Cal- I'm so impressed with your kitchen and how quickly its
coming together!

Schick and Doug- nice woodworking!

CEF- can I just say EWWW!! I have never seen a slug in real life, certainly don't want to either!

Terri- do you want to do some painting? I think I'm painted out!

Lazygardens- That sucks! I'm so sorry about your microwave. :(

It seems like everyone is getting quite a bit done.
For me, the siding went on Saturday, my husband mounted our lights on both sides of the French door yesterday, and today my cedar posts got installed! We are going to brick around them up to about 30 inches or so with the bricks we salvaged.

Its hard to believe, and a little scary, that we have had nothing but a 2x4 supporting the 12x15 porch and roof since it was built a year ago.

The pic I included is in no way staged or clean, I actually stopped sweeping the sawdust off the porch so I could grab a picture. I just had to show off!

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

cal-q, yeah these old homes can be quite the challenge. Schicksal has the harder task but I think his trim is worth saving. It looks like cypress? Mine was not so salvageable, unfortunately.

To anyone using polyurethane finishes on furniture, trim, etc., try using a cabinet scraper instead of sanding between coats. Works like a charm and is much faster.

It was hot, hot, hot today! Got the first two of three coats of finish on the door casings today and now I'm completely swamped with work for the next three days. Don't think I will get much done on the house. Might get the door casings dadoed and cut to length and maybe one or two installed by the weekend, and I still have the flooring in the storage area to finish. Never ends.

Texas Gem - If you want to see a real slug, come to the rain forests of the Northwest. They grow up to 12". They are quite harmless but the slime is almost impossible to wash off your skin. I'll take slugs over poisonous snakes any day.

I would gladly take slugs over rattlesnakes, black widows, scorpions, camel spiders and the crazy attack of assassin bugs we have had this year!

Thanks for the tip on using a cabinet scraper. I've got some more poly to apply and sanding is my least favorite part.

mtdoug, I have no trim whatsoever in my house. I'm really interested in your window method! The wall parts around the window are really irregular. It's going to be a challenge.

I don't care for spiders. I think I mentioned I moved bricks recently and discovered a black widow condominium complex. Complete with big, marble-sized eggs. They're really big spiders, aren't they?

I love this Escar-go stuff. Love me some dead slugs.

I mulched again today. Got 5 wheelbarrows down. I'm almost 1/2 way through the 6 truckloads of wood chips from the power company. It's hotter than God knows what, so around 12:00 I stopped. I'm liking how my gardens are looking though. Really, about 7 years of total neglect.

I wish it would rain.
(then maybe I'd get something done inside!)

I need mulch. The city lets you pick up free mulch, but you need a truck or some such thing. FIL has a Ranger with a shell and can fill trash cans and slide them in the truck, but I need more! I should do something to make this happen sometime soon. Prolly not cost efficient to work something out with CEF.

I did dishes! Best dish-doing ever!

We cooked our first amazing meal. I think I'll do a thread out there...

CEF - Be happy to help. Let me know what you need to know. When you say the wall parts are irregular, do you mean the distance from the window frame to the outer edge of the wall, i.e, the drywall, or something else?

If the hole is out of square, that is not so bad because the window is square and you build the frame to that, not the opening.

TXGem, no thanks, I am taking a break from painting, although I found a few areas on the hall bath ceiling this evening that could use a going over. But'll wait til I replace the lighting/mirror..yada yada..

So just how many smokers does one in TX need? Plus grill..lol
I love your outdoor space btw!

Doug, it was seriously hot! Just finished watching the M's..some nice lightening strikes and some rain drops! Not here yet though.
Don't work to hard.

Christine, I am happy you are getting your yard sorted out, when your done I have 2 trees that need to be planted.

Ah just heard a rumble...hopefully it rains just enough to make it smell fresh and renewed!

Lol! The worst part is this is only our back porch. We also have the front porch and the side porch by the pool.

This was my parents home and they gifted it to us. Between the smoker my husband already had, their smoker, the larger Traeger smoker a friend gave us, plus the propane grill and 3 (I think, possibly more) charcoal grills, we definitely have a lot!!

