tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-76460219051264627292011-12-16T14:18:48.311-08:00A running narrative of first-time builders of their retirement home in Port Townsend, WA (NE corner of the Olympic Pennisula, 60 miles NW of Seattle). Follow us as this adventure unfolds in late 2008 and beyond. Michael and Nancy Machette (mnmachette@earthlink.net)Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comBlogger1971100tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-61388257761615735712011-12-16T13:15:00.000-08:002011-12-16T14:08:53.033-08:00

Seems like there is never an end to a story like this one. I'm over Blog Fever, and have managed to resist writing anything more for five more months, mostly because we've just been living in the house and doing the normal things retired people do, like being too busy. However, there still is a modest list of projects to do in our spare time, and I'm slowly whittling away at them. So I

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-36675883992625770022011-07-20T08:05:00.001-07:002011-12-16T14:05:13.649-08:00

July 21, 2011This may be the last blog entry now that my self-enforced limit of 1,000 days has arrived. There always is a bottom line and in this case it's "What did the house cost to build (time and money)." If you've been following the blog, you know that we started about 1,000 days ago, in early Nov. 2008. We moved in on May 15, 2010, a little more than a year ago. So, in

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-74114044914569386352011-07-16T15:34:00.000-07:002011-07-16T15:39:34.674-07:00

Friends are coming and going lately, so its hard to get my teeth into anything big. So we continue to landscape in our extended Spring. We've only had two 70°+ days so far this year, and we really need Summer to show up. However, all the new plantings and trees love the cool wet weather, and I've barely had to water the lawn.Built a temporary clothes rack in the upstairs closet with some old

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-27806126409217899242011-07-01T07:51:00.000-07:002011-07-07T17:15:05.988-07:00

As that punch list shrinks, some not so interesting jobs surface—like painting. With the closet done and ready for carpet it only made sense (to my wife) that I should paint the two stairwells next, then we could get the carpet installed. Hah, I said. We haven't even picked out carpet. Well, later that morning I found myself in Peninsula Flooring (PT) looking at . . . carpet. Did the usual

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-54107135518034970372011-06-27T05:28:00.000-07:002011-06-29T07:02:41.139-07:00

Well, its been about 2 weeks since I lopped off the tip of my thumb. It healed amazingly fast, with several scabs. Once they hardened up and fell off, its been pretty normal except when you whack it on something or with something, then it hurts like hell. So for now, the thumb is a non issue. The docs said it would fairly normal by Christmas.Am starting to mop up some small leftover projects

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-22422429756635594942011-06-10T16:05:00.000-07:002011-06-29T07:03:32.922-07:00

Its been 959 days of construction and not an injury that involved blood or bones. Pretty lucky, but no one is lucky forever. Today I met my match with a Porter Cable circular saw. I picked up a used bathroom cabinet (21" x 72") for nothing, and was modifying it for the garage. Made some pull out trays and was preparing the face to accept a nice wood vice (Shop Fox). After consulting with

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-24814228329296962742011-06-09T12:27:00.001-07:002011-06-29T07:01:16.424-07:00

Finally. The fireplace is done and now we can move our living room furniture back into place and make the insides look nice again. It hasn't taken that long in terms of hours of labor, although a month has passed since I started this little project.The actual rock lay up took about 4 half days, and went faster the more I'd done. The viscosity of the mortar is important, as it keeping the

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-15716132632813848432011-06-05T06:29:00.001-07:002011-06-29T07:04:00.146-07:00

Two vehicles in our one garage. Thought it would never happen, it just took 13 months. The big hold up was the wet tile saw that sat in my bay. Jim (Tool Time) Quandt finally needed it back, but just for a week or two. So for now, we have both our car and truck under cover. The truck is Tom's Ford Ranger Pickemup, which I traded for the Toyota 4Runner. It made more sense that he has an

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-76935113184522590172011-05-02T15:55:00.001-07:002011-06-09T12:31:27.056-07:00

I screwed up my courage this morning and got ready to lay the Eldorado Stone for the fireplace. A close up of the stone is shown on Day 862 (March 3, 2011). As you can see, the rock has been ready of 2 months, but I wasn't. Doing the stone on the shed last week got my head in the right spot, so here goes nothing. The fireplace wall is about 13' long and 9' high, with an outside corner on the

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-91204576059741327312011-04-25T16:09:00.000-07:002011-04-25T17:27:26.571-07:00

As you can tell, the enthusiasm to blog has wained, so perhaps a monthly update is more appropriate as we near the end of the is process of building and blogging.April is supposed to be Spring like up here, which means rainy in Seattle but a bit drier in Port Townsend. Well, little Ms. Nina screwed thing up this year. We've had 8 inches of rain in the first 3 months of the year and the first

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-47035778972777455752011-03-05T13:39:00.000-08:002011-06-05T06:28:15.607-07:00

Yeap—wood, rock, and ceramic. (Sort of like paper, rock and scissors). That's what's involved in the upstairs bath. The wood is quarter-sawn white oak, the rock is honed Mesabi Black granite (?), and the ceramic is a porcelain coating on the Kohler steel sinks. This is all done for now, but we still need to set the mirror. It's ready, but we need to mount the light fixture first (ordered, due

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-76349280886115983222011-03-03T20:39:00.000-08:002011-03-04T10:00:03.792-08:00

Not much to report of late, just piddling around finishing up some leftover jobs. Put all the handles on the upstairs bathroom cabinets. One thing you'll find out is that most handles come with 1" screws for 3/4" thick door fronts, whereas drawers have an extra layer of material (3/4" drawer face and 5/8" drawer front) which are screwed together. So those short little 8-32 machine screws are

