Wednesday, November 25, 2009

Wes's House featured on Tiny House Blog!

Hey All,
Please check out Tiny House Blog today!  You won't be disappointed, probably.



photo by Patrick Hughes


This is a good time to give thanks (even if it wasn't Thanksgiving Eve, I'd use those words) to everyone who has made the last few months of life absolutely incredible.  You have no idea how much you all mean to me!  


Thank you (in some particular order that isn't well defined) Emily, Will, Arone, Vassia, Julie, Patrick, the Steves, Neal, Adam, Karolina, Vi, Jana, Darla, Myla, Amanda, Brian, Aaron, the Beach, my Parents, my Family, Paul, Gary, Drea, Lola, John, Krysta, Katy, Jose, the hardworking men and women of Home Depot, my bike, the weather, Crystal and her family, Brooklyn, Manhattan, Sophie, Levi, Anita, Chloe, Hans, Oliver and Mountain, Gosh and Tommy,  other Oliver, Rachael, Susan, and the countless people that have made my experience here not only memorable, but cherished, as fleeting as these moments are!  


We've come a long way, baby.  I love you all.


I know your name isn't there, but it's not because I don't care, sorry!


Here are a few more! - Liz, Luke, Nate, Amolia, Omar, Pepper, Ben, other Ben, Marilyn, Amy, Teal, Sebastian, other Aaron, Matthew, ... Marcel, SITA and Maureen, Stephanie, Laura, Ramona, Brandon, Eric, Julia, David, ...

Monday, November 23, 2009

Other Events

I'm going to try to fashion a blurry time line of other notable happenings in the past few weeks...

hmm...

Everything that comes to mind does not belong on this blog.

Oh yeah!  I started blocking in the open gaps where the rafters meet the outer walls with left-over styrofoam from the ceiling.  The blocks are being sealed with PL-300, the same foamboard adhesive that I used on the floor.  The great thing about this particular product is the color!  It is usually a nice light blue, similar to robin's egg.  It belongs in the same color family as the green grout and reminds me of Tron.  All places in which exposed stryofoam will join with any other material will be sealed with this stuff.  It looks good.

There are so many different adhesives made by PL that I may have to use some new materials to have a reason to have more colorful lines defining the edges of my home (I just sent PL a message thanking them for their product.  Ironically, their slogan is "Unseen, but not Unnoticed."  I am proving them half-wrong).

Sloan NYC fashion designer Brian Stanziale bought me a cast iron skillet a few weeks ago as a house-warming gift.  We cooked over the outside fire and it was goooood.  In fact, it felt just like our summer cabin-camping trip except with less rain.  We made a stir-fry with onion, pepper, chicken and some other stuff.  There was no need to season the dish at all, but we poured some Southern Comfort on top to make a bunch of pretty flames anyways.  We stayed up late and drank and smoked a lot.  Will was chillin', and Emily and Arone got home some time and hung out for a while too.  We made stove-top espresso on the wood stove indoors and roasted marshmellows.  It was by far the hottest the cabin has been ever.  Very early in the morning we got up and made sausage.  Boom.

The extremely drafty front door has had some minor improvements.  There is a lock, and the major gaps have been blocked up with the frame shop scraps.  It still needs a lot of love.  At night, I stuff a bunch of fake fur around the edges to stop the draft.  It works alright.

I bought an electric guitar on a gray Saturday afternoon.  At the time, it was important that I started recording a song as soon as possible, but nothing got done that day.  That was also iron skillet day methinks.

Will and I played Mariokart 64 outside last weekend.  It was sweet.  The game station stayed set up all evening, and I had a nice group of visitors over for the first time.  We had more fire stir-fry and more impressive, Beef Ribs as a second dinner.  Later Brian and I made s'mores.  We didn't have graham crackers, so we used powered donuts instead.  LIVING!

I'll edit this and add photos later.  bedtime!

Sunday, November 22, 2009

Wes's House featured on SloanNYC!

Roof Completion, Sweet Hang-outs

Will helped with some shingling one day right after work. The sun dropped so fast those days I had to get home right after the day-job and start working immediately to get anything done. We just about finished as the dusk turned to night.


Shingles done and done.

