In the spring I’ll start with a few seasonal maintenance items and then focus on electrical wiring so I can then insulate the walls. Assuming I get at least that much done in 2023, I can keep the house open in the winter even with just a space heater. Hopefully, though, I’ll be able to get some of the radiant floor heating installed as well.
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It all started with this uncoupling membrane called Schluter-DITRA. This was adhered to the plywood subfloor with thinset and provides several functions including providing a layer that can shift without cracking the adhesive or floor tiles. It’s a fairly straightforward and simple install that provides a lot of real value to the finished floor.
After the membrane, the floor tile can be immediately installed even before the uncoupling layer has fully set. I’m using 12″ x 12″ tiles with a 1/8″ space and “leave in” spacers so I can grout without pulling out the spacers.
In a larger room, the first full tile should be in the middle of the room. However, I chose to start in a corner because this way nearly all the cut tiles will be under appliances or furniture, or behind the door. There will be a bench in the lower left corner of this photo when we finish the renovation.
The (semi-)finished product after most of the grout work was completed. After this photo, I did the grout at the door frame to finish off the visible work and some minor touch up will be needed next week.
It is normally advised to do flooring after the drywall is installed, but I opted to do this first so the washer/dryer only needs to be moved within the room to finish other work. Therefore, I’ve caulked the gaps around the perimeter for waterproofing and the drywall will ultimately cover those gaps, so they will not be visible.
Now on to the gas connection and appliance install next week!
]]>I did manage to complete 3 of 4 exterior sides, so I’m pretty happy with the final effort. That said, I was thwarted by bad weather twice in October/November and basically lost about five days of effort. I could have easily completed that last side in 2-3 days, so this is a minor disppointment.
Here’s the visual summary of the progress. First, let’s look at the before and after from a single view:
And here are just a few different shots of the exterior now. Some of the trim paint isn’t complete or has the wrong color – this was done just to get a coat of paint on as much exposed wood as possible and when I do the second coat in the spring I’ll be more attentive to the final detail.
See you again in the spring!
]]>First up I had to take care of a plumbing infrastructure item because there was an immediate issue. When the contractor put in the new plumbing drain to the septic, they put in a temporary vent stack to vent sewer gasses. Here’s what that looked like:
This was put here as a temporary solution because I’d ultimately like to run this vent up an inside wall and through the roof. However, that wall doesn’t yet exist, so we needed a temporary solution. And since it was temporary, they just used the leftover materials they had, resulting in a open vent right under a window. With that window open, sewer gas came back into the house. Yuck!
Since it will be awhile before the interior wall is framed and I might leave this in the current location anyway, I completed a potential permanent solution. And since the materials cost less than $20 and it took me about an hour, no big deal if I remove it later. Here’s the final vent stack:
It’s worth noting that this assures the vent is above the roof edge and also adds a 90° bend to the top of the vent to assure that rainwater doesn’t enter into the system.
Next up, “Greenboard”
The next project was to put in a couple of pieces of Greenboard, which is effectively water resistant drywall. This is used in damp locations like bathrooms to assure that the drywall doesn’t grow mold and/or rot. It is not waterproof and isn’t designed for use in full wet locations like showers and tubs – those will get cementboard.
The first piece of Greenboard was needed behind the existing toilet in the new bathroom. I wanted to get this installed sooner than later because the vanity we’re installing in that bathroom is wall-mounted and this assures that I’ve got the right clearance needed when installing that. And I’d like to install that soon so I can start having some running water! I put a quick shelf in here using some scrap wood as well.
The second piece is for the mudroom where the plumbing manifold was installed and the tankless hot water heater will be mounted later. This is on an exterior wall, so I needed to put in the fiberglass insulation as well to complete this wall section. Thankfully, there isn’t any electrical being run in this section, so closing up this wall now makes sense.
And now for some aesthetic efforts – exterior paint!
I also took the time to get started on the exterior paint. This will be a project that takes multiple days, and needs to get done sooner than later to assure all the building materials are protected from the weather. I also wanted to get a section complete to show Tracy the colors we selected so we can make any adjustments before doing the entire house. Here’s that section:
This section of the screened porch is the color combination that we’re envisioning. With the siding painted in a dark-ish gray and the trim in a black tone, it gives the house a modern aesthetic while still fitting in nicely with the country style of a mountain house. The window on the left has a second color that we were considering but I think we’ve already decided against it. That lighter color is nice, but the darker trim gives a more modern look that we think is more appealing in modern times.
Other Projects?
Also this week I handled a few smaller projects. First, the exterior door inside the screened porch above is new, and we decided to change the swing direction. For this reason I needed to take about an hour to relocate the wiring and light switch for the ceiling fan on the porch and sconce lighting to be installed later.
