Starting To Warm Things Up

After putting in one more plug for the future stove top exhaust fan, I then ran a new wire for the cook top and finally, I started to put up the insulation and vapor barrier. I used what I had and will finish it off tomorrow. Getting ready for the cold weather.

This is about where it will go, at least the wire is run.

The kitchen's west wall done.

Most of the north wall is done, a little more and that's it. Warm.

Adding A Little Light

With the lights now positioned and wired it only made scene to put up some lights, even if they are temporary fixtures. I also relocated the original light to a spot that will be inside the pantry. Lots of light is important in the kitchen and I hope we have enough. I also set up a box and switch for futures lights that will go under the cabinet right of the cook top. I'll get the wiring for the range, microwave and coffee station later, as they are on an interior wall and I want to start insulating the kitchen, soon.

Looking down the line where the cook top and sink will be.

Looking in from the dining room.
The light over the sink is independent, as is the pantry light.



Over the future TV built in and new custom book cases.
I'll be busy later on.

And More Wiring

I had a good day, for a Sunday that is. I ran the wires and put up the boxes for the kitchen lights, once I get simple fixtures I'll be able to turn on the breaker. Next I'll get the living room lights wired, the ones that will go by the future book shelves, which will be on either side the of the built in TV stand. As I mentioned previously, it's Sunday so a rest day it is.

Switches for the lights. One for over the sink and the other for the rest.

I think I have them in a strait line.
The one with the bulb on the left will go in the pantry.

Just had to drill a few holes to get the wires run safely.

Getting Wired

It seems like it takes for ever just to get a wire run, in this case it took a few hours to run the power for the future cook top and a few plugs. This is because I had to lift up the plywood sub-floor and a couple of boards from the sub sub-floor to have better access to run this old range wire. I also ran a new wire for a GFI plug right of the sink and re-used an old line for another plug and lights. This one will be a split receptacle so lots of plugs on separate lines and we shouldn't have a power problem if we have several things plugged in.

This is the cook top line, I had to drill through the sill beam, and I felt better having a nailing
plate over the wires path. Not that anything will happen, I just want to be careful.

Feed line for a new GFI plug on the right side of the sink.

The location of the new plugs and switches. One of the switches at the end will control the
light over the sink, the other is for the other three kitchen lights.

How Much Trash Can There Be????

Well today we filled, at least ¾ full, another 22 foot dumpster with more construction waste, and it only took us about 2½ hours. I am amazed at how much trash there is, or should I say was in the house. This last load was generated from the demo of the upstairs bathroom, the old duct work from the basement, and just a little bit of waste from the bathroom reno. But it's gone and I can only hope that will be it, at least for a while anyway.

Everything was already in or behind the shed.

The old kitchen and dining room floors I couldn't save.

It does add up.

The back side of the mountain.

This is what it looked like when we started.

The wood is gone.

The mountain is gone.

Lots of room now.

It took an hour to load the wood.

About 1½ hours after the wood was on we were done.

Out With The Old

Now that I have the floors in upstairs we won't be using the old wood furnace anymore, in fact I had the old duct lines pulled out before I put down the plywood. I did put in place a new vent in the bathroom, ready for the new heating system, that is when we sell and move out there. The old wood furnace is not very efficient and sent out a lot of dust, not very healthy. I'll be getting in a large dumpster this week and will be getting disposing of old duct lines and construction waste that has been accumulating since the upstairs bathroom demo and the removal of the dining room and kitchen floors. This is what the basement looks like now.

This is what it looked like when we moved in, lines everywhere.

Just the fire box left.

A little work with the old tin and a cap plugs the chimney.

OK, This Is The Last One

 While I was cleaning up some wiring in the living room and hallway I noticed that the wire leading to the living room switch wasn't the same wire that actually made it to the switch, which presented a little dilemma. And as you guessed I opened up the wall and found another hidden junction box. To top it off the wire leading to the box was spliced to another one with marretts 4 inches before getting to the box. Now there is one wire from the light to the switch, which is run though the joists and not below them beside the strapping for the drywall, that could cause a problem. As I was already standing on a ladder with a drill in hand, I pre-positioned the wires for two lights we'll be installing above bookcases we'll be building later. Today we also looked at locations for lights, plugs and switches in the kitchen and I'll be running wires to them soon. Just one thing after another, but nothing too big that can't be corrected immediately.

Before I corrected it. the wire was jsut setting in a knotch in the beam, beside the drywall.

Corrected and wire hanging for new lights.

