Wednesday, June 20, 2007

June 19-20 -- progress and follies

Remember those planned bike rides ? Well I still have not been biking. It rained the last two days until mid afternoon and it takes too long to dry to get out after that. That's the bad news. The good news is that I've made a lot of progress ... in the basement, where else ! This morning I see the sun, so perhaps today I'll get out for a ride.

I completed the Pex plumbing ... and that's where the folly comes in. The first and last follies are location, location, location ... I need to locate the supply line for the toilet at the back of the toilette, right ? Well, the wall juts back at that point and Pex pipe is not easy to fish through because it is so stiff. The folly involved here is that I should have done this before putting up the drywall in the bathroom (last year). Having said that, I could also have just made a big hole in the drywall and then patched ... I know ... but eventually I got it through and in place, with Sandy's help.

Folly number two is a doozy -- I got the fittings all in place, compression rings clamped down with the tool borrowed from TimbrMart, valves all closed, drywall in place in the darkroom ... but not screwed in (so that I could check fittings for water tightness) ... turned on the cold water valve that feeds this area ... wait !! that doesn't sound right as water is filling the pipes ... turn it off !! I went into the bathroom and sure enough, the sink supply valve had not been turned off (you have to realize that there are no fixtures here, just the pipe and valve poking out of the wall). With that valve open (I could have sworn that I checked those valves) and pointing upwards the result was something like a car driving into a fire hydrant. Actually it was not that bad because my reaction time was good, my hand was still on the valve, and the water was only on for a second -- it's lucky that the bathroom was right beside where I was turning on that valve ! The room was dry an hour later, no damage sustained, but I shudder when I think of what could have happened.

There were three follies, right ? Well number three involved the darkroom sink ... and bad luck -- at the very tail end of this process I moved the darkroom sink back into the room. When I say very end of this process I mean very end -- the plumbing is done, the drywall and peg board is in place, then a few hours later the DRIcore and plywood floor is down. I moved the sink into place and, groan, the back steel support bar hits right in the middle of the drain pipe. Naturally that support bar comes right against the wall when the sink is installed so ... what to do now ? The location of the drain pipe -- at least from a height perspective -- was determined long ago and has nothing to do with the darkroom. Well -- I relocated that support bar by drilling through the steel struts and moved the bar up three inches. It sounds simple and obvious now, but having completed all this work, end of day cleanup, move sink back into room, bar hits plumbing ... groan.

The only other approach would have been to rip out the drywall, cut the drain line (again, because I did it earlier in the day to insert this drain into the darkroom), put the T pointing upwards rather than outwards so that it travelled a few inches upwards inside the wall, then an elbow outwards ... you get the idea (or not).

So ... reading between the lines in all this ... the darkroom flooring is now complete. The drywall is up. Most of the pegboard is in -- there are two more pieces that start at the four foot level and go to the ceiling that I'll get to in the next few days between other things. I also moved everything out of the games room except the couch and the aquarium and painted the floor ... so I'm ready to continue the DRIcore work there -- the last room. This moving stuff around becomes a project in itself -- freezer, fridge, all the leftover tiles from the work upstairs, Sandy's staining supplies -- thank heaven for the hand truck.

Sandy went into Sudbury again and picked up more DRIcore -- I think that should be enough although I had not counted the small space under the stairs which is a storage area -- it's 4x8 or something short of that which would require another six to eight pieces if I decide to subfloor and tile that area. She also brought home a bunch of different tile samples -- we're still debating that one. The preferred tile at this point is large -- 20x20 -- and very thick. Estimated weight of these tiles is something like 8,000 pounds or more because they are thicker than normal tiles. When was the last time you moved 8,000 pounds of material by hand ? I can't do it all at once.

We may have a stroke of luck with these tiles though -- the supplier is the same one that is supplying the hardwood to Tom, owner of TimbrMart, for Tom's new house. He (the supplier) says that he can have the tiles delivered to Tom ... that would get them into Port Loring and I could bring them back a small load at a time as I'm ready to use them. I could outfit the Whaler boat trailer with a plywood bed for this purpose and carry 1,000 pounds at a time.

Sandy is going back into Sudbury today -- she has to return the tile samples -- and will see what she can arrange with the supplier. It sounds like he will also be able to price an overall deal, including quickset and grout -- many more pounds there as well. I may not be getting much exercise on the bike, but I'm getting exercise !

Also planned for today -- that trip to TimbrMart -- return the crimping tool; pick up another 10 sheets of plywood (that should finish the games room floor) -- go to the dump on the way to empty the stuff piled in the truck; bike ride maybe, continue work on games room floor ...

Change topic -- during the ride across America Jerry and I were talking about doing a ride around Lake Superior -- Tour de Superior -- and I've been doing some thinking and planning on that. It is 1150 miles so can be a 10 day ride. Don't worry -- we are planning on doing this next June (2008). Ken and Geoff are also interested and it looks like I can convince Sandy to drive SAG. Anyway -- I've been corresponding with Geoff and Ken on the subject -- Jerry too -- but Jerry has not been responding to emails, so I gave him a call. Yes, he had received the emails but had not responded (I knew that his wife does email, not him). We chatted for a bit ... He has had a hard time getting motivated to ride, but is back at it. I told him about my limited riding due to weather and pollen (the pollen, by the way, seems to be over). Geoff, on the other hand, rode a 400k brevet right after getting back -- that's me next spring, working on a brevet series. He might consider Paris-Brest-Paris four years from now so that is something to look forward to.

Abby was in to see the vet yesterday -- shots and checkup -- the vets comment was that he didn't need to tell us to do anything different -- she weighs 64 pounds (perfect); her teeth are clean ... excellent health. Of course she still looks like a bush dog -- but we cannot change our looks, can we. She is getting lots of exercise up here chasing chipmunks -- there are seemingly millions of them and she knows them all and chases every one of them -- full tilt. If it keeps her amused and active, great !!

I was sitting here in my den working on this blog in the early dawn, lake flat glass calm, and I saw what looked like a duck or loon coming down the lake and across leaving a wake behind. It was still dark so I not realize that it was a beaver until it got close. It cruised along the shore towards the dock -- I then went into the next room to see where he/she went from there. Thank goodness he cruised on by -- the year before last a beaver or two had decided to take up residence in the dock and had chewed some of the boards and filled up an area with sticks and saplings. That took a while to clean out and I kept them away by putting a bright light down inside the dock for a couple of weeks figuring that they would not find that quite as hospitable -- sure enough it kept them away but I'm constantly on the lookout for a recurrence.

It's cooler this morning ... finally. The thermometer says 52 or something like that which is a relief. The weather prediction is high 60's and partly cloudy, which is more seasonal than the mid 80's. From the looks of the forecast that weather will be with us for the next few days -- with some rain thrown in -- probably the fringes of that storm over Texas/Oklahoma moving through.

Our painter Udo is coming over this evening or tomorrow evening to talk about doing the stairs. I'll probably have to devote another 1/2 day to putting in those pickets before he gets started. We'll see what his projected timeline is. He helped Sandy with staining the posts and beams that were done in place (versus the bulk of the work that was done prior to construction) -- Sandy did the great room and he did the kitchen. He also did the stairs and railings from the main floor to the second floor, and has been expecting a call on the basement stairs.

Time for breakfast ... for me and Abby ...

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