This and That......
Good morning Thomas,
your attention to detail continues to amazed me.
Do you know what your concrete contractor is using as a base for your driveway?
And what protections will you take to protect the concrete from salt damage?
Thanks for sharing, you're literally burning the candle at both ends these last 7 months.
Hi
red, I'm finally able to respond to your questions.
The base material for the concrete was CA6 which is also referred to as road pack. Once compacted, it's extremely hard.
The sealer they used is on the concrete is an oil based product which should go a long way toward protecting the concrete from salt damage. In the garage where the cars will be parked and salt will dripping off of them, I'm just going to lay down some visqueen for this winter. Next spring once it warms up a bit I'm going to install porcelain tile on the garage floor. That will take care of any salt issues.
Thanks for your patience waiting for me to get back with you. Good questions.
Chris and Thomas - The house is looking great! Thank you both for continuing to take us along on this journey.
How did you handle the joints between the fireplace and the wall and ceiling? Is there a gap behind the stonework for the wallboard and paneling?
There's another good question. Look back at the pictures when the stone was being laid for the fireplace...
...and you'll see a spacer board was temporarily installed on top where the stone meets the ceiling. A spacer board for the sides was used as well but I don't have any pictures that show it. In this picture that side spacer has been removed but the arrows point to where it was.
Here's a side view of the top spacer board which actually was 2 boards put together. The first board was 1/2" (1.2 cm) thick which was to allow the drywall to slide behind the stone and the second spacer board was 3/4" (1.8 cm) thick, the same thickness as the eventual ceiling boards so they could slide behind the stone also.
Note how the top stones had to be relieved in back to provide space for the ceiling.
This shows the fireplace done with the spacer board still in place and...
...here the spacer has been removed.
You really can't see it in this picture, but there's a 3/4" gap between the drywall and the stone.
This shows how the ceiling boards were slid into that 3/4" gap behind the stone...
...to present a nice clean...
... finished look that I like. When first laying the stone in August we had to be thinking several months ahead to this eventual result. As some of you know, building a house is somewhat like chess, anticipating several moves ahead. It's a challenge for sure.
It finally happened... "the end" for me and I'm finally caught up..........
The only thing I can contribute or add is that I think I know (or know of) the acquaintance of yours with the 68 Vette who participated in drag week. Steve Hoch, maybe? If so I sold him parts through my previous employer and he currently races the car with a friend of mine in the Pro E85 class.
Again, after reading all 515 pages I'm still in awe at what you've done with the property and how you've welcomed in thousands of strangers into your life...
Mike
Welcome Mike to our merry band. Yes I do know Steve Hoch, he lives but 5 miles away. I think he's about as sharp a guy as you'll ever find. He really knows his stuff!
Thank you so much for the nice comments. This thread is a 2 way street, that has brought many new friends into
our lives which has been most pleasant for us.
Tell us if you got to play with the Festool Kapex saw! Want one, just hard to justify the cost of saw and stand, but the rail forward design would solve a couple of issues in regards to space... I've seen how well their other tools deal with dust and can only imagine the Kapex does the same.
Nice work as always, thank you for keeping up the hard work of documenting this build and all that you and Chris do.
Cheers,
David
Quite right David,
...the KAPEX is an
extremely well thought out tool.
I'm using it for all the interior trim work. It captures a good amount of the sawdust. Very little gets out.
It makes compound cuts like this very easy to manage.
I can make 1/2º angle changes in both axis to the saw quickly and accurately.
I like it.....
a lot!
The two lasers that show the left and right side of where the blade will cut helps speed up positioning the material in the saw.
Trimming the house using it so far has been a real pleasure...
...with some good results.
Stand by for more.
I was finally able to get him to stop with the tractor (very noisy and it was definitely dark) and let the neighbors sleep. (He was even hand-shoveling gravel for awhile since he couldn't get the bucket close enough to thee carport posts.) He ate a quick dinner before posting and getting to bed. He was back at it before 7am (trying to beat the incoming rain). The next 10 days will still be relatively mild for this time of year, so outside work can still make progress. I'm sure Tom will try to get in at least one more mowing before the "season" is done.
Chris
Chris has been exceptionally understanding about all my long hours and late dinners but I think I was pushing it a
little bit too far that night.
But that's all behind us and tomorrow is another day. TLC!!!
Smitten Thomas
