Wine Cellar cleaned up

Today was spent fixing the old "wine cellar" and getting everything in the basement back into that "cubby". Apart from wine, this is also where bulk items such as dog food, cereal, rice, oatmeal, etc, end up.

Also prepared a new area for a "cross connect" panel where incoming cable and fiber will terminate, as well as a location for router, switches, hubs, and databackup equipment. This time I've planned it much better so it will look much different than the current set-up, a lay-out that sort of has evolved over the past 7 years into something more looking like a spider's nest. Long overdue to get that cleaned up and out of the way.

Sealing cracks

With insualtion now in the attic, I spent most of the day temporarily sealing up cracks and crevices to prevent draft and air movement from the area that is still under construction. It looks sort of crappy, but it will all be covered by vapor barrier and drywall later on, so for now it'll just function. It should have a significant impact on the ability to retain heat in the house.

Insulation!

Finally! After a tedious (and extremely dusty) removal of the old fiberglass insulation in the attic, followed by a thourugh cleaning up (removal of construction debris and vaccuming), it was time to seal up the house and get it properly insulated for the first time in well over 45 years.

The old batts were "on location" but what a crappy installation. I thought of actually keeping them, blowing in insulation on top, but it would have been the easy and wrong way to go. In order for insulation to work properly, one need to minimize the movement of air closest to the interior. The way the old insulation was laid out between the old rafters, there was no chance in hell it would have worked properly. So, after a few VERY dirty days, I had over a truck full of old insulation (filled with nails, roofinmg material, and other cosutruction debris) to take up to the dump. The trusy LandCruiser hauled it all away in style!

After several additional trips to Home Depot, picking up 40 bales of cellulose insulation, a new trip to pick up the heavy and bulky blower I finally managed to get a promise from the wife to man the blower. It was all done today!

But, man was it dusty up there. I would not even want to think what it would have been like, should we have decided to blow in fiberglass insulation instead. Wife, outside in the winter sun, complained about the dust, but I can guarantee that she saw less than 10% of what I had up in the attic.

Solid Waste

Finally today got around to get the old roofing material off the drive way and on a trailer to the King County Solid Waste transfer station, down in Houghton. Since I was doing a run any way, I also took some stuff from neighbors. No point in having them doing a separate run.
A flush with the garden hose and an "ocular" inspection to make sure no nails were hiddin in the piles of discarded roofing, the drive way is now in its best Christmas dress.

Final Electrical Inspection + attic insulation

Had called for an electrical inspection and expected "Art", our neighborhood inspector to show up, since he's been here from the very beginning and know what I'm up to, but this time he was just to busy. Instead "Walt" showed up and just as Art before, he approved of my work and signed off the final electrical inspection. Means that I can now start to focus on getting everything properly (insulation and drywall) covered up inside.

Also started cleaning up the attic (to be a third floor later on) in order to properly insulate over our bedrooms, craftroom, bathrooms, and office. It was originally done sometime in the early 60ies, and the insulation lists it as being 2 and 3/4 inch, but at the very best, it has been one inch thick. Add to that the very crappy workmanship when it was put in, it probably has done done much good. This time around, I'll add a solid layer of blow-in insulation. Hope to get all that taken care of just after Christmas.

Feeder runs

A small concern have been how to get power to the new addition from the service entrance panel. First plan was to use some old and now decommissioned feeder runs that I disconnected earlier in the project. At the same time, even though these wires were in excellent condition, I really wanted brand new wiring all the way from the panel. Just "feels" better knowing that it has been installed correctly.

I needed to cut up the plywood sheeting in any case in order to get to the old wires and relocate them, and when that was done, realized that the old feeder actually moved fairly easily through the floor joists. Time to gamble and pull them out.

I attached a "fish line" to them and pulled them out. Worst that can happen now is that I have to hack up the drywall celing in the downstairs family room, but based on how easy the wires came out, someone when the house was built in the early 60ies actually planned a bit and did drill decent sized holes through all the joists.

With help from John (neighbor) I managed to get four brand new circuits pulled all the way to the SE panel, and that allows plenty of options for wiring up the new addition. It was sort of gamble, but this time it paid off. Final inspection of the electrical install can now happen early next week.

Cans over the garage

In a construction project, or rather a remodel project, everything is sort of connected. You can't start B until A is finished, and C has to be done before A can be touched, all the while not until you're done with B. Makes sense?

We've had an area over the garagedoors open for a while, allowing COLD air in on top of the insulation in the garage ceiling, and thereby also cooling down the hardwood floor in the master bedroom. That open area was waiting for recessed lights (cans), but before those could be put in, had to drill all the floor joist AND get the electrical feeders run, as well as some rewiring of old outlets and outside lights. Everything takes time, and since all this had to be done from the outside, I was not eager until we had a few dry but not too cold, days.

It's all taken care of now and the end result looks good (wood paneling will be added in the spring), but most important is that we finally got this area better sealed up than ever before. When we moved in to the house in 2000, there was no insulation in the ceiling above the garage, nor were the garage doors insulated or sealed. All led to really cold hardwood floors, I mean REALLY cold, in the master bed room.

I took care of that in the fall of 2001 and it made a world of differcne but I was never totally satisfied with how the overhang over the garage doors was insulated or finished. That's now taken care of and should show a noticeable difference indoors.

Electrical, scaffolding, baffles, and insulation

Past couple of days have been spent on running electrical wires (rough-in) and having that inspected (with flying colors), so insulation finally can be put in. It is starting to get cold outside and wife wants to turn on the heat...

A run down to Lowe's to pick up insulation filled the Cruiser to the brink, but I managed, dog in the passanger seat, to get everything I needed home in one run.

In order to reach up to the tall ceiling, I had to build a scaffold, or rather an intermediate floor, so I could put up the baffles and the R-30 insulation up between the roof rafters.

Modified drain line

After a few days of contemplation, I decided that I was not totally happy with the way Tom did have the storm drain line put together. On top of that, we had to wait a little for the roof to dry off before going up and nailing down one of the final edges. And since we had left the trench open, I decided to attack and modify the drain line for better flow of water from the downspouts. Even with a good sloping yard, one does not want to hav to dig this up in a few years because there's an area with a bit of backwater where debris will collect over time and clog.

Never easy to work on a 4" pipe that is "immobile" at both ends but with some dedication and brut force, we managed to make it the way it sort of should have been built, with much better "flow".

Rest of the day was spent working on putting up the gutter over the deck (remind me that I HATE piecemeal gutters), cleaning up (showers), and then running around Eastside shopping since it was dad's last day in town. We were sort of lucky since the rain literally started just as we had pulled in all the tools...
Day ended with dinner at at Mexican cantina and a few margaritas. Well deserved I must say.

Sort of mazed that dad, at over 76 years of age, both is able and so interested in helping out with this stuff. Most people would just call someone and have it done, with far less final quality (guess that's the American way), but I really want this to be a HOME well built that can stand literally for centuries, not just a "spec house" who's sole purpose is to be "flipped" to the person one can trick the easiest.

Shitty Gutter System

Gutters are no high tech items. They are simply a tray, diverting water away from where you do not want it (near or inside the walls) to a more desired place (drain, dry well, flower bed, etc). Simple, been done for centuries.

Bought gutters at Lowes. Both HomeDepot and Lowes carries the same system from Amerimax Products. Does look flimsy, overly complicated, and literally a pretty shitty system overall. Since I have good help (dad) will put up over the critical areas, but likely to review again when the spring arrives.