Better D.I.Y.

2011-12-13T05:32:00.000-08:00

Here is a panoramic view of the Family Room and the workshop.

Family Room...COMPLETE

2011-12-12T06:00:00.000-08:00

A couple of updates (which happen more often when I actually have active projects).

1st Project:
Family Room is done!! I completed the mudding. I was going to wet sand, but it was taking 3x as long, so I went back to the tried and true method of messy sanding.

After that, we hired a painter to spray the popcorn ceiling and prime and paint the walls. He did a great job!! And he finished far faster than I would have :)

Plastic down before spraying.

Do you remember what we started with?? Let me remind you :)

This is what the room looks like now. Ignore the mess.

2nd Project. Workshop, more organized. Installed the 3 doors this weekend and the additional peg board. Finally started unpacking boxes of tools and organizing them. It is going to fill up pretty quickly.

Here are a couple of pictures of the progress.

Dust collection and air compressor closet. When we were installing the doors, I needed the air compressor, so I have it run temporarily through the dust collection hole. Eventually that will be changed to a more permanent solution.

It's GONE!!!

2011-12-06T05:35:00.001-08:00

We are the champions!! We finished wallpaper removal this weekend!!! 1 room down, 7 to go. This is by far the worst room with wallpaper, so we will hold off on doing the rest of the house.

Last night I started the mudding process. I completed about half and will finish mudding tonight as well as wet sand tonight.

I contemplated just skim coating the entire wall :)

Ignore the fashionable outfit including black socks

I also have finished hanging the cabinets in the workshop and started organizing. The Wallpaper project has taken over, so I haven't gotten too far with the organization. Eventually when I have everything set the way I want, I will outline the tools so when my kids borrow them, I will know which ones are gone.

Out with the Old

2011-11-30T12:02:00.001-08:00

This is what the family room looked like when we bought the house. It has stayed that way since we moved in May 28th.

In the last month in between working on my workshop, we have taken to removing the wallpaper slowly. We borrowed a wallpaper steamer from a friend instead of renting it. Here are some pictures of the process. Have I mentioned that I hate hate hate wallpaper. This is the epitomy of overdoing wallpaper. Why do one pattern, when you can have 3!! The bottom is a nice plaid pattern. The top is a dotted flower pattern. And don't forget the chair rail blue border!!

The sad thing is the parents of my wife and I actually liked the wallpaper!! Can't account for style :)

The joy of wallpaper steaming. Get everything wet. And after you take off the top layer with the print, you have to go back and take off the the rest of the paper. Hard to see against the white walls.

Also, some of the paint came with it. Mostly in the areas that weren't primed it seems. There will be a lot of skim coating with drywall compound in this room.

The hardest thing is that this is the most heavily used room in the house. This is the kids play room! We have to move the toys around and the furniture around. Being such a large room helps though. We really love this house and the space it has afforded us.

Here is another shot of an area that will need to be mudded.

We will paint the wall a nice greenish/greyish/blue color. The long-term plan is to put beadboard on the bottom half with a chair rail. This will protect the wall from children and break up the large expanse of the walls with cathedral ceilings.

I tell you, just what we have removed so far has made the room feel larger and brighter.

We have about half of the wallpaper down so far.

Goodbye 1993

2011-11-30T11:12:00.001-08:00

I never think to post the small things we do around the house. There doesn't seem to be a week that
goes by that we haven't made a change around the house. Adding shelves, changing knobs, new lights...etc.

So, I actually took a before and during picture of one of our projects. We changed the knobs in the kitchen. We don't have the funds to change out the counter tops and flooring, so we went with something less expensive. At $2 each off eBay, we purchased 41 replacement knobs.

The first picture is the knob that is on there. The 2nd shows a side-by-side view of the new and the old.

One nice thing that I will not miss was constantly getting a belt loop or pocket or even just my pants caught on the old knob.

Beginning of the End

2011-11-28T07:29:00.001-08:00

This long weekend I didn't get too much time to work in the basement. I spent time with the family instead. But I did finish putting in the outlets.

Here is the frame that the pegboard will sit on. I used 1x3 furring strips on the outside and 3/4" dowels in the middle. That way I would maximize space for pegs.

I installed the pegboard and lower cabinets. I put space between the cabinets so that I can shove some larger items (boxes) between them. I will used some MDF or melamine for the bench.

I need to pick up some 3/4" box extenders to bring my outlets flush with the Pegboard.

To hold up the levels, I used some 3" screws that I screwed part-way into the furring strip. That allows me to hang things where I wouldn't be able to put pegs/hooks.

Drywall...Check

2011-11-23T05:54:00.001-08:00

I was very happy to complete the drywall stage. Now onto finishing electrical. Picked up the cabinets this weekend. Not 100% sure how I want to set them up yet.

Almost there!!

2011-11-19T05:47:00.001-08:00

Almost there!!

I really dread doing drywall work, but because I enjoy saving money more, I decided to hang it myself. I have 6!!! sheets left to hang. That is on the table for today! I WILL Complete the last 6 sheets. Shouldn't be too difficult because there is only one light switch to cut around.

Here is the progress as of today...tonight it should be done. Ready for finish electrical. Then hang doors, plumbing, air compressor and dust collection!!

On another note, a friend of mine recently remodeled his kitchen and is donating his white melamine cabinets for my workshop! For free!! SCORE!! I am excited as they are going to be my workbench area.

Electrical and Some Drywall

2011-11-10T09:29:00.000-08:00

I completed the electrical about a week ago, but the computer interface for my camera broke, so I had to wait for a new connector to get the pictures off of it.

I was going to have someone drywall the walls but the quotes were more than I wanted to pay for how easy the job was. The quotes were a standard $10/sheet to hang it. My problem with this is that I am not having the ceiling drywalled, so it seems like it is easier than other drywall jobs. So I started hanging it myself. I can get about 6 sheets done in 2 hours, so probably 6-8 hours to hang the 22 sheets that I have. Not enough to do the entire workshop, but enough to cover key areas.

Last night I did 6 more sheets and tonight I will hang some more. So the drywall should be completed by the weekend. Then finish electrical, plumbing for sink, plumbing for air compressor and dust collection. Then tools come in!!

Framing...Check!

2011-10-18T04:10:00.000-07:00

We finished the framing this weekend. Started putting up the electrical boxes where I want the items to be (switches, outlets, etc...).

Here are the pictures:

Two views of the same wall.

My Air Compressor and Dust Collector Closet.

This is wall where the aforementioned closet attaches to.

Unforeseen Progress

2011-10-10T18:23:00.000-07:00

So,
   I had an extended weekend thanks to Columbus. It was my son's 2nd birthday and mother nature decided to grace us with 80 degree weather; I had no plans on making any progress in the workshop.

