Week 22: Power, Color, and More Siding

The week began early on Monday with Vlad in a frantic scramble to get the new electrical mast, panel, and ground installed and inspected so that the local electrical utility could arrive later that day to disconnect our temporary power set-up and attach the power wires permanently to our new mast.  In this photo, Vlad is completing the installation of the two stainless steel ground rods.



The "home run" wires now disappear neatly into the new electrical panel in the basement.  It is a 200-amp service with many new circuits, including two circuits on timers (so that we can have lights go on and off when we are away), and dedicated circuits for the outlets in each of our offices so that our computers will have dedicated electrical power sources.



This photo shows completion of the installation of the mast.  It is several feet taller than the previous mast.



Another "jaws of life" type tool.  This tool, which is battery operated, is the power crimping tool used by the electrical utility crew to splice power cables together.  You put wires into each end of a sleeve and then put the mouth of the tool on each end of the sleeve, press the trigger, and the crimping tool automatically crimps the sleeve to the exact amount needed, the tool beeps, and turns itself off.  We wanted to take a photo of the utility crew working on the change-over from temporary to permanent service, but they were camera shy, so this photo of the crimping tool will have to do.



The temporary power pole is now empty except as a temporary tying off station for the TV cable that is yet to be installed.



The meter and power line are in, and we now have permanent power!  Since the electricians have not yet installed all of the outlets and light fixtures, only two circuits have been powered on.  These provide a couple of outlets in the kitchen, to which the construction crew can connect their extension cords.



The other major development this week was the arrival of the superb team of painters to put the primer and first coat of paint on our interior walls and primer and two coats of paint on our ceilings.  They will return later to apply a second coat of paint to the walls and to paint the trim.  Byron Seeger and his crew are some of the best subs that we've had on this project.  They followed our paint specifications meticulously, worked amazingly fast, turned out beautiful work, and did all of this with wonderful good humor.  What a pleasure!



The BB admires her new office color, "Lily Pad".  It's obviously the Monet influence.



The BP exults in his office, newly painted with "Sandy Hook Beige"--obviously the Sandy influence.



The bathroom is "Coastal Fog", which is not a reflection of our condition in the early morning, but rather a lovely color recommended to us by Sue and Chris, who have used it in their house.



The BB recoils in horror at what was supposed to be a subdued blue for our bedroom.  Just shows you can't trust paint chips.



We made an initial attempt, based on another paint chip, to try out a more subdued blue.  The result was mainly an unsightly blotch on the east wall of the bedroom.  So, another trip to the paint store.



This time we came home with four samples--three different blue shades, and one beige shade that Sue and Chris had recommended to us as a Plan B in the event we couldn't find a satisfactory blue.  We pulled scraps of wood out of the discard pile and painted samples.  While we were about it, we also painted samples of the exterior colors that we are considering.  More on exterior colors in a later blog.  In this picture, the BB is putting finishing touches on the various samples of blue.



Here, the BB compares the various samples against the bedroom wall.  We finally found the color that we feel will work well in this room.  The room is tricky because there is a lot of light when the sun is out, but then the room gets quite dark when the sun isn't out.  We need a blue that works at both extremes.  We arrived at Benjamin Moore's "Van Courtland Blue", on the far right in this photo.



During the week, the crew also began closing the soffits with tongue and groove pine boards.  Running down one side of each  soffit is a metal vent that enables the soffit to "breathe."  There is a concern that wasps and other small insects can make it into the soffit cavity through the vent, so we are attaching screens on the underside of the vents.

A close-up of the soffit vent material

Sue, Maya, and Zoe visited to see the new colors.  They gave us A grades on all colors except that, on the electric blue in the bedroom, Sue and Zoe agreed with the BB and the BP and gave it a D-, while Maya loved the color and gave it an A+. 



