not quite a timber frame

[Bill Gaiche]

Has been a good thread. Raider Bill, I read the same thing and went out and bought one at Sears. I use it all the time cause it works well. bg

[ljmathias]

Glad it helped, guys- yeah, my impact drivers work so well they walk away from the jobsite looking for work.  My son has been helping build a new clinic for the company he works for, and they've been hanging drywall and doing lots of component assembly with screws.  He'd tried my 12 v Dewalt impact driver- not as powerful as the 18 v but plenty good for drywall screws and it holds a charge and re-charges great plus it comes with a belt hook so you can just hang it between screws.  So it's in his tool box for a while... :D

Worked part of the day and got the last of the electrical outlets and switches hooked up.  Daughter has some trim painting to finish and I've got some way up in the cathedral ceiling to do.  Plus, managed to cut and glue down vinyl in one closet, the washer-dryer room and the upstairs bathroom.  Got to do the downstairs bath today and we'll be almost ready for plumbing trim out, at least in those parts of the house.  Still waiting deliver of kitchen cabinets but need to get the wood floor down first but need to get the house humidity and temperature stabilized.  With the crazy weather last week or so, hot and humid one day, cold and dry the next, the wood flooring would be a mess.

So I'm still waiting to get the HVAC mini-splits hooked up so we can condition the interior for wood floor install- son has been too busy and tired at the end of the day and my other helper went deer hunting in Illinois- venison over work? Go figure.  ;)  Anyway, he got a doe, bow season, and came back last night which made daughter happy for a number of reasons, all good.  We managed to get some work done, made another run to Lowes and had a great dinner with the family, but no venison here yet.

Today should be a great day- plan is to have son and daughter's friend (boyfriend?  we're all waiting to see how that turns out but hoping for the best) finish hanging mini-split units, set the compressor outside, cut and flare the copper lines, vacuum dry them and then fire it up before the end of the day.  Need to go find the right 220 outlet for the drier so we can finish installing that- got the washer in yesterday, and once the drier's in, just have window trim and door to set and that room will be done.

Getting to the point where we're starting to see rooms approaching the 'finished for now' state so they can get moved in.  Plan is still to have them in by Thanksgiving, but getting tighter and tighter.  Main targets are wood flooring installed, cabinets in the kitchen, vanities in the baths, plumbing trim out to hook all the fixtures up and make the toilets work, paint and install the interior doors, do baseboards throughout, install wood burning stove... and a few odds and ends.  With 12 days till Thanksgiving, we're going to need all the family help and focus we can get, plus good weather for at least the next week.

Lj

[Magicman]

You are becoming my hero Lj.  

[clww]

Mine, too! 8)

[ljmathias]

Thanks for the sentiments, guys, but what really matters is that I'm still something of a hero to the grandkids... makes it all worthwhile.

Well, the guy who was supposed to finish up the HVAC mini-splits didn't show up on Tu, didn't show on Wed, didn't make it on Th and Fr didn't even answer the phone.  He's usually pretty reliable so all I can figure is there was too much on his plate and he just didn't know how to say "no, can't help you right now."  Turned out alright in the end- the deer hunter returned last night, son the plumber was free today so between the two of them, they mounted all four interior units of the mini-splits and got the line sets all connected to the outside unit.  Got to be dark before they finished up the wiring and did the vacuum test before starting it up- hopefully tomorrow, and that would mean we'd start conditioning the house tomorrow afternoon/evening.   8) 8) 8)

While they were doing the HVAC, I installed light fixtures in the downstairs bath, the master bedroom, and a couple other places.  Also made headway on trim for window sills and baseboards.  Finished up trim painting in the cathedral ceiling as well- daughter (who fell off a 10' ladder and fractured her shoulder a while back) had a justifiable level of discomfort on the scaffolding.  She wants to do all the ceiling-wall cut-ins herself as she thinks I don't do a fine enough job.  Fair enough except when it gets too high and out of her comfort level... 