   But, I did end up finding time while the kids were napping. I have 3 kids, so when I am home, it is imperative that I help around the house as much as possible. It is very difficult to take care of 3 children and my wife is a saint for staying home with them. But today, she allowed me to spend time in the basement and make some progress.

   I ended up working by myself, but actually made a lot of progress. Framing is nearing completion with only a couple of more walls to build.

Where the pocket door meets the wall, I framed in some extra support. This will provide some stability for the drywall when the pocket door is slammed shut - by my children I am sure :) It also will keep it on track.

Another shot with the door closed.

The birthday boy. But what I am showing in this picture is the additional framing I finally added underneath the bottom landing and underneath the pocket door frame.

There was a change of plans when we came to the water meters (regular and deduct meter). I was trying to figure the best way to make the meters accessible while still being nice looking. Ended up deciding that a door would be the best way to do this, so I framed in a door way.

Another view of the meters.

Here is what I call the "electrical closet". It will keep the sewer main and Electrical panel contained. I was able to frame that as well.

Another view of the closet.

A view from the closet looking back into the pocket door.

Overall,

I am very happy with the progress. The room is starting to feel like a workshop again. Still much left to do, but progress is progress.

Workshop Build: Day 2

2011-10-02T08:35:00.000-07:00

I couldn't work on the workshop the last 2 weeks because of family parties and such, but yesterday I was able to get working on it again.

It was great to have Jeff, Paul and Anthony help at various times through the day to make some much needed progress on it. Of course, there is much more to do, but it is starting to take shape and I am very excited!!

We started the day by laying out the rest of pressure treated bottom plates so that we know where all of the walls will go. We used my carpenter's square to square up our corners. The walls are definitely "closing" in the workshop, but being that it is large, it doesn't really matter.

During the week, I built the bottom landing. The reason I put a landing and didn't just leave the bottom step is that since I only have 1 door into the workshop, I wanted to make it as large as possible. By making a landing, I can put in a 36" door. Originally I was going to put a door that swung into the workshop, but after looking at the code about doors, I had to modify it. The code states that if the door opens over a landing that it can't be more than a 1.5" "step". So, since I don't want it swinging into the stairway because it seems like a hazard, I decided to put in a pocket door. I LOVE pocket doors anyway, so it was nice to actually finally have one.

Here is a picture of the staircase with the railing removed. During the building of the landing, I had to move the supports for the stairs. I didn't want to disassemble the shelves, so I just cut my pieces to fit in between, but to land on top of each other to still have continuous load. I had to move the stair supports so that I could build a wall directly against the stairs.

This shows the closet for the dust collection system and air compressor. I will use soundproof "Roxul" insulation to help keep the noise down. There will be a 36" door to get in and out of the closet.

This will be another closet for the electrical and plumbing. The base that you probably find odd is where the sink will be going. I wanted to secure the sink to the floor. I am actually going to have to build a platform for the sink to sit on so that I can get the necessary 1/4" per foot needed for the drain on the sink so that it doesn't back up.

We built the wall on the floor and actually attached the sheet rock to the wall before we put the wall up. This made it so much easier than having to try and attach drywall between our wall and the stair stringers and screw it into the studs. Since we knew that the pocket door was going to be on the right side of the wall, we left the full 8' sheet without cutting the end of it off. Then after installing the pocket door frame, we were able to screw the drywall to the frame.

Note: Be careful when screwing drywall into the frame. You don't want to use too long of screws otherwise you will screw into the door or scratch it as it opens and closes.

There were 2 different types of pocket door frames at Lowe's. The first one was $60 and required assembly. The 2nd was $80 and was pre-made. I went with the pre-made one and am VERY happy I did this. It made the installation a breeze. Basically, you attach the top header to the pocket door frame and then hang the frame. Level and plumb the frame. Attach the brackets to the door and install. Voila!!

Closed door! BEAUTIFUL!!

The sink. You can now see that I will have to lift the sink to get a working drain.

The wall behind the air compressor closet.

Looking down. This was before fastening the drywall to the pocket frame. Matches up to the other drywall perfectly and will make it easier to tape and mud.

So, you can see that we made a lot of progress, but there is still a lot of walls to build. Electrical to run and plumbing to connect. But progress is progress!

Now that my wife has seen the progress, she has already started discussing putting a craft area on the other side of the workshop area at the bottom of the stairs. I think we should have enough left over studs to complete this. We may need to pick up some more pressure treated bottom plates.

Vote for Me

2011-09-23T04:39:00.001-07:00

http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/before-after-2011-winner/

Workshop Build Day 1

2011-09-22T07:19:00.000-07:00

First day of Workshop build was completed this past Saturday. Of course we didn't make as much progress as I wanted to. I was able to get the basement entry door reinstalled and buttoned up at least which was my primary objective. We completed one wall.

I did the walls in the following order. We put sill foam underneath our Pressure Treated bottom sill. I put the bottom sill in first which was easier to line up and make square than trying to square a wall and make straight. I used a ramset to set the PT sill in place.

I built the wall on the floor and then raised it up and installed it. Sounds easy, but we ended up having to move some plumbing lines and cut out some of the wall for plumbing pipes.

Here are the pictures:

Delivery truck arriving with a truck load of dry wall, wood and doors.

After day 1 the door is back in and walls are starting to take shape.

Basement Workshop

2011-09-14T08:24:00.000-07:00

I am very excited to announce the newest project I am working on. It is going to be a workshop in my currently unfinished basement.

My previous house had a small workshop which was nice, but shared the space with the boiler and oil tank. This house has a much larger unfinished basement area that is going to allow me to have a dedicated workshop that is separate from the rest of the basement. It has always been a dream of mine to have a nice workshop. This will make organizing my tools easier as well as keeping the dust out of the rest of the basement (important because we have a forced hot air system now).

I bought a Dust Collection system off of Craigslist and will install it into a closet with my 17-gallon air compressor. I will run lines to the individual tools for both of these.

It has always been my dream (I know I am weird!) to use spray foam for insulation. It is the best insulation out there and closed cell is an automatic vapor barrier (1.5" or thicker). With an R-Value of 7 per inch, it outperforms any other insulation out there.

So, I convinced my wife to let me spray foam the basement walls in the workshop. The plan is to spray foam the rest of the basement at a later point.

I contacted 4-6 spray foam contractors and only received responses from 2. I had them both give me quotes for 2" of closed cell spray foam. They varied by about 33%. Got references from each and since they both received glowing recommendations, I went with the less expensive one.

Over the last couple of years I have read many many articles, blog posts and such on the best methods to finish basements. Of course all of them agree that spray foam is the best way to insulate. But I did see an article on HomeConstructionImprovement on insulating a basement. He uses 2" XPS Foam sheets glued and taped onto the concrete walls as well as how to insulate the rim joist. My rim joist currently has unfaced fiberglass batts stuffed into the cavity. Not ideal and not sealed well as well as potential for mold and other things.