Possibly the next day we installed the flashing. I wasn't really sure what I was doing, but the results please me. It was pretty simple- concrete anchors into the brick wall to secure the flashing, flashing sealant around the perimeter. Done and done. Will filled in the gap between the crossbeam and the brick with Great Stuff beforehand.


Aluminum flashing. 8'' wide. It is anchored into the brick with some fancy blue screws. They came with a terrible masonary bit that became dull after a couple uses. It was the only one in that size available to me this day, so we I just put up with it and forced my way through the mortar. It's sealed with some goo from HD. This particular goo has the ability to adhere wet surfaces to dry. That's pretty bad-ass.


This is Great Stuff. It is a great all-purpose sealer and gap-filler. It gets everywhere, so wear clothes you don't care about. Gloves too if you have them. Don't overfill anything, as this product expands a good bit by itself.

The remaining chimney length arrived and was easy to install. It screwed right where it needed to be, it was level, and I was happy. I built a fire and lit the sucker.


Chimney! It looks crooked, but it isn't. It is missing the trim collar that closes the gap between the flashing and the chimney. I haven't found any of the high-temp sealant that is reccommended to adhere it, so it remains hanging on the cabin wall. After one really hard rain, the support box filled up with a little water. The fire that night boiled it all right out. It should probably get covered asap.


Contents Unconfirmed. Received From "Longo" on 9/8/09. 3 of 3 Package(s). Measured by GT, no check.

I built a beautiful little fire- crossed the kindling, larger logs on top, etc... This whole rigmarole was pretty unnecessary since the wood scrap from the frame shop went up in flames nearly instantly. Then again, if you aren't crafting a good home fire, you aren't getting everything you should be getting out of having a home fire. Craft.

The paint on the outside of the stove pipe started smoking once the fire got hot. I was planning on this, but not nearly to the degree I experienced. It was damn smoky and filled the house with nastiness. The paint went from a satin black finish to very glossy, then to matte black. There was a plastic sticker on one piece I hadn't removed- that smoked a bunch, holy hell. An hour or so later, I deemed the house suitable for hang-outs and life was good. We sat on the rug and enjoyed.

More Adventures in HD, Roofing Times

Sometime we installed shingles. I can't remember when. I started blogging this morning (Sunday, November 22nd) under the impression we shingled before installing the chimney, but my images don't agree with my memory. This has been an ongoing problem (problem? Not the right word), but it is good I lead a life in which no one suffers any terrible consequences due to absent-mindedness. It is cause for concern though. My body is getting achy and not young, my brain is getting achy and not young. Time to exercise these things by getting very high and doing calisthenics. Eating good food is a likely cure as well.

Moving on- I don't remember which night, Patrick helped with most of the shingles. Home Depot was a serious shit-show that day. Miraculously, it was busy, yet there was NO LINE for the registers. We had three bundles of shingles and various other building goos and goods. Of course, the check-out girl could not figure out how to scan the shingles. She called for help, asked us to wait, and helped the people behind us.

The People Behind Us:
The guy in charge of the deep-as-hell posse behind us on line pondered out loud "who he was gonna piss off today" as he gave the check-out girl a head-toe-head-toe. This did not bear good tidings. He then theatrically pulled out a very thick wad of bills, singles, licked his thumb like a music video pimp, and started counting them one at time. They paid for their order completely with one dollar bills and a gift card for about $27. The bill was in the $400 range. All the cash needed to be counted three times by two HD employees. It felt like like a long time passed before we were helped, and even then I had to go get the sku number myself. If only we had a camera.

HD lesson #18 - Buying something weird? Don't see a barcode? Write down the sku and production description yourself and save hours on line. Better yet, take a digital photo of the price labels for everything you buy.


Whoa-o, we're half-way there. The man at HD with the gold teeth told me each package covered 100 square feet of roof. He was really wrong. We got about 45-50 square feet from each pack. It was better that we didn't buy them all at once because they would have been far too heavy to get home without injuring ourselves.

The shingles were so damn heavy I nearly plotzed. The handcart from the backyard couldn't take the weight, and one wheel started to come off the rim on the way home. It will need repair. Later, we ran out of shingles and had to get more. This time, our HD representative scanned those things without any trouble at all, but Patrick had noticed a sign- "15% off all roofing in stock". I asked her if that sign meant prices were marked down 15% or if we should get an additional 15% off.

Ug.

