JULY 2004
Ok, this is getting kinda scary. The first week of July is the one year anniversary of the
beginning of this whole project. It's when we first walked through the building and took the
photos that appear on the home page.We thought then that we could be living in it within
6-9 months. Boy, oh, boy were we ignorant!! Well, it is getting closer. Our current house
has a buyer and escrow should close around July 15. We've arranged for a 1-month
"rent back" period, so we're shooting for moving in by August 15, but it will take a huge
effort to get there. Cross your fingers.
07.01.04– The Jackson Glass crew arrives to install the "raked" windows into their
anodized aluminum frames. (Raked means they have and angled shape.) The photo
on the right is the windows above the master bath and shower.
One of the four dormer raked units is installed. View of the dormer with all it's
windows in... finally!
Two photos of the corrugated metal sheets in place under the roof eves. Once the
new roof is installed on the dormer and the garage (next week), we will be able to
install the rest of the red metal facia sections.
Diana and Quinn inspect the progress. You can see the new windows and metal
metal details in this shot.
07.05.04– Time to put the boys to work. Julian is pulling old ceiling staples out and
Quinn is attempting to dig a fence post hole.
07.06.04– Hot tar, get yer hot tar! Finally, it's time for the roof.
The Hopkins Roofing crew starts early, just after 7am, scraping away old gravel and
rolling out the tar paper on the garage roof deck.
Roofing materials wait on the dormer roof deck.
The paper is all rolled out on the garage, roof vent jacks are cleaned and ready, and
paper is rolled out on the dormer roof.
A few drops of hot black tar are drizzled onto the paper before it is turned over and
rolled down.
This guy is very happy as he fills the tar bucket from a extention hose connected
to the truck below.
The dormer roof is then covered with a standard flat roofing material.
The garage, before and after the tar and gravel.
Oh boy, more tar! This batch is in the back of Dave, the hot mop guy. He's here to
seal up the master shower pan.
And as easy as 1, 2, 3 ... it's hot mopped! the tile goes on over this. We actually did
not originally plan for tile here, but we didn't know we had to do the hot mop to
meet code. So, now we will do a tile base.
07.07.04– Another big long day. Michael and Chris from B&H Concrete Cutting return
once again to cut the final five holes in the back wall of the house. This is the door
from the dining room / kitchen to the back patio all cut and ready to knock out.
Chris cuts the master bath door and large bedroom window.
On the left, the first section of the kitchen door is pushed out from inside. Right,
Don Sr. gives the master bath door a shove and it comes tumbling down. This shot
is a split second before the concrete blocks hit ground and send dust and chunks
flying at me and the camera.
A couple of the new holes.
Julian smashes the last of the window section blocks as Paul, Don Sr. and Diana
watch and wait.
Don, and Don Sr. begin to move the bedroom window and it's heavy steel support
frame with the help of our roofer Tim Hopkins who just happened to show up at the
right time. Thank goodness! This thing was so heavy. As we roll it along the ground,
Paul moves sections of black PVC pipe from back to front to keep up with us.
Before we can put the window frame in place, some high
spots and bumps in the wall have to be grinded down.
The window frame is then lifted at each end one block height at a time until it's lined
up with the hole. It's a very tight fit from top to bottom, so Paul pounds the corners
to push it in.
And there it is! We will later install a custom anodized aluminum trim around the
edges to cover the steel frame.
The two high Kitchen windows and dining room door, along with the new wood and
glass pre-hung doors for the dining room and master bath.
A view of the dormer, entry foyer and living room from inside the master bedroom.
Viw of living room and rolling doors from the back wall of the entry area.
We've decided to uncover both rolling doors for good because it looks so cool and
we want to signal to the neighbors that it's getting close to done. And the plywood
looked so ghetto!! The revealing of both doors has really peeked the interest too.
A whole bunch more people have started asking about it.
07.10.04, 1:30am– The holes were cut on Wednesday and the big window was
installed. Thursday, the kitchen windows were fitted and the wood door jamb frames
took a lot of work by Don Sr. to prepare and resize. On Friday Don and Paul were busy
making last minute repairs on our old house for final inspection to close escrow
and on Saturday there's a big inspection on the Library House that required all of
the new doors and windows to be finished. So Don returns to the house after work
on Friday to get the two new doors in place. Don worked from 8:30pm throughout
the night. Each of the doors took 2–3 hours to finish and then everything needed to
be caulked.
