Long over due

So much has happened over the last few months, I'm not sure where to begin.

All the cable and telephone is in and has been for some time now.

I started tiling the walls in my new master bath but stopped half way through the project after a conversation with my contractor friend. I was over at the house while he was doing some work (new bathroom window, dryer exhaust for new laundry). While there he asked me "have you had the plumbing inspection?" sure have, "have you had the electrical inspection?" sure did but some stuff had to be fixed and he's coming back out (more on that in a bit), "how about insulation inspection, or framing?" uhhhh, the what now? Oops! I had already started hanging drywall, so I stopped everything until I had that done. I put it off for longer than I should have but the inspector came out and said the framing looked fine and I got the go ahead to continue.

So I have, in fact as you'll see in the pictures, got the kitchen almost completely drywalled, and most of the second floor as well.

As for the electrical inspector, he's now been out three times and I finally have the ok to close up the remaining walls. He came out the first time and found some things he wanted fixed (what they were I can't remember), he also told me he'd need to inspect the heated floor once I got that in. I waited to have him come back the second time until I got the floor in. He came out a week or so ago and ok'd most of the corrections I had made but added a few more items to the list (adding some lights to the stairway, putting the cables for the heated floor in conduit). Its all taken care of now and I can move forward.

I'm getting really close now, here's what I have left:

• Finish hanging drywall
• Mudding and taping
• Kitchen floors redone
• Install cabinets
• painting and trim
• Carpet
• Finish living room and dining room floors

Looking at this list earlier this week, I thought to myself I'd be done in a month. Then Wednesday morning came around and I decided to make a trip to the ER, my first of this adventure. As I cut drywall, the utility knife hopped over the T-square and took a big chuck out of my finger. While this is a set back I'm still hoping to be done in a month, but I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

Here are some pictures of the latest work thats been done.

another update

As promised another update. Not much more done since the last update.

I set out to install my new back door and porch door last Thursday. I started with the porch door, which went in easy breezy. Because I got a late start I decided to wait on the back door and spent the rest of the day doing some more mudding.

Friday I got to the house and dug in to the back door. I got the old one out no problem, but in doing so I found I was going to have to build up the sill. I also realized I had no pressure treated wood to do so. I made a quick trip to Menard's and bought the 2x8 I needed. Got home, cut the piece to the correct length, and set it in place. I then got ready to set the frame in place, at which time I found I had measured incorrectly. Oops! Oh well, at least it was too small and not too big. It made it a bit harder to get everything plumb and level but after struggling with it for an hour I got it set and secured.

Saturday I planned on running rg6 cable to the bedrooms for cable TV, along with new telephone lines to each bedroom. I made my daily trip to Home Depot and bought everything I needed. I got the rg6 taken care of with little problem, I just ran it from the bedrooms up to a signal splitter in the attic, clamped the connectors on to each end, and I was set. I then went to put the telephone lines in and realized I needed to figure out how I was going to split it, or if I was even going to be able to split it. I really didn't want to have to run four separate lines from the basement all the way up to the attic and down to each room. I decided to end the day there and go home to do some research. In doing so I found that its best I install cat5e cable, I had bought cat3. I took Sunday off to watch some football and play some soccer, so I made my trip back to Home Depot today to buy the cat5e, and will dive into all that on Wednesday.

Last week while at Home Depot I went ahead and ordered the rest of the sheet rock I will be needing. All 60 pieces of 4x8 sheet rock arrived and is sitting in the living room and kitchen. Seeing it all there made me realize that I'm coming much closer to being done than I had thought. It's a great feeling, but I'm not getting too excited just yet.

Here's the pics of the doors and today's delivery.

the latest

Slowly but surely it feels like everything is starting to come together. Some more random updates for you bullet point style:

• Still haven't had the electrical re-inspection. My electrician has been busy with his day job, but he did get in and fixed everything. I'm just waiting on the inspection until I have the bathroom heated floor in (they need to check that too apparently). And also to take care of the next bullet point.
• I spent today running cable to the bedrooms. Was kind of fun to play electrician for the day, it always helps when there is no chance to shock myself. Started to run phone cable as well but ran into some problems, hopefully that will get resolved tomorrow.
• Mud and taped the hardie board in the bathroom. Also mud and taped the little drywall I've hung. Taping and mudding is a much more involved process than I thought. I figured one day, I'll bang it out. No such luck, its a four day process, adding layer after layer of mud.

