Busy Guy

Bill did a bit of work outside the house today. When he was finished; it was too early to sit down in front of the television. So he was looking around for a quick job to do, not enough time to get the mud out and start with that. What to do, what to do?

Great idea!

 He built a shelf to double up on storage space in the garage. Grandkid toys are accessible and now they have a place to put them away after playing. Before there was no designated area so they were everywhere. All the lawn things are up top so the chemicals are out of reach of little hands.

 Shelf is up in the table and chair closet so now there's room for the coolers and stuff. Doors will go on the front but that is way down the road. If we have an afternoon with some down time we will do them but no hurry. The blue tub is what the interior gutter will drip into if the roof ever leaks.

Notice the floor is swept. I don't think Bill has ever swept the garage floor before but he really cleaned things up. I was a stay at home Mom so I have always taken care of things like sweeping the garage floor. He worked long hours and was out of state a lot. When he was home it was all about him being able to spend time with the girls and me not cleaning.

He also hung the extension ladders on the other garage wall but I forgot to take a picture of them. Things are starting to shape up in the garage.

Trust Issues

We didn't have any roof leaks this weekend but; we may never fully trust our roof. So to make ourselves feel better and not worry every time a little rain falls we decided to do a bit of overkill in the garage.

The existing buildings roof comes down and the new roof is  over the top of it. So we put a gutter along the edge of the old roof just in case the place where the two roofs join up ever leaks again the rain will run down the gutter into a five gallon bucket in the garage. That is where the majority of leaks was coming from. The rest were from screws where the roofers didn't use the rubber washes or backed screws out and left the holes.

This is the only house I know of with interior guttering. We will sleep much better during storms with this added precaution. This was the old guttering and the screws are the ones that came out of it when it was taken down. So our peace of mind cost us nothing. Which makes it even better.

The Big Top

We gave up on the roofers ever getting our roof to not leak and took the job on ourselves. This weekend we had a huge rain with lots of wind from different directions. There were NO leaks. When the planes from Tinker Air Force Base fly over our house they will wonder why our roof looks the way it does but who cares it is water tight. There are three different colors on one part of the roof.

Because we no longer have roof leaks we get to put ceilings in. The Pantry and the Cleaning Closet both received their tops. This is a wondrous thing.

The Cleaning Closet's west wall won't get all of its sheet rock until  the new electrical for all the new construction has been run to the box. No reason to make things difficult on us. Nothing will be going on that wall anyway. Except for a rechargeable vacuum and it isn't purchased yet.

It's All an Illusion

Farmers Alamanc is saying we are in store for a cold wet winter which to us means we won't be doing much on the outside of the house. We have house wrap up but it isn't designed to stand up to UV rays and Oklahoma wind. So Bill has painted it to give it a bit of protection.

 From the driveway it looks like a normal house. Or at least normal at this stage of the game. From the street corner it really looks good.

Up close you can see it is just painted house wrap.

He's Such a Romantic

It is so cold out that we knew we would have no business so Bill stayed home and worked while I went to the rock yard and didn't work. When I got home there was a roaring fire and a glass of wine waiting for me.

The roaring fire was the kerosene heater set up in the back hallway.. This was Bill's way of us celebrating all the work we have done in the last two days.We sat on a five gallon bucket and a footstool, Bill has had longer than he has had me, he uses it when he needs to sit low to work. He makes me smile when he does things like this and I am lucky he does them all the time.

 Look at the beautiful barrel he made for the ceiling. He got so much accomplished yesterday it was amazing,







I actually cried a little when he sent me a picture earlier in the day to show me the barrel. Maybe we can get something completed now. Just waiting for a rain so we can test the roof one last time before the ceilings go in.

 I got really excited seeing this back wall. This is the Cleaning Closet and I didn't think he was going to work on this room at all. We won't put sheet rock up on the left wall until we have run all the electricity. Most of the new electricity will be run to this breaker box. But when we get the the other two walls done all the rent house cleaning stuff can get unpacked and put away.

Mud Glorious Mud

You use drywall mud to cover blemishes, screw heads and tape to make your walls nice and smooth. Then you are ready to apply your texture.

Normally, all you need to worry about is working quick enough so the mud left in the box doesn't dry out.

We not only had to worry about that but the box had to stay on a rug and a thick towel over top so it wouldn't freeze. The cold also slowed down the drying process once the mud went on the walls. 16 hours later and places where I had to fill in voids the mud was still soft.

