Cabinets and Material Samples

CABINETS
We met with a cabinet manufacturer yesterday and are starting to fine tune the kitchen layout and the type of cabinets we want. It seems to me that there are lots of cabinet mfrs. out in the market so it is a matter of finding the one that matches up with our needs the best. We are leaning towards a more "green cabinet" with no formalydahyde and low VOC. We will see how the costs come back.

FLOORING

Went by Ecohaus in Bellevue which specializes in environmentally friendly products for your home. We will get them to price cabinets plus we checked out some flooring while we there. Cork flooring sample for the kitchen area. Softer on the feet and looks pretty cool

Tigerwood hardwood sample for the Living/Dining area. I love the variation of color!

Prepping for the Slab

Lots to do to get the project ready for pouring the slab at the lower floor area. The slab is located in the old garage area plus where the new addition is adjacent to the concrete wall. Before the pour can occur:

1. The plumber must rough in his drain lines that go under the floor.

2. The water line for the house needs to be run under the floor area

3. I need to lay down a vapor barrier and some insulation boards

4. The In-Floor Heating contractor needs to lay his pipes

5. Plus before all that occurs, the area needed to be cleared out, some of the area filled in, a small concrete wall removed, and the whole area levelled and compacted down.

The area is getting prepared. Trenches are for the thickened slab areas to support the load bearing walls under the garage. We still need some fill on the far right to finish leveling things out. Moved the construction access stairs to the end of the house, outside the building footprint. Eventually this area gets filled in a bit more and there will be permanent stairs going up to the driveway.

Free Wood!

Well not exactly free if you consider the labor of taking the roof structure down and then pulling nails for a whole day and then sorting and stacking. But it is real good lumber, with very few knots. You can't buy wood like this anymore and there is about 1000lf of 2x6s plus another pile of misc 2x4's, plus some beams, and headers. I am planning on using the 2x6's to frame the upper floor perimeter walls if all goes well :-)

p.s. if anyone wants a free fully functioning hot tub it is in the background of the photo(behind the bbq). Octagon shape and about 8 feet across if I remember correctly. YOU HAUL! Ok I will help loading it up :-)

Wrestling Tarps & Other Stuff :-)

A temporary tarp is now covering most of the remaining floor area. The goal is to keep the bulk of the "liquid sunshine" off for awhile. Of course it was a blustery day today, making it tough to wrestle the 25'x55' tarp into an acceptable position. We will see how it holds up :-)

View from the old garage corner, where the new storage/mechanical room will be. The garage wall and header is now gone plus the foundation wall that was at the bottom of the temporary stairs is gone.
What your electrical panel looks like after the garage header beam accidentally "bounces through it". Not to worry the power has already been transfered to the temporary pole and this panel was going in the dumpster anyway:-)

Tired, gonna rest now and take a day off tomorrow!

More Demo and Cleanup

View from on top of the dumpster in the Drive View from old bathroom
View from corner of old garage

Uh Ohhhhhhhhhhh!

I guess there is no turning back now :-).......................Well that moment is probably long past but there is something final about tearing a roof off!

The Start of Roof Demo

I have pulled all the ceiling sheetrock down and filled over 70 large plastic bags full of loose insulation from the attic! Messy work and I am glad it is mostly over. Ian and I removed the front gable roof piece last week and Arne helped me remove shingles on the main house yesterday. Finally we had some nice dry weather! It went pretty well, especially considering there was two layers of shingles. I should finish removing shingles in the next day or so and then we will begin taking the roof structure down. Looking at the roof structure I see some great old material, 2x6-24' rafters that are basically clear and knot free! I am going to try and reuse most of it. You just can't get material like that anymore, it just doesn't exist.

Ramp to the front. We actually just wheeled the wheelbarrow right onto the roof to remove the shingles, Slick!

Back of the house with half to shingles gone

Temporary Power

I have found out Puget Sound Energy has some specfic requirements for the location of temporary construction power. After much back and forth and a site visit my location has been approved by PSE and inspected by the city of Kirkland. We just need PSE to schedule their work. I want to disconnect power to the house and relocate it onto the pole which is out of the way. Then I can strip the electrical out of the house easily. Plus the roof is coming off so weather might become an issue with the existing service :-) FYI, I got the temporary power panel on Craigslist for $50. I had to add the pole and rerun the ground but still saved probably $100! Gota love Craigslist :-)