Gotta Vent

Venting the range hood has been kicking my butt.  The outside wall opposite the range is the housing for the tankless water heater, and the wall is full of supply and drain pipes, gas lines, and wires.  I found a path I can snake this 4" flex duct around though and the vent itself is now hiddwn on the back side of the water heater enclosure, high enough that exhaust won't go back in through the kitchen window.

The access door to the water heater has to be all fire resistive construction, too.  I put the heavy duty hinges on top---so it opens from the bottom.  I had to leave a big gap at the top of the door so it could hinge, and it was ugly and too big a gap to pass inspection so I took off the trim board over the door and sandwiched a piece of fire hose under it.  It looks pretty good.  Also yesterday I finished putting up the siding!  That was a good feeling.  I still need to caulk and paint and put in rain gutters. 

  

This is the scariest drill bit EVER!  I needed to drill through the kitchen wall in just the right spot to run the exhaust duct.  The hole saw bit I needed was $60 plus $20 for the extension.  For one hole.  Byron suggested Harbor Freight and I found this adjustable one for $7.  It worked, but after drilling through the cement siding board it's all worn out. 

The picture's a bit fuzzy because I took it in the pre-dawn hours before I left for work.  After finishing the siding yesterday I got to work on cladding the chimney with slate.  Each slate tile was cut a random width, two corners cat at 45 degree angles, and a hole drilled in the center (My old partner from SDFD, Mike Rea, came up  for an afternoon so I introduced him to the wet saw)  I had to mix up a special mastic and try to get it on without it dripping on the roofing, then screwed each shingle in place, overlapping the row below.  I ran out of shingles, mastic, daylight, battery life in the driver, and personal energy all at the same time---but got it finished.  I still need the sheet metal top cap.