Believe it or not, we have actually had 2 smokers plus 2 grills running at once for backyard BBQs.

I actually feel sorry for my DH, he is (according to others) amazing at grilling and smoking but I don't really like BBQ. Everyone else says his meat is great and they go out of their way to ask for it on birthdays/special occasions.

If you do like smoked meat however, I would gladly trade you meat for a painted porch. ;)

cal_quail - thanks, it makes me glad for the place I live in though. It's strange to me how flippers show up and throw all of it in the trash in order to put in MDF reproductions of what they had only weeks earlier... it makes no sense. I like the hatch though, and kept trying to think of ways to make it useful somehow but didn't come up with much.

Texas_Gem - wish I could see the picture but no dropbox allowed at work :/

rmtdoug - I have no clue what species the wood is, all I know is how to remove the paint from it. It's mostly undamaged underneath the mess. For being a run of the mill craftsman there is a lot of the stuff. I decided to strip paint in between tenants and eventually the job will be done. Doing the bathroom in 2012 gave me the experience I needed to take on the three wooden garage doors at home last year. They had only three layers.

I don't miss the banana slugs back in the PNW, or trying to avoid them while biking.

My progress yesterday is merely stripping even more paint for two hours. How I proceed after the paint is gone depends on what was originally used to finish the wood. I'm hoping it was shellac because I could just buy more in that color and apply it after the last traces of paint are gone. It would even out pretty well with the earlier coats and eliminate the need from me to sand through the old stuff.

I have no idea what type of wood this is. One guess was cypress? Ash? It's too durable to be pine, and doesn't look like any of the oak flooring I have anywhere. The dark color is due to whatever they finished it with way back when. I have no clue, I'm not a woodworker.

Shicksal, that is the type of door I've been stripping. I find most of them are actually oak. I know little about wood, but that looks like some quarter-sawn oak cabinet doors I have.

Those garage doors are incredible, BTW. I can't imagine trying to buy them at today's prices.

anyway, my antique doors are mostly all that dark stained color under whatever else they slapped on them. I use (wait for it) Citristrip to suck the stain right out and I do not sand them, other than to smooth the grain. I am back to raw wood. SWEAR!


cal_quail, your kitchen is really incredible. I'm so thrilled for you and have to check out your KAW thread!!

Mulch: around here the power company's solution to downed wires in storms is to rape the trees by cutting off branches that are anywhere near (or not) to the wires. If this means hacking out the middle of a tree, so be it.

The tree trimmers have to pay to dump wood chips and wood (that could be firewood) so it behooves them to find some stupid idiot local homeowner who needs mulch. Sure, it's not fine mulch, but it does the trick and looks so much better than weeds, and, it's FAR BETTER than paying $26 for a yard of mulch from the nursery.

If your Dh can get it free from the city, it's probably leaf compost, which is great stuff. 'Round here it is, but you also need a dump truck to get it, because their minimum load is 9 yards. All the nurseries pick it up and then sell it back to us.

So. I'm on to them. Here's the sequence:
Tree murderers rape the trees, chipping the wood.
They take it to the municipal place and pay $80 to dump a load.
The municipal place composts it into really nice stuff.
They give it to anyone with a dump truck for free.
Dump truck people charge $26 a yard.
Minimum delivery from them is 9 yards, which must then be delivered for $60, depending upon your zip code.
I can SEE them loading the trucks from my front yard, across the neighbor's field, but we're in a different zip code.

It's a racket. Anyway, you, too, could stop these guys and ask. They'll drive a long way to dump for free. Often the dump places are a long way away, plus they have to pay the gas and manpower anyway. Over time, I guess it pays them to give it to ME! /end rant

mtdoug, Thank you! I'm a long way from affording trim, but a chick's gotta dream, right?

Yes, the drywall is cut short of the windows, so there would be an empty space behind the corner of the frame and outside trim. I'm thinking, a great place for more insulation, right? Lemonade out of lemons. Here's a pic. Sorry it's so dark. Oh - and my middle finger is just about 3" long, to give you some perspective.

Ummmm...
that free dump thing didn't come out right, but you know what I mean.

