30 June 2015

Sonny and Ian (the latter freshly returned from a weekend getting sunburned in Virginia) pulled in at 7 and got to work putting up the 2x4 walls inboard of the concrete around the perimeter of the lower level.  Jimmy, James, and Wink Rhodes from Ploof Excavating all arrived at 7:45 and got busy creating two enormous holes in the future croquet court yard on the west side of the house. Once everyone was settled in, Delores and I took a jaunt to Kampersville (for a through purging), then to Goodro’s (where getting turned around proved to be a bit of a challenge), then to Desabrais Glass (to pick up the new garage door transom light… and completely block their driveway), and finally to Hannaford’s (to get Chree’s favorite gin… that the Brandon store didn’t have yesterday).  The further we went the more Delores seemed to like it; guess she needed the exercise.  Back at Fern Lake by 10 and set to work making Delores squeaky clean (which, of course, lasted for approximately 2 seconds after the dogs got here).  At noon, Jimmy was informed that there would be a multi-hour delay in the septic tanks’ arrival.  Chree and canine companions arrived with the rain at 2 o’clock.  The Camp Precast Concrete truck showed up at 3:30… with the wrong septic tank loaded on board.  (They brought a 1,000 tank; we had ordered a much more spacious 1,500 gallon home for our human waste.)  After some hairy moments (the truck proved not to be quite as stable as the driver was expecting), the pump tank (which was the right size) was put in its hole.  There were multiple things about the way that tank was configured and placed that I didn’t like, but after thrashing through solutions with Jimmy, I decided not to send the tank back.  Time will tell whether that was the right decision.
P.S.  Chree did not like the porch v-groove ceiling.



29 June 2015

Sonny arrived at 7 and, over the course of the morning, put in all the blocking between the floor joists where the top plates of the basement walls will be attached, where those walls run parallel to the joists.  I helped with some of the chop-sawing.  Sean came for a couple of hours late morning (staying again for lunch… is there a pattern developing here?) to talk about design and construction methodology issues.  In the afternoon, Sonny and I laid out the basement interior wall and doorway rough opening positions for the utility room, both guest bedrooms, and the guest bath.  That effort turned out to be trickier than expected due to a certain lack of squareness in the concrete foundation… and that some of the through slab plumbing lines weren’t exactly where they were “supposed” to be.  Can you say, “Ooops”?  With a few minutes left in the workday, figured I had time to get to Green Mountain Electric before they closed at 5.  Arrived at 4:27 to find the door locked… but the employees hadn’t left yet (they really close at 4:30), so they let me in to quickly buy 440 feet of Schedule 40 PVC electrical conduit and associated fittings, some of which will become the septic system vent line.  Nothing but the finest for our crap, that’s my motto!  For dinner took a bunch of leftovers down the hill to combine with Kate’s.  We also “sampled” a bottle of Sapling maple-flavored bourbon that I ostensibly bought for Chree today.  That stuff slid down far, far too easily!

28 June 2015

Rained really hard for about 5 hours starting just before midnight. Arose when the rain abated and was ready for work at 6:30 (it is a Sunday, after all), so figured I’d install the latch handle and deadbolt on the house main entry door and change out the sauna deadbolt before my 8 o’clock appointment to do a small home-handyman job for Marty & Merry.  Installing door hardware is a simple job… except today it seems.  Very frustrating, but finally got it done well after my visit down the hill.  Tom and John Williams (now there be two peas out of the same pod!) came by late morning to talk about well pump and waterline installation logistics.  Finished Geocel® caulking the house main level exterior wall sill plate seams after the Williams brothers left.  After lunch spent some quality time at Dirty Works in Brandon and procuring victuals that Chree has requested.  Got back to the RV and got everything stowed away by mid-afternoon and then (hide the children’s eyes for this next part), took a nap.  Arisen anew considerably refreshed, got Mr. Jonsered prepared for Alex’s visit next weekend. Went down to Kate’s for a delicious spaghetti, meaty balls, and vino fino dinner.

