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December 21, 2004
Several things have happened the last ten days that really have changed the
appearance of the house and I wanted to share them with you.
First, the columns on the front and back porch have been completed! There were
two options for the columns. Columns could be bought, but fiberglass columns
this large were about $3,000 to $4,000 each. These were split columns and were
load bearing. The second was to build the columns, but what material to use was
a big question. The columns on the front of the house are sixteen inches wide
by eight feet tall. The back porch columns are fourteen inches wide by ten feet
tall. The only wood would be plywood and the ten foot columns at the back posed
a problem there. Valerie of Warner Robins Supply recommended a sheet PVC
product (http://komatrimboards.com)
that is available in four foot wide by eighteen foot sheets. It didn’t take but
a minute to figure that this would work with very little waste. Five sheets to
do the project were only $1535! So build the columns we did. The columns were
put together with screws. Each screw hole was predrilled with a tapered drill
with a 3/8” countersink. Plugs from the scrap were cut with a tendon cutter and
the holes plugged. The plugs were cut off with a razor saw and the excess
sanded off. The pictures below show the results.
This is the front porch:
This is the back porch:
The trim has not been applied to the top and bottom in this picture.
This material can be worked with a router just like wood. We took the scrap
pieces and made the trim for each column. This is what the shop looked like
after routing the trim. I felt like Christmas came early with all of the “snow”
flying around. The shop is a mess, but remember, I am building a house.
This is how the trim looks:
[The garage doors] were put up yesterday. The doors are from the Overhead Door
Company and have a pinch resistance hinge so fingers cannot get caught in the
door as it is closing.
This is the basement garage door:
The inside has had a few additions that did not take much time, but has made a
big difference in appearance. The first is the completion of the shower doors
and addition of the mirrors. First is the master bath. Due to the shape of a
bathroom, it is hard to show the room in a picture due to not being able to get
the camera in a good position. This is the master bath taken looking into the
mirror so you can see the counter tops and the tub/shower combination. The
shower doors have been completed now. The light fixtures above the lavatories
will be connected through the holes in the mirrors.
This is the sewing room bath off of the kitchen:
The next big item completed this last week has been the addition of the counter
tops in the kitchen and the setting of the island. The counter tops are the
seamless synthetic marble product. The “U” shape of the top with the sink came
in with only three pieces. Two seams were made and seeing where they are, I
still cannot find them. The adjoining pieces are made about two inches long.
The ends to the big piece are factory cut with a fluted pattern. The short
piece is marked and cut with a router to give a matching flute to mate up to the
other piece. Three pieces of 2x4 are glued to the top with hot melt glue so
clamps can be used to pull the two pieces together. The piece is dry fit to
assure proper fit and then an epoxy with a color added to match the top is used
to put the two pieces together. Clamps are put on the 2x4’s to hold it while
the epoxy sets. When the epoxy has cured, the 2x4’s are popped off with a putty
knife, the top sanded smooth and then polished. This is a picture of the routed
edge to the piece on the left, the blocks in place ready of the epoxy to be
applied and clamped.
This is the kitchen sink molded into the top:
This is the stove top after it has been fit into the top:
This is the counter top for the side of the kitchen right of the sink:
This is the kitchen on the left side of the sink:
This is kitchen opposite the sink. The ovens on the left and frig on the right:
In the above pictures you can see the island on the floor. The size was made to
match the butcher block I built Becky for Christmas several years ago. The
butcher block is shown below from a picture I made before we moved.
The island top and the butcher block (solid cherry) will be covered by a granite
top that will allow Becky to sit hot items from the ovens or stove without the
need to use a hot pad. The picture below shows a sample of the granite top
sitting on the island. Since this is a piece of scrap, the edges are not
polished. We used the darker color here to contrast with the counter top. The
island will have electrical outlets so Becky can use the top as a work space.
Going back outside, the concrete sidewalk and porches have been poured. This is
the finished sidewalk. The saw cuts into the surface give the illusion of
tile. The concrete had black dye added to the mixture so it will finish out a
slate grey.
The same cut pattern was continued up on the front porch.
The same pattern was carried on to the back porch.
This is the concrete in the back yard.
Fred
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