CEF - From the photo, it looks like the opening is larger than the window and it looks like your window still has the casing attached and the gap is filled with spray foam?

If your finger is 3", then the casing (the part to the right of your hand) is 3.5" wide, which is a standard casing width.

Schicksal - It's really hard to identify wood from photos, especially half covered with paint :) You would have to see fresh cut wood to really be able to tell. Cypress or pine would be my best guess on the trim. The door could be anything. There were millions of paint-grade fir, pine, oak, and mahogany six panel doors made during the time that house was built. In any case, you did a beautiful job on that bathroom window. I'm glad to see you can save the trim.

Nice garage doors. I fixed a pair very similar in style and finish to yours about six years ago. The lady backed into both of them from the inside over a period of two days. She cracked them good where the bumper hit. I made no promises but after three days of working on them she could not see the cracks from more than a few feet away and you had to look right at them to see them. Last I checked, they were still holding up.

Well, mtdoug, almost. There isn't any trim at all, not even a sill. It's really (I think) only screwed in there waiting to be adjusted or whatever..

My ex-POC-GC-DC put it "in." I use that term loosely. Given the fact I came to know it wasn't screwed in when Hurricane Isobel came to town. She SUCKED the window right out, to the point the wind then blew the other side in, so this 87" wide a little over 5' tall window was pivoting in the frame. I have no idea in this world how I managed to push it back, without pushing it right out onto the ground. Just thought of that, actually. I always thanked God I was actually home.

Later I found a bedroom window was also just resting in there ... sideways. A million pounds of water inside it.

I digress.

Anyway. No, no trim. No trim anywhere in the entire house. Yes to the foam insulation. The drywall is cut back too far in places, so that it doesn't extend that little bit over the window. Nothing is regular.

But geeze. I've got windows, which is more than I could say at one point.

Rmtdoug - you were right with the cypress according to the flooring guy. The flooring is old heart pine. I didn't notice until now but the pieces are up to about 20' long.

As for me, I am taking the trim with me so I can work from home. It's much faster that way. Behind the trim I found a mouse nest from 1934. It's always junk... Never anything good.

That sounds frightening! Glad you survived it. We get strong winds here every fall and winter but nothing like a hurricane with all the rain. It's either rain or wind, rarely together.

As for the window, it sure has a wide frame and is moulded, but it would still work with building a frame like I do. I just don't know how it would look. If the drywall is cut back too far, you will end up with very wide casings to cover the opening. Plus you need enough width to nail into the framing.

The real key is to have the distance from the face of the window frame and the face of the drywall the same all the way around, within 1/8" or so at most. That way, you are not having to custom fit the depth of the trim inside the window opening, which would negate any savings from pre-building the trim box.

Schicksal - That's good to know. Cypress is definitely worth saving, the flooring too.

I think I've found all my mice nests/skeletons in my house by now. Never found anything valuable either, although I did find an old metal sign in the crawl space for a automobile battery dealer on the same street I live on. It had the address and a two-digit phone number! That was pretty cool. It was all bent up but still readable. I have it on the wall in my shop now.

Today I got the fillers built and installed for my back door and the French doors leading to the patio.

The doors were built in their casings for standard 2x4 walls.

The problem with that is all my exterior walls are 2x6.

No problem installing the doors but it did mean there was an extra 1.5 inches that needed to be built up so the trim could be installed.

Also, since we are putting brick around our cedar posts, we needed to dig out and pour a brick ledge next to the columns.

Hubs did that tonight when he got off work.

Rather than move the last four boxes of flooring in the bedroom..again... last night I decided to just go ahead and start laying it in the storage area behind the bedroom wall. I worked until I used the last of my underlayment and now have to buy another roll to finish the last 20 square feet. Still swamped with work, however, and progress on the house has slowed to a crawl.

MGMum - The flooring is an Elm pattern. We chose it because it was wide planks and not too dark and not too light. I'm starting to warm up to using laminates in bedrooms and utility areas. It's very practical and looks nice and allows me to buy more expensive flooring where it really counts.

Hey Terri, how about that rain!! We got a good soaking last night. I was getting discouraged with all this weather and not a drop until last night.

