Diagnosis: Getting Old is Better Than The Alternative.

March 30, 2017 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

There are milestones in this life that makes each and every one of us feel the passage of time, the gravity of the age we have reached, and the cool creeping hand of the debt that we all must pay: Waking up to stiffness, uttering the phrase: “back in my day…”, the day your children grow taller than you, CHOOSING to eat your vegetables, your kids making adult decisions (or not), when your babies have babies, realizing that you own a t-shirt that this older than the lady who cuts what is left of your hair, etc. and so on…

I have been really feeling all of my 43 years lately, for various reasons, but mostly due to hip surgery. I have, to this point lived an X-Games sort of life: lots of road & trail running, cycling, skiing, snowboarding, rock-climbing, mountaineering, diving, kayaking, canoeing, parachuting, lifting, sailing, skateboarding, tumbling, boxing, surfing, and various other activities that have led to many broken bones, strains, ligament/tendon tears, and the like – I didn’t brag about being awesome at any of it , hence the myriad of injuries…

That abuse has caught up to me and I have had to have major hip surgery to repair both bone and soft tissue after trying intently to ignore mounting pain for a couple of years. The immediate prognosis after a mostly, but not completely successful surgery is three weeks down in bed, five weeks on crunches, six weeks in a RoboCop-esq hip brace/isolator, and six months before I will be allowed to return to “normal” activity.

My road running days are over – No more long slow distance days on the blacktop. I will be allowed the occasional trail run after 9 months or so. No more heavy packs hoisted on my back and carried into the wilderness (30# is OK), and no multi-day/multi-summit peak-bagging. I can cycle again, but downhill mountain biking and cyclocross are not suggested. I have had and will continue to have arthritis in that hip and I am guaranteed another 10-20 years of use, depending on how well I behave and listen to my Dr., before I will need a full hip replacement. Unawesome.

I start physical therapy in earnest next week and I will do exactly what I am told. I will have spent the remainder of this year slimming down some, working in and on my shop, taking lots of walks when I am cleared to do so, and then figure out when to spend my time activity wise. Right now, I am leaning toward kayaking, crag climbing, a little skate boarding (longboard – no vert), canoeing, easy snowboarding, camping, light hiking, and some road biking. Today though, I and just hobbling along inside the house (can’t drive yet) actually looking forward to going back to work next week.

The New Kitchen Floor is Now Installed

February 20, 2017 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

It has been a while since I laid a floor tile – like 18 years. Things haven’t changed though and while time consuming and very detailed – lots of steps – I still remember how it is done. There was no way that I was going to pay someone to do a job that I can/could do, so I took on the task of installing a new kitchen floor in our house. the last of the major projects that I took on during our home remodel.

The job is now done and looks great. Most importantly though, my wife is happy. She has a new kitchen floor and it is exactly what she has wanted for years: a black and white checker board kitchen floor that is laid on the diagonal. I am glad she is happy, because I REALLY don’t want to redo it for the next 90 years or so.

After ripping off 7 layers of old flooring, filling holes, patching a couple sections, removing 40+ screws and 100+ staples, and scrubbing the sub-floor clean, we were ready to start. Starting about 9:00 one Saturday morning, I cut and laid ¼ inch water resistant underlayment – stapling in the field every 4” and along the seams every 2” with narrow gauge crown staples. Starting about 10:00 the next morning, I vacuumed the whole space 3 times to clear any and all debris and locked the puppies out of the kitchen.

Because there is not ONE SINGLE square or plumb wall in my entire 90 year old house, I snapped a grid in the middle of the floor, squared from the doorway leading from the living-room, so that it would look square as viewed from the main room of the house. I applied glue on ½ of the floor and started in the middle of the room and worked toward the south wall/breakfast nook. Stamps-With-Foot cleaned tile as she pulled it from the cardboard boxes (success is in the details) and handed me them as I laid the field and she cut most of the edge pieces as I marked them. Her help was GREATLY appreciated. We laid the other half of the floor, starting about 6:00pm Sunday evening and finished the last piece about 11:30pm. Not too shabby for one weekend’s worth of labor.

I let the glue cure for five days before sealing and then applying 5 coats of satin floor wax. Pre-painted (by me) ¼ round trim was applied around the edges of the walls and cabinets before I very carefully brought the appliances back in and reinstalled. The VC tile I used should outlast my grandchildren and just needs to be scrubbed every other week, then stripped and re-waxed once a year if so.

Stuff My Wife Says – Volume II

January 10, 2017 / Matt Talley / 5 Comments

I have written previously about some of the things that have come up in conversation with my sweet, bubbly, kind, giving, gentle, well-adjusted, awesome wife. Well, with the passage of time I have… err… SHE has more to say on the subject. Enjoy:

I was splashing my wife in the hot tub the other night and she yells “Onomatopoeia! Onomatopoeia!!” It is apparently her new “safe word”. My safe word is bacon.
While Living in France, we bought a lot of wine that we brought back to the US. Most of it is in the normal .75L size bottle, but there are some .375L demi-bouteilles, a few 1.5L magnums, and one 3L double magnum bottle as well. Stamps-With-Foot has taken to calling the .375L bottles “Juice Boxes.” I teased her that it is because they would fit in her lunch box. She looked up at me with smiling, happy, dreamy eyes, then over at her 1984 metal Thundercats lunch box (really that is what she takes to work) and said, “Yes… they would…”
Long story short, I made a crude off hand remark about a lady who’s “carpet matched the drapes”. Instead of smacking me for being a misogynistic and sexist asshole, my wife looked at me with great annoyance and said sarcastically “Great, now I have to think about her snatch!” I had nothing more to say.
I failed to use my turn signal in moderate traffic while driving near limousine, France and lamented that I was being a bad/unsociable driver. Stamps-With-Foot said offhandedly while looking out the window: “Fuck that. This is France, do you know how many of these motherfuckers have cut me off over the last two years? Fuck them.” 30 seconds later she got all excited, bright eyed, wiggling in her seat with joy & happiness over a fortified Chateau we were passing.
My lovely bride walked into the living room the other night with her phone and computer in hand while wearing mix-matched PJs. I looked at her with a raised eyebrow and she shot back with, “This is as sexy as it gets tonight, maybe all weekend.” Fair enough.
We went out to my company’s winter event just after New Year’s and Stamps-With-Foot looked killer in a long tight velvet dress. As we were getting ready, she looked at me and said, “Tonight is a two drink minimum night”. I started to correct her and she stopped me, making it plain that she did not misspeak and that I was the Designated Driver for the evening.
“I love puppies, diamonds, and PJs – in that order.” Not sure why she said this. It just popped up out of the blue one Saturday afternoon.
Two months after the 2016 presidential election, I casually mentioned talking the “Bernie” sticker off her car window. She snapped back, “You will not touch it! I love that wrinkly old motherfucker and I need to hold onto the faith for a while.” Ok… Me no touchy…
Our female French bulldog, Truffle, has a big personality and is super lovable. She is also pushy, selfish, sneaky, petty. During one painful week long interlude, she puked on my chest while I was asleep, pissed in Stamps-With-Foot’s car seat because we “made” her wear a sweater in 30 degree temperatures, tried to pee on my pillow because I had the audacity to move her from my spot at bedtime, puked on an antique wool Persian rug, took a dump on the front porch because the grass was wet, fucked up a couch pillow, tore the heart out of Brodie’s favorite toy, she chewed up 3 pencils, stole food from Brodie, and went all Cujo on a contractor working at the house. My wife looked at me one morning and said, “No more girl dogs. They are too much work. Just boy dogs – they can be gay though.” I had no words.

