On, Over, In and Out

Ah, another beautiful day (25 degrees (Fahrenheit) in the Northwoods allowed Marc and his solar crew up on the roof to insulate pipes and install the DC motor drive. This will derive energy from the sun to pump the liquid through the pipes in the panel downstairs to the heat storage device.

Inside, where it's toasty warm the varnishing crew is hard at work. (NOTE: Fingernails intact and remain unharmed.)
And just where's Emma? Waiting, waiting waiting. Oh, by the way, the garage door is up.

Interior-A-Go-Go

These are a portion of the bath tiles.
This is the tile for the front entry (I think).
Perry, the tile guy, is getting the DuRock in and lining up the plan for the glass block.
With the tile and all the associated equipment, plus the soundproofing going in downstairs, plus the finish carpentry, plus the staining and varnishing, the upshot is that we are all sort of running into and over one another around here . . .
. . . and it's going to take a little sorting out.

Frank Lloyd Wright Would be Proud (or Horrified)

An explanation for the paucity of posts of late is in order.

The short story is, it's our fault.

The longer version is that we bit off much, much more than we could chew with this staining and varnishing.

We have hit the varnishing wall so many times that our foreheads are bruised. So the guys started another job while waiting for us to finish.

We have decided to plug along as best we can while looking for a professional stainer/varnisher type to complete the work.

I didn't think pictures of us banging our heads against the wall would be particularly interesting, nor would actual pictures of us varnishing.

But today some additional action occurred!

Meet Matt.

Matt is putting in the base cedar tree trunk and the platforms to hold the . . .

. . . OK, I don't know what to call it. I've been calling it the 'Twig Thing'. But as Brian reminds others, that only shows that I don't know what it is.

Matt called it a 'Thicket', which I sort of like too.

The idea is that a placement of tree limbs in various layouts will grace the top of the ground floor wall, providing guests with some privacy while also allowing for a connection to the outdoors.

Frank Lloyd Wright, the originator or 'Organic Architecture' in the early 20th Century, created a belief that attempted to bring the outdoors into his buildings. He was so fanatical about it that when a client complained of a leaky roof, he convinced them that that was a necessary by-product of his architectural style.

I think I draw the line at leaky roofs and openings to the outside, but can deal with a 'Twig Thing.'


Oh, my gosh! Everywhere we look there are boards to varnish.

Accident Reconstruction

It'a difficult to understand all the hoohah over Tiger Woods, when my dear wife was caught in a life struggle at our (temporary) finger chewing garage door.

Heroically cradling four eggs in her left hand, her right hand became caught in the maw of this beast.

Note the claw marks on the steel framed door. Her valiant attempt to free herself while preserving the four brown eggs rivals Tiger Woods' wife's heroic attempt to free him from his disabled vehicle.

Ann's superpowers allow her fingers to do some damage to the garage door, cratering the panels above and below her hand.

But the eggs; oh, the eggs survived giving testimony to her bravery and determination.

S and V

So what have we been doing since, oh, I don't know, since we graduated from college almost 40 years ago? Staining. Staining. And even more staining. Oh, and varnishing. Varnishing. Varnishing. And even more varnishing.

And we're not even done staining or varnishing.



Ann has even varnished after she should have filed a Worker's Comp Claim. Last night after getting home after dark from, you guessed it, varnishing, she parked the Gator in the garage. She collected four eggs on the way back and was gingerly cradling them in her left hand. In her right she closed the garage door.

Since the garage door, like everything else around here, doesn't work as it has no handle, she grabbed the opening between two upper panels and proceeded to pull the door closed.

Unfortunately, she forgot to remove her hand before the opening between the panels became non-existant leaving her fingers squished.

If it hadn't been so painful, it might have been funny.

12 hours in a cold pack helped with the pain. The picture remains.

(Editor's Note: She tells me this evening that she looked at the door and swore she could see where her fingers indented the panels.) Photos tomorrow.

Luci, You Got Some Staining to Do

Yes, we have lollygagged, footdragged and whined enough.

