Momentum

Momentum is a funny thing. When you loose it, it's like slamming into a brick wall. Which is about how the progress on our house is coming since this summer. At the rate we are going now, I'm kind of amazed that we ever made it out of the tent...

Three weeks ago I bought a gallon (hopefully THE LAST gallon) of paint, for the last room in the house that needed painting - the master bath. This morning, I finally moved the gallon of paint from my car to the bathroom. PROGRESS. So needless to say, I do not have pictures of a newly painted bathroom, or anything else for that matter.

I am hopeful that the onset of winter will inspire inside projects like closets and the pantry, or at the very least some doors.

Buried treasure

We are slowly starting to gear back up for work on the house. We’ve taken most of the summer off, which has been nice. We’ve still been getting things done, slowly picking away at smaller projects, but with no self-imposed deadlines. We’ve also been spending time helping out other folks that seemed to think building their own house was a good idea.

For the past couple of weekends, Matt has been working with a friend of ours that owns a local granite shop. In exchange for some weekend work, Matt has been getting truck fulls of granite, which we are using to back fill around one of our pilings. We might just be the only house around here that has more imported polished granite in the foundation than in the house. We seem to have hundreds of different types of granite and several types of marble down there, imported from Italy, Pakistan, India and all over Africa. It is mindboggoling to think of all the different countries represented down there, with rock that has all come together to fill a little hole in western North Carolina.

Oh to be the geologists who unearths this in a thousand years.

rhododendron and garages

We are very fortunate to live in an area that has four seasons, incredible natural beauty, and an abundance of water. We teeter on the edge of being a temperate rainforest, and that results in extremely lush forests. Native rhododendron grow rampant, and this time of year they are all in bloom. It has often been noted that rhododendron and mountain laurel were contributing factors in the isolation of Appalachia. To tall to see over and too thick to walk through.

We have an acre and a half which is covered in rhodo and laurel. We relish the privacy they afford us as there is truth in there ability to isolate. Most of out property looks like the picture below.

But, there is one downside. We ( and this time I mean Laura) have spent the last three weekends underbrushing in order to allow for a little more light and air circulation, as well removing an accumulation of downed woody debris. Not all of it, but the excess. And sadly, the pile in the picture below is about 1/100th of what needs to be done. So far I have worked my way up one half of one side of the driveway. That leaves the rest of the driveway, all around the house, and in the back where we are planning a native shade garden. But, before we can continue we need to figure out what to do with this first pile. Its too big to burn, too expensive to haul. So, we are investigating the purchase of a chipper/shredder. Right now we are looking at a 10hp Troy Bilt. Does anyone out there have any experience with these? If so please leave a comment with your thoughts!!!

So, with the underbrushing on hold, we decided to tackle the garage. It has gone through several transformations over the last year from our living room/kitchen to storage to concrete countertop staging area to dumping ground to Bermuda triangle or all things construction related. Talk about keeping your fingers crossed that it doesn't rain! We did manage to create relative order out of the mess below, but after we finished I was too tiered to hold the camera up to take a picture. But, Matt has his shop back in working order now, full of tools and sawdust. Which is good, because we are excited to announce that he is getting ready to go out on his own! He will be doing custom interior woodworking around Western North Carolina. I'll provide more info and links to his new website soon!!

Master bath tile and kitchen hardware

Well, we finally tiered of opening our cabinets and drawers by their sides and decided to put forth a more serious effort to find hardware for the kitchen. We had hoped that we would find something unique and befitting to our kitchen. We looked high and low, scoured the Internet and all local sources. We thought several times we had found what we were looking for (in one case, a beautiful hand cast branch, which unfortunately sold for $750.00 A PIECE!!!). So what did we end up with? The exact same pulls from Lowe's that we had in the old kitchen. Go figure.

We have also been working on finishing the master bath tile in anticipation of the plumber coming this weekend. Everything is set, including the suspended granite seat, and we are in the process of grouting and sealing (and I must shamefully admit, in this one instance when I use the term "we", I really mean Matt 100%). This project has taken so much longer than anyone anticipated. Slate is beautiful, but tricky. Plus, we decided (I have no idea why), to use slate on the ceiling of the shower as well, so there was the added stress of is the tile or isn't the tile going to crash down and cleave me in the skull. But somehow, Matt eventually got them to all stick in place long enough for the thin set to set up.