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-9450192302219140762011-02-11T19:48:00.000-08:002011-02-13T12:06:19.636-08:00

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

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-28300238152450419192011-02-04T16:42:00.000-08:002011-02-05T07:30:12.719-08:00

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

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-91113158361324652732011-01-21T07:27:00.000-08:002011-01-21T07:55:19.961-08:00

Well we took a short respite from the house and went sailing in Belize--that's British Honduras to most of you that took geography in the 60's. Nice 3rd world micro nation with out the obvious drug and crime problems of its neighbors. We chartered a 38' catamaran from TMM Yachts for a bare-boat trip down the Belize reef, the largest in the northern hemisphere. Little did we suspect that it

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-28455579052212762642011-01-03T08:48:00.000-08:002011-01-06T15:45:24.426-08:00

The tung-oiled floor cured while we were gone at Christmas, so it was time to start the cabinet install in the upstairs bathroom. This should be pretty easy and straight-forward, since it will be the 4th set of cabinets we've installed.First off, I had to move the electrical outlet that will go above the back splash. To meet code and pass inspection, we had just screwed a plastic double outlet

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-4249467499763431352010-12-11T17:13:00.000-08:002011-01-03T08:58:17.929-08:00

Mills Interiors (Tyrus) came out last week and beat down the last part of our upstairs bedroom floor. Its 4" T&G quarter-sawn and rift-cut white oak from Vermont. We had enough left over from the bedroom that we did the closet too. Best looking closet floor this side of the White House.Tyrus did the primary drum sanding in about 4 hours then filled all (most) the gaps and nail holes with a

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-38463054327792490902010-11-23T09:56:00.000-08:002010-11-23T10:14:38.269-08:00

I've been diddling around on the house for the past few weeks, finishing the backsplash tiling, hooking up the ceiling speakers and volume controls, and preparing for the final naildown of the upstairs flooring. Also did a major clean/organize of the garage to make room for my (new to me) Delta unisaw. Picked up this 10-yr old unit on Craigslist from a hobbyist in Bainbridge. He was downsizing

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-26433078692684509332010-11-02T10:31:00.001-07:002010-11-02T11:52:13.990-07:00

One of the many things that I've let slip is the tiled back splash in the kitchen. It was easy to avoid, since many other jobs had a higher priority, like the bathrooms. Well, as the punch list gets shorter, this one surfaced on my spouse's radar screen. We've had the tile for months, so there was no excuse to not start the back splash.She had picked out a beautiful 3" x 6" tile (i.e. $$$),

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-59767718318046583352010-11-02T10:04:00.000-07:002010-11-02T11:17:58.720-07:00

October 28, 2010. Two years and counting.Here is our crude timeline for the house project.Oct. 28, 2008. Broke ground with a big hole.Feb. 14 , 2009. Ellis's finished framing.Feb. 28, 2009. Roofs on, house is "dried in."Aug. 15, 2009. Plumbing passes pressure tests.Aug. 28, 2010. Rough electrical passes inspection.Sept. 20, 2009. Dry wall installed and mudded out.Jan. 18, 2010. All

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-17922472907301111702010-10-22T17:09:00.000-07:002010-10-23T07:41:56.187-07:00

Its mid October, the heat is on in the house , the leaves are falling, and most of the outside landscaping is done for now (still need lawn and shrubs in the front yard). So now its time to turn our attention back to the guts of the house, specifically the upstairs. Its pretty much like it was when we moved in with the exception that I'd spent a week painting windows and trim up there. We'll

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-84510247887581785092010-10-02T16:16:00.000-07:002010-10-02T16:36:13.287-07:00

I have a slightly funny story for you all. I've been paving and landscaping as you know (geology seems sort of mundane when you're doing such work), but yesterday morning everything turned to shit--literally. Nancy used the toilet and when I went in, it wasn't quite right. So I added to the pile (pun intended) and flushed away. Not much happened. Crap, I'd unloaded my closet snake at our

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-52285655140248666692010-10-01T07:30:00.001-07:002010-10-23T07:44:02.936-07:00

Winters coming (too soon) so why not get that patio finished. Yeah, it'll be a good place to hang out in January during our occasional snowstorms. Actually, I'd hoped to do it earlier in the year but other stuff got in the way.We'd considered having Tim Hamm (Castle Rock Landscaping) put in a flagstone patio, but then had second thoughts. The main distraction of a natural rock patio is potential

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-32700424719752706892010-09-16T21:07:00.000-07:002010-09-16T21:34:20.105-07:00

September has been the month of visitors, not because of the weather here though. Its been overcast, rainy, cool, with very occasional sun breaks. Nancy's parents were here for a week breaking in the place; we must have passed as a home designed for old folks. They slept, ate, visited, and no one got hurt, fell down, or maimed. Bill did complain about the echo chamber nature of the great room

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-28255399283279946012010-09-04T17:23:00.000-07:002010-09-05T10:33:11.887-07:00

Crab season closes on Monday, but we pulled our pots today. Its been the typical season. Lots of males early and lots of females later. For example, today (Sat.) I got skunked. 6 females in one pot and 5 females and a undersized male in the second pot. So even though there are 2 days left, I pulled the traps and will some R&R for the next season. For those of you that care (probably only me),

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-20348567292146911772010-09-04T07:34:00.000-07:002010-09-04T08:47:40.311-07:00

Nancy and I finally settled on flooring material for the upstairs bedroom. We'd thought of bamboo for upstairs for a long time, but decided it was too 2005. You know how building material fads come and go and decided this one had gone. Still nice material, but not as wear resistant as advertised and it only comes prefinished, with the little dust catching grooves. Could have saved some money

