Two Weekends

This edition takes in two weekends... It seems my weeks are getting busier and busier and by the time I get home from work, I am so totally exhausted, I just want to take a nap.... After a weekend at the cabin, I always download all the pictures, but don't get the dialogue written out, preferring to nap instead of write. So, the blog suffers... Please forgive my tardiness.

Well, last week started with a pile of foam insulation being stacked on the dining room table in preparation to be installed on the ceiling.  When the guys were finished cutting, the stack was probably about 10 feet tall...

They set up a work station on the deck that would cut the foam to size....

...and Ben found a very efficient way to move the sheets around...

I sent this picture to Kelly, and she wrote me back saying, "Wow, what a stud!"  

Jim and Ben have a great system going on...  I guess if it works, that's all that matters.

..the foam insulation goes up first, then the mesh, and then we have to fill up the space with blown in insulation.  The mesh is to keep the blown in insulation in place before the (knotty) naughty pine gets stapled up on the ceiling.  The tongue and groove naughty pine will go over that to finish the ceiling...

They kinda made a mess, but I didn't complain... at least not vocally..  

We had a bag of loose insulation, so the guys filled a couple of the meshed in sections with it, so we all could get an idea of what was going on...

Here you can see kind of how it is going to be...

If you look to the right of this picture, you can see little pieces of wood nailed into place.   This is to support the transition from the sheetrock walls to the ceiling.  Jim had to cut and nail into place all these little pieces...

...from one end of the room to the other....

..Just to give you a little perspective... He is working at the ceiling on a 10' ladder.... And, he doesn't like heights... The ridge/peak is 25 feet up from the floor.

And, with all the work with foam insulation, and mesh and blown in loose insulation... Jim put a few pieces of the tongue and groove knotty (naughty) pine into place.  As he told the guy at the store, he needed a few pieces of the pine to put up so that the home owner gives her approval.. giggle.  This wood will be covering the whole ceiling.  I wasn't sure I would like it, but after it went up, I really think I approve.  So, this boss (and I didn't realize I was the boss) says yes! (These pieces of wood were brought to the cabin in my Kia Soul.... front to back...with the front up on the dash....)

This is the ceiling in the downstairs basement bathroom.  Jim got the heating duct that run above the shower installed to heat the main floor bathroom.  One step closer to have a working furnace!

Sunday, Jim worked on getting the running water in the downstairs bathroom installed with both hot and cold water.  I was totally stoked.  He installed the sink several months ago, and the faucet that came with the sink, was not working properly.  So, I picked out new faucets, and Jim installed them.. And.. we now have cold AND hot water...  Amazing how small things just excite me!

We didn't have the help of Ben for the 2nd week... He and his wife Kelly decided to brave the elements and go camping...  I just don't understand the whole concept of camping... I just seems cold and damp and inconvenient... I don't find campfires romantic, and I definitely don't want to cook over an open flame... and bugs flying around drive me crazy.... I always tell Jim that my idea of roughing it is staying the night in the Hilton with the window open... But, I'm glad Ben and Kelly enjoy this kinda thing...

On our way home on Sunday night, we stopped in Fillmore, Utah to fill up with gas. Here is something we have always heard about, but never witnessed... So, apparently, this type of thing happens... even here in Utah.  Someone filled up with gas, didn't take the hose out of the gas tank, and drove off... then realized it was still in the tank, came back and put the handle back in the pump... Apparently, it disconnects!

We calculated that we have approximately 20 working days left before it starts to snow.... maybe.  The Farmer's Almanac says that we are going to have our first frost on October 20...At that point, I can no longer go on the weekends with Jim because of the cold... my pneumonia kicks up about that time, so, it's a stay at home moment for me.  I am hoping the duct work gets finished and we have a little heat so I can extend my time a little bit...  Last year, we had the wood burning stove in the living room working, but, with those high cathedral ceilings, and no insulation,  it didn't warm the place up super well. So, here's to hoping for a late, mild winter and the insulation works. . .

