MEANWHILE, IT IS PAINT AND STAIRS ON THE OUTSIDE

Jeff Mullin, from the Greenroom, arrived with lift and sprayer and brushes

and transformed the house from wood...

to grey ("driftwood grey" that is).

Quite the transformation.

And then on up to the top to finish knocking down the shining flashing

and gutter, and painting the beams to match.

Up north aways in the town of Garibaldi, and in it, is Robert

Brodigan of Coast Metal Fabrications. After a number of months,

a number of meetings, and quite a number of drawings,

the exterior stairs were started. All aluminum, then powder

coated black, then...

...brought to the site and erected.

Yea! down with the temp. stairs,

and out with the ladder in the hoistway!


And just at the same time, the magicians at Anderson

Door and Window Mechanics came and hung the four

exterior doors, and rolled right on in and hung the

four bathroom doors as well (and the little roof hatch three).


So the exterior is buttoned up.

Next case is the interior cedar siding. In

some places on plywood shear walls,

other places on studs.

But no matter where, it will be great to get it up!


Task one was to open up the "cedar shack" and

inventory the siding which has been waiting a long time.


And step back and take a look with low winter sun

casting shadows of the tall spruces across the front.

(Note: no trailer! Towed and sitting by road with

a "For Sale" sign on it)

AN INSULATION PARTY!! FOLLOWED BY DRYWALL.

While I was out east for a while, Charlie organized a workshop

with friends and relatives (here daughter April) to

install the insulation. Fiberglass batts in stud cavities

is pretty standard....

...but rigid sheets over the batts , with caulk at

all joints, and fastened to the studs with plastic nails

is rather unusual. Charlie and Colin soldier on...

And now we are ready for drywall.

Well at least where there IS drywall. Some areas have

cedar siding instead, and some edges needed "j" bead,

and some areas needed glue and minimal fasteners

(we would have used plastic nails but could not find

ones which were long enough). So I had to write in bold

lettering and arrows where got what, or got none at all.

Drywall time! Now, how to get it in the house...

...why, through a window, of course.

Wonderful hangers and tapers, Carlos and Benito.

Stilts make a 10-0 ceiling a piece of cake.

Now late afternoon shadows have white to play on.

ONWARD WITH THE SUB-CONTRACTORS!

But first a side-bar of sorts.

Cloud House is in a Planned Unit Development with a

Design Review Committee. It also is in a Scenic Preserve

Reseach Area, under the Forest Service.

No bright colors or shinning metals. When the CPI panels

went up, so did a hew and cry: "¡¡WHITE ROOF!!".

We took some photos and showed that the roof coloring

varied with the sky, and the reflections.

This photo shows how some panel seem dark (with trees

and sky behind) others light (with yet to be painted

chimney and flashing behind).

We asked for patience until the painting was finished.

The last big flashing was the chimney caps...

too big to go through the roof hatch,

so here Colin (a recent grad. from Charlie's

U of O program) is on top, and ace flashing fabricator,

Guy, is below, preparing to hoist a cap to the roof.

The west cap is in place, the east is being set.

The skylight is still under wraps.

OH NO! Not the concrete guys again. Yup. 2' topping slabs on both levels.

And the black stuff got all over the place...

But did they do a great job of hard, smooth and flat.

Meanwhile Colin poured a sample for Charlie to take home.

(For a pillow??)

Its about June 21st, Summer Solstice, so this is as much

sun which will filter thru the leaves and land on the north wall.

Time for the permanent power to be pulled and do away

with the sheltered temp. power appearing in all the photos.

And time for the electricians to hook up some outlets for construction.

The main load center is on the right; the other is for "critical circuits", the ones

which the PV batteries will supply during power outages.

And over in the "sand box" (as I call the utility spaces and chase)

the HVAC guys are installing heaters, bath vents, and Heat Exchanger flues.

I shall not try to point out which is which....but you might wonder what

the wood plank platform is for: that is accessed by the ladder, and

the roof is reached out a hatch door off the platform.

JUST WHERE HAS THE TIME GONE??

OK, so I have been distracted. BUT things have kept chugging along.

With siding done, it was time to get the "cloud" of Cloud House up.

First to prepare the flashing and edge conditions.

A wooden Rake Board was painted black and

attached to the outer most fly-rafters.

Cap flashing was placed on top of the fly-rafters,

then CPI panel system "J" channel screwed to the eave boards:

Wayne holds as Abe fastens.

A complicated set of flashings and drip edge were installed

at the down-hill end, where the CPI panel will overlap

the IB roofing on the roof deck. Bob checks it all out.

FINALLY a panel is installed...using the CPI provided clips.

They called for one clip every 30". But, with high winds (120 mph design load)

and butter-fly wing design, we did one every 10"...

Periods of rain did not stop the process.

The crew lays out panels to the left and right of the initial middle one.

The east end was the most challenging.

No deck below and a 14' gutter to go in between

the fly-rafter tails, so plywood sheets were

tacked to the rafters for temporary work platforms.

As panels were installed, plywood was pushed out

on top of the rafters and panel seam-caps.

Once clips were in place, one the left side only,

a panel was bent up to fit between

the top and bottom "j" channels.

Keep repeating the process until, at last,

the final piece of edge metal was fastened.

An example of the complex layering of flashing.

Note the CPI clip (on right) holding down a panel.

Now the completed "cloud" hovers over the house,

the black gutter sends the rain water away from it

and the stairs which will go in this end.