2007_12_08 Windows and doors and a hint of stain

For those of you who look at all the pictures on the Kodak site where I post more of the pictures and comment on them individually I apologize that a lot of this commentary is copying from there. I really need to get this stuff caught up and my back hurts and I need to go to bed so you're getting the short version here this time. :-)

Saturday Steve and the crew worked all day and into the night to get the Pella windows installed at least to the point that it'll be able to keep the water out pretty well. They also put in the 4 sets of double French doors and the other 3 upstairs regular outside doors.

The front door is still an issue so it will be done later. Heritage sent the wrong materials list to Pella and the hinges are on the wrong side, so we're waiting for Heritage to tell us what they will do to get that straightened out.

The garage doors and regular exit door in the basement as well as the basement windows will also be done later.

The outside wall outside the dining room was stained the other day. There's one picture of that.

As I said, the guys worked all day and some of the later pictures were taken when it was pretty dark.

Here they are trying to see how the half-round windows fit above the dormer windows. They finally got it, but it took some doing.

By the way, the muntins are still in the boxes. They'll go on the windows later. They're the things that go on the inside of the glass to make them look like individual panes of glass instead of one large glass pane.

Below is the result when they finally got them together. Now they have to cut the semi-circle in the header above the dormer window! Steve was on a roll when the windows were done and didn't realize that the little half-circle windows were to go there. So, they had to cut the curve into the house before putting the window in. All's well that ends well.


There is something that sticks out around all the windows that is used to attach them to the house and then Pella provides a tape that goes over that and against the surrounding wood. See the top edge here. There is a board behind the tape. The opening above that allows for log settling. They'll insulate around the windows later. On the right side notice that wood trim goes over the tape.

The picture below is of the 2 sets of double French doors in the great room. Since Pella shuts down their plant for 2 weeks or so during December to recalibrate some of their equipment (if I understand it correctly) they cannot get the fixed glass windows above the French doors ready until early January so they are simply covered with plastic for now.

Now Randy and Steve are fitting the semi-circular wood pieces that will serve as the window trim at the top of the half-circle windows. They had to be cut manually and it required several attempts before getting it right. They are standing on folded up stepladders that are just standing on the roof above the area outside of the dining room and just leaning against the dormer. Not the safest position! One fall and if they didn't stay on the deck they'd drop another 19 feet or so to the rocks below.

This is the part of the outside wall that HAS been stained with the honey colored stain that protects it from water, sun, insects, mold, mildew, etc. It's Wood Guard with stuff mixed in with it to protect against insects and mold, etc in case you're wondering.

This is a view of part of the dining area (to the left) and the great room (to the right). As you can see it's getting pretty dark out there!

Here is a picture from the kitchen area toward the dining area. The frame sticking out is where a peninsula will be once the kitchen is installed.

2007_12_05 Windows, Door, and Bleaching before staining

Pella delivered the windows and the front door (there was a mix-up on this and they ended up delivering a right-swing door instead of a left-swing door as the plans called for) and the logs were bleached to get ready for them to be stained. Our builder is negotiating with Heritage Log Homes to see if they will pay for a new front door since they were the ones who sent the wrong info to Pella, but we don't know yet what their response is. More on that later I guess.

This is a shot of the small half-circle windows that will be installed on top of the dormer windows upstairs. I intended to make pictures of all the stuff Pella delivered in case they were stolen, but I quickly forgot to do so!


Here the Pella guys unload the windows from their truck. It as so cold that day that the truck driver (who is from Minnesota) said that he was freezing! I thought that was pretty funny since it was probably only about 35 degrees that day.

Here is a picture of one of the windows that they have put in. They will later have a tape required by Pella to go over all the edges of the windows and then insulation put in between the window and the sides and tops and then have the finish trim installed over the tape, etc.

The door below is wrong! The hinges should be on the right (it looking at it from inside), but they would have to be on the left on this door. Our plans called for a left-swing door (opens from right to left as you look at it from the outside), but they sent a right-swing door. Our plans were correct, but the materials list showed right-swing door and that is what the Heritage home office people sent to Pella. Kathy Pearson is negotiating with Heritage to see if they'll replace the door for free ($3,000+) or what. We'll have to decide ourselves what to do if they don't or if they will but it might be another 3 or 4 weeks to get a new door. We don't know how this will end up yet. :-(

Below Steve Easterwood is bleaching the logs with a bleach/water solution to even out the color difference between the logs. He then washes the bleach off with water. This will have to dry overnight before he starts staining. Then he'll stain them with the honey colored stain.

2007_12_03 Kathy's in the house

Kathy wanted to go see the house to see how it looked now. I got the Jeep as close as I could to the garage and helped her inside the house. I helped her up the basement stairs to the first floor like we do at Auburn's football games.

Below is a picture of her in the kitchen area standing by one of the log support posts:


This shows the wall that has been put up for the peninsula. Yes, those are leaves on the floor.

The dining area is going to be small since we decided to make the kitchen a little bit longer than it had been in order to allow us to have all the kitchen appliances that Kathy wants to have. We believe that by taking all the leaves out of the table (so that it is round instead of oval) it will allow us to still get the table and chairs in there and we can use it that way when it's just the two of us.

When company comes we should be able to put leaves in and turn the table so that it runs lenthwise toward the great room (since there is not wall between the dining area and the great room) and it will still be OK.

This is Kathy standing beside one of the dormer windows.

Kathy looking out:

Here is the balcony on the kitchen side. It's not finished, but you can see basically what it will look like once the railings are in, etc.

Here is Kathy on the east balcony waving. Bye, Bye!

2007_11_29 View from down the hill and balcony close up

The shot above was taken from the road below the house that runs through the bottom third of our property. As you can see the leaves are almost gone now and the house is becoming quite visible from the road. Actually, it's visible from several miles down the valley at this point.

The picture below shows the slight progress on the balcony. The rafters are starting to be put up. The roof of the balcony will be very close to the main roof as you can see.


Once done the balconies will provide nice places for you to go to check out the view. During the winter there will be mountains in the distance. In the summer you will be able to see some of that too, but the trees are so thick that they are also nice to look at.

2007_11_28 Starting balconies and TEMPORARY stairs to get to 2nd floor

They started working on the balconies. Once done these will provide a nice place for you to go (once we get some furniture out there for people to sit on that is) to check out the view or trees depending on the season I guess.

Also, they finally put up some temporary stairs that go from the first floor to the second floor! They needed some way to get the windows upstairs when they are delivered by Pella so this will do the trick until the actual timber stairs arrive.

They started working on the balconies. Once done these will provide a nice place for you to go (once we get some furniture out there for people to sit on that is) to check out the view or trees depending on the season I guess. Also, they finally put up some temporary stairs that go from the first floor to the second floor! They needed some way to get the windows upstairs when they are delivered by Pella so this will do the trick until the actual timber stairs arrive. The leaves are leaving (appropriate isn't it?) the trees so more of the mountains can now be seen.

2007_11_09 Dormers getting nearer finished and getting ready for fixed glass

Short update today. The dormers upstairs are making progress although slowly. Also, the large fixed glass windows are not here yet, but the openings are ready for them when they are.

First, here is one view of a dormer minus the roof and window that is.


This is a shot of the window openings that are waiting on the window glass from Pella.


It looks like it's going to be early January before the Pella folks get the glass ready. They shut down their plant for 2 weeks soon to re-calibrate some of their equipment or something.