Hatcher House Halloween

October 30, 2010 //

it seemed appropriate to decorate the front gate

All Hallows’ Eve is upon us but the house project is less hairy scary than a month ago and we’re ticking along again. Richard has taken charge of most of the decision-making and is doing a great job, easier after arranging his work schedule so he can attend the weekly Tuesday meetings. With architect Patricia’s help he has chosen low-e (energy efficient) glass for two of the huge south-facing panes (about 20′x12′ each), the sliding glass door systems, the TPO roofing material with a 20 year warranty, and the LG brand of split-system units (HVAC system).

Haskell has begun installing our infamous steel to hold the house together, the siding has been ordered, and Whittington Plumbing is ripping out old cast iron pipes to start getting all the plumbing in shape. Framing repairs are in the works in various spots around the house, which unfortunately included ripping up quite a bit of the parquet floors in the dining room that we had been hoping to keep. Sigh. There goes our ready-made disco. I’d already picked out the mirrored ball and strobe lights…watched some old Parkay commercials (since it’s pronounced the same). But fear not, Richard will find any excuse to wear his cerulean blue leisure suit.

Can you dig it?

Wonder Walls

October 24, 2010 //

My outdoor coquina walls and I are developing an intimate relationship. For the past two weeks I have been slowly scrubbing, bleaching, and scrubbing some more in an attempt to restore the stone back to its original color. My nose hairs are fried, my nails are brittle from the long-term bleach and chlorine exposure, and my shoulders and back perpetually ache, but there is something immensely satisfying about washing away years of dirt, mold and moss and seeing the stone turn from black and gray to light orange and white. It’s like watching an old black and white film now sensitively converted to color. So THIS is what it all really looked like!

before and after

I had done a lot of research online trying to figure out how to clean the coquina with no real luck. I have to thank Claudia at Ace Hardware for encouraging me to first rinse the stone with a strong spray from the hose (not a pressure washer), get everything nice and wet, then spray on straight commercial bleach or pool chlorine and let it sit for a bit before scrubbing it clean. It has worked like a charm and hasn’t seemed to have eroded the stone or caused any discoloration.

Perhaps if Liam and Noel Gallagher spent more time huffing chlorine they would’ve forgotten their differences and kept the band together…Oasis Wonderwall video link

Becky and Richard, This Is Your Life!

October 12, 2010 //

I found my online search for Columbus Day info serendipitous because I discovered (get it? discovered something on Columbus Day?) that October 12 is ALSO International Moment of Frustration Scream Day, National Face Your Fears Day, AND Free Thought Day. And I like to think that’s how my days often evolve. You’ve only got a week to ponder that yourself, because October 19 is Evaluate Your Life Day.

We were going to reuse large glass panes that were carefully removed. They all broke. We were going to repurpose the kitchen cabinets. They’re falling apart. We were going to leave a few bathrooms as is. They had to be ripped apart to replace rotten wood.

Even with life as it is, I have to agree with Winston Churchill when he said, “I am an optimist. It does not seem too much use being anything else.”

Steel Yourself

October 6, 2010 //

So of course we’ve had some hiccups along the way. Delays and confusion about the steel package. Yeah, see, we speak Builder now. Well, not really, but we have learned that the house requires a lot of custom fabricated steel plates to hold it all together. And steel apparently costs a lot of money. Who knew? Changes were made, papers were signed, and we shall soon be the weary owners of a pile of precariously stacked wood held together by comparatively eensy metal plates. (Yes we asked if we could just leave the scaffolding and shoring in place rather than get the steel but were told NO…something about meeting code…)

The bright spot of the week was news from the HVAC subcontractor (see, more Builder speak! “Heating, ventilation, air conditioning”). The LG brand split system we’re considering is likely to lower our electric bill considerably, not to mention allow us to raise most of the ceilings in the place from the claustrophobic 6 foot 7 inches to a more breathable 7 foot 4-ish. Perhaps we’ll recoup the steel bill in, oh, 50 years.

Take That, 5th Ave

September 25, 2010 //

Is one of these things just like the other?

Eye-catching cube, open 24/7, cost of product repairs make people want to cry. Sure the latter lacks windows and nappy sales assistants but we have a refreshing pool.

Hey Steve Jobs do you have any of that unused glass lying around?

Roof With a View

September 13, 2010 //

We have a green roof!

Not on purpose.
But there’s a few nice healthy patches of grass growing up there, tended by the bees and other fauna.
LEED certification is just a tiptoe-through-the-tulips away.

Now that the scaffolding company has installed scaffolding ALL THE WAY UP, Richard was able to climb up there and take a good look around.
Meanwhile Hygema is installing the last of the parallam beams along the roofline. Mark of Hygema told Richard that instead of messing with the roof before putting in the final huge beams, they’ll just slide them in all careful-like -with eyes closed whilst holding their breath? – before they even bolt any of the beams together. (Right now the entire house is being held up by steel posts and stacks of wood and nothing is connected.) I’m waiting to hear someone shout JENGA! so I can run for it.

Dog Days of August

August 16, 2010 //

It’s too hot to go outside, too hot to stay inside our camper, too hot to spend any length of time marveling at how the Hatcher House goes together. Durwood, however, is patient with Richard’s and my curiosity as we all stand outside with rivulets of sweat pouring quietly down within a matter of minutes, no matter what time of day.

Matt from Dandeneau Contracting appears faithfully every morning to demo as needed while Hygema continues the beam replacement, and Matt removes and replaces the temporary waterproofing as they go, keeping the work site tidy.

Sometimes we almost forget we’re living in a construction site, but then we walk past the forklift bigger than a Humvee and our discarded kitchen sink piled atop the other scrap metal for recycling. Definitely not normal yard fixtures in this neighborhood.

What Rot

August 3, 2010 //

It’s everywhere, behind every bit of fascia, under every eave, behind the beautiful coquina that distinguishes this house. Durwood, the site superintendent, literally pokes a stick at it and the wood crumbles and nails fall out.

Expected but disheartening, so many repairs to make. Now that it rains daily, Richard has carefully positioned buckets on every floor to catch the roof leaks that find their way inside. Patricia, our architect, had originally seemed to me a bit over-obsessed with waterproofing when we first began this project, but I now understand why, and appreciate her detailed focus on what to use for flashing, waterproofing, supports to prevent water damage and corrosion, guttering, roofing etc. Most of the people involved in this project have occasionally marveled aloud that the house is still standing, just the sort of rot we’re hoping to dispel.

Nutria, Nutrition and Nothingness

July 28, 2010 //

Camper life can be quite Zen. We have discovered that a family of nutria live in a burrow just outside, and now a favorite dusk-time activity is to watch them eating plant roots and jumping into the river for a swim while we listen to the owls hoot from above. Mealtimes are simple and perhaps not quite nutritionally balanced as we cobble them together from a very tiny pantry, fridge, and kitchen. And instead of mornings and evenings filled with rushing around to organize, clean, find things, tidy…well, there’s nothing. We read, talk, play cards, color, talk, read, and spot nutria. Of course, I have no idea if we’ll all feel so Zen here six months from now, but this short respite of happy nothingness in the middle of a sultry Florida summer has been a welcome surprise.

First Beam

July 25, 2010 //

Pathetic really, how elated we were to see the first parallam beam in. The thick laminated wood beam runs horizontally from next to the front door out to behind the house where it will someday support the upper floors above the workshop and one side of the new deck extension.

It’s the only beam currently in place, a teaser, just Hygema showing us what they can do. Amazing to consider they’ll have to cut and manhandle every one of those beams piled in our yard, starting with the first floor, wrapping around the house, and moving upwards.