A Reprieve or Not

Week 19: Well this week was one of a breather for the workers. We were awaiting the new architectural drawings from Ferd for the new structure under the front stairs and the new walls in the old house on the first floor. Once we received them, we could set up a a re-inspection of the house. We could not start any drywall until the inspection. We received them later in the week, so Mike rescheduled the start of the drywall until Monday. We did get re-inspected and we passed. We did received all the supplies so they are ready to go first thing on Monday. The drywall boards are 5/8" thick and 12' long. Very long and very heavy. The were lifted by a crane arm and put through the windows. The big change this week is that the front porch, steps, and sidewalks were poured as well as the new footings for the piers for the stairway. We also got a pony panel installed for the electrical circuits. John decided we were going to have too many circuits to safely put in one panel so we now have two. It will be great for any expansion needs in the future. We also finally decided on the siding and that is being ordered. It took longer than anticipated due to the product we wanted to use did not have exactly what we had in the architectural drawing. Anne was able to go take a look at another one of Mike's clients that has the same siding and it looked better than we thought. We spent two hours this week meeting with our local hardware store (Horton's) who are also a big lighting dealership. We went through our list with them to get a estimate. Anne has been doing extensive research on all the electrical fixtures. Thank goodness, she is very good at it and it is very time consuming. We are going to have to get just the lights we need for now and look at getting more later. We also met with a local counter top dealership, Blue Pearl, and are looking at a few different options for the kitchen counters and bath vanity. All in all, we now have less than 10 final decisions to make on items. We are starting to see the light at the end of the proverbial tunnel, although we still have a lot of work to go.

Drywall delivered.








This thickness is good for soundproofing as well as strength.








Here is the quick set setting joint compound. Allows you to sand after just 90 minutes of drying time. We also have some that is 45 minutes. The workers have to be pretty darn good to apply it quickly and efficiently to work with a dry time of 45 minutes.





Tinted joint compound. For the final layers.








All ready to go. Have drywall screws, joint compound, and tape.








Here are the boards for the upstairs bedrooms.








This set includes the Sheetrock for the bathrooms and the green is also for the bathrooms. It is a moisture resistant drywall.







Drywall for the dinning room and kitchen.









Here the engineers staked out where the new sidewalks should go. Notice the nice and rough graded yard.






Here is one of the two holes for the footings for the stairway bump out. The circular form is in the background.







Here is the sidewalk from the driveway.









Here is the sidewalk and steps from the street. Notice the steel mesh for added strength and stability.






Here is a drilled hole for the steel rod they added for added strength and stability. It is under the last of the steps.







Closer view of the porch and steps down. They added the steel flashing to protect the house from the concrete.







Starting of the porch and steps pour.








Closer view of them troweling the concrete steps.








Completed sidewalk from the driveway.








Concrete footings ready for structure.








A view from the new porch.








Close up of the porch and stairs.








A view from the street side.









This is the underside for the stairway bump out. It has cellulose insulation.






Here is the new pony panel that John installed this week. He was back out on Saturday continuing to pull new wires and hook them up.







The back corner has been fixed and re-insulated.







The last of the old chimney was removed. Now no more worries about backing up into the concrete block.