Inspector Clouseau (Day 311)

Tuesday is the grand inspection day. Inspector Clouseau and his colleagues will be here for two inspections. The first is for the low voltage systems in the house. This is done by the State out of Port Angeles. They will be looking at the central vacuum, digital TV (Direct TV-satellite), cable (TV, for future), phone, audio speakers, and internet wiring. I ran just under 1000 ft of 4 pair cable (cat 5e) for the internet and phone, about 500 ft of RG-2 for the TV systems, and about 200 ft of 2- and 4-strand CL2 wire for speakers. Also, Direct TV came by on Sunday (yes, this a a regular service day for them) and they installed the HD dish on the roof and attached 2 coils of double RG-2 cable, each 90 ft long. My job was to thread these four wires through the soffit, attic, down the crawl space, through the basement and into the media panel. Sounded like a daunting job (3x or worse), but I got that job done in about an hour (1 x; no I'm not looking for a job as an installer). Left to be done (today) is to staple up all the cable in the crawl space and attic. Nancy finished the basement and walls, but she draws the line at tall ladders and creepy spaces.

The second and bigger inspection is the final rough in, which is done by the County out of Port Townsend on Wednesday. They'll look at the framing, hold downs (42), fireplace and vents, air handling and vents, windows, exterior doors, and anything else that catches their eye. Left to be done is some fire blocking in the sauna walls, since I lowered the ceiling in this room to 7.5 ft rather than the standard 9 ft used throughout the house. Also, we need to drill a bunch of air holes in the rafters adjacent to skylights so that there is air flow from the skylights to the roof ridge crests.

This place ought to look like Grand Central Station by noon on Tuesday. Frank and Wayne (the masons) will be here working on the chimney chase. We have about 65 sq ft of rock to go up there, but they need to work off scaffolding rather than the inclined roof. So on Saturday, Darrell Olson (who helped me with the electrical conduit a couple weeks ago) and I built a platform on the roof for the masons. Its 4 ft x 12 ft, and about 2 ft above the roof next to the chimney. Darrell cut the sticks and I nailed them together on the roof, then we screwed a couple sheets of OSB to it. Its not a masterpiece, but it'll give the masons a stable platform to work from. Today I got a bunch of used carpet for the roof (traction issues) and stitched it together so it covers the tarp beneath the platform and around the top of the chimney. Then I put up the tar paper and stapled the wire mesh on the chase. It took most of the day, but there are other issues remaining for the inspection.

Gary and Troy Ellis should be here on Tuesday also. They plan to put the soffit up on the higher areas that give me the willies. Plus they are fast and can do 5x as much as me. So if they get get the part of the soffit that runs parallel to the roof done, it'll save me a week and possible hospital visit. In addition, the insulation guys (D&D Insulation) will be here early on Tuesday to foam off all drill holes that go from one floor to another, which is a fire issue, an is an inspection issue.

And to add a bit of dust to the affair, Richard Gifford should be around with his purple backhoe filling some last holes and regrading the lot. Also he and is electrician need to finish pulling new cables for the septic pump, which they cut by accident last week after the mason ran over the clean out for the waste line. Don't even ask, this was the Pink Panther part of the job that thankfully was out of my hands (and wallet).

PS. Thursday. The big inspection went well. He said the framing job was really good and it was a very attractive house. He found four issues, all minor and we can deal with them today and get on with the insulating of the house. The masons never showed up (so my roof work was rushed for no good reason) due to a "family emergency", but the Ellis guys came over and dove into the soffit work. They are fast and good. Did as much on Wednesday as I could in a week! Richard, the septic guy, is missing in action. The first Chimacum High School football game is Friday and he is one of of the coaches--enough said.

Passed 1st Electrical Inspection (Day 308)

On Thursday am, the electrical inspector (from Dept. of Labor and Industries, Port Angeles) was supposed to show up at noon. No worries, Gary Estes (electrician) and I had a half dozen things to complete while we waited for him. However, as we chatted about the remaining things to do, the inspector showed up 90 minutes early (I guess its not so busy anymore).

