Yr 2 - Day 299

Countertop is in!! Just need the final plumbing and she's good to go. Oh and for some reason the Electrolux Icon induction cooktop won't power up so someone is coming to check on that.





The view to the old kitchen the day we viewed the house. (where the old stove is is where the new oven is.)








The Old kitchen now.








New kitchen - wheeeeeee! (The pendants and sink are approx. where the old wall used to be)

Yr 2 - Day 299

Countertop is in!! Just need the final plumbing and she's good to go. Oh and for some reason the Electrolux Icon induction cooktop won't power up so someone is coming to check on that.

Build Fireplace Mantel Reprive

This is a do over of an article about how I built my own fireplace mantel. It's now painted gloss white and the brick work is refinished (see entries below).







It's done - Bob will have somewhere to hang his stocking. I bought the lumber for everything but the pilaster molding and top and bottom blocks - that came as a pilaster kit from Lowes (?). I got some good guides to how to do the structure from here

http://www.diynetwork.com/diy/hi_fireplace/article/0,2037,DIY_13914_2269267,00.html

and here

http://www.taunton.com/finewoodworking/pages/bw0011.asp

and here

http://www.doityourself.com/stry/buildfireplacemantel

Faux Brick Finish on Fireplace Reprive

This is a republish of a post from January 25th, 2007 for Houseblogs.net Fireplace tagging thingy:








Slowly getting back into some projects after a lull over Xmas. Have mainly been concentrating on the kitchen project but last night I took on the brick surround on the fireplace (yet again). Last effort was four coats of paint stripper and no brick in sight (first two coats were an environmentally-friendly stripper that you left on for 24hrs til it changed color, 2nd two coats were a chemical stripper but still no luck.
I headed to Lowes and got some heavy duty (50) sand paper for the Mouse and also a bunch of brick red paint swatches. I sanded the brick a bit and results were mixed - some of the paint came off easily but some was on there for good so I decided I have to do the faux paint. Back to Lowes but this time I had matched the swatches to the actual brick tones and bought 3 sample pots of paint ($3.98 each and a "pouncer" brush to stipple - couldn't bring myself to drop $15 on a sponge). The mid color that I painted on first was American Century Tropical Nut, then a stippling of the just slightly darker Cliveden Henna Red and then a stippling over that of a slightly lighter color - Florentine Clay - that I softened and dispersed a lot more with the brush to get that kind of effervescence white sheen that you get on bricks.
I think the results were pretty good - the flash doesn't help the photo. I painted on the medium shade first and then stippled the darker tone on top and then stippled the lighter tone over that being sure to really work it so that it looked like a soft smudge and not edgey. The samples only came in satin but I didn't want to buy a quart of flat so I might have to hit it all with a matt clear top coat. Just need to go back tonight and get a cement color for the mortar and then I can start priming/painting the mantel/wood surround.

Went back to Lowes tonight with another matching color swatch but wanted to check if there was any ready-made mortar in a tub that I could use as the painting was going to be a pain. Luckily Lowes had Quikrete Textured Mortar Repair ($1.99) - think grey bath caulk with sand and grit in it. So I just smoothed that on with my fingers in to the mortar groove and wiped off the edges of the brick and I think it looks fab. It really needs a wash coat to cut the new and clean look, to give it a bit of grime so I will have to look into that but apart from that it was a much easier, quicker project than I had anticipated.

I have since added a faint glaze as I thought everything looked too new and clean cut. I went back to Lowes and picked up a small bottle of their premixed Antique Glaze, it's in the Faux Painting display area. I was originally going to darken some individual bricks to give it the reused chimney brick look but I just faintly added some "dirt" all over - bricks and mortar with an old towel and as with the paint colors worked it really well so that there were no hard edges or obvious splodges. Fireplace mantel has since been painted gloss white.

Year 2 - Day 282

It's always good to pause and reflect.








Before






After minus fridge, DW, countertop and cooktop

Year 2 - Day 282

3" hole, 6" duct. You do the math.










