New House Truckee, CA Historic District

[Danfish]

Working on a bunch of not so exciting details, installing light fixtures, cabinet knobs and the beginning of door trim/baseboard inside water heater closet.  Waiting for it to warm up a bit to begin some trim and door painting.  Hung some wall items for wife as the house begins to take on its French Country feel.  Also set up beds in bedroom #2.

[Danfish]

End almost in sight...installed gas water heater



Note the required inlet surge tank tucked behind



Finished tile back splash and sink install Bath #2.  All the compression fittings drove me nuts trying to stop small leaks.  That finishes one bathroom



Next up is tub install in Master Bath.  Put up wainscot behind tub, just needs chair rail and paint



All the window stools installed and painted



And best of all installed my coffee machine so I can now enjoy a morning cup on the front porch

[metolent]

Beautiful! 

Which built-in espresso machine did you go with?  I'm currently redoing the kitchen and am contemplating a built-in ... perhaps a Dacor? 

I have two Gaggia super-automatics right now that I love, but they are both freestanding units.    Speaking of which, I think it's

matt

[Danfish]

This coffee unit is a Meile that has been in service for 8 years with no problems.  Moved it from house that we are selling because don't like the look of the current models...too high tech for look of new house. 

[Danfish]

Every good project eventually comes to an ending point.  Passed the final inspection with flying colors and ready to move in.  Four years seems like a long time to build a house but as most know there are a lot of things that go into building.  Last big thing was installing the bath tub and best of all trying it out!  Thanks to all for positive feedback over the years and good luck on your next project.

[rick91351]

Sir just because your project comes to an end and they all must or so I have been told.  (Banker and building inspector)  Hey that does not give you licence to abandon us nor orphan us.  Dang you can at least drop in once a week and say Hi!!!.  By the way beautiful looking digs man.   

[John Raabe]

Thanks for keeping us up to date on your fine project. Congrats on a job well done.

[Danfish]

DIYers don't need no truck!



You would think that after a total remodel on one house and complete construction of another, I would breakdown and buy a decent construction vehicle...amazing what I can haul on the poor old jeep.  Fortunately it was only five blocks from the lumber yard to job site for this load.

That's 800 feet of trim to paint and install when I thought I was almost finished!!!

[Danfish]

Well almost done...but not quite yet!  Beside all the baseboard and door casing there's this little issue of the door headers, all 18 of them.  Started out with milling of the edges and cutting the various pieces:







Then comes assembly:



And then the installed finished product:

[MountainDon]

Hey, those are looking very nice!!

[UK4X4]

Makes my trim standard look like something a neanderthal built with a flint axe.

Do they sell MDF curves ? or did you make those ?

[Danfish]

The MDF curved pieces are crown moulding from Kelleher Corporation, this is their Contemporary line and comes in 5-5/8 or 7-1/4 inch widths (5-5/8 used here).  I looked at the possibility of using a moulding knife set in the table saw to make my own...decided the time, cost, and all that sawdust was more than I wanted to take on.  16-foot lengths special ordered at local lumber yard ran $1.60 L.F.

[rick91351]

The MDF curved pieces are crown moulding from Kelleher Corporation, this is their Contemporary line and comes in 5-5/8 or 7-1/4 inch widths (5-5/8 used here).  I looked at the possibility of using a moulding knife set in the table saw to make my own...decided the time, cost, and all that sawdust was more than I wanted to take on.  16-foot lengths special ordered at local lumber yard ran $1.60 L.F.

I think that was a huge good decision.....  $1.60 L.F. against a dumpster full of MDF Dust.    I sort of don't like that stuff very well milling it.  There is always also some residual dust it seem no matter how good the dust collector is even in the big cabinet shop of a friend. 
   

[Danfish]

With respect to dust, we should all be more aware of how unhealthy wood working can be...especially when working with MDF.
Since I wear glasses, fogging up is a problem when wearing a dust mask, so I began using a air hood as personal protective gear...



Even with individual machines connected to a dust collection unit, there is still the problem of all the fine dust on everything in the shop, hopefully my newest addition will help...

[rick91351]

Those are a very nice unit.  Stuff like that use to be looked at as a pure luxury.  Now days as we become more and more aware of lung and respiratory damage hardly a luxury. 

I forgot to compliment you by the way.  WOW great job!!! on the door ways!!! 

[Danfish]

If you have the time and proper tools DIY cabinets can save a ton of dollars; however, if time is an issue a production shop can significantly beat the DIY route.  Scheduling and not wanting to kill myself forced me into using a professional shop for a majority of my cabinet work.  I did hold out some pieces...this unit for the pantry was in the original bid at five times the cost of what I have in just the material...

