It Was A Frustrating Day All Around

So our windows and patio furniture have arrived wooo hooo………….now for the frustrating part!!!  The invoice for the furniture was in my name, the invoice for Tropical Shipping was in Les’ name (same last name and address but that doesn’t matter)  we can’t clear the furniture and windows without the names matching – Crate and Barrel can’t get into the system to change their invoice as it has been delivered and Tropical can’t change it as it has sailed and been delivered – you think it would be as simple as both showing up with ID but no – welcome to the islands.

The next frustrating event was that to clear Customs you must proved the Country Of Origin so they can determine if you need to pay tax – made in the USA = no tax, made anywhere else = yes tax, and that sounds simple enough right – well no !!!  We have documentation that shows where all our purchases were manufactured, for example we have that the cushions are made from Sunbrella fabric, made in the USA and they are listed in a 4 page document provided by Crate and Barrel that shows the fabric and Country of Origin at the top and then lists all cushions in the collection……….not good enough.  They want each SKU number listed separately with a description and made in the USA for each cushion…………..arrrgh !!!!!  No way can I now call Crate and Barrel (I have already spoken to them twice re: the invoice name) and have a sales associate go through and list each SKU number and Country of Origin separately for all cushions, base furniture, table and chairs so I didn’t ……… Les did 🙂  I must say Crate and Barrel were very helpful and all was taken care of in the end and I must add the lady at Boynes (who is clearing our purchases) was also very helpful and I know was only doing her job and trying to make “clearing” easy on all of us.  All’s well that ends well and the delivery is set for Monday.

Moving forward, when I arrived home Les had started to tear apart the downstairs room and his comment when pulling off the first board “wow what a simple house” so I think know a change of plan is about to happen – he is going to reframe in 2″x 6″ and *beef it all up* – you knew it wasn’t going to be as simple as install new windows and just reinstall drywall didn’t you.

Scaffold Progress – 99.9% done

Les worked yesterday on the upper level and I am pleased to report he is safe, it is 99.9% finished and it is sturdy (yes even I went out on it) ………wooo hooo.

There is one small section that he still needs to build and he was going to wait as it will be built in front of a concrete section of the house so there is no rush to have it built right away (there is no T1-11 to be replaced) but as it will need painting – the reason for the scaffolding – I think he should just go ahead and push forward and be done.

Next up we think is to replace/repair one section of a roof rafter (he has promised to wear a harness while on the roof) remove the guttering, power washing the underside of the roof overhang so it can throughly dry before painting, remove the lower section of  T1-11 and then remove an interior wall and drywall from the interior of the guest room  downstairs (so really start to gut the downstairs room) – going to be a busy weekend (OK, that’s a joke I don’t think even Les can do all of that in a weekend but I wouldn’t bet that he can’t so stay tuned)

Here is his progress in pictures………

Perfect cuts in the scaffold “floor”

Fits like a glove….

 

Like Watching Paint Dry

Actually I am watching paint dry 🙂

Les had to work yesterday so no scaffolding work was done but don’t worry he will be working on it today and tomorrow so look out for more pictures and progress reports, so for now, back to the topic of paint.

Our house right now is painted Behr Coastal Mist (well the concrete section is, the T1-11 is well T1-11)  We will not be using Behr paint when we repaint the house as I find it to be just OK as far as quality of paint goes and the great news is that Total Wall can actually be tinted to whatever color we want so no more two toned home.  We love the existing color (Coastal Mist) so we had Benjamin Moore color match it.  We purchased a gallon to see exactly how close it is and as we are buying the Total Wall from Benjamin Moore and having them custom tint it, I needed to try it out.  Today was the day I figured I better try it out on the wall – we have only had it sitting around for about 3 months – pretty good match don’t you think…..

I have to add the color is much nicer in person than it is showing in these photos – it was very overcast and dreary yesterday when I took them.

Up, Up But Hopefully Not Away……

The scaffolding has reached new heights.

After picking up more lumber this morning Les worked on the next level.  I took pictures but had to leave a few times as I was just too nervous watching, especially when he was hanging over the side while standing on the ladder on one foot drilling the screws in from the outside !!!!  So here is our day in pictures…….