That question cost us another 30 minutes sitting in line. It's like HD is a series of precarious and delicate scientific experiments done in a clean room by tall, skinny men who live on coffee and any small contaminant can send the whole operation flying into a mish-mash of atomic particles and wasted time.


Signs should convey information quickly and efficiently. In HD, signs confuse and send rigid consumer systems hurdling out of control.

Anyway, we got the rest of the roofing materials home and ate dinner at a cafe around the corner. Dinner was good. The bathroom had a giant wood door that inspired me to build one for the house. We went home. We were tired and done working. After Patrick left, I started roofing again.

Minor-major set-back #1: we had been putting the nails in the wrong place.
Minor-major set-back #2: there was a thin plastic film covering the mastic on the underside of the shingles that we neglected to peel.

Mastic is a tar-like sealant that heats up in the sun, gluing each row of shingles to those underneath it. Since we didn't remove this film, the shingles were not going to adhere to one another and would not weather/wind-proof themselves. Mastic.com is a funny site. I don't know why I find it funny. Maybe because the homes pictured are the complete antithesis of my life right now. Hmm, maybe not- sprawling, excessive, self-important, un-focused, do these words describe me? those giant homes? At least one of us is on the right track. Hopefully me.

"I'm a homeowner. I'm a Contractor/Building. I'm an Architect."
- mastic.com

Another aside- there has been an emergence (re-emergence?) of small home building all over the country. The New York Times Home section has been featuring an awful lot of small remodeled country cottages and I've been passed info on small pre-fab trailer homes.
Roald Gundersen is building homes with entire trees in Stoddard, WI.
This guy is building around boulders.
There is quite a community in favor of simple living and small homes.
Check out Tiny House Blog (this one is really worth your time)!

Back to shinglin': It took an hour or two to go back and peel the plastic from each piece we nailed down. Since we didn't nail them in the correct place, this was possible without removing anything, but it was a supreme pain in the ass. I just about finished the shingling that night, working past midnight maybe.

end scene.

Back-Logging, Post-Dating, Post-Homelessness, Take Two

Buckets. of Sunshine and love.
How to Begin? Not at the beginning, that's for sure. Let's pick up right around the time it really started to get good- right around the time it really started to cook...

Saturday, November 7th we put in the chimney (most of it)!


Here's the hearth grouted. I put some green food coloring in to give it the weird soft pastel color. It's growing on me.

The chimney arrived in three shipments. The first two boxes may have actually made it to the house proper doorstep on Wednesday, possibly Thursday November 5th. Another two came a few days later.

and Holy Hell was I ready for them. The first nights in the house were cold. Very cold. I slept in some clothes and even threw my leather jacket on top of the blankets to help out. Sophie only slept with me a few of those days, Emily's bed was much more comfortable I'm sure. Yet the weekend came on fast and strong. Patrick came Saturday morning to help install the chimney.

That morning, I blocked in the cieling support box with extra 2 x 8s and got everything leveled and plumb. I don't own a plumb bob, but the movie-prop orange window weights did a good job of hanging on a rope to help center the stove.


these are "movie-prop orange" window weights. They are heavy and manufactured for the sole purpose of pulling down on string.



We had to finish the roof before the chimney was completed because there was a good sized-hole in it still, which took a good portion of the day. It was no different than before, cut styrofoam, nail it in, cut plywood, screw it in- although we were out of the long 4'' screws. By chance I had bought a box of 3 1/2'' nails, they worked fine for tacking the plywood in place. Tarpaper and shingles followed.


This is a view of the support box installed with the slip connector and stove pipe. Light is visible from outside, the plywood hasn't been installed yet.


Patrick working out the plywood situation. The support box is what is defining this square hole. It had to be trimmed flush with the roof so that the flashing would fit on top.

The circular saw had just finished its job for the day when the power cord got caught under the blade gaurd while it was slowing down and got all cut up. I think Patrick felt bad about it, and at first I was bummed, but it really is no big deal. I'll let you readers know when I fix it.


Oops. I'm tempted to fix this myself (it wouldn't be hard), but I'd like to use and abuse this saw for the next decade and wouldn't mind having it professionally done. I've asked everyone if they know an electrician, but no one does. A dying breed perhaps? I should start hanging out around tech schools.


Sophie is wondering how she can get on the roof and chill with us.

