Putting It Together

The house was a bee hive today as Kyle and Dave continue putting the last pieces of the puzzle together, as Mark and Jason, the painters, prepared to give the walls a full final coat, and as Yogi returned to fix the boiler.

Today Dave installed the hardware for the pocket doors.  This is one of those complex carpenter tasks which earns high marks from onlookers like me.  Basically, you have to cut a square chunk out of a beautiful oak door, large enough (but not too large!) to accept the hardware.  Mess it up and you've ruined a door!  Then you have to chisel out a space for the strike plate so that the door's lock will have something to engage with.  The end result is a mechanism which provides a pop-out tab you use to draw the door closed, and a turn button to lock it.  Very clever!

Dave prepares to mount the strike plate.

This is the "working end" of the locking system.

Yesterday Kyle completed installing the crown molding in the kitchen, and had enough material left over to do the same treatment with the cabinets in the guest bathroom.  It's not clear if crown in the bath was intended, but it certainly enhances the cabinets there.

The kitchen cabinets are fully crowned...

...as are the guest bath cabinets.

Yesterday Mark and Jason gave most of the bookshelves their second coat of finish.  Although it will take at least a week, and probably longer, for the polyurethane to harden enough to put something on it, the finished shelves are ready to be placed in their cases.  When I arrived this morning Kyle was installing the track which accepts the pins which, in turn, support the shelves.  This familiar shelf system has been around for decades.  However, in this case the track is recessed into a channel routed in the side walls of the bookcases.  This allows the shelves to fit snugly in place without gaps at the end.  Then each shelf is custom cut for its position in the bookcase.  Because the width of the case varies from point to point, one shelf may be 1/16-inch or so wider or narrower than its neighbor.

Track is recessed in each bookcase side wall.

Kyle measures how much track each case needs...

...and then cuts track segments to fit.

With shelves cut to fit, the bookcase is complete!
Here in the dining area, "A thing of beauty!"

Upstairs the painters were masking woodwork with painter's blue tape — a great blessing when you are rolling on paint near woodwork, bath fixtures, etc.  I expect that by day's end the upstairs will be fully painted, and Mark and Jason will move to the ground floor tomorrow.

Mark blue-tapes the upstairs hallway.

The master bath is being prepped for painting.

This week we got final inspections for plumbing and mechanical, in addition to the electrical inspector's blessing last week.  Kyle has called for the county building inspector to make his final visit which I hope will result in a certificate of occupancy.

The "must have" for the heating...

...and the plumbing.

I believe the boiler was working when the mechanical inspector paid his visit, but stopped working soon after he left.  Yogi returned today with a new motherboard.  He installed it and the unit ignited immediately.  We are once again "cooking with gas" — or propane, to be exact!

This was a good test for the house's envelope.  We've been without heat for two nights, and each night the temperature has dropped well below freezing.  However, we've had generally clear skies and bright sun for the past couple days, and the temperature inside goes up nicely as the sun penetrates the building.  Because it is heavily insulated, the house loses its heat very slowly, and the result has been cool-but-comfortable inside temperatures by morning.  For example, the temperature upstairs at 10:30 a.m., with only limited sun shining in and before the boiler was fixed, was 60 degrees, while the ground floor was about 55.  I think we now have evidence that the passive solar "foundation" for the heat load is impressive.  Add in some heat from the wood stove, and I doubt there will be much for the boiler to do except to keep the domestic hot water tank heated and to provide a little baseboard heat in the early morning, say, 3:00-6:00 a.m.  As Martha would say, "That is a good thing."

Yogi checks the boiler after mounting the new motherboard.

The Bobcat is making heat again!

This boiler is among the most efficient on the market today.  I hope that with a new motherboard, it will function trouble-free for years to come.  But just to be sure, I'm sending in the warranty card! •••