Second half of March

Joists and subfloor are finally done, framing for the half bath doorway completed, breakfast area lighting that was centered conveniently above a bar and fishtank that previous owners took with them was removed, and drywall went up. It took a long time and they finished in early April.

First half of March

We haven’t had lighting in the family room in two months, but I finally have a plan and LED bulbs so it’s time to put those in. It’s starting to look slightly more like a place someone would live in.

Also we have insulation for the first time in what seems like forever. This is another thing that we really needed a month or more earlier but all you can do is get on someone’s calendar and wait patiently. After the insulation was sprayed in the flooring arrived! The long pieces are over 10 feet long. I could carry only two bundles at a time.

I can’t put it in though until the joists are complete so that became a high priority. These are the ones installed with the addition but they were far enough away from the rot to be reusable. I sistered in new wood to make them stronger. At this point we were working towards having drywall again. Sometimes it helps to prioritize.

 

Second half of February

At this point I’m getting closer to finishing all the joist work on the project so I ordered the new flooring, and also picked out a stain for the cabinets. I’ve gotten pretty efficient at removing the old flooring and plywood. I’m finally at the main beam running through the family room.

I also framed in the pantry. The plan was to have the cabinet makers build doors from the same veneer as the cabinets. I built it strong so it can stand up to people opening and closing doors all the time. At this point I was getting a little tired of working on the house.

First half of February

Work slowed down some while I spent time researching and planning things. I chose a cabinet company, and also figured out that we want sliding doors for the pantry instead of ones that open and close like regular ones. I also spent a couple of days reworking the outlets on the wall behind the breakfast area. The old layout had two high outlets for bar signs and a third above countertop height, and of course zero on the floor. It was a lot of time disconnecting things in the attic, running wire down into the crawlspace to bypass the old ones I was removing/connect the new ones, and then tie back in with the existing circuit. That portion of the attic is about as far as someone can get from the ladder to climb up there so it’s no simple task.

Second Half of January

One thing I didn’t mention was what the weather was like during all of this. Temperatures at night were routinely dropping into the teens and we have no insulation any more, plus large openings into the attic space above. That needed to be addressed along with the HVAC ducting and wires that ran to fixtures that no longer existed. The solution for the cold was to stuff as much of the old insulation back up there as possible, then call a blown in insulation company and get on their calendar ASAP. The time where I needed to talk cabinets was also fast approaching since who knows how long that would take.

I also managed to put in the framing for the peninsula.

Things were coming along nicely and we’re back to more of the same with the subfloor and joists. Here’s how badly it was built. I was able to finish up the vapor barrier and new center beam under the small dining area so that was another thing off the list.

I wasn’t joking about the cold weather. This is not fun when you have no real insulation in such a large area. I still managed to get a lot accomplished.

Huge Framing Update!

Just when I thought we would be waiting another month on framers I got a call that the lead guy was coming by and that they could start on the 14^th, wrap up on the 15^th! I need to get the ceiling and insulation out of the way though. There’s a LOT of insulation up there. Taking everything down gave us a nice preview of things to come.

Lumber delivery…

And away, we go! The 14^th was a huge day not only because the framing work started, but also because the wife got a new car. I came home to framing work in progress, left to buy the car and returned to this.

The following day where they wrapped up everything was basically spent strengthening the rafters. They were overspanned to begin with and we may want to put solar panels on the roof someday. 2x8s were sistered in to beef things up. As of mid-month we were here.

First half of January

I am still on hold for framers – I’ve been told that there is a labor shortage and that right now the crew is across the state, and that it could be a really long time before they’re back, or that they will be here very quickly. After the last few missed appointments I just assume something will happen again and they will be unavailable.

I finished the water lines in the kitchen and then went back to replacing more joists. It’s been a really cold winter so far and having floors covered only with loose plywood isn’t helping keep the place warm, but the project must move on somehow. This should be a familiar sight. It’s the stairs again, and a beam I installed a year and a half earlier.

The unevenness in the floor has always bothered me. Over here it was especially bad. This is why. I have no clue why they didn’t want to use joist hangers. They aren’t expensive, and they would have completely prevented this from happening!