December 2020

December 16, 2020July 6, 2021

Eight Outlets Roughed In for Power on the Porch!

Day #143

July 11, 2020 – I’m back on the electrical rough in this weekend. I have eight outlets (four duplex receptacles) planned for the outside wall of the cottage. Today I’ll be roughing these in, on the inside of the cottage, to provide electric to the outside of the cottage.

Two outlets will serve “Brenda’s Deck”. Anyone renting space on this section of the porch will have to negotiate electric pricing in their contract with Brenda. I hear through the grapevine that she is nearing her IPO date. Keep an eye out.

Two of Eight Outlets — Electric outlet to the left of the sliding door.

There are two general purpose outlets to the left of the new sliding door. I put a quad outlet box under the almost 7 foot picture window. These outlets will provide power for the deck bar, now, and the new bar in the future. By the way, for the astute electricians out there, these are not the receptacles that I am using. This area could get wet, so by code they need to be Ground-Fault Circuit Interrupter (GFCI) receptacles.

Up in the attic I am labeling the junction boxes so the various cable runs can be identified easily. It’s still a mess up in the attic but as the renovation continues the old wire, outlets and switches will be replaced.

Junction Box label — Junction box labeling in the attic.

After I closed up the junction box I flipped the breaker and voila, I have power to porch. Right on!

Pretty boring stuff this electrical rough in. I know. Tomorrow, I’ll continue with some outlet boxes for the inside the new kitchen. Hold yer breath!

December 15, 2020July 6, 2021

Goodbye Deer Poster – The End of a Era!

July 5, 2020 – Today brings us to the end of an era. This deer poster has been hanging in the Cot-Taj-Mahal on the living room wall for a long long time. I’ve been going to the cottage for at least 40 years. This deer poster may have been hanging for over 60 years!

It is old, yellowing and it smells horrible. This was the criteria that lead us to the decision to throw it in the dumpster.

Good Bye Deer Poster…

December 15, 2020July 7, 2021

West End Wall Framing & the Porch Ceiling is Complete!

Day #142

July 3, 2020 – Having reached the far end of the deck with the aluminum ceiling panels I have to frame the west end wall in order to complete the porch ceiling. Similar to the dividing wall, the framing is pretty simple. We have a door opening flanked on each side by a knee wall. Later on we will be screening the porch and installing the screen doors to create a bug free haven.

West End Wall Framin — Framing for the door opening at the end wall.

End Wall Framing — Headers in the end wall framing.

Once the headers were installed I put up the PVC trim board above the door and completed the porch ceiling panels.

End Wall Framing 2 — West End wall from the outside, PVC trim board installed on the inside.

I am out of treated lumber so the knee wall framing on each side of this door opening will have to wait. It was not necessary to have them in place to complete the ceiling.

Ceiling Panels Complete — Porch ceiling panels are complete!

We are taking the next several days off to spend time with family in the river. I’ll be back after the holiday. I hope everyone has a safe 4th of July!

December 14, 2020July 6, 2021

Ceiling Panel Installation Continues

Day #141

July 02, 2020 – I continued the aluminum ceiling panel installation down to the west end of the porch. Insulation at the top of the outside wall and furring strips preceded the panels. At the end of the day I only had one or two pieces left to complete the ceiling. It looks great!

Insulation-Furring Strips — Insulation and furring strips.

Ceiling Panels — Aluminum ceiling panel installation.

Dumpster Returns

Today we got the dumpster back in. There is more demolition to do including the remaining siding and the living room ceiling. More on this work later.

As I reported earlier, it has been difficult obtaining enough of the aluminum panels to finish up the porch ceiling. Earlier in the week, on Monday, I went on a search for the remaining material. I had to go to two different Home Depot stores and one Lowe’s store to get what we need. Thankx pandemic!

December 12, 2020July 6, 2021

Bring on the Porch Ceiling Fans!

Day #140

July 01, 2020 – Today is Wednesday, a “real job” work day for me. I am “real job” working remotely at the Cot-Taj-Mahal. On days like this I don’t get much renovation done, but a little bit is better than none. Just like a little kid with a new toy I had to put up the first porch ceiling fan. We took delivery awhile ago and I’ve been itching to get them up.

Porch Ceiling Fan — Porch ceiling fan number one.

The fans are Manufactured by the Monte Carlo Ceiling Fan Company. They are the 52″ Discus Outdoor Fan Series. Because we didn’t want to deal with replacing batteries in remotes and not having internet access these are “low tech” fans. Pull chains operate both the fans and the built in LED lights. I have installed switches in the wall, next to the sliding door, to kill the power to each fan. We will have three porch ceiling fans when it is all said and done.

Fan Number One — Hole in ceiling and electrical box for fan number two.

Now that I have my inner child appeased with the first porch ceiling fan I can continue with the aluminum ceiling panel installation.

Porch Ceiling Panels — Porch ceiling installation continues.

December 10, 2020July 6, 2021

Level 21 Stink Bug Barrier

Day #139

June 27, 2020 – Just a short blog. Today I put up a Level 21 Stink Bug Barrier along the open gable end in the kitchen. Otherwise known as 6 mil Black Plastic Sheeting, our hope is that it will slow down or possibly stop the invasion.

Up to this point I’ve been focusing on completing the new roof. As a result, the inside of the kitchen is wide open and exposed to the attic. Since the temperature has been rising, we have thousands of Stink Bugs coming to life. They crawl out of the spaces between the roof planking, fly thru the attic and land on the new kitchen windows . They see the morning sunshine and are trying to get out. It’s disgusting!

