Rapid Redecorating

Thanks to Deb, I have some new roman shades and some curtains and some blinds and whatever else fell off the truck and nobody wanted. I have wanted to replace the window coverings in the bathroom for a while, but never really got around to it. Having a sister that works for a company that does nothing but window treatment got the ball rolling a little faster. I should have taken the before and after, but I'll say it is a definite improvement with the new blinds. Having the sheer portion at the top and the opaque portion on the bottom allows some light in while maintaining the necessary privacy.


The front window in the living room got a very sheer roman shade that dresses the window up a little bit better than the Dempsey's nose prints ever did. Unfortunately I'll have to leave the shade pulled up enough that Dempsey can't munge it up while taking a look out at the world.


The office got the full treatment, roman shade and new drapes that match everything nicely. Deb is much better at picking out colors than I am. It is amazing I can even dress myself in the morning. I need to do some serious cleaning in the house since it has been neglected while the backyard and garage get all the attention.


Speaking of . . . here's the garage with the trim painted. The pure white trim really does pop out and give the garage some detail and definition. I did some preliminary window box shopping online and looks like I'll be going with a basic cedar box that will get planted chock full of something or other.


The door is all that's left to paint really, but I need to pick out the color first. I'm thinking something in the blue or black family will work out nicely, although during my jaunt around the neighborhood this morning, I noticed a house that is a similar color (although they went for a cream color on the trim) that has some redish, rust colored accents that could work. I'm open to suggestions . . .

Color

There was paint flying yesterday! The weather was warm enough for Marty to break out the sprayer and get the first coat on the body of the garage. The trim should get painted today as well. It will be Pure White (SW 4005) and should provide lovely accent to the Mink (SW 6004) which is a greyish, purpleish color.


I think I will achieve what I was shooting for which was a relatively non-obtrusive backdrop created by the structure of the garage. Landscaping will soften the edges of it all and hopefully at the end of it all, I will have a backyard that I can actually enjoy.

The good news yesterday was that the roofing inspection passed. I couldn't remember if I was supposed to leave a ladder out for the inspector to climb up on the roof and inspect . . . evidently it didn't matter. The inspection card was signed when I got home and that was that. The only inspection that remains now is the final . . . if I ever get the remainder of the concrete finished.

Weekend

With the parents in town I was planning for a slightly different weekend than usual. The only things that really changed were that I ate more and got suckered into helping out with some stuff at Deb's house.

Saturday night, we hit up Bistro One for dinner after installing a ceiling fan (this install went pretty quickly, but there were more to come). After many Hoegaardens, I finally got around to eating real food off of the menu, not just appetizers. Their food does not disappoint! I kept it simple with the Bistro Burger and I have to say, it was one of the best burger and fries plates I have had in a while. Of course after riding for 4+ hours, I'd probably eat anything and find it to be one of the best.

Once it warmed up enough to get outside, I headed west for a ride in the hills. The weather was perfect for this time of year and this is probably one of the last weekends where the roads will be clean higher up. I got it in my head that I wanted to ride up and over Shadow Mountain from the Evergreen side, since I hadn't done that ride in quite a while. The ride out to Morrison wasn't really anything special, for variety, I cut through Red Rocks to see what was going on. They had some sort of event happening, but I didn't slow down enough to find out what it was. As I got further up Bear Creek Canyon, I started running into just about everybody I know who rides bikes. I had a nice visit with Richard Rodriguez somewhere in the middle of the canyon. After catching up for a bit, I kept heading up and somehow managed to get past the Tin Star without stopping for an apple fritter. I made the turn on to Brook Forest or whatever the road is called at that point, it only changes names a couple times without any turns, and continued the upwards grind.


You can see from the profile that there are some areas that aren't messing around when it comes to steepness of grade. Fortunately pain is only temporary . . . until you crack and go into complete and utter limp home mode. I didn't get to that point until I was back at the bike path on the homestretch from Chatfield. I tooled along the path at a nice, mellow, broken man's pace and made it home in time to go do stuff at Deb's house. Hanging ceiling fans doesn't promote recovery.

