Happy 2014 to everyone!
Funny, every year at this time I start to get the island itch. I was very happy to close down the cottage back in November, but now that the holidays are over and the winter weather is here to stay for a while, I am already thinking about this upcoming cottage season.
Friday, January 10, 2014
Tuesday, November 19, 2013
Another big year!
The inside of the cottage really took shape this year! I am extremely happy that we can now "stay" in the cottage anytime - since we have working heating/cooling, plumbing, toilet, sink and shower, HDTV and a few beds. The absolute best is having a live working thermostat (furnace and a/c) to control heating and cooling. This may sound funny, but with the crazy weather swings from 20 deg and frigid to 95 deg and humid, this is so important for the cottage in the middle of an island in the middle of the lake.
Big thanks to everyone who helped throughout the year...
Here is the final exterior photo of the season. I was hoping to get the lot grading finished, driveway gravel added, and grass seed planted. However, the focus this year was on getting interior items up and running. Therefore, this photo does not look much different from last year.
"Our House" - November 2013
Check-out the interior progress made in between November 2012 and November 2013. Biggest improvement is the installation of the drywall and wood ceiling.
Sunday morning, I finished cleaning up and winterizing all of the plumbing. I used the air compressor to blast pressurized air into the lines right below the pex manifold. This is a two-step process, first concentrating the air downward to blow out any water left in the well pump and then second blasting air upward to blow out any water in the pex manifold, hot water heater, and ultimately all of of supply lines. I then poured anti-freeze into all of the traps and plugged in the heat tape for the sump pump and water main line to prevent freezing over the winter season.
Well, this is the last post for 2013. Looking forward to next year.
Big thanks to everyone who helped throughout the year...
- The drywall crew - Albert, Al, Gary, Ken, Andy, Scott and Brad
- KI Neighbors - Chris, Tim and George
Here is the final exterior photo of the season. I was hoping to get the lot grading finished, driveway gravel added, and grass seed planted. However, the focus this year was on getting interior items up and running. Therefore, this photo does not look much different from last year.
Check-out the interior progress made in between November 2012 and November 2013. Biggest improvement is the installation of the drywall and wood ceiling.
November 2012
November 2013
Here is a nice shot of the sunset from Portside Marina early Saturday evening. Notice the empty dock.
Sunset from Portside Marina
Sunday morning, I finished cleaning up and winterizing all of the plumbing. I used the air compressor to blast pressurized air into the lines right below the pex manifold. This is a two-step process, first concentrating the air downward to blow out any water left in the well pump and then second blasting air upward to blow out any water in the pex manifold, hot water heater, and ultimately all of of supply lines. I then poured anti-freeze into all of the traps and plugged in the heat tape for the sump pump and water main line to prevent freezing over the winter season.
Well, this is the last post for 2013. Looking forward to next year.
Neil
Monday, November 18, 2013
Last working weekend of the season
Well, all good things must come to an end and island season is no exception. I made the final trip up for the year last weekend. The plan was to work on any low intensity projects and then winterize for the year.
Friday night, I framed out the attic access that was just too big of an opening for what is actually needed like the space around the future access door for trimwork and clearance for the nearest ceiling fan to be installed.
On Saturday, the Arnold brothers arrived late in the day to work on Chris's cottage. We met up later on the Arnold's new lot to make a huge fire and drink some beers. After going downtown for dinner at the Pump, we came back to re-stoke the fire.
Friday night, I framed out the attic access that was just too big of an opening for what is actually needed like the space around the future access door for trimwork and clearance for the nearest ceiling fan to be installed.
Opening re-framed
Drywalled
Mudded
On Saturday, the Arnold brothers arrived late in the day to work on Chris's cottage. We met up later on the Arnold's new lot to make a huge fire and drink some beers. After going downtown for dinner at the Pump, we came back to re-stoke the fire.
Big Tim
Sunday, I started early with organizing and winterizing. I had to make the 12:30 pm ferry to get back in town. I spent most of the morning cleaning up and organizing my tools before starting on bleeding the water lines.
Monday, November 4, 2013
Great room - ceiling done!
Made it up to the island just for Friday night with the plan to leave mid-day Saturday. The goal was to finish the ceiling and work on a few other odds and ends. Chris and Tim were cool enough to join me and were critical to wrap-up the ceiling work. On the way, we had to stop at Menards to buy more ceiling boards and miscellaneous trim pieces since we did not know exactly what we needed until we got back at it.
Around 9:00 pm on Friday night, the ceiling was looking good and nearing completion. We did not have time to pre-stain the final wood planks so we hung them unfinished and then I stained them later in place.
Representing the "last spike", very similar to the completion if the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, here is a photo of me putting in the "last nail" of the ceiling project.
Saturday morning, I managed to slap up the last few pieces of drywall in Anna's room that close off the plumbing exposed behind the main bath shower. You'll notice I had to "piece together" several scraps of drywall. I realize the drywall pictures are not very exciting, but this was the last open wall and I was able to use up and put away all the remaining sheets of drywall and scraps.
This season is rapidly coming to a close. Next trip up will be the last for the year. I plan to winterize and close up the cottage for the season.
Stay tuned.
Around 9:00 pm on Friday night, the ceiling was looking good and nearing completion. We did not have time to pre-stain the final wood planks so we hung them unfinished and then I stained them later in place.
Chris measuring up the trim approach
Representing the "last spike", very similar to the completion if the Transcontinental Railroad in 1869, here is a photo of me putting in the "last nail" of the ceiling project.
Putting in the LAST nail
Here is a fresh photo from Saturday morning after staining the final boards. This great-room ceiling is really the first finished surface in the entire cottage so far. I am super happy with the results.
