Building a Modern Day Craftsman

Web Log of the construction of the Cullman Cottage

 

This is my web log of the construction of a modern day Craftsman Home

The Cullman Cottage

 

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The Web Logs
Days 1 through 68 * Days 69 through 162 * Days 170 through 280
Days 283 through Day 307 * Days 319 through 350 * Days 351 through 403
Day 346 * Days 420 through Day 448 * Days 546 though Day 662
* Days 663 though Present

 

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8/31/04             DAY 319  DOORS!!

                          Things have been slow the past week. We did get the floor heaters installed in the bathroom. We put heaters under the tile in our last house and loved it! So we put them in master bath of this house too. We have started to lay a few tiles in the bath but it’s very slow having to work around the heater coils.

 

                          Big news is I am waiting on the truck to deliver my doors today! This has been the hold up and once they are installed we can start to move forward again.

 

                          Truck delivered the doors just after I started writing that. Man do they look good! I am extremely happy with these doors! I love the style too!

 

                          Bathtub for the Master Bath is in at Lowe’s. The clawfoot we had refurbished is supposed to be ready next week. Then we can get the plumbing fixtures and the plumber can come finish the rough in so we can lay tile in the guest bath.

 

9/8/04               DAY 327         REPENT! FOR THE END IS NEAR!

                          At least I hope the end is near. I think we are both suffering from burn-out. Neither of us is very motivated to work on the house. Just as well as I have had to work the past two weeks so I haven’t been able to do much except at night.

 

                          I finished the tile in the bathroom and the kitchen……. Well it still has to be grouted. That leaves the Laundry room and the guest bath. Wifey has been working on getting the windows painted. The whirlpool tub is sitting in the living room. The clawfoot is supposed to be done? Have not heard back from the man that is refinishing it.

 

                          I have been looking ahead and the end is in sight. Basically we need trim, cabinets and flooring. I have to tile the shower…. that’s one job I really don’t like. It’s like working inside a ball. There is some switches waiting on wall finish which can’t be done till trim is installed which can’t be done till doors are installed which can’t be installed till I get them painted.  Fun, fun!

 

9/10/04             DAY 329    

                          I’m sanding the doors and getting them ready to paint. Nothing very exciting about sanding and man handling solid wood doors.  So here are new photos of some to the stuff going on.

 

                          Latest photos

 

9/14/04             DAY 333  RUB A DUB, DUB, WE GOT OUR TUB(S)

                          We have tubs. One in the living room and in one in my office. My bride bought our claw foot and this was the first time I have seen it. It’s a beauty too. I think the feet on the tub are very nice. The fellow that we bought it from and refinished it said it was some of the nicest claw feet he had seen in a while.

 

                          I have been busy painting the doors. I have two that I had to stain for my office. Since I don’t like straight cut oak I opted to just go with popular doors for house. Popular can vary in color from white to a pail green and it’s really meant to be painted. I decided to take my chances and pick the best two doors to stain for the office. I was really afraid I was going to regret that choice.

 

It’s taken a lot of experimenting but I finally found a way to get the doors to stain decently. The first attempt was a disaster! Two joining pieces of wood on one door, one looked like it walnut and the other one looked like a medium oak color. It was hard to believe they were the same type of wood. But it all worked out.

 

                          We have the tile in the kitchen finished!! It’s grouted and ready for cabinets.

 

                          I added a drain on the back porch. When we had a heavy rain with wind it would blow in on the porch and eventually run into the house. I added one near the door going to the future stairs. We have been getting a lot of water splashing in there. I have the plumbing for a second one if I need it. I am just waiting on some rain to see if and where it is needed.

 

9/15/04             DAY 334  IVAN THE TERRIBLE IS COMING

                          Didn’t work on the house much today but what I did was preparing for hurricane Ivan’s arrival. Even though we are long way from the coast we are expecting heavy rains and high winds tomorrow and into the night as what’s left of Ivan makes it over us. 

 

                          I found out that the factory that our replacement door is coming from is in Mobile and has shut down. If they get any damage who knows when I will get a new door??  My buddy at the building supply gave me a slightly damaged sheet of wafer board to board up the door. I also installed the sump pump in the crawl space adjacent to the basement. With all the rain we may get I am concerned about water getting in there again. So better safe than sorry.