I decided that I would price out doing the XPS foam just to see if the spray foam was prohibitively more expensive and if my dreams would be crushed by my practical side.

To do the workshop with XPS Foam, I would need 23 sheets at a cost of about $30/sheet with tape. Just for the walls (not including rim joist), it would be $690. The lower spray foam quote was $940 including rim joist. And I don't need to install it, it is a perfect seal and it is SPRAY FOAM!!

In preparation for the spray foam, I removed the door leading to the bulk head, and cleaned out the area of all tools and such so the installers wouldn't have anything in the way. The spray foam installers came by yesterday around 2PM and were pulling out of the driveway by 5:15PM. There is no way I could have done the XPS foam in 3.25 hours...I was thinking more like 2 days.

I placed my order with Lowe's for all materials that should be delivered tomorrow afternoon. I will start construction this Saturday. Not sure how far I will get, but will definitely be taking pics.

Oh yeah...and I love Google Sketchup. I have used it to design my basement. It made it easy to calculate exactly how many 2x4's I would need, how I would lay things out, how much electrical, number of outlets, location of things. It really is a great tool. Kind of difficult to use because you have to draw each item at least once.

Before pics of the basement

After spray foam!!

Because the stairs are pre-cast, I wanted them to seal the section where the concrete meets the steps.

I am VERY HAPPY with the way it turned out! I am excited to finally have a nice workshop.

2011-08-02T10:29:00.000-07:00

The One Project Closer Before & After series supporting Habitat for Humanity is in full gear. If you've completed a DIY project recently, send it in for a chance to win a $50 gift card! Through the entire summer, they're picking weekly winners and publishing their before and after story on OPC. At the end of summer, voting begins and the grand prize winner takes home an additional $150 gift card! To join in, submit pictures and a story to BeforeAndAfter@OneProjectCloser.com.

This is the fourth year One Project Closer has run this series to help raise support and awareness for Habitat. In addition to winning a gift card, OPC makes a $100 donation to Habitat in your honor. All together, they'll have donated more than a $1000 by the end of summer! Not too shabby. Plus, keep your eye out for the Habitat fun fact on each Before and After post to learn what Habitat is doing all over the world.

If you like home improvement projects, let OPC help you get started. $200 worth of gift cards can go a long way, especially when you combine that with a Lowe's coupon or Home Depot coupon. You've put in a lot of work, and it's time to claim some of the credit. Let OPC feature your awesome before and after AND help out a worthy cause.

For all the official details, head over to One Project Closer and read the Before & After 2011 announcement.

New House...New Project

2011-08-01T12:06:00.000-07:00

So...my wife and I were lucky enough to sell our small 1950s cape. We also bought a 1992 colonial house. We closed on the old house and the new the same day (May 27th). This house that is new to us has some major outdated interior things. Wallpaper in every room, tan/almond everywhere (carpets, outlets, paint, baseboards, etc...).

We needed to buy a new house for our ever expanding family. We welcomed my 3rd child on April 1st. It took over a year to sell our house in this market, but we were lucky enough to get it sold!!

Over time we will update the interior of the whole house. It will not be as an extreme update as the last house as I don't foresee taking out any walls or removing drywall.

The first room we have updated is our formal Dining Room. About 3 weeks ago, I saw 170 sq. ft of 3/4" x 4" Maple Hardwood on Craiglist. I picked it up for about $3/sq. ft which is a great deal. They sell the same stuff at Lumber Liquidators for about $5/ sq. ft. The room is about 160 sq. ft., so I knew it would be tight and not much room for error, but I could always buy another box if needed as it is still available.

The floor registers were brass (like the lighting fixture). I like flush-mount registers for a couple of reasons:

They are flush and therefore do not stick out so they won't be hit by furniture or other things.
My son likes to take the floor registers up and throw toys and other things down the vents. I have screwed down the other registers in the house because of this.
It seems more professional and that there was actually care that went into the floor installation.

Before Pictures:

Lovely window treatments, wallpaper border and light.

Beautiful carpet and a genius idea to have in your formal dining room.

Here is the newest addition "supervising".

These were our color choices. We bought 5 samples and went from there.

During Pictures:

After removing wallpaper, I removed the carpet and then the baseboard. If you cut the carpet and pad into strips, the city will take it with our weekly trash pickup service. This is convenient and a great service!!

While removing the wallpaper, some of the paint came with it which made the surface uneven. I had to mud these areas out and sand them.

There is daddy's little helper always under foot. I screwed down the sub floor so that we would never develop any squeaks. Nothing worse than a squeaky floor.

After painting:

I have always wanted my formal dining room to look upscale, so going into this project, I knew that I wanted a chair rail and wainscoting using the wall frames. The nice thing is that Lowe's sells pre-made wall frames. This saves me the time of creating a jig, cutting the frames, gluing them together and what not. Of course, it made it difficult to modify any of them like the one around the stairs.

Flushmount vent:

The flushmount has a groove around the entire frame that the vent sits in. I like this one better than the big box ones because it still has the louver to open and close the vent as needed. Purchased from Buyfloorregisters.com.

Post Flooring Installation:

I ran into some difficulty when I installed the flush mount registers. The register was about 1" from the edge of the closest floor board. Since I wanted to use the groove of the register to hold it down, I decided to build a frame around it. I mitered the corners of my frame. I am very happy with the results.

I purchased the Skil Flooring Saw when we bought this house because I knew I would be replacing a lot of carpet in the future. This saw is amazing. The dust bag/collection is the worst part. It kicked up a lot of dust into the room, but the convenience of having the saw in the same room was priceless and worth the extra mess. It has the nice large no mar feet and is very light and easy to move around. I would recommend it as it is worth the money if you plan on doing a lot of flooring.

If you are doing 1 or 2 rooms, a standard mitre saw will be more useful as it will be usable for floor molding and chair rails and crown molding.

Frames/Chair Rail:

While browsing Sears one day, I saw an ingenious update to the age old miter saw. It is the Craftsman Miter Mate. I bought it and used it for this room. It was a time saver. It has a neat little angle finder. You use that angle finder and put it in the corner. Then you bring the 2 fences on the saw to the 2 angles. It is great because you rarely if ever find a perfectly square corner.

You can see in the last picture the angle I was talking about that doesn't work with the pre-made picture frames. I used the blue tape to mark exactly what it would look like and used that as a template to cut up 2 different frames to make the angled one.

My son likes to stick things in outlets, so we are slowly replacing the outlets in every room with Tamper Resistant outlets. You can see in the picture that these are different (better) than the plastic nubs or other methods that provide resistance to tampering. There is a plastic piece inside of the hot and neutral prongs that requires an equal amount of pressure on both before it moves out of the way and allows you to plug something in.

These were also added to the NEC in 2008.

