to figure out what to do about that. And OH YAH–we have a bubbling geyser by the firepit.

So I had Dave dig up the ends of four of the eight lines in our field…it would appear that one of the four is dealing with the majority of the fluid from our system. Now anyone who knows anything about Septic systems (which would be me now–not that I EVER wanted to know ANY of this!) would know that a very important concept in septic design is that the lines need to have equal distribution. So the valves are open as we can see some fluid out of all of them, but there is something else causing problems–blockage or lord knows what!

I ordered 12 yards of 1 1/2" gravel (spec–which means washed in gravel lingo) from Cadman to be delivered tomorrow (between 10 and 12) so that when we do get this figured out we can fill the trenches and bury the lines properly (which for the record–was NOT done the first time) Probably the holes are starting to plug in the leech lines..

So tomorrow we dig some more–

The window guys got the 6 windows in our master and the bonus room installed today–YIKES! These were without a doubt the toughest 2 rooms to deal with in terms of "access" to the windows to do the work–Hmmm! They managed just fine though–so tomorrow they start to deal with the chimneys (they got the scaffolding delivered today) and hopefully get some siding installed in the back.

It was very warm today–I thought anyway–but I suppose it was better than rain.

I almost got tired just watching these guys work today! The "siders" were here bright and early, but they spent most of the day installing windows since Dave was here working with the trac-hoe to get the grading and the back fill done. So they would have seriously been in each others way…Fine with me though since everyone had more than enough to keep them busy!

We did find out yesterday that our chimneys are rotting from the top also…what a lovely way to start the week. Once again much worse on the East side of the house than the west…not sure why, but it must have something to do with weather exposure.

I got some pictures of the house so everyone can see what it all looks like…

Here is the house from the west side…looks haunted doesn’t it…

We are the Tyvek house now…

and our KUBOTA…

Things to note…our lovely french doors…and the skylights are in…WAHOO!

Troy is in Toronto…so not sure if you are checking in or not…but here is your BBQ area Troy…Too bad you do not have a BBQ yet…For those who have not heard our sad tale…we ordered a nice Coleman BBQ from Costco and when it was delivered it was very damaged, so we had to refuse delivery…long story short (sort of) but we had to redo the whole order and so now it will be a bit longer for it to arrive (again). But that is actually OK, as we do not have concrete yet anyway…

BTW–LOVIN’ this view minus (most of) Marjorie (the garbage pile)

This is the view from INSIDE the BBQ area…like say when Troy is in there checking on the ribs he is smoking or something…this is what he will seeWell sort of, I guess, there is a lot of landscaping to do back there!

This is the house from the street…still not much to look at eh?

Nice pile of cedar siding waiting to be installed…

Well that is not entirely true…my flowers are lovely these days…if not just a little overgrown…Here are my poppies Mom! Nice eh?? I do not think I have seen nicer poppies than these!!

This is the corner of the front rock wall…this actually looks much better in person than this photo captures…but for the gardening enthusiasts who were wondering how the flowers are doing…i include these tidbits for you

Let’s see…what else?? Well here is the front windows…to the untrained eye, these would appear to be the same windows as we have always had…but let me tell you about these new windows…they are the one finger windows…what I mean is they are like butter opening and closing…very nice! The screens are almost invisble so you do not really see them (which is a feature i never would have really thought made that big a difference) and also we had some of the ratios changed in terms of how much of the windows open. So these front windows used to be only the bottom third opened, we made them 50/50 so the whole bottom half opens…this will make a hige difference to how much air we get circulating through the house. All that , and supposedly we won’t freeze in the winter and i should see savings in my heating bill…We will see about that!. So lets take a vote…who thinks I am happy we did the windows?? You should have asked me that question earlier today when I had to watch these two old guys balance up on the toe of one foot in a 2 inch square space over a hampster tank and a rotating psychedelic light ball to get to the window in Brooklyn’s room. They told me it was fine though…maybe they were just being nice. They both said they had had teenagers before and in fact one has teenage grandchildren…Is this supposed to make me feel better??

They did get more than just these windows done today…

For some entertainment value…here are the kids…

This would be Rachael just getting home from the gym…

Jackie making her B’day party invitations tonight…

Brooklyn the night of her freshman PartyThat is me crying…not her–she had a lot of fun!

