I've been working on my new house since last July, resulting in very little fishing. I wanted to post a few pictures, but never bothered to get the hang of it until I read Parker's instructions a while back. Thought I'd see if it works. From a hole in the ground begun July 7, 2008 to a few days ago . . .





That's the easy ladder work compared to the back side of the house.



Got a lot of painting to finish.

Sg

Looking great, Steve!

When's the massive housewarming blowout?

Fish on...

Todd

Cool. Nice looking place.

Nice place there. I am guessing the view off the back deck will be pretty cool.

Nice project there. Very nice job. Looks like we have the same basic idea for designs on the home and shop. I feel your pain.

A few comments/questions.

What type of stain are you using on the sidewall shingles, or are they just natural and you'll let them grey? They almost look like they just came out of the bundles with those dark ones on either edge. Weaving shingles was fun.

That is one steep roof.

I like! Nice simple lines, good site utilization and a big back deck for barbecues. Nice transom detail over the front door, and a concrete front porch which is always a good no muss, no fuss option. Are you going to tile it?

I like porches and decks, so I am always interested in that kind of thing.

What type of column wrap are you going to use?

It looks like the center section of the house (its shaped like a cross right?) has a higher ceiling level, or did you run scissor trusses gable to gable in that section, or both?

You've shamed me I am going to have to put up some pictures of my project.

How about a keg and a bunch of rollers and paint brushes.

JG,

Yeah, a keg with a bunch of youse guys and rollers and brushes, . . . thanks but we'll just take our time. The top two photos are from over a week ago, so most of the trim has been painted on the front and garage. Gonna' paint inside this weekend so the cabinets can be set up.

Rocket,

The front porch and other sidewalk concrete has small exposed aggregate. As soon as we finish exterior painting, the concrete guy will come back and acid wash and seal the works, and that will be the finish. The deck on the back of the house, 8' wide, will be Trex. We have a cedar deck now. I'm not getting any younger, so I'm thinking about minimizing future maintenance.

The posts will get a wood wrap, with the lower half being thicker. Truthfully, I just have the design concept in my head. I'll figure it out when I get to it.

The house is cross shaped, with scissor trusses gable to gable (10/12 pitch) on the east-west axis. The north-south axis has regular truses, 5/12 pitch on the north for the master bedroom, closet, bath, and powder room, and 10/12 on the south, which is the dining room.

Andy,

I used Wood Deck (with the duck on the label) stain on the shingles, natural shade. Pretty good stuff around $50 a gal. My goal, maybe unrealistic, is to keep the cedar shingles looking like new for as long as possible. Apparently that is gonna' take a lot of stain, maybe a second coat this year even, and definitely annually for a couple more years. I'm really pleased with the appearance of the shingles after I got them stained. You can just barely see the porch soffiting, which is T&G pine with cedar stain.

I had to cut down a cedar tree last summer when we began the project. I didn't want to waste it, so I had it milled, and it's been air drying at a friend's place ever since. We're gonna' pick it up this weekend. I bought a planer a while back and am going to turn the cedar into paneling for the kitchen-living room vaulted ceiling. I think I'll just apply SeaFin oil to the cedar and it should be good to install.

The roof is steep - also 10/12 pitch on the garage, but that gives me the 12 X 36 storage attic in it. Otherwise my garage/shop combo is a mini compared to yours. But I'm not planning on any RVs or a boat larger than my Lund.

Hank,

That ladder is Gibralter. It's when I have to use the ladder on the north or south side, where the ground is sloped, that the adjustable legs on my extension ladder come in handy. I have yet to paint the east gable yet. I decided to use Hardi Plank on that gable instead of shingles due to the high and difficult access, and besides, only the deer and other critters see that side of the house.

Castingpearls,

The view off the deck is all forest except for the large mountain to the east. I need to trim one pecker pole fir and 3 or 4 alders in the way back to improve the mountain view. More firewood. I would have done that already, but the burglar stole my chainsaw in February, and I haven't replaced it yet.

Stam,

Fast, yeah, I wish. 2-3 hours after work while the sun shines and weekends. I'm gonna' have a finish carpenter help with some stuff, setting the cabinets and wrapping the interior window and door trim. There's a ton of it, and it would take me 2 months or more. He can do it in a few days.

Todd,

Housewarming is planned but unscheduled, just like the finish and move-in date.

Some day I will go fishing again. Like Westport next month and hopefully the Skagit at the end of July for summer kings. We'll see.

Sg

A remodel on your place would be fun Stam. It's old but looks plum and square. Lots of renovation potential there. And it would keep you off the rivers for quite a while.

Sg

Fixed that for ya.

He'll have you remodeling his house while he runs off to go fishing. You are forgetting this is Stam you're talking about.....

He's a travelin' kinda guy.

That's a regular palace. (Napolean Dynamite tone) Lucky...

Very nice work Salmo. Certainly means more when one invests the time and sweat to do the job themselves. I hope you have many happy healthy years in your new house.

The window wraps and casing on our house took me and my brother and Fish Jesus about a day and a half. 41 windows. Looks like you have about the same count. Build frames, then install. Much quicker than cutting and nailing each board individually.

If you need a good finish carpenter, my brother is available unless you already have one. Good, patient, exact and willing to work with you.