With that, the adventure continues...  Love, Jim and Cheri

It's all about Insulation and Ductwork!

 Well, I wasn't in the best of moods last week, so I didn't get the blog updated... and didn't get my 2nd chair completed.. But, Jim helped me, and the chairs cushions were recovered and look amazing.  Through this process, I realized that even though three of us inspected the metal, there were a couple of places that still need to be touched up.  Hopefully, this weekend, that little issue will be resolved...  and maybe my attitude... Why and how Jim puts up with me, has always been a question in my mind.... moving forward....(Jim doesn't understand either). . .

The duct work installation is moving along nicely.  And this is the first - one of many - registers that will be going in,,, This is in the bedroom of the loft.

This is the duct vent going from the range hood over the island to the outside.... We found, after the hood went in that we needed to move the lights to both sides of the hood over just a couple of inches...  The range hood was a little bigger than anticipated.

Here's the duct work from a different angle...

And, here's the range hood...  

Jim has a vertical duct coming up from the basement splitting out to the bedroom and the bathroom in the loft.

One small problem we had with the cabin is that our framer made a few little booboos that needed to be fixed before we can move on with the insulation in certain areas.  One of then is above the bay window on the outside... There was a 6" gap going from the outside to the inside, that was never filled in... So, Ben's job on Saturday, was to start the fix by stuffing the space with insulation... this, hopefully, will be the last space that birds are getting in... Sorry birds... no roosting inside my living room any more.

The space is now behind the pink insulation.

I was looking for, I don't remember what online, and I found these little trinkets that sit magnetically on the top of the door hinge...  I thought they were amazingly cute.  I bought little dragons, and....

...little mice.  The dragons have been put on bathroom doors and the mice are now living on the pantry door hinge.  I think they are darling.  They are held in place with a magnet on the bottom.

A project that I have been working on for some time now is making a room divider for the loft.  I had this idea of using side lights and hinging the different pieces together so the sidelights form a zigzag.  I've had a couple of the side lights sitting on the deck for the longest.  Ben had to put ladders up where my glass was being stored, so Jim told him to he pull the old frame off and the glass is now ready for the next step.  I think this pair is beautiful.

Here's what's left of the sidelight wood..

We found that we needed to move furniture and appliances from Provo to Bryce and then Bryce back to Provo, but knew everything would not fit in my Kia.. So, we rented this big boy and packed it to the gills... This baby drives like a tank.  Jim kept asking me if I wanted to drive, and I was like.. no.  Flat out no!

This is where the wall mounted oven used to be...

..and the old temporary kitchen cabinet is taken out ready for the new cabinets to go in....

Here's where the cabinet under the sink used to be... We have most of the new cabinets to go in, and we have black granite for the countertops...  

We need to put part of the wood kitchen flooring down before we put the new cabinets in... so, the question is:  Should the floors and the cabinets go in BEFORE the duct work is finished, or after???  I'm going with duct work... The duct work is one step closer to getting our four way inspection completed... and I think that's number one on the list.

Week 2

We've had the insulation for the ceiling stored in our Conex for the past couple of years, and this was the weekend the guys really started to work with it.  I don't think they really figured out how they were going to install it... until they were hands on.. But.... it was an amazing start.  Each sheet had to be custom cut to fit the ceiling and this is the first step...

They got all the pieces cut, ready to be installed.... and, they are now stored on the dining room table.... sheesh...my life... Ultimately we will have 60 of these pieces 22 inches wide stuffed in between the roof joists.

After a successful practice putting up pieces in the loft, the job went quickly...

Here's the first piece that was put in the great room... Ben was pretty happy with the install.

After the little practice run, the job went smoothly... or as smooth as working 25 feet in the air can be...

And, these two work really well together... Here, they had a little issue with the staple gun, but worked it out and moved forward.

We purchased a cabinet for the kitchen sink from Home Depot on our way out of town... We were in my Kia Soul and I'm sure glad it fit in the back hatch...  Kinda a tight fit, but it worked!  Like by a 1/4 of an inch!

