Back Problems

We haven't had much rain this year or last. At the post office today I was told we are only up to 3 inches this year. Well this week we were due for a storm. On Monday it felt like rain was near so I decided to do a few things that I wanted done before the rain arrived. I loaded up two tractor scoops of compost into the truck, grabbed the chainsaw and a shovel and headed down to the house. We have about 15 fruit trees that I shoveled compost around and during that chore I was feeling my back might not last the whole day. Once the truck was empty I was ready to fill it with firewood.

Pepperwood - Bay Tree

Last year a huge bay tree came down and I have been working on cutting all the small limbs and moving them to burn piles. With the small limbs out of the way the remaining branches are suspended from the ground drying. It is simple to start at the end of a branch and buck the limbs into short lengths. Once the limbs are cut the wood is loaded into the truck and taken up to the barn to be stacked under cover. At the end of the day I knew I had gone too far so I lied on my back to give it a rest. I had a hard time getting back up, once on my feet I could hardly straighten out. Last February my back was so messed up it would spasm and drop me to the ground in pain, I feared this might happen again. Luckily it didn't get so bad and this time I treated my back a bit differently.

I am not one to take pharmaceuticals, but before bed I took two Aleeve's and slept with an electric heat pad under my back. The next morning I did some stretching and went for a walk. I took it easy this day and before bed took two ibuprofens and again slept on a heat pad. The next day some more stretching and core strengthening exersizes and went for another walk. This day I did some work in the shop and had four different meetings throughout the day and evening. I skipped the medication this night and slept about half the night with the heat pad.

Sills for Shower

Today I was feeling much better, did some stretching and went to work in the shop without going on a walk. I have been working on the wood parts for the shower at the house. Today I applied two coats of shellac on the parts and took them to the house to install. Once at the house I realized the jambs couldn't go in until the curb was tiled so I switched to tiling and Becky joined me after her meeting. The curb tiles are now set and I can't wait to install the jambs, sills and caps. At that point I can measure for the sashes and the rest of the tiles can go in.

Shower Pan

How I wish that I could keep plugging away on the house project, last week was very productive. Alex was home from Humboldt State and eager to make some money so the kitchen finally got some attention. The north wall is totally sheet rocked and all the blocking and wiring is installed. The wainscoting in the bathroom is complete along with new jambs and casing for the door.

New cap for Wainscoting

For the shower, Becky ordered sloping plastic strips to aid in the initial slope that was poured with thin set because it was only about half an inch thick at the drain. Once that cured a PVC liner was placed over the floor and stapled to the walls. Putting the liner out in the sun made it more manageable to work with. Out of the package it had folds and the stiffness made it frustrating to fold into the shape of the shower base. It was easy to shape when warmed by the sun.

PVC liner

The quarter inch backer board was installed on the walls...again. I had started to put the wall boards up when the shower first took shape, then removed it so that the floor could be poured first. When Greg was here I had this idea that we could skip the liner step and had him cut and install the rest of the hardie backer. Well I changed my mind again, removed the wall boards and decided to do it the correct way. My last few showers didn't have the sloping floor under the liner, nor did they have three piece drains. This time I asked a childhood friend Jeremy L., a tile mason in Utah how he did shower pans and also did a bit of research on the internet. I had to order a three piece drain, the liner and the sloping sticks because that sort of thing isn't available locally. Most people these days just install a premade shower pan - buy it - install it - all done. One thing I did differently from Jeremy was not pour a curb, instead I built it by layering two 2x4's and then covered it with the liner and hardie backer and then it will get tiled.

3 piece drain

Once the liner was in place the second part of the drain was bolted down pinching the liner and a second slab was poured with mortar. Unfortunately I didn't have enough mortar so my slab is not at the height it should be and my drain is sticking up too high above the slab. I had this idea to install a square drain to make cutting the tile simpler. The square corners prevented me from just twisting it to lower the drain when the mortar was wet, plus the gravel between the third and second part of the drain made it difficult to twist. Instead I will have to pour yet another layer to bring my floor pan to the correct height, I will have to use thin set again because it will only be a thin layer.

Mortar too low

I have to get back to work now, I have drawers to build and cabinet doors to finish. Yesterday I agreed to build window sashes for insulated units already purchased. That will be tricky, the glass is already cut and the openings are already made, I have to make the wood fit between the two dimensions.

Mud Room with Greg

For the past two weeks Greg D. has been staying in the Yellow House and working with me on a set of cabinets for J and K's mud room. It has been a real treat to work with a good friend in the shop We have been cutting into cypress slabs and also re-using salvaged tongue and grooved Doug fir ceiling boards (about a half an inch thick). Greg is on his way back to Berkeley now after we installed the cabinets yesterday. We are lacking hardware so the doors were not hung and we have yet to build the drawers, at least the cabinets can be loaded with stuff.

Greg D. in the shop

Back to the house today, Alex and Becky worked on disassembling a wall between the kitchen and the music room so that one door would be covered up and another door way made wider to accommodate French doors. 

Wall between kitchen and music room

Meanwhile I was pouring a sloping floor in the shower and then helped frame the wall and then removed bead board on the music room side of the wall. We are hoping to have the shower finished and the bathroom vanity by March. All we need is about 3 g's for the electric warm floor and tiles for the floor of the bathroom and mudroom to complete the project. Becky just spent a grand (thanks Visa) on the tiles for the shower, we needed just over a 100 square feet of tile.

Sloping shower floor before the pour.

Cypress Slabs

While spending a week in Utah for Christmas our homestead was in need of a house sitter. The second half of the week my friend Greg D. whom I met at College of the Redwoods through the Historic Preservation and Restoration program stayed here and fed our animals. Now we are working together on a project for a clients mud room. 

Acclimating Cypress

From Almquist Lumber we acquired three slabs of cypress about 13 feet long and varying in thickness from 3 inches down to inch and three quarter. The width of the slabs varied also from about 13 to 16 inches. For two days now we have been cutting into the slabs getting all the pieces we will need for the project. Stacks of stickered cypress are acclimating and today we will begin cutting joinery for the face frames and the pieces will start to take shape.

Mountain of shavings

The air temperature has warmed up but I do wish rain was in the forecast! This is the driest year on record for this region. The days now get longer and I look forward to the days when the sun rises above the tops of our cypress trees that shade the shop this time of year.