Construction Journal Entry Week of 6/2/13

6/5-7/13 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Wednesday through Friday.

My trip this week was delayed by one day so that I could attend Alaina's graduation ceremony. I visited with Uncle Charles on the way up and arrived at Camp Serendipity at 12:30. Bert was there to greet me so he got the expected hugs and a biscuit as well as a tray of left-over gravy.

Before I parked the truck, I unloaded a barrel full of yard waste and a sheet of 1/2 " OSB. Then I carried the OSB up to the front porch. I had intended to buy a sheet of 1/2" plywood to back the cabinets and stove on the peninsula but when I was at the lumberyard and saw how twisted the plywood was, I changed my mind and bought OSB instead because it was nice and flat.

After lunch, I filled the bird feeder which was getting low. Apparently some birds like the safflower seeds although I haven't yet seen any birds eating at the feeder.

I watered the giant sequoia named Brian simply by opening a valve on the porch. That makes it very convenient. Then I took a nap.

When I got up I started getting ready for the granite counter-top installation. The first thing I did was to move my eating location from the dining room to the living room. I moved the big table that had been up against the cabinet peninsula into the living room and then moved the TV monitor, the microwave oven, the toaster and various other items over to the table.

Aside from clearing everything from around and on top of the cabinets, there are two major jobs for me before the measurements can be made next week. First is to cut a horizontal notch in the log wall behind the cabinets so that the log can serve as the backspash, and the second is to frame in the structure to fill the space behind the corner cabinet unit. That unit is 3 1/2" shorter than the other units and the stove.

I started cutting the notch in the log using the Bosch vibrating saw. I tried a semi-circular blade first and then I tried a rectangular blade next. The rectangular blade has coarser teeth made only for wood and it cut faster and worked better. It took me a while to figure that out and to develop an efficient technique for sawing.

Joe at Moonlight Tile & Stone had given me a fairly big sample of the granite slab so I used that as a gauge and guide for cutting the top kerf for the notch. I cut the lower kerf by using the top of the cabinet units as a guide for the saw.

Then I cut a few vertical kerfs between the two horizontal kerfs so that I could knock out chunks of wood with a hammer and chisel. In the usual manner of an amateur learning a new skill, I wasted a lot of time trying things that didn't work very well. What ended up working pretty well was a fairly big hammer--a three pounder-- and a home-made chisel I had made out of an 18" length of #4 rebar. I had flattened one end on an anvil and then ground it into a wood-chisel shape. I had made this for cleaning out the slots above the gable walls so that the ceiling boards would go into the slots. It had worked well for that purpose and now, after grinding a good edge back on it, it worked well for removing the wood from inside the notch I was cutting.

The notch is a little over 8 feet long and of course it is behind the cabinet units and below the overhanging cabinets. That makes it awkward to work on it because I have to lean over the cabinets and not bang my head on the overhead ones. Typically I have to stay in only one position to be able even to reach what I am working on, so in a short time, my back gets very stiff and sore.

By the end of the day, I had the notch pretty well roughed out. My plan was that I would have most of the next day to do the framing project.

On Thursday I started out by going into the woods to water the giant sequoia trees. I figured that it wouldn't take long because Brian was already watered by my new hose setup and all the trees had been fertilized so I wouldn't have to do anything but carry a half bucket of water to each tree.

It took longer than I had expected. I discovered that the joint at the wye I had installed was leaking so badly that there was hardly enough pressure to get any water up to Brian. I tried to fix the leak by re-packing the Teflon tape in the threads but I only made it worse. Now the leak was so bad that no water was reaching Brian at all.

I went back to the cabin and got a new hose washer thinking that would fix the problem. Just in case, I brought a roll of duct tape with me since duct tape can fix almost anything.

I discovered that there were already two hose washers in the joint so I tried all the combinations of those two washers and the new one I had brought and the joint still leaked badly no matter what I did. So I used the combination that worked the best and then used duct tape to bind the hose to the wye. That worked--not perfectly-- but it slowed the leak sufficiently so that Brian now got a nice flow of water. I could also fill my buckets for the other trees by opening the second valve on the wye.