Our garage has become a sardine can on steroids.  It began as a nicely organized place to store appliances and other items that will be recycled into the remodeled house.  But as other items, including various pieces of equipment and various other fixtures for the house have arrived, everything goes in the garage.  At this point, the easiest way to get from the front of the garage to the back of the garage is to swing on a rope from the rafters.  Although you can't see much in this photo, what Sue, Zoe, and Maya are looking at with great interest is the array of boxes and parts that constitute the elevator.



The very large steel object in the left half of this photo is one of several components of the new elevator.  We're not sure which component because the rope on the rafters doesn't swing that far. 

This photo, taken from the front of the garage, shows more elevator components, some of them housed in the large box in the center of the photo, other parts lying on top of the box and to the side of the box. 



The day after the elevator parts arrived, several of the interior doors arrived.  For most rooms in the house, the interior doors are simple single-paneled doors that have been pre-primed at the factory.  One of those doors is shown at the right.  The door on the left is a douglas fir door with a complex design in the upper pane of glass.  This will be our front door, and our current plan is to have a natural finish on this door. 

We are very proud of this window.  It used to be the window to a downstairs closet that has been eliminated as part of our remodel.  It is a beautiful window with nine lites in the glazing, and we hated to lose it.  So it now is a prominent part of our upstairs closet.

This is how the rear of the house looked at the end of the week.  You can see the recyled window hiding behind the scaffolding in the left of the photo.  This photo also shows how the lap siding has progressed on the south face of the house up to the point where we will be installing the top bellyband, and, above that, HardiePlank shingles.



The front of our house at the end of the week showing progress installing window trim and siding on the east side of the house.



This photo shows progress at the end of the week with window trim and siding on the west side of the house.



We end the week with an update on the life of a fork on a construction project.  This photo appeared a couple of blogs ago as an illustration of curious items of equipment that turn up on a job like this.  See the following photos for developments in the life of this fork. 



This photo was taken on Monday.  You will see that water has been added to the banquet table, which is nice.  The fork, however, has been relegated to a lesser role at the base of the table.



This photo was taken at the end of this week.  About an inch and a half of the handle of the fork is barely visible at the base of the table.  A memorial service will be held some time next week.

Week 21: Siding!---and Odds and Ends



This is the week when the crew begins to install siding!  This photo, taken on Monday, shows Dylan, on the right, and Tim, on the left, applying the very first section of siding.  The siding material is a cement board called HardiePlank lap siding.  Various textures and sizes are available.  We chose smooth flat boards with a 4" reveal.  So far we are very pleased with the result.



While there are cement saws that would work in cutting HardiePlank, such saws make billows of dust.  The cleaner and more efficient way of cutting these boards is with the "jaws of life" electric scissors.



A close-up of the "jaws of life" scissors.  It pays to keep fingers out of the way!



Tim and Dylan beginning the second row of siding



At each seam between lap boards, Dylan applies a strip of Drain Wrap to help steer any intruding water away from the seam.



Dylan installing a lap board, the right edge of which is centered on the Drain Wrap strip.



Tim and Dylan installing more siding on the west and south faces of the house

This photo shows the BP cutting down the large hydrangea at the northwest corner of the house.  The BP called this activity "site preparation" in anticipation of the siding and painting work to be done in this area.  The BB called this activity "making a mess" for no discernible purpose other than create something to clean up.



Dylan and Daniel, with Jake in the background, prepare one of the 5/4x12 bellybands that will wrap around the middle of the house.  We learned something new: a 1x12 would be roughly 3/4 of an inch thick; a 5/4x12 means that the board is a full 1" thick.  This was our first introduction to 5/4 outside of musical signature.

This photo shows the boards used to "fir out" the bellybands.  The purpose of firring out the bellybands is to provide a three-dimensional look as the depth of the bellybands compares to the depth of the siding.  Kudos to our designer, Luther Allen, for thinking of this.



Daniel, left, and Dylan, right, installing the bellyband on the west face of the addition



This close-up of Dylan installing the west bellyband shows the mitered corners of the bellyband.  The idea of a mitered corner was either Luther's or Dylan's (or perhaps their joint idea).  This enhances the three-dimensional look, and we agree that the effect is very pleasing.