Today I ordered cabinets, got the floor refinishing estimate and pantry door estimate for the place we live in. Not fun...

Heat index levels are crazy high right now, even without me running around with a hair dryer set to 700 degrees. I'll do something else for a while.

The difference between 12 and 13 is amazing! LOL

I worked with a pediatrician whose specialty was developmental disorders - especially growth. Someone asked him "what is the normal height for a 14-year old male" ... his reply was ... somewhere between 4'6" and 6'4".

LOL Lazy! It's true, I swear! My 12.5 yo is 5ft tall even. My 9yo is 5" shorter. He used to be one of the tallest, now he's average at best. I told him if he's like me, he won't be super tall until he's done high school. At 15, my younger brother was less than 5'9" and now he's 6'3". I'm pretty sure my kids will be taller than that. All in good time. :)

Today, we went to a local island with some friends. We were gone from 7:30am to 6:45pm. We had a lot of fun, sun and now we are exhausted. At least I am. LOL

Glad everyone is making progress. Love the porch, Texas!

I hope A2's place didn't flood. CRAZY flooding in Detroit. I know she's not right there, but man, the rain we had!!

Back to work. Tired. Overwhelmed on that end. Enjoying the kitchen when we're home.

DW/W/D/Speed Oven came today. They only installed the DW and washer. They couldn't install the dryer, we have the wrong plug. We used to have an electric dryer and I didn't even think to check the plug. So we'll have to get someone out to change it.

I texted DH to ask him to try to have them put dryer left and washer right, even though the hook ups are the opposite of that. The doors on the Miele make that optimal. He didn't. If we would install the dryer where sits, we can't use the drain for the condenser. If we switch them, which has the door benefits, it's hose can go into the drain and we don't have to clean out the condenser. I don't know why he didn't ask. The guys said to ask for them the next time and they'll switch them. No problem.

And I haven't talked to the GC since Saturday re: the rest of the electrical and speed oven prep. I saw him, I came home to talk to him after he consulted with the electrician. And before I knew it, he was gone. That was Monday.

Doug, good soaker huh! Lol my husband works in Bothell, he said it didn't rain to much past "morning" down that way...up North it was closer to noon. May have a sunset to see in a few hours.

What kind of door are you putting in the pantry Shicksal?

TXGem, you guys are working hard on that project.

I am doing nothing. The very least should be running the vacuum. But nope, just waiting for some boneless skinless chicken breast to cook from frozen state to make a casserole with.

That pantry doors at home will be a lot like this. The big thing was getting them on order so they might arrive when I finish up the other place.

The big thing this afternoon was finishing stripping the paint from the door. Tomorrow I start sanding on that and the other trim I brought home. I also cut the grass because today was the first day in a long time that it didn't rain. It's halfway fun though, I have a riding lawn mower so it's just driving around.

I had a small laugh, I have been referred to now as both a she and he here now. International (wo?)man of mystery... I'll sit quietly on which is correct. :p

Hmmm, I had a feeling they would be very close to that look.

Well, I have a guess, but you do very well at guarding the "truth".
Names aren't helpful always on screen or in real life either.

For instance:
Today I kept getting emails from one of our 2nd grade teachers who this year is doing her principal internship and has been handed the responsibilty of pre sorting the class lists for placement.
Is blah blah, boy or girl, next email two "Taylors"(only one spelled that way), boy or girl?
I think it was 4 emails with 6 or 7 names.

I of course am Donna Reed, heels, pearls and all. ;) (well at least in Christine's mind.)

Bleah! When I typed "I think his trim is worth saving" my thought was I hope I got that right. I distinctly recall you talking about a "she" in your house when discuss the saga of your MIL, but that doesn't mean anything anymore. In any case, you are doing some fantastic work.

I'm male, not always proud of it but never ashamed. Time to go lay the rest of the flooring for an hour or two. One more day of heavy workload and I'll be caught up.

Go Doug, Go...way to take advantage of work mode.

I on the other hand did complete dinner..but the thought of cleaning the kitchen makes my grumpy. Lol
So I am back on my couch waiting for the sunset colors to emerge.

