A Laborious Labor Day

Sunday morning Dad and I got the backerboard up.  We had to cut each piece to size (thankfully, only four).  I did that with the diamond blade (cement is tough stuff and wouldn't cut with a normal blade).  Dad screwed it into place.  He especially loves impact drivers.  When he did the Shingle Springs house when I was an infant, putting backerboard up took forever because all the holes had to be predrilled through the board.  A screw never would have gotten through.  Despite the relative quickness of the impact driver, it was still lunch time when we got the backerboard completely up.  Having to cut holes for plumbing slowed things down a bit.

After lunch, we applied the tile to one side of the shower.  Dad put up the thinset, I put up the tile, Dad cut the ones that needed cutting.  By this point in time, it was obvious we needed more thinset and tile spacers before we could finish the job.  So, we ended the day with a purchase.

Mom had spent her day painting the front porch and trim.  It's looking good!

Monday arrived, as did much tiling work to do.  The morning went slowly because the new spacers we purchased were awful.  They didn't stay in place, so we had to constantly battle them, which slowed us down.  After lunch, Mom bought us some better ones and we moved along much more quickly.  Here I am cleaning up the second wall.  After the thinset has dried a bit, we remove the spacers and scrape out the space between the tiles so there's plenty of room for the grout.  We also wipe all the thinset off the tiles.  It's almost impossible to remove if it dries all the way, so it's important to do it when we did.

We got the third wall done in the evening.  Cleaning up the bathroom took a bit of time - there was dust and thinset everywhere!

The missing tile is where the soap dish will go.

Shower's still not usable.  We need to do the trim and grout.  Then the plumbing.  Then it will be usuable, but will still need a window, the window above the tile textured and painted, and a shower door.  Two more weekends until the open house.  We can do it!

A Variety of Tasks Over the Weekend

We got several different project finished this weekend.

On the outside, Mom finished painting the cracks and spaces the roller couldn't reach on the front of the house.

We have one exterior wall left to fill the cracks on and paint.  Plus, all the trim work.

Dad moved dirt away from one side of the house to keep it protected from the elements.

We got a lot done inside.  We finished the texture around the door and got the texture around the window ready to paint.

We got the areas primed.

And painted.

We also got the blinds up.  Now, all the windows are properly covered.

We also finished the ceiling and floor moulding now that the last work on the walls was finished.

Another major task was Mom and I removing the front ramp thing.  This is what it looked like beforehand.  Quite ugly.

We put in a couple hours of destruction and black widow killing.

The end result.  Looking much better.  Still has some painting and column work to do, but it's definitely an improvement.  Although, Dad keeps forgetting it's no longer there and tripping as he comes out the door.

Dad also put in some GFI outlets.  Things are moving right along.  At this point, the inside is virtually finished with the spring/summer plan.  We still need to do the kitchen tile and trim and rehang the linen closet doors.  On the outside, we need to finish the exterior paint and trim and get the electric panel replaced (in process of getting scheduled).  When those things happen, we'll be finished with this phase of improvement!

Things on the longer term to do list:  redo bathroom shower, reroof, tear down random garden room.  So amazing!!

What Mom & Dad Have Been Doing This Week, Part 2

Thursday:

Joint compound at the joints & in holes

Texture

Another exterior wall painted

Blinds hung in guest room

Blinds hung in my room and bed moved in

Exterior around new door primed

Around garage painted

What Mom & Dad Have Been Doing This Week, Part 1

Tuesday:

Porch light installed

Insulation & drywall

First exterior wall painted

Wednesday:

Drywall and seam foam

Cracks sealed & new stucco primed

Second exterior wall painted

Holiday Weekend or More Work?

More work!

Saturday morning, we were all doing a variety of activities.  I was touch up painting in the bedrooms over the spots that got damaged from carpet installation.  Dad stuccoed around the patio door.  Mom sealed cracks in the stucco with elastomeric caulk so, hopefully, they won't continue after I paint.

After lunch, we took a truck full of junk to the metal recycling place.  This place is great if you have old appliances - they'll just take them from you. Yay!  Randomly, they paid us $14 for an old stainless steel sink.  We totally weren't expecting that.  Alas, even though they would take the aluminum window frames, they wouldn't take the one that still had windows.  We still had to figure out what to do with them.

On the way home, we decided to stop at a specialty paint store to get some questions answered.  The guy was very knowledgeable and we got information.  Also, he noticed our old windows in the back of the truck. He commented that he was building a greenhouse.  We said he could have them if he wanted.  Score for both of us!  We thought we were going to have to take them to the dump.  This was so much better.

That evening, we installed the baseboards around the floor of the bedrooms.  The uneven gaps are now hidden.

Sunday, the work continued.  Dad put the top coat of stucco on the door.  As I watered it Saturday night (something you do with stucco to, hopefully, prevent cracks while drying), I realized I need a light over it.  Just created another task.

Mom and I filled more cracks with caulk.  After lunch, we bought electrical supplies and exterior paint.  We're moving right along with this house!  The day ended with Mom and I filling even more cracks.  Dad painted primer (actually, cheap 'Oops' paint) over the new stucco on windows that had already been sealed by Mom and I.