Ay carumba! The range hood is up but not without much crunching of brain cells, wringing of hands and of course the able help of Bob. Many challenges as usual. 1) our ceiling is only 7'6" so with the hood at the recommended 28" above the cooktop that left us with just over 14" to get the duct up, through a 90 degree turn and out the wall; 2) The center point for the range hood was right on a stud, a stud which happened to be the LH stud of a panned in stud bay that was a return for the HVAC which couldn't be violated; 3) The outer edge of the range hood chimney was about 3-1/2" from the center line and had a 5/8" flange that sat against the wall, this gave us an effective useable space for the outgoing duct of approx. 3"; 4) The duct collar coming out of the range hood was 6" circular and centered on the range hood so that also compromised the fit of the ducting.










This picture shows the final solution: having hummedand ha'd and visited Lowes and HD and searched the web, I visited a plumbing supply place that I passed on hte way to my Drs. I explained my challenge to a nice chap at in N&S Supply, Danbury, CT and out of the many ducts he showed me we found a 90 degree elbow that was 6" round on one end and 6" oval on the other. This was like it was custom made for me! The vertical oval was 3" at it's widest section (see 2nd top picture) - just enough to go through the gap that we had. I had to shorten both the 6" round cone part and the 6" oval part to get it to turn a full 90 degrees in the 14" that we had to work with. I sheet metal screwed it and aluminum taped it to stop it breaking apart when we shoved it through the wall. I also extended the oval end so that it would extend all the way through the wall.



Here it is in all it's friggin' glory. We hung the range hood part first and then Bob suggested I elongate the hole in the wall upwards so that I had play to push the duct through the wall and slide it over the range hood collar. He also suggested I cut the back of the duct into a couple flanges to assist it over the collar. Bob I know you are a genius so here are your props for that. With those tweaks done the two ducts defied all physics and the 2" offset that was between them and slipped together like a charm. The only loss was that we couldn't do the chimney in one piece but you can barely see the telescoping overlap. I also had to trim down the wall flanges on the chimney as they where touching the duct on the LH side and preventing the chimney sections from nesting correctly and making it look shitey instead of fab.










So today I just had to finish off the outside. As usual still not a straight forward job as the siding wasn't level so I filled it in with some siding offcuts (see there's a reason why you shouldn't throw anything away until the whole job is done) turned the opposite way to the boards so that I got a flat surface so that the plastic cover would sit flush with the siding. I also had to customize the plastic duct vent as it was made for 6" round. After filling in the gaps around the duct with insulating foam, I cut the duct extension into flanges so that it I could sheet metal screw it to the siding. I then aluminum taped over all screws and seams to fully seal the duct exit and then screwed the plastic cover to the wall and caulked where it touched the wall. I have burnt more brain cells on this project than I did on moving the window but I think the final result has been worth it.

Year 2 - Day 282

Ay carumba! The range hood is up but not without much crunching of brain cells, wringingof hands and of course the able help of Bob. Many challenges as usual. 1) our ceiling is only 7'6" so with the hood at the recommended 28" above the cooktop that left us with just over 14" to get the duct up, through a 90 degree turn and out the wall; 2) The center point for the range hood was right on a stud, a stud which happened to be the LH stud of a panned in stud bay that was a return for the HVAC which couldn't be violated; 3) The outer edge of the range hood chimney was about 3-1/2" from the center line and had a 5/8" flange that sat against the wall, this gave us an effective usuable space for the outgoing duct of approx. 3"; 4) The duct collar coming out of the range hood was 6" circular and centered on the range hood.
This picture shows the final solution: I explained my challenge to a local plumbing supply store (N&S Supply, Danbury, CT) and out of the many ducts they showed me we found a 90 degree elbow that was 6" round on one end and 6" oval on the other. This was like it was custom made for me! The vertical oval was 3" at it's widest section - just enough to go through the gap that we had. I had to shorten both the 6" round cone part and the 6" oval part to get it to turn a full 90 degrees in the 14" that we had to work with. I sheet metal screwed it and aluminum taped it to stop it breaking apart when we shoved it through the wall. I also extended the oval end so that it would extend all the way through the wall.











