38 Samoset

UPDATE #7

2009-06-19T18:56:00.000-07:00

Oak Bluffs Spring 2009 work blog – May 18

I have been somewhat remiss recording all the hard work everyone has done on the house this spring. As I nailed the last tongue & groove board to the alley wall this morning, I decided to record what I remember of the work.

Oak Bluffs looks very different in April than it does in the summer.

Here is a view of our usual swimming spot and below is the house without a bloom in sight.

Ellyn and I opened up the house on April 6. It had survived the winter (reportedly a very rainy one) in good shape. There was a slight ripple in the new floor from the dampness. The new kitchen space was like a cave – insulation on some of the walls but nothing else in the new space.

The first thing we did was cover the new floor with two of the many blue tarps left over from the tear down last fall. I built a step over the pipes going from the new water heater to the spot where the new kitchen sink would go.

I had brought a planer from South Bend and Ellyn ran a bunch of the tongue and groove boards we rescued from the tear-down through the planer to remove the paint and imperfections. The result was varied but interesting. Some of the boards were warped and lost quite a bit of their thickness, but a good number came out looking almost new. That planer was LOUD. I got a pair of noise-deadening ear muffs and also some ear plugs for the planer operator and others in the area. We tried to check for nails but some got by and the blades got dull by April 9 when we left to go up to Boston area so Ellyn could visit with Alison before flying back to South Bend. I ordered some new blades from a shop in Hanover but they took nearly three weeks to come in and then they only sent one blade of a two-blade set. (Bob found the other blade under the truck seat after we finished using the planer)

While Ellyn was planing, I installed braces on the west and south walls to nail the tongue & groove into. As Ellyn finished planing I installed a few finished boards. I decided to first install the boards over where the new counter and floor cabinets was to go. I started in the southwest corner and worked along the west wall for 6 feet and then started along the south wall. It took some time to work around the windows. I didn't put boards below the counters to save wood, since the cabinets would hide these areas.

I had taken the Prius over with a load of wood I had left over from various projects in South Bend on April 6. We brought it back on the 9^th to pick up another load and to make it easier to bring Ellyn to the airport and get back to Peg & Bobs for the annual Easter egg hunt. We had a good visit with Alison & kids and spent the weekend with Paul & Lesley. Joy came over for the Easter weekend as well, bringing Mike's Sawsall. I spent Easter night at Peg and Bob's and Bob and I bought the countertops at Home Depot on Monday morning. I met Peg at Ikea for the big cabinet buy after she dropped Bob off for his gastroenterology test. It took forever to finish this purchase even though Peg, Lesley, Joe, and Jess had scoped out what we would need a few weeks earlier.

Joe helped us create a site on Ikea where everyone could look at the recommendations. After we did the purchase ($$$) we had to wait for almost an hour for them to pull the items from their storage area. Then we had to check that all the items were there – there must have been 50 boxes. Then we had to divide up what Peg would take back to Norwell in the truck and what I would take down to the Vineyard in the Prius. I wanted to take the corner cabinets and the corner countertops so I could check that the south and west walls met at a right angle. (Actually they needed quite a bit of shimming before they were square.

Monday afternoon saw me taking the ferry to the Island for the second time in a week, but it has stayed here since April 13. I am still on the same tank of gas. It has been a long time since I have gone for over a month on one tank. Once I got down, I had to work non-stop to get things ready for Bob's client Peter two to install the floor cabinets, countertops, sink, and dishwasher which he did in two days on April 18-19.

I needed to run a dedicated circuit for the dishwasher from the fusebox over the ceiling and down the wall. I had to install the drain pipe for the dishwasher, including running a vent pipe up through the roof. I spent a couple of days with the spiders crawling around under the house to hook up the drain to the pipe that ran from the downstairs bathroom to the old kitchen sink. I had run water pipes to the place where the new sink was to go, but I needed to put shutoff valves and fittings on the pipes to hook up the sink and dishwasher. We thought we could recycle the faucets from Ped & Bob's old sink. We bought a double stainless steel sink at Home Depot when we got the countertops.

I followed directions to set up four cabinets that were to go in the corner so I could place the corner countertops and check for squareness. I had to shim out the west wall an inch to achieve a square corner. Then it was off to installing the tongue and groove.

I barely stayed ahead of Peter two as he installed the cabinets and countertops and I hung the tongue & groove. But we got it all done. The sink worked after a couple of leaks from not seating the sharkbite fittings properly. I had to go running out to the alley to shut off the water. I really saw the need to cut a gap in the porch railing so we don't have to go all the way to the street to get access to the alley. The dishwasher worked like a charm. What a timesaver that will be.

Peter two had brought his two daughters down and they had a great time wandering around Circuit Ave. Peg took them for a tour of Edgartown and South Beach as well. Speaking of plumbing, one thing that is happening is that the delta shower faucets are turning cold for a minute or two about 5 minutes into the shower. The faucet on the sink is still running hot at the same time. I have to get on the internet to see if others have experienced this phenomenon with tankless water heaters.

After Peter two left, Peg and Bob stayed for a day or two and Bob took up Ellyn's place at the planer. He discovered that one could plane a little less and use a sander to get the boards looking spiffy without having to thin them out so much. By the time they left, I had a good stack of boards ready to use.

Peg and Bob also set up the tall pantry cabinet.

That fit nicely on the north wall to the left of the dining room door opening as you look at the dining room. The rest of the week, I spent installing the drawers on the cabinets and the rotating shelf in the corner cabinet. We had to wait ten days or so for the drawer fronts and cabinet doors to come in. Fortunately, Mike planned to come over the weekend of April 25-27 to work on the ceiling and brought the truck over with the ply-bead panels and the beech colored cabinet doors. That meant I had to work hard putting up ceiling braces for us to nail the ceiling panels to and also getting the wiring for the recessed lighting in place.

Peg and Bob were real troopers picking up the ceiling panels on Friday, April 25. They called me from Home Depot to ask about using paneling instead of ply-bead and I said OK – never having worked with either of them. When they got the load to the parking lot, Bob struck up a conversation with a contractor who said the paneling would not work very well on the ceiling. So they exchanged it for the ply-bead. Then when they got home and started putting a coat of Kilz-2 on the panels, they discovered one of the panels was damaged. So back to home depot they went. Peg drove the truck to Woods Hole and exchanged it for Mike's Prius and the load finally arrived at 38 Samoset. Peg was ready to get back to her grading after all that excitement.

We had hoped that Dan or Joe would be able to get down to help install the ceiling because it was awfully high and while ply-bead is lighter than drywall it is not trivial handling those 4x8 sheets. Joe had friends from out-of-town visit and Dan had come down with strep throat earlier in the week. Mike and I wrestled the first panel into place over the sink and looked at each other. How were we ever going to get the high pieces in? Just then, the phone rang and Dan said, “I'm on the boat.”

He decided he felt good and didn't want to sit around all weekend. After Dan arrived, things went pretty smoothly. We set up some 2x6's on the ladders at various heights and Mike and Dan squirted glue set the panels in place and nailed them to the rafters and braces while I held them in place with a T brace we built out of 2x4's. We were all pretty tired when we finished in late afternoon, but it looked good. Dan went back on the 7pm boat since he had to work on Sunday. Mike took him over to Vineyard Haven and I went to the 7pm Mass – which it turned out was in Portuguese. I couldn't understand a word, although the written text projected on the wall looked a lot like Spanish.

The next day, Mike installed the leftover ply-bead on the top 24 inches of the north wall, to cover over the ratty area between the new and old roofs where Bob had tried to pry off a shingle and took a board out instead. It looks quite nice there, but needs painting as does the rest of that wall and the ceiling. Bob had sent over a bunch of tongue & groove from his old chicken coup but it was redwood and didn't look right alongside the pine. We did use one thin redwood board on the transition between the ply-bead on the north wall and the rest of the wall. I used the rest on the wall separating the set tubs from the laundry area and for the loft shelving over the screen door.