Looking good
At the peak of the ceiling where the two adjoining surfaces meet, there is no easy way to trim this out due to the weird angles and trying to avoid making long thin rips of the ceiling boards. We decided to use 1 x 6 pine, cut them to length, and nail between the fan boxes already in place. The fan boxes were great because they had a nice flat square surface to match up.
The final final!
Saturday morning, I managed to slap up the last few pieces of drywall in Anna's room that close off the plumbing exposed behind the main bath shower. You'll notice I had to "piece together" several scraps of drywall. I realize the drywall pictures are not very exciting, but this was the last open wall and I was able to use up and put away all the remaining sheets of drywall and scraps.
Anna's room - drywall done
This season is rapidly coming to a close. Next trip up will be the last for the year. I plan to winterize and close up the cottage for the season.
Stay tuned.
Friday, October 25, 2013
Water test passed - Erie county certified!
Great news!
Monday morning, the Erie County inspector came to take a water sample and inspect the total water system installation.
By Tuesday (10/22/13) late afternoon, I received a call stating that the test results came back and we are good-to-go. By Thursday, we got the hard-copy in the mail. One more thing completed and checked off the "to-do" list...
Monday morning, the Erie County inspector came to take a water sample and inspect the total water system installation.
All good - passed!
By Tuesday (10/22/13) late afternoon, I received a call stating that the test results came back and we are good-to-go. By Thursday, we got the hard-copy in the mail. One more thing completed and checked off the "to-do" list...
Tuesday, October 22, 2013
Ceiling wood install started
The plan this weekend was to work on grading the lot and possibly plant some grass seed. However, the weather did not cooperate (too rainy and muddy) so we decided to defer the remaining site work until next year. This sucks.
Plan B
Since I had already prepared the ceiling wood a few weeks ago, we could proceed with this installation any time in any weather. Chris and Tim Arnold were the critical team members with the experience needed to get this rooling on Saturday afternoon.
Here are some photos of the progress over the weekend and into Monday afternoon.
By mid-day Monday, we are probably 85% done. Unfortunately, I need to buy a few more 12 foot boards since there are only a few left over and certainly not enough to finish the job.
Plan B
Since I had already prepared the ceiling wood a few weeks ago, we could proceed with this installation any time in any weather. Chris and Tim Arnold were the critical team members with the experience needed to get this rooling on Saturday afternoon.
Here are some photos of the progress over the weekend and into Monday afternoon.
Chris - the man with the plan
Big Tim - working the saw
"Kudos" to Chris for making some serious custom cut-outs
By mid-day Monday, we are probably 85% done. Unfortunately, I need to buy a few more 12 foot boards since there are only a few left over and certainly not enough to finish the job.
Looking towards the back of the cottage
Looking towards the front of the cottage
Huge thanks to Chris and Tim Arnold for making the ceiling happen. When you see this live, it really looks great.
Without fail, I still managed to mud more drywall for probably 4-6 hours. This really seems like a never ending process. I think I am now on the 7th, 5-gallon bucket of joint compound with probably 3 or 4 more to go.
Next steps, head back up in a few weeks and finish the ceiling!
Wednesday, October 9, 2013
Ceiling wood prepared
Not the most exciting weekend on the island. Actually, kinda boring. The weather was nice heading up on Friday but slow rained the rest of the time. I seriously did not leave the cottage all weekend and missed any downtown activities that may have been underway.
Progress made...
I did manage to stain 70 - 12 foot ceiling boards with clear poly urethane. This is just tedious, slow work. Then you need to accommodate for drying space and drying time. So, the whole process took about 10 hours of work over two 1/2 days. I built a drying rack last weekend that I used to stack 1/2 of the boards at a time. Here are some photos from Friday night with ~35 boards stained.
Saturday afternoon, I started mudding a second coat to Neil's room and closet to cover the corner tape and screw holes. FYI - there is still a mountain of drywall mud work that needs to be done. I am somewhat burned-out on drywall mud for now. My new plan is to hit it hard in the Spring and make a push to get it done.
Probably the highlight of the weekend was that "Maddie" the island dog, came with me for the quick rainy weekend. She kept me proper company all weekend.
Next steps...
Planning to go back the weekend of Oct 18-20th to do the final grading of the property with Chris's borrowed tractor. This should be fun.
Progress made...
- Water tank bleached
- Ceiling boards stained
- Co-axial cable 5-way splitter installed
- Some drywall mudding
- Quality time spent with island dog "Maddie"
I did manage to stain 70 - 12 foot ceiling boards with clear poly urethane. This is just tedious, slow work. Then you need to accommodate for drying space and drying time. So, the whole process took about 10 hours of work over two 1/2 days. I built a drying rack last weekend that I used to stack 1/2 of the boards at a time. Here are some photos from Friday night with ~35 boards stained.
Ceiling boards drying after applying clear poly urethane
I also worked on wiring up the co-axial cable splitter in the attic and connected it to the HD antenna. Still need to put co-axial connectors in most of the rooms, but I ran out of RG6 connectors.
Saturday afternoon, I started mudding a second coat to Neil's room and closet to cover the corner tape and screw holes. FYI - there is still a mountain of drywall mud work that needs to be done. I am somewhat burned-out on drywall mud for now. My new plan is to hit it hard in the Spring and make a push to get it done.
Probably the highlight of the weekend was that "Maddie" the island dog, came with me for the quick rainy weekend. She kept me proper company all weekend.
Next steps...
Planning to go back the weekend of Oct 18-20th to do the final grading of the property with Chris's borrowed tractor. This should be fun.
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