So off we went on the room to room inspection. He looked, asked questions, and found dozen things we'd missed. Gary fixed all his issues in a couple hours, but caught me on the low voltage part (speakers, cable, internet, etc). Apparently the speaker wire I purchased from Lowes was not rated for in the wall use, but luckily I hadn't gotten to this part of the low voltage wiring, which will be inspected next week just before insulation goes in. Also, Levi Ross had forgotten to pull a permit for the low voltage (thermostats) part of the radiant heating, so Levi will have to apply for this online over the weekend. Then we'll call for the low voltage inspection, probably on Tuesday next.

All in all, it went pretty well. Gary said that the things the inspector found were pretty typical, and if we'd had time to do our last little bit there would have only been a couple of issues. Nevertheless, the inspector put the magic "Approved" label on the meter box, and we're ready to have Puget Sound bring the voltage from the street to the house. I called them and they said it would take 3-5 working days to get the order executed (not the best use of terms, huh). So by Sept. 1, their installation subcontractor will be on site to pull a big nasty cable through the conduit that Darrell Olson and I laid a couple of weeks ago.

While all this was going on, Richard Gifford returned with his little backhoe and filled the trenches and regraded the front of the lot. Our environmental site plan for runoff indicated we'd need 3 dry wells for the roof runoff. Dry wells are pits filled with gravel and landscape fabric, the idea being that they will serve as points for recharge on the lot, rather than having the runoff go to the street and into a culvert or a local stream. This is exactly the opposite of Colorado, where they don't allow you to capture (and use) runoff. The bottom line is that western Washington has plenty of agua, and eastern Colorado doesn't.

But I digress. Richard suggested using an alternate technology for the dry wells. It seems that someone makes 10 ft long mesh bags that have a perforated pipe in the middle, and about 12" of foam peanuts around the pipe. The peanuts act like gravel and allow lots of porosity in the infiltration bag. I couldn't have been easier. Richard connected three bags (screw couplings) threw then in the water pipe trench, connected my drain pipe to this snake-like contraption and buried it all. I expected to see Elmo and the Sesame Street gang show up. No gravel or trucking involved (less $$), and all done in 30 minutes. The dry well in the back yard will have to wait until the power is pulled and this part of the trench is filled. So I'm back onto the low voltage and building some scaffolding on the roof for the masons to use on the chimney. That starts Monday, insulation starts Tuesday, and drywall show start a week from now±. The joint is jumping, for a change.

The Water Flowith (Day 305)

We've been working on getting H2O to the house this past two weeks. Called the Kala Point Water Company, which is a private entity, and arranged for Eric Thomas (the owner) to come out and install a meter and hookup. Nothing happened for a week, then he showed up and sized up the job. He wasn't prepared for 1 1/4" pipe (my end), which he recommended I use, so he didn't have the right size fittings. Off to Hadlock Building Supply. Then there was a couple day lapse, due to a summer cold. So on Sunday, up comes Eric (over the cold, mostly) to install the meter and hookup. All was well, except the old meter box had been deformed by the adjacent Alder tree, so he'd need to get a new one.

Eric is a very likable guy; owns 4 small water companies in the area, all targeted for subdivisions such as our own. I discussed the water business with him, and it appears to be quite lucrative if you buy the right companies. Watch out for steel or lead pipes (PVC is best), get good tanks, and install UV treatment for iron and manganese components. Anyway, he'd brought his family over from Sequim to the Kala Point Pool (kids and wife), so he only had a couple hours to finish off my job. So I have water, lots of it, at about 50-60 psi (new pump at tanks). Bob Brown came out on Wednesday and made the connection to the house, so we are all done, except for installing the valves for the three showers and tub, all of were shipped to Fergusons in Sequim on Monday and picked up by my lovely bride of 37 years.

Nail Plate Nancy, we'll call her. Her assignment these past few days has been to nail 1.5 x 3" steel plates over any shallow electrical or plumbing parts. The logic is that if its less then 1.5" from the surface, the drywall guys could penetrate something important with a nail or screw, hence the steel plate. Well, when we were done, I think we had about 150 nail plates on studs and joists—all cheap insurance for a potential problem, like I had on Sunday.