I had a couple of days alone and then Lesley came down to help. She installed the drawer fronts and the cabinet doors and the kick plates to hide the cabinet legs. The kitchen was really taking shape. One problem was that we had not picked up any knobs or handles so it was hard to open the cabinets and drawers. Peg solved that problem by putting blue tape on the drawers and doors so there would be something to grab. While Lesley was working on the cabinets (she also installed the three wall cabinets as well), I was wiring the recessed lighting boxes. I had already installed the ceiling light/fan before she got down. I cut the hole for the second recessed light in the wrong place and was wondering how I was going to cover it up when Lesley suggested that I use two switches for the lighting. One on the east wall to control the light over the table and the miscut one over the counter and the other near the stove to control the other two lights over the counter and the one over the stove.

That took a lot of wiring and some swearing as well as I had to rewire the light over the stove since I had cut the original wire too short, but everything worked. I also had time to install a shelf for the microwave to the left of the tall pantry cabinet. I left with Lesley since I had to fly to DC for a conference and then a week back in South Bend. As we were leaving Chris Murphy and the motorcycle gang arrived to give the kitchen its first real test. Apparently it passed with flying colors.

While I was gone, Peg & Bob and Ed & Judy Casassa came down for a long weekend May 8-11 and installed the new floor in the laundry area. Bob also cleaned up a bunch of boards for me to continue working. He and Judy also managed to scrape, remove mold and paint the living room ceiling. Peg brought down the cabinet knobs later installed by Joe. I had finished the west wall before I left. After I got back on May 13^th, I finished the east wall up to the window.

Since Joe and Jess were coming down on the May 16-17 weekend to help install the windows, I got the final go aheadto install the skylight on the east wall (although Peg

thought I was going to install it on an angle following the roof line, but I had always intended to install it horizontally about 6 feet off the floor.)

I had to set up the braces for the windows, so we were ready to cut the openings when Joe arrived. Joe, Jess and Eva arrived on the 9:30 boat on Saturday. I had already gone to Hinkley's and bought 6 new tongue & groove boards to finish the east wall after the windows were in. Joe cut out the openings with the sawsall and placed the windows in the openings. They fit very well. I finished the outside of the windows while he measured and cut 2x4 braces to hold up the ceiling where it meets the wall. The ceiling had buckled in a few places during the three weeks since we installed it. I was able to screw up the worst of the buckles and the braces are pretty close to the ceiling for the most part. Joe put a coat of Kilz-2 on the braces before we put them up. In order to install the brace on the east wall, I had to install the tongue and groove, at least the high pieces all across the wall.

Saturday was beautiful but Sunday was drizzly, so Joe, Jess and Eva left on the 1:15 boat. Joe took some pictures of the almost-finished kitchen and sent them out this morning. You can see some insulation showing on the east wall. That is now all covered up. I will have a week by myself to do some finishing touches – move the hot water electrical box away from the set tubs, try to correct the weak cold water flow from the kitchen sink, finish installing the ¾ inch plywood floor in the back room, figure out how to trim out the windows, and develop a plan for finishing the laundry area. Peter two and Bob will be back on the weekend to do the work on this area.

Most of the wood is gone from the front porch. I may need some of what remains for the laundry area, but by next week we should be able to walk and sit unhampered out there. :)

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Addendum: It is now July and the first renters are due in tomorrow (the 4^th). I thought I would make this last installment of the blog as an addendum to the report above. I did reroute the electric box for the hot water heater so it is on the opposite side from the set tubs. I finished the floor in the back room and hung the old screen door (lengthening it by 6 inches so us tall folks don't bang our heads going out) in the opening between the west kitchen wall and the water heater. The door is bigger than the opening but there is room for it to close before it hits the washing machine. You have to see it to understand completely. I even was able to preserve the bang it makes when it closes, so those of you steeped in nostalgia will be happy. Actually, we tried our darndest to buffer the door when it closed but to no avail. Now we have three screen doors that bank with slightly different pitches (Ellyn's note: all very annoying). Bob had found a heavy aluminum screen door in his travels to cheer on Dan during his 100 mile bicycle ride, but it would not have fit any of the doors and I recommended that we not use it on the Vineyard house.

I discovered that the problem with the cold water pressure could be solved with a new faucet system. We had used the old faucet from Peg and Bob's replaced sink when their kitchen was remodeled but it must have been defective. Peg bought the new faucet and sent it down with Bob and Peter 2.

I also build an archway between the hall leading from the west side door to the kitchen and the laundry area, and put up the rest of the planed tongue and groove over the arch. That allowed us to have some loft space over the laundry area as well as provide a place to tack a blanket to prevent drafts coming from the back room during spring and fall occupancies. I insulated the wall over the arch and the wall above the west door to complete the kitchen insulation. The old floor there was replaced by Ed and Bob.

The old dryer died and we installed a new one late June.

It works great.

Peter 2 and Bob came down Friday evening and we decided his talent was better used working on finishing the kitchen than the back room/laundry area. He attached the counter to the small cabinet between the stove and the fridge, installed kickboards under the tall pantry cabinet and replaced the kitchen sink faucet – we got it backwards the first time and hooked the hot and cold hoses up wrong the second time but the third time was the charm. The cold water streams out without problem now.

Peter 2 spent the rest of the time framing in the windows. I think you will like the look of the windows. We wondered about what color to paint the frames, blue or white, took a poll and came up pretty evenly split. The painters, Peg and Ellyn, had voted for blue, so they made an executive blue decision. After Peter 2 and Bob left, I finished framing and priming the windows. While Peter 2 was working on the kitchen, Peter 1 (that's me) worked on the back room. I installed four lofts for some of our “stuff” which we would have stuffed in the back room. This includes beach chairs which seem to multiply each year, the extra wood shingles, extra pieces of bamboo flooring, fans, oars, insulation, life preservers, plastic tarps, and hazardous waste and stuff to take to the dump such as paint and the rusted out gas tank. The next hazardous waste day is July 18 out by the airport. The one after that is September 15. I used most of the remaining wood to build the lofts – what was not needed to finish the wall between the back room and the laundry area.

That about finished the project except for putting up a couple of shelves in the kitchen, moving the phone over by the dining room door, installing baseboards around the bottom of the walls and doing a lot of finish painting. Peg, in a fetching headdress, brightened up the ceiling and then put a couple of coats of polyurethane on the tongue and groove walls after Ellyn and I left in early June. Ed and Bob finished the threshholds for the new floor.

We did some touch up things during our family week in late June, including stopping the leak in the drain under the sink, and switching the kitchen lights, microwave, computer and washing machine circuit from 15 to 20 amp. That should prevent popping the circuit breaker. With some telephone consultation with Peg and help from Ben, we did some re-decorating.

We did not get final pictures because we had the last minute hurry to the ferry rush, but will add them later. Here is one picture close to the end.

The kitchen works well in that the southwest winds cool it down on hot days and there is more daylight. There is room for the young children to cavort and play while several adults are cooking and chatting. It is a nice place to relax. And even more, the floor is good for dancing.

The kitchen looks real nice if I do say so myself.

Thanks everyone.

And special thanks go to Norman Reed, Judy and Ed Shemik, and Sal et al, our neighbors, who put up with weeks at a time of pounding and machinery and porch debris!

Peter

July 09

Update #6

2008-11-14T17:55:00.000-08:00

[Peter sent this update on 15 October 2008. Sorry it took me so long to get it up! -ANT]

This report is a bit delayed. I tended to work late and was too tired to blog while I was down at the Vineyard working on the house. I will try to recall the sequence of events as best I can.

