Moving Forward with Finishes: Drywall & Primer

Ohh man, it has been forever since I last wrote!!  Lets see, where did I leave off last....ah yes, drywall!  We have come quite a ways since then, so let me re-count the events of the past month.

A month ago yesterday, we went to Home Depot to pick up the bead-board for the ceiling of the porch that the guys would install the next day.  Then we headed over to the house to check out the newest progress of the drywall installers during the week.  They had completed the first coat of "mudding", which is a coat of compound that works to cover the seams of the drywall and the nail holes that accompany them.  They still had one more coat to go which would be completed in a couple of days.

Here are a few shots of the progress:

Kitchen

Living room, looking towards the entry vestibule

Living room, looking towards the other corner

Looking into the first floor bath

Gabe demonstrating what happens in the said bathroom

View of Dining room from the Foyer

The siding was also finished on the front of the house on a warm day that last week:

It was a moody, foggy Friday evening.

The cementitious Hardi-plank siding is clearly visible in the upper right hand corner of the facade:

The dumpster is full and needs to be removed!  This happens in a few days.  We will not get another one as there will be little need---we have moved from demo/subtraction to building/addition!!  :)

The next day, the guys started on the porch ceiling being clad in 1/4" bead-board plywood.  Mom & I headed into town for a few things.  I shopped for window treatment fabric, deciding on a neutral colored ticking stripe for the kitchen window, and possibly pillows.

When we returned, the porch ceiling looked like this:

From the other direction:

I went around the yard to pick up runaway trash (blown away by the wind) before our dumpster is gone in a couple days.

Here is a shot from deep in the yard:

All done except for trim:

The following weekend (January 18 & 19th), things got really interesting.  Mom had come during the week to clean up lots of the dust created from sanding the drywall and mudding from the week previous.  She also worked to mask some of the windows, doors and other things before Gabe would start spray painting the primer on the walls.  We all worked to finish up this task around 5 when Gabe got to work spray painting the upstairs.  I waited in the truck--it was stinky!  :)

Here he is, getting it all set up...ready set...GO!!

Getting pretty cloudy in there...

All done with the upstairs!!

I say, Gabe, you look a lot like a raccoon!!

Well, glad that's done.  Tomorrow, he will do the downstairs, but not until right before we leave so that it can dry while we are not present.

The next day, we took down the masking from the upstairs, and Voila!!

Master Bedroom

Master bedroom, looking into the master bath

Master Bath

2nd Bedroom, approx. 10'X12'

Study (it's pretty small)

It's starting to look like a real house!!!!

For the rest of the afternoon, we each had our tasks.  It was a really nice day out so Mom was working on cleaning up the front yard from all the random debris that missed the dumpster since it is now gone.

Much better!

Dad and Gabe worked on trimming around the two windows from the front porch.

First, Gabe trims back the stucco on either side of the window for the allowance of the width of the trim piece:

Here are the windows showing the completed trim with Mom straightening up.

They also worked to hang another 1" X 6" trim piece at the top:

Meanwhile, I was working on site verification now that the drywall is hung and I can get accurate measurements for my drawings.

Here are my detail measurement drawings to give a lay of the land:

First floor: 

Second Floor:

Next, Gabe prepared himself for spray painting the primer on the first floor.  He wore a jump suit and respirator.

View of the kitchen after spraying:

Here is the living room and entry foyer:

Lovely raccoon eyes again....

More to come....

D Day

Our "D Day"...ahem....Drywall Day has come and gone, and boy, does it look different!!

Yesterday, about 5 drywall contractors came and completed 90% of our drywall hanging in one day!

Last night, Gabe and I took his truck to the house since they needed about 16 more sheets of drywall and different buckets of "mud" for the next step.  I was excited-- I didn't think I would get to see the progress so soon!

It was dark when we got there and the contractors were still there cleaning up the site.  We found a totally different looking space:

Looking towards the front door from living room

The living room:

Fireplace wall

Angle from the kitchen

We now have a kitchen:

The niche to the right is to recess the frig in our compact kitchen

The 2" track on the ceiling is a soffit footprint for the cabinets

And a dining room:

Another shot looking towards the living room entry wall and coat closet:

Moving into the upstairs space, which wasn't lit at all:

Stairwell shot

Looking into the master bath:

           From the hallway                  From the master bedroom

Master bedroom:

Large windows!

Vaulted ceilings! 

Looking down the hall from the 2nd bedroom:

More pics to come when there is better light.  As you can see from the above picture, they also need to finish some parts of the upstairs.  Not to mention the mudding, sanding and finishing of the drywall.

It is a good thing it is on the warmer side these past few days.  One logistical thing I have learned from this process recently, is the delivered drywall mud can't be subject to freezing or else it will be ruined.  In the cold of winter, in an unfinished or renovated home, it will not be heated at this point.  The HVAC duct work doesn't get connected and turned on until after the dusty business of drywalling is done---no one wants drywall dust in their ducts forevermore!!!  So we are among many who must think of how to keep the drywall mud above freezing before it gets installed....and after as well!!  It will be an interesting week.

Look at our full dumpster!

Beyond this, we had about 8 friends come to the house Saturday morning to support us in moving 130 sheets of drywall.  That was super fun, since we really haven't had a group come out to the house since last February.  The guys finished up moving all of the drywall in about an hour and a half while us ladies toured around the little historic town.  Here's a few pics of our fun morning:

As you can see us ladies tried our best to stay out of the way:

Silly Angela!!  :D

We went exploring:

An old school being restored

And at an old house that looked to have been abandoned for some time:

That afternoon, our buddy Mark stayed a little bit later and helped walk me through measurements for trim and discussed door trim details.  He has been so helpful!

We had plenty of little things to do before the drywall was to be hung on Monday.  We must have been there until 8 pm working on those last pesky things!

The soffit bulkhead had to be clad with plywood:

Shower shelf needed to be roughed in:

Windows and doors needed to be properly sealed:

the excess foam was also cut off

Refrigerator water line had to be re-jigged:

And last, but not least, the window and door frames were adorned with scripture before they were to be covered over with drywall  :D

If you can't read my chicken scratch, this one quotes Psalm 127: "Unless the LORD builds the house, those who build it labor in vain.  Unless the LORD watches over the city, the watchmen stay away in vain.  It is in vain that you rise up early and go late to rest, eating the bread of anxious toil; for He gives to His beloved sleep."  I put up a few others as well: Deuteronomy 6: 4-9, Psalm 1: 1-3, and Numbers 6: 24-27.  I thought it nice to later remember these verses behind the walls.

Apparently the siding contractor had been there yesterday as well, since we are having warmer days.  Hopefully the siding will get done today too!!

That's all for now....