Let the fenestration begin!

Friday

We fixed up a few details.

Eliot screwed the hose bibbs into the mounting blocks.

We had a 30" space for the toilet, but the plumber pointed out that after drywall it would only be 29". We cut away a wall and moved it 1-1/4" farther from the toilet.

We needed to rearrange the framing in the showers to accommodate the shower valves we bought.

Vycor Man made an appearance, carrying eight rolls of membrane window flashing in a single load. Jon brought boxes of liquid-applied flashing from Seattle, which is supposed to be the new hotness, but we brought a bunch of Vycor membrane flashing from Marson in case the liquid didn't work well.

Our cherry-picker showed up Friday afternoon. They were out of the 42' lift, so we got a 60-foot model. Eliot drove it up to the house to ready for our framer Mike coming Saturday to help us with the windows.

Saturday

Mike showed up to teach us how to do windows, and to help us understand the mechanics of installing the huge 18-square foot triangle windows 25 feet up.

Up the lift, cutting out the first holes.

Applying the liquid flashing. In the videos, it glides on like margarine on toast. In practice, Mike and Eliot fought with the stuff for hours. It was in infuriating.

Break for snapdragons!

Eventually we gave up on the liquid flashing, and switched to conventional membrane (gooey tape) flashing. After a long day, we had twelve triangle holes cut out, and a whole two windows installed.

After Mike left, we've got this huge lift here; might as well get some stuff done.

We put some spar varnish on the exposed beams way up high.

Eliot trimmed away branches that were too close to the house and posed a (forest) fire hazard.

Eliot took the lift up as high as he could stand. He got up about 35 feet, with a great view of the valley, and a wavy ride from the wind.

Sunday

We were hoping Mike would be back to help us with the big windows, but he had to cancel.

So we stapled some leftover plastic to protect the gaping holes until next weekend.

The family came up. Siggy wanted a lift ride!

Siobhan worked on her rope swing.

Christina gave archery lessons, and we took a few shots.

Long weekend. Late night enchiladas in North Bend on the way home.

Comments

The trim finishing journey begins

The last time we installed wood trim (almost two years ago!), we sanded and cut the material inside the cabin (it was winter) and installed it unfinished. Finishing it meant taping everything off and applying three coats of finish in place. Removing the masking was frustrating (the finish glued it to the wall in places), and in other places the finish still got where it didn't belong. Now the cabin is full of nice, finished floors, cabinets, and counters. It's not a shop. So this time, I'm sanding and pre-finishing all the boards outdoors. Thankfully, there's still pretty nice weather; that black tarp garage heats up pretty well when the sun's out. Today I got the first batch of wood sanded and a coat of finish applied. Christina installed eight receptacles in the kitchen and great room. My mom came up to enjoy the warm ambiance of the not-yet-active wood stove.

Uncrating the wood stove

I drove up to the cabin today to meet a tree contractor. Since I was up there anyway, I took care of some other business. I got the wood stove out and ready to install on Monday. I vacuumed up the tiny particles of styrofoam packaging material from last year's roofing panels that would have been much easier to clean up last year. I put the bathroom outlet back into its adjusted place above the backsplash. I corrected my installation of the heat pump wiring with a pair of reducing washers. Now it's really done. I replaced the emergency brake battery system in the flatbed trailer. I bucked a bunch of old logs into rounds for firewood.

It is DONE!

The final inspection was today. This guy is Levi, the county inspector, and as you can see, we passed! He only had two questions for me. One was about the energy efficiency credits and the blower door test, for which I had the compensating paperwork for the low-flow faucets already prepared. The second was asking for a smoke detector outside the bedroom; I pointed up and he saw that we already had one tucked into the alcove. And that was that! I got up at 5am to be certain I'd be here before the inspector, and I was ... by about five hours. In that time, I took another truckload of tool buckets down to the storage container, then picked up all the floor protection in the great room and vacuumed and mopped. It's glowing! Then I went back down to the storage container to get a hammer so I could glue in 32 wood plugs to cover the screws for the french doors. I fought with installing the screens, but the frames are too big! The manufacturer said "yeah we don't even make th...

Howell Cabin

Search This Blog