Kathy and Calvin's Home Page

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It took a while for us to get used to the new house. It was big. It was easy to clean. It was different. But the weirdest part was knowing that we had lived on the same area of land but in a different house. I know I shouldn't get attached but I can't help it. I love the lighting and open spaces. The stairwell is not only functional but airy and elegant, too.

There is still work to be done. Needing more cabinet space in order to unpack, we make 5 upper cabinets in July. In addition, we put up backsplash to protect the walls:

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Our inspection takes place May 31st, the day after putting in the topsoil and replanting the trees and bushes. This is either pass or fail. Pass? We might be able to move in. Fail, we are delayed and have to pay for more time at the mobile home park. Our inspector, Norm, has a sharp eye. He notices all the safety items we have installed - smoke alarms, railings, hand rails, appropriate stairs, windows not too close to landings and tubs, and the height of both the front and back porches under the required 30 inches for railings. He also doubled as the final inspector for the LDC requirements - the two trees replanted in the front. Pass!

About 2 hours later we move in. It takes all of 20 minutes. How hard can it be when you park your home (trailer) 5 feet from the door and throw all your stuff in!

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We are trying to move in within 3 weeks so there is a lot left to do. Steve spends a week prepping to pour the back porch and steps:

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The end of March also brings a flurry of work on cabinets. We wanted cabinets that were good looking, inexpensive, well built and custom fit. The only way to get all that was to build them ourselves. With the proper tools, you can make your own cabinetry. We had accumulated much of the tools from making the cabinets from the previous house: joiner, planer, drill press, finish and staple guns, nice table saw, joining jigs, biscuit tools, sanders, and a newly acquired drum sander.

I had argued that we only needed 4 cabinets: bathroom, cooktop, sink, and oven. The rest could be built once we moved in. It turned out that we really need all the bottom cabinets to be made at the same time. However, we could cheat by not making any drawers, doors, or upper cabinets, which was a big savings of time.

It took around a month and a half to build the cabinets, install the granite tile counters, and install the sinks and appliances:

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It's March 24th. The sealer we have put on tile floor is dry now and we decide to move our stuff out of storage and into the house. We had rented a 10x12 storage room to store all our belongings and more: large fridge, washer, dryer, dishwasher, clothes, desks, chairs, dining table, bed (no mattress), 3 sets of shelves, 2 very large couches, and a large puffy chair. Fortunately most of the furniture was disassembled into flat pieces. I should have taken a picture of the storage room - it was floor to ceiling.

Here is the 2 year old fridge that died (notice the plastic still on it) with the dishwasher across from it:

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It's Monday, February 14th, and the tile guys are getting started. I negotiated a great price for installation of the hardibacker, tile setting, and grouting. We decided to tile the entire house except for the stairwell, done in maple, and the basement, done in stylish grey cement.

It took a couple days to clean the plywood, dry, and put down the hardibacker:

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It's January now and we have gas but no real heat, or insulation for that matter. The hold up is getting all the electrical, plumbing and radiant floor heating distributed throughout the walls. In addition, light boxes and canned lights must be installed, hooked up, tested, and inspected.

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OK, it's starting to get cold. The end of November runs into the middle of December and we get this really cold spell where it gets down into the teens at night to warm up into the 20s for the day. Steve is frantically putting in wiring, lights, and our radiant floor heating. The gas company will be hooking us up any day so we dig a line to the sidewalk (in pea gravel which is no treat). We are looking forward to having some heat so we don't freeze our fingers off. I'm trying to caulk but the caulk is too cold to use in a pneumatic (air) caulking gun. I give up and end up doing it by hand.

We take a little time off to have Thanksgiving with family:

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By November, the weather was still pretty mild. We decided to gamble by forming and pouring the front porch and steps. By doing so, the columns for the portico (cover porch) can be installed and the siding completed. Steve decided to make the footing for the front porch much larger than the specs put out by the engineer. Most of the porch is floating on top of pea gravel so staking out the forms is difficult, to say the least:

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It is now September 17th and the rains haven't started. We figure we have until the end of October to roof, get gutters and sump pump working, install windows and doors, and side. We immediately start the roofing felt. You have to install the D-style edging to keep the roofing shingles from sagging off the edge of the roof:

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The next few days go by in a whirl wind. In 17 days we go from a cement hole in the ground to a house with a roof and walls:

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We had a tight schedule to maintain. In 2 days, the framers would come in and put up the house. They started with the basement walls, beams, and post:

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With the basement walls done, we now had to finish the basement slab. There was a lot of prep work to do.

Footing drains had to be installed all the way around the outside of the cement footing:

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It's now in the middle of August. We have to hurry this along because the house has to be framed, roofed, and sided by October in order to have a dry house before the rains.

We finally are allowed to rent the forms for a mere $3200. It took 2 trips just to get them here. These forms are 2 foot by 8 foot metal frames with smooth wood - they weigh about 80 lbs each. You put them together a little like an erector set with wedges that pin them together. Here, you see a picture of the inside forms with the rebar that will be encased by the cement:

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In the beginning of July I purchased a rebar cutter/bender on craigslist. During my conversation with the seller, I told him we were looking for a concrete guy to pour the foundation, slab, and back stairwell. He gave me his info and I didn't think much of it. How could someone commuting between Portland and Corvallis underbid a local person? But he did, by almost 50%. The Corvallis "tax" hits again. It seems that everything is more expensive in Corvallis, including contractors. After calling references, we had Paul on board to do the concrete work.

Paul had bid the job to use metal framed forms. These 2 foot by 8 foot forms weighed about 90 lbs each. Not so bad until you realize we had to put 140 of them in the hole and then take them out. Remember, to take them out there is now a 9 foot tall wall in the way. Oh logistics!

By July 28th we had finished digging. I contacted Paul to tell him we can start with the footings. This is what the walls stand on. By August 3, the footings were poured.

Building the footing forms - lots of work!