Haha it gives a bit of mystery to a person who even I describe as boring beyond words. :D

So, I didn't do this part...

Normal procedure at older houses is to remove the old roof and then have a look around at how sound things underneath are. The old roof was being removed and the new shingles arrived a bit early, and instead of being left on the ground as the roofing co. said to do they were loaded onto the roof. As it was described to me, this caused the roof to collapse in the middle and the chimney supposedly looks like it's ready to come down. Fire trucks, police and news crew I'm told are on site, pics to come after I get there.

edit: I've never been happier that I pick contractors based on the big picture, not price. Everybody is insured, their materials supplier included. Also nobody was hurt.

This post was edited by schicksal on Thu, Aug 14, 14 at 13:49

What did I miss? Shicksal, WHAT collapsed!?!
OMG!

Um... after that, who cares what I did!? LOL!
But, I dug out 2 wheelbarrows' full of Hellebores (Lenten Rose) and have transplanted 1 load to the roadside hill. Currently it looks skanky because I'd planted 100s of ditch lilies there. My ex- loved them. I did, too, but once they've bloomed, the flower stalk dies, (picture a roadside of dead, standing sticks) and the foliage becomes yellowed and lies on the ground. No....

So, evergreen hellebores that reseed like crazy are the song of the day. That and my reseeding, full sun taking 'Invincible' hosta. moved a bunch of them, too.

Not much more.
I wanna hear about this roof!

schicksal - Yowza! I'm so sorry this happened to you. So glad no one was hurt. I worried about this very possibility when they put roofing on my roof. Let me guess, 2x4 rafters?

My heart goes out to you. I know what's ahead. Try to find a silver lining and keep focused on that.

ps. I don't find you boring at all. I'm sure I have you beat there, at least according to my wife.

I checked the inspection report from when I bought the place. Rafters are 2x6, no issues noted during the inspection or from anyone who has ever worked in the attic or walked the roof. No insect or water damage was noted this afternoon. I guess it was just too much weight loaded onto too small a spot.

All licensed, permitted work. Totally above the table.

If you like broken stuff, these pictures are for you...

The wall has bowed outward by about a foot.

The adjacent room is similar, but the plaster remained in place while the wall bowed out instead of going with it. There is ceiling damage throughout the second floor, except for the bathroom. The chimney broke off above the second floor ceiling and is now lying on the ground. The first floor is mostly free from debris.

Since a second floor wall is pulling away the first task will be to stabilize the building. Tomorrow I start making calls.

Edit: It goes without saying that I am done for the day.

This post was edited by schicksal on Thu, Aug 14, 14 at 18:08

Oh no! That is not good, not good at all, will they also reimburse you time for rent lost?

Well I find it very hard to believe that you are a boring person. You've travelled, you are very handy and definately creative. You have mentioned parties, so apparently you are welcomed to events.

No plans again for me. I have the Music Festival volunteer meeting at 6pm.
I may not even make dinner.

It does happen........,

Wow. Simply wow. I'm stunned. Been thinking about this all afternoon. It's worse than I imagined. I've never witnessed something like this happening. I bet the structural engineers can't wait to get a good look at the damage.

Good luck over the next few days. Be sure to document exactly how many bundles of roofing fell exactly where.

Such a nice house too. You've obviously kept it up.

That. is. wild. So glad everyone is insured. I hope everything character-wise that would be difficult to find/create is okay. And I'm so glad it was vacant!

First day with kids today. It was a good day. Tired, but not as tired as usual. Probably because I'm doing my first load of laundry at home in a month+. I'll have to hang it to dry, but I just did things that that's good for anyway. I look forward to running the DW later.

Yesterday I got an email from the fridge (and range) place about a scratch on the door (probably didn't even mention that because I could care less...its in a spot that you only see when the door is open). I emailed back 'yeah, but there's also...'. I haven't heard back yet.

I FINALLY sort of heard something from the HD GC. I got an email from his wife asking when I'm free next week. Well, really I'm not. But I'm not sure what it's for. The cabinet guy doing the finish work? Or the GC getting the cabinet and electrical ready for the speed oven? So I'll email back and ask. I'm not sure what I want to be here for personally and what I'm okay with MIL here for. If they are here the same day, that'd be sweet and I'll be here for sure.