Ellyn and I came out east on September 17. Ellyn stayed with Joy and Mike until Sunday, the 21st, and I went on to Paul and Lesley's for a trip to Myrtle Beach Fri-Sun. We both ended up in Lexington Sunday night and headed down to Norwell early Monday morning, arriving there at 7:30am. We transferred our tools and clothes to Bob's new truck along with 12 cases of bamboo flooring, Ed Casassa's tools and table saw, and a new microwave which a honeymoon couple bought to replace the one at the Vineyard they thought was broken. (Actually, they just had not realized the necessity of setting the time before trying to use the power.) One of the things that we transferred from the Prius was the new tankless water heater along with its vent system. Needless to say there was no way to see out of the back window of the truck when we started out to catch the 12:00 boat.

We caught the boat without problem, passing the boat Peg was returning to Woods Hole on - we were too far apart to see each other, however. Peg had started transferring food from the pantry and dishes from the dish closet to the dining room. She had pushed the dining room table against the east wall and moved the shelving unit from under the kitchen counter to the west dining room wall. Ellyn and I continued that process, putting a small table on the west wall for the microwaves and toaster, and transferring everything from the kitchen counters and cupboards to the dining room. I removed the screen door and black wood door from between the kitchen and back room. I had to expand the opening a little so we could move the refrigerator out to the back room.

Ellyn removed the bottom shelf in the pantry exposing the little sink in there and making room for the dryer. She also removed all the shelves and doors from the dish closet.

I disconnected the dryer from its plug in the back room and filled in the shingles we had removed to allow the dryer to vent out the back wall. I had to crawl under the house, greeting the spiders as I went along, to retrieve the dryer plug. There was no skunk smell under there, so I guess the parade of skunks going by the front porch in the evening has not tempted them to take up residence. Once I got the plug mounted on the pantry wall - I fed it up through the old toilet hole, I saw that I needed to rebuild the floor before installing the dryer. This was the first of many places where my carefully timed demolition schedule fell way behind.

After a day of careful measuring and shimming, I had a fairly level floor and was able to install the dryer. I cut a hole in the wall behind the set tubs for the vent. I haven't extended the vent to the outside yet, but the warm dryer air was welcome during a few of the chilly days we had there. While I was wrestling with the floor, Ellyn was dismantling the dish closet. I sawsalled the wall off at the base and continued cutting off the wall at the base along behind where the fridge and stove were, thus opening the back wall of the kitchen to the back room. I had to take up the sheet of plywood flooring next to the water heater so I could continue extending the piping from where the new sink is to the new water heater location. It was easier putting back the flooring with the old kitchen wall removed. I only had to solder one connector and one plug as the rest of the fittings were shark tooth or compression type. The cold water line is mostly PVC (up to 3 feet from the water heater, and the hot water line is half inch copper. Both of them change to 3/4 inch copper within a couple of feet of the heater. I installed drain faucets on both hot and cold water lines so they could be drained when the house is shut down in the fall. We need to remind Jason about this.

I also removed the west wall of the old kitchen along with the screening and blue tarp we had used to keep bugs from getting from the back room into the kitchen all summer and hooked up an outlet for the washing machine. I removed the track lighting on the west ceiling and the wiring and switch from the ceiling and walls. I also removed the hanging light from the center of the ceiling and the track lighting near the sink. I disconnected the light in the dish closet and the new light up by the towel racks (which had stopped working between August and September). I remounted most of the lights on the wall to the dining room and the east kitchen wall so we would have light during the demolition. Ellyn and I removed the picture window behind the stove.

Cathy and Bill arrived on Thursday, September 25. It was damp and cool, not the kind of weather that Florida folks enjoy. We had a fire that evening and cranked up the living room heater so it wasn't too bad. Bill and I moved the washer to the southwest corner of the old kitchen where it was to go. Bill drilled holes in the wall to hook up the washer to the set tubs directly behind. It was nice to have the washer and dryer side by side. We decided not to take out the partial wall behind the washer and drier as it held up the piping and shelves over the set tubs.

Cathy and Ellyn removed the linoleum from the floor under the new kitchen after we had moved the stove over beside the washer. The plug for the stove will be in exactly the right place in the new kitchen. Fortunately, the linoleum was not glued down except for a spot where it had torn in the 70's when we moved the refrigerator. Bill and I installed the first stud for the new wall and built a workbench for tools. Cathy and Ellyn transferred all the tools over to the new bench, clearing the wall on the alley side.

Cathy painstakingly went through a couple of junk boxes, carefully sorting the myriad of screws, nuts, drill bits and tools.

Peg and Bob arrived on Friday afternoon and Joe in the evening for the big demolition weekend. Bob crawled up into the space between the roofs to disconnect the blue tarp which covered the kitchen roof all summer to repel bugs. While he was doing that, he thought he saw a wood shingle still on the wall, but it turned out to be part of the wall. We now have peep holes from the bedrooms down into the kitchen. Fortunately, you would have to be 12 feet tall to peek from the kitchen into the bedrooms.



Bill and Peter had taken down the sail and hull of the sunfish and stored the former near the rose trellis and the latter against the back wall in the neighbor's yard. I think we have finally agreed to try to sell the boat. Joe helped us take down the sheets of plywood from the between roof which we stored there during the cleanup weekend in June. Bill had gone to the hardware store to pick up some hurricane straps and roofing tar. Joe installed the straps from the rafters to the top wall plate. Now a hurricane will have to carry the whole house away to lift the kitchen roof.  We experimented with removing a few boards from the kitchen roof.

Saturday was the major demolition day. Peter used a sawsall and circular saw to cut off the roof boards along both the east and west walls without falling through. Joe and I pried off the roof boards and Bill carried them out to the porch. They ended up everywhere - I even found a couple up in the roof eaves over the table by the rose trellis well after the load had left for the dump. Bob hoped to reuse the boards, but they were fairly rotten and were not tongue and groove. We ended up carting them all off to the the dump.

We used the sawsall to cut through the rafters. We were able to rescue the 2x6 part of the rafters to use as floor braces. Just as the last of the rafters came crashing down - just missing my head, I heard a voice say "Hello, Dad." I turned to see Joy and Katherine standing there and behind her was Mike and Caroline. They had made a surprise overnight visit. When Paul, Lesley, Maddie and Ben arrived, I was really getting suspicious. Ellyn had organized a surprise 70th birthday party for Bill and I. I had no inkling of it. We were to go out to dinner at Nancy's.

While we waited for dinner, Mike and Joe used a metal blade on the circular saw to cut away the flashing sticking out of the wall just above the old roof. What a bad burning smell this produced. We were glad to clean up and go off to dinner. There must have been 14 people at a long table overlooking the harbor and the food was very good. After dinner we returned home and sang some songs Ellyn had written to honor Bill and me. Everyone took turns reading testimonials Ellyn had collected not only from folks there but from Abby and Piers as well. We finished it off with some delicious chocolate cake from the bakery. (It had been on display in their display case all day.) It was time for the little ones to go off to bed (and some of the big ones as well).

Peg and Bob had gone to Hinkley's on Saturday and picked up some R-11 and R-21 insulation and also some magic coat hanger-like thingies that eliminated the need to staple the insulation. Joe and Mike installed the R-21 between the roof rafters over the new kitchen lickety split on Sunday morning. We debated putting up the ceiling covering at the same time, but decided to wait until the wiring and lighting was installed first. I can't remember the name of the covering - it had some initials and numbers as I recall. I can't remember exactly what we had decided about lighting either. Dodie, how are you coming with the minutes?  Bob, Dan and I installed some flashing buried in roofing tar between the new roof and the house since we had found a few leaks during the rain on the previous day. Getting the flashing to lay flat was like herding cats. But we stopped the leaks. Joy and family left after church, and Paul and family left shortly afterwards along with Joe. Dan left later in the afternoon after the roofing was done. It was very quiet after they had gone.


