Remodel Day 29 & 30: Some Stuff Got Done?

  Lately it seems to only be one or two people working.  So while they are here for a good amount of time, not a ton is getting done.  Also, with smaller details it is easier to miss them.  Like the fact that they had to redo this section of the wall because the size of the door frame was not correct.  They did that, let everything dry, and added the metal bits for the pocket door.

  Since the last few days was just a lot of little things, like fixing where they had previously just put some bare wood here, I figured that I would combine days again.

  I know it is terribly exciting to see the bits of drywall go up, but I'm not sure I could come up with enough words to not just keep repeating "More drywall over here" over and over again.

  Bill's room now has all the walls, but you can see the one on the right needs a bit of tweaking.  He says this probably took a while to get done because the wood is pretty heavy and getting all the cuts done well is tricky.  I'll have to take his word for it since I've never done anything like any of this before.
  Tank has been getting better about the sounds of strange people coming into the house and that he can't check them out or see what they are doing.  I stressed him out at one point by leaving him in the bathroom by himself while I had lunch and did some other things in the kitchen.  It took a bit for him to calm down again, but we got there in the end.  He definitely likes trying to help with my knitting, so I've been having to do it just when he's sleepy and not when he's hyper.

Walls Day 28: We Figured Out What They Were

  Here is a picture of the purple for the bathroom.  You can see the little build-in shelf that we can use to put things on.  Nice things like bubble bath or a candle.  It will be really relaxing to soak in our giant tub.

  Bill is most bothered by the shadow that is made by the square.  It might go away once the other lights are added to the room.  Turns out that it is the pipe that brings in the air from the outside heat pump to the inside.  They said they could redo the pipes but it would cost us more.  We decided to leave them since they blend in more now that they are taped.

  Bill's room is now getting walls.  Since he plans on doing rugged stuff in there, he needs more sturdy walls.  Keep in mind that I have no idea what he plans to do in there since I know he wants to do woodworking in the garage.

Drywall Day 27: We Got Some Bonus Things

  They have started to tape and mud the drywall.  A lot of it looks really nice right now but there are some things that were unexpected.

  We got this new bump-out.  We have no idea why this is here.  There is nothing under there and it definitely wasn't there yesterday.  Bill is wondering if they messed up and are covering it up.  I'm just confused by it.  It looks kinda cool, but it has no purpose and makes no sense.

  This has been added to my craft room.  There is a pipe there, but it is not very big, so I don't know why this is so big.  A text has been sent and we are going to be asking about the new additions and why they are there or why they are the size they are.

  There are also a few spots that are less than pretty.  One of the walls in my craft room has a bit of a ripple and there is this bit in the main area.  They aren't done mudding and taping so there is still time to make it better.  We are also letting Dave know about this in case there are any mix-ups.  We shall see what stays and what gets changed.

Drywall Day 26: Bring in More Drywall!

  I thought their pile of drywall seemed a bit small.  Turns out that it was because part of the way through the day they brought in more.  I didn't get to see how they brought it all in this time, so I'm wondering if they used similar techniques or not.

  I'm not sure if there is a difference between the purple ones from the white ones.  I'm guessing that there probably isn't because the purple isn't just in the bathroom area, it's in other spots as well.  I also don't know if it is in other spots just because they had scraps from this and had gaps to fill.  I also know the walls won't stay purple, but I like it and I know it is under there.

  The basement is looking both more open and closed in at the same time.  The light colored walls are helping the space to look brighter and more open, but the walls make it more closed in.  It's an odd sensation going down there.
  It's becoming more and more real to me.  It has just been a semi-finished storage space for so long that it is odd to think about it as a basement that we will use often.  I'm also really excited to watch movies down there and play games.  Tank won't know what to do with himself.  I wonder if he remembers how it looked before we started.  It will definitely not smell the same as it did before we started.

  This is my teeny tiny craft closet.  Bill barely fits in there.  While he was standing in there I told him that I now know where to put the body.  I'm not sure what all I will be putting in there, but it won't be a lot.  I could even put my dress form in there.  I might put some of my less used types of fabric in there.  We shall see.