I needed to move a drain pipe the basement ceiling that conflicted with the soon to be installed dryer vent. You wouldn't believe all the competing systems in a house: fresh water, gray water, 120v electric, low voltage, central vacuum, and vents. So I chopped out a section of drain vent, put in some 45° bends, and made space for the vertical drop for the dryer vent. No worries, right. Then I needed to move the drain support (metal strap), so I unscrewed the screw and water erupted like Vesuvius. It came squirting down at 50 psi (the system was under pressure from testing) and about 10 gallons spilled out on the basement floor before I got all the valves turned off. It seems like the plumber (me) made a fundamental error and screwed the support strap to the subfloor (Warmboard) and managed to penetrate a Pex tube. All was well until I unscrewed the screw from the Pex and opened up the hole. Actually it was a good thing because 5 or 10 years down the road that screw would have rusted and allowed the Pex to drip, drip, drip into the hardwood and cork flooring, so of like a festering canker sore.

I sawed out the stud plate, exposed the punctured Pex, and chopped it out. In about an hour, I'd made the repair, replaced the plate, and all was well. So I learned a valuable lesson. Don't screw up (vertically) and you can't hit a Pex tube.

Our electrical rough in inspection is scheduled for Thursday (Aug. 27th), so if we pass we have the Go card for our big county inspection, which involved framing, hold downs, shear walls, etc. Once this is done (end of August), we're on to insulation and drywall, both of which will be hired out. This will be a major advance for the house. Once drywall is in, we are officially in the "Finishing Stages" of the house (paint, tile, wood floors, and cabinets). If you are handy at such things, the Hotel Machette is open for business.

Drill Baby, Drill (Day 301)

A couple of weeks ago the county denied our request for a variance on the water pipe location (see previous blog). So that meant a different route (OK), but no way to enter the house, as in a punch out in the foundation. The obvious remedy was to drill through the foundation. So for a geologist this is no big deal. We drill stuff all the time. Rock cores for strength testing, cores for paleomagnetism, sediment cores for paleoclimate, anon, anon. Just rent a drill and punch out a couple of holes.

Well its a 8" concrete foundation riddled with rebar, thanks to our old friend Mikael (structural engineer). You know I'd find a place to drill through rebar and I did, but not until the second hole. Yes, second hole, because the first hole was into the crawl space and the second hole was from the crawl space to basement, where the Pex piping was stubbed out by the plumber.

Hadlock (Just Ask) Rental had their drill out on long-term rental so I went to A+ Rental down the highway. Sort of a rag tag operation, but they had a real man's drill and bit. 1/2 HP drill and 2" diamond bit was the ticket. Hook up the garden house for water cooling, pull it in, and let her spin. Had visions of Sarah Pallin standing behind me encouraging me to Drill it Baby. So I did. Took about 15 minutes to punch through, not bad. Then I moved the hose and power to the crawl space and started no. 2. All went well until I met "Uncle Rebar". Drill overheated, blew the entire circuit breaker and called for a time out. Two minutes later, I was back at it. This happened 3 or 4 times, but in about a half hour I broke through to the basement. Mission accomplished, and now I can see Russia from the second floor, just like Ms Pallin.

Progress was made on other fronts today. The cable guy (hard-wire internet) came buy and dropped off 200 ft of RG11 coax cable, which goes underground (with the H2O) from a street side junction box to the main electrical circuit panel. Qwest also dropped phone cable in my trench. So all the buried services (electrical, water, cable, phone) are in the ground and we're ready to push dirt around again. A little rain would help, but I'm not getting greedy.

Let there be Light (Day 299)

We've been lured into the recessed can game, which is OK in terms of dollar value but they create a bit of an institutional/sterile look. However, the alternative is beyond our fiscal grasp. Let me give you an example. We put five Juno 6" recessed cans in the ceiling of the living room. Three in front of the fireplace and two off to the side. Net cost was about $40, plus another $100 for the trim rings. They sort of have a computer printer deal going there. The all metal, hefty, complicated and electrified can (i.e., printer) is cheap and the little plastic fufu trim rings (i.e., printer cartridge) is expensive. Can't have the ring without the can or the printer without the cartridge. Oh yeah, did I mention that the recessed can for the sloping roofs (bedroom, sun room, and kitchen) go for $40 instead of $8. Seems that anything out of the ordinary goes for way more (5x). I'm definitively in the wrong business.

