Month: May 2012

Hoot Like a Dove?

Since we bought a bird feeder, and I’ve been filling it with wild bird seed every week, we’ve been visited by quite a few birds. One of them hoots like an owl, and mole calls it my friend. I think it may be a mourning dove (not sure if they are in Calif, but it sounds a bit like this):
http://www.learnbirdsongs.com/birdsong.php?id=7

Above left, my friend is looking for seed that’s fallen to the ground. Right, I’m working on sealing up the wall over the window, ready to put siding on.

Finally, we’re getting siding on the wall around the window. This is the window that looks out of the kitchen. It spent the whole winter with duct tape and plastic covering the edges. I’ve finally got the siding on around the window, and the trim. Still needs the more filler, and prime and paint.

When I was building the back stairs, I built them so that they were independent of the house. This was partly so that I could build them without needing to tear down the laundry room or the old stairs first. The problem is, now I want to put a window in this wall, and I have a post in front of the window. So I re-framed this part of the stairs, and extended laundry room roof overhang a few inches, so there’s no longer a post in front of the window.

And then we put in one of the new windows. Four more to go. And no weekend project is complete without a kitten inspection. I think Bella approves (Arwen is just too preoccupied looking at the birds, I think).

Garden Room?

I realized we don’t even have a name for the room below the laundry room. How about Garden Room?

We really didn’t do a whole lot, though, this weekend. We did put the windows in that I’d worked on last weekend. This back wall is almost ready for the new windows on the back of the laundry room, too.

I started making a window sill out of the redwood that came off the tear-off room. The white caulk is polyurethane caulk. It is really sticky, and supposedly lasts very well, but you can’t paint it. So the only places I’ve put it is where there will be wood trim covering it.

Next step is to start putting the siding on. The black tar paper does not do very well with sun exposure, and it’s been HOT in city over the last few days (by our standards.)

New Back Door

I’m still amazed at how fast time goes by. I took off the old back door, extended it, and refinished it back at the end of October, so it’s been five months without a back door downstairs!

Instead of trying to save pieces, I tore off this whole wall and re-framed it. Now it has a door opening and a window next to it. Above right is the view from inside, with the plywood already on.

A problem I am going to have to resolve later is the post from the stairs, right in front of the window (above left). I’m planning to support it from the roof (extend the roof out to make a bit of an overhang, and sit the post on the overhang). Above right, the door is in, and I’ve put the old window temporarily into the window opening (we’ve ordered new windows).

I also got a new toy. I can’t believe I’ve not used a palm nailer before, but they are awesome: The opening at the end accepts loose nails (one at a time). Then you place the nail against what you want to nail it into, and the nailer just vibrates the nail into the wood. It’s so effortless that it’s unbelievable. It’s especially useful in tight spaces that you can’t swing a hammer.

I used it to nail in the clips that support the roof rafters, and to attach the blocking. Notice the ear protection: That nailer is LOUD. Between each rafter, there’s a piece of wood cut to fit. This wood gets nailed to the roof, the top of the wall (usually with a metal ‘A35’ clip) and to the rafters each side. It serves very important purposes: It stops the rafters rolling over, it acts as a connection between the roof and the wall in an earthquake, and it closes off the space between the joists.

The problem with the last part is that when you have insulation, you need to ventilate above the insulation so that moisture does not build up and rot the wood. So we added holes, with mesh screens on them to let air in.

Above left – the door is in, and the wall moisture barrier paper on. Above right, I’m looking out of one of the random holes that’s left when I screw up all the temporary bits of plywood that I find lying around. This wall will be all windows soon. Above my head between the rafters you can see the blocking all in place (primed white).

Another view from inside the laundry room. Before the blocking was in, Arwen almost jumped out one of the openings between the rafters. We didn’t even notice that she was in the room, and then Janeen looked up and saw her hanging out the outside!

Above right, these old windows are the windows we replaced at the front of the house, and in the bedroom (2009!). They have been gathering dust in our garage, and now I’m going to put them to use.

I’m cutting the frames shorter, and reassembling them so that I can use them in the garage back room (under the laundry room). Should get them in next week…

Here’s our view when we are working on the back door.