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-50462288391044233622010-08-26T20:59:00.000-07:002010-08-29T12:32:22.607-07:00

Yoohah, the tiling and grouting are done on the second shower stall, which is in the guest bathroom. We need to finish it before the Harts visit next week, but it was just another (sort of major) project to get off the punch list. We'll call it the Dethloff shower for now, since they'll be the first guests to break it in. Likewise, the upstairs bedroom is being temporarily named the Dethloff

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-91771594974920058762010-08-10T09:05:00.000-07:002010-08-16T19:16:37.066-07:00

Nancy's got a paint brush back in her hand and has been knocking out some of the painted windows downstairs. Only one left to do is in the guest bathroom, but it needs primer and two coats of latex. It will probably get done as I work on the tile in there. Meanwhile, I've been working on getting all the gravel walkways around the house in place this past week, and I'm almost there. Earlier,

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-45787066396438870122010-07-26T20:39:00.001-07:002010-08-29T12:29:17.378-07:00

I've tired of landscaping, so I'm leaving it to Bill when he arrives around Labor Day. However, it would be nice to have a second shower by then, so the press is on to get the guest bathroom shower completed. We have all the Wedi board (pan, panels and drain), so it was time to trim out the stud walls to the correct size (width and length) and make everything square. Square is the word for

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-3161112087709597292010-07-25T07:22:00.000-07:002010-07-27T17:00:27.709-07:00

Not had much to report lately as I've been piddling along with the landscaping. All the irrigation lines are in, I've built the manifolds for the solenoids (control values), and pulled a lot of weeds that came up before our recent dry spell. Summer arrived here on July 6, lasted 5 days, then Spring came back. But Summer is here again, with temps in the high 70s, maybe even 80 by Sunday. All

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-81688314029648631132010-07-05T19:43:00.000-07:002010-07-06T22:23:54.523-07:00

You know about the Costco Syndrome, right? If you see something out of the ordinary you like, you better buy it now because the next time you visit the store it will be gone.I learned this lesson last year with some woodworking benches. They were 3' x 6', 1.5' thick maple with steel legs. Would have worked great in my garage shop, but when I returned the next week with my trailer they were all

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-71578888104219618172010-07-02T08:43:00.000-07:002010-07-10T07:36:56.405-07:00

As you might recall from last year's blog (Day 262), the 2009 crab season in Port Townsend was a moderate success for this landlubber. Bought a dinghy with a friend, got a crab trap, and learned how to lure those little crustaceans into my trap (chicken legs of thighs work best). Total investment for 2009 was $240 and I harvested 16 crabs (ca. 24 pounds). That's $10/a pound, not as low as market

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-71964972382453899322010-06-28T17:48:00.001-07:002010-06-29T06:25:04.047-07:00

Tom, our son, just loved Legos when he was a kid. Still builds with them on occasion. Its just a guy thing with construction, so I had to get my own Legos. I went in for 334 of the 4"x8"x12" concrete version, to be precise. The back of the lot slopes toward the rear of the house as does the south side, so some corrective measures were in order.I dug out a space about 3 ft wide around the the east

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-56458371891962874222010-06-17T07:22:00.001-07:002010-06-17T07:24:07.578-07:00

Ginkgo, the Chinese National Tree, has taken hold in and out of our house. Nancy and I have loved this tree (and especially leaf shape) for many years. I first recall seeing it next to the library at San Jose State, were we met and both attended. That was 41 years ago (but only 29 for Nancy).We've been looking for a theme in the house, without much success. Salmon, dragonflies, reeds, etc;

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-82133197467702919812010-06-15T04:32:00.000-07:002010-06-16T21:23:23.310-07:00

Going green—and I mean the color—is the goal this month. The rains have let up after a wet spring (12" YTD vs 7" normally) and its time to get the rest of the plants and lawn in before it warms up too much (i.e., 80°F).I managed to get the remainder of the polypipe in the ground for the drip and sprinkler systems, and although the basic distribution boxes are not built out yet, I could finally

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-5878427044273606352010-05-31T16:55:00.000-07:002010-05-31T17:37:56.626-07:00

We've been punching down through the list this week, mainly on small items interspersed with unpacking boxes. Took a whack at cleaning up the garage but I didn't make any headway except to extricate a trailer full of cardboard boxes and pieces. It was time to say good goodbye to the old cardboard. I had previously bought a boatload of RamBoard (1/16" high density paper) for the floors, and

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-47162278612947715952010-05-25T16:41:00.000-07:002010-05-25T16:52:00.227-07:00

The trees in this area are absolutely beautiful and abundant. We love them. But then again, they really shed a lot of leaves especially in our occasional windstorms, like last week.I had the afternoon free and noticed that the gutters were overflowing when it rained hard. I knew the answer--they were already full of forest litter, airborne type. The gutters went on the house in Oct. of 2009,

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-66189328686986397092010-05-22T16:33:00.001-07:002010-05-26T19:00:34.235-07:00

The shower is grouted, the door is in, and the faucets will be connected and trimmed out in a couple of hours. (You eagle eye types will notice that I still have one f_king piece of tile to cut and mount on the upper right side). I'm heading to the showers. You'll have to trust me that it works—I'm not putting a photo of my whale carcass in the web.Had our first dinner party last tonight (Sat

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-91501513222494258662010-05-21T20:35:00.000-07:002010-05-26T18:49:29.215-07:00

Ran out of grout boast, an additive suggested by Judy Reno (aka Vegas) at Blake Sand and Gravel in Sequim, so the Clubhouse shower saga continues into the weekend. The additive is coming by UPS today (Friday), so I'll finish the grouting on Saturday.The great thing about building a house is that its a multitaskers dream. There is always something to do, so I opened the 60 pound box of pulls and