Oh, and we finished up installing the washer and dryer, cutting the hole for the outside dryer vent and getting all the right plugs and sockets for 220 to the dryer, water split to washer and dryer,  and what did I say?  Yeah, the dryer has a water inlet- not sure why, and seems very strange, but I think it has something to do with a steaming process to get wrinkles out of natural fiber clothes, like wool?  She's a piper and her "formal" clothes (kilt and all) are woolen, so she says it should be fantastic for those.

Been so busy "doing" that I forgot to get pictures.  I'll get some tomorrow- some rooms are looking almost finished now, and should be very soon, although we still have a monster of a wood floor installation facing us.  Item for discussion: which way to lay the flooring?  I say parallel to the north wall, which allows it to run lengthwise down the hallway and parallel to the stairs at the landing at the bottom and into the master bedroom.  Daughter is thinking that having it turned 90 degrees and parallel to the longer dimension of the kitchen-living room area is better, but this makes the hallway flooring perpendicular to the direction of the hall and puts the flooring at the bottom of the stairs perpendicular to the stair treads- seems out of kilter to me.  Any thoughts on this?

Been going since 6 this morning and worked straight through till dark with a short break for lunch... dead tired tonight and need to recuperate for tomorrow's major efforts.... Things are moving fast now, much to my daughter's delight, but it does take a toll.   ;)

Lj

[Satamax]

LJ, i've always heard run wood flooring parallel to the main source of light. So one end at the biggest window. This has to do with refraction on wood fibers being more even that way.

But i think coridors need to have lenghwise run. Otherwise, it's too much of a pain to fit.

[PC-Urban-Sawyer]

I think you need to make the flooring run lengthwise to the space, especially in longer hallways since that minimizes the amount of wood expansion and contraction that will occur. For instance, let's say that each 3" wide piece of flooring will change width an average of only 1/64th of an inch. Hallway is 3' x 12', the flooring would change a total of 12/64th or 3/16ths of an inch if the flooring is running the long way and a total of 48/64 or 3/4 of an inch if running across the width of the hallway. Besides, it just looks better when the planks are parallel to the longest dimension of the space.

Herb

[ljmathias]

Thanks for the input on the flooring orientation- went ahead and lined the boards up parallel to the hallway.  Like others have said- too much cutting and fitting to do it the other way.

Been a very busy week with mostly 10-12 hour days trying to get things done.  Burned out yesterday and daughter had duties that required her attention so I took the day off- gathered firewood that I'd sawed when the power line went in (lots of downed hardwoods from that) plus fresher pieces from the lightning killed oaks.  Got cold enough for a couple of nights that we had the fireplace insert going to keep the house warm- I love falling asleep in front of the fire... :D  Also did some bush hogging just to drive a tractor for a while.  Was going to cut up the mini-whack of logs by the mill but couldn't decide what to make for lumber- need some for a small barn for future cattle and equipment storage plus siding for the various barns that need it plus I'd like to make something special from the two oaks that were cut down in their prime by an "act of God," as they say... Since I couldn't make up my mind, I just did other stuff while I wait to see what I want the lumber for.   ???

So here are pictures of the HVAC units installed, and the good news: they work on heat and cool just like they're supposed to.  Plumber son and electrician friend got it right, right out of the box (literally).  First is the outside condenser/heat pump being final tested for vacuum.  These units come pre-charged with freon so once you have the lines dried out and under vacuum, you just open the valves and the lines and interior units fill up to just about the right pressure.  Correct pressure depends on number of units and length of the line sets- we were lucky as the pressure it stabilized to was exactly what was called for... I love it when a plan comes together!



Next is the cathedral ceiling mini-split unit next to River's portal on the world (at least the world inside the house), and yes, that's River peeking out ready to get moved in- couple more weeks, boy, and it'll all be yours.   Second is the unit in the loft area; no pictures of the units in the boy's room upstairs or the master bedroom.





The sprayer that I used to prime and paint (most of) the walls really paid off- couple of days work including trimming the ceiling-wall junctions by hand and things look pretty good.  First is the hallway and second is the stairway and upper hallway.





