Little House on the Hillside

Pass the catch-up

     The list of things left to do is as long as my arm attached to another arm, which in turn is attached to another arm. That’s right, sing it with me now, ‘Hands across America.’ There. I feel better. Don’t you?
     I’d feel a lot better if I had written at least one entry in the past month, but circumstances were beyond my control. Late nights on the hillside, Irish music, a great wedding and a lost weekend in the Catskills all add up to a candle burnt at both ends, a low-grade hangover, and , alas, no journal entries. But it’s time to remedy that, so I am going to make like Heinz and do some catchin’-up. I will attempt some type of chronological order but I wouldn’t set my watch by it. However, according to Mr. Einstein, time is relative, so theoretically, it will be impossible for me to write things out of order, since there is no order to begin with. Nice. I’m off the hook.
     I am happy to report that the wiring is, for the most part, complete. Rick donated some more time before jet-setting off to Greece for three weeks, and by the end I was pretty confident in my ability to wire switches, outlets, and circuits in general. Anne became extremely proficient at actually hooking up the receptacles, and did probably 95% of the outlets in the house. I approached wiring with a bit of trepidation, but once you get the hang of it, it is not too bad.
     Once all of the switches and outlets are in place, the walls can begin to be covered up. In most houses, this would mean drywall. On the hillside, if you haven’t yet noticed, things are a bit different. We are doing a lot of wood sheathing, 1x8 tongue and groove boards. There are a few advantages to using wood over drywall. One is that I already paid for it and it is sitting in a big pile in the future driveway. Two is that it goes up fairly quickly, and is extremely dent/puncture/disgruntled teenager resistant. Three, there is no joint taping involved, which is tedious and messy work. The downside is that all of that wood can become a bit much to look at. So we have decided to do a bit of drywall interspersed with the wood, just to keep things interesting, and to break the monotony. The sheathing is going well, with some random walls in different parts of the house completed.
     It is I, Plumbob. That’s how our plumber answers the phone when you call him. It’s also how he greets you when he calls you. Sometimes, he says it when he walks into a room. In a world of grumpy old plumbers with no sense of humor, Plumbob is a very cool anomaly. He came out to the site for his first visit, and proceeded to drill very large holes into our very nice floor. The things we do in the name of hygiene. He spent the day laying out where pipes and drains will go, drilling holes, and convincing me to run radiant heat underneath the entire first floor. He then gave me a list of things I had to do before he came back. One of which was to run the radiant tubing.
     I am ecstatic to report that the tubing is done! Anne and I tackled it a few days last week and did a marathon day yesterday to get it done. For the uninitiated, radiant tubing is basically flexible plastic tubes that run underneath the floors. Hot water or antifreeze is pumped through them to produce a warm, even, efficient, dust-free heat throughout the house. Plus, you can walk around barefoot in the winter. The end result is very nice, but the work it takes to get there is not so easy. Anne and I spent hours unrolling tubing, drilling holes, and stapling it into place. Of course, as I have mentioned ad nauseam, we can never do anything too simply on the hillside, so we used an extremely wide (7/8”) tubing for our radiant.  That may not sound wide, but no one I talked to around here ever uses it, and the guys at the plumbing store laughed at me when I brought it up. It is not very pliable, so bending it around joists and threading it through holes was what an optimist might call a ‘learning experience.’ After the first disastrous day, which involved kinked tubes and little progress, we decided to unroll the entire length of tube, to get it straight as possible, before running it through the joists. Of course, the tubes are coiled into two hundred foot long rolls, so where to do it posed a challenge. We ended up rolling it out all the way down the driveway, and then slowly snaking it in the bulkhead door into the basement as we needed it. It sounds crazy, but it worked extremely well, and we were able to finish the work by late yesterday.
     Why run such thick tubes? Well, I purchased the radiant supplies last year and didn’t know that 7/8ths was extremely thick. As far as I knew, everyone was doing it. Not so. Also, when your tubing is that thick, it carries much more heat a farther distance, so it is in actuality more efficient than running smaller tubing. Not easier, mind you, just more efficient.
     But the most significant achievement of the past month has nothing to do with wiring, sheathing or heating. It is all about color. Namely, we have finally chosen a color for the house. After 13 samples, four trips to the paint department, many long and fascinating discussions, and having so many test boards of different hues nailed to the side of the house that it resembled a pack of Zebra Stripe gum, we have made our decision, and actually purchased the stain. I’d tell you what color we chose, but at this point I forgot. But stay tuned, for I am sure you will be seeing it soon right here. Speaking of pics, none for this entry, but hopefully will put up a bunch this week so you all can see what I am talking about.
     So, with both shower units in, the wiring done, the plumber on his way back, a color chosen, the radiant tubing installed, a kitchen faucet purchased, some lighting already chosen, and the squeaks in the first floor fixed, that leave sonly 3,895,674 things to attend to before we move in. So close, yet so far.
     On a side note, congrats to my brother Mike who just finished the Trek Across Maine to benefit the American Lung Association. He biked over 180 miles across the state of Maine and raised over $1,000. Good job, bro!  Of course, he blogged the whole experience.

Photo update

Here are some pics from the last few months, to go along with last week's entry.

Our cutest neighbors