  The knitting is kind of slow going because I'm on a return row from a pattern row.  It's my least favorite row because the yarn overs try to move around and everything feels tight when sliding the stitches off the cable to the needle.  I'm also not sure how long to make it, but I will measure how long it is once I reach the row that I plan to stop on and see if it is good or if it needs another repeat.

Insulation Day 25: That's Not Dry Wall

  Here is a picture of the drywall that will someday be on our walls and ceiling.  The plan had been to start drywalling today and use tomorrow to finish up anything that didn't get done today.  However, only one guy showed up today and finished framing and putting up the insulation.  We were told that they will be coming tomorrow to work on the drywall.

  These are the things they use to help drive nails into cement.  I had no idea what one of these looked like not used.  It's really cool.

  Here is the bottom of the brass.  I figured they drilled into the cement first or something, but I had no real idea how it was done.  More info I know that I won't really need to use.  It is cool to know though.

Insulation Day 23/24: It's Eco Friendly!

  The last two days consisted of putting up the insulation.  I figured I would condense the two days because it isn't that exciting to look at.  They are working quickly and the dry wall will be going up soon.

  For some reason I thought there was paper on both sides of the insulation, but it seems to only be on one side.  I know not to touch it, but it looks so fluffy and soft.

  I like that is has wool in it.  There are a few reasons.  I like knittings and wool is nice to knit with because it is warm even when wet, and wool will put itself out when caught on fire.  It's one of the ways to test yarn for fiber content.

  They are also getting the vents framed out.  One of the guys said he was going to start on the dry wall early, but I guess the other guy talked him out of it because I didn't see any up.
  I'm getting a bit nervous about some of my choices I made.  I'm wondering if I should have picked out the door pattern that would have matched the rest of the house, though the one I picked out is similar.  I am really excited about the counter tops I picked out though, the sample looked pretty cool.

Remodel Day 22: More Trenching and Framing

  They did a pretty good job trenching for the outlet in the middle of the gaming area.  We have really cool plans to put a gaming table with a TV in the middle there.  The outlet will mean we won't have to run an extension cord across the room.  It'll be really weird for the person in the future who looks at our house, but that is their problem.

  They also finished framing for my pocket doors.  They are actually smaller than I thought, but that's a good thing.  It means I will have more wall space than I thought.  They took more of the ceiling down, but other than that my doorway distracted me from seeing what all they got done.
  They did pull up the old protective paper on the floor in the hall, vacuum, and put new paper down.  It isn't as flat as the first two layers were, but it will do what it needs to.  From what I've heard they are really close to putting the drywall up.  I'm not sure if another inspection is needed or not.  The last one was done over video chat, which is really cool.  It keeps the projects going and not having the inspectors going out more than they really need to.

Remodel Day 21: Dry Wall Delivery

  We got a delivery of drywall.  It was amusing to watch them bring it in.  They asked about using the backdoor, since it would have been more of a straight shot, but it must have been too rough back there.  I saw them bringing each piece in one by one and sliding it down the stairs.  They tried using a piece of the brown paper they are using to protect the floor, but that didn't work out.  They finally had a small board going across the doorway.

  For some reason they painted the venting.  It didn't smell like regular house paint, so I don't know if it has a purpose to it.  It'll be interesting to see if they paint the rest.

  This is the point where they are doing a lot of small things before they do more larger things.  There are boxes that convert the amount of energy for the really cool recessed lights.  The lights look like regular recessed lighting, but is really thin and use LED lights.  They also added a bunch of expanding foam to wires and pipes so they won't rattle around.  It's the things that when you first go down there you don't think they did much, but then you start to notice little things here and there.  They also moved Bill's outlets and made notes of things that need to be tweeked.  One of the workers asked another why they didn't take down the ceiling before and while we are wondering that too, we'll see what happens.

Electric Day 20: It Was Shocking

  Saturday was a pretty short day.  They just cleaned up a bunch of the rubble and took the bagged up drywall out to the dumpster.  Probably letting some of the recent cement finish setting before they did anything else.

