Front door replaced

Concrete ramp

Six cubic feet of brown-tinted concrete (one heaping tablespoon colorant per 60-lb bag) sloping 7%.

Soaker hose at Escallonia

Automatic irrigation here is now functional. Previous drip hose wasn't effective from the low pressure valve. Now (finally) replaced with a 1/2" soaker hose.Matsuda Compacta Escallonia

Pavers

...with Isotoma Blue Star Creeper:

Laurentia fluviatilis
Easy to grow and extremely versatile because it's rugged; can be used as a lawn substitute, around pools, in the garden, on pavers and even in pots; remains in bloom pretty much all season, until frost; remains evergreen in warmer climates all year; needs some shade in hot summer climates in the summer.
• Height: Low ground level mat
• Spread: 18 - 24"
• USDA Zones: 5 - 9
• Initial Spacing: 12" apart
• Exposure: Full Sun to Partial Shade
• Flower Color: Pale Blue
• Foot Traffic: Almost as rugged as a grass
• Drought Tolerant: No
• Deer Resistant: No
• Scented: No

Stainless steel handrail

The Trex + redwood deck is now functionally complete.
Click on image to backtrack in progression.

Downspout

This collector pipe takes care of 470 sq.ft. of tributary roof area. It carries rainwater directly onto the trench drain in the rear yard.

Torii gate guardrail

6-foot tall privacy screen (otherwise it's a clear view over the fence into and from the neighbor's backyard) is an extension of the deck posts.

Pony wall end

Birch plywood, Ipé corner, glued together, oil-rubbed, clamped to 2x structure squeezing Liquid Nails that was spread with a notch trowel.

Cut and loop carpet

Nominal installed cost = $6.00 per sq.ft. (by contractor)
However, considering just net area = $7.50 per sq.ft. (ouch!)
Reason = seamlessness between rooms and hallway + remnants

Baseboard for carpet

Washer/dryer connections

Washer/ dryer here must angle in from hallway left corner first (or last corner out when removing). The space on the right is then barely enough to pass through to work on the connections -- except for the exhaust duct, which is one-arm reachable with the appliance in place.

Very tight, but worked out fine in a space that's 35"x35" clear. New hoses, gaskets, connectors = $63.

Woven wood shades

Natural bamboo in a tight weave pattern provides decent light blockage without fabric liner. The optional top-down mechanism doesn't increase retracted thickness as I had feared. It's just another pulley side-by-side with the primary pulley.
I cannot recommend this company because they had to remake one that was too short, then the replacement didn't match the others in color and texture. It's such a different batch after only three weeks.

Separation door

Solid core metal clad pre-hung "exterior" door with double bore, weatherstripping, sweep, and aluminum threshold (removed for interior installation) replaced old bedroom door. Cost $117 plus tax from Home Depot.

Solid bamboo floor

About $2.08 per sq.ft. from Costco. This is not the same material installed in the laundry nook. Price compares favorably to the $4.25 in 2004. Click thumbnails below to enlarge.

Laundry nook

Dryer can tap into natural gas (upper left on side wall) or 240V 30AMP electrical (upper right).

Exhaust duct would turn 90° behind dryer, 45° into floor (visible in photo), 90° below joists, then straight, then a slight curve to wall terminal exiting to the side yard.

Hopefully this laundry nook is spacious enough for most stacked washer-dryers, and with side space for storage.

Click on photo to backtrack to the post on the Watts Intelliflow.

Skylight shade

Purchased parts include pleated Redi Shade (folded paper), sliding screen door replacement hardware, and easy-slide pads. The wood is from scraps. String is fish line. Total cost = $22.The control mechanism is like that of a drafting table parallel arm. A line runs taut through rollers in a figure-eight pattern. The metal drop handle keeps it from tipping over while opening and closing (done with a hollow bamboo pole).

Drawer pulls

Stainless steel drawer pulls from IKEA ($3.99 a pair for any of three sizes, seems to be clearance, get yours while they last). Only caveat is that they're metric, so if a longer screw is needed, for example, it's hard to find the matching thread size.

Sink connections

From left to right, Watts Premier reverse osmosis model WP-4V, generic soap dispenser, American Standard Easy Touch pull-out faucet model 6310. And below, Insinkerator Badger 5 food waste disposer.

Granite countertop

Here's another project where splurging a little adds a nice noticeable BANG (in my opinion). A granite countertop simply feels awesome. Backsplash to come later will probably be tile.
But for what BUCK, you ask?

$1,216 total cost, including sink

Compare to:
$584 laminate
$2,116 Corian
$2,503 Richlite eco material
(full comparison at right)

Base cabinets

Squared, leveled, and plumbed. Ready for countertop.
For lack of a lower fastening point to the wall, I've driven screws to the subfloor at the cabinet ends, which will get covered with a finish panel. $91 material for corner unit and misc. self-install
$1009 factory-made cabinets, corner face frame, etc.
$1100 TOTAL COST for base cabinets

Corner sink cabinet

A corner sink design becomes very custom. I had to fabricate practically this entire unit from scratch. Only the face frame (with door and false drawer front) was purchased ready-made to match the adjacent base cabinets.
Those peculiar side cuts are for the corners of an average-sized sink that normally wouldn't fit such a small corner cabinet.