A Walk-in Closet for My Wife

November 9, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

As part of the now 10 month rehab, remodel, rebuild of our house my wife wanted some space to hang her clothes and put her shoes and boots that was not an afterthought. A place that, for once was not crammed or disorganized and was purpose built. It was decided that we turn a small bedroom/office into a walk-in closet.

I sketched out a few ideas in my notebook and went over them with her. She removed a large shoe rack and opted for more clothes bar space. She also wanted a bunch of drawers to store smaller stuff in. I initially drew everything with a built in dresser, but changed it a little and made room for a free-standing French dresser made in Revel in the 1930’s that we acquired while living in Toulouse. There is 27 feet of linear hanging space using iron pipe (no sag), 24+ shoe cubbies, shelves, drawers, storage, and two full length mirrors.

I spent most of this past weekend getting the flat panel section dividers up, installing the clothes bars and adding top shelves. There are three areas that are made for off-season storage: coats in the summers/short sleeves in the winter. For these spaces, I decided to line one wall each with cedar. While some people might line the whole closet with cedar, I would advise against it unless you and your significant other wants to smell like a lumberjack constantly. Too much and the smell, while pleasing for me, pervades everything.

I lined two of the three spaces this weekend and got to use my old-school hand miter saw. While manual, it is faster to use in the closet – no dragging in a stand and cords and creates a LOT less dust than my big power Bosch miter saw.

I still need to add shelving on one side, put up all of the upper and lower panel trim, fill my nail holes, sand, paint, and bring the dresser in, but the space is usable and has allowed us to unpack all the boxes that have sat in our bedroom full of clothes. I will take the clothes back out on the day that I sand and paint.

Here is the progress to this point:

We Have LIGHTS!!!

October 21, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

HOLY Bejesus… I have Electricity in the F-Bomb Garage!! Only 4 months after permit pulled and 9 months after garage build began. I have lights that are not hooked up to an extension cord, the auto door openers work, there are five 110VAC plugs ready for power tools, and my lift is now working without the aid of a 220VAC extension cord running from the drier plug in the basement of the house.

I just had the bare minimum done to get the panel and transfer switch in place and have the city sign off on the garage. Now, that is not to say that all is well in the electrical department: I am still waiting for final permit sign off for the work already done, which is on hold. Apparently, my electrician screwed up the wire routing in the meter box and SCL cannot install a meter. Thankfully they are letting me keep the lights on until my current electrician can come back and address.

I am now prepping in all the other 110 plugs myself – at 4′ high, putting in 2 additional 220 plugs and a 50amp plug for my welder. There is no way I am going to pay an hourly fee to have romex run, holes drilled, staples put in, and plugs & switches wired in. Nope. I will be paying electrician that my company contracts for industrial work to sign off on my install and run the lines into the panel and install breakers – already arranged and the price isn’t too bad at all. While I can do this in my sleep, I am not licensed and my insurance would not pay a dime is something happened, regardless of fault.

Additionally, My J-O-B was getting rid of a huge organizer bin cabinet: 1/8″ steel, 72″X24″X84″ and 350+ lbs. There was no way I was going to watch that beast go to the recycling center, so I asked if I could have it. Yep, the facilities guy said “load it up” and btw “I have a pallet jack that is wonky if you want it…” Yes, please. Got them both home and the cabinet fits perfectly and will be amazing for climbing, boarding, camping gear organization – keeping all the shop dust and debris off of my gear and making it so I don’t have to dig for small parts ever again.

The pallet jack was low on hydraulic fluid. I filled it up, put a weighted pallet on it overnight and this morning I found the pallet still in the air and no fluid on the floor. Win-win.

F-Bomb Garage Build Update: Mid-September 2016

September 17, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Still no electricity… long sad story from the electrician: too much work, not enough people, confusion with the city, scheduling snafu… No show at all last week. I have watched an entire house, with a garage, be built and sold 3 streets away since my garage project started…

Fall is here and the rain is coming soon, so I spent an afternoon last week with the Airless Spray Rig and painted the garage doors, bollard post, and man-door Benjamin Moore Heritage red. The door & building trim will be bright white and will go on after work one day next week. Gutters go on after.

House Remodel Status September 2, 2016 – 7.5 months in

September 3, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Here is the house/garage re-build/build status for the 1st part of September.

The F-Bomb Garage has been painted – at least the outside walls. I need to paint the trim and doors next.
Repaired some major issues with the trim and siding on garage – real unhappy with my garage builder!
Front yard is still green, but need to clean and re-seed the back yard.
There oar only 2 rooms in the house that are complete and need no work at this point. Stamps-With-Foot could be happier with me right now…
The mounting brackets for the granite in the basement are done and I will install them this weekend.
Our washing machine went out… fuck. The bearings finally gave up the ghost. need to haul it out and put another in.
No garage power yet. Huge load of confusion between the City of Seattle and my electrician. Maybe worked out now, but we will see.
The yard is completely fenced in and the rear gate is installed. just a couple of tweaks and then power wash and polyurethane coat.
The living room corner cabinets are in place, but not painted or installed.
We have a small roof leak – motherfvcker!!! it is around the kitchen vent and from where the moss removal team got too eager with the power washer. I will go up there this weekend and seal it.
Got a huge bill from our plumber for work that they didn’t do before abandoning the job. wanted to scan my ass into the 3D printer and send them a copy. Called a lawyer instead. we have a plan forward.

