Basement upgrade

Ella helping with framing

I’m at home with Ella today, and she’s just gone down for a nap, so I’m taking the opportunity to post some pics of what we’ve been up to in the evenings and over weekends the last 2 weeks.

Two weekends ago, we were supposed to go camping with Ella for the first time, but the weather was going to be abysmal: cold and rain. Not much fun in a tent. Instead, Michelle, my parents and I started working on the basement – an addition of walls and eventually carpet and ceiling to make the somewhat dank and scary TV room in to a livable family room. Over the last weekend, we managed to tear down, frame and sheet rock and start taping and mudding the walls. It was amazing how quickly we worked, and it put us a month ahead of schedule.

Over the next couple days I worked on sanding and mudding more, but had to stop to clean for the Kroger for AG party we hosted. Then, Friday I was able to sand and mud one last time so we could sand and prime on Saturday. Michelle’s mom and friend came down over the weekend and watched Ella so we could keep working. They all went to the zoo and had a great time while Michelle and I worked unfettered for a few hours. By Sunday night, we’d primed and put 2 coats of paint on all but one of the walls. I was also able to get some framing for a panel wall that I’ve been dreaming of. The green in the pictures doesn’t reflect the actual color very well. In the pics, it almost looks like 70s gauche.

Since Sunday night, we’ve not accomplished much downstairs other than laundry. Today I went to
Rebuilding Center and CrossCut to buy wood for the finishing touches. I wanted to use reclaimed old growth, clear vertical grain Doug fir, but had trouble finding the quantity and quality needed for the project. I ended up getting most of it from CrossCut, but the wood is beautiful, and the Doug fir veneered plywood will make for excellent cabinets where the stereo and such will sit – well above kid hands. Ella helped me push the wood around and I think she had as much fun at both the Rebuilding Center and CrossCut as I did. Here’s a gratuitious photo of the pile of wood in my garage:

Now we just need to finish the cabinets and one last section of drywall then we can put up the fir and be happy. We’re experimenting with wood panelling for the ceiling, but mixing wood types can be dangerous. We’re looking at Luan for its cost/sustainability/look, though the jury is still out.

Magic Carpet

Michelle and I have been working on finishing the basement so that its not scary to be in during, well, most times of the year. To make it livable, we put some old carpet down on the floor to hep us pretend that it was a real room. Before cutting out chunks of the concrete floor to repour, we rolled up the carpet and put it in my parent’s truck so we could take it to East County Recycling Environmentally Conscious Recycling. ECR is one of the only options for recycling carpet in the Portland Metro area.

We needed to pick up some sheet rock with the truck, so we set the carpet roll out on the parking strip. Later that afternoon when we returned, the carpet had disapeared. There’s a phenomenon around here where you can set out some reasonable item you’re done with and a free sign and it’ll be picked up within 24 hours by someone. The phenomenon is so strong that the following things have happened:

  • Well, for one, someone took our doubly-old carpet
  • The hippie neighbors put out utter rubbish and it somehow all disappeared, though at slightly slower pace.
  • Occasionally you’ll see a pile of something in front of someone’s house with a “Not Free” sign on it to signal the home owner’s intent to use the pile

If you attempt to use this phenomenon, do not attempt to kick-start by posting something on craigslist. You’ll end up with multiple unhappy parties who show up to get the free item when some dude who was just walking by picked it up not 4 minutes ago. I mean, it’s not my fault they drove from Vancouver to get a few rolls of sod.

I love recycling, but I love reusing even more.

John Kroger for Oregon Attorney General

Freeds for Kroger

I know, seems a little late in the game to post something like this considering our primaries are in 4 days. However, last night we learned that 50% of Oregon voters are still undecided who to vote for in the race for Attorney General. There are probably several reasons for this, including that there are only two democrats running, and that AG has always been one of those lower profile seats.

Last night Michelle and I hosted a house party for John so some of our friends, neighbors and coworkers could meet the candidate. Both Michelle and I feel that John Kroger is not only the better of two good candidates, he is better for Oregon. Here’s just a few items that illustrate why we think he’s the best choice:

  • John wants to drastically improve access to treatment programs for substance abuse, specifically meth. Meth users are the single largest cause for property crime in Oregon, and play a huge role in why Oregon’s child welfare is one of the worst in the nation. Meth is showing up in middle schools, so its clearly time we take a different approach to solving our meth crisis.
  • John wants to start prosecuting criminal polluters. As one of our neighbors pointed out, Oregon passed some sweeping anti-pollution laws nearly 2 decades ago and has just kind of rested on our laurels since. There’s no one in Oregon who isn’t affected by the environment, and small fines for dumping heavy metals in to our rivers shouldn’t just be part of the cost of doing business.

