The Word From On High.....

Surprise
Is it EVER a good thing when your building inspector shows up onsite unannounced?
That's what happened to us today! Yay! I guess its a good thing that we've developed
such a close relationship that he feels like he can just 'pop on by' whenever he wants....

Thumped From Above
Today I made it through to my inspectors boss. We had a nice chat about the electrical
code and the plumbing code. He had done some research on my case and he had
discovered that my permit was issued 6 days into the new code cycle....that if it had
been issued 7 days earlier I'd be under a different less stringent code....yay.

So, in no uncertain terms, I need to put the lights on an AFCI breaker, I need to run both
TPR lines outside and I have to change out every single outlet (24 of em) to a tamper
resistant model....this is the part that I wouldn't have to do by 7 days...

Rant Mode On
By the CBC it is now illegal to use any outlet in a house that is not marked TR for tamper
resistant. Why the F do they sell a HUGE assortment of outlets that are not TR at Home
Despot? In fact all the stores I've looked at have huge assortments of non-TR outlets but
only a couple TR outlets?!?!?!?
Rant Mode Off

Plumbing Fixed
Here is the code legal solution for the TPR valves.

Approved by the inspector today...imagine hangers every 4 feet.

Electrical Panel Fixed

Ya, exciting...the blue tape are empty breakers. I will probably replace the empty
double with another 15A AFCI breaker so I can split the overhead lights back out.
Now they are all on the same circuit.
Turns out, you can make splices inside of sub-panels in Alameda.
As of now all outlets work correctly and all overhead lights.

Paint For The Entry Way
We need to paint the entryway, laundry room area also.
We want to use some combo of the colors we've already used (have the paint).
So, what do people think?
The colors we've used are bright yellow, sky blue, slightly darker blue, light green, and
a slightly darker shade of light green.
I think the light green on the ceiling and the light blue on the walls?

6 Days left till permit expires!

Final Code Enforcement Permit Signed Off!!!!

Yahoooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Yay!!!!! Hurray!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thank you Baby Jeebus!!

Just had the inspection for our last code enforcement permit.
With less than two weeks left in the permit before it expires I was sweating bullets...
If you go past the hard one year deadline they can relevy all the fees-fines and what not!
If the inspector found something really wrong Halloween could of been canceled!!!
I would of had to drop everything and get it all finished....thank goodness that didn't happen.

Picture of Finaled Permit

Man it feels really, really, really good to get this done...
This was not a gift by no means..the inspector looked at everything!!

Steak and red wine for dinner tonight!!

And of course,
Halloween Is Not Canceled!!!

Here's how to kill your bad back.
Race around fixing your kitchen.
Then, race around getting your house ready for your favorite holiday.....
Ouch...
 

Kitchen Redo Day Uh, 4,5,6......

Kitchen Redo Day, Whatever....

Okay so, I've been a bit remiss in getting stuff up about the kitchen...
Here in pics is the last bit of work I had to do to finish it.

This post could also be titled.

The One Where I Constantly Screw Up

So here's a couple of things I've learned about myself...I am not a granite fabricator by a loooong
shot....Also, not a great idea to order stainless steal sheet metal online...it gets tweaked in shipping....

Where to start where to start....How bout with our fancy pants Wolf Range Hood....wow, where to start...I gotta say that for the  money one of these things costs its install and manual were really, really, really lacking....The manual read like it was the mixture of two different versions of install instructions, both written by non native English speakers, that were kinda mixed together without any proof reading....the 'diagrams' are tiny and of a poor quality as to not show any useful detail. My fav thing was that the same diagram purporting to show the same method of installation was actually very different on two separate pages!

Here's the dumb thing installed on the wall.

That electrical box on the upper right? That's how the instructions wanted it done!?!?!?
Closer look.

Then you bring the wires in.

From the inside it looks like this.

Every other hood I've installed the electrical comes into the back of the hood. Out of site...what's up with this. One set of wires is coming from the panel the other is to power the remote blower.

