Tyger Tyger, Ethically Harvested…

“Green Certified” and “Sustainably Harvested” and “FSC-certified” are all terms that crop up when one tries to be ecologically conscious. I know Matt has been keeping track of all the steps and sources and procedures, hoping for a high “Built Green” rating on this house. But for the average person what does this mean? We are using tropical hardwood, tigerwood, from ecohaus for the decking. The ecohaus website states,

“This means the forests are being managed in a way that ensures long-term productivity and protects local cultures, economies, wildlife, soils, recreation and other uses. So instead of contributing to the destruction of the tropical rain forest in Latin America, buying this flooring instead helps keep tropical rain forests intact.”

And I am relieved because I feel guilty as hell looking at all that pretty pretty tigerwood that is going to be our deck. Vague guilt is just one of many possible responses to the buzzing sea of information we are subject to about the state of the rainforest, the sea, humankind’s collective impact on the planet. It is a very small, tiny tiny, Lululemon-bogus sort of smug that would leave me off the hook for the tangible fact that there’s a grove of rainforest hardwood stacked up on my property. Better to acknowledge we have only small gestures that we hope will add up to some vague ethical standard that is quantifiable in its impact on the planet. That, and just to make something beautiful and proportionate to what we really need and enjoy. Maybe we can draft a new category of ethical behavior: Not Gluttonous.

-Joel

Digger vs. Rhodondendron.

Grading.

More grading + Joel.

Bog being dug.

They’re both too bright.

The top colors are our favorites.

Front door.

Front door frame + parallel window.

Insulation for Joel’s room.

Discussing Joel’s ceiling.

Deck.

Insulation

No news is not good news

Last week I kept it short, this week the post will be even shorter. I don’t have much to say… which for me, says a lot. I do have lots of feelings about what’s going on, but in terms of building… very little to nothing is happening. But starting tomorrow there is supposedly going to be a lot of commotion with the decking, grading and rebuilding all taking place over the next couple of days. If you don’t hear from me next week, that probably means little was done and I’ve run away. No pictures this week… nothing to show.

-Julia

zzzzzz

Recently a friend of ours complained about the blog. He said week after week of leaky roof drama had made it boring. He’s right and I’m sorry. Unfortunately there’s not much else to write about. I’ll keep this short.

• The roof is being ripped off and completely replaced next week, I think.

• The Tigerwood arrived and as soon as the electricity is turned back on (the electric was attached at the strike, now we’re waiting on Seattle City Light), Josh can start working on the deck.

• Chris and I chose two paint colors to test on the exterior. The colors are Cloud Cover and Cloud Nine. Do we want it to be overcast or do we want to be in heaven?

• Joel and I went back and forth on whether we should have a landline or even the ability to have a landline. We decided yes, just to have, just in case. The telemarketers will be happy.

• Some of our Bamboo is leaning way over and we don’t know why.

• Albert is going to start the grading next week. We have a drawing for the bog and are going to have a berm right next to it. That will the be perfect way to separate the grade change without spending a fortune on a wall.

• Joel has decided to open a pub in our house. We’re calling it The Bog & The Berm. Come on by and have a pint.

• When you stop by for that pint, don’t feed the Alligators that will be living in the bog.

-Julia

PS - I just received a photo of our kitchen being designed by www.kerfdesign.com. It is so beautiful, we are so happy. How great to have good news!

Tigerwood.

Leaning bamboo.

Staking out the bog.

The Bog and The Berm.

Taking notes at the construction meeting.

Our kitchen!!

What happened to our plan?

We had a good construction meeting last week and finally had a plan for the roof. And then wires got crossed. The roofers took initiative and ripped up a portion of the roof this past Saturday, replacing it quickly and (finally) perfectly. Now the roofing company is saying they’re done; the roof is fixed. Perhaps, but we know there are things that weren’t done to spec, and prefer to stick with our plan. So very soon, the roof will be redone to specification, incorporating the improvements that we’ve made and, hopefully, we’ll all keep smiling. Although the house is behind schedule, we would rather a fully fixed roof than waking up at night during the rainy season with visions, not of sugar plums, but of brown spots on the ceilings and mold in the walls. We would like to avoid that.