Oh, and the washer and dryer are all hooked up and functional.  In fact, daughter has been using them last couple of days because she just wanted to...  :D  Did I mention she's anxious to get moved in?



I think I did mention we were about to install flooring... so the first picture below shows the hallway viewing into the kitchen, second shows kitchen floor done except for trim where cabinets aren't located.  Turned out pretty nice except for the occasional spots of glue that we haven't figured out how to get up.  I was concerned about installing solid wood flooring directly over concrete even though I did put a vapor barrier under the slab to inhibit moisture coming up.  Lowe's has a new (to me anyway) product that is a combined moisture membrane and adhesive especially for doing just that- pricey and very, very hard to work with.  Seems to be a mix of taffy-like glue with small rubber particles embedded in it.  You spread it with a big-toothed trowel that leaves a fair amount of material under the wood: a 5 gal can covers about 100 sq ft or so, but if it works and the wood doesn't bow up, it'll be worth it.





Just before we started laying flooring, the Lowes delivery truck shows up.  We'd already put them off three times so had to take the appliances and cabinets.  Put them in the living room while we laid the kitchen floor, then installed the base units, the frig and the range.  Still have to hook up the dishwasher and water line for the ice maker, but at least the kitchen is beginning to look more like a functional kitchen...

Tomorrow we're supposed to do whatever plumbing trim out we can at this stage- upstair's toilet works anyway, so we can at least stay on the job and not have to travel back to the main house for nature calls.   

Lj

[Magicman]

It's beginning to really look "housey".      Don't look that word up.  It ain't there.   :D

[ljmathias]

Thanks for the new word, MM- English is always an evolving language and my family takes great delight in "evolving" our own local dialect...  :D

Well, good news on all fronts.  After we got the majority of the kitchen cabinets set, we were able to accurately measure for counter tops.  I've found over the years that no matter how carefully you build and plan, the actual measurements can be off by enough to make the counter tops not quite fit- out of square corners seems to be the biggest problem, caused by drywall finishers putting too much mudd in the corner.  Well, I thought we had a great crew on this job, and everything does look smooth and clean everywhere else, but guess what: corner out of square just enough to make gaps in the ends of the counters away from the corners.  Oh, well- that's what caulk and paint are for.

So last week, we measure everything exactly with all appliances and cabinets in place including a 9" base cabinet that will stand next to the dishwasher to block the end and for which there is no stud behind to screw anchor to...  >:(  Rushed to Lowes to order forgetting that this week is, duh, Thanksgiving!  Employee there worked with us, rushed the order in asking for rush delivery, something that never happens!  Thanksgiving weekend is ideal for finish work, time free to spend all day on it and help from son and daughter's boyfriend (yes, they are getting serious, at least if you measure that by how much time he's putting in helping out).  Unexpectedly, got a call on Wednesday: counter tops are in!  Rush to the store at 4 just after the delivery truck pulls away. load up the tops and 5 interior doors, head for home and unload to get them out of the night dew that is so heavy this time of year. Thursday morning (yesterday), while wife was cooking all the other stuff following our Thanksgiving ritual of preparing and stuffing the turkey together at 6 am, we tackled the counter tops.  Lo and behold!  They didn't quite follow instructions: end next to the range was supposed to be flat on the bottom so it wouldn't have to "cup" over the counter next to the stove- plus they mis-cut by half an inch, which is strange.  Had to plunge saw the support powder board half an inch, and chisel out the remains so the end of the counter would drop onto the cabinets.  Left a gap next to the range, which I hate but had no other way to fix right now. Turns out the cabinets under the counter top were mis-cut as well: drawer fronts were too high by 1/8" so they rubbed the bottom of the counter top edge... dang, but there must have been a lot of novices in training at the shops making these things.

Good news is, after a lot of drawer top planing and crawling back into places in the base cabinets that I don't fit in real well, got everything screwed together nice and tight.  Put a cord on the dishwasher (doesn't anything come with cords and hoses anymore?) and Now the kitchen is ready for plumbing trim out.