On Sunday, I was able to work in my own backyard for a little bit, cleaning up some of the piles and getting everything ready for whatever the next step is. Then I got the call that they were ready for some more fan installation action at Deb's . . . great news! She decided she didn't like the fan we installed yesterday, so the two fan install job turned into a three fan install job. I don't mind installing ceiling fans, it is usually pretty easy, except when the prior work is half assed. It is relatively horrifying when a fan is installed sans bracing or a proper junction box. I did my best to ignore all of that (there is no real attic access) hoping that the lath behind the crumbling plaster was solid and throwing out my waiver of liability every three minutes. Fan #2 wobbled so badly with the downrod that I had to take it all back down and do a flush mount to give the fan more stability. After some cursing the fan was rewired and rehung, all was well.

The fan for the dining room should have been easier to install. At least there was modern wiring at this hole in the ceiling as opposed to some brittle knob and tube stuff. The only tricky part on this one was that the holes in the canopy didn't really line up with the holes in the ceiling bracket, requiring some wrestling with the fan overhead, trying to get everything to line up closely enough for a screw to catch. In the end, all fans were hung securely and they operate properly . . . Deb owes me a lot of sushi dinners.


I think Dempsey had the right idea. He played some more than usual this weekend and when the time came, he tucked his paws under his tail for warmth and sacked out on his bed. Good thing there's some holiday relaxation time coming up soon.

Lipstick on a Pig

I'd like to revisit the back addition on the house, the one that allows me to go from the house to the basement without walking outside. Most of the houses built around the same time as mine have this feature. Some were built well and look respectable on the back of the house and some are like mine . . . a giant pile. I decided to do some side by side, before and after comparison to see what was and what is.

What was (still is I suppose) on the thing as siding was hardly an exterior grade material and weathered terribly. The corners of the sheet material were peeling up slowly and the seams were coming apart. No amount of paint could have made this look better. You can see on the bottom where the covering of the access to the crawl space had essentially rotted itself out of existence.

The window layout makes little to no sense, until of course you see how the windows were half-assed to begin with. Instead of installing a window properly, the previous owner put in a fixed sash with some sort of pocket in which said sash could slide, thus providing the operable effect. I briefly considered replacing these windows as well, but had little to no desire to get into the structure of the pile, hence the lipstick on a pig/whipped cream on a turd analogy. It is all for show, but as the old republican adage goes; an ounce of image is worth a pound of performance.

It really did clean things up nicely. A coat of paint to match the garage, some landscaping, and a little time will make the backyard attractive and usable instead of the wasteland it has been since I bought the place.


I'm thinking the color selection process will happen in the next day or so, taking advantage of the forecast for warmer weather next week. If all goes well, this project should be out of the construction phase in a week or so.

I have some dirt coming to get the sides of the garage to the appropriate grade. In the coming weeks, before the ground is frozen solid, I get to rent a trencher and dig a trench for the electrical feed between the house and the garage. I would also like to get my planter boxes at least laid out and started so they will be ready for a spring planting. Any and all planting suggestions are welcomed. I will be putting some window boxes under all of the windows, house and garage.

The Roof . . . The Roof!

The roof is almost done. There are a couple rows left and the ridge cap, but otherwise the roof is looking pretty good. The best part is that it was dried in before the sudden change in weather between yesterday and today. I am really looking forward to the day I don't have to scrape the frozen drizzle off the car in the morning.


I got the ball rolling on the electrical work necessary and it should be a little less painful than expected. I don't have to add a second sub panel to the house service to get more circuits as needed, I just need to switch out some of the breakers to duplex breakers and call it a day. It would be very nice having a few things on separate circuits instead of having half the house on one and the other half on another.

During all of this excitement in the backyard, I have still been keeping up with my riding for the most part. Manual labor seems to require a bit more recovery time since the muscles have a hard time remembering that they used to do stuff like "lifting" and whatnot. I have my monthly fitness test in the lab this afternoon, we'll see what the results are.

The parents are supposed to be flying in tonight. Hopefully the freezing drizzle keeps to a minimum and there are no delays at the airport. They are supposed to be getting in pretty late anyways, further delay would make it pretty miserable. Fortunately Deb is on airport duty . . .

Yup

It's starting to look more and more like a finished garage. As I was hoping for, the siding work was done as of the end of the day yesterday. The siding and trim is ready to be caulked and painted if the weather stays warm enough for paint to stick. I am collecting some bids now for painters since time is short and getting it done while there is a warm day or two is going to be critical.


