Rebuild Day 30

Trick or Treat!

I waited to touch base with Bob...and soon had a shopping list o_O

Kitchen on the Deck :/

In the time I was gone to Lowe's and back...Bruce & Andrew had the tiles stripped:



Dumpster when I left for work...

...and when I got back home:

Pressure Treated to sister floor joists, and Advantec tounge-and-groove OSB for the new sub floor.

I'm running out of room so we're shuffling things like the new cabinets back and forth

Temporary plywood down.

Rebuild Day 29

Monday. Took a mental health day since I knew the guys weren't coming up to work since it was still supposed to have passing downpours and high winds today.

One piece of insulation blew out of the eave in the middle of the night...and into the sink o_O

I parked the vehicles where I knew they were safe from falling trees. Didn't think about that unsecured sheet of plywood on the sawhorses which managed to vault off my side mirror. Damaged the side mirror, looks like I'll need to replace the black plastic at least. Other than that, didn't touch the car.



Will need to bring Ed some Chili.

I even had black duct tape so it doesn't look too bad.

It's never a good thing when it's 60 degrees out and the State has the plows on. (Clearing debris from the roads, almost seemed like there may have been a lot of microbursts -- areas would have nearly clear roads, then suddenly roads completely covered with leaves and branches. House on Suzanne Lane in Brooklyn got hit hard by a falling tree. Usually if you saw one tree down, there were multiple ones.)


I putzed away (happily, with no pressure) on building out the TV / Power Center. The 2x10 scrap was used so I could move the TV bracket easily in the future to re-center it if I ever get a bigger than 36" TV; I think I could reasonably go up to 44" here.

I need to find the correct face plates, which are proving hard to find on Google, that combine power on one side and data/video on the other.

The top is for the TV and will have HDMI and Ethernet.

Next tier down is counter height -- the outlets are combined power & USB Chargers. Data/Video will include one HDMI for the laptop to sit here feeding the TV; and a Cat 5 for connecting a laptop or possibly printer w/o wifi.

I'm planning on a shelf below the counter here to hold more gadget, so there is a data (orange only) box here.

Finally on the lowest level with be two duplex outlets, and another data box. I'll have a gap at the back of the shelf so power and data can easily be run up to stuff on it.

Rebuild Days 26, 27, 28

Lowes delivered (most) of the cabinets I had ordered...little did I know soon I would need more :/

Bob finished getting the blue board up and prepping the bathroom for Wes.
Wes' Duck Box:

Home Depot run to pick up the tile for Wes, and wiring stuff for my TV/Power Center wall.

Wes and his able assistant, Kiya, came over on Saturday to get the bathtub tiled:




Cement Blocks to put the new heater on. I ended up just using the big ones, which raise the heater 16" off the ground which should give me plenty of notice with the water alarm should something happen with the drain. I had to run to Tractor Supply for new tires for my hand truck, which provided Pat an opportunity to get into the house and plot with Wes while I wasn't around :/ (I neglected to take photos of the heater now in the basement; wiring and plumbing to come.)



Let's do a color check -- the carpet I have already ordered; thought it was more interesting than just plain beige. The naming convention on the Petproof StainMaster carpet was after canines, so this is "(Chocolate) Labrador"

The plan with the carpet is to buy time until I can have the rest of the sub-floors redone, then absolutely splurge on some really nice hardwood from Hull up in Pomfret which is (literally) one of the world's premier hardwood flooring companies:

Loads of options to consider when the time comes for species, size, and sawing -- the sample below is "quarter sawn" (notice how it looks different from plain sawn above which has the "mountain peaks" pattern)...this style is more expensive since there is more waste wood from a log, but it is also makes stronger planks:

Now with the entry / kitchen subfloors being replaced I need tile -- "Aspen Sunset:"

Which Pam approves :D These were 6x6 but I'm planning on 12x12 unless for some reason Wes thinks that is too large; I think with the new subfloors it will be fine. (The larger the tile, the better / more stable the floor and house has to be to keep them from cracking over time).

