Search Results for: plywood
northwest shed
Hey all, I’m handing the blogging reins over to Kyle for a special guest post. You have been warned.
Well I know this is Lauren’s blog but she’s been kind enough to let me have a guest appearance and I didn’t even have to bribe her with doing extra chores or anything. Actually we’re kind of at a stopping point with remodel physical labor so I have some extra time on my hands for a change. After wasting a bunch of time playing Tiny Wings on my iPhone something spontaneous occurred…
A couple friends of ours, we’ll call them A&E, invited us over for a BBQ and they got to talking about how they needed a shed for their backyard. They’re super hip Vespa peeps so they need to store the scoot and they’re also outdoorsy and have a couple of those Pacific Northwest pleasure boats called kayaks. I call them divorce boats. I don’t recommend trying a 2-person kayak unless you want to drop some f-bombs on your significant other. (Lauren’s edit: Agreed. Kayaking turned me into a potty mouth. Probably should have avoided getting stuck in the oyster farm and breaking an oar.)
Anyway, they had done some online looking around and came upon a bargain deal at Costco that looked like this wondiferous amalgamation of neo-bunglelowed cute country shit.
They knew they wanted something better and more modern but didn’t quite know what. So I came up with these options:
A&E have a 17ft sea kayak, WTF I said. Do you need that to hunt giant 800 lb tunas or something? They also have a smaller kayak for who knows what, probably for cozying up to dolphins and sea turtles. 17ft really? Besides the rubber ducky, they wanted a swing incorporated into the structure. I don’t know why, they don’t have kids (yet) but I think they thought it was a cute idea so I obliged. I just hope they know they’re first kid is going to look like Austin Powers’ mini-me. Actually A&E are both pretty attractive so I’m guessing they won’t have an ugly baby. Actually I kind of like the swing but it creates some dynamic structural problems that the wood column can’t handle. Maybe a steel column would work, we’ll see.
It’s a 10ft x 12ft shed and it’s 12ft tall at the top. It’s not meant to be insulated or even airtight, it’s just a shed. 10×12 seems to be the most standard dimensions allowed by most city building codes without requiring a building permit. Of course any electrical work would still require a permit. Here’s the second version:
The idea is that A&E are going to bust their arses like we did and build it themselves. We’re also considering a prefab type option where we build most of it in my shop as a flatpak and then assemble it in their backyard. Hell it could even be 100% prefab if more people want one. How much would you pay?
The idea is that everything in the design would be available locally from hardware stores, with the exception of a few specialty items or maybe there’s an option where I create a list for A&M and they just go to the store and buy the stuff without having to scratch their heads too much. Maybe if I’m really nice I’ll do some construction plan drawings for them, kind of like a DIY kit with list of parts and assembly instructions?
The materials are pretty simple, I’m thinking slab on grade concrete or maybe even gravel with a pressure treated or redwood base for framing. The siding options could be painted cement board or corrugated metal. The doors could be 4ft wide sheets of Okoume exterior grade plywood with maybe even a sheet of corten weather steel on top. The framing is minimal 2×4 or 2×3 stud framing with skipped sheathing at the roof structure and a pair of glulam beams to pick up the overhang. The roofing materials could be corrugated metal that aligns with corrugated translucent fiberglass to get some natural light into this sexy lil’ thang.
The barn door hardware is the same stuff we used in our house. There are other cheaper options but they don’t look as good so A&E are going to buy this one. When the barn doors are in the closed position a pad lock hasp would keep either door from moving, magic really. The windows are polycarbonate translucent panels held in place with wood stops.
I’m thinking the interior could all be peg board or maybe even just plywood. Add in some shelves, a couple kayak hoists and a workbench and bammo, you have a modernized shed. A&E, when do you want it?
loft reveal
With our efforts focused on finishing the main floor, the attic loft has been “almost finished” for several months now. But with summer looming (and summer in Seattle = lots of visitors), it was time to put our work pants back on and just get it done.
First though, let’s go back in time:
This photo was taken in 2006 during the inspection, a fairly typical attic by 1910 standards (minus the structurally questionable chimney).
In the summer of 2007 we tore off our roof. I love this shot from inside the attic, but man…talk about a nerve-racking couple of days when we literally didn’t have a roof. During this project we also sistered on new 2×4’s to each existing 2×4 rafter and took out the knee braces and chimney.
This photo was taken a year ago, right before demo. Kyle and our friend Dustin painstakingly shoveled insulation to one side of the attic so we could demo the ceilings over the kitchen/living/dining area (at the time, the loft was not part of the plans).