The alternative to cans is scary. Hanging light fixtures, good stylish ones, are in the $400 to $1000 (or more) range, and you'd need one per room if you didn't use cans. Also, you'd need sconces (not scones, which are way more palatable) for some halls, distant walls, or stairs. These puppies go for $50 (trashy) to $300. So to make life manageable we settled on about 60 recessed cans, 2 hanging fixtures (dining room and kitchen) and about 12 sconces (4 for stairs, 6 for bath vanities, a couple others), and a couple fans. Add to that exterior lights, which are similarly priced. We bought 1 hanging light for the main porch, 5 sconces for the other porches, and 2 sconces for the sides of the garage. When I made a list of all the fixtures to track them, we had 104 light fixtures.

I can see the Bonneville Power Administration smiling already. I think I'll get one of those neon light versions of READY WATT, the electric mascot, and put it on the front of the garage. Heck, if we just put colored bulbs in the lamps, we'll be ready for Christmas.

Now the real down side. I have to wire 104 light fixtures. The electrican that helped finish the wiring when I said "Uncle" suggested I do this manual labor and save $70/hr. Good Idea. I did 30 recessed cans today, and I''ll polish the remainder off tomorrow. The sconces and hanging fixtures get wired after drywall or exterior painting, so I may be able to finish the true electrical work tomorrow. Then its a couple days of planning, pulling and wiring the phone, speaker, TV, and computer networks, mostly with Cat5e wire, which is an fancy name for expensive, heavy duty 4 pair stranded wire. At that point Gary (electrican) comes back, gives us the once over and orders the electrical inspection by the Dept. of Labor and Industries, a WA state agency. This is the only inspection that the County doesn't conduct. I think this arrangement was made to protect the electrical labor unions, and to justify a state-wide electrical code, which is a good idea. Some counties barely have a building code, and electrical problems are the one issue that can be life threatening (i.e., FIRE).

All Decked Out (Day 296)

As part of the exterior package, we have two small patio decks and two porches that needed to be finished off. Jim Quandt, a sailing/drinking/cooking friend, retired from Weyerhaeuser a couple years ago and moved up to Kala Point with his wife Char. We met them right off at TGIF and became friends quickly. Over the winter, Jim started a little carpentry/house repair business called Jim's Tool Time (think Tim Allen here) to keep him busy and fund his sailing/travel bug. He helped us previously by building 2 dozen corbels (braces) for the house, so when the deck issue surfaced, I gave him a call.

When it comes to decking now days, you have lots of choices. However, unless you're made of money and have a landscaper/repairman, you need to use a composite wood product. Lots of them out there, but Trex is probably the best and most popular (http://www.trex.com/). Its weather proof, comes in several colors and textures, and will out last wood by leaps and bounds. Wood needs to be power washed and treated every several years, and good wood (like Brazilian hardwoods) is expensive. So we picked out some Trex decking (Winchester Gray Trex from Carl's), ordered it, and hired Jim to finish this part of the house off.

I was his assistant and had put all the support framing in place for the job. We started on Wednesday, and by Saturday morning, we had it all finished. We used 19 pieces of 20 ft Trex ($1026; 1.1" by 5.5") and 6 pieces of trim board ($275; 3/4" x 7.25"), and two boxes of square drive screws ($102).

The cost of decking came out to be about $1400 for 150 square feet, which nets out at $9.33/sq. ft. This doesn't count the 2x6 and 4x4 pressure-treated lumber, hardware, and cement blocks I used for the framing and supports (probably a couple 100 bucks there). Labor is typically equal to materials, so if you hired it all out the cost would be $20/sq. ft or 3 big ones for the project. So we saved a bit by using Jim and my labor; the job looks professionally done (of course), and its one more thing off our list.

