1.31.2018

 

Thankfully, Jim was able to get up the driveway today but he said it's still very slick.  We got about an inch of snow last night which helped provide a little traction.

He worked on finishing up some drywall details in the woodshop bathroom this morning.  He got the piece done behind the drain pipe - he cut it to size first but there was no way to get it in behind the trusses and plumbing so he had to cut it in half.  Then he did the outside of this wall. 

At lunchtime, he went to the Drywall Center to pick up more plaster and some longer corner bead.  Once he had that, he worked on the outside of the bathroom.  He had to take off the piece of drywall to the left of the door because we changed the doorframe size.  He remade that and put the piece up - then put the corner bead on.

 

In the afternoon, it was back to plastering.  He continued to work in the second bedroom and closet doing final coats.

 

On his way home, he was detoured because of a double fatality traffic accident on our street.  The road surfaces were dry but it was after a big curve in the road so they may have been traveling too fast.  So sad.

High 23/20

1.30.2018

We had some real light snow flurries this morning - the kind you look at and just think how pretty they are because you know they aren't going to amount to anything.  Well.  Jim got to the property and couldn't make it even halfway up the driveway!  He tried multiple times - if he went fast enough to try and make it up, he would lose control.  So he ended up parking the car at the bottom - but even when he stepped out of the car, he instantly fell.  It was just that slick.  He had to walk in the piles of snow up the driveway. 

 

So after that wonderful start to the day, Jim had to rearrange his plans a bit.  He had planned to go to the Drywall Center at lunchtime but canceled that idea - certainly didn't want to have to carry buckets of drywall plaster up the hill while trying to stay on your feet!

 

He worked in the woodshop basement this morning - he finished all the drywall in the area surrounding the sink.

 



The next big project for the day was to finish up a loose end and permanently fasten the stair stringers to the landing.  Jim has had clamps temporarily holding the stringers in place until this job could be done.  This was a good time to do this project because we will be putting drywall next to the stairs soon.  First step today was to make a working plank down below for Jim to stand on.

Then he had to take off the bottom step and clean all the corrosion off the steel edge angle already in place for the concrete landing.

The idea is to weld a piece of angle to the edge angle.  Here he's getting ready to cut the new piece to size...

Once it was cut to size, he drilled holes in for button welds...

Everything is ready to go...

You can see how perfectly the stair stringer fits against the angle...

Out comes the welder...

Jim had to be very careful when welding because of the extreme temperatures - concentrated hot spots could cause the concrete to expand and break.  Because of that, he set the welder to a lower heat setting when placing the button welds as well as a few "stitches" along the bottom to hold it in place.  Then he put the first step back on - that project is now done!

He then worked up in the apartment - he finished the rest of the joints in the living room and then moved into the second bedroom to continue putting the second coat over the screws and the last coat on the taped joints.

High 26/Low 5

1.29.2018

Jim spent the majority of his day in the woodshop bathroom.  You can see he has most of the steel framing done for this area around the plumbing above where the sink will go.

 



Then he worked on drywall on inside of the wall by the door.  He had the bottom piece on there but it was too short once he added the extra wood to make the door fit, so he had to redo that piece.  Then the piece above had the light and two receptacles - which meant no place to put beginning screws in to hold it in place.  So he had to put a piece of blocking underneath to hold it and clamped it at the top. 

All done and fastened in place and all electrical boxes and lights are back in working shape!

Behind the sink area, he stuffed the wall with insulation...

He made and installed some steel blocking that will be used to fasten the sink to the wall.

Trying it out for size...

Then he got the bottom piece of drywall up - which was difficult because it had all the sink plumbing to work around.  The top piece is cut and has just one screw holding it in place for the moment.

But Jim wanted to continue doing some plastering, so he next moved back into the living room.  He got all the screws done and all but a few of the taped joints done with the second coat.   He's waiting on a few joints because he wanted the adjacent joints to dry a bit first.  Then he moved into the second bedroom and started putting the second coat on the screws, which goes much quicker now.   Great progress!

High 32/Low 17

1.28.2018

I made brownies last night for Jim to drop off to our neighbor down the street who so helpfully put sand on our driveway last night!  People around here seem to like doing what they can to help out but we were very appreciative of his time and work!

 

It was a short day today since we have church tonight, so Jim planned to spend the day plastering in the living room.

 

He had to take the tv mount off the front wall in order to plaster...

 

He got all of the walls done and about a third of the ceiling!

High 43/Low 21

1.27.2018

The driveway has been so slick that I haven't been to the property all week!  I was anxious to get out and see things myself so I drove out and Jim planned to meet at the bottom of the driveway to drive me up.  When I got there, a neighbor from down the street was at the bottom of the driveway also - he stops and feeds the turkeys and animals right across the street from our driveway.  Jim plows that area for him when he plows our driveway and this guy has plowed the bottom of the driveway for us after the plows go by.  Nice.  So Jim was chatting with him and I parked my car at the bottom and Jim took us up.  But it truly was like a sheet of ice with a layer of water on top from the sun and warmer temps today - so scary!  In fact, Jim wasn't going up quite fast enough (since I was in the car!) and had to come back down and get a better running start.  The neighbor was waiting at the bottom to make sure we got up.  Then when Jim took me back down, we discovered that he had thrown some sand over the driveway - really nice!  Made going down so much better.