Final pictures with furniture and window treatments:

These treatments were purchased at Target. They only had 1 set, which is why the other window is treatment-less. We will have the second set added after we find a Target with them.

We don't have a wide angle lens on the camera, so it is difficult to capture the dramatic difference in the room. My wife and I are very happy with the outcome and are excited to see what the house will look like after each update.

Breakdown of cost:

$500 - Hardwood Floors
$120 - Paint, samples, brushes, rollers (Ceiling Paint, Brown Wall Paint, White Wall Paint)
$50 - Miscellaneous (Caulking, nails, etc...)
$260 - Wall Frames
$120 - Chair Rail and Floor Molding
$90 - Light Fixture
$50 - Flush Mount Floor Registers
$40 - T-Mold Transitional Molding between kitchen/entry and hardwood flooring.
$100 - Tamper Resistant Outlets, Decora Light Switches, Faceplates.
$150 - Window Treatments (including Rods and Curtains)

Total cost for Remodel of Dining Room - $1480

Deck Refinishing

2010-09-07T07:03:00.000-07:00

Since we put our house on the market, the projects have taken a back seat. We don't want to put anymore money into the house if we are moving.

When I put the deck on last year, I applied Olympic Maximum Clear Waterproofing Sealant (http://www.olympic.com/Stain/Find_Products/clear_maximum.aspx). I used a roller as recommended, but it just bubbled up. I used a brush on the stairs and it seemed to work better as I was able to back brush it and remove the excess. Well, within a couple of months of heavy rain, the finish decided to stop working and the boards were starting to turn gray.

I read a review of the OneTime and decided that it couldn't be worse than what I have on there now. I also liked the fact that it was 100% solids. I purchased a gallon of the http://www.onetimewood.com last year in anticipation of refinishing the deck. I never got around to it, so it has been sitting.

Review from HomeConstructionImprovement blog. And 10 months later.

I took the last 2 weekends refinishing the deck. I did half the deck at a time so we wouldn't have to remove the grill or other items from the deck (just move them to the side).

Here is a before picture of how the deck looked and why it needed to be redone.

I started out by pressure washing the deck. This took about 4 hours per half (8 hours total). Here is the after pressure washing picture. The grain has lifted and the surface is very uneven. The deck was really bad which is why I had to go so deep with the pressure washing.

After that, I used the belt sander to sand the surface. This took another 4 hours per section (8 hours total). This is the post sanding picture. Notice how much smoother it is.

Here are some pictures of me sanding. The children are wondering why they can't come on the deck too.

After sanding, I applied the OneTime wood protector. I couldn't find anything on the website, on the container or any literature mentioning that you would have to apply 2 coats, so I only applied one. Took about 6 hours to apply the protector with a brush. I wasn't going to chance it with a roller this time.

Here are the after pictures. You can even see a comparison shot. The OneTime protector dries much lighter in color (looks red in the picture). I would have preferred to use the Red Cedar myself, but the wife decided she wanted the natural finish and of course she won :)

If the house doesn't sell, I will be able to see how well this stuff lasts. For now, I am just happy that the job is done!

Hardwood Flooring Installation

2010-07-26T13:41:00.001-07:00

I was following this series of Post on One Project Closer:
http://www.oneprojectcloser.com/how-to-install-hardwood-flooring/

Great information for a beginner or a refresher for those more seasoned installers.

Submission

2010-07-20T13:28:00.000-07:00

Here is my submission for One Project Closer's annual Before and After Contest. This may look familiar to all you blog readers, but it is a condensed version of the many many posts.

This past spring my wife and I tore down the original deck that was attached to our house. It was 8x10, large enough to fit a table and chairs but no grill and not much else. While this isn’t a reason to tear down a deck, the rotting wood, untreated lumber and Carpenter Ant infestation really put the proverbial nail in the coffin (or in this case - the deck).

It was really bad. I am thankful that the person that previously built it did not attach it to the house for many reasons.

They used untreated wood and sat it directly on the ground, thus creating a feeding area within easy reach of the wood eating insects.

Supports (if you can call them that) sat directly on the ground, not below the frost line (which would be fine for a free standing deck, but not when you use wood not rated for ground contact)..

After the Carpenter Ants ate through the main supports (2x12), they sistered some 1x6 blocks on the bottom of the supports. Which provides no support, but gave them an area to paint and “look” nice.
I was really scared that it was going to just fall apart that I never let anyone on it except myself. The only thing holding it together was the 2x12 decking boards.

Here are some pictures of deck and destruction. That lean is not supposed to be there. If you look in the background, you can see that the insects have gotten to our fence as well (a future project).

Before Pictures and Deconstruction.

My philosophy is to build it right so you only have to build it once. This means going above and beyond “minimum code”. I really dislike the idea of attaching the deck to the house through the use of a ledger board, but because of the concrete pad (2” thick) attached to my house, it will be more trouble and work to build it freestanding. If I cut up the concrete, then I could create a problem with water in the future which the concrete holds back. If I make a hole large enough in the concrete to put my concrete form (12” diameter), then water may get around the seam where the old concrete meets the new form; thus creating a possibility of frost heaving or other problems in the future.

That leaves only 1 choice of ledger board. After reading this article entitled “Don’t Build Decks that Rot” , it gave me a great idea of using composite decking as blocks for my ledger board. This would create a drainage point as well as keeping the ledger board away from the house by about an inch but still providing the structural strength of a ledger board. It also gave me the idea of using a roofing membrane on every joist and at the post connection to prolong the life of my wood structure.

I also downloaded quite a bit on code for deck building. This includes span charts, joist sizing, beam sizing, etc… Can’t forget about the StrongTie handout for deck building connections that has all of the connections with pictures and uses.

AWC Code - http://www.awc.org/Publications/DCA/DCA6/DCA6.pdf
Multi-Level Decks - http://www.strongtie.com/ftp/fliers/diy-mldeck05.pdf
Strong-Tie Deck Fasteners - http://www.strongtie.com/ftp/fliers/F-DECKCODE07.pdf

The Lowe’s Deck Designer is GREAT for an overview and parts list. It allows you to do some great designs for decks with multi-levels and then shows you what your deck will look like with beams and everything. It was great and saved me a lot of time. Of course I tweaked the design a little bit and played with different joist sizes to see if the Live and Dead Load changes.
Lowe's Deck Designer (Need Account) - http://www.lowes.com/deckdesigner .

We re moved the electrical and water spigot until we have reinstalled the ledger board.
We removed the vinyl siding and cedar siding and then the sheathing After that, I saw the inevitable it seems for my projects. Carpenter ants decided to eat out some of my rim joist. I prayed that they didn’t cause too much damage. Luckily they only ate out about a 2 foot section of the rim board. They never touched any floor joist or even the sill plate.

I removed 6 feet of the rim board and replaced it with a PT board. I used (3) 3/8” Lag Screws per floor joist to secure it. It shouldn’t go anywhere J. I then put some Ice & Water Shield over the top of that.

