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.

My Parents Continue to Be Amazing

I went camping for the long Memorial Day weekend.

Mom and Dad decided to keep working on my house.  They textured, primed, and painted the back two bedrooms.

Master bedroom

Guest bedroom

Bedroom closet

As if that what isn't enough to get done, they also installed the blinds in the study that had arrived during the week.

In case I haven't mentioned it, my parents totally rock!

Three Days, Three Windows

Friday morning.  While Mom got dinner started in the crockpot, Dad and I installed the replacement window in the study.  It was generally an easy process.  First was to remove the window, but not the frame, of the one that was there already.  The slider came out easily.  Getting the fixed one out proved more troublesome, but we eventually prevailed.

The replacement window sits right on the frame of the original.  We just put it in and screwed it into the sides. Pretty easy.

We then made a list of jobs still needing completion.  After lunch, we hung the last remaining kitchen cabinet.  I hadn't originally gotten one for the space, but it looked incomplete.  Better now.  (Sorry, no pic.)

Saturday we started working on the master bedroom.  First up, taking off the drywall from the back wall.  The end goal was to replace the window there, but, when we first did some research on the window, we discovered that it wasn't original and that the idiots who did it cut studs and diagonal bracing without transferring the load anywhere.  We need to rectify that.

At this point, I did some work outside (planting tomatoes and cutting up branches) while Dad built a new frame for the new window.  Here's Mom and Dad installing it.

Shortly after this, we had dinner and I left for my evening plans.  Mom and Dad, being the awesome people they are, stayed and finished installing the window.  This is what I discovered when I got home.

You can see that the new window is a different size than the old one.  Once we've got the windows in the whole house installed, we'll restucco around them and make it look nice and neat.

It was off to soccer for me Sunday morning.  When I arrived home, Mom and Dad had already taken out the other window in the master bedroom.  After lunch, Mom and I started putting up OSB (plywood) on the wall from Saturday.  That's how we're overcoming the cut cross-bracing.  It will add a lot of shear strength to the wall.  Dad created the new frame during that time.  Once the frame was installed, Mom (our flashing expert) put the window flashing around the hole.

I cut up more branches during this time.  Also, Dad and I hung more OSB.

Once Mom; finished flashing, Dad and I installed the window.  I made sure it was level on the inside.  Dad nailed it from the outside.

We accomplished a lot this weekend.  And.....it's going to keep happening.  Mom and Dad are spending their spring break working on my house!  I so wish I didn't have to go to work - I'd so prefer working on the house - but I've got to earn an income.  My parents are amazing!

Spending Money

The first half of the day was spent at the store.  I had a 10% off coupon that needed to be used soon.  I got all of this: one more kitchen cabinet, 4 windows, a patio door, 20 light bulbs 8 table legs and hardware, finish nails, screws, a vent register, and brown paint.

After lunch, Mom continued cleaning up ceiling trim so that she can install it tomorrow.

Dad and I started working on the hall floor.  First, we had o cut off the door jambs so the laminate would slide underneath.  That was a bear of a job that wore us both out - thankfully we only had to do three, two had been done previously.

I got the foam/moisture barrier put down the length of the hall.  Dad put the spacers against the wall.  We're ready to lay the floor tomorrow morning.

Cool Air

In the morning, I got my ridiculously cheap hall light installed.  It looks good in the freshly painted hall. Yay!

Dad and I spent the day installing the whole house fan.  First, we taped the template up to the ceiling.  Then I drilled starter holes in opposite corners.  Those holes let us see exactly where the fan is going once we got up to the attic.  We got all our tools and geared up to head into the attic.

Dad made the first cuts by plunging the circular saw down into the ceiling.  

Boards went crashing down to the hallway below as Dad made the cut parallel to this one.  Mom wanted a photo of us from inside the house:

I then finished the cuts with the saber saw and sent the last two boards plummeting to the ground.

At this point, I headed down to the hallway.  Dad stayed in place.  I handed him the fan and then the parts for the box to hold it up.  He put those boards in place, and we held up the shutter to make sure it would work and the louvers wouldn't get caught on anything.  Then, I drilled the boards in place from the bottom.

While Dad stapled carpet padding to the shelf, I put caulk in the gaps between boards.  Then Dad put the fan itself in place.  I continued caulking.

Finally, Dad came down and we put up the shutter.  Now, I've got a great fan for keeping the house cool come summertime.

During all this, Mom was in the garage, stripping paint off ceiling trim for the study.  Better than doing the ceiling since the pieces got to be on a table and not overhead.  Thanks, Mom!

