649 6th

stairway to heaven

Did I mention we were going to put in a moon roof? Really? Oh...

Well, how about this? Did I ever mention we were going to have one these?

day 2: blocking the bathroom

Today was spent prepping the bathroom to install the Hardie Backer. We had hoped to not only block it out but also get a few of the sheets up today. Normal maintenance things like replacing the transformer on the doorbell (so we actually know when people are at the door) and transplanting some seedlings in the garden took a much needed bite out of the day.

The blocking we were doing today was to provide a base for anything we might want to later attach to the bathroom wall. After it's installed the Hardie Backer covers it. First we cleated  in pieces of 2x3; one on each side of two facing studs. The 2x3's are set back the depth of a piece of 3/4 plywood. Then, like a table top, you screw the piece of plywood to the cleats. When done you have a huge surface to screw into from just about anywhere to mount bath accessories. I'd like to say we came up with the idea ourselves, but it was a handy tip from Joe, the plumber.

In addition to the blocking we also framed out for the medicine cabinet and attached furring strips to level out one wall. We'll begin cutting and hanging the cement board tomorrow.

Today was not ALL about work however. I did stop to admire Tracie's garden. I like the fact we took down the stockade fence more and more.

pealing back a kitchen

on thursday we had 15 cubic yard rubbish container delivered. today it is full. the roofing from last week and pealing back both the exterior and interior of the kitchen this weekend we filled it to the rim. it was so great to take a such a leap forward. more details soon but here's a strip depicting the events.

hit the ceiling

Was really only a matter of time. Despite post-holiday intentions to limit ourselves to simply wrapping up loose threads through the end of June before digging into the next meaty project, the roof had other plans, ie, creeping from a single known leak to 5 new ones during the last big round of rain we've had. We've known the roof needs to attention ever since we took possession. I'm just glad it waited until we had the space to deal with it reasonably rather than in panic. First step was remove the wet ceiling so we could see the roof from its underside first. Disconnected the ceiling fan and high-hats, then pulled off the sheetrock and aluminum framing that was part of the same renovation we'd just torn out of the front half of the house. Above that was more of the tin ceiling we'd salvaged, but in this case so corroded it came down like tissue in places. Good news is the framing appears to be totally dry -- and bonus: incredibly overbuilt! Though you can see from the picture that the underlayment has a few problems, which conspicuously match up with the leaks. We're taking our time setting up the next step. Need to have a new roof at the ready before peeling back the old. Plan is install a green roof. We've got a couple people in the neighborhood to talk to about it, and we just found a company that supplies installation packages. No idea how long it takes to deliver or for that matter how much it costs. Already beginning to wonder how much less money but more time it would cost us to assemble from parts. Meanwhile, in an conscious effort to manifest the future, designs for the finished space are in abundence. Here's a condenced drawing board of ideas we've been knocking around for the past few days. Appear to be heading toward a very modular design, aka more plywood boxes, that emphasizes functional zones of activity. So happy to have found an arrangment that eliminates the corner cabinet. Not to mention the countertop that oftentimes serves as a seamless runway of dirty dishes edging into a corner already loaded with jars of dry goods. Must give credit where due: check out Blum's DesignSpace for a great lesson in functional kitchen design and a spin through their Zone Planner. So for anyone who's made it this far:
Kitchen Evolution

a rafter review

three day MLK

all jacked up

After two weeks of solid work on the house we have to return to office work tomorrow. What better way to cap off the marathon  session than to finally install the load bearing beam that we'd begun prepping for with the jacks on the first day of vacation.

We assembled the beam components the day before; 1-3/4" LVL glued and bolted to a standard 2x6 to provide a wider point of contact with the joists. The posts are cedar cuz that was next step up from pine. They cut like butter, and we notched one end of each post to receive the beam.

With the help of my friend and frequent commentor, Douglas, and his brother-in-law, Hartman, a master carpenter from Seattle, we hefted, hammered and harrassed the beam into place. One trick we did learn over the course of the past two weeks is hang the beam from joists with hurricane (aka decking) ties then install the posts. This little extra step made the job decidedly more managable.

Once we had the permanent beam in place we quickly measured the vertical distance to floor and trimmed off the ends of the prepared posts for a snug fit.

One small problem with the posts: we calculated the notch using a standard 2x measurement, but the LVL is a bit thicker. Structurally it's still sound, especially when joined with 3/8" bolts. Since 1) this entire piece will ultimately be hidden inside a wall and 2) Hartman agreed it was good to go, we didn't try to deepen the notches.