Monday dawned and Mom and I continued our battle against the cracks.  We discovered the sun definitely has an impact on their creation.  Less sun = fewer cracks.  Dad spent a bit of time moving things out from the enclosed patio room.  It's been a major work and storage area, but the walls there need to be painted as well.

When it got too hot for Mom and I to work our front on cracks, the three of us came inside and installed the ceiling trim in the guest room.  Now, the only place left needing trim is the living room, since we're still working on closing up the wall from installing the door.

After lunch, we spent some time moving furniture from the garage into the house.  Many things had been there while rooms were under construction.  Now that all the bedrooms are available, I can get more moved in. Yay!

Dad spent the evening priming more new stucco areas.  Mom kept working on cracks.  I worked on the wiring for the new light over the patio door.  This involved installing a switch and running some new wire to connect the light to the switch and the switch to the circuit.  I ran out of time for the light itself to be installed, so that will be a project for another day.

More things will be happening this week, as Mom and Dad decided to work here the rest of the week, while I go off to my paid job.  =)

Carpet!

Floorman's minions arrived this morning to install the carpet.  I'm very happy with the results.  Here's the study, guest room, and master.

It's hard to tell in the pictures, but some of the wall doesn't come down far enough to the carpet and you can see a gap.  I was hoping I wouldn't need baseboards, but I do.  That's the next step now.

While they were doing that, Dad and I put up the top coat of stucco on the living and dining room windows.  First, bonding agent is painted on.  Then the stucco is applied and smoothed out.  After that, with a sponge, it gets feathered to help blend with the existing.  Finally, a broom is swept across it to give it a texture that should match the original.

Mom filled some exterior wall crack with elastomaric caulk.  That should expand and contract with the weather and hide the crack, keeping it sealed.  Dad put the wire around the door so that it can be stuccoed this weekend.  I measured the perimeter of the three rooms needing baseboard so that could be purchased.  All in all, a good day.

Getting There

Only 2 days of work this weekend to report about.  Things that got accomplished:

Dad installed attic vents in the front and back of the house:

(back vent photo coming in the future - I forgot to take one in time for this post.)

The vents will allow me to run my whole house fan.  It's much more powerful than it needs to be, but was the smallest one we could easily find.  It empties 3200 cubic feet in a minute.  My house is 7200.  It'll be cooled down in a jiffy!

We all worked at various times at getting the lamps installed in the two bedrooms.  Mom cleaned them, I covered chipped spots, Dad installed them, Mom attached fan blades, I attached sconces.

Master bedroom

Guest bedroom

Mom also spent quite a bit of time with joint compound, getting everything all smoothed out in the guest room.  We'll be able to start texturing it next time.

I worked on painting interior doors.  I got 4 out of 5 mostly done.  They each need one side painted still (logistically, you can only paint one side at a time).  I ran out of time to do the fifth one, so, next time.

Mother's Day Weekend

We worked only Friday and Saturday, as Sunday was Mother's Day.

Dad spent the weekend stuccoing around the newly installed windows.  First he had to lay wire.  Then mix and apply stucco.

Laying the wire around the windows took considerably longer than he thought it would.  In the two days, he got the first layer done on all four windows.  They have X's in them to help them bond to the top coat when it gets applied.

Mom spent a good part of Friday putting up double closet in the master bedroom.  She planned on finishing it quickly, but it had other plans.  She got it finished, eventually, but then didn't have as much time to clean ceiling as she thought.  The guest bedroom (by far the cleanest of the house) still has a bit to go, but then she'll be done with that task forever!

I did a variety of things over the two days.  I applied quite a bit of joint compound, trying to smooth out walls and joints before we texture.  I also put spray foam around the guest room windows and filled in some ceiling cracks from outside the house (if you look at the roof-line in the first picture, you can just make out some yellow foam).  I also marked where the light/fans are going to be installed in the two bedrooms and drilled the holes for them.  I then went a hunt to find wire to connect them to circuits.  I found one piece right away, but another longer enough wasn't appearing so it was beginning to look like I would have to buy some.  Then, I looked around the shed some more and saw a nice long piece that was still connecting two outlets even though the shed no longer has electricity.  Disconnecting it from the two outlets took quite a while (and some wrenching of my already hurt and braced wrist).

Sunday, we hiked to waterfalls in honor of Mother's Day.  I love you, Mom!

Groundcover

Sunday was busy!

My soccer game was at 11, so I did some tilling before I left.  That way, Mom would just have to separate the roots out when she arrived.  That's exactly what I found her doing when I got back home.  We then ate lunch as we were both really hungry.

After lunch, we finished the tilling and root separating.  Dad came back from his trip during this time and helped us finish that off.  Still some more tilling to do, but it's in the area of no groundcover, so it's not urgent.

Then, we started planting!  Dad and I planted, while Mom got leaves from the backyard to put around the plants.  That's how we spent the last three working hours of the day.  Got it all done!  Now I can't wait for the iceplant (in three colors) to establish itself and cover the area.

Near the start of planting time I got startled by a large rat just laying next to the tree.  It didn't move when I approached - looked like it was dying.  I picked it up with a shovel and it didn't care at all.  We're hoping it was dying from being poisoned and not the bubonic plague or anything.  We didn't touch it all, but we don't want any of that nastiness.