Here it is in all it's friggin' glory.










So today I just had to finish off the outside. As usual still not a stright forward job as the siding wasn't level so I filled it in with some siding offcuts turned the opposite way to the boards so that I got a flat surface so that the plastic cover would sit flush with the siding. I also had to customize the plastic duct vent as it was made for 6" round. After filling in teh gaps around the duct with insulating foam, I cut the duct extension into flanges so that it I could sheet metal screw it to the siding. I then aluminum taped over all screws and seams to fully seal the duct exit and then screwed the plastic cover to the wall and caulked the where it touched the wall. I have burnt more brain cells on this project than I did on moving the window but I thinkthe final result has been worth it.

Year 2 - Day 271

Chris, the countertop installer, came last night to measure/template. It's quite an interesting process. Also just heard that they will have the Paperstone slab by end of the day this Friday so if they can schedule it in for about a week's turnaround then we might be looking at installation the week of Nov 5th, which makes perfect sense because I begin a 10-day run of work on Sony Ericsson tennis on the 4th (f**k!) so might have to push it back to week of Nov 12th when I will likely be off for a couple days.

Year 2 - Day 263

A small celebration is in order: I started unpacking the kitchen stuff and putting it in the new cupboards! Quite exciting and I vowed not to stuff it all back in but to only put what we use. Then with a couple of planks on top of the base cabinets until the countertop arrives we prepared dinner at an ergonomic counter height. I couldn't believe how different it was from stooping over a cutting board balanced on top of a 30" high bar stool! It was bliss!

Called the countertop guy. He is based in Kingston, NY and tries to come and measure only when he is making deliveries to Danbury. But we want him in ASAP to measure and get this thing going. I told him we're both at home tomorrow and then after that it's off until at least next week. I do not want this last step of the puzzle to become the never-ending saga.

Year 2 - Day 261

Ups and downs. Went to DHL to pick up the Zephyr Savona 30" range hood. Order instructions said to open the box and inspect for damage BEFORE signing. DHL guy said I couldn't open the box UNTIL AFTER I had signed. So in trying to assess any damage to the inside by looking at the outside I noticed that the label said 36". Too wide. If I had the sapce I would've just taken it but we only have space now the cabinets are up for a 30-incher. Called them today and they will ship the correct size (and likely be glad to get the more expensive 36" one back). We will have to wait a bit longer.
One the upside, the kitchen sink and faucet should arrive today by FedEx. (More sexy, shiny objects.) We ordered these from a website called irawoods.com that listed them for a over $400 less than list on the faucet and about $200 less than list on the sink. There seemed to be a lot of bad customer reviews for irawoods.com so I called the gal and when she said there was only 1 faucet showing in stock I made her go back into the warehouse and actually put her hands on it. (Maybe she did, maybe she was bluffing, maybe she said she was going back to the warehouse and would call me in 15 minutes and maybe she slipped out the back for a quick coffee and a fag.) Also the price she had for the sink was $40 less than their website price so I did a rush order to be sure that it would get picked immediately.
We had shopping for the sink and faucet at Klaff's in Danbury. I arrived there about 5pm a day or so ago and I was doing research and talking to one assistant (Joan) while I waited for Bob. She was EXTREMELY snooty, put down any questions I asked about differences in product and didn't like when Bob asked why the sink on display had two large dents in it and how would ours hold up if we bought that one. Anyhoo I said we would take the ($600) faucet - the LK7420 springy thing - very stylee. She called it a "pulldown" although technically it didn't. Then to my shock she looked at her watch and said "oh, we close at 5:30 pm, I'm leaving now." And like that she was gone. Needless to say we did not even get the chance to give her any money. All I can say is what an ass. Very disappointing.
So the next day I went to Klaff's in Norwalk as I still was confused about finishes - every manufacturer has different names for basically the same finish. I had thought that Joan was just a one-off but I got "helped" in Klaff's Norwalk by a guy who was equally snooty as Joan. First of all he didn't seem to want to help me and then I said "I have a couple quick questions, I only need you for 5 minutes." However we got talking and I wanted to know about the finish onan Elkay sink. "Oh, it's all nuances," he said, "Nuances." I'm thinking "well yeah, that's why I'm asking you". Then he slagged off the Elkay faucet and told me not to buy it and recommended a 4-5ft high KRW faucet that would have touched my ceiling. So I asked him "well, what part of the Elkay faucet has the problem", "oh it's throughout". "So, how is their warranty?" I asked. "Oh, you'd be dealing with me, you'd be dealing with me." He shouted. "And how is their customer service?" I continued. "Oh, you'd be dealing with me, you'd be dealing with me", he continued. I was thinking secretly to myself, "well let me tell you buddy I ABSOLUTELY will NOT be dealing with you, my friend." Just another Klaff's ass. Incredible.
So I have decided that the Klaff's in Danbury is not there to actually serve the Danbury population, it's so the Litchfield yahoos don't have to drive all the way to Norwalk anymore to drop full list.
I will say that I then called on Torrington Supply Plumbing and Heating and wow! talk about night and day. Super helpful and pleasant, gave us catalogs and really helped us understand the rpoduct and could show us examples of finishes. If I had a bottomless budget I would've bought from Torrington but we ended up shopping for price but Torrington will be my store of choice from now on.

