The Second Half of October 2024
🔨 📐 Window Framing! 📐 🔨
Hopefully Less Rain Inside
(still gets lotsa drips, though)
October 17th, 2024
Windows!
some assembly required
Ross is starting to frame up the windows. He's been haunting HPM's various 90% off sales, and he scored a lot of really nice hardwood door frames so now he's using that lumber to build windows.
The window frames are going splendidly, however, getting the window glass clean is being a huge problem. The water stains on the glass don't come off easily and we haven't figured out any easy (or even a hard way but at least one that works) method to clean them. Vinegar didn't work. Lemons and salt didn't work. Muriatic acid didn't work. CLR cleaner didn't work. Soaking it in vinegar then using rubbing compound with lots of elbow grease will eventually clean it off, but considering the amount of glass to clean, that's not a very viable option. We may have to buy new glass. Still, it's a lot less expensive to buy a sheet of tempered glass than a manufactured window.
The big windows will have three panes of glass, each pane is roughly two by five feet. There will be four louvers below each of the fixed glass panes for ventilation. This gives us a big window that doesn't have any screens to blur the view and louvers for the tradewinds to keep the house cool.
There will be windowsills, too. As well as trim around the windows on the exterior as well as the interior of the house. Many modern houses seem to lack trim, it just doesn't seem proper to not have trim around windows and doors, but I suppose it's less expensive to omit it. This house isn't for resale, though, so we're trying to do it right not do it for profit.
October 19th, 2024
Window Rough In
That's a big hole!
The siding was cut for the window rough in and it's a huge hole! Basically from the sill plate to the top plate under the header. We literally can't get much larger than that! Two feet of the siding was removed to make room for the windows.
These are the Hilo side windows so that's the "short" eight foot tall wall. Eight feet is a standard wall height, but in this house design, the roof starts at an eight foot tall wall and goes up from there. There are only two eight foot tall walls. One is on the Hilo side, which is mostly bedrooms and the Hilo side of the sun room. The second eight foot tall wall isn't a wall at all, but the pillars and beam at the outer edge of the Waipio side of the big lanai. The windows on the front and back of the house could be taller, but we're keeping them at the same height as the side walls.
Window Frame
it fits!
It was surprisingly easy to fit the frames into the windows, Ross has done an excellent job! The glass panes aren't installed yet, but this frame is ready for them. The diagonal board and several of the horizonal boards are just bracing and will be removed once the glass is installed. The exterior parts will be painted a cream color and the interior will be stained a darker brown and lacquered.
This was the test frame, there's still a lot more to build. He's gone into a production line and is cutting all the pieces in masse. Now we just have to get the glass sorted.
October 21st, 2024
Big Lanai!
could use some flooring
The lanai is gonna be nice and large, although the dining room half circle is going to create a 'front' and 'back' lanai area. It should help keep the weather off the back half, though, which will be very useful.
So far we don't have any decking on it so it's a bit of a delicate business to traverse it. The decking should be soon, though, I think the lumber for it showed up on yesterday's lumber truck.
On the left side of the picture, the first large opening will be the front door. The center of the picture has the half circle of the dining area. The half circle is all windows, too, so we may be able to look right through there. The right side of the lanai will have one step or less ( hopefully ) to access to the front lawn.
October 21st, 2024
Walkway Beginnings
beginning lanai roof, too
The front of the house is getting more detailed. The lanai roof extension is framed out, you can see Nick up there working on it. (It becomes a bigger picture in a new browser window when you click on it). There are also the beginnings of the front walkway which will connect the lanai extension to the sun room. So far the Crow's Nest lanai is still just a piratical "walk the plank" feature up in the gable of the the house.
Front Walkway
across the front of the house
This is looking out the door from the sun room. There will be a four foot wide walkway with a railing on the ocean side ( well, duh, of course! ). The big 4x12's above will be for the Crow's Nest lanai and there will be some supporting 4x4 posts in there somewhere. Other than as a way to access the house from the front of the lanai, this walkway is also a way to wash the windows on the front of the house.
October 22nd, 2024
Waipio Side View
as seen while walking up the driveway
This may be the initial first view most folks will have of the house. Many of the pictures have been taken looking up from the Hilo side of the house since that's the side we walk up, but most folks will go up the concrete driveway on the Waipio side of the house.
As folks drive up, one of the first things they will see will be the big front doors on the lanai, which ( IMHO ) is very right and proper. There is "visitor" parking at the turn out in front of the avocado plateau or further up by the workshop. Or even up by the end of the lanai and the carport.
The back of the house
Some changes since the last back of the house picture, although not a whole lot of them. The excess roof decking has been trimmed, the job site cleared, the sillplate for the back carport wall is installed.
Some of the big bamboo got too close to Nick so it's been trimmed off and is laying there in the front of the picture. All the leaves have fallen off, the bamboo produces a surprisingly large amount of mulch, even the live branches are always dropping leaves.
Mauka Hilo corner
This is the mauka ( mountain ) Hilo side of the house. From here you can see how much of the siding is cut lower for the windows. So far the siding on the window towards the front of the house hasn't been cut out, but it will be as low as the window in the center. The window opening for the back bedroom is clear, but there will be some more siding put on either side of it.
In this picture, the excess roof decking still hasn't been trimmed off so the roof line is still a bit untidy.
