8.31.2017



Jim worked quite a while this morning on prepping the woodshop bathroom floor in anticipation of laying tile.  He pulled up all the tile, vacuumed and then cleaned the surface, then marked the placement lines.  He's going to order a different trowel and then we'll be pressing forward on this job!

He worked more in the back corner also.  The area on the left hand side is being kept open for now - Jim is planning on venting the furnace out this area.  He's been doing quite a bit of research on furnaces and thinks he found a good candidate.

He's starting to work up the side - this requires lots of cuts and painting.



At lunchtime, Jim took a trip to Drywall Center.  He picked up some insulation for the walls - we'll be able to start some of that soon.  Of course, he spent a bit of time chatting with his rep and the guys in the office.  I tease Jim that it's like Cheers when he walks into some of these places!

I did more painting today - we're thinking that this may be the last batch of shingles to paint for the carriage house!  It's pretty amazing - we have maybe half a square left after ordering 20 squares!  That's only 2.5% left - that's accurate planning!

 

Jim had cut this ceiling piece for the kitchen - you can see how complicated the measuring and cutting was.

 

 

First, he wanted to attach a piece of flat steel to the top of the track so that he could attach the drywall to it.

Getting the piece on the lift...

And up in place - a perfect fit!

Fastening it down...

 

Looks really good - this was a complicated piece because it had to fit next to the valley rafter too.



 

Since we had success with that complicated piece, we decided to do another one - the first piece of bathroom ceiling.  Again, lots of cuts.

 

In addition, it was difficult to get this big piece into the bathroom without crushing shower plumbing and insulation.  But we got it up into place...

Jim started to fasten it down...

However, he needed to cut the fan box out and the lift was in the way.  So he put up a piece of steel to support the edge of the drywall so that he could then get the lift out of the way.

Piece is up in place on the steel...

Then Jim could cut out the box...

 

Even the box was difficult to cut out - he had to have the piece fastened in place enough but of course it wouldn't lay flat against the ceiling because of the box.  But he couldn't have it too loose where he was trying to cut either.

 



But it was successful and he's finishing putting all the screws in.

  
 

High 68/Low 40

 

8.30.2017

The new blade Jim ordered for his grinder that allows him to cut our porcelain tile came in, so Jim was able to cut the two pieces of tile that fit around the toilet stack.

 

 

Then he worked on the back - as you can see, the freeze board is now complete on the back which means the back side is all finished!  What a huge accomplishment!  There is still some painting that has to be done, but Jim will allow the caulk to cure a bit before he does that.  Then we'll be able to take the scaffolding down - after all this time!

 

I didn't get a good picture but he also continued working up on the back corner.  You can see one side is almost up to the eave and roofline, so things will start transitioning to lots of other work to finish up this area.  I painted another batch of shingles while Jim was finishing up in the back.

 

 

 Then it was on to more drywall...these over 9' sheets are really difficult to maneuver in the hallway since they have to go up vertically.

But Jim got the next piece up in place and is fastening it down...

Then the last piece on this side of the hallway is up!

Hallway side done!

Wow - my kitchen is now taking on a whole new look!

 

 Uh oh...as Jim was undoing the light fixture so that we could work on the ceiling in the entryway, the light box broke!  It was kind of crazy - the plastic just broke into pieces.

Luckily, Jim had another box and was able to swap it out.  Thank goodness it happened now and not after the drywall was in place!

All fixed...that box is definitely going back to Lowe's!

We got the first ceiling piece cut - then we had to assemble the drywall lift in this area.  I'm operating the lift while Jim guides the piece into place...

Up into place...

Getting it fastened...

And then cutting out for the (new) light box...

Putting up the final ceiling piece in this area...

Fastening...

Putting up the next piece of drywall...

It really looks incredible when you walk into the apartment now with a ceiling above you and a hallway wall!

 

High 73/Low 51

 

8.29.2017



I headed out to Lowe's this morning to pick up Jim's order of yet more caulk and the metal screws that he is using to swap out the pancake screws on the receptacle boxes.

Meanwhile, Jim was very busy on the siding.  He got the freeze board put up on the back side.

He just has one more small piece left to go, which he made and primed.


Then he continued working more on the back corner...

After lunch, it was time to work on drywall again.  Now that the bedroom is in good shape for the moment, Jim decided the next spot he wanted to work on was the hallway ceiling.  Initially, we weren't sure if we would be able to get the lift in the hallway, but it worked out well.  We cut and marked the piece and then carried it into the hallway and got it up on the lift.

 

 

 

 Then got it all moved into place...

Jim working on fastening...

Cutting out the hole for the smoke detector box...

For the next piece, we used our last piece of 5/8" drywall that we had placed in the master bedroom when they delivered it - that's a sign of real progress!

This is one of the loose insulation ends that Jim will attend to along the way - he wanted to put up a piece of plastic on this area as a vapor barrier since the other side is part of the attic space.

All done...

Putting the next piece up in place...

Fastening it down...

That ceiling area done, we moved on to the first wall piece in the hallway.  For this, we used one of our 10' pieces that are stored in the kitchen.

 

 

Our hallway is really taking shape now!

Putting up the next piece...

 

Jim ended his work day by doing some lawn mowing.

High 66/Low 48