Painting The F-Bomb Garage

August 26, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

The Garage build is coming along. Still waiting for Seattle City Light to connect the power from the transformer. 5 weeks now…Delay has been just a factor of this build. I would have more patience with City Light if one of their crews hadn’t been sitting at a bikini coffee stand for 30+ minutes on Monday while I was eating a late lunch across the street. I like boobs and bikinis and coffee even more than the average bear, but come on – don’t tell tell everybody how swamped your crews are if they have time to have a philosophical discussion with a nearly naked barista…

(For those of you not in the PacNW – bikini coffee here is a thing and some stands are really open to the definition of what a bikini is – an eye patch and pasties are the rule and some stands.)

I can’t continue with the interior wiring until that connection happens and the electrical inspection is OKed. No insulation or drywall/T1-11 until it get the “OK to Cover” from the electric inspector. I am not one to sit on my butt, so I wheeled out the airless spray rig for the first time in like forever and put two coats of quality Benjamin Moore paint on the outside of the garage – matches the house. I will paint the doors and trim this weekend.

Building fences and pouring concrete

August 25, 2016 / Matt Talley / 2 Comments

I need to tie the wooden fence back into the new structure so the dogs can roam in the back yard again. While backing up to unload concrete and posts for the fence, I barely tapped the corner of the garage with my trailer. Not a single scratch or dent or ding, but it made me say DIRTY words. I put my thunkin’ cap on and decided that if I did it once, I would do it again, and someone else would definitely smack the corner. A Bollard was in order. I went by Pacific Metals and picked up a 6’X5″X5/16″ wall hunk of square tubing and 4 sections of 3/8X10′ rebar.

I rented an auger to dig the needed 7 post holes and dropped in 1 more for the bollard. The fence post holes are 18-14″ deep, but the bollard hole is 38″ deep and after chipping away at it with a post hole digger, maybe 14-16″ in diameter with a bell-shaped bottom. I cut 3 of the rebars to 7’ and bent the three pieces into a fishhook shape, wire tying the tops together in 3 places. I then took the off cuts and bent them into a “U.”

I put the rebar in the hole, sitting on plastic rebar chairs and placed the post over them. I splayed out the “hook” sections and wire-tied the U-shaped pieced around the rebar and around the bollard. I then added another hoop around the original section and the tied hoop. Concrete was poured in and vibrated to get all the air and voids out. I filled the bollard with concrete and used a scrap section of rebar to agitate and pack down the concrete in the bollard.

I left 4” of the top of the square tubing free of concrete and dropped in a 6” lag bolt with to 3” sticking out of the wet concrete, but still in the tube. After the concrete dried and while I was setting some fence posts, I went back and finished off the top of the bollard with a bit more concrete. I will paint it red when I paint the doors to the garage. The thing won’t stop a tank, but it might save the corner of my garage from a moment of inattention…

Not so short contractor rant

August 22, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We are so close to being done with the garage and the house (yard is still a disaster, which will have to wait ‘til next year, but the stress of dealing with crappy, disorganized, and/or no show contractors throughout this process has been and is so frustrating. This is not a post to rail on all contractors or even all of our contractors…

We had same great ones:

Maranatha Hardwood Floors showed up on time for the quote. The owner was personable and the quote was reasonable. They showed up on time, did a beautiful job, listened to a specific request from my wife, there were no extra charges, cleaned up after themselves, and our floor looks great.
RCS Fire Place was A-1: On time, good pricing, no add-on charges, etc…
After an initial sales rep flub, Greenwood Heating & Air did a nice job on our heat pump. Very professional installers. No complaints.
Vehicle Equipment Solutions was awesome on the lift order and install. I couldn’t be happier with their work.
Our Drywall guys were top notch. Very professional, great price, showed up when they were supposed to and finished right on time.
The carpet guys that did our bedroom were fast, professional, and did a nice job.
I had some custom wrought iron brackets made and the blacksmith listen to our wants and delivered a beautiful product.
Pacific RIM equipment rental was great in supplying heavy equipment for the garage tear out and site prep. When there was a breakdown, they delivered a new machine and I wasn’t charged for any gas use for the entire weekend.
Bryan at Squak Box was a rock star when it came time to haul out the debris from the old garage and all the old concrete. On time, no hidden costs, dropped the containers perfectly. Couldn’t ask for more.

And the not so great:

My garage contractor has now quit. There is little I can do at this point besides shake my head in wonder and disgust. It has been a bumpy road from almost the start, but I figured that with a little bit of work it would all be OK. A bit of work turned into a part time job and time spent on the garage was time not spent on the house and that made Stamps-With-Foot grumble. In addition to the garage tear down and the site preparation that had to be done (40+ hours of my time and ~$3000. I had to do 4-5 hours of slab/rebar prep when the contractor’s guy messed up, then had to ask for poly burlap to cure the slab, apparently not standard. I ended up keeping the slab wet for the entire 10-day cure (to limit cracking and allow it to fully harden, then apply the concrete densifier after my normal workday and the end of the cure process.

Installation of fire blocking isn’t required per code in Seattle for a wall less than 10’, but it is the right thing to do. It was out of scope for the contractor and an additional cost, so The Ruminator and I ended up doing it while he was here on summer vacation. I had to install two forgotten kicker studs, tighten missed/forgotten anchor bolt nuts, added nails to the hurricane straps, and had to go over punch list items twice before they were addressed.