It is hard to tell from these pictures, but the shower has a really cool cave like feel. Sort of like standing under a waterfall rock outcrop.

Hopefully, we will have at least part of a functioning bathroom in another week or two!!!

Wow. Long time no see.

Wow. Long time no see. A whole month, I had no idea!

Sorry about being so out of touch, but we’ve just been so busy. But we don’t have any pictures today because we haven’t exactly been busy on the house. Don’t get me wrong, were still working. We’ve been finishing the tile in the master bath, hanging the last shingles for the siding, and unpacking. But we’ve been lazing about, enjoying life, and catching up on all things un-house related. Like finally having friends over for dinner again (no one ever wanted to come over to the tent, we could never figure out why!), actual reading of books, and hiking around now that it is light after work.

We even finally took our much overdue first anniversary trip this past weekend to the Natahala River for a two day whitewater kayaking workshop. Our first anniversary coincided with the start of this project, and in my naiveté, I scheduled the trip for Sept., sure that by then we would be ready and able to take a break. But, you know, I was only about ten months off, so we jokingly celebrated our second anniversary with the trip. And it rocked. We’re already scheming the quickest way to sell off all of our sea kayaking boats and gear so that we can replace it all with whitewater boats and gear.

But I promise, more pictures this week. A little updating of the small projects and loose ends as well as a preview, perhaps, of the projects awaiting us at the creekhouse.

View from the living room couch - I never get tired of it!!

Ta Da - LOTS of pictures

Here is a preview of our house now that we are close to finished!! We had the appraiser here yesterday, so now we are both just relaxing and enjoying the house for a few days before we get back to work on it. Check out the pictures and let us know what you think! If you want to see the before and after layout, check it out here http://creekhouseproject.blogspot.com/2006/08/theres-no-place-like-home.html. Pictures of the house before can be found here http://creekhouseproject.blogspot.com/2006/06/before-and-after_19.htmland here http://creekhouseproject.blogspot.com/2006/06/before-and-after-part-2.htmlAll new exterior and roof, original deck and hemlock
Brand new back deck overlooking creek

original window in living room looking out at cascading creek

looking at the main living area and kitchen from hall

guest bedroom with loft in new addition, creekside left

new guest bathroom

renovated office in the same space as original guest bedroom

new kitchen (located in former master bedroom space)



concrete countertops!!

living room view from doorway to new master bedroom

dining area which opens to new back deck

view from kitchen

new master bedroom addition creekside right

master bedroom looking out to new deck


beginning of new master bathroom!

Final push, round 1

This is the big weekend. The final push before our appraisal. The house is far from done, but we are trying to wrap up as much as possible by Tuesday. It feels kind of like cramming for exams, only more exhausting and nerve wracking. The whole house building process would be so much more pleasant without the financial part...

If you ever wondered what a years worth of Roth IRA contributions would like if you converted it to wood, here you go. All of the cherry for the interior trim.So this weekend, all of those boards will be making their way to the windows, doors (and hopefullybaseboard areas).

And after that we have just few (!?!) more things on the list. But hey, at least some of them are scratched off!

Concrete countertops - a reflection on process

We are well on our way to having concrete counter tops! They are out of the mold and looking fabulous so far. We hope to have them finished and installed by Sunday, so this post will detail the first part of the process and I'll have follow up next week.

So here it goes, the good, bad and stupid:

1) We first consulted with www.concreteexchange.com and researched a lot of Cheng's books. We ultimately ended up using his mix as well, which we found very easy to work with. With so much going on, we didn't want to mess with recipe of additives to the sacked concrete. We knew we wanted dark grey solid color counter tops, something with an effect similar to soapstone. this eliminated any grinding on the surface and need to consider decorative inserts or aggregate.

2) Building the molds was very strait-forward for us. Accurate measurements, solid construction and wood are all strong points so we didn't run into any problems here. We followed a number of the suggestions made by Cheng, some of which may or may not have been necessary, but I like directions. The material to make the molds cost approx $75, as we did not have any melamine on hand and we needed rebar, wire mesh, silicone, etc.

3)A level area to set the molds for the pour is critical, so that you end up with level counter tops and not wedges. Since we were pouring all three counter tops at once, we needed a fair amount of space under cover. None of our work benches in the garage were large enough, so Matt built a level platform on the garage floor. The platform worked well, but was only a couple of inches off the ground. Ideally, it would be much higher, so you a) wouldn't have to work all crouched done, and b) wouldn't have to lift the ridiculously heavy counter tops off of the ground.

