Little Blue Boxes

This week I worked on the kitchen, and actually moved forward with things. I finished placing the boxes and fixtures for electrical, which if you've ever looked at the code requirements for a kitchen, are substantial. Two small appliance circuits, dishwasher, disposal, lighting, and a 240v range circuit, and it all adds up. Plus there's the refrigerator, a 120v outlet for a newer gas stove (we don't need it, but it's easier to add now than later), range hood, under cabinet lights, and for good measure, we have a couple of recessed fluorescents above the sink and the adjacent countertop.

I ran the pipes for the vent stack for the kitchen sink. After puzzling over it repeatedly, as I was doing it I figured out how to run it using more of the fittings and pipe I already had on hand. So I returned one riser clamp and $25 worth of fittings, which is always a nice thing. And for good measure, I added a holder bracket for the pipe to the shower in the bathroom that I'd neglected to include back when I redid the shower a couple of years ago.

When I was at Home Depot to return the fittings and pick up a few other things, I was pleasantly surprised at how much better the service has gotten. Maybe they're training them better, maybe they're just afraid of losing their jobs, but whatever the cause, I'm liking the results. It was even quick and painless at the returns desk.

many stringers

I don't have any interesting pictures of the progress on the house to show you (wanna see a bunch of blue boxes nailed to studs?), so I'll include a picture from today's work at Habitat. I once again cut stringers for stairs. That means a lot of very careful identical cuts. "Sloop" John B. is the Americorps member who's been doing this week in and week out in preparation for the upcoming build-a-thon, so once a week isn't so bad. There's a lot to do -- 20 houses * 3 stringers per stair section * 2-3 stories per house adds up.

Casa Decrepit

Yesterday I loaded my step ladder onto the Golf, and headed over to Casa Decrepit in Alameda for a party -- a demolition party. They're restoring a lovely Victorian that's had unspeakable crimes committed to it. Lowered ceilings, covered over ceiling medallions and window arches, dark brown faux wood paneling, and to finish it off, bright pink trim. It was great to meet Ayse and Noel and their animal menagerie, and the others who came to help with the demo party. A great bunch of people. Read their post on it (with lots more pictures).

Elaine the panel-ripping machine

let it snow!

Rosie and Goldie

One Step Forward, Three Steps Back

new framing

That's how this week felt, at least. Thursday evening I was basically back to where I'd been at the end of last week. To be sure, things are in better shape than they were now that the termite-damaged wood has been removed, but it's frustrating as all get-out (frakking frustrating for you BSG fans) to not be any further along than I was a week ago. And I thought I was basically done with framing back in September. I've gone through most of a 5 lb. box of 16p nails since then.

But it wasn't all doom and gloom. Our neighbor, upon hearing of our kitchenless state offered to bring some food over for dinner. She recently returned from working in Europe, and wasn't able to cook while there, so she's happy to cook extra and share with us. And we're happy to have some home-cooked food (though we've been finding some good microwaveable stuff from Trader Joe's, it just ain't the same).

Today I was out to Habitat for Humanity for my usual Friday volunteer gig. I spent the day cutting stringers for stairs for the 20 houses in the upcoming build-a-thon (it's not too late to sign up or donate!), but what was of note were the helicopters. The Edes site is just south of Oakland Coliseum, where the memorial service for the 4 Oakland police officers who died recently was held today. The site is also near the Oakland Airport, so helicopters, small planes and jets aren't unusual, but the sheer number of helicopters in the air quickly caught our attention. I was thinking about the officers, their families, and their friends and co-workers frequently throughout the day.

Tomorrow I'm off to Casa Decrepit in Alameda for their demolition party. It'll be fun to meet some other Bay Area housebloggers, and a nice change of pace from demolishing stuff in our house. This week was more than enough of that for me.

The Tell-Tale Poop

Sawzall Hero II

So those few dark bits that I thought might be termite droppings, alas, were. I pulled out the channel in question, and there were tunnels running the length of one of the boards. I'd already replaced the bottom plate, so I turned my attention upward, and removed the top plate and the doubler. To be sure, I even removed a ceiling joist and part of one of the roof rafters. At that point there wasn't much to hold the siding in place, so I removed it, too (carefully stacking it in a corner). Today after a dump run, I'll go ahead and remove the last vestiges of that wall and rebuild it. If I'd known, I would have just demolished the whole wall from the start and rebuilt it then. Sigh.

Ooops...

ooops...

Here's a quick quiz: at what point did I decide it was time to quit working on the kitchen for the day? If you guessed "when the flatbar broke", you're right! I knew it was theoretically possible, but didn't think it would be quite so easy.

I don't use a flatbar for pulling nails very often; usually it's just my framing hammer and if necessary, a cat's paw to get it started (one of these days I'll have to do a how-to post on the right way to pull a nail). Only rarely do I use the flatbar to pull, and even more rarely the long end. Anyways, this was one of those mysteries of our house, a 20 penny nail where normally it would be a 16. It was in a channel between two studs where one of the old front porch walls met the outside wall, so my hammer wouldn't fit. I tried the short end of the flatbar (which has more leverage) and couldn't get it, so I tried the long end braced against one of the studs on the side, and there was a *tink* and it snapped. No injuries, but I stood there stunned for a second, trying to figure out if what I thought had happened had really just happened. Alas, it had.

The really bad news is not the flatbar (aka a Vaughn Superbar), but why I was deciding to pull that nail is that I thought I saw some tell-tale termite droppings along the edge of the channel. Tomorrow I'll go ahead and pull out the boards involved just in case. I did get the final bit of the ceiling drywall pulled down, puzzled over some more on where to run the plumbing (particularly the vent stack), and placed a few electrical boxes for countertop outlets and such.