Sanding the Drywall (with some Tool Envy)

Justin has this really cool drywall sander/vacuum that he used to sand the mud, and it didn't make much of a mess. 

Alyssa has tennis elbow (from downhill skiing oddly enough) so priming is going to have to wait a little bit.

First Pieces of Siding

Justin finished up mudding inside, including a final coat  on the corners. 

Outside, they worked on the corner boards and the first pieces of siding. Looks great.

More Mud and Beginning of Siding

With temperatures above 50 today it really felt like spring.  We even sat outside on the back porch.  Meanwhile Keefe worked on the siding above the living room addition, and Justin put on another coat of mud.

Mudding and Cutting Exterior Trim

Today Justin continued mudding the drywall. 

Keefe was outside all day (in the sunshine) finishing the siding above the roof as well as cutting and rabbiting the trim and giving it a coat of primer.

Taping

With the roof done, Justin came back inside to tape and apply the first coat of mud.  Evelyn likes the way her room looks.  (You can see where Colin is running the wires up from the basement.)

Meanwhile, Justin worked outside on the siding above the back roof.

Drywall Patches and Durabond

Today Justin and Keefe finished drywalling around the new beams as well as patching some of holes.  They put durabond in some of the deeper crevices and on some of the outside corners.  Below is the larger gap between the existing hallway wall and the new wall created when the ceiling was raised.

Justin removed the piece of wood we put in ten years ago since it was not needed anymore after the new beam and hampering a smooth wall.

Keefe used a masonry mesh to fill the gap in the drywall made to put in the new support beams.

Walls and Wiring

Colin finished most of the wiring he needed to do before the drywall went up.  He decided to remove the upstairs panel and run new wires up through the china cabinet opening.  Until he is done, we won't have power upstairs. 

With the walls up, it feels like we have real rooms.  Evelyn loves it.  She was doing all kinds of silly dances in her room.

Inspection and Drywall

Colin spent many hours last night getting ready for this morning's electrical inspection.  He was able to run most of the electrical wires but not all of them.  We still have the supply cable to the upstairs panel, which is an issue.  We will either reroute to the upstairs panel it or get rid of it completely, and replace it with a second panel in the basement, running new wires upstairs for all the circuits.  We had a plumbing and electrical inspection this morning, and then the guys were waiting for the drywall to be delivered (which was late because they were short a driver).  We passed everything just fine.  We need to put a little access panel for the tub mechanics, but that's the only issue.

The drywall finally came along with half a dozen buckets of joint compound.  Justin and Keefe started in the dining room, and it seemed to take them only minutes to finish the ceiling.  Although hanging drywall always seems to shrink the room a bit, the room is so much brighter.

Evelyn loved watching the drywayll being hung in her room.  

Mud, Sand, Repeat

During Charlotte's naps, Alyssa has been working on the new drywall at the top of the stairs.  The main thing left to do is work on smoothing out t he wall where the old wall with the door was.  Tonight, Colin chipped away at the left of the two ridges.

The other area of work is the old doorway at the other end of the hall.  There are some big holes on the hallway side that need filling (that you can't really see in the picture).

Reassembling the Hallway Upstairs

Today Colin continued working on the hallway upstairs.  This weekend we started taping and mudding the drywall we hung last weekend, and we are getting the top of the stairs ready to nail in the wood ceiling.  It dawned on us that we have not had a proper ceiling at the top of the stairs in about five years or more.  We took down the horrible ceiling tiles and then realized that the roof was leaking, so we decided to wait until we replaced the roof.  That took a while.

Colin also finished demolishing the old archway that was between the hall and what we are now calling The Blue Room, since we are thinking of painting it Benjamin Moore Mill Springs Blue. 

 All of this demolition has left us with a lot of plaster and lathe and garbage.

Little Helper

When Alistair heard that Colin was going to hand drywall today, Alistair wanted to help.  We're not sure he knew what drywall was, but he was more enthusiastic than Colin was to hang the drywall.  We were on the phone with Grandad when Colin needed help with the first sheet.  (Lucky Grandad was able to hear the whole thing.)  Alyssa screwed in the first couple of screws, and then Alistair wanted to help.  He put the screws on the magnetic tip of the screwdriver and wanted to help Colin drive them in.

Later in the afternoon, Alyssa sneaked up to help Colin with the sheet at the top of the stairs.  (We have been looking at that exposed lathe for literally several years.  After we tore down the ceilling, we realized we had a leak in the roof, so there was no point putting up new drywall that was going to get wet.  It is good to see it finally covered up.)  After Colin drove in the first coupld of screws, we here this little "I want to help," as Alistair climbed the stairs.  He passed Colin screws.

While Colin was working hard hanging drywall, Alyssa and Alistair were decorating Valentine's Day cookies (see our other blog).  As it was getting dark, Alyssa and Alistair went upstair to let Colin know there was extra frosting that would be a yummy dip for pretzel rods.  Alistair wanted to help again.  As we tried to get him back downstairs, he replied, "I'm busy now.  I'm cleaning up this big mess you made."

Mudding, Part II

The mudding is pretty much done now.  These pictures are from Wednesday.  Dennis came yesterday (Thursday) to finish off sanding.  We're excited to paint, although we know that once the project is handed over to us, we have a lot of work to do before we can move upstairs.  We are also waiting for the plumber to finish plumbing the shower and bathub. 

Mudding

Yesterday the gang was back to start on taping and mudding the upstairs.  (Alistair was excited to see Chris, Brian, and Dennis and to give Conrad a dog biscuit.)  Above is the bathroom.  You can see the two circles for the scones that will be on either side of the vanity mirror.

Above and below are photos of the master bedroom.  You can see in the photo above where the old kitchen cabinets and the two recessed lights were .  Below you can see the old wall around the laundry room and square where the light fixture was.

Below is the new family room that used to be the living room.

Drywall

While we were in Chicago for a few days, Shawn finished plumbing the bathroom and Chris hung the drywall in the old living room, the bathroom, and our bedroom.  Now that there are proper wall, we really have a sense for what the space will be like.  The bathroom is definitely bright.  Even with the blue board, it is super bright.  The back ordered drain kit arrived today, so Shawn is planning on installing the tub tomorrow.