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.

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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.

Odds and ends

I made progress on a bunch of little things today. I painted a fencepost in 12" segments and pounded it in at the property line, where the outdoor camera can see it. Now we can measure the snow accumulation. I worked on finishing up almost-complete receptacle branch circuits. The first one I worked on was a little mystery: all the receptacles were installed, but the power didn't reach past a certain point in the line. After some investigation with a wire tracer and watching through the videos we took before covering the walls, I worked out what had happened: two receptacles shared a stud bay, facing into opposite rooms. The plan had been to bring power up to one box, jump over to the other box, and continue back down to the crawlspace to the next box. We forgot the jumper. I couldn't fish a wire between the boxes myself, so that repair waits. Upstairs, installing two receptacles completed the branch. The bathroom vent hole in the tile backer board was a skosh too small. ...

Howell Cabin

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