The windows and door trim were installed incorrectly – I could see daylight in the corners of the windows and I asked that they be re-installed. When that was being done, my siding got cracked. I also found that instead of every 16” per code, the siding was nailed every 4’ in some locations. I called and the foreman came out. He addressed some issues but caused others. I then called the owner and he came out. He agreed with every point I had. They crew came back and while some items were fixed, others were not and new problems popped up. I let the owner know and this was his response:

“Unfortunately we’ve succeeded in messing up again. ____ had no excuse for why he didn’t read my email, about taking the siding out from the bottom of the windows, and what they were thinking with the screws into the bottom of the fascia’s. If they’d pre-drilled the holes it would have worked and been clean.

I don’t have anyone else in my employee who I could send down to make any corrections, and I don’t think you would trust anyone I sent to do any more work. What I’d like to offer is to forego our final payment and let you clean up any items by your self. I don’t like doing this, I really want to get the job done for you but we’ve already had three try’s. I know you might not be as happy as you should be but I want to at least make you satisfied with _____________.”

I am not happy and while I agree that I don’t trust his guys to come back a third time, the keeping of a few hundred bucks does not make it all better. Now, I either have to find and pay someone else or do it myself. Frustrating.

I have looked at this. Am I just an asshole? Am I too picky or do I expect too much? I really have looked at this hard and yes, I can be an asshole, but not in this and not with a single contractor or tradesman on my site. We provided lunches, Gator-aid, and beer for all the guys working, I talked to every contractor that has been on our property like I would want to be spoken to, If I wanted something different or changed, I addressed it right then by ASKING and wasn’t the least bit of a shit about it. I cleaned up the job site in the afternoons after I got off work to save them all time and effort.

Is needing someone to stick to a schedule, be on time, and not halfway do something too particular? I don’t think so. Is asking that a contractor meet minimum code requirements, pull permits, and do the job they agreed to for the agreed to price crazy? apparently so.

Other issues:

In addition to the plumbing circus that we had in the spring, we had a carpentry crew that abandoned us for a job where the other customer was screaming louder. They left tools, work unfinished, material, you name it. My electrician has been a little flakey – uncashed checks, no shows, showing up unannounced and unscheduled, really hard to get a hold of, etc., but at least this one hasn’t broken into our house while we were gone… I have had 3 contractors come out for quotes on our basement bathroom tile and never heard from two of them again. The third guy finally called me back and said the job was just way too small and “not worth the time it would take to set up his wet-saw.”

I get it, all the contractors in Seattle are busier than a puppy with two peckers. That means that 1. they can be super picky, 2. charge what they want, 3. if they fuck up, no worries, there are three other jobs waiting.

The F-Bomb Garage completion is getting closer!

July 19, 2016 / Matt Talley / 2 Comments

I was out of town this past week on a work trip to merry ol’ England. I came home to a sweet surprise: I have a new 10,000lb two-post lift installed in the F-Bomb Garage. I got a decent deal on a . Went with the Rotary Revolution RPT10 because there is a local dealer, local support, I got a decent deal on the lift+install, and some experience that some friends and colleagues have had with this and other lifts.

We are getting closer to finally building some stuff inside/voiding warranties/modifying the jeep. My contractor had a foreman out last week to deal with the framing punch-list items: a couple of anchor bolts, some trim, loose siding, a funky corner, and I had him re-install my three windows with the proper flashing tape – I could see light in all the corners. A leaky window after I have stressed the importance of proper installation and showed them what I needed twice would throw me into fits. He also swapped the door trim, but not everything on the list got done and now there is more stuff that needs attention. I have the contractor stopping by to go over it all tonight. Very frustrating to spend this sort of cash and to deal with all the little things over and over.

The electrician is 3 weeks out – everyone is building and remodeling in Seattle and contractors are super swamped, so I am going to concentrate on the outside in the mean time: Paint and gutters as soon as the siding issues are dealt with.

F-Bomb Garage Build Status – Late June

June 24, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Well, we are a month+ behind schedule, but the our garage is coming along:

The roof trusses are up and on: Flat trusses on one side and scissors on the other side to accommodate the 2-post car lift. My contractor is not adding the fire block (insert grumpy face). These both limit the upward spread of a possible fire and add structural rigidity to the wall. Building code in our area is 10′ of wall height before block is “required” and my walls are 10’… I don’t care to build to the minimum of code, I want it done the right way and fire blocks, regardless of wall height, are the right way, so I cut them all to size myself and have employed child labor (The Ruminator) to install the blocks with a driver and some 3” framing screws. I then snapped a line at 5′ on the outside wall and gave him a hammer and a big box of 8d coated nails so he could attach the sheets to the blocks. Not too many shiners – he did a fine job.

The Tyvek vapor barrier wrap is just installed over the front wall so that the garage doors could be hung. Both are 8’X9′ R12 insulated fiberglass doors with no windows and follow the two different ceiling lines on the inside. I put jack-screw openers to the side of the doors so that the space over the doors would be clear. In the pictures below you can see the tiny attic as well – a pull down ladder goes in next week. Overkill, but I put ¾” T&G up there as floor decking and glued/screwed it in place – just ‘cause…

There is Carlisle WIP300 self-sealing roofing underlayment/membrane installed. #30 roof felt is $25 a roll and WIP is $90, but I only needed 5 rolls (4.2 actually). That $325 difference is serious insurance as the WIP can sit out without shingles on it, in case of wind damage an such, and not leak for 6 months. The roof (as well as wall) decking is all CDX (I HATE OSB) and for the small quantity bought for my garage, it is $4 a sheet in difference. $200ish total for sheathing and decking – well worth the price for peace of mind. Roofing is 30 year algae-resistant (important in Seattle) 3 tab architectural shingles that are color matched to our house.

The rest of the wrap, windows, the man-door, and 6″ reveal Hardi lap siding goes on next week.