Instead of having the remote blower hard wired there is an outlet in side the hood.

Then you run the wires from this outlet into the box.

So, I spent a lot of time like this.

Which is really, really dangerous because the inside of the hood looks like this.

To do any work you have to get your head up there and you neck presses against that sharp metal edge...I felt like I was one sneeze away from a slit throat the entire time...

Yay Scaffolding!
Next was setting up the scaffolding borrowed from Casa de Crepit.
They had two stages of 3' wide scaffolding they got at Harbor Fright...first time in my life I'm actually trusting my life with a HF product...To be safe I bolted the scaffolding to the wall in 4 places. It was rock solid....but with a lack of safety rails.

Mugging for the camera.

Back to work prepping the window for the exterior ventilator.

I scraped off all the old paint and cleaned it up and put on two coats of a quality primer before I installed the blower.

Blower on wall

Almost the exact correct size! Had to fluff out the bottom a bit. I chose to raise the blower up so that it wasn't blowing 'right' on the window sill.
Its not all that loud outside. With the blower on high the loudest thing is the damper kinda vibrating.

Boo Venting!
With the blower and hood installed it was time to connect em with ducting.....
Holy friggen mackerel was this the opposite of fun...
In this area we have a dropped ceiling and the 10" smooth wall ducting had to be run through this ceiling.

Here's the roomy side looking out toward the now removed window.

By roomy I mean that there was 2.5'.

The other half of the dropped ceiling was only 2'....and full of old rat droppings.

It was hot, dusty, crowded and MAN was I grumpy for the two days it took me to
do this job...so, so grumpy!
Sorry, no awesome pics of ducting.

Cept for this one.

That's 26 gauge 10" smooth wall galv ducting. Attached with 4 screws and real duct tape.

Here's a shot of the hood all installed!

Check out those giant heat lights in the back! We'll probably never really use em but without them being there, there is two huge holes in the hood that look kinda fugly.

The last two pics show a couple of screw ups. The back splash is creased from shipping..and I thought it would go away on install... The writing on the sheet does not seem to want to come off!
Annnd, I had to cut the hole in the ceiling a lot larger than the duct and I'm not sure how to finish it off.

Thought I would finish off the sink cabinet with a water proof liner and a nice slide out shelf for all of
our cleaning chemicals.

Cept that the shelf is just slightly too big.

So I used my HF multi-master to make a cut and it fit.

I hoped the cut was going to be invisible with the cabinet door closed.

No such luck.

The new from Costco cabinets I installed.

Where to start with these...how bout, 'Nice color Match!'
I forgot that the new cabinet doors are full overlay where the old ones are not..which means I don't
think that I can install the old crown moulding on the uppers.
On the lower cab I forgot to get toe kick moulding to match.

I am not a granite fabricator
Check out the awesome gaps on the back splash and counter top.

I'm told real granite fabricators leave less than a razor blades thickness in their joints...
I've been told to buy two part epoxy and color it to match to fill the gaps and then blow
granite dust onto the wet epoxy to color it...

But honestly...

Now its fixed! I don't even see the gaps anymore....

Check out this awesome electrical outlet.

I screwed up mult ways here.
First, that's the wrong type of box. Not the kind you can screw mud rings too.
So, I made my own mounts in the mud ring and voila a two gang box becomes
a single GFCI outlet. Except the hole in the granite is sized for the double outlets...
That's a clear scuff guard making up for the shortfall.
Had to only use one for box fill issues and for code there HAD to be one outlet here...
Hey, it works and is pretty handy actually..just fugly...I'm told I it might be possible to buy an outlet cover that's big enough to cover the hole...we'll see.

And finally...
Here's the done picture.

Notice anything missing?
Yep, our big glorious stove might not fit....

Well, it will fit but then the fridge doors might not be able to open more than half way......
Hurray!!!

Next up, the code enforcement inspection.....



 

How Am I Going To Do This?

One of the next big things I have to do with the kitchen redo is run the code correct venting for our fabulous new hood.

