30 September 2014
Stained another 99 shingles in the morning. Put up shingles on the west wall, getting 11
courses done before I ran out of stained material. Found a half-eaten acorn under Dolores’
kitchen sink… not a good sign! Also
(after only 5 years of living with Dolores) finally found out what the
second electrical switch in the bathroom does: it turns off the water pump!
29 September 2014
Over the weekend, discovered that when we changed
the size of the windows in the two Guest Bedrooms, I never updated my
fenestration spreadsheet to reflect that change. Consequently, when I used a printout from
that spreadsheet to order the house windows, the delivery last week included
two CW34 (6′ x 4′ emergency escape
triple casement) windows vice the two CW24 (4′ x 4′ emergency escape double casement) windows that we
want. Tim Combs (Goodro’s part-owner and
their primary window and door person) will send a letter to Anderson requesting
a return for credit and replacement.
This just proves that the old sobriquet, “The client is always right!”
should really say, “The client needs adult supervision!” Stained another 99 shingles in the
morning. Installed the bottom 9 courses
of shingles on the south wall of the sauna building… which is over half of that
wall done because of the window. Evicted
a chipmunk from the basement. Down the
hill to Marty & Merry’s for Cornish game hens for dinner. Delightful company and delicious food, as
always!
28 September 2014
Another glorious Indian Summer day; temps in the
upper 70’s and rarely a cloud in the sky.
No bugs ‘cause we’ve already had a hard frost. Stained another 99 beers in the wall
shingles in the morning. After lunch,
stapled 6 courses of shingles onto the north wall of the sauna building, then
made preparations for starting the south wall.
Lake water temperature is still 68°, so went for a very refreshing swim. Water level is 18″ below the top of the
dock.
27 September 2014
Stained another 99 shingles in the morning. (The 100th clothes pin is no
longer with us. Very sad!) Today being perfect Indian Summer weather,
after lunch gave Dolores’ carpets their annual shampoo. Then went looking for an internet connection,
with no joy everywhere I tried. Finished installing the house rafter tie-downs. Installed the brackets and 2x4’s that will hold the rows of firewood in place
inside the northern half of the woodshed.
Thought seriously about going for a swim, but then chickened out
decided it was time for dinner instead.
26 September 2014
Steve and I climbed Mt. Osceola (elevation 4,156 feet) in the
morning. We were the first ones on top
this day after an invigorating 3.2 mile trek.
On the way back down, we passed at least 50 more people making the
ascent. Absolutely gorgeous weather with
(I’m told) views of 40 out of the 48 peaks in New Hampshire that are higher
than 4,000 feet. Headed back to Fern
Lake early afternoon. Just after leaving
Steve & Carole’s, a bull moose crossed a short distance in front of the
truck on the Stinson Lake road. Saw a
great motivational sign in Woodstock, VT.
“Always give 100%... unless you’re at a blood drive”. (Oddly enough, there was a blood drive ongoing.) Got back to Fern Lake at 4:15.
25 September 2014
The Goose Creek crew (Fred, Luther, Ty, and Ian)
started arriving before 7. Good thing,
too, as the Goodro’s truck showed up promptly at 7. By the time Sean got here to supervise at
7:30, all of the house windows (plus some miscellaneous goodies) had been
unloaded and placed near where they will be installed next year. After the Goose Creek folks departed for
greener pastures, stained another 100 shingles.
Hit the road at 10:20, stopping in Burlington to spend a few more
dollars at Lowe’s and pick up another four gallons of Cabot Weatherizing
Stain. Then drove to Plymouth, NH to
procure a new Jonsered CS2253. Saw some
spectacular fall foliage at the higher elevations along I-89. Stayed overnight with Steve and Carole Osmer,
catching up on news from over the past year and enjoying a fabulous repast.
24 September 2014
Stained another 100 shingles in the morning. Finished putting shingles on the east wall of
the sauna building and started doing the same to the north wall. While waiting for stain to dry, almost
finished installing the house rafter tie-downs; only two more to do. Nonstop phone calls early afternoon
coordinating the next couple of days’ activities.
23 September 2014
Stained another 100
shingles in the morning, then stapled a bunch more to the east wall of the
sauna building in the afternoon. Do you
begin to see a pattern here? The Fyles
Brothers truck came by to give Dolores a 13.4 gallon drink of propane.
