Week 23: An Uplifting Week



This week was one of the busiest that we've had in the entire project.  One of several trades to arrive early Monday morning was the tile crew.  In this photo, crew chief Oleg (in the background) and Vlad (in the foreground) apply a black waterproof paste to the bathroom sub floor and then lay on top of that an orange mat that helps provide a stable underlaying for the floor tile.



This photo shows the floor tile pattern--a combination of 16" and 8" tiles known as a "California" pattern.  The tile is a porcelain tile from Italy.



This photo shows the cement "Wonderboard" that is applied to the shower walls.  Wonderboard provides a much more stable and waterproof backing for the tile than would be provided by drywall.



Oleg applying tile to the inside of the shower.  The tiles are Craftsman porcelain tiles made by Oregon Tile and Marble.  We saw the pattern in a showroom in Berkeley almost two years ago and loved it. As luck would have it, in January Oregon Tile and Marble discontinued these particular colors and sizes of tile.  In August, our tile subcontractor discovered a distributor with an inventory of the discontinued tiles adequate to complete our shower.  We bought them on the spot.  In another month, we might have been out of luck.

The finished floor and almost-finished shower in the upstairs bathroom.  All that remains is the grouting and the threshhold.



Another view of the tiled shower that shows the framing of the north wall, which will remain untiled except for the frame.



Concurrently with the tile crew, Matthew, the hardwood floor subcontractor, arrived bright and early Monday morning and began demolition of the existing fir floors that we are replacing with oak.  This photo shows completed demolition of the flooring in the living room adjunct. 



Matthew's next chore was to remove the existing fir floor in the kitchen. 



We were especially pleased with the care that Matthew took to remove intact as many floor boards as possible so they can be recycled.



This photo shows the kitchen floor after completion of demolition.  The good news was that all the old flooring was gone; the bad news was we discovered a sagging of about 1/2" in the sub flooring.  This sagging created all sorts of problems, including an uneven edge where the kitchen sub floor meets the dining room and living room sub floors.  Also, an uneven base for the new kitchen cabinets and appliances.  It was a shame to discover this, as otherwise the sub floor was in excellent condition--diagonally installed 1x12 timbers of 1925 vintage and very sturdy.  But we concluded that we had to remove the dip, and the only solution was to remove all of the 1925 timbers, install a 4x10 beam in the basement to prop up the sagging floor joists, and then install 3/4" tongue and groove plywood that was both glued and nailed to the floor joists.



The kitchen floor joists after removal of the 1925 sub floor timbers. 
When you take into account that earlier problems in the kitchen had required removal of all lath and plaster from the walls and a sagging ceiling had required that we replace all lath and plaster and many of the ceiling joists, it now seems ironic that one of the few rooms in the house that was supposed to be maintained pretty much in its original condition has now been completely reconstructed.  The only original parts are the studs, a few of the ceiling joists, the floor joists, and a lot of fresh air.



This photo shows the new plywood sub floor in the kitchen.



This is another room that we thought would remain largely untouched.  But we decided to replace the floor in this small downstairs bathroom, which required removal of the vanity and wash basin (and also resulted in an accidental break of the water line during removal).  It will also be necessary to remove the toilet, so for the first time in this 23rd week of the project, it was necessary to install a porta potty in the backyard.



This is the one other room that is supposed to remain in its original condition--and so far we are succeeding in that goal.  Since no construction work is happening in this room, it has become the storage area for lots of equipment.  In the background you see the vanity that was taken out of the downstairs bathroom.  On the left is a very large electric furnace that will heat the house to a fairly warm temperature during the refinishing of the floors so that the floors will dry quickly.

This photo shows the areas where Matthew has begun replacing old flooring with new select white oak.  The existing floor that you see is living room flooring, which is already select white oak.  We were happy to be able to retain all but a small part of the original living room floor.



Ditto



This photo shows the frame that Matthew has installed in front of the front door.  After the flooring is in, Oleg and his crew will install a tile entry pad within this frame.



Matthew also has placed a frame around an area in front of the fireplace, where Oleg and his crew will install a new tile hearth.



Matthew at work towards the end of the week.



Also on Monday morning, Marty McKinney and his son JD arrived to begin installation of our hydraulic elevator.  Opening the big box in the garage was a lot like opening a very large holiday gift.  All sorts of goodies were packed inside.