As you can tell from this photo, the siding goes on fairly quickly, which makes the process doubly exciting.  In this photo, Daniel is nearing the top of the lap siding.  Another bellyband will go above the windows, and then shingles will be installed above that bellyband. As is also apparent in this photo, a successful carpenter needs to be comfortable when working approximately 25' above ground level.



Tim and Daniel preparing to install corner boards above the middle bellyband.



One secret to good cornerboards is that they fit very tightly together.  We learned that the trick to achieving this result is the liberal use of clamps prior to nailing the board in place.  In this photo, Daniel is steadying the right cornerboard while Tim attaches the clamps.



Ditto



Whle siding was the principal activity this week, a few other things happened, as well.  After a long absence, the electrician came for a few hours and began the work of installing the new electrical service.  On the inside, the first step was to install a new, larger electrical panel.  In this photo, the new panel has been installed with the "home run" wires funneled into the panel but not yet connected.



On the outside, Dylan prepared blocks for the meter and mast through which the new electrical service will run.  In this photo, the meter box has already been installed.  The other blocks that you see running up the side of the house will be where the long 3" mast will be attached.



a close-up of the meter box.  In the bottom of the photo, the condut and wires on the right provide electrical service to the detached garage.  In this photo, the garage conduit and wires have not yet been connected to the main service.

The blocks that Dylan installed are not just any old blocks.  They have camphered edges (for appearance) and flashing bonnets (to keep the water away from the house.



In this photo, Victor, one of the electricians, is measuring the mast.



As we have mentioned in prior blogs, construction crews sometimes leave the darnedest things lying around.  On Monday, we found this 30 cents lying on the bathroom floor.  The coins were still there on Thursday.



On Thursday, we also found this dime on the floor outside the bathroom door, dropped presumably by someone anxiously awaiting the opportunity to go inside.  Footnote to the wise guys among the viewers of this blog: Our bathroom facilities are NOT coin-operated.



On Thursday, we encountered two fairly standard rules in house construction: Rule #1 is that there are surprises.  Rule #2 is that, more often than not, there is a good reason for the surprise.  In this case, a large truck drove up to the house with 28 bundles of hardwood flooring that the truck driver had brought from a warehouse in Seattle.  No one on site knew anything about this delivery.  A few phone calls later, it became apparent that the flooring sub-contractor had ordered these bundles delivered to the site now because new hardwood flooring needs to rest on site for a few weeks before installation in order to become accustomed to the climactic conditions at that site.  This photo shows 20 of the 28 bundles resting in the living room.



This photo, taken from the living room, shows the living room bundles and the remaining eight bundles stacked in the kitchen.  In a few weeks, all of these bundles should take on the same level of moisture content as the rest of the site and be ready for installation.



This photo, taken from the new laundry room, shows the new water line (small white pipe to the left in this photo) attached to the new frost-free outdoor water spigot.



In this photo, the frost-free water spigot is just to the right of center.  This is an exciting addition for us.  The existing spigots in the house were not frost-free, so every winter one chore was to cover the front and rear spigots with styrofoam covers to keep the pipes from freezing.  The frost free spigots require no covering in the winter.  To the left of center in this photo you can see one of the new basement windows that was installed this week.



Another of the newly-installed basement windows is shown in the center of this photo.



Here's how the rear of our house looked at the end of Thursday.  At 7 a.m. Friday, we flew from Bellingham to California to attend a law school luncheon honoring one of the BP's classmates and a dear friend of both the BP and the BB since law school days, Sandy Svetcov.  We also took the opportunity while in California to meet with the contractor doing remodeling for us in both Davis and Berkeley, to purchase a new wash basin for one of our Berkeley bathrooms, to pick up six light fixtures that we had had rewired at a lamp repair shop in Berkeley, and ship them by UPS to Bellingham for installation in our remodeled house there, to drive to Davis to inspect the current status of work at the condo, and to meet with the Delancy St. movers, who will be moving us from Berkeley to Davis next month.  Sleep was not on the agenda.