We have some staining to do--a whole lotta staining to do. We were even going to stain on Thanksgiving morning, but our lollygagging overtook us then as well. But yesterday and today we have been machines.

Ann varnishes (two coats with a light sanding in between) upstairs in the bedroom previously stained boards (pictures tomorrow). Pith Boy works on fresh boards downstairs.

The stain, as reported earlier, is sweet citrussy smelling. Well, that's outdoors. Indoors it's like getting squirted in the eye with a combination of lemon juice and battery acid. Plus it makes my nose run. This is in keeping with our organic approach to house building but does not reflect well upon the outcome, at least as far as the boards are concerned.

We will be running at the nose for the forseeable future.

In other news we made a major shift in who's going to do the tile. At this moment we have no one, but hope to have an installer by early next week.

In the meantime we'll be astaining.

Happy Thanksgiving to You, Dear Reader

One of the (many) challenges of building a tight, environmentally conservative house is what to do with air circulation. The solution is Fantech, a heat and energy recovery ventilator. This unit will provide fresh air year 'round without the concommitant loss of heat.

The beige unit is against the wall and the tube above it is connected to the bathroom, I believe, where the stinkiest air resides. Vegetation will be a challenge to grow near the exhaust.


The system is filtered and will require a little maintenance so I will be returning for college credits to be able to live in this house.

Last week I was doing some staining in the basement when a dust pan tipped over on the floor above me. The explosive sound seemed as though a duck hunter shot its prey in the living room.

So we asked Charlie to explore soundproofing the basement. The guys are prepared to do this themselves instead of calling back the insulation team.

Exterior near completion

The exterior of the house is quickly coming to completion. And just in time too. The last three days up here have been dreary and drizzly.

It is November after all, late November at that. And I guess we have to face the music eventually. But it's still depressing to see cars with their headlights on at 1 pm.

Jay and Dennis finished the stone work yesterday.

And today they're working on the front deck . . .
. . . while I sit inside all cozy and warm.

When They Leave the Theater, They Won't Be Humming the Lighting

Meet Brian.

Brian owns Neblock Electric in a town we call (up in these parts at least) Lando, short for Land O' Lakes.

Brian is the unsung hero of this operation as he has received very little (if any) mention on this site. But his contribution is substantial. He's installing the nerve center of the place from electric to audio to cable to satellite to phone. We should be ready for just about anything, including wireless.

We're very glad Brian's contributing to the house project.

Brian's real love is music, well, after his wife of course. He plays lead guitar in the JoJo Marsh
Band. Check out their website by clicking here. And see them in action here.

Cutting and Laying Stone

As with all major projects, there are fits and starts and this one is no exception. The stone for the exterior was ordered correctly, but somewhere along the way the corner pieces got mixed with the straight across pieces. So when it came time to do the corners, not enough corner pieces were available.

So that all got rectified over the weekend and Jay set to work on the two exterior corners on the water side of the house.

With winter predicted to finally arrive on Wednesday, the guys hustled to get the stone up before then.

Jay has had experience in this kind of work, but not this specific product. He says it's easy to work with.

But the work is quite detailed.

Sol is Our New Special Friend

From across the way.


All the solar panels are up!

They're not only looking good, but the guys said that they could feel the panels warm up in the sun. Kindly note that even on a late November day, the shadows from the trees still don't touch the panels.

And what's going to provide the electricity to run the pumps to heat the water which heats the house? If you guessed another solar panel, you guessed correctly. Here, Marc holds a 40w panel that will be installed on the far left of the array to do just that.

No Sun Today; Solar Panels Go Up

What does Emma do while construction goes on (look closely)?

She waits. Oh, she also greets and sleeps, occasionally she digs and sleeps. But mostly she waits. What a sweet dog.

What is she waiting for?

Today she was waiting for me to get done taking pics of the solar panel guys.

Weather wise it was London today. Dreary and cold, not exactly an ideal time for solar panels to go up (one would think). But the key criteria, as Marc pointed out, was that the winds were calm.

Four up today; four tomorrow.

