New office

Office is as good as done!

Steve HardinLeave a comment

This was a very productive weekend! The office took up half of the weekend, not the exciting half but definitively the productive half. I spent a couple of hours on Friday pouring over the instructions on where to attach the door hangars. They only needed to give one measurement, the distance from the top of the door to the bottom of the wheel. No where in the entire instructions, which I kept from last time, did they bother to give that distance. They gave some other random distances and spots on the door that were wrong but not the one I needed. I ended up getting a couple of clamps, cutting two small pieces of wood to the hanger and trying to get it to fit onto the track. I managed to find the correct height, then I measured the door from the floor, subtracted the gap at the bottom and the gap at the top and came up with a door build height. I rough cut the 16 foot board at 82” on one side so I could get them out of the old house alone. It took two of us to thread those 16’ boards into the cramped space. I stacked the boards in bunches of five then cut off both ends at the same time so the boards all matched. Mr Professional came out and we set up a workspace out in the yard. I was initially opposed but after assembling two doors next to the saw in the sunshine, it was nice.

I had come up with the design of using the 2” wood for the X but I had a star pattern drawn out on a piece of cardboard and before I could stop him Mr Professional had ignored my pattern and we went with the hollow X. The next day we tried my pattern but I realized that I would have to cut every single piece in half and I was afraid it would cut down the structural strength of the door. We made it out of tongue and groove that we also used on the walls. We glued them then used pipe clamps to squeeze them together and then screwed on the cross pieces and hung them up on the wall to dry. I think I could have perfected my X cross pattern if we had made a third door. They are not exact but you have to pay attention to notice the difference. This was done on purpose. The direction of the long X pieces on both doors was deliberate. Ideally the screws would all line up but we had to miss knots in the wood and this is not a factory thing, it’s supposed to mimic a barn door and most people don’t measure out placement for screws on a barn door. I just need to rub on the finish for both doors. It will only take an hour but today there was no time.

We needed to get the Glowforge laser engraver all set up. I had purchased duct work to vent it out the side of the room but I failed to account for the actual width of the laser. I ended up running to town and getting metal dryer vent solid ducting and a clamp on connector. We then just drilled a hole right out the back of the laser through the wall and mounted the actual fan outside the building. This means we had to make a shelf outside and we will have to build an enclosure around it and put on a slanted roof over it to shed water from the corner drain off the roof. To get the fan controller through the wall I unwired the controller from the fan allowing us to drill a small hole and use a piece of copper wire to pull it through. This then meant there was no power for the fan outside the house. So I had to kill the power, get into an outlet box and drill out the back of the box to outside and wire in jumper power to a new outside box. This was done and we were able to verify that the fan does work. We added a screen to the inside of the vent so that birds could not fly up the vent. I need to get a waterproof cover that allows the plug to stay plugged in.

We had purchased a sheet of cork 2×3’ long to put behind the Victrola wooden screen we removed from the front of the Victrola. It turned out pretty nice other than I mounted it on the wrong side of the desk. I hung up the office clock after I ensured it was going in the desired spot. The only thing left now is to finish the insulation in the attic, install the attic vent fan, getting freezer room floor installed and then completing the wiring in the second room. Luckily, the only thing left that the wife can see is rubbing on the oil finish on the door, a mere 1.5 hours of labor.

Office finish work closing in on done

Steve HardinLeave a comment

This is the part of the project that I don’t really enjoy, I don’t really care for the finish work. I realize that the product needs to get finished to look great but I still think it takes too long. Mr Professional came out on Saturday and Sunday and we worked on the office. Both windows got the router treatment courtesy of a new portable DeWalt router. Mr Professional got the casing and trim installed after a couple more tubes of caulk were applied. We are really attempting to seal the room up so that there are no bugs! The sound is already pretty blunted. It is amazing how quite the room is when you are inside with the doors shut. I spent most of Saturday working on getting the backlit inset frame sealed up and the trim installed so that it would hold the stained glass window we got from a thrift store. I used hinges and parts left over from various projects.

We got the router shelf installed. The fiber optic company came out during the week and installed new cable to the office. I ordered new cables for inside the house that will keep the cable near the wall. We will get the finish trim for that corner installed after the new cable arrives.

I spent Sunday cleaning the office floor as the front door blew open and the muddy puppy went into the room and enjoyed her self immensely. There was quite a bit of mud to get up off of the floor and couch. I do need to get two more door bumper plates to use as a shim.

We have the double barn door hardware installed on the wall. It still needs to be tightened up but it is in place. This did not go as smoothly as I had hoped. We only had to redrill one hole. Our mistake was covered up by one of the pieces.