Related to that new door, I needed to replace the door hardware with the keyed locks that I already had on the previous door.
I also had to deal with some “smart home” setup. Three of the switches in the house right now are Wemo smart switches that I took from my NYC apartment. In the apartment I’ve mostly moved to Lutron instead as they match current aesthetics and they are way more reliable. And since Wemo recently changed their setup, I couldn’t get these online without a cellular signal (which I do not have at the house!) A Wemo rep took me patiently through a workaround that took about an hour, but now that it’s complete, I should be able to add others easily in the future.
I also spent a little time removing the remains of two honey locust trees on the property. These trees grow extremely large and threatening thorns, so I really don’t want to deal with these. I’ve got them down to the stumps, but unless I uproot or kill the rest, they will keep growing back. So I have to tend to these one way or another before they mature and the thorns get seriously dangerous.
That’s all for a few weeks – going to enjoy the rest of August by hiking and swimming more while up at the house!
]]>After doing a lot of research, I am opting for PEX plumbing because it’s relatively inexpensive and VERY easy to do on my own. PEX is super forgiving because it’s flexible, has easy connections, and has a good freeze tolerance since it can expand before cracking. So I bought the needed tool for Pro Crimps, a bunch of materials, and headed off to the house to get started.
The first thing I needed to do was connect a 3/4″ PEX “mainline” from the pressure tank in the crawl space. This was the hardest step because I had to remove an old adapter that was rusted onto the pressure tank and I needed to be careful not to break anything in the process. Below is the result of this effort. The white pipe is the new mainline and the garden hose is simply on the tank pressure release valve.
The mainline is piped into the house where there is a manifold (more on that in a moment) but from under the house it is also split into a couple of other sections to feed garden hose spigots outside the house. One is already installed, and two others will be added later, so I simply added a branch with a (closed) valve on it for now.
There’s one branch to the left of the coil of blue (cold water) PEX and another just to the right. Then, at the far right, there are two lines feeding into the house. The one on the right is entering the manifold to feed all the cold water lines and the one on the left will go to the new tankless hot water heater which will be installed soon.
Let’s talk about this manifold for a moment:
This is really where the magic happens, and a huge advantage of PEX. Basically, the right side is cold water, the left will be hot, and each valve leads to a “home run” water line. Home Runs are lines that go from the manifold directly to their final fixtures. Because PEX is cheap, and in my case the longest home run is like 15-ft, you can do more of these and it makes managing the system really easy. This manifold is mounted in the mudroom behind an exterior door so there’s super easy access to turn on/off any line at any time.
The white line on the left ends at a valve for now, but will go to the tankless hot water heater, also mounted behind that door. The one blue line on the right is a 1/2″ home run for the toilets (one for now, one to be added later.) Connecting this first toilet was the second hardest task because the crawl space under there is really small and I had to shimmy in the dirt to get access. Here are the toilet line and home run before I made the connection:
That photo doesn’t quite convey how tight it was to work in there, but it was tight! I got it done, though – and after forgetting to take a photo said there was no way I was shimmying back under there just for a photo!
Here’s the toilet connection inside the house:
The blue line might be offensive, but it’s hidden behind the toilet and this photo is from the next room since there are no walls right now. LOL
]]>The first two trips were pretty basic – mostly assessing the status, handing some issues with the utilities, cleaning up after the winter, and preparing for the projects ahead. I met with my contractor on what should be the final exterior project and we’re set for that to be completed shortly.
In the meantime, as it is getting warmer, and thus the bugs will be out in full force, I decided that completing the screened porch would be a terrific project as that is space that will be actively used once renovated. The porch needs a new floor, and for the windows to be cut from the siding, and, finally, screens installed.
The most daunting part of this project was simply moving all the wood that was being stored in the current space. It was a painful effort and took almost an hour, but once complete, the rest of the project was pretty straight forward. (Note to self: lumber is always heavier than it appears.)
After taking delivery of the 10′ long 2×6 planks, I measured and cut the first length to fit. Then the discarded piece from that cut became my measurement template for each of the remaining planks, saving a little time and effort with the tape measure. I was able to cut the planks using my miter saw.
After figuring out the best rhythm, I was soon following a regular pattern:
- Remove old plank
- Discard old plank
- Fetch new plank from driveway
- Measure and cut new plank on miter saw
- Position new plank with shims for consistent spacing
- Drive 10 decking screws to secure floor plank to 5 joists
- Repeat
I timed this pattern at one point and it was taking me 8-mis per blank, which would mean I’d finish the project around 5:30 PM, but I only had until about 4:00 PM, so I resolved that I might not finish today. At some point, however, I must have picked up the pace, because at 3:45 PM, I had completed the flooring!
