I AM A RADIANT ROCK STAR!

Today finished the fourth roll of pex, and 

started the last one. I'm thrilled how closely the floor looks like the map! I'd imagined the map was "Plan A Guideline" and the reality would be a bit different, but they look identical.  Damn, I'm good!  The length is coming out to within ONE FOOT of what's measured on the map.  Damn, I'm good!  And the length of all five circuits need to be within 10% of each other -- mine are within 2%.  Daaaamn, I'm good!  What a thrill to be figuring this out as a I go, and getting such polished results.  And I'm starting to make really accurate cuts on saws -- this bodes well for cabinetry.  :) Feeling blessed, pleased, happy.   

Map Measuring Hack

Planning the map, I wanted an accurate measurement of the pex, but didn't want to deal with the math of the curved ends. Use knotted string.

I tied a knot in non-stretchy string, and added five more knots spaced 7½ inches apart. My map scale = 1 foot is three quarters of one inch. So 10 feet is three quarters of 10 inches, or 7.5 inches.  Follow whatever scale you're using. Wind the string around the loops on the map to accurately measure the length of a circuit, so you can adjust the plan to make them the same length.  Rohan is demonstrating the technique here.

Releasing Old Ties

Not neckties. The ties that bind, that keep us anchored. 

Thought there's a few neckties that need to go too...  

I moved a lot in grad school, and several times in the first few years afterwards. Each time, I just packed everything up with the goal of getting it out of the apartment, with the plan to sort and purge later.  When I bought my first home, my current one, I trundled a huge amount of boxes up to the garage, grateful to have space and time to finally cull my belongings.  

Well, it's been 13 years, and the only ones getting into the boxes are the mice.  So mentally, emotionally, the Big Purge is coming. It's already begun, in that I'm releasing excess weight. So last weekend, I found 7 boxes of old clothing, having kept my favorites.  Mice destroyed some pieces, but most of it was completely untouched.  I love retro styles, so am eager to wear some of it, and will donate others.  

I've always thought that purging belongings required discipline, commitment, and courage.  Reading Marie Kondo's "the life-changing magic of tidying up" has significantly eased the intimidation.  

One tiny bit of hesitation over moving out:  the fish in the pond.  Won't have a pond built yet at the lakehouse -- what if the new owners don't want fish?  What if I need to fill in the pond in order to easily sell the house?  Well, a heron removed that hesitation: suddenly every fish is gone! I was shocked! Not that it couldn't happen, just that it did. I feel badly for the fish -- the original batch of four had been in there for 6 years, and there were six babies 3 or 4 years old. Ten fish suddenly gone! Raccoons can't get in the deer fencing, so it must have been a heron.  

I bet it was last Friday, when the cats were fully occupied with a blue jay in the house...  (The bird survived.)  

Funny how the universe is helping me get fully aligned with letting the move happen easily...

Packing Hack - trust me, you'll love this tip

Across my graduate training, I moved 13 times in 12 years. Out of pure self-defense, developed this packing hack -- you'll love this.

When most folks pack up, they write what's in the box on the outside of the box.  And let's face it, not every box gets unpacked right away.  Problem is, when you're looking for something, you have to read each box, and often the key information is turned the other way, out of sight in a stack of boxes. It's exhausting lifting and digging into a bunch of boxes every single time to find something.

Instead, get a spiral notebook.  Brightly colored, so you can spot it across the room. If you're in the midst of packing chaos, tie a big silk flower or even a helium balloon to it so you can find it quickly.  Always ALWAYS know where your notebook is.

On the box, write a number on all sides and the top.  Write the number in your notebook, and as you pack, jot down what's in the box.  Later, when you're looking for the blender, you read down your list, see that it's in box #7, and can quickly spot that box in the stack, zeroing in on it immediately.  Trust me, if you pack this way, you will be grateful later.  And keep track of that notebook!  After the move, I left it sitting on the stack of boxes.

