Accounting for Fun

Since I must return to work in Logan soon, our summer building season is quickly drawing to a close. Reviewing the "to do" list last week provided great satisfaction because we were able to cross off most of our projects.

The Pretty Big Things:
* grout and seal the bedroom floor
* finish  Scott's office: metal on counters and put trim on walls
* add the facade to the entryway pony wall and install doorknob coat hangers
* hang exterior lights and cover outlets
* build wheelchair ramp
* clean and re-wax the veranda posts

 And the Really Big Ones
* sand, stain and place the window seat
* apply last plaster coat and aliz to exterior
* paint exterior bump outs
* lay veranda pavers
* THE KITCHEN: oven, counter, sink and cooktop (We're in the middle of putting down the cork floor right now.)

Whew!

Mom, Scott and Jessica standing beside clean posts

The finished window seat

An almost completed kitchen

The bathroom fully ready for use

An inviting veranda

Riley, Scott and I had time for a trip to Blind Lake, a popular destination on Boulder Mountain.

Still, Scott and Riley couldn't resist a bit more construction.

But, despite a brief few hours spent searching for two of our llamas who got off their stake out lines, we had plenty of time for skipping stones.

Mirror, Mirror, on the Wall

After all of the tile was complete, the only thing we needed to finish the bathroom was a mirror. Even though two of our major goals have always been to have local people help us and to use only local materials, there are no glass installers in Torrey. So, once again, we needed to call upon Jones Paint and Glass in Cedar City to manufacture, transport and install our mirror.

When they were here for our shower glass, Mike and  Blair measured the wall space for the mirror and indicated they would need to bring the large piece of glass to Torrey and then cut the openings for lights and outlet on site. That worked for us and it seemed to work for them as well.

Here they cut the outlet opening.

Blair sands the edges of the mirror.
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Blair applies mastic to glue the mirror to the wall.

It takes both Mike and Blair to move the mirror from the living room to the bathroom.

Next they pressed the mirror into place.

Scott set the lights in place, affixed the outlet and its cover plate and made a threshold from left over wood. Our bathroom is now done!

Bathroom Countertop

Our tile masters, Doug and Shanna, are in Italy this summer. Besides missing them dreadfully, we are also on our own for so many of the finishing details. This includes all of the challenges that come with tiling countertops.

I was involved, although minimally, in the tiling of our bathroom shower with the artists, Doug and Shanna. I basically watched. And Scott and I did tile the bathroom floor together last Thanksgiving. Therefore, we decided it would be within the scope of our limited abilities to tile the bathroom counter, so we went to work with the design and installation of said countertop.

I wanted to tie the design to that of the shower, so, once again, we employed the use of the small glass mosaic tiles we found previously at Home Depot. In order to select an appropriate field tile, we attempted to match the darkest brown in the shower tile as well as the dark brown in the hickory wood of the cabinets. Contempo Tile in Salt Lake City had exactly what we needed. An order was placed and received, so we went to work. In less than three days, the project was completed, although not to the caliber of Doug and Shanna.

Using a jigsaw to cut the sink hole

Screwing the 3/4-inch exterior plywood to the counter

Adhering the cement backerboard to the plywood

Covering the counters and floor with protective plastic

Beginning the mosaic backsplash

Backsplash is finished

Beginning the field tiles

The last piece

Taping the walls before caulking

Scott and I installed the sinks and faucets. Phillip will hook up the water. The folks from Jones Paint and Glass will hang the mirror within the week, and we will put in the lights. Scott said the master bathroom will be the first room to be completely finished except for maintenance and remodel. I’m certain there will be no remodeling in our future.

Waiting for water and mirror

Bathroom Cabinets

As long as were planning the kitchen cabinets, we thought it would be a good idea to do the bathroom cabinets at the same time. We chose to use hickory because of its resilience, prominent grain patterns and color variation. The random streaks and burls provide an interesting texture and provide colors ranging from almost white to dark brown. These colors fit nicely with the browns of the bathroom as well as with our yellow kitchen.

Next, in both the bathroom and in the kitchen, we need to choose the countertop materials.

Thanksgiving

Over the Thanksgiving holiday, we made a trip to Torrey with one goal in mind - to install the tile on the bathroom floor. This needed to be done because our cabinets should arrive sometime after the first of the year. To our great pleasure, we completed the task without any gnashing of teeth or pulling of hair.

First we measured the floor, determined the layout of the tiles and snapped chalk lines to guide our work.

We began laying the tile in the corner farthest from the door so we would not tile ourselves into a corner.

Here Mary applies thinset mortar

and carefully sets a tile in place.

Scott measured

and cut tiles as needed.

After one and half days we had all of the tile set. We left a narrow space of untiled floor on the right because the cabinets will cover this space. The cabinet maker will shim the cabinets to accommodate the height of the missing tiles against the wall.

Scott applied the grout.

We chose a color that was as close to the color of the tile as possible.

Here Scott is removing the drying grout from the surface of the tiles.

In the book, Setting Tile, by Michael Byrne, we read that a poor grout job can spoil a good tile job. 

We hope we have the best of both.

Doug's Shower

Building a straw bale house, no matter the size, is most easily accomplished as a joint venture. We have been lucky in this regard. In the form of finance, consultation, problem-solving, sweat, blood, laughter and encouragement, our parents, family, architect, neighbors and friends have all lent their support.

When it comes right down to it, our house is more theirs than ours. This could not be more true than when it comes to Shanna and Doug, Scott’s sister and her husband. For the third building season in a row, they have left their boat in Europe and spent the entire summer with us at “construction boot camp” in Torrey.

Beyond the work, one of the greatest challenges has always been getting clean everyday. At the end of the first bui lding season, we celebrated when we finally had a toilet and a sink in the garage. That meant we no longer had to drive one mile to the nearest restroom. But the next summer, when we were covered with straw and mud, nobody was smiling when we found ourselves bathing in cold water in that tiny sink.

We resorted to a camping sun shower, which worked perfectly...when the sun was shining. However, contrary to what most folks might guess, Torrey has a monsoon season, and, for Doug and Shanna’s first two summers with us, there were more rainy days than sunny ones. After his last tepid shower last season, Doug declared that he wouldn’t return until we had a real shower with reliable and unlimited hot water.

While Scott and I did our best to get that shower for Doug, the best we could come up with was a shower base, shower fixtures and a shower tent. And, even though the ambiance left something to be desired, at the beginning of this summer’s building season, we had what we hoped Doug would accept as a real shower.

From June to August, this proved to be satisfactory, but, with only two weeks to go until Shanna and Doug were to return to Europe, we dismantled the makeshift arrangement and went to work on the shower tile. We made several trips to Home Depot in Richfield, purchased all of necessary supplies, and Doug and Shanna went to work. All the while, Doug declared that he was no tile expert, but a beautiful shower was completed the day they left Torrey. And last Wednesday, when Mike and Blair from Jones Paint and Glass in Cedar City installed the glass for the shower, they signed our house register with, “It is always a pleasure to install a shower on a perfect tile job.”

This is yet another part of our house that belongs to Doug and Shanna.