Just before dinner, we took off random interior window frames from the bedroom windows so we could see just what was going on with those.  We figured what size of windows to get and have an idea of what repair work in the walls we're going to need to do.

Lots of Paint

I got to the house a little late due to a dentist appointment.  Dad had started working on removing the base cabinets in the kitchen.  Mom was stirring paint to do the study.  It took a bit of doing, but we eventually loosened the cabinets from the wall.  We were about to work on taking it outside when we thought to do some measuring.  Turns out, the corner part was too wide to fit, so we wouldn't be able to swing it around like we thought.  While Dad and I separated the two pieces, Mom went to work painting the study.

Dad and I eventually got the cabinets out, so the kitchen is now totally empty.

At this point, Dad and I went to the store to get some plumbing and various other supplies.  Upon our return, Dad went to work replacing the turn off valves for the kitchen sink and I helped Mom paint the study.  As you can see, she was a bit whimsical with her brush.

About the time we were finishing the study, Dad needed to go to the store.  When he was attempting to replace the valves, the pipes, from being corroded, cracked.  He cut  into the wall and removed the pipes.  Time for him to go back to the store.  So, we all took a break before we began again.  The study looks good, and will likely look even better when the paint is totally dry, instead of spotchily dry.

After break, Dad got to work fixing the pipes (success this time).  Mom and I painted the living room.  Dad also did some patchwork in the kitchen.  Hopefully, we'll be able to spray the orange peel texture Saturday afternoon.  We'll see.  Living room looks good - lots of progress today!

There's a Lot of Dust and Stuff in the Air

Dad started the morning off by sanding the texture in the study.  Dust everywhere in that enclosed room.  Good thing he was wearing his respirator - I don't think he could have taken a breath without it!  It seeped out into the rest of the house and gave the air a hazy quality.  Mom and I primed the living room (Mom wasn't cleaning ceilings - she loved it!).  I did the edges with the brush and she did the rest with the roller.  Dad started priming the study.  That pretty much took up the morning.

After lunch, Dad finished priming while Mom and I did some destruction.  I removed the rest of the tile from the kitchen counter.  This time, I was smart and wore ear plugs so my ears weren't ringing when I was finished.  Tile chunks were flying everywhere, so I was glad I had put on my protective glasses as well.  As a matter of fact, that night, as I was running my fingers through my hair, a quarter inch square piece of ceramic glaze came out.  Mom came behind me, sometimes warily, and removed the backer board for the tile.

After Dad finished priming, he was looking for things to do.  He attached the TP holder in the bathroom and caulked the vanity.

After the tile and backer board were done, Mom and Dad talked in the living room while I removed the kitchen sink.

Alas, Mom and Dad's conversation led to more work for next weekend.  It turns out that we didn't look at the living room window close enough.  It's nailing flange doesn't appear to be nailed into anything.  We need to cut out some wallboard, replace it with a 1x to nail to, and then recover, texture, and prime it.  Oh, joy!

Magical Work

This morning started with me moving some more stuff into the garage.  Dad was putting joint compound to the needed parts of the study and Mom was cleaning ceilings.  I started to sand the living room texture so that painting could commence, however, I ended up making more work for us instead.  I discovered that the ceiling molding on one wall had been removed after we textured it.  The paint there had loosened up and needed scraping.  Silly me, I thought this would be a relatively quick job.  Oh, no.....the paint just would not stop coming off in this one place.  It ended up being about the size of a pillow when it finally stopped scraping off.  That's when I had to stop, as it was time to go to a birthday party for a 1-year-old.

Upon my return, something magical had happened.  The kitchen ceiling was just about totally cleaned (now it is) and the study had been almost completely textured.  My parents are the best!

I finally did sand the living room.  We'll be priming the living room and study tomorrow.  Whoohoo!

Something's Done!

I got to the house about 9:45 this morning with some boxes to put in the garage for the start of the moving process.  I found out that my parents had stopped by yesterday and got some more ceilings cleaned - the study got finished and the kitchen halfway.  I went to work in the study adding joint compound to the uneven spots.  After my third batch, it was just after 11 and I was wondering what happened to Mom and Dad as they hadn't arrived yet.  I called and that's when they were pulling up.  They had needed to stop at a few stores on the way in.

After some chit chat we got to work.  Mom, shockingly enough, cleaned ceilings.  Dad installed the molding in the bathroom.

