Good-bye to the Construction Cat

Yeah, he could be a little cranky...



and he ate too much grass, sometimes...



and he left a permanent mark in my fresh concrete...




This was one of his favourite places to lounge...

trying to make an escape...

We miss our construction cat. He died while we were eating dinner, it looked like he was having a stroke. He was 14, and I'm glad he didn't suffer. He will be missed by all.

New French Doors

Here's the wall before. We've been planning doors since we built the deck. Took a while to order them, and then they sat in the yard for a couple weeks waiting to be installed.

Inside with the plaster and lathe removed, as well as the cellulose insulation. The insulation was messy and hard to clean up. I didn't want to remove all the plaster, but there wouldn't have been much left on this wall anyways. I need to do quite a bit of electrical on this wall, we're adding outside lights. and speakers. There will be volume controls for the outside speakers, and the speakers in the dining room ceiling.

We did the header wider than the doors, between the existing framing. We then added the framing for the doors.

Here's the wall cut open. I salvaged some of the shingles for reuse. Might be able to make something from some of the sheathing. It has a lot of nails in it though.

Here it is from inside. The room is so much brighter, even though it's north facing.

Here's me priming, to add more membrane. It takes 2 people to apply, the membrane, well it's easier with 2 anyways.

Here we are lifting the doors. They're really heavy, felt like I could hardly get them up the stairs.

Here I am lounging on the job. I'm actually holding the doors in. There are blocks to hold it in place.

Here they are from the inside. You can see the blocks on the inside. The wall is really out of plumb, it's 7/8" from the bottom to the top of the door. You can also see the oak parquet that someone added. We're going to remove it eventually, to expose the fir floor underneath. The parquet is good while we do the renovations though.

Here's Steve shimming the door. I would have never got it done without his help, he's a carpenter, and installs doors all the time.

Here's the construction cat trying the doors. I think he like the out swing doors, since he can open them. Well not when the hardware is on them. It took 3 days to get to this point, still a ways to go. It's going to take a while to do all the finishing. We haven't found hardware we like yet, so we just have a deadbolt for now.

Basement Footing

Here's a photo of the floor broken up. There was a 4x4 column at the end of the beam that I took out. There's a jackpost helping to hold up the floor. It's just a precaution, there's another 6x6 column 3' down the beam, and another about 2' down the joist. The 4x4 post didn't have a footing, it was on a 2x6, and it was there for a long time, it was there before the floor was painted, so probably when the floor started sagging, a few years after the house was built. I'm putting in an 18"x18"x8" footing in for a 6x6 post. I have some extra fir posts, the one beside of it will be unecessary as well, so I can use that one. I have to jack up the floor about 2", to level the living room.



The construction cat got his paws in the pudding again, that's the second time he's stepped in wet concrete. I trowelled them out, not that it matters much, since it's just he wall to my workshop. I used the 6000psi concrete, it's about 2x as strong, so it should be cured enough in a couple weeks, that I can jack on it, then we can build a wall along that side of the stairs.



Here's the view from our deck today. I was out in the backyard with Seth. You can see the Lion's beside the tree. The neighbour's house is in the pic too. It was one of the nicest days we've had this year.

Linen Closet Door

We put the door back on the linen closet tonight. We ended up painting the hinges, and latch. They were brass plated originally, so I figured they'd rust eventually. They're made in Sweden, and I thought they were solid brass, I didn't even know they made brass plated hardware back then. We have to paint the screw heads with a small artist's brush to finish it off. It probably needs at least one more coat of varnish as well. The cranky construction cat was inspecting my work. I think he likes the hallway, it's a little cooler in there. Now we need to finish our bedroom door, since it's off right now. It's mostly stripped, then I need to sand and varnish it. I boiled the hardware tonight, so it's mostly stripped too. The bathroom door is the next one, that one will be tricky to strip. We have a bathroom in the basement as well, so it is possible to take it off. The kids are too young to care anyways, they'll just use it without the door. A couple more coats of varnish, then touch up all the paint (I think I'll just do another coat), and then it'll be done.