Vent-o-rama

One of the last of the not-final inspections was looming - rough mechanical. We had spent the previous several weeks checking off the things the mechanical inspector would check. Namely vents since we don't have any HVAC, heat-pumps, elevators, or conveyor belts. The dryer vent was a breeze, and the bath vent went like the wind.
















All we had to do was the kitchen hood vent.

And Andrea made an appointment for the one Saturday a month that inspectors work. Of course, no one else called in an inspection on Saturday so we were first on the list! 8:00 am!
After another night with the closers at the local hardware store, we were up early, again with the sawzall (nicked a live wire this time -fun!), cutting, taping, and crimping connections. We even got the dressy cap on before the inspector showed up. He sure was in love with the house. He had all kinds of suggestions (most of which we were already planning). It's nice to get some encouragement from someone who sees a whole lot of crappy half-finished houses.

Some pics of the kitchen hood vent:

Geting Creative?

Siding has turned our to be a monster job, not to mention the fact that the clear 6.5"cedar is EXPENSIVE. So we are trying to keep what we have and make the new look like what we have.
The old entry to the upstairs is now framed off but it looks nothing like the rest of the back addition which appears to have been a porch originally, then framed in. The reason I say it was a porch originally is that it has a half-wall bench type structure with a broad flat top which was then framed up on top of again. the result is two walls, one on top of the other, offset at differing depths. Making this look natural is going to be hard.

You might not be able to tell at first glance but the new section is one piece even with the bottom. The left of the window is actually out nearly an inch but the old wavy-glass window offers a transition which deceives the eye just enough. We even got a little lucky matching the middle trim with some scraps we had around. Not bad for a pair of weekend warriors.

I though we were done with the framing!

Yeah, so your work is never done when your house is quickly approaching 90 and it's been neglected for half of that.

First, the building inspector wanted to see that the header joist in the dining room--which has stood for nearly a century strong--got a little reinforcement. A few joist hangers did the job.

Then, while removing decrepit siding from the kitchen exterior, we found what must certainly (hopefully) be the last of the rot infesting the foundation sill plate. Having carefully watched the previous work done on other areas on the house, we gave it a go ourselves. The sawzall was loaded for bear with the 16" blades the previous contractors had left for dead we went to it. In a Saturday afternoon the job was done. Grinding away with a ravaging saw and yanking out the wood upon which the house stands is a far cry from the experince of our first project on this house: scared to death of the rancor the sawzall made as we delicately ripped though the old shower. We have grown quite a bit in the last couple of years. The fear is gone. I could take out this whole wall right now--really . . I could.