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-70311394873072078582010-05-18T06:23:00.000-07:002010-05-18T06:59:32.810-07:00

Hooray, we're finally in the house. Slept there last Friday (Day 555) for the first time, and each night since then. Its great to be home again. The rental home was great, but you never felt like it was permanent. After spending the weekend and part of Monday moving, we say we'll never do it (move) again. Next time will be to the old folks home or the crematorium, neither will all our worldly

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-5323449885357459722010-05-09T06:16:00.000-07:002010-05-09T06:59:52.452-07:00

A tile a day keeps the movers away, at least that is the way its working out. Still cutting and laying tile in the shower, but I've got the hard parts done with the drilling of holes for the shower valves. Porcelain tile is hard and brittle, so you have to be pretty careful.I made a cardboard template for the valve placements, traced them on a tile and went at it. The bottom (temp) valve

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-69467354509944914642010-05-04T06:07:00.000-07:002010-05-09T07:01:22.957-07:00

The liquid kind, not a rain storm. I'm under the gun to get tile up in the shower for the master bath, since we'll need shower facilities the day (or night) we move in. We can take them at the clubhouse, but that is a hassle. I laid the floor of the shower on Sunday afternoon, and it went well. Using the Wedi shower pan made things go quickly. With a 3' by 5' base, the drain is exactly

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-73158210828380090982010-05-02T05:25:00.000-07:002010-05-02T05:40:01.087-07:00

Taking the weekend off because our son Tom and his girlfriend Jenn are in town for a visit. Its his 25th birthday soon and an opportunity to get together, since they live in South Dakota, 1500 miles to the east of us.We took in the Opening Day Boating ceremonies for Port Townsend and saw a nice boat parade with spirited winds in the afternoon. That night, Nancy constructed one of her near

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-26490574311544784492010-04-27T20:53:00.000-07:002010-04-28T19:08:14.629-07:00

On Monday afternoon, after the ceremonial dance of the inspectors (when is he coming, did I miss him, will he make it today), ours showed up at 4 pm. Apparently only 2 of 3 inspectors were on duty Monday, which generally more requests than other days of the week. This is because any requests called in between Friday and Sunday will be scheduled for Monday. Nevertheless, he came and he approved.

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-69394055673706388172010-04-22T08:07:00.000-07:002010-04-22T08:22:25.080-07:00

Sure enough, we passed our final electrical inspection on Wednesday afternoon. It was a bit anticlimactic since I knew exactly what had to be fixed and fixed it with Gary Estes' help (Craighead Electric). However, we got to play that "Chicken Game" with the inspection department, which is always fun. Electrical inspections are handled by the Dept. of Labor and Industries (aka L&I) out of Port

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-43342237986186770942010-04-19T19:12:00.000-07:002010-04-20T14:22:09.479-07:00

Us. When we went to the Tulip Festival in La Conner, WA, we saw these great bells made from old welding tanks. The artist cuts them from 7", 9", and 10" diameter tanks, welds a hook on the top and makes a hanger. Then he welds a hand-crafted Japanese character on the front, buffs it up (stainless steel), and tapes it off. Then it goes off to the powder coater and gets painted. They had a red one

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-21710576201582191862010-04-19T17:56:00.000-07:002010-04-19T19:33:56.736-07:00

Talk about a dust up. Not the confrontational type, but the big sander type. Mills Interiors' guys (Mike and Ivan) showed up at 8 am, exactly on time, and proceeded to take it down a few silly millimeters. They said there would be some dust so off I went to Hadlock Building Supply for a bunch of light weight plastic sheeting, 9 ft wide (ceiling height). I taped off the kitchen cabinets and

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-30326925506767301432010-04-13T19:08:00.000-07:002010-04-14T06:07:48.463-07:00

We had our final electrical inspection today and it turns out it wasn't so final. We failed on 5 points, 4 of which are easily solved (time and $$) and one of which requires some sleuthing.The easy stuff includes:1) waterproof trim on all the shower and bath stall lighting cans (had one in and two sitting there),2) enclosed trim on the closet lighting cans (never saw this coming),3) an ungrounded

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-35563509725520549892010-04-11T00:01:00.001-07:002010-04-11T00:27:31.210-07:00

As we approach the end of this project, it is worth reflecting on the best and the worst things that happened in the past 18 months. If you've done this in the past, I'm sure you'd have a different list. If you are contemplating building a house, take a close look—at both lists.10 Best Things about building your own house (no particular order).1. You get it your way.2. You have plenty to do

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-19807496420932793362010-04-08T05:33:00.000-07:002010-04-10T07:11:59.112-07:00

Nancy's big (30") Wolf double oven has been residing in the garage since last July when we bought it from Fredrick Appliances in Redmond. Last week, Bill Craighead (Craighead Electric) wired the 240V, 50 amp box at the rear of the oven case, so it was my job to throw that Wolf in the hole. Easier said than done.The case measured up as a tight fit (height and width) but this is a common problem.