Garage and House Build/Remodel Update – 6/14/16

June 14, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Garage:

My slab is cured and the densifyer has been applied. really happy with the results – a big thank you to Mr. Mark Flood!!
The ground around my garage slab is all level. I rented a Skid-Steer this past weekend and played in the dirt. Hauled 2 yards of excess over to the neighbors yard to fill some voids and I used the skid-steer to pull out 7 small stumps for her.
Got a call from the builder yesterday and the lumber will be onsite today, Framing starts Wednesday, and trusses are delivered on Friday.
Was asked to move the Honey-bucket so that the lumber would have enough room. Odd, request for my builder to make of the homeowner/customer, but I did it just so there would be no issues with the lumber delivery.
If schedule holds, windows and siding start next Wednesday, and we will be fully in the dry by next Friday.
It looks like I will be installing the windows as I am more particular than the builder about such things.
My son, The Ruminator, will be here for a few weeks and I will get him help me run wire in the garage shell.
My 2-post car lift will be installed by the end of the month

House:

We are finishing up the paint on the main level.
I need to start putting the 1/4 round trim back down.
Bathroom: there is tile work to finish and a mirror to be hung.
Basement remodel is stalled. We had the head manager for the plumbing company out on Saturday after we found even more problems with the work that was done and we have told them: “…in light of the previous and continuing issues, incomplete work, existing damage caused by your subcontractors that we will have to have repaired, and that the basement portion of our remodel has been brought a complete stop, my wife and I do not want a____________ employee, or anyone from a subsidiary company back in our home. We do not wish to continue dealing with _______.” We can’t really touch anything until they agree to this. If they do not, then we can’t do anything as the matter will have to be settled via remediation.

New Garage Slab Has Been Poured!

May 26, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

The slab is down and the curing has begun. It is not laser flat – 1/8″ – 1/4″ variance in couple spots in the field, but the pad is smooth. I had the apron poured extra thick (8-9″) brush finished and control joints troweled in. I had a sprinkler on it for the 1st 24 hours and soaker hoses and a poly/burlap wrap was applied just after the slab control joints are cut yesterday morning.

I will let is cure for another 5 days and then apply a densifyer (Ashford) on top. Framing will start next Thursday or Friday. I am so exited that I feel like a pimply teen who just scored a playmate as a prom date!

Continued Plumbing Woes…

May 16, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

As mentioned previously, no plumbing permit was pulled for the work in our house and we had to have the BRAND NEW concrete in the basement torn back so that the county inspector can view the pipes and witness a pressure test. When the inspector arrived for the first try, he found 3 additional issues that the plumbing company (big company, one of the oldest in Seattle) had to address. They ended up tearing up more concrete, part of our foundation wall and a 2′ section of my BRAND NEW AND FRESHLY PAINTED drywall!! To add a little insult – I found an empty bottle of wine from a case we imported from France under the trash pile that the first and second crew used in our back yard. Seriously, why would they leave the bottle?! As a ‘Fuck You’..?!

I am unhappy and Stamps-With-Foot is livid. The plumbing company GM came by and was really apologetic and assured us that we would get an update, directly from him, every day. That hasn’t happened and we had no clue that the concrete was being re-poured until my floor re-finisher called and asked if it was OK that he let the concrete guys in.

The new concrete is super wonky and out of level – 1/2″ below the toilet flange and my tile guy wants $800 in addition to his original quote to lay extra floor leveler. To rub salt in the wound, the plumbers sent us a bill for $36,000 dollars. That is not a typo: $36K. The original agreement was for $9200.00 BEFORE they screwed up. I called the GM, sent him all the emails that had gone back and forth and he promised that he would get right back to me. That was a week ago…

Super frustrating. Out of the 7 contractors that have worked on our house remodel and garage build, the plumbing company is the ONLY one that we have had any issue with. Everyone else to this point has been super easy to deal with, lived up to their contract, filed for and received permits, and were clear and concise when small issues came up.

I am not naming names – yet. I am going to see what their next step is. If they try to bill me for another dime, I won’t hesitate in publishing all the details, pictures, e-mails and text messages here on the interwebs – I get 34K hits to my site a week, so… I will be having a long talk with the county concerning a fine request, use Angie’s List remediation, file a BBB complaint, file a WA State L&I claim, and then there is the Consumer Protection Division of the WA Attorney Generals office. That should get things started at least.

Garage Build Update 5/10/16

May 11, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

My slab gets poured next Tuesday. All clear from the City for electric trench and slab forms. There were a few issues that I saw last week that needed to be adjusted: There was a rebar oops in the car lift footings that was a serious new-guy error, but instead of calling my contractor to bitch, if just fixed it. Sometimes you are only as good as your worst employee… I picked some rebar and a couple boxes of chairs, looped ties, and put a 12″OC grid down of 1/2′ rebar 3″ from the dirt in the footing hole on Friday evening after work.

I also lifted the existing rebar over the footing holes up with chairs so that it would all be the same level as the welded wire. Hanging it from the wire would force the wire down to the top of the visqueen, negating the use of the material in a large area. I took the extra chairs I had and added them to the welded wire field. I understand that it gets stomped down when they pour and walk the pour, but the trick for me is to limit the amount that stays down. It was $90.00 worth of material and a couple hours of my time and we can work it out as we move forward with the build. The minor details in the grand scheme.

House Status and Plumbing Woes

April 27, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We are making progress, abet slowly:

My father-in-law came in this weekend and painted our bathroom and the trim.
I have a new granite vanity top installed – one with the facets centered on the sink.
New reproduction 1920’s glass handles are installed in the vanity. I is not gud counter. I bad at numbers. Didn’t have enough – one short. Store now sold out. Amazon to the rescue.
The drywall should completely done and sanded as of today. The new arches are super sexy!
I modified the kitchen knife rack to fit the new ceramic sharpener. The original was broken by the asshat moving company and Kyocera doesn’t make that size anymore, so I had to drill out its assigned slot. The replacement knives (also the movers…) are now in as well.
Primer will go on the fresh walls tonight and tomorrow night.
I have patched the hole in the tub surround and am waiting for the thin-set mortar to dry so that I can lay the tile.
The new fireplace insert is in and fantastic. I will do the new surround and mantel after the floors are refinished and as I am trimming out the Dining room Ceiling
I met with the garage foundation crew on Monday to go over all the details and they start the ground work today. I am almost giddy with excitement.
My new dutch doors are ready and I will pick them up Friday
The finish carpentry trim-out starts next Monday.
I learned yesterday afternoon that no plumbing permit was pulled and that we might have to demo the concrete in the basement – the new concrete – and the newly laid supply line so that the county inspector can view the pipes. I am super unhappy and will update as I know more.
We are now 4 weeks without a shower or bathroom sinks at the house. I have been a decent human being and fairly understanding up to this point with our plumbing company (big company, one of the oldest in Seattle). I am afraid that they have mistaken nice for weak and unwilling to have a confrontation. That was a miscalculation. Please refer to the Capone quote concerning kindness…
My wife is still medium chipper and hasn’t threatened to leave me yet over the lack of a shower or all the dust, so that is something.
The lavender out front is in bloom and the bees are back, so not all is lost.