And, here it is in the kitchen beside the dishwasher.  I don't know if this is going to be it's final resting place, but for now, this is home.  The rest of the kitchen cabinets are in the main floor bedroom right now... 

I must admit, being married to Jim has been, and will continue to be an amazing ride.  I can't imagine my life being calm - Jim always has some crazy project to start... we don't always agree, mostly because Jim doesn't understand, after all these years, that I am ALWAYS right,  but it seems to always turn out pretty amazing in the end.... 

With that, the adventure continues...

Love, Jim and Cheri

• It is not the beauty of a building you should look at; its the construction of the foundation that will stand the test of time.

It's too freakin' HOT!!!

 It's super hot in Bryce Woodlands right now, but the work continues in the heat!  The push right now is to complete the insulation and the heating/cooling duct work... It's hot, but the work must go on.  The rest of the long wall in the great room has been completed, and the prow wall started!

There's some pretty tall ladders that need to be climbed to get to the top of the room, and I am just glad that Ben has climbing experience to get to the tops... I just wish he was wearing climbing gear and tied up there with ropes so he doesn't fall.  I keep telling him that he's not allowed to fall and die in my cabin!!!  Here, you can see how far he has to climb to get to the ceiling to work!

It makes me dizzy just looking at it...

But, they climb up and do a great job.  It's when Ben puts one foot on the ladder and one foot out on the window sill that my stomach churns...

Jim doesn't particularly like heights, but he also climbs the ladder and did some repair work that needed to be done.  Jim repairs, Ben insulates...  Cheri watches...

After the prow wall was completed, the next part was to turn the corner and start on the bay window wall...  I am most excited about this bay window... Jim is going to build a window seat for me, to complete the room.  I am not expecting this to be done any time soon... lots of other jobs that need to be completed first... But, I can dream.

I found a set of chairs at Habitat for Humanity and I fell in love with them.. I did a little bit of painting and replaced the seat covers, and this is what they look like now...

And, this is what they looked like before.  I kinda saw some potential and thought I would see if they  would turn out to be something fabulous.. and they did... Before, the seat covers were orange/yellow and the wrought iron really needed a facelift. But, I think they turned out fantastic.  This isn't quite my forte.... but, it worked.

While Ben was working on insulation, Jim started working on duct work... He had to start by doing a little building...  This is the junction where the heat comes up from the basement and diverts out to the loft bedroom, the loft bathroom and a second one for the other end of the loft bedroom... Everything is figureoutable!

He installed a damper so we can regulate how much heat goes up there.  And here is our very first heat outlet on the bedroom floor in the loft!

And, I put up a new hummingbird feeder on the deck... and we have a little family that has been coming by to visit.  There is a teeny, tiny little humming bird... Ben thinks she is less than a year old... she comes frequently...

Update on the shattered glass shower door...  We filed a claim with Delta because they have a warranty for 5 years on their products... However, their warranty isn't worth the paper it is written on.  They came back and told us that it was installed incorrectly - which is weird because we hadn't even finished the installation when it shattered... in fact, we weren't even in the bathroom when it exploded...  So, buyer beware... Delta products have a warranty, that they are not going to honour... BUT, I called Home Depot corporate, and the lady I was talking to said that Home Depot honours their products for 3 months, and we were within that time limit, so they gave us a new door... In fact, they gave us 2 new doors.. We were thrilled.. So, Delta - two thumbs down... Home Depot - two thumbs up!

And, we switched out the tv in the living room for one a little smaller (55 inch).. The larger set needed the sound amplifier looked into, so, when the insulation was put in, the TV was switched out... I usually listen to Pandora while we are working, but, while I was gone to the grocery store, the TV went up, and when I came home, Murdock Mysteries was playing.. I am such a fan of Murdock Mysteries...  giggle..  

Anyways, we are making great progress.... even in the scorching heat...

With that, the adventure continues...

Love, Jim and Cheri

• Everything starts out small, it's how we build from the ground up that matters.