IN THE ATTIC

We are still in the clutches of this deep freeze. Yesterday morning the wind chill was 30 below and while the guys had planned to work on the chimney from the roof down. They changed their minds when they got here.  Yep. I was relieved. 

Flue blocks are big and heavy as is the flue itself.  Our "attic" is cold and there isn't a lot of room between the roof joists. I don't know how but they managed to set those blocks and the flue to within 6 inches of the roof. (You can't see the other person but trust me he is there. ) There is no choice now.  To finish placing the other flue blocks they have to get on the roof and drop them in from above.    

Today it was still sub-zero and windy again.   Not a day to be cutting a hole in the roof and trying to set block.  Instead, they finished up the pedestal and the hearth. 

 

 

It's a beautiful thing. 

Through the ceiling

 It happened. The chimney is through the ceiling. Tomorrow they plan to take it through the "attic" and up through the roof.

I don't know.  NOAA predicts the high at MINUS SEVEN.  They can't really work from below. That means that they have to work up on the roof.  No real sun either. That's what saved us today. Solar gain.

I hid out in the basement sewing most of the day. That's my plan for tomorrow. Otherwise I will be fretting about frost bite and wind chill.

It all started

so innocently last spring. There was no heat in the new house. The gas line from the underground tank to the furnace leaked. The gas company would not unlock the tank until we fixed that leak. 

So we tried to stay warm with the fireplace.

That didn't work. It burned the fuel we provided; some actual hardwood firewood and the gawdawful late century wooden towel bars and other fixtures from the bathroom.  The heat went right up the chimney.

 Our Hearthstone Heritage wood stove was our primary source of heat in the old house.  We barely burned fuel oil.  According to the specs, it can heat up to 1900 square feet. Our old house was 1800 square feet with original, single pane windows and DRAFTY.

 The new house is super well insulated and 1200 square feet.  We are pretty sure the Heritage is too big for the house.  Originally we thought we would leave it behind. In the end, I just couldn't do that. So we brought it with us.

Steven knows people who know masons. Nigh onto two months ago, Steven called Ryan who is renowned in these parts. He advised that he would be in touch. Two weeks ago he called.  About to start a job in the "money is different ski resort town" near us after the first of the year, he had a window of two weeks and he could work our job in. We said OK.

Demo began the next day.

Steven pried the bead board off carefully. I removed the nails. We will use the materials for something else, somewhere. We were touched by the message left by the builders. Ev and Jollie's son built that fireplace for them shortly after they moved in thirty years ago. I am sure they loved it. 

Were it more efficient, we would have loved it, too.

Before we started the project, I asked Steven why we were building a masonry (not masonary; no such word) chimney instead of just running stove pipe up through the roof. 

After we got to this point in the demolition, I understood why.   

Steven and I managed to get the stove off of the hearth. We even somehow managed to loosen the stove pipe. There was no way we were going to be able to move it more than that. 

Luckily Ryan and his tender had to come by to receive the first load of materials.

So they helped (did it themselves using an appliance dolly) move the old fireplace on out. 

Don't worry, he's a professional. 

I have no photos of the headers and re-framing. He's a professional and I was not around when he finished that up. 

It might not be evident from the photos, but the living room is a mess. There are tarps on the floor and plywood where there aren't tarps. There is dust everywhere. The furniture is pushed against the walls. We should be wearing hardhats, seriously.   I don't mind at all, though. This will be a beautiful thing. A very beautiful thing. 

That piece of insulation is covering a big hole in the ceiling. Steven cut through the sheet rock on Saturday when it was above freezing.  The chimney will pass through the roof and Ryan will build a little tent on top of the house so he can work. Projected high Thursday is 9 below. I don't know how he will do it. 

Snow

Breaking Blogger Rules

I realize that more than one post a day is verboten. I am unapologetic.

We laid the plastic down this morning. I don't know why it took so long. Before we knew it, we were hungry and had no food in the house. We took a break, walked (yes walked) to the grocery store for provisions. There is some action on our street.  A row of very tall trees have met their demise. Before the trees could take down the power lines, tree guys are taking down the trees. They have been here all week. Big tall pines, and smaller ones too, are all gone We will get more afternoon sun, for sure. Our sightline to the mountains will not be improved. Our neighbors will lose the barrier between them and the street. The power lines will be saved. Oh, and our other neighbor won't lose his house if the north wind knocks the trees over.