  Sunday is usually not a work day, so it was the perfect day to change out the dumpsters.  We had number 69 before and now we have 70.  I find that funny.

  They are framing the vent area.  I thought only electrical things were going on down there, but there were also some framing activities happening.  They have a chop saw down there, which will be easier than when they had one in the front yard.

  Half of my pocket door railing has been installed.  I'm so excited for this, they are going to look so cool.  I have wanted one of these since I saw it at someone's house.  I kow it gives me less wall space to put storage, since it will be a double door, but I'm okay with that because of how cool it will look.

  They are getting wires to all the places they will need to be.  New lights, new outlets, new switches.  Though I did hear a concerning conversation while I was eating lunch.
  Guy 1: Are you okay?
  Guy 2: *replies so quietly that I don't hear it*
  Guy 1: Didn't you check it?
  Guy 2: I didn't. Hahahaha, the wire is live!

  No one is allowed to get hurt on the job in my house!  It will also be interesting to see some of the placements of the outlets in the future in Bill's room.  He wants them above the usual height because he is going to have a lot of work benches and this way he won't have to snake wires down behind them.  Right now they have one in an area that will be inside of a wall and the rest at the usual level.  He figures we'll give them a day or two and see what happens.

Egress Day 19: It's So Big And Bright

  The window is in!  I can see Tank wanting to sit here a lot, though it will be hard to tell how much light will come in once the dirt is around the edges.  They still need to add the bump out so that the dirt doesn't fill back in and block the window.  It was nice and quiet today so I was able to sleep in.
  We also found the light fixtures.  Some of the works had moved them to the garage.  I had heard someone go out there yesterday, but I had assumed it was Bill.  It's good we found them.

  I was able to get a bunch of knitting done today too.  I also backed up some pictures I forgot I had taken on an old phone.  It was nice and relaxing for me, but Tank was really antsy today.  It probably didn't help that actual ants had found the food in the bathroom.  It's good that Fiona isn't here because I could just move the food bowl to my room.  I swept the area and haven't seen any again yet, but I will keep it moved for a bit.  I was hoping the ants wouldn't show up this year because of how much we have disrupted the ground around our house, turns out they still have our address.

Cement Day 18: Bonus Trenching?

  They have reframed Bill's work room.  They added more wood towards the inside because of our door discussion.  The egress window still isn't in, but they have added some cement around the outside where the bricks were uneven.

  This was already there and it's smart to use it for the cabling for the media area.  There are going to be so many speakers and stuff.  It is going to be so cool.  They also removed the drywall off the ceiling, we were wondering about that.  Now we know.

  The bathroom now has a floor.  It doesn't look like the electrician was out at all today.  We are also missing some light fixtures that we said to keep.  An email has been sent so hopefully we can get it figured out.

Cement Day 17: It's a Floor Again!!

   The ground plumbing got approved yesterday and they were able to make the floor look nice again in the main walking area.  There had been some stuff securely tarped last night and it was it the bags of dry cement.  I don't know if there are any weak points between older cement and new cement.  Where I am we don't have a lot of earth quakes, so it's probably fine.

  We were hoping that the egress window would be in, but looks like it isn't yet.  They were talking about it but I didn't catch what all had to happen before it will go in.  Bill was also asked to verify things about the media area, the person was looking in the wrong area, it was an easy fix.
  Bill also herd a thud and some groaning sounds from the basement.  There was only one guy left, so he went down to check.  The thud was the piece of wood covering the opening and the guy apparently just thought it was really heavy.  He thanked Bill for checking on him.

Framing Day 16: Egress Window Now Has a Hole to Sit In

  This is a nice look.  I'm guessing it is another layer of protection against the dust getting into the rest of the house.  It was odd because it looked like they were trying to seal the door to the basement shut.  It made me wonder if we shouldn't go down there, but Bill said that had been up around lunchtime and they had been going in and out.