 

Even though I've seen the pictures, it's so much better to see all the work Jim has done in person.  The furnace room really looks amazing!  Jim was showing me that he was working on getting the relief valve connected - this is just in case something happens with the furnace, it won't blow up!  This came with the furnace but Jim has to get parts to attach it.  He already drilled through the furnace case and put the bracket on but needs a bigger clamp to go around the pipe.

 



This is the relief valve that lets any air bubbles in the water caught in the air scoop to escape.

Jim's next challenge was to decide on where to put the manifold for the apartment.  He decided that it made the most sense to put it in the wood shop bathroom.  The Pex lines will be able to come up the same pipe that the hot water lines are in now and go into the manifold.

Since he figured out the placement of the manifold, Jim spent time working on the surrounding area - putting up angle pieces and figuring out where and how drywall will attach.

The ceiling in this area will go beneath the drain lines...

The apartment is really looking great - having all the screws covered makes every room look finished.  Jim continued working in the master bedroom and got the second coat on the corner beads before moving over and starting in the living room.

I had no trouble coming home - Jim noticed that it was starting to lightly rain and took me down to my car.  But when Jim was coming home, as soon as he hit the road, it was all black ice.  He had a white-knuckle ride all the way home but thankfully he's home safe and sound! 

High 42/Low 30

1.26.2018

Jim continued working on the Pex lines today - he finished up the last branch of the radiant Pex lines for the woodshop and got all the lines crimped onto the supply manifold.

 



The stairwell has two branches - one for the woodshop landing where you first enter the stairwell and the other is for the very bottom of the stairwell area in the metal shop.  Jim cut a piece of conduit, clamped it to the super strut, and brought the Pex from the woodshop landing down...

 

 

To where they connected up with where Jim mounted the supply manifold for the stairwell.  The other line from the bottom of the stairs comes up from the slab and goes into the supply manifold.  Jim needs to get some more fittings to finish hooking these up but the design worked out perfectly!

Then Jim tied all the Pex lines together to make a clean appearance in the furnace room.



Back up in the apartment at the last part of the day, Jim worked on the ceiling of the master bedroom, putting the second coat on the taped joints and doing all the screws.  He just has to finish the corner bead and then the master bedroom will be done for this round.

High 26/Low 14

1.25.2018

Jim spent most of the day in the furnace room working on rerouting all of the Pex lines.  Look how amazing this looks now!  He ended up having to cut the hot lines because they were a bit too long; then he had to put new fittings and recrimp them. 

 



Yikes - next step is to figure out the radiant Pex lines next.  Jim was very diligent and numbered each Pex line and wrote intake/output on each when we first put all this in the flooring.  However, that's been quite awhile ago so to make sure before connecting it, he could blow air in the intake and feel it come out the other side. 

Jim had to put another support to hold all the radiant Pex in place on the deck...

After bringing over the lines, he has 3 of the 4 lines all connected to the manifold.

Another view - the pipe coming out of the pump will connect to the supply manifold and then carry that hot water up into the woodshop slab!

This is all that's left - two of the lines go into the woodshop manifold and the rest are for the very end of the metal shop because those are on the stairwell circuit. 

He didn't get up to the apartment until after 4:30 - but he was able to finish the outside wall and the side wall of the master bedroom.

High 23/Low 3

1.24.2018

We were back to our colder temperatures today but the warmer temps and rain over the last couple days then froze.  Jim had to try twice before he was able to get up the driveway and he said coming down was even worse!  Glad he's home safely!

 

He worked on rerouting the Pex tubes today.  The first thing he wanted to do was come up with a way to attach the Pex to the ceiling - which in this case is the concrete/steel deck material which certainly makes it difficult.  He first attached a piece of channel to the underside of the deck, using his hammer drill to go through the concrete.  That still didn't get him below the surface of the decking but it made a good surface to attach the stud underneath.  That wasn't easy either - he had to drill a hole in the bottom flange big enough that he could then put his drill through the hole and attach a screw to the channel.

 

But it worked great and looks so clean!  He used conduit clamps to then channel the Pex over to the manifold.

He decided to move the manifold up on the wall about 8" and then started hooking up the cold water lines.  He modified the black elbow pieces a bit (they typically attach to the wall) to help make a nicer bend.

 

Late in the afternoon, he transitioned to plastering again.  The only place that Jim had an issue with drywall breaking was one of the receptacles in the bathroom.  If you recall, that is the piece that had all the holes for the plumbing in it so finding a place to attach the drywall and keep it in place so he could cut out the boxes was difficult.  The drywall was held a bit too tight and caused the drywall to break.

 

 

Jim had to cut out the damaged part and patch it.   Looking good - you'd never know!

 

He did the second coat on the corner bead in both the bathroom and the laundry room and then started on the screws and second coats in the master bedroom.

High 27/Low 7