Ellyn left first think on Monday morning to catch a boat, 2 buses, and a train to get back to South Bend. Bob worked on shingling the outside wall on Norman's side on Monday while Peg worked on the plants and loading the truck for a trip to the dump. After a final warning to everyone to take a shower, I shut off the water and put some temporary shut off valves under the sink. The cold water pipe was steel connected to copper and the steel part stuck out over the floor, but we were able to tear out the kitchen sink and lift it over the pipe. He and Peg took the recycling and a partial load and then came back for another load including the kitchen sink. It was good to get rid of a bunch of trash. I installed the new water heater and wired an outlet box to plug it in. It will be on a different circuit from the rest of the kitchen. Peg and Bob left on Monday afternoon.

Bill and I worked on bracing for the new floor where the dish closet and sink were and it fit as snug as a bug when we lifted it into place. We had to wait on the flooring until we took out the cold water pipe.

Bill also helped me move the fridge from the back room to the kitchen to the right of the bathroom door.  When we took out the old kitchen wall, we discovered that the floor in the back room was not level with the kitchen floor. It ranged from being 3/4 inch lower by the water heater to flush by the east wall. We decided we would have to take up the floor in the backroom and do something about the joists. Bill came up with scheme after scheme to do this, most centered around Lesley pushing down on a long 2x6 on the other side of a fulcrum with a chain at the other end of the 2x6 attached to a joist and pry it up so it is level and then hammer a foot brace to keep it at the correct height. I worried about this problem most of Monday evening.

I disconnected the old water heater and drained it Tuesday morning. Bill helped me cart it out to the truck so we could include it on a last load to the dump later in the week. Bill also helped me put in a stud to help brace the partial wall that the new heater was hanging from and also to install the vent pipe. We had to cut a bigger hole in the roof to meet fire safety standards for the vent pipe.  Bill and Cathy left in late morning and I finished reshingling over the new roof vent just as it started to rain. There was a drip leak through a nail hole on the down roof side of the vent, but I decided not to do anything about it since it does not drip on anything to worry about, and it is a very small leak. I put up a brace for the support stud and attached the brace for the vent pipe to it. I also measured and glued an intake vent out of 3" PVC and installed it along the wall over the towels to the outside.

As I was alone on Tuesday afternoon and Wednesday morning, I shut off the water and cut and replaced the steel pipe by the old sink with a capped off stub. I also cut the pipe from the old water heater and hooked up the piping to the new water heater. It took me most of Wednesday to finish this. I also removed the final piece of wall behind the old water heater. We have quite a pile of tongue and groove boards by now. We will have to see how much of the new kitchen wall they will cover.

Lesley arrived midday on Wednesday. She immediately tackled the problem of the uneven floor. She unscrewed the plywood flooring over the old back room and we took up all the boards. She didn't think much of the idea of lifting up the joists both because the floor underneath was none too sound for supporting the foot braces and the joists were fairly level front to back so the whole joist would have to be raised, not just one end.



Since the floor sagged when people walked on it, we decided we needed cross braces between the joists every 16 inches. Lesley used her magic laser level to get the braces even with the old kitchen floor, and then we used shims to raise the joists up to the level of the braces. When we put the flooring back on Friday, the floor was quite level and very solid. While Lesley was working on the joists I put up the rest off the studs along the new kitchen west wall, and then installed the last joist over the place where the old water heater was so we could finish laying the flooring. We also cut and laid the flooring in the section where the dish closet and sink used to be. We were ready for the finish floor.

I had been trying to reach the gas company installers for ten days for them to finish installing the hot water heater. I finally reached the installer on Thursday and he came out on Friday to look at the job. They would have to replace the tank and install 3/4 inch black iron pipe instead of the half inch yellow steel pipe we have now. They will have to move the gas tank closer to the street instead of further back towards the tree as I wanted, in order to be far enough away from the vent from Norman's kitchen heater. This means that we will not be able to have a door to the alley near the dining room. It will have to be near the southeast corner of the kitchen. See below for Norman's comment. The installer said he would do the work during the week of October 6-10, so Bob and Ed would have hot water. It will cost us $600 for installation plus gas for the new tank, but we get credit for gas still in the old tank.

Lesley left on Friday afternoon with job well done. She helped me install plywood sheathing on the utility room side of the west kitchen wall studs before she left. She also helped me make a dump run which got rid of a lot more stuff, including the old water heater. I felt bad junking it because it still worked, but couldn't see how to find it a new home. I spent part of the day and evening wiring and hooking up outlets for the new kitchen. We have four across the back wall, three on the west wall plus one facing the workbench, and two so far on the east wall. I will put in at least one more on the east wall in the spring after I get the framing in.

I left on the 1:15 boat out of Oak Bluffs on Saturday, October 4, after nearly two very profitable weeks. Before I left I opened the boxes of bamboo flooring and laid the pieces out in front of the TV building a stack about a yard high. This is supposed to acclimate them to the atmosphere inside the house before Ed and Bob install them. I guess the location was not ideal since I later learned that Ed wanted to watch the Red Sox game the first night they were down to lay the flooring. I guess it motivated him to work fast. I also took a final trip to the dump to drop off the boxes from the flooring and to the lumber yard to bring back a copper pipe, a shut off valve, and the extra pack of R-21 insulation.

Peter

Bob sent this addendum after his long Columbus day  weekend with Ed Casassa installing the new bamboo floor:



1. No hot water for our stay (Friday afternoon to Monday afternoon)- Peg remarked on our failure to comport with (to?) minimal standards of hygiene; Ed tried the cold shower- just a slow dribble; I went for a (brief!) splash a couple of occasions, so that the church would not empty as we went to Mass on Sunday;

2. Your new best friend (Ken, the gas company installer) says that he will do the gas work today (10/14) (says "we were bumped"- perhaps in favor of Republicans?);

3. New floor is done, to the studs or walls all around; we have some flooring left over, and Ed is of the opinion that one more box could finish the rectangular area where sink, washer, dryer, fridge, stove are presently located; perhaps you and Peg could talk further about the prospect? Unclear whether we can send pictures of the blessed event, but Peg is checking with the phone service. Floor looks kinda spiffy if I do say so myself.





4. We used about two rolls of R-11 insulation, starting on the left side (above old closet) as you enter from the dining room, and got around to the wall between kitchen and storage area; my sense is to keep putting it in where possible (i.e: above old pantry) even if the primary effect is as a noise muffler. Sure do not want to take the cotton picking rolls back to the lumber yard!

5. Started in on the shingling Monday afternoon - now using the old ones; it appears as though Norman's ladder will make it to the high side where new roof meets the house and I should be able to wrap it up the day(s) we are down there to put the house to bed for the winter. What's wrong with this picture? Norman gets to critique my performance, watch as I fall off his ladder, and then get ready for papers to be served on him for defective product. (Priscilla and Norman were given a guided tour of the buffed up kitchen area by your sister, to soften the blow.) Norman, a stand in for Bob Hope if ever there were one, repeated his leave them in the aisles lines about not using flour and water for paint this time, and said for the umpteenth time that we should not put the door back on the side facing his kitchen. (Perhaps some sybaritic ritual takes place on his side of the alley involving demiclad folk and kinky music that has escaped our attention before?)

The Wall

2008-07-18T06:47:00.001-07:00

1. Final back wall

2. Shower extension - pink when this photo was taken, now black (not shown) - email Peter with your vote for the final color! (Ellyn and Leslie want gray)

Update #5

2008-06-14T17:58:00.000-07:00

Here is update #5 and the last one until the fall.