I've run into a bit of a hitch (when don't I).
I have to install the exterior vent motor to the outside of the house.

My plan is to take out the 'window to no where' and install the exterior vent motor in its place....
Problem is, its 13' up off the ground...
Well, that's not really the problem, the problem is, is that I only have 46.5" of clearance between the fence and the house at this point.

I borrowed my neighbors rickety old extension ladder and put my ladder stabilizer on it.

That ladder is really not at a great angle..
Plus its kinda anti-confidence inspiring...

I can get my fat arse up there and I will probably be able to work from the ladder to remove the window. I just need to remove the parting bead and four nails it looks like...

But humping the big heavy ventilator up there and installing it...I don't think so...

The super cool kids at Casa Decrepit offered to let me borrow their scaffolding!!! Hurray!!!
Except that, their scaffold is 62" wides...not gonna fit.

Does anybody have any ideas on how I can work up there safely???

Kitchen Redo Day 3

Started off with a simple fun job, installing the new lights in the breakfast bar.

Don't they look purty?
We really love them over the craptastic IKEA puck lights. We really like the quality of the light and are using them way more than we used the old lights.

Then, onto the glass block window.

Bi Bi Window!

Using my HF sawzall I cut the nails holding it to the framing.
Here's a shot of it mostly removed.

There's always one nail holding up the works.

The nail let go slightly unexpectedly and BOOM the window fell to the floor.

Missing the dolly that I had put there...
I was sure it was going to crack or crack the tile floor but both survived pretty well.
When the window hit the floor it made a very loud boom and kinda shook the house...Mrs. MadMadScientist hobbled downstairs to make sure I was still alive...I haven't put it on a scale yet but I'm pretty sure it weighs like 7000 pounds....

The glass block is fine, the wooden frame for it didn't fare so well...

 We plan on turning it into a table for the garden...with pink neon lighting of course.

And then magically the wall was done!!!
Ah, don't I wish...
Here's a shot of me putting up the blocking for the cabinets-hood and furring so that the drywall can actually be screwed to the studs!

After all that blocking and furring I'd be pretty hard to miss the wood..I hoped.

Here's a shot of me mixing up the Easy Sand 45.

This was a mistake and I knew it when I was doing it but this is all we had at the house...
I should of used Easy Sand 90 cause you get an honest 45min working time...with the 45 you really only get 20min...

Done!

Sorry, sometimes I get in these moods where I don't want to take pictures I just want to get the stuff done...I still need to go over my horrible mud job with a wet sanding sponge and through a couple of coats of primer on the wall. Luckily almost this entire area will be covered with cabinets and back splash so my sins will be hidden.

Ode To My Bucket Boss

 I always thought that they were silly till I used one.
Turns out they are super handy and I'm really enjoying using it.
Ton's of pockets for everything and they are all handy and right there.

Another Code Enforcement Permit Signed Off!!!

Woo-Freaking Hoo!!!!
The inspector just recently came to inspect the giant mess of a deck redo project.

I missed two things...I forgot a couple of Simpson brackets called out for in the plans and I
didn't get the nail pattern correct for the doubled up beams.

Took an hour to fix that and now its good to go!!!!!

I'll say it again...
Woo-Freaking Hoo!!!!

The one year hard deadline is fast approaching in mid October so this is none too soon.

The final code enforcement issue is the kitchen...I'll be posting about that later...

Sorry no pics for some reason...guess I'm getting lazy in my old age.

Deck Redo Issue

Okay when last we met about this subject we were trying to figure out about what to do about the metal fasteners on the deck....

Here's what I think I've learned.
Our environment does not require stainless steel fasteners for the deck.
Yes I do have to change out the dang joist hangers and here is where it gets interesting.

Just got off the phone with my local Simpson Application engineer.

She says that I absolutely can not just yank out the LUS26's and replace them with LUS28Z's...
She says that the holes are in the same places and even if I used their SD screws that the pre-drill hole would be too big! It looks like the hangers are put up with standard 10D nails and she says that's too much of a pre-drilled hole!