Productive weekend with Heavy Equipment – The Old Garage is Down!

April 20, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Super Productive weekend! The old garage came crashing down at about 9:00am on Saturday. All it took was a little push with the forklift at the peak of the roof (I rented an extension boom forklift and a jack-hammer to assist with the garage and old slab destruction) I didn’t take out any fences or cars, but one of our recycling cans took a beating. Within 3 hours it was all loaded into a debris dumpster that I had dropped Friday morning.

The forklift was a little manky to start and keep running. I would overload the hydraulics just a touch and instead of straining, it would die and take 3-5 minutes to restart. The rental company was supposed to bring another one out, but we kept waiting and waiting and just making do as we whittled away at the slab and footing with the jackhammer and forks. While the garage demo was a breeze, the slab was something else altogether. It was super tough, full of quarter-sized aggregate, and 6 inches thick. The footing was +16” deep. I was impressed – I thought it was just some concrete poured over dirt like our basement slab. Nope, this stuff was WAY overbuilt for the tiny carriage house. I could had parked a tank on this thing and it would have been just fine.

With the slab about ¼ split and loaded into a second dumpster, the forklift finally died. After a couple of calls, the rental company brought me a free 18000lb rated track-hoe with a bucket thumb and a pusher blade!!! That translated into an adult sized Tonka toy for my yard. It was 5:30 or so by the time the track hoe was off loaded, so after demonstrating that I wouldn’t run it into a power pole, I parked it and work in the house a little. I try to be a good neighbor and running heavy equipment while it is dinner time in a neighborhood does not endear you to others.

I was up and at it at 8:00 the next morning and the second piece of equipment was so sweet and made the tear out and load go so much faster than I expected! However, it is apparently not a normal occurrence to have a piece of heavy equipment spinning, grunting, working in my little neighborhood. I one point I looked over and I have 5 neighbors standing in the shade of a neighbor’s garage, drinking beer and watching me demo. When I took a potty break, one asked me if I could break something to make it more interesting. Son of a… They had gathered to watch me wreak havoc and as it did not ensue, were somewhat disappointed in me.

After five hours on the track hoe the garage, the whole slab, footings, three tree stumps, and four posts that were set in concrete were loaded and ready for transport. All our water lines, fences, and overhead electrical lines were still intact so it was a successful second and final day of garage demo. My back yard is now a flat spot of dirt and is waiting for a new garage slab.

After playing in the yard for most of the day, Stamps-With-Foot and I went into Seattle and bought all the paint (Benjamin Moore only thank you very much) for the house interior and new fixtures and lights for the main floor bathroom and the laundry room sink. I then cut and installed the new bathroom vanity on the main floor and did a little electrical work in the basement. It was then shower and night-night time, because I have a regular J-O-B to go to every morning.

House Remodel Status – 4/12/16

April 12, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Things are moving along with the house and garage, abet very slowly.

I cut the dying vine maple out of the back yard. Its loss made both my wife and I sad – we loved that tree. Part of it I saved for fire wood and part I gave to a local bowl turned I know so he could make beautiful stuff out of the sections that were free of rot.
The new 1″ water supply line is in.
Our basement slab was cut for the new basement bathroom and drains
Concrete floor re-poured.
I have demo’ed part of the basement ceiling, the front bedroom closet and a huge spot in the dining room for the plumbing company to run PexA supply lines and vent pipe.
Plumbing rough-in is going on today and we may have a functioning toilet and kitchen sink by 5:00pm tonight – maybe…
We haven’t had water for a week and have been staying in an air B&B, which has gotten old and expensive.
Basement bathroom framing is going in tomorrow.
The new 1st floor bathroom vanity is done and in place, but the holes in the granite top for one of the facets are cut wrong – it has made me a little crazy…
I have cleared all the stuff out of the way in the back yard and am ready for dumpster deliveries. I am taking the old garage out this coming weekend.
The attic is ready for new floor joists, but still waiting on the engineer’s report to decide what is going in and options for the space. We had wanted a Master Suite up there, but are not sure if it can be done at this point.
Our fireplace insert goes in tomorrow and the new fireplace tools are already there.
The three windows for the garage and two for the house are on order and should be here next week. I just have to find a place to store them.

Some pictures of the current status and the latest progress:

I haven’t had a day off in about three weeks – working my day job, making calls to contractors and supply companies at lunch and on the way to work/home, and working at the house at night and on weekends. I have to work all this week getting ready for the garage demo and all weekend tearing it down. It is all starting to take it toll on me. I’ll get an evening off from remodel this week to attend my new advanced throwing (pottery) class, and will have a two evenings off next week while the drywall goes in, but will be back at it painting the entire weekend of the 23rd and every evening the rest of the week after.

My wife said a little something a few days ago that resonates: “Life is a journey an not the destination, but remodeling is all about the destination. The journey sucks!” I swear if I had to make this decision again, I would have sold the house and bought a McMansion in Maple Valley or an updated mid-century rambler Bellevue and just moved right in in. I have remodeled many homes in the past, but this one and the size/scope are both out of hand and way too ambitious for someone who has a day job. When all is said and done, I do not want to touch a thing in or on the house for YEARS and would like to just enjoy home for a while, sit in the back yard and drink rosé in the summer sun with my wife.

A small personal note:

March 17, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I don’t normally get super personal here, but this is a happy day and I am going to share.

1. We have been dealing with an insurance company who is in charge of covering a loss that happened during our move back to the States. We have had a claim that is almost 8 weeks old, moving slowly through their “process”. It is not for a small amount of money. I got a note today (after badgering them for two weeks with facts, data, and common sense) that they were going to send us an interim payment for 1/5 of the total claim while they continue to work through it all. I was happily shocked as they have up to this point been rife with fuckery.

2. We are are in the process of refinancing our house and taking a little equity cash out so that all of the unexpected repairs that have come up during the remodel don’t all continue to flow directly out of my now shallow pocket. I got a call that we have the green light to start the closing process, which means I will have a finished house and new garage/shop by summer.

