The Minnie House

A Very Special House Guest

2011-09-15T12:56:00.000-07:00

Architect Rocio Romero relaxes in the vintage Eames 670 Lounge Chair

Last Saturday The Minnie House was host to the LV Home's architect and inspiration, Rocio Romero, and her latest Open House tour. Around 100 LV Home enthusiasts visited the sparkling modernist gem that I am so happy to call home, and although I can't speak for the visitors, the tour was certainly enjoyable for me as I'm always delighted to show people around and answer questions about the house and the construction process. I met a succession of lovely people and will happily host another tour for Rocio in the New Year.

Rocio looks at home in the IKEA kitchen

'Pacifica: A New Home for Modern Architecture'

2011-09-07T11:31:00.000-07:00

By the dawn's early light...

A couple of days ago I was interviewed here at The Minnie House by Gabriela Segovia-McGahan and Dustin McGahan from the PacificaPatch web news site, and the result was this lovely piece about me, the house, and my mum. They may even write a little more after they join the Open House tour this Saturday.

My new succulent garden is shaping up nicely

The Minnie House in HD

2011-09-03T23:44:00.000-07:00

The Minnie House : Sept 2011 from Steve Rapport on Vimeo.

I just made this brand new HD video of the interior of the house, with musical accompaniment composed and played quite beautifully by my girlfriend Hye Won. Enjoy!

Landscaping

2011-08-21T23:24:00.000-07:00

The Minnie House Meets Jetson Green

2011-08-17T14:06:00.000-07:00

Yesterday The Minnie House was featured on JETSON GREEN, Preston Koerner's excellent blog about sustainable living. Feel free to take a look.

Open House on September 10th

2011-08-16T12:12:00.000-07:00

Rocio Romero will be holding an Open House here at The Minnie House on September 10th. You can see more details here, and you can book a place on the tour here. Maybe I'll see you at my shiny house next month?

It's not an 'ouse, it's a Gnome

2011-08-10T12:59:00.000-07:00

Looking Good

2011-05-08T22:19:00.000-07:00

Picture This

2011-05-04T13:39:00.000-07:00

Street Life

2011-05-04T12:21:00.000-07:00

On another glorious, hot and sunny day, under a clear blue sky, the guys from Bragato Paving brought The Minnie House one big step closer to receiving the coveted certificate of completion from the building inspector.

A couple of weeks ago Inspector Chai outlined nine conditions that still need to be met, and so far we've taken care of four of them, with a further three in process. We'll get there in the end...

That's The Driveway, Uh Huh Uh Huh, I Like It

2011-05-03T13:11:00.000-07:00

The house is now completely enclosed since the installation of the CHI anodized aluminum garage door with satin etched tempered glass, and after several weeks of work laying and compacting baserock and waiting for everything to dry out, the driveway and entry were at long long last poured last Thursday. The result is quite lovely.

There are still a few little jobs to be done before I can start landscaping, the most significant of which is the laying of asphalt in the street, which will happen tomorrow morning.

Is this heaven? No, it's Pacifica

A Thoroughly Modern Mailbox

2011-05-03T12:53:00.000-07:00

This little beauty is the stainless steel Contempo, a thoroughly modern mailbox that came to Pacifica all the way from Wellington, New Zealand.

Outside In

2011-04-03T22:28:00.000-07:00

A Machine For Living

2011-03-27T22:30:00.000-07:00

While we wait for the return of sunshine and blue skies (which should arrive in the next couple of days) and an opportunity to take some more definitive photos, here's a little something to pass the time.

The Minnie House is a completely and utterly beautiful machine for living, perfectly suited in design and orientation to its spectacularly serene location; quite, warm, cosy and well thought out; shiny on the outside and calm on the inside. It's a wonderful living monument to my mum, Mina Rapport, and a credit to its architect, Rocio Romero; to its site architect, Ben Hidalgo; to its contractor, SEA Construction; and to each and every (mostly Latino) man whose labor and toil enabled this silver box to rise from this Pacifica hillside.

My criticisms notwithstanding, I'd like to thank my contractor, Steve Albert, and his project manager Rich Alfano (who has become a good friend over the course of construction), who went to bat for me when this project was at its shakiest, and shepherded it through the construction process while helping me to keep the budget from going through the roof, which is no mean achievement when building on a California ocean-side slope.

Many of the little remaining jobs are now thankfully complete, including the guardrail on the retaining wall and the handrail on the stairs. The leaking fire sprinkler line has been replaced with a new roll of copper pipe, and once it's flushed and hooked up I can once more invite the fire marshall on site for his final inspection. Once he signs off, Chai the City Inspector can come back and, hopefully, grant my certificate of occupancy.

The Art of Being Heard But Not Seen

2011-03-10T23:40:00.000-08:00

Apologies if you've been waiting for news with bated breath, but yes, I successfully moved into The Minnie House last Saturday, with gratefully accepted help and muscular assistance from esteemed friends and colleagues Steven, Jovanny, Tony and Melissa.

The reason it's like a dream come true is because, well, it's a dream come true. The house is a veritable wonderland of modernism, with clean lines and a simple color palette, adorned with a melange of iconic mid century and more recently designed furniture that share a spare, elegant aesthetic (all IMHO, of course - your mileage may vary). My geeky side is also well represented with music in every room, courtesy of the Sonos Digital Music System, big screen TVs on the walls, and a beautifully organized media closet to keep all of the goodies functional but invisible, which should perhaps be christened The Art of Being Heard But Not Seen.

Naturally there is still much to be done, particularly on the outside. The driveway is a still a muddy mess, not helped by the poorly plumbed fire sprinkler line, which is leaking water into the backfilled trench. A solution has so far been elusive, but keen minds are working night and day (not really) to fix it so that we can, finally, at long last, pour some concrete and complete the construction phase. There are also several interior jobs that the GC has been sadly and maddeningly unable to complete in a timely manner, and it's unclear to me when, if ever, these tasks will be moved from the 'to do' list to the 'done and dusted' list.

The weather has been miserable for the most part, preventing me from shooting definitive photos of both the interior and the exterior, but fear not, architecture and design aficionados, photographic delights will be presented to satisfy your visual appetite in short order.

My Top Ten Favorite Things About The Minnie House (in no particular order):
1. The Hans Grohe Pura Vida shower head, for the best (solo) showers I have ever experienced
2. The stairwell, which I'm certain has magical powers beyond my comprehension
3. The luscious and divine African Roma walnut floors
4. The Norm 69 and Phrena pendant lights, both of which glow magnificently
5. The anorexic Samsung plasma TV hanging on the living room wall
6. The four majestic aluminum and glass doors from Sliding Door SF
7. The quietude of the glorious oceanside location
8. The welcoming friendliness of my new neighbors
9. The overall aesthetic impact of my spectacular silver shoebox on the hill
10. The view. Duh.

The Light Fantastic

2011-03-03T22:30:00.000-08:00

The Norm 69 pendant light, designed in 1969 by Simon Karpov, installed today over my dining table. Gorgeous.

I Could Murder A Cup of Tea

2011-03-03T11:32:00.000-08:00

I'm still hoping to move in on Saturday. Of course that depends on Chai the Building Inspector. Everything's frantic and frenetic as I try to get everything finished. Thanks to the loan of a neighbor's butane stove I was able to brew my first cup of Tetley's Tea at the house on Tuesday, when I spent my first night here, camped out in a sleeping bag on a crappy air mattress while a vicious howling wind threatened to huff and puff and blow the house down. I was freaked out and couldn't sleep, but the house was still standing in the morning!

The finish plumbing was completed a couple of days ago, and the photo above depicts the very moment that water first flowed through the house. The gorgeous Pura Vida vanity faucet from Hans Grohe was next to go online, and now all that's missing is hot water. PG&E is supposed to come tomorrow morning to install the gas meter, and after that I should have every service up and running.

Today the house is a hive of activity: the guys from Crawford Satellite are completing all the wiring in the media closet, the guys from The Sliding Door Company are installing the bathroom and office aluminum doors, the guys from MC Electric are wiring the cooktop and pendant light and fire alarm and generally wrapping up their work, Bobby from Coastal Plumbing is beavering away in the basement to complete the radiant heat work before gas is turned on, and Dan the Carpenter is nailing in the final pieces of baseboard, mounting toilet paper holders, adding the valance trim below the wall cabinets and attaching the plinths, or toe kicks, to the floor cabinets in the kitchen. Busy busy busy.

"And this is my number two..."

2011-03-01T19:55:00.000-08:00

I'll spare you graphics and details, but suffice to say, big jobs in the new house. A moment to savor.

First Order of Business

2011-02-28T22:26:00.000-08:00

I'll spare you the photographic evidence, but today was truly memorable: the plumbers turned on the cold water supply, and for the first time ever at The Minnie House, I was able to point percy at the porcelain.

Maybe tomorrow I'll be able to make my first cup of tea. Jolly good!

Totally Floored

2011-02-28T00:00:00.000-08:00

Working hard to finish the inside of the house by Friday so that I can move in on Saturday. That's just six days away. Can this really be true? Is this really happening?

The outside may well still be a mud patch and I probably won't have a driveway or an entryway and there won't be any landscaping, but as long as the city says it's OK I won't let any of that prevent me from moving in as soon as possible.

The plastic shroud has been removed from the kitchen and the stainless steel Smeg oven, IKEA fridge/freezer and Kraus undermount sink are shining forth. While the kitchen is nearing completion, the plinth is a problem as there's 6" from floor to base of cabinets, but IKEA plinths are only 4" high. Not sure how it will be resolved - but it will be resolved.

After three days of hard work the floor installers have gone, leaving behind them a beautiful upstairs floor and staircase, and a laminate floor in the basement that completely changes its ambience. Now, instead of a basement, it looks and feels like a luxurious living room. What a difference a floor makes.

The lighting is not quite 100% finished, but it should be after the electrician works his magic on the remaining bits and pieces tomorrow morning, while the carpenter nails down the baseboards and the Home Depot door installer fits the bi-fold doors to the two closets in the second bedroom.

While all this finish work swirls around me, I'm frantically cleaning everything in sight, bagging up trash, recycling cardboard boxes and even hanging my pictures on the walls. It looks like home already, and there are still six days to go...

Still Raining, Still Dreaming

2011-02-24T23:06:00.000-08:00

Today marks eight months since we broke ground on The Minnie House. The house is so close to being finished that I could move in next week. And yet...

Comcast guy goes up the pole to hook up high speed cable internet

The driveway is still a bloody muddy mess with an open trench. Since it keeps raining, I'll have to just keep dreaming about the day I move in.

At least I'll be able to keep dreaming at high speed, now that I finally, and not without considerable pain and angst, have my 20mbps Comcast cable internet.

I Wish You Wood

2011-02-23T23:35:00.000-08:00

African Roma Walnut flooring in the bedroom

A good day. A very good day. The installers from SimpleFloors showed up on time, laid out and cut the Royal Walk acoustic underlayment in mere minutes, and finished floating the glorious African Roma Walnut in the bedroom and closet before lunch.

The control center for an underground lair. Or for the radiant heat system. Or something.

These guys don't hang around. By 4pm they had finished the entire upstairs, with the exception of the spare bedroom, which will be done in the morning. I know I'm biased, but to my eyes the Simple Floor looks Simply Amazing.

Base rock for the gas trench

Jeff and his crew from Sewers R Us returned this morning to pour a truckload of base rock into the water and gas trenches and compact the hell out of everything with a Jumping Jack prior to pouring and flattening steaming hot asphalt, leaving the street free of gaping holes for the first time in weeks.

Only hours after starting and the guys have already nearly finished the living room

We've almost completed laying down the exceedingly expensive copper piping for both lines - domestic and fire sprinkler - and the water line was approved by the city today. If I can get the other line approved by the fire inspector we can go ahead and backfill the trench, which I'd love to get done before the rain starts up again some time tomorrow.

