Remodel Day 41: Fixing Some Stuff

  They have already fixed the problem we were just talking about.  Some of it still goes a bit above the lip of the cabinet, but this will be a lot easier to make look nice than gaping holes.  Now to wait and see what it looks like with the counter top on.

  She's in!  I'm excited to see that they got to this.  I feel like not a lot got done today, but I'm happy that this is now installed.  There is more work to be done before it is complete, but it's not just sitting in our driveway.  This will hopefully also keep anything else from falling into the window and breaking the other side.  The glass was on the inside so I believe them when they say that something fell and broke it.
  Poor Fiona got a real fright last night.  She was heading into the bathroom for a snack when I was going in to use the bathroom before bed.  I warned her that she would be locked in with me, and usually if I go in at the same time that she does, she will run out and come back later.  She had her nibble of food and then realized that the door was closed.  She got nervous when I was done because she wanted to be by the door to be let out, but that's where the sink is, so she was nervous that I might try and touch her.  While she was giving me a nervous side eye, Tank reached his paw under the door and bopped her paw with his.  She jumped back and looked like she had been attacked.  She looked both nervous and offended.  Poor pretty lady, her life is so tricky sometimes.

Flooring Day 40: Also Cabinets

  I think the neighbors are using our dumpster.  I say because there is a ceiling fan in there that definitely didn't come from us.  We were the place to be, as you can see from all the cars.  You can also see Miss Jackie's Free stuff table she put together from the things from her garage that they no longer want.  I may have picked up another wine opener from her.  There were some really cool lamps, but I have no where to put them, so I left them there.  You can almost see that Josh is getting some work done on his house and looks to be cleaning out his garage too.
  Tank was napping by the open window when they started using the chop saw in the driveway area.  It was a lot closer of a sound and louder than what he is used to.  He couldn't decide if he wanted to run and hide, or to see what was happening.  He kept going in circles until he finally decided to jump off the chair.  I gave him a few good pets and convinced him to lay in bed with me instead of going into hiding.

  We have some cabinets!  I thought there was going to be a major delay on it but I guess it wasn't as bad as they thought?  Though the bit sticking out on the right makes it so that the keezer doesn't fit in there by about one inch.

  This is also an interesting thing.  They had to cut the drywall to get it to fit in there.  It will be interesting to see how they make it look nice and don't impede the use of the drawers.  So far everything else we have questioned they have managed to make look nice, so hopefully this won't be the exception.

  There are floors in my craft room too, not just the places with cabinets.  They warned us that this type of flooring really lets you feel any imperfections on the floor itself.  There are a few spots where you can feel it flex and I'm hoping that doesn't shorten the lifespan of the floor at all in those spots.  It isn't a huge difference and some people might not even notice it.

  Fiona was very funny too.  I went to go take Tank into the bathroom to get a snack and some water.  Fiona was sitting right outside my door and meowed at me when I opened it.  She was letting me know that the food bowl was empty, and as the food-hooman that I shouldn't slack at my job and fill it up for her.  I left Tank in the bathroom and took the bowl downstairs.  She was very brave and followed me, even though there were scary sounds happening.  Since she was down there with me, she got the first nibbles and then we both went back upstairs.

Floors Day 39: Suddenly Foam

  They added expanding foam to the area for the tub drain pipe.  I was not expecting that and it is quite puffy.  I wasn't sure how set it was, but I always want to poke at expanding foam because it looks like it should squish but then it is hard to the touch.

  They had to do another layer on a few places.  Since they will be back tomorrow they left a few space heaters going to try and speed up the drying process.  It was a bit chilly down there, so I stood in front of them while we looked at things.  My pocket doors are not level and leave a V gap and at one point one of the casters fell off the top.  They still do this and we are wondering if they will be adding something to the door to make it close easier if it is fully open, or will we need to leave some out when they are open.  We also would like for them to level them, though the stopper isn't on, so they can still be pulled off fairly easily.

  I was expecting them to leave the kitchen ceiling till the end, but I guess this makes  sense while they still have drywall, tape, and mud around.  They pulled down most of the plastic wall to work on this and then put it back up using different anchor points.  They still need to sand it, possibly add more mud, then paint before it is done, but it's looking pretty good already.