3. I do not currently have ass cancer. I have been privately dealing with that real possibility for a couple of weeks and went to see a specialist/surgeon today. Apparently, I am fine and my plumbing is all good. I almost broke down and sobbed like a little bitch when I got the news.

Overall, it has been a very good day.

House Remodel Update – Mid-March 2016

March 16, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

All of the demolition work is now done and the rebuild has started. Electrical is moving along, the City inspector signed off on the new HVAC (there is a permit inspection for the basement still to come), and all of the rough work on the main floor is complete. The once scary attic is now clean and waiting for a reinforced floor and new spray foam insulation. Some of the trim in the dining room and kitchen is done, specifically the cove/crown on the cabinets. All the doors are now hung, and the Wainscoting in the new dining room is 90% up. I need to finish up around the double door and fill and prime/paint.

Next steps:
Plumbing
Basement bathroom
Finish electrical
Camera system
New window install
Coffered Ceiling in Dining Room
Hutch built in the dining room vestibule
New security system (Hate ADT)
New drywall main floor
New main bathroom vanity
New Kitchen floor (both decision and install)
Finish trim out
balcony install
Attic floor install – pending engineering review
Attic and wine cave insulation – yes, we are that bourgeoisie
New basement door and back door – both will be dutch doors
Main floor hardwood floor refinish
Basement drywall finish and paint – pending city inspection
New carpet in Basement
Garage build

House Remodel Update – February 2016

March 1, 2016 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

Making lemonade out of lemons… I have mentioned an issue we found with our house and how we had to tear out walls to fix things. Well, we took the opportunity to do some long wanted remodeling since the place was already torn apart. We are insulating the exterior walls, re-plumbing the whole house, re-wiring to remove the old knob&tube still left in the attic, remaking the Stairs of Doom into something that people won’t fall down, tearing out the 30% efficient oil heater and adding a heat-pump, adding attic access, making a dining room, putting in arched doorways, bringing in more light, and adding lots of period-appropriate detail. Below are some of our in-progress updates after three weeks of demo, with the “WAS” pictures first.

The stairwell and chimney tear out – before and during:

The 1942 oil heater removal – before and during:

The back-bedroom transformation into the dining room – before and during:

The Attic – Before and during:

If you want to hear God laugh, tell him what your plans are…

February 12, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

As mentioned a few weeks ago, we hit a snag on the garage build. Super frustrating. There is some stuff in the house that takes precident – they just have to happen and happen right now. Thankfully, we are in a place to take care of it, but my dream shop has been pushed a couple of months. That hasn’t stopped me from getting everything prepped though. I have completely cleared out my current GROP and moved all the innards into storage for the duration of our build/re-build. A few things like ladders and yard tools are left, but after giving away an entire trailer load of scrap lumber and plywood it is all open space. It hurts a little that the cleanest my garage shop has ever been is right before I tear it down to built a new one…

The other day, I had to do a little fiberglass repair on the Jeep top and swap out my floor-mounted headlight dimmer switch. Not super a fun/sexy mod, but taking the door off made it easy – ish. I will not be bright-lighting folks for my entire commute anymore. It was nice to have a dry spot to work during a Seattle winter. Also, this was the only time in 6+ years that a vehicle had been in it.

We had to start the house remodel before the garage and start in the rear bedroom (NW corner of the house). The interior walls had to come out to repair an issue(s). After we take care of the repairs, a new arch will lead into the kitchen, there will be a 4′ French door with a 12″ balcony looking out into the back yard, and we will have wainscoting up to 68″ and a coffered ceiling in what was the back bedroom and what will be the new dining room. Here are some shots before the full wall removal, some replacement studs and new headers.

The basement stairs are also in need of replacement and will be taken out and rebuilt next week. The new HVAC will go in the week after. It has been and will continue to be a test of our resolve and patience.

Mid-month Update – Jan 2016

January 16, 2016 / Matt Talley / 3 Comments

We have a LOT going on around La Maison du Talley and I have had 12 texts and e-mails about different stuff, so here is an overall update:

We have our garage permit!! I did a victory dance when our contractor sent me the mail.
Building is on hold for a bit though as we have an issue inside the house that has to be dealt with before ANYTHING else. Looks like it will not be cheap, but it has to happen right now.
The old garage will be clear as of tomorrow and ready for demo, but that has to wait on the house as well. Dammit!
Still don’t have an HVAC contractor for the house – 2 that can’t do the work until summer, one that won’t send a written quote, one in the running, one contractor that sent me a quote that is for almost the same amount as the entire garage build & double the next closest bid, and another that I am on the fence about – mixed reviews, but good pricing.
We finally had the new hot tub cover delivered and it is fantastic: light, ridged, perfect color… Stamps-With-Foot is stoked.
Finished the movie (shot with a GoPro) about our cross country jeep trip, but YouTube blocked the audio because I used a snip-it of Hendrix’s Voodoo Chile, which is uber verboten. I will edit it for sound this weekend – maybe some rockin’ blues and re-post with links.
Sticking to my workout schedule and wrist is 90%+ healed from the break. My gym has hung heavy bags and I want to start smackin’ them, but will wait for wrist to heal 100%.
Still chubby 🙁
Jeep is running great. Front window seal is leaking a touch and need to unstick the odometer. She will be getting an oil change and fluid check this weekend.
The puppies/monsters are good, but they long for the Toulousian sunshine.
I made three more bowls in pottery class and have decided to make matching food and water bowls for the puppies as my first project.
My J-O-B is great.
Really happy to be back in Seattle.
Our furniture won’t be here until February. Customs issues…
Nana is good, ~~her Seahawks are good~~. She wrangled 90 days of free HBO from Comcast, so she is happy.
Stamps-With-Foot is happy to be going back to work.
Looking forward to Date Night with my wife tonight at an awesome hole-in-wall Greek place in West Seattle.

Getting a new garage in 2016!!!

January 7, 2016 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

Woohoo!! It looks like we are a go for a new garage and some needed updates to our heat, plumbing, and wiring at the house. I am meeting our builder this weekend and passing him a check (two checks actually, one is for the City of Seattle permit office…) and I will have a real garage and wood-shop by spring. I will have room for a big lathe, cabinet saws, wood storage , my joiners workbench, room to assemble projects/furniture, a real dust collection system, and all my planes/saws/chisels/hand tools on one side. On the other side of the shop will be a mini-machine/fabrication shop with a two post lift, lathe, end mill, welder, mobile paint booth, and work table…

I cannot tell you how stoked I am! Seriously, I am all giddy about it. I plan to make cool stuff, descend into super-nerdy, and will be voiding the shit out of warranties!

