4.30.2018

I headed out to Home Depot this morning for another GFI outlet that Jim is going to install for the refrigerator and to pick up some paint supplies.  We wanted to get a satin finish paint for the ceiling of the bathroom for more durability and we decided to get the laundry room color (Cashmere Pink!).  But as I was at the paint counter, the woman told me that they had just put the paint on clearance because there was a name change (from Glidden to PPG).  I scooped up enough paint for the living room and main hallway/kitchen walls.  I think Jim has some painting in his future!

 

 Meanwhile, Jim was busy working on the exhaust vent for the furnace - such a relief not to have to deal with plumbing issues!  However, working with this polypropylene vent pipe isn't easy either.  It comes with all these locking seals to join the pieces - no glue involved.  However, it only comes in certain lengths and so it's a bit difficult to figure out exactly what you need and how to put together runs.  Jim got the run done from the top of the furnace out through the hole he drilled.



Starting to figure out how it will come up into the stairwell wall...

Of course, nothing is without issues.  These are some elbows that I picked up the last time I picked up Jim's order from the plumbing supply company.  As you can see, only one of them has the tab and locking seal and the other ones are all banged up and written on!  Jim put a call into his rep and they are reordering but just something else to deal with.

Back in the apartment, I got to see the wall area that Jim finished up yesterday.  It turned out so well - we are really liking the color (even though it doesn't look anything like the picture - ha!).  Then he started painting the wall outside the closet....

 

This was some painstaking work - Jim had to trim the vaulted ceiling wall from the ladder...

Once that trimming was done, it was back to finishing up the closet wall.

Beautiful!!

Then he painted the entry area into the room...

At the very end of the day, Jim worked on some electric details.  He got the GFI receptacle installed for the refrigerator as well as the connection for the ice maker!  Ice!  We haven't had ice at home since we moved here (freezer is very small in the apartment) - that will be quite the luxury!

High 48/Low 39 - cool and on/off drizzly

4.29.2018

The best news of the day is that the furnace held pressure overnight!  In fact, Jim opened the last two return lines and all is fine with those.  So...the last part of the system is the apartment run and that has to wait until we can get baseboard heaters installed.  But now Jim can move on.  And he did - to vent work.  You can see he got a giant hole drilled in the plywood for the exhaust vent.

 

He finished painting the backside of the subpanel breaker box so all that's left is to install that once everything is dry.  The electric jobs are dwindling down to just a couple!  Jim is planning on calling the inspector tomorrow to ask a couple questions.

The floors look fabulous!  We'll wait a bit before another cleaning to let things set up but they really turned out nice.

So this afternoon, it was time to paint Sanctuary Blue in the master bedroom.  Colors always look so different in the paint can - Jim painted the corner in the main room where the light was good to make sure we liked it.  And we did!

So he started in the closet...

Trim work done, starting to roll the paint on...

Closet is done - starting on the west wall...

All done!  A bit hard to tell color from this picture but it's a very pretty blue gray color.  Can't wait to see it tomorrow and do more!

Off to church...

High 44/Low 38 - cool and drizzly

4.28.2018 - Upstairs flooring grouted!

 

Jim again worked in the control room this morning trying to get the last union to stop leaking.  He spent a lot more time working on the copper fittings, trying to do everything he could to insure a good fit.  He put it all back together, pumped up the pressure - and it's holding!  Another test - no more bubbles!  This is a HUGE accomplishment because now Jim can move on.  He's been spending a lot of mornings working on this one area.  Yay!

 

After that, he did some metal work.  The subpanel break box in the metal shop has a spot that Jim isn't going to be using - and to pass inspection, everything has to be covered.  There are blanks for the breakers but nothing for the top area.  So...Jim cut a piece of steel, welded it on...

 

 

And then painted it!  He'll paint the other side tomorrow and get the box put back up - ready for inspection!

 

 

He picked up another box of lights yesterday at Lowe's, so he got the light put up at the top of the stairwell.

 



Then he had to gather all his grouting tools and supplies to get ready for our big job this afternoon - grouting the bathroom and laundry room floors!