The Master Bedroom in all its woody glory

Copper Feel

2011-02-22T23:38:00.000-08:00

Jeff from Sewers R Us digs the water trench across the driveway

I learned something today: copper is REALLY expensive. The plumbers claimed not to know there would be two water meters (one for the domestic supply, and a separate one for the fire sprinkler system) and thus two water lines that had to be run from the meters to the house. Which, of course, meant that there would be (yet another!) massive upcharge for running the extra line.

That upcharge would be $35.00 per foot for copper, and still $25.00 per foot for plastic, and we figured that the run would be at least 45 feet, so weren't not talking chump change.

While Frank and his buddy from North Coast Country Water tapped the main and ran 1 1/2" copper to the two new meters, one of the guys who was doing the trenching said if I bought the copper from Home Depot, he'd run it to the house for $300.00. Sure, why not. I drove to Home Depot, where I found out that 1 1/2" copper pipe sells for the princely sum of $7.70 per foot, which is pretty damned expensive, but at least when all is said and done I'll 'only' have to find an extra $800.00 instead of another $1600.00.

Another shock to the system came courtesy of Hector, who had agreed to install the 'bargain' Ronbow corner shower that I bought from Craigslist some 18 months ago in the basement bathroom. It turns out that the shower, which is no longer in production and for which no parts are available, is missing one of its two sliding doors. And it has two bottom rails and no top rail. File this particularly juicy problem under "To be resolved..."

Fortunately I decided a few weeks ago to adopt "It is what it is" as my pithy and practical go-to phrase for construction-related bollocks, so despite all of these seemingly unending setbacks and snafus I am able to continue living a relatively calm, if rather more hectic and frantic than normal, life.

Satellite of Love

2011-02-19T19:42:00.000-08:00

Now I not only have music around the house, but satellite TV too. The DirecTV guy came on Wednesday and set up the dish on the roof and hooked up an HD DVR for the living room and an HD receiver for the bedroom, and I signed up for Whole Home DVR service so that I can watch recorded shows on any TV in the house. Since the receivers are in the media closet I re-programmed the remotes to switch from IR to RF, and now that they work through the walls I can watch TV to my heart's content.

Nando the Electrician mounted this lovely Phrena pendant light, designed by Karl Zahn and bought from the MoMa store, on the ceiling above the stairway, and soon we'll also mount the spectacular Norm 69 lamp above the Danish modern dining table.

In other news, the frameless glass shower in the main bathroom is complete except for the plumbing fixtures, which will have to wait until after we finally bring water service to The Minnie House, whenever that may be as it's still raining.

Yesterday I picked up the fourteen missing Ultimate Blue 3" x 6" glass tiles from Daltile, and this morning Francisco completed the final piece of the tiling puzzle. The tiles look gorgeous, and when we eventually see the return of blue skies I'll be able to see the sky and the sea reflected in the backsplash.

The bathroom now also features a Duravit Multibox Series medicine cabinet sitting above a Duravit wall mounted vanity designed by Philppe Starck for the 1.2.3 collection. I'm actually not sure how I feel about the way the cabinets and the backsplash work together - I'd certainly be happier if the vanity and cabinet were the same width, which would better integrate the backsplash into the overall aesthetic.

This Muddy Life

2011-02-17T19:07:00.000-08:00

Given a preference, I'd rather keep the ocean the other side of Highway 1, and out of my basement. Today was one of those evil stormy days when there's water everywhere, including many places where it wasn't invited. The garage entrance was like the shallow end in a kids swimming pool, and after sweeping the water out of the basement I had to dig my own makeshift muddy French drain in the pouring rain to encourage the deluge to escape down the side of the house instead of taking refuge inside it.

Much of the water encircling the house, and draining from the roof via the downspouts, ended up in the 8' x 5' x 3' dissipation pit, but that was itself almost full by early afternoon so I'm not sure what I'll see when I get to the house in the morning. I'm willing to bet that whatever it is, it will be wet and muddy.

Lights! Music! Action!

2011-02-15T23:50:00.000-08:00

Sadly I still can't answer the $64,000 question: when are you moving in? I missed a very big window of good-weather opportunity to get the final trench dug and water service established, and now the winter storm season has returned with a vengeance we're stuck in a holding pattern. The hardwood floor, which would signify the end of construction, was to have been installed this week, but it's now postponed until the trench is dug and backfilled, the driveway is paved, and the concrete entryway is poured.

There's been progress galore in other areas, though. The installers from The Sliding Door Company came last week and set the aluminum sliders for the closet and the bedroom entrance, and they'll add the two swing doors for the bathroom and second bedroom after the floor is done; and Doty Stucco completed their work on the exterior, which is now a delightful dark gray color called Wrought Iron.

The house is secure since Jovanny and I (but mainly Jovanny) affixed a Trinity 788 biometric lock to the red basement door, which allows me to access the house using just my index fingerprint. Keyless entry is a beautiful thing!

Francisco the Tiler would also have been finished with his work had we not run out of the Ultimate Blue glass Daltiles we're using for the kitchen splashback. The 14 missing pieces are on special order and should be in stock on Thursday, which means the splashback will be completed this weekend.

As of today, courtesy of the guys from Crawford Satellite & Electronics, I'm no longer waiting for gift of sound and vision. Despite the absence of a network I somehow managed to cajole four zones of my Sonos digital music system into blasting tunes around the living room, basement and both bedrooms, while the three TVs are all sitting on their various walls awaiting the arrival of a signal from DirecTV that should arrive tomorrow afternoon.

As if that weren't enough, Mike and his crew from MC Electric have hooked up most of the interior and exterior can lights and many of the electrical outlets, and this coming weekend I plan to see The Minnie House lit up at dusk for the very first time.

We're close. Very close. Once this dreadful storm front passes and sunshine returns to Pacifica we can get this house finished, at long last.

Electric Avenue

2011-02-09T23:11:00.000-08:00

The entire house is now a magnificent monochromatic marvel, featuring a Benjamin Moore paint color called Moonlight White: flat on the ceilings, eggshell on the walls, and semi-gloss on the doors and trim. There's just one exception. The fire door, between the garage and the basement, is bright red, evoking memories of the pillar boxes, phone booths, and Routemaster buses of my youth.

Two guys from PG&E showed up this morning to hook up the overhead electric power line, which proved a little more challenging than they imagined as they couldn't get their extension ladder close enough to the house. After I backfilled around 10 feet of the gas trench they were able to get a foothold for their ladder, complete the hook up, and disconnect the temporary power supply. Which paradoxically left us without any source of power until the electricians show up some time tomorrow morning.

Meanwhile, I was finding new ways to get frustrated by my appalling lack of DIY skills, wasting an hour on a futile attempt to install a biometric fingerprint lock and a deadlock on the fire door. To cut a long story short, I need to buy a chisel so that I can try again tomorrow.

The kitchen is mostly shiny white now since I pulled the plastic covers off the wall cabinets and some of the island drawers, but I had a hiccup putting the little IKEA Grip handles on the drawers. The tops of the drawers are so close to the countertops that there's no room to pull the handles, and I'll have to make (yet another!) trip to IKEA to find a different solution.

The Hang Over

2011-02-06T21:55:00.000-08:00

See that lovely kitchen island? I didn't notice until yesterday afternoon, but there's something missing: a 10" overhang near the big windows, which was supposed to be the breakfast nook. I always imagined myself sitting there on a stool, eating breakfast whilst gazing out at the Pacific Ocean. Well, that's not going to happen now. The fabricator made the mistake (although I can't believe I didn't notice before) and is prepared to refund me the cost of the extra materials which I had to order a couple of weeks ago, so I'll just live with it the way it is. It's still cute.

Francisco the Tiler was back at the house on Saturday, completing the two showers, laying tile on the floor of the downstairs bathroom, and tiling the walls around the Duravit Happy D bath. I like the way it all looks so far. We also agreed that he would come back next week and lay the sea blue mosaic tile splashbacks in both bathrooms, and the dazzling glass Daltile splashback in the kitchen.

I spent most of the weekend working on the kitchen cabinets. I had no idea there was so much to do, but now there are soft-close dampeners on all of the drawers and doors, and all that remains is to add the missing bits and pieces that I still need to pick up from IKEA, followed by the minimalist steel Grip cabinet pulls.

The finishing line is in sight. Just hope no-one moves the goalposts.

Counter Culture

2011-02-04T22:03:00.000-08:00

A busy couple of days. Doty Stucco spent yesterday applying the brown coat to the basement walls, and one week from now they'll return for the last time, to coat the same walls with an acrylic coating in a color called Wrought Iron from Benjamin Moore Paints, a dark gray that will contrast well with the shiny silver shell of The Minnie House.

Bob the Gas Man arrived on cue yesterday as well, tapping into the gas main, setting the meter and running yellow plastic pipe down the trench to the side of the house. We're ready to switch on our gas service, but still awaiting the arrival of the 95% efficient Munchkin boiler, which may or may not be en route to the Bay Area from the East Coast, presumably hitchhiking slowly via the scenic route whilst enjoying the sights and sounds of rural America.

I kept myself busy, as usual, hanging the doors to the wall cabinets. They still need adjusting, and they're not really blue, they're high gloss white, as will be revealed when I peel the plastic covers off after the house is painted next week.

Today was the turn of Craig the Door Guy, who spent most of the day hanging the four flush, primed doors in the basement, and nailing on the casings. These doors will be painted white next week, with the exception of the garage-to-basement fire-rated door, which will be painted bright fire engine red.

While Craig was keeping himself busy downstairs, Gabe the Counter Guy and his helper were upstairs installing the beautiful black but very green Paperstone counter tops, and later on making precision cuts for the Hans Grohe Allegro E kitchen faucet, the Kraus stainless steel undermount sink, the black IKEA electric cooktop and the Broan downdraft ventilator. I had to leave before the installation was complete, so when I visit the house early tomorrow morning to meet with Joe the Garage Door Guy I'll see the counter tops in all their polished glory for the first time. I can hardly wait.

The Comcast cable guy also showed up some time before I did and set his conduit in the open PG&E trench, so we're ready for the final steps to complete my high-speed cable internet installation, and my friend Jovanny generously took BART all the way from the East Bay to help me this afternoon, laying 40 feet of 1 1/2" plastic conduit alongside the cable for telephone service. I don't technically need this as I won't be getting a land line, but I figured it's something I should do while the trench is open. I wasn't prepared for how difficult it would be to pull a steel wire through 40 feet of plastic pipe, but after around two increasingly embarrassing and frustrating hours we got the job done. The trench is finally - finally! - ready to be backfilled on Monday, and then we can start digging the final trench, for water service.

Careful With That Axe, Eugene

2011-02-02T22:38:00.000-08:00

He's not a homicidal axe-wielding maniac, he's actually a good guy, chopping through the street on Talbot Avenue to expose the gas main. Digging by hand he created a four foot wide bell hole which PG&E will use tomorrow morning to attach a new gas pipe to the gas main.

Not many people know this, and I didn't know it until yesterday, but you can't get both your gas and your electric hooked up by the utility company before you get your certificate of occupancy: you can get one, or the other. I chose electricity, but Rich the Contractor pointed out that we need gas service in order to fire up the radiant heat, and we need the radiant heat to warm up the house before we install the hardwood floors. The moisture in the sub floor must be below a certain level, and the hardwood, which will be delivered on site tomorrow morning, has to acclimate at room temperature for 72 hours.

And yet... our temporary power is provided by cables attached to the portable toilet, and the location of the portable toilet is preventing us from pouring the concrete for the entry walkway and the landing adjacent to the entry ramp - and without that we can't finish the house. We can't move the toilet further up the hill because there's nowhere on site to locate it where it won't be in the way, and we can't move it further down the hill because the cable isn't long enough. In short we're in a bit of a pickle, and I'm working with the city and the building inspector to extricate myself from this bizarre Catch 22-esque situation.

Yesterday the guys from Doty Stucco applied the scratch coat, which is the base layer of portland cement plaster, to the basement walls, and on Thursday they'll apply the next layer, the brown coat, and then a week later the final grey acrylic top coat. As you can see, the lower level of the house already looks wonderful in its new coat, and I'm excited to see what the end product will look like.