22 September 2014
Stained another 100
shingles in the morning, then stapled a bunch more to the east wall of the
sauna building in the afternoon. Marty
and Merry came up for what Merry described as my best lasagna yet. Guess it weren’t too terrible bad!
21 September 2014
Stained another batch
of shingles. Calculated that, at the rate the Weatherizing Stain is
disappearing, the sauna building is going to consume over 6 gallons of stain,
twice as much as went on the woodshed.
Hope this means that the sauna will be twice as protected… Went into Brandon to use the internet and buy
victuals. Spent most of the afternoon
cooking, making preparations for tomorrow night’s grand repast. My brother, Steve, stopped by late afternoon
for a tour, short visit, and beer. He
was out touring on his new motorcycle and just decided to pop in.
20 September 2014
Completely filled the
back of the Tacoma with the recyclables I've been collecting since July and delivered same to the Leicester “dump”,
which consists of two garbage trucks (one for recyclables, one for trash) that
park down at the town garage in the mornings on the 1st and 3rd
Saturdays of each month. Spent the day
doing laundry and helping Perry haul firewood from his woodlot to his storage /
spitting area. He served another
fabulous lunch, worthy of a 5-star restaurant.
In the evening took Lynne, Perry, Sean, and Ashley out for dinner at the
Shoreham Inn. Excellent food and lively
conversation, though Sean sure can tell
a great ghost story, so maybe that should be deadly conversation!
19 September 2014
Finished staining the
first square of shingles for the sauna building… only three more squares to
go. Groan! Put six courses of shingles on the east side
of the sauna building, which used up pretty much all of the shingles stained to
date. They sure go on a lot faster than
it takes to dip ‘em and dry ‘em. Ordered
the brackets that will be used to hold in place the 2x4’s that will brace the
interior ends of the rows of firewood in the woodshed. And here you were
thinking that the woodshed was completed ages ago. Not quite! Finished The Long Way Home, the latest Chief Inspector Armand Gamache novel
by Louise Penny.
18 September 2014
Jeff Many came back to
(in theory) quickly finish the garage door install. I dipped another batch of shingles while he
was doing his thing. After awhile, he
came down the hill to tell me that his distributor had sent him the door opener
hardware for 7 foot high doors, not the 8 foot doors we’re putting in. Jeff was most perturbed about the screw up
and promised to return as soon as the right hardware arrives. I packed up and headed to Burlington to do
errands and drop off the sick air compressor at Burlington Tool Repair (which
is actually in Essex Junction). Took
Alverta out to lunch and shopping for a new telephone to replace one of hers that
recently died mysteriously. Borrowed
Perry’s air compressor on the way back to Fern Lake.
17 September 2014
Jeff Many arrived at 9
to start installing the two Wayne Dalton 8300 series 8 x 9 garage doors. After getting him settled to his work, I did
a timed trial to see how long it really takes to dip cedar shingles. Bottom line: 2 hours to do ¼ square (1 square
= 100 square feet of coverage with a nominal 5″ exposure on each course). The sauna building will take 4 squares. The
house will require close on to 22 squares.
Looks like we’ll be buying pre-finished shingles for the house… Sean stopped by to bring me the 1¼″ stainless
steel staples I special ordered from Goodro’s yesterday (that’s what is used to
fasten the cedar shingles to the wall sheathing) and to do his building
inspector imitation. After lunch, had just
finished the first course of shingles on the east side of the sauna building
when my air compressor stopped working. Perfect
timing, he says with heavy sarcasm.
Bought the misbegotten son of a xxxxx in March 2013… with a one
year warranty. The Stanley Bostitch rep
I called said the nearest repair facility was just outside Albany, NY (2½ hour
drive away). Bother! But, looked online and found that there is an
authorized Bostitch repair place in Essex Junction. Called them, only to find they have a four
week backlog at the moment. Double
bother!! Decided this would be a good
day to finish the open bottle of gin.
16 September 2014
Took $300 worth of
lumber and other leftover items back to Goodro’s. Got a call later from Ann, one of their
accounting people, to tell me that I was her most favorite customer ever… for
giving her a detailed list of all the items returned, including the invoice
numbers. Sometimes it pays to be a Type
A. Set up my cedar shingle dipping and
drying operation after lunch, with the weather clearing as forecast. Rained when I was halfway through treating
the first 100 shingles… of course! For
some reason that batch isn’t drying any too fast… Made the sauna building
storyboard, which is a piece of stock that is marked with exactly where the
bottom of each course of shingles will be relative to the soffit; that distance
changes from 415/16″ above the window sills to 4¾″ below
that point. Used the storyboard to mark
each corner of the building, which will ensure that all the shingle courses
align going around the building. Took
the plunge, literally, and went into the lake to raise the dock steps into
their winter storage position. Them
suckers were H∙E∙A∙V∙Y after being immersed since mid-April! The water was, to
say the least, bracing refreshing chilly nice, once you
got numb. Over to Lapidus’ for a
delicious “hodgepodge” that Merry created starring some succulent shrimp,
avocado, and all the vegetables she could find in her refrigerator.