OK…Here is Rachael normal…

Oh Yeah! We got our skylights installed today…so we officially have all the natural lighting we are going to get now…

Here are the french doors from the inside…

And the coup of the day…Laurie (YES Laurie) installed the deadbolt on the french door…just felt a little exposed last night without my plywood protection, so had to get that on today. Took me about an hour—but when I go to change the front door over to satin nickel hardware I will be SO MUCH FASTER. As you can probably tell, I am a little proud of myselfNo handle…just a deadbolt (as it will have to come off to be painted at some point anyway–and the reality is, I do not want all the dirty sweaty hands that are around here these days touching my nice handles–so I will wait to put that on) I have fully copped to being the anal homeowner when I made them put a protective cover on the threshold of the door. I do not think it is too much to ask that they keep their muddy feet off my shiny new silver threshold. I am well aware that it will get marred…but I would like it to happen at a GREAT party or something…not by a mud covered steel toed boot

Man am I on a tear tonight…Troy needs to get home so I can use up my words on him

So it has been a few days since I updated y’all…but there has been some action around here!

The windows were delivered on Tuesday June 12th YEAH! Oddly enough 25 windows does not look like as many as I thought it would. I had them put them in the garage (which made me popular with the young pup who had to haul them from the street up to the garage (BUT what do I care??). They had the most ginormous truck that they figured they should not pull up onto the driveway…Not my problem–but given the punks we had in the ‘hood over the weekend that broke into all the cars…I was NOT going to have my windows sitting outside. I am not that interested in tempting fate!

The guys came on Wednesday to start the tear off of the siding…by the end of the day, some rather unpleasant information became apparent. Our house has suffered the much dreaded impact of the defective LP siding…the plywood (and floor joists on one) are rotting! It is down at the bottom of the chimneys on both sides…For the most part the Celotex (foam like sheet insulation) that is between the siding and the plywood has actually been a savior in terms of keeping the rotten siding from infecting the plywood. BUT the chimneys were not Celotexed…therefore direct contact…Therefore rotten.

Here are some pictures…So a couple things come to mind as I ponder this situation. One is, thank goodness we decided to reside the whole house…as if we had just gone up to the chimneys (logical break point had we decided to just side the addition), we would not have discovered this and it would have been much much worse. The other is that folks with LP siding (ie my neighbors) really need to look into the condition of their siding to see if they have similar problems. I refuse to believe that we are the most unlucky people on the planet and that we are the only ones with this problem…possible, but highly unlikely!The siding in some places is just crumbling as they remove it…

This is the East side of the house (street side)–it has the rotted through the joists on this side–nothing that time and money can’t fix though

This is the West side of the house–just need to replace the plywood…it has not gone further than that…

Thursday was more stripping (SIDING!)I did go pick up the hood liner and blower parts from Fredericks warehouse for the ventilation for over the range. I also worked Lowes over for a good price on the dishwasher I wanted…they price match the best deal I find, plus they have a rebate for free delivery and installation, PLUS I was able to use scrips cards that I bought from Rachael’s gym, so I got another 4% back–WAHOO! Aren’t I doing a GREAT job of saving money on this reno–Troy–no comments please if you are reading this!

So I wake up Friday morning–Today–to pouring rain! Hmmm–we will see what these siding guys are made of today! OK…They are going to do windows they tell me–sounds GREAT! I am excited to have LIGHT…They start in the corner..my favourite corner

This looks so easy–I could do this!!

And here is the “sunroom”…

All this done by 9:45am and then they were gone…in wait until sunnier (or at least less wet) days.

Oh Yeah…and the tax assessor came by to “assess” how much “value” we are adding (SIGH)

Hmmm…Ok three updates…the first, mostly because I am looking for sympathy…H2O off again all day today! Now that it is back on, the kids are weirded out about the water being green (why green?? you ask??–dunno–it has something to do with the new pipes)

Secondly, Javier discovered my real name…oh well…it was fun while it lasted!!

and

for those who have been wondering…my foot is almost betterThis last update is mostly for my Mommy

Well…such sad news…Lizard (formerly known to his human owners as Billy Joe John Bing Mack Rob (or something like that)…has run away.