But after demo, we couldn’t not make use of that space and so here we are today – yes, it’s still an empty room, but it’s done.
I painted the space in January so it was really just flooring and finish electrical work left to do (since we’ve also thought about using the area for a little home office, Kyle installed CAT 5 and ethernet too). For flooring, we ended up going with the “Love Ewe” wool carpet tiles (in “Dorset Brown”), which were generously provided by Flor. The tiles are made in the USA of dye-free wool and they are super soft to walk on!
Before ordering the tile, we took measurements of the space and did a quick layout in AutoCad to figure out how many tiles we would need and what would be the most efficient configuration.
After the boxes of tile were lugged up to the loft, we decided to start with a single row down the center, snapping two chalk lines on the plywood to serve as a guide.
At the edges and ladder opening, Kyle trimmed each tile using a utility knife and metal straight edge.
For anyone who hasn’t worked with Flor tiles before, they are very easy to install. It’s a “floating” system, which means the tiles don’t actually stick to the floor. Rather, a round plastic sticker at each corner holds the adjacent tiles to each other and since the tiles are bound by walls on all four sides, they don’t move at all. By starting in the center and working our way outwards, we were able to ensure that everything was straight and that all of the cutting would be saved for last. (Note: we installed the baseboard trim earlier in the process, holding it slightly off the subfloor so the tiles could easily slip underneath.)
In less than 2 hours, we were done! We really like the texture and color of the tiles (I know…brown, we’re so predictable) and we look forward to this being a dog hair free zone.
At the opening for the ladder, Kyle made a custom shaped trim piece out of fir, with a slight lip so the floor tiles could tuck underneath. The sconce above is from Resolute and the switch is located low and to the right of the ladder, so it’s easy to flip the light on as you’re coming up the ladder (or vice versa). The other paddle switch is wired to an outlet on the opposite side of the room, with the thought that we’ll eventually have a small lamp there to provide more even light for the space.
It’s a little hard to tell in this photo, but we also installed a roller shade for the roof window. It provides some privacy and a nice, diffuse light for the space. Tucked inside the frame is an exterior black-out roller shade that can be used on hot days (though judging by the spring we’ve been having, the next hot day could be months away). For those that are new here, the roof window pivots at the mid-point, creating an opening large enough to crawl out of in case of an emergency.
Unlike traditional lofts that are completely open on one side to the space below, we decided to instead create a light shaft over the basement stair to provide visual connection to below. (The alternative was to do a single-slope vault over the kitchen and dining with the loft completely open to that space, but we were concerned that the proportions would feel weird and the ceiling shape might be too ’70s for our taste.) Anyway, we wanted to maximize the opening but also needed to provide a guardrail to prevent any accidental toppling into the basement. In what I think is a pretty elegant solution, Kyle designed the loft ladder handrail to extend up and become this guardrail. Not only does it look hot, but it’s a good place to grab onto when going up or down the ladder. With a steel skeleton, it’s rigid enough to take the force of people pushing against it.
Sorry Bailey, you lose on this one.
From below, the angle is oblique enough that the space still feels secluded. The vaulted area also provides a means to exhaust warm air out of the house during the summer.
Kyle and I took a moment to bust out our Modulor Man poses. I think Corbu would approve.
Finally, here’s a little tutorial on how to enter and exit the loft. Understandably, some people get a little nervous with ladders so we tried to make the journey as easy and natural as possible.
Of course, we still have plans to actually furnish the space but since it’s mainly going to be a spot for guests and Sunday afternoon reading (which is what Kyle is doing as I type this – oh wait…sounds like he’s playing Tiny Wings now), we’re in no big rush. We do have some ideas for different layouts that we’ll share later, but in the meantime we’re going the inflatable route. That’s right, we have a pretty deluxe Aerobed that we got from a friend and with an old quilt and some fluffy pillows I’m sure we can make the space look bohemian chic.
behind door #1
One door down, three more to go!
Finally, after 2 1/2 years of temporary solutions, we once again have a real bathroom door. (Remodeling is not for the faint of heart, or the modest.)
The color is “thunderbird” from Benjamin Moore. We used Natura zero-VOC paint in a semi-gloss finish.
Here’s how it looks from the bathroom side. We also have plans to mount a narrow full-length mirror to this side of the door.
The attachment plate that connects to the track hardware was recessed into the top of the door for an extra clean look.
We ended up choosing the Linnea pulls. We considered designing our own pull and having it fabricated, but in the end we were happy to find a well-designed product that was affordable (we bought directly from the company and received an architect discount) and that we could have in our hands in two days!