15 September 2014
Finally trundled out
of the RV at 9… sure is nice being able to sleep as late as I want vice having
to be ready for work at 7. Cut and
installed the 5/4 x 1¾″ KOMA pieces that bridge between
the window / door / corner trim at the top of the sauna building walls. Then gave the soffits, fascias, feature
strips, window and door trim, and corner trim their final coat of paint
(Valspar Medallion White 4300). Put on
the 6″ insect screen at the top of the walls (keeps critters from getting down
into the Home Slicker behind the cedar shingles) and was just starting the
bottom pieces when… I found out that I hadn’t bought as much screen material as
I thought I had on Saturday. In project
transition mode, went back up towards the woodshed and found a UPS package in
the garage… the light fixture for the sauna.
So installed that light, discovering in the process that yesterday I had
put in the switch upside down. Problem
easily fixed. Lake temperature is 68°
and the water level is 16″ below the top of the dock. On Saturday I put five very dead
wooden pallets out by the road with a spray-painted FREE sign on them. This evening they were gone. My neighbor across the street, Dave Todd,
said he put a whole bunch of poplar wood out awhile ago, and it sat there for
months, until he changed the sign from FREE to $20. The wood then disappeared overnight…
14 September 2014
A raw, nasty morning,
spent finding an internet connection that would work at more than a snail’s
pace, then catching up on blog postings and email. No joy at Kate’s (two connections), the
Salisbury Free Library, or the Brandon Free Library. Finally found an unsecured
router in Brandon… undoubtedly owned by some hacker who is now pillaging my
back account. The weather broke for the
better after lunch, so finished the electrical work in the sauna building,
minus installing the special high temperature / wet environment light fixture
for inside the sauna itself (en route from Seattle via UPS). Then spent an enjoyable hour (yes, yes, I
know I need to get a life) placing the sauna stove rocks into the bin on top of
the stove. Thought the stove seller had
sent me twice as many rocks as would be needed, but only ended up with a dozen
left over. As the sun was sinking in the
west, jury-rigged a looped “clothesline” for drying cedar shingles, using my
100 foot logging cable, the snatch block, one of the blocks from the 5-fold
purchase, and the come-along (to tension the cable). Pretty slick (if I do say so myself),
assuming it works as advertised…
13 September 2014
Spent the morning and
part of the afternoon moving everything out of the north end of the woodshed in
hopes that Santa Alex soon will be here… to chop, split, and stack some
firewood. Put the four squares of cedar
shingles in the basement, close to where I’m going to set up a dipping and
drying station. Once the woodshed was
neat and clean, transitioned to electrician mode and started wiring in the two
lights and second receptacle in the sauna building, discovering that I am 10
feet shy of the 12-2 AWG wire needed for that project. Rained all afternoon but, miracle of
miracles, the house is completely dry on the inside! Left a voicemail for Sean, undoubtedly making
his weekend one of joy and thanksgiving…
12 September 2014
Fall fell overnight…
was sweatshirt weather today. Knowing
that Perry was going to be late arriving this morning, didn’t roll out of bed
until 7:45… guess I must have been tired.
Brian showed up at 8 (a true Vermonter, he was dressed in t-shirt and
shorts) to put Grace Ice & Water Shield® and Roofguard II® underlayment
on the house and sauna building roofs. By the time I finished getting ready to
face the day, picked up some of the waste from Brian’s endeavors (stuffing the
backing paper from the ice & water shield back into the box the roll comes
in), and put the handles on the sauna’s pocket door, Perry pulled in. We installed
the pocket door, then put the sauna stove exactly where I wanted it and shimmed
the gravestones so that the stove sits on them solidly and reasonably level. That done, we cut an elliptical hole in the
roof directly above the stove’s flue pipe attachment point. Then we installed
the 10″ x 10″ square metal sleeve that protects the ceiling joists and attic
insulation from the chimney’s heat and supports the weight of the insulated metal
chimney. Finally, we put together the
insulated metal chimney pipe and then fabricated metal brackets to brace that
pipe where it goes through the roof sheathing.
