So we had someone come in to give us an estimate for sanding and refinishing our fir floors. We had high hopes of beautiful new floors glistening up at us. Unfortunately, the floors are done. They have been sanded through and can no longer be refinished. It's time to replace them. So now we're looking at bamboo flooring. It's not what we originally wanted but bamboo is lovely and sustainable and feels great under one's feet so we're excited.

Today is the day: moving everything out of the kitchen to start the demo!

Sorry it has been so long since my last post.

I'm making good progress. Fixed the cripple wall, re-sheathed the house, attached the ledger and dug foundations (thanks Kong). Then I put up joists (thanks Kyra)!



Julie and I have also been making decisions left and right. We're going with a sliding vinyl patio door now and have the following appliances picked out:


New Fridge.

20,000BTU Wok Burner in our new gas cooktop

Dishdrawers!

Convection Oven

New Faucet

Pot Filler Faucet over the stove!

So the exciting part about working on a 91 year old house is that every time you try to do something, you find something else broken. I spent the last two days repairing the sill plate and cripple wall under the breakfast nook. There is some very weird framing out there and I've done my best to conform what I can to modern codes.

I rented some house jacks from Central Tool Rental (great place, BTW) and lifted up the nook. And I got to frame my first wall. Not too shabby considering the sole plate is 10.5 degrees off of horizontal. Found another rotten wall too. This one was also not supported on anything (basically hanging from a joist. Nice.

Anyway, I'm building up a storm. And I'm almost ready to attach the ledgers. Yay!

In the meantime, we've narrowed down our choices for appliances and sinks. Now to get through the thousands of cabinets.

We went and talked to a door guy this morning. I think we're back to the idea of in-swing French doors. I need to check the layout, but we might make one leaf smaller so that it doesn't cover the built-in bench for the breakfast nook.

I really need to get a floor plan posted so you all know what the heck i'm talking about. Maybe I'll do that tonight...

I'm really excited about this project and so happy about the process of planning it all out. The process goes something like this:

1. We come up with a new idea
2. Get really excited about how it solves some problem or issue
3. Integrate it into our design
4. This causes other issues that we work out
5. Finish the design
6. Think about things for a few days
7. Repeat
   

Our latest discovery is that we don't need the oven and stove to co-exist. The separation of the two adds so much to the kitchen. It allows us to put pots and pans under the stove where they are useful and move the oven to the corner where it is out of the way.

So I got everything ready to fix the rotten sole plate tomorrow. Unfortunately, this required a trip to Home Depot. I started at Lowes (which is closer) but discovered again that they they have a terrible selection of things. So i went to the Depot. I can not get out of there in under an hour. Today it was 2 hours and $200. But I got most of what I'll need for the deck (minus decking) and learned a bit in the process. I do like their motto: You can do it, we can help. Sure it's cheesy, but it's how i manage to do my house projects: sheer force of will.

I talked with my folks tonight for a while. We got into a discussion of the generational differences that allow me to walk away from a perfectly good job, with no current future prospects in sight. I'm confident that when the time comes, I'll be ready and some future employment will be ready, and we'll find each other. In the meantime, I intend to learn all I can about construction and enjoy the amazing northwest summertime. In fact I see that the sun is currently setting: 9:49pm. :)

Successful day today. Even with my late start, I stripped shingles off most of the back wall and around the door. Found some pretty bad rot in the sole plate and support post so tomorrow will be "how do i fix this".

I need to get some door/window people out to give me some estimates/products.



Stripping off the shingles

Note the rotten sole plate

Demo shingles

So I went out late last night with a friend to rant about some things. This morning, after Julie went to work, I went back to bed for a few hours. Hence the late start.

Anyway, the project of the day is to clear off shingles from the back wall to allow placement of the deck ledger(s) and the new doors. I'm doing my best to preserve as many shingles as possible for use later.

I'm still finalizing the deck design. We went to a wedding over the weekend at a really nice house on Whidbey Island. Had to check out their deck. It was trex with a nice border edge and Julie said "oh, that might be nice". So i'm looking at whether it's worth it to add some double joists for some bordering.

I'm still lost as to how to support one corner of the deck. We'll cross that bridge when we get to it.

Taking the day off. Recovery from a weekend of frisbee and a wedding. My plan for the day is laundry, sleep, rehydration. Repeat.