So, after lunch we laid out the carpet.

And Steven cut the corner.

Then we had to move more stuff so that we could free up the wool rug and put down the rest of the plastic. 

Stay tuned for the update. We must schlep back to a Big Box Store in the Big City tomorrow to purchase the rest of the carpet.  Then I will start settling in.

I plan to tinker in the corner where the laminate flooring survived. (See top photo). So maybe, one day this blog will be about sewing machines again.

It didn't go

quite as we expected. 

I have one experience with laminate flooring.  I was around fifty and kneeling was much easier. We placed Pergo laminate tiles, not fake wood floor, in the kitchen. It was a nightmare.  Steven has more experience and I relied on him to know what to do.

As we laid the first course, he reassured me it would get easier as we progressed.  That was somewhat true after we agreed to live with a gap in the second course. But by the time we reached the angled wall there was no hope. I tried and tired to get that second course against the angled wall to stay together. It just wouldn't work.

We decided that there must be too much of a hump in the floor.  I spent a sleepless night thinking about what to do.  I knew neither of us have the energy or stamina to prep that floor perfectly flat.  My goal is to contain dust and make the floor easy to clean. After reading about various cement sealers, and VOC and ventilation and more prep work, we agreed that the quickest solution is carpet.

Lumbers Liquidators accepted the 27 boxes as a return with no restocking fee.  That was a relief.  We picked up a couple of cheap (and yes, you get what you pay for) rugs at Home Depot and came home, after picking up some dog food on the way. 

Sideline: Frannie had pancreatitis years ago. She eats a low fat kibble. It's pricey compared to Purina. Before we moved, I always bought the food from a local shop as any conscientious locavore would.  (I know I am taking liberty with that term, still..) The food, actually, is only available through independent pet shops. An online search revealed two shops near our new abode. One was on the way home from Home Depot.

"Money is different here," I told Steven as we pulled into the parking lot. I was right. The upscale shop must have a high overhead because the food was twenty percent more expensive. Time to find new food.  It won't help to try the other shop, they share the same name and I am sure have the same pricing. Bummer.

Back to the floor project. We moved more stuff to make room for the plastic underlayment (6ml poly) moisture barrier. We caulked the edges of the walls and floor and a crack and now, today, can place the plastic and lay down the rugs. We would have had to move all that stuff to make room for the laminate, for sure, but now we won't have to be on our hands and knees for hours whacking planks of laminate together.

PS. Don't buy cheap laminate.

Varmints

My sewing space is in the basement. Right now it is a mess. 

We decided that laminate flooring will be the best and later today I am meeting Steven at Lumbers Liquidators to select the flooring.  I would love cork. I think I would love the extra dollars more. It appears that I will be subsidizing someone's jet in the near future.  F^ck that. 

  

Anyway, when I was here for Thanksgiving two weeks ago, I unpacked a few boxes.  One had the little drawers that fit my small stuff organizer.  You know the one, it's metal, has little plastic drawers and some people put nuts, screws, bolts in those little drawers.  I put sewing machine parts in mine.

I had taped the larger drawers in place. I removed the tape and noticed what looked like a piece of wood stove rope gasket stuck on the cabinet.  I had no idea how that got there.  I pulled it off and then screeched. 

This poor, little baby garter snake had crawled under the tape, likely looking for food. It died there. 

Stuck. 

 This makes #5.  Three were living.  Steven reassures me that we won't have a problem in the spring and summer. He is sure that the snakes live in the bilco and the babies make their way into the basement.  The adults are too big to fit through whatever crack or crevice the babies find. Certainly we have not found a nest. Garter snakes birth their young live.  I believe he is right.  I am absolutely finished with snake surprises.  All the same, as varmints go, garter snakes are better than mice. 

There are few things I miss from the old place.  The daily walk is one.  We would trudge up the hill on a path that followed a small stream.  The water almost always flowed over the rocks.  I have never seen it completely dry. Walking along flowing water soothes me. 

This morning the pups and I took our morning walk. I had certain criteria for the new home.  Flowing water to walk beside was not one of them.  It seems that it happened accidentally, none the less.  Lucky me.