I also left a message for the non-HD GC about changing out the plug for the dryer. I told him to call MIL to coordinate. :)

This weekend I hope to do the little fix-up stuff that I can like finishing the UCL wiring (now that vent hood is in) and mounting tray dividers (which requires me to find my jigsaw, which requires some garage-searching scariness).

Here's the last of the flooring that I finished last night. Spent this evening packing stuff out of the bedroom and putting down a tarp. Will start working on trim in earnest as soon as I get the time.

This is the storage area behind the south wall in the bedroom. It's quite a nice space, about 70 sf and you can stand up straight in the lower section. It's accessed by a little 2 x 4' doorway that I think I will build in book shelving that opens. Kind of a hidden door:

Exciting weekend ahead. I'm going up north to the Skagit Valley see my mom (who is 92 and still lives at home) and all of us kids will be there on Sunday. We don't know how many times we have left to all get together, so it's a treat to do so. I also get to hike my favorite creek on Saturday, which is another treat.

Floor looks good Doug. Aren't you glad you kept working last night?
I love the idea of a hidden space.

I am trying to decide if I am going to the Valley Saturday myself. Youth Football Jamboree at BEHS. But it is also Costco weekend.

Some of my favorite memories as a child were at my grandmothers farm off of Starbird Rd.

I can't believe that!! I'm so glad everyone is insured, such a nice looking house, I hope they can fix it properly to where you never even notice.

Floor looks good Doug, and I agree. I see that and my inner kid wants to crawl in and set it up as my secret getaway.

For me, not a ton the past few days. My dad has been over here getting a few tiny details done, stuff like "oh hey, we still need to cut and install that 2 inch piece of trim" and 9 months later it still hasn't been done. Well, now its done.

Got 2 coats of spar on the cedar posts for the porch, will probably add a few more just to be safe.

I did get a light fixture for my breezeway. I was going through the shop and came across this fixture that was removed from a previous property, no one can even remember where it came from, its been that long.

Well I thought it looked awesome and vintage and my husband agreed so we both decided why not, and we used it in the breezeway. Bonus awesomeness is that meant I didn't have to buy anything!!

Pic is linked below. I can't remember who it was that was wanting the old fashioned style Formica counter with the gold flecks in it, but this fixture very much goes with that style.

Here is a link that might be useful: {{!gwi}}

Wow Schicksal, that is horrifying. I've never seen anything like it. How will they even fix it?

I must say I'm impressed by your remarkable calm in e face of that.

I spent yesterday trying to track down my contractor as my pantry/laundry room job appears to have stalled.

Texas_Gem - That makes me think of the light fixtures in the house I grew up in, except they were square. I think they had a similar pattern.

Doug the floor looks great! And add me to the list of people who would love a hideaway space like that. I sometimes have dreams where we're living somewhere and after a while we find a whole lot more space that we 'just never noticed'. Wonder what that means?

Must find the balance this weekend between school and kithchen/home work. I need to do lots of both.

We will see about lost revenue soon. I went back yesterday evening to get my sunglasses and noticed the opposite wall has separated an inch and the hardwood in one bedroom has buckled. This will be interesting. I suspect overloading - there were no defects noted in the attic or structure, ever. Not by any inspector or contractor. The only comment was that the roof was getting old and I might want to think about replacement at some point.

I say boring a bit tongue in cheek in that I am known to talk about design and decorating incessantly. Not as bad as the rehab addict lady... Hopefully a more subtle Mike Holmes.

An engineer came by yesterday afternoon. Not sure whose insurance called them (not mine). The first thing they did was get in a lift and take pictures of supplies and whatnot. Google says this may not be unheard of, BC has a handy guide for how to load up supplies in a roof that I guess they should have read first. I know a structural engineer and we are visiting today too.