Floors Day 38: Flat Floor, Flat Floor

  More good stuff is happening!  They are now working on making the floors nice and flat for putting in the flooring this week.  I was wondering if they were going to sand down the rough patches or if they were going to put another layer on.  Turns out it is a very thin layer that is then able to self level easier.

  They have done it in a few places.  I don't remember the people who did the initial foundation work doing something like this, but I guess everyone has their own techniques.  They have also recessed the nails and mudded over them.  I know all these steps are needed to make the final product look really good, but I'm also thinking loudly at them to go faster.  I know it is going quickly and they will be done when they get there, so deep breaths for me.

Walls Day 37: Tank Was Very Brave

  I don't know if the guys were just running late or whatever, but they got in later than they had been the rest of the week.  I was out of the room and didn't hear their truck pull in.  When they went to open the door Tank was already there waiting for them.  When they saw he was there they closed the door again.  Since he had successfully scared away the scary people he went back up stairs.  They knocked to be let in and by the time Bill was going to try and find him to lock him up, Tank was already back in the bedroom.
  He then saw one of them outside later and proceeded to growl at them and then go into hiding.  It's not his fault that they are very persistent strangers.  I also bet that they would love him and he would love the attention from them if he could meet them.

  They got a lot of the wall priming done.  It definitely helps make it look more done even though it's a relatively small step.  I'm wondering when the egress window will be going in.  I thought they would have put the dirt level in a while ago so it could settle, that way when they go to install they can add more if needed.  They also got the brick work done a bit ago, so it wasn't that either.  I don't know if one of the other groups was supposed to have installed it already or if they are saving it for some downtime with everything else, but hopefully it has not been forgotten.  It probably hasn't been.

Concrete Day 36: We Have Such Skinny Lights

  I don't quiet follow what order some of these things are happening, but that's why I'm not doing it.  They got some more of the holes in various places filled with cement.

  They are not as neat about it as the people who made the cuts into the slab and then fixed it.  We are hoping they smooth it a bit better later because some of the places will have a harder surface floor and some will have carpet and the texture underneath will react differently.

  I heard an exclamation of confusing from the basement at one point and thought that maybe someone finally noticed that a power wire was coming out near all of these water pipes.  It turns out that the guy who was on the phone before found out that the other guy's mom was with someone, but not with them.  There was then a whole discussion about the guy's mom and how she "isn't that young" and some other things I didn't quite catch.

  It hadn't taken the planning/design people long to sell us on these.  When in they look like standard inset lights, but they only take us a tiny bit of the space and have LEDs in them.  They are also a lot brighter than we had assumed too, so I probably could have used these and have been fine in my craft room instead of getting the flood workshop lights.  Oh well, it will be okay.
  They also patched the hole by the door to the utilities room.  It would have been fairly easy for them to put in a bit of drywall, but the patch will look fine from the outside.  Bill says he has refrained from questioning what they are doing too much because even if it looks a bit off when we first see it, they tend to go back and make it look better.  Though we are still a bit confused why they are putting on the floor framing before painting.

Framing Day 35: Floor Framing

  I know they are called baseboards, but I like calling them floor frames better.  There were more people working today.  One guy had a really funny conversation on the phone right outside my open window.
  "She's so wet right now...  ...yeah...  ...yeah yeah...  She's at the pool now!"  It made me laugh for a while after hearing that.

  They got a lot done today, but some of their choices are kind of interesting.  This is definitely not cool and we thought the gaping hole would be fixed before they added the floor framing.  Some of the other corners look better than others as well.

  I heard a lot of vigorous hammering throughout the day and it looks like someone got a bit too excited.  This was not broken yesterday.  While the framing on the inside is looking pretty good, this is not good.

  I've been working though my current projects pretty well.  The shawl is drying overnight and I have the sleeve hat done.  It took me two tries to seam it together, but I finally got it.  Tank helped by trying to hold the yarn down so I would have even tension.  He is a really good helper, even if he does sometimes make the yarn smell like cat food.
  I've also got the extra small Slippy Hat done and have gotten a good part of the small done too.  I missed my chance to get pictures of them though.  Hopefully I will remember to tomorrow before it gets dark again.