Today the sewer trench was backfilled, and tomorrow, after PG&E lays the gas pipe in their trench, we can backfill half of the trench before laying conduit for AT&T phone and Comcast cable on Friday morning. Once that's done we can backfill the entire trench and start digging the final trench, for water service.

There's a possible wrinkle in my plans to get my certificate of occupancy as soon as humanly possible, as Irwin the Radiant Heat Guy reports that for reasons I can't begin to understand the Munchkin boiler which will fire the entire heating system is still on the East Coast, and won't be out here for at least ten days.

Nevertheless, thinking positively, while also remembering that there's many a slip 'twixt cup and lip, I aim to move into The Minnie House in just 20 days.

Deck Chair

2011-01-30T23:50:00.000-08:00

The deck is finished, and it looks magnificent. With the help of my friend Melissa (actually, Master Melissa) and a couple of spare hours on Saturday afternoon, we were even able to vacuum, scrub, sweep and wash it to something approaching cleanliness, quite an achievement given the sheer volume of mud, dirt, silicone and metal shavings that had to be forcibly removed from the premises.

Francisco the Tiler also made his presence felt this weekend, applying lath to the shower surrounds in both bathrooms, and laying the white 20" tiles on the bathroom floor. Assuming Chai the Inspector passes the lath, Francisco will complete his work in the bathrooms next weekend.

We also have a PG&E trench inspection scheduled, for Tuesday morning, and if we pass that there's at least a chance that we'll have gas, and maybe even electric, service this week. We urgently need to backfill the trench so that we can dig the water trench, start laying asphalt in the driveway, and pour concrete for the entry ramp landing and walkway. That all needs to happen before we apply finished to the interior of the house next week.

Like a Fairy Tale. Grimm.

2011-01-28T23:47:00.000-08:00

Say hello to the sewer

A brutal week, during which I had to deal endlessly with AT&T, Comcast, DirecTV, DMV and PG&E, the carefully-controlled budget was blown to smithereens, and I began to doubt that I had the means to finish The Minnie House. In the space of a few grim and stressful days the budget ballooned by $10,000, which I just don't have, so I won't be able to finish everything before moving in. Some features, such as the patio, the basement floor, all non-essential tiling and most of the landscaping, will just have to wait until who knows when.

The electricians connect the conduit for overhead electric power

PG&E demanded so much money (over $8000) for connecting my gas and electric services underground that I was forced to abandon the latter idea and go with the more traditional, and butt ugly, overhead connection, which will stick out like a sore thumb while saving me in the region of $2500.00.

The ugly water pipe in the bathroom is no longer a concern. Phew.

On the plus side, the house is now tapped in to the city sewer, and we're finally, thankfully, a little further down the road to towards hooking up the three other crucial services - gas, electric and water. There's at least a chance they may all be functional within ten days or so, meaning a completion date in mid to late February is still a possibility.

Pretty railings, awaiting steel cables. Don't even ask what the little black hole is for.

The deck and guardrail are also all but done, and the presence of the white powder coated railings lends an air of quiet elegance to the rear aspect. Next week the stucco guys will start in earnest, plastering brown mud over the lath; the gas trench will be complete; and the countertops, together with the black ceramic cooktop and the undermount stainless steel sink, will be installed. After that it's downhill to the finishing line. Or possibly uphill...

A Ridiculous Amount of Screwing

2011-01-23T20:36:00.000-08:00

Mysteriously and frustratingly, another four day work week at The Minnie House for everyone whose name is not Steve, and the possibility of moving in over Valentine's Day weekend is ebbing away like the tide at Southend on Sea.

This is the construction version of Waiting for Godot. The PG&E trench is still open because no-one seems to be in charge of installing the gas and electric services, which is surely the responsibility of the contractor. We can't dig the water trench until the PG&E trench is backfilled, and we can't lay asphalt on the driveway until the water trench is closed up.

The stucco guys can't finish putting the lath (chicken wire) on the underside of the deck until the framers install the guardrail on the top of the deck, and the framers can't install the guardrail until they lay the rest of the aluminum decking, which they can't do until the extra pieces arrive from Alabama this week.

The cabinets can't go on the bathroom walls until the tiles are on the floor and walls, and the tiler - assuming the contractor has actually found one - can't do his job until the plumber somehow covers the hideous exposed pipe on the bathroom floor. Which will presumably happen some time after Godot shows up for breakfast.

Thankfully, I have some kind and generous friends who have been helping me to clean up the house and the lot and prepare the perimeter for the 18" moat of gravel that I'll lay after the stucco is complete, and I've almost finished working on the IKEA cabinets, a major task task that involved a ridiculous amount of screwing. Lucky I bought that bargain $17.00 power screwdriver from buy.com, eh?

Needless to say, I can't install the drawers and doors until the kitchen countertops are installed. And on that front, the owner of EcoHome Improvement wrote to inform me that their invoice was incorrect because they ordered the wrong sized sheet of Paperstone, and that they could order the correct sized piece for an extra $650.00 plus $125.00 for shipping, and that it wouldn't arrive for another three weeks.

Which, when all is said and done, is a load of big hairy bollocks.

Ramp Up

2011-01-20T09:14:00.000-08:00

Now that the steel post has been cut down to size, Hector was able to build the entry ramp out of pressure treated lumber and LockDry aluminum decking. It already looks beautiful, even though the finishing touches won't be applied until later today. Eventually (next week?) there will be a concrete landing and walkway out to the street.

The stucco guy has nearly finished wiring the basement walls and garage and, like the deck, it looks great now and will be immeasurably better after the stucco has been applied. That won't be for a little while, though, as we have to complete the deck and guardrails first, and that's on hold while we wait for the extra aluminum planks to be delivered some time next week.

Once Hector adds the aluminum trim pieces and the ramp is a done deal, all that remains is to paint the underside of the porch ceiling white and then a glistening gleaming entry will be ready to welcome any and all visitors to The Minnie House.

Yesterday I installed a bunch of rails and shelves in the kitchen cabinets, the start of a fairly gargantuan undertaking that will no doubt keep me gainfully occupied and occasionally frustrated beyond belief for the next few days. I'm not a handy man in any sense of the word, but I don't mind getting my hands dirty and I love being actively engaged in the process of bringing my dream to life.

A Problem Is Just An Opportunity...

2011-01-19T23:10:00.000-08:00

In which case, I have just been bleesed with a plethora of possibilities. Yesterday was a good day in that the white IKEA Akurum cabinets were installed, the stucco guys continues nailing paper and chicken wire to the exterior of the basement, and the steel fabricator finally showed up to cut the post that will support the entry ramp.

For a cooktop I chose a sexy black IKEA glass ceramic electric jobbie with touch controls, which will be installed in the island. Behind it will be a Broan downdraft ventilator. The Smeg oven is supposed to sit directly below the cooktop, but when we took a look at the vent yesterday we discovered that the blower is 4" deep, so there's just no way the oven will fit into the cabinet. Long story short, the oven will now have to go into a base cabinet along the front wall, next to the kitchen sink. Oh well.

In the bathroom we need to mount a Duravit vanity and mirror cabinet on the wall. Now I'd never noticed this before, but for some reason there's a water waste pipe right under where the sink and vanity will live that sits about 1 1/2" above the sub-floor. The contractor told me I gave the OK for this horrible ugly eyesore, although I don't know why I would, unless I was unknowingly under the influence of some kind of stupidity-inducing hallucinogen. It would be visible even after the tiles are installed, so there's no alternative - it has to go. The contractor may try to make me pay for this, but since I didn't ask for an abomination in the bathroom I see no reason why I have to pay to have it surgically removed.

Last month I purchased a pair of Bose 131 Marine speakers for the underside of the deck. Turns out they don't have rough-in brackets so there's no easy way to mount them since the finish will now be stucco. No sense in fighting it - I'm returning the speakers to Amazon, replacing them with a much cheaper pair of surface-mounted outdoor Yamaha speakers, and using the difference to get a 24" TV for the bathroom wall. How opportune is that?

Trenchtown Rock

2011-01-17T23:23:00.000-08:00

Another busy day at The Minnie House. Kenny the Excavator was back with a bang, digging a 40 foot trench for our gas, electric, phone and cable internet services, and I spent far too long on the phone trying unsuccessfully to get both AT&T and Comcast to send their engineers out to lay the cables. I wouldn't mind but I don't even want AT&T's lousy stinking phone service, I just figured it's something you need to enable when building a new house.

While Kenny was wreaking havoc to the landscape with his Bobcat, Jose and Emilio were inside the house figuring out the best way to install seventeen IKEA Akurum kitchen cabinets - six on the wall, seven on the ground, and six in the island. It's a slow process yet within a day or two they'll be able to move on to the bathroom mirror cabinets and vanities. The house is not too many days away from being a home.

As you can see from the last photo, a third crew was also working today: Doty Plastering and Drywall, who are the gentlemen entrusted with applying dark grey stucco to the basement walls. By the end of the day they had already nailed up weatherproof paper and chicken wire, so perhaps the acrylic finish will be ready for its close-up by the end of the week.

Prime Time

2011-01-17T00:00:00.000-08:00

The living room, under wraps for priming

Friday was thankfully a glorious, sunny and warm winter's day, so while James and the rest of the crew from Pugliese Painting primed the main floor of the house, Kenny the Excavator raced around in his Bobcat all day long, moving massive mounds of dirt hither and thither and reshaping the landscape like a cigar-chewing demon of the sod.

The living room is prepped for priming

James is clearly a craftsman, and he inspected every inch of drywall for spots to smooth out in his quest for a perfect finish. Since the primer is close to the final color (Moonlight White from Benjamin Moore), we now have a good idea what the house will look like when the fat lady has finished singing and my feet are resting on the vintage Eames ottoman.

James the Painter and his crew seek perfection...

By the end of the day the rough grading was done and the patio pad was flattened and the huge dissipation pit was dug, and I was eagerly anticipating the digging of multiple trenches next week.

Kenny the Excavator makes a maxi mess with his mini bobcat

I was lucky enough to have several volunteer helpers this weekend (thanks, guys!) and together we undertook a massive cleaning initiative, attempting to remove multiple layers of plaster dust, mud and paint from every surface of the house, with reasonable success.

Now we need to plant something...

Since many hands make light work (especially when two of them are the massive mitts of Viktor the Supersized Siberian) the weekend's work was completed by moving all of the heavy goods from the big basement of my San Francisco apartment to the new house, a daunting project made less so by the gracious assistance of my fabulous friends. Now the cabinets are all assembled and staged and ready for the installers to start hanging on the kitchen wall first thing tomorrow morning.


Your truly doing his best impersonation of a handyman

Muddy Boots

2011-01-13T23:40:00.000-08:00

In retrospect, it would certainly behoove a contractor to pay close attention to the weather forecast when contemplating bringing in a Bobcat to grade a building site. Otherwise you're talking about an unholy amount of slick wet slippery mud.

The crew from Pugliese Painting arrived on time, bright and early, and did a great job cleaning the house before applying the prep coat to the walls and ceiling upstairs, and priming the entire basement, all in the time it takes to say 'boy, that was fast.' They'll be back in the morning to prime the main floor, and will no doubt finish before I've had my first cup of tea of the day.

Kenny the Excavator demonstrated his considerable Bobcat skills in difficult conditions as the rain came down while grading the driveway, and by lunchtime the decision was made to cut a messy day short and come back for seconds tomorrow, when the weather should be much more amenable to the moving around of a multitude of mud.

Meeting The Blind Man

2011-01-12T23:13:00.000-08:00

The scaffolding's gone so there's a nice view of the side of the house

So much going on, so little time. The blind man in question is Gary McWherter from McWherter Window Coverings, who's a rep for Hunter Douglas blinds. He came to the house today to measure the sliding doors for some lovely fabric Nantucket shades, which will undoubtedly be way beyond my frankly non-existent budget.

The LockDry aluminum decking is now half finished

I worked out yesterday that the house is 85% finished, and we're still on track to complete everything by mid-February. The siding is 99.5% done with only a couple of pieces of trim still to add, and quite a considerable amount of touching-up to make everything look as beautiful as it should.