Stink Bug Nest

Robrandi asked me if there was anything I could do to slow them down. Well, back in May I rigged up a homemade Stink Bug Trap. We put it on at night and the bugs fly to the light, drop into the water and drown. It actually works pretty good but there is just to many of them so I have to move to phase two, the Level21 Stink Bug Barrier.

Level 21 Sting Bug Barrier — 6 mil Black Plastic Sheeting

6 mil Black Plastic Sheeting

December 10, 2020July 7, 2021

Moving Right Along with the Porch Ceiling Installation.

Day #138

June 27, 2020 – With the dividing wall complete I can move along with the remainder of the porch ceiling installation. This includes furring strips, ceiling fan rough in and the PVC trim boards to cover the porch beams. If you face the cottage the flow of work moves left to right or east to west. Not sure why that’s important but I’ll throw it in there anyway.

PVC Trim — Moving right along with the PVC trim boards.

Section One Done - Ceiling - Moving Right Along — Ceiling panels complete in section one.

Section Two — Starting PVC trim in section two just west of the dividing wall.

Ceiling Panels Section Two - Moving Right Along — Ceiling panels in section two. Moving right along.

Porch Section Three — Section three ceiling panels.

Hey look, there’s that “Almost 7 Foot Picture Window“. Did ya measure?

From here I will continue the ceiling panels. We have had some difficulty locating more of this aluminum. We bought everything that the Lewistown Lowe’s had. Next week I will make the rounds to the Mechanicsburg Lowe’s and the Home Depot to see if I can get enough to finish.

Aluminum Ceiling Panel Availability

Part of the problem has been sorting out good panels from the large pile of mostly damaged panels. From what I can see, it looks like the practice at Lowe’s, is to simply return the dented, crumpled and scratched panels to the top of the pile to try and sell. I wish that these “Big Box stores would have a little more pride in the products that they sell. Take the damaged materials off the shelf, dam it!

Rant over…..

December 4, 2020July 6, 2021

Dividing Wall Framing on the Porch Deck

Day #136

June 26, 2020 – The dividing wall on the deck separates the screened in porch section from the open section. The framing is pretty straight forward and includes a door opening flanked on each side by a knee wall. I need to complete this framing before I can continue with the porch ceiling.

Dividing Wall Framing — Bottom plate for the dividing wall.

Door Opening — Framing in the door opening.

Dividing Wall Knee Wall — Door header and knee wall framing, right side.

Knee Wall Left Side — Knee wall framing, left side.

Dividing Wall Headers — Header framing on the right side.

I finished up the dividing wall framing today. Now I can continue with the aluminum ceiling panels.

In case your interested, we had grilled Salmon and a nice Sweet Potato and Goat Cheese Salad for dinner. The river looked awesome today, hence the off topic featured image.

A little housekeeping. This blog post highlights work that I did back in June. There has been a lot of work completed between then and now. I, know, I am way behind, like 6 months worth.

Some of the recipients of this blog are aware of the current progress and some are not. I have some “less busy” time coming up and I’d like to make a push to get the record caught up. If you get tired of these posts and you think there are too many, you can unsubscribe. I won’t be offended. If not, hang in there, I going on a blog post rampage!

Have a Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah and a Glorious Festivus!
Blogmaster Gyeem Raj Du-Kamar

December 4, 2020July 6, 2021

It’s Time to Set the 7 Foot Picture Window!

(a.k.a. Did Ya Measure?)

Day #135

June 20, 2020 – Today my Enola Crew is going to help set the big 7 foot picture window in the rough opening in the living room wall. This is the biggest window that we have in the cottage. It is going to let in a lot of light and we are anxious to have it installed.

The first step is to remove the temporary plywood and stud framing covering the rough opening. That went very well.

Temporary Stud Framing - Picture Window — Temporary Stud Framing – Picture Window

Next, we unloaded the picture window from the back of my truck and carried it up onto the porch. And then the fun began.

New Living Room Picture Window — New living room picture window ready to be unloaded.

With the window on the porch and the sill shims in place Troy and I lifted it up to set it into the rough opening. Before we lifted, Troy said to me, “Did ya measure?“. I know he was joking but when we made the attempt to set it in place, it did not fit. It was way too big! WTF…!

We had to set in back down on the porch. I put a tape measure on it only to discover that our 7 foot window was actually 8 feet. WTF…?

Time Out — Time out to re-frame the rough opening.

When Robrandi and I were discussing window sizes we were considering an 8 foot window for this location but ultimately decided on a 7 foot instead. On our window cut sheets I had circled the 8 footer when we were talking. Then, when we went to order, I never made the correction. So, I actually ordered the larger window but framed the smaller opening. Ugghhh!

Did ya measure? – Became the buzzwords for the next several weeks.

Return Picture Window or Re-Frame Opening?

Rather than return the window, we ripped out the seven foot header and the wall framing on the right hand side. Troy helped me frame in the new, correctly sized rough opening and we set the window.

Re-Framed Rough Opening - Picture Window — Here is the newly re-framed rough opening finally ready for the window.

Did ya measure?

New Picture Window — New picture window… Yeah!

When I started out the day I had no idea that I’d be re-framing the rough opening for this window. A stupid mistake! Oh well… Shit happens.

Next time – Did ya measure?