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-52964007730470222762010-04-05T19:34:00.000-07:002010-04-05T20:59:50.204-07:00

Last week was sort of a wash since I had to go to Idaho to be a paid geologist. I'm starting to think in terms of what these jobs are going to become. For example, if I do this job we can lay carpet in such and such a room. Or perhaps hardwood upstairs. Take about being a geopimp!Anyway, Idaho Falls was lovely as usual. Overcast. 38-40°F, and snow the last day. Saw the inside of the same

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-50476357344622364432010-03-30T06:08:00.000-07:002010-03-30T06:34:16.238-07:00

Bob and Josh Brown (Bob Brown Plumbing) arrived at 9:30 on Monday morning, tools in hand. I decided to bite the bullet and have them do the final installation of the faucets, toilets and drains. I figured it would take me a week to do these since there are 2 toilets, a urinal, 6 sinks (drains and faucets). In addition, they plumbed and installed the dishwasher and the much-hated air-gap device

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-77553745734978361322010-03-27T06:02:00.000-07:002010-03-27T06:08:10.904-07:00

Some unknown person has posted a couple comments in Japanese(?), which aren't really helpful. So I changed the comments section to only allow registered followers to post comments. 關鍵字行銷 網路行銷 軟體行銷 搬家 活水機 濾水器 淨水器 1069 GUCCI GUCCI包 GUCCI包包 LV包 LV LV包包 除腳臭 自慰器 情趣用品 情趣商品 跳蛋 按摩棒 高雄監視器 監視器 監視器材 監視攝影 網路創業 當鋪 當舖 流當品 特賣會 團體服 免費廣告 佛具 加盟 臭臭鍋 加盟 火鍋 期貨 婚紗 情趣用品 情趣 女人徵信 女人徵信 女人徵信 女人徵信 女人徵信 減肥 豐胸 整形 電波拉皮

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-715651578035961862010-03-27T05:16:00.000-07:002010-03-27T05:51:01.517-07:00

Spring has sprung. Officially it was a week ago, but the plants say it was yesterday. That is when the bright red Rhody that we planted last fall bloomed, big time. Its twin to the side is a few days late, but by the end of the weekend they should be out in all their glory. Rhodys however, can bloom just about any month of the year depending on their species. The big bloom usually happens

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-76619161307130317532010-03-25T20:41:00.001-07:002010-03-27T06:00:06.784-07:00

After a week of resting my arms, Brian and I attacked the plaster wall for round 2, using the porcelina (clay). This goes on much smoother than the loma (sand) plaster and looks good when it dries. However, in order for the plaster to be hard and not chalk off, you need to compress it, which means wetting it up and troweling it back and forth with mild pressure.The porcelina went on fine. Did the

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-16874467715362156592010-03-20T21:21:00.000-07:002010-03-22T06:51:23.456-07:00

Today we've been building the house for 500 days and we're still not done. Seems like less, but the calendar doesn't lie. In the long run, I suspect it will be more like 750 days or two full years, and then we'll still have a punch list of things we'd like to do (more built ins, back yard, etc). Our move in date is set for the week of May 8-15 ; this is driven by the lease on our rented house,

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-75565211966019722282010-03-18T20:20:00.000-07:002010-03-18T20:27:20.173-07:00

Finished up laying the floor tile in the master bath yesterday. Relatively simple pattern (12" x 12"), but we cut the corners off some tiles to inset 4 pieces of 2" x 2" tiles (4" x 4" overall). In order to get the cutoffs just right you have to make a jig (plywood), then overlie it on the intersection of 4 large tiles. Once you have your cut offs marked, you set up the tile saw with the 45°

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-48766022112585272052010-03-16T06:06:00.000-07:002010-03-16T06:17:19.686-07:00

Now, I'm not really a contractor (other than being our general), but some of the following ring true: Enjoy this one Ken and Steve. You Know You're A Contractor If... 1. Your dog rides in your truck more than your wife.2. You wear specific hats to paint, grout, plaster, and cut trim, or to different stores (Carls vs Home Depot vs Seattle Lighting).3. You have ever had to wash off in the backyard

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-47184255488359460452010-03-15T05:37:00.001-07:002010-03-15T06:19:45.614-07:00

Yeep, we plastered all weekend. Brian (6'5" tall helper) and I hit it Saturday morning. I'd prepped the two walls (sunroom-gold) and kitchen-green) last week, taped off the trim and walls and laid plastic on the floors keep the excess plaster from staining the unfinished wood floor. The walls needed some "tooth" to them to hold the first coat of plaster, so they got painted with a latex primer

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-90738237479863775922010-03-10T20:07:00.000-08:002010-03-10T20:17:42.734-08:00

He puffed and he puffed and blew the house down. NOT. We had the Wolf cooktop stove of Nancy's dreams hooked up today, and its sweet. Simmers so low you can melt chocolate chips on a paper plate right over the flames (no kidding). Levi Ross came over and hooked up the propane (15" flexible metal line), we plugged it in (igniteors), and turned it on. Presto--flames. Six 18,000 BTU burners; you

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-20459919096935698582010-03-07T05:32:00.000-08:002010-03-07T06:13:10.156-08:00

On Monday, I ventured into the big town (Port Townsend) to have a little visit with the building department. These folks are actually quite friendly and helpful, perhaps a sign of the times. They are a fee-based county department, meaning that they pay their people and do business on moneys collected from building permits and other fees. They have $4500 of our dollars, so I don't really mind

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-7372986873028379422010-03-07T03:46:00.000-08:002010-03-07T05:26:11.535-08:00

The clay type, not the booze type of plastered. I spent Saturday March 6th with Brian (trim carpenter, soon to be amateur plasterer) at a 2-hour training session on clay plastering. Nancy and I had attended a full-days training in Santa Fe, which was great but it was 2 years ago. So it was time for a refresher. Brian and I went over to EcoHaus in Seattle via the Bainbridge ferry. Did I

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-22453335397279183632010-03-07T03:45:00.000-08:002010-03-10T07:14:41.237-08:00