It feels strudy as hell. I'm very pleased with the job we did, both because we were extra safe around all this elevated mass and because I think it's fair to say this represents the most technically challenging project we've undertaken. Remember, kids, before you start jacking up your house to replace structural loads meet with an engineer, put on your hard hats, and check all your joins before you lift a 14' beam in the air.

groundhog day

I feel like Bill Murray in Groundhog's Day. For the past week we have been on vacation, in that we haven't been going to our respective places of employment. Each day has been somewhat similar to the previous: get up, poke at some materials order or delivery, jack the house a bit, hang drywall, eat food, watch Battlestar Galactica or the the second season of The Wire, go to bed -- then it starts over again.

However, I am pleased to announce that the jacking is complete. They say that you should only jack a floor 1/8" to 1/4" a day to allow for it to settle properly (like a chiropractic adjustment). At that pace and given we needed about 2 inches to make the second floor not sag in the middle (and to subsequently create a structure that would keep it from sagging again in the future) it was a slow process. Luckily it appears to have gone off without a hitch. Only the parts that were supposed to move moved, and as you can see from the before and after shots (click to enlarge) of the level laying on the second floor -- verifyable results.

To make sure we didn't jump the gun and start lifting wildly we kept the log at left. You can see that we might have rushed it just a bit (getting a couple of lifts in less than 24 hours), but foregoing another day of groundhpg purgatory, we're ready to move on. Today we're going to prep the area in the basement and on the first floor to install the permanent beam (the LVL should be here at noon). As tomorrow is Thanksgiving we may not install until Friday.

Much like  the insulation before, it feels like the drywall is another task that will never be done. Easy parts of the second floor went quickly, and the third floor is slowly coming together. As you can see from the photos it's somewhat of a geometry problem up there. Cutting all of the odd shaped triangles to fit up to the ridge line and fit in the dormers is a math test of patience if nothing else.

Adding to the level of difficulty, we decided to leave the rafter ties exposed. This means carefully cutting the sheetrock and combing it up through the rafters. Out of the gate we were golden. The first, biggest, most complex piece fit almost perfectly on the first try. Then, well... let'ts just say the rasping and triming skills we have been developing over the past week or so really came in handy.

Oh BTW, that last bit of work we discussed contractor to knock out this week and finish up his contract, uh...didn't happen.

house jacked

what a day! we're jacking up our house!!

started out demolishing a slice of ceiling and part of wall on first floor to get at the 2nd floor joists. yes, we bought hard hats. no, we're not re-enacting the village people. (as always, please remember that any photo on the blog is clickable and will open a larger version.)

found evidence of an angled wall and tin ceilings. none of it the sort of thing you'd want to preserve. in the end we'll just cover it again with another drop ceiling.

once the mess was cleaned up, we built the temporary beam that will carry all the lifting across joists.

we hung the beam from several joists using deck brackets. didn't read about that strategy in any of the material i found online regarding installation of a beam, but certainly made the job of installing jacks and posts easier since we could just continue to hang material from successive members until we were ready to put on the pressure.

which shouldn't leave you with the impression that this was an easy job. we re-installed one of the bracing jacks FOUR times in attempt to level it properly until we finally realized the screw wasn't true. in fact, in this photo you can clearly see the angle of the bolt coming out of the jack is not aligned. i have to admit home depot took it back no questions asked. literally, they didn't even want to know what was wrong with it.

as for the lifiting power, it's all contained in this little red bottle. note to self, make sure the release valve is completely shut before walking away. we were marvelling at how unsqueeky the 2nd floor was when there was a loud crash. hydraulic jack had settled just enough to let the post slip free. now it's back, everything's true, and it's all we can do to not give the little fella another pump.

don't know jack

step one of the Great Lift is complete. today we cleared a bunch of space in basement, ie finished finding places for everything we removed from 1st floor, and installed support jack to brace the 1st floor beam, which will be placed under significant load when we start jacking up the 2nd floor.

the support jack is really just the little black metal tube that's sitting at intersection of wood cross we built to distribute load into the basement floor. the jack is pressing on 4x4 post that's finally braced against the beam. the white stripe behind it is the original wood post that inspector told us should be replaced with metal so it's less prone to failure due to fire or stray saw blade. we'll be putting in a proper metal post (or two) with concrete footings soon.

engineer recommended a direct line of contact between hydraulic jack and foundation, which means positioning it over the beam, but also providing support between beam and sub-floor. caught a lucky break with location of 1st floor joist, which can be seen where we pulled section of basement ceiling down, in that it's located EXACTLY beneath the lowest joist in 2nd floor, ie the one that needs the most lifting. if we were talking about newer construction i wouldn't be surprised to find the joists vertically aligned, but so far there's absolutely nothing standard about the original construction of this house -- it's 100 years old after all.