HEARTH AND HOME

July 4th came on a Saturday and I was on call with a couple buddies from work. We had decided to find a fishing spot close enough to be back in time for whatever came in. Fortunately our services were not required and we successfully wiled the day away teasing the fish. We did a good job because I could hear them laughing at us the whole time. In my mind, it was a successful trip. I succeeded in not worrying or doing anything responsible or important and never cleaned a single fish.

I was off Wednesday July 1st and began work on my hearth. Fire in a small space can be a wonderful thing, but it deserves respect. I had been measuring and considering where my stove pipe would exit the window and for my plan to work, I needed to build a raised hearth for the stove to sit on. The hearth would be built with heat shields to protect all the wood surfaces around it from overheating. Later I would be building a window to integrate with what existed. It would be somewhat insulated and allow the pipe to go out and up beside the building. The layout, considering the lofts, didn’t lend itself to putting the pipe through the roof. I wasn’t about to put a hole in the roof since I considered this to be a temporary situation. If I couldn’t reverse it, I wasn’t going to do it.

Measuring and imagining the pipe exit dictated the hearth needed to be 10 1/4″ tall. Using the thickness and dimensions of my materials, I designed it from the top down. I used OSB, 2 x 4’s, oak trim boards, tile and tile underlayment. Angling the front corners kept down the bulk and made it less likely I would bash my shins constantly. Corrugated metal roofing would be attached as heat shields that would allow hot air to create an updraft by pulling cool air from below, keeping the surrounding walls cool and distributing the heat more efficiently.

I had bought a package of 1 x 2′ tile for the kitchen counter that would leave me enough to tile the hearth. The biggest challenge would be custom-cutting a tile to fit the front end, which would be over 7″ deep with angled corners. Masonry demands particular tools that I don’t have. The exception was my angle grinder, which I had a couple of masonry wheels for. It took a little bit, grinding a groove the length of the tile, until I could snap it cleanly. I tried a couple of thinner wheels I had that didn’t last long at all. The corners were a much shorter groove and came off nicely.

Thin oak boards were used to create borders for the grout and dress the whole thing up some. Legs were added and checked for length. The driveway isn’t perfectly level, so I did have to use a thin shim under one leg when I took it in the building. I lost my board stretcher, in my garage somewhere I think, and couldn’t make it longer again.

I had a couple days for a big project after taking time to fish. The tool cabinet was next. With some experience under my belt from the kitchen cabinet, it went much faster. L-brackets were used to attach the top and bottom pieces to the back and sides. Some 1 x 2″ framing was used for the shelves and the body was finished. I’ve said before that OSB isn’t the strongest stuff around the edges. The doors on the kitchen cabinet were attached to the framework. They were functional though nothing to look at. The tool cabinet didn’t have the same structure, so I made some oak pieces to screw onto the outside edge that I could mount hinges on. I used some actual cabinet hinges instead of plain galvanized utility hinges like I had before. I moved the cabinet inside before attaching the doors so I wouldn’t have to lift as much.

I mentioned before that the OSB was still drying and was rather harsh on the nose and lungs. Every time I opened a door on the kitchen cabinet I was heartily reminded of it. With this new piece of furniture installed, the air got still heavier. I called my brother and discussed it. He told me to paint it to seal it. The smell of water-based paint wasn’t toxic and was far less obnoxious. Some KILZ was acquired for the tool cabinet and the gun cabinet I was soon to construct. I could have painted the inside of the building for the same reason. I didn’t want to have to be careful not to mess up the paint job. As it is, I can make a hole in the wall with screws and what-not, and you’d never notice. Having things on the rough side and easy to maintain suits me just fine. In the meantime, it was warm enough to leave windows up with a fan running all day and night. I would open the doors when at home, and the building would eventually dry out and the smell would settle down. That or my olfactory senses are on strike.

In the midst of all this was July 3rd, the day that marked why I was doing it all. Lydeana and I tied the knot that day in 1993 after having been together four years. When you have something like that, and have been given the second chances we have, you don’t waste it. We’ve lost some time together in the meantime. I’ve said over and over to people, it’s better to lose a little time now to have more time in the future. Death is more permanent than a little camping trip. I’m not a gambler, so knowing the potential consequences of exposure makes living out here a no-brainer.

We actually aren’t completely apart. Social distancing and accounting for wind direction allows us to to eat and visit outside together. Shayley fixed us a nice anniversary dinner and we celebrated a good 27 years of marriage on the front porch. I was about to have a week’s vacation and planned on getting tested after the appropriate quarantine time. That would give us four nights together after getting my results back. I had a lot of work to do until then, though, because I didn’t plan on wasting the time I’d have inside with Lydeana and Shayley. This vacation was going to be a time to complete some big stuff. We’ve always traveled as much as we could, but I never came back to work with thicker calluses than I left with until now.