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October 31, 2005
Sleepers
Today they installed sleepers on the sunroom floor. We thought the saltillo tile was going to come out, but I guess not. they are just putting the floor on top of it. Special pressure treated wood touches the tile. I think this is wolmanized wood. Treated with CCA, or chromated copper arsenate, a insecticide and fungicide. Then little strips go on top to make the bolts flush.
They have yet to do the levelling -- making sure the floor in the living room and sunroom are seamless. They are doing that down the road.
They also took out the beam above the old sliding glass door.
Posted by dana at 05:04 PM | Comments (0)
October 29, 2005
Up In the Attic
They spent all day in the attic today. It looks great! You can actually move around up there pretty good.
These cross beams were at about 5 ft so you couldn';t walk around upright. now you can. It feels so spacious up here. Originally, we were going to go up, but it would have been cheaper to tear down the house and start over because of all the foundation work that would have needed to be done. Although I don't know, a lot is going on as it is.
This is the sheer wall that they need to take off the roof to connect from above. It essentially slices the attic in half. Hopefully there can be a doorway to get to the other side, where the Air conditioning unit is.
Someone fell throught the ceiling today. The contractor was over, and we were eating burgers when we heard the loud crash. Thankfully, no one was hurt.
Oops
Posted by dana at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)
The last hedge comes out.
The last part of the backyard we knew and loved is gone. the hedge hiding the rundown wood siding. It's history. Bummer. But we had to do it. The siding is coming off and the master closet add-on is getting stuccoed to match the rest of the house.
Posted by dana at 04:30 PM | Comments (0)
October 28, 2005
Master Bath walls
they also put up part of the master bath walls. So you can get an idea of the size of the rooms.
The master from the west. Shower area in the background
The big beam goes right over the master shower.
Looking out to the backyard from the east. There is going to be a door sized window there.
From the back yard.
The living room looks larger now that the ceiling joists are in.
Posted by dana at 04:24 PM | Comments (0)
Another big beam and more.
They installed the big beam the will span the west end of the living room today. Below it will be the telescoping doors. they also installed the ceiling joists back in the Sunroom area today. It makes the living room area look larger. They used old wood that were joists in the bedroom I think. This old wood is stronger and cut bigger than what you can get today. So if an inspector has no problem with it, I don't.
The ceiling joists.
New Beam, reinstalled joists.
The north end of the beam. This is where the living room ends.
Don't like this too much. Little pieces of wood mashed in there. They had to bend the anchor bolt a little so it could be attached. I asked if this was a permanent thing and they said yes. He was off by 1/2 inch. "Happens all the time." Hmmm...
Long Shot
They also took out the ceiling in the master bedroom. Here are pix of that:
Another temporary support.
This shows the original roof and behind it, the roof for the master closet addition.
Looking up from the master closet.
Posted by dana at 03:29 PM | Comments (0)
October 27, 2005
The Moment We Have Been Waiting For!!
Or me anyway. Such a load off.
The big beam shows up and this time it is the right size and everything! the label said it was 25 feet and it was 25 feet. Didn't get a picture of the label, because it went up before I could get to it.
They got it into place so quickly. The thing I had been fretting about more than anything else is done! I just couldnt figure out how they were going to do this while not letting the entire house cave in. Well on with the pix.
Here it is in place in the far (south) end and being supported by a 4x4 on this end.
Another view.
Where is is on top of a 4x4 which is anchor bolted.
Running along underneath it. They are making sure it lines up exactly with the ceiling joists meeting it. After it is in place they will secure it to the joists with brackets.
I'm glad I'm not up there. This tree is basically being held up by 4x4s while they get the other wood around it
They built the south wall of the master bath to support the big beam.
A straight on view.
This is the beginning of a sheer wall that goes up to the roof and be atached from above the roof. I mentioned they have to take the roof up afterall.
This is up in the attic.
the beam is scured with brackets to the existing ceiling joists that span the living room.
Looking north.
This is the south end of the sheer wall so the roof will not be ripped up south of here. Not sure where that anchor bolt goes to. I dont think it was inspected.
The north end of the beam. Man, that looks shaky.
Back on the first floor, the larger living room is beginning to take shape! They were able to take down the support wall so you can see the new space. A nice big room with great front to back flow.
Posted by dana at 05:46 PM | Comments (0)
October 25, 2005
Taking a Break I Guess
I guess this isn't so much of a disappointment considering they put in so much time recently (9 straight days not counting Sundays) and that big beam is needed before they can do much more. But they didnt work on the 19, 22, 24, 25. That's a lot of days with not a lot going on.