Stove install was fairly simple. I didn't have to seal anything, and didn't have to cut anything save one exception- The cieling support box stuck out the top of the roof about a whole foot. It seemed that this was designed this way, but the flashing provided was only large enough to fit over the chimney, not the support box. Had I been able to see these parts earlier, it wouldn't have been difficult to adjust the order so that cutting off the top of the box wouldn't have been necessary. It was a bummer, by far the most frustrating part of the day, trying to cut off the top of this black metal box sticking out of my roof. Finally we decided it needed to be un-installed to be cut. It all went better once I had access to all sides, and then I re-fit it and reattached the rest of the chimney assembly.


Flashing pictured right of Pat. It does not fit over the support box.

The collar attachment simply slipped over the flue of the stove. The black stovepipe lengths had male-female connecting ends. Those joints were secured by three sheet metals screws. There was a special slip-collar length of pipe which could shorten or lengthen the stove pipe hieght so that the pipe could be installed after the support box and create the perfect length at the same time. See the Stove Install link for diagrams and detailed instructions. Mine is the "BX26E, Standard Boxwood"


This stuff just slides together. Like it was built that way. It was hard to mess up. I highly reccommend owning a wood stove sometime.


It looks like this thing is ready to roll! What could possibly go wrong?

That's when I realized we were out of chimney pieces. There was no double-wall chimney to go out the top of the roof! I called Northline Express and left a message. It was a serious bummer. My order was missing a 48'' piece of double-wall chimney, the bread and butter of the whole shabang. Later on Monday I got a hold of them. It turns out the chimney was damaged during shipping, so it wasn't delivered... why didn't they call, or solve the problem then? Companies need to be bringing their a-game, it a depression, come on. Their service team on the phone was always really nice though, that more than made up for the late delivery.

It's unbelievable how much power one can weild simply by being nice.


be nice for christ's sake.

Tuesday, November 17, 2009

Holy Moly!

Hola Amigos.  It's been a while since I rapped at 'cha.  Here's the skinny-

I've been living in the house since November 4th!  The stove has been active and rolling since the 8th!  We've been cooking on the fire since Brian brought a cast iron skillet over last Saturday, the 14th.  Other things great and small have come to pass.

There is much to show and tell.  My chill cabin times have prevented me from going on the internet except during my day job, so I guess the flood gates are open now.  Prepare for a number of updates coming in the next few days.

Thursday, November 5, 2009

First Night in the House

Last night was the first overnight stay in the house!  Holy buckets, shit is happening for real!

I had the day off from work and it was a beautiful morning in the city.  Darla made me some tea for breakfast, then we set out into the world- her to the train, me to the photo lab to drop off some film.  After returning to the apartment, I packed everything I could carry and rode to Brooklyn.  It must have been a sight.  There was at least 50 lbs on my back.  To think how much one can accumulate in only 2 1/2 weeks in one place...  it reminded me how packed with Stuff the old apartment on Hart Street was...  

Speaking of stuff, we watched a great monologue about stuff by the late George Carlin last night during World Series commercials at our neighbor Crystal's (Krystal's?) place.  It was a treat to be reminded how good he was.  The Yankees won.  NYC DUH!

This was preceded by a salmon, rice and green bean dinner, with apple crisp for dessert.  -and delicious and cheap champagne!  It was fairly unceremonious, but lovely.  Exactly what my tired bones were looking for.

After the game, I immediately got ready for bed, grabbed my cat, and hopped in bed.  Shortly thereafter, the realization that my sleeping bag was absent came to mind, but sleep came too fast to go get it.  Sophie slept under the covers with me.  The first hours were glorious sleep, almost deafening and blinding- that is how good it was.  Bombs were falling and I paid them them no tribute.  Then the cold crept in as Sophie crept in and out of the covers.  We woke early, said hello to the sun, and got ready for work.

Monday, November 2, 2009

The Chimney is on Its Way

After work today I ordered my chimney kit from Northline Express.  They have a pretty good website, but it provided little confidence that my order would contain everything necessary to have a functioning stove.  I tried to call customer service after measuring the ceiling height.

Earlier at work, I wrote the 800 number down on an overmat drop-out, but after dialing, I was directed to a "party line".  Having a full share of "party" this weekend, I attempted to recover the real number using the internet on my phone.  The resolution was too low to read the phone number graphic, so I guessed a few times before setting the desktop computer up.  

