Basement Progress

Tim got started on our little basement project on Monday. He and his helper spent the first day cleaning out the space. They took a huge load of scrap to the dumps and vacuumed all the dust and grime for the painting.

We were a little surprised about how he finished the floor. Apparently, Jeff asked for a deck. I would have asked for a floor, but we got a deck. LOL

Tim finished putting down plywood subfloor today and then this evening he primed the walls. That white really brightened up the space.

We think Tim is going to come back after the holiday and do some more painting and then he's going to lay rubber mats on the floor.

Jeff and I have spent a little bit of time trying to figure out which exercise bike to buy. And, if there's space, he may get one of those mini-gyms. The planning continues.

Basement Storage Clear Out

Well, we decided to do one last remodel. This one is more of a spruce up than an actual remodel. 

We have this funky basement storage area in the front portion of our basement.

This space is not original to this house. This is a space that Mr. Leonard (the 2nd owner of the house) actually dug out and finished to store the massive amount of sawdust/wood chips they needed for the house boiler. The front stairs were originally wood and they would simply remove the tread and blow in the wood chips. We were told stories by the Leonard kids of their memory of digging tunnels and playing around in the pile of sawdust/chips. 

We have found this space handy for storing stuff that we should probably get rid of, like wedding momentos and old records.

Anyway, before we remodeled the rest of the basement, we had a little workout area.

After the remodel, we filled this space with the master bedroom furniture and we never set up any dedicated space for working out. But we've been putting weight back on, and we've finally gotten motivated to set up a new workout space. Really, the only space we have left is in this front storage area.

Here is how the space looks tonight. We've been shifting some of our long-term storage (stuff we don't expect to touch again until we move) into the attic. We've also got a growing pile of stuff that we'll toss or donate, as appropriate. Tomorrow we have movers coming and they'll schlep the rest of the stuff to temporary storage.

Tim Austin thinks he'll have time next week to help us spruce up the space. We're going to paint everything a light color, probably Hubbard Squash because we have nearly 5 gallons of it. And he's going to help us cover the floor. He'll probably put down more of the DRICORE Subfloor Tiles, then we're going to put some sort of rubber exercise mat over the top. We have a couple of lights leftover from our earlier basement remodel and we hope to hang those at well. 

We may have to hire an electrician to install some power outlets. It's likely we'll need a place to plug in an exercise bike.

I'll post updates as we have them.

Gutter Leaf Filters Installed

Last Monday we had an appointment with LeafGuard to get all new gutters. We had them on a previous house and really liked them. But it turns out they're larger than standard k-gutters and they need a 6"'wide board to mount to. 

When the installers started talking about cutting off our roof tails, that turned into a big NOPE. We spent about an hour talking about other options (to cutting the wood), but ultimately there was no solution found. We were really disappointed but I was entirely unwilling to deface this house.

So, I went searching for a plan B. There are not a lot of other options available in Portland, Oregon. Ultimately, the one we went for was Leaf Filter. They came out and installed the screens last Wednesday. Allegedly, if our gutters clog up, they'll come out and clean them. Time will tell.

This is the only photo the installers took for me.

They cleaned out and used some of the existing gutters and installed a couple of new ones when we needed to relocate the downspouts. We abandoned the rain chains and had them install downspouts on all the gutters. The rain chains didn't work out because when it snowed they'd get too heavy and fall down. Sometime soon we'll need to add piping to direct the rainwater into our rain gardens. 

New Interlock Roof

Obviously, I've fallen out of the habit of posting regularly. Our new Interlock roof install was finished about a week ago. We are quite happy with how it turned out. Conveniently the roofer sent before-after photos.

We had them install a drain between the two front dormers. In the rain, it tended to turn into a waterfall and it was ruining the wood brackets.

Garage Top View

Shed Top View

They installed new T&G under the rotted front eaves and repaired a rotted rafter tail.

The company advertises this as a lifetime roof. I really hope it is, this time.

Garage Roofed

I started this blog post last Friday, but I kept getting distracted and didn't post it. I wasted most of last Friday watching them put the new roof on the garage. 

The roof pieces really do all lock together and it was fascinating to watch them.  

I'm sort of torn about what I think of the crew. They appear to do good work, but they seem a little flaky. They work weird hours and took a four-day weekend. I'm ready for this to be finished.

This is a photo of the repair of the rotted roof tail up front. They actually replaced some of the wood because it was too far gone.

The foreman sent me some photos of the roofing in progress up on top of the house.