They did come by early a couple mornings to make an appearance and rearrange the piles of wood. And they also got rid of the trash which had been accumulating in the driveway. But no major progress.
Posted by dana at 05:32 PM | Comments (0)
October 20, 2005
Master Bath Floor Plywood Goes In
So now that the plumbing inspection is done, it can be covered up. First went the insulation and then the plywood. The insulation I guess is a new rule. Kind of funny since there is no insulation under any of the other floors. But the inspector wants to see a picture of it to sign off, so they took one. And so did I!
Once that is in then the plywood.
This took them a long time because they had to measure where every pipe, drain, etc. is coming thru the floor, and then cut the holes to line up with all the new plumbing.
The work area.
Posted by dana at 04:38 PM | Comments (0)
October 18, 2005
Another Inspector Comes.
Another inspector came today to check out the epoxy for the anchor bolts for all of the new 4"x4" and 4"x6" posts. There are a bunch.
See the epoxy oozing out?
So anyway, that was successful too.
Posted by dana at 04:32 PM | Comments (0)
Plumbing Inspection Passed
The plumbing inspector came today. Unfortunately, I missed him. But true to form, I asked a lot of questions. It's pretty interesting what they do. They fill up all the pvc with water to see if it leaks. They check all the seams and joints. When it's done, the empty the water and then join it to the sewer.
Where the new plumbing (left) meets the existing city sewer (right). they inspection finished and they took the cap off to let the water drain before connecting them.
Posted by dana at 11:58 AM | Comments (0)
October 17, 2005
The Plumbing Wraps Up
I know there are not a lot of plumbing entries, but it's kind of boring stuff!
The plumbing inspector is coming tomorrow, and the plumbing guys have been here all day every day for the past 8 working days. So there is a lot of stuff to show. They managed to do it without turning off the water or gas that often. Only a couple times.
The first thing I learned, is water comes in thru copper and leaves thru pvc.
Hot and cold on the right two for the sinks in the master bath. On the left is the toilet head and its cold water input.
In the foreground is the hot and cold for the shower. Against the wall is the hot and cold and drain for the washing machine. They turned on the hot for me and hot water came out. So that is good.
This is the old master bath in the foreground is where the toilet head was, in the background it the new toilet head.
These next four pix are from the attic. They are of the master bath and the laundry room.
Mater Bath
Master Bath
Master Shower and Laundry Room. The wall between them will be where the pvc vent is coming up in the middle. The pvc cap to the top is the shower drain. The one below is the laundry room drain.
Laundry Room.
And this is where things get scarey. One reason the plumbing went on without me blogging it for so long is these guys did most of their work in the crawl space. Can you say claustrophobia?
Made for people to climb in.
And then in the attic there is this whole vent system going on. We had one before (everybody does, but I just learned this) so they were able to use the existing hole in the roof.
Posted by dana at 03:47 PM | Comments (0)
October 15, 2005
Drilling
New footers are going in so there has been a lot of drilling for the anchor bolts and holddown bolts. All day. Very noisy.
Fortunately, we are going to a friends house for the afternoon and dinner.
In the master closet
In the master closet.
In the garage.
Posted by dana at 02:58 PM | Comments (0)
October 13, 2005
The Elusive Big Beam Finally Arrives, but ...
I was off to do a spinning class early this morning and on my way out, I see the guys show up with the beam! YAY!
Here it is:
That's a big chunk of tree flesh.
So it was looking like it was going up soon. In the meantime, they had taken out the old wall between the sunroom and the living room. Hope there isn't an earthquake today!
The wall with the window opening is gone.
Another view. The wood structure to the right is temporary and is just stopping the ceiling from falling in while the other wall is removed and the big beam is not yet installed.
And from the attic there are new supports in. We found out on Saturday that they have to take off the roof along this strip because these supports need to be attached from above the roof. The contractors don't want to do this and we aren't too keen on it either. We called the engineer to see if there was a way around it, and he said no. It wouldn't be up to code and the cement footings would be wasted effort. Okay then. The roof comes up. That's more work and more time than we thought. Of course, it was in the engineering plan from the beginning, but who reads those things?!
Here are some pix from up in the attic:
the vertical beams are new. On the right is over the livingroom, to the left over the old sunroom. Looking toward the master.
Another view. The diagonal beams are new too.
You can see the sumroom below.