27 June 2015

Loaded up the Tacoma with all the recyclables (four tons of cardboard boxes that the Anderson windows came in plus assorted other stuff) and headed down to the Leicester recycling facility… that is open on the first and third Saturdays of the month, and this is the fourth Saturday.  So brought it all back again and had just finished unloading everything when Marty told me the Brandon recycling facility is open today.  Too late!  Big project for today was to seal the Garage floor with the special (read: expensive) sealant that keeps salt from getting into the concrete.  That product is put on with a 9″ paint roller, which obviously is much easier done standing up rather than crawling around on your knees.  Discovered that my paint roller extension handles were all in Virginia, even though, when I was in Virginia and actually had my hands on one of those handles, I was sure there was at least one in Vermont.  Grrrr!  Fortunately, Marty had an old brush handle that did the trick, and the Garage floor has its first coat of sealant.  (A second and final coat will go on this fall.)  Jimmy Ploof stopped by twice to drop off more heavy equipment.  Spent part of the afternoon wrestling with Nature, who put up a good fight… lost a tee shirt and gained a scar during the battle.

26 June 2015

You know it could be a perfect day when you arise at dawn to beautiful weather, spend a few hours using a chainsaw, burn a huge pile of slash without setting the tractor on fire, get a $4,000 delivery from Goodro’s, convince the Dig Safe guy to mark out the power line down to the waterfront (so, okay, that line is going to cause us fits come Monday, but that’s two days away), take a cleansing and cooling dip in the lake, and get invited to Marty & Merry’s for a nice rare flank steak on the grill, then scare up a herd of deer as I staggered strolled sedately up the hill to the RV. Unfortunately, my right leg again was acting up all day, somewhat spoiling the perfection.

25 June 2015

Sonny arrived at 7 whereupon we spent an interesting, not to say fun-filled, hour and a half using my radial arm saw to make 1 x 8 v-groove boards (which Goodro’s had in stock) look like 1 x 4 v-groove boards (which Goodro’s did not have in stock).  These will become the ceiling over the Porch under the overhang outside the front door to the house.  James Ploof showed up in the middle of the woodworking festivities with spray paint and white flags which I was asked to use (and did) to mark the septic system force main location so the Dig Safe person (who was supposed to be here today but never showed up) can mark the utility interferences, i.e., the power lines that the force main trench will cross.  After the woodworking fun, Sonny and I finished putting the corner boards on the house, with the two on the west side measuring over 17 feet long with commensurate weight and awkward handling. Then we moved on to creating the Porch, first taking off the sheathing that protected that area over the winter, then framing in the ceiling, which required heading off one of the existing joists to create an opening for a recessed light that will be illuminate the Porch.  We packed 6″ Roxul® insulation into the wing wall that separates the south side of the Porch from the Garage.  Even though the Garage will not be heated, it is going to be insulated and dry walled.  Using Zip System® sheathing that we cut out of large window openings and “scrap” MDO left over from installing the soffits, we sheathed the two Porch wing walls and around the front door.  Finally we put up three of the v-groove ceiling boards so that Chree can tell us how nice they look when she gets here on Tuesday.

 

24 June 2015

There’s was a doe foraging around the RV this morning, who I saw for the first time the other day.  We’ll see if this remains part of her territory once the dogs get here next week…  Sonny pulled in at 7, per usual on a sunny day.  Git it?  We started work on the main level windows on the west side of the house, which, because of their exalted elevation, are challenging and not for the feint of height.  The Living Room window was especially tricky because one buck of staging is only 7 feet long and that window is just over 12 feet long.  The Goodro’s truck got here (for the first time) at 8, bringing the 6 x 6 x 20 prefabricated KOMA® corner trim pieces… which turned out to weigh a ton… well, maybe not literally, but we wouldn’t have gotten them off the truck without the Kubota’s forklift.  Shortly before noon we realized that we were going to run out of 5/4 x 4 KOMA® and Phenoseal® caulking before finishing the window trim.  Called Goodro’s and, true to form, the additional material we needed was here in 2½ hours… without them having to make a special trip just for us.  Got the window trim all done and were just transitioning to the corner trim when Jimmy Ploof showed up to drop off BOTH of his large excavators.  Guess it takes some heavy machinery when you’re shoveling $#!^!  Jimmy will be back on Monday to start work… on Kate’s water line and our septic system.  After working in the hot sun most of the afternoon, a couple of brown bottle liquid refreshments and then a plunge off the dock were a perfect end to a productive day.  Ricky Nicklaw, the Leicester Fire Warden, called to give permission for me to burn the brush pile on Friday.