Year 2 - Day 259

HAD to use the new oven last night so baked up some pumpkin muffins. It was from a Trader Joe's mix so still not the real deal but fun. That oven is dah bomb.

Year 2 - Day 258

World's sexiest oven!

















And we can do all this with it!

Electricians came yesterday to finish up the electrical and move the downlight that is too close to the crown molding over the fridge. On the phone the guy had said that he'd likely have to cut a big square out of the (new) ceiling to retreive the "new construction" downlight and move it. Mark Briganti, our kitchen installer, suggested abandoning the offending light fixture in the ceiling and cutting a new hole and putting in an "old work" downlight. We'd obviously pay for the $75 fixture that we were abandoning and the new fixture but it would save us having to cut the ceiling and patch a 16" square hole. Seemed worth it to me and when I went back downstairs to suggest it to the electrician his face lit up with the thought. "Man, I wish we had more customers like you," his assitant said nicely. Apparently any chance to not cut loads of sheetrock and get covered in plaster dust is a good thing for them. Rob, the main electrician had one concern in that the trim on the light fittings might not match but it did so I only had to patch the round hole left from the old fixture rather than a huge hole and I used the 5" circle he cut for the new one to do that.

So that was one small victory. Another part of the day was wiring in the double oven. The thing weighed a ton, 345lbs the paperwork said, and we had to get the thing over to the oven cabinet so he could wire it in. I asked if he would actually install it and he said "oh no, it's too heavy and Orlando (his assistant) can't lift anything". Fine, no worries the installer could install it but we had to get it over to the cabinet so it could be wired in. The electrician mentioned a dolly and I popped out to the U-Haul that is just about a mile down the road and rented a flat dolly for $7 for the day. I also remembered some lifting straps (those cheesy "Forearm Forklifts" you see advertised on TV, which, it turns out aren't that cheesy after all) that I had bought when I bought the U-Haul moving blankets to protect the floors.
I came home and for some bizarre reason I actually read the oven installation instructions before we installed it rather than whilst standng in front of it installed scratching my head as to why there was one bracket left over.
These instructions had good advice: "remove doors, fix levels and racks before lifting to reduce weight." Seeing as there was a possibility that I might be the one helping with the lifting this seemed a good idea. So I removed both oven doors with the flick of a lever and a gentle tug and the oven racks and then I removed the side rails that hold the racks. Curious, I hopped on the bathroom scale with one door - 40lbs! - so all-in-all that dropped at least 100lbs off the weight of the oven, maybe more.
I mentioned to Bob on the phone what we were doing and maybe he and I could install the oven when he got home and then later the electrician said we would do it. So we lifted the oven onto the dolly and wheeled it across the kitchen effortlessly. Infact it was now so light that we didn't really need the dolly and the electrician and I could quite easily have waltzed around the kitchen with that thing.
Couple of pilot holes later and I had the brackets installed and then we slid it into place, powered her up and she came to life like something from "Close Encounters of the Third Kind". The clock is on all the time but when you touch the panel it lights up on a ramp up kind of lighting gradually but quickly going from off to glowing in a second or two.