It’s pouring outside. For now the interior is dry and work on the exterior continues. I’m certainly tired of the complications but I continue to remind myself that these are good problems to have and rarely does a construction job happen without issues. Yes - the roof has been the achilles heel for months (Joel says that is a mixed metaphor) but with some extra time, we will pull through. In the next week Josh will start laying down Tigerwood as decking. It is a hardwood and you are free to judge us. We did look at a variety of other products - plastics, recycled, wood made from the big Zinzibar Zanzibar trees*… but Tigerwood lasts, is harvested sustainably and is very beautiful. Along with the deck framing being finished, the garage roof framing was also completed.

This week we discussed grading the front yard with Matt and Albert. Albert thinks the concrete rocks that Ian and Joel ripped up are too big and messy for our rock wall (which separates the front yard from the walkway and swale) so we looked at other options. I love the look of gabion baskets, but even if we made the baskets ourselves, they would be too pricey. All the beautiful natural rocks are even more expensive. Matt suggested a berm that would separate the two areas. It’s a little hard to visualize, I think we need to see a picture of what it would look like.

And finally, fall 2010 when I planted the two Katsura trees on the parking strip, I had a sneaking suspicion that they were the wrong variety. But when I bought them, Swanson’s said they were what I wanted and didn’t, at the time, have any other varieties for comparison. Last weekend I brought in clippings and they agreed they were either Raspberry Katsuras or Strawberry Katsuras, not what I wanted. They had the correct variety in stock and offered me two Katsuras free of charge. The two currently on my parking strip are being given away. And when Albert is done with grading, I’ll plant the new ones.

-Julia (edited expertly by Joel and then edited again by me)

*Dr. Seuss “Scrambled Eggs Super” ©1953

Roof detritus.

Fixed fascia.

Garage roof detritus.

Talking about grading, weeds and the 99% (Albert spent weeks being part of Occupy Seattle).

What is this flower?

One of the Katsura’s which is being given away.

The back steps are being built.

A plan

We have a plan for the roof. Tuesday we had an early construction meeting (just by a day but it felt urgent) and Matt gave us three options for the roof. The first was the Cadillac option. It was bulletproof, overkill and cost an extra 5k. The second and third options were very similar to what we have now, followed the manufacturers specs, and had no extra cost. The only difference between the two was the detail of the fascia. The Cadillac version was tempting but when Chris pointed out that we would be spending 1% of our house budget on this change order, it made us realize that 1. we don’t need an industrial roof that will last 100 years and 2. we can’t afford it. We ended up going with option two. It’s very similar to what Chris originally designed with slight variations. The real difference between the standing roof and the new design is that the current fascia has a raised edge, and the new fascia edge will be flat and will attach to the TPO more securely making it harder for water to work it’s way between fastened seams. The combination of a flat fascia and Chris adjusting the angle of the diverter (on top of the roof) will help to avoid water pooling. The pooling wasn’t necessarily creating or adding to the leak but roofs aren’t designed to pool, at least this one isn’t. We went back and forth on whether we should include an internal gutter and talked at length about exactly how much water will drip off the edges during rainfall. Will it be like a waterfall? Will it sound like chinese water torture? Is that a real thing? We realized we can live with water dripping off our roof. We have chosen, after all to live and build in Seattle… and it’s impossible to be impervious to the elements.

We also talked about the leaks and Matt offered up his opinion as to why the roof is leaking. Ready?… Let’s see if I can write this correctly. When a portion of the TPO was ripped off and the plywood was exposed, Matt noticed that the leaks were primarily on interior framing seams, but not on seams over the exterior soffit. Matt believes that the leaks are related to condensation within the roof. The underside of the roof is still being exposed to the exterior cold air because the walls aren’t in. Meanwhile the membrane of the roof is acting like a suction pulling up the warm air of the house through the seams, again, because the house isn’t finished. The TPO balloons up, draws up the mosist air and then settles down trapping the warm air against the cold membrane causing condensation. Chris agreed that this makes sense. If my architect and contractor agree, I’m sold.

Josh has continued framing the deck, is almost done with the deck stairs (I love how wide the stairs are!) and is soon to start redoing the garage roof. Today I was told that part of that roof is rotten. If anyone has set their eyes on the garage, even for a moment… I would think that the question could easily be “Only part of the roof is rotten?” It’s a pretty nasty structure. But I guess we didn’t budget for the entire framing to be ripped off and replaced, only the fascia to be replaced and a new roof put on. Next time I build a house, I’m going to be expert at budgets and schedules and imaging all the things that can go wrong before they do, and asking the pertinent questions and standing my ground and… and… next time.