4) Based on my calculations, we were going to need 5.9 cubic feet of concrete. So, we ordered 6 cubic feet of charcoal mix. The directions specifically indicated that we should not use air entrained sacked concrete, and we had a little difficulty locating the right stuff. We eventually ended up having to go with 4000 psi instead of 5000 psi. We got the concrete, rented a mixer, and got ready to pour.

This is were things went a little askew...

First, we mixed the first batch a little too dry. We were both so worried about adding too much water and running the risk of cracking that we didn't add enough. This made the concrete very difficult to vibrate into place. I mean it was really dry. We even added more than the directions on the mix initially called for, but it still wasn't enough. We decided to mix the second batch a little two wet and figured that the two batches would mix with all of the vibrating, and the problem would be solved (which it was!).

Unfortunately, even though everything I read had said make sure you have extra concrete and mix, I cut it too close. We ran short, which really sucked. Once we distributed all of the mixed concrete evenly amongst the molds, they were all about 1/4 inch short, so we weren't able to screed the tops. Needless to say, I whacked myself on the forehead several times.

But, after a week, they popped right out of the molds looking pretty fabulous.

Normally, you need to dis-assemble the mold any pry it away from the counter top, but I guess because our mix was so dry, ours just popper right out. So our mold are intact and can be stored to use again should we decide now or later that we want to try again.

Next up...

I'll be spending this week grinding the underside of the counters because they are really rough and a little uneven since we were not able to screed. Once that is done We will apply a slurry to all of the surfaces to fill in the air pockets and then seal and wax them once they are in place. The sealer and wax will bring them back closer to the color they were when wet - a dark dark grey, almost black.

Teaser

We popped one of three counter tops out of it's mold this week and they look FABULOUS!!! Which is such good news because, well, we weren't so sure. The pour didn't go quite as planned, mistakes (or what we thought were mistakes) were made, and we became doubtful. Which is really sad and frustrating as anyone who has made molds for concrete counter tops knows. A lot of work goes into mold making, so to blow it on the pour - well that's just wrong. So, after a week of thinking somewhere in the back of the mind that maybe all of that hard work was for not, we are elated, and the counter tops are just plain cool. There will be much more on this in my next post, with a blow by blow of what we did well, what we thought we did wrong, how we tried to fix it, why we weren't sure they were going to turn out and PICTURES!!! Stay tuned...

Countertop forms and a back deck

Countertop forms are built! All we have left before this weekends pour is the rebar/wire mesh reinforcements. Matt built a level platform on the garage floor so that none of the countertops come out looking like wedges, and we've sealed all of the seams with silicone so that the melamine won't swell. Our forms are pretty basic, since we have a small kitchen and an apron front sink, we only have one seam and no knockouts (except for the faucet). We are having a smooth, polished top so we don't have to worry about inserts or exposed aggregate. Just simple, dark charcoal countertops. I can't wait!! After this weekends pouring of the concrete, we'll let it cure for about a week and then cross our fingers next weekend when we break the mold.

We also got the back deck of death a little closer to finished (at least temporarily). We know we are re-doing the front deck in another year or so, but haven't had the time to really think about what we wanted to do with it or what kind of material we wanted to use. So, we didn't have any idea what type of decking we wanted for the back, since we do want it to all tie together. But, we had some pressure treated lumber, and a free handrail some friends had unloaded on us, so for the time-being we are having a plain, green tinted pressure treated deck. Not exactly what either of us had in mind, but it will do for the time being. At least we can actually use it. More than likely, the handrail will be replaced this summer with a handcrafted rhododendron railing, once we have a little free time to get creative.



The view from the bottom of the creek at the back of the house. Another upcoming project this summer will be to put stone up on the cinder block piers. But once again, we need to figure our what kind of stone - we have no idea and have not even really looked into it. Oh well.