Transforming us both from the inside out

Okay, so here's what this blog is about. 
Reinventing the house was going to lead to reinventing me, I was sure of it.

Time to show you what I mean.

January 2014, after crawling under the house to take measurements, vs. yesterday.

 

Taken in 2011, vs. yesterday.  
     


So you can understand why I'm so excited to see what the rest of the journey brings.  Putting on the all the beautiful finish surfaces and fully realizing the transformation. Then fully inhabiting that space, making it home...  

I'm Radiant!

And so the radiant begins!

The weather is cooling down rapidly, so getting the heat in is highest priority. To be moving forward on this feels GREAT. 

Funny how obstacles turned out to be opportunities to do something easier...  The clips that came with the radiant kit to hold down the tubing had large holes, so they had to be screwed down, not nailed.  Much slower, and harder on the shoulders. Dang, I wanted to use my nail gun.  (LOVE my nail gun!)  

After putting down the first few clips, I realized they were too tall!  Oh no! This heat system has to fit within a ¾ inch space, and the clips for half inch pex were an inch tall.  Called Radiant Company of Vermont and they said no problem, just use polyethylene pipe tape instead. Yay! Now I get to use my nail gun!  Win-win.  

So three of five rolls of half inch pex are laid.  Radiant Co. said it's a two-person job, but I figured out the way to work solo so I could keep chipping away at it. I'm making an instructional video about how to wrangle the pex, and will add the link once it's edited and  posted.

A preview: when you get to the wall and need to turn around, it would be tempting to lay the curve of the pex down and work with that. But if you do, you'll twist the pex a quarter rotation. Getting to the other end, twisting it the other direction would introduce a 180 degree twist across the length of the run. The key is to literally make a u-turn with the roll. "You're walking the dog, you get to the end of the walk, and it's time to turn around to go home."  You'll see that on the video.  

In the second photo, see those thin pieces of wood laid between the loops? Those are 1x2 firring strips, aka "sleepers."  This is what the bamboo flooring will be nailed to, safely keeping the floor from crushing the tubing.  (1x2 is actually ¾ x 1½" so it's just ¾ inch tall) The space in between the sleepers will be filled with sand as a thermal heat sink. The heat sink provides a mass that holds the heat, making the system more efficient.  Not a big one as heat sinks go, but miles better than leaving the space filled with air, which holds heat poorly.  If you've wiggled your toes in sand on a warm day, you know it absorbs and holds heat well.  

On that note, time to head over and get back at it!  

Drywall II

Oh wow, so very different...  If I can figure out the editing, will post a video of my initial reactions.  Truly shocking at first.  Now that it's been a few weeks, looks completely normal now, but those first views stunned me.

DRYWALL!!

Drywall is here! Drywall is here! I feel like running through the streets, shouting, waving a banner. Sooo glad to finally be at this place...  Huge turning point in the project, where I finally get to put the house back together; the official end to the Trades phase (the middle phase where tradesmen were hired to do things I can't do).  

The evening before, I took lots of pictures to document where everything is in the walls.  And I felt almost nostalgic to say goodbye to the "see-through house" -- such a novelty in being able to see through walls, see the entire house at once.  

Yesterday nostalgia gave way to delight as they put up the ceiling.  The walls will be finished today while I'm at work.  Soooo wish I could be there to witness the transformation and to answer questions.  Left notes for all the weirdments where drywall isn't going (glass-panel wall, pebble wall in bathroom, key & purse cubby in entry, etc.) and the fellow seems to understand my directions.  

The trade-off is that today after work I'll be able to see it completely finished, all at once. EagerEagerEagerEager!  And my shoulders are pleased to realize that the taping and mudding takes several days.  I can pick out colors and find the paint sprayer, but my shoulders get to rest up a bit.  Ahhhh...

Showing Up. Tile Decisions.

Showing up.