Diane…I sincerely hope also, that you do not wake up one morning to be staring into his face either…Jackie told me what your comments were when he escaped

Monday was a day off around here and Tuesday was mostly about invisible (to me anyway) work. The roofing supply company came by to pick up the extra material off the roof (which is nice–as now it looks like it is finished–other than the roofer needs to come back to take the supply braces off). Called the cabinet company to make my changes to the cabinet design–YIKES! That made me popular!! Went through the big old ToDo list that we created over the weekend with Drew. Oh yeah…we have another Andrew on site…So that has really encouraged me to get with the "Drew" and "Andrew" thing! So Andrew…is the packer/chief shop vaccer I think…must be the lowest guy on the totem poleBut he seems happy enough…

I was supposed to be getting the container back on Tuesday to (re)move Marjorie (that is what we have named our pile of garbage–that seems to have taken on a life of its own–SIGH). But it would appear that Thursday is the day now…Andrew is going to be the chief dumpster loader too…so he needs to save up his energy for that! I should get a pix of that pile…IT IS MASSIVE! and blue (tarp)

Javier was here for most of the day on Tues…water was off…so that was fun (sarcasm intended)…but he got the master bath plumbing rerouted, water installed to the corner sink as well as the Viking fridge…maybe the pot filler tap too…I have to check on that though…He says he will be here on Wed from 8-8…must be tired of us alreadyHe calls me Rachael…which is kinda funny…but I have not corrected him as I have always wanted to know what it would be like to be Rachael (and this may be the closest I ever get)

They took out the pony wall at the front door…which oddly enough, I waffled on over the weekend…BUT I am so glad i did it! WOW!

Here are some pictures from Wed am…several guys here…Andrew, Doug, Drew, Guy X (dunno his name)…Lets call him pony tail guy maybe…

Small plug for life cerealWe have been eating a little cereal these days

Here is Jackie’s room with all the edges cleaned up around the dormer and the floor is built up…

Shop vac boy did a good job eh?

Here is Doug finishing up the framing for the closet extension and the mudroom area…

Small glimpse of Javier here…tying in the venting for the plumbing

Here is the "wall" between the old dining room and the living room…see our little makeshift kitchen…NICE EH??

This is the pass through to the family room…this has been done since last week when I was gone, but i forgot to put up a picture of it. Doesn’t look like much, but it is hard to get a gopod picture as i can not get back far enought to make it look right

My sincere apologies to my loyal fans who have been checking in daily only to be disappointed to see no new blog entries. It is NOT that things have not been happening…it has merely been a result of my inability to manage my time effectively enough to get an entry done. So now I will post all the activity…including pictures that I took up until Sat June 2nd…

My adventures at Camp Casey pale in comparison to what was going on here (Thanks to Mr. Troy for doing such a great job of running the show while I was gone) The walls and cabinets in the kitchen are totally gone and all the beam work is complete…they have started to frame in the mud room area and framed in the wall between the living room and (old) dining room.

On Sat, there was a big crew here and the major accomplishments were that they worked on the dormers in the girl’s rooms and got the front entry moved out and completely framed in. Most of the other stuff they were working on is not big visability stuff (like hangers and strapping etc). I am amazed at the front entry though. That makes even more of a difference than i thought it would. The front of the house is SO different! The pictures do not even really capture it…

Here are how the dormers have been knocked out…Jackie first and then Rachael’s room

Rachael’s dormer has not been completely cut out yet…but I thought this picture of Doug perched up there was good…so I threw it in. I will get one of Racahel’s finished product posted soon.

Javier (the plumber) was here on Sat also…got the corner sink and dishwasher venting and waste done as well as the small fridge water plumbing done. He worked a bunch on the crawl space work also…Won’t be back until Tuesday now…He thinks he will work Tues, Wed and Thurs to get all the plumbing done and ready for inspection on Friday.

Got Jeff and his pal coming on the next two weekends to do the electrical…WAHOO! Note to self to remember to pull those permits…

The highlight of the day however was…(now this is a little reward for those of you who have read through this whole thing)…Dion found a lizard (or some such thing) on Friday and it has become the mascot among the neighborhod children for this Reno. Jackie and her friends have created a nice home, as naturalized as possible, and have spent the entire day (SAT) playing with it…it is probably scared to death…and heaven forbid it be a boy as he has a bright pink rubbermaid tub as its home…