Week 9, days 41 through 45, came and went while we dawdled along on vacation. I can’t say that Jeff dawdled along, he worked most of it, while Bec and I alternated between napping, cooking (well, she didn’t cook, of course) and going for walks. Though the weather was so chilly that the walks and outdoorsy times I had hoped for were sort of curtailed (I didn’t pack correctly, while rushing around trying to FIND things on our way out, and after we learned the hard way that our dryer at home was not working), I did manage to see the sea, the sunset, and had a walk in the sand.
May the sound of my voice be your guide, bring you closer to me…
published on by
Day 40. Forty. Forty days, plus weekends. Eight full weeks of living in a home littered with sawdust, hammers, drop cloths, and nails (among other things). Forty days of having crews of people in and out, toiling, sweating, laughing, bleeding, aching, exhilarating, working on our home. It’s really become their home, in a way. I mean, it’s their job, their workplace, their 9-5 (really more like 8-6, but you know what I mean). And it’s our home, too. What a conflict, what a dance. Soon, though, and slowly, the identity and the ownership of the space will return to us, and we will return to it with open arms.
OhmygodwhathaveIdone? (Do it again) AllIwantedwasalittlefun (Do it again)…
published on by
Day 39, and I’m still reeling from the quantity of things that got done today. First, a roster of people working at the house today: Dave, Eric, Frank, Brad, Matt, Josh, Caleb and J.J. (I’m out of breath just listing them!) Second, a list of things they worked on: sinks, faucets, toilets, refrigerator, dishwasher, wall ovens, cooktop, trim paint, door jambs, shower tile, door removal, stair sanding, floor sanding, clean-up and reorganization. (Phew!) The project just went from plodding along to full-throttle in the span of a day.
Everybody’s got a vision, everybody’s got a plan…
published on by
Day 36 starts week 8 (!), and even though this was Labor Day, we still had some actual labor to attend to. Caleb and J.J. toiled at their tile today, forgoing basking in the most perfect weather imaginable to make some headway on the shower (including hand-polishing some rough parts of the marble chair rail to finish out the niches), and grouted both bathroom floors. Caleb also saved us from disaster (not really, but gauche-ness was averted) by letting us know that our shower drain, if grouted into place, would be permanent, and that the black PVC edge of it would always show. Gross! We will be getting another shower drain (chrome all the way, baby) post-haste, and it can simply be screwed into place instead of the builder-grade (plumber standard?) one we were given. Phew. Thanks, Caleb. Good save.
Won’t you smile a while for me?…
published on by
Day 33 and the oppressive heat was the star of the day. At one point, around 2pm, the car said it was 101 degrees outside, and yet, the heat did not stop the progress. In fact, everyone even took turns working outside. I guess it was better than rain, or snow, or gale-force winds, but, man, oh, man, was it HOT out there!
Lots got done today, and lots was happening all around. Caleb’s car – which had refused to start yesterday – was being worked on in the front of the house (eventually, though, sadly, it had to get towed after all), Dave was painting in the garage, and J.J. and Caleb were cutting tile near the side fence. The sun just kept pouring down heat, while paint was slathered on quickly (it seemed like it was drying in half the time it normally does), wet, noisy cuts were made by the tile saw, and the dog pouted because we wouldn’t play with her in the heat. (Sorry, baby dog, but you’re not dying of dehydration on my watch!)
Did you think that this would be the hardest thing you’d ever do?…
published on by
Day 28 and the rainy gray weather just wouldn’t go away. But, Brad managed to do his outdoor electrical work without any trouble (I even “assisted” by standing at the foot of the ladder, and by holding a light while he wired it). We had planned on re-wiring the post light, but when Brad took a look at both the post, and the feed for the electrical, he discovered that the wiring was relatively new, and could be saved (hooray! savings!). The ground wire hadn’t been tied into the outdoor outlets, making them a bit scary to use, so he fixed that up, rewired the box, and voila! Safe outlets! Brad’s main work for the re-wire is almost done, which means that the next phase we’ll see him for is Finish! Within a few weeks, we’ll have outlets, lighting fixtures, appliances and switches energized and buzzing with power. I can hardly wait!
Satisfy my soul, satisfy my soul…
published on by
Day 27 and work cruised along steadily. Floors were sanded lightly to give the next coat of poly something to stick to, and a second coat of poly was then applied. The west bedroom closet floor was coated as well, and finish trim was installed inside the closet. Primer was applied, and the room was cleaned within an inch of its life (He even mopped! Thank you, Eric!). Durock was installed in the master bath, shelving niches for bath products were set in place, and the floor for the shower was packed into position. And, electrical work continued in the basement and upstairs main bath (where detective Brad found that previous electrical work we had done was NOT done correctly. Grr). Slow and steady was the name of the game today, and, appropriately enough, we had a reggae mix on to soothe the day along. Groovy.
Things that make you go “hmmm”…
published on by
Week 6 (!), day 26, and the weather matched my energy level. Gray, heavy, damp, cool. I would probably rather have been making soup, baking bread and watching sappy movies all day. Instead, there were three teams working – with three separate music choices – in three separate areas of the house. In the attic, we had Brad and his helper, Ian, completing the smoke detectors, and replacing all the floor boards; in the master bathroom, we had Caleb preparing the shower floor, and setting the in-floor (radiant) heating pad; and, on the first floor, we had Dave and Eric brushing the first coat of poly onto the stained kitchen floors. Busy, busy, busy.
If a problem comes along, you must whip it…
published on by
Day 25 (Friday) was long. For everyone. The sanding continued on the densest floor known to man until after lunchtime, taking longer than had been hoped for (so it seemed). No matter, though, as the Team managed to get a coat of stain on the floor! Likely the only coat of color, the process will continue with at least 3 coats of polyurethane to seal and protect the floors. The process seemed the most physically taxing on the guys – so much crouching, bending, squatting, being on their knees on hard surfaces, reaching, scrubbing, you name it – but it also seemed to elicit a different kind of excitement. An excitement at seeing the early stages of a finished room? Perhaps. Excitement at conquering the antique floors? Possibly. Let’s just say, the enthusiasm poured into their work, and the floors came out beautifully (from what I can see from the doorways and the outside porch – we can’t walk on them yet).
I’d do it all again…
published on by
Day 24. Day twenty-four. For some reason it seems like a long, long time ago that we started. We are almost at the end of five weeks of actual, constant work, and six weeks with no kitchen. Here, at the (almost) midway point in the renovation, I can start to feel the shift toward finishing. We’re sampling floor stain colors, talking about logistics — where to move our furniture, when to move our furniture, making space in the garage for a workshop — the final flooring phase of the project, discussing plans for a maybe-sometime-next-week cabinet delivery (!), and hoping to get to bathroom tiling started early next week. Things are starting to feel final, pieces of the puzzle are slotting into place, and the house is starting to feel like it will be finished.