Remodel - Week 10

Out of the Doldrums...

We are now at the point in the project where everything has accelerated, sort of like the speed of light in a vacuum. Week 10 began with the insulation going in. Steve opted to use the blow-in wet type (as opposed to bats or foam). This wet blow-in insulation was more economical plus it seals all the air leaks between the joists and the exterior plywood. This stuff is like papier-maché with starch added - the dampness allows it to adhere to/fill the voids and it stiffens as it dries. Its insulation value is R-15. They used dry blow-in for the ceilings, which has an R-50 insulation value. Additionally, Steve used Great Stuff foam-in-a-can on all of the outlets, switch-plates and ceiling fixture boxes.

Here is a pix of the insulation:

The insulation needed to dry for 3 days so, on Friday morning, Steve was up @ 500am to staple the vapor barrier in place prior to the arrival of the drywall guys @ 700a. At this point, we should probably apologize to our neighbors-to-the-north, Mo and Jeff. Apparently sound carries further in the wee hours and Steve's stapling woke them up a 1/2 hour before their alarm normally goes off - sorry guys!

Friday brought great excitement to the neighborhood when this huge truck rumbled in laden with drywall. As the contractor wanted to use 14 foot pieces of drywall, the best method of getting the sheets to the 2nd floor meant using a crane with a boom to thread them through the west window - after removing the upper and lower sashes of course.

Here is the mammoth truck positioned in the driveway:

What happened next was that the boom operator and another guy loaded the drywall sheets onto the boom, then carefully, carefully...

he began the delicate process of lifting the load up and over, past the magnolia tree...

and into position in front of the window...

then gently moving near the window opening where they put a little shute-like plastic thingie on the window-sill to protect it while pulling in one sheet at at time:

Neighbor-to-the south Marge told us later how much she enjoyed watching this entire process; said she stood at her 2nd floor window in awe of the skill being displayed. As ours is a quiet little neighborhood, Steve and I try to provide some entertainment from time to time.

After all the drywall was unloaded, the boom made its return journey back to the truck-bed safely and then the guys slowly backed out of the driveway and went on to their next delivery site.

Then the first wave of drywall workers set to work. These guys are called rockers and they cut, fit and hang the drywall. Not sure if the rockers play in a musical band or not, but they were in perfect harmony as they did their thing. They got to work about 830 and were completely finished by 230 - that's a lot of nooks and crannies to sheetrock in that short period of time - so we now have drywall in all the rooms!

Earlier in the week we had traced and cut templates for the arch leading into new hallway (using an archway on the first floor) so that Jason could translate the template into reality...

and an ogee arch in new bookcase niche, which matches an existing niche at foot of stairs. This new bookcase will be in old closet space that we hated to see go to waste. Here is original niche:

and the new niche and hallway:



the laundry closet...

the south-east corner of new bedroom...

and the linen closet and clothes closet in bedroom:

What a tremendous amount of progress for a single week! On Monday, the drywall guy (the mudder) will arrive to tape and plaster the seams and also match the Spanish plaster in the hallway. Jason says that the tile guy should be able to come the following Monday as well as the guy who will lay the hardwood floor.

Outside, Jason will finish the trimwork and begin installing the Hardi-Plank irregular shakes (in between rains).

As Winston Churchill famously said:

"Now this is not the end. It is not even the beginning of the end. But it is, perhaps, the end of the beginning. "