Partner, Let Me Upgrade U!

This weekend I followed through with a major upgrade I have been planning for the shanty. It involved turning the out-swinging, water-loving door into an in-swinging, water-deflecting door. This included the installation of a doorknob, new hinges, new brackets (as I used 2x4s as the structure of my door), a threshold, a door sweep and new doorstops.

Observe the final product below:

I learned a ton from this experience, but most importantly is the sensation that I accomplished this on my own. I think doors are probably pretty easy to install, when you buy them pre-made, or at least have a door of a standard size. Because my "custom" door is 27" wide by 72" tall, I had to use a hacksaw to cut the threshold and door sweep - I've never cut metal like that before!

The doorknob was a pain in the buttocks to do because I had some faulty equipment, and I think 2x4s are a little more finicky when receiving drill saw attachments. Also, the chiseling was tough in the 2x4s for the same reason. I had to do chiseling elsewhere on the project, and I would offer the chiseling I did for the door was not my best.

It's not exactly how I had imagined in, but I am super impressed that I did this all by myself. I think this never-ending shanty project is turning into a nice little architecture laboratory... Sort of like my case study for Arch History IV, Eva Jiricna. Jiricna used her apartment as a "laboratory" where she tested out new building products before specifying them for her projects. I'm not quite to that point, but it is in the back of my mind...

the Shanty - from outer space!

Today I was telling someone about the Shanty for the first time, and he asked how close it was to the main house (he suggested I install plumbing out here somehow). I didn't have a sufficient picture to illustrate to him the shanty's proximity to the house, so I figured I'd google-map that shiz and show him the site as compared to the house. Nay, I shall show him the aerial view of the Shanty! Lo and behold Google had taken a new photo of the Earth and thar she sits! Smack in the backyard. And you can even make out the transparent roof to the North, with a hint of supporting rafters. Anyway, just wanted to share this artifact with you. I feel as though I have made an official architectural contribution to the world, because someone other than me has taken a photo of my construction.

That large rectangle in the center is the pool, you can't actually see the house in this shot, but you can make at the top of the driveway and part of the woodshed to the Southwest of the image.



For those of you who missed out on Blizzards 1, 2 and 3 of 2010, I am also going to include some of those pictures below. This past winter proved to be an excellent test for the Shanty's might and make. With minimal leakage at a few (anticipated) locations, the Shanty pretty much proved to be well put-together.

Well Hung

Sometimes I think my weekend warring shall never end, but I do sense that last weekend served as the last major overhaul of work to be done in the Shanty, i.e. work that requires at least two people to complete. Last Saturday, my father and I spent the majority of the day heaving, hauling and hanging drywall.

I definitely started the day as a novice, timid and uncertain how to do anything. I was scoring and snapping the drywall, but it wasn't breaking cleanly. I kept mishandling the drill as I screwed the panels into place, which left me with little phillips head shaped dings in the fresh wall coverings. However, as the day progressed and my skills became more refined, I was able to snap a clean break of drywall, and cleanly screw it into place. I don't know if I would say it was fun, because it was not only physically taxing, but mentally exhausting since there are a great many unique geometry problems to be solved when it comes to my customized little Shanty.

I shall have to post some photos soon, though I have taken none yet, so that you may observe the fruits of my labor. I would also like to say that I recognize that spackling that B is going to be another grueling task, but mind you, one I can do with my own might.

Today I purchased some lengths of poplar which I shall trim and size to my windows tomorrow, to serve as a (modest) finished sill. I have developed a strategy for window coverings that will hopefully not encourage egg sacks (I have found that spiders are still finding their way inside the Shanty, despite my attempts at sealing it, and they are very quick to employ any fold of fabric as an egg depository). For this, I have purchased some wood dowels. More on that one later.

I also bought some more expandable foam sealant, to hopefully finish the roof sealing job. Lastly, I got some weather stripping for the windows, I'm not sure how easy it will be to install, so I only picked up 10' of it for now. Photos of my successes/failures to come tomorrow, methinks.

I probably owe 90% of my motivation to finish out the Shanty to the book I am just about finished. I mention it all the time now, but it is so crazy how similar the story is to my own story with the Shanty. I don't want to sound like a complete idiot to the architect at work who recommended it to me, so I am not sure how many parallels I shall disclose to him.

In conclusion, I do believe my drywall, with all its little mars and footprints is pretty well hung.

Just got out to take some photos this afternoon. I ended up not working on the sills as I had planned, in part to an onslaught of precipitation in the afternoon.




You can see it's pretty dark for being close to 2 o'clock in the afternoon, thank you, Cumulonimbus:






View towards the NE corner. Still thinking about how I may finish the door:






Here you can see all the in-swinging casements in action. Local critics suggest a classier alternative to the blue jump-rope looking hoists I've implemented:






These poplar boards will become the aforementioned sills. With time:

Shanty Musings

First allow me to address the fact that I am typing this as I sit isolated in the "shanty." Since my laptop battery died last summer, I have been reluctant to attempt any computer activities out here, as such activities now mean hoisting & hauling extension cords into position. While this is not itself an entirely time-consuming activity, it does act as a sort of buzz kill for the spur of the moment initiatives I previously quenched with a spontaneous jaunt out to the shanty.

I write to you now to update you on my current book, A Place of My Own. I've only made it through the first chapter and a handful of pages of the second chapter, but I can assure you, it's a good read. Maybe more so for me, as I have also created a place of my own. In fact, as I was reading this book moments ago out in the sun, it got me pumped to head out to the shanty. And that brings me to here typing this.

And I just realized I am able to pick up the internet out here - this wasn't so last summer, which may actually have been a good thing, since it's a sort of solitude out here.

Anyway, this second chapter describes site selection - a process often overlooked in American development, but so critical and crucial to a building's inception. As I think about my current residence, it was vastly under-contemplated, regarding sun orientation. Its only apparent orientation is to the street. I've often regretted the layout of our house, with regard to daylighting and glare.

At PhilaU, it always seemed such a simple concept, orient your building to coalesce with the sun's arc... yet some folks always seemed to fight the sun, purposely defying its existence. While in the real world, as I can now attribute over a year's worth of experience, neither is the case. Developers aren't interested in coalescing with or defying the sun. They just want to cram a load of stuff into a small space with a hefty price tag. How did we come to think this way, as humans? Valuing short term price over long term value?

I feel as though I have become distracted from my original idea for this entry... which was perhaps just to note that I am enjoying my book and I reaffirm its recommendation to readers elsewhere.

Cormy, you may even find some personal delight in it, especially after your 50-some "hideouts."