I spent the week before the work weekend rerouting the electrical wires over the window on Iroquois side so I could fit in the door. I also took out the window and framed in the studs for the door. The door did not arrive on Thursday or Friday as promised and the warehouse was not open on the weekend, so there was a big opening in the wall for the better part of a week. To keep the skunks out at night I put a waist-high board across it. Ellyn arrived late Thursday evening on the last boat from Woods Hole. She tried to take the bus from Providence to Woods Hole but it would have arrived too late to catch the boat, so she and a fellow coming down for high school graduation festivities took a taxi from Bourne. It was good to see her.

Dan was not able to make it down for the work weekend, so we decided to put off reshingling the porch roof until fall. It would have created such a mess that all the good work cleaning the porch would have gone to waste. Alison, Dodie, their kids and good friends of theirs with their kids and dog did make it down to help Ellyn and me with the cleanup. The friends watched the kids while we worked. Alison, Dodie, and Ellyn washed all the porch railings and started in on the ceiling. I helped finish the ceiling. It is amazing what a little bleach can do to get rid of the mildew. On Saturday evening, while the kids were playing with sparklers and glow sticks at the beach, Alison cleaned the living room. The first night they were there it was cold and damp, so we built a roaring fire and burned a lot of scrap lumber. We borrowed a truck from one of the neighbors on Saturday morning and Dodie and I took two loads of debris to the dump. They weighed the loads at a half ton combined. It was $80 well spent. It made it possible to get access to most of the porch. While we were doing that, Alison's friend reorganized the alley, transforming the woodpile into a neatly organized stack under a blue tarp. Now, looking down the alley, it looks mostly clear instead of a disaster area.

The weekend was marred by three events. Both toilets got clogged up on Saturday afternoon. We think a lot of toilet paper built up in the upstairs toilet and when we plunged it loose it got stuck in the main line, thus backing up the downstairs toilet. Alison's friend (I wish I could remember his name) worked for more than an hour unclogging first the downstairs and then the upstairs toilets. They worked fine after that, but it is worthwhile to encourage people, especially kids, to flush away. The second disaster occurred Saturday evening when Dodie and friends took the kids and dog down to the beach to light off sparklers. The dog ran out in the street and got hit by a car. Fortunately he was just bruised up and the vet checked him out and gave him perkaset-type medicine. This is the dog who jumped over the upstairs railing earlier in the day and Ellyn thought he was going to jump off the roof to get to his owners who had gone to the beach. When Ellyn tried to get him to jump back over the railing, he raced by her, downstairs, pushed open the screen door, ran down the street to the beach and ran along the beach until he found the crew. Smart dog! The last problem was that we ran out of hot water on Sunday. When I looked at the propane tank it was empty. No hot showers that night. We heated water on the stove for dishes. Fortunately, the truck came first thing Monday morning.

Alison et al left about noon on Sunday and Ellyn continued the cleaning project while I installed the facia board over the new porch and raised the outside shower wall so one could no longer see into the shower from the porch. Bob had come down on Sunday just in time to see off Alison and family and friends. He finished shingling the back wall, making creative use of the few remaining shingles and also prepared the pink Styrofoam for a coat of black paint. I went to pick up the new door on Monday morning and got back just in time for Bob to help me carry it around to the porch before he took off for Norwell. Ellyn left on the 1:15 boat to return to South Bend and Peg arrived about 3:30 for some last minute renter preparations. She helped me set the door in place and by evening I had it fastened down - no skunk will get through that door.

On Tuesday, Peg and I went to pick out stain for the door and also the knob and dead bolt lock. We now have keys to two doors at the house. Peg finished the upstairs including touching up the wall in the bathroom that Bob had scraped while he was cleaning the bathroom. She also cleaned the kitchen, and this time the cleaning took. No debris drifted down from the ceiling to get on the surfaces. I spent the day building the framing for inside and outside the new door and saw Peg off on the 7:15 boat from Vineyard Haven. The rest of the week was spent staining and urethaning the door and framing, painting the pink Styrofoam black, and cleaning up all the stuff lying around both inside and outside from the many projects before the first renters arrived today. I can't wait to show all you blog readers the fairly finished project. It looks pretty nice if I do say so myself.

The next stage of the project is the fall tear down of the old kitchen ceiling and wall to the back room. Where we will store everything at that point is a mystery. We need to make a few decisions at the August meeting, such as where to put the new window on Norman's side (It can't be over the propane tank) and how to organize the new back room and separating wall. Joy is threatening to have the meeting at 7am to give the early to bed crew the advantage this year.

Until the fall...
Peter

Update #4

2008-06-04T07:14:00.000-07:00

[Addendum from Peter to the installment below: "I forgot to mention that Bob had practically finished shingling the entire back wall when he ran out of time. He figures only another hour. The tyvek is all covered and the wall looks so nice. He got lots of good comments from Jane at Narragansett house as he went along."]

***

Time for installment number 4!! Lesley promised to take some time from her bathroom project to help me install the wall on Norman's side. While waiting for her I worked on the floor in the back room by the washing machine and set tubs. I had cut away 3 feet of the original floor to get to the back wall foundation so needed to replace it. While I was at it, I decided to make the floor level. So I cut some 2x4s tapering them to lie directly on the old floor at the kitchen end and nailed to the new back wall on the other end, and lay a 3/4" sheet of plywood lengthwise over these joists (Lesley helped me carry this piece and maneuver it past the dryer and the set tubs). You can see what it looks like from the picture that Abby put up with the last installment showing the shelves across from the set tubs. Unfortunately there is a very shallow step just before the steps going down into the side yard near the shower. Peg almost pitched down the steps and recovered by running down carrying a piece of Plexiglass. She said that it will be a test of the renters' balance. Those who fail the test will probably not rent again. Maybe I should put up a sign.

The day before Lesley arrived I built the wall for Norman's side in the yard behind the house as that was the only space big enough to do so. I had to plan so that the wall would just fit between the footing board and the rafter attaching the back wall to the old kitchen roof. I had to cut a wedge in the 2x4 that went on top of the wall so it would fit between the rafter and the kitchen roof. Lesley arrived about noon on a Tuesday. We had to pick up the wall and lift it over the fence and maneuver it around the 3 inch exhaust pipe to slide it into place, all the while trying not to stumble over all the scrap wood piled up in front of the fence. (About 2 weeks later, Bob informed me that the fence was designed to be picked up and moved, but it probably wouldn't have helped much with the wall maneuvers.) We finally slid the wall into place and it fit perfectly!!!! Lesley helped me nail the plywood over the studs. It sure helped having two people to lift the plywood up to the second and third levels. While I was preparing some studs between the old and new roofs, Lesley was screwing down the floor over by the set tubs. Those studs are not my best work. They were a little skewed. I straightened the worst of them after putting up the plywood. Cutting the plywood piece for this between-roof section was very complicated. Lesley seemed quite surprised that it fit after all the cuts. I was sorry to put up that wall in a way since the morning sun pouring into the back room was quite pleasant. I think Norman and his sister were sorry to see it go up as well since they could no longer see what was going on from their kitchen window. Lesley finished off her day by cutting out and attempting to nail in the final floor joist for the section abutting the new wall. She was very tired when she went off to the bus to catch the 7:15pm boat. She sure did a ton of work in the 6 hours she was here.

The next person to arrive was Ellyn. I knew she would want to start organizing so I rebuilt the shelves Bob had first built near the kitchen door, but I put them across from the set tubs. You can see them in the picture I mentioned above. I also staked out the space next to the shelves under the window to store the tongue and groove we took off the back room roof and walls for the kitchen rebuilding project. Bob has some good-on-one-side tongue and groove he took off the floor of the chicken coop back in Norwell but he is keeping them at Norwell for the time being. The days are warming up. The evenings as well. We no longer need the space heater. As well as rebuilding the shelves (the highest is 7 feet off the ground) I rerouted the exhaust pipe from the water heater. I had Bill install the exhaust pipe through the roof over the spot the water heater would go after the renovation so I had to rig a pipe from the current position over to the new exhaust pipe. Ellyn not only organized the stuff from the back room we had stored in the pantry, but she painted the shelves and a strip around the kitchen door and the door to the pantry when it was a bathroom a nice deep red. I was going to set up the door as a work space along the new wall on Norman's side. It is high enough that the recycling trash barrels fit nicely under it. By the way, when Peg and Bob were bringing the trash barrels over on the Island Queen last weekend, a lady complained vociferously that she was not going to sit next to trash barrels while waiting for the boat. Not even after Bob explained that the trash barrels were full of shingles was she placated. Bob had to move the barrels.