There’s a nice short list. But there are many more reasons, which you should read if you’re still curious. Lastly, please don’t make any of your decisions based on TV ads. I’m amazed at the power and reach of these wretched things and urge you to read your voters pamphlet and your favorite organization’s endorsements for more information.

Green Roof on the chicken coop

Sometimes you start to question doing something unnecessary. I did that several times during the process of putting a greenroof on top of our chicken coop, but now that I’m done and have forgotten the extra time and cost, I’m happy we went with it.

Why did we put a greenroof? (an “eco-roof” to some) I must admit I liked the novelty and wanted to see how difficult it was. Plus, it gave me the chance to learn a little more about the process. Sara lent me here notes from the 1-day greenroofing class she took a few years back, and with that, I developed a simpler, less expensive version for the chicken coop.

Different how? Fewer layers of complex stuff. My roofing layers look like this:

  • plants & soil-medium
  • carpet pad
  • 2 layers of 6 mil. black plastic
  • roof decking

A better designed roof would use a real waterproof membrane, but I happened to have a lot of black plastic leftover from when our basement had radon mitigation. Also, the there should probably be a slip sheet between the membrane and padding, then a barrier between the soil and the pad, but I’m not too worried about root intrusion into the pad. I added a small drain to the lowest corner (it somehow lost square/level once we put the 150 lb roof up) in case of excess moisture. Hopefully it doesn’t get used much.

Finally, the roof media came from ProSoil in Tigard, and the sedum, not the ideal choices, came from Livingscape Nursery on Vancouver and A-Boy. I couldn’t find all the ideal varieties, and Michelle wanted some hen & chicks on the roof, so we’ll see what works and what doesn’t (thus the tags). I need a little more soil, so I’ll be making another run to the soil place to fill up another computer box with someone else’s roof media.

Chickens out!

Michelle and I spent the whole of the weekend readying the coop so the chicks could move outdoors. We managed to finish the coop with the exception of paint and the green roof. Saturday, while we put the back wall on, painted it, then placed the coop & run wiring, the chicks wandered around the yard with Barley watching intently. Sunday, we finished the side walls, nesting boxes, feeder, door, roof decking and impervious layer. The chicks did the same, though in the evening, when we knocked off to grill and relax, they entered their new coop. A terrarium pad, a heat light, and a straw floor kept them warm at night, though they didn’t stray far from the heating pad. A few comical highlights from the weekend:

  • Getting a bale of straw at the feed store with a station wagon. Straw bales are much bigger than the hay bales I remember. We bungied the gate closed.
  • The guy who helped us at the feed store has hay fever.
  • The chicks have learned they’re in greater danger from Ella than Barley.
  • It’ll take ~25 dozen eggs to realize the savings on fresh eggs
  • Since it was sunny, and we were noisy, we finally encountered some of our neighbors for the first time since October
  • Even for a chicken coop, you end up making 3 times as many runs to the store for parts as you expect

I’ve added some pictures

Coop Floor

The biggest reason I caved to Michelle’s desire to have chickens was the part where I got to design and build the coop. There was never any formal agreement, and I’m pretty sure the design has spiraled beyond what Michelle had anticipated. We’ve tried to use scrap and rebuilding center materials where we can, and new items only where it makes the most sense.

One aspect of the coop that I picked to include recycled material was the floor. The floor has to have spaces to allow feces (poop) to fall through. our neighbor’s coop had a a wooden grill similar to a cold air return from a 1940’s house. I liked the idea of using wood with ample space between the slats, so I picked up a bunch of old trim and laminate edges from Rebuilding Center, then cut them to the width of the coop. To seat them, I took some studs over to my dad’s shop and used his dado blade to cut notches for the slats. I was still uncertain as to how it would work until I finally assembled it last night. Looks like it should work, though the chickens will be the final test.
Chicken coop floor

Next – the green roof!