-Julia

Front steps. I love them.

Side steps.

Josh building the steps.

The stained floors are now protected.

In the process of checking out the garage roof and fascia, Josh knocked down a ton of wasps nests. Luckily they are dormant. Ack. That could have been painful.

More.

More.

A late short post

I’m sitting in the middle of the woods drinking a terrible cup of coffee (Taster’s Choice - I didn’t even know people drank instant coffee. It smells like 1973), wondering what I should write. My blog post is late but I don’t think my following of… six?… will be too upset. If you are, my apologies.

Oh - we just saw a wild turkey!

In terms of work being done, the concentration has been on the deck and concrete floor but there have also been many conversations about the roof. There are currently three options for the fix. Once Matt and Chris have figured out which two are the best, they’ll present them to us. Meanwhile the roof is well tarped and, I think, not leaking. I’ve been staying away while it’s been raining, I don’t like seeing a wet interior.

The siding is almost done and looks terrific and I’ve chosen a bunch of nice chalky whites and very light warm grays as possible exterior colors. Josh and Chris are working on the decks and as of Wednesday, two concrete rectangles were poured that the two sets of decks stairs will attach to. The floors on the bottom floor have now been stained and sealed and I have to thank Matt, Dave and Chris for all of their attention. It took some doing to get them the way we wanted. I’ve been told that working with concrete can be a crap shoot - you’re not really sure what you’re going to get. Plus we were working with a product no one had used, making it more iffy. There was already so much variation in the concrete that there was no way it wouldn’t show up once stained. But with attention, the floors were finished and although I haven’t been over to see them sealed, Joel said they look good. He said they look rather dramatic. Good. I need more drama in my life.

-Julia

Floors before they were sealed.

Exterior colors.

Top deck is coming along.

No more cherry tree. It was a volunteer, half dead and crowding out the plum.

The newly poured concrete and 1/2 built decks.

Leak schmeak

Leaky leaky leak leak leak… That’s mostly what we talked about in our construction meeting today. Here is the latest - the project manager of the roofing company has been talking to the manufacturing company, Chris has sent pictures of the roof to the manufacturing company, Matt has been in conversation with the PM of the roofing company and the independent waterproofer, various diagrams have been drawn of different ways to finish the fascia; Matt and Chris have had bunches of roof conversations while on the roof, near the roof, through email, on the phone,… and as of today, we still do not have a clear fix. I have been oddly calm during this process knowing there is nothing to do but wait. The roof will be fixed, the house will be dry, all will be well. Spending energy being upset seems like a colossal waste of time.

The siding looks great, and, I assume will be done in a week or less. We talked this afternoon about painting the Hardie, now it’s time to find colors. I keep thinking a chalky white is the best choice, I’m excited to see what I can find. We also discussed the color for the back door (the front door is fir). Matt said “don’t say black”. I didn’t know this but door companies often won’t warranty a door painted black because it has a greater tendency to warp. Damn. I asked if chocolate brown or charcoal gray were too close to black?… From the sly silence, I assumed yes.

The interior floors are being stained. I peeked in today while Dave was staining but didn’t want to bother him. Tomorrow I’ll see if they’re dry. And as of tomorrow, enough of the west side siding should be done that the decking can continue. I can’t wait to actually sit on the deck, and no longer be standing on plywood on top of the framing.

The dandelions and horsetail have completely taken over the yard and whenever I concentrate on them, I die a little. If I can just be patient, soon the yard will be graded. I know the horsetail will survive as it’s been around since prehistoric times but maybe the grading will give me a chance to makes it’s life a living hell. Still - I should see if I can get Joel to do a little mowing. I paid Ian to pick the dandelions. I offered him .5¢, he asked for .25¢, I offered, without thinking, .10¢ and before I knew it, I owed him $40.00. I also still owe him $100.00 for tearing up the walkway. When will I learn?

-Julia

Siding going up on west side.

Hardie and cedar on east side.

Still wet floors.

Slow progression

This week we have had rain and sun and leaks and as of today, when Chris and I stopped by, Matt and the roofers were up on the roof. That made me smile. On the ground lay roofing material and moldy wood from a 10’ area they had removed. They are pretty sure that the water is getting in at the edge where the seam attaches to the fascia but still have not found an exact spot and are thinking of redoing, I guess, the entire edge. I thought I should let them be. When I left, Chris was up on the roof investigating with them.

