Laying Out The Floors

We'll soon be starting to put back the old pine floor boards. I brought them into the living room and laid them out by length, some will fit better in the west side as they are a bit longer. Also ReBecca decided she wants the floors in the hall way to run the length of the hall and not across as it did originally. So I had to lay out boards that would run the length and were about the same width, bring them home, cut them to width so they'll fit, cut in new grooves and take them back. A day's work, very easy.

Floor boards laid out, ready to go.

A sneak peak at what the upstairs will look like before we stain them.

A look at what I did to find the right boards for upstairs.

Sunflowers

I always thought sunflowers were yellow, until I saw these in our garden. I know this isn't reno stuff but it has to do with our property and as this is "The Searsville Project" and ReBecca's garden is part of our project.

A red sunflower, I never saw one before.

Same as the previous one, in a different light.

This one broke off from the heavy winds and rain we had last week. It looks like it can't decide, red or yellow. Too late now.

The Last Three Sheets

Well it took as long to lay the last three sheets of plywood as it did to put down the previous seven. One thing about an older (old) home is not everything is level, I try to make it as level as possible but there are some spots it can't be done, at least without a bit of work. I had to pull up the old planks at the main entrance, and cut away ¾ inch of the original post of the floor joists. I used the skill saw to make many many cross cuts to reduce the thickness of the post. Not to worry, this is a very large post lots of wood to work with. Once that was done I put back the old floor boards and then laid the plywood sub floor. A very long day.

I also took out the first two planks by the door as they had large holes in them where the drain lines ran from the upstairs bathroom. Lots of work done here.

This is looking at the front door from the NE corner of the living room. Trust me when I say the entrance is now level compared to the bow it would have had other wise.

Looking into the hallway from the SE corner of the living room. I made a template from ¼ inch plywood for the cut around the post by the stairs, with a little jigging it fit nicely.

Starting The Floors

I've been busy trying to finish off with the plywood sub-floor in the living room and hall way. I also sanded the pine boards that are in the closet and passage way that is between the master bedroom and dressing room. These three boards couldn't be pulled out because of the wall between the spaces. So a little bit of work with a disk and belt sander and they are ready to be finished along with the original boards, once I get them laid.

This is the closet space in the dressing room.

The passage way between rooms. Luckily we want to keep a bit of the unoriginality of the floors.

Work in progress, plywood laid but not screwed down, a little bit of tweaking needed. This is looking into the hall from the SE corner of the living room.

Looking into the living room from the bottom step.

We're also looking at windows for the kitchen, over the sink. This sheet of plywood on the wall is were it will go. We have time and options, right now, we'll see.

Getting It Back Together

I finished with the wiring and put up the drywall I pulled down to make the corrections needed. Like over the front door, once the mud goes on and sanded, with a little paint you'll never know. Now this is done I can lay the ¾ inch plywood to finish off the sub-floor.

This is the east living room wall back together.

The southwest corner of the living room. This is the plug I feed the light switch from. More mud and sanding. I think I'll wait until I do the ceiling and only have one run at it.

The Last One

I think this is the last junction box behind drywall, at least with all the wining I can now see this has to be the last. It didn't take much to cut away the drywall, expose the box, then remove the drywall where the outside lights are, follow the wiring and run new stuff. And yes I took out the junction box.

When I re-ran a wire for a plug in the living room so it wasn't exposed I also feed the outside light switch from that plug. It originally went up from the junction box, to the light at the base of the stairs, across to the switch. Now I just ran a line from the switch, up the wall, through two beams, down to the left light and then across through the existing holes to the other side. Very easy.

Put back the insulation, and taped it up again.

The drywalls back up and after a little mud and sanding you'll never know I was there.

A Little More Trim

I had a slow day so I thought I would put up the trim around the tub. You may not be able to see it fully but it's there, not finished but it's up. Now back to the rest of the house.

Making It Safe

Today I started to do some work in the living room, I will be putting down the reminder of the ¾ inch plywood to finish off the first floor but can't because some of the electrical that was run comes up where I don't like it to. So I did a little work to fix a couple of problems and will finish off the rest tomorrow.

This line feed the outlet for an electric fire place they had. Not much room in the basement to feed a line up, with post construction it's hard to get a line through and the foundation wall extends inward about 18 inches. This line is now disconnected and pulled out. I'll use it in another location.

The best way to do anything is remove a little drywall, expose what you need and work is done. I ran a new line to the plug on the left, as I had to raise it because we are putting in 8 inch baseboards and this one was a bit low. And I ran a new feed line to the existing plug to the right of it. A couple of drywall screws, a bit of tuck tape, mud and sanding, and all is new again.

This line came up very close to the edge of the drywall, so I cut away a bit of the sub-floor to move it back some and protected it with a nailing plate. All is safe now.

This line feeds the plug in the living room, and as you can see it's exposed. This is in the hall way by the front door. I can't put plywood over this. Tomorrow's job.

Hard To See The Progress

After three coast of mud and sanding I put on some primer, this will help me find those few flaws that need to be touched up. It has taken 5 days to get to here. The first bit of mud added was a bit heavy in places and required a couple of days to dry.

Starting to look like something now. I added some more mud to those few spots that needed it. I should be done very soon.

This is the ¾ inch plywood I laid a couple of weeks ago, finally screwed down. It needed to be tweaked in a couple of locations to make it a little more level than just the planks. It isn't perfect but it is even, this we can work with. Looking into the kitchen from the dining room south wall.

This floor is very solid, there is about 1¾ inches of wood down, the original sub floor of 1 inch planks and these ¾ inch plywood sheets. This is a look into the dining room from the kitchen.

Tub Trim

Finally started work on the trim for the tub. We couldn't find any commercial trim that may be for the tub so we decided to make our own. There isn't any profile just clean lines. I did have to make a few cuts to get it to fit over the tub edge. I'll see if it all works out once the paint dries and I start to fit it.

A cross section of the trim, it should fit nicely. The sample piece did.

I only needed three pieces but it doesn't hurt to have an extra. Nice white trim paint keeps everything clean.