Dan and Tracy and his friend Mike and his wife and two other couples came down for Memorial Day weekend. They were there for R&R but I prepared the window opening in the pink room for the window we took out of the back bedroom when we raised the roof. No sooner did Dan arrive than I had him on the ladder sliding in the window and nailing it down. He was amazed how easily it slipped into place. I learned my lesson when Paul and I installed the window in the back bedroom on the Iroquois side. Paul was on the ladder that time and I thought we would never get it in. Ellyn and I took off for Lexington on Sunday so we could get to Alison's graduation at Yale on Monday. Unfortunately, Dodie was graduating at exactly the same time as Alison. However, his ceremony got over a little early and he ran over to Alison's in his flowing blue robes. It was a good time. Even the kids got into the act, hiding under the robes and snatching the caps. It reminded me of my own kids antics when I had to go the Saint Mary's graduations. One piece of Oak Bluffs business we took care of at New Haven was getting Peg's approval of the door Lesley, Ellyn and I had picked out to replace the kitchen window on the Iroquois side. It will let in plenty of light even when it is closed.

Ellyn and I made a trip to Home Depot up in Lexington and I got the strikers for the steps leading down from the porch in front of the new door. I looked to see if Home Depot had a door in stock similar to the one we picked out of the Hinkley's catalog. It didn't so I had to order it when I got back to the Vineyard after taking Ellyn to the plane. Actually, from T.F. Greene airport I drove to Norwell where Peg and Bob loaded up the car with three twin bed mattresses, four big fluffy pillows, a trash can full of shingles in the passenger seat and more shingles jammed in every available space. I couldn't see anything to my right, so I was careful to stay in the right lane all the way down to Woods Hole. I had 2:30 reservations but was early enough that I got on the 1:15 boat. I was very happy to pull up to 38 Samoset Ave and unload the car. I just put the mattresses and pillows in the living room until someone could help me carry them upstairs. Then it was off to Hinkley to order the porch materials, the door, and the wood to finish the trim on the back wall. They said the door would arrive in a week. I hope so.

Peg and Bob decided to come down last Saturday and stay until Monday afternoon. (That was the trip with the three trash barrels) I had kind of pressured Bob into shingling the back wall. He was thinking of waiting until August during the Norris family vacation, but I was reluctant to have our tyveked wall staring at the Narragansett house porch sitters all summer. To prepare the wall for the shingling I had to install the side boards on each corner and paint them. I also had to install, caulk and paint wood trim around each of the windows. I got that done before Peg and Bob arrived. Then I cut out and painted the facia boards and the soffit and waited for a break in the shingling so Bob could help me put them up. Also, knowing that Peg would want to clean the upstairs, I reinstalled the inside casing around the new window upstairs. What a mess. I cleaned up most of it before she arrived. Lo and behold, however, the shutters would not close. The new window was thicker than the old one. It was designed for a house with 2x6 studs. The folks who build the vineyard house didn't know what studs were. It is held together with tongue in groove boards and shingles. When I was running the morning after they arrived, I realized that I could add another layer to the casing and make it so the shutters would close. Fortunately I had bought some knot-free 1x5's for the soffit but could use recycled tongue in groove for that. So I built up the casing, making more of a mess, but the shutters now close, blocking the view of the window on Norman's house directly across the alley. (He doesn't use that room, fortunately).

Bob was going to run out of shingles so Peg made a Hinkley run right after church. But the shingles were in the warehouse which didn't open on Sunday so they promised a Monday delivery. It took all day for Bob to run out of shingles, however. Peter worked on laying cement blocks at the base of the new stairs, and Peg cleaned like a mad woman, but everyone knocked off in time to go down the the beach for a while around 5. Peter got in up to his knees but it was too cold. Peg had no suit so stayed on the beach, but Bob (in a suit he found in the house) jumped right in and splashed around for longer than seemed humanly possible. It was June 1 after all. The shingles didn't get delivered until almost noon on Monday, so Bob helped me with the facia and soffit. Peg painted the new window casing and window in the two back bedrooms and also the 2x12's bolted to the walls in those two rooms and finished cleaning the upstairs. I finished the porch and steps for the new door and Peg celebrated by climbing out the window and walking down the stairs to the grill. She will greatly enjoy the quick trip from stove to grill when the door is installed. This coming weekend is a work weekend and Alison and I think Dan will be down as well as Ellyn. We have the downstairs and the porch to clean and the roof over the porch on Norman's side to deshingle and water and ice up if possible. The weather is promising to cooperate.

I walked Peg and Bob down to the big boat Monday night and saw what the crane had been working on. They completely replaced the ramp cars use to get onto the ferry. It is much longer, more like a bridge. They also widened the drive way from the street to the boat so more cars can wait there for loading on the boat. The crane finally sailed away last week. I spent the day today putting up that work table in the back room and hanging up all the tools above it. It has been a pain digging through boxes for a tool each time it is needed. Also, I put screening up in the pantry so the whole kitchen and pantry is screened off from the back room. This should help keep the flies and mosquitoes out. Finally, I took off the casing from the window we are going to replace with a door. I encountered tons of big black ants which I sprayed like crazy. I kept expecting to find a place where the window was nailed in place, but when I got off the casing, the window started to fall out. I just pushed it back in place and hoped for the arrival of the door. In keeping with Peg and Bob's example, I went to the beach around 5 and this time got completely submerged. I got out rather quickly though.

Until next time
Peter

Update #3

2008-05-19T09:59:00.000-07:00

Hi Everyone,

Sunday evening at the Vineyard and time is hanging a bit heavy. So here goes Part 3.

Abby, can you transfer it to the 38samoset ave blogspot site? If you all haven't looked at this site yet, Abby has done a fine job weaving pictures with the text.

Peter, Ellyn, and Bob did return on April 26th. We met Dan and Connor and his mom who had come in the night before. The old roof was sealed up nice and tight, as well as the one window cut in the back wall and the window hole in the back bedroom which was awaiting a new smaller window. Thanks Peg and Bob for sealing up the place. Peter and Dan proceeded to unseal everything, and tear out the roof over the pantry, disturbing colonies of ants. I'm thinking that the ants aren't carpenter ones, since they don't seem to have devoured any of the walls. We needed to take off this roof and the old peak above the shower in order to build the new peaked roof extension. Peter focused on putting up the rafters for this extension and Bob installed the ledger boards in the pink room and back bedroom walls and drilled holes for bolts to go through the inside and outside ledger boards to make sure the roof rafters were well supported. Dan switched off helping Peter and Bob and taking Connor for walks. He certainly is a live wire. Ellyn frantically cleaned and organized the kitchen and took the stuff out of the pantry as the dirt sifted down through the old roof. On Sunday, Bob and Peter went to church. Dan et al. decided to take an early boat home, but first he carried the last 6 90lb bundles of shingles up to the roof so Peter wouldn't have to do it. What a guy! Ellyn had to take a noon boat so she could get to Boston to meet her plane, so Peter rode the cab over to VH with her and took the bus back. Bob was still struggling with the last bolt, so Peter held the head with a wrench and advised Bob to give the nut a big jerk - lo and behold it tightened. Bob helped Peter get the first piece of plywood up on the new rafters before he took off for the boat.

