Bookshelves and Barn Doors

 The next step after enclosing the lolly column in last chapter was to add a low set of book shelves.

This is the part where my knees remind me they are most unhappy

But the results are pleasing to the customer and builder alike

The view from the back hall 

As I need to mill a bunch of round nosings on the shelves I actually remember to bring my router .

Shelve extensions are added to the unit and nosings for the shelves carry over to help support them .

Once again the results are promising .

Ties things in together nicely .

Next on the list are barn doors . So I biscuit joint and edge glue a mess of 1 X 8 into three foot wide boards and let them set over the weekend .

The general idea comes together .

Install the rail for the doors .

 And do a preliminary hang of the doors now with the cross bracing installed .

Not half bad for a hack .

Make about a hundred and fifty plugs

Plug all the screw holes on the cross bracing .

Looking a bit stubbly there .

Shave all the plugs flush , sand and poly . One coat of sealer and three of polyurethane .

After most of the week spent sanding and polyurethaning in the garage the doors come back inside .

Everyone is pleased with the results

Still needs some tweaking  and assorted hardware to keep the doors on track at the bottom .

Most of the time it will live on the open position . The bookshelves will be painted white to match the rest of the trim in the space .

Considering that this was the starting point . . .

I'd say it looks a whole lot more civilized .

Onwards . . .

 OK where were we? Last post covered the project that got put on hold last December .

October 2020 we had installed the little special order transom window that took for ever to arrive because the first time around it was lost somewhere at Home-depot and they could not find it despite confirming to us they had received it .

By this October when I got the call that all the subs had done their bit with electrics , heat , plumb-ering drywall and flooring and I was able to come back and finish the job , it had been decided that the little transom would not do and we needed a bigger window .

 

 

 So I set up an abbreviated "office" and got busy .

  

Yanked the little transom window and installed one twice as tall .

And made it all pretty again .

So now we can move on to the inside and get to play with the trim .

The Atrium door also needs trim .

And the new fire rated entry from the garage also needs dressing up

So this time with the full "office" set up we go to task

Garage door gets trimmed out

As well as the new window I just put in

Atrium door gets extension jambs and trim too 

And some impromptu decorations 

Guest bedroom window get the same treatment 

As does the little box for the the transformer to the under counter lights for the kitchen upstairs

With a lid to hide the works

Laundry and furnace room doors get the colonial molding replaced for the fat 1X

As well as the little utility closet .

And then there is this ugly Lolly column holding up the steel beam . Need to dress that up some how .

So I built some structure around it to be able to attach things to 

And encase it in 1 X 8 pine

There that don't look so bad now

The steel beam to remain "au-natural" looks like it dies into the post now

 The toy storage cubby I built four years ago gets trimmed out to match the rest of the space

Along with baseboard all the way around .

Stay tuned for the next chapter in the saga when we build barn doors and book cases . For now my back decided to start acting up again so I need to give it a couple days rest .

A Paying Project Long In The Works

 Fall of 2020 a repeat customer called to put in a couple windows and an atrium door.

High up on a ladder on the second floor too . . . . oh my aching knees . . . and the inspector had to inspect

Thankfully only one window was on the second story

That's the south face of the house I was working on . New upstairs window is in yet to be trimmed .

And that's what it looked like on the inside when I started . New atrium door to go where that window is .

Strip the drywall and insulation , build a temporary support for the upstairs .

Cut a big hole in the wall , install a six foot header, and remove the temporary support .

inspector pays a visit

He's cool with the progress so far

 Install the new door

Yank and replace a window just to the right of the new door .

 Yank the old door

. . . . and find this mess in the sill

Repair and replace the sill , frame in the old door for a new small transom window and sheathe over .

More sill rot just to the right of the door . . .

Excise and rebuild 

 and sheathe

Replace two more windows and trim out

Go back up the ladder and trim out the first window I installed

Glad the ladder part is over with .

Start patching in the cedar shakes on the wall where the door was and we had all the sill rot .

Got most of it done and left the space for the small transom window yet to arrive as it is a special order

 By this point I am feeling a bit worn out and this is where the original scope of the project was supposed to be done . . . . but as things often are its an evolving process . . . so . . .

. . .  we move on to the interior work . Those nasty ass barn boards are coming off .

Pepsi can time capsule found behind boards . The pull tab and graphics style dates it to 1973

I frame in a new six foot opening to the small side room with blocking provisions for the installation of an overhead rail for two three foot wide sliding barn doors .

 Opposite wall with the entry from the garage  . . .

Barn boards also removed to be replaced by drywall .

 Inspector seems to be impressed by my geriatric fumbling .

 Special order transom window finally arrives so I install it .

And trim it out

 Back wall in the small side room to be moved back a couple feet only as far as the water supply line allows .

 Wall gone

New wall built

 

Plumber is called in to re route pipes once hidden by dropp ceiling to now fit flush and within the new wall . He turns out to he a total mook and cuts my new wall to shreds . He is promptly told to leave and never come back and loses contract to install new heat pumps .

I repair the wall , frame in old bedroom door and frame out a chase to hide the upstairs sewer pipes .

Once the electrician does his thing the rock wool insulation goes in .

Windows get framing extended by two inches for two inch thick foam insulation to be added .

Doors get the same treatment .

Strapping goes up on the ceiling in preparation for drywall

Two inch thick foam goes over the studs , note electrical boxes also firred out two inches .

 

 

And strapping goes over that .

Note that by now we are into early December 2020 and we have snow on the ground.

After a one year hiatus waiting for others to do plumbing , heat pumps , drywall and flooring in early October 2021 I finally got to go back and start on the interior trim work . . .  next post will be the show and tell on that .