Painting during the day, laminate flooring by night.

If I were to enumerate the qualities of ideal paint scaffolding it might read as follows: solid, safe, spacious (plenty of room for sprayer and paint bucket) will easily reach 30 feet in the air, and last but not least, move effortlessly up/down/side to side by wordlessly reading your mind and anticipating what needs to be painted next.

Also known as the Summers family boom truck with scaffolding accessory. Must be seen to be believed. Best paint day EVER. I think it took less than an hour of actual painting time to put two coats on the South quarter of the house, including the 2 and 1/2 story, window infested, concrete patio wielding, big wall.

Behr Premium Plus Ultra. Lifetime guaranty (that's what the can says). Nanotechnology. With Ethylene Glycol -- paintable if the temperature will remain above 35 degrees Fahrenheit for 4 hours. About 26 gallons of wall paint, and not 3 gallons of trim/door paint. Satin. Wished we'd have painted the walls flat.

Most days I used Greg's (siding guy) scaffolding. He was very generous in loaning and setting up/moving it around. I was nervous on it at first. The plank is maybe 10 inches deep, and twenty feet long, suspended on ladder jacks and ladders -- the whole thing flexes and bends. I focus intently when I'm spraying paint and lose track of my surroundings. While painting the long West side of the garage I walked right off the end. As I was falling I remember it feeling cool (temperature) and being surprised it didn't hurt. Right up until I hit the ground 7-13 feet below (depending on whether you measure it by my feet or my head which started at different heights and ended at precisely the same height). Then I jumped up, ripped off my mask, glasses, and gloves and ran around trying to figure out what had hit me.

Chad started pouring the driveway. He also poured the front sidewalk, stairs off the front porch, and a beautiful patio and stairs down to the walkout basement patio.

Friday, November 6th (and some on October 30th) Cory installed the boiler (Munchkin Contender, up to 94% efficient) and some of the pumps/piping needed for the radiant heat. Heat production is regulated by the outside temperature and which zone/device is calling for heat. For radiant heating the temperature of the water might be 130 degrees F. For the hot water maker (see below) or garage heater it will be 200+ degrees F.

The hot water maker (Triangle Tube Smart 60) will be installed later. It is capable of 410 gallons/hour recovery or 360 gallons continuous. If we can keep water flowing through all the pipes, we can heat it up. Lifetime warranty. Neat.

Kind of a shame this stuff is all hidden in the utility room.

We were told by one builder that radiant heat wouldn't make the floor feel warm because our house is "tight" and well insulated. They had no idea what they were talking about. In fairness, it isn't warm continuously, but when the floor calls for heat, warm it is. I think with a bit of tinkering with a programmable thermostat, it's going to be Marvelous. Because of the thermal mass in the floors additional lead time is required for temperature changes... It just feels like a different kind of heat. But different in a GOOD way. Unless we just curl up on the floor and nap through the winter.

Painting the garage was a bigger project than we anticipated. Do projects ever go faster and easier than expected? Why paint the garage to begin with? 'Cause if I didn't, I'd have to increase my medication. It's a personal problem.

The sheetrockers had left their scaffolding in the garage. When we were building the columns yesterday, Chris suggested I might use it to paint the garage. Today, just as Jen and I were finished assembling it, someone from Scott Bone Drywall drove up and looked at us and said "you're not going to be very happy with me today." Layne was kind enough to deliver his dad's scaffolding which we used instead.

Chris loaned us his propane heater. It will drain a five gallon tank in less than an hour and a half at full burn -- looking like it ought to have a hot air balloon above it. Kept the garage toasty. We tried to avoid burning while we were spraying "This product is known to the State of CA to cause cancer, birth defects, extraneous appendagii, etc" thinking that the product of KILZ 2 paint combustion probably isn't safer than the unaltered paint.

Originally, we thought we'd just prime it, but after a single+ coat of KILZ 2 (about 7 gallons?), it clearly needed a 2nd coat. At 2:30am Friday morning, Jen ran to Brigham City Walmart only to find they didn't have any more. Aack. And we weren't sure what to use for a topcoat, that we hadn't planned on using anyway. So she came home.

Ironically, Benjamin Moore's paint has high ratings from Consumer Reports, and is sold at Walmart, so Jen stopped back on the way from meeting with Marilynn Allred-Hennessy, design consultant, at Dal Tile (a little later on Friday) and picked up 7 gallons. That was enough to do one coat and a few trouble spots.

All in all, kind of a hassle -- but soon forgotten -- and I'll like the way the garage looks forever. Well, for as long as I hold an opinion about such things. We thought briefly about starting epoxy on the floor while it is so empty, but we have more pressing concerns.

They finished putting in the septic system today. Or so they thought. The gravel was too large and the inspector wants them to pull it all off, and put smaller gravel down instead. Worried about silt infiltration. As you can read off the concrete, the 1500 gallon vault tank comes from Lindquist out of Ogden. The same people that will entomb the rest of you when you don't care about houses or other worldly things.


Five hundred and fifty five linear feet of shallow trench (12") with 12" of capping fill. A neighbor who owns a nursery is going to deliver fill for the cost of moving it ($80 per load?). Ten loads?

Chris and I built tapered columns for the tops of the posts today, Wednesday October 28th. I think I scared him when I mentioned trying to tackle it, but I was very glad to build them with him while he was giving direction. We got five of the nine built, and only one partially installed. Jen drove up and saw the one column up and wondered what we'd been doing all day. Someone, who shall remain nameless stepped on the top of the rock on the column and fractured the mortar. We attempted to glue it back on with silicone. I think the rock guys may have to fix it when they come back to do the basement fireplace.

C.H.I insulated steel double sided garage doors delivered and installed by Windsor Door Sales Inc. out of Ogden. R value of 8.07. These are Chris's standard. Very nice.

Mudding and taping took just over a week. Actually, the taping was fast. They had machines that looked like a bazooka with a fishing reel of tape on it. They would dip them in a bucket of mud, and then apply the mud and tape together. Very fast. The additional coats of mud and sanding took the rest of the week.

Chris got the furnace running on Monday, October 19th. It is a high efficiency (96%!) that is only ducted to the basement (radiant heat upstairs). I thought more of the heat would move up through the stairs etc. but it does not. So, the downstairs is warm. The furnace creates a small steady stream of water when it is running. I've been plugging the grinder pump in periodically to evacuate the water (gallons!), but I need to get the pump permanently wired.

This picture is from Wednesday evening. By the end of Friday, October 16th, all of the sheetrock was hung. They had two crews working simultaneously. It felt like too many people to count -- but they would somehow all fit in a couple of mid-sized vehicles. They brought their own microwave, somehow dialed in a spanish speaking radio station, and filled the porta-potty to overflowing.

Tuesday, October 13th, Sheetrock delivered. Later in the day, while I was changing a couple of very last minute electrical items upstairs, Jen was marking outlets on the floor with a Sharpie in case they were buried and lost by the sheetrockers. I heard a tremendous crash, and then quiet. I thought "hmm, no one's screaming, guess everything is OK". Pure genius. Twenty seconds later I hear "Michael". But more like groaning than english. Jen had been trying to reach behind a leaning stack of sheetrock, and it had tipped and landed on top of her, badly bruising her leg and pelvis, and throwing her to the floor causing her to hit her head and pass out. We both felt like geniuses. Thankfully Jen was fine. Really sore, but fine.