Here are the prelim drawings that are being submitted and a lay out of the shop floor.

Update:

Drawings sent to the city. Cross your fingers and pray with me that Planning is having a good day/week/month and these babies get a stamp.

Back in Seattle! Let the projects begin!!

November 30, 2015 / Matt Talley / 1 Comment

After two days of flying with a couple of heavily sedated French Bulldogs, we made it back to Seattle just in time for a home cooked Thanksgiving dinner. We are so glad to be back in our little house! The now sober puppies have staked their claim in our yard, we went to a few of our favorite neighborhood shops and *gasp* went shopping at Target on a SUNDAY *second gasp*!! In France, shopping on Sunday is a mythical creature that is spoken of in whispers. We miss Toulouse and our friends there already, but it is nice that things are sooo easy here.

The cold, rain, and ice was here to greet us, so in the interest of keeping Stamps-With-Foot happy, my first duty was to spend about 6 hours raising our hot tub from its long 2-year sleep. I cleaned it out, rinsed it twice, scrubbed it, filled it half way and ran the pumps, drained it, scrummed it all down again and then filled it to the top. They pump and heater fired right up and so far they are no leaks, but I will kaap a watch out for a while yet. It took about 4 hours for the water to go from 47 to 104 degrees and the temp has held steady.

We use BaquaSpa instead of Chlorine, so I loaded the tub up with a shock treatment after the it had come up to temp and had been circulating for 24 hours. I waited a few hours before taking a water sample into the local spa shop for testing. All good: just needed a little Oxidizer and to increase in the calcium. Wife happy – she sat in the tub yesterday for about an hour like a proper Japanese snow monkey.

I also just “happened” to stop in at Second Use and picked up a couple of painted fir corner cabinets that I have been eye-balling from afar. They will go in our living-room and replace the originals that were pulled out years ago by an unthinking previous owner – I can’t not work on the house. My Father-in-law, the Chatty Buddha, was here for Thanksgiving and I roped him into helping me wedge them into my tiny and very full shop. They will sit there until spring. Also thinking about re-installing an ironing board cabinet in the basement and a phone cubby in the upstairs hall. I have a problem…

So behind in updates and new posts…

November 6, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I am super behind in updating my site. Work, travel, breaking my wrist, more work, etc… are all the excuses I am going to use. I will work this weekend to get the write-ups done for:

The Ruminator’s Summer visit
Rome for my Birthday
A write up about French Window craftsmanship
A summer Wedding
Barcelona
London
A Linen-fold Panel essay
Our Farewell trip Through France
A Travel Recommendation for Seeing the Loire
Move preparation back to the US
and a few other little posts

~Matt

Leaving France

September 1, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

We have an official date for our move from France and back to Seattle. It is on paper and everything. Stamps-With-Foot and I will be in back in the Emerald City just in time to celebrate Christmas.

Life in France has been amazing:

The weather
Wine
Castles
The amazing food
Our friends here
Our house in the country
The big yard
Our Diesel-fueled car
Cheese, glorious cheese
Paris
Cheap internet
Free world-wide long distance
Crazy cheap prescription meds
The used furniture shops
Walks in the farm fields with the puppies
The different kinds of honey
Always a sign pointing to the next village or spots of interest
Our neighbors

Stuff We will not miss:

The Strikes
The August Shutdown
Early shop hours
The entire city/country closed on Sundays
The other neighbors and their dogs

Kitchen Island – Update

May 20, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

It has been almost a year since I built (with help from The Ruminator) Stamps-With-Foot a kitchen island and she has loved it (so I am told) and used the bejesus out of it. I made a couple of additions and there are a a few observations:

The wood I used as the base platform shelf was REALLY wet and I put 1/16″ spacing between the boards. WAY too much. I should have wedged them in as tight as possible because they have shrunk and now I have 1/8 gaps in a couple of places. No big deal since it is tongue and groove, but I don’t like spacing that large.
I installed an Arkansas Razorbacks bottle opener on one of the legs. It was required.
I had used a hunk of cherry tree trunk/firewood and turned it down as a lid/plug for the scrap hole. I turned it too large since it was really wet and was bound to shrink/warp/crack. My best guess is that it is done moving, so I put it back on the lathe and turned it down to size and changed the profile a little.
The rolling pin is a great towel holder, but I should have/need to stop it from rolling – the towel slips off and onto the floor occasionally.
I also originally finished the plug with walnut oil, but it gets handled a lot by wet hands and I had to oil it every couple of weeks. This time I finished it with 3 coats outdoor polyurethane and then added a coat of wax.

My workbench is DONE!!

May 6, 2015 / Matt Talley / Leave a comment

I am about a month late in posting this – life and my J-O-B got in the way – but the Cornebarrieu Bench is done. Completely done! All bells and whistles added. It seems like it took me forever, but it fits perfectly in the shop and I started using the bench even before it was finished. I am very happy with the outcome and am currently working on projects that have been piling up all winter. Just in case you haven’t been following along for the past year and a half or so:

My GROP (garage and shop combo) in Seattle was too small for a proper joiner’s bench. I made due with a slim, high, wall-mounted work counter, a bolted on machinist-vise, Quick Clamps, and the top of my table saw. It worked – mostly/sort of – but was a pain in the ass a good bit of the time: I never once planed a board on a stable, solid surface. My GROP here in France is roughly the same size as the one in Seattle, but is absent the huge cast iron machines and saws. I have some room to move and finally have the space for a big, heavy, proper work bench as well as some time to build one – or so I thought.

It is an amalgamation of benches by M. Roubo, Roy Underhill, Chris Schwartz, and Bill Schenher. I am calling it the “Cornebarrieu Bench” after the small village in southern France where we live, where the lumber has been sourced, and where the bench was made and first used.

For anyone interested, here is a documented build process, build notes, and step by step guide – 115 steps – to build this beast.

Driven Outside

Category: Updates