To keep the bottom of the door from flapping against the wall, Kyle notched out the bottom of the door and install a recessed aluminum channel (that was painted to match). This channel then slides over a floor guide that is screwed to the floor. In the photo above, the door is pushed all the way back to show what the guide looks like, but we’ll eventually install stops in the track so you can’t push the door too far and the guide will always be hidden no matter what position the door is in.
I also finally hung my Seattle neighborhoods print, which was a 30th birthday gift from September! I’ll take more detailed shots later, but I decided to mount it on a thin piece of plywood instead of a traditional frame. (We’ll also probably move the print around, this is just the only place where there is a nail in the wall!)
The blue/teal does look different depending on the lighting (and as seen in these different photos), but overall we like. A lot.
mid-january progress
January is tough. It’s rainy and gray and unfortunately, home remodeling doesn’t really kick the winter blues like a trip to Hawaii would. But we’ve pulled on our work pants once again, making a little progress and crossing things off the list.
The barn door track is painted and installed! We contemplated keeping the galvanized finish (which Kyle had actually cleaned up a bit), but decided instead to paint it with the same automotive primer that was used on the loft ladder. We chose stainless steel lag screws for the fasteners and left them unpainted since the paint would be scratched if we ever needed to undo or adjust them. (The shiny orb above is our door bell.)
It only took four months after painting the main floor to muster the motivation, but I finally did it. Two coats, six hours of painting. I know, but there are a lot of corners, weird angles, and compromised head clearance (not to mention the challenges of white-on-white). It was not fun. Even you crazy people who like to paint would not like this.
Here’s a view looking the opposite direction showing the loft ladder in place. And no, the centerline of the ladder/light is not the same as the roof ridge. Even though we typically try to force our house into submission, when you’re working within an existing structure there is only so much wiggle room.
Hello down there! (The ladder treads are off and in the basement waiting to be finished.)
For the loft lighting, we chose a single wall sconce with a solid shade that would primarily provide light for people going up and down the ladder in the middle of the night (that’s why the switch is near the floor). This light is similar to the kitchen wall lights, although Resolute changed the design of the escutcheon plate and I now love this fixture even more. For the rest of the space, we’ll probably have a small table lamp on the opposite wall.
In addition to some finish electrical work, our last step is to select and install the flooring. Although we’re generally anti-carpet, it makes a lot of sense for this space. 1) It’s a dog-free (therefore, dog hair-free) zone. 2) The plywood subfloor isn’t smooth enough for a glue-down material and we really don’t want to mess with self-leveling compound again. 3) It’s supposed to be a cozy space and carpet is a good solution for that.
Our first thought was to go with Flor carpet tiles. Flor is a great company that makes attractive and responsible products and we’ve been happy with the tiles in our mudroom. So we ordered a bunch of samples and then narrowed it down to these three:
The two on the left are both from the “Love Ewe” line and are super soft. The one on the right is “Well Suited” and also comes in the gray color. You know I can’t get too crazy with color, so I thought it would be best to steer towards the neutral options and then do bolder colors for less permanent things. The first one is $7.43/SF while the latter is $4.46/SF. Of course I liked the more expensive one the best, but talked myself into the herringbone-esque pattern (which is pretty soft to the touch too).
So I took some measurements of the space, drafted it up in cad and laid out a grid of tiles (roughly 19″x19″ each) to see how many we would need. Then I did the math. Then I rechecked my math. Even with the cheaper tile and a 20% “designer” discount, it would still cost about $700 to carpet the space. That’s really way more than we wanted to spend for a room that we just kinda “threw in” after we started this project. I mean, $700 is a weekend in Palm Springs (always dangerous to compare remodeling costs to travel costs, but that’s where my mind is these days!). So we’re back to the drawing board in a sense and are now looking at getting a remnant from a roll of carpet, trying to spend about half of the Flor price. We’ll see.
When we finished the mudroom almost a year ago, we installed two Bach coat hooks to the left of the door. Not wanting the space to feel too cluttered, we thought we could get by with one double hook per person. Well, that didn’t work out. So we finally got around to ordering and installing two more hooks on the opposite side of the door. Much better!
Our big plans to build a custom storage bench were derailed by the Big Project of 2010. So we moved our IKEA Molger bench in as a temporary solution (it was originally bought for our old bathroom). But now, we kinda like it. Except for that basket. I know, it’s very un-Zerbey. We inherited it from somewhere and oddly enough it’s the only container we have that fits in the space (we use it to hold gloves, scarves, etc.). I’ve been on the hunt for something to replace it but no luck yet. So I don’t know…maybe the Molger bench could get tweaked? Did you see what Dan did with his?