4:10am– Early Saturday morning and Don's been working for nearly 8 hours through
the night to get ready for the big inspection. He wraps up at 4:20, goes back home,
takes a shower and is asleep on the couch by 4:45. But he's back up at 7:30 and
back to the house by 8 to be ready for the inspector.
9:50am– We passed!! Everything... framing, rough plumbing and electrical, gas, and
mechanical. We are cleared for insulation and drywall. THIS IS A BIG FRICKEN DEAL!
From this point on, there's nothing stopping us... drywall to paint to carpet and
flooring to ceiling to moving in.
07.13.04– The first section of ceiling insulation is installed in preparation for the
arrival of the drywall crew tomorrow.
Julian helps move junk into a dumpster as Paul wraps up some last minute framing
around the pocket doors of the kids bathroom.
07.14.04– 70 sheets of drywall and 8 sheets of greenboard (drywall for bath and
kitchen areas) are delivered by Lowes. Drywall guys Alphonzo and Michael get to
work in the master bath.
Meanwhile, Don installs fiberglass insulation in the ceiling of the dormer while
pearched on a temporary wood scaffolding.
Julian cuts foam insulation board to install into the master bath chase wall behind
the tub, shower and toilet. He did a great job on this whole wall all by himself.
The master bath ceiling goes up.
07.15.04– Julian hammers in nails on a final piece of plywood above the front doors.
Don Sr. installs OSB sheets on the kitchen wall. This will add support for cabinets
and extra sound insulation underneath the drywall. What's also cool about this
shot is that Don Sr. is wearing his old State Parks uniform (sans offical state arm
patches). Ah, the nostalgia takes me back to my childhood.
07.16.04– All the drywall is completed in the dormer. The wood around the base will be
covered with the same dark wood paneling that will be on the wood beam and
planter box.
The hall coat closet and the master suite walk-in closet are also completed.
07.17.04– The master suite.
The main bathroom shower, sink wall and toilet wall are done as well.
07.18.04– A paint swatch sampling of potential interior and exterior colors. The dark
red is the same as the metal facia and interior trims and the grey background
represents the aluminum and metal thoughout the house. The greens and red/brown
shades will be used ... somewhere. Hmmm?
The greenboard around the master bath and shower walls. Because they will be
covered with tile, they don't need tape and joint compound over the nails and
seams like the walls that Michael is working on at right.
07.21.04– A great shot of Don Sr. in a t-shirt designed by Don Jr. in 1991. And it's
still in fashion!! Only three of these shirts were printed and this is the only one still
in existence. At right, hired helper guy Steve, poses by the new fence framing along
the driveway.
A view from the back yard at the future parking area and fence. On the right is the
completed fence on the other side of the house. The gate near the house is almost
seamless and will be even more after the fence is painted.
Alphonzo puts up a section of drywall in the kitchen. At right, the twin master bath
sinks are set on a section of plywood to get counter measurements.
07.28.04– The team from Norton Grading are on site and tearing up the ground.
They till up the ground and mix up the dirt and weeds in the front and back yards.
Once the soil is graded and combed, the weedy, trash covered site is transformed
into a clean, smooth landscape awaiting plantings and pathways. At right, Norton
uses an aug attachment to drill 8 inch x 24 inch fence post holes in the back yard.
Michael is up high in the dormer applying joint compound and sanding it smooth.
The front bedroom and master bedroom with drywall nearly ready for a primer paint
coat. We're planning on having smooth walls to paint on instead of your standard
residential sprayed-on "orange peel" texture. Hopefully once the primer is on, we'll
be able to see if there are any imperfections to in the surface that need to be fixed.
The rear site is smoothed out and leveled. It's now ready for sprinklers and sod, if
only we had the money to do it now! We had the site done now anyway because we
need close up the backyard fence and have the driveway concrete poured.
With the garage and fence in place the house appears even wider than it did before.
That's the end of July and we need a break before the final month (we hope) begins.
So we took 4 days off in Tahoe!Also visit Don's portfolio site: www.designbutton.com