I kept working on the walls in the study.  One corner had to be redone entirely.  The original corner tape was coming undone and needed to be removed.  There was quite a large gap that needed to be taped and compounded.  End result:

Dad and I moved the vanity back into the bathroom.  He then connected the plumbing.  And, it's a completed (mostly) bathroom.  Just need to put the cover plates on the switches and outlets and clean the ceiling.

I continued removing kitchen tile while Dad rescrewed some of the loose wallboard in the study.  Just in time, too, since I'll likely be texturing the walls tomorrow.

That back splash is now almost entirely gone, and my ears stopped ringing just a few hours ago.

A Slow Day

Still sick, but not nearly so bad.  I went to the house and did stuff, but was on break more often and for longer periods of time than I was working.

Yesterday, while I was home sleeping, Dad put together my bathroom sink.  It's not in place yet, but soon.  And, surprise, surprise, Mom cleaned ceiling.

Today, I pulled the last of the baseboard from the study.  This was fortuitous as Dad planned to use it as the new baseboard in the bathroom.  The last piece I pulled, he cut to the size needed for there.  After he cut and washed them, I painted them.  They went from disgusting to quite nice.

Mom kept cleaning ceilings.  She has now finished the living and dining rooms.  Yay!  She then started on the study, since that's the room I'll be moving into in about a month.

Dad removed the two upper cabinets from the kitchen and started removing the tile.  The kitchen definitely looks much worse now, but will look great eventually.

Work Day Cut Short

Mom and Dad beat me to the house today, owing to the fact that I had to do laundry.

I started by doing some scraping of paint in the study.  Mom patched up the hole Dad created when he did the wiring for an overhead light.  Dad installed the toilet.  I applied a batch of joint compound in an attempt to even out the walls of the study.  Mom cleaned more ceiling.  Dad started taking off cabinets in the kitchen.

And that's all I know about.  Sickness forced me home after lunch.  I'll find out later what Mom and Dad accomplished without me.

It's A Small World

I got to the house Saturday morning before my parents.  I started scraping the walls of the study to get them prepped for texturing.  When Mom and Dad showed up, we decided to go to the ReStore in Roseville.  More good finds!

Upon walking in, I went to the tile section.  I was immediately blown away by what I found.  A few weeks ago I ordered decorative tiles for the kitchen.  I got to pick brand, color, and size for the design to be printed on.  I chose some that would be easy for me to match locally.  As luck would have it, the exact tiles I need were in great supply here, so I got 230 of them.  Whohoo!!

At the same time, Mom found another overhead fan/light in really good shape with no parts missing.  Dad also found a good shovel and attic vent.  We also found a great well-kept GE gas range.  And this really cool sofa:

Like usual, I'll post the grand total for all this gloriousness at the end.  You should be getting better at guessing prices now. =)

Upon returning from the shopping excursion, we talked with Neighbor.  Dad had a thought he knew her, and he does!  They used to work together and she's quite excited that I'll be her new neighbor.  She said she can give me quite the run down on the history of my house as she's lived next door for 35 years.  Pretty cool, and crazy.

After lunch, I mixed up some joint compound and filled in low spots in the study walls.  When all the low spots get filled in, we'll be able to texture it.  Mom cleaned more ceiling.  It's quite a disgusting job as she's cleaning off years and years of nicotine stains.  Her water turns nasty brown really quickly, but it's making a beautiful difference.

Dad hung my light in the living room.  This was something that took some doing over more than one day.  The house was not originally wired for overhead lights.  The switches are connected to nearby outlets.  A while ago, Dad changed the wiring for the living room, so now the switch is connected overhead and the outlets have nothing to do with the switch.  Final result:  Happy Silk and a nice light.

I left as Dad was hanging the light to go hang out with The Girls.  After our night of fun, it was back to work Sunday.

Dad worked on rewiring the study for an overhead fan/light.  Mom kept cleaning the ceiling.  I applied more joint compound.  By the end of the day, Dad was the only one with anything picture worthy.  Mom had more clean ceiling and I had more compound on the walls.  Dad had another light hung, this time in the study.

While applying joint compound this afternoon, I attempted to sit down to work near the floor.  When I did, I felt something enter my thigh.  I sat on a nail!  It was on a piece of trim that had been taken down.  Luckily, it didn't go far and I had gotten a tetanus booster in October.  Mom put antibacterial and a bandage on it.  I'll keep an eye on it for the next few days, but it should be alright.



Grand total for the shopping trip: $370.22.  How close did you come?