  When I looked out the window at one point I saw the old small window get hit out of the wall.  It was pretty fun to watch.  I wish I could have gotten it on film.  Tank was trying to eat while they were doing this and he kept getting a bit distracted.

  This is the inside of where my egress window will be.  They framed it but didn't get to putting any of the parts in yet.  There is also part of a framed wall hanging out there.  There won't be a wall there, so it's pretty funny.

  This was unexpected.  I almost wish we could keep it this open, but I know Bill would like a door and some walls to help keep the stuff he will be doing from getting all over.  I'm not totally sure what all he will be doing in there, but there might be some metal working or something else pretty cool.

  I thought the brick on my house was a thin layer, but it looks like they may have used standard bricks.
  Tank didn't growl at the people yesterday, but he did again today.  Bill thinks it's really funny how he does that.  Yesterday he was also growling in his sleep.  I'm thinking of using the relax spray some more, in case he is becoming more stressed than he is letting on.  He will also be confused because he won't get to see Fiona for a week.  At least he has my knitting to help with to keep him busy.

Remodel Day 15: It's a Party Down There

  Bill was starting to get concerned about this.  We didn't understand why those walls had "NO" written on them when they started the demo.  We had always talked about all the drywall coming down.  There was one time where the basement flooded and because of it there were a lot of mold spores in our basement.

  It looked to us like they were going to frame the old drywall in and put new drywall up.  That is silly, especially since it meant that Bill would be losing space in his work room.

  After a bunch of emails we got it all worked out.  I also think the wood framed cinder blocks looks really cool.  Part of me wants to keep it like that, but I know that won't happen.  We, again, ran into our drawings showing different things.  After some measuring and planning, we got that worked out too.

  It is strange looking around because at first you don't think that much happened, but then you start to notice things, like pumbing for the wet bar or a new piece of ducting.  Today we had people doing H-vacc, plumbing, framing, and electric!  Not sure how they didn't all get in each other's way, but everything is coming along nicely.

  We aren't totally sure what the pipe going upwards on the left is for, it is connected to the out part of the toilet but also connects back to that same pipe farther down.  I'm wondering if it helps with clogs or becoming backed up and Bill is wondering if it has to do with smell.
  We had talked at one point of raising the ducting and they said they would see if it could be done.  Since new duct work is getting put in, we think it might have been forgotten.  That's fine, we never got an answer either way about it.  We also have plans on putting things under most of that area, so getting an inch or two more wouldn't get us much.  Tomorrow we should have a ground plumbing inspector out.  Things are coming along!

Water Saw Day 14: We Asked Some Questions

  Bill noticed this yesterday and I didn't.  They trenched under the framing, which doesn't seem like the right way to do it to me.  Though with a bit more thought, it would help you know where to take the trenches to since it would be easier to see where the edges of the room would be.

  They have been making good use of their water saw.  It is quite loud and Bill said he is really glad that he wasn't trying to work from home while they were using that.  That is the only thing that has bothered Fiona.  Tank went and hid when they showed up this morning, but came out of hiding soon after and went back to sleep.

  They build a cute little shelf for their blower.  They also crammed some old insulation to help keep some of the cooler air out.   I couldn't imagine doing this in the summer and having to turn the central air off, we would all melt, or winter where it would be super cold down there.

  There are a lot of pipes going all over.  I have no idea what is going on, but I'm not a plumber and they also aren't done.  I also knew on some level that pipes would have to go through the walls, but forgot that before.
  Bill also showed the foreman our plans and compared it with what he had.  There were some things that were off between the two.  Their's had the wall behind the water heater be straight, and the only way to have gotten that done was to bump out the part by the media area.  On ours it was a multi-section wall so that the media area could be a bit bigger.  We still haven't totally figured out about the walls they left up near the first sump-pump.  The current dry wall has some mold on it and it would be a waste of space to just build outward from them.  Hopefully we can all get on the same page of that soon.
  We have tomorrow off to let the cats roam free all day and have a nice quiet day.  Bill is going to make a honey glazed ham to eat and I know I will eat way too much of it.  I also plan on eating some chocolate and getting more knitting done.