It's been awhile, but we're back

We needed a break, but we're back in action. After the push to get into our house, and then the unfortunate timing that forced us to be sidetracked with our rental house, we needed a break. As Matt pointed out, we had not had a single day off since out trip last summer. We were burned out and a bit frazzled and our motivation was almost non-existent. So we headed down to Florida to visit with my dad and my brothers and sister. We hung out at the pool, wondered around the beach, and basically did absolutely nothing except eat and relax, which was just what we needed. Because we need the energy to tackle this list:

And although you probably can't read it, there's a lot to do, trust us. And quite a bit of that list must be accomplished in the next month, because we are having the house reappraised. So with that in mind we figured the first thing we need to do is finish the back deck, 'cause

this just doesn't look good (or safe for that matter). And we'll probably finish up those french doors too, because the 'newspaper/insulation between the doors' look doesn't go with the new couch.

We cheated

We’ve been cheating on our house. Its hard to admit, but its true. But we promise, after this weekend its over.

You see, almost two years ago we bought another house. A “project” house. An investment if you will. We were not ready to start on our house, but Matt wanted a project, and the right house came along and we bought it. We never even got a really good look at it. It already had renters with 6 months left on their lease, so we bought it and they started sending the rent checks to us and we began making plans for what we would do to fix up the house once their lease was up. We closed on it on Matt’s birthday, and joked about it being his birthday present.

By the time the lease was up, we were starting to plan the overhaul of the creek house, and we worried that we didn’t have the time or money to put into fixing the rental house. The renters were happy and they wanted to stay, so we let them sign another lease. And so it went. Until January when they were officially two months behind on rent* and we went to talk to them, and they announced they were moving to Kansas in two days. What they left behind was a horror show I prefer to block from memory. If I was of the criminal persuasion, I would have set fire to the house and claimed good riddance. It was a disaster and in my humble opinion, threat to human health.

So the first weekend in Feb., when we should have been trying to finish up the creek house enough to move in, we were instead filling a 40 yard dumpster to the brim with all of the trash and rotting food and unidentifiable items they left behind. We changed the locks, shut everything down, and walked away. But then we got a call from the neighbor, and they had someone (a relative) that wanted to move in right away. And call us crazy, but somehow, we promised to have the house in a livable condition by April 1. Why? I have no idea. But this entire month has been devoted to working on the rental house. And, after this weekend, it will be livable – because my husband is a rock star.

So far we have (and by we, I mostly mean Matt)
-hauled out 40 yards of debris and trash from the inside of the house.
-disinfected and scrubbed every surface with hospital grade disinfectant (twice).
-gutted the kitchen
-gutted the bathroom
-ripped off the fake paneling on all of the walls
-patched all of the plaster
-installed wainscoting in the living room and chair rail (as a way to cover a large hole in the plaster that we could not patch).
-put down new flooring in both the kitchen and bath
-tiled the kitchen countertop
-replaced all of the kitchen appliances (this was easy, because we saved all of the appliances from the creek house for this purpose).
-replaced the tub surround
-primed the entire house

This weekend we will reglaze several windows and put a new epoxy coating on the old cast iron tub. Then, hopefully, we will be done. I have no before pictures, because as I said earlier, I am attempting to block the original condition of the house from my memory. But I will post some pictures after this weekend of what it looks like now. Then, we will return to our regular programming.

We've Moved In!!

This past weekend was a blur . One big whirlwind cleaning frenzy. It began at 7:00am Sat. down at the neighbors house as we packed up everything of ours and moved it out, and then gave their house a thorough scrubbing in an attempt to remove all dog hair dust and construction debris we have dragged in over there this winter. We revved up bright and early again on Sunday to move out as many tools, etc. as practicable from our house and then began shopvaccing and scrubbing everything in sight in preparation for moving in. By the time we collapsed on Sunday, we were pretty well situated with minimal furniture, dishes etc.

And then it finally happened. As soon as we were in the house it hit. The past year of non stop work caught up and I hit a wall. Monday, I barely got up off the couch. Tuesday I worked late to make up for Monday, and today I'd do just about anything to lay on the couch all day. My whole body hurts, I feel like I have a migraine, and my back and neck have enough knots in them to rig a tall ship. It is definitely time to rest.

Behold the kitchen!

Behold the kitchen! We will install the downdraft stove tomorrow (in that big white spot where I didn't bother painting) and all of the plumbing should be connected by Sat. We plan on building our own concrete countertops, so we'll start that project in the next few weeks. Until then, we make some temporary plywood tops.

We'll also need to repair this:

We got a little too "custom" and after the drywall finisher was done, the fridge didn't fit into it's built in.

My favorite part of the kitchen!