Saturday our neighbor finished up sheetrocking the cupola, it’s great having that done in time to put up a xmas tree this year! Our contractor got the rest of the floor cut out in a feathered pattern for re-installation.
Cupola sheetrocked
Sunday during naptime I got the lights in the livingroom wired down to the panel box and switches and pigtails all installed so there’s work light now after 4pm 🙂 I also put a temporary light in the diningroom which has had no light for a while 🙂 I cleaned up some wiring in the basement too although that’s an ongoing project. Eventually I’ll do a full panel box clean-up, make everything nice and tidy. I think we’ve finished wiring pretty much everything that is downstairs, except the microwave outlet. So anytime I have a free day with daylight to do it I can do that project.
Flooring progress at lunch time.
Today our contractor is back and he’s putting in the floor again. We have the saved stuff he pulled up (what was saveable) as well as what we saved when we pulled up the upstairs diningroom. It’s going great so far for such a tricky fill in job. He has to leave early today but he’s coming again tomorrow and I think based on the progress he’ll be able to finish tomorrow no problem. I think our neighbor is coming over Friday to start taping maybe, that would be great.
Our plan is to get our tree on next Monday and it will only stay up for a week this year so we can get back to finishing this room. Luckily we’ll be home a lot that week to enjoy it at least.
The contractor and neighbor were back over today while I worked from home. They got the ceiling of the cupola prepped and sheetrocked and then my neighbor started the walls while our contractor planned out our 1/2 walls he’s going to build and went and got materials.
We ran out of sheetrock so that’s item one for my neighbor tomorrow, then finishing up the walls in there. Our contractor is going to start working on feathering in the floor again. I plan to do some electrical work and maybe some grouting prep?
Ceiling done – well done!Wall on left of cupola is done3 walls mostly done (ran out of sheetrock) 🙂
I’m very happy to see progress on the weekends again. I think we can see an end in sight (far away) again, it was looking dismal for a while!
We hired our contractor and our neighbor to do some work part time for us on the front livingroom and they got started Friday, Saturday and Sunday this weekend so we have some great progress to report.
FRIDAY:
Our neighbor’s first job was to move a ton of stuff to the basement, clearing out the front livingroom, this took most of friday outside of any help he had to give our contractor.
Our contractor’s first job is to repair the floor in the cupola, it was slanting badly, very noticeable once the radiator was removed so he pulled up the floor friday, including the subfloor.
SATURDAY:
On Saturday Ryan finally had time to work on the house! After months of working weekends he had one off. So after Alex’s gym class he got working on tiling the shower. Our contractor had picked up materials to repair the joists in the cupola and my neighbor came over in the afternoon and started sheetrocking the livingroom outside of the cupola. Oh and I got to do some electrical to get the fan wired to the new switch.
Floor repairs startedPrep for drywall done and this corner drywalledShower tile progress from SaturdayStarted the floor Saturday
SUNDAY
Sunday we went out to breakfast (like usual) and stopped by home depot to get a new door for the bathroom. We decided to go with a new door because it’s an upstairs out of the way door and I wanted a smaller door since it opens out into the hallway.
Ryan then hung the door (i helped during naptime!). Our contractor continued work on the floor and our neighbor sheet rocked the other wall in the livingroom.
Floor repairedAnother view, ready for insulation.Bathroom door installed (although we then removed it to actually finish tiling) 🙂 So here’s the frame.
Next up our contractor insulated the floor and put down the new subfloor with help from our neighbor. Ryan continued tiling and I did some cleanup.
Subfloor almost done, just one small section to do and then replacing the flooring!
Ryan finished the shower tiling by Alex’s bedtime so once I put her down I helped and we finished the floor by 9pm. It was tough, and very cold outside cutting tiles but it’s done!
Shower left wall doneShower right wall doneFloor done!!!!
Next up on the bathroom is to get the trim done (including baseboards). Then painting trim and grouting, okay really we have to remove a bunch of thinset from the grout lines first in one section, that will take a while. We’ll see if we can get some prep done before next weekend so maybe we can get it grouted next weekend? Here’s hoping Ryan doesn’t have to work next weekend, that would be great.