He's off to the County fair and sailing, and we're off to a short vacation. I promised Nancy an overseas cruise to a foreign country (i.e., Victoria, BC). We'll spend some loonies, eat some good food, and see some fancy plants and trees at Buchart Gardens (research for our winter landscaping projects). Interestingly, I was drug through there by my parents 45 years ago (1964 Seattle Worlds Fair trip). Now we're going on our own and actually looking forward to it. Who ever said you become your parents was right.

TBTB (Day 295)

TBTB. Too busy to blog. Swear to god, I'm multitasking bigtime and feeling like I have ADHD. Electrical, decks, water pipe, electrical conduit, bathroom cabinet layout, flooring, light fixtures, backfilling by shovel, plus trying to supervise a couple paid workers. Decisions that have to be made today or pretty damn soon. Can't wait for a day when I only have one task and goal. More later, but less bitching I hope. Michael

37 years ago today (Day 293)

August 12, 1972. Michael Ney Machette and Nancy Geraldine Hart were married in the Portola Valley Presbyterian Church. After a reception at the home of Mr. and Mrs. William Hart, the newlywed couple spent their wedding night at the Stanford Arms Hotel in San Francisco in route to a honeymoon at Lake Tahoe, California. On August 22, Michael and Nancy packed their VW bus (Minerva) with all their worldly goods and departed for Denver, Colorado, where Michael will attend graduate school in Geology at the University of Colorado and Nancy will start her career in merchandising (Denver Dry Goods).

August 12, 2009. Michael and Nancy, married 37 years today, will celebrate the event in a low key manner. Nancy is researching bathroom fixtures and cabinets, whereas Michael is working on decks, electrical, water piping, and other chores at the new house. They plan to have dinner with neighbors (aka, Soup Night at the Poseys), and visit Victoria, BC, this weekend for a more formal celebration.

On August 17, 2009 they will have been in Port Townsend for exactly one year (oh yeah).

Full Flush Mode (Day 290)

Last Friday we had a performance of the Bellagio fountains, as they call it. Didn't even have to go to Vegas. Susan Miller, the septic system designer, came over and set up the pump test for the septic system. Richard Gifford had finished the tanks and piping installation, I mounted the controller boxes at the rear of the house and ran conduit to the pump tank, and Gary Estes (electrician) wired the boxes for a temporary run (i.e., via extension cord). The control box has a Palm Pilot interface which allows the septic designer (or other certified technician) to set up pump times and intervals. So with a wave of the magic wand, Susan turned on the pump and we had 5 lines of fountains going about 10 ft into the air. While they are spurting, she turned the control valves on each line to balance the flow in the system, otherwise the short lines (30 ft) would have higher pressure (and fountains) than the long lines (50-60 ft). Once the balancing act was finished and the pump ran a few cycles, she shut the puppy down, approved the installation for the County, and now we're set to do the back filling.

The gravel beds that get injected with effluent (the 50 cent word for drain field water) are covered with a filter fabric (landscape fabric, I think) then covered with about 12" of fill. On top of this goes about 6" of top soil, something we'll have to have delivered from a local source. Most sand and gravel operators create "top soil" by mixing sand, compost and peat together, which is much better than the silty sand and gravel that comes from the subsurface, but not nearly as good as the 6-12 A horizon that was on the lot before we scraped it all away. Almost everything in Kala Point and the Quimper Peninsula is Vashion lodgement till (glacial deposits), which was deposited about 20,000 years ago as glaciers marched south towards Tacoma. The till was overridden by 3000 ft of ice and has become fairly compact, hence the poor percolation and necessity for a pressure system rather than a simple (and cheaper) gravity septic system.

By Monday afternoon Richard had the septic field covered and then dig new trenches for the combined electrical conduit and water line. We got a rude awaking last week when the county refused our request to have a crossing of the water and sewer lines. In their eyes this is a mortal sin. The logic goes as follows (please have a stiff drink to keep up here). During a big earthquake, ground settlement may allow crossing lines to break and mix waters, such that fresh water going to the house will be polluted with effluent. Sound pretty reasonable, right? Except, during a big earthquake 1) the Kala Point water tanks would have gone south, 2) there is no reason to have differential settlement at the proposed line crossing (remember we are underlain by hundreds of feet of compact till), and 3) the house would likely be on fire and polluted water is our last concern. Nevertheless, they disallowed our request for a waiver on the crossing and so how we need to dig a trench across the front of the lot, down the north edge, then enter the house in the crawl space. I need to rent a coring drill (2") and drill through the 8" foundation in two places, then have Bob Brown come back and tie the outside and inside water lines together. Pain in the ass.

