Transformations...

As the year winds to a close, our cabin lay snug in its new outer coat: a new roof, siding, and windows! The siding sports a light gray primer, it will be a darker gray next spring. The focus now points inward: we need ceiling insulation in the addition, and a ceiling throughout most of the cabin. We can't afford to completely sheetrock the place - holy cow is that expensive!!! So we're painting the paneling (wood lover that I am - I never DREAMED I would paint like this). First, two coats of Bins. Smelly stuff, but very affective. Then two coats of latex satin paint. Aaaahhhh! The ceilings in the den and the entry kitchen (when you first enter the cabin) are existing old stuff that is filthy and would be difficult to replace. So: two coats of Bins and some ceiling white, and an amazing transition!! Heck, I even slept in the cabin this past weekend. And I survived with all digits intact! We're headed back down in a couple of days - to celebrate my birthday and dig clams for three straight days! Yahooooooo!

A Year in Review...

Earlier this year we started out here... Now look! This past winter..... And now! Another older view....notice Michele's respirator! And now.... And now the work inside has also begun....Binz (or however it's spelled) - think super killz odor/mildew/ super sealer.....applied in the old den (soon to be guest room) The den....at the beginning! Just look at it now!!!

All Done

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Originally uploaded by spinpygora

Here's the new fireplace door all installed. It has two bifold glass doors and that chain-mail type curtain inside (cuz you can't have a fire in there with the glass doors closed!)

I uploaded this iPhone photos to Flickr, then tried to paste them into my blogger software. This used to be very easy to do. Apparently too easy and caused problems, so now you have to link your Flickr acct to the Blogger account and you end up posting single photos in a blog entry.

I am NOT liking this! Photos look much better uploaded to hardrive,. then uploaded to web server. What a pain.....

It's About Time!

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Originally uploaded by spinpygora

I've not been to the beach cabin since September. Holy cow! My work/personal schedule for October was horrendous...and I've nobody to blame but myself for the most part.

The siding and window job has not yet begun. I know the contractor wanted to be helpful, but sheesh, if you're not going to get to the job until after hunting season - TELL ME! Believe it or not, I'd rather have the truth the first time rather than after the fact. Needless to say, when we stopped by to talk to the contractor at his place of business.....I stayed in the truck. That was probably better for all parties at this point(!)

So the siding/window job is starting on Monday (it'saboutime!). They really do wonderful work - I just hate slipping deadlines. Also getting a quote on insulation/sheetrock for the ceilings.

We did go to the beach this past Wednesday. I took a day off, partially because I wanted to go to the beach, and partially to spend the day with Gary. Between my work hours and his hunting schedule, we'd not had a decent conversation for two weeks...and they'd had 100 mph wind gusts at the beach - we were concerned.....

The cabin survived the high winds just fine. We did have some water on the new subflooring in front of the fireplace and on either side. We'd taped up the opening of the fireplace with heavy plastic, but it was not enough for those strong winds. Lucky for us, our new fireplace door had arrived, and we spend the morning installing it!

As Promised...

A photo of the new roof....and the rotten siding.......and the jungle of vegetation...... New siding begins in two weeks! Yay! That includes new windows!!! We cannot keep grinning at our new roof!!!

Ruh-Roh! Or Maybe TMI??

