5.31.2018

 

Jim had to spend most of the morning doing errands - his least favorite thing!  He took my car and first went to the DMV to turn in plates on one 4Runner and switch them to the other one.  Next, he had to go to the plumbing supply store to pick up parts.  That turned into a long stop because they couldn't find the parts, then he was due a credit and had to go speak to people in the office.  Next stop was the welding gas company to exchange cylinders - but they had moved.  Jim knew where their business offices used to be so he stopped there - it wasn't affiliated with the company but the guy knew where it was and was able to direct Jim.  After all that, he had to come home, pick me up, and I dropped him off at the carriage house.  Of course, he then had to spend some time putting plates and registration stickers on the car, putting the battery back in, and getting it ready to drive.  He'll need to spend a little time working on it - last winter, he took parts from the newer car and put them on the older one for winter - now he'll have to reverse that project!

Since he only had an afternoon, he devoted it to flooring.  Unfortunately, he was pretty much left with the challenging pieces.  He attached the final piece in the closet but then it was time to make splines and work off our "keel" board to shift the tongue to the other side.  He got the process of making the splines down...first, he uses scrap pieces of the wood and cuts small strips on the bandsaw.

 

 

The splines are too wide so he next fits them into another scrap piece of wood and runs it through the planer that he has set to the perfect measurement.

 



 

Another challenge was the fact that the other side of the keel board has been nailed down which distorts the tongue a bit in that area.  So when Jim tries to put his splines in, it doesn't fit right.  He solved that problem by making the splines shorter lengths rather than the longer ones he originally started with.  This area next to the wall will have molding there so Jim just wanted enough pieces to hold the previous board in place - but this all was challenging and time consuming!

 

 

 

Hammering the splines in for the next piece (this was also something he couldn't do on the bedroom wall because there was no room!).

Putting the next piece down...

Finally can use the nailer again for a bit!

But the rest of this board in the bedroom has to be hand nailed...

The main bedroom is all done - just a little spot left near the door - looks so beautiful!

The living room is the next area so Jim had to extend our keel board down the hallway and past the living room entrance.

High 76/Low 64

5.30.2018

It was a day with a few distractions in it for Jim.  He is planning on switching license plates at the DMV tomorrow so he had to spend some time getting ready for that, talking to the insurance guy (who wants to come out and see the property next week!), taking license plates off.

 

Then mid-morning, someone came out to buy our old water cooler that Jim had listed on Craigslist.  This guy actually turned out to be a heating/cooling guy, so he gave Jim an estimate on doing the gas analysis/adjustments for the furnace once we are at that point.

 

But Jim still managed to get another set of spindles made for the upper staircase - look how awesome it looks!

 

He was a bit delayed getting up to the apartment but it was back to floor work.  The last rows in the main room were hard and took awhile - Jim can't use the nailer but just trying to get the tongue and groove fit together was hard because there was no room.  But it looks amazing!

Then it was on to closet work.  Again, this is the last row he'll be able to do with the nailer.

The last piece cut and fit.  He'll fasten it tomorrow.

At the end of the day, Jim had more to do to get ready for his errands tomorrow.  One of the things he needs to do is get a new tank of gas for the welder.  He has to use my car since his are without plates, so he loaded the tank on the back floorboards.

High 83/Low 53 - beautiful!

5.29.2018

Jim worked this morning on the spindles for the staircase - love it!  Eventually all the steps and everything will be painted but this is more than enough to get occupancy.  They look really good!

 



Then it was back to flooring in the afternoon...

Last row for Jim to be able to use the nailer...

So now the holes have to be predrilled and Jim has to nail the cleats in.

End-of-the-day picture - only about 1-1/2 rows to go in the main room!

Jim had to knock off a little early and do some grass cutting.  Been perfect weather so it's definitely growing!

High 80/Low 52 - beautiful!

5.28.2018

Hope everyone had a safe and happy Memorial Day and took a few moments to remember all those who died fighting for our country!