October 23rd, 2024
Front of the House from the Hilo side
looking up again
The roof is now over the end of the lanai so the two sides of the house are symmetrical. At least as far as the roof is concerned. The posts are up to support the beam under the Crow's Nest lanai. They're a 4x4 post and look pretty delicate against the rest of the house. Maybe they should be increased to a 6x6? I suppose we can always encase them in 1" thick material of some sort if they continue to look too delicate when everything is done. The post between the lanai and the house may become a 24" wide pillar to match the other side, which isn't installed yet so it's not visible. Although, we should then continue it on down to the ground, but that may make accessing the under lanai area a bit more difficult. Hmm, have to consider it.
This sort of thing happens all the time when building a house. One thinks of some new improvement while in the middle of things. And, once one thing has moved, that shuffles everything else down the line. Well, it will be apparent later, if it's needed.
Dining Table?
We moved a small round table into the dining area just to get a feel for the space with furniture in it. This table is too small, it needs to be about four if not five feet wide, but at least this starts to give us an idea of size and space.
Gray oak floor, big round table, six if not eight chairs around it. Big half circle of wood framed windows forming the space. A slanted ceiling that starts at about nine feet at the outer edge of the circle and goes up to twelve and a half feet as it meets the living room. That crazy brass chandelier covered with crystals hanging over the middle of the table. Should be a fun space? Maybe a big round rug? But a rug in a dining room isn't exactly the best idea, is it? Well, we don't have a round rug anyway, but we do have a crazy brass chandelier if it can be rescued and revived.
October 24th, 2024
Waipio Valley overlook
it's a very clear day
Went out to the new fiber mill in Kukuihaele, Ohana Fiber Mill, with a friend to see the new yarn. However, we got there ten minutes early so we figured we'd drive out to Waipio Valley overlook while waiting since it's close by. It was a gorgeous crystal clear day. That's Maui off in the distance.
October 29th, 2024
House Parts
necessary parts, but not scenic
Five days later, we're up in Volcano stuffing a septic tank and assorted septic parts into a twenty foot container that already had 100 sheets of roofing in it.
There's the big black plastic septic tank. It can be hefted around by three people, it's not ferociously heavy more so than it's awkward. It's sitting on 100 sheets of white corrugated metal roofing. That's the heavy thing in this container. Under the striped plastic is ten sheets of corrugated translucent plastic roofing. We will use that for skylight areas. Under the white plastic roofing is some big black humpy things that are "chambers" for the septic field. You can't actually see much of them in the picture. And a few assorted PVC pipes for the septic field, too. The container is going to be delivered to the jobsite in about a week, so there's time to clear off the spot in the corner for it, hopefully.
October 30th, 2024
Sunny Day
lovely day, not a cloud in the sky
The day before Halloween, a lovely clear day without a cloud in the sky. Nick is busy on the stairway up to the loft. It's a pretty intricate business, I'm really glad he's a very competent carpenter!
Stair Drawing
it looks good on paper?
There's a lot of code involved with a stairway. Fortunately, Nick knows code. Not all construction workers do. The run on the treads is 11.25" which is basically the width of a 2x12. The rise is between 6-3/4" to 6-7/8" so the stairs should be pretty easy to walk up and down. It'd be nicer to add in an additional step, but there is a lack of headroom if we did that.
October 31st, 2024
Happy Halloween!
Happy Halloween!
it's been pouring all night
I'm not sure what the ranfall was but it was monsoon type of rain. The 'don't look up with your mouth open or you will drown' type of rain. It did test the drainage around the house. We got some water out of one of the perf pipes around the foundation so they're working. The roofing isn't on, so the whole house was drenched. Not too much erosion down the hill, so that's good.
Front foundation area
under the front walkway
Need to adjust the front landscaping to drain water away from the foundation. The post holes got filled in with a bit too much soil and it hasn't had time to settle yet so the water went towards the house. I'll adjust that as soon as it dries out a bit. This is the foundation area at the front of the house under the walkway to the sun room from the lanai.
Front walkway
could use some flooring
The framing for the front walkway is getting built. A bit of flooring, a bit of railing and it should be all good. We're now planning on using wire railing instead of glass panels. The glass would cut the wind, but require a lot more maintenance than the stranded wire railings. There will probably be a top rail, an under rail below that, then the horizontal wires and then finally a bottom wooden rail so folks who like to put their feet on things while looking over railings can put them on the wooden rail instead of the wire ones.
Back view from behind the workshop
on a very wet day
I've been clearing the back corner to put the container so there's been a lot of clearing out of things done. Which is good, but there's also been a lot of soil moved out of the back corner and loosely piled up on the Hilo side of the house. ( which is out of the picture so you don't see it ) That's too mucky to take the excavator into until it dries out a bit. Somehow three tons of machine, a big pile of mucky mud and a slope don't seem like friends who would play well together.
Side view from the driveway
on a very wet day
This may become one of my new photo shot locations. I like to take pictures from the same angle if possible so it's easier to tell the progress from picture to picture.
Side view from the driveway
on a very wet day
This is essentially the same view as the previous picture although the camera angle is now reduced to "normal". The previous picture as well as many of the previous pictures, have been shot with a wide angle option. It skews the perspective a bit, but allows for more to fit in the frame.
The shape of the house is pretty set now. There's the four pillars for the lanai, although the two on the ends will get a foot and a half wide 'return' so they will be in an "L" shape instead of just a flat panel. The four pillars do make three nice openings. The first two won't require railings, but there will be a horizontal wire railing with a wooden top rail across the first opening on the left as well as wire railing across the front of the house.
White tin roof, cream colored trim. Brown three tab asphalt shingles. Lots of glass windows. Not quite sure what the landscaping will be quite yet. Some grass in front, maybe some sort of landscaping shrubs on the hillsides. Well, there's still plenty of time to figure that out.
End of the month of October, Happy Halloween, and I'll start November's pages sometime in mid-November.
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