We dug our 3 sonotube holes with a post hole digger 4 feet deep, 12" wide and laid 6 inches in the holes. We put in our sonotubes and used 5000 psi concrete. We waited a couple of hours for the concrete to start curing before we could put our ½” x 12” anchor bolt into the form.

For those that are interested in soup-to-nuts information. Here is the information needed to submit for a permit to add the deck to the house. I have removed all information distinguishing location and address, but you get the idea.

You need quite a bit of information. Then there are the fees. My city charges .01 times the cost of what you are building. In the case of my deck, the cost of materials is $2500, so it is a $25 permit fee plus a standard $25 application fee.

We installed the first 2x12 where the ledger is to be installed as a spacer board to bring the wood up to the same level as where the vinyl siding currently attaches. On top of that we installed ice and water shield. We went up about 12-18”, even behind the vinyl siding and down about 12” below the bottom of the sill plate just to keep things tight. Don’t see a need to cut off the bottom, it will be behind the deck anyway.

On top of the ice and water shield we installed vinyl flashing. On top of that we installed composite decking spacers every 16” on-center.

Then we attached the ledger board. We used 5” LedgerLok’s in a staggered pattern.

I have never had to pull a permit for a deck before. I hadn't realized that the first inspection was after digging your post holes…OOPS! Lucky for me, the inspector was VERY understanding and just made me dig down the side of one of the posts to verify depth. He approved my posts on Tuesday and so we are officially ready to go! The next inspection will be at the completion and then hopefully we get the Certificate of Completion!

This weekend, it will actually start to look like a deck!!

Next, I ran a string to a batter board so that I could figure out the height of my post. I leveled the string with a string level and then measured down 22 3/8” which was the actual distance of my 2x12 joist and 6x12 beam added together. The first 2 posts were almost the same at 5 5/8”.

I originally was going to go with the composite decking, but decided upon cedar. I found some at the local big box store for $1.22/linear foot! Nicer looking than composite, safer than Pressure Treated and naturally insect repellant. Of course, that means maintenance, but sealing the deck every year is not that difficult. I can roll it on relatively easily.

I refuse to use anything but vinyl railings because painting every spindle is ridiculously time consuming…and pressure treated railings are more likely to splinter and I don’t want to worry about that with children…even if they don’t use Arsenic/Formaldehyde anymore.

We cut the 6x6 posts and attach them to the post bases. Then we stack the first half of the beam and cut it to length (about 12 feet long). Then the 2nd to be stacked on top of that one. Then we use ½” x 12" lag bolts to tie the beam together. Then we do the same for the 2nd half of the deck at about 7 feet long. We ice and water shield the posts and attach the beams to the posts. We then cut 2x6 boards to keep the beam from rocking front to back. The beam is SOLID!

We attach the joist hangers at 16” OC (on center) along the ledger board and hang the joists and cut them down to size We attach our Rim Board with ¼” x 3” lag screws. We install the railing posts with 2-Deck Post Ties per post. We install ice and water shield on top of our joists, square up the stringers and block the sides of our posts to reinforce the connection. The final thing to do before we were finished framing was to install our dryer vent. It is located in the middle of the ledger board, so we had to use a 4" hole saw to cut a hole so that we would still have our dryer vent.

We finished half of the decking boards. We started in the middle of the deck. You are probably wondering why. Well, we were going to start on one of the ends, but we couldn't tell if the board was straight. I am more worried about the board looking straight to the eye, than of it being square.

So, we started in the middle at the middle post and it looked perfectly straight. The problem we ran into is because it is wood, as it dries it warps, bends, etc. We started with the straightest board we could find. Then we used clamps to persuade the other boards to stay straight. We had to do some minimal shimming to make the boards even.

The problem with the clamp is that we started overtightening it and causing our spacers (8d nails) to cause impressions on the sides of our cedar decking. We used some laminate flooring spacers which helped, but they kept getting stuck. We finished about 5 rows in about 5 hours...not good progress at all!

So, I decided the clamps had to go and since they are 4 foot clamps, we were going to reach their limit very soon. I use ratchet straps in the truck all the time to tie things down, so I figured it was worth a shot. I set up 4 straps across the length of the deck and we ratcheted the boards down and it worked like a charm. Plus, we didn't have to move the straps which moved things along quite nicely.

We finally completed the decking. This totally transformed the deck into a new beast. It made all of the previous pain worth it. We finally had a 260 sq. ft platform to walk on. After finishing the decking, we moved to adjusting the stairs.

Railings:

I purchased 100" vinyl post sleeves because I knew that I would be able to cut them in half and therefore buy half as many. We cut them all at 43" so they would all be the same height. Then we started unpacking the railings. Since the railings had been out in the rain the past couple of weeks, the labels were pretty much stuck on there. We spent an hour with goo gone removing the labels. We didn't get them perfect because we didn't want to be stuck doing that all day. We then started the first railing closest to the house so that we could make mistakes and they wouldn't be as noticeable. Things went pretty smoothly from there and by 1PM we were finished the railings on the main part of the deck. We took a break for lunch.

Then we started the stair railings. Since I am obsessive about perfection, it took us about 5 hours to install the 2 stair railings...constantly making adjustments. Since this is finish carpentry, it takes me longer. This is the part that people will see no matter how much time and energy you spent on the subframe. If it looks funny, it will haunt me the rest of my life.

After completing the railings, I was happy with the deck.

Besides being safer since we have little ones; the finish height of the deck in some areas is 32" so code says we need to have railings (anything over 30"). Since it was a holiday weekend, I waited until Tuesday to call the inspector to tell him I am ready for the final inspection. He comes by while I am at work and leaves. Tanya finds the paper inside the door.

It says, "failed". The 2 reasons are:

Deck not adequately attached. Needs to be attached every 3-4'.
Stairs not uniform.

Ok...let me talk about #1. The ledger is attached every 16" with (4) 5" LedgerLoks as all of you know from my previous post. I e-mail him and asked him to clarify what he meant. He responds "Due to the limited angle for viewing I was unable to determine your means of fastening to the house." And that he would check upon reinspection of the stairs. So...because you couldn't see how the deck was fastened to the house, you failed it!!

Let me talk about #2. I knew the stairs were not uniform, but they are only off by 1". I have walked them numerous times and I don't see a problem. But I looked up the code and it says that the smallest rise to the highest rise shall be maximum of 3/8" difference. Well...they are definitely not that. And I guess he needed to come up with something wrong with the deck to justify his position (just a little bitter*).

But there are only 4 stairs and to me they don't feel that much off. But I don't make the rules and when you pull a permit you are at the mercy of the inspector.But this whole thing could have been avoided (#1 and #2) by having a framing inspection. The most important part of the deck is the framing.