Our neighbor is going to continue to work Fridays, they are going to sheet rock the cupola this friday, the goal is to have the floor fixed before xmas so we can put our tree in that area with sheetrock up (unfinished) and a floor! Then in January we’ll get that room finished up hopefully. Eventually this room will be Alex’s play room, i’m VERY excited!
This past weekend Mark and Suzanne came out to visit. We had a great time, Alex loves having her grandparents visiting and Saturday she was in a great mood. Ryan and his dad worked on tiling the shower most of the day (after going to the dump and Alex’s gym class first) 🙂 Priorities!
The shower is coming along great! Mark had some great ideas for tiling the shelves and window, using the mosaic tile on the inside sides just one row of it, then using the beveled edge tiles for the rest of the side. We had planned on using the mosaic on the back of the shelves already and this added a smooth transition and tied the window in as well. It came out great. Just a little left on the shower and then the floor. Almost there!
Back wall, done except for starter row which is going lastLeft wall is finished except for the first row
Final wall, almost done (and that tile for shower head is already cut)
Ryan just needs another free weekend to finish up the shower and then the floor. Getting close. And now it’s Thanksgiving week!!!! Yay – pie and family – good times!
No more progress this weekend, Saturday we took the day off to relax all day and Sunday Ryan had to work and I started Alex’s Halloween costume at naptime so no house time. I do have pictures from our Friday progress finally though…
The peak! The soffit and windows are completely done, just need to do the green on the siding and the red on the shakes and moldings!Same below, the trim around the door etc is done but green on the siding has to be done under the porch.
Railings are all primed!!!!
I’m very happy with 4 days of progress and we got to relax a bunch. The weather really held out for us and we got everything done. Now if we get good weather again we can finish painting, if not it will at least be in better shape for the winter than last year. And back to the bathroom tiling project!
Ryan was out stripping paint until 9:30 last night, he’s crazy but determined and got the whole soffit completely stripped! That alone made renting the lift worth it!
Soffit ready to go this morningA closer look
I didn’t get pictures at the end of the day but the day went like this…
Ryan and I up in the lift together got all the prep for the whole soffit done (filling holes, sanding, caulking). Then we primed the whole soffit and the last window. Once that was done we moved on to the shakes, we scraped them down a bit and sanded them. Then primed the shakes yellow (they will be red but I don’t have red primer).
While the shakes were being primed I got the attic windows installed again – they look great in place!
Once the shakes were all primed we grabbed the paint and got the paint on the whole soffit and window as well. We finished JUST in time to return the lift by 4pm. While Ryan returned the lift and came home, showered and picked up Alex, I got the rest of the yellow trim all painted (above the porch and below the porch). So all that’s left is the green on the siding and red on the shakes. We will probably hold off on the red until we can rent a lift again, we’ll just do the shakes and all the red moldings with a lift I think.
And bonus… our neighbor came over and worked all day priming the railings so that got done too!
So much painting – a great end to a great vacation week. The weather was beautiful (which was unexpected) and since we didn’t get a rainy day we didn’t tile yet. We’ll see how the weekend goes, we’re looking forward to relaxing for the end of our vacation, maybe hitting up a pumpkin festival and doing some shopping. Can’t wait.
Pictures to come later – I was cleaning up paint chips until after dark so I forgot to take pictures!
What a packed day we’ve had! I hope I don’t forget anything because we got a LOT done.
In the morning (after dropping the car off for service and hitting the grocery store – after which we COMPLETELY forgot the groceries in the trunk all day and most had to be thrown out – UGG!!)… anyhow…
We got right to work. I finished up the trim paint on that back section while Ryan went to check into the rental of a lift. I finished up just as he got back with the news we could get a rental at 4pm but it had to go back friday by 4:30pm! Yikes. We’ll take it but that’s not long!
This section is now completely finished!
Next up we started stripping the soffit over the other area of porch and managed to finish it, sand it and caulk it before lunch so the caulk could dry.
Soffit stripped!
After lunch Ryan installed the top cap over that front porch, then primed all the soffit and the window in that section. Meanwhile I finished prepping and then priming under the porch so that’s all primed!
Soffit primed, window primed and under the porch siding and trim all primed! Great progress!
At this point it was 4pm and Ryan had to go pick up the lift, I got most of the other side of the house (the small section that’s left) primed, everything I could reach with our smaller ladder since I can’t move the big ladder. The electrical wires didn’t actually scare me but the huge freaking spider hanging out on the cable wires did! I knocked it down with a broom (since that’s step one before painting, get rid of all webs!) but never found it below so the whole time I was jumpy and edgy waiting for it to crawl up after me!