I think thats it, here's the most recent pictures. More to follow in the next day or two.

Long, long over due update

I've been busy working on the house, throw the day job and the holidays in the mix, and you get a two month delay in updating the blog.

I've done so much on the house since I last posted, I'm not to sure where to start. Due to the same reason, I think I'll keep this post as short as possible. Here is what I've accomplished over the last two months bullet point style:

• Demo: Its all done. Six dumpsters later I have demoed the entire second floor, the kitchen, and one wall in the living room/dining room.
• Framing: Done! Laundry, new closets, bathroom all framed in. Also replaced a few walls here and there due to the 2x4's being cut in half and then secured together with other pieces of wood. I figured I probably should play it safe and start fresh.
• Kitchen floor: Linoleum removed, thanks to my mother who spent a ton of time getting it up so the floors can be sanded and refinished.
• New back door ordered and delivered, same goes for a new door leading from master bath to second floor porch. They were delivered last week, I'm waiting until it gets above 10 to install (purely so I can be semi comfortable while doing so).
• Attic insulated, this was an interesting process. Kneeling on the beems and rolling out 18 rolls of insulation. Took much longer than I thought, and left me itchy despite wearing gloves and a long sleeve shirt.
• Finished insulating second floor walls. Again, an itchy adventure but a necessary one. Hopefully this and the attic will lead to reduced energy bills (last months topped $200).
• Electrician finished his rough-in, or did he? We thought he did so I had the inspector come out, and of course he found things to nit pick about. So the electrician is at the house as I type fixing the issues so I can get the drywall up.
• Started hanging drywall on walls with no electrical outlets/switches or walls the inspector said were fine.
• Hung backer board in the master bath (with the help of my mother, who was kind enough to hold the pieces up long enough for me to secure them to the wall). The plan is to mud and tape tomorrow, and possibly start tiling Thursday. Bought myself a wet saw so I'm looking forward to getting that thing going.
• Kitchen cabinets were delivered and are now occupying the dining room.
• Found a great deal on floor sanding and refinishing.

As soon as the electrical inspector ok's the rough in, I'll hang the drywall in the kitchen, get the floors done, and install the cabinets.

I think that just about does it for now. I'll do my best to be more prompt with my updates. Heres some photo's of the progress.

Belated update

I know I've been promising pictures for weeks now, I've finally got some to share. A few steps between the last set of pictures and these haven't been taken so you will notice a fair amount of progress. I'm also going to be a bit hazy on what I have or haven't said, and in what order things were accomplished.

Let's start with the work I wasn't doing myself, the plumbing. The plumber finished roughing everything in, and the whole plumbing system is now up to code. He also set the tub in place, this was a huge boost for me. I know I said when I did the framing it was great to finally be putting things in rather than taking them out, but seeing the tub sitting in the bathroom was that same feeling times ten.

Although things have started to go in, I wasn't (and still not) completely finished tearing things out. I've filled yet another dumpster. I finished tearing out the lath boards in the office, so that room is now down to the studs. I also tore the plaster and lath off of one wall in the living/dining room. I originally wanted to keep the plaster but it was too cracked and opening the wall will make the electricians job much easier.

The rest of the demo came in the kitchen. I pulled all the sheet rock off of the exterior wall to make it easier for the electrician and also so I could insulate. When a took all of the cabinets out I found wood floors beneath, wood floor s that I thought with a refinish would be great. So I decided to tear out the old linoleum hoping to find wood floors in fairly good shape. Much to my disappointment I found yet another layer of a linoleum type flooring. It almost seemed more like rubber and while puling up on one corner I thought it might just come off in one big sheet. Boy was I wrong. It didn't, and it won't, whatever they used to glue it to the floor not only has staying power but left the beautiful wood floors looking like crap. The final bit of work I did in the kitchen was tearing off two layers of hideous wall paper.