Hopefully they'll finish up sometime this week.

Interlock Roof Finally Started

Dealing with Interlock Roofing has been a bit ridiculous. We actually ordered the new roof late last summer and they told us they probably wouldn't get to our project until spring. They don't install roofs during rainy weather. Yeah, okay, I understood that. 

They finally called us in early May and said they were planning to put on our roof sometime in May or June. We had a discussion about the tongue & groove I said I would be providing, and I ordered it that week and it was delivered two days later and I told them it was here, waiting for them. And then it sat. 

There was no communication of any sort until June 28 (the Wednesday before the 4th of July). We were told they would probably be starting the next afternoon (Thursday) but if not then, they would certainly start on the Friday before the holiday weekend. Yeah, they didn't start then either. Again, no communication revising the start date. Finally, I called on late Friday afternoon and was told the crew showed up and decided not to start before the holiday. I was given the impression they just delayed the project until after the holiday and would start the first day after.

Well, no, not that either. Finally, last week⏤on July 11⏤they showed up unannounced at our door and said they wanted to deliver materials. That was the second day of the fence install. LOL They loaded up the driveway in front of the garage.

Again, you would think their start was imminent. But no. Finally, on Friday I called the company again. I told him how unimpressed I was with their communication. He promised they would start on Monday.

Well, Monday afternoon someone did show up; I think the project foreman. We reviewed the project with him and he figured out the additional supplies he would need and left again. Today, finally they started tear off. 

Since I don't have a drone, I can't post progress photos. They removed the shingles from the backside of the house and they laid new tongue & groove over our little back patio. I didn't take a before photo, it used to be a big plywood patch where the old chimney used to be and a mish mash of various sizes of tongue and groove; presumably whatever the prior owner had lying around. This looks much better.

We had an appointment to have the new gutters installed tomorrow. Yeah, I had to delay that one. 

Update, they sent me some photos:

Fence Half Finished

I have to be honest, I am not too pleased with Rick's right now. They did a fine job installing our fence, but their quote was for only half the fence and I didn't realize it. We had a long conversation about wanting both sides, along with the details about height and extras. I'd made a lot of compromises from the earlier quote, i.e. shorter overall height, skipping the post caps, trellis only in the section next to the house, so I wasn't surprised when the overall total was quite a bit lower. But, it turns out, they didn't quote out the whole fence. 

They finished this side of the fence then sent the final invoice and I was confused and asked when they'd be installing the rest....

Clearly, I should have looked a lot more closely at the bid and compared the total linear feet, but I was distracted and rushed to make a decision. Sigh.

Anyway, given that they only gave us a bid for half the fence, they were by far the most expensive of our quotes. So, when we do the other side after the roof and gutters are finished, we'll be going to one of the other companies.

At the last minute, we decided to dispose of the old fence ourselves. It saved us $250 and we got to pick through for the parts worth reusing.

New Fence Install Day 1

Rick's Custom Fencing and Decking started our project today. They are actually starting by doing one side this week because our neighbor was really anxious for it to be finished in time for a party, then they'll come back in a week to two to finish the other side of the yard. As a reminder, this is the style of fence we're getting for the most visible portions. 

They made short work of the old fence and had it removed in about an hour. They basically cut it into sections and then chopped the posts off at the dirt line if they didn't easily pull out.

Today they finished setting the posts in cement. Tomorrow, they'll be back to install the slats between.

We'll spend a couple hours digging through the wood pile tomorrow for portions we want to keep. I sort of like playing with salvaged wood. If we make another round of garden benches, we'll pass them onto friends.

Projects This Summer

We haven't been posting lately because we haven't been doing any house-related projects. But, starting next week, we're finally kicking off some projects. Starting on Tuesday, we are finally getting our Interlock Roof installed. Given the astronomical cost of their roofs, it's rather surprising their backlog is so long. I'm sure LeafGuard Gutters will be happy to finally get our job off their books.

This past winter, our fence fell over in high winds. (I really wish I'd remembered to take a photo.) Right now, it's propped up with boards and our neighbor is anxious about getting it replaced. I wanted a fence that looked like this but we got a quote for it and it was more than $20,000! LOL This fence is apparently $86/linear foot.

So, instead we decided to compromise and get something less expensive. The most-visible parts will have lattice, the rest won't and we decided to skip the expense of post caps. It will be about half the cost of the other. If we weren't already spending so much on the roof and gutters, we probably would get the more expensive fence, but there are limits on how much we can absorb in a year.