I put tape along the bottom of the walls to help keep them clean during the process.  Laundry room is ready to go...

...as is the bathroom.

Time to pour in the grout...

 

And mix it up with the water...

Kneepads on, water buckets and sponges ready - time to start!

Working the grout into all the joints...

Jim worked in sections, letting one area dry a bit while he grouted another, then went back and cleaned.  I was the sponge person, keeping two sponges going all the time to make things quicker.

 

Working in the shower area.  Of course, this will all be covered by the shower base but Jim can't do anything less than the right way to do it!

Starting in the laundry room...

Working the grout in...

Cleaning the sponges...

Finishing up the last area in the bathroom...

Continuing on in the laundry room...

Bathroom is all done and cleaned!

Laundry room done!  Now they have to just dry a bit before the haze can be wiped off.

 

So Jim brought in the shower walls that he picked up last night...

Even though he had to be beat from all the grout work, he continued working.  He got the thermostat attached in the stairwell...

 

Haze all gone - the floors look amazing!

Jim said his arms were about done for the day and he was happy to be home!  A definite red letter day!

High 62/Low 43 - few light showers

4.27.2018

It was kind of one of those days today.  As soon as Jim pulled out of the apartment parking lot to head to the property, the lights in the apartment went out.  Well, some things totally went out and some were browned out for awhile.  Jim found the same conditions at the carriage house.  They were doing some street repair work in town so not sure if that caused the problem.  The lights stayed out for about 2 hours so it made things a bit more difficult and behind schedule.

 

While the lights were out, he got some cleaning and organizing done - our shop vac was full of plaster dust and now that we are done plastering in the apartment (yay!), he was able to get a lot of those tools and supplies put away.

 

Jim worked in the control room on the leaky unions for about two hours with no great results yet.  He'll continue to work or come up with Plan B, as he always does!

 

In the afternoon, he started painting the living room ceiling.  Even that was difficult - the paint pan he had been used for the primer reacted weird to the paint so he messed around with that for awhile before using another one.  But he got the edges all trimmed and then started rolling the paint on.

 



 

 Doing the last corner of the living room!

Meanwhile, I worked on cleaning all the plaster drops from on top of and in between the tiles in the bathroom.  Grouting may be on the agenda tomorrow!

Around 5:00, Jim got everything cleaned up and headed to Lowe's.  Our shower walls are finally in to replace the ones that were damaged so he picked those up along with more ceiling lights and another paint tray!

High 51/Low 43 - little rainy

4.26.2018

Jim continued working in the control room this morning.  All of the supply lines are all tested and holding air pressure - yay!  Great news - especially because those lines include testing the manifolds.  Now it's time to work on the return lines.  Jim isolated the first return line this morning - there are 4 unions in this line.  When he sprayed the union with soapy water...check out the bubble that formed!  Guess there's a leak there!

 

So...that meant taking down that whole run and cleaning up the seat of all the unions.

Jim found that the union that blew the giant bubble had a knick on the edge!  He's not sure if that's causing an issue or not.  He got 2 of the unions to stop leaking - the rest he's still working on.

The newly-painted second bedroom looks amazing!  Jim even put the light fixture up.  This room just needs a few receptacle covers and it will be ready for inspection.

I went to Home Depot this morning and bought paint for our next room - Sanctuary Blue for the master bedroom.  It was a decision between Stormy and Sanctuary Blue - stormy didn't sound like the best pick for our bedroom - ha!  I also picked up some plumbing supplies for Jim to use on the acid neutralizer.

This afternoon, Jim worked in the bathroom.  He first lightly goes over the ceiling to remove any hanging bits of plaster.  Then he started sanding the top of all the walls.

Once that was done, the priming started.  He began in the living room...

All done except for the last row at the very top.

 

While Jim was painting, I continued working on sanding any plaster drips from our ceiling work.

I also cleaned the laundry floor, getting it ready for grouting soon!

Then Jim started priming the bathroom ceiling.

Rolling on the primer...

High 52/Low 36