The only good thing to come out of this is that we had a spare hole in the foundation that we ran a 3/4" Pex line out of. This will be a stub in for eventual watering control box to do drip or sprinklers. Need to think about the future and the Pacific Northwest as a semiarid landscape.

By code the electric supply line has to be in 3" PVC conduit. OK, its expensive, heavy and doesn't bend much. So on Tuesday I laid 16 10-ft sections of conduit in trench and one 45° bend, put a pull rope through them all, then glued it all together. Darell Olson, a Montana transplant who lives down the street, helped me and we got the conduit installed in 2 hours! Puget Sound Energy (PSE) wants the conduit to come to about 4 ft of the transformer and 4 ft from the service entry on the rear of the house, so we have dig a bit wider at the ends. I was surprised to have them not connect the conduit, but the logic is that in case they have to install new wiring to the house, they can dig down at the ends and uncover the unsheilded wire. Then they connect new wire to the old wire, and pull it through the conduit (i.e., raceway). Seems to make sense to me, and its less work than connecting the conduit at the ends.

After the electrical is completed, I'll lay the water supply pipe (i.e. main line) adjacent to but at least 18" away from the conduit. We'll use 1.25", 160 psi Poly Pipe for this, similar to what is used for sprinkler systems but heavier gauge (PolyPipe is a pressure-rated High Density polyethylene pipe). It comes in 100 ft and 300 ft rolls, so we're going for the long one so there are no buried connections. It was out of stock locally, but Hadlock Building Supply ordered it for delivery on Wednesday (8/12). The water pipe is just a roll out in the trench (>18" from electrical), with the Water Company connecting the upstream side, and Bob Brown (plumber) connecting the house side with a shut off valve. All is well in the tubing world.

Get Out of Jail Free Card (Day 287)

It feels like we're playing Monopoly out here. We met with the Architectural (standards) Committee yesterday and presented our case for an extension to the completion date for the exterior of the house. I've harangued about this before, so no reason to replow that ground. All in all, it went smoothly. The one thing that made our case palatable to the committed was presenting a report card of what we'd done the past two months, what was left to do, how and who was going to do it, and when. The bottom line was it will take about 2 more months to finish all of the exterior (some things must wait for others, like the driveway after drywall trucks). We also submitted our landscape plan, which was finalized after we placed all the septic tanks, lines and propane tank.

Attached is the contents of our letter, if you care to see our strategy and logic. Now we have to deliver on our promises.

More later, The Completers.

August 5, 2009

To: Kala Point Architectural Committee
Ron Kubec, Chairman
David Harrah, Representative
From: Michael and Nancy Machette
Subject: Status of Building Project
120 Fairbreeze Drive, Kala Point

Since receiving notice from the Committee in early June, we have concentrated on completing the exterior of our house. The following items have been completed or are near final. As you can see, we should be able to complete the exterior by late September by hiring out the bulk of the remaining work.

Garage doors: Installed and operative. Primed, but need to be painted to match house. Anticipated finish, early Sept.

Septic system: Tanks and main line installed. Drain field gravel and piping installed. Pump and controller installed. Will do pump test this week, then awaiting County and L&I inspections.
Anticipated finish, August 13th.

Electric and water service: Service main (conduit) will be installed in trench, along with water service by mid August. Having trouble contacting Eric Thomas for water meter hookup, but will try to finalize ASAP.

Landscape grading. Will be completed after back filling septic lines. drain field, and electric/water lines. Hired out, anticipated finish, August 21.

Single siding: Installed on most of street side of house. About 50% complete. Anticipated finish, mid Sept. (This is a slow process owing to hand dipping a large number of shingles. Homeowner installation.)

Hardiboard siding: Completed on north and rear of house, needs trim detail. About 95% complete. Anticipated finish, mid August.