Losing the plaster and lathe on the wall facing the school bothers me some since it makes things quieter on the inside. Another thing concerns me a bit is flood insurance requirements. BFE here is 13 feet and the living space is at 12.6. It has never flooded. If you do more than 50% of the value of the place in repair in a year you have to bring it up (physically raise it). If this is defined as market value of the place I doubt we will hit that since values more than rebounded. However if it's defined as value of the improvements per the county's housing crash values this could be trouble. Likewise for bringing things to code. Insurance is supposed to put it back the way it was, but rules have changed over the last century and I am not sure I'd that comes out of my pocket.

I take this the same way Peter did in Office Space when the building burned down. Just stand back and watch... For now I will finish our place. I assume they will fix by removing the roof completely, take out the ceiling, remove the entire second story wall facing the school, remove a section of the opposite wall and then deal with whatever broke and buckled the floor. If required to raise ithe house the entire drain system must be redone, the place leveled and the enclosed rear porch rebuilt.

@doug the floor looks awesome! Is it walnut?

@texas - that may be me... I will check it out once I am not browsing by phone. Marine spar varnish is great stuff, it's the right choice.

Coffee time...

Whoa, Schicksal!! What a mess! I'm so glad no one was hurt and everyone has insurance. Not much you can do but sit and watch and stressing about it won't fix it, so as the ubiquitous posters say, keep calm and carry on. Or chive on, whatever.

Texas, fun light fixture.

Cal, I'm glad your washer and dishwasher are functional. Hopefully the rest gets done in a timely fashion.

Doug, what a cool little room! I like the idea of a bookshelf door. Have a fun time with your Mom and family!

CEF, I swear if you spent one day at my place it'd be a complete change and beautiful when done.

Yesterday, while lying on my swing not weeding, I decided I need to stain/waterproof my driveway gate. I have a narrow one car width driveway and it was open to the back yard. The very end goes up by my "sunroom" and that is where we had the patio table. I didn't like everyone seeing us sit there, so I had a big double gate put in (I can get my van through if necessary) with a pergola thingy at the top, which has a basketball backboard attached to it for the boys, and about an 8' fence joining up to the chainlink fence on the side. I'll post a pic later. So I think I might pick up a gallon of stain/waterproofing and do that sometime in the next few days when it's not boiling hot. I don't want to make it a darker colour, so I think maybe just a protective waterproof coating of some kind. My oldest is going with his dad to Cincinnati today for a soccer tournament so it's me and the 9 yo for the weekend. We are doing a 5km fun run tomorrow night.

schicksal - I noticed in the first pic, from across the street, that the second floor corner over the front porch looks like it tilts inward a bit. At that point I thought They Broke Your House!!! Hopefully the building department will have mercy and call 12.6' close enough. Nothing like piling on extra work. The flooring is an Elm pattern (it's cheap laminate, of course) but does look a lot like English Walnut in grain and coloring, which is why we chose it.

Terri - I grew up in the Skagit Valley. We are in our 5th generation now. Best place anywhere. My aunt and uncle had a farm on Camano Island. If your grandmother considered Stanwood home, she may have known them. My aunt was a doctor there.

Good to see everyone's progress. Everyone is busy whether with work or home projects.
schicksal-that is awful for you. I hope everything is resolved and repairs progress smoothly. I personally would be reduced to a blubbering fool.

Doug-your floors and window trims are beautiful.

cal-quail-your kitchen came together quickly and is just wonderful. It's a good feeling to get back in and start cooking normally again.

Texas-the siding looks great. Is it painted already? It looks good with the bricks.

I got lots of weeding done early in the week. This was the week for final running around before we take dd to school. She is going to school about 40 miles from our other house so we were planning to take a few things for the house and drop them off before proceeding to her apartment. I reserved a small rental truck two weeks ago, but got a call yesterday that there are no trucks available for this weekend. Called another company "sure we can get one" go to reserve it and they don't have any either. They tell me I can take the local one for the weekend and return it for more than double the price. Ok, no can do. (Oh, and DH was in the ER late Monday night with a kidney stone which he still has not passed so he will not be helping us) I told dd we are just jamming everything she needs into my sante fe and going. Whatever doesn't fit I will bring her next weekend and the other things can wait. My 2 ds will stay with dh and do whatever he needs. Easy peasy-no stress at all.

rmtdoug - No such luck with the building dept - they are strict about it. The rules come down from the feds since they run the flood insurance program. FEMA is currently redoing their flood insurance maps for the county so elevations are a big question mark at the moment. Since each incremental foot of elevation does not cost much I would discuss with my insurance company to see what the best height would be. For all I know it may be 3' above base flood elevation.