Tim Hamm, hardscaper extraordinaire, is at it again. Nancy got ready to plant ground cover on the dirt berm that we build just above the drainage ditch at the front of the house. I'd been worrying that the berm would just melt away with time and eventually end up in the ditch. So I asked Tim to build a small wall along the front of the berm, something stylish and 18-24" high. It would go

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-33011946558991980922010-02-28T07:02:00.000-08:002010-02-28T07:40:02.428-08:00

This seems to be the mode now. Lots of tasks going on at the same time, so nothing actually appears to be happening. Brian came back for more trim work, of which there is lots. Lets figure this out. He and Nancy are working on the vertical grain (VG) fir, which trims out most of the doors and windows downstairs. I count 13 doors and jambs. Nancy finished the windows (mostly) in the winter,

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-7479389181261232142010-02-19T05:21:00.000-08:002010-02-21T07:42:37.919-08:00

Its been a schizophrenic week; MT (multitasking) was the culprit. Had planned to finish the tile grouting, but plans are just ideas that might happen. Brian (the trim guy) became available on Tuesday, so it was time to shift gears to trim again. When he's here I can't do a separate project since there are decisions to make about every 30 minutes. So I end up being his assistant which is fine.

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-18663081182066173382010-02-15T19:16:00.000-08:002010-02-15T19:46:35.686-08:00

Today I decided to lay the cork flooring in the butlers pantry. Now, I just want you to know we don't plan to hire a butler, and since I'm not the cook in the family, I guess that makes me the butler. So I laid on the floor for myself.We had bought 120 sq ft (4 boxes) of cork tile at EcoHaus in Portland last October because they had a decent sale and don't charge sales tax (those are the

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-34586326172090271772010-02-14T15:51:00.001-08:002010-02-14T16:20:31.063-08:00

Valentines Day. Its been raining a lot lately, so I've gone back inside the house with the exception of the post for the street-side lamp. Needed to put one in to mount the lamp on, so I took a pressure treated 4 x 4 and added an inch to the side to hide the 3/4" conduit that comes up from underground. Then around the bigger post, I layered it with 5/4 cedar (1" thick) and copied the recessed

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-45548506647345605512010-02-10T20:11:00.000-08:002010-02-11T17:46:02.994-08:00

By Tuesday I'd laid the remaining tile (but some more is on order) so it was time to plant those bare root apple trees we scouped up at Costco about a month ago ($15 each). There is a little triangular sunny spot in the front yard and that's where they went. Had to move a small mountain of stock piled dirt and level out the spot, but by noon I was ready to plant those suckers. Two Gravenstein,

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-19317495602968063582010-02-09T18:47:00.000-08:002010-02-10T20:10:42.374-08:00

Well, progress has been slow on the house in February since we spent the first 7 days in the Bay Area. We didn't make it down there for Christmas, so we planned a later trip when the wx was better. Last year we drove through an ice storm in the Portland Hills and thought we'd be there for the night, but not. This year we had typical Oregon rain, but no snow, not even on the pass to California (

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-50698917666416627282010-01-25T06:06:00.000-08:002010-01-26T04:44:46.707-08:00

I've been on tile duty for the last week. No big deal but laying tile is like plowing a field with a horse. Slow and steady and at the end of the day maybe you have something to show for your effort. I started with the mudroom because its square (±). How hard could that be? Did I mention that I mounted the cabinets before hand, so its not square any more. Spent a day cutting the tile and a day

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-5810163574875641372010-01-18T16:53:00.000-08:002010-01-19T19:24:59.256-08:00

All the cabinets are installed in the Pantry and Mudroom now, with the exception of some hanging cabinets in the mudroom that I can't handle myself. They went in pretty easily in retrospect, but then again I've teethed on all kitchen and bath cabinets with my mentor Brian (the trim carpenter).The mudroom cabinets are positioned in an L shape. The two lower cabinets will be used to support an

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-89738254592370988762010-01-16T05:53:00.000-08:002010-01-16T06:30:16.479-08:00

As work in the house bogs down, I can always go outside and diddle with the landscaping. Its less of a moonscape now, as the trees and scrubs start to fill in around the margins of the septic field (40' x 60' patch) in the front yard. Tim (the hardscaper) had suggested putting a little water feature in the front yard, but I've had ponds before and they are a nuisance after about two weeks.

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-21167425969659673512010-01-13T16:11:00.000-08:002010-01-13T16:49:29.408-08:00

I've been treading water while Nancy finishes painting the two windows in the Butlers Pantry (sorry no butler planned, just a space big enough for one). So I've been finishing little things and decided to put a wrap on the front path between the driveway and front (formal) entrance. I already had it graded and boxed out, so there really wasn't much to do other than lay the pavers.I put them

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-2104368385089852752010-01-12T06:31:00.000-08:002010-01-12T17:38:51.562-08:00

Steve and Jeri from Discount Cabinets of Washington (Sequim) brought over the cabinets for our mudroom and pantry this morning. A sh_ _ load of large boxes showed up, but they included some fill and trim pieces. Since we'll tile underneath the mudroom cabinets, they'll have to wait a while for placement. Conversely, the floor in the pantry will be cork tiles (1' x 3' interlocking panels,

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-70200485467135599102010-01-09T05:13:00.000-08:002010-01-09T06:01:43.130-08:00

Boy, we're making real progress now. Richerts Marble and Granite showed up on Thursday with our rock counter tops and laid them in about 6 hours. This includes the kitchen perimeter counter top, the island, the master bath counter, and four sinks. One van, three guys, and a lot of heavy rock. The island top, which came in first, weighs about 250 pounds, whereas the long run for the kitchen

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-55467240527986685032010-01-06T05:40:00.001-08:002010-01-06T05:53:40.054-08:00