23 June 2015

Started raining hard overnight and continued into daylight hours… scaring away the goose, again.  During one mid-morning deluge the water coming off the roof valley was hitting the ground 6 feet from the house corner.  (Yeah, I know, who in his right mind goes out to measure something like that during a downpour?)  Tackled the accumulated list of indoor chores. Moved all the scrap used but good Zip System® sheathing out of the garage (will be used to panel the inside of the Utility Room) preparatory to sealing the garage floor this coming weekend.  Unpacked, installed, then Type A labeled all the window screens, confirming that we got what was ordered… and that we can remember where each screen goes when we go to install them again next spring / summer.  Removed the ugly transom light over the garage people door and took it to Desabrais Glass to have a new one fabricated without the grilles.  Removing that window would have been easy if ThermaTru hadn’t used Geosel® to seal the window to the frame.  And speaking of Geosel®, used up all the rest on hand sealing about 75% the seam between the exterior wall sill plates and the subfloor on the house main level.  Sun came out just after noon, so Marty & Merry came up to help me survey elevations on the path between our abodes so that I can make some improvements there per Merry’s long-standing request.  The Lapidii’s take on the 5068 French door was that it looks “undernourished”.  Marty also helped me survey the leach field, which confirmed what my eye was saying, i.e., the north ends of the dispersion trenches will be about 2 feet further underground than the south ends.  Confirmed with Tyler and Jimmy that this will not be a problem so long as, per the design, the trenches themselves are level.

22 June 2015

Sonny got here just before 7 and started work putting the 5/4 x 4 KOMA® exterior trim around the windows and doors.  I went into Middlebury to follow up on getting shot last month, getting back to Fern Lake at 9:45 to find four windows done already.  I then took the job of putting the plugs in the Cortex® screw holes and caulking between the trim and window casing.  Now I don’t mind caulking, but the only lubricant that keeps silicone caulk from sticking to your fingers is saliva.  Would it be asking too much for the manufacturer to put a little wintergreen flavoring in the caulk?  Sean came by for a couple of hours to talk about construction details and scheduling… and have lunch.  As always, he had some excellent ideas about seemingly minor design elements that make the difference between an okay house and a stunner.  Sonny and I finished all the trim (caveat: except for a coat of paint) on the north, east, and south sides of the house before he had to rush off to be late meeting his wife in Vergennes and I had to rush down to a date with the lake.  The water temperature is up to a VERY pleasant 75° and, after all the recent rain, the water level now is 10″ below the top of the dock.  Down t’ Marty & Merry’s for dinner prepared on their brand new Weber Spirit gas grill. Delicious food and delightful conversation, as always!  Just at dark the mosquito control truck pulled down Kate’s driveway, started spraying, took the “cut-through” to our driveway, and continued spraying out to Route 53.  So, in other words, they did half of Kate’s driveway and half of ours.  I suppose two halves do make a whole, but…

 

21 June 2015

A rainy day Sunday, perfect for catching up on indoor chores.  Cleaned the house and put away tools and assorted stray materials all morning.  Also gave a lot of thought to the tension between security and rapid egress for the eight doors that need some form of deadbolt and door latch combination installed. Went down to Home Depot in Rutland after lunch to return the malfunctioning door latch handle set plus two deadbolt / latch handle sets that my morning’s ponderings showed we would not need.  Couldn’t find the double deadbolt sets we do need and was told they may be discontinued.  Yikes! So, when Tasi called to wish me a Happy Father’s Day, asked him to try to find those sets at the Home Depot in Springfield.  Listed the too small Anderson C23 window and “5068” patio door for sale on Craigslist Vermont at a steep discount to what they cost.  No calls yet…

20 June 2015

Spent the day with Mr. Jonsered clearing all the trees from the area where the leach field will be installed.  There were a lot more trees that had to come down than I originally thought.  Must have been male-pattern blindness when I scoped the job with both Tyler and Jimmy.  Most of trees were smallish, but one 20″ diameter maple was right in the middle.  Hated to take down that tree, but Chree is insisting we have flush toilets in the house.  Mr. Kubota made many, many trips hauling slash from the clearing to the burn pile, which has grown to gigantic proportions once again.  Was pretty well whipped by the end of the day so a quick dip in the lake sure did feel wonderful!  Saw Kate (out kayaking) while I was cooling off and got her permission to run the septic force main alongside her driveway (but still on our property) for 75 feet or so, which will save having to cut down several trees, but will make a mess out of her driveway during the construction.  Kate suggested liberal use of gin and tonic to relieve the aches and pains that the lake immersion didn’t cure.  Smart lady!
 