Ok, that is Scooby-Doo for "uh-oh". I've spent the better part of my entire life on septic systems. Hmmm, that previous sentence sounds like I've got medical issues..... What I mean to say is everywhere I've ever lived (college and Longview being the only exceptions), my places of residence have been on a septic tank/drainfield. This is not a hardship as long as the system is properly maintained. You know what's coming here, don't you? A little voice kept whispering to me that the beach cabin septic system has likely not been maintained (a fair assumption given the physical condition of the cabin itself). When we removed a portion of the floor in front of the fireplace, we both scooted underneath looking for uh, more boxes, and perhaps buried treasure. My dad had been told his father's silver dollar collection was underneath the house. No treasure (how sad....) or boxes (thankgoodness!) but off in the distance towards the back of the house, I could see a small pile of what looked like, uh, toilet paper. Ok. Fine. Let's call the plumber. We are NOT going to deal with this ourselves. Yep- the sewer line under the original cabin is in good shape, the sewer line under the addition was not glued together and has come apart under duress. Duress? Oh yeah, a MAJOR case of ivy in the sewer lines has caused our plumbing issues. Where is that septic tank, anyhow? Just north of the deck. Where are the cleanouts? Oh yeah, UNDER the deck. Guess who has a new trapdoor feature to their deck. Uh-huh, that would be us. This is not a casual ivy problem, this is largishly thick woody stems in the septic tank and into the sewer pipes. This has been an issue for several YEARS by the look of things. The tank itself is in good shape with a rather thick and sturdy metal lid which is in remarkeable shape considering its age! The plumbers, bless their hearts, dug deep holes beneath the house and removed "the evidence". The bathroom smells much nicer - oh, especially after the plumbers removed the toilet (it was merely sitting on top the pipe, not fastened (!), installed a new flange and wax seal before properly seating the toilet. So, in my best "bathroom humor voice" I am happy to report we have an audible water-feature sound....at least until the tank fills up. No photos for this post! Roof photos coming later..... We are on the contractors list for our new windows and Hardie plank siding! Yay!!! I feel like renting that Tom Hanks moving "The Money Pit".....

September Update

The summer is almost over. It's been an interesting one, filled with numerous trips to the transfer station (sounds much nicer than dump, doesn't it?). I continue to be amazed that it took us an entire summer to empty the cabin. It's not entirely empty, there is some furniture and a smallish collection of boxes. "Smallish" is a relative term - but believe me - this is smallish! I want to restate that I am a packrat. Yes, I am. Yet this cabin has cured me. I never dreamed I would be so toss-happy. My grandmother would be horrified and I remain a bit surprised myself. It has been a loosely organized tossing - some items being immediately tossed while others kept for awhile before being classified as needing-to-be-tossed.

Michele likes Gary's new tool kit!

I am happy to report that we've moved into Phase Two: cleaning and ripping. Our many thanks to fellow family members for all the labor day weekend help. They claim they didn't do much. We feel much differently about that! Any and all help is extremely appreciated!! I know they wanted to do more - ripping and tearing and helping us get squared away before winter comes. However, the dreaded M word became a reality. M=money, or lack thereof.....

Mom & Bruce removing the old, smelly ceiling tiles in the loft

Jon & Bruce removing more ceiling tiles - they're all gone now! (the tiles, that is...)

Yet, with a leaking roof, cracked windows and rotten siding - we felt the need to borrow money to get the little cabin secured before winter. Now we have remodeling money and our help has gone home. Let nobody ever accuse me of good timing. The roof is to be professionally installed within the next two weeks. Then siding and windows. Even with this on the horizon, we felt the need to make some emergency repairs - some of which can be kept as permanent repairs.

Gary undoing some wiring before we begin ripping - right wall

Left wall - before rippping

Yes - our little beach cabin lost some of its charm this past weekend. Oh, I can still foresee many great beach weekends with family and friends - these outings will be made much richer knowing we busted our butts to make it all happen.

This is why we were ripping.....

I was reminded this weekend how much I dislike carpentry. With sewing and knitting there is ease. Not so with plywood, floor underlayment, and hardi-board. But the large gaping holes in the floor/walls needed to go. I'm not excited about having another Willard siting and I'm thinking Gary isn't, either.

All the yukky stuff is gone...but now we must work fast before night falls!

But we're now relieved we made these repairs - the house smells even better now - sort of like a lumberyard. The moldy, rotten floor underlayment was smelly!

Ripping up that floor was NOT fun - and it took the Fein tool, the sawzall, and the skill saw! New wood looks (and smells!) nice!! Look, ma! No holes!

The last item we had to complete? The HUGE hole in the floor where the mover fell through when packing up grandma's things. I remember her being sooooo indignant when he damaged her floor! Sheesh! And finally (and we do mean FINALLY!) ALL DONE! Ok, except for leveling the floor surface and recovering it with something....Gary's leaning towards Pergo - and I'm unsure about that.

(ignore the plastic leaf bag nailed to the left window - it's a temporary location for garbage collection) Did I mention we are extremely happy this is behind us?????