MBATH GETS A SHOWER

With the room's walls and ceiling more or less done, the first item to go back in was the shower.

Multi-tasking Jason sets drain in the new shower pan while dealing with other jobs via cell phone. (Excuse the photo format, but this web-site is not the most user friendly [get what you don't pay for...] and I cannot get these two verticals to go vertical...).

New hot red piping, for cold as well as hot water, connects supply to the shower's valve and shower head above.

Shower pan in place,  Zhufeng goops sealant around the fasteners and seams in the tile backer boards.

After a long day of caulking and lifting and adjusting and the occassional, "Yikes, that ain't right! Take apart and redo!!" the glass block walls are up and holding.

The goops are pretty stinky, so, as a fan blows in fresh (and cold) air all night, we three are in the living room, snuggled up close to our tools and toilet components for the nonce.

ZCY SHOOTING WALLS 3

Seemed very fitting for a visit to Knowing Spring Courtyard on the Spring Equinox, and the sun was out too boot.


The shot-crete boys must have worked by moon light: they finished in three days, and today, the carpentry crew commenced with removing the wooden forms. Note the leak window covers are removed, and the general outline of the southern wall has been revealed.

What took weeks to assemble, will come apart much more quickly. But at a pace which will allow adequate strengthening of the concrete before all support is taken away. Here Jack removes a cover from one of the doorways.

              Hmmm, Frank, would OSHA approve of this maneuver?

ZHICHUNYUAN: SHOOTING WALLS PART 2

This is where the concrete starts its journey to the walls. The Glacier truck is feeding the green pump which injects the concrete into the hose which came off the reels on the left.

One hose for concrete, the other for compressed air.

Once everything is running smoothly, it can be a bit boring.

Compressed air is used to clean off any debris on the re-bar just before the concrete is placed.

The pressurized concrete is shot emphatically into the re-bar and against the back wooden form.

In order to be assured the shot-crete process is done properly, the City contracts an inspection and testing entity. Here the on-site inspector closely monitors the placement of the concrete. He will also take a sample of it back to the lab in order to test the mix for required strength.

A long wooden screed knocks the concrete into a smooth, vertical face. Strings running across the face guide the screeder. Excess concrete drops to the footer below.

Using a short wooden trowel, the finish face is carefully gone over, pushing any stones in, filling any voids with cement, and pulling out a tight, smooth surface.

Since a tall wall must be done in different sections (called "lifts" in the trade), excess concrete ("overshot") is cleaned off and  the top of the lift is trimmed to a 45 degree angle, providing a base for the next lift when it comes along. The excess of course drops down to the footer below.

Which is where the low man on the totem pole, literally and figuratively, toils with a shovel, throwing the overshot into a container to be disposed of.

ZHICHUNYUAN: SHOOTING WALLS PART 1

The site from the porch of the trailer...all festooned with scaffolding planks and protection, waiting for the concrete to be shot at the walls. The first concrete truck is on the right, backed up to the pumper.

404 MBATH NEW WALLS

As for the bathroom remodel .....

New sheet rock ceiling and walls are up, taped, mudded, and,

 here sealer/primer is applied. 

We visited a Corian countertop company, and came away with a large sample of "Mardi Gras", which we are favoring over shades of gray.

As more and more pieces to the pie arrive, the living room is filling up, as they await their turns at being installed.

BIG REBAR

As the forms fill out, the scaffolding spreads out, the reinforcing bars space out, the scale of this courtyard and the complexity of its construction becomes more and more evident.

Here is my standard shot from the SE corner. There are piles of reinforcing bars on the right waiting to be cut, bent, and installed.

This is a new view: it is looking south from the north end of the site: the north elevation of the courtyard's north wall. The opening on the right is where Main Gate will be erected.

Two carpenters form stemwalls upon which the gate's walls will sit.

A detail of the gray plastic "feet" which are used to hold the rebar in the correct location when the shot-creet hits it. To the right is a "control joint" in the wall. Large areas of concrete and steel will move with temperature changes, and, of course, earthquakes, so, joints are intentionally formed hoping any cracking will be confined to them, not jagging across the face of the wall.

Much of the structure coming from China will be fastened to previously erected steel framing. These dark plates are inserted in the concrete to provide a place where that framing can be welded to the wall.

Meanwhile, around Songmeiting and in the holding area, there are signs of spring: the tag said "prunis mume".

Cloud House: The Beginning. 2008-09-03

Charlie Brown was my design instructor in St. Louis in the 1970's. On a 1992 visit to him, now in Oregon, he took me to breakfast at the Otis Cafe, and on to a house site he and his wife, Sue Donaldson, had recently acquired.

One can see why: it faces due south, with a view

of a river coming in from the east, of the coast

receeding southerly, and of the sea to the southwest.

Some vegetation management will help improve

seeing all of this.He set about designing a

week-end house, a coastal cottage.

Eventually Zhufeng and I came to reside in the Northwest and Charlie asked me if I would like to assist him in getting the documents ready for a building permit. "Sure", I said, thinking it would not take too long. Well, after getting a Geohazard Report written, approved, and confirmed, getting typical structural drawings done, getting the Homeowner's Association Design Review approval; the water department approval, the fire department approval, the Forest Service approval (it resides in a Scenic Research Study area; and the County Sanitarian's approval...some five years have gone by.

But on Friday last, I appeared at the County offices, drawings, documents, and letters in tow, and here Kara started the process by checking to see if all the required pieces of paper were with me, and then stamping them "Received". She was followed by a Zoning Planner, who reviewed on the spot the Zoning and GeoHaz aspects. Three hours later, dazed and wondering if I was back at the border seeking admission into Syria (that took 5 hours), I stumbled out into the rain, Permit Number and receipt for Permit Fee in hand.

Now it is on to figuring out how to get Cloud House up into the air.

AS FOR THE HOME-FRONT BATH REMODEL

After I removed enough of the walls for him to work, Mike the Sparktrician, set boxes in new locations and pulled multi-colored wires through connecting conduits.

Once he was done, Zhufeng and I put up new drywall.

A jig-saw makes cutting out holes much easier than a key-hole saw.

The niche is not for a medicine cabinet (they will be mounted on the wall to the left); it's for decorative items: flowers, incense, maybe a candle or two!

XHY KNOWING SPRING COURTYARD GOES 3D!

West Wall Exterior

Last week we saw a pile of forms, braces and "Enviro-blocks". In one day the panels were all lifted into position, the braces were attached to the blocks, and  the courtyard sprang into three dimensions.

Overall from SE Corner

The south wall climbs to an impressive height over the block-out for the entry.

The walls become a bit more complicated on the east, where the entry to the Gathering Together Hall is located, and the Waterside Pavilion at the far NE corner. The  entry block-out can be seen below and to the left of the carpenter. 

Blocking Out Leak Window

Holes are being blocked out where windows or other voids are wanted in the walls.

Window Block-outs.

These windows, on the east end of the north wall, are blocked-out and covered. The next step, after filling the slots between panels, will be to erect re-bar for the walls. The wall bars will be wired to those, with a long safety cap, protruding from the foundation.

A plumb-bob string, and a "speed-square" are used to check to make sure the wall is vertical, and the windows are in the correct location.