19 June 2015

Sonny arrived promptly at 7 (no Ian today).  In two hours we removed the Bedroom #1 window header and associated framing, then reinstalled the whole shootin’ works 18″ further south so that the window will be properly aligned underneath the Sun Room window.  By lunchtime both guest bedroom windows were installed.  Not a bad morning’s work for two old guys!  After lunch we tried to herniate ourselves while moving the Anderson 5068 French door unit from the Garage into the Sun Room so that we could visualize how that unit will look next to the majestic Sun Room windows.  One word answer: puny.  After taking many pictures to send off to Chree and Sean, Sonny and I spent the rest of the afternoon putting the frieze boards on the Sauna building, then encasing with KOMA® the warped 4 x 6 post that holds up the southwest corner.  Just as Sonny and I were finishing our post-workday liquid refreshments, Jimmy Ploof stopped by to talk about septic system installation logistics and schedule.  Aided by even more liquid refreshments, Jimmy and I spent an enjoyable hour chatting… and even made some meaningful decisions.  Jimmy will be back here on the 29th to start work and expects the septic system installation to take around a week.

 

18 June 2015

Woke up at 5 and decided that was MUCH too early to rise.  Next thing I knew it was 6:30.  Sonny arrived for work at 6:37!  Ian arrived shortly after 7 and they got busy installing the Shop and Guest Bath windows.  After a quick breakfast and assured there was never a line, I headed into the open-on-Thursdays-only Vermont DMV office in Middlebury.  Got there at 8:10 (they open at 8) to find a crowded waiting room and that I would have been 15th in line.  Picked up the vehicle registration form I needed and left, stopped at Hannaford’s to get beer for the boys, stopped at Goodro’s to order another $1,000 worth of materials, and was back to Fern Lake by 9:15.  By that time the two Lower Level windows were installed.  So we started working on the Sun Room French doors.  Even though I ordered a 5068 door and the box said it contained a 5068 door, apparently Anderson (unlike virtually every other door manufacturer) uses the door rough opening, vice the actual size of the door, in their nomenclature.  So the VERY expensive door we just bought is 3″ too short.  Chree’s answer to this problem was that we will never invite any tall people to visit…  More news on this issue after I’ve finished the Scotch we’ve had a chance to sleep on the problem for a few days.  Put the French doors back in the Garage and started work on the main entry door.  After that door was in place, but, thankfully, before it was permanently attached to the framing, Sonny asked about the flooring that will be installed in the Foyer.  When told “½″ slate” he pointed out that, with that flooring thickness and the minimal height handicap accessible door threshold we had ordered, the door would not open.  So we raised the door ½″ using some leftover MDO, avoiding a potential calamity.  Thank you, Sonny!!!!  Sean stopped by late morning to review progress and make an excellent design recommendation for the Porch ceiling.  Exactly as Ian had predicted, the Goodro’s truck showed up just as soon as we sat down to lunch.  After lunch we tackled moving the rough opening for the Bedroom #2 window to the north 4½″ so that the window will be properly aligned underneath the Living / Dining window.  No surprise given how strong Goose Creek has been building the house, taking out that window header and associated wall framing was a major undertaking.  But we got ‘er done and the window rough opening re-framed before beer-thirty.  Went over to Kate’s for a delightful wine and appetizers get together.  As dusk was settling in, Kate, her mother (Corrie) and two of Corrie’s friends (Bob and Trudy Iddings) who are visiting for the week, came over for a full tour.

17 June 2015

A beautiful day for working: not too hot with a nice breeze to keep the mosquitoes away.  Ian and Sonny got here at 8, having stopped en route to round up some scaffolding.  First thing on the agenda was to move my drill press and wood planer from the back of the Tacoma into the Shop.  Unfortunately, the drill press did not handle the transition well and will need some repairs before it can be used again.  Getting the planer off the truck using the Kubota’s forks was a LOT easier than loading it on by hand.   Truck empty, we got back to work putting in Main Level windows.  After lunch I was dispatched to Goodro’s to procure another roll of 9″ Vycor® (used to seal the window sills against moisture intrusion).  While I was gone, Ian and Sonny tried to install the C23 double casement Kitchen window into the rough opening we created last summer for a C235 window.  The C23 fit easily, but there was 6″ left over at the top.  Color me an idiot for, once again, making a change to a window size, having the rough opening framing modified to match, and then forgetting to update the spreadsheet that was used to place the window order.  Looks like Craigslist will be getting another advertisement…  Because of the severe slope that precludes using “normal” staging, putting in the south-facing Sun Room window was a tad perilous.  Ian and I had to manhandle a very heavy, very large window while working WAY UP in the air off a bouncy 12″ wide by 13 foot long aluminum plank which is rated to carry 300 pounds but was being asked (politely) to support about 500 pounds.  Guess we shouldn’t have had that second serving of raspberry bars for lunch.  By quitting time all of the Main Level windows were installed except for the C235 Kitchen window that Goodro’s has ordered.  Barbequed the pork chops that I had intended to serve to Marty and Merry last night (but didn’t due to yesterday’s inclement weather).  The spaghetti was definitely better!

