SURPRISE!!!

Hello! It's been a little while, and a lot has happened.

Here we see Tanner installing our new pre-hung doors. The existing jambs were in really rough shape, and were size for the extremely thick wall material. They had to go so we could have nice, clean surfaces for paint.

SURPRISE! Corinne had her bridal shower last week, and all of a sudden, her sister Meshion was there, all the way from Hornell, NY! After the shower we put her right to work. She was very happy about this, as you can see in the picture. It was great to have her, Corinne was really surprised to see her and she helped a lot. She did laundry! That sort of task kind of gets pushed to the wayside as we jam forward with the construction, and a lot had piled up. Thanks, Meshion. Now Corinne and Jesse smell slightly less gross!

Derrick, our friend and Meshion's co-conspirator in the surprise, also came over to help. This isn't his first trip, he was here before while Corinne's dad was visiting. At least when he was here this time there was a roof over-head.

Drywall. It's so great to have privacy in the bathroom!

Drywall AND Doors.

Supply and Drain Waste Ventilation (DWV) plumbing.
The DWV is supposed to be more difficult, because rules have to be followed about slope and stuff and fitting the large plastic parts together can be difficult, but that wasn't the case for us.
Just like last year, I had all sorts of trouble soldering the copper supply lines. What I thought would be quick, easy and fun turned a lot more annoying. My water-based flux got dirty and stopped functioning properly and joints kept leaking. The problem with leaking joints is that there is no way to tell until you turn the water back on...and then the pipes are filled with water and can't be soldered!
I was down under the house until 4 AM one night... I was obsessed and really really wanted to finish. I couldn't even wash my hands. But, in the end I couldn't get it done and all I had to show for my efforts were burns on my arms from dripping solder.
I wore safety glasses, at least. I didn't want molted solder in my eyes.
The next day Tanner brought over some new, old fashioned solder and everything got buttoned up.
My advice? Use the same solder that has been working well for decades, not the new water based stuff.

The vanity plumbing.

Shower plumbing, showing the new valve and the alcove for shampoo storage.

Cut in boxes for electrical. We are completely replacing all wiring in the house, and where the wallboard is not coming off the easiest way to get new outlets is to pull off the baseboard, cut away a strip of wall board, and drill an angled hole through the base of the studs. A cut-in box provides for the outlet.

Once wires were pulled in the master BR, we moved on to the linen closet. Then it was time for bed.

Speaking of closets, we took some time yesterday to make final decisions about the master bedroom closet. Here it is!

Corinne is very excited about the closet.





Also, for all of you who made guesses about the object from the last blog:
It was...

A snake wrangler! Used to safely handle snakes.
Why?
I have no idea.
And I don't think I want to.
But it sure did make a good insulation-pusher-arounder.

Moving Along

I haven't posted in a few days because the kind of work that's been getting done isn't the kind that shows up in pictures very well.

We framed in the new wall between the master bedroom and bathroom -- you can see it in the right side of this picture below. Tanner and Ola showed up Sunday just in time to help frame in that wall and to demo the wall that used to have the door! Lucky them...

Tanner and Jesse work on removing the old wall.

Jesse rattled off numbers to me and I would run outside (in the dark) to cut the studs to length.

Jesse puts the top plate into place where the new header will go for the pocket door frame.

"Where did this come from, Jesse?"

"I don't know, I found it in the attic and I've been using it to push insulation around"

"Oh my! It's a _________!"

(Guess what it is in the comments and I'll post the answer on the next blog entry)

Jesse decided the ceiling in the bathroom had to go (more on that in one picture.) Luckily, Pat stopped by Monday to help while I was at work -- I don't know how Jesse would have gotten the new ceiling up, otherwise. (Pat received a nasty bump on the head for his troubles...thanks, Pat!)

Anybody see anything wrong with this toilet?
I was too upset to take a picture when it happened.
The bathroom ceiling did not want to come down without taking something else with it. So it broke the toilet tank.
We were going to re-use that toilet in a new location. Not anymore.
On the plus side, we got to order the fancy toilet that matches our tub and bathroom fixtures.
On the down side, it cost a lot AND it won't be here for two weeks.
What do we do until then, you might ask. Well, see that bucket next to the toilet? It gets filled up with water and when it's time to flush, we pour it on in. Oh yeah.

The bathroom as it is now. The mini-wall that will separate the tub enclosure from the toilet can be seen on the right. The giant header that Jesse managed to install on his own can be seen near the top. That old window should be gone in the next day or two.

Jesse will make a run to the Big Orange Box tomorrow to pick up some special order stuff that came in and return a bunch of stuff we don't need (lumber, the wrong size door, wrong size pocket door frame they gave us, etc.) After that he'll hopefully have time to re-frame and install the new window.

The next two weeks will be full of electrical and plumbing then after the inspection, we should be able to hook up our new toilet!

There's a bunch of other stuff on the horizon, but we'll take it in baby steps.

Oh -- and we just hung the drywall between the master bedroom closet and the living room! Time for bed.



EDIT: Jesse just received his grades for last semester. 4.0! He managed to help plan the wedding, take care of things around the house, take six classes (at THREE different schools) and still earn straight As. He's pretty great, that Jesse.