The dining room windows, in all their considerable glory

The clean-up crew did a good yesterday, removing all of the rubbish and extra building materials from the site, and the scaffolding has gone from the east side of the house, finally revealing the full impact of the very-adjacent Cypress tree.

A new view, even for me - from the next door neighbor's house

The mud men have done an excellent all round job on the drywall, which is essentially finished save for a couple of minor details, and they have left in their wake an almighty mess of thick white powder and dollops of plaster across every inch of the house: a mess which I am endeavoring to clean up with my own limited time and resources.

Hector and Alejandro have turned their attention from Kynar steel to LockDry aluminum decking, which will remain another partially finished project since we ran out of decking materials and I had to order extra pieces from the Alabama factory this afternoon.

We've been waiting for weeks for PG&E to send us their trenching plan, and that finally showed up this afternoon, which means we can begin digging the trench that will carry gas, electric, cable and telephone service next week. At the same time we have the go-ahead from the North Coast Water Authority to dig the water trench, which needs to be located five feet from the PG&E trench because apparently they don't play nicely together.

The deck is gradually taking shape

Tomorrow morning Kenny the Excavator is due back on site to begin heaving the backfill dirt into place - an enthralling prospect as, when he's finished, the landscape will, at long last, be graded and ready to accept some drought-tolerant native plant life.

Also scheduled for the morning is Day One of Painting The Minnie House, a most important and momentous project entrusted to the reputedly fine folks at Pacifica's own Pugliese Painting. Their first task will be to use Prep Coat on the upstairs walls, which is "a ready-mix base coat for drywall that, when applied over a properly finished drywall installation, provides a surface uniform in texture and ready for decoration." In short, it will give us a better, smoother surface for painting in lieu of spending another small fortune on a level 5 drywall finish. At the same time they will also be priming the basement and garage, with the first coat of paint to come next week.

Exciting times ahead!

Mud Men - On Stilts

2011-01-06T19:24:00.000-08:00

Think I'm kidding? Think again. Here's a picture of a mud man on stilts. If that isn't the coolest thing you've seen today please explain how and why not.

And here's another one. Isn't that much easier than constantly moving a ladder while you smooth mud around the ceilings of a house? I'd like to meet the person who thought of this and shake his (or her) hand.

The walls are now steadily approaching a state where they'll be ready for priming (although that day is still at least a week away), and the house already looks simply wonderful.

With the glorious (chilly) weather continuing and the spectacular silver siding all but finished, the outside of The Minnie House is shining like a National guitar (© Paul Simon)

The blocking for the deck is continuing and I fully expect to see aluminum planks in place this week.

Now that all of the panels have been erected my next job is to clean the mud off all of the Kynar panels and make them even more blinding.

Maybe I can do that on Sunday... But not if the weather forecast is correct and the next storm arrives at the weekend...

40 Days and 40 Nights

2011-01-05T23:16:00.000-08:00

This isn't set in stone, but I took a look at the schedule today with Rich the Contractor, and we're agreed: we should be able to finish the house in time for me to move in on Valentine's Day. Which, in case you couldn't guess, is 40 days and 40 nights from now. Wow!

The siding is now 95% complete, and Hector and his brother Alejandro should be able to finish the exterior, including the entry porch, by the end of the week. They've also made a start on nailing the blocking to the deck joists so the LockDry aluminum decking will be installed within the next day or two as well.

With a couple more nice days lined up the plan is to get Kenny the Excavator in tomorrow or Friday to grade and backfill the lot, and when then happens there's no reason why I can't start planting some trees and shrubs.

How exciting is that?

Shadows and Light

2010-12-30T14:21:00.000-08:00

A Howling Wind

2010-12-30T10:49:00.000-08:00

Apparently, last night's storm saw hellish winds whip around The Minnie House, flipping massive pieces of Kynar steel up against the cyclone fence like a kid playing tiddlywinks. It was still wickedly windy today so I did my best to move the unused siding out of harm's way. Tonight promises to be calmer and with any luck the worst has already passed.

Over the holiday weekend we moved many of the IKEA boxes down to the house, and started piecing together the kitchen cabinets. The first six base cabinets went together relatively smoothly, if rather slowly, before the first wall cabinet gave me a headache of epic proportions. To cut a long story (replete with much user error) short, the Akurum cabinet has a Rationell bottom shelf with a built-in under counter light, but when finished that piece was half an inch wider than the top piece. Surely shome mishtake? I'll have to call IKEA tomorrow to figure that one out.

Hector and Alejandro have been dodging the raindrops to get most of the siding complete before disappearing today for an extended New Year holiday weekend, and Hector also found time to cut and install the first of the white LockDry aluminum decking in the porch area. We'll also be using this for the entry ramp, and the rear deck.

The last couple of piece of flat metal, for the corners of the parapet wall, are at the shop being cut to size, and once those, the remainder of the coping and the corrugated metal in the porch are installed next week the exterior siding will be just about complete.

Invasion of the Mud Men

2010-12-29T17:04:00.000-08:00

Master Bedroom

No sign of the Mud Men on the Monday after Christmas, but they turned up mob-handed the following day and finished their first pass of the entire house before I even arrived.

Kitchen

There's a lot of mess everywhere now so I won't be able to spend my first night at the house any time soon, but with the first coat of tape and mud complete we should be able to get the house painters in to prime the walls just two weeks from today.

Basement

Turns out that, in their haste, the drywall gang covered up at least one light switch, in the master bedroom, so there's a little extra work for them to do on a return trip some day soon, and they still have a couple of other bits and pieces to finish before all is said and done.

Utility Room

Rich the Contractor brought over a couple of electric heaters yesterday to help speed up the drying process, and once the mud is dry - presumably by tomorrow, and if not, by Friday - the Mud Men can come back, do some sanding, and then apply the second coat (of three).

Winter in a Walking Wonderland

2010-12-23T17:05:00.000-08:00

The Kynar siding is now 80% complete

More corrugated steel was added this week

The view from the deck on a sunny winter's day

Sliver Kynar flat panels around the parapet were added yesterday

The post-drywall-cleanup kitchen

The dining room

The living room

The bathroom window

The master bedroom

Bedroom window, from the hallway

Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Pt 2)

2010-12-23T15:40:00.001-08:00

Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Pt 2) from Steve Rapport on Vimeo.

Walking in a Winter Wonderland

2010-12-23T15:31:00.000-08:00

Walking in a Winter Wonderland (Pt 1) from Steve Rapport on Vimeo.

White Christmas

2010-12-21T16:28:00.000-08:00

Looking down on the lower stairs

Yesterday's gang of four was today's fabulous five, and with Hector completing the preparations the crew was able to race through the remaining drywall, with the thick sheetrock dust leaving The Minnie House looking like a winter wonderland.

The master bedroom

I bought another can of expansive foam and sprayed the few remaining openings that I didn't get to yesterday, so I'm reasonably confident that the house will be tight and draught free.

Hanging the ceiling in the kitchen

Jose the Installer from SimpleFloors came by for a tour of the house this morning, and a quote for laying the engineered hardwood floor should be forthcoming in the next few days, presumably in the region of $3,000.00.

Master bathroom (left) and walk-in closet (right)

The stairwell windows

The garage starts to look like... a garage

Almost finished in the kitchen

Hail! Hail! SheetRock 'n' Roll!

2010-12-20T23:16:00.000-08:00

Sheet-rock! On the basement ceiling!

A big day. The gang of four sheet-rockers showed up this morning and began to power through hanging the drywall. Starting with the garage ceiling and the basement ceiling, they did everything they could to complete the rooms, but as always there were complications.

Hanging sheet-rock on the garage perimeter wall

Hector's crew was supposed to finish prepping the house for the drywall team, but they didn't show up on Friday because of the rain, so the prep didn't get done. The shelves holding the remaining Kynar sheets in the garage need to be removed; the last wooden shims need to be cut out from around the windows and doors, as does the excess sprayed foam insulation. This will now all be done in the morning.

The basement, seen through the sheet-rocked doorway

Since I was on hand while the drywall was being hung, I made myself useful stuffing some of the remaining R19 EcoBatts into every last un-insulated nook and cranny, and using my single can of expansive foam to plug every exposed crevice I could find.

The Kynar at the rear of the house is now 99% complete

The gang of four still managed to complete around 60% of the house in a single day, which to my mind was an amazing feat, even though they said they were working a little slowly because this is a modern house requiring a high level of attention to minute detail.

That door in the middle? The cupboard under the stairs

By the end of tomorrow I expect the entire house to be fully sheet-rocked, and ready for the finish guys to come in to tape and float the drywall.

A Simple Floor

2010-12-17T16:31:00.000-08:00

I bought one carton to see what it would look like in the house... Nice - I like!

Last week I found out that the flooring I was about to order - Yanchi Russett-Stained Strand Woven Bamboo from Build Direct - was not suitable for installation over my radiant heat. They said I could do it, but it would void my warranty, and I don't want to spend over $5000 on flooring that has no warranty. So it was back to square one.

Even on a truly miserable day it still looks gorgeous

Next stop, engineered wood, which can be glued or nailed down over radiant heat. I tried Lumber Liquidators again, but the Schon Warm Cognac Curupay I liked so much on the display rack in the store looked completely different and rather bland when I was given a sample to take away, so I decided against it.

On Wednesday I re-visited Simple Floors right here in San Francisco, and to be truthful I was quite surprised by how many exquisite species of engineered wood they had on display. My original plan had been for something dark and rich and chocolatey, in keeping with the monochromatic theme of the house, but lately I've been drawn towards something warmer and more inviting, preferably in a cognac-y tone with a reddish tint. And so it was that I found the engineered wood of my dreams - the breathtakingly beautiful African Roma Walnut-stained Acacia that you can see in theese pictures.

Naturally it was more expensive ($4.29 per sq ft) than either the Yanchi bamboo ($3.49 per sq ft) or the Curupay ($2.49 per sq ft), so I was seriously concerned about blowing my budget, but yesterday I found out that Simple Floors has a one-day sale tomorrow when EVERYTHING in the store, including underlayment and glue and accessories, will be reduced by 15%. Hooray for sales!!!

Rock 'n' Roll

2010-12-15T22:37:00.000-08:00

Drywall in the sky, delivered by GradAll

I wasn't expecting to see a GradAll forklift when I arrived on the hill this afternoon, but it was a pleasant surprise as it heralded the arrival of a multitude of materials for sheetrock'n' the house.

The guys from L&W Supply bring home the bacon

Five strong guys were on hand to bring all of the materials into the house, where the drywall guys will presumably begin their dusty job tomorrow morning.

Pabco 5/8" sheetrock

If it weren't for the intervention of the holidays this part of the build process would take a couple of weeks, but since next weekend is Christmas I'm once more not holding my breath waiting for this project to be complete any time soon.

Reflections on a beautiful day

Although yesterday was lost to the weather while it rained cats and dogs, today was a welcome break between storms with blue skies, high clouds and plenty of sunshine. While Hector was working on the Kynar siding I was happily wandering around admiring the many new shiny surfaces.

The north east corner of the house

On a sunny day this house is a photographer's dream.

The south west side of the house is almost finished...

The Dark Knight

2010-12-13T23:32:00.000-08:00

R30 Fiber Glass for the roof

Abraham the Insulator, otherwise known as Battman, spent the day laying insulation in the roof, the sub-floor and all of the perimeter walls. I was hoping to avoid fiber glass insulation, but that's still the most cost-effective form of insulation, and in its R30 form it's what Battman used in the roof/attic space.

Kitchen and dining room, now with added snugness

After stuffing the R30 into every nook and cranny of the ceiling and the sub-floor, Battman also filled up all the perimeter wall bays with R19 EcoBatt, and by the end of the day the house felt warm and snug.

Stair windows surrounded by Wookiee entrails

That comfy-ness was also partly due to the expansive foam that Battman sprayed to seal any and all air penetrations around the windows and doors before he left in the Battmobile.

Corrugated Kynar siding being pieced together

Meanwhile, Hector and his mate were forging ahead with the exceedingly tricky Kynar steel siding. The lower flat panels now wrap around the front and the side of the building, several of the upper flat panels now grace the rear of the house, and the south-west side, which is the bedroom wall, is close to being finished.