Soffit: Installed on most of street side of house. About 50% complete. Need help for high roof line, will hire out starting August 8th. Anticipated finish, early Sept.

Rock facing (belt line around house). Completed August 1. Will add rock facing to chimney, but mason can’t start until late August. (All cement mixing and prep will be done at rear of house. Anticipated finish, mid Sept.

Port-A-Potty: Will move inside garage as soon as drywall is hung. As an interim measure, we can move it to the rear of the house, of out sight from the road.

Decks: Need to build stair jacks, then install decking. Hired out, to start August 10th. Anticipated finish, late August.

Driveway : Received variance from County to use standard concrete, rather than a perivous surface (gravel, porous concrete or open pavers). Will not install until drywall is loaded into garage and house (excessive weight of trucks). Concrete needs 28 days to obtain full strength. Anticipated completion, late Sept. (earlier if possible).

Landscape plan: Prepared and to be submitted at Aug. 5th meeting.

Holding Pressure (Day 286)

Bob Brown, Dr. of Drips (aka our plumber), came over with his son Josh to check out my plumbing, fix a few things, build out the copper part of the system, and install the incoming water main. The water main will have to wait a bit, at least until KP Water installs our meter and Richard Gifford digs the service trench for the water and electricity (next week, hopefully).

The verdict was Michael got a B on the ABS (drains) and an A on the Pex water supply piping. For the ABS, I had forgot to glue 3 fittings and put a screw through a 4th. Conversely, they installed the washer control box and screwed up the drain line by not letting the glue dry long enough before testing. To test the ABS drain line, you put cookies (temporary plugs, not Oreos) in the open pipes and fill the entire piping with water. If nothing leaks, you're good to go (to the crapper). So we found a few leaks, drained and fixed them; refilled, found the last leak, drained fixed, and filled; and refilled for the final time. The inspector will come and check it out on Thursday. Takes about 50 gallons to fill all the drain pipes in the house, so we should be good to have some really big parties there.

For the Pex water supply lines, I only had one bad fitting. That was on the manifold that distributes hot water to the master bath room. It divides a 3/4 inch line into four 1/2 lines (shower, two sinks, and toilet). Didn't get the fittings up snug, so off it came and they rebuilt in in about 5 minutes (vs the 30 minutes for my original effort). To test the water supply, they attached my neighbor's (Jan and Carol Orme) hose to the washer supply line and filled it all up. Then they topped it off with 60 psi of air pressure. This morning it still had 60 psi, so the inspector will check this part out along with the ABS drains.

What I've come to realize is that professional plumbers (and others) operate at light speed compared to me and other home owner/builders. They know the codes (so don't have to redo mistakes), have a bag of tricks for making things easier, and they don't sweat the small stuff. Also, having all the tools and supplies on hand (usually in vans or trucks) means no trips back to the shop or plumbing stores.

This last go around with Dr. Brown cost me about 20 hours of time (2 guys at 10 hours). Going rate is about $70/hr, or $1400 and another $600 in supplies and tax (on labor too). So for $2000, they moved our stalled out plumbing project to completion (rough in) and removed another hurdle for getting to the last big inspection and drywall. After drywall, we are in the final stages of finish work. After this, we'll have about 60 days to get the house ready for our occupancy permit and move in.

Cabinets in hand (Day 285)

The kitchen cabinets arrived in late July. Shelley Little of Kitchen and Bath Design in Port Townsend had them shipped to our rental house, whose garage has become a large storage locker. The cabinets are Medallion Brand, Gold Series (semi custom), with plywood boxes, quarter-sawn oak, and a nice pattern on the glass door fronts and cabinet ends. They have a vineyard color stain, so they are rather dark. Conversely, the island cabinets are also quarter-sawn oak (parallel grain), but finished off in natural color (lacquer). They looked great in the show room and we don't think we'll be disappointed when they get installed this fall.

The freight truck brought about 40 box all told. Some were really big (the refrigerator and double oven case), most were medium size (base cabinets), and the others were smaller (upper cabinets and parts of the island). Somehow we're supposed to screw them together and to the walls and end up with a large L-shaped kitchen that fits exactly into the space provided. The island is a little easier because it just have to go over the plumbing stubouts and electrical lines.

