i completed the small timber-frame roof outside the back door and it has had a big impact on how the whole rear of the house feels. the deck seems more spacious and the steps up from the back yard flow nicely up into the welcoming shelter of the new roof. it is a practical consideration considering the large amount of snow here in the winter but also gives a sense of arrival to the building and creates a semi-public sheltered space for visitors to wait while the door is being answered. two unexpected benefits are illustrated in the photos. one is a view of the new eave that comes into play from lying in bed. visible eaves give a sense of shelter and comfort that seems particularly appropriate from this position. the other picture shows the view towards idaho peak and silver ridge that tower above the village on the east, which seem to coincidentally have about a 4:12 pitch like the roof.
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pictures of the bathroom vanity concrete countertop. turned out pretty nice and fairly trouble-free. I scored a half-price undermount sink and inserted two brass pieces of jewelry. one of them is a little wolf lad and the other was a pair of leaves. the leaves came unstuck in the mould but left perfect reliefs of themselves in the concrete. i thought it looked nicer than glueing them back in again. i now have running water in my new bathroom. ridiculously cold running water, but it’s nice nonetheless.
the front bump-out is complete. the only addition to the square-footage of the house is this window seat with a curved roof. there are four different types of cedar and finishes going on, the back wall has no.1 cedar shingles left unstained so they will turn silver with age, the horizontal lap siding on the bump-out has a light “eco-friendly” water-based stain (it has a picture of a bear on the front so presumably you can drink it, right?) and the trim has a coating of the aptly named Sikkens oil-based super-tox finish, which looks great but is instantly headache inducing. and the curved fascia board, which needed a 14” wide board to create, has a darker mahogany stain on it. i found it a fun little area to play with different looks for the same base material, western red cedar, of which there is a large live one acting as a canopy over the whole front yard.
there is nothing special about these steps. they are simple rough-cut cedar treads on mahogany-stained fir stringers. functional, quick to build and reasonably attractive. however, this is one of the nicest things I’ve done to the house because they are designed well. the treads are about 16 inches wide and eight feet long, giving the appearance of a small set of bleachers. the whole deck, previously uplifted and overlooking the back yard now flows gracefully down, providing lots of stoop-style seating, several different new view-points and a wide-open embracing entrance way for the back door.
another realisation that good design is more important than good construction. although they are built well enough that they won’t fall down if someone does host a well-attended football match in the yard.
(not the crappy old ones beside the ladder, but the ones I’m sitting on modelling my zimmermannhosen.)
i liked the look of the fence pattern so much i decided to repeat it in a couple of other details, shown here in a shingle pattern on the back of the house, including a diamond motif and in a plumbing chase on the back of the shower stall.
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i set about making a couple of concrete shelves for the bathroom, two for in the shower that the glass blocks will sit on and one for a sill into the shower. nice sloppy mix, good reinforcing, beautiful results when i cracked the moulds open, except for one thing. i’d forgotten to flip the mould around for the one with a bend in it so it went the wrong way. easy mistake. stupid amateurish mistake. beat forehead with palm of hand. i had the option of doing it over or seeing if i could rescue this one by working on the side that had been troweled. i hadn’t intended on using it so i hadn’t waited and finish trowelled it perfectly but it looked half decent. the other two ground out beautifully and easily with a 200 grit pad, but when i went after this one i managed to pull out more fines and left it kind of potholed. the fix involved making a white glue, white cement paste and filling in the low spots, leaving it and quickly grinding it back a few days later. i then applied a few sprayed on coats of iron sulphate solution, a cheap non-toxic fertiliser, and as the iron sulphate went to work, these beautiful red and yellow rust spots appeared where the white cement had been patched in and the rest of the shelf turned variegated browns. first time trying out this type of staining too. slapped on some sealer and installed it and it looks well sharp.
here is the main front entrance gateway. previously there was, well, some dirt, some grass, a couple of trees of to the side, nothing to define the proerty and establish a sense of arrival. this is my first real timber-framing project outside of a class i took last spring, and i’m pretty happy with it. i’ve kept the fencing rough and unstained, and these timbers are sanded smooth and will shortly be receiving a red stain and top coat for contrast. i pulled the dimensions out of my arse but managed to make something that looks pretty balanced. i particularly like the japanese style of double top beams which i find vastly superior to using western-style knee braces. considering i had no special tools, i haven’t even gotten around to ordering a framing chisel yet, i was pleased with how quickly it came together. there’s nothing fancy about the joinery, and nothing’s perfect on it, but i love how small mistakes can blend away when you put together a finished timber-frame project. i’ll keep working on making the mistakes smaller and smaller.
i was really pleased with how simple and effective the fence design turned out to be. it is made from rough-cut cedar 1x6, with every second board ripped to make a 1x2 and a 1x4, three different width boards in a simple repeated pattern, nailed directly onto the posts, no need for horizontal supports or other backers. the boards were given a quick 80 grit sanding to remove slivers so they are fairly nice to the touch but still maintain a rough texture and look. again minimal work involved.
the posts were a learning process. for the main ones i dug to frost line, filled with gravel to near the top and poured a mixed bag of concrete in to grade, placed a 4x4 post holder and braced the posts plumb. very little chance of rot but this left the posts wobbly in the direction the fence horizontals weren’t running in, so they are buttressed by some other posts which are shorter and buried to frost line.
these buttresses create two outdoor rooms, one of which is pictured, with a half-hearted attempt at japanese rock garden placement. it was the closest place i could justify leaving the rocks without moving them a long way out the back. the other room will become a seating/dining area, all gracefully covered with a live cedar tree.
the whole idea of fencing in areas is very thought-provoking. it’s modern origins might be drawn from the british enclosure of the commons, and the enforced rights of individuals over the community. it is also a feature of the more recent past in canada where settlers continually fenced off previously unrestricted land for personal or corporate profit. as a first generation settler living on unceded Sinixt territory there are some uncomfortable traditions i appear to be following. much of the latter-day anarchist projects have tended towards the claiming and defending of physical space, i’ve participated and visited countless squats and autonomous spaces, many beautiful and inspiring, many depressing and disfunctional, but all working towards a communal usage of space. my pragmatic and pessimistic mindset has led me furher away from these spaces over the last few years and i now find myself building my own fence (not white pickets but close enough) through having submitted, albeit probably for a short time, to the capitalist world of banks and death pledges.
the glass is probably half empty but it’s a really nice fence.