[Danfish]

Finally finished the pantry: cabinet, counter top, back splash and shelving.

Cutting shelf brackets...



Rough cut with band saw...



Finish cut with router...



End result...



Completed pantry...

[Savvy]

Greetings,
Your home looks GREAT!
I'm beginning to rehab a '70s A-frame ( 24' x36', 9' side walls 20' front and back), at Tahoe. (live in Berkeley)
Doing most work by myself.....with supervisor wife
I'll be adding 2' Rmax foam to the exterior on top of TyveK and replacing the original single pane front wood framed trapezoid windows in the gables, single pane aluminum windows and sliding doors. Which Milgard line did you choose (Tuscany?)
Looking at placing the prestained shingle panels, as well.
Who was your dealer for those?

I'm looking at 9/16 stranded bamboo for the flooring, what did you choose?

And.....since it has not had gas service in the past....I, too, will be constructing a bomb-proof gas meter shed.

Cheers!

[Danfish]

Where on lake are you located...south, west, east or north?  Yes the Milgard windows are Tuscany and after five years I have nothing but praise for their product.  The Pre-Stained Cedar panels came from Michigan PreStain and they now call themselves Cedar Shingles Direct...http://cedarshinglesdirect.com/.  They use a Sherman Williams stain that holds up well and coverage is excellent.  They ship to your door step.  These panels are manufactured by Cedar Valley located in Hollister, California and are available without stain through Meeks Lumber or Truckee Lumber Company.  I don't recommend trying to stain yourself...done that and found it was not worth the effort Vs small savings!

The flooring is a hand-scraped black walnut, solid 3/4 - inch.

[Savvy]

Thanks for the reply.
I bought a 1300 sqft "no title" tear down" in Incline Village, north side of Mt Rose Highway, near top of the hill.
It hadn't been occupied since '89.....but for the Bear Family...as in family Urisdae.
I know the "owners" well, and had been there when they first "bought" it in '77.
At that time it had an unobstructed view of the lake......40 years later it's now filtered.
Long story short, the deed was never recorded.
They couldn't sell in open market.
I bought it for a little more than your pre-construction cost (less your land cost of course).
Spent 18 months pursuing quiet title action.
Finally got it cleared.
Neighbors were hoping I tear it down and make a real house.
No way.....fixing and enjoying.
The Family Bear used the copper pipe and romex in the crawl space as their own jungle gyms and rope swings.
Last summer I replaced the pipe with PEX and repaired the wiring.
It was a 70s time capsule.....blue and orange shag, mustard appliances, walnut paneling.
Now that I found this site, I'll start my own story thread.

The shingle site sells two brands... your brand and Shakertown, made in Washington. Any reason you chose one over the other?
Rumor has it Shakertown 7" have built in rain drain in the back.

You have a beautiful home.
Cheers!!!

[Danfish]

Now that's a real project!

I have installed both Cedar Valley and Shakertown products and found the Cedar Valley to have a more realistic individual shingle appearance.  Cedar Valley has very good weather-resistive barrier between cedar and plywood backing, while not a true "rain-screen" this should be more than adequate in this California climate.  Shakertown may now use a similar approach.

The Cedar Valley Product has now been up for five years with no issues.  The Shakertown product has been up for eight years two blocks down the street, again no issues.

Main reason for choice of Cedar Valley was pre-finish vendor said they experienced too many problems with Shakertown product and would no longer carry same.  Don't recall what problems were.

Both shingle panel manufactures will send you samples so you can compare for yourself.

Good luck on your undertaking...look forward to seeing progress...take lots of pictures!

[Danfish]

Ok, time out for some curb appeal...boss said she wanted some trees to eventually block view of downtown roof top air handling equipment and one thing led to another...



Did I mention that included installing some rock?





Finished job...trees are in there somewhere...



Must admit, big improvement over view of ten years ago...



Now if those trees will just grow as much as the pine on the left and the apple tree that was removed to build house.

[Danfish]

Sometimes building a house becomes more like building furniture!  The boss had this concept for the pass-thru from dinning room to kitchen.  After many hours here's the finished product:



My first attempt at building glass panel, the router got a real work out on this:

[John Raabe]

Nice looking finish work. Well executed vision.

[Danfish]

Nothing like a real winter to test your engineering design!  Wind design was 140 mph and Squaw Valley ski area nearby was reporting ridge-line gusts of 160 mph.  Snow load design is 175 pounds per foot and a lot of neighbors are up shoveling roofs on older structures.





This is one way to get to the front door: