Loose Ends

We're starting to come up on the end of the remodel (at least the major pieces of it, anyway), and a lot of unfinished projects are starting to wrap up. The second half of the rock steps went in tonight with Carlos's help. Now that the stone is in place, Rachael is going to fill in the gaps with rich soil and plant ground cover, which will hopefully help the rocks blend in with the existing dirt and rock walls to either side.

Great Northwest Gutters installed our gutters and downspouts earlier this week and did some excellent work. The stock brown of the gutters matches the roof so well that they're practically invisible against the house. We chose downspout locations so that we can feed water runoff into small bioswales/watersheds instead of into the storm drains in the street.

Chano and crew have been doing a lot of painting, staining and varnishing for us, and it's all really starting to come together now. In this photo you can see the unexpectedly delicious finish of the porch ceiling, which is stained a deep brown and varnished.

Bull Nose

Rude came by and framed in the window and top edge of the bathroom field tile with bull nose pieces. He did a little creative maneuvering and put in a slate windowsill and did some crazy tile cutting work around the window. This photo doesn't do it justice, but if you saw it in person, you'd be excusing yourself more frequently to use the bathroom.

Water Bead

This shot was taken this afternoon. We got a pretty heavy rainstorm last night and the water that hit the deck beaded up on the layer of sealer instead of soaking into the wood.

Freshness Seal

Here's a shot of the deck during the sealing process. There's an unfinished strip running right to left in the center of the photo. The sealer brings out the rich grain and color of the Ipe and helps keep the deck from graying too quickly.

Backbreaking

On Saturday, Stuart and I moved over a ton and a half of rock into place for the lower set of front stairs. We spent a great deal of time shoveling dirt and gravel, too. Add to that a nasty fight or twelve with some tree roots the size of our forearms (or maybe the forearm of Loki, Stu?), and we had ourselves a mammoth day. Rachael kept things interesting when she disturbed a yellow jacket nest and collected three stings, including one right on her eyebrow.

Freakishly coincidentally, the Neander Games were held this past weekend at Rocky Butte in northeast Portland.

The plastic hanging over the porch was to keep falling tree debris off the freshly sealed decking.

Matching Garage

Chano, Leo and Carlos were with us again Saturday, this time putting some fresh paint on the garage to match it to the house.

Power Wash

Last Friday night Justin power washed the deck. Rachael scrubbed it clean with a stiff bristled push broom and some deck cleaner/brightener/conditioner. Then Justin power rinsed it clean. Thanks, Nathan for loaning us your washer. We filled the tank with diesel for you (just kidding!).

Stair Stone

Smith Rock (the stone retailer in Portland, not the climber's destination in Bend) dropped off one and a half tons of gray Oregon basalt curbstone. The average stone is about seven inches high, ten inches wide and twenty inches deep. We'll spend this weekend arranging and setting them in that dirt runout peeking out from behind the pallet. The project will require some excavation to level things out and we'll use 3/4 inch minus to backfill the rock beds.

Black Gold

Rachael and Grimm's Fuel spent a couple of hot hours this afternoon (it reached 104 F in the 'hood today) blowing in four inches of new soil, covering the entire back yard, side yard and some areas in the front yard.

Trim Paint

Chano and Leo pack up after another long evening of painting. Tonight they worked on soffit and trim. The soffit stain is coming out darker than we expected, but we like the look so far.

In case we haven't mentioned it, our neighbors to the north cut down their laurel hedge a few weeks ago, and now our north side is really exposed. They say their plan is to put in a new wooden fence along the property line this summer, which will provide a nice gardening backdrop for the planting strip along the driveway.

Here's a shot from about the same spot before the hedge was cut down.

Outside Green

Chano and his crew returned today to put two coats of Cushing Green on the siding. At last, a uniform color for the whole house. We chose this green for many reasons. We've been collecting photos of houses with comparable color schemes. It's a fairly popular tone in Portland - sage or mossy green. We didn't want anything resembling the interior greens of our house pre-remodel (for a reminder, click here.) It's a medium-toned color, neither too dark nor too light. We've read that light colors age quickly due to dirt and stains, and that dark colors age due to fading. Our Powell Paint friends employ a great "color consultant" who helped us to narrow our scope.

Tomorrow they'll return to finish with the trim colors which include marble white, a creamier version of the original, and a brown that resembles the ipe for an accent color. They'll also stain the soffit a similar brown.

Primer 2

Here's a backyard view of the primed house.

Primer 1

On Saturday Chano's crew taped off all non-siding parts of the house, including windows, doors, some roof sections, and decking. They even put plastic over our car and truck to protect them from overspray. The taping took hours. The spray application of primer took a fraction of that.

Stair Nose

Don came by last Tuesday and Wednesday and helped with bamboo stair treads and some finer finish work like these stair nose cuts. Don's been working in floor finishings for years and his skills produced some professional results. Thanks Don!

Backyard Conditioning

Rachael and Hannah have spent a lot of time working on the back yard, getting it ready for planting next year. All this corrugated cardboard is from the numerous materials and appliances we've been bringing to the house. Instead of recycling it, we're using it kill the grass, after which it will naturally compost into the yard. We spread straw (not hay, which has seeds) around on the bare earth areas to reduce mud and sawdust migration into the house. In late June we were still having periodic rain and it was making a real mess of the place. The straw works out great: it's soft to walk on, keeps the mud down, provides cavities into which the sawdust to can fall (below shoe-sole level), and gives an overall cleaner look to yard.

This coming Tuesday, Rachael will oversee the dispersion of 15 cubic yards of new soil. The soil, which is a mix of organic mulch, sandy loam (a medium-smallish sediment), topsoil and manure, will be blown in by Grimm's Fuel. 15 cubic yards is a LOT of soil - 15 truckloads (in Rach's little Nissan) worth. Having it blown in will save Rachael a few days worth of backbreaking hauling.

Front Stairs

The upper set of front porch stairs are almost done. The lower set of stairs, which will be out of the photo to the left, will be rock construction. More on that later this week after the stone is delivered.

Bamboo Treads

The interior stairwell to the second floor is pushing forward. After this shot was taken, Jason installed trim around the landing baseboard. We still need to finish a few lower steps (down and to the left in this photo) and the basement stairs still need risers and treads. Next week we'll hopefully have the railing and bannister posts in.