Construction Journal Entry Week of 5/10/15

5/12-14/15 I went up to Camp Serendipity for 3 days: Tuesday through Thursday.

On the way I stopped and played a game of checkers with Uncle Charles and just barely beat him. We each had one king at the end but I had the jump on him near a single corner.

I arrived at Camp Serendipity at 1:10, unloaded my gear, hoisted the flag, brought in a load of wood, built a fire in the stove, and then had my lunch and a nap. I spent most of the rest of the afternoon on the phone.

On Wednesday it rained all day. After breakfast I went to work on the loft fascia boards. I took down the board that had been scribed wrong for the log wall and checked the piece I had glued back on. I was happy that the glue job looked very nice and neat.

I re-scribed the board with the same template I used before but this time I made sure to register the template in the correct position. When the board was scribed, I cut the contour out with the jigsaw. The glued-on patch is hardly noticeable. But since the overall length of the board is about a half-inch too short, those half-inch gaps to the chinking are noticeable.

Next, I positioned the last two long fascia boards and nailed them in place. I had to re-cut one of the miter cuts in order to make the joint tighter. By the time I finished, it was time for lunch.

While I was just finishing my lunch, Earl stopped by to borrow my light bulb changer. We had a nice chat but he was overdue to take his meds so he left. No sooner was he gone but Larry stopped in. I hadn't seen him for several years so it was good to see him again. He had just celebrated his 92nd birthday so it is remarkable that he drove by himself from Wenatchee. He hadn't seen the cabin since before the cabinet countertops were installed so there was a lot new in the cabin for him to see, most of it very visible, like the ceilings and interior doors. I took a couple pictures of him.

While we were still talking, Earl came back with the light bulb changer. The three of us had a nice visit and I took a couple pictures of the two of them before they left.

Afterward I went back to work on the fascia boards. I had two short spaces yet to fill. There was a 20-inch or so gap between the Grid A log wall and the end of the board installed above the dining room, and there was a 12-inch or so gap left between the loft stair header and the Grid C2 RPSL. I also had two remnants of the 1x12 cedar boards that would work for these two places. One was already planed and varnished, and the other, bigger one, was left over from the roof repair job. The bigger one was not planed or varnished.

On Thursday morning, I scribed the bigger, unfinished remnant board to fit up against the Grid A log wall. I cut the board with the jigsaw and must have made 10 or 15 trips up and down the ladder rasping and fitting the board until it went nicely into place. It ended up fitting pretty well. Then I planed the surface with the power planer to give it the same finish as the rest of the fascia boards. I nailed it in place without varnishing it first. I'll varnish it in place later.

Next I re-did the patch in the inside corner of the fascia at Grid D.2,2.2. The patch I had stuck in there before was too narrow and just didn't look all that good. I learned that the last remnant board was plenty long enough to provide another patch that was wide enough to fit the gap. So I cut the patch out and then removed the old patch. The gap needed to be widened by about 1/8th of an inch because I had crowded it to make up for the small patch. I started widening it with my Bosch vibrating saw but soon discovered that I could only cut the top inch or so because the saw body didn't fit into the corner deep enough to cut the whole 12 inches of the board.

I tried using a hand saw from up on the ladder in a few awkward and dangerous positions before I gave up on that idea. Then I decided to use a hammer and a wide chisel while standing on the ladder. That worked very well and in no time I had the gap widened.

Then I stuck my patch into the gap and was pleased with how it fit. The grain and color don't exactly match, but it is close enough. I fastened the patch in using glue and one small finish nail.

Next I took that last remnant and began strategizing on how to interface it with the RPSL. I couldn't figure out the best way to do it so I decided to set it aside until next week. Instead I went out to the front porch and finished dismantling the varnishing rack. That was wonderful! That thing has been there for about 4 years as an ugly obstruction to about half of the porch. With it gone, the entire porch is open now for the first time in a long time. It is like old times and really looks nice. I didn't put the lumber away but it was still a great improvement.

I took a few pictures of the new fascia boards showing the patches and gaps due to the errors I made.

I made a trip down to the truck to load a bird feeder that we want to set up in Seattle, the chainsaw which needs to go to the shop, and the garden sprayer which I need at home. When I got there I discovered that I had caught another mouse in the trap inside the cab. The little rascals can get in there somehow so I guess I'll always have to set a trap in there.

After having my lunch and packing my gear, I left for home at about 12:45 happy with life.



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