Other than that, the siding is going up. The siders have finished the west and north side of the house and are working on the east side. My fear of the stain being too dark has been subsided. The cedar looks beautiful with plenty of depth and variation and once the house is painted (which will happen over summer when we supposedly get less rain), the exterior is going to look great. I’m glad my gut color sense was spot on.

We also might have a line on a water tank - 500 gallons or so. It would be less expensive than putting in 6 rain barrels (and would collect much more water) and how nice to have just one tank. The only downside is that it’s not terribly attractive but I think if partially buried in the alcove right below the rain chain it would be a win win. Fingers crossed. Wrap it in steel! - (that was Joel).

-Julia

Trying to remove concrete.

North side (the photo is warped, not the house).

West side.

Leftovers.

Roofing material.

Sunny day = ripping up roof.

Leaky

If you’re tired of reading about the leak, stop now because it seems to be the topic du jour, mois, aneé. We did get rain although not what we had requested which was hard rain for one day followed by brilliant sunshine. Instead we got the basic Seattle rain; light rain (with a few downpours here and there) for days on end. It rained long enough that today, day five, the leak appeared. Now what we need is dry weather so the roofers can rip apart the roof and follow the leak, find the cause, check that the plywood is in good shape, and repair everything that needs to be repaired. Easy.

Even though it’s raining, the siders have continued their work and we now have partial soffits (so pretty), the dark cedar framing around the large window (equally pretty) and some Hardie Board on the west and north side. It’s great to get a sense of what the exterior will look like even though we’re going to paint. The Hardie is currently a light tan accented with light peppermint green flashing. Not exactly our cup of tea.

And for this week, that’s it.

-Julia

Northwest side of the house.

Northeast side of the house.

Detail of Hardie and flashing.

I love this tool.

The Okoumé now in place as the soffit.

The insulation above the clerestory on the north side of the house.

Where it’s been leaking all along.

Where it’s coming through the ceiling right next to the scupper.

Josh’s possessions.

“Double, double toil and trouble, fire burn, and cauldron bubble.”

I don’t know why I’ve quoted Shakespeare for the title of this post. I only know that when I crawled into to bed to write, that’s what popped into my head. I feel like my mom, she also wrote in bed only she used to write with a typewriter on her lap and I’m writing with a laptop… she gets points, typewriters are heavy. She was also a far better writer. Maybe I’m readying myself for tomorrow when we get the report from the independent waterproofer. Maybe I’m having visions of a Charles Addams cartoon - Joel, Ian and myself up on the roof with a huge vat of something hot, ready to pour it on some unsuspecting visitor…

© Charles Addams

Either way, I feel a little argh about the house, maybe that’s the reason for the title. We visited today and I wondered quietly… “Will it ever be done?” To which the obvious answer is “of course, honey” (that’s my mom again). I know it will, and I know it will be lovely and beautiful and home but for now it feels like it’s creeping along at a snail’s pace. And yet, I’m not surprised. Everyone warned me. “You think it’s going to take six months? It’ll take a year”. And I shirked the warnings, believing that my experience would be different. There is work being done (siding, decking, and electrical), but things are happening slowly sprinkled with days when no one is on site and it’s partially due to the roof. I wrote last week about the roof leaking on Monday (it had been resealed previous to that rain) and even though the rest of the week was incredibly blustery and wet, the house stayed dry. Maybe there was still water working it’s way towards the gutter even after it had been sealed? Maybe it was fixed? Maybe the weather was blowing from just the right direction to work it’s way into some tiny little hole in the seam? Hopefully, fingers crossed, we’ll find out tomorrow. And then once that’s been established and fixed, we’ll enter our marvelously bright future which will include insulation and drywall. For now I think I’m going to drag up some beach chairs and spend my time sitting in the living room watching the view. Bottle of wine, some cheese… anyone want to join me?

I wrote that on Tuesday, today is Thursday and we’re still confounded by the leak. The meeting with the waterproofer was yesterday and he agreed that the roof was both designed and installed properly, nor could he find the leak which means we’re back to a mystery baffling the contractor, architect, several different roofing companies, a waterproof specialist and us, the sad sad clients who just want to have a dry roof over our heads. What does this mean in depth psychology? Joel?…

-Julia

Nice light looking west through backyards to The Sound.

A view into Joel’s room and mine from the stairs.

Discussing the layout for the soffits. Do all architects wear rubber bands on their wrists?

Discussing the facia.

Discussing the roof.