Then we went to mount the micro-wave/vent unit over the range: what a PITA!@  Turns out the Chinese don't like to waste good metal on Americans, so things got real hairy when we held it up to mount the first time: pushed an anchor screw down through the cabinet above to hold the unit up, and pushed the nut holder right into the microwave.  So then we pull it down, unscrew about a dozen screws, and lightly twist the cover metal up enough to locate the nut/holder: now the dang thing won't go back together since it's so flimsy that it bent and bowed.  Spent 10 minutes unbending, trying to squeeze it back together, till we finally got it all assembled again: held it up, set the anchor screw on that side, tried to put the anchor screw in the other side, and you guessed it: pushed the nut holder down into the micro-wave on that side.  Unscrew it, lower it down, take the panel off that side, locate the nut and holder, re-mount those, fit it all back together, and try again.  Yeah, and then we (I) pushed a little too hard and did the same thing again....  >:( >:( >:(  Finally got it all right and mounted, but it took over 90 minutes to do what should have been a ten minute job.  I'm not isolationist, but I do think we gave up the farm letting the Chinese sell us junk and finance our debt... just saying.

The other piece of the puzzle that fell into place is the upstairs: finished up painting and prep-work for the carpet install on Monday/Tuesday and lined up the installers for Wednesday morning.  Had to start on the stairs before I was ready to get the landing at the top set in place to bump the carpet up to... also had to do the base trim under where the loft railing will be for the same reason: cut, stained, sealed with two coats of floor finish, glued and screwed in place Tuesday evening.  Installers came Wednesday and carpet was in throughout the upstairs by noon: what a difference a finished floor makes!  Wow, the bedrooms, bath (vinyl there) and loft-work area looked almost done.

Yesterday, after getting the cabinets in, continued on trim work I'd started on Tuesday: I'd painted bundles of ready-primed baseboard and had that ready to go, plus daughter was hard at it painting doors outside.  Managed to trim out most of the upstairs and set two doors: now it's really looking housey!  Daughter's boyfriend worked on lights and ceiling fan in the living room, standing up on the second tier of movable scaffolding and reaching up at his height limit for several hours (bet he's sore today   :D  ): he and daughter are almost the same height, and that ain't tall!  ;)

Spent a couple hours getting bathroom sink basins ready cut to fit against the walls where the rough plumbing sticks out so son can finish trim out today.  Looks like it will be a great day, this Black Friday (I hate that name: shows how crassly commercial we Americans have become): plumbing trim out to finish, last of the lights to go up, doors to paint and hang, last of the master bath trim out to finish, and trim around the post and beam unit holding up the loft floor to complete.  Goal is to get all the little stuff done, clean out all the mess that's accumulated again (no matter how "clean" I try to keep things, tools, waste and stuff-about-to-be-used piles up   ???) and start flooring again on Saturday.  Need to finish sawing out the stones that will go under the wood burning stove so we can set those as we go with the hardwood flooring tomorrow: need to get the flooring out to there so we can set the stove, hang the chimney and take down the scaffolding: what a milestone that will be!

We're in the home stretch now, and the finish line is in sight: missed our deadline of Thanksgiving but not by much (of course, that's not counting our deadlines of August 15 and Halloween   ;D  ).  Plan is to let them start moving in by Monday since I'll be gone on work related travel from Tuesday for a week or so...   It's amazing how motivated you get when you see a major project like this coming into the final stages.  We're not rushing work, but we're on it steady and hard anytime we have available not eating turkey and playing with grandkids and grandbabies, required duties such as they are.   8)

I'll get pictures today... good weather is holding just long enough, pray it makes it through Monday.

Lj

[Bill Gaiche]

LJ, looks like your real close to having a crispin chicken open house. bg

[ljmathias]

Well, Bill, I'm not as talented as MagicMan in the cooking arena, but I can get my son to BBQ up a mess of burgers or ribs, plus my wife is an excellent cook- she makes a mean gumbo...    We'll definitely have an open house and maybe a Southern Chapter meeting for winter or spring update-- stay tuned.

