Day Twenty Seven

Work continued today on mudding the sheetrock. Dick plans for me to be able to begin painting sometime on Friday. As it looks, I'm going to need as much of Friday as I can get and all of Saturday to get it done. Tammy has to work this weekend so I'll be solo much of the time. It'll be nice to have that job behind us.

We got a good amount done on the lamp over the weekend and I'm hoping to be ready to solder it by next week. Our two wall sconces arrived at Southern Lights so now all we're waiting for is the one remaining pendant light which is on back order from Belacore. It was supposed to be in sometime in late November so I suppose I should give them a call to check its status.

Our flooring for the dance room arrived on Friday as did most of the tile for the bathroom. Dan will have plenty to keep him busy once the painting is done.

Day Twenty Six

This is Dick Wilson, our drywall professional. Dick finished putting on the 2nd layer of mud today. I think he plans to do one more layer this coming Monday and then the sanding will begin. I'm guessing that's when the dust will really make its way through our home.

Dan spent the day working at finishing up another job in our neighborhood. He'll be back on Friday. I think we're all looking forward to seeing the sauna go in but that won't be for another couple weeks.

Happy Thanksgiving everybody!

Day Twenty Five

Our house is becoming more humid as the sheetrock work continues. I had to take out the dehumidifier to try and help dry us out. I'm guessing the moisture is coming from the mud being put on the walls. Dick put on the second coat of mud today and will do a third tomorrow.

On Dan and John's advice I went out and bought a couple paint sticks in prep for painting. The paint stick sucks up paint into the long handle of the roller and it's squeezed out onto the roller as you paint making the job much quicker. We're going to rent a sprayer from Home Depot for applying the primer coat and painting the ceiling. We'll roll the walls. I think we're going with a sage green just as we did on our main level in the family room and the stairway leading to the basement. Tammy was thinking of a light rust color for the bathroom but we're really not sure. It might be time to consult with Rachel. I trust her judgment when it comes to color although I'm not too keen on her latest choices for her bathroom...too shocking for my weary eyes.

Day Twenty Four

Our home has been invaded by a light film of dust which is everywhere. It's a sign of progress though so there's no cause for alarm. They finished hanging the last half dozen or so pieces of sheetrock this morning then Dick put his stilts on and got busy working his magic taping and mudding. Tammy thought Dick must've stayed here until around 7:00pm. I know he's got another job next week so he needs to get this one wrapped up before Thanksgiving.

Our sauna in a box arrived at Menards and Dan and John picked it up and loaded it into the garage.

My neighbor across the street is having an addition put onto his garage. His crew didn't show up today and I told him it's too bad because we could have had one of those challenges we used to have at the pep-fests in high school...you know, where you'd shout 'we've got spirit yes we do, we've got spirit, how 'bout you?!' We could see who has the crew with the most spirit. Don't worry, Dan...I'm only joking.

Day Twenty Three

What a change a day can make. They got 95% of the sheetrock up and have only the bathroom and storage closet to do. They'll finish it on Monday and then begin taping. The taping and mudding is expected to take about 4 days. Dick has been hanging sheetrock for I think most of his adult life. Here he is setting in one of the arches. To get it to bend into shape he set the piece out on the driveway in the rain to soften it and then set it aside for a couple hours before putting it in place.

All that remained was a pile of debris which I got rid of after everyone went home. It's looking so nice down there now that you can walk through the rooms and get a feel for their size.

Hopefully the sauna will come next week and that can go in. I think Dan expected it to be here by now.

Day Twenty Two

Well whatdya know...we passed our electrical inspection this morning. We also passed the mechanical inspection and were given the green light to begin sheetrocking. Watch closely and see if you agree that it appears Dan and Dick are rehearsing for a spot in the Village People's new lineup...Roll the video. Okay, I was exaggerating there but I couldn't help but notice the choreographed moves. They got the rooms 'capped' (ceiling's done) today and will finish the walls tomorrow. Taping will be a four day project and then Tammy and I get to step up and show our stuff with paint brushes and rollers.

Having the ceiling's drywalled gives the ceiling a much higher appearance. It's very noticeable how the acoustics are changing daily in the rooms. It seems your voice doesn't carry at all like it used to when it was wide open. Tammy mentioned to me that Dan told her it's best to not sweep the floors in the basement until the taping is done. It may get a little messy over the next few days but the added sheetrock dust on the floor helps make cleanup of dripped and splattered mud easier to do. It's sort of like adding flour to a cookie sheet before putting down the doe.

Dan, John and I had some serious discussions today about grocery shopping among other things. Did you know that it's much cheaper to buy cereal in the bags rather than boxes? The bags are resealable so there's no need to have a Tupper Ware container at the ready when you break them open. It's nice to know that we grown up men haven't lost our taste for good wholesome cereal like Cocoa Puffs and Capn Crunch...the stuff strong bodies are made of.

There's a reason our freezer has been sitting out in the open for the past several days. Anybody care to hazard a guess? Here's a clue.

Day Twenty One

Dan and John spent today installing the heated floor coils in the bathroom. The thought crossed my mind before we ever started the project that it would be nice to have a heated floor in the bathroom but it wasn't until Dan mentioned it that I said anything about it. I know my Finnish ancestors were known to step from their saunas and jump into ice cold waters through holes they'd cut in the ice but we're a different breed today. We like to step from our saunas onto nicely warmed ceramic tile so as not to shock our systems too much. Once the heat coils were installed they poured a self leveling cement compound over the entire floor. It goes on very wet but by tomorrow it should be just about ready for traffic.

The beautiful job John did yesterday of installing the 8 way cable splitter/amplifier was all for naught. The cable guy came today and he said there was too much amplification coming from it and that it would have to be taken out. Our signal had some interference yesterday and we thought maybe it was the wet weather and the outside connection. It appears our signal is just fine coming into the house. Before he left he changed out all the cable ends and put in some new splices for us. The TV picture looks good now and hopefully when the two extra TVs go online it will still be just as fine.

Before Dan left, he and Tammy reinstalled the seat cover in his truck. It's not perfect but it's a whole lot better than it was and hopefully the new fix will keep it from ripping any further.

We got in two of the three pendant lamps we ordered. The last one won't arrive for a few weeks as it's on back order. In the photo they look to be different sizes but they're the same. They'll hang above the bar.

The electrical inspector returns tomorrow morning and we'll also have the mechanical inspection done after he's finished. Providing we pass both of those checks they'll begin putting up sheetrock tomorrow. The plan was for us to be able to paint over Thanksgiving weekend but I don't think that's going to be possible. I told Dan that if we didn't make our 3rd week in December finish date it was okay as we don't have anything planned as far as hosting any family get-togethers. If we don't finish until after the new year that's okay.