Posts from June 2010
deadlines and birthdays
During the last few years, we’ve found that it’s generally a good idea to establish a project schedule, preferably with some form of deadline to work towards. Maybe it’s a fun trip, a party, or just the pure joy of having your life back (or just your kitchen sink). For us, it’s actually two parties. This year we are celebrating both my 30th birthday and the house’s 100th birthday.
Since we don’t know exactly when the house was “born”, we set my birthday (September 19th) as the “must finish by” date. April through September seemed like more than enough time to get the job done, and now that we’re at the halfway point(!), we’re feeling cautiously optimistic that the house will be party ready by Saturday the 18th. The only thing that may slow us down is GSS (Glorious Seattle Summer), which we got our first real taste of last weekend. To cope, we’ll try to have things later in the day to look forward to, whether it’s a soccer game, a bbq with friends, or just eating ice cream on the stoop.
Less than 12 weeks, but we can do it! And what better birthday present than a (mostly) finished house?
progress report: week 12
New week, new progress. The World Cup has slowed us down a bit, but with games at 6:30 and 11:30, we still have plenty of day left to be productive.
Bailey, on the other hand, prefers to spend his weekend lounging in a pile of sawdust.
1. We spent most of Saturday doing electrical and installing the blocking for the steel ledge, but didn’t really take any photos. (I think I’ll have to take a more creative approach to documenting electrical because progress photos just aren’t that exciting.)
2. On Sunday I cut and installed the rigid insulation for the loft. The insulation comes in 4’x8′ sheets, so we needed to cut them down to fit between the rafter bays. We cut the ones for the vault by hand (as in, with a saw), but with about 3x as many to cut for the loft, we decided to give the table saw a try. Good thing too, it worked like a champ!
I installed most of the panels while Kyle worked on flashing the roof window (keep scrolling!). We’ve found that for us, this is really the best way to work – when we each have our own tasks but are within talking distance to ask each other questions/opinions (or to add or subtract fractions, which we are getting pretty fast at!) or hand each other tools.
3. Ahh, the roof window. It’s probably a good thing we didn’t attempt this on a weeknight because it was a bit more involved. After opening the package, we first had to detach the window from its frame (to make installation easier), which proved to be the hardest part of the whole process. The directions were IKEA style, with no text. Eventually, as seen the picture below, we figured it out.
Next up, cut out the roof.
This picture isn’t that exciting, but I love that Bailey finds his way into so many shots.
After the cut, Kyle extracted the roof chunk.
Piece of cake, really.
Orange Crush, our mobile dumpster….
Instant light and ventilation (phew! No more sweat box!).
Next, Kyle installed the sticky flashing around the framed opening, then the window frame, then the window itself. The final, and most tedious part is the exterior flashing which involves peeling up the surrounding shingles and then installing a literal kit of parts that comes with the window.
But when it was all said and done, we had a new window!
The window actually pivots about the center of the frame…
….leaving enough room for someone to escape in the event of a fire (needing to then jump off the roof is another matter).
The unit rotates almost 180 degrees, which makes cleaning the outside of the glass a fairly easy process. The window can also be locked in this position.
Here’s a view from the inside. The top flap also hinges down, and serves as a screened ventilation slot if you don’t want to open the whole thing. (We also bought an insect screen that we’ll install later.) All in all, it’s pretty freakin cool.
An additional perk – neighborhood lookout.
That’s it for this week. We’re starting to look at dates for framing, electrical and plumbing inspections (we’re planning for all 3 on the same day since one of us will have to take off work), so hopefully we’ll have the sign-offs by early to mid July(!) and then we can finish insulation.
And then…drywall.
trends in residential architecture
A few days ago, Kyle sent me this from the American Institute of Architect’s website. The article mainly talks about a modest turnaround beginning to take shape in the residential sector (woohoo!), but it also looks at specific trends and patterns that have been gaining in popularity. Since many of the items directly relate to what we’re doing over here at chezerbey, we thought we’d bring up the topic up and see what others thought.
1. Houses are getting smaller – not a shocker, but it makes us feel better about opting not to add on to our 800 SF footprint.
2. People want accessibility and flexibility – the most significant decision we’ve made at chezerbey is to knock out walls and open up the floor plan. Now…I’m hesistant to say that any ol’ open floor plan is successful though. While it’s nice to have visual connection between the “public” spaces of a house, it’s also a good idea to use materials, light and volume to provide distinction or a sense of hierarchy. For instance, at our house we felt that keeping a consistent ceiling across the space would produce a bit of a “bowling alley” effect. By vaulting the ceiling over the kitchen and dining room, we were able to bring in more light and provide more volume in a space where you’re mostly standing up. For the living area, we chose to add some richness and texture to the space by exposing the wood joists. Additionally, the lower ceiling height (as compared to the adjacent vaulted ceiling) gives people a sense of coziness and refuge, which makes a lot of sense for the area with the most comfortable furniture!