I got a few more pictures of Salmo working on his place....







and my favorite:





Looks good bud.

nice pad...gonna look realllllly nice....great job....c

people like Salmo and Dogfish are little or no good at all for my ego.
After I watched the foundation cure for about a year I would bag it and sell the hole thing for a huge loss. You guys impress the hell out of me.

Nice job. Rollers and brushes take too long. If you tape really good you can just slosh the paint on. Frees up beer drinking time.

Parker,

That is a concern about a project at Stam's place. It may remain a "concept" piece for years to come.

Pug,

It's pretty small as palaces go, 1275 sq ft with a basement. We're empty nesters and don't need much living space, just ample storage for toys and junk. I'm mopping the garage floor tonight and moving all the stuff out of the storage shed tomorrow.

RvW,

Thanks. I'm doing this precisely because I want to. Woulda' been much easier and probably cheaper to just buy a house a few years ago. I like swinging a hammer and making sawdust.

Andy,

Thanks. I just made a deal with a finish carpenter who is highly recommended. Otherwise I'd call about your brother. I see you did your trim wraps quickly, but your bro is a finish carpenter, and that makes a big difference. I'm an amatuer woodworker, and every darn thing I've done takes 2 or 3 times longer than the pros.

Lowedown,

Thanks for the tip! Hay bales are what I'm missing for my complex ladder work. May place a few on the ground for a soft place to land while I'm at it.

Achewter,

It's not hard. Just like eating an elephant, you do it one bite at a time. It takes persistance more than anything. I think it helps if you actually enjoy building, which I have since I was a kid. It's the balance for the side of a guy who also appreciates "blowing sh!t up."

Stlhead,

I just drink beer while I'm painting with brushes and rollers. It's relaxing. Except for when I'm on the ladders or buckets ala Lowedown's photos, cuz there's no place to set the bottle down then.

Sg

I used to like building stuff. This remodel we are doing has cured me of that, I am more into anything but building stuff right now. Unfortunately, I am going to spend all of the next 3 months, building stuff.

Actually, I built a rack to hang my sailboard/sail on last weekend, and I enjoyed that. Of course I did it in 3x the amount of time needed, while I drank cheap light beers, and watched some deer in the field.

Going to spend all day tomorrow and Saturday crawling around in my hellish crawlspace. Pretty sure I won't like building stuff again after that.

RR,

Remodeling is what caused me to start from scratch. Lotta' neat old houses to renovate - provided you don't have to live in them while the construction work is going on. Part of my old house I remodeled had such a short crawl space I had to lay on my back and wiggle like a snake to move around. That was close to claustrophobic.

Sg

Awesome!!! Everyman's version of a palace is different. Qualifies in my book.

"I like swinging a hammer and making sawdust."

Reminds me of an old man I ran across a couple of years ago building his house. He was 70 at the time and was driving home big ass nails through 2 inch framing wood. I said to him, "You know they make pnuematics to do that?" His response was, "Kinda takes the song out of it, doesn't it?" I'll never forget it.

Beauty of a place!

Looks nice Salmo G. I hope I have the opportunity to build my own home someday. 1275 SQ ft.? I was thinking I want no more than 1800. How many beds, baths? Must be very rewarding for you. If need be, I can develop a detailed schedule, to get you to your destination quicker. you might have to get your whip out on your worker though. Again it looks like a quality job..

One Way,

1275 sq ft main floor is enough space for two of us. Just a master bedroom, bath, powder room half bath, combo living rm-kitchen, and dining room with a mini office space upstairs. People ask what the big room off the master bedroom is, walk-in closet, of course, with space for a stackable washer & dryer. But there's a full daylight basement downstairs with two storage closets, two storage rooms, and two extra bedrooms, a bathroom, a big ass recreation room & kitchenette should the need arise. Oh, and 12 x 36 storage attic in the garage. I don't need a lot of living space, just a place to store my toys and stuff. Part of the reward is I'm doing my thing, and my schedule is to finish it when it's finished, which is exactly the level of detail that suits me for this project. Thanks for the kind words, I'm trying to make it a quality job cuz I'm gonna' have to live with it, however it turns out.

Big milestone Friday - moved the boat out of the storage yard and into the garage and emptied the portable rented storage shed and put everything into the garage. I'll be $125 richer next month for rental fees I won't be paying. Brought home the milled cedar from the tree we had to drop back at the beginning of the job last summer. It's been air drying at a friend's place since July. I'll be running it through the planer soon and edging it prior to oiling and then install as ceiling paneling in the big room - kitchen / living room area. Rolled on 7 gallons of interior paint today. I'd feel bad but I hear the fishing continues to suck on the Cowlitz.

Sg

Always nice to make headway.

My entire crawl is that way except for the part under the kitchen that I was able to dig out when we had the deck off of it. I finished running all the data/com wires this weekend under there, and now all that is left is the vacuum system. One more long day under the house and I will be done with it, I am having someone else lay down new visq and re-insulate where I had to tear the old stuff off.

If I had another $30k to invest I would have jacked up the house and installed a basement.

Nice work dad, the place is looking great....when are you having us over to BBQ without asking me to bring a paintbrush or hammer?

Love

Your Son
Mingleberry

man thats a lot of work...someday my house will be ready to be put on the market...ahhh someday....c