 When you pull the mud out of the box it is stiff and not very workable. You use the spatula and work it like bread dough. Keep smashing and turning until it becomes wonderfully smooth and pliable.

One Day Makes a Difference

Wow, one full day with nothing else to do except sand and play in the mud. Yesterday we stayed home; it was bitterly cold and snowing the second week of November. We worked on the house, watched a movie and napped. It is amazing what all we got done in one day.

 First order of business was to sand the first coat of mud. We are also prepared if Ebola becomes an epidemic with our respirators. Considering getting them for all the kids for Christmas.

Pantry before mud.

 Here it is after the sanding and getting its second coat of mud.

This is a corner in the garage. It is not a 90 degree angle it's not a 45 degree angle, it just is what it is. But we need to give it a solid edge because it is in the main traffic area so the chances of it getting bumped are high. You can't just use the mud and tape you need metal or plastic on outside corners. Here is the metal edge added and we will build the mud up to its height so is is nice and smooth. It will probably take 4 coats of mud to get a nice transition to the dry wall. 

 Lots of walls needing lots of mud. We ended up not being able to work very long on the garage walls because the temperature kept dropping. Bottoming out at 18 degrees of winter cold. The garage ceiling is not in place so no insulation in place. It has a very high roof line so it is as cold as it is outside.

 

I got this much done before the huge temperature drop.

 Trophy room hallway,

Cleaning Closet wall.


I told Bill he is doing the final coat of mud on everything so if something shows a bump I get to bug him about it forever.

Roll Out The Barrel

"Roll out the barrel, we'll have a barrel of fun" sing this with accordion music in the back ground and you have a happy song. Bill and I use to love to Polka; it is such a fun dance. You basically just jump and spin around and around. No skill is needed. During the Calgary Stampede Polkas were the go to dances. Now our favorite barrel are our barrel ceilings.

 Here Bill has the first arch made at the end of the back hallway.

Looking towards the kitchen. He is adding sheet rock as he moves along the hall.



That's what the ceiling looked like when I came to work this morning

Looking to the end of the hall again with all the framework in place.

Bill just emailed this picture and this is what it looks like now. Next step is to go to Mom and Dad's and pull up the old floor from the grainery and see if it is useable. The boards will be the ceiling if they are any good.


This is getting exciting. We can do this ceiling because there has never been a roof leak over this area.

Give Him a Day

Bill is one super hardworking guy. Give him a day at home and he gets lots accomplished including a nap before a grandson's football game.

There was finally a day in this bitter cold that I didn't have to go anywhere so he was able to stay at home and work on the taping and mudding.

The Pantry is ready for sanding and texturing. There still is no ceiling on the room; unfortuantely it will be added later.. We need another good hard rain to feel okay about the roof not leaking. This weekend may bring a little snow/ice but probably not enough for the roof to be tested. We can still get the walls finished and painted without the ceiling.

Plans Go Awry

We are really trying to get the Pantry done before my brother and his family come to town for Thanksgiving. We are using a light from their first house in it. They bought that house in Oklahoma 37 years ago so I guess we are using an antique light in there. Want to show it hanging to them.

The weather has co-operated and it has been too cold for business at the rock yard. We should have been able to get that room finished. But, my parents have had medical things going on this week that I needed to attend to so Bill hasn't been able to go home and tape and mud. Today he is there while I sit by the phone waiting to hear about our 16 month old granddaughter's surgery. My Daddy has surgery next week and then hopefully, all the medical will be done for a long time.

Last weekend Bill gave me a refresher course on taping.

 He doesn't like giving up control on these things but we have a lot of this kind of work ahead of us and if he doesn't want to get exhausted he needs to share.

Just got the text and Brynnlee's surgery went great.

Scooch Over Just a Little

We are a long way off from putting in the heat and air units but we have to plan now. The return air is suppose to be at the highest point. That won't work in the back hallway since we are doing a barrel ceiling. I don't think I want a flat spot in the barrel to hold the register vent.  We are putting it above the door going into the Cleaning Closet. Of course, the framing wasn't right for that because  this is out of the ordinary.  Those studs need to be moved out to make the right size opening. The more return air vents you have the better and more efficiently your HVAC works.

Moved the studs above the door and added the box. The vent pipes will be added at a much later date.

 The return air box juts out into the Cleaning Closet. It has to be just above the door header because of the barrel coming down the wall.