Along with an open plan, we’re also designing for flexibility. By doing a series of sliding barn doors instead of swinging doors, we can easily change the feel and function of the spaces depending on our needs. The new room we created from part of the old living room will have a generous doorway and direct connection to the living area which means it could serve as overflow living space, an office or a guest bedroom. The new loft space could also transform as needed.
Although our house’s main spaces are all on one level, it’s not exactly accessible (and granted, this trend is likely a result of the aging baby boomer population). While we probably won’t be leaving our construction ramp up long-term, there are some options to create better accessibility in the event it was needed.
3. People want to spend more time outside, but not maintaining fussy yards – Ok, so we haven’t really done much in the way of property enhancements besides take stuff out (shrubs, decrepit picket fences and excessive amounts of concrete), but we definitely have plans to address many of these topics. Seattle loves its low-maintenance, drought-tolerant landscaping (it usually doesn’t rain at all during the summer months) and we’ll be more than happy to minimize our lawn/mulch and embrace the natives. (And once we actually have things that need watering, we can easily add a couple of rain barrels to our existing downspouts.) We also have big plans for a deck in the back (and, if our friends had their way – a hot tub), with a grill, seating and maybe even an approved fire pit for those cool nights. We’re also big into blending the indoors and outdoors – which drove our decision to install 4 skylights and open up the back of the house to the backyard.
So what do you think? Does the AIA have it right? We seem to be addressing most of these issues in our own home as well as our professional projects. I would have been curious to see a poll regarding the growing trends in efficiency – something that looked at the demand for better windows, higher r-value insulation, more efficient appliances, renewable energy, etc.
All images were found here.
progress report: week 11
Hey, Mother Nature – it’s June, ok? Enough with the 55 degrees and the rain!
On second thought, dreary weather does make it easier to work inside.
1. The weekend forecast looked promising earlier in the week, but as Friday rolled around, it was shaping up to be another rainy weekend. So we said “take that!” Mother Nature and installed the skylight on Friday night. We started at 6:30 and were done by 10:00, just as the last bit of light left the sky.
Kyle had already framed in the rough opening so it was just a matter of drilling pilot holes from the inside and then connecting the dots and cutting out the roof.
Roof on the floor, roof on the floor!
Victory! We’re thrilled with the new view (it’s our neighbor’s tree, but nature can be borrowed).
I’m still learning how to take photos in situations with extreme contrast, but you get the idea. Unfortunately, we still have the loft window to install, but at least now we know it can be done on a weeknight!
2. Kyle also installed the tension rods last week.
He ran a string line across the space to use as a guide to align the turnbuckles.
This end will be concealed behind the finish material, so we didn’t have to worry about aesthetics. I still think it’s a sexy connection though.
The rods act in tension when you tighten the turnbuckle. This effectively forms the bottom leg of a triangle, creating a more stable roof structure.
3. Ok, I don’t know how – but it happened again. I blame the rain.
We thought we’d have to rent a plow this time, but the ol’ trusty lawnmower did a passable job.
4. Since it was so crappy on Sunday, Dustin (who is also just a generally awesome guy), came over to help and he and I got to work installing rigid insulation on the exterior side of the vaulted ceiling.
Since we only had about 5″ of depth to work with, we had to use rigid insulation instead of batt insulation to meet energy code requirements. (Kyle first installed 1″ furring strips in each bay to provide a 1″ airspace for ventillation.)
It was not as easy a task as we had hoped.
And since old houses aren’t perfect, there was a lot of tweaking. Ultimately, we made a big mess and I think I still have insulation in my hair.
But it came together nicely! The panels more or less friction fit and then Kyle went around with the spray foam and filled any crevices and the space around the tension rod anchors.
5. While Dustin and I insulated, Kyle worked on electrical rough-in.
The only thing I did while Kyle was in Miami last week was organize the electrical supplies. Being able to find what you need is key to maintaining sanity during a remodel.
To place the j-box for the island light, we marked out the island location on the subfloor, then used a chalk line to find the center. We then placed the laser level at the center, shooting a light up towards the ceiling.
Kyle then used this point to align the center of the j-box before installing.
I call this one, “men at work”. Hey – I made the Whole Foods burrito run.
And here we have the rough in for mission control. We’ve been surprised how warm the house has been, especially since it was only in the low 60’s today.
Phew…busy week. We’re still trucking along and I’m feeling confident that the electrical will go pretty fast. Installing the rest of the rigid insulation in the loft, not so much.
chezerbey’s a winner on One Project Closer!
One Project Closer is holding their annual Before & After contest and we were excited to find out that our exterior remodel project is the first weekly winner! In addition to our $50 gift card, One Project Closer is also donating $100 to Habitat for Humanity. Check out the post here and thanks again to the folks at One Project Closer for featuring our house!
