Week 28: Now You See It, Now You Don't



This was a week when a lot of things were not in their normal places--mostly temporarily, in a few cases, permanently.  In this photo, there are two things missing.  On the main electrical mast shown on the left in this photo, there had been an old telephone line tied to the mast.  This was a landline that the local telephone company, Century Link, had used to serve the prior owners of this house.  When we bought the house, the line was never taken down, even though we never used Century Link.  At long last, Century Link came this week and took the line away.  The other things missing in this photo are the dining room windows and window frames.  As mentioned in an earlier blog, the windows are missing because they have been removed to an upstairs location where they are being painted.  The window frames are missing because we discovered this week that the dining room windows on the west side and the east side had been inadvertently switched.  The window units were not identical, therefore it was necessary to demolish all of the exterior trim, remove the entire mulled unit, and reinstall it on the opposite side of the dining room.  A quick word here about our contractor: Bellingham Bay Builders have made very few mistakes during this very long and complex project, and on the rare occasions where a mistake has been made, they have been on the phone to us to tell us about it immediately after discovering the problem.  We have really appreciated both the high quality of their workmanship and their integrity in those instances where a problem has developed.



At the end of last week we showed the disappearance of the old fence between our house and our neighbors' to the east.  This week the fence subcontractor arrived to set the posts for the new fence.  This photo shows two string lines.  The string line on the left runs along the property line.  We established a second string line, on the right, to create a 3" setback that would ensure that the entire fence was on our side of the property line.



Sean and Derek, the fence subcontractors, set new fence posts, while in the background, Dylan is engaged in the painful task of demolishing beautiful window trim and removing the misplaced east side window unit.



This is what dining room windows look like when they're not there.



The line of new fence posts, which were all in by midday.  The fence subcontractor will wait about a week to let the post cement cure and then will begin constructing the fence panels.  The design of the panels will replicate the fence design created by our friend, Andy Rodrigues, when he built our rear fence.



The fence subs also will be reinstalling the Rodrigues-built rear fence that was temporarily removed during our remodel to enable large vehicles, of which there have been many, to drive onto the property.  It is wonderful to be at a stage of the remodel where we can put Andy's fence back in place.  The old fence panels were preserved, and in this photo, the first of the panels is being reinstalled.



Another Rodrigues design feature is being preserved.  Andy designed and installed our rear deck, and we've been able to preserve the components.  The new side door is located only about an inch from where the old side door used to be, so we're going to be able to reinstall Andy's deck pretty much exactly as originally built.  In this photo, the first structural component of the deck has been installed.



The BB and the BP designed a system of crown molding and Craftsman grids for the living room ceiling.  Our project manager, Dave Brogan, assembled this mock-up so we could see how it looked on the ceiling and decide definitely whether we wanted to do it.  We loved what we saw, so this system will be installed throughout the new living room space.

The painters sealed off the second floor to create a dust-free area within which to paint the windows.  In the library in the middle of the second floor, they created this work area, where the windows are painted, and then after painting, they are distributed around the second floor to dry.  The second floor furnace is on full time to create a warm environment.  It became apparent last week that the windows would become a major pacing item.  Because the weather has changed to a much colder and wetter environment, it now takes a couple of weeks for the oil-based paint applied to these windows to cure.  Until the paint cures, the windows can't be reinstalled.  Until the windows are reinstalled, various other activities, particularly including work on the floors, can't be completed.



This photo shows one of the window drying areas--the master bedroom.



Another window-drying area--the BP's office.



The master closet has not only been serving as a window drying area but also a drying area for the painted doors.  This was the first time we'd seen the ingenious device used to stack the doors.  They're held in place by a screw inserted into the end of the door, leaving all other surfaces clear for painting.



The BP steps through the membrane that seals off the second floor.  Once through the membrane, the opening is closed with a zipper.



We have been delighted to be able to recycle many of the doors that were in the original house.  This photo shows the door to the downstairs coat closet.  This is a 1925 door.  Before the remodel, this was the door to the closet serving the BP's office. 



The BB stands next to another recycled door.  In the original house, the water heater had been enclosed in a space that was then framed by studs spaced 16" on center.  It didn't take the BP's expertise in physics to figure out (1) that access to the water heater was difficult, and (2) if the hot water heater ever needed to be repaired or replaced, it would not fit through any of the stud bays.  So we constructed an access doorway, and we're delighted to be able to use the door that had been the door to our attic bedroom.



This is the alarm that would go off in the event of a failure of the pumps in the exterior sump.  The good news is that the alarm will go off if the sump pumps malfunction.  The bad news is that we have no idea what to do if the alarm goes off.  We're working on it.



It took a while to convince the electricians that we weren't crazy.  We finally got them to understand that we wanted to install two timers.  One controls several lighting circuits upstairs, and the other controls a lighting circuit downstairs.  When we are traveling, we set the timers so that lights go on both upstairs and downstairs and turn off at different times.  We think that it creates a helpful illusion that we are at home to discourage any aspiring burglars.



The wainscoting panels for the dining room have arrived.  A couple of the panels have already been installed.  The remaining panels are standing on end being "climatized" in a manner similar to the climatization of the new oak floors.



The BP tries out the telephone in the elevator.  The good news is that we have a telephone; the bad news is that there was no dial tone.  We're working on this, too.