That done, Perry packed up all the rest of his tools and departed for
greener pastures. Once Brian finished
the sauna and we had picked up the rest of the roofing activity detritus, we
kicked back for a well-deserved malt beverage, whereupon I noticed my cell
phone was (once again) missing in action.
As soon as Brian left, went searching for the phone. While making
increasingly frantic sweeps between the woodshed and the sauna building, Tammy
arrived over at Kate’s to check on work Nate has been doing there this
week. Went over to say hello and ask her
to call my cell phone. She did, three
times, with nothing heard anywhere I was working this afternoon. Meanwhile, over at the Kevin’s Roofing shop
(only a couple of miles away, just on the other side of Fern Lake), Brian was
just throwing the last ice & water shield box into the dumpster when the
box started ringing! Brian very kindly
brought the box back over here where, sure enough, we found the phone, still in
its carrying case, mixed in with the backing paper stuffed into the box. Whew!
11 September 2014
Was supposed to rain
today… 80% chance! I needed it to
rain today to check the watertight integrity of the house roof again. So, of course, we got a total of 80 drops
of rain… not even enough to cause us to cover up the saws. Perry and I built the interior wall that
separates the dressing area from the sauna room and into which the pocket door
will slide. Brian came by mid-morning to take measurements of the house and
sauna building so he could start bending metal for the roofs. Perry left at 2, whereupon I spent some time
cleaning up the area around the sauna building, then sawed, shaped, and sanded
a 2x4 into two handles for the sauna pocket door. With the sun shining brightly
at 5:30, I clambered onto the house roof yet again and applied a second coat of
Thompson’s Waterseal® to the chimney.
10 September 2014
In the morning, Perry
and I installed all the fascias and feature strips on the sauna building. In the afternoon, we installed all the corner
trim. Just before quitting time we installed the stainless steel chimney cap
for the house. However, the cap came
with a flimsy pressure attachment system that I didn’t like t’all. So the first thing I did was to modify the
cap and then drill four ¼″ holes near the top of the chimney flue so that we
could bolt the cap to the chimney. Now,
not even a hurricane will take that cap away, yet it will come off easily by
backing out the bolts. That project done, I sprayed all the exposed chimney
masonry with Thompson’s Waterseal®.
9 September 2014
Perry and I installed
the ThermaTru® 2868 door in the sauna building. I departed for Burlington at 9:30 to purchase
metal chimney components for the sauna stove, electrical materials for the
sauna building lights, visit Trowel Trades (confirming that we ordered and
received the correct cube of bricks), and take Alverta for driving cognition
and reaction time tests ordered by her doctor.
While I was gone Sean and Ty returned my trailer and did some more Zip
Tape patching on the house roof. Perry
put on the KOMA casing for the two sauna building windows and door, plus started
to install roll flashing at the bottom of the walls where the deck will attach
to the sauna building.
8 September 2014
Called Sean promptly
at 7 to let him know about the two additional roof leaks. Brian Dunleavy pulled
in a few minutes later, ready to start putting on the fabric they use under
standing seam metal roofs. After
consulting with Sean, asked Brian to come back on Friday so that (a) Goose
Creek can try again to stop the roof leaks on Tuesday and (b) we can float test
the results in the rain that is forecast for Thursday. Perry and I finished putting up the sauna
building soffits, then started stapling 30# builder’s felt (aka: tar paper) to
the wall sheathing. Perry left for a
dentist appointment midmorning. While he
was gone, I went over the sauna building roof with a fine tooth broom, applying
Zip Tape to anything that even vaguely looked like a hole in the
sheathing. Then I started filling the
house basement control joints with a special concrete caulk… running out of
caulk just as the low lunch alarm went off.
When Perry returned after lunch, we put up some more tar paper, then installed
the two Anderson 400 series 135R casement windows, following the taping and
sealing procedure Sean uses. Them windows is totally waterproof! Perry and I
finished the day by finishing the tar papering.
7 September 2014
Found two more areas
where the roof leaked overnight. Not new
spots, but seem to be poorly sealed horizontal seams vice nail/screw holes. Lit
the sauna stove for the first time and kept feeding the firebox all
morning. Fire still going when I went
for my 5 o’clock swim! Put the final
coat of varnish on the sauna pocket door.
