Sunday, November 23, 2008

Interior Season Begins

Finally - back to normal work schedule again and I can put the old work belt back on at home. With one minor snow fall already and the wood stove already roaring on a daily basis, my scaffolding season is over and it's time to get back to some inside projects. The plan this winter is to get the powder room and kitchen done so we can finally start living like "normal" people again - you know the one's with kitchen's on the first floor and stuff. The workout from carrying groceries up to the second floor maybe healthy, but it's getting REALLY OLD!

It's probably been a year and a half since I touched this room. Just to recap, the plumbing and wiring are done, beadboard is installed, and tin ceiling is up minus the crown pieces. Drywall is hung with two coats of mud already done. I did build a jamb earlier this year that's waiting for a door to be installed.

I managed to do some prep work during the rare free time I've had recently. The powder room, which I originally planned to do the floor in tile, will now be an oak floor. I have 500 sq. ft. of oak that I removed from the first floor, so I figured heck, that would make a nice floor in the powder the room.... and it's free. So I ran some through the planer lightly just to clean it up. I also started stripping a door for this room which takes a good bit of time.

After laying down some rosin paper, I started laying the floor from the back wall. Once past the pipes it was pretty easy work.



Once I'm done the messy work I'll give it a sanding to blend the boards a bit. Then I may go with a golden oak stain and poly.

Next is trimming out the wainscotting. I'm using a 1x6 base plus capping. The vertical pieces are 1x3 and 1x2's with an overlap - giving 2 inches reveal at the corners. Top piece is a smaller casing molding which eventually will get a cap piece which I'm still contemplating on design. Probably will be a simple piece with the bead edge that's common in the woodwork of the house.







Once this trimwork is done, I need to finish the drywall mudding. I couldn't get myself to sand just yet, so I picked something a little more fun first - even if it's a bit out of order for what I should be doing....

Sunday, November 2, 2008

Didn't Quite Make It

It's that time of year again where I put in 60+ hours a week at work and I fill the piggy bank back up for the up and coming projects.....



And outside work season is pretty much done. It's dark when I get home and getting borderline too cold too paint. Things will return to normal after Thanksgiving and it will then be back to inside work. That will be a nice change of pace since the siding project is starting to get OLD!



I managed to get shakes installed around to the first side window and the soffit installed around the corner. I still haven't installed the weather head on the service yet, but will get that done before winter. The two big front windows were also installed which came out nice and tight - so now all the front windows have been replaced. Two panes shattered while taking one window out but we won't get into that! Fortunately no cuts....



I cleaned out the powder room of fixtures and tub in prep to finish it. I only have one coat of mudding left and the should be ready to start paint and final trim. It's getting close to the point where I'll need to make some new casing to match the original in order to do powder room and kitchen. I think I'm going to set up in the kitchen where its not so cold. Plus I have the suction system now to keep dust under control. I never did this before so I figured I would practice on new pine till I get the hang of it. The I try to tackle some oak for the rest of the downstairs. These two projects should consume most of the winter till spring - then I can FINALLY finish the outside work.


WAY TO GO PHILLIES!!!!!