We have 30 days (until mid August) to check over all the cabinets for damage or flaws. Nancy and I have been going through them in the evenings, wine glasses in hand (they are Vineyard color, for gosh sakes). We opened about 30 of the 40 boxes and everything was fine. Well packed, with cardboard corners to protect them and tightly bound in the boxes. Not bag for having been shipped from Michigan.

Now we have to figure out how to get Bill Hart (Nancy's dad) up here to supervise the installation of all the cabinets. No looking for manual labor Bill, just sit back in a lawn chair and supervise the install. Couldn't be easier, and you'll get a chance to see Port Townsend, all the boats, and have some fine food and weather. I'm thinking we'll need you in mid to late October, since we need (want) to move in around Halloween. Trick or treat.

Rock On (Day 283)

Frank Ward, the mason, is done with the Eldorado stone facing. Its been a lengthy process, mainly because he has a regular job so our's is a weekend affair. He'd been unemployed for 6 months but as soon as he took our job he got on with a firm in Bremerton that was doing some repair work on a multimillion dollar starter home (they used to call these Mac Mansions; now known as a Madoff Cottages).

Last Thursday and Friday, Frank had worked his way around to the front of the house, primarily on the garage-street side. This is the part most people will see, so we were anxious to get this done and done right. He's a careful guy; hasn't cut a single stone so far. This is important because when you slice through Eldorado stone you see regular concrete (with fine aggregate)—not pretty or expected. The little bit of cutting that will be done are on the absolute ends of the facing, where rock abuts vertical fir trim. This way any cuts will be completely concealed.

I had had visions of doing all the rock work myself. OH how naive I still am at the tender age of 59. It would have taken me a year (owing to my type A personality and snails pace) and it would have looked like you know what. To do this right, you have to mix colors, sizes and shapes as you go, making sure not to make clusters (like thin stones or reddish stones). Plus we're using a dry stack technique (no mortar between stones ), which is even harder to make look good.

As I mentioned before, when you lay up this sort of stone you start and the corners and tops and work down and inward. The last stone you'll lay on a wall will be on the bottom and near the middle. That way no mortar is dripping down on stones, which makes clean up easy.

After you butter the stones up (with mortar), you push the stone on firmly and it stays in place. Nancy laid one the other day, which reminded me of the time I laid a paver at the Pope's Summer Palace at Gondolfo in Italy (that is another story). Within 5-10 minutes, you'll have to pry it off if you've made a boo boo. No boo boos so far, and nearly 350 square feet of rock in is place (3 ft x 100 ft). I looks like we'll have 4 boxes of stone left over (Frank is not a wasteful guy), a box of preformed corners, and 5 bags of mortar mix. We're thinking about having him do the chimney chase, which Richard Berg designed as stone faced, but we chickened out on (too expensive on the first go around). But since we have most of the material, then another chunk of change to lay the chimney up would be money well spent.

What's up with the weather (Day 281)

August 1, 2009

So last week, it was scorching hot and humid. People move to the Northwest for the pleasant summers and mild winters, but this year is a record setter. Probably no coincidence—we brought the uglies with us from Denver. This past winter was one of the coldest and snowiest in Port Townsend: the only ones not complaining about it was us (compared to Denver cold and snow) and the Snowbirds, who bugged out and missed it all.

Now we have had two bouts of hot weather. One in late May was just way too early and too hot (90°), but it only lasted a couple of days. This last one (late July) was something else. Set an all time (as in 150 yr) record of 103°F in Seattle and 107° in Vancouver, WA (USGS'ers Willie Scott and C Dan Miller must have loved that). We made it to 95° in Port Townsend and it was about 90° for three days running. I've never sweated so much in my life, but then again I've never lived in Humidity Land (anywhere east of the Rockies).

Nevertheless, this morning we awoke to Pea Soup, the gray 100% vapor content type that comes and goes all year up here. Having grown up in Salinas (the Salad Bowl of the World—their actual words), I never thought I'd be happy to see fog, but I am (for now). That's it for today from the sunny Northwest. Still hanging shingles and messing with the septic system electronics.