Back to DaVE & Noemi's Garage
Back to DaVE & Noemi's Garage -- Phase II

prev week	all weeks	next week

Finally, some nice weather. It's looking like a beautiful week, starting out in the 70s.

Major decision #362 was finalized: we met with the concrete contractor and settled on the pavers, and we've marked out where to locate the driveway. What started out as a passing thought will soon be cast in stone -- literally! It's hard to predict how we'll use the driveway, and where we'll wish we'd paved and where we wish we hadn't. The pavers are more flexible than a hunk poured concrete though.

The trenches for plumbing and electrical conduit right before they were filled in.

The sewer lateral is nearly done, which involved opening up a hole in the street and digging down 6 feet to the clay sewer pipes. Our neighbors deserve an extra thank-you for putting up with this, as it went on for several days and involved a lot of equipment on our usually quiet street.

Craig finished up the siding while the drywall tapers worked, then installed the bathroom door, and put the vanity in (all the way to the left at my request). The bathroom door still isn't done, and I've since taken it down again to continue stripping and sanding it. The door still needs a great deal of paint stripping work, but it's in place and even opens all the way. The bathroom is VERY narrow, so only a 26" wide door would fit. Craig did a nice job of fitting this old, funky door and jamb to the new space.

I Vanna-White the doors.

Friday the electricians showed up and start tearing siding off the house Apparently, this is SOP, and we can use the garage siding to replace the new gaping holes. We believe our electrical service was upgraded to two 100A circuits. Tim kindly stopped by Saturday morning to check it out, and assured us this was fixable. He was concerned, however, that the electricans had started this work without telling anyone -- including him!

Mom wanted to see what the garage looks like with the house.

I'd rather leave the skylights as wood, so attempt to stain two of them myself. I don't really have a problem with heights, but it is tricky looking up, then down, and painting above your head while standing 12 feet high on a ladder! I succeeded, but was all too aware of the peril. I think I'll skip the other two skylights, which we don't have a ladder that comes close to reaching, and just have them painted.

Sunday, Dave and I attended a Finish Carpentry class in which the carpenter offered the opinion that wood shouldn't be used outside at all anymore, just inside. He said the only way to weatherproof a Dutch door is with a big awning. It will be interesting to see how our south-facing, exposed Dutch door fares.

Tim said we could be done in 3 weeks....! There's still the driveway, plumbing, electrical and painting to do in the contract. Then, we'll have the floor painted, get the garage doors installed, coordinate with Craig to remove the shed, set up shelves and workbenches, tear down the temporary storage tent, move everything into the garage, fix up the yard from all the construction traffic, landscape the new yard

This week's final view:

Side note: This week is one of the worst weeks the stock market has seen in years. Monday and Wednesday, both huge, horrible drops in the stock market (both Dow and NASDAQ). In some ways, it makes decisions easier: no agonizing about putting money into paying a landscaper -- that can wait! We set aside the money for the garage and other things over a year ago, and though some "other things" have been re-allocated to the garage kitty, this project isn't jeopardized by the stock market. Still, there are a lot of things we're now less inclined to hire people to do because of the economic climate. The stream of tradesmen we've seen and paid on this project are the first ones that will be affected by this downturn. I predict that the Berkeley Building Education Center will see enrollment skyrocket for a crop of new do-it-your-selfers!

prev week	all weeks	next week