The hidden juntion box.



You can see where we'll be putting in the new lights.



The hanging ribbons are where we'll be installing the kitchn lights.

The Little Things

After the window went in the weather looked very good so I took advantage of it and enjoyed myself at the Golf Club. Today with the rain I got a couple of the little things done. The north wall near the addition door had water damage years ago and there was rot in the sill and a stud, so I did a little work and repaired it, the best I could. I pulled up the plywood, cut away one of the old floor boards that was also showing signs of rot, put in a new floor board, then relaid the plywood. I then put a small board on the old sill, which by the way is not the normal 2 x 6 or 2 x 4 construction, it's 6 x 6 post and beam so there is lots of wood left. Anyway I secured a board between two studs and screwed a new stud to the old one to give it strength. I doubt I needed it because about 16 inches on either side are two wide studs, I just felt better doing it. Today I also up part of the mock up so we could see what it will look like with a wall cabinet just inside the door from the addition, still lots of room. One last thing I did was pull down a bit of drywall around the wall to the living room so when it comes time to put in a the new short walls I'll be able to attach them to wood and not drywall.




You may be able to see the new studs I put in and the mock up give you an idea of what space will be used up.

Just a shot of the living room wall with the drywall removed.

In With The New - Out With The Old

I know the title is backwards, but this is how it went yesterday. After a long day I got the new window in and the old one out, and the siding back up. Here is how it went, enjoy.

This is what it looked before I started.

The siding come off and I was able to use some of it to replace borken sections.

This is with the Styrofoam insulation removed.

The window is in, the blue is a rubber sill gasket.



Out with the old, notice the size of the hole compared to that little window size.
Inside it was built up on the sides by about 4 inches, and had to be removed.

Reused the Styrofoam insulation and sealed it up, after a bit of framing inside.
 

And 9 hours later with the siding back up we're done.
Did you notice from the first picture to this one the sun coming around.

The inside look and you can see were the old window was.

A New Look

We were successful in finding a window for the kitchen, it doesn't have an arch but it still looks good. You'll see what it looks like after it's installed, for now you can see what I've done in preparation for the window. Today I had to do a little rewiring, I moved a plug and switch to make room for the king and jack posts for the window and header. As I was in the wiring mode, I took out a couple of old wires from down stairs that needed to be removed because of their age. It's amazing how much time this takes, it's done though. I put in the temporary jack posts to cover the span of the window, as I'll be cutting into three wall studs, I want the support before I put in the header and make it safe again.

The top and bottom horizontal boards are temporary to show you
where the window will go and the size.

Not 'The Searsville Project'

I know it's been a few day's since I've posted anything but after seeing the display window, it appeared to be missing a few parts, so we decided to keep looking. In the mean time the plugs that are part of the bathroom lights that are on both sides of our mirron in the house in town caused the plugs to over heat, this needed correcting. We put in new lights, but today's lights don't come with outlets and I had to put in a plug and switch, which meant, DEMO, AGAIN. The walls in this place are concrete board, one inch thick, with the new plug and switch in place and two layers of gyprock screwed in, mudded, sanded, primed and painted, the lights were put up and now the room looks bigger. This is what I have been doing with some of my time. In the below "before" picture you can only see the bottom of the long florescent lights but you get the idea what it looked like, for those who have never seen the room before. And a good look at what the room looks like now in the "after" picture.

The before shot.

The after shot.

Pretty In Pink

OK, how about pretty in pink fibre glass. With the electrical done in the dining room I thought I might as well get this step out of the way. It didn't take long and once we get the kitchen set up worked out I'll be able to start moving forward there as well. That is after the new window goes in. Today I also made a little modification to the kitchen mock-up, I adjusted the size of the wall were the counter and upper cabinet will go beside the range. Before it was just one long wall and was not as accurate as it could have been. This way it opens up a bit and we can see more. A better fit.

The south dining room wall.

The west wall.

I moved the window location over, it is centered now.

The counter and upper cabinet are better defined.
It opens it up a bit more.

 

Making Decisions

Now it's time to make decide where things will go, and I need this info to put the plugs and switches in. Today I'm working in the dining room, I added a few plugs and relocated a switch, and with the rewiring of the dining room light it is safer, compared to where the wires were run.

New plug on the left and moved the other one up,
to accommodate the size of our baseboards.

New plug for a hidden TV and relocated the light switch.

New (updated) wiring for the light, and run safely.

The plug on the right is dedicated for the fridge.