The kitchen probably would have been OK with laminate like Pergo, but I bring in snow-covered firewood (and my snow covered clothes) a lot and I am concerned if we just tiled the hearth area...laminate wouldn't hold up to regular flooding of melting snow. Then once all the entrance is tile, if it doesn't match the kitchen, you end up with two small areas of contrasting floors even though they visually and use-wise flow together.


Cabinets are Weyburn:

And the new kitchen counters (other than the butcher block for the main counter/semi-island area) will be "Ouro Romano:"

Update 11/1 -- Pam found "Typhoon Ice" at Home Depot; but it seems to come in two versions. I'll have to double check in person.

Regular, which is what they have in stock:

And a version with "Antique Finish" which I think matches the sample Pam picked up:

Food pics! The other half of last night's small roast beef grinder turned into an open face melt for lunch:

Without much of a kitchen, lets make some home cooking so I don't have to do as much take out this week. A rump roast chili? I don't know what you call some of my creations...it was the cheapest piece of beef per pound Big Y had today.

Since I had to pull out the roll out tool box to retrieve my extension cord, I might as well just use it for to put the crock pot on and not use the cord.



As I finish writing this, the wind has picked up driving the pouring rain -- a Mid-Atlantic low has collided with the remains of Tropical Storm Philippe. Couple inches of rain and gusts to 60mph expected overnight. (Brief hurricane force winds are expected over Massachusetts Bay and coastal Maine!)

Rebuild Day 25

Sleep Glorious Sleep...from 5pm to 8pm, eat a little supper, and sleep some more 9:30pm to 7am :)

It rained, so the guys weren't out again today, and I decided sleep was more important than going to the laundromat.

Rebuild Days 22, 23, and 24

The weather caught up with us this week.

Wes, Bob, Bruce, & Andrew where here on Monday was nice. I did run home at lunch to touch base with Wes.

Good view of the hurricane strapping:

Wes put up the entry way; permanent columns to follow.
Tuesday I had to put new tires on the car, then went to pull a permit to cover the bathroom, checked in with Bruce (Wes was tiling Little Niomi's new house) then went to work -- where by 1pm I was taking a nap in my car since I just couldn't keep my eyes open. I had woken up at 3am, after having insomnia the night before.

There were just passing showers Tuesday daytime, but then the heavens opened up Tuesday night and bands of heavy rain kept the guys away on Wednesday.

This is me Wednesday morning, after the best sleep I've gotten in weeks o_O.

Think I may get carried away with my label maker? Been buying some new tools I've seen the guys use that I didn't know about before and that I know will help make things go smoother and faster with the work I have coming up to finish.


Wednesday night's task is to install locks in the doors. It's probably only the third or fourth time I've done this...so while I know the theory I sure aren't practiced at it :)


And if I'm going to do it, I'll do it best I can -- using heavy duty four-screw latch plates and 3" #8 screws that get into the stud and not just the frame. I'm gonna make them break the glass and reach in to unlock the door if they want to get in!

That's one of the new toys -- an impact driver. I watched them take out screws I had used a ratchet to drive in without the tool even balking! Also gives me very good control of the speed to slowly but with lots of torque drive in screws.


My (much larger) DeWalt drill I bought years ago still chugs along just fine, but there was a good package deal with the impact driver. Picked up a long 1/8" bit so I could pre-drill for the screws properly:



So now I've practiced on the kitchen door, time to try the front door, but damn look at that gap:

Shimmed it so the screws wouldn't pull the frame out of alignment.


So what to do with the excess shim sticking out? Had seen Wes using an oscillating tool and it was the slickest thing for trimming tight areas:



Plywood was put over the entire gable wall to stiffen it since there is no adjacent attic. I'll put up sheetrock over the plywood, and the electrician has already set the outlets at the correct depth for plywood + sheetrock.

And they got the bathtub, bluebird, and wainscoting in on Tuesday.