Tree Stand...er Tree House

A few weeks ago, Pete and Sandy came out for a night and the girls (their 2, our 4) all wanted a fort. Pete and I did our best to stack up some logs, firewood, and some other misc. building materials to make them a fort. We decided it was time to make it happen. We had a ton of scrap materials from the house so I started gathering it all up and tried to sketch out a plan. In the end I just started throwing things together.

Here's the start. I got the beam attached across the two trees, a simple square platform framed, diagonal bracing installed, and Kelsey is attaching the flooring which is leftover material from the ceiling.

And here we are taking lunch...Got to get some walls put up so the kids can enjoy this.

Now there's a wall or two. Also made a walkway out of a tree that I didn't want standing anymore. Emily is trying it out.

Here's the view from out front of the treehouse.


A look down the log walkway.




Now it's time to install the roof. As per usual, if there is anything to be done with power tools, wood, and beer, my buddy Pete has to get involved. I think we installed the roof in record time cause there are only two pictures of us actually working. I think we drank the beer in record time too. Fun Day! Thanks Pete!

Master Bath Shower Enclosure

Today the master bathroom shower enclosure get's checked off the list. The guys from American Glass came out and installed the $1500+ glass and frame in about 2 hours. It turned out great as the pictures below show.

The finished product:

Getting started. The frame must be plumb on the door side and square to the other.


The glass enclosure starts to take shape.


Almost ready for the door

And here's how it looks from the master bedroom:

Looks pretty fancy with the tile and jacuzzi tub. Time for a beer.

Crown Moulding--Thanks to Pete and Sandy

I am truely lucky to have the caliber of friends that I do. When I started working at Nye on B crew I ended up working with a guy that I had not seen in years. Pete and his wife quickly became friends and drinking buddies. The Old Chicago beer and shot tours will forever stand as evidence of this.

When Pete heard that I had crown moulding to do he loaded up the family and his very fancy saw and made the hours drive to our house. The trim turned out very fancy so thank you Pete and Sandy. There is no way I could have done it without you.





And to further spruce up the place Kelly and I decided to hang up the saw given to us by my folks. It has an oil painting farm scene on it that is really fancy.



A little better detail of the saw.


And to give credit where credit is Due. Thanks Mom. You should have stuck with the painting.

More Trim--Thanks to Butch and Kelly

With rates at an all time low, Kelly and I set a goal of getting the place re-financed at the lowest rate we could get. When we finally locked at 4.875 the clock started ticking. We would have to get another appraisal and not really knowing what the market was doing we figured we had better have the place looking good. My saving grace is the family. My ever vigilant father-in-law Butch, jumped in the truck and came out to help. Over the course of 4 days we managed to knock out a ton of trim work. Kelly probably had the biggest list of all, which involved getting ahead of the mess that 6 people can make in a huge house. Add on top of that, the mess I can make with air tools, beer cans, and 5 helpers, she had her hands full. Thanks Kelly.

Day one we cleaned up all of the outside areas which included raking and shoveling a truckload of bark from the splitter, moving lumber piles, insulated/chinked windows to be trimmed, hung durarock around wood stove, installed smoke detectors, and we started trimming out the upper living room windows.

Day two we trimmed out 13 windows, 2 doorways, and an attic access.

Day three we trimmed out the stairway, installed crown moulding with Pete, and did a bunch of cabinetry trim work such as kick boards and filler pieces.

Day four we cleaned up and started to recover. The appraiser showed up and gave us the two thumbs up.

Here's a shot of the living room from the front door. From here you can see most of the windows out front with the jambs and cedar trim done. You can also see the crown moulding on the far left wall has been done.


As you step into the kitchen you can now see all of the windows and the fireplace.


Another couple of steps and you can now see the door out to the front deck.


And here is a good look at the door to the front deck. It shows off neat the cedar trim is. It's got a ton of character and looks very nice with the logs.


Kelly and Sandy also managed to get our tv mounted with the adjustable wall mount. It looks pretty sweet hanging up there instead of on the little table we had sitting there before.

Master Bath Trim and Dining Room Window

After taking a few weeks to recover from our Mexican vacation, we got back after it for a day or two. This 4-on 4-off schedule is nice for resting a getting some things done on the house.

The project for the week was to get the master bath trim done. This involved trimming a door jamb to the correct width for the fancy knotty pine door, building extension jambs for the bathroom windows, and then deciding just how to trim everything out. I decided to rip all of the trim down to get even more out of each piece. This helped me stretch what I had so I could finish the crown trim around the top of the walls, the mid trim between sheet rock and wall boards, office(toilet room) door trim, and both windows in the bathroom. Turned out pretty good for an amateur.

Now it's time for the glass shower enclosure. Hopefully the glass company will show up this week to get it all done.







While I had the tools out I also finished up the dining room window. The trim really makes a difference. Next week I'll tackle the big windows out front. Hopefully my trim supply will last.

Master Bath Project--Tub Done

With the new blocks cut, I troweled on a bunch of mud, and then Kelly and I set the tub for the final time. Once it was in, we had to let it sit for at least 24 hours. I went back downstairs and finished the drain plumbing and the minor electrical work we needed to do to be ready to use the tub.

And now it's done. One minor leak, repaired very easily, and we have a master bathroom tub fit for a king & queen. I hope the shower turns out this nice.

Master Bath Project--Caulk, Insulation, Sealer

As with almost all of the house projects, Kelly was heavily involved. When it came time to caulk all of the 90 degree seams she jumped right in. We really wanted to have the tub functional before we went to Mexico so both of us were pretty motivated.

Here's Kelly caulking all of the joints......






And as you probably already know, if you've been watching the blog from the beginning....I am allergic to insulation, it makes me itch. So Kelly once again has to step in.


Time for a test fit.  We needed to set it in place to verify the supporting block thickness and we wanted to do it before we sealed the tile just in case we scratched something.  



Back out with the tub to fabricate blocks and to seal the tile/grout. Kelly got it done in time for us to watch it dry. Lot's of hurry up and wait.  

Pictures of the sealed Tile. 


In the mean time, I have been downstairs running the plumbing for the drains and finishing up the access to the pump and heater.  Now we are ready for the final install.