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Last of the Windows and some framing corrections

Tuesday

We came up mid-week for our plumbing and framing inspections.

We learned that the framing inspection happens after the plumbing, HVAC, and electrical inspections are complete -- since the inspector wants to know how much framing is left over after the trades go after it with hole saws and sawzalls.

The inspector did do a preview for us. Everything was good except the fire blocking in the stairs; he suggested a better way to do the stairs that would also make the drywall and trim easier to install later.




Since we were up there, we installed the last three windows.

Friday


While we were gone, the HVAC company (All Seasons in Yakima) had been on site. They've filled our vertical chase with sheet metal plenum, cut holes in the subfloor, and placed the furnace in the crawlspace.


Siggy worked on his doghouse.





Grandma came to enjoy the forest and the construction noise.


Jon added a handrail to the steps for her, and Siggy built her a little coffee table for knitting.

Earlier this morning, our electrician mentor instructed us how to install the two panels we'll need since we decided to go with on-demand electric hot water. Installing them against the meter requires finding two adjacent standard-sized (16") stud bays. There were literally zero such bays in the house: everything was interrupted by a window, a post, or some other irregularity.


We finally realized that this one spot in the master bedroom had more than 32" of uninterrupted space; it's just that the studs are spaced for the sheathing outside, not where we needed them. So...


...out comes the wall. We knocked out the studs, framed in new ones, added blocking, re-sheathed the wall, and finally re-constructed the water barrier.


Jon also chipped away at oil-finishing the wood trim on the big triangle windows.


On the way home, Siggy sawed some logs.

Saturday


Yesterday we noticed that the sun is taking its toll already on the unfinished fir window trim. I had left a scrap of wood on one window, and the area around the scrap had greyed noticeably. We'd best get cracking on finishing the oiling! Jon spent four hours on the Genie lift finishing the triangle windows. Eliot oiled ten of the rectangular windows. We've only got three left to go.


We noticed that our most recent mouseguest had, once again, licked the peanut butter clean from both of the spring traps we left for him, without getting even a little bit decapitated. We also left him a capture trap, and today we heard him inside. Poor little guy with his head still attached! We drove him a mile and a half away to a meadow between a lake and the freeway and let him go.



We took out the stringers on the upper course of stairs and installed fire blocking. We hung rails to offset the stringers from the wall (as the inspector had suggested to ease drywall installation and provide better fire safety), hung the stringers on those, and put the stairs back down. We still need to finish the short lower course, but eight hours was enough for today.

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