The Door to Hell (Day 842)

The door to hell — aka the Sauna. Its done and looks good. I really didn't expect to finish this door now, but Bill McCutchen was building some other doors in December and I threw this one onto the heap. Bought the best vertical grain fir 2x material from Carls ($300 for door and jamb material) and brought them out to Mr. Bill's Mill and Carpentry Shop. A month later Bill called and said it was all done and was ready to pick up. The finished door looked great and was about 1/2 the price of one quoted by Carls (a custom door from Reeb in Seattle). So far, so good.

Got the door home and measured it for the glass insert. I went to Groves Glass (in Port Hadlock) and ordered some 7/16ths tempered rain glass to match the guest bathroom window. A week later it arrived and I fitted it to the door. Bill figured I was using double strength (1/8") glass, so the rabbit in the door was too shallow. No worries, out came the router and I deepened the rabbit to accommodate the glass. 1/2 hour of work and a bunch of anxieties left on the garage floor.

Gary Ellis installed the door, only because he's so damned fast and good. In a half hour he did 4 hours of my work. So this was a deal. I took the pins outta the door and finished off the jamb and door with 3 coats of polyurethane. In went the glass (silicon caulk on the corners) and the stops and the door was ready to reinstall.

We used a bullet catch for the door, as specified by code. The idea here is that you shouldn't have to operate a lever to get out of the sauna if you've succumbed to the heat. With a bullet catch you just have to lean against the door and it opens—pretty easy to escape from hell.

Bill made two handles for the doors from a block of teak I scavenged from the Shipwrights Coop in Port Townsend for $10. Did you know that teak goes for about $45-60 a board foot nowadays since most of the forests in Indonesia were raped long ago. I expect to see synthetic teak on the market any day (if not already). Never the less, the teak handles look great and they match the little bench we have next to the shower and door.

The door trim is up now and painted, so the sauna appears to be finished from the outside. To complete the interior, I need to buy about 250 sq. ft of cedar for the ceiling and walls. This equates to about 570 linear ft of 1"x6" siding. You can get tight knot tongue and grove siding for about $1.20/ln ft, or clear T&G siding for $3/ln ft. The clear is really good looking but 2.5X the cost, so some soul searching will have to go into this decision.

I still need to buy a heater for the sauna. Will probably make a trip down to sales-tax free Portland and shop for a Tylo or Finlandia heater. Prices are better and selection is good, plus we'll get to explore more of Portland—Americas most bicycle friendly city they say.

Building a Second House (Day 835)

You'd think we had learned our lesson, but NOOO. We have decided to build a second house. We applied for the permit with Kala Point and got their OK in about a week. We were such accomplished builders that Jefferson County didn't even bother us about a building permit. How hard could this be?

I called up our favorite framing team of Gary and Troy Ellis in early January. Business was slow so they thought they could start it by mid February. Last Tuesday Gary called and said they'd be ready to start tomorrow. Holy Crap, I had stuff to do to get ready for this new project.

OK, by now you know something is fishy (or crabby) about this story. Our new house is an 80 sq. ft shed. In our county, you can build a structure less than 100 sq. ft in area without a permit or any inspections—finally a good deal for home builders. This little shed will house all the gardening and other toys, like our generator and chain saw.

I'd formed up the foundation when the driveway was poured in Oct. 2009, so Mike Fitzgerald (concrete guy) poured a little 4" thick pad with rebar and hold downs for the cost of the concrete and some beer. Not a bad deal. I had laid two electrical lines out to the pad and brought them up through the floor in 2" conduit. These are for power out to the shed and power from the generator back to the house. The pad has been sitting there for about 15 months and was as cured as it would get.

The Ellis boys framed out the shed, sheathed it, put tar paper on the roof, hung the window and door, and trimmed them out as well as the frame for the rock siding in two and a half days (5 man days). Those guys don't mess around! Now there's still some work left for me, like a months worth (at my pace). We have to paint all the trim and door, put the wire mesh and mortar bed on for the El Dorado stone (rock) facing, roof the shed (1 square), and hang about 6 bundles of shingles. Master shingle-dipper Nancy is being called back into service, but I think we'll have to wait for warmer and drier weather. Luckily the shingles can go on last.

Kala Point requires that any free standing structures (wood, garden or tool shed; gazebo, or green house) match the main house in terms of style and colors. So basically we're building a little doll-house about 3% the size of the big house. Cost will be about $5k when its done, or $62.50 per sq. ft (much like garage construction costs). The main house clocked in at about $200 per sq. ft (not counting the unheated areas).