Clean Lines

The kitchen has been straightened out, that is the ceiling strapping. It wasn't out as much as the dining room side, why I don't know, I just know it went a little quicker today. It is about as level as I'm going to get it, at least there isn't a bow in it to catch you eye. Almost ready for the drywall.

You can see the bow in the beam compared to the strapping next to it.

It was only out about an inch on one side and about ¾'s of an inch on the other.

Looking A Little Straighter

It took some time and a bit of wood but I think I have the strapping in the dining room a little straighter, at least it looks it. You may recall in an older post back in April when I pulled down the old drywall we saw the header was not holding anything up and then I proceeded to push up the floor joists a bit, and only a bit because it took may years to get that sag in there and I wasn't going to push it up in a matter of weeks. So after moving it up a bit, putting in a new header to support everything, it came time to adjust the strapping before putting up new drywall. The difference in height from the center of the room to the two sides was between 1 to 1½ inches, with a little beefing up the ends and some home made shims I managed to straighten it out, some what. It's much better anyway, even if it doesn't look that way in the pictures. Next week I'll tackle the kitchen side.

If you look hard you can see the beam and the first strapping,
and you can see the difference.

It may not look the best but once the drywall is up no one will ever notice.

This side required larger shims, (2 x 4's) to fill the gap.

Communicating

Today was another wiring day, but a different type of wiring, phone and network lines. It didn't seem like a lot but it took a day to run the wires. About the only challenging part was drilling the holes to run the lines to my office and a phone line to the bedroom. Other than that it was up ladder, down ladder, move ladder, up ladder, down ladder, you get the idea.The line to the dining room run directly to the box, same with the one to my office. The bedroom will come off my office connection. The Cat 6 line for the Internet ran from my office, through the studs in the kitchen, across the basement, through the foundation wall into the crawl space under the addition to were we'll hook up the router in ReBecca's office.  Here a a few pictures of today's work, not really exiting but here they are all the same.

The blue one is Internet, one phone line it and one to the bedroom.

Phone line in the dining room, down and out of the way.

My office, a phone line and Internet jack.

Simple phone line in the bedroom.

Pink & Warm - Safe & Sound

The rest of the insulation and vapor barrier are up in the kitchen and ready for drywall, some day soon. I also put up a bundle of "Safe and Sound" roxul insulation in the living room. This adds to the sound proofing to help keep the sound from the TV echoing up to the bedroom. I'm not worried that it doesn't go all the way across the ceiling in the living room, because what is not done is in the dressing room side. I also beefed up one of the floor joists the goes down the upstairs hallway, at the far end of the stair opening. I never noticed that the floor had a little 'bounce' to it until I had a visitor one day and wanted to see how I was doing and look at the floors upstairs, and he noticed the 'bounce'. So I just screwed in a 10 foot 2 x 6 to the existing joist and put in two 2 x 6's a cross members to beef it up a bit. I wasn't concerned about the little bounce, and seeing the ceiling is opened up right now, why not.

Insulation in the kitchen, done.

Sound proof and fire safe insulation in the living room.

You can see the new support joist and cross members.

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.