She wants me to use HUS26Z's which cost twice as much take twice as many nails but that the holes are in different places....dang.

So, I get a 'bright' idea and call up USP and talk to their joist hanger application engineer. I ask him if the nail holes on their version of an LUS26 are in the same place. I'm figuring they couldn't be...but no! He says with a little shame in his voice that their connectors are exactly the same!?!?!?! How could that be legal?

Then the Simpson engineer gets back to me with another option. Simpson actually makes a joist hanger that is designed to go over another hanger! Who Knew?
Its called a NRU26Z and it special order only....she could not tell me the price...but heck, if its not stupid expensive then I could just use it and not have to rip out the old ones! That'll turn a multiple day job into a half day job I bet....

We'll see what they cost...at least if I use the HUS26Z's I don't have to worry about removing the nails I can just break them off at the surface with a cold chisel and a sharp whack.

Just got an email from my local lumber yard.....guess how much the above hanger costs???
C'mon guess!?!?!?!!?

$16!?!?!?!?!? Each!!!!!!!!

Dang, guess I'm going with the HUS hanger and all the screws....hurray!!

Deck Project Planning

Alright, while we are waiting the 3-4 weeks for our kitchen cabinets and exhaust hood we need to focus on getting the deck up to snuff...and when I say up to snuff I mean untrucking all the wacky stuff the PO did and bringing it up to modern code. From what we can tell the deck was built around 5 years ago, which means its built with the extra nasty PT wood.
What I think that mostly means is;
   Adding risers to the stairs.
   Changing out ALL the non-PT rated hardware, bolts, washers, screws, nails, joist hangers...etc...hurray!
   Adding code compliant hand rails to the stairs.

Here's how the deck looks from afar.

Pretty big and impressive isn't it?
Now, lets look a little closer...help me figure out what needs to be replaced and how?

First there are no risers to either run of stairs.

This run has 6 1/8" clear between the treads.

This run has 6" clear between the treads.

I need to put in a riser that passes the 4" sphere rule.
Does anybody have any opinions on the best way to do that?
I think a single PT 2by4 would work and pass the 4" rule and allow some light to pass through.
I'm sorta thinking if it was centered in the opening it would be best.
I have PT rated pocket screws. Would two in each end and into the beefy 4by12 carriage be a strong beefy connection?

It also looks like I'll have to replace all the treads in the lower section that are not PT as they are showing signs of rotting...

Speaking of Stairs.
The PO used some sort of bracket that is not a Simpson Bracket and I don't know anything about it.

Unknown stair bracket.

The bracket itself doesn't appear to be rusting but those bolts sure do...and I believe you have to fill every single hole with these brackets.

Nails
The PO really, really, liked nails...

None of these nails should be rusting if they are of the correct type right?
So, I think I have to replace every single (if its actually doing anything useful) rusting out nail with something else.
I'd like to replace them all with PT rated structural screws from McFeelys, does that sound reasonable?

Corroded Structural Bolts
Notice how rusted the washers are. The bolts don't look so bad but I haven't backed one out yet to see...I'm afraid too..

 Look at all the rusting out nails holding this stuff together. Are they even required with the bolts in place? Seems to me that the nails are mostly just chewing up the wood.

Whats a PT rated joist hanger?

Or hanger nail?

None, of the fricken joist hangers are PT rated...just standard hangers and they are starting to rot pretty well, some are actually green and fuzzy from corrosion...It also bugs me a bit that they use hangers for 2by6's on 2by8's and 10's.

Questions: (remember that this is a one man operation)
Is everything that is rusting after 5 years need to be replaced? IE, the correct hardware would not be doing this right?
What's the best way to remove and replace the joist hangers? I've got slightly over 50 to do!
What's everybody think of my idea to remove the rusting out nails and replace them with PT rated structural screws?
Best way to add a riser to the stairs? Does my idea sound reasonable?

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Yes, I know that the most sensible thing to do is to tear the entire thing down and do it right from the beginning but we don't have the money or time for that.