5.8.2018

Jim got another piece of drywall cut and attached on the stairwell wall in the metal shop.

Then he did some furnace plumbing work.  You can see he has started making the gas line extend upward.  Unfortunately, where it comes out right now is at a stud, so he's going to get a slightly longer connection piece at the bottom to move the line over a bit.

He also started designing the connection from the acid neutralizer to the stack.  An in-line trap was installed; it will hold water to prevent sewer gases from entering the furnace.  He is also putting unions on both ends so that he'll be able to take the neutralizer out if he needs to replace it. 

On the stair railing work, Jim got the newel post connected to the lower stringer and then has the blocking piece welded to the post that will connect to the upper stringer.

Speaking of the stairwell railing system, Jim was able to find the ordering sheet he used when he made the steel railings to the basement in the Ohio house for all the miscellaneous pieces - like these brackets and end caps.  He already put in an order for parts for the railing.  He's also figuring out what he needs so that he can put in his steel order.



In the afternoon, Jim switched over to painting - starting in the kitchen with Pebble Gray!  So very exciting!

The kitchen has a ton of trim work...

Starting to roll the paint on...

Moving to the side wall...

 

Doing the trim work by the nook...

Kind of tight working conditions between the ladder and the lights!

Starting to roll the paint on the nook walls...

Finishing up with the front nook wall - we're thrilled with the color and can't wait to see it all dried tomorrow.

High 74/Low 45 - gorgeous!

 

5.7.2018

Jim fastened the bottom stairwell post to the stringer.  As Jim did in our house in Ohio, he's making these staircase parts easy to remove if you need to - like when you are moving, for example.  He has the top post made and clamped in place.

 

You can also see in the picture above, Jim took the drywall off the next cavity in the stairwell and moved the insulation aside.  That was necessary because he continued to work on the vent system.  He got the big hole drilled through the steel joist.  He said it was a really tough hole to drill - such big ones always are.  Plus, he had to drill it standing on a plank, hunched over, with his head in between joists!

Jim started finishing the wall next to the bottom staircase.  This is a tough section because there are angles at both the top and bottom.  Jim decided to cut the drywall and seam it horizontally to only have to deal with one angle at a time for a better fit.

This afternoon, it was time to see to the bathroom walls.  Jim wanted to sand the areas where he had the paint issues.  He first used his pad sander...

Then broke out the palm sander...

The sanding took care of the issues so then Jim started painting...

Redoing the wall...

We'll have to get some more paint but Jim used all the extra to put a coat of paint on the shower wall area.

Jim got an order of furnace plumbing parts today and also a new tool...

This is the nailer that Jim will use for the bamboo flooring!  It's specially made for hard woods so it should work out great.  Crazy that we are getting ready for flooring!

Now that the flooring and shower wall area are done in the bathroom, Jim can turn his attention to figuring out shower walls!  This is the shower base with the back wall flange clamped to the base. 

A more close up picture - the back wall fits over this flange to seal the joint.  Jim also put a bead of caulk to make sure everything seals correctly.

There are holes in the flange but no holes in the base so Jim had to first get placement correct and then drill the holes...

Then he countersunk the holes...

So that the screws fit perfectly flat in the hole.

The back wall flange is all attached!

At the end of the day, Jim headed to Lowe's to pick up his order - a bathroom door!  Jim will eventually make doors but a bathroom door is another one of those required before occupancy blocks we have to check. 

High 65/Low 38

5.6.2018



 

Jim continued working the vent runs for the furnace.  He figured out where the intake vent would go and then made another jig that he will use to drill a hole for it through the joist.

 

On the stairwell landing, he took down the drywall he had just tacked in place and removed the insulation that was temporarily in place.  This is where the vent work will come up and then out the back of the stairwell.

 

Then it was onto more stairwell railing design.  Once he had his first piece installed, he was able to make the vertical piece and put it in place.

 

The view from the front...

 

 

The next piece he made will serve as the top "newel post" for this section of stairs as well as being used for the next section leading to the apartment.  It's exciting to see all this start to take shape - stair railings always seemed like a last-on-the-list item!

 



The bathroom looked much better today - I was very pleasantly surprised how well Jim was able to get the walls to look after the paint issue yesterday.  He probably will repaint the left side wall but everything else looks really nice.  Whew!

 

High 62/Low 44



5.5.2018

We had some strong storms blow through last evening with really strong winds.  We were a bit anxious to see how everything fared at the carriage house - thankfully, it was all fine.  However, a few trees had fallen on some power lines on our road and we had to take a detour. 

 

Jim worked on venting this morning.  He made a lot of progress - on the left side you can see that he has the angle all figured out to go up and across the joist area.  He made another jig and cut through the steel joist. 

 

You can see that he had to make backing pieces to attach to the decking to hold the brackets in place so that everything fit correctly.



However, to make all that work he had to cut the PVC air intake run.  He had put this together quite awhile ago before he ever knew how the furnace exhaust vent would work. 

 

 

He's pretty much done all he can do at the moment for the vent work and the acid neutralizer plumbing - parts have been ordered and he's waiting for them to come in.

 

So he started thinking of how he wanted to make his stair railing concept a reality.  The first step was to weld some square bar together to start figuring out how things will work.

 

After lunch, Jim switched gears to painting the bathroom.  Once the walls are painted, that will open up lots of other jobs in the bathroom.

 

 Doing the trim work...

Starting to paint...

Unfortunately, he ran into issues.  The vapor barrier primer he used on these walls didn't allow any of the paint to penetrate either.  So when Jim went over an area that he had already painted, it had skimmed over and it pulled the paint off!  You can sort of see what's happening in the picture below...

He used a different technique to try and paint the other wall, which worked better.  He tested his theory on the wall around the door because he used regular primer there - it painted beautifully.  So he'll have to wait and see what it looks like tomorrow after it has dried.  He may have to sand and repaint some areas.  Sigh...

While Jim was painting, I vacuumed the master bedroom, living room and hall to get rid of the plaster dust.

High 72/Low 53 - perfect!