Jim spent this morning working on the upper hand rail - you can see this one was more complicated.  Jim had to figure out how to size the pieces that he had to make the bend in the rail - it will extend over to the wall on the landing.

 

Then this afternoon it was back to flooring.  First, Jim had to finish planing the rest of the joints to make sure everything was very flat. 

After I got all the sawdust vacuumed, he was ready to start on the flooring.

Nailing a piece in place...

Jim had to notch both sides of the piece by the closet opening - a perfect fit!

Now it's a straight shot to the wall!

End-of-the-day picture!

While Jim was doing the flooring, I continued to clean the walls of all the dust.  I got a first pass done everywhere except the master bedroom where Jim is working.

High 72/Low 59 - perfect!

5.27.2018

Since it is a short day, Jim decided to devote it to flooring.  Of course, it's never that easy.  He had to replace the quick-connect valve on the nailer with another one - the one that he put on yesterday never quite sealed well and the compressor had to keep running.

 

But then it was back to installing flooring.  Jim had to extend flooring pieces out into the hallway enough so that he was past the doorway area of the bedroom.

 

Unfortunately, for most of the hallway there's not enough room to use the nailer.  So Jim has to predrill holes and hand nail the cleats in.

 

 Now that he's past the hallway connection, it's time to just concentrate on the bedroom.  First the glue...

 

Putting the piece in place...

Nailing...

Making good progress!

 

While Jim was working on the flooring, I used the shop vac and vacuumed all the floors again - just trying to keep control of the dust.  I then tested a swiffer on the walls in the second bedroom to get the dust off - it worked well and the first pass of those walls is done.

 

High 64/Low 51 - few drizzles

5.26.2018 - First hardwood flooring!

Jim did more handrail work this morning - this bottom section is now complete.

 

He also did some experimenting with the bamboo flooring.  He tried cutting it on the shear because it's supposed to cut hardwood - but this wood is so dense that it wouldn't really work on it.  One of the things Jim has to figure out is how to make a spline to fit in the groove of the wood.  He will put down the first row (we are calling it the keel like the main structural component of a ship's hull).  Everything to one side of that row will work with the tongue and groove connection.  But the first row on the other side will require Jim to make the "tongue" so that it will fit into the main row.  Then the remaining rows will work with the normal tongue and groove.  Whew.  Sorry for the rambling explanation.  Anyway, Jim was able to cut a very small piece of the bamboo and make little splines that fit perfectly in the groove.  Then he can take it to his planer and cut it to size - he couldn't make any smaller piece to fit in the groove without risk of it breaking apart.

Then he had to figure out the new nailer - unfortunately, when he went to attach it to the air compressor, the quick release wouldn't connect.  Jim thinks it may have a defect on it.  Thankfully he had another one that fit.

The first thing he had to do was make a "curb" - basically a backing board to keep the first board in the right position when he nails it.

The other difficult part of this first row is that it needs to be nailed on the other side for stability - so Jim had to drill holes in the groove and will have to hammer them in by hand.

Marking off the 8" space between nails...

Putting in the first nail!

Putting the nails on the back side...

 

I'm calling these nails but they are really called cleats - you can see how different looking they are.  They have serrated shafts.  We had to cut a strip apart for Jim to use individually on the back side.  This was another learning curve for Jim to figure out how to get them nailed in correctly.

 

 

Next piece in place and Jim is nailing it down...

 



 

Doing the back side - this will be easier once Jim gets away from the wall - not much room to work.

 



 

Jim made a bit stronger curb and is putting glue down for the next piece.  He didn't put glue down on the first piece just in case he needed to take it off for some reason.

 

Putting the piece into place...

Nailing it down...

 

 

 Starting the next row...

 

 

 Great start - the flooring looks so good!!  Such an exciting step!

 

I did more sanding today in areas that we wanted to go over again - maybe the last of that task!  Speaking of sanders, Jim took apart the palm sander today that broke and got the shot bearing out.  He'll order another one and get it working again.

High 82/Low 58