Hector expects to complete the installation of the siding by the end of the week, but with rain forecast for both tomorrow and Friday I'm highly skeptical. As my mum used to say, we shall see what we shall see.

The Chewbacca Defence

2010-12-10T20:44:00.000-08:00

My friend and colleague Jovanny staples the first EcoBatts into the sheer wall

Today marks another major milestone: the beginning of the end (in a good way). We've now embarked on the final stages of construction, starting with insulation: then drywall, priming, cabinets/counters/tiles, finished plumbing and electric, painting and finished floor.

The master bedroom is now warm, cosy, brown and green

We're using 500 sq ft of R13 EcoBatt insulation, bought from a Craigslist ad for $170.00, for the interior walls. EcoBatt is a green product from Knauf which combines sand ("one of the world’s most abundant and renewable resources"), post-consumer recycled bottle glass and ECOSE Technology (since you ask, it's "a revolutionary, new, formaldehyde-free binder technology, based on rapidly renewable materials instead of petro-based chemicals") to create "the next generation of sustainable insulation." Now isn't that sexy? As an added bonus "it doesn't contain phenol, formaldehyde, acrylics or artificial colors used to make traditional fiberglass insulation."

This is exactly what the inside of a Wookiee looks like

It looks kind of cool, but weirdly and rather unnervingly, when you cut it, it feels like you're a medical examiner living on Endor and conducting an autopsy on a recently murdered Wookiee called Chewbacca.

An Inspector Calls

2010-12-09T16:58:00.000-08:00

Rain stopped play yesterday, but at least I was able to clean the ginormous windows

After losing a whole day yesterday thanks to torrential rain, the house was buzzing with activity today - Inspection Day!

Andrew the HVAC Guy and his assistant were running 4" vents from the dryer hook-up in the utility room to the 4" hole in the concrete basement wall that Hector drilled last week (this vent cleverly turns 90º downwards into the faux panel, so that it emerges invisibly underneath the panel). Additionally they added intake and outake vents to the utility room and ran them throught the floor joists to then emerge underneath the deck.

The fire sprinkler guy was running water through his system in advance of his inspection, and was concerned because the inspection involves pumping water at 200psi pressure through the pipes - nearly four times more than the regular 60psi that the system uses. He sounded a little like Scotty, warning Captain Kirk that "I can't hold her Captain, she's gonna blow!"

Hector was busy cutting Kynar for the bedroom window, and was nearly ready to start hoisting up the big corrugated panels onto that side of the house when I had to leave for work.

Danny the Plumber was doing a pressure test of his own, filling the big sexy Duravit Happy D bathtub with water to ensure that it would drain properly to the rear of the house - and it did.

And it was all good. Inspector Chai arrived and we passed our rough electrical and rough plumbing inspections; and the Fire Marshall visited after lunch and approved our elaborate and very expensive fire sprinkler system. Now we're ready to move ahead with insulation, and I'll be on site in the morning with my friend Jovanny to pack some green R13 EcoBatt insulation into the interior bays, and R19 EcoBatts into the basement ceiling/sub-floor.

Then it may finally be time to spend my first night at The Minnie House.

Don't Know Why (There's No Sun Up in the Sky)

2010-12-08T15:37:00.000-08:00

A little more Kynar siding appears on the front of the house

Stormy weather. Another excuse for no-one but yours truly to work on the house today. Yes, it's raining, it's pouring, and the old man is probably snoring, but really, couldn't the guys find something to do? We're falling further and further behind schedule, and unless the house finds a way to build itself I don't know when it's going to be finished.

The fire sprinkler system in thankfully finished

On the plus side, the electrical wiring is now complete, as is the fire sprinkler system. The latter is unfortunately required here in Pacifica (it added over $8,000 to the cost of the house), and we're also required to install flashing strobe lights and sirens in both the inside and the outside of the house. That's not going to look good!

This mess of wires represents my entire distributed A/V system

Carlos the Alarmist came last week and installed the Bay Alarm security system (and he has to come back because the fire sprinkler guys cut one of his wires), and the A/V guys from Crawford Satellite & Electronics finished their pre-wire for all of the home entertainment system components. As you can see above, everything conveniently terminates in the media closet in the second bedroom.


Kynar flat panels at the front of the house

It wasn't raining yesterday so Hector the Framer was able to get a few more Kynar panels installed on the front and side of the house, and I noticed today that the first corrugated panel was also installed. I'll get a photo after the scaffolding is removed, assuming that the weather improves.

The kitchen, and the newly clean front entry sliding doors

A rainy day seemed like as good a time as any to start cleaning the massive (and very dirty) windows around the house while listening to Band of Horses. I managed to finish the two sliders in the living room and the front door, but I need to spend at least another 2-3 hours at the house this weekend to get the rest of the windows vaguely clean.

Next up is tomorrow's wiring/plumbing and sprinkler system inspection. Assuming we pass, we can move on to installing insulation around the house in preparation for the arrival of the drywall guy, who should start hanging drywall next week.

Can A House Trundle?

2010-12-02T23:42:00.000-08:00

Hector core drills 4" vents through the concrete

I think it can, because the house is trundling along. Signs of progress here and there, but nothing earth-shatteringly exciting. Unless you find core drilling to be an erotic experience. Which I don't.

The retaining wall is finally finished and ready for backfill

The retaining wall, on the other hand, is one Sexy Beast (but not like Ben Kingsley as Don Logan...). It's essentially finished now, at long last, with spacers between the beams of pressure treated lumber to allow for drainage. Next step will be for Ken the Excavator to come in with his Bobcat and backfill to the top of the wall.

My new 58" cardboard TV!

Oh, wait, this is exciting too! The A/V guys marked out the spot for the new 58 inch Samsung 3D plasma TV, which I ordered from USAppliance.com at an outrageous price last week (outrageously low for such an amazing TV). The TV will be centered on the wall, but we weren't able to fit my big in-wall speakers into the bays between the studs, and as it's a sheer wall we can't cut any studs. So we're going to switch out the excellent NTIW28s from The Speaker Company (an online retailer that went belly-up earlier this year) for three much smaller Niles HD LCRs, which also come highly recommended.

Rough-in for a Bose in-ceiling speaker alongside a recessed can light

While Mike the Sparks and his intrepid gang of wily electricians finish the rough wiring for the entire house, the A/V guys finish wiring and setting the rough-ins for the eight pairs of Bose 191 in-ceiling speakers that will rock the house in a couple of months.

These look like Hobbit door compared to the giant ones upstairs

And, yes, sliding doors #6 & #7 are now installed in the basement, lending an air of sophisticated comfort that was otherwise missing to the lower half of the house.

The basement starts to look a little more cosy

I also removed the masonite sheets from the basement floor and threw them away, so the concrete floor now looks a thousand times better, even though it's hard to keep it clean during construction.

All six of the rear sliding doors are now installed

Today Hector had to use a Skil saw to cut away big chunks of the OSB above the sliders at the rear of the house, to enable Mike the Sparks to run cables and install the outdoor recessed puck lights into the 6" eaves. Those should go in tomorrow, although the rain may delay the process. And finally, a big clean-up crew came to the house today and worked their collective bollocks off removing waste, trash, materials and junk from all over the site. When the weather improves I will for the first time be able to get some great photos of the exterior of the house, unencumbered by construction detritus.

A Week of Nothing Much

2010-11-29T00:06:00.000-08:00

Pressure treated lumber forms the framing for the entry ramp

Another frustrating week of nothing much. Still waiting for the replacement Kynar steel panels, which may (or may not) arrive tomorrow. I wanted the Tyvek wrap finished, but the crew said we've run out of wrap. They said they'd attach chicken wire to the exterior of the basement for the stucco application, but they don't have any chicken wire.

Finally - the sliding front door

They were going to install the basement sliding doors, but they don't have the equipment they need to first smooth out the concrete floor. They need to drill through the concrete for the last remaining vents, but they don't have the core drill. They probably could have built the blocking for the framing of the deck - if they had the requisite lumber.

Another beautiful Pacifica evening

In short, not much happened due to bad planning and lack of foresight, and as a result we're slipping further and further behind schedule. Time to kick ass and take names.

The Doors of Perception

2010-11-19T00:32:00.000-08:00

A couple of problems on the home front. No-one could figure out why the Kynar window pans (which are designed to sit just below each window, provide a tapered sill, clip into cleats and then cover the top of a corrugated panel) wouldn't fit properly.

Well, funny story. After talking to Rocio, it turns out that, as we suspected, the window pans were actually manufactured upside down, with the 1 1/2" lip at the window, and the 3/4" lip at the faux panel on the outside, instead of the other way around.

The only solution is to have all of the window pan Kynar pieces re-fabricated and shipped out to us ASAP, although with a holiday coming up fast, ASAP isn't likely to be S enough.

The Kynar wasn't the only trouble today. There was also a slight problem with The Doors. Turns out that, for reasons I can't quite fathom, we have no way of securing the stationary door panels in place.

Jim the Window guy said we're supposed to screw three, um, screws through each door jamb and into the fixed panels, but there's simply no way to do it, so he's going to have to FedEx seven pairs of clips to us, even though they apparently don't belong with these particular doors. Weird, eh?

In other news, Hector the Framer had to cut an inch of concrete from the driveway retaining wall where it meets the Kynar trim at the front of the house, so that we have a clean, continuous line of steel all the way along the bottom. Which was, quite frankly, a pain in the arse.

In short, progress today was painfully slow as a plethora of problems were explained and agonized over. Tomorrow will be better.

And finally, at the end of a long day, it occurred to me that Murphy, of Law fame, was, without a doubt, a builder.

Ladies and Gentlemen... The Doors!

2010-11-17T23:38:00.000-08:00

Door pans in place prior to installing the door frames

For the past few days Hector the Framer and the rest of the guys have been working on the frames for the rear sliding doors. We had to order door pans and wait for those to be delivered before work could even start.

A door frame is assembled in the second bedroom

Once the door pans were in place, the frames could be assembled, hopefully with everything connected correctly.

All of the frames in place, awaiting the doors

Then the frames were lifted into place. They have no nail fins, just what are called block frames, which nail directly onto the wood opening. Where the doors meet the steel posts there are wood shims, to provide thermal breaks between metal surfaces.

The assembly and installation of the sliding doors was certainly more complicated than it looked, and much more complicated than I imagined it would be. Grace Vycor weatherproofing had to be in place before anything else could be done.

After all of the frames were secured and made plumb and level, pieces of Kynar trim were installed above the door headers.

Finally, on the foggiest day I've seen in Pacifica thus far, the massive and incredibly heavy doors were carefully lifted onto their rails. I know they were incredibly heavy; I assume they were lifted carefully, although I wasn't there to witness it. Thanks to the douchebag who rear-ended my Prius with his gigantic, gleaming new Cadillac Escalade on Sunday, I spent the morning at the body shop.

The anodized aluminum Jeld-Wen Premium Series doors do look quite magnificent, and they have a seriously solid and meaty feel to them. We'll see over the coming years how effectively the LoE 366 glass protects the house and furnishings from the harsh rays of the sun.

Silver Kynar steel panels will provide a shiny finish for the house

With the rear sliding doors done (we still have to install the front sliding door and the pair of sliders in the basement - maybe tomorrow?), the guys moved on to the Kynar siding, and as with everything else, it seems, progress was frustratingly awkward and slow.

Eventually Jose was able to get the first silver panel to slide down the cleats and clip into the bottom trim, but not without making a cut here and a tweak there, and expending a considerable amount of energy. He was adding the second panel when I left for the day; tomorrow it's my fervent hope and expectation that Jose and Hector will be able to fly through the remaining rear panels, and move on to the front of the house.

Jose adds a flat Kynar steel panel to the rear face of the house

Up on the Roof With The Blue Man Group

2010-11-16T22:46:00.000-08:00

Hold-downs for solar panels from the future

While Hector the Framer and his crew were busy for a second day of constructing the door pans and frames for the big sliding doors at the back of the house, the guys from Dura-Foam spent the day doing their thing up on the roof.