Peter stayed down until Friday morning, May 2. He finished putting up the rafters got plywood over them - a few tense moments here as to who would win, the plywood or Peter. Fortunately the victory went to Peter. He covered the new roof with water and ice just before the rain. Unfortunately, he was a little short on water and ice, but Chris Kelly and his motorcycle buddies came over on Thursday and brought some water and ice from Norwell on the back of his motorcycle. Peter also moved the dresser in the back bedroom over in front of the window opening and put 5 bundles of shingles through the opening and on the dresser. It seemed that we would not need them and he wanted to keep them dry so we could return them. The walls over the pantry were not in, so there was quite a breeze blowing into the kitchen. The rain stayed out, however. Peter left the crew early Friday morning to take the boat to Woods Hole, drive to Providence, and fly to Birmingham, Al, for a war tax resister's meeting.

When he returned on Monday, he found the house again sealed up tight - even a board across the door to the pantry so the wind and weather couldn't get into the kitchen. It was a fairly nice week. Peter cut out the window openings in the back wall. Before he could put in the windows, he had to put a second layer of TYVEK on the back wall. Bob had put on the first layer the weekend Bill Bond put up the roof. The first layer (5 feet wide) can be put on while standing on the ground. The second layer needed a ladder. Unfortunately it was quite windy and the TYVEK he had installed kept blowing loose as he was installing the part further down. The window openings made perfect wind funnels. Finally, after switching to roofing nails he got it nailed down. Both Peter and Bob put up the TYVEK upside down. C'est la vie. The window instructions said to cut the TYVEK vertically down the middle and cut top and bottom back to the sides- just like opening one of those 10 pack eat out of the box sugar coated cereal packages. Then you wrap the TYVEK inside and nail it down. I'll have Ellyn take a picture of it when she gets down on Thursday. The windows then slipped in nicely between the TYVEK and over some aluminum flashing on the sill. I had measured pretty well. Only one needed shimming. I left the Anderson stickers on the windows so the historical commission could see them and smile. After flashing the top and sides, the back wall was ready for shingling.

I then worked on the walls between the new and old roofs on Iroquois side. It was tough getting the angles right - lots of recutting, especially the part over where the peaked roof sloped down and the regular roof sloped up. I was glad to have the water and ice to seal off the cracks. It was touch and go getting the plywood up on the front of the peak over the shower. I was glad for the 2x4s we use to hold soap and those verboten razors. I finally figured out to nail a brace to hold up one end of the plywood while I was nailing in the other end. I left on Thursday, May 8, to go to Lexington in time to make soccer practice. I had an early plane to Milwaukee on Friday to spend the Mother's Day weekend with Ellyn and her mom. Before I left I finished shingling the lower roof, up the the peak. It took me longer to shingle that little bit than it did Bill to shingle the whole rest of the roof. I felt better about leaving this time since I had the walls up on Iroquois side (and the back wall was weather-tight).

I returned to Boston on Wednesday, May 14th, and finished the proceedings for my June conference, heading back to the Vineyard on Thursday. Everything was in good shape, and I shingled the front side of the peak using the step flashing. The width was just a shingle wide, so no cutting needed :) . It was too rainy for a couple of days to work on the roof, so I started putting in more of the floor. I first walked over to Vineyard Haven and put in an order and then took the bus back. I could have called but I needed the walk. I found a new route that avoids the harbor and the hill with the busy traffic. You go up to the library along School St, and then walk alongside the cemetery and cut over to Eastside Rd - the road past the hospital entrance. It takes 40 minutes to reach the lumber yard that way. Unfortunately, I estimated the width of the drain pipe wrong. I ordered 2" instead of 1 1/2". So the next day I walked back carrying the 10 foot 2" PVC pipe and walked home carrying the 1 1/2" pipe. I spent one day roughing in the plumbing for the new kitchen and laying another 4x8 piece of new flooring. I am to the kitchen door and seem to be about 1/4 inch below the kitchen floor. Not too bad as some underlayment will take care of it. Dodie will really have to duck going through the door. He probably already had to. It is like the door at Joy and Mike's across from the bathroom. It cleared up yesterday afternoon and I was able to finish shingling the roof. This morning was beautiful and after church, I cut out shingles for the cap over the peak and installed them. I thought that would be quieter. It clouded up this afternoon but I was finished with the roof and installing the window in the back bedroom. I did that so I could get to the shingles. We will only have four bundles to take back. I put back the wood borders around that window and cut out a wood sill. It sure felt good taking down Norman's ladder with a finished roof. I spent the rest of the afternoon installing the last 4 foot section of the floor on Norman's side of the back room. I am almost ready to build the side wall, and then the new space will be completely enclosed!!!

I met Norman on the way back from the hardware store yesterday and he told me to start early - 6:30 or 7 - as it wouldn't disturb them (his sister is back down). What a surprise. By the way, everyone in Oak Bluffs seems to know about our project. The guy at the hardware store asked if we had gone to the historical commission and I was happy to tell him we had and also got a building permit. Then when I was getting on the bus down by the park a guy asked me how the project was going.

Until the next installment,

Peter

Update #2

2008-04-24T08:52:00.000-07:00

Here is part II of the work blog. I have not had time to set up the web page, but hope to pick up the wireless router and ethernet cable Joe said we could use when I drive from Glens Falls NY to Lexington on Friday afternoon. (Is that possible Joe and Jess?)

Peter returned to Oak Bluffs on Wednesday, the 16th, and everything was nice and dry. The tarps worked very well. He cleared out the dirt from the foundation hole and swept off the concrete so it could dry overnight. On Thursday, he mixed mortar and laid two courses of cement blocks. It took three 80 lb bags of mortar to do the job and the result was a fairly level wall. On Friday, he mixed cement and attached 9 foundation bolts, using excess cement to fill in some areas at the ends of the wall. All the bags of cement are now gone, including the two from the back room. He also framed in half of the back wall by lying it on the ground and nailing in the pieces. On Saturday morning he tightened down the pressure treated board which lay on the cement blocks and had holes for the foundation bolts and started laying out the other half of the back wall waiting for Bob and Bill and his truck which arrived about 7am.

What a dynamo Bill Bond turned out to be. By 10:00 we had the back wall up and framed. By lunch we had the ledger board up along the back bedroom walls and the template for the 2x12 rafters cut out. Peter made a run to the lumber yard for more roofing and plywood and came back with a leak in the brake line. Bill cut out a piece of the line and sent Peter off on his bike to get a replacement part over near the Vineyard Haven Kronigs Market. When he got to the parts store he discovered he had dropped the piece, and had to bike back to get another piece. This time he took a taxi back to a friendlier store (the Napa store was going to close precisely at 3:30 so the workers could catch the 3:45 ferry). Vineyard Auto Supply recommended Bill remove both ends of the brake line so they could be sure of the fittings and told him by phone they would be open on Sunday morning. By the time Peter got back all the rafters were up. Bob and Peter passed up sheets of plywood and Bill tacked them down with his nail gun. By 7pm, when we broke for dinner and the night, the main roof was covered with plywood. Peg arrived after dark and we sat around a fire in the evening until Bob and Bill were nodding off, since they had been up since 4am.

On Sunday, Bill covered the roof with water and ice covering while Bob and Peter carried shingles in the wheelbarrow around the Iroquois house to the back of the new wall. (Actually, Bob did most of the carrying as Peter opted to set up for roofing over the pantry and new porch outside the window near the red stuffed chair in the kitchen and also continue framing in the windows - his length measurements were off by 6" the first time he framed them). Peg was amazed by how much room there will be in the new kitchen as she saw the new roof and back wall in the daylight. Bill alternated between shingling (carrying 90lb bundles up to the roof on a ladder we scrounged from Norman) and working on his truck. This time Bob took the taxi to the parts store and actually came back with some parts.

