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Summertime... Part 2

Larry in Houston, TX — Wed, 22 May 2013 20:35:15 GMT

Sunday morning. 7:00 am an already almost 80 degrees. Gonna be fun. Sandra and Kelsey start running the floor in the kitchen to the outside wall. Once that's done I start running the base cabinets. But they are a lot more difficult as they need to be shimmed as I run right to left due to the still somewhat uneven floor. But at the worst part, it's about 5/8". Before I spent time readjusting the beam last week, I was we'll over an inch out. Several cut outs for water, drain, two receptacles make these even slower at finishing. But they got in! Meanwhile the girls pretty much finish laying floor in the living room!!! We cover it all with brown paper and cardboard from the cabinets. i can't believe how much there was! that will protect it well until we start moving furniture in.

I started laying out the island when time ran out and the heat finally overwhelmed us.

Monday. 6:00 am and it is 81 on my way to my real job. Ugh! Another hot one. I'm thinking I better start trying to get the AC up and see if it works. Gotta set a disconnect, run wire under the house to it. Pulled the old service panel and meter base off the house and set the disconnect.

Tuesday hot. Decided to work under the house to stay cooler. Set the wire for the AC from panel to disconnect. Spent the rest of the time removing all of the old wire that was strung under the house. Long dikes ( diagonal cutters) sore hands afterwards, but got it all out. Looks a lot cleaner.

Wednesday - tonight. Went back to working on the island. Finished a frame for it. Set an end cabinet. Will finish setting the other two tomorrow before a long weekend off. Granite guys can then come in and measure next week.

Summertime and the building ain't easy

Larry in Houston, TX — Tue, 21 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

We had a remarkably cool spring in Houston. Remember that word - had. The past weekend has finally heralded summer. With temps in the upper 80's. Today was 91. Humidity high as well. I flew back into Houston Friday morning from a trip in the Rockies, and almost choked on the moisture in the air.

We haven't connected the AC electric since the service drop move, and even if we had it available, I'd like to seal off the kitchen from the old porch. There are gaping holes and a broken window that would defeat any try of cooling the house. So we spent the weekend working without it. It is soooo much more difficult. The heat just drains everything out of you.

Saturday morning Sandra and I started hanging the wall cabinets. Everything well pretty well until we got to the arch wall. It was then I found out that the upper half of the 10 ft. wall that I, yes I, constructed was out of plumb. The lower section wasn't bad, but I kicked myself on the upper. About 3/4" out. Nothing to do at this point. Fab the filler piece that we had planned on using a little differently is about all one can do.

Before we stopped early for the day, Kelsey and I set up for the floor in the kitchen. As we had to reverse direction on the section behind the arch wall, we glued two rows down groove to groove, and let them set up overnight.

Mother's Day

Larry in Houston, TX — Wed, 15 May 2013 00:00:00 GMT

My wife has to be the most selfless person on the planet. On Mother's Day, when most wives would bask in the adulation from their family as their day, mine was working alongside our daughter and me on the house. She and Kelsy were sanding the kitchen walls while I did the ceiling. Afterwards, she painted it all with three coats. I had my first go at mortising a door for an old fashioned lockset. With a brand new chisel that cut wood like butter, it was pretty easy. Took an hour or so, but was really stress relieving for some reason. Turned out well!

Traveling this week, so nothing is getting done until the coming weekend. But it will be time to start hanging kitchen cabinets. Looking at the layout and the wall on Monday before I left town, I'm still not happy with the levelness of the floor. As the wall cabinets are going all the way to the ceiling, I think I have to do a little more work on leveling the side of the house. There appear to be two piers that are low. I'll tackle those first thing Saturday.