So there’s a glimpse of what we’ve been up to. Kyle’s also been working on a steel and wood handrail for the basement stair and the first frame for the barn doors. Bang, bang bang…weld, weld, weld.
2010 year in review
It seems like this week is all about year in review posts, so we’re jumping on the bandwagon too. This was a big year for us – we took on our largest project to date and lived to tell the tale. Here’s how it all went down…
In January we started collecting samples and finalizing the design for the kitchen/dining/living room. We also made a crazy Excel spreadsheet to help establish a budget. I’m pretty sure we don’t want to go back and compare it to how much was actually spent. Yes, it ALWAYS costs more and takes more time than you initially think. Still, we saved tons of money by doing the work ourselves and carefully choosing products and materials.
2009 was the year of the exterior, but by the time we were done painting we didn’t have the energy to finish the mudroom. So we gave ourselves an ultimatum to finish the space before we started demo in the house. Such a small space, but surprisingly a lot of work!
During March, we made final preparations for demo day and begrudgingly finished the mudroom (though we’re really happy with how it turned out, even if it’s still not 100% done).
In April, we DEMOED! We invited a bunch of our friends over to help and were blown away by their enthusiasm and destruction skills.
One of my favorite memories was watching the guys stomp out the ceiling from up in the attic. Lath and plaster dust for all! Sawing out the kitchen ceiling was not as poetic, especially when one chunk swung into the bedroom wall on its way down.
At the end of the day we had transformed our tired old house into…well, a barn.
We spent the latter part of April and most of May in framing mode, which included sanding and refinishing our 100 year-old joists and installing the painted MDO above to serve as a subfloor for the new loft. (FYI – the loft was not part of the original plan, but after demo we decided to just “throw it in”. This probably explains why it’s still not finished.)
Of course we couldn’t do something easy like flat ceilings…
In June, we focused on installing skylights, tension rods and rigid insulation in the vaulted ceiling.
Our friend Dustin spent several Saturdays helping us out and we were sad when he (and my sister) moved to Texas. So much for the “Everyone move to Seattle!” campaign.
July brought electrical rough-in, which is probably the most boring thing to blog about.
See what I mean? At the beginning of August it didn’t look too different. But this month was different, we were on charrette to meet our (revised) September deadline (charretting is architecture-speak for work like crazy and get little sleep until it’s done).
With the electrical work finally done, it was time to wrap our house in furry blue insulation.
We also installed the plywood vaulted ceiling and then the drywallers came to work their magic. Besides the Silestone countertops (which we couldn’t install ourselves), this was the one thing we hired out and it was worth every penny. (On a side note, the room seems especially narrow in the picture below. Weird.)
The first two weeks in September were spent priming, painting and installing the cabinet boxes, counters, lighting and appliances. We had planned a big party at the house for my 30th birthday and even though it wasn’t done, it was close (if you kinda squinted).
We kept working on the kitchen, but the big project for October was the cork flooring.
In November we focused on finishing the kitchen – custom shelving, plywood wraps, and a quick break for Thanksgiving (though thankfully, not at our house!).
It should be noted that Bailey was, for the most part, a real trooper and put up with all the craziness of this year. In the end, we learned that he didn’t really care what we were doing as long as he had a place to sleep and got fed twice a day (whether it was via two plastic bowls on the floor or a custom dog bowl holder).
And in December we finished the kitchen!
We also finished up the stair cabinet and decorated our house for Christmas. (Our new couch and coffee table were also delivered!)
As this year comes to an end, we’re finding more time to relax but also chipping away at the things that are unfinished. We’re hoping to wrap up the loft, loft ladder and barn doors in the next month or so.
So what will 2011 bring? We don’t have any more walls to knock down so we’ll be focusing on smaller projects. And really, we’re excited about that. We also have tentative plans to do some landscaping this summer. 2011 will also be about refilling our remodel penny bank so we’ll have to wait a bit to tackle the basement or the eyesore of a garage in our backyard.
Finally, a big thanks to everyone who reads this blog. Your comments and encouragement go a long way in motivating us to keep pushing forward. Seriously, how did people remodel their homes before the internet? Were there local support groups? Y’know…places where you could throw around words like Expedit and Akurum and people would know exactly what you were talking about? Regardless, we’re glad you all are out there and that we have this great forum for exchanging information and sharing ideas. Here’s to 2011 and all the projects it will bring!