I can't afford a solar panel system right now (plus, it would cost in the region of $11,000 after rebates, and I only expect to spend about $75.00 or less per month on gas and electric, so we're looking at a twelve or thirteen year return on investment) but I'd still like to be a good green citizen and go solar at some point, so I had the Dura-Foam guys install the hold-downs for some future photovoltaic panels before they sprayed the roof.

The Blue Man Group

Once they were finished with the hold-downs, they donned their blue man group outfits and freaky-looking masks and sprayed foam around all of the roof penetrations.

After that was done they let loose, and within a couple of hours an inch and a half of polyurethane foam covered the entire roof.

Wasn't guy on the right in The Empire Strikes Back?

I like the look of this. The foam provides a completely seamless roof, and has an R9 insulation value, so when we add batts in between the I-joists we should be able to easily meet and even surpass the required R30 for the roof.

A roof full of foam penises?

In fact the insulation properties of the foam roof are better than advertised: the light color is reflective so the roof will never get too hot, and because it's seamless there's no way for cold air to penetrate the building.


The finished roof in all its foamy glory

The sliders are taking longer than expected to install but they should all go in tomorrow, when many exciting pictures of The (post-Jim Morrison) Doors will undoubtedly adorn my blog post.

A Sunday Afternoon in November

2010-11-14T19:10:00.000-08:00

Shiny Happy House

2010-11-12T22:04:00.000-08:00

For the time being the Minnie House is all shiny white, and it positively gleams in the sun.

By the time I arrived at the site this morning the last set of windows, a huge bank of twelve aluminum panes beyond the dining area, was already framing the big, beautiful cypress tree, and I think I let out an audible 'wow' when I saw it.

Later the crew finished installing the exterior OSB - in fact they ran out, and as you can see they had to use CDX plywood for the last few pieces on the east side of the house - and when I left they were putting the finishing touches to wrapping all four sides in Tyvek.

Hector the Framer also managed to find time to build the wall around which the staircase will wrap, and upon which I will one day hang a framed copy of the front page of the San Francisco Chronicle from Tuesday November 2nd 2010, the day after the San Francisco Giants, finally and gloriously, won the World Series.

It's not all happy happy joy joy. There's something of a backlog of things that need to be done, and each one depends upon something else happening first. Robert the A/V Guy can't do any more wiring until Mike the Electrician runs his Romex wire in the I-joists, which he can't do until the Durafoam roof is sprayed, and that can't happen until the final roof penetrations are cut for the vents, and that won't happen until tomorrow.

The electrician is also awaiting the installation of the sliding doors, which can't go in until the door pans arrive and the deck penetrations are waterproofed, and that won't happen until, well, until it happens.

A Little Bit This and a Little Bit Of That

2010-11-11T23:18:00.000-08:00

OK, admittedly, I'm not a builder and I know very little about building, but... it seems to me that you finish the OSB for the whole house, then you wrap the whole house in Tyvek, and then you start installing the Kynar siding.

Or not. Maybe you just add some OSB here, add a little Tyvek there, start on some Kynar siding, and move ahead on all fronts as and when you can... what do I know?

A White Shroud on a Hill

2010-11-10T11:49:00.000-08:00

We're in the middle of a busy week. All of the windows at the front of the house are now in, but not without their share of challenging issues. Many of the panels had to be cut and reframed, and the two clerestory windows that frame the porch were 1" too wide for the openings, so the framers had to use some Harry Potter magic spells to make them fit.

The massive sliding doors were supposed to be installed on Monday, but there's a delay: first because we don't have the door pans yet, and then because we need to take care of the flashing/weatherproofing where the deck joists penetrate the house first - and there's still some discussion amongst the wise men about how to best achieve this.

While that debate continued much of the OSB was added to the outside of the house, in preparation for the Tyvek weatherproofing and then the Kynar steel siding.

The plumbers were also busy again, installing the downspouts into the faux wall panels at the back of the house, and then wrapping the bays with Tyvek. I'm not too sure what the story is with the random hole in the wall. Maybe the gopher is back causing trouble again?

Yesterday's weather was strange. It was a little chilly but glorious during the day, then it rained in the afternoon and evening. While it was nice, though, it was really nice, and i was able to get some work done in my new al fresco office suite, which as you can see is not too shabby.

While working I noticed this abstract silhouetted sculpture formed by the DeWalt power drill and the step ladder, which according to one friend looks like an oil rig, although I see a mutant Yorkshire terrier...

And so to today. The house is now eerily wrapped in plastic, lending it the sombre and slightly spooky aspect of one of Dexter Morgan's killing rooms.

Half of the house is now wrapped in white Tyvek, and scaffolding has been erected on the east side, where the large side windows need to go in. The roofers are due to come and spray the foam roof before the end of the week, and with any luck we can get the sliders in before the weekend, although I'm not holding my breath.

In the meantime the house will retain the mysterious aura of a white shroud on a hill.

I Can See For Mile and Miles...

2010-11-10T11:20:00.000-08:00

Yesterday was one of the clearest days so far, and I was finally able to get a decent shot of Mt. Tam (on the right, beyond the flagpole, some 25 miles away to the North) from the bedroom. Wonder if I can also see the house from Mt Tam?

Saturday Night and Sunday Morning

2010-11-10T11:14:00.000-08:00

It rained a lot on Saturday night and Sunday morning (hmm, good title for a novel...), and since the crew didn't use the tarp to cover the roof, we got some mild flooding in the house again, with about an inch of water covering most of the main floor. It's always depressing when there's muddy water everywhere, even if the house is still a construction project, and I'm hoping that the steps we've taken will prevent that from happening again.

The Magical Mystery Tour Redux

2010-11-10T09:00:00.000-08:00

The Minnie House Tour from Steve Rapport on Vimeo.

Excuse the re-post of this video, but I only just figured out how to get an HD version onto my blog. Enjoy!

A Roof With a View

2010-11-10T08:38:00.000-08:00

Doing the Can Can

2010-11-05T23:56:00.000-07:00

Mike the Electrician and his merry men came in today and set the housings for the recessed lights, or cans. Now that there's wiring all over the place and several of the windows have been installed, it truly feels like the house is nearing completion.

All of the clerestory windows went in today, apparently without a hitch, although there were two windows scheduled for installation in the porch area that are 1" too wide for the available space. Looks like a framing problem to me, but what do I know? Either way, Hector the Framer will figure out a way to fix it.

The clerestory windows are two feet high by approximately 7' 6" wide. All of the windows are Jeld-Wen 500 Series, and the massive sliding doors, which will be installed on Monday, are Jeld-Wen Premium Series. The glass is all LowE-366, a fairly new and energy efficient specification which apparently "delivers the ideal balance of solar control and high visibility."

Windows Are The Eyes To The Soul

2010-11-04T23:42:00.000-07:00

Before the last rain showers the framers were able to get felt down on the roof, which somehow magically formed a waterproof membrane and protected the inside of the house from the downpour. Since then, the weather has been utterly magnificent (due no doubt to our ragtag Giants setting the Bay Area on fire by finally winning the World Series), and the roof is ready for the guys from DuraFoam to come in and spray white stuff all over it.

This week the contractors sent a second crew to the house, and they added some OSB to the outside (not all of it, they're going to wait until all of the windows are in), and installed the bedroom window. Yes, my very first window! This is yet another in a long list of highlights as the Minnie House moves from myth to reality.

There's also a cleanup crew on the premises removing all of the broken-up concrete and rebar, and the used and abused lumber, and generally making 451 Talbot a happier, prettier place, which of course also makes me happier (and prettier).

This morning Hector added three more of the Jeld-Wen aluminum windows, in the kitchen and the stairwell, and tomorrow he hopes to add all of the remaining windows. The sliding doors will have to wait until Monday because they are as heavy as hell and we need a crew of at least six men to lift and install them.

Robert and the A/V crew have already run wires around the whole house for TVs and speakers. There will be one big screen Panasonic in the living room, another 42" Panasonic in the bedroom, and if I'm feeling particularly decadent (or, more likely, if I can actually afford it, which is doubtful) a 26" in the bathroom.

We're also pre-wiring for another TV in the second bedroom and one in the basement, and laying Cat5 to future proof the place. Additionally, there will be ten pairs of speakers, here there and everywhere, each one with a Sonos amplifier blasting the most brilliant music known to man all over every last inch of The Minnie House.

Oh, and did I mention that my beloved San Francisco Giants won the World Series?

Stairway to Heaven

2010-10-30T21:26:00.000-07:00

Hector the Framer has been busy building the staircase, and on Thursday I was able to walk on the stairs for the first time. That was a little sketchy because the framing wasn't complete and the landing didn't have any plywood on it, but it certainly was fun.

By Friday the framing was finished and now I have one good looking stairway and landing. There was also a new plywood wall nailed up between the garage and the basement, so the house interior is looking better and better by the day.

At the same time, the rest of the crew were working to build up the water channels on the roof using sloping 2x4s. Water will run down these channels to the downspouts, which still have to be built in the two rear corners of the house. The downspouts will be invisible from the outside, as they run inside the faux wall panels - at least until they reach the basement, when they will be on the outside.

After finishing building up the slope, the guys nailed another layer of plywood across the roof. There still a little more work to be done to complete the roof drainage, but that should happen early in the week so that we're ready for the sprayed foam roof to be installed by Wednesday or Thursday.

The guys from Crawford Satellite also spent some time working on the house, making two roof penetrations - one for a pipe which will soon hold the DirecTV satellite dish, and another for the pipe which will act as a conduit for all of the satellite's coax cables.

For once I was even able to help, getting up the ladder and using a ball peen hammer to knock out holes in the I-joists, and then feeding through the coaxial cable.

There's been a lot of rain around the past week or two, so we now have a big tarp over the roof. It hasn't been enough to stop the interior of the house from getting soaked, so by the end of the coming week I would like to see the OSB and Tyvek weatherproofing go on the exterior, I'd like to see the roof finished, and I'd like the windows and doors to be installed.

That would be a good week.

Don't Stop Believing

2010-10-27T16:26:00.000-07:00

Over last weekend the house got drenched for the first time. Now the guys are fixing tarps to the roof so that we don't get another dousing if the expected storm arrives tomorrow. We really need to get the roof finished - that's not going to happen for at least another week.

The plumbers have been in every day laying copper pipes and installing all of the rough-ins, and right now the big Duravit Happy D bath is sitting happily in the main bathroom. Can't wait to try it out.

While Danny the Plumber is doing this thing, Irwin the Radiant Guy is installing the Ultra Fin radiant floor heating system. Irwin ties the red pex tubing in the floor joists while his mate hooks up the aluminum fins which give the system its name.

This morning the windows and doors arrived from 1stWindows.com, who gave me a great price and patiently worked with me for two years to supply Jeld-Wen Premium Aluminum Doors with LowE 366 glass. The big doors, which are 9' high x 5' wide, were by far and away the heaviest things we have had to unload so far.

As usual, though, can-do Hector the Framer came up with a novel method of unloading and carrying these incredibly heavy doors, and now they're all leaning up against the sheer wall awaiting installation next week. One of them is scratched so I'm going to try to get that one replaced or repaired, but everything else looked good and the windows and doors themselves look fantastic.

And while all that's going on at the house, there's more October baseball to be played in the Bay, and Game One of the 2010 World Series starts in thirty minutes, so Let's Go Giants, and Don't Stop Believing!

Giants, Baby!

2010-10-27T15:56:00.000-07:00

LET'S GO GIANTS! Let's do this!

Faux Means Fake (But Not in a Bad Way)

2010-10-21T23:15:00.000-07:00

It's been quite a struggle, but now all the external faux panels are finally in their rightful place, decorating the outside of the house. We had lots of problems getting them to fit properly, not least because the framers didn't follow the instructions and place 2x6 sill plates below the wall panels, and similar plates atop the panels.

This left us with gaps we shouldn't have had, and necessitated a certain amount of re-engineering. At one point the framers had to use a mechanical lifter to raise the roofing structure so that they could put 2x6 top plates between the steel posts and the Anthony beams that form the perimeter of the roof.