It was really rewarding to finish this project in a single day! Next I’m hoping in about a 2-day span I can build out the screen frames, cut in the windows, and insert all the screens. If so, after my visit next week, the screened porch will be functionally complete and ready to use. That would be really nice with the buggy weather upon us!
]]>The existing screened porch was demolished and the roof over that section was removed. This section was added some time after the original house was built and for some unknown reason, the made the new roof a foot shorter than the existing one. This project raises the roof so there will be a single roof line when complete, and the new bedroom in the back will have enough clearance to legally be a bedroom. Additionally, a new foundation has been set to assure that this is all stable. The new foundation also helps for the future as we’ll likely build in the porch to complete a third bedroom and add a new porch down the line. This will be years away, but best to do the foundation work when all of this is exposed.
The new porch is fully Tyvek wrapped for a little safety from the winter weather. I’ll cut out the windows and add screens in the spring/summer.
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I replaced several sections of board, then caulked any gaps between the boards, and also added a waterproof paint to the new boards. Ultimately these will be covered in house wrap (Tyvek) and siding, so there won’t be any exposure to water, but the paint is just an added protection. And filling the gaps is for weatherproofing/sealing the exterior as best as possible. This helps with interior heating/cooling and also helps keep the bugs and critters out.
Additionally, there was a LOT of rain during the week that the trenches were dug so mud kinda slogged all over the place. This left the property a huge mess and while “curb appeal” isn’t really critical at this point, there is the matter of simply navigating the grounds. So after the area had mostly dried out, we got the grounds cleaned up quite a bit. Further, there were some significant stones unearthed in the process so these were placed strategically around the property. It’s hard to see here, but the footpath from the shed ended with a pretty big step up onto the wood porch. So two of the larger, flatter stones were used to create a couple of steps up from the path to the porch.
Most of the rest of the grounds got covered in gravel to make it easy to manage, especially during the construction phase. Water drains nicely preventing a mud bog, and this gives a decent surface to work from as we determine what to do about the front where the old, rotted wood porch was removed.
Next up? Siding!
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After the foundation work in the back of the house was completed, we took a look at the front. Digging down just a little where the rot can be seen quickly revealed an unsurprising problem – this corner of the house was not sitting on a proper foundation, just resting on dirt. In the scheme of things, this wasn’t as bad as it sounds, at least not structurally. The back two-thirds of the house was sitting on cinder block piers and since the property grades downwards, this is where the most support is needed. And since this is a former quarry, there’s plenty of stone keeping things from shifting.
But the bigger problem is the rot caused by exposed wood (and structural wood, at that) being in contact with the ground and allowing water to both run over the wood and get soaked into it as well. So we had to dig out a nice trench under the front and side elevations in order to build a new foundation, add a new sill plate, assure all the wood is either above grade or at least pressure treated, and add new drainage. The upshot is that, once complete, this is truly a one-time effort. With the new foundation in place, the house will be very stable, the wood structure will be protected, and the crawl space will remain clear and dry. There are a lot of benefits to this work, so as much as this was not part of the plan, getting it done is very worthwhile.
Below is a gallery of various stages of this effort. Basically, the trench was dug out, the house was jacked up, new cinder block piers were installed along with a new sill plate and the house was lowered back onto the new structure. Then a cinder block wall was filled into to complete the crawl space and a french drain was filled into the exterior to keep water away from the foundation.
Belleview is a small cottage; I mean really small. The layout when we purchased it had two bedrooms, but the “larger” one couldn’t even fit a queen bed and the smaller one, well, let’s call it a closet – probably a single twin bed at best. But adjacent to the smaller bedroom and the screened porch was an oddly framed space that the previous owners used for storage. Tracy got creative with the floorplan and merged this storage space with the smaller bedroom to create a larger and sort of “L” shaped room. In this new space, the room will fit a queen bed, nightstands, closet or armoire, and enough space to add a second FULL (but small) bathroom. There aren’t any really good photos of this room (yet) but here it is as the framing was complete.
To complete this room, we had to pour an 8-inch deep slab of concrete to raise the existing slab to match the existing floor height. Here’s the slab in progress and the room before the existing walls were removed to combine the space into one larger room. It’s hard to picture here, but eventually there will be a queen bed from the wall on the left. And at the foot of the bed, the wall to the right here will have a large picture window overlooking the woods and the creek. Facing east, it will be a very peaceful and natural way to wake in the morning as the sun rises through the trees.
When the slab was complete, over 8,000 pounds of cement had been mixed and poured. Thanks to my helper who just loves to move heavy objects, I didn’t have to move any of those 8,000 pounds. And, if I did, the job still would not be complete. And in this photo, the wall at the far end is the one into the existing room, so this room will be larger, and will have the new small bathroom as an “en suite” addition. Tracy really created a new focal point of the house with the addition of this room and I’m excited about it.