Lj

[Magicman]

My "date" is open.   ;)   Whatever it is.   ;D

[ljmathias]

Well, made it back from the cold, rainy north and northeast.  Spent more than a week in Chicago and New York doing work- not fun places for me personally but when duty calls...  :(

Time for another major fess-up.  I've installed four sets of counter tops over the last few years, and I just found out I've been doing it wrong.  Or at least, I haven't been doing it exactly right.  Seems the problem I mentioned on drawers not opening was entirely due to me not putting wood slates or sheets on top of the cabinets- this was very kindly pointed out to me in a PM from a forum member who (I guess) didn't want to embarrass me in front of everybody- thanks for that!  I should point out, just for information, that I'm of a certain age where being embarrassed is far from any consideration for me anymore- I do too many things that some people might be embarrassed by to be embarrassed by them anymore since I'd end up being embarrassed too much of the time... did that make sense?   ???  So just for anyone thinking about doing counter tops themselves- make sure you find out how to do it right, which I now know means putting a layer of wood spacing between the cabinets and the counter top.  This actually makes perfect sense- it allows you to screw up from the anchors located in the corners of the cabinets into the wood lathes by working from on top.  I was screwing up from inside the cabinets, and I can tell you one thing for sure: I don't fit real well in there.  Second, it then is real easy to screw or glue the top onto the slats- much easier to reach then the corner anchors.  Third, of course, it provides the spacing needed so your drawers and doors open, which is a pretty serious concern if you actually want to use them.

Anyway, been back in town for a day, and we finished laying flooring: wahoo!  What a mess the adhesive is- gets on everything since it's so good at being gluey (new word, maybe?) and is almost impossible to get off once it dries.  You can wipe it off if you catch it right away but there are still those spots that end up getting missed, and of course, it's supposed to stick to things, right?  Like skin?  Only answer that seems to work well is to wait three days and it eventually falls off. Sure, paint thinner will take it off if you use it immediately, but if it dries and sets at all, it's not coming off. I'll get a picture of the container in case anyone is interested in using it- main specifically for putting hardwood flooring down onto concrete directly, acts as both a moisture membrane and glue.

I have a bunch of pictures to upload and can't.  Something wrong with the new version of the uploader.  I think there's a button to use the old version which I'll try shortly, but it may have to wait till this evening- we're going to finish up trimming out the master bedroom so Jessie can move her bed and stuff in for real.  They've gotten anxious and while I was gone, moved stuff in upstairs (which was mostly done) and lots into the kitchen and bath downstairs plus a sectional in the living area.  The wood burning stove works great, maybe too well actually, and the house is functional enough for them to "rough it" till we finish up.  So today is trim work and stairs, then we'll do all the punch list stuff.  Oops, no stairs today- forgot the rest of the doors plush thresholds plus patching flooring next to where the door trim sets...

If building a house is like running a marathon, then we're in the last mile.  Never run one myself (marathon, but have built a few houses and if I build a few more, I might begin to think I can actually do it right), but I would guess the emotions are about the same: exhaustion, desire to get it done and satisfaction at having come this far.  If we can just maintain focus for that last mile, we can have it fully done by Christmas, maybe in time for an engagement party.   ;)

Lj

[WDH]

You have been scarce.  I was wondering if you had gone AWOL.  Wait, that would be AWFH instead (Absent Without Finishing House)  .

[ljmathias]

Picture test: ok, with Jeff's instructions in the video, I was able to get the new uploader to work and now have pictures to show progress.  First is an update on the kitchen- this was the first floor we laid and it was a real learning experience!     To save time (but not money) we went with a new adhesive from Bostick that also serves as a moisture barrier when putting wood directly onto concrete.  I'd put a layer of polyethylene under the slab to help prevent moisture from getting to the concrete but given it's porous nature and all the water that sits in our version of red clay here in the South, my hopes are high that this stuff will prevent the dreaded buckling caused by moisture... so far so good.  You can also see the door is up on the pantry.  Still have to do trim work under the cabinets and baseboard/quarter round along the walls, but almost done now.   