If I had more motivation, I could do some Photoshop work on the pictures and give more of a finished look, but my Photoshopping skills are rusty and the garage will be done soon enough anyways.


The side view of the building is rather lovely. There isn't too much space between the garage and the fence, but just enough for Dempsey to be able to sniff around and do whatever it is he does.


The last bits of the old fence can come down soon since there isn't a pile of material sitting around waiting to be stolen. I have an order in for some more dirt to bring the grade to where it is supposed to be. All that's lacking now is an apron so I can drive the car from the alley into the garage . . . oh and power. Nothing like having an automatic garage door opener with a cord floating free with nothing to plug it into. Details, details . . . still no word from Jeld-Wen on my grid inserts.

Finishing Off

My friend Rus gives me grief on a regular basis on a variety of subjects. This go round he was pointing the finger and laughing about my siding dilemma saying it would not have been such an issue if I did go for the "schwanky" Hardie product. I'm not going to lie, it is pretty nasty stuff. It is hard to move because it is heavy, flexible, but brittle and prone to snapping. There are plenty of warnings about cutting the stuff and the dust it creates. The James Hardie website lists good, better, and best alternatives where the best option is essentially "don't do it" . . .

By the end of the day today, the majority of the garage should be sided and ready for prep and paint. I took the cheater route and got some help for the siding, soffit and fascia. Everything I read said without the right tools for this job, more so than other jobs, it is a royal pain in the ass. Fortunately, I know some people who know some people and I can brush off the outrageous bids from people who are either really, really, really proud of their work or didn't have much desire to take the job in the first place.

The parents are rolling into town at the end of the week for the extended Thanksgiving stay. It has been a few months since I have seen them. I'm pretty sure they are coming to visit Deb and that I have been secretly disowned. The plan is to head up to the mountains for the holiday itself and spend some time relaxing and doing little to nothing.

I noticed the Jeld-Wen folks took a look back today, still no word from them on some grids for the windows . . . any help? The holidays are coming up . . .

Wrapping Paper

It's not really wrapping paper and tape, but same kind of thought. Deb and I spent some time on Saturday (after my three hour ride on the actual road as opposed to the trainer) putting up the building paper and installing the windows on the garage. The age old debate about how to flash windows/openings properly still rages on with the true test being whether or not your openings leak in a driving rain storm. I went with the school of thought that says wrap the building first, cut out your opening, flash the sil, install window, flash jamb sides, then header, install Z-channel, then fold over top flap of building paper. Got that?

The windows were pretty much a breeze to install with the integrated nailing fin (and a little precision when it came to the rough openings). I siliconed the back side of the fin and pushed the window into place. With a little shimming, I got the window plumb, square, and level. I think my level is broken though, there are air bubbles in it . . .


As planned and expected, the side of the garage facing the house is sort of quaint and charming looking. For the person at Jeld-Wen who has hit the blog a couple times, can you hook me up with some simulated divided lights for one of your Sierra 4030 sliders? Surface applied is fine unless you want to send replacement glass. Unfortunately getting the grid in the glass at Home Depot was a special order deal and I didn't really feel like waiting 4-6 weeks to get the windows. With any luck, the entire project, minus paint, will be done by then and I will have moved on to something else. With some more luck, I'll get the thing sided before the building paper blows away. Staples don't do too much in sustained or gusting 30+ mph winds.

I am starting to get thoughts and ideas for the landscaping out back. I spent part of the day yesterday moving and sorting the pile of scraps out back and surveying the lay of the land. Without measuring, I suspect if I were to bring the grade to 6" below the top of concrete at the back of the garage, I'd be sitting a few inches higher than the "existing" yard towards the back of the house. With that in mind, I am envisioning some sort of raised beds with retaining walls on either side of the door to give the yard some variation in height. Planting probably won't happen until the spring, but if at all possible, I'd like to get all my dirt moved and hardscapes in place before it gets too cold to do anything.

Still Standing

I woke up this morning to find that the garage made it through the night and the blustery weather. I almost got a roof on before the first snow, but there is a nice coat of the white stuff on the roof. That should make working inside to get the garage door installed a bit of a drip.