All of the elevator components were stored in our garage.  One by one, Marty and JD brought the heavier components to the exterior access door to the elevator shaft and winched the heavier pieces down to the basement from this ground floor position.  In this photo, the hydraulic fluid reservoir and power unit, which weighs several hundred pounds, has been brought to the access door on a hand truck and is now being winched into the elevator shaft.  The wood planks spanning the opening are temporary and allow Marty and JD to stand inside the shaft as needed to guide elevator components down the side of the shaft to the basement.



This is the winch that has been installed in the rings at the top of the elevator shaft.  The winch has a lift capacity of 650 lbs.



This photo shows Marty on the second floor standing on planks in the shaft and operating the winch controls.



This photo shows the hydraulic fluid tank and power unit in place in the machine room in the basement.  The pipe extending to the right and then through the wall is the pipe that will carry the hydraulic fluid to the piston.  Also shown in this photo are the main electrical panels in the machine room (on the left) and, on the wall in the backtround, the control panel.



This photo shows more clearly the hydraulic fluid line running from the tank to the wall and also shows the inside of the control panel, which resembles the inside of an aircraft cockpit.  All of the switches and other devices that control the travel of the elevator are inside this panel.



This heavy piece of equipment is the structural frame for the elevator cab.  The easiest way to think about it is that it's built just like a forklift.  There are two prongs at the bottom on which the floor of the cab will rest, and the frame will ride on rails in the elevator shaft, transporting the cab up and down the shaft.



This large frame is another very heavy piece of equipment and took four strong men to carry it from the garage to the elevator shaft.  In this photo, Dylan, JD, who is behind Dylan, Daniel on the right, and Marty do the heavy lifting.

This photo shows the cab frame, which has been winched down the shaft to the basement floor.  The coiled steel cable will be the cable that runs through pulleys and pulls the elevator up and down the shaft.  Also, on the right in this photo, the housing for the basement call button has been installed.



The BP inspects the pulley system that will power the elevator.  On the left, the vertical component between the two black rails is a piston, which is powered up or down by the ebb and flow of hydraulic fluid.  The component that the BP is inspecting is a housing for two large pulley wheels.  This component will be bolted to the top of the piston.  The steel cables that you saw in the prior photo will run through these pulleys.  One end will be permanently affixed at the bottom of the elevator shaft; the other end will be attached to the top of the cab frame.  Each time the piston moves up or down one foot, the elevator will move down or up two feet.



A closer view of the two pulleys



While the tile, hardwood floor, and elevator crews were carrying out their respective tasks, and Dylan and his crew were putting up siding, there were other chores that had the BB and BP engaged.  In this photo, the BP is posting notes throughout the house to instruct the electrician which switches turn on what lights or outlets.  There were something over 40 of these notes distributed throughout the house.

We have decided to recycle two of our favorite lighting fixtures in what will become the expanded living room of our remodeled house.  On the left in this photo is the original 1925 living room lighting fixture that we found in the Bellingham house.  On the right is the original 1910 lighting fixture in the dining room of our Berkeley house.  We love the fact that while these fixtures are not identical, they are architectural cousins.  Because of their age, we had them rewired with each of the light sockets updated.  They are now ready for installation.  Our goal in the remodeled house is to have 90% or more of the lighting fixtures be energy efficient fixtures.  There will be a very few exceptions where we use incandescent bulbs.  These two fixtures will be two of the exceptions.



We also are planning a small amount of ceiling detail in the living room and adjunct, including a perimeter grid pattern and crown molding.  We have been working for months on the design and looking for appropriate crown molding.  In this photo, the BB holds a sample of the molding that we've chosen and is reviewing a mock-up of one of the ceiling squares that we have in mind for the grid pattern.  It is very hard to look at the floor and pretend that you're looking at the ceiling.



In this photo, the BP reviews a different grid pattern that we're planning for the ceiling around each of the ceiling lighting fixtures.



The weather this week has been spectacular!  As we were driving a few blocks from our house on Thursday, we saw this incredible view of Mt. Baker adorned with a halo of satin clouds.



Friday was a landmark day, as the exterior trim and siding for this corner of the house was completely done.  It is the first completely finished area of the exterior of the house.



This closer view of the same corner of the house shows more clearly the shingles that are installed above the uppermost bellyband.  They are not wood shingles; they are a Hardie cement-based product, but this particular style of Hardie shingles looks very much like the real thing.



At the end of the week, Dylan and his crew had siding on half of the west side of the house.  This is how the house looked at the end of the week.  A close look at the lawn signs will also provide evidence that this is an election year.