Subfloor leveled

Added 3/4" OSB to make the subfloor level.This area of floor was originally planned for tile, and thus, was sunken for the extra thickness. But I changed my mind. I used only screws to attach it, so future removal, if there's a need, would be easier (than if it was glued and nailed on).

Cost = $61

Standard pocket door

...came together fairly well. The only foreseeable problem is having to remove the finished head jamb if the door panel needs to come off. There's simply no space to reach in to unlatch it from the rollers. The gap has to be covered, caulked and painted to look right. This seems to be the nature of pocket doors. As such, I've used screws instead of nails, and they're still visible under the paint.

Now I only hope the carpet thickness won't force me to remove it for trimming.

$34 door panel
$22 finish jambs
$11 pull / latch
$86 Johnson pocket door kit (#2511)
$15 casing and finish

$182 TOTAL COST (with tax)


Walk-in closet

Interior doors

Standard 24" door on the right goes into the bathroom. It's a hollow core prehung unit from Home Depot. With door knob, casing and finish, it comes to about $110.

The 14" (by 8-foot) door on the left opens into a tall coat closet. It's custom made from clear 2x4 Douglas Fir. With knob, casing and finish, it comes to about $120. Insert panels will hopefully be acrylic... if I can scavenge some long scraps from Tap Plastics.

Second year Sandalwood

Just over two years ago it went into the toughest little patch of dirt in the side yard. Now it's the largest tree I have!
Click on photo to backtrack Myoporum laetum 'carsonii'
Carson Myoporum

PG&E connects!

They finally came out and did their disconnect/ reconnect.

But not by following their own procedures...














My DIY splice at the neutral wire in September (necessary for removal of the old weatherhead to close off the roof before the rainy season), was actually faulty or became corroded over a few months. It caused intermittent voltage fluctuations. I reported the problem in March as if I didn't know what was going on.

PG&E comes out for "usual" problems like this upon a couple of months notice (instead of no action over 19 months of submitting an application for the 200A service upgrade -- click on photo to backtrack). They decided to replace my 2/0 wires with 4/0. Perfect. No need to press them on the status of my application!

What a hoot.

Ductless heat exchanger

Also known as mini-split cooling/heating system or air-source ductless mini-split or simply heat pump, this Klimaire (model KSWG012-H113) falls in the category of HVAC (Heating Ventilating & Air Conditioning) but doesn't really ventilate because it's ductless. It recirculates room air, blowing it downwards after either heating or cooling it. It takes whatever heat is in the outdoors air to warm the room, and vice versa to cool it.
The recommended mounting height is actually 91 inches above floor, but this model has controllable vanes for near-horizontal air flow, and the climate here needs more heating than cooling, thus the below-window mount. The required hole size for the bundle of tubes and wires is about 3 inches diameter -- best to use 2x6 studs if you're drilling through the bottom plate (which is what I did to preclude moisture problems associated with going through the wall).

Both indoors and outdoors unit are fairly quiet. At 12,000 Btu/h (1 ton), this model is rated at 13.1 SEER (cooling) and 7.7 HSPF (heating). It requires just a standard 120V 60Hz circuit, whereas the next larger size requires 220V.

$784 Klimaire unit, after delivery & tax
$19 misc. hardware
$385 connection by HVAC pro
$1188 TOTAL COST
(free planning, design and mounting by owner as usual)

Econo-heat panel heater

Econo-heat model 0601 (425 Watts, 120V, 3.6A, labeled Dec 2005) is simply a solid slab of fiberboard measuring 23.25" x 23.25" x 3/8" thick that mounts on spacers putting it 3/4" off the wall.

I have it positioned with a new junction box behind the cord housing for a clean, hardwired installation (wallplate is a customized single hole with grommet).

It seems to take about 10 minutes to come to temperature, which is very warm to the touch but not burning. It may take an hour to warm the room. Performance review will be added later as comments.

$90 unit + $30 timer switch + shipping and tax = $142 total. Junction box + Romex probably = $15. Remodeled bathroom at addition.

Hardwired towel warmer

The installation instructions called for pressing/sliding this unit with its open metal edge against the wall surface onto hooks that are first screwed into drywall anchors, then plugging the 6-foot cord into a nearby GFCI wall outlet.

Totally ludicrous, I say.

My modifications include tucking the cord back in, to go out the rear directly into a junction box, fastening a backer board with carriage bolts and nylon lock nuts, then using long cabinet screws to go into wall studs. The board thickness was kept minimal by using 1/2" birch plywood.

Clearance item was $25 (in 2005). Other materials added $30.