Walking the structure with the inspector went about as I expected . . . "yup, that's a garage" . . . I was joking that the box of nails had 4,000 nails in it and that I had no other use for them so I think he assumed that the sheathing had all 4,000 nails shot in, not quite, but close. Again, the next inspections to come will be roofing and then final once everything is done. This brings up the question of paint and whether or not the siding has to be painted to call for final inspection. I'm hoping no, because painting in cold weather guarantees a mediocre finish that is liable to peel off.

I need to get in touch with my electrician and get planning for that part of the job. Having a garage door opener without power to it will get old in a hurry. Although at this point, I can't even drive into the garage, the reasons are many but soon to be remedied.

Frame and Sheathing Inspections

Both inspections passed today which gives me the green light to put up the building wrap, the roof, doors and windows, and siding. The next inspection will be roofing, when I get the time to put the shingles on, followed by the final inspection when the building is complete.

As long as it doesn't all blow away in the winds this afternoon has brought . . .

A Room with a View

I headed over to the Home Depot last night to pick up my windows for the garage since they ended up being cheaper as a slider than my quotes for picture windows. The Milguard window is probably a better product, but ventilation will be nice and the Jeld-Wen windows a stock item.


I would have like to have simulated dividers to give the windows more character, but I'll live. The fun part will be installing those and the door once I have my garage door in place.

My cross training this weekend didn't make getting back on the trainer last night any easier. My Tuesday night workout has been the workout of death and will continue as such for the reminder of the month. The calorie count last night was right around 1200 for the hour and change, at this rate, I'll be wasting away to nothing.

Good Work

In preparation for the inclement weather forecast for last night, I got out after work and moved some of the remaining material from the weekend from outside to inside the garage. Said weather never materialized in my part of town, which is a good thing since material stocked in a building that isn't dried in still gets pretty wet. I also took a few minutes to make some cuts and get the gable ends of the roof mostly sheathed. I only have a few more things to do before I can call for inspection . . . tighten the anchor bolts, remove the temporary bracing, make sure the sheathing is completely nailed . . .

My garage door and opener are all picked out and ready to go, I just have to finish getting the garage ready for them to be installable. Getting all of the little details worked out correctly can be a slight bit of a pain, but better doing it right the first time. In the end The view of the garage door isn't visible from anywhere but the alley, but there is the satisfaction of a job well done nonetheless.

I have my shingles all picked out and ready to go as well. I found a 40-year, dimensional shingle that matches the rest of the house pretty well for the same price as a cheap, 3-tab, 20-year shingle. It is all coming together, slowly but surely.

Framing - Part 2

During the night, the truss fairy showed up and put all the trusses on the roof, properly blocked, braced, and laid out square and everything. We put Matt on the corner to make sure the garage didn't tip over into the alley while we were working on other things.


Every time I'd go looking for Matt, he was up in the roof leading me to believe that after the job is done, I will still be able to go out to the garage and find Matt there if necessary.


Towards the end of the day, we had the building sheeted with just a few more rips required to finish off the roof.


There's a pretty nice view from the roof and all of the undesirable views of the alley and Broadway are pretty much blocked out now. The only unsightly bit is the transformer on the utility pole, but such is life.


Thanks to everybody who lent a hand, we got just about everything done prior to darkness stopping us Sunday. The two gable ends need to be sheathed and a couple nails still to be shot in, but the rough framing is very close to complete.

Framing - Part 1

When I got home after work on Friday afternoon, my pile of material was still neatly stacked on the garage pad. Fortunately it had not walked away during the course of the day, thanks to my ultra-high security fence, proped up and held in place with a couple screws. Unfortunately, I had to clear the pad so we would be able to lay out the walls in the morning.


I slaved away by myself for the most part into Friday evening, just after dark. Matt got to the site in time to laugh at me struggling with the remaining three pieces of siding, before helping me move the OSB sheathing and the roof trusses. We headed out for some grub so we'd be ready for a full day of work on Saturday. The material was still there in the morning, just in more piles.


Bill was the brains of the operation, we just moved, lifted, held down the pad, etc. while he got the framing laid out and ready to be nailed together.