For the past year we've been struggling with a glass bar top that will go on the island. The idea is to have a 16" x 60" slab of 3/4" plate glass floating off the edge of the island to use as a stand-up bar (coffee) or eating area (with bar stools).Nancy and I've spent hours on the internet looking for standoffs—metal brackets—that will hold up the glass bar. Most are made to support the glass

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-58178651801159580682010-01-06T04:26:00.000-08:002010-01-06T05:52:48.733-08:00

Back in mid December, after seeing Santa Baby in Seattle with the Murphys, Nancy and I spent the next day looking at tile for the house. We need floor tile for the kitchen, mudroom, guest bath, master bath, and (later) for the upstairs bathroom. We also need wall tile for the showers and upstairs bath (later), and back splash tile for the master bath vanity and kitchen. Picking out tile (for

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-78043313835780780692010-01-04T07:02:00.000-08:002010-01-04T07:40:42.574-08:00

This weekend, Brian (my right-hand man now) and I took a whack at hanging the interior doors for the house. First chore was to figure out what door went where, but after some shuffling we got them in the right spots. A couple surprises though. One of exterior-type doors (air tight) for the staircase was hinged to open the wrong way (our fault, didn't catch it on the order) as well as the door

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-82139019009402355352009-12-30T06:26:00.000-08:002009-12-31T16:40:32.485-08:00

Day 2 of the cabinet installation. Its going pretty well, but we ran into a few more problems in the afternoon which will delay completion of the job. More on that later. In the morning, Brian and I finished installing the west side (range and oven) cabinets and we were acting pretty cocky by lunch time. Still to do are the hanging cabinets. The two on that wall straddle the hood, which should

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-76545437951837460512009-12-28T06:48:00.001-08:002009-12-28T21:18:38.710-08:00

Its the Monday morning after Christmas and we started in on the kitchen cabinets. Since these are a $20k plus part of the house, there is no room for screw ups. Brian (the trim guy) showed up on schedule at 8:30 am, but I'd been at the house for an hour setting up for the big event. We moved a half dozen boxed cabinets into the kitchen area, and got them ready. Since its an L-shaped cabinet

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-32219935930007729832009-12-25T11:00:00.000-08:002009-12-25T11:17:54.830-08:00

With all the holiday activities, we've taken a break from the house, so progress has slowed to bitty stuff like cover plates & cleaning up, and sticking a plant in the ground when the weather warms up. The garage has filled up with the kitchen cabinets, interior doors, and now the plumbing fixtures, all awaiting installation in the coming weeks. Plus more cabinets are due to be delivered in mid

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-75790350248468851362009-12-21T19:30:00.000-08:002009-12-22T19:11:53.050-08:00

So this morning I get an email (see below) from Brian Wright:Michael I am the Wedi western US Sales manager and one of my customers sent your blog link to me. Thank you for using our system and I am glad it is going well for you. I just wanted to say that I noticed that I didn’t see any sealant at the most important joint and this is between the Pan and wallboard or most places between the boards

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-52887683601742160412009-12-20T15:37:00.001-08:002009-12-20T15:43:02.657-08:00

We've been storing the kitchen cabinets (Kitchen and Bath Studio) and the interior doors (Carls) in the rental house garage since early summer. Now its time to reclaim the garage and move it all up to the new house. Its been cold and snowy of late, so getting the cars back in the garage would be a real plus. The weather looked dry for Saturday, so we decided to do it before the next Pacific flyer

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-10508591039258324412009-12-17T02:46:00.000-08:002009-12-20T15:36:17.381-08:00

Sounds like something from Star Wars and the Jedis. No, its a German product for lining shower stalls. We'd seen it at the Seattle Home Show several years ago and Jim Quandt had recently installed the product on a bathroom remodel in Kala Point. Basically its high-density blue foam board coated with a modified polymer cement and fiberglass mesh for

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-73126317507978414722009-12-12T08:19:00.001-08:002009-12-16T05:06:42.450-08:00

I'd made good progress on the paint-grade trim and was ready to start the fir (clear lacquer finish) trim for the downstairs windows and doors. Brian Van Dalsum (finish carpenter) came over on Wednesday and we made a serious run at cutting and attaching the fir trim. Most of the windows and doors are trimmed out the same way with 5/4 (1") x 6 tops, 4/4 (3/4") x 4 side pieces, and 5/4 x 4 base

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-26529854245929051932009-12-09T03:54:00.000-08:002009-12-13T09:32:26.837-08:00

Nancy (the painter) finished painting the clerestory window in the master bath on Monday, so I was ready to place the cabinets in there. They have been in the garage for a couple weeks and I figured it would be best to start on these (6) cabinets than the more complex set in the kitchen (20+ cabinets). I moved them into the bedroom and unpacked the boxes, saving the cardboard for floor and

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-18459919234082417162009-12-04T12:04:00.000-08:002009-12-09T03:53:43.883-08:00

The trees and shrubs we've been buying were stacking up on the property, so with the delivery of another bunch it was time to plant the trees. They'll grow roots in the winter here, when the ground isn't frozen. We had our first hard frost around the 1st of December, but it was still mild (40s in day, 30s at night).Tim Hamm, a hardscaper from Sequim, had been building some small rock walls for

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-43784310824620211432009-11-28T15:57:00.000-08:002009-11-28T16:44:34.373-08:00

We have a big basement, which is unusual for the Pacific Northwest (i.e., no tornadoes, so why worry). However, when we lived in Denver we got used to having one, so how much could it cost to dig a bit deeper. Well, a lot it turns out. Extra to dig, extra to haul away 260 cubic yards of excess material (and find someone to take, not buy, it) and a bunch extra for 112' of 4' high concrete wall