The imac knows all.  

I was on hold for a while, but the woman on the phone was really awesome and funny.  She was having a long day, but you wouldn't have known it speaking to her.  She hooked me up.

It wasn't cheap.  

Thus, I repeat my wallet-cracking mantra, "Beats Paying Rent, Beats Paying Rent".  Hell yes.  BPR! BRB!

CMJ!

Sunday, November 1, 2009

Getting Ready to Get Warm- Stove Time!

Halloween Day 10/31/09! -
Today was so awesome! I woke up around 7 a.m. to early morning ramblings from the party the night before that was still going on. Slightly nervous about accidentally waking up, stumbling into a party and getting drunk before my Wheaties, I went back to sleep until 9. Talk about sleeping in! Amolia and Sam were still up after my beauty sleep. We chatted and I internet-ed. Amalia went for a walk, I got showered, dressed and rode out to Brooklyn.

But first I needed to fix my bike. I have been carrying my bike pump around due to a slow leak in my rear presta valve, but Halloween morning I found a staple stuck in the tire that was causing a less-than-slow leak. It was time to buy a new tube and tire. New bike parts are the best! Bike Habitat fixed me up with an Armadillo tire, a tube, and a patch kit. The guy at the counter took some money off because it wasn't what I really wanted, so that was nice. They all seem nice there. And they have free air outside, bring your own presta adapter though.

The sun never sets on Brooklyn. This is the Willy bridge from Delancy.

Brooklyn was sweeeeet! I was in a good mood and ready to chill in my house. It was warm and muggy, damn near hot. Emily was up when I got in and she made some Bustelo for us. Later, she made more coffee and some garlic quesodillas that were really delicious.

The old cassette player had been serving me well, but it was time to upgrade. I busted out the computer, the receiver/speakers, and the record player. I finally got the Buke and Gass cd on my ipod! Those songs have been stuck in my head every day and now they are accessible at any moment! It's the future! It's the 90s!

Hell yes! we're only a bunch of food away from a Sunday-fun-day here.

The goal today was to build a hearth for the wood stove and tile the top as a fire barrier. The first step was to open up the stove to get some measurements. It was like Christmas in July on Halloween!

Stove Crate. It wasn't as heavy as it looks. Maybe it is. I don't know. It's broken down now. Maybe I should burn it today.

Semi-assembled stove. It looks cool and reminds me of Northern Wisconsin.

I drew up some rough plans for the stove platform. It was designed to be way over-built. Yet before building would start, I needed to go to HD and buy the tiling supplies. It was important to avoid cutting tile and do everything as simply as possible, so the final plans would be tailored to my materials.

On my way down the alley to go to the Depot, I knocked myself to the ground walking into Will's window's baby cage in the alley. It hurt like hell and left a dent in my head. It isn't the first time I've done this. Note to self- "Learn From One's Mistakes" There's styrofoam taped on the corners now, thank god.

I had a letter that needed to be mailed to my friend in Wisconsin, so I brought it on my walk to HD. Favorably, on Bedford there was a postman picking up from one of the big green boxes. I gave him my letter, but he immediately noticed it was completely void of postage. He gave it back, but then while waiting for the light to change, found a stamp in his pocket and accepted the envelope. It was nice! Love love love. I wished him a happy Halloween.

The tile colors available at HD were abysmal. There were some 12 x 12 tiles on sale for under a buck, and they were also the most "colorful" (earth-tones... with a little green) so that's what came home with me. It seems like all the large tile there is meant for patios and gardens, not trippy house-cabins. I also bought a 12 x 12 square composed of 144 little green and brown glass tiles to add a little decorative trim to the front edge. My plan is to add food coloring or something to the grout to add some pizzaz to this thing. The first finished project in the house must have some color! Color!

Shopping List:
12 - 12 x 12'' tiles
1 - 12 x 12'' glass mosiac tile
an economy trowel
an economy rubber float (for grout)
pre-mixed adhesive and grout combo
a big sponge (reminds me of the printshop)
tile spacers

Once I calculated the platform size, the frame was constructed from left-over 2 x 8s and covered with 3/4'' plywood sheathing (left-over from the roof). I attached the frame to the floor with big angle brackets from the inside before the plywood went on top. That really firmed up the floor a lot! This was a promising sign- As more things are installed, the floor will get more sturdy. Right?

