My Kind of Building

I have a vision for around all the power poles, breaker boxes and Power Company box.  I love to take an ugly area and make it beautiful.  The area on the west side of the West Wing will at some point be heavily landscaped but without a sprinkler system I will not attempt to keep plants alive during Oklahoma summers.

We brought these retaining wall blocks home not knowing what they would be used before. They have just been sitting there. They looked as if they had a  purpose but we knew better.

 I am home alone and need to move these babies.The big ones can weigh 80-120 pounds. I can't move that much weight by myself. Hm-m-m-m, what do we have that would work. Aha, the old flexible toboggans. We have had these for over 20 years and still use them when there is snow.

 I would roll the rock onto the toboggan and then it moved easily where I needed it. Easily may not be the right word. It was still dragging a large rock up a slight hill. But it wasn't a struggle.

 The long ones had to go on at an angle. If anything hung over the edge and caught on the grass the rock would slide off.

 This is where they are going. Once the power to the heat and air is run and my trench is filled in all this rock will be pushed in tight against the ugly necessities. The rock will be leveled and using a variety of small rock with the big ones it will curve very nicely. I sprayed the grass with grass killer today, I'll put landscape fabric down and then top it with Decomposed Granite. 

We have pallets of rock stored all around the property for when we need something. Wish we had brought more home from the rock yard but we didn't want to junk the place up too much.

Just a Little Digging

Running power to the Heat Pump. This means the office is getting close to being usable space. Ha ha ha.We only need to finish the ceiling, drywall, tape and mud, texture, paint, base and case and flooring. Then move everything in.

My job is to dig the trench for the power to run through. This is some of our best grass even though we have never watered it. Bill uses his chemicals on it and mows but that is the only attention it gets. Once we have a sprinkler system this will be all flowering shrubs and ground cover. Since we have never watered; the ground is harder than all get out.


These are all the tools I had to use. Sledge hammer, sharp shooter, railroad spike, round shovel, hand shovel and a broom. There were concrete pieces throughout this area. No idea why there were there but there was.

 Finally, it's done. Whew, I got it finished before Bill got home. He has been at one of our office suites the last two days laying a new hardwood floor.I  didn't have to help  him because the tenant and his friend helped. Love those kind of tenants. It's not as deep as Bill wanted but I took it down to sandstone. There is one spot he is going  to need  to break out the concrete because I can't.

 This spike was used to get the biggest concrete pieces out. It's all about leverage.


 The other project I needed to do was level the heat pump pad.That was an easy one.

One Mans Junk ....

This is the door  going into the office I have been working on. It still needs work; but it is hung. Isn't it beautiful? We still need to stain it and get the hardware on. Bill had to build the frame because it is an unusual size and we want to stain it. Darrick found it for us; it was going to be thrown away. It is so cool. This side is on the Trophy Room side, very masculine.

This is the side in the office. It is still pretty ugly. But all it will take is a cleaning and light sanding. It will be painted; so I don't need to take it to bare wood. Super excited about these found treasurers.

Regulating the Air

Nothing too exciting has been happening in building the office lately. Just lots of stuff you never see or think of unless there is a problem. It's also not anything I can help him with except hold the ladder every once in a while. 

Bill has been busy putting in the vents and duct work for the heating and cooling in the West Wing. Everything is being configured around using the Trophy Room steel beams to attach stuff to. The vacuum pipes run in the cavity of them and the HVAC ducts are tied to them.

 

This is nifty HVAC strapping tape ( I don't know the correct name of it). It's what you use to secure  duct work into place. Bill tells  me it is indestructible and will never deteriorate. He is using it to secure everything being run over the ceilings; not just the HVAC ducts.

Remodeling

Remodeling is always expensive. That's because nothing is ever easy. Adding the vacuum pipe in the West Wing hall was an adventure. We hadn't thought of needing an outlet in the hall but that works the best with our configuration.

1st Step:
Take the ceiling down in the workshop. That's easy since it is a drop ceiling.

    

2nd step:

Climb the ladder and crawl on the top of the shelving. Have to get to the far wall over the hallway.

3rd Step:
Run the pipe, connect the sticks and put in the joints.. This took about 45 minutes in the intense heat. Not a fun job. If we were remodelers this job would have cost you a pretty penny for us to go up in that heat. Of course the vacuum people do not use normal PVC pipe they have special pipe so you have to go direct to them. That's okay, anything for my vacuum system.

Brynnlee was with us and entertained herself with grocery shopping and cooking us lunch. Good entertainment for a two year old. Love their imagination at that age.

Exciting Times

Winter is coming so it's time to get the exterior of the place weather proofed. That means the siding and rock need to go up. Of course, we can't just put them up we have to take out garage doors and build walls first.

This week the siding manufacturer came out to do the measurements and show us all the colors and possible trim pieces.

Rep kits are always fun to look through!

 Our sales rep from ProBuild came out also and helped make structural decisions. The back wall of the building will stay metal so the guys had to decide the best way to wrap the corner. Have to look at aesthetics and structural issues. The siding rep left with a list of questions to ask the pros. We never do anything straight forward. Going on over metal siding isn't the norm.They will come back out when the installation is started to be sure it is being installed correctly and nothing will void our warranty. Love companies that value customer service.

 

 The north wall won't be done right now. We don't know the configuration of the doors and windows yet. We will order for that wall much later.


Now the fun part; choosing colors. Bill wanted a lot of colors, I wanted just a few. Our last house was Victorian so we had lots and lots of colors, I am ready for something different. We hit a happy medium with two types of siding and three colors. One for the walls, one for the two porches and one for the trim. The color for the trim is the color of the doors so it will make them look larger.

  We are going with scallops on the block above the front porch 

 Shakes everywhere else.

This is a cool product. It is an OSB siding that has had its color baked on at the factory. It comes with a 30 year warranty on the paint. We will never have to paint! This house is all about low maintenance.

Hello Old Friend I Have Missed You

We got our first in house vacuum system 33 years ago. I have been without one for two years  now and miss it so much. I don't see how people can get their floors clean with just a broom and dustpan. Must be a housekeeping skill I never acquired.

Bill was working on the office walls and I questioned him if it was time for the vacuum system and he stopped real quick so we could figure out where to get the system and get it ordered.

 . The system comes with a 30 foot hose so we need outlets all over the place. You have to measure your 30 feet around corners. Figure out where big pieces of furniture will be placed that you will h ave to pull the hose around. The manufacturer will place the outlets on a floor plan if you send it to them, Bill wants to figure it out himself. We will put as many as possible on adjoining walls to save pipe purchases.

 Vacuum pipes for the Office and the Trophy Room

 Pipe and outlet for the West Wing Hallway.

To get power to the outlets you use simple telephone wiring. The power comes on when you plug the hose into the outlet. This causes the vacuum mower to come on and suction everything off your floor. The canister all the dirt goes into will be going into the garage.

 When Bill cut this hole he nicked the electrical wire on top of the board. A little (big) shock and  the breaker is tripped. He shook his hand from the shock, flicked the breaker back; on because you cannot work without music. Radio came on and he was back at work.