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-42187278036424972602009-11-27T16:39:00.000-08:002009-11-27T17:02:30.312-08:00

Before Turkey Day I'd built the window jambs out in the bathroom and really struggled. Built them thicker than needed, then planed them down to be flush with the drywall. Big mistake (no. 1.1). I realized that I should just make them stand 1/16" proud, then back caulk any gap that might form behind the final trim. Duh!So today I took the new approach to the window jambs. Did 5 in one short day

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-30208489941325376412009-11-22T08:57:00.001-08:002009-11-27T07:39:11.662-08:00

When we ordered the window package for the house from Sierra Pacific, the salesman asked me what the jamb thicknesses would be. 5.5 " is the normal answer now days (0.5" drywall, 2 x 6" wall, and 0.5" plywood sheathing). So that's what I put on the list for most of the windows, well at least the fir ones that would be finished off with trim and sills on the inside. I had this vague notion that

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-33091617338188807692009-11-19T10:53:00.001-08:002009-11-29T08:47:43.370-08:00

On Tuesday (Nov. 17th), Mike Mills of Mills Interiors (Hardwood, Bainbridge Island) showed up to start the hardwood flooring install. Him and another guy jumped on it, and 6 hours later they had laid about 1/3 of the flooring. This involved the hall like run of flooring next to the kitchen tile (photo 1) and parts of the living room and den (photo 2). Had to have them reinstall the floor

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-89809205414562595662009-11-16T07:37:00.000-08:002009-11-19T10:52:36.467-08:00

The hardwood floor is going in this week, so I started to lay down the Hardibacker board for the tile floors. There will be tile in the bathrooms (3), kitchen, and mudroom, about 600 square feet in total. In order for the tile and flooring to come out flush, we needed to use the 1/2" (0.41") backer board. I bought 45 sheets of the 3' x 5' board at Home Depot last week and brought them home in

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-85744610434537490842009-11-12T03:58:00.000-08:002009-11-13T13:35:13.090-08:00

Today we scored a trifecta, of sorts. Actually a quadfecta, if there was such a thing. Nancy and I finished painting the man cave (room above the garage, mainly for building kayaks and other manly things). Still have to paint and trim out the windows, add flooring and baseboard, but all that will have to wait for additional funds. I figure if we recycle all the aluminum cans from our house,

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-70096725872321849782009-11-05T19:46:00.000-08:002009-11-05T19:54:55.842-08:00

Only time for a quicky post.In order to save a few bucks (i.e., beer money) I told our painter that we'd clean up after he finished. No big deal, just some paper on the floors and plastic on the windows. Oh yeah. Nancy and I spent most of today (Thursday) pulling down plastic, pulling staples and ripping up paper. Interestingly, the thin Kraft paper that Franks daughter laid down to protect

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-47489419423239766672009-11-04T16:21:00.000-08:002009-11-04T16:44:20.808-08:00

The Architectural Committee met today and reviewed our case. We've been on their minds for a year now and I'm sure they want to clear our case from the docket. Our representative (aka task master) on the committee dropped by at 9:58 am to review our progress so they could make a decision on our case at the 10 am meeting. You can see that the house got a lot of scrutiny. He walked around the

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-87583112842065575982009-10-31T06:24:00.000-07:002009-11-08T14:19:21.127-08:00

Its Saturday, Halloween, and I'm hoping for treats not tricks. It rained buckets in Seattle yesterday, but not a drop fell on us in Port Townsend so I made some real progress in terms of painting the exterior of the hose. As you'll recall, all the shingles are up on the back of the house and now we need to get paint on them (upper level) and Hardiboard (lower level).I fired up the "Ken Olsen

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-76078700929642672932009-10-28T19:20:00.001-07:002009-10-28T19:37:21.284-07:00

Well, not much has happened for two weeks. We took a break from building, partly for rest and partly because we had two trips planned. Did the GSA meeting in Portland for a long weekend, worked two days getting ready to paint the exterior, then headed off to Denver for a final trip.The USGS wanted me to clean out my office on the off chance they might hire someone new, some day. One day of

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-42920580237588707392009-10-16T15:50:00.000-07:002009-10-17T07:58:00.767-07:00

We're building a Northwest Craftsman style house, so when it came to the driveway I thought of the original craftsmen, the ancient Romans. In the 3rd Century B.C. they completed a cross-country road from Rome to Brindisi on the Adriatic Sea. Although the ancient road is now called the Via Appian Antica, they probably referred to it as Romo Transport No. 1. Anyway, I finished laying 320 7"x9"

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-10330797653946636022009-10-14T07:10:00.000-07:002009-10-14T07:52:49.253-07:00

Its Wednesday, Oct. 13. Approaching the one year date for the house, having felled the trees on our lot on Oct. 23, 2008. Doesn't seem that long, but then again there were some cold rainy days last winter that I'd prefer to forget.This week I need to finish laying the shingles on the back of the house, but the hard part is finished now. I think there are about 3 bundles (75 sq. ft) left to hang.

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-7646021905126462729.post-51247230623818712992009-10-06T19:52:00.000-07:002009-10-08T05:04:00.167-07:00

Well, Monday was the day of reckoning (9 month + 2 month extension) in terms of the Kala Point Architectural Committee, which meets today (Wednesday morning). I'm sure our house will be the topic of much discussion since we didn't exactly make our "finished on the outside" deadline. But from the attached photo, it looks done to me. (PS, don't look in back). The concrete driveway is curing and

Kala Point Builderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09770329344392994835noreply@blogger.com