Painting Begins Today!

One of my next goals is to get my garage doors. Before they can be installed, I need to paint both garage ceilings and install some Hardie Board as trim over the exposed wooden beams inside the doorway.

So this week, I picked colors for the ceiling and the wall of the front garage (the back garage is getting stained plywood paneling). I bought the paint last night. Here's the palette:

I'm using a flat sheen on the ceilings and satin on the walls. The only accent I can think of will be the sheets of Formica veneer that I want to install on the walls where the utility sinks will be. This will serve as a backsplash to keep the walls from getting wet.

We're going to start this evening painting the back garage ceiling. I'm looking forward to this. To see color actually go on a wall will make it start to feel like a real house!

Shower Installation, Take Two

Early this week, the man-made marble company called to say that they were ready to come try again at getting the installation of the shower right. If you're following along at home, you may remember that the original installation was sloppy in some respects. Seems where two pieces of material met were uneven and details like that. They sent the same installer again. I called the owner when I found out he was coming back. He assured me that this guy was capable of fixing it.

I met the installer at the house. He looked at everything with me and made some excuses. The wall wasn't straight... Caulking is more of an art than a science, so he might not be able to make the job look better...

My parents had a new shower put in a few years ago from another company. Their house was built on a tight budget and there are alot of details that aren't perfect. I know their walls can't all be straight as a needle, and this other company did a very nice job making their shower look good. I spent two days checking studs and making them straight. Most of them were straight already. I can't imagine that each and every stud in my shower is skewed. And that's what I'd have to believe if I accepted what this guy had to say. I told him I expected him to try his best.

I left him to do his work. In the end, it does look better than before. But it isn't perfect. The bench seat looks ok now. He didn't touch the caulking, as far as I can tell. And the seam that was out of whack is closer to what it should be.

They still have to come back out and put one last piece on that he didn't have the right size for. I haven't decided how I want to proceed. I'll let my mom look at it and see if she thinks I need to protest some more.

Back Online After Gustav

The power was out from Monday until late Saturday. Meanwhile, houses all around our 2-3 block neighborhood never lost power at all! That was a bit frustrating.

But my house came out of the storm untouched. Everything was fine. Not even too many leaves and twigs to pick up. Before the storm, we had tied a rope from the portable toilet to both the temporary electric pole and the nearby utility pole. A neighbor across the street described how the wind had the toilet leaning over on one edge. Only the rope was keeping it from tipping over and blowing down the street! Then the wind changed direction, and the toilet went upright and slid against the temporary pole for the rest of the time.

Here's a picture of the street I'm building on after the storm:

The power on this street also went out during the storm. It came back on earlier than my parents' house. I think they were back in business on Thursday.

Right behind Gustav is Hurricane Ike. It looks like that storm will graze Louisiana and go into Texas at this point. We don't need another one coming here right now!

Spoke Too Soon

About 10 mins after my last post, the power went out! I'm posting this short msg from my mobile phone.

Gustav in Progress

So far, so good. The power is still on and although you can tell there's a hurricane outside, the winds haven't been dangerously excessive. I got about 5 hours sleep before the noise from outside distracted me too much. There's still about 4-5 hours to go until the storm's eye makes landfall, but we're optimistic now that we won't even lose power. That would make all the difference in the world! Even if we do lose power, it seems that everyone prepared so well for this event that the restoration effort wouldn't take weeks like it did after Katrina.

Here is a photo of the house with all the windows boarded up:

And here's one from Friday showing the primer sprayed on the walls and ceilings. You're looking in through the front door:

I'll write more later, assuming I still have power and communications.

First Impact from Gustav

About 10 mins ago (7:25pm Central time), Gustav made his first impact here. We were outside and saw the dark band of clouds coming. Suddenly, the wind went from zero to very gusty, and the rain started to pelt us. There were a few pellets of hail right off the bat.

He's heeeeeerrree!

Battening Down the Hatches!

Gustav is coming!

It's the new hurricane sensation that's sweeping the nation! (Or at least, the Louisiana part of the nation...) The storm is expected to make landfall in about 48 hours just west of the greater New Orleans area. We'll be on the east side of the storm, and that's the worst side to be on. Gustav is not a wimpy hurricane. It could be as strong as a cetegory 4 when it hits land. For the first time, I have a house to worry about during a storm. We've covered most of the windows at this point (the rest will be done tomorrow), and installed plywood covering over my 18 ft wide garage door opening.

I trust that God will take care of things. He always does, even if we have to wait for the long term to look back and see it.

My family has decided to stay put at home for this storm. It's a decision I'm not at ease with, but I want to be where my family is for this. The Katrina evacuation consisted of a 15 hour bumper-to-bumper drive and a grueling week cooped up in a small hotel room in a small town with 4 people and 2 dogs. That was followed up by a 14 hour ride home and a week doing clean-up in the sun with no electricity. This time, I guess we're hoping to avoid the evac misery and just endure life at home with no power. I do not live in an area that flooded after Katrina, and there's very little chance we would be affected by flooding this time. So I'm not worried about my new house getting damaged, unless it's by a wayward falling oak tree. Did I mention that I know God will take care of things?

Preparing for Spray Primer... and Hurricane Gustav!

It's weird... I've been at the house almost every evening doing stuff. But it's little stuff, and I can't lump it all into one category to say, "I've been working on THIS." Where does the time go? :)

Back from the Beach: Shower Install, Take One

When I got back from the beach, the guy came out to install the material on the walls of the shower. It took most of a day. He didn't do a neat job. The rear wall didn't come out flat, and it's obvious he didn't take steps to shim it out or anything. The bench seat wasn't scribed to the contour of the uneven wall, so you see a big gap in the corner. One leg of the bench seat is not squared properly. And there a couple more items that aren't right. I called, and one of the company's owners came out to look at it. He says they're going to take steps to fix it. But he's going to try to fix the back wall without removing the left and right walls. So I don't know how neat that's going to come out. We'll see.