He would be able to:

Measure the spacing of the joists.
The attachment of the ledger to the house.
Fastening of joists to ledger and to beam.
Beam connection.
Stair uniformity.

So...although they aren't going to change the way things are done, I think they would have much safer decks if they did a framing inspection.

Well...this past weekend we spent quite a few hours fixing the stairs. We chiseled the concrete about 3 inches by 5 feet so we could sink the stairs a little further. They are now only .5" off. Hopefully he will say it is ok.

Well, I purchased the 2009 International Residential Code (IRC) book. It costs $90, but I probably could have avoided this by having the code book easily accessible. It will be useful in the future. And since my city is still using the 2000 IRC book, I think I should be safe with whatever I do.

HERE Is the Completed Masterpiece (before the lattice work was installed). My wife and I love. My wife, daughter and son use it daily in the summer

Restitution

2010-03-02T13:48:00.000-08:00

The plumber finally called me back. He has been having personal problems the last 2 weeks and didn't get any of my voicemails or any of my calls.

He started off by asking if I wanted to have him install the sink and toilet this Thursday. I told him the whole story and he offered to reimburse me for those things.

I asked him to do that as well as fix one of the other issues in my house. The drain for the shower is copper connected to steel connected to cast iron. I would like the steel piece replaced with PVC. I am sure that the piece will be as caked with "stuff" as the sink one we replaced.

All in all I am happy with the resolution and that he is willing to work with me.

Grand Total

2010-03-01T07:36:00.001-08:00

Total Cost for Bedroom - $4,807.36

Here is the breakdown of the cost for the bedroom. For some reason, blogger is putting my table all the way down at the bottom of the page. Scroll down to see table.