Framing Day 34: Door Framing is Loud

  I don't know if it was confusing, but Bill and I aren't chasing the workers as they walk out the door to see if they are coming back, or grilling them on when they are coming back.  Those were just questions Bill and I have been asking each other.  It's not like the people putting the door framing would know when or even if the electrician will be back any time soon or not.  We also don't want to be those people and email the foreman every day and ask him these things.  They will work when they do and we will have to lock Tank in the bedroom with me when they do.

  Right now Bill doesn't have the type of door he asked for, I believe he has already sent an email about it.  This one has metal on the outside of the wood and it makes me want to put magnets all over it.
  Last week they worked only a short time on Tuesday and I had to go in to work to print some things pretty quickly.  As it normally goes, what should have been a quick one or two things turned into a slower four or five things.  I left the door open for Tank because Bill was home and could lock him in if needed.  When I got home I got to hear that Tank was super confused that someone wasn't in the bedroom with him since it was the middle of the day.  He lead Bill upstairs, jumped on the bed, and then meowed loudly.  Poor confused kitty.

  You can see one of my two pocket doors.  Right now there isn't a stopper in the center and I might have derailed one of them.  It was an easy fix.  Bill says they meet at the bottom first and have a V gap.  Hopefully that will also be fixed.
  I think it is only one person working and I know it takes a bit to measure, cut, and put up, but I feel like this is a very slow process.  It should all look very nice once it is done.

Remodel Day 33: The "I don't know" Phase

  I feel like we have questions day to day and just keep having I Don't Know as the answer.  Will they fix this bit that doesn't look nice?  Will they be working today?  Are they done for the day or will they be coming back?  Many unknowns.

  I do know that I'm done with the shawl I have been designing.  I have sent it off to a speedy knitter to have it tested.  Paula will probably have it done in an afternoon.  Maybe not that fast, but pretty darn close.  I still need to block it and take a nice picture of it for the official pattern and I also still need to think of a name for it.  Leave any ideas in the comments.  I spent so long making written instructions and I hope they make sense.  The fact that it has four panels makes a lot of the rows really long to write out.

  I adopted this a while ago.  If anyone says that you can adopt things that are alive, try counting knitting stitches.  You will cast on, count, need two stitches, so you cast on two more.  Now you suddenly have three extra.  You take the three stitches off and might have the right number, it depends on how the yarn is feeling at that time.
  No one knew if this was going to be the front of a sweater or a sleeve, but I will turn it into a hat.  I just need to take off a few rows at the top, knit more ribbing, and then seam the sides.  I like it when I can take a partially knitted piece and keep most of the knitting intact.  I know how much work went into this and don't want to loose all of it.  There are times when it is best to just rip it all out and use the yarn again.

Doorways Day 32: There Are Some Doors Now.

   It's looking more and more done!  There was no work done at all on Saturday, and only a bit of work done on Sunday, Monday, and yesterday.  We weren't sure when there would be a full day done again, but it seems today was that day.

  This is the first door I noticed.  You can see how some interesting things happened down near the base of the frame on the left side.  I was worried that I should have picked a door style that matched the rest of the house, but I think this is pretty good looking.

  The tiny room for the sump-pump also has a door.  There seem to be interesting gaps right now in places, but hopefully those will get fixed.

  I think it's so cute how skinny my craft-room closet door is!  From how small the closet was, I was almost expecting it just to be open and not have a door.
  It seems that there isn't going to be as much consistency with days they work like when the demo crew was here.  Bill and I are hoping they will finish everything else on time even though the cabinets were delayed.  Most of the basement won't be affected by this and we can start moving things down and getting organized.

Walls Day 31: Both Dry and Brick

  They finished some more fine tuning on the dry wall.  You could see some wet bits where they added more mud.  Bill's wall is looking a lot better too.
  This is the most exciting part.  They added in bricks to where the top of the old window was and it looks like they are getting closer to putting the bump out on the egress window.  I feel like they should have gotten the dirt for the bottom of the bump-out done before this, so it could settle and they could add more if needed.  I'm wondering if these groups aren't used to having so much of a redo being done at once?  I'm not sure, but it will be okay in the end.
  Right now there is going to be a four week delay on the cabinets and the wet-bar.  They asked if we wanted to pick out new items and possibly save some money, but we liked the ones we had picked out before.  Everything has been going so quickly that I feel this delay will still have us within the time period they quoted us.  I'm excited for it to be done, but I also don't want to rush anything.