Fairfax Journey

Not long ago, it was just an empty room, with some nice windows. Over the Memorial Day weekend, we installed the kitchen cabinets, and have taken yet another a leap forward towards our move-in day.

It was a very full weekend, and I learned lots of tricks as we worked with Tony Mowers, placing each cabinet, getting it level and aligned with it’s neighbors, and screwing it into place. We did the bottom row first, using shims to get each unit aligned with it’s neighbors, starting in the corner and working our way out. Basically, we drew a level line on the wall, at the top of each row of cabinetry, with marks where studs in the wall were located. Then we fit the cabinet in place, with a large level on top, aligning the front edges, screwing the cabinet to it’s neighbor, then into the stud in the wall.

Here is what it takes to install cabinets, aside from another person to help 🙂

• short and long levels
• clamps and shims
• 3” self-tapping flathead screws
• 1” wood screws (not shown)
• plastic mallet for tapping things into adjustment
• stud finder
• power drills and screwdrivers and chargers and batteries
• pencils for marking walls

For the upper cabinets, add a piece of 2×4 lumber to mount on the wall, to help hold the cabinets in place while we fasten them. You can see it in use in the pic at the top of the page — we screwed several of the upper cabinets together to align the faces, then lifted the whole unit into place and added screws across the tops and bottoms of the cabinets into studs. Then we removed the 2×4, filled the screw holes, and mounted the doors. It’s a surprisingly quick process, when you know what you are doing and have the right kind of help. Thanks, Tony.

The finished product, ready for tile and appliances. The white object in the center is a stainless steel backsplash, with a Kobe vent hood over it, for the BlueStar range. The microwave fits under the counter on the right, dishwasher in the island on the left, and the refrigerator goes on the extreme right. These are getting delivered in about 10 days, after the tile is done.

This week has brought a lot of texture to the outside of the house, and major progress on the inside. The driveway and curb have been completed, stained cedar siding is going onto the setbacks on the front of the house, and we’re painting and working hard on the interior stairs.

First, the driveway. Artisan Concrete (who also did our foundation) did the pour, while scattering pami gravel that I hauled on Tuesday into the fresh surface, troweling it in. All three things are going on in this photo below.

A couple of hours later, after spraying a retardant on the surface to keep it from hardening too fast, the concrete is set enough to hold the pebble in place. The pic at the top of the page shows Dominic power-spraying the surface with water, removing the top layer of cement and exposing the pebbles. The transformation was amazing and beautiful to watch.

Meanwhile, Nancy and I have been staining the cedar siding on sawhorses across the street. Mauricio has started to install it on the wall of the 3rd floor deck.

Aaand…today we worked on the stair framing. Steve & Tom Tillson installed the main stringers and framing posts a few days ago, and it’s my job to put walnut stain on them. Before and after.

This wood wall up the center of the stairs is going to be completed with narrow slats of clear douglas fir, spaced so you can see through it. The framing is dark, for contrast. I should have pictures to share by the end of the next week.

Nick Razo (Senior and Junior) are arriving Monday to start tiling the house. George and Nancy and I are moving along with the painting, and I’ll be assembling and installing kitchen and bathroom cabinets this week. And cleaning and priming the floor, and installing the ProFlex underlayment membrane before tiling. The stair brackets arrive Wednesday, and we have to paint them. I have less than 2 weeks to get everything out of our storage unit, so the refrigerator, dishwasher, washer & dryer, sinks, toilets, lighting fixtures and bathtub all have to come over soon. The garage is going to be packed.

Now that the stucco is done, I’ve taken time off of work to install the cable railing system. It’s more than half done now, and the results are great! And my arms ache from the effort.

I bought cable kits from Feeney Architectural Products to do the whole thing. The first thing I discovered is that the self-swaging cable terminators require 9/16” holes in the rail posts on one end of each cable run. There are 5 cable runs, each with 12 cables…so I had to drill 60 9/16” holes through 2 layers of 1/4” steel. This meant that I had to purchase a really good drill (i.e. a guy toy, a Milwaukee 1/2”), a 9/16” cobalt steel drill bit (thank you, Grainger), and ultimately, a drill bit sharpener. I now have incredible respect for people who work with steel. It took a lot of strength and energy to drill those holes!

Let me start with the cable kits. Once again, we’re at the place where “some assembly is required”. Here is a set of cables, short 5-footers and long 15-footers, with a tube of locktite, the nuts that go on the threaded end, the swages that go on the bare end, and the stainless steel caps that finish them off.

The cable is threaded through the posts, a nut and washer goes on the threaded end (not visible), and a the swage slides onto the bare end with a nylon washer. The swage locks onto the cable, so it can only be pushed in one direction. These are the 9/16” holes I drilled, with 4 swages installed, and a 5th swage going onto the cable.

The almost-finished product. Nuts on the threaded ends on the right have been tightened to make the cables taught. The next step is to take a cutting wheel to the threaded shaft, trimming the excess, add a drop of locktite, then snap a finish cap onto the end. The result is the neat, clean installation you see on the left.

By the way, I left some extra threaded shaft on the end of each cable, so I can pop the caps off and tighten the cable if it stretches over time.

Meanwhile, work is starting on the inside stairway. Steve and Tom Tillson have started making templates for the 4×12 stringers that will go up the center of the stair well, which will support the floating treads. I had a load of 4×12 ‘selected grade 1 structural kiln-dried free-of-heart-center douglas fir’ (aka ‘select 1 struct KD FOHC DF’) delivered to their shop today. They are planing the 16’ beams down to size, and I should have some pictures and progress to report within a few days.

George, Nancy and I continue to prime all the walls, paint ceilings and door frames, and prepare the house for final smooth drywall touch-up, kitchen cabinets, and bath room tiling. Waterproofing of the shower and decks will be finished this coming week. The gutter downspouts will be done Tuesday, and the scaffolding will be picked up Wednesday. Cedar siding arrives on Thursday. We’re scheduling the concrete pours for the curb and driveway, and placement of rocks on the hillside to build the slope back up in front of the wing walls. I’m keeping my foot on the throttle.