Slowly but surely the problems are resolved and the project moves forward, and each day the place looks more and more like a house. The interior framing is proceeding, and while the rooms all begin to take shape the plumbers are in every day completing work on the rough plumbing. There's already copper piping running through the floorboards and rough-ins are in place in both bathrooms, for the toilets, showers, vanities and the bath.

Today I was able to walk out on the deck for the first time. Nothing's finished and the plywood is just there for convenience, but still, it was another notable step and it was cool being able to walk from room to room on the outside of the house.

In the second bedroom the basic framing is now done, and as you can see, the 3' x 2' media closet is shaping up nicely. I'm still working to get affordable quotes for the A/V wiring from several different sources, and if I ever achieve that then all of the components will end up in here.

Next week the roofers are due to install the Durafoam roof, but not before the first winter storm arrives this weekend, so we'll need to get some plastic sheeting up there before the rain starts. We're also expecting delivery of the Jeld-Wen aluminum windows and doors from 1st Windows in LA.

Going Backwards To Go Forwards

2010-10-13T22:32:00.000-07:00

One of those days where everything goes backwards: the entire roof system was lifted so that the framers could place 2x6 top plates around the entire perimeter of the house, above the steel posts (see picture below). This took most of the day, and the remains of the day was spent nailing 2x4 strapping to the I joists.

It's all good, though. The structure will be stronger for it, and it doesn't set us back much. Onwards and upwards.

I'll Have A Danish

2010-10-13T16:11:00.000-07:00

Drove out to Fremont earlier today to pick up this lovely, simple Danish mid-century modern dining table, which I foiund on Craigslist for $395.00. Not really the bargain of the year, but not too bad either. The top looks like teak, with the legs and frame a different reddish wood, perhaps rosewood, although that's probably just wishful thinking. This table should look great with the four red Eames DCW chairs I bought earlier this year.

I took the table apart to get it into the Prius, so I very much hope that I'm able to put it back together again when the time comes!

I Can See Russia From My House

2010-10-13T00:16:00.000-07:00

Today was Indian Summer on steroids, with Pacifica temperatures soaring into the 80s and San Francisco roasting in the mid-90s. As promised, the I-joists were already in place when I arrived at the sweltering Minnie House, and in the bright sunshine they threw fascinating light and shade patterns everywhere I looked.

One of the day's highlights was the view from the kitchen/dining room area (above). I knew the big window would look directly out at the Cypress tree, but it didn't occur to me that there would be so much greenery visible from the transom windows. Thank you, Rocio, for your wonderful design, which couldn't possibly have been more perfectly suited to my place on the hill.

Actually, despite claiming to the contrary, I was wrong. I can't see Russia from my house. But you know what's even better? I can see the Bay Area's favorite high spot, Mt. Tamalpais, from my house. That's it in the distance, some 25 miles away, beyond the foreground hill.

Also some way beyond cool is the view through the house from the ramp approaching the front door, which shows bright blue sky and shimmering sea. What a spectacular approach!

The interior framing is moving along even as the roof takes shape, and above you can see the outline of the main bathroom (center), with the closet on the right.

Things are moving so fast: by the time I get to the house on Wednesday the plywood sheathing will be covering the whole roof, and there may even be one or two faux wall panels attached to the exterior of the house. Within the next couple of weeks the foam roof will be sprayed on, the Kynar steel siding will be painstakingly installed, and the aluminum sliding doors and windows will complete the external shell.

A House Will Soon Become A Home

2010-10-11T23:12:00.000-07:00

Every year we worry that Indian Summer in the Bay Area is never going to arrive, until it eventually shows up in all its glory. This year's Indian Summer is well and truly underway, and as usual it's a wonderful thing to behold.

The builders started framing the main bathroom and the closet today, while also adding pressure treated lumber to the lower site retaining wall, installing the structural wall between the living room and the second bedroom and, hopefully, laying out all of the roof joists.

Either tomorrow or Wednesday the framers will sheath the roof, and at that point the structure for The Minnie House will in many ways be complete.

Positively Beaming

2010-10-10T18:32:00.000-07:00

Another first: on Friday afternoon, thanks to the installation of Anthony beams all around the perimeter of the structure, I was able to see the framed view from all of the windows, and they were all even more breathtaking than I had dared hope. From the dining room, there's the big Cypress tree and the hills to the north. Through the kitchen transom, to the east, there's the hill atop Milagra Ridge.

No real surprises along the back of the house, but still wonderful to see the amazing framed views of the ocean from every room. And the Cypress tree by Randy's house conveniently screens the ocean-side trailer park from view.

As expected, walking up the ramp towards the front door will provide a view through the house to the ocean beyond.

As a bonus, there are also views along Milagra Ridge from every room, as well as from the deck. The bedroom window will indeed provide views of trees and sky, plus a hint of ocean and pier, in addition to providing afternoon sunlight down the hallway.

On the down side, several of the lower windows - all of them, in fact - are lower than they are supposed to be, by around two inches. That's significant. The kitchen window should be at 32", leaving a little room for the splash back above the countertop, but it's only just over 30", which means the countertop will run into the windowsill. And the bedroom window, the top of which is supposed to line up with the top of the sliding closet doors, is also two inches too low. Now we have to figure out if these problems can be fixed on site, which would involve altering the wall panels and exterior faux wall panels - and almost certainly the Kynar steel siding too.

First up tomorrow will be the installation of the structural panels that separate the living room from the second bedroom (that's one of the panels you can see above), and then the TJIs and the roof sheathing. By the end of the week this structure will really look like a house.

A Huge Erection

2010-10-06T23:13:00.000-07:00

An amazing day on Talbot Avenue, a beautiful, warm, sunny day during which all of the exterior panels for the LV Home kit were erected. Since a picture is worth a thousand words, here's a rather long short story.

Post-Modern

2010-10-05T16:10:00.000-07:00

After a cold windy one yesterday, yet another spectacular Fall day in Pacifica today. The sub-floor is officially finished, and the posts are laid out and ready to erect.

Downstairs, a couple of the crew have been framing the wall between garage and basement, and also finishing the framing for the bathroom and utility room. The latter has shrunk a little from the original plans, since the insulation lost us a couple of inches and we seem to have lost another inch or two on the other side as well. I'll have to measure the walls and plan out exactly where everything will go, but I may have to ditch the idea of having a sink in there. We'll see.

This afternoon the guys started laying out the wall panels, and moving some of them onto the sub-floor in preparation for installing them tomorrow morning. First, though, the steel posts will need to be bolted to the floor, and since we don't have any bolts that will have to wait until after a trip to Home Depot. In the meantime, though, Hector the Framer hoisted one of the posts into place so that he could get some measurements, and tomorrow morning I expect to see all nine posts up before I witness the erection of the very first wall panel - a moment I've been eagerly anticipating for nearly two and a half years.

A View From The Loo

2010-10-01T23:45:00.000-07:00

There have been many special moments since we started construction of The Minnie House, and today's certainly ranks up there with the best of them. Having passed inspection yesterday, the plywood sheathing was nearly complete when I arrived at the house this afternoon, and I was finally able, for the very first time, to walk around and look at the actual view from the actual first floor.

This was quite an emotional experience for me. I stood where the bed will be; where the dining table will be; where my beautiful rosewood Eames lounge chair will be; and where the kitchen island will be, and marveled at how spectacular the view of the ocean and the Marin Headlands is, even on a somewhat cool and foggy afternoon.

As if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, Hector the Framer and his crew have also framed out the very first rooms, in the basement of The Minnie House: the second bathroom (left), and the utility room (right). I was pleasantly surprised to find that, with the bathroom door open, there will even be an ocean view from the loo...

Cantilever

2010-09-30T17:08:00.000-07:00

Today was without a doubt the foggiest I've seen on Talbot Avenue, but regardless of the weather it's still lovely up on the hill. And it will be lovelier when I can walk out in this five foot wide deck, which cantilevers out from the back of the first floor.

The framing began this morning, with pressure treated lumber nailed onto the TJIs and LVLs. The actual finished material will be LockDry Watertight Aluminum Decking in a white powder coated finish. The blocking was also being installed this afternoon, and assuming we passed this afternoon's inspection the plywood sheathing will be down by the end of the week.

One Giant Leap For Man

2010-09-29T23:53:00.000-07:00

Big steps forward, small steps backward. The TJIs had to come down yesterday so that we could add weatherproof flashing between them and the pressure treated wood, but today they were reinstalled and the team moved ahead and made progress.

Cut outs were made for the front porch and the stairwell, and in addition to the TJIs we used several big, heavy LVL beams to reinforce the floor where there will be upstairs walls to support.

The sub-floor is a thing of beauty, especially with the sun shining on it. It's quite slow going, but we're getting closer to the day when we can start framing the kit.

I even made myself a little bit useful by doing some cleanup of trash and lumber before climbing up my neighbor Randy's cypress tree to get a different perspective of The Minnie House, which you can see below.

Next up is an inspection, then the plywood and we'll be able to walk on the floor for the first time - and at the same time the framers will bolt pressure treated lumber to the TJIs to frame the 48' x 5' deck.

One Man's Ceiling is Another Man's Floor

2010-09-27T20:50:00.000-07:00

I-Joists hanging from Simpson Hangers

Today was indeed the day that the framers started installing the sub-floor. It only took them an hour to get most of the I-beams nailed roughly into place, sitting in Simpson hangers on the front wall (as you can see above) while resting on top of the rear wall.

Tomorrow the rest of the beams will be in position, and blocking will be nailed laterally between each beam. After that we'll be ready to nail down the plywood decking and bring in Chai the Inspector to sign off so that we can move ahead with building the house.

The Bird is the Word

2010-09-27T13:32:00.000-07:00

Happy Birthday to Me!

What a wonderful birthday present! Although this wasn't designed by Charles and Ray Eames, it's known as The Eames Bird because it was displayed in their house for over fifty years, and featured in many promotional photos of their furniture. The original was actually from Appalachia, and this version, made by Vitra under license from the Eames Office, is made of black lacquered alder, with wire legs and beady eyes. I can hardly wait to see this in the finished Minnie House.

King of the Castle! King of the Castle!

2010-09-26T19:44:00.000-07:00

Standing atop the faux wall panels (probably not such a good idea!)

Larry the (Para)Lam

2010-09-26T19:41:00.000-07:00

And now, happily, there is a mountain again. The Paralam beam was delivered on Friday, and it's now firmly attached to the house with Simpson strong ties.

We took advantage of the spectacular weekend weather to do some much-needed clean-up around the site. I look rather smug and self-satisfied considering I only swept half of the basement, though to be fair, the broom broke in half so it was harder work than it should have been! The other half will have to wait.

It appears that we're ready to start building the sub-floor in the morning. Happy, sunny days!

First There Is A Mountain

2010-09-24T15:05:00.000-07:00

"First there is a mountain, then there is no mountain, then there is" - Donovan.

By Tuesday morning, we had a finished header for the sliding patio doors, formed by concrete, steel, pressure treated lumber and ICFs (insulated concrete forms).

By Wednesday the concrete header was gone, cut to pieces by Dave the Concrete Cutter and hig Big Ass Saw. On Thursday, Hector the Framer set about rebuilding the header at the same height, using the same materials and starting with the pressure treated lumber, bracing that with several 2x4s.

And by this morning, Friday, the header was gone again. What's up with that, you might well ask? The Mies Police deciding Less is More? Not exactly. Hector the Framer and Rich the Contractor realized that, with the reduced height, we wouldn't be able to pour a sufficient depth of concrete to make a strong header, so we had to ditch that idea and move on the next one: a humungous 8x12 Parallam PSL beam, which will be strong enough on its own to support the entire header load.


A cross-section through the cut concrete. Pretty cool.

The beam should arrive today or on Monday, and then we can move on and start building the sub-floor. In the meantime, here are some more photos...

I'm a Lumber Jack

2010-09-22T23:15:00.000-07:00

No, really. Not many people know this, but before I was born I had a very cool and sporty uncle, an excellent footballer and cricketer who also won war medals in the Territorial Army before tragically dying (of leukemia, I believe) some time after World War II. Although Jews do not name children after living relatives, we do name them for deceased relatives, and I consider myself fortunate to have been given the middle name of Jack, in memory of my long lost uncle whom I sadly never knew.