The top few pieces of siding need to be done still but it’s close!
Ryan got home just as I was cleaning up to go pick up Alex and he got right to work with the lift. He’s still out there in the pitch black with a lantern stripping paint off the soffit of the peak. By Alex’s bedtime (7pm) he had the left side soffit all done and was starting the peak. He’s been out there another hour and a half, I think his goal is to strip the whole soffit of the peak so tomorrow we just have to sand it, prep it and work on the shakes. I’m excited! We’ll be painting with the lift tomorrow and putting in our half moon windows again! Rain please hold off another day!!! Pretty please!!!
Well it was cooler than yesterday but still warm enough to paint today (so far we are lucky!). Please hold off rain!
Ryan continued painting the porch soffit and posts the front is now almost done!
Porch soffit and posts almost all painted in the front
Then we got a coat of paint on the siding on the section we started yesterday and a coat of yellow on the soffit and crown and frieze boards (still need to do the windows and all cutting in since the green was still wet). Paint took longer to dry today (cooler plus primer dries faster).
Now the color matches down below
Then we got the primer on the siding on the rest of the driveway side. We decided it was more important to protect the siding before winter in case we run out of rain free days but we do hope to get the soffit done too. Ryan finished the day with getting primer under the porch on the siding after I stripped the baseboard under there. Under the porch we can finish up rain or shine but we’d like to get everything done.
Green primer on all the siding
There is a little green primer left to do (just the edges of the siding under the porch where I caulked and it didn’t dry fast enough). So we’ll get that done tomorrow. We may rent a lift tomorrow and/or friday for working on the peak, mostly it depends on the weather but it would be helpful for sure!
It’s that time again – staycation! We started our vacation with a long weekend back in NY. Heading to NY Friday night, going to our niece’s birthday party Saturday then heading down to NYC Sunday morning!
We stayed with PJ and Erica in the city and on Monday spent the day at the Bronx zoo. Alex had a good time, although she was pretty tired since we skipped her nap for the day (she slept on the drive back north and then for the bedtime drive home too). She enjoyed seeing the Giraffes, Sea Lions, Gorillas, Bears and Polar bear the best probably. It was a good day and Alex really did great especially off schedule!
NYC!
We got home late Monday night and Alex let us all sleep in till 9am! A great start to our staycation portion of vacation. After breakfast I took Alex to daycare (and by the way she went right back on schedule – not sure how they pulled that off!). Ryan and I got a start right away working on the outside.
We worked on the small section that has a roof to stand on outside the back bedrooms. We got the soffit all stripped down, sanded and prepped. Caulking and holes all filled, gaps filled with wood putty. Prep prep prep. Then we got a coat of primer on both the siding and all the trim/soffit! It should finish up very quickly tomorrow (or the next rain free day) and we’re on to the next part.
I love priming with tinted primer – it looks so much more finished!Another view
Once we finished that section for the day I got a coat of primer on our second half moon window our neighbor restored for us! It also came out great and he took pictures as he restored them so I’ll do a blog post on just windows soon. Ryan continued the porch painting along the outside soffit while I went and picked up Alex. Lots of outside progress since it was a beautiful day for painting!
Second window – can’t wait to put these in!
3 more full days to go, hoping for no rain but even with rain we’ll get some work done (under the porch and tiling the bathroom). Now it’s time to relax and catch up on TV from the last week and a half!
We managed to get a start on the tiling! Sunday we had until 1pm (Pats game) so Ryan started tiling after breakfast and at naptime I joined him. We made some decent progress. I would estimate that if we had a full day with Alex at daycare we could finish and we just so happen to have that day coming up next week! So watch out for tiling next week!
We’re going with 12×12 tiles throughout (floor included) and this mix of ceramic/glass tile for a band. The shelves will also have that glass tile mix on the back I think. We’ll do the bottom row last because it has to be cut around the tub.
I love the tile, with only one more coat of paint to do, we’ll soon have fixtures installed too! I think our vacation next week will be a mix of painting outside and working on the bathroom if it rains. Soon we’ll have an upstairs bathroom again! (one year later) 🙂