 

Here's the master bath, and the picture doesn't show how big it really is- not huge, but lots of space.  We opted for vinyl on the floor for cost and speed of installation, and I leaned a valuable lesson here: get help for big pieces.   >:(  Tried to lay the whole thing by myself, and it was really too big to peel back half, put down adhesive, lay that part and repeat on the other half.  Ended up not getting glue in two spots right near the tub- bubbles!  Got to figure out how to deflate them, and thought maybe the syringe glue might do it- comes in a plastic syringe with a needle on the end, so I'm hoping I can insert it through and around the bubbles (about 6 inches across) and get them down onto the concrete.  Live and learn, and I guess the "living" part means trying stuff to find out how to do it right.



 

We opted for carpet for the upstairs, mainly because the boy wanted it- no accounting for taste.  Anyway, here's a picture of his room just before I trimmed it (done) and he moved in his bookcase, books, bed and some other stuff.  Been sleeping there now for almost a week and is adjusting well- it's always hard to get used to a new place to sleep.  ;)



 

We spent a marathon (that word again   :D ) day laying the floor in the living room: almost 8 hours with three of us going elbows and knees and got it down without a hitch.  At least, not if you don't count all the glue stuck to clothes and skin.   8)  Cut some of the sandstone I'd bought for the house we live in- got a semi-load about 15 years ago and still finding uses for the leftovers.  Used a diamond blade on a circular saw, and despite the dust, it went well.  You can see the slabs under the stove- just didn't want it sitting on wood.  You might think the wood burning stove is too close to the wall, but it meets manufacturer's requirements.  There's a blower unit on the back and with that, heat doesn't radiate back toward the wall.  We're still thinking of putting something back there that's fireproof, though, but there's time for that later.  Floor looks pretty good, too.   8)



 

Picture below is a different view of the living room space.  There'll be a bookcase to the left of the window, and the couch/sectional may get relocated- plenty of room for stuff, including the piano that still has to make it's way from our house to the space next to the stairs, but gotta do the baseboard trim first and that has to wait till the bedroom is finished.  Got three doors mounted yesterday, trimmed out the closet, and the made the mandatory trip to Lowe's to pick up supplies- different quarter round to match the baseboard we'd bought, closet shelving, casement for the hall door into the kitchen... stuff.  Luckily we had one can of floor adhesive left over upopened and that paid for everything on this trip.  Of course, today's another day and another trip looms: somehow miscounted doors and forgot the one for the hot water heater closet plus they'll be something else come up that we need- there always is...  :



 

Should be able to finish the bedroom today and get started on the stair treads.  Need to get those done for safety and functionality- also to keep the cat from getting hung up.  He got moved in a couple days ago and is still adjusting; strictly a house cat, and he owns the universe, of course, just like all cats.  We were working yesterday and we hear this weird scrabbling noise, like something is stuck against drywall.  Turns out it was something stuck against drywall: he'd squeezed under the rough treads that are on the risers, worked his way up between those and the drywall ceiling of the closet under the stairs and was scrambling around in there- dopey cat   :D

Lj

[Magicman]

Wow Lj, it's good to have you back and to see all of the progress that you guys have made.  I now see the end in your future.  Yes, you have run a marathon.   ;D   :D

[ljmathias]

Thanks, MagicMan- just glad you didn't say "end of your future;" that would have been pretty final.   :D

We finished up trim in the master bedroom and daughter is busy moving furniture and clothes in and putting those away.  She slept in her own bed now for two nights, so the room is "real" in terms of functionality.  Today we do more odds and ends, but focus mainly on steps- cutting treads to length, staining and clear coating.  Bought a polyurethane clear coat that's water based- a latex version that doesn't actually put much on with each coat.  Guess that's the price you pay for easy clean up, but not only does it cost more than oil based but because it doesn't cover as well, the manufacturer makes more per gallon: less actual poly in each container.  Oh, well, that's the way the free market works.   ;)

Got a list a mile long of this and that stuff to do: logs and branches to saw up for firewood, extra flooring to move out of our house into storage till we decide where to put it, clean up outside the new house and tool sorting- need to start hauling tools I won't use anymore over there back to the barn, which means cleaning up the barn to put up more shelves for the tools coming home to roost.  The fun never ends!  :D  Plus I have to figure out Christmas presents for some of the family- we draw names for a major exchange among the us and the kids, but the grandkids and Nana are still required from all...