Doors back on and racks and everything in and SHE IS A BEAUTY!!

Year 2 - Day 253

Can't find the pic of the corner with the old kitchen and the new duct so this will have to do.









The new practically custom-built built-in that boxes around the ducts and frames in the fridge.

Year 2 - Day 253

The hardware. Installed vertically on the doors and horizontally on the drawers. Adds a bit of curve and fanciness to all the straight lines and will really tie-in with the almost black countertops.

Year 2 - Day 253

Here's a quick summary of the day by day progress:









End of day 1









End of day 2










End of day 3










End of day 4

Year 2 - Day 251

Year 2 - Day 250

The kitchen installation guys are here! Mark Briganti and Stew (and Kevvie (the cat) has buried himself deep under the bed covers) to get away from it. The cats really have put up with a lot even though these two guys are not that noisy.

I can say already what a good decision it was to hire these guys rather than do it ourselves. We hired them really because of a box-in that had to be done around a duct but they have spent most of the morning shooting their levels due to the unlevel floor and strategizing how to do the boxed in corner and make the 2-piece crown molding build-up work with the cabinet height and the ceiling height.

Gil, our kitchen guy, didn't like our idea to mount the wall cabinets a little higher but that is exactly what Mark has suggested otherwise there is a 7.5" gap above the cabinets. We will move the cabinets 1-2" higher on the wall and it will be imperceptible and then the molding will work better and be easier to work with.

So far so good. We are also shooting a time lapse of the guys installing the kitchen - stay tuned.

Year 2 - Day 249

The last weekend (just about) for me. Spent priming, painting the trim and painting the ceiling and walls. I have to say it looks pretty snappy.

Year 2 - Day 245

We gain cabinets (lots of cabinets), we lose a dining room (temporarily).

Year 2 - Day 244

We have a date! (and no, it's not for the wedding! ha, ha) it's for the kitchen install. I went and coughed up the remaining balance on the cabinets this morning so that they can be delivered tomorrow for the installation to begin next Monday Oct 1.

We decided to hire a pro for the install so that it is done quickly and efficiently and any screw-ups are not our responsibility. I really hating picking between contractors and this one was tough but came down to availability. Mark Briganti could work better with our schedule than the other installer who was impressive and professional but way to busy to fit us in as soon as we would like. Although Mark is the guy who didn't call me back about moving the window that provoked me to do the framing work, I think he will be good for the install.

So I will take Mon/Tues/Wed off and Bob will be home/in the locale in general - maybe at the office but around for any decisions we have to make on site.

When I paid for the cabinets I picked up one cabinet door that is going to be a dummy door in the boxed in duct area. This way we can "ooh" and "ah" over it tonight.

I picked up 12 packing blankets from U-Haul to cover the newly finished hardwood floors so that they do not get trashed by the workmen next week. And now we have to clear all the cr*p off the screened-in porch so that the 40 or so boxes of cabinets and stuff have room to be delivered.

Then I/we have 'til Sunday night to finish installing the trim, priming, and painting (and probably a few other things that I have forgotten.)

Very exciting.

Year 2 - Day 238

Kevvie tests the duvet (or is he trying to escape the sound of remodelling?)