The Heat is On (Sung to the tune of The Heat is On)

As Emma and I were rounding out of the final turn this morning, we noticed a light colored smoke coming from the back of the house. At first I thought Jay was cutting stone, but as we drew closer it was clear that something else was afoot.

Could it be? Exhaust heat? Yup the boiler is boiling and radiant floors are radiatin'. And even better the boiler is virtually noiseless.

I decided to stay all day and stain. (Is this what they mean by suSTAINability?)

And not only the floors proved wonderful, but Bob is busy installing the kitchen cabs, so that the cabinets are . . . uhhh cabbing?

In and Out; Up and Down

As you may be able to tell from the following images, we are in the midst of yet another stretch of spectacular weather. The thermometer dives into the 20's overnight, but comes back to 50 plus during the day.

Pictured below, Marc from SDK Solar readies the roof for the panels.

In the front of the house the deck railings are being prepared. Jay looks askance at the photographer to ensure that he follows his 'no butt crack' policy--that is, when it comes to photos. When it comes to evenings around the house, all bets are off.

The dappled sunlight plays upon the building's exterior.


And inside the cabinets are being installed. Here is the guest kitchen. To the right will go a small refrigerator for guests. When my brothers visit they may need something with a little more substance.

Comin' Together

The inclusion of the stone on the bumpout not only completes its exterior look, it seems to pull all the colors together.

And the porch corner column gives it some height.

Inside the kitchen cabinets have been delivered and the walls have received their initial covering.

The Beauty Part

The long awaited treatment for the walls begins this week. Here's Tim from T2Technologies applying something to kill bugs I think. Or maybe trying to grow plants. I interrupted his assault with about 26 questions about those stilts.

For those of similar spirit, . . .

. . .Yes, they're easy to learn.

. . .Walking on stilts is like riding a bike.

. . .No, he hasn't fallen to the ground, but has knocked up against a wall. (NOTE: Two seconds after answering that question, he stumbled but didn't fall.)

. . .No, he doesn't moonlight in parades.


And the early glimpses of his work whet our appetites for more.


Outside the weather has been nothing short of spectacular as you can see by the sky in this shot. Jay and Dennis finish up the stucco outside and soon will begin the last external siding application, stone.

Stain Alive

Over the weekend the Tom Sawyeresque staining crew was hard at work diligently applying the stain everywhere they could (and some places they weren't supposed to!).

Oh Pith has mentioned the name of this stain before, but feels as though it is worth another mention because it is so easy to work with and oh, by the way, sweet smelling.

It's Timber Ox Green and here's their website. For you Illinoisans, they have a store in Libertyville.

Below one of their proponents applies stain on the ground floor windows.

Even More Improvements

The latest (and final?) change to the windows facing the marsh has been installed and I must say, it looks stunning, both from inside and out.

Jay (l) and Dennis (r) continue their assault on the cedar siding, which if I may be allowed also looks grand. We are very fortunate to have such great builders working on our house.

I tiptoed out on the former catwalk to take a shot down its length. We have been assigned to stain the decking this weekend so it should be traversable Monday.

Yes, Tom Sawyer and his staining gang will be hard at work this weekend putting the finishing touches on the windows and putting the beginning touches on the decking and the jamb extensions. (I don't know what those last things are but it sounds like a great name for a rock band.

Out and In

I have finally had it with my camera, a Canon, after they refused to honor the warranty because it was purchased on eBay (through an eBay store I might add). I'll save that discussion with them for another day, but in the meantime Ann purchased a new one for my birthday.

Here it is. In addition to the 8x optical zoom, image stabilization and Leica lens, I picked this because it was shockproof when dropped from 5 feet (Linda please note) and can take pics underwater (up to 10 feet.) St. Croix here we come!

But it also allowed me to catch up on the house progress. The interior ceiling is now painted and the Erthclay walls will be going up next week.

You may be sick, by now, of hearing about this from thith writer, but he doesn't care. You'll hear some more and like it.

The living room wall that meets the eye at the entrance will be an attempt to duplicate the color and shape (although impressionistically) of wild rice in August. The other walls including the kitchen will be acacia, the color of rice about now. The bedroom will feature an adobe/sierra/siena look and the bath will be some other color that has a funny name.