Annmarie’s new desk was assembled along with her new chair. I spent most of Sunday wiping Tried and True on the molding and then wiping it off. It is just not a fast process. We got the two tables leveled and ready for the laser cutter and 3D plastic extruder printer. The real gem was getting the inset stained glass window completed. I am now really happy that I took the time to build this into the wall, no matter how much extra time it cost me.

The big things left are to finish the insulation install in the attic, to seal up the door going into the next room, installing the laser ventilation fan and to get the barn doors made and installed. I also need to pour epoxy into two cracks in the floor to fill them up. I am hoping I can get it all done in three more days!

New office trim installed

Steve HardinLeave a comment

I feel like the end is in sight! I was able to get the trim installed in the new office this weekend. The progeny helped me get the trim up one day. I could not get it installed a single piece alone. It was too much distance to span overhead. I was going to install the router cable up the wall so I decided to create a channel by inserting a corner board at 45 degree angles so there was a spot for the cable to run hidden. Once I cut the first piece and set it into the corner I was sold on doing it for each corner. My old table saw was able to cut 45 degree angles and I used a feather board clamped to the rail to keep the board from jumping off the saw vertically. So three corners will have the 45 degree upright corner trim, this also goes a long ways towards hiding the angled walls. It is really a great look and I am very happy with how it turned out. I have altered my plan for the stained glass window. I was going to put hinges on the left side and a latch on the right. My fear was if the latch came loose then the window could fall out. Instead I am going to install the hinges on the top of the opening. This way gravity will keep the door in place most of the way even without a latch. I am still working on the latch arrangement. I have not decided what kind of locking mechanism I want.

I cut a piece of live edge maple planking and worked on sanding it down with the belt sander. This was a great way to shape it into a more level surface. I still spent 30 minutes sanding a small three foot piece. I cut it into a narrowing trapezoidal shape with two 45 degree angles so it could fit in the left hand corner of the room nearest the house. It is a shelf for the router. I did this in two spots in our house also. The real problem is the window and my light box for the stained glass are in the way! I had to go out and recut it with a 30 degree and 60 degree angle and I still had to cut four inches off of the window side so I will be able to install the window trim.

We want to get fiber optic cable installed to the new office but when Annmarie called they said we needed to dig and install conduit before they would come out. So I dug 30 feet of ditch about ten inches deep across the yard and glued and installed conduit from the house to the new office. It only cost me $35 for a hand axe and $25 dollars for a ditch spade, which I had to sharpen, $40 for conduit and a small 90 minutes of excruciating digging exercise. This trench looked like great fun for the puppy and she kept jumping down into the ditch to help me dig.

Sarah brought the puppy in the laundry room, we usually have to dry off her feet, and said nope, she needed a bath. The dog was wet and getting down into the trench and was covered in mud! She put a leash on her and brought her to the bathroom. I shut her in and managed to get her into the tub. She did pretty good until I turned the water on and it started coming out of the shower wand. She went crazy! Started hollering and jumping and trying to get out of the tub. Mud was going everywhere, on the walls, floors and myself. I managed to get all of the mud rinsed off. I was only able to get one front leg soaped up. She just kept hollering louder when the spray of water hit her. I was able to get her out of the tub and dried off. She stayed in the bathroom while I showered. She continued to voice her concern that the water was attacking me the entire time I showered. I started singing in hopes that would quite her down. It did not work. So her first bath did occur but she is not eager to repeat this experience if the first reaction was any indicator.

The outside of the office needs some work! You would never guess that behind the door on the left is the new almost completed office. As soon as I can get the office up and running I will move out onto this porch area and work on getting it cleaned off. I still need to install a set of stairs on the left side of the porch for Annmarie to come up onto the porch from near the house. This set of stairs will need actual hand rails. Unlike most of the stairs I build.

Office closing in on finish line, sorta…

Steve HardinLeave a comment

My last two days of staycation were spent working on the office. The nephews came out to move their grandma’s new loveseat into her house. It was on our front porch so they had to move out the old one, into the wife’s new office and on the way past the old chicken coop we picked up an old TV stand, an empty Victrola case and an old wooden closet. All four pieces got unloaded into the office. I tried to keep them more toward the middle as I knew the trim still needed to be installed. More like measured, cut, sanded, dry fitted and cut a second time. I was not really feeling like working on the trim so I cleaned and polished all of the furniture. Annmarie was out of town so I wanted it to all be clean when she got home. Sarah came out and held the new overhead room light up into the air so I could easily install it. Letting it hang by the grounding wire just doesn’t seem to be a good option any more. The new light works wonderfully. The only real problem is I, for some unknown reason, put the light switch on the wrong side of the door. I think I got a left hand sided door and really needed a right hand door. So now the switches are behind the door. I did install the switches before I had the doors installed.

