Casa de las Ratas Week 10 & 11
up to April 13, 2002
My guys found these nasty bugs in the yard. They are terrified
of them. They say they are poisonous
but after some research on the 'net I have found out that they are not even
though they can bite.
They are called Nina de la Tierra or Child of the Earth aka Jerusalem cricket,
or Potato Bug.
Last week David Broyles came to visit from Atlanta and of
course I didn't take any pictures. Sorry!
David is well experienced with construction and gave me all sorts of helpful
advice.
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The best advice he gave me was to get some more tools. Here
is Manny putting the new table saw together. This is a fun tool. There was
a line forming to get to use it!
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Here is Martin with the new framing nail gun. THIS is a way
great tool! I can't believe what a time and wrist saver this puppy is.
BAM! BAM! BAM!
It also makes a nice weapon. (Think Lethal Weapon.)
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Yes! We even have running water! (And a table saw. I can't decide which is more cool...) |
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The plumber is off to Europe on tour now but he did complete the whole house rough-in before he left. Here's the shower... |
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...and here is the new bathtub roughed in, ready for inspection. |
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For inspection, the main waste pipe is capped off under the house. The waste lines must be filled with water for inspection to check for leaks. Here you see a temporary valve from the washing machine cold water supply to the drain. When Mr. Inspector comes, we will turn on these valves and fill all the waste pipes. |
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This is the rough plumbing completed outside the second
bathroom. The hot and cold water supplies are capped for now. Note
clean-outs installed on every drain. Nice.
Mr. Plumber installed couplers to the old galvanized vent stack lines as we had not ripped out the walls inside this bathroom and for air venting it will be fine. Yes, water needs air to drain. Think about a gallon jug of milk (chug chug chug). |
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Still haven't decided whether this tile can be saved or not. I'll call in a tile man to find out. |
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Here you can see two air conditioning registers framed in. Jerry the HVAC guy will be coming in soon so we are getting ready for him. |
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Meanwhile, a huge achievement occurred as Gary the
Electrician installed a new 200 Amp service for us along with ONE WORKING
OUTLET!
So now we don't have to borrow electricity from the neighbor. Dave and Karen next door were incredibly nice to have thrown us an extension cord for 8 weeks. They only asked for the occasional case of Coors in trade. Edison came out and approved the install, took an initial meter reading, and got me set up with my own account. Too bad they don't accept beer for payment... Oh and rats! My Bus's rear brakes locked up bad after I got lunch for the guys on Saturday. It's been a problem waiting to happen. Good thing I have AAA and a coupla free tows per year to use. So the Bus is out of service until I get those brakes fixed. |
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Gary and Maggie are getting me all wired up. |
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At last we made a big header for arching out the area
between the dining room and living room.
It is under a supporting wall and so I made this header nice and beefy. General rule is 1" height per 1' of run. The run is just over seven feet and the header is made of three 2 x 10's so we are in great shape for this strong laminated header. This arch really opens up this space. |
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Header detail. Some old 3/4" thick shelving was used to make up the width we needed to match the 2 x 6's. |
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Another good idea David Broyles gave me was to make the area
behind the rear entry off the kitchen into a pantry. We closed off the
door that was leading into the bathroom. Too much action going on in that
little bathroom with two doors opening into it anyway.
Good idea, David. Thanks again for all your suggestions. |
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I finally decided that the tiles in the entry foyer
were also too cracked and missing to fool with so out they came. The floor
joists were also chiseled away on the top like the ones in the bathroom
were, so we did the same repair procedure to them like before: add buddy
beams and re-sheathe.
Before and after. Piece of cake. |
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Another dead stinky rat was found under the stair leading to the living room. All the rats are very well dead at this point. We haven't seen a live one in weeks. |
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The sole plate and a few wall studs were dryrotted pretty well here in the dining room near the front door. Mr. Sawzall will be reporting for duty on this job detail. |
Go back to week 1 at Casa de las Ratas
Week 2: more cleanup and roof replacement.
Week 3: the big dumpster
comes and the hot mop boys will show up.
Week 4: fixing the valleys, new kitchen subfloor
Week 5: prepping the roof, framing in the kitchen, ripping out more floors...
Week 6: Replacing a ridge board, new tiles on the roof, more paint, why not?...
Week 7: Let's get the roof finished! And destroy more stuff inside!
Coming up next at Casa de las Ratas:
Week 12: Kill that old rear bathroom, level the yard, cast some concrete.
Week 13: HVAC installation, reclaiming wasted space, start fixing windows
Week 19: Sanding windows, drywall blocking, paint the house exterior!
Week 22: Big Inspection goes well, stucco scratch coats, wiring beauty shots
Week 23: Is that The Rat House or Circus Vargas? Termite Tenting! Nuke 'em all. Insulation begins.
Week 24: R-19 in all the ceilings.
Week 28: The guys will complete all the wall insulation. Drywall Begins!
Week 32: Drywall and yet more drywall.
Week 38: 8,000 drywall screws later, it's all up. Mud and tape brigade begins!
Everything up to week 52: Bath and Floor Tile installation.
Week 62: Windows Reinstalled. I hope you are not afraid of COLOR!
Week 64: Finish color washing. Install some crown moulding.
Week 66: Tons of cool details to show off. Moulding, AC Grilles, Floor Tile, Medicine cabinet...
Week 76: Copper Gutters! Too cool. Exotic lights start arriving.
3/3/2005: Outside lights and wood floors installed!
6/29/2005: Kitchen Cabinets installation!