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.

Before The Fourth

Before I put on the fourth and last coat of poly I took a few pictures of the semi-gloss look we are after. They look fantastic, I thought you might like to see them in the almost finished state. They'll now sit for the long weekend to really let the poly cure.

The spare room.

The dressing room.

The master bedroom.

My office.

Looking back down the hallway.

Top of the stairs.

Third Coat

After a light sanding with 220 grit paper and a wipe down with a tack cloth attached to the sander pad, I applied the third coat. It went on great, it is hard to see the finished product with the poly still wet so the next post about these floors will be pictures of the finished product. I have at least one more coat to apply maybe two and when that sets for 3 days. So enjoy the look of the wet third coat as this will be the last post for a few days.

Spare room.

Dressing room.

Master bedroom.

My office.

South end of the hallway.

Top of the stairs.

Who Needs A CAD Program

There is something to be said about building a life sized mock up of what you want to do in the space you are working and be able to walk around in it to see if it will work. Computer Aided Design programs for kitchens might be nice to be able change things around and see a more finished product, but if you can't walk in the space I don't believe you get a realistic feeling of what you want and if it will work or not. Best do it now then when all the walls are up and the electrical has been run.

Looking at the main cooking area and sink from the hallway, with
the pantry in the corner.

A look at the island and were the fridge will
go in the corner.

The right side is were we want to put the oven and a
counter for the coffee pot.

Looking in from the dining room, still room to move around.