| Finishing the Office and Staining the Garage |
| With the interior almost finished it's time to get serious about the exterior. At a local festival we met a fellow who owns "Hubbies for Hire" and no it's not a male escort service. To make a long story short we asked him to give us an estimate for staining the garage. This is the major portion of the staining that needs to be done before the annual monsoons start and we wanted to get it done as soon as possible. The price came in a bit high for our taste but as it happens he needed some scaffolding and we had some we didn't need anymore. So... we paid him in scaffolding for staining the garage. Personally I think we got the better deal. |
| The Woodguard Stain that comes with the Kuhns Bros. package is excellent quality and has the advantage of containing a wood preservative and insecticide. Another advantage is that it comes clear and you add whatever color you want in the amount needed to get the exact shade you're looking for. We chose a red maple color but stayed on the light side. Although a full quart of color is provided for each 5 gallon container we only used a cup and a half which kept the color nice and light. Although the color appears dark in this picture when dry it is actually several shades lighter as you can see in the following photograph. |
| This shot shows the difference in color of the stained section (right) and the natural section under the porch. The areas under the porch can be stained after the rains start but exposed areas need to be done now. |
| While the garage was being stained we worked inside getting the office trim done. Here we are completing the dormer ceiling. |
| With the rough work done on the dormer we started the construction of our built in cabinets. Because of the steep slope of the ceiling we had about 5' of unusable space in this room. The logical thing to do was create a storage area to take advantage of this "unusable" space. |
| We created a large storage area behind a cabinet on each side of the dormer. This setup makes use of all the "unusable space", and has the added benefit of creating a shelf on top and one in the center of the cabinet. |
| With the main structure complete the "boss" took over and started the tongue and groove installation. Here you can see the shelf that was created on top of the cabinets. This shelf will keep people from banging their heads in the ceiling and allow us to show off some of Kuhns Bros. log profile samples. |
| We also finished the trim on the doors. This door leads to the storage area above the parking side of the garage. You probably noticed it's not the same style as the rest of the interior doors and you're correct, its not. This door was originally made as a fire door for the local Apache Indian casino but was slightly damaged before it could be delivered. Since it's a fire door and one was required by local code in this location we picked it up for a song. The damaged area is on the reverse side so it doesn't show. |
| That's it for now. With the major construction and finish work done on the interior of the house it's now time to finish the staining on the exterior. Hopefully our monsoons will hold off about a week so we can get the exposed areas done. After those areas are stained it can rain as much as it wants. |
| Check back Soon |
| While the "boss" was installing tongue and groove I completed the trim on the dormer. This was the last of three dormers we had to trim out and I have to say we're glad they're done. |
| With most of the trim work done we started building doors for the built in cabinets. In this case we had to make 14 separate doors. Two for each opening in the front and one each for the large storage areas behind the cabinets. |
| Here's the finished cabinets and storage areas. We still have a little bit of trimming to do once the finished flooring is installed but for now this is as far as we can go. |
| The "boss" took over once the cabinet doors were installed and started the polyurethane process. She will finish this room in a day or two which completes the major portion of the interior polyurethaning. |