Newport

Michelle had a conference in Newport this weekend, so Ella and I tagged along to see the sights. We actually left Thursday night and got there in time for dinner with her boss overlooking the Pacific Ocean.

Friday while Michelle was at “work,” Ella and I went grocery shopping for lunch and snack items, then went to the Oregon Coast Aquarium. It was quite a treat for both of us, though by the time we got to the “passages of the deep” exhibit, a plexiglass tunnel through a massive tank, Ella preferred to run through the exhibit rather than look at the sharks and skates passing gracefully around us. Afterwards, we checked out the Yaquina Lighthouse, Rogue’s brewery, swam, walked to dinner, and swam again before settling down for a restful night. I’d already fallen asleep by the time Michelle got back, though she and her coworkers were socializing by this time, not strictly working.

Saturday Ella and I grabbed donuts then headed south in a hailstorm to Seal Rock. By the time we got there the weather had cleared and we were able to hike a bit and play in the foam created by the thrashing seas around the rocks. Then we checked out Ona Beach and played on the bridge before heading back to Newport to meet up with Michelle. Afterwards, we checked out the Aquarium again (it was really cool, and with the Bug, there was a lot that was missed) and went for an early dinner on the Bay and watched the massive sea lions on the docks.

Despite the on and off hail, there was plenty of sun, and was a delightful way to spend a weekend. I’ve not been to Newport for nearly 15 years, though I saw the store where my dad and I got our ideas for building skimmer boards for taking to Kalaloch. I definitely look forward to visiting again, though there are still many places on the list to visit first. I’ve added some pictures here.

Heckofa Weekend

Many weekends pass by unnoticed because you’re either busy doing some project the entire time, you’re traveling the entire time, or you’re hanging out and time just slips past. This weekend we managed to both tackle a number of projects and have some fun. While having dinner tonight, Michelle and I both realized we were exhausted, but satisfied with the weekend.

Saturday morning we hit up our big box lumber store to get lumber and pavers. I put an additional support beam beneath the living room floor because it had been sagging a bit, and we’re expecting to have a number of people over for a “meet the candidate” gathering and we didn’t want the floor to collapse. As much fun as it is scrounging around the crawl space, I was glad to get done quickly with my dad’s help. Saturday’s weather was too nice to stay indoors.

Michelle transplanted a rose plant and bricked in the rest of the patio, something that really makes the back yard more inviting. She, Ella and my mom did most of the work there, and the chicks (hens) got to play outdoors for a bit in the sun under Barley’s watchful eyes. To round out the day, Hilary watched Ella for a few hours while Michelle and I checked out HUB and Green Dragon.

Sunday morning we rode with my parents and sister over to the Flavor Spot on N. Lombard to grab some waffles, then rode back to Arbor Lodge park to savor, then play some tether ball. After that, Michelle and I split up and ran errands. Reconvening after lunch, we start building the chicken coop and continued with backyard arranging. By the time we hit dinner, we were all exhausted. Here are some photos – I’m trying out the new gallery feature in WordPress 2.5.

Play Here!

The Chinese restaurant across the street has been in the process of “updating” itself, since before we moved in. I was secretly excited to see a Chinese restaurant becuase its such a rare treat anymore to have Chinese cuisine. However, judging from the opinions of the neighborhood, and the 0.7 customer per day average, its not that fantastic a place.

Anyway, shortly after we moved in, the restaurant broke ground on an addition that would become a lounge. The liquor license was fought voraciously by the neighborhood, but was granted anyway. Construction was epilectic, and there were long stretches where nothing happened. Finally, after the construction permit expired, and a new liquor license was issued, construction ramped up again. The lounge finally opened up in January, and the owners even repainted the jade green building (mostly) to a subdued white. I say it was mostly painted because you can see where the ladders weren’t tall enough and the orignal green still shows. Some rather hasty landscaping has resulted in some doomed plant life such as this guy, who still has a “sold” tag on.

Plants still have sold tags

There hasn’t been much business for the lounge. There is usually one one car parked in the lot, and its the owners’. Since adding a cocktail lounge didn’t drum up business, what other addictive pastime might bring in some dollars? That’s right! Video Lottery!

Every side of the building now proudly displays that you can hang with the one-armed bandit. I’m sad to say, there are more cars in the parking lot now.