So remember the "but..." part in the title of this entry? They casually mention to me this afternoon that the supplier gave them the wrong size big beam. They wanted a 25 footer and got a 20 footer. I say, "You are kidding!" And I am thinking, "wait a second. You picked it up this morning and drove it all the way here and got it in the house before you realized it was the wrong size?"
It is even correctly labelled as a 20 footer. DUH!
Posted by dana at 02:07 PM | Comments (0)
October 12, 2005
Back Windows. Out
Remember that sliding glass door that started it all. Good bye. But it took them over an hour. I guess with all the demo the house settled and jammed it in there.
Finally!
Also, the windows in the back came out. Now it feels like the house is this big empty shell. Inside is outside. Hope it doesn't rain.
I hope it's more than that piece from the patio cover holding up the roof!
Posted by dana at 05:34 PM | Comments (0)
October 11, 2005
Good-bye Patio
This is the most heartbreaking thing so far. We loved this patio. We had great dinner parties here. Memories of friends here. The lights and the ambiance. Such a comfortable place to be. But it did have its problems. When we had day time pool parties, we would slip on the bricks when they were wet. Kids would too. And the dogs. So we decided it would really be best if we put in bricks to match the ones on the decking around the pool. They are a little rougher and give more traction when wet. Plus the patio cover or trellis was old and decrepit. So we are biting the bullet and rebuilding them. Here is the demo from a few points of view. It started last Saturday.
Point of View 1:
From Point of View 2:
From Point of View 3:
From Point of View 4:
From Point of View 5:
Posted by dana at 04:54 PM | Comments (0)
October 07, 2005
The Plumbing Gets Started
The cement is in and the dirt is dug out between the cement bases for the two new master walls. Now it is time for the plumbing to be installed. Water comes in on copper and leaves thru PVC. the copper has to be precisely placed since we have exposed chrome input valves under the sink in the master. They say plumbers don't like doing this so much because everything has to be exact. In the second bathroom, the piping under the sink will be hidden so the copper placement doesn't have to be as precise.
These are the hot and cold for the master sinks. Hope they measured right!
This will be the water for the washer. The old hall bath is becoming the laundry room.
Posted by dana at 11:56 AM | Comments (0)
October 06, 2005
Bathroom Elevations
Here are the elevations for the bathrooms.
The Master Bath:
Master Bath South
Master Bath East and West
Master Bath North
Second Bath:
Second Bath West
Second Bath North
Second Bath East
Second Bath South
Posted by dana at 10:29 PM | Comments (0)
Quiet Days
No one worked on site yesterday or today.
Posted by dana at 03:27 PM | Comments (0)
October 05, 2005
Getting Ready for the Big Feat
They put in this support structure so the ceiling wouldnt fall in when they remove the wall between the living room and the sunroom. There is a lot to this!
This is the view from the living room.
This is the view from the Sunroom. The wall that is coming out is in front of the temporary support structure.
We are waiting for the 12"x6" "tree trunk" which will be suspended above the ceiling line and supported by 4x4s to the floor and also by the roof. This is a bummer because the engineer insists that we take off the roof along this stretch and also on the new bathroom walls so that the supports can be attached from above the roof instead of below the roof.
Nobody wants to mess with the roof, but the engineer says that if we don't then all that cement poured for supporting the new walls is for nothing, and that it won't pass code.
Posted by dana at 02:14 PM | Comments (0)
October 03, 2005
Going to the PDC
I didnt blog about our trip to the Pacific Design Center to pick out faucets and bathroom fixtures. But it was fun and pretty quick. We liked our faucets and handles immediately. And we agreed on it. So much easier than the tile!
We got the faucets and the handles from Harrington Brass. Classic and clean with nice lines and comfortable in your hands.
The foreman has been asking about the rough hardware for the shower. And as of today we have it! No more excuses. Let's plow ahead.
Picking up at the PDC is kind of cool. Very busy. Interior designers picking up antiques in their Land Cruisers. UPS and FEDEX are permanent fixtures there. Big trucks with day workers. Just a big mix of everything where Chanel meets Dickies.
I picked up the toilets, the sinks, the sink faucets and handles, and the shower hardware.
Posted by dana at 01:53 PM | Comments (0)
October 02, 2005
DirecTV is Challenged -- The Second Debacle
I don't think I have the writing ability to properly tell you what happened today. But I can tell you I wonder how these large companies stay in business. The ineptitude of the DirecTV field workers is shocking.