Tim from T2Techniques will be spending the week applying these ideas.

But much has also been accomplished outside.

Here's a snap of the 'back side' of the house (facing north). It shows the screen porch on the left and the deck for the hot tub in the center of the frame. To the right the remnants of Scott's futile efforts to thwarts squirrels remain.

By the way, when Dennis was excavating for the deck posts he uncovered a drainage tile that was packed solid with sunflower seeds.

Ann holds up a stone sample that will be installed some time next week (weather permitting.)

A little closer look at the deck and exterior wall.

Staging

All of the time spent planning, predicting, ordering and delivering pays off handsomely when building a house.

Stuff that arrives late or incomplete or misordered means doing the two steps forward, one step back shuffle. Because of a number of things, that has not occurred here. Or if it has it's impossible to notice. And that's because things continue to plug along swimmingly.

Here's a case on this point. Ann wanted a special paint for the ceiling on the main floor and the walls on the ground floor. The drywall guy was going to just do the standard apartment manager's off white color. The new color was going to take a couple extra days to get ready from a store in Antigo--The Green Design Center (click here for their web site).

The store and the painter worked together to get all the products together and at the house as soon as the painter was ready to roll.

So the interior is being primed today, painted tomorrow. And the Erthclay will be delivered tomorrow as well as a visit from the installer to receive the product. And the progress is not limited to the interior.

Jay is busy doing prep for the stone work which should begin on Thursday. And below Dennis and Bob have built the deck for the hot tub and are now installing the vertical cedar that was so expertly stained.

You might also note the supports on the roof which will receive the solar panels sometime in the next week or two.

Our (Current) Digs

You, faithful reader, have been subject to many things in this space. And if you have had the misfortune of hearing directly from the Pith, you have no doubt been regaled with all the deficiencies, quirks, and inconveniences from living in our temporary quarters.

There is one member of our little family who is thrilled to be here.

In the past Luna could only look longingly through the screen door to the bird room. Sometimes she longed for hours.

In our temporary digs here, the bird cage is readily available and accessible. The birds, much to her chagrin, are not.

That does not prevent her from looking longingly at them or even finding a new perch to get a 'bird's eye' view.

She will no doubt be the only one disappointed when we move back (sometime this winter).

Making Hay While the Sun Shines . . .

. . . more like doing the outside stuff while the temperature is above freezing. There's stucco to finish, nailing up cedar, and putting up the rock that is to arrive tomorrow.

The Durock is ready to receive it and, I'm not going to miss that pink around the base of the house.

The sand at the east end of the house has been moved about 23 times I believe.

The wood surrounding the front door is in place.

Bees or Locusts?

I'd say that the house witnessed a beehive of activity today. The roofers swarmed all over the roof. Mark the Plumber was doing his magic. Bob and Jay and Dennis continued their assault on the work.

But the locusts, errrrr roofers dominated the scene and everyone else including this writer walked gingerly around them. Clearly they had worked together for a long time as insults, barbs, teases and trash talking occurred frequently. I thought I was at one of our family gatherings for a minute.

Without attempting to enter into the GAF vs. Certainteed debate, we chose GAF for the quality of the installer and the warranty, which is 20 years material and labor for virtually any reason.

Charlie chose Northwoods Roofing and Construction to do the install. I spent a little time with the owner, Mike Kegley, who told me how much the roofing industry has changed just in the past few years. He is required now by the state to certify his business and earn continuing education credits. The insurance industry led the push for this and while the adjustment was a little difficult because of paperwork, Mike feels it has resulted in a better product for home builders.

His business has not fallen off (excuse the expression) because of the recession. It turns out that instead of building, most people are fixing up. So he finishes about 200 roofs a year including a little winter slowdown.

Working on the front porch, Dennis and Jay continue nailing up the vertical cedar siding.

The Pith is headed down to Madison and Chicago for the next two days for a quick visit and a sudden turnaround in order to get back by his anniversary. This blog will be barren, which is not much of a change, but will be back in full force by Thursday. Check out North Pith, too, for even more rambling benedictions.