Finished backfilling the electric / water line trench down to the sauna
building, quite a bit by hand (literally) and the rest with the backhoe. Gave the Kubota a nice bath in thanks for
getting me down the hill and back up again with no difficulties.
6 September 2014
Put two coats of
polyurethane varnish on the sauna pocket door.
Installed the special tie-downs that attach the LVL roof rafters to the
rest of the house, thereby keeping the roof from flying away in a hurricane… or
a direct hit from a small nuclear device.
Was supposed to rain today and almost didn’t. In the midst of the single half-hour late
afternoon moderate rain shower, Sean pulled in.
We discovered two nail holes in the roof, one of which was dripping
water… but every other previous problem area was dry. Praise be!!!!
We also found two nail holes, but no seams, that were leaking water down at the sauna
building.
5 September 2014
Perry and I worked all
day putting up the soffit vents and soffits.
Got all but two pieces installed when (a) Kevin Haight showed up for a
beer and his bill for building the chimney (MUCH less than we had budgeted) and
(b) Perry’s Paslode® finish nailer started to malfunction. So called it a day, moved the sauna stove
outside so I can do the required “burn in” this weekend, and went down to Marty
& Merry’s for some single malt restorative, another delicious salmon
dinner, and some good conversation.
4 September 2014
After 3 years of not
having a proper home, Perry and I moved the Kastor KS-20 sauna stove into its
final resting place atop the gravestone hearth.
Perry figured out the layout for the soffit outlooks. Then I cut and he and I installed the 40+
outlooks; Perry also put up additional framing for the soffit that will be
under the wide overhang where the building’s exterior door is located. I went to Goodro’s to get 5 sheets of ½″ MDO
to be used for the soffits and then put a first coat of paint on those
sheets. At the end of the work day Perry
and I applied Zip Tape to all the sauna building roof seams and rolled them
down T∙I∙G∙H∙T. That baby had better not
leak!
3 September 2014
Busted! Sean came out first thing this morning to
look at the roof leaks, then came back with Ty right after lunch. The two of them inspected every roof seam and
found no signs of leaks. Sean says I
must be going into the house with the hose and spraying water around, and the
reason it’s never in the same place twice is because I’m old and can’t remember
where I put the puddles the last time.
Got me! Actually, they put
another 2½ rolls of Zip Tape over all the horizontal seams and rolled the
excrement out of all the seams. Rain
forecast for Friday night. If the roof
doesn’t leak, Sean wants me to call him on Saturday. If I don’t call then, he’s leaving the
country… with no forwarding address.
Meanwhile, down at the sauna building, Perry finished putting on the
roof sheathing, scavenging all the pieces from the house roof “waste”. One bad thing about hipped roofs: there is a LOT
of waste because of all the angle cuts.
They sure do look good, though! I
finished putting in the wall blocking.
Goodro’s boom truck came to take away the considerable concrete block
and cement that was leftover from the chimney construction. I also used the Goose Creek laser level to
verify that the opening we’d left in the sauna roof structure was NOT in the
right place… had to move a ceiling joist and a rafter header south an inch and
a half to provide the required 2″ clearance around the stove flue pipe. I thoroughly washed the roof to remove all
traces of sawdust, spruce needles, and other construction detritus.
2 September 2014
Perry adjusted the
seat cut on one additional rafter, then made all the plumb and level cuts on
the sauna building rafter tails. He then
installed the 2x6 sub-fascias. Using
just three pieces of the “scrap” ⅝″ Zip System sheathing left over from the
house construction, he put on the north side of the sauna building roof. Mr. Blockhead, while all the foregoing was going
on, installed all but six pieces of the wall blocking inside the sauna room. The quality-control inspector discovered one
hurricane tie attached to the wrong rafter and two others which had not been
fully nailed into position. Hmmm…
1 September 2014
After attending to
Lynne’s cats, tackled cleaning and straightening out the woodshed, which had
become totally trashed while being used as a tool storage area during this
summer’s house construction. Finished
that Herculean task early enough that I could take the two hours of relaxation
I allow myself each month. Marty & Merry came up for BBQ chicken,
Kingsley’s corn, Dave’s potato salad (improved by Doug), and Gifford’s
Sugarloaf Mint Chip frozen yogurt. After
the cooking was done, threw a piece of Roxul® insulation on the fire
to see if it really is fireproof, as alleged.
Myth confirmed!
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