More floor stuff. I waited and waited this morning for Luis, the floor guy. Called him twice and left v-mail. Finally gave up and set off to work. I got maybe 1/4 of the way to work and he called "Christen (still not my name), are you at home?". "Not really," I replied, "are you at the house?" "Yes, yes, I at your house," he replied.
So I turned around and headed home. Luis was there chilling in the chair on the front porch with 2 guys that I had not seen before. We went in and he started discussing the floor with Marcus, a guy who spoke good English and very quickly struck me as Luis' Flooring Swat Team.
Luis was explaining (in Portugese) to him the area that he had taped out for the fix in the area between the new and old boards and I heard him mention "satin". So I asked Marcus if he thought the old finish was satin or semi-gloss. He took a quick look and immediately said "semi-gloss, I have some in my truck." He then also said that it was quicker by far to just buff the room and put one more coat on the whole floor rather than try to fix one area. So that was decided and I helped Luis take up his tape while telling him that I really appreciated him fixing the errors and that I had a friend that needed floor work and I could I give her your number?. (See I can shmooze just like the mayor himself!)
Then Marcus said that rather than patch fix the spill and the dull patch in the DR, it would again be quicker to just buff and recoat the entire room.
So the outcome is both rooms got buffed one more time and then recoated, I believe with semi-gloss. I had already hung the plastic drop cloths, more to keep the cats out so it was all good, and Luis et al were gone in about 30 minutes.
I'm eager to get home and check it out. I think it will look great.

HVAC guy comes tomorrow to cut the hole in the floor for the duct to the toe-kick register and MPR should have a cabinet install quote for me today. Then we will be ready to get this thing installed!!

I did learn though that if you do need to just work on a small area of a finished hardwood floor, one tip is to mask off the area with tape and run the tape along the ends and sides of the boards. So that basically you urethane only whole boards and and any difference in the finish falls on the join between boards where it might be harder to spot.

We have also learnt that the best drop cloths to hang are a really lightweight plastic like the bags you put your vegetables in in the supermarket. Adelson, our sheetrock guy used this stuff and Bob took good note. It's easy to hang as it doesn't weigh much so doesn't keep pulling the tape off the ceiling, it lets some light in, it seals nicely with blue tape and you just chuck it away afterwards. We found a roll in HD labelled "Professional Painter's Plastic". It's 9ft x 400' so it's the perfect width (height) for ceiling to floor stuff and thin enough that you pull it out and it becomes like a rope so you size up your length that you need and then just snip through the "rope" rather than having to cut all the way across and risk not getting it straight. It's .31 mil in thickness.

Year 2 - Day 237

There has been an interesting development on the wood floor. I had called Luis, the floor guy, to say that there were a couple areas that needed some attention. One was were the guy had spilled urethane on the floor - it happened to be right in the middle of the DR. Then there was a dull spot right in the DR doorway, so very visible and then there was a general dullness in one area in the kitchen.
The guy was coming today so last night I went over the floor really well to be sure I hadn't missed anything.
What emerged was that there was a general band of dullness across the kitchen which happened to coincide with the general area where the old and new floor met. This got us thinking that even though I told them that the old floor was finished with semi-gloss, to which they said "No, it looks like satin", they had maybe finished the floor with a non-matching finish.
So Luis came in this morning, Bob was at the house and I was at work. Well, to cut a long story short Luis did not want to fix this large area in the kitchen. He argued many ways that it was "the difference in the old boards that I told you would happen and you should have had us buffer and finish the whole area".
Bob and I argued that we were really happy in general with his work and finish, that we thought that you actually couldn't tell where the new and old boards met and that it was an issue with the finish not the board color. To illustrate this I said that the dullness ran down the middle of an old board proving that it was not an old/new board thing. He said he would recoat for $150. To which I replied that I wasn't paying him anything more but I expected him to finish his work to an acceptable level.
He continued to argue that he wasn't going to do anything other than the DR fixes and that the floor was like that naturally. So then I told Bob to tell him that it was proven that you could have dull spots on the new wood as there was the dull spot in the DR doorway all on new wood. After this he started to change his tune and then agreed to put one more coat down on the kitchen and marked off the floor for his guy to come back tomorrow and fix.
Of course Bob was working from home today to be there for this guy so now I have to slide my work day tomorrow to be there at 8 a.m. or whenever he arrives. Hopefully this will all work out OK and our floor will be 100% good instead of 97% good. Too bad it wasn't in an area that would be under the cabinets or I would just have let it go but it's right where you walk into the kitchen.