Starting on the next level – taken from the deck looking down (note he is already on a ladder)

No turning back now – not that there really was before but I guess we could have said that it was going to be too hard and just taken all of the scaffolding down and given up but nooooo off comes the deck and railing so the next level of scaffolding can be built.

Cut that beam….

Pull baby pull…

Going out…

There will be X beams I promise…
Temporary gate (have to keep Coqui and Tiki safe 🙂 )….

He Turned The Corner………

With the scaffolding……….

Apart from being dive bombed by an angry momma bird who apparently has a nest of babies really close to where the scaffolding is being built (in the storage area behind Les in the above photo) and running out of lumber…………….again, Les had a successful day 🙂

He finished the existing level of scaffolding, including turning the corner so tomorrow, after he picks up more lumber, he will start the next level so stay tuned.

More pictures of today……..

Finished front “runway”

 

Turned the corner….
Close up of our windows and siding that are being torn off and replaced – pretty aren’t they – can you believe we were told by a very well respected, long time island builder (retired) “it’s looks OK just nail it back down” – c l e a r l y he doesn’t know me very well which is exactly what Les told him 🙂

Love the screws protruding out !!!
How we ended the day…….

 

Well Our Windows Didn’t Make It…….

Onto Wednesdays shipping container so hopefully they will be on the container that sails today – I actually didn’t see on Tropical’s website that there is a sailing today so I can only hope they were addressed by Tafco (the manufacturer of our jalousie windows located in Chicago of all places) to the correct island.  The good news is that my patio furniture arrived at Tropical yesterday, all 14 boxes of it,  including the armed chair – if you remember we weren’t really sure if I had purchased that item or not and it was actually 3:30pm on Wednesday before we knew for sure that it had been located and delivered to their main warehouse in Tampa for delivery to Tropical in Miami yesterday – almost too late to cancel the armless chair that I had ordered just in case they couldn’t locate it for me, but it all worked out in the end – I have the chair I wanted and the backup was cancelled just in time.

We are heading to St Thomas today to pick up supplies and more necessary items to be able to continue with the scaffolding this weekend – including a harness for Les – I am determined he will wear one but that idea is not going over too well right now, he just seems to think erecting scaffolding while wearing a harness is not possible – we’ll see.

No real photos to post as Les was showing property yesterday (wish us luck) so his plans to continue with scaffolding were put on hold until Saturday – so more photos and updates will be posted this weekend as his plans include (hopefully) to erect the next level – not sure if I’ll be brave enough to go out on that level or not but if I do maybe I’ll have Les post a photo of me doing so 🙂

The photo I’ll leave you with is the first and hopefully the only injury so far

Ouch

Going Up………….S L O W L Y

Why “slowly” you ask – well, we ran out of lumber to build the scaffolding so not as much scaffolding was erected as Les would have liked – but all in all, slowly is probably a good thing when you are going to be over 30′ in the air with a drop straight down onto rock !!!  I think it is probably my fault as I’m making Les……OK nagging Les……to make it extra sturdy so he is using more than he was expecting.

Thanks to Jim and Beth who are building a home here – I think you know their blog but just in case you don’t you can tune in here www.stjohndreams.wordpress.com – there was lumber available we could “borrow” 🙂

Yesterdays progress………..

Scaffolding before ….

Scaffolding is now higher….

“Walkway” (could be worse I could be calling it a runway 🙂 ) along front of the house on Monday….

“Walkway” yesterday….

*Borrowed*  lumber….

Always smiling Les….

It’s Amazing What Mistakes You Almost Make !!!!

Not by Les – me !!!!!

Les is working on scaffolding today so stay tuned as I hope more pictures will be available to post tomorrow, so in the meantime I thought I would post about my near miss with windows.