This past weekend I started insulating the second floor, leaving some cavities open for the electrician. I think that brings it up to date.

I just got off the phone with the electrician who plans on starting next Monday. Because of this I think I may just take the weekend off. If I do anything it will probably just be some insulating, maybe I'll start on some of the tile work in the new bathroom too.

At any rate here's the latest pictures.

Another weekend, another dumpster

Well, it was another weekend of demo work at my house. It was mostly pulling off more plaster and lath from the walls of the master bedroom. It involved many, and I mean many, trips from the second floor out to the dumpster with a garbage can filled with plaster. These trips are reeking havoc on my poor back, I think a trip to a masseuse is in order. Most of the hauling of plaster was done on Friday, Saturday was all about tearing out the lath and scraping the popcorn texture off the ceiling. By the end of the day Saturday the master bedroom, master bath, and walking closet were all down to the studs. It was a wonderful feeling to be done with the demo in those two rooms, but a quick of the head towards the remaining two bedrooms wiped away that joy.

Sunday was a shorter day and I had a helper, my mother (my back was thankful). I had started to pull some of the plaster off of the bedroom that will end up being my office Saturday before I called it quits. So Sunday began with me hauling five garbage cans full of plaster out to the dumpster. Then the help arrived and she began pulling the rest of the plaster off the walls, while I started some demo on the hallway and down in the living room. A mere hour or two later the plaster was all off the walls in the office and had been hauled out to the dumpster. For our final job of the day we (by we I mean she) used the sledge hammer to knock out the cinder blocks that had been laid for the garage. I tossed them in the dumpster as she knock them loose, my back was happy the dumpster was only feet away. We also got rid of an enormous piece of concrete that I believe came from the basement way back when the contractor was pouring new footings for the support posts. No matter where it came from the damn thing was heavy and my arm got trapped beneath it as we lifted it into the dumpster. Had it stayed on my arm a few seconds later I'm pretty sure that tension I was feeling would have gone away and I'd have a broken arm.

The plumber was in again last week getting some more stuff roughed in. He managed to lock himself out of the house, something his wife (a colleague of mine) and I had a good laugh over. He's back in there this week, it sounds like he should be all done with his rough in by the end of the week.

No pictures right now, I haven't had the time to stop back and take any, but I promise some this weekend or early next week. Yes, I'll be back in there again this weekend, trying my hardest to fill up dumpster number five (I think, or is it six? no, pretty sure its five).

More progress

Spent another weekend in the house working and working. Here are some random blurbs on the progress.

The plumber started working on roughing in the master bath and new laundry. After some discussion with him it was decided that I needed to move one of the new walls I put up last time. Luckily I was able to save most of the first one and reuse it, this saved me some time and sweat.

I've now finished framing everything in, the master bath and walk-in closet are now clearly defined. The laundry and master bedroom's secondary closet are all there too. I even tore out an old section of framing and put in a new wall and the master bedroom is all framed in.

Money is starting to run low and its clear I'll be going over budget. My original plan was to have someone come in and blow insulation into all of the exterior walls and roll some insulation out in the attic. I wanted to do this to keep as much of the plaster walls in tact as possible. Because of budgetary reasons, and the fact some of that plaster is in worse shape than I originally thought, I've decided I'll be deviating from the original plan. So, the new plan is tear all the plaster off the exterior walls on the 2nd floor and insulate it myself, do the attic myself, and deal with the 1st floor when I do the siding (sometime in the next year or two).

The new washer, dryer, tub, toilet, and sink all arrived in the last week or two, and tile for the master bath has been ordered. The tile should arrive sometime later this week. Hopefully I'll have the master bath and laundry completed in the next week or two. The master bedroom should be insulated and sheet rocked at that time as well. I'll then be able to gut the remaining two bedrooms and upper hallway, get all that insulated and sheet rocked.

Here's some pictures of all the framing and the start of the plumbing work. Look for more later this week/early next week.