There may be a bit of lean now. In 2.5 years I have never taken a picture from that angle. I made sure all windows opened and closed freely because of fire regulations, so that might be a litmus test for what has shifted. I guess staying on top of things pays off.

I spoke with the city a few minutes ago and was told that failure happened when 3,700 lbs of shingles were loaded up there! Also got in touch with the block association to ask about the historical preservation aspects since I don't want to devalue the place.

Bummer about the flood requirements. It's funny, I live across the street from salt water and nobody says anything about flooding, but even at highest tide the water would need to rise another 10-15 feet before I would get wet. However, I have discussed with my wife in event of an extremely severe earthquake to be ready to get out quickly. There is a small hill right behind us.

Clearly, someone did not read the instructions on roofing placement. Your roof should certainly hold 3,700 lbs of properly distributed weight. If memory serves me, 3,700 lbs is about 9-10 squares (assuming architectural 3-tab?) Did they put it all in one spot?

I think so, but was not on the cherry picker with the others to look from above. It's 40 year roofing so it's probably less than that much unless they overordered. I think it's closer to a 6 square roof but I'm not an expert, it's just what I was told.

My insurance does not cover this sort of accident (that's what liability insurance for the contractor/supplier is for). At this point I'm looking into whether an attorney is needed. Probably so, if I want the place fixed correctly...

The trouble here with flooding isn't the tide or rainfall, it's storm surge from a hurricane. That's what can get you. Or another earthquake since there was already a huge one in the late 1800s.

The engineer / builder got back late this afternoon so we'll go check things out tomorrow.

Schicksal, once again I am impressed by the calm way you are dealing with this. As someone stated above, they Broke. Your. House. I've learned a lot just hearing how you are dealing with this and your explanations of what may have happened and what needs to happen to fix it.

As for me week 13 has been a bust but I spoke to my contractor today and things look very good for week 14. I bought the tile for the laundry room floor and he is going to pick that up. Got nice big inexpensive porcelain tiles. This is a budget job! Electrician is supposed to come this weekend to move a switch and add a socket, flooring guys next week to do the tile floor in the laundry room and the pergo in the sewing/guest room. I'm hopeful the wall and ceiling in the laundry room will get patched up and skim coated as well so I can prime and paint next weekend.

Doug, Conway is where she lived. I am not totally certain but she could have been from Up River. However she and her daughter(my Dad's Mom) are buried in Woolley. So maybe not to far "Up".

Well I again have nothing done or planned to do. My 4 days off next week turned into 2.5 days off.. Grrrrr.. So I really have to bustle. I may go stock up on Citristrip and use it on ugly cabinets!

scrapbookheaven, you crack me up! Did you manage to find more projects to enable you to postpone the in-action ones? :)

Today I didn't do a lot. I sprayed.
BUT! My neighbor and I dug out 3 new fence posts. Or he dug, I held the level and made executive decisions. This is where an ancient 2' fence made of concrete wire is hanging off rotten, untreated logs. We're going to slowly replace it with materials I already have. Treated 4x4s, fencing, staples, cutters, hammer-ers, diggers of all kinds, sawsall thing, etc. With a chicken wire 3' fence! LOL

See, his chickens have come over to roll and dust bathe in my newly mulched gardens. Unfortunately, this also means rolling on and burying the plants I've gotten into the ground and some I'm attempting to rejuvenate from 7 years of neglect. They're making a mess and killing things. They're horrendously cute, but now? They're evil.

Tomorrow we'll put the wire on. My cats won't jump this fence, for some great reason. But one will chase the chickens. I'm encouraging that.

I was going to hose down, get dressed in real clothes, and go out to have a glass of wine (once a month to make an effort or so) but I was pooped. I went to bed at 9:30.

Tomorrow is another day...