Year 2 - Day 234

At the first house viewing









Before the Wall of Cote










I shall call it The Wall of Cote. And it shall be so.

Siding day at the homestead.

The before photo is not quite accurate as I had taken more siding down but it's a good representation. Trimmed out the exterior of the window. Wasn't sure if you should do this before or after the siding but figured before as if I had to trim back the siding I might compromise the flashing so did that first. Didn't want to use the old trim in case it had lead-based paint and didn't fancy sanding and getting that dust everywhere.
Started off running one of Cote's siding lengths the whole way across under the window, checking for level and also measuring the exposed face to be sure it was consistent. At this point I realised that the kitchen sink vent pipe was just behind the sheathing and although my nails were going into the studs, just as a reminder I measured off where the vent pipe was in the wall and put a long piece of blue tape on the wall to remind me not to nail anything near there.
I anticipated having to buy some clapboard but started getting lucky: I had 5 lengths of siding that I had taken off and kept that were the perfect length - spot on perfect, no cutting - to fill the gap to the L of the window. This was great as it meant no wastage. So I mixed old and new siding using them to where they best fit without wastage which meant generally that one row was seamless and then the row above had a seam. Where the pieces were shorter I tried to keep these in the far corner were they would be less likely to be seen.
I notched the boards around the window using the SharkSaw. I am more and more impressed with that thing (apart from the fact that with it being double-edged if you catch it on your knee, for example, you get cut). I made what I would think are some tricky notches that I would normally need a jigsaw or something for (which I don't have) and the SharkSaw's flex allowed me to do these cuts with great precision.
Looked like I would need to buy 1 x 12ft length to finish the job but calculated and jiggled around what I had left and noticed that one row near the top had much less face exposed - 5.5" instead of 6.5" like the others - this was an old row so not by bad workmanship (;-D). This meant I could use a slightly crappy long old piece I had that I hadn't anticipated using because it had been notched to go around the old window and the notch went into the face area. So I chucked that up on the wall on the last row, tucking the notch under the board above so that it was covered and didn't show (got lucky there for sure) and that left a gap of about 2 ft in length to the corner. I just needed a piece to fill that space and I wouldn't have to buy any clapboard.
I only a 3" piece left from Cote's siding and all the other siding I ripped off was outside soaking wet from rain. I found one old offcut that was too short and then I remembered the piece I took to Cote's originally to compare siding sizes. Just had to find it. Eventually I tracked it down to the junk pile in the garage and, just like the 5 previous lengths that fit perfectly, this one did too, no cutting, just nail it up.
So the siding is done, just need to caulk the window trim and fill the old nail holes in the old stuff then prime the new siding. (And add a project to the list that we need to sand all this siding and repaint this and the entire screened in porch - eee gads!) why do you always cross one project off while adding 2 more?

Year 2 - 233

The Cote Mobile

Last night was siding night at the Cote residence. Dave and I removed the 5 x 19'+ boards from the wall inside his basement. Didn't take long but I was surprised that they were single boards - I kind of expected a join somewhere along the way. I guess long cedar boards were more abundant 30-35 years ago.
Anyhoo, these were 10" boards so we ripped them down to match our 8" boards using Cote's circular with the fence installed - very nice - our circular saw does not have a fence that I know of - jealousy!
Then the challenge was getting them home. I hadn't anticipated the boards being so long so Cote lent me his truck and we strapped them to the rack and the rear and used the sag of the boards to strap them down to the front of the hood. A quick drive home and an unload and I was back driving down to Cote's.

Shortest board is 19' 4". I'm not sure but the length of the wall I'm covering is that same length give or take an inch - hopefully it's an inch in my favor rather than the other way around. 97.5 lin ft of clapboard would cost $279 at Ring's End. Thanks Cotes!

Year 2 - Day 233

Day 82











Day 1


The floor guy is done. I left yesterday morning as he packed up so the floors still looked glossy as they were wet but when I got back after the trip to get the cedar clapboard from Cote they had dried to the satin finish.