 

                          More photos

 

 

9/17/04             DAY 336

                          Ivan turned out not to be too bad here. Tree limbs down and that sort of thing.  We had over 4” of rain yesterday and lots of wind. I think it was 4.5 inches last night when I last checked it.  Power is off at the house and I have a small amount of water in the basement. I suspect it is because power is off and the sump pump won’t work. But it’s such a small amount I can live with it.

 

                          Of course if our contractor had done what I said there would be NO water there. But that’s another story.

 

                          Oh yea, the porch drain must have worked. No standing water on the porch yesterday or today.

 

921/04              DAY 340

                          The replacement door (#3) came in today. I was picking up supplies at the building supply when I noticed the truck backed in the warehouse and recognized the name. So I walked back inside. We went downside and sure enough my door was on the truck. So I hung around and waited for them to unload it and check it in. I have in is place now. Tomorrow I will finish installing it and the trim. I sure hope this one doesn’t leak!

 

                          The trim man is supposed to show up in 7 days. So far I have no wood for the dinning room and my office trim. I have made 3 trips to the hardwood supplier only to find they don’t have enough of anything I need. I have given up! I am going to get my cabinet maker order me some maple and oak with his next order. I don’t know when I will get it but I will just deal with it. I am tired of wasting time looking for wood. The rest of the trim is MDF and should be here this week.

 

                          I am working on getting the last of the tile laid. Plumbers are coming Thursday to rough in the plumbing for the claw foot tub.  BTW if you need supplies for an old tub, I HIGHLY recommend Claw Foot Tub Supply. Their delivery speed is unreal! Have not looked at all the components really close but a quick glance today they looked to be very high quality.

 

9/29/04             DAY 348 PENCIL MARK ON THE PLYWOOD  (or a line in the sand)

                          We have been given unofficial notice that the owner wants the house we are renting back. It on the corner of a horse farm and the owner wants to put one of the farm employee’s in here. No definite date has been given been it appears we have about 2 more months. So time to get in high gear.

 

                          The good news is I am running out of things I can do. That means the list is very short to finish up.

 

                          First the updates. Door #3 still leaked but it was a small leak and I think I know where it was leaking from. At this point if it still leaks I will just put a storm door. We are all at wits end with it but hopefully we have it fixed.

 

                          Clawfoot tub was set in place and plumbing was put on to locate the plumbing lines in the floor. I goofed and ordered the wrong ones. UPS is bring them today so we can get that out of the way tommorow. Then I can tile that bathroom floor. Speaking of tile all the other floors are down. I need to grout the laundry room but that is where the leaking door is so I am holding off on that.

 

                          All the trim is sitting in my garage. Trim guy was detained and will be out Monday. He was afraid we would be upset. At this point I am not surprised not upset. He was honest and his #1 contractor needed him and I understand. He will do this for me and never see me again. The contractor probably keeps him in business.

 

                          I am taking a break at the moment. I just cut a hole in the floor and opened up to pour the heart in front of the fireplace. Not sure why I never thought of this before and didn’t get the masons to do this when they did the fireplace. I am no mason or concrete finisher but it turned out good.

 

                          I think I just painted the last of the interior windows. My wife has been painting them for a couple of weeks. I think I did the last one today. That doesn’t count the windows in the garage though. Only four windows. There.

 

                          The latest problems are wiring related. I discovered the part of the wiring I installed for one of the alarm circuits were 2 wire. When I went to install the device I found out I had been misinformed it has to be a four wire. This should be fun to replace!  And the biggest blunder is we discovered that we design in for under cabinet lighting on the plans. I drew up plans for the electrical and neither of us noticed this till a couple of weeks ago.  Another one of those this is going to be really fun to fix projects. I have decided to wait till Saturday and try to fix both of them Means lots of time in the attic and I am sure lost temper!

 

                          Got to go back to the house. Will try to post photos tonight. Not much to show at this point however. You can work all day and not have much to show.

 

 

                          A little late but new photos