Description	Qty	Each	Total	Notes
1/4" Industrial Couple (Female)	1	$2.68	$2.68	Air Hose End
Bathroom Door	1	$75.00	$75.00	Bathroom - Door
4" CenterSet Faucet	1	$88.20	$88.20	Bathroom - Faucet
3 Light Bronze Curvature	1	$48.60	$48.60	Bathroom - Light
PFJ Casing 3 1/2 x 8'	5	$9.22	$46.10	Bathroom - Molding
Almond Caulking	2	$3.58	$7.16	Bed - Caulking
100' Coax	1	$21.57	$21.57	Bedroom - Coax Cable
28x78 6 Panel Pine LH Solid	1	$153.00	$153.00	Bedroom - Door
13" Flushmount Lights - Bronze	1	$17.79	$17.79	Bedroom - Lights (2-Pack)
1x6 Poplar	22	$1.76	$38.61	Bedroom - Bed Trim
Rosette Door Casing	1	$11.57	$11.57	Bedroom - Bed Trim
351 Casing	4	$8.97	$35.89	Bedroom - Floor Trim
Pine Beadboard Paneling	6	$ 13.30	$79.80	Bedroom - Walls
Bed/Bath Doorknob	2	$7.62	$15.24	Door - Doorknob
8x1.5" Bronze Screws	1	$5.37	$ 5.37	Door - Screws
8x1" Bronze Screws	1	$5.37	$ 5.37	Door - Screws
Drywall Labor	1	$660.00	$660.00	Drywall - Labor
DryDex Quart	1	$5.34	$5.34	Drywall - Patching
1/2" 4x8 Regular	16	$5.38	$86.08	Drywall - Supplies
1/2" 4x8 Mold Resistant	5	$8.08	$40.40	Drywall - Supplies
Metal-Tape Flex Corner	1	$10.86	$10.86	Drywall - Supplies
USG Plus 4 Ready Mix	1	$12.98	$12.98	Drywall - Supplies
Dump	360	$0.08	$27.00	Dump - 360lbs
Dump	480	$0.08	$36.00	Dump - 480lbs
5 Pack Disposable Dust Masks	1	$2.23	$2.23	Dust Protection Masks
Pushin Conn Yellow	2	$1.78	$3.56	Electrical
Pushin Conn Assorted	2	$1.78	$3.56	Electrical
Pushin Conn Orange	2	$1.78	$3.56	Electrical
Voltage Detector	1	$8.98	$8.98	Electrical
HOM 20A AFCI Breaker	2	$31.47	$62.94	Electrical - Arc Fault Breaker
20CI Ceiling	1	$0.87	$0.87	Electrical - Bathroom Light
25CI Blue Ceiling	2	$6.09	$12.18	Electrical - Bedroom Lights
1 Gang White Midsize Outlet Plate	6	$0.40	$2.40	Electrical - Faceplate
2 Gang White Jumbo Outlet Plate	2	$2.04	$4.08	Electrical - Faceplate
1 Gang Midsize Plate	1	$0.40	$0.40	Electrical - Faceplate
HOM 20A GFCI Breaker	1	$31.46	$31.46	Electrical - Ground Fault Breaker
35CI 2Gang New Work	1	$1.67	$1.67	Electrical - Junction Box
20A 125 White Spec Switch	2	$3.89	$7.78	Electrical - Light Switches
22CI Blue 1 Gang New Work	13	$0.61	$7.93	Electrical - Outlet Boxes
20A Tamper Water Resistant White Outlet	8	$5.84	$46.72	Electrical - Outlets
LK100AN LugKit 100AMP	2	$3.37	$6.74	Electrical - Secondary Panel Tie-In
1 Gang Low Voltage	1	$1.69	$1.69	Electrical - Tel/Ethernet/Coax
12-2 Copper 250Ft	1	$52.18	$52.18	Electrical - Wiring
RJ45 Surface Mount Jack	1	$6.27	$6.27	Ethernet/Internet Wiring
23/32 2x2 Sand Pine Plywood	1	$7.41	$7.41	Fill in gaps in Subfloor
Wood Putty	1	$2.67	$2.67	Fill in Nail Holes
Floor	140	$0.71	$100.00	Floor - 140sq. Ft beech
Bamboo Flooring	23.81	$ 1.89	$45.00	Floor - Landing Area
Bamboo Stair Nose	6	$ 4.49	$26.94	Floor - Stair Nose
Plastic 9x12 2Mil	11	$2.98	$32.78	Floor Protection
Wood and Insulation (Lost Receipt)	1	$130.00	$130.00	Framing
2x4x96 Stud	61	$1.77	$107.97	Framing
1x3x8 Furring	2	$1.15	$2.30	Framing
1x4x8 Furring	4	$1.66	$6.64	Framing
1x8x4 Prem Wood	1	$3.45	$3.45	Framing
2x6x8	6	$3.75	$22.50	Framing - Collar Ties
12" Strap	10	$2.50	$25.00	Framing - Collar Ties
2x6x10	4	$4.48	$17.92	Framing - Knee Walls
Spray Foam	4	$4.86	$19.44	Insulation
R21 67.18SQ	6	$26.42	$158.52	Insulation
R13 40SQ	3	$6.92	$20.76	Insulation
R25 Comforttherm	5	$8.43	$42.15	Insulation
Blown-in Insulation	5	$24.28	$121.40	Insulation
R13 106Sq Ft.	1	$22.05	$22.05	Insulation
Gallon Valspar Interior Eggshell Paint	3	$19.78	$59.34	Paint for Bedroom and Bathroom
2" Frog Tape	1	$8.97	$8.97	Painting
3Pk 3/8" Teflon Rollers	1	$8.07	$8.07	Painting
2pk 3" Roller	1	$2.94	$2.94	Painting
2" Angled Brush	1	$11.22	$11.22	Painting
10.1 Oz Alex Fast Dry Caulk	4	$2.23	$8.92	Painting/Molding
Phone Jack	1	$4.58	$4.58	Phone
Plumbing Parts	1	$200.00	$200.00	Plumbing
Plumbing Labor	1	$ 800.00	$ 800.00	Plumbing
Marathon Round Front Toilet 10" Rough-in	1	$134.25	$134.25	Plumbing
Marathon Jr. Pedestal Sink	1	$89.50	$89.50	Plumbing
1/2" Copper Coupling	1	$0.36	$0.36	Plumbing
1/2" Type L Copper Pipe	1	$4.74	$4.74	Plumbing
Gallon Kilz 2 Primer	1	$13.22	$13.22	Primer
5'3" x 7'6" Windsor Beige Rug	1	$75.00	$75.00	Rug
2x8 Rug Pad	2	$7.18	$14.36	Rug Pad
2" Deck Screw 1lb	1	$7.10	$7.10	Screwdown Subfloor
18mm Birch	4	$13.74	$54.97	Shelving for Landing
1x2 Maple	8	$0.87	$6.98	Shelving for Landing
Wood Shims	4	$1.24	$4.96	Shims
Composite Shims	2	$1.33	$2.66	Shims
Demolition	1	$ -	$ -	Tear down to Studs and Disposal
Handle Mount Template	1	$2.66	$2.66	Template for Mounting Draw Pulls
1G New Work Low Volt	1	$1.37	$1.37	Thermostat Box
Thermostat	2	$19.44	$38.88	Thermostats for upstairs bedrooms
Epoxy	1	$4.48	$4.48	Tile - Fix delaminated Tile
Spectra Grout	2	$17.98	$35.96	Tile - Grout
Scrubbing Sponge	1	$2.70	$2.70	Tile - Grout Cleanup
Sponge	1	$1.77	$1.77	Tile - Grout Cleanup
SpectraLock Mocha	2	$3.53	$7.06	Tile - Grout Color
Penetrating Sealer	1	$10.31	$10.31	Tile - Sealant (3 coats applied)
Tile/Wood/Hardibacker (Receipt Missing)	1	$76.00	$76.00	Tile - Supplies
Canopy Kit Ceiling Fan	1	$4.48	$4.48	Trim for Keira's Room fan removal
Window	1	$50.00	$50.00	Window
4x33 Vycor Flashing	1	$8.05	$8.05	Window - Flashing
2018 PVC Lattice	1	$8.25	$8.25	Window - Trim under window
6" Recessed Lighting Can (Renovation)	1	$11.49	$11.49	Repair for leaking Tee Valve
Sharkbite 1/2" Tee	1	$9.00	$9.00	Repair for leaking Tee Valve
Joint Compound	1	$5.54	$ 5.54	Repair for leaking Tee Valve
Labor for A Better Handyman	2	$25.00	$50.00	Repair for leaking Tee Valve
Labor for A Better Handyman	3	$25.00	$75.00	Toilet and Sink Installation
1x2x8 Select Pine	1	$4.09	$ 4.09	Shelving for Landing
1x4x6 EWP Select S4S	2	$6.42	$12.84	Shelving for Landing
1x3x8 Select Pine	3	$6.08	$18.24	Shelving for Landing
Cordless Cell 60x72 Shade Room Darkening	1	$82.80	$82.80	Bedroom - Blinds
3/4" 2x4 Oak	1	$16.42	$16.42	Shelving for Landing
Multi-Pack Brushes	1	$13.48	$13.48	Painting
Satin Nickel Hinge Door Stop	4	$1.33	$5.32	Door - DoorStop
SQ-D 100Amp Ground Lug Kit	2	$5.13	$10.26	Electrical
SQ-D Breaker Blank Filler	1	$ 3.57	$3.57	Electrical
1x4x4 Select Pine	1	$4.58	$ 4.58	Shelving for Landing
1x3x4 Select Pine	1	$3.48	$ 3.48	Shelving for Landing
1/2 x 2 x 36 Select Pine	2	$1.67	$3.34	Shelving for Landing
1/2 x 3 x 36 Select Pine	4	$2.52	$10.08	Trim for Stairs
1/2 x 4 x 36 Select Pine	1	$3.30	$3.30	Trim for Stairs
White Oak Cove Molding	3	$2.98	$ 8.94	Trim for Stairs
Qt. Valspar Int/Ext Gls White	1	$13.48	$13.48	Painting
Forsyth Toilet Paper Holder	1	$17.98	$17.98	Bathroom - Fixtures
Forsyth 18" Towel Bar	1	$24.98	$24.98	Bathroom - Fixtures
			$ 4,807.36

Updated Bedroom Before and After

2010-03-01T06:32:00.000-08:00

This weekend was a flurry of activity. A Better Handyman came over and install the sink and the base of the toilet. We ordered the toilet and sink from HomeDepot.com. When he went to install the tank, the mounting holes wouldn't line up with the base of the toilet. The tank was 5.5" mounting holes, while the base was 5.75". GRR...another problem arises. Go to Home Depot and Lowe's but no one has a 10" Rough-in toilet in-stock...Special Order Only.

But, he installs the rest of the items which turn out great. The sink is secure, toilet is level and secure! Great and thanks!!

I installed the shelving in the landing area and all of the molding for the bedroom and landing area. We also painted the downstairs ceiling. Looks pretty good. You can't even see the spot we had to cut out.

I decided to try and install the tank on the toilet anyway and save myself the hassle of returning the toilet and getting the right one in. I was able to install it by putting both bolts in and tightening each side slowly. I would tighten the right side with a couple of turns and then the left side. This worked and the toilet isn't leaking and is secure. So, all is well and the bathroom is done.

After looking at these pictures, I honestly don't know how my wife ever agreed to buy this house. This is one of the ugliest rooms I have seen in a long time. I imagined it looking better, but I never imagined what it turned out to be.

Before pictures of the dresser wall.

After picture of the dresser wall. Small improvement :)

Opposite side of the room where the built-in bed is now.

After picture with the built-in bed.

Before pictures of the window

New Larger window. Got this $550 window off Craigslist for $50. Low-E, Argon Gas, Grills between the glass. The listing said it was a 60x60 window. When I got it home, I measured it and it was a 67 tall x 60 wide...almost didn't fit!!