On Sunday, I took the wife out to inspect the office. I had spent the morning cutting and dry fitting trim. I could not do the floor trim until I trimmed out the door first. Unfortunately, the wall is leaning about 1.5” out away from the room. So when I squared up and leveled the door there is a huge gap near the top of the door. I had to come up with an overlapping system of boards to fill the gaps and appear to be planned. Once that was done I could start in on the floor. I managed to get over 50% of the trim cut and dry fitted.

Annmarie decided that she did not want the closet. It will get moved to the other room for me to use. I am going to store some cleaning supplies in it and some other stuff. It rained for most of the day so I kept wiping my feet on rags I put down outside the entrances. The puppy just does not care whether its cold or rainy or snowy, she wants to be outside. I tried to let her into the laundry room to dry off and she just did not want that. She wanted to run around free. We try to bring her into the house in the evenings and she will stay inside for about 20 minutes before wanting to go back outside. She spends most of her time in the evening on the front porch making sure no one can get into the house. I think I have another three days on the office to get it done. I already installed all the light and switch covers earlier in the week. Once I get the floor trim completed I need to work on the built in stained glass lights and frame to hold it in place. The sheep are not doing anything nor are they currently have babies. They are in limbo when it comes to birthing no more new babies. We had a pair of bald eagles come visit. They flew around the farm for a few hours before wandering off.

Staycation is paying off

Steve HardinLeave a comment

It’s been a busy two days. I went out to the barn yesterday hoping for babies and found none. So I kicked everyone out, filled the hay feeders and then grained everyone. I went and opened the barn door to let the sheep in so I could go fill the triplet’s water and spotted a brand new lamb, still covered in goo out in the barn lot. I literally had only taken 15 minutes to get everything in place. Now I had no clue who had given birth and they had all bum rushed the door as they wanted to be the first one to eat grain, even the new mother. I walked up and down the feeders looking for the ewe that had just given birth. I found her but she was low woman on the totem pole and had not managed to secure a spot on the wall feeder. We walked back and forth along the feeder until I was finally able to catch her and lock her in a Jug. As soon as I had the Jug gate secured she hit the gate with her head at a dead run trying to get out. I went out, scooped up the newborn lamb, I had leather gloves on and they got all gooped up, I then wiped the lamb down with some old hay netting and put her in with her mother. Mom was not interested in the lamb, only in eating. I left the lamb and asked Sarah to check in on them in 90 minutes so I could get started on applying polyurethane sealant to the new office floor. I can use two coats and the best part is if I apply the coats between 4-12 hours after the previous coat I do not have to sand the floor between coats, this was a huge selling point for me. It took me almost three hours to get the first coat on the floor. I went out after dinner and applied the second coat. I was back inside by 2100. The floor looked pretty shiny, but the floor was still wet.

On a side note, I was at the door doing the last one foot of floor, since I was at the door I had the polyurethane can directly in front of me, instead of the side like normal. I also had a cheap work shirt with a short breast pocket only. I had dirtied my two shirts already this week with the zip close breast pockets. Of course my phone was in my breast pocket and yes it slipped out of my pocket and dropped into the polyurethane! It was totally immersed, I fished it out and dried it off as best I could. I then finished the floor and then went inside the house, took the phone out of the case and buffed off the polyurethane until it was gone. My case had a cover over the charging port but the women tell me that the speakers are no longer as good as they were. I usually Bluetooth it to an external speaker anyways. My hearing is not great and I need the bigger louder speakers. The phone case had to go in the trash. I am now using Annmarie’s phone case and need to buy a new one. I am “not to be trusted” without a case. I drop my phone several times a week in the course of just using it.

This morning the plan was to get outside, do the chores real quick and then start on the walls. The Juniper on the ceilings is not going to get sealed, it will remain untouched. The floor was dry enough to walk on. That polyurethane really did dry quick. I was pretty impressed. I am definitely not a professional applicator, as I could spot the imperfections in the finish but most people are not going to notice.

The sheep had other ideas. I found two more ewes that had given birth and the single from yesterday had turned into a set of twins and the crazy mother was now paying attention to both of them. I got the ewe with a single and the other with twins into new Jugs and proceeded to then feed everyone grain and hay, then let them back in and get water a couple of times for all the Jugged mothers. Once that was done it was time to go to the old house. I got interrupted earlier at breakfast to get a loveseat delivered for my mother-in-law. The nephews will come out on the weekend and help me move the old one out of her house and into the new office and then take the new one to her house. One more reason for me to get this thing done! Sarah came out and we started to rub the “Tried and True” onto the walls, it gets applied with a lint free cloth liberally then wiped off in 60 minutes. It took us almost six hours to get all the walls rubbed on then off. Tomorrow I will work on the trim.