As far as window placement goes I thought I had everything perfectly laid out………not !!!! As you know by now, eventually we will be removing the load bearing wall in our living space therefore opening up the area and allowing us to have a small dining table and a much larger sofa and living area  – OK “much larger” is all relative when you live in a small *cottage* (for the want of a better description) on St John.  As we are replacing the windows I tried to plan if the windows should stay where they are now making Les’  life much easier or, if we should move them (requiring him having to reframe them all) so that when we are sitting in our dining room and on our new sofa we have the best view and the best wall space for TV placement etc.  As you know me by now, you know what I decided – yep move them – some only by a few inches others, well, a bit more.

When we were in Kansas City we found a new sofa and console for our new space so upon arriving home, out came the painters tape and off I got to marking the sofa and console on the floor/wall.  The console is actually longer than the space between the windows but it’s OK as it is a low piece of furniture so it won’t be a problem as it can extend under the window………..that is where the problem was discovered.  When we remove the load bearing wall, the sofa is pretty much limited to where it can go in the room so we can still move around it and get to the dining space,  well when I looked at the center of the sofa and where the center of the console would be and therefore the TV,  I noticed that half of the console would be way under one window and about 24″ from the start of other window so it would no be centered (I have this need for everything to be symmetrical – I’m sure there is a term for it but being a pain works just fine) so I spent a good amount of time yesterday moving windows around so that now we are all centered – thank goodness I figured it out before Les installed the windows.

Sofa taped on floor – you can see corners, cushions and center of cushions 🙂

Painters tape marking center of console, TV and start of windows 

What it might have looked like

What it will look like now I’ve moved the window

 

1st Level Scaffolding Almost Up………..Only 16′ off the ground !!!!!

OK, don’t faint as I nearly did watching him build the scaffolding but he made great progress on the 4th (no we did not go to the parade “we” built scaffolding instead – much more important 🙂 )

Scaffolding is important, as all of our old T1-11 siding is about to be torn off – thank God.  It was about at the end of it’s lifespan when we purchased the house 7 years ago and only now are we getting around to it.   Part of the reason why it has taken so long is we could never figure out how to actually remove the old T1-11 and replaced, and what exactly to replace it with – if we wanted to use concrete siding or another product.  We finally have decided on a product called Total Wall and it will be tinted to match the existing pale blue that the concrete section of the house is currently painted.

Total Wall requires three steps (even though we have been told by one company here just to slap it over plywood!!!) …….

1. Remove old siding and replace with plywood
2. Add layer of cement board
3. Cover with mesh
4. Cover with Total Wall

OK, four steps but who’s counting 🙂  

Here is Mondays progress with the scaffolding………

This level and the next level (yes I said next level – yikes) will be started tomorrow – stay tuned.

New Deck………..Soon Come

Happy 4th of July everyone 🙂

As you know I was absent for a while and as it is cloudy/rainy on St John I am catching up on the blog and have quite a few old posts that I had started and then never finished.  I was looking today to see where I had left off and found this draft that was never posted…………oops.  Here is the entry that should have been posted when “I” came back after “my” first trip to KC at the beginning of June, and not now after “we” have returned from “our” trip to KC at the end of June………….

As you may know our deck will increase in size and therefore needs a new support post to accommodate it and while I was Stateside, hubby was busy digging, digging, digging then framing and pouring the new footings and column – man that man is good except he couldn’t take photos of him digging and pouring – can you believe it !!!!! so no photos of that.

When I returned home he started on the next footing to support the section of the deck close to the house that we are “squaring off”.  In this picture the old deck is the “dotted line” and the new deck is the “solid” line and the X marks where the new footing needs to be dug.

Well with all of the footing that Les has already dug you don’t see a problem right ?? well there wouldn’t be except back in 2006 Les built a beautiful rock wall and planter that now proudly holds our first Christmas Tree – a Palm – so the only option was to move the tree and then install the new column for the post.

Palm in question – on left  (great rock planter, stairs and wall all built by Les don’t you think 🙂 )

 

New Home (rock to be continued around palm)

Digging down to solid rock

Rebar

Framing

Concrete

This time, Les left just a little too long between pouring the concrete and removing the frame so it took a little bit of convincing to remove but eventually with the help of a mallet, crowbar, and two drill “thingy” machines it came off…..

Finally all done and we were able to save the planter 🙂