5.25.2018

Jim did work on cutting and fitting the handrails this morning, which also involved taking the top newel post off and welding the bracket and backing disk to the post.  The railing system is looking really good!

 

Then, it was back to floor prep.  Jim worked on doing more leveling of the joints - he has the hallway done, the kitchen almost done and good chunks of the living room and master bedroom finished.  We finished sanding the living room...

But all this sanding took its toll on the palm sander - a bearing went and it wasn't working.  So I ran quickly to Home Depot to get another one...

Then we were back in business.  Jim decided that we got better with this sanding as we went along so he wants to go back over certain areas.

 

Jim also started doing some floor layout work.  He wanted the hallway when you first walk in the door to be symmetrical so he had to figure out the center of the hallway and lay things out.

 

Then we struck a chalk line from that center point down the hallway...

And then carried that line all the way from the door to the bedroom wall.

So the line doesn't get erased when we vacuum, Jim went over it with his trusty red permanent marker.

Jim closed out the day doing a little more floor sanding - we're getting close to wrapping up the prep work!

High 81/Low 60

5.24.2018

Jim  head out to the property extra early this morning.  We had some engineered I-beams that were used to transport some of our outside trim boards that we were donating to the Habitat ReStore.  They give you a 3-hour window of when they will come to pick things up, so Jim had to make sure he was there.  They didn't show up til mid-morning but Jim was just happy to get them out of the shop.  They were 15' long so they took up lots of space!

 

Jim did more stair work this morning - he finished all the risers on the upper staircase!

 

He also spent time figuring out the exact placement of the handrail - there are codes for that!  Once he figured it out, he was able to permanent weld the bracket onto the newel post.

He continued working on leveling across the floor joints...

This morning, I ran into Home Depot to pick up a giant pack of sanding disks for our palm sanders!  Then in the afternoon, we put them to good use by prepping the floor.  Check out the difference it makes after Jim moved the dishwasher!

Jim busy sanding...

Kitchen floor is all ready for flooring!

Then we started in the living room...

We got the majority of the living room floor done - tomorrow we'll move the flooring and do that area and we'll be done with the messy sanding job!

Jim had to do some grass cutting at the end of the day...

I haven't been able to catch a picture of the spring ducklings by the lake down from the house until now...

High 76/Low 54 - gorgeous!

5.23.2018

Jim continued on stair work today - this time working on the risers for the upper staircase.  He took all of the treads off and made the groove to fit the riser.  Then he got two made and attached.

 

 

Jim's steel order came in so at lunch he took a trip to pick it up.  We're still amazed that this big steelyard is fairly close to us!  If you look really closely, you can see the Vermont mountains in the background - so pretty!  This is the steelyard where we got all of our structural steel - like the beams and all the decking material.

 

 

Here's what Jim will turn into our handrails for the staircase...

In the afternoon, it was back to floor prep.  Jim added another step to the process once we're finished cleaning.  This subfloor has been down a long time and was exposed to the elements for awhile too - but it's in great shape (the Advantech is a great product!).  However, Jim wants to make sure that all the connections are even - the edges have a tendency to cup a bit.  So he first takes his square and sees if the joint is level...

If not, he uses his hand planer.  While this takes some work, it's not an extremely messy job and will definitely make for a nicer floor.

But it was back to the messier job - we started in the second bedroom with our routine...scraping, scrub brushing...

 

Sanding...

Then vacuuming up the dust...

We were able to get the second bedroom done and then moved into the kitchen - the hallway and nook area are all done and we got most of the rest of the kitchen scraped.

Jim knocked off about 5:00 to do some grass cutting - we've had beautiful weather and the grass keeps growing!

High 79/Low 45 - beautiful!

5.22.2018

Jim continued stair railing work this morning - he got the last spindle frame built. 

 



He decided to wait on the final piece until he could fit it in place.  So he got it all clamped and precisely fit to the newel posts and then he just tacked it in place with the welder.  Then he took it into the shop and did the final welding.

The end result is perfect!  All three spindle frames are now built and attached - great progress!  Jim called the steel company to check on progress - the guy said that the steel arrived yesterday so they just have to cut it to size so that Jim can bring it back in the 4Runner.  So he'll probably be able to pick it up one day this week if schedules allow.

After lunch, it was full speed ahead on floor prep!  I went into Saratoga this morning and picked up Jim's order of 24 tubes of subfloor glue!  Jim worked out a good system.  After scraping all the plaster blobs...

And brushing and vacuuming...

Then we are sanding the floor with palm sanders!  This will make sure the floor is ready and the glue will make good contact.  Jim plans on both gluing and nailing to try and avoid as many squeaks as possible!

It turns out really nice - the Advantech looks almost new!

The sanding kicks up a lot of dust - in fact, it kept setting the smoke alarms off so we got to test that those worked!

We had to do lots of vacuuming too...

The hallway and master bedroom are all finished and Jim made a good start into the kitchen.  We decided to do all of the prep work before beginning to avoid mess once the floors go down.

 

High 60/Low 54 - drizzly and cooler

5.21.2018 - Apartment painting finished!

Jim worked this morning cutting and welding the next spindle frame together...

 

Then he attached it to the upper stairs - it really looks good!

The wall Jim painted yesterday in the living room came out really nice....

So in the afternoon, it was time to continue on....

The color of the walls really looks good with all the pine trees out the back windows!

Moving around to the side wall...

 

 

Doing the last trim work on the front wall!

 



 

Painting the front wall...

 

 

We had originally bought 3 gallons of the flat enamel; when we decided to go with just flat in this room, we only bought 2 gallons.  It was SO close but Jim was able to finish the room.  We have just a tad left for touchups if need be so it's perfect!  Jim can now officially put his paint brushes down - the apartment is totally painted!

 



 

While Jim was painting, I got started on our next task - prepping the floors for installing the flooring!  That involves scraping all the plaster droppings off, using the stiff broom to loosen up any particles, and then vacuuming.  This will take awhile but I got started in the master bedroom first.  Scraping...

 

 

Vacuuming...

 

 

 

For some extra motivation, we decided to open up the first box of flooring.  My heart sank a bit when Jim opened it because this is definitely not the right color!

 



However, that was just the nicely-finished backside of the planks!  Jim's trying a couple pieces out just to see how it will look...

We are so excited - it's going to be gorgeous!  This is bamboo flooring so besides being beautiful, it should be very durable.

 

High 75/Low 50 - beautiful!