 


16 June 2015

Houston, the geese have landed!  Was expecting them at 8; Ian Birkett and Ralph “Sonny” Torrey showed up at 6:55, with Sean following shortly thereafter.  The Fyles Brothers truck arrived at 8:15 to give Delores a 15 gallon drink of propane.  Just as the fuel truck was leaving, Tyler Maynard arrived to stake out the leach field location.  We were able to finagle the placement enough that several large trees can remain in that area and still meet the leach field setback requirements.  In case you were wondering (or even if you weren’t) if trees are too close to the leach field, they get an unfair nutrient advantage, so to keep things fair, the State has mandated that all trees be back a minimum of 10 feet.  And if you believe that one,…  Ian and Sonny cut holes in the exterior wall sheathing while I ran to Goodro’s for materials needed to install the windows.  Then the two Geese started putting in windows while I did cleanup work behind them and moved the wood blocking material stored in the garage (right in the way of where the garage windows are going) down to the basement Shop (so that lumber can be right in the way when we start building interior walls down there).  Shortly after lunch it started to pour, so Ian and Sonny transitioned to tweaking the installation of the Garage and Shop people doors that were not installed properly last fall (by a Goose who has since flown to other skies).  In the course of that endeavor, discovered that the Kwikset latch mechanism on the Shop door had a manufacturing defect, so I replaced the faulty part from a set recently purchased for the front door.  By 2 o’clock it was looking like the rain was going to be around for awhile (finally quit at 3:30), so the Geese left, having installed the two Study windows, the Laundry window, and half of the Master Bath window.  Thereupon I finished preparations for the evening’s festivities, i.e., gave Delores a good scrubbing.  Marty & Merry came up for a spaghetti dinner, topped off with some fabulous raspberry bars… the products of yesterday’s culinary extravaganza.

 

15 June 2015

Rained off and on all night and there were a few brief showers this morning.  Sean called at 7 to say that, in spite of “Creek” being part of their name, his geese are afraid of the water (and it was pouring up t’ Ferrisburg).  As previously requested, the Goodro’s truck showed up at 7:30, bringing the Anderson door for the Sun Room and a few lengths of KOMA® for Sauna building trim.  Rebuilt and, after a quick trip to Brandon for fender washers, reinstalled the Kubota carrying basket.  Made out of a discarded plastic milk crate, the old one had encountered one too many trees, which eventually won the battle.  Spent the afternoon cooking and eating, it being that kind of day.

14 June 2015

The great thing about leaving Springfield before sunrise on a Sunday is there is z∙e∙r∙o traffic.  Consequently, made Brandon in 8 hours 15 minutes, a new record, without pushing very hard at all.  Delores showed how happy she was to have me back by starting right up.  Her gas tank is still full and seems to be no longer leaking.  Hmmm…  No signs of mice at play while I was gone.  After unloading the truck, went for a nice swim.  Water temperature is 74° and the lake level is 13″ below the top of the dock.  Hear tell there was a lot of rain while I was gone…

5 June 2015

Tom Williams called to say that the wells passed their 72 hour test with no problems.  In order to prove that the wells are viable for a geothermal energy exchange system, we had to pump out of the supply well, and back into the return well, at 20 gallons per minute for 72 hours.  Doesn’t sound like much until you do the math and realize that’s 86,400 gallons of water.  Also today, the Vermont Agency of Natural Resources Department of Environmental Conservation Drinking Water and Groundwater Protection Division issued Permit Number WW-9-1330-1, giving us permission to site our wells, septic tanks, and leach field where we want them.  Very timely!