JD and Pinkerton provided security in the early morning hours to keep the alley traffic moving and make sure nobody tried to steal anything.


Before too long, we had the first wall laid out, ready to be nailed and moved into place. There were really only two walls of any interest from a framing perspective. The wall on the house side has the two windows and doors. The alley side has the opening for the garage door which involved a couple of stout LVL headers was a bit of a beast to move into place, but it all got done safely.


We got the first wall up without too much issue. The rough opening for the window had to be fixed, but a 4' x 4' window would have provided a nice view and plenty of ventilation.


We kept working our way around the foundation to get the walls built and put in place. Things started shaping up as the day went on.


Bill even let us make use of the tools where the walls were simple enough and risk of screwing something up was at a minimum. Pinkerton finished nailing off a wall without anybody losing an eye or a finger.


At the end of the day, we had four walls standing, braced, plumbed, leveled, straight and true.


The assignment for Sunday would be to get the roof trusses in place and get the building sheathed. We opted for a slightly later start to give the neighbors a few more minutes of quiet and to let everybody get some good sleep before more heavy lifting.

Wood

I was thinking my lumber pack would be more of an afternoon delivery, but not so much. As I headed out to the car this morning to go to work, I saw the tandem truck turn the corner with a load of 14 roof trusses. My first thought was, "I hope they can get into the alley with that." Followed by, "Uhhhh . . . ." Fortunately the second truck with the rest of the garage pack was right behind and even better, it had a forklift on the back.


In the interest of having the material still on the jobsite tomorrow morning, I wanted to get everything stocked inside my yard. They were able to get the forklift close enough to place the bunks on the pad. With a careful shove, more space was created.


With the right tools for the job, it was easy to go up and over the fence with the siding and trim pack which was placed gently on top of the OSB sheathing.


The roof trusses were unceremoniously dumped into the alley.


Kerplunk!


At the end of it all, the lumber made it into my yard. Hopefully I will find it all still there this afternoon when I go home to move it. That's right, I get to move it all off the pad to make space to lay out the walls tomorrow morning. By the end of the day, I should have pictures of walls and a roof.

I headed over to the Home Depot last night to pick up some nail gun nails and other items needed for tomorrow. I have to go back today to pick up some high quality Jeld-Wen vinyl sliding windows. They will give me a good view from the garage and allow for some ventilation when necessary. It is all coming together nicely.

Motivation

"Aaaaaadddddrrrriiiiaaaaaannnnn!" - Rocky Balboa


There are a few movies that are perfect for trainer time. I have been lucky enough to find myself in the middle of "Rocky Week" on AMC. At any given time, day or night, I can get on the trainer, flip the old box to AMC and catch one of many inspirational training or fight scenes. If that doesn't get you going, you are not a red-blooded American.

It is debatable whether or not these films count as "new classics" but the first one did win three Oscars. The second film in the franchise picked up where the first left off. By the third one, things started going downhill, but you can't fault them for trying. Hulk Hogan wasn't really a necessary addition, but Mr. T as Clubber Lang was brilliant, best role by a former bouncer/tough man competition winner . . . ever! Rocky IV was the best social commentary on the Cold War ever. Russians are a bunch of cold hearted cheaters, but even in the end the scrappy, hardworking, good ol' American work ethic will win over the masses despite the efforts of the Politburo. Head on over to the AMC site and take the Rocky Ultimate Fan Quiz, you might learn something.

I put the trainer through the paces last night. The workout du jour (it's the workout of the day, mmmm that's sounds good, I'll have that)was a 45 minute threshold interval with some low cadence, high resistance efforts thrown in. The end result was a lot of sweat and a lot of calories burned.


The Cateye seems to double just about everything from watts to calories. It keeps time pretty accurately though. Net result was about 1100 kcal for the evening. By the end of it, Rocky IV was up to Ivan Drago's intense doping program . . . cheaters never win in the end.

End of the Day

What would a day be without a blog post?

I'm going home to ride the trainer because it is cold and dark already.

Nice Going

See, I told you we should have voted for that old guy and the high school cheerleader. Look what the other guy did on day one:


I am kidding, but I'm sure there are plenty of people who will put one and one together to come up with thirteen and make the most of conspiracy theory opportunities. There is plenty of written/spoken word out there by now about the future for our future president so I'll spare you. Ultimately, only time will tell where we are headed.