The Latest Poop

The hookups for the radiant floor heating are installed. I looked (stared) at this system for at least 15 minutes yesterday trying to figure it out. I'm still not certain that I understand it. But I'm certain that Ann had the all-time best reaction to seeing this.

"My, isn't the red pretty?"



Here's a look from the ground floor looking up the staircase. I'm still considering putting the cat box under the stairs, but am given pause when it comes to reaching in and cleaning it out.

The guest room is not ready for guests, but is acting like it.

The staining crew was hard at work again today. (Pics tomorrow). With the heat and lights on it was good to be back and working on something productive. We have a whole lotta staining left to do and just ran out of stain today. So we'll have some shipped next week and bend to it.

The kitchen is going to be laden with beams and these are some big honkin' beams. One of them looks to be about a quarter mile long. So we'll need lots of stain I'm afraid.

Apropos of nothing (except the title): I often was asked to attend conferences in Washington, DC and reported on the discussions.

Once when I returned I was introduced as 'the poop from Washington.'

Mud

The mystery of the lens spots continues. I cleaned the lens before taking this shot. Still with the 'noise'. And it happens only when the flash is used. I have some other pics taken from the same location without the flash--no spots.

Oh yes, the mudding got mostly done today.
And Ann saw fit to leave her mark.

One Day Drywall; the Next Day HEAT

From the Master Bedroom to the bath (l) and closet (r).
A peek at both floors.

The little heater in the kitchen area provided a comfortable temperature.

Today the electric company (finally) hooked up the meter allowing for light and heat inside. The insulation guys returned to insulate the ceilings now that the drywall is up. The shingles were delivered and the stone was ordered for the exterior.

Additionally the floor samples arrived; the landscaper made some initial design impressions and some other stuff happened that I have forgotten about because my head's spinning.

It looks like my buddy and I will be doing some interior staining this weekend because some more posts arrived.

It's Drywall *cough*

With apologies for the paucity of posts and updates, I beg your indulgence gentle reader (and I do mean you, Dad!) It seems my cameras and I are engaged in a power struggle--literally. For some reason my batteries last about 1/100th of the normal charge. Canon will see to the cause.


In exchange for your understanding I will offer a couple of snaps of a nature bent at the end of this post.



For now, here's the houth news.

Last Friday we arrived to find the drywall being delivered by a machine right out of a science fiction movie. This thing had an arm that could pluck duck hunters out of the marsh in a New York minute. (Hey, that's not a bad use for the thing.)



Of course I didn't have my camera so this enormous event went unrecorded.


But very quickly on Monday the drywallers got busy and a cracked through this stuff like nobody's business.


Here's a shot from the living room looking through the bookcase into the master bedroom. I wasn't aware of all the drywall dust in the room until I downloaded this picture. I will be seeing my doctor tomorrow. I think the longevity of drywallers must be short.





In other news, our solar panel project has been approved by the Wisconsin Focus on Energy program. The program offers $25oo and the federal government will offer a tax credit of 30%. So this makes the idea very affordable. The panels should go up fairly soon so you can look forward to seeing them in a future post.


As you can easily see from the following images, the tamaracks are in their full glory. These wonderful trees will shed their yellow needles soon and will reemerge in the spring with the softest green you can find.



This angle looks north from the rental.

Oh, and here's another drywall shot (in case your lungs are getting too much fresh air) looking toward the dining room.

Mile Posts

It's funny how some things that are constructed are incremental, putting things together slowly and carefully. And sometimes it's a little taxing to see the progress despite knowing that it's there.

And then there are other things, big things, BIG things that gives one pause.

Sometimes it involves big machines like when the roof trusses were installed.

And sometimes it's when something big, like one of the decks takes shape.

And yet another is when the whole place is dug up, looking like a World War I trench. This is the gas and electric being installed.

The next big thing will be to have heat and electric inside!

Looking like Han Solo when frozen in carbonite, out handprints are planted in the insulation causing the R value to drop to R-1,298.