The join between the old and new parts is really imperceptible. You can see it if you look at the tightness of the boards - mine are tight and snug and the 55 year old ones are a bit more gappy but color-wise the match is perfect. A very good decision to have the guy do it (thankyou Bob! for the subtle prod on that.)

Year 2 - Day 231

"Kirnee, I can't stretch out in a cat crate."


Interesting day today as the guy comes to sand and "finish" the floors. I have not used this guy nor have any recommendations on him other than he was recommended to us by our sheetrock guy. I have a certain uneasyness about him but we shall see.

He does not turn up at 8am as promised and I call him at 8:30a.m. "Ah, yes, Christina" (not my name) he says "I'm just getting materials." So I say I'll see him at 9am. He turns up at 9am with his hair very precisely combed down. "Christina, you have materials?" Hmmm, I can see it's going to be an interesting day. "No, Luis," I say, "You are getting the materials." "Ah, yes, he says, I get, no trouble. I go wait for my guy and come back 20 minutes." Luis is Brazilian as are almost all the guys who have worked on the house. For promptness he ranks in the middle of Marcone (our carpenter), very busy so never calls back and Adelson, our sheetrock guy who is super reliable. Maybe its because Adelson speaks a little English but it's hard to communicate with him on the phone so he can't call to try and change the time. Luis and his guy do return.

11 a.m. - so far so good. The guy - don't know his name - he's another Brazilian that doesn't speak English other than be able to talk about flooring has finished the sanding. Sounded like he used 3 or 4 grades of sandpaper. Now he's buffing, then he'll vacuum and put down 2 coats of water-based finish. "Then 2 coats tomorrow." He says. Yikes! - I am meant to be at work tomorrow - maybe I can change it so that I work the afternoon evening instead.

Maybe I'm being picky but I will say that with Luis, when you're ready to book him you just call him 2 days before you need him and he turns up. A slow start for a quick turn-around is probably a fair trade.

Throughout all this the cats are in their crates in my car in the street wondering what the hell is going on. I didn't think they would like the sound of the sanding and fortunately it's a lovely cool, breezy fall day. I have been popping out every so often to check on them. They are not impressed at being in their crates. Kevvie, ever the softie, seems to "meow" a pitiful "Kirnee save me." Whereas CJ, ever the firebrand, seems to "meow" "WTF Kirnee?, what is up with the f'in crate?."

Soon they can come back in and all will be forgiven I hope.

It's shortly after noon and it's gone very quiet. A quick peek out the window and the guy has gone. 2 coats are on. I call Luis to see when he will be back. "Tomorrow." He says. "What time tomorrow?," I ask. "Sometime tomorrow morning." He says. "9 o'clock." He adds.

Year 2 - Day 225

Random pic of nephew Rob styling it up.


Something about the Ring's End "gouge" ticked me off. I also realised that I could cut Cote's 10.5" siding down to the 8" size I needed with my circular saw if needed. So I sent Cote a text message late last night saying I wanted to come look at it again and I called in this morning with a scrap piece of my siding in hand.
I wanted to check that the lower edge of the siding would be the same thickness once cut down. He is happy to get rid of it - it's a bit of an anomaly in his basement - it is extremely random that the previous owner's of his house chucked up some nice cedar siding on an inside wall in the basement. I just have to go over and remove it.
He has 5 rows with a 19ft run so that's almost 100 linear ft. I had ordered 146 lin. ft from Ring's End. I called up and cancelled the ($400 siding) order and the guy said "oh, so you must've got it somewhere cheaper". "Yep" I said and he waited for me to explain where but I never did. (Ha!) I'll probably have to go and buy a little from them to make up the difference but I'll see how far I get with Cote's siding and the stuff I saved of the old siding.

Also decided that I'll have Luis put the finish on the wood floor (good thought Bob). It will cost me at least $400 in materials/rental (and perhaps a bit more in massages and knee ice packs!!) and his quote is $600. I also found the quote for the original refinishing of the other floors in the house so I can tell him exactly what the finish is so he can match it.