We will need to frame in around it and the ceiling will be low as you enter the room/closet for two feet but then it will go back to the ten foot height. This bothers Bill, but since he will probably never go into this area once he has finished building it I'm not too concerned about it. It will hold our cleaning supplies and he doesn't do too much with that. I shouldn't say that, when a rent house needs to be cleaned he does jump in and usually does the really gross stuff for me. I just pull the cleaners together for the job.

Plan Plan Plan

It's time to map out the Pantry. This is not your normal Pantry, of course we don't do any thing normal. The Pantry will house the freezer, cabinets for paper goods and stuff, entertaining items and of course food. There will be a counter top for unloading grocery bags plus lots and lots of shelves.

Now to figure out what size of shelves I need. Off to my grocery shelves and measure.

I am one of those people who can live for months out of their pantry stock. If there is mustard in the fridge there will be the replacement waiting in the wings. I searched the internet on how other people have done their pantries and decided I am only going with two different heights for my shelves. My OCDC tendencies mean that if each shelf was a different height to make the best use of the space it would drive me crazy. You know like if a tile isn't set perfectly in line with the others; can't do that.

Our first thought for the counter top was directly next to the freeze. But, I have decided that I want some actual cabinets in the room with doors on them. Paper goods are never neat, and who knows what all I will be putting in there so plans changed.

The upper and lower cabinets will be going in the middle of this wall so the doors opening do not take any shelf space away. Our building plans are very fluid. Between the two of us we will end up with what we want.

Switches and Plugs

Now that power is almost on we have switches and plugs in the Pantry and Cleaning Closet. Next will be tape and mud then sanding, then texture, then paint, then cabinets, then shelves, then I can use them.

We Still Have Those Old Sparks

Now that the new circuit board is in place and grounded we need to get power to it.

 First step is to unwind the length of wire to separate the wire.

 Then pull the wire across the ceiling joists.

 Now for the sparks to fly. To be able to feed the wire down the wall to where the main power comes in a piece of the metal skin had to be cut out. Every piece of metal that comes down helps with our cell phone and wireless reception. We can't get rid of all of it or the buildings would lose their strength.

Next step was to feed the wire down the wall. Now the wall is fully insulated and one side is drywalled. We don't make things easy on ourselves.

 We had to cut into the insulation to help the wire come down the wall.

 Okay, the wire is here, now to start the important work. Power will be to the lights in the pantry and cleaning closet very soon.

Life Hack

I was talking with our daughter, Tiffany, and she asked where to get the pant hangers that swing out and you can put 4 or 5 pairs on the same hanger. She was wanting to store her wrapping and craft ribbons on the hanger to keep things organized.

I knew of a big mess we had that needed some organizing.

There are a lot of paint brushes, rollers, and mixing sticks. We each have our favorite brushes for different jobs. There are brushes for staining, for cutting in, for rough textures, for smooth textures. We clean our brushes very well each time we use them so they last forever. We have some that are probably close to 30 years old and are still in great shape.

Tiffany's hanger idea to the rescue.

We have three hangers for brushes and one for rollers. The brushes are organized by type and size. We just need to find the perfect wall or inside a door to hang these on. No more searching and not finding the brush we want or the bristles spreading out from standing up in a coffee can.

Staying Grounded

With the build out we need to expand the electric service coming into the house. We don't want to overload any of the existing circuit boards. Each building has its own. Bill learned how to pull a meter at one of our rent houses a month ago so we didn't need to call an electrician to come out and this for us. There is not a main shut off switch for our power there should be but there isn't.. The drawback of living outside an incorporated city is that people do not need to follow code. You should, Oklahoma has a statewide building code everyone is suppose to follow but not everyone does. We like it because we don't have to have professionals come in and sign off on our work and wait for inspectors. We are building according to code, the experts put these standards in place for a reason not just to make busy work.We know a lot of the professionals who sat on the committee which wrote the code and they volunteered their time to set the building code. If we don't know how something is suppose to be done we call the pros and ask them.

First thing you need to do is ground the box. You drill a hole through the floor and pound a metal rod into the dirt at least two feet. That way if any sparking happens it runs into the ground and is grounded.

 Copper is used everywhere to keep the electricity from jumping all over the place.

 Green is always your ground wire.

The little copper wire screwed in to the right side tower and the box is another ground.

 So if something should happen the errant electricity will follow the copper wire down, under, up and then down the green wire into the ground. Whew! We are safe!