The shower base is installed downstairs in the guest bath.
The Pith came home from the ALDS in Minneapolis after driving through snow to see this scene at the construction site. A review of the brief trip to Minny may be seen here.

Coming Together

The guys began the installation of the tongue and groove cedar siding in the back of the house, and I must say, 'A blind squirrel finds an acorn every once in a while.' All the work and negotiations on the color of stain; all the work by Kurt and Ann to put it on the wood; all the design work that Charlie did, and all the work to install it has certainly paid off and made to look as though things are really coming together.

When the stone is installed it should complete the package.

In the interior, the insulation is done and it appears as though the guys cleaned up very well after me and the students.

We underestimated the sound-proofing of this material. One of the installers mentioned that a lot of houses use the insulation on the interior walls for sound proofing. WARNING TO HOUSE GUESTS: We didn't.
Meanwhile, back in the back, Dennis (l) and Jay (r) keep plugging along.

What a Day!

Everyone was here today, it seemed. Marc dug in the water line from the well to the house in preparation for the gas line.

The usual suspects Bob, Jay and Dennis were doing their excellent work--Dennis and Jay putting the finishing touches on the garage roof and supervising the grill; Bob attempting to keep everything under control and in perspective all while putting in the central vac system.

The insulation guys were doing prep, installation and education.

And on top ofevery thing else, a portion of the senior class at Conserve School taking a class in sustainability was given a tour by Charlie, our contractor.

We here at Houthpith believe in the power of education and were well pleased to find out that these fine young people would use our project to further their interests in sustainability.

The class came prepared for Charlie's instruction as seen below:

Haz mat suits were recommended, but these young people willingly accepted the risk of contamination.

Of course, as is our wont here at Houthpith, we are just kidding.

These are their Senior portraits.

Here's Charlie in action:

Charlie's Class from Northpith on Vimeo.

But on to more important matters, such as insulation.

We (the generic 'we' including the building crew, sub-contractors and law enforcement) are using cellulose insulation. According to Wikipedia, the source of all knowledge, "the word cellulose comes from the French word for a living cellule and glucose, which is sugar. Building insulation is low-thermal-conductivity material used to separate the internal climate and sounds of a building from the external climate and sounds. Cellulose insulation is plant fiber used in wall and roof cavities to separate the inside and outside of the building thermally and acoustically."

(Editor's worthless note: Thomas Jefferson's home, Monticello is insulated with cellulose.)

Applegate is one of the premier brands of cellulose insulation. See their website here. (Don't miss the 1200 degree test video.) Another use of this insulation evidently is to protect one's hand when using a blowtorch to burn off countless layers of skin.

The insulation is blown in through the use of powerful motors located in their truck. The material is wetted as its installed to expand it slightly and provide adhesive qualities.

OK, this next part I'm going to sound like I know what I'm talking about. Let me assure you, I don't.

Because the cellulose is made up of so many different materials, including newspaper, it contains many, many little pockets of air, which act as the insulators. The R value of the walls will be a minimum of 27. The ceilings, get this, R-90.

I sometimes feels as though our body heat and breath will heat the house. (More on that later.)

Here's a closer look at this stuff:

Student Cellulose from Northpith on Vimeo.

The insulation guys were informative and helpful, encouraging the kids to apply the cellulose themselves and assisting with their technique.

After applying the stuff to the walls the whole thing is smoothed out with the rotating bar held together with bicycle handle grips.

The students, well one of them, jumped in with gusto. Eventually they all gave it a try including this writer. The cleanup went well.

And in other news, it's time to play . . .

. . .

. . .

PICK OUT THE STAIN (YET AGAIN!)

This time it's floor stain. You have five concrete stains to choose from beginning from the left.

#1 I'm calling Baby Poop

#2 is Car Grease

#3 (above and below the pinkish square) is Concrete

#4 is Dried Blood

#5 is No Country for This Stain

It must be stated that stains in the picture are darker than they appear to the eye.

Pick out the stain you like best. Let the Pith know in the Comments section.

Prizes include the undying thanks of grateful homeowners.