New Entrance. We moved the wall 3 feet back so that we could add the bathroom from hell. Named that because of the problems it caused.

Bigger and better window!!

New 1/2 Bathrooom.

Shelving and stairway when we bought the house.

We now have the shelving I have been promising for 3 years. Looks good to me.

Updates and Setback

2010-02-25T10:48:00.000-08:00

Ok...so last weekend we finished installing the bamboo floor and installed the bathroom and bedroom 6-panel solid pine doors. We were feeling pretty good about the progress. I stained the doors on Monday. Helped Anthony replace some outlets on Tuesday.

Then Wednesday my cousin - "A Better Handyman" came in to finish what the plumber seemed to have forgotten. The plumber said he would be in last Friday to install the sink and toilet. Friday comes and he doesn't show up. He doesn't answer my 5 phone calls on Friday or my phone call on Saturday. Either something has happened to him or he just doesn't want to talk to me anymore.

So...About 10AM my wife calls and says "There is water coming in the recessed lighting". My boss allowed me to go home and take care of the disaster.

First off...I am happy about 2 things:

We took pictures of the rough plumbing
We have flat ceilings

A picture taken after the water stopped "flowing". This isn't the "rainforest" option on the recessed lighting unfortunately. And these fixtures aren't rated for water :(

Me cutting the "access panel" where the tee joint was. I knew where the only place the leak could be was the tee joint where the cold water was split to go to the toilet and the sink.

Also, there is no way that I am pulling up the tile floor or the bamboo floor, so I am getting at this leak from the ceiling in the downstairs living room.

I looked at this picture and I can see that we are between the 2nd and 3rd stud for the sink drain. And the 2nd and 3rd joist for the Drain Wye. This is the same spot that the cold water is split off for the sink and toilet (unfortunately, we don't have a picture of that).

So...the joists and studs are 16" OC (On-Center), so we are between 16 and 32" from the LVL beam downstairs and the stair wall. I measure 24" in both directions and make a mark on my ceiling downstairs. I then mark 8" from that mark in both directions so I will have a 16" wide cut-out. Then I pull the recessed lighting can down that was leaking and find the closest furring strips (where the drywall attaches to). I mark a line between 2 furring strips. This gives me a 16" x 16" access panel.

I take my Dremel Multimax and make my cut. Pull the piece down and see the joint. It doesn't look wet, so I turn the water back on and immediately hear "It's leaking". So I guess we know that it leaks from there.

This is after I made my first disconnect. I pull the piece off and notice that it is a "Watts" Tee Joint that they sell at Lowe's. This is the same type of the one that I had a problem with when installing my outside spigot and had a leak problem. I curse the thing and the plumber for using it and head to Home Depot for the Shark Bite Tee Joint as I have never had a problem with those.

Of course my local Home Depot is out of Stock for the 1/2" x 1/2" x 1/2" Tee Joint. I have them check surrounding stores and find one that has it that is about 20 minutes away. Head there, pick it up, head home and have the piece installed in about 2 minutes. Turn the water back on and life is good.

Leave the plaster/drywall down for about 30 minutes to see if were getting any leaks (left the water at full pressure). None, so I reattach the plaster, tape the seams and put my first coat on.

Today I put my 2nd coat on at lunch and tonight I will do my 3rd and last coat. Then prime and paint tomorrow and it will be like we never had a leak...other than the $25 wasted in parts and $50 worth of time wasted by "A Better Handyman". Not to mention that I had to take an entire day off from work.

Overall, not a huge setback, but we have our first showing on Sunday, so we have some hustling this week (esp Saturday).

The mess. The insulation absorbed 80-90% of the water which kept the drywall from getting saturated.

The "Access Panel" and recessed lighting. I could have reused the recessed lighting fixture if I hadn't damaged the mounting clips while removing it. My walls are 1" veneer plaster and the fixtures are designed for 1/2" or 5/8" drywall, so they are a little precarious to get installed on a 1" thick surface.

I have left 3 messages with the plumber and called numerous more times than that. Looks like I may have to escalate this, but we will give him a week to get back to me.

More progress.

2010-02-18T07:18:00.000-08:00

This is really my favorite part of building...the finish work. It makes the most impact as well as you feel like you are actually accomplishing something and you are that much closer to a check mark in the finished column.

Here are the built-in dressers painted. The last knob went missing for awhile - got to love toddlers :). We have found it and installed it since taking this picture.

Bed finish trim is complete. There is a junction box in there (hence the blank faceplate). This feeds Keira's room.

Bathroom molding partially installed. This is so the plumber can install the toilet and sink. We are trying to finish this as quickly as possible, so that's why I am bringing in the big guns. It would take me 3-4x as long to install them. One less thing for me to do...and I don't enjoy plumbing, so I am OK with that.

Flooring in the landing has been completed. It is natural horizontal bamboo. I covered it up with red rosin paper to protect it which is why you don't see a fully completed picture.

That last piece of bamboo was very tricky to install. Since the walls are off about 1/2" from one to the other, I had to rip down the bamboo and put a new tongue in it.

It proved difficult to cut because I was tapering my cuts. When cutting it, I must have moved it away from the saw because it wasn't straight. So I had to recut it. That time it was better.

I also layed the first 4 rows of the Beech. I LOVE LOVE LOVE the look of the Beech flooring...especially against the blue walls.

The Beech is 3/4" thick while the Bamboo is 5/8" thick. I decided to shim the bamboo up to meet the 3/4". But the Beech still was about 1/8" higher than the bamboo. So I had to take 1/8" off the bottom of the wood so it would sit closer to the floor. I also had to remove the top part of the groove so that the groove would sit flush with the bamboo. About 1.5 hours later and we had a near perfect match. It is not 100% perfect, but pretty dang close.

My hope is to finish 99% of the room this weekend. Which means I am going to be working both Saturday and Sunday this weekend.

My plan for Saturday:

Install the bathroom door. Need to cut 4" off the bottom.
Install the bedroom door. Need to cut 2" off the bottom.
Cut the rest of the window jambs. There were extension jambs on there for 2x6 construction but I only have 2x4 construction, so I need to flush cut them.
Finish the hardwood flooring in the bedroom.

Sunday I hope to be able to do molding and touch up any paint/drywall that got dinged during the finish carpentry.

After that, the things left to do:

Tie in the electrical circuits. I will be using a GFCI breaker for the bathroom and AFCI breakers (2) for the bedroom. There are 2 circuits running the bedroom outlets. One of the circuits runs all but 1 of the outlets. The outlet under the middle of the window is for an Air Conditioner so we put it on a separate circuit.
Room Darkening blinds. Since the window is on an East facing wall, you get all sun in the morning. Which is not good for a sleeping baby.