Water and Sanding

We were supposed to have left for Florida this morning, but last night our flight was cancelled.  But in the end, it might have been for the best.

We had a lot of water in the basement this morning.  The sump pump has been acting up.  Sometimes it doesn't turn on, and sometimes it doesn't turn off (and smokes from overheating).  That's obviously not very safe, so Colin spent this evening running new pipes to the outside and installing a new sump pump. 

Meanwhile, Justin (who was surprised to see us) sanded the floor.

Last Day of Major Work

Today was the last day of major work on the house.  While we're gone over spring break, Justin is going to sand and stain the floors and install some doors upstairs.  Valley Floors also has to come back and finish the shower walls. But that's about it.  Justin and Keefe came to the back door to say goodbye, and it was sad to see them go.  They have been great working with, and we are really happy with their work.

Obviously we have a lot that we still need to do - painting, finish carpentry, tiling, and electrical.  I think that will progress much more slowly.  

New Oak Floor

The weather was lovely yesterday so the guys worked on siding and trim.  Today they installed the new, beautiful oak floor.

Subfloor Issues and Remedies

The floor under the hardwood floor in the playroom is in bad shape.  There is some rot, Justin thinks was caused by a kitchen sink (there are plumbing holes by the rotted area).  There are some strange wear patterns that hint to a completely different configuration of the room.  (Note that the varnish where Evelyn is standing is still intact, and the floor around it worn lower.)

The other issue is that the playroom floor and the new addition don't line up exactly.  If left alone, the new plywood floor would be 1/4" lower than the addition plywood at one end and 3/4" higher at the other end.  Justin decided it would best to remove the subfloor in one section to be able to create a level floor.  (It was the rotten bit anyway.)

Hello basement.

Justin had to install new sistered joists (carefully over Colin's wiring), especially near the wall because the joist is under the living room wall.

Beautifully level and all ready for new oak flooring.

Siding

 It is amazing how the mud gets everywhere.  There are globs on door frames and smears on walls.

The new wood floors came yesterday.  They need to acclimatize before installation.  Evelyn wants to pretend that they are stepping stones and walk from pile to pile.

Justin and Keefe worked outside yesterday today on the siding and window trim.

This picture is from around lunchtime today (yeah sunshine!).

And here are some from the end of the day.

Fireplace Conundrums and Prepping for Drywall

This morning started with a long conversation with the fireplace salesman.  He seemed to think that running the vent through the gap between the front room closet ceiling and original ceiling would be no problem, but Justin stepped in and pointed out some issues with clearances and specifications that would not work.  We were planning on running the vent through the dropped ceiling in the front room closet.  But the vent pipe must be 12 inches from the inside corner and the closet is not deep enough to contain the pipe. He brainstormed other alternatives including venting through Charlotte's closet and even through the corner of Charlotte's room.  Neither of those were ideal, so the best option was to put the fireplace in the front room closet and rebuilt the wall.  (The salesman was completely lost through most of Justin's brainstorming, and I think if Justin wasn't there, we would have figured out thesse issues once the fireplace was there.)  We were going to convert this shallow closet into a little office space, with a desk and some shelves above.  If we move the fireplace into this space, and move the wall out a few inches, this allows for the vent pipe to be 12 inches from the inside corner. We would still have some space to put bookshelves in.  This new plan will be a lot more work than what is in the contract, so it might have to wait.

Also today, Justin and Keefe spray foamed the window gaps, leveled Evelyn's floor and finished getting ready for drywall.  Colin spent some time wiring, which needs to be done before they can start hanging drywall.

Brick Pointing and Flooring

Busy day getting ready for spray foam.  Colin has finished wiring Evelyn's room and the outlets in the addition.  The mason concentrated on pointing the gable ends. 

The old closet has been demoed and the new header is in. 

Another dusty adventure was ripping up all the flooring in the dining room.  Some of the floorboards have dry rot and some in the old hallway are wonky and have been shimmed.  Might need to be replaced.

Uptairs Flooring

Dad is visiting for a couple of weeks and is helping us with the flooring upstairs.  He is working on the floor in the play room where Colin left off.  Colin is removing the rest of the flooring from the master bedroom.  It is somewhat strange to be ripping up something that we put down.  When we first moved in we renovated the upstairs kitchen, painting the cabinets and installing new floor.

Level Flooring

Dad made great progess on the floor while he was here.  The top of the stairs (above) and the hallway just outside the master bath are now level.  I no longer feel like I'm going to fall into the bathroom while walking past.  Dad also installed the spine all the way from Alistair's room to the master bedroom.  Now it is our turn to finish it.

Leveling the Landing

We live in an old house.  Sometimes I think about the women who might have lived in this house, and I think about what they wore.  Did they have hoop skirts, or more simple day dresses?  Over the nearly 150 years since this house was built, it has sagged a bit in places.  When you would drop peas or other round things in the upstairs kitchen, they would roll away.  Our pine Ikea hutch leaned towards the center of the room.  Now that Dad is installing the new hard wood flooring upstairs, we are becoming more acquainted on the details of the undulations.

 

The landing at the top of the stairs is, in our minds, a slight step down from the hallway.  It made sense, especially with the door and wall that separated the two.  They had different surfaces and they were different heights.  It turns out that if you put a level across from the edge of the hallway surface to the outside wall of the landing, it's nearly level.  There is a quarter of an inch difference.  Using plywood and building paper, Dad built up the floor so that the landing is now level.  In the gap where the wall was, he was built a small ramp to make the quarter of a inch transition.