Remember the debacle with DirecTV? Well, it happened again. The crew is getting ready to demo the back patio and trellis, so we again need to deal with DirecTV. The contractor could move the feeds into the dining room no problem, but in order to move the dish, you need this special machine that can detect the maximum signal. So again I call DirecTV and Ironwood Communications.
The prima donna showed up on time. And that is about all that went right in the 4.5 hours he was here. No wonder people get blown off on their appointments. He was there longer than my 4 hour window! Why prima donna? He balked at going under the house, he was scared of the dogs. He wouldn't climb over the grape leaves. He was just a lazy slacker in everyway. He basically didn't want to do anything his job required.
First thing is he asks me how I want to pay for the upgrade. I didn't order an upgrade I just need the dish moved to a new location. I said I would take the upgrade if it were free. It was not free, he said, so he said he would have to move the existing dish. But he wouldn't climb up on the trellis until I removed some of the grape leaves for him. Thank god I am not too old to do that. Would he say that to granny? I climb up there with my clippers and cut him a path. I don't know what he is doing during this, perhaps kicking back with a mint julep? I get it cleared up and then he climbs up to dismantle it.
Meanwhile I call DirecTV to find out why I was tagged for an upgrade when I requested a dish relocation. They had no idea and it took several questions to realize the visit would be $49.95 if I got the new dish or not. Due to the confusion, they waived the $25 Handling Fee for the new dish. Thanks. First I heard of that.
So I call up to the guy and say stop with that dish, I'll take the new one. He was a little put out that he was up there for nothing. What was he complaining about? I was the one hacking away at the grapes for 20 minutes.
He gets the new dish, with three inputs and HiDef capabilities. Cool. He installs it in its new place. I would have preferred he rerouted the cables, but he didn't want to climb under the house, so I let him run cables over the house and around to where they went in before. He spliced old to new. And then he attaches a meter and looks for the signal. He explains that he has a new compass that he doesn't know how to use. HUH? So he wants me to go look at the TV while he moves the dish around. Nothing, nothing, nothing. This goes on laughably long.
I suggest doing the dish set up on the receiver, he agrees. In doing so, the receiver tells me the dish should be set up the following way:
pointing south with an azimuth of 152 degrees, elevation
tilted back 50 degrees, and
tilted to the side 102 degrees.
I ask him if he has done this and he again tells me he doesn't understand his new compass. Unbelievable. I climb up on the roof of the office and decide to just do this myself. "Out of my way." I got a little protractor from my desk, eyeballed the 152 and jiggled it around until his meter gets a full signal. Takes me a minute. Not saying that I am a nuclear scientist, but this guy had a double digit IQ for sure.
I go to the TV and we have picture! I tell him and he is visibly relieved. He then fastens the dish screws and prepares to leave. I go back inside and there is no picture. Turns out he had moved the dish to get to the screws to tighten them. I'm thinking this guy is beyond retarded and am starting to feel rage. You can tell he is starting to feel the pressure and gets to a point where he simply does not know what to do next. He starts to unscrew the dish. "NO! Reattach the signal meter and then we will find the signal and then we will detach it." I have decided that I have to do this.
It turns out, he broke the LNB when he was tightening the screws and moved the dish. Hey Zeus! He gets a new one puts in on screws it on, I get the signal, I detach the signal meter and attach the dish, get him off the roof. and check for signal. We have strong signal and a picture.
And then to top things off he grounds the joint between the old and new cables to a gas line. Given everything that had happened over the past 4.5 hours, I looked and noticed and was not surprised.
The new dish.
Posted by dana at 11:51 AM | Comments (2)
October 01, 2005
The Garage Gets It
Meanwhile we have to clear out the back garage wall for its demo. This involved getting everything out of the wall units. Took me a good chunk of last Sunday. To make room for it all, I had to haul a bunch of rubbermaid containers filled with old clothes up into the attic. Why do I hang on to t-shirts for 15 years? And fleece, and old jeans.
They need to get into this wall to put in a 4x4 post which will provide support to the big 12x6 beam that is going where the sunroom and living room meet. That beam was ordered a long time ago and it still hasn't arrived. It's basically ordering a tree. All of this is purely for structural integrity. We are just as happy though because in 1950 or something, someone hit the back wall with their big Cadillac and left a huge hole -- patched with newspaper of the day -- the rats loved it I'm sure. Also, the shelving was rickety. We don't yet know what we are going to do there.
Before:
During:
After:
One great thing about our crew is that they leave the place very clean when they finish up. they sweep up at the end of the day everyday. This is really important. We have not had the problem with dust we were warned about.
Posted by dana at 11:14 AM | Comments (0)