Back in the cabin I went back to work on the notch, cleaning up what I had already cut. In the process I discovered that I had not provided enough clearance. That granite slab is not going to bend at all and if it doesn't slip easily into the notch, it is not going to go in at all.

So I cut another kerf slightly above the top one I already had and enlarged the notch. Then I realized that the notch needed to be about 1 1/2" high and that was the thickness of a 2x4. So I used a short 2x4 as a gauge to test the notch. There were a lot of tight spots but it was time for lunch and a nap and I figured I'd clean up those spots after my nap and still have time to do the framing.

When I got back to work, it dawned on me that in addition to being big enough, the entire 8-foot notch needed to be absolutely straight or the granite slab wouldn't go in. It also needed to be deep enough for the entire length or else the granite wouldn't seat like it should. It then occurred to me that I needed to be able to slide a straight 8-foot 2x4 into the notch in order to prove that it was ready for the granite. I got the 2x4 and found that the notch was way too tight.

So, now using that long 2x4 as a saw guide, I cut yet another kerf all the way across with my vibrating saw. But by now, I had learned the proper technique so it didn't take me long at all to cut the 8-foot kerf. Realizing that all my previous cutting had been wasted time, it had at least been useful in nudging me up the learning curve.

In addition to cutting the new kerf, I had to chisel out the wood and deal with the knots that appeared here and there. The temperature in the cabin was about 70º but I was still sweating like a pig and my back would get so stiff that I could hardly stand up straight.

Several times during the afternoon I had to stop work, drink a bunch of water, and lie down on a big sheet of cardboard on my back trying to straighten my spine back out. The cardboard soaked up the sweat that was rolling off me and which otherwise would have formed puddles on the floor. When my back was finally relaxed enough I would get up and get back to my sawing and chiseling.

I realized that when Bob comes up to do the measurements next week, it will be very useful to be able to show him that 2x4 shoved back into the notch and to use it as a measurement base. I spent a lot of time figuring out where the high spots were inside that notch so that I could eventually get that 2x4 slid back deep enough to bury about half of its width. I was very happy when it finally seated all the way back.

I didn't quit work until after 6:30 and by that time I was beat and had a very sore back. I got right into the bathtub with the water as hot as I could stand and just soaked in the hot water. It felt great and really relaxed my back. My back bothered me all night, though, and I was afraid I might have overdone it.

On Friday morning my back was stiff when I got up, but it didn't take long for it to loosen up and then it felt normal and strong. I was glad for that.

I spent a little time flattening out the last tight spot in the notch and then went to work on the framing. I had thought through a plan on how I would do the framing, so that work went quickly and smoothly. I didn't have a learning curve to climb in order to cut and fit 2x4s. I cut the parts and set them in place and was extremely happy with how they fit and how they were going to work out. My cordless drill was still down in the truck and I decided I didn't need to screw the structure together until next week. I'll have at least a half-day to work before Bob shows up and even at that, the framing really doesn't have to be fastened in place in order for him to make his measurements. The pressure was off and I had no doubt that I would be ready.

Once the framing is fastened down, then the sheet of OSB needs to be fastened over the top of it. That doesn't really need to be done prior to the measurements, but I'll do it if time allows.

But after looking at the cabinet with the new framing members, and after smelling the odor of the OSB and having second thoughts, I began to think that I should use plywood after all instead of OSB. I realized that the framing and the installed cabinet units would provide plenty of strength in order to take the warp out of the plywood and hold it flat. I also wasn't sure whether it was a good idea to use OSB inside the kitchen because of the out gassing potential. For those reasons, I changed my mind and decided to bring up a sheet of plywood next week and use that instead of the OSB.

I left for home at 2:00 feeling that I will have no trouble being ready for Bob next week, or for the counter-top installation the following week. It is getting exciting. It will really look great having the tops and sinks installed. It will be even greater after I have trimmed out the sinks and can finally wash up and do dishes standing up at a sink instead of leaning over the bathtub.



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