Caulking & Attic Insulation Gaps

After placing a lot of plywood decking in the attic we moved on to other tasks, like caulking around the exterior of the windows and doors. I used gray caulk to match the color of the brick mortar. It was kind of fun doing that. We prepped for this by scaping away loose mortar and vacuuming out the dust. The actual caulking took less than a day. We finished (I think) a day before the remnants of Hurricane Fay came through and dropped a lot of rain.

I've noticed two spots in the attic that don't have insulation coverage. I've called them, and they're coming back out to patch it up. One of the areas is over the wall between the master bedroom and the patio. I can see down behind the bricks and there are spots of daylight, so I'd say that's a big weak spot in the thermal envelope!

Driveway Bid Progress

My slab guy finally came out to look at the driveway job this past Thursday. Now I'm waiting for him to get back to me with a price. I talked to him yesterday. He says he has the estimate at his office and he's supposed to call me back with it. I can't imagine that I wouldn't go with him for the job, but I got another guy from my original concrete subs list to come out and look at it also. I'm waiting on his bid also.

Flooring & Cabinet Search

I've been to a couple more flooring stores. There are a LOT of choices out there. I think I'm settling in on something that's a blend of gray and terra cotta colors. I have a couple of favorites so far, but I haven't been able to get samples of those. As for cabinets, I visited one local pre-fab custom cabinet shop. I still like the idea of having mine built from scratch. The two bids I've gotten are $11,000 and $18,000. My original estimate from Lowe's was $14,000. So the custom-built-from-scratch idea isn't out of the park on price. I'm trying to get up to Hammond (over an hour away) to visit the cheaper guy's shop and get a look at his work.

Priming Spray Prep

On Friday, I have someone coming to spray the primer coat on the ceilings and walls. We've been preparing by stuffing newspaper into wall outlet boxes and ceiling fixtures. Tonight we laid down paper on all the floors to protect from overspray, and tomorrow we'll use plastic to cover all showers and tubs.

Hurricane Gustav Prep

And the most recent development has been Hurricane Gustav, which is currently in the Carribean and forecasted to make landfall close to New Orleans early next week. My dad and I picked up plywood yesterday and made cut-outs for most of my windows. We still have two to cut.

We also picked up thinner plywood for paneling the rear garage. That's because I still have my netting on the walls holding in my cellulose insulation. If we get high winds and driving rain, that insulation will get soaked! So the idea is to stain & seal this paneling and put it up before the storm gets here.

On Friday, I was supposed to go visit the cabinet guy in Hammond. However, there are going to be a LOT of people leaving town on Friday ahead of the storm. With all that traffic congestion, I think I'm going to postpone the trip.

Back from the Beach

Well, it's back to my day job today after a week off. My 4 days in Gulf Shores last week provided a much-needed rest from work and from house stuff. We had our share of rain, but not enough to ruin the trip. I love having a balcony right over the beach! This way, even if it rains I can still sit and listen to the waves. And that's all I really need. :)

After I got back, I went to another flooring store on Friday and my dad and I spent Saturday decking the attic floor with plywood. This will provide more space for storage (and also minimize the chance of someone accidentally putting their foot through the sheetrock into the living space downstairs)! Also on Saturday, my sheetrock guy came to put back the green rock in the shower that had to be removed for the pan installation. I also got a painter to come look at spraying the primer on the walls and ceilings.

For this week, I'm continuing the cabinet search, as well as looking for garage doors. Narrowing down at least my cabinet wood color will help with picking out paint and flooring for that part of the house. I need to get ready for the primer spraying by putting paper in all the lighting cans and outlet boxes to keep the paint out. Once I know a definite date, I'll also need to cover the floors with paper.

My slab guy was supposed to stop by on Saturday to look at my driveway job. He didn't show. So I have to work on him again.

Not an Abandoned House Anymore: Yard Work Done

After getting the sheetrock cleanup done last week, I took time on Saturday (8/2) to turn attention to the exterior. The grass in the yard isn't everywhere, but where it was growing, it was getting high and shaggy-looking. After raking up some left-over brick mortar debris in the alley, I cut the grass. Wow, what a difference. It doesn't look like an abandoned home anymore! :)

There's also been a pile of sand in the front yard left over from the bricklayers. I'll need this later when I lay bricks for a patio in the back yard. Early this week, we moved the pile to the back of the house. My front yard looks so good with that pile of sand and blue tarp gone!

Also this week, my dad and I went into the attic and began making strongbacks out of all the 2x4's bracing up the roof. A strongback is when you take one stud and attach another one to it lengthwise that's at a 90 degree angle. So a cross-section would look like an "L" or a "T". This keeps the original stud from bowing over time, and this will minimize any warps developing in my roof and keep it nice and flat.

Even with my insulation in the attic, this August heat makes it quite warm up there. While it doesn't take your breath away, it's not a comfortable place to work for a long time. So we've finished almost 2/3 of the strongbacks. I'm waiting for an overcast or rainy day to finish the rest.

I've taken the last two evenings off from work on the house. I'm preparing for a beach trip to Gulf Shores this coming week, and I've had my car in and out of various shops giving it the attention it has been craving. I've had the brakes & spark plugs changed, the tires rotated & balanced, and part of a front CV joint replaced. Just getting it ready for the road. I need the break next week!