By mid-afternoon the shingling of the main roof was done and a template rafter for the roof addition over the pantry was cut. Peter decided to leave for Glens Falls and Katherine's birthday celebration and Bill decided to stand by for the 3:45 ferry after loading the red chair on his truck, leaving Peg and Bob to clean up and put plywood over the upstairs back window and pantry roof. We covered this roof with scraps of water and ice.

Peter, Ellyn, and Bob are due back on Saturday, the 26th. It is not supposed to have rained much this week. We will see how it goes.

Take care
Peter

Update #1

2008-04-24T08:45:00.001-07:00

Hi all,

Ellyn suggested I start a blog re the work being done at the Vineyard. It so happens that we get a free webpage from Comcast since we signed up for high speed cable internet through them. I'm on my way home now, but when I get back, I'll try to activate it and send you all the url.

Here is a start to the blog. Peter and Bob arrived at 38 Samoset in the pouring rain on Friday, April 4. Bob had already made two day trips to the Vineyard this spring, the first also in the pouring rain with Bill Bond to get a list of materials to replace the back wall and install a new roof, and the second to meet successfully with the historic commission to get the heads-up to do the work with Anderson 400 double hung windows and to borrow a few bucks from the commission to afford the taxi back to the boat. "You know I am good for it," said Bob. The taxi fare from Oak Bluffs to Vineyard Haven has gone up to $10 but the bus which runs every half hour is still only $2. By the way, the commission was dead set against Casement windows which would have been a whole lot less work for us and provided more air. Apparently someone installed a raft of casements recently without permission.

I digress. Bob and I arrived about 2:30 and Peg came over after school about 4:30. Peg and Peter tried with the usual zero success to get the hot water heater and the living room heater going. This was after Peg had convinced the hardware store folks to let her buy a fire starter at 5:20 when the store had closed at 5:00. We all froze that evening although Bob built a big fire. Peter stayed warm by starting to clean out the back room starting with the white dresser. It was amazing what he found squirreled away - lots of boxes of nails and screws as well as all kinds of electrical and plumbing fittings. But the white dresser is no more. We loaded it onto Dan's truck and sent it off to the side of the road up by Peg and Bob's. Dan and Joe and the truck arrived on Saturday the 5th and Joe soon had the heaters going - ah, hot showers at last. Apparently, Peter and Peg were not strong enough to turn the gas knob on the outside tank far enough.

Peter had finished clearing the back room sufficiently and Peg and Bob had cleared out barrels of leaves so we could get to the roof when Dan and Joe arrived. They made short work of peeling the tar paper off the roof. Actually, Mother Nature had started the process as the bottom two feet of a good portion of the roof covering had peeled back over the winter. We would have had to recover the roof this year anyway, after 30 years of no problems. There was just one layer of tar paper over the bare boards. Peter cut off the last 4 feet of roof boards so we could get to the back wall, but he insisted that we try to preserve the tongue in groove to use on the floor in the new back room. It took all four guys twice as long to do this as it did to take off the roof covering. Finally we could put up the 30 x 20 blue tarp which hung down over the stuff along the kitchen side of the back room. Then Peg got busy cleaning all the roof junk that had filtered down into the kitchen through the cracks in the roof.

The cable guy arrived to install cable as well as internet just in time for the semifinal NCAA games on Saturday afternoon. Joe set up the internet on the desktop that Peter has bought down to leave at the house. It was stored in a black plastic bag in the pouring rain coming over on Bob's truck and only the keyboard got a little wet. Peter worked away on disconnecting the back wall of the back room from the sides and Peg and Bob worked on the gardening tasks which were much easier since no leaves had come out yet. Everyone slept well and warmly on Saturday night after a wonderful roast pork dinner prepared by Peg. We set up blankets between the dining room and living room so the heat would stay in the living room. We also put a blanket over the stairwell, but kept it open during the night.

Sunday dawned clear but cold. Peg, Bob, and Peter went to 8:00 Mass and on the way back looked at the back of the house and discovered that the entire back wall was gone. Dan and Joe had knocked it down. "It just took three pushes," said Dan. They used Mike Lieberth's Saber saw which Peter had borrowed to cut up the wall and stacked it neatly in the alley. There was nothing in the yard of our neighbors in back of us. Fortunately, no one has been seen at the house to date. I hope our luck holds out until the new roof is up since we will have to use their yard to build the back wall. Peg had to leave on the 10:45 boat to make a meeting north of Boston. Dan and Joe and Bob decided to stand by for that boat as well since all the heavy lifting had been done. A very good weekend of work.

Peter stayed on a few more days until Wednesday, the 10th. He cut away the last few feet of the back room floor to get access to the "foundation" under the back wall which consisted of two layers of a motley collection of 6 x 16 x 8 inch cement blocks, 8 x 8 x 16 inch cinder blocks, some bricks, and some broken blocks, all pointing every which way. He had to pick up all the blocks, chip off the attempt at mortar, and dig out for a level cement footing since of course the ground was not level under the back wall. He was hard pressed to figure out how a cement truck was going to get close enough to pour cement since the parking lot of the Iroquois house is over a drain field and they would be foolish to give us permission to bring in a cement truck.

Fortunately, Peter looked up foundation depth for MV on the internet and discovered that if you line the outside of the footing with polystyrene insulation board, the ground won't freeze under a 12 inch-deep foundation. So digging down 16 inches on Norman's side meant the level on the other side was 12 inches. Also, the insulation board was easy to mark with a magic marker so Peter drew lines for the 4 inch cement level and the two 8 inch cement block levels above that, thus making it easy to keep the foundation level. Another advantage of the insulation board preventing freezing is that you can use hand-mixed concrete as a footing. So off he went to Hinkley's in VH to order cement, mortar, and wood for the new 9 foot 9 inch back wall. They delivered the building materials, but Peter bought a 4 cu ft. wheelbarrow and wheeled it back to Oak Bluffs. Lots of exercise. One needs a wheelbarrow to mix cement however. The cement comes in 80 lb bags and it took 11 of them to do the job. It was quite a job getting the bags from the front porch where they were delivered to the back. Shades of Uncle John at 70.

We also needed to put a smaller window in the back room or the drainage from the roof would be very poor. The feral cats would have a ball up there. We needed the back wall so high to make the back room floor level with the kitchen, allow for a 36 inch counter, a 4 inch backsplash, 31 inch window, and 8 inch header. Peter took out the current back room window and framed in the space for the smaller window. Now you can rest your elbows on the sill when you stand in the back bedroom. Definitely safer for the little ones! He is waiting for the concrete to cure and returning to South Bend for a few days to vigil outside the post office on tax day. It is supposed to rain very hard, and even have some snow flurries at the Vineyard this week, but next Wednesday when Peter returns is supposed to be sunny and warm. Hopefully the blue tarp will not have leaked or blown away, the trench for the footing will not have caved in and the covering over the back room window will not have collapsed - who is a pessimist now?

The next bit of work mostly on Patriot's Day weekend is to put up the new back wall, install the new roof and cover it with water and ice. Bill Bond will be sheparding that job. I have to leave on Sunday morning to go to Katherine's birthday party, so help would be appreciated on Sunday and Monday - even Saturday could use some young blood. By Saturday, the 19th, hopefully, Peter will have laid the two courses of cement block and tied down the 2x6 pressure treated plates with foundation bolts. Do you have to set them in concrete or will mortar do? Bill and Bob are going to pick up the lumber, nails, and water and ice covering on the mainland and bring it down on Bill's truck Saturday morning. It will be a lot cheaper that way and we will be sure to get what we need.

Take care
Peter

Peter Smith
Professor Emeritus of Math and CS, Saint Mary's College
Facilitator, Michiana Peace and Justice Coalition
Webmaster, National War Tax Resistance Coordinating Committee
Author, Editor, and Treasurer, Academy of Process Educators
Publicity Director, Association of Small Computer Users in Education