Tiling was pretty easy and there wasn't a lot of space to cover. This was all good news, because before I started we smoked a blunt in the house proper's living room. Sophie was chilling on my little round table the whole time, laying on some clothing that was an acting cat blanket. I moved it out near the door so she could watch outside. It started raining softly, then hard, then hardly, and back to softly. The weather was so amazing. I wore a t-shirt all day long.

Mock-up of tile. The space behind the platform is going to be filled in with stones and brick found in the house. The sides will have to get finished with something interesting. I might go with shag carpet after reading an article from the Home section of the Times the other day.

Sophie doing what she does best. Hearth frame in foreground.

Tile installed. Ain't no thang!

Detail. This will take 3 days to dry, then I can grout. I might need to put a space heater or one of the hot lights on it to make sure it dries. The house is pretty wet and those big tiles don't let a lot of moisture out. I want to stain the grout a brighter color- either green or a contrasting orange... orange might be supremely ugly. We will see.

Everything got done before nightfall! Stellar day. I chilled, listened to music, hung out with Sophie and went through my photos and negatives for a while before biking back to Bowery to start Halloween-ing. Good times. Can't wait for next halloween.

Aaa-oooooooOOOOOOO! Ah-Hi!

Things Come Together

Thursday, 10/29/09 - Went to Home Depot after work today and bought a roll of roofing felt (aka tar-paper) and a five-pound box of roofing nails. The roll was only $20 and claimed to cover 216 sq. feet. The cabin footprint being less than 10' x 20' gave me great confidence that one roll would be more than sufficient. As it turns out, the roof is actually 12' deep (ah-hi!), so the nice new roll puttered out right before the last two foot strip.

This tar-paper was sweet. It was clean and didn't make my hands dirty. It also had white lines marking out regular intervals on the inside of the roll. it made keeping things lined up and getting proper overlap really easy.

Two strips of tar-paper installed. I snapped a chalk line to put the first strip out. The subsequent strips were easy to lay down with a few marks 34 inches above the edge of the previous strip. This gave a 2 inch overlap. The edges of the felt have lines marked out too, so measuring wasn't even really necessary. The piece of plywood at the bottom of the photo has been used to cover the hole where the chimney will be installed.

I wasn't sure how many nails to use. While at HD, I flipped through a book about making out-buildings and sheds to see what they recommended. It said something vague like, "use only as many nails are needed until the shingles are installed". I figured a nail every 24 inches seemed as good a rule as any, so I went with it. At the edges I doubled the nails, and on the bottom edge I put a nail every 12 inches. That might be overkill, but I haven't been making much of a schedule for myself and I had no idea how long it would be until shingles were up.

Word on the street is that once the roofing felt is installed, it can pretty much be left to itself out in the open without worry for a few weeks. It would be a thrill to get rid of the big blue tarp, but it will have to stay up until the shingles and flashing are installed (There is still a gap in-between the brick and the roof).

This small man-made lake lives directly above my house. It would be a good idea to keep a hose up there to siphon water into the abandoned backyard behind my place. It must weigh a ton. Emily said one day a Jewish man was up on this roof dumping this quagmire into her backyard, completely flooding the place! She put the kibosh on that tout-suite, and now it doesn't seem like anyone has taken care of this situation all summer. I'm going to take matters into my own hands and remove this before this gets unloaded onto my house some day before winter.

Flashing is basically steel sheet. It weather-proofs areas of the roof that need additional protection. For my house, I'll put flashing all along the top of the roof where it meets the brick and around the chimney. The chimney kits I've been looking at include special shaped flashing, so it should be easy to install.

Dark photo of the top of the roof. See the gap? The house had two old rolls of roofing felt inside, so I'll still be able to cover this up without buying another roll.

It got dark, so I packed up and put the tarp back on. A good day for the cabin! It was a chill time working by myself, but I ran out of daylight fast. The shingles will have to go up on a day off because it would be cool to get the whole rest of the roof done in one shot. Exciting! A finished roof will be a good reason to move in. I just need to build or find a bed now.

There have no new developments in getting an intern. The hiring process is temporarily suspended for now, but I am accepting applications to put on file. Interested parties should email them to wjulfig@gmail.com.