In other exciting news, the garage project moves forward! The lumber order is in and scheduled for a Friday delivery. Some sort of construction crew has been assembled, hopefully we'll be able to build some walls, hoist the trusses up to the roof and get everything sheeted with plywood before the end of the weekend. Such an ambitious schedule would have me parking in the garage well before the end of the year.

I am doing some window shopping to select the two windows on the house side of the garage. I have my doors (garage and man door) picked out and it will be all ready for install when the time comes. I need to finalize the roofing numbers and get some shingles picked out. The roof will provide some good screening from the alley and Broadway, so as long as I don't end up with a salmon colored roof it will be a visual improvement. Final selection for the project will be what color to paint the walls and trim. I am leaning towards a medium grey on the walls and white for the trim. There will be pictures soon . . .

Early Call

Obama to be the next President of the United States of America . . .

These guys are a lot smarter than most of us when it comes to statistical analysis and here's their 10:06 PM EST result, we'll see how close to reality it is. Pollsters have been wrong before, so we'll see.

A Bit of Light

The only benefit I have found so far, a couple days into this time shift, is being in the right place at the right time to catch the sunrise if it is going to be anything significant. That'll last a few more days and then my morning adventures will only be lit by the streetlights and passing cars. This morning's sunrise was pretty incredible, foreshadowing perhaps, the weather changes in the coming days.

The cloud cover to the east was lit up in a brilliant red. Unfortunately my timing with the camera was just a bit off and I wasn't able to capture the contrast created by the texture of the clouds.


With a little bit of work, I was able to trick the point and shoot camera into the exposure I was looking for to capture the clouds further away from the horizon.


Although I have hit the trainer for my evening rides a few times already, with the time change, this week is the first where my workouts will be predominantly on the trainer. I hope there is something good on the TV to keep me entertained. I know plenty of people who can't stand the trainer, but it is a necessary evil. Ride quality is guaranteed as long as you can focus on the workout and in my case, I know I am done in just over an hour. Anybody have movie recommendations? Humor is bad as it is almost impossible to sustain an effort when you are laughing. For some unknown reason, I tend to lean towards the Retro-Active station on Comcast Cable, but I'm open to suggestions.

Darkness

Joy of joys, soon it will be dark when I get up in the morning and dark when I get home. My major adjustments for going off of daylight savings time are getting more grumpy and more sleepy. I often have very little motivation to be awake beyond 7:30 when it is already pitch black outside. I was meant to hibernate and have been ignoring my instincts for the past few years. I'll see you all when winter is over . . . I just checked with work and I don't have enough vacation time to pull that one off, never mind.

Another Halloween has come and gone. I had a few trick or treaters come by the house, but I had some of the good stuff left over at the end of the night. I went to a party that was full of Sarah Palins, Junos, Jokers, and even a few original costumes. Some of the costumes were pretty tame, some were over the top. My costume was very simple, very subtle, and very off putting when people finally figured out what was what. Some commented that it was a good thing that there were only adults at the party. I pointed out that since they were serving alcohol it was a very good thing . . .

I took advantage of the weather Saturday and hit the tennis court for some cross training since Sunday was to be the long ride day. My tennis game is coming along quite nicely thanks to my once every two week practice sessions. I probably won't be hitting the pro circuit anytime soon, but it is nice to change up activities every once in a while.

Sunday, I hit the hills heading out from home to Golden, up Golden Gate, over to Nederland via Peak-to-Peak Highway, and down to Boulder before riding over to the cross race. You can visit the route here, nothing like a nice warm, November day to get in 5500' of climbing. I wanted to make sure I got to the cross race in time to see Mike Carter race his first cross race ever. He jumped into the 35+ Cat 4 race, starting at the very back because of registration order. Over the course of the race, stepping daintily over the barriers, he made his way up to 4th place by the finish. I'll have to try to get him to come race Cat 4 (sans age group) with me for the next race I decide to do, if I decide to do another.

By the time I got home from riding and spectating, it was already starting to get dark. I had a quick dinner and stayed up all the way to about 8:45 before going to sleep out of boredom. I can't wait til it starts snowing too, on top of being dark all the time.