I've been feeling stalled, needing to bring somebody aboard to complete the punch list before drywall. Last summer's lovely crew has been working elsewhere. Tried one fellow, not a good match. Finally, I looked to see what the tasks really involved. Labeled plumbing and electrical and framing, I'd just assumed I needed someone with more expertise. "Hmm, wait, I know how to do this, and I can do that.  Huh."  The person I was waiting for to show up was ME. I'm now fully engaged in remodel mode, instead of walking in and feeling overwhelmed, the tasks are listed and doable. I'll still need some consultations, but I've shown up in the way I'd planned from the beginning. Trades phase is over ('cept for drywall), now it's time to get back to doing the labor so money can go into materials.  

Tile Decisions.

Shopping for tile has been insanely pleasurable. So many gorgeous tiles out there...  Browsing all the colors and patterns is like playing in a candy store. 

- Tips to tile sellers: 
1. Add a Pinterest button so people can pin tiles they're considering on a single bulletin board, with the links to find them. Found it on one site, brilliant idea. Some of you have wish lists, some don't, but in the end, there are so many sites now I lose track of what I saw where.

2. Make samples available cheaply.  tilebar.com has it nailed:  $1 each if you choose 5.  "A buck each, sure!"  "Choose a whole bunch? Sure!" Not having to hem and haw over which one I really want to spend five bucks on, I can toss them in the cart effortlessly. AND every tile I've purchased were ones I've sampled. Put them in my hands, labeled on the back. 

Played on TileBar, ordered some samples and Ahhhh-OOOoo! I think I found my shower tile! Ahem, let me say that again: I found my shower tile! 

And that's where I'm at: deciding colors and finishes.  The fun part.  The scary part.  "Ooo, I love that! It looks great! Blends beautifully with ___!" The little 'ping' goes off, and I know this will be perfect. It's so exciting! ---Then the next day, "have I looked at all that are available? Should I check back on the other websites? What if I find something later I like better?" Oh goodness. All that second-guessing can undo perfectly good decisions. Yes, I'll be living with this tile for a long time, but I've been shopping for tile for years now, I know what I like, so I'm gonna lean in and commit.  :)

The green pebble tile purchased awhile ago, and (ta-da!) this is vertical tile will cover the curve along the outside of the shower stall. White and pale green, clear and frosted. Reminds me of bamboo. Echoes the pebble tile without competing.  Will order it tomorrow!

In the same package, I think I found the tile for the inside of the shower! "I think" because it's so different than what I'd envisioned. Had been expecting to land on something like mother-of-pearl. This "Soft Satin" is much more colorful --and I can't stop looking at it. 

Sample Tile Hack: to see what it looks like with grout, smooth baking soda into the grout lines.

Really changes in different light! Was wondering if it might look dated in a few years, but I've loved iridescence since my first soap bubble. And ha! Just spotted how it picks up the iridescent colors on this vintage lamp going in the room. Mmmm!

Fast-Forward a bit: Putting it back together

Okay, so don't look at the date stamp -- it's been awhile.  Things have been happening slowly with the house, and I got lost in the "trades phase."  Things I had to hire out, like plumbing, electrical, moving my electricity from one street pole to the next, and burying the cable, adding another couple windows, bringing in engineering to beef up the foundation for the weight of the sand that will be a heat-sink for the radiant heat. All stuff that had to be done, had to be hired, and really slowed me.  Will muse on that in another post...

On a beautiful note, I tiled the fireplace!  (Shown here with the top row of granite still to go; keeping Grandpa's mantel.)  My first-ever tiling job, very happy with how it turned out.  Gives me courage for the bathroom. --Wait'll you see it -- then you'll know how truly crazy I'm running design-wise!  Love the blue "eyes" in the granite, and the two blue and white tiles are from a trip to Cabo. 

So fast-forward some more, and "suddenly" we're at the drywall stage. Holy catfish! This signals the beginning of putting the house back together.  The fun part!  Stay tuned, there will be much more soon.