Lj

[Piston]

LJ,
I just caught up with your progress again, looks great!

As for Christmas shopping, I'd say you have the daughter's gift pretty well nailed down for this year....  ;D

[clww]

I agree with Piston!

[ljmathias]

Sorry, didn't mean to mislead anyone- yes, her "present" is taken care of but we do an exchange each year with a drawing at Thanksgiving.  I got the daughter-in-law but the wife has already bought that gift- she loves to shop and I let her.  Probably wouldn't have found anything she wanted at Lowes anyway   :D  and there and Autozone are the only two places I spend money anymore (except online for shells).

So, here's my almost-done update: we stained and put finish on stair treads yesterday and now they're ready to be glued and nailed down.  Bought a big box of cut nails I used on my son's stairs- they turned out neat with the heads showing against the bright yellow pine.  Daughter's stairs are stained dark walnut so the heads my not sure as well, but at least they'll be down solid.  After the stairs are down, just some odds and ends of trim work to finish, a little outside trim work plus a final clear-coat on the siding, the loft and stairs railing (cut four 11/2X3" oak boards for those out of lightning killed red oak) and we'll be done- probably get her finished this week but definitely by Christmas.  Of course, we have to be done by Christmas as we always have Christmas eve present opening at her place, and this will be the first year at the new house.

Yesterday, while stain and finish was drying on the treads we started the clean up process.  Packed tools and left over supplies onto the truck and hauled stuff over to the big barn for storage till next building project.  Seems strange to pick up saws and nail guns, knowing they are no longer needed on this house- a sense of finality that has an element of sadness about it: I love the whole process of building, and the final product is just icing on the cake.  Daughter has been focused on being done and moved in, which is as it should be, but that perspective is different than mine.  Oh, well, there's always a barn and workshop in the plans, so I'll focus on those next, plus wife has been talking about an addition on the son's house- their four kids are growing fast and will need separate bedrooms in the not-so-distant future...    Without goals and plans, life would seem somewhat pointless.   :

Lj

[ljmathias]

Quick update and today I get pictures- house was finished enough for daughter and grandson to move in just before Christmas eve.  We celebrated there that night with the wood burning stove going and gift opening plus an excellent potluck dinner (this is our Christmas eve tradition and it was important for them to have it at the new place this year for lots of reasons, mostly personal ones).

Since then, we've finished the floor trim so that's done; got the railing tops on the stair and loft rails; and did a few more detail things like caulking.  Today we plan to finish the railing inside and hopefully the railing on the front porch (facing south where the sun is visible from dawn till dusk over the field down the hill).  After that, a little touch up paint here and there (no matter how careful you are, something always gets nicked or stained) and we'll switch back to the outside: driveway to smooth and re-pack and put a layer of gravel on plus a small shed over the outside unit for the minisplits to protect it from the elements.

It's incredible to be at the end of such a long and back-breaking (well, not really) chain of construction tasks, and the satisfaction in having done a reasonably good job is enormous.  Turns out we built this house at just the right time to provide my daughter and her son with a secure, paid-for place to live for as long as they need.  For various reasons, they would have been left "out in the cold" otherwise, and now they have a place to be that is functional and fun: what more can we ask?   

Lj

[WDH]

LJ,

I am as proud of you as you are of this outcome! 

[Raider Bill]

Congratulations!

[beenthere]

Good on you Lj. That is a huge accomplishment, to say the least.
And many thanks for the pics and detailed rolling commentary. 
What a great father for a daughter and grandson to have.