Needless to say, today all the lumber finally arrived: TJI I-Joists and plywood sheathing for the sub-floor, and pressure-treated wood for the mud sills and the lower retaining wall. It was all piled high on the site on a beautiful warm, sunny day, just sitting there ready for the next exciting stage of the construction process - building the floor, which is now due to start at the beginning of next week.

Today's project was to cut out the entire sliding door header, and to remove the extra 12" of concrete and steel from the rear basement wall, using a big-ass saw with a big-ass diamond blade. While Dave the Concrete Cutter was busy doing that, Hector the Framer was making a start on setting the mud sills. So it's full steam ahead, with the concrete truck booked to return on Friday to (re)pour what will soon be a newly-formed header (replacing the one in the picture below).

As it was such a nice day today, I'll leave you with a few more artsy-fartsy pictures of the sun-kissed Minnie House...

FU But Apparently Not BAR

2010-09-21T14:54:00.000-07:00

So yesterday morning I was walking around the site with Ben the Architect, who casually asked me about the height of the basement walls. I told him they were nine feet high. He said eight feet. I said nine. He showed me the plans, and pointed to where it said eight feet. I said... umm... oh. When the contractor has asked me the same question, I said eight feet which, it turns out, was the right answer. One point for me! But they built and poured the basement to nine feet, which is now a teensy weensy problem, if not an insurmountable one.

After many meetings and discussions, it seems that we now need to bring in Dave the Concrete Cutter tomorrow to literally cut the top 12" of the rear wall and remove the header for the sliding doors. The header will be re-framed and re-poured at the end of the week, and the TGI floor system will now sit on Simpson hangers at the front of the house, as originally designed by Rocio Romero, and on top the newly-lowered basement wall at the rear, to bring us back to the correct elevation.

The view from the basement

Why bother? Isn't it a good thing to have higher ceilings in the basement? Possibly, but it compromises the look and elevation of the house from the street, making it sit too high and appear too ungainly. It will look inelegant, and would in all probability bug the hell out of me from now until the end of time. So we're going to make the changes now, and return the basement to its correct height. And in future, when I'm asked a question about the house, I'll be more inclined to trust my instincts and stick by my original answer unless and until it's proven wrong!

The garage door opening

On the plus side, I didn't blow a gasket and managed to live by my new motto: Keep Calm and Carry On.

Bonus Video of the Kit Arriving in a Big Red Truck

2010-09-20T23:33:00.000-07:00

The Kit Arrives in a Bright Red Truck

2010-09-20T23:28:00.000-07:00

That's one gorgeous big red truck

A very special day. It may have been three hours late - in fact, it was three hours late - but the big bright red truck eventually chugged its way up the hill to the house. We were worried for a while, but it turned out that Dave the Truck Driver was tired and stopped at Los Banos for a two hour snooze that turned into a four hour nap. I was just happy that he was OK and the kit was OK.

Pieces of the kit on the back of the truck

The kit consists of a seemingly random mish mash of Minnie House bits and pieces: wall panels, one interior wall, Simpson Strong Walls, steel posts, Anthony beams, I beams and plywood sheathing for the roof, lots of Simpson hardware, and all of the steel Kynar siding you can eat. And no doubt much more that I'm forgetting.


Rich the Contractor carefully moves the faux wall panels

Rich the Contractor manipulated the Gradall forklift as Hector the Framer guided the forks underneath the palettes, and after a couple of hours of careful work under blazing blue skies the entire kit was safely ensconced on the lot.

Lest anyone think that I'm just paddling in a pool of giddy goodness today, it's my duty to add that there was also a major hiccup... one that's worthy of a post of its own. But in the meantime, how about one more photo of this special day?

Full of Concrete-y Goodness

2010-09-18T18:06:00.000-07:00

Pouring the ICF basement walls

The first working Saturday of the build, and four concrete trucks (including the Giants' truck) ascended to the site on a warm, foggy morning. First, the eight piers were filled in the lower retaining wall. The I-beams still have to be cut so that they are all level, then the trench can be filled and the pressure treated lumber will be slotted in. At that point we'll be ready to backfill almost to the top of the retaining wall.


Hector the Happy Framer dumps more concrete into the ICFs

Once the lower wall was poured, it was time to move onto the basement. At first it seemed that we wouldn't be ready for this today, but Hector and his crew did a great job preparing the basement and getting it all braced and ready for today's pour. The team marked out the positions of all of the steel tie downs to the satisfaction of Chai the Inspector, and we passed our inspection yesterday morning.

Hector and the Giants' truck

It was so nice today that I didn't want to leave. We stayed long enough to see the final concrete being emptied from the last truck, and while Hector was doing that the rest of the team was wet-placing the steel tie-downs - that is, they were placing steel into the wet concrete that will later be used to bolt down the steel posts and Simpson strong walls.

Delicious wet concrete forms the garage door header

Next week the site will be a hive of activity. The kit arrives first thing on Monday morning; the TJIs for the sub-floor arrive on Monday or Tuesday; the sills have to be set on top of the basement walls; the sub-floor and deck trusses have to be built; and then we'll be ready to start erecting the kit. Stay tuned for news, photos and videos.

TJI... Friday

2010-09-17T15:23:00.000-07:00

I-Beams in place, awaiting tomorrow's concrete pour

While I was at the house this morning, Rich the Contractor was on the phone to the lumber yard, ordering the joists for the sub floor for delivery early next week. The joists are usually known by their acronym, TJI (which stands for Trus Joist I-Joist), and, well, today just happens to be Friday...

The basement is also ready for the final pour

This morning I also received confirmation that Dave the Truck Driver has left Missouri with the LV Home Kit and is now en route to Pacifica, where he is scheduled to arrive early on Monday morning. To say I'm excited is quite an understatement. We're not technically ready for it, as we were supposed to have the sub-floor finished by the time it arrives, but we're very close - we'll be pouring the last concrete for the basement and the headers (and the lower retaining wall) tomorrow morning, and that just leaves a couple of days work to set the sills and lay out the floor.

Steely Man

2010-09-16T23:06:00.000-07:00

Be careful!

A fun day, and not just because the Giants are now in first place in the West! The eight steel I-beams were delivered to the house today, and this time they were actually the right size. At twenty feet long and weighing in at around 300lbs apiece it was a major challenge getting them all down the hill and into their final resting places, but with lots of strong hands and some ingenuity, not to mention some amazing Bobcat skills from Ken the Excavator, we were able to get them all set before lunch.

Kenny lifts an I-beam with ease

Once the assembled masses had carried the beams down the tricky slippery slope, Kenny was somehow able to lift, cajole, nudge and drop each of the beams into the ground without once scraping or gouging the side of a pier hole, and that was no mean feat.

They're called I-beams for a good reason, aren't they?

I did ask if we could send them back and get some I-beams that weren't all rusty, but no-one was listening. Actually, I think they look rather fetching with their rust colored patina, and as they age they'll get even more homey.

Ariel, my friend and helper, admires a good morning's work

Dropping the beams into their holes isn't the end of the story, though, it's just the beginning. They still have to be raised up into place, braced carefully so that they are absolutely vertical, and then leveled so that their tops form a horizontal line. Once that's done, we'll be ready to pour concrete into the piers (most likely on Saturday morning) and soon afterwards place the pressure treated lumber.

The ever-changing front of the house

Another major change took place today: Kenny moved around the big dirt piles and began to backfill against the house, changing the skyline and the profile in a major way. The front wall of the house no longer looks so monolithic now that there's no slope in front of it, and neither does the side, where the huge pile of dirt has been flattened.

One day this will all be a garden...

Two Headers Are Better Than One

2010-09-15T22:11:00.000-07:00

The basement walls reach their full height: next stop concrete

And slowly, brick by white brick, the basement walls rise to their full height, and the lower level structure nears completion. Happy days.

Around the perimeter there's a boatload of gravel, to provide much needed drainage and move water away from the house and down the hill.

One day this will be a beautiful walk-out patio with a view

The framing for the header of the basement sliding doors is almost complete, and it's braced to provide extra support for the weight of the concrete that will soon be poured. The bottom of the header has a plank of pressure treated lumber, which will stay in place after the concrete cures.

Similarly, at the front of the house the garage door header is now also in place, although it's not yet braced.

Looking down the driveway towards the garage

Now it gradually gets more and more exciting. Tomorrow the steel for the lower retaining wall is due to arrive - again. It was actually delivered on Monday, but they mysteriously delivered the wrong sized I-beams and we had to send them back, which was a major blow as everyone was ready on site: excavator, welder, framer and assistants. Ken the Excavator will place the I-beams in the piers, and Hector the Framer will level them off before the piers are filled with concrete at the weekend. At the same time, the basement walls will be poured right up to the top, and then we'll finally be ready to remove all of the bracing and begin setting the sills. Once that's done, it's TGI Monday! The TGIs are the big beams that will form the sub floor structure, and when they are all in place and the blocking is complete we can finally think about starting work on the second floor.

Newsflash: Building a House Takes Time

2010-09-12T17:35:00.000-07:00

Looking up at the back of the basement, from the down slope

Yes, I'm learning that the hard way. Trying to be patient, as it will all happen in due time. The ICF basement walls are now nearly complete, but the headers for the basement sliding doors and the garage door still have to be built, and I don't think that will happen in time to inspect and pour concrete on Tuesday, so I'll have just have to take a deep breath and see what happens.

The north-east corner of the basement

The steel I-beams should also finally arrive this week, and those have to be set into the remaining eight piers and leveled before the concrete is poured. Then there's lots of dirt to be backfilled, sills to set and the entire sub-floor system to be laid before the LV Home kit arrives on the truck from Missouri in just eight days' time! Yikes!!!

Soon the sliding patio doors will occupy this space...

And I nearly forgot that, while all that's going on, we're still in the process of digging trenches around the perimeter of the foundations and laying pipe and gravel for the French drain which, when all is said and done, should keep water away from the house. Busy busy busy!

Piping + gravel+ muslin = French drain

The Magical Mystery Tour

2010-09-04T20:10:00.000-07:00

For your entertainment, I present this updated virtual tour of the interior of The Minnie House, created in Live Interior 3D Pro on the Mac Book Pro. The movie was assembled using iMovie, and an HD version can be found here. The soundtrack music is Staralfur by the wonderful Icelandic band Sigur Ros.

I was able to import much of my own furniture thanks to Google Sketch-Up - for example, all of the Eames pieces, the George Nelson bench and table, the Blue Dot coffee table, and the Case Study bed. The art work features several of my photos, a copper and wood piece by the artist San Francisco Amanda Lyn (in the bedroom), a colorful abstract by Pacifica artist Emily Dysinger (in the living room), and my big bright colorful poster of Joan Miro's big bright colorful L'oiseau au plumage deploye vole vers l'arbre argente.

The finishes are fairly accurate, and the views from each window are pretty good representations of the real thing, so I'm confident that the finished house will be a thing of beauty.

Half Way Up The Wall

2010-09-02T23:21:00.000-07:00

This week saw the fourth concrete pour, which was probably the least exciting to date. We just poured into the first four feet of the basement ICFs, so there wasn't much to see.

Before and after the pour the framers continued building 2x4 braces and supports for the walls, to ensure that they are straight, true and vertical. Then this morning the drain rock and tubing arrived for the french drain around the perimeter of the basement, which should ensure that the basement remains dry and cosy long into the future.

Hector the Framing Guy, the man who makes the magic happen

The next steps are pretty exciting. The basement walls will be built up to their full height with ICFs, and then the forms and supports for the garage and basement window headers will be constructed. These will then all be poured at the end of next week, and that will be worth seeing.

Next week the eight huge steel I-beams are scheduled to be delivered for the very long lower retaining wall, and presumably those 15' deep piers will be poured at the same time at the basement walls and headers.

At the end of that pour the foundations and basement of The Minnie House will basically be finished, and it will be time to set the sills and start building the floor. Once that's done the LV Home kit will arrive and we can start building the house!