New Walls

From the start we wanted to close off the living room, even it was just a bit. We don't want to walk into the house and be right into the living room. First we thought about pocket doors, but with the walls being about a ½ inch narrower than normal walls that may be a problem, also the original opening was going to be 4 feet wide, a bit small. So after a while of thinking about it we came up with a 60 inch opening and we will put up sliding doors that when open, will be in the living room out of the way. And the sliders will be built in (some how).

From the dining room doorway. Drywall goes up tomorrow.

From the east window in the living room.

The Ceilings Are Done

Yesterday was a long day but the ceilings in the living room and hallway are done, and I must say the drywall lift is defiantly worth it's weight in gold. I could move the drywall around with ease and to make a little adjustment, not a problem. If I had to do it with man/woman power, well we'd still be at it.

Looking south from the addition to the front door.

Looking north from the front door.

The north end of the living room, above the TVs location.

Looking at the south east corner of the living room.

A Little Prep Work

I did a little prep work today, getting ready to put up the ceilings in hallway and living room. The old ceiling in the hallway was a bit thicker then what we are going to be putting back up, because there were two layers and when they trimmed the face of the stairwell it came to the edge of the ceiling. So the trim boards had to come down and new ones will go back up later. I also took the time to add a bit of strength to the cross supports at the head of the stairs, in case they have to cut it back a bit when we put in new stairs later. I also had to put up a new strapping in the living room as there wasn't one at the end of wall, also an edge piece to support a filler strip after the ceiling goes up. I spent some time pulling nails I forgot and cleaning up some of the edges so hopefully things will go smother tomorrow. Here a few pictures of today's adventures, and yes I know they're boring.

The new strapping is on the left and it may be hard to see
 the support piece.

The old trim was over an inch thick, I'll use this wood for anther
project later. The exposed wood are the floor joists.

You can see the new boards sistered to the cross members.

The Kitchen Makes Two

Finished the kitchen today, plugs, switches and lights back up. There is one area I didn't to because that is where the duct work will go once the chimney comes down. I may cut and put up the drywall needed for the space and only secure it with a few screws, just to hide it until we get started on that part of the project. I'll see after I do the living room and hallway ceilings. Here is a little walk around the kitchen.

Looking east at the bathroom and cellar doors, along with the oven wall.

Looking into the dining room (south), the fridge on the right.

The west and north walls, this is the pantry corner.

The north wall where the sink, cook top and dishwasher will go.

Coming from the living room towards the addition.

And More Drywall

Seven more sheets up in the kitchen, I would have finished it but I ran out of screws. It doesn't take long to go through a 1000 screws, so I got another 1000 for tomorrow. I thought I'd take it easy the rest of the day and be a little more rested for tomorrow, when I finish the kitchen, and start the hall and living room. At least it's only the ceilings left.

The west wall, south side is were the fridge will go.

The wall on the right is were the wall oven and microwave will go
and right of the window, the north view, will be the cook top.

Left of the window will be a pantry.

One More Back Up

The kitchen ceiling is back up. It took a bit, with a couple of adjustments, not as many as the dining room but a couple were needed. As well a couple more sheets of drywall were needed, because of the section leading to the addition. All in all it went well after I took down the 5 lights, disconnected 8 plugs and 5 switches not counting the two for the cook top and wall oven, all just for the kitchen. Tomorrow the walls.

The south west corner of the kitchen, where the fridge will go.

The south east corner, where the wall oven and microwave will go.

Looking towards the bathroom and door for the addition, NE corner.

The north west corner where the pantry will go.

That's One

I decided to complete the dining room drywall work before moving onto the kitchen, that is putting up full sheets. I did it this way so I when I move tools from one room to the other I don't have to move them again to finish off the room. It takes about the same amount of time measuring, cutting and putting up smaller pieces as it does full sheets. And the little one are more of a pain to fit. I did run into one little snag today, in the dining room, when looking south the little wall on the east (right) side of the opening to the kitchen, I have the supports for the header and it looked square to the existing wall that surrounds the chimney. Well the supports are plumb but one of the older studs bowed out in the middle and I had to shave it down a bit with the reciprocating saw. Other wise the wall would have a bulge and this would not do. Here are a couple of shot of the finished dining room, note the one tool that helped make this job a hole lot easier, the drywall lift.

Looking at the south west corner.

Looking at the north east corner.

The north west corner.

My new favorite tool, at least until this job is done anyway.

Getting Started

We picked up 40 sheets of drywall Saturday, 20 in the house and 20 still on the trailer in the garage. Sunday was Remembrance Day and we went to Saint John for the City's Parade at Harbour Station. My Brother-In-Law as the Parade Commander, an excellent turnout. Today we are back at it, this time with drywall. It may not look the best but with a 120 year old home, some of the original 90° corners and things not actually being square won't matter once I put on the tape and mud, you'll never know. A while ago I took the time to try and straighten the strapping, trying to take the bend out of it, as it turned out in a couple of places I was a little over zealous and it showed when I put up the first piece of drywall in the dining room, a big bend in it, so down came the drywall and with a few modifications made, it's better. I had one other spot to attend to as I was about to finish the ceiling and once that was tidied up I started the walls. But it was a long process even with a drywall lift and I'll finish up the dining room tomorrow, then start in the kitchen. This has been a long time coming.

The south/west corner of the dining room.
You can see how high the ceilings are with the gap at the bottom of 8 foot sheets.

The south east corner of the dining room.

Looking south at the dining room ceiling.

Looking at the north side of the dining room ceiling.

The Last One's - I Think?

The wire for the wall oven, microwave and coffee counter are done, and I put in a switch for an under counter light. This isn't wired in yet as I don't have the cabinets built, and it won't be a problem to run the wire once I have everything together. The microwave and plug for the coffee are on separate breakers, this way if we use the plug by the coffee machine and microwave at the same time there will be enough power. I also put up a couple of boards in the dining room for the installation of a TV bracket and not knowing where or how big it might be I thought I'd give myself a firm surface to secure it. As well in the living room I put up two pieces of ¼ inch plywood to help support the in ceiling speakers, the drywall will go flush up to them and then the speaker clamps screw down on both,it will be a bit stronger then just drywall.

Looking south in the living room, you may be able to see the supports.

This is the support in the south east side of the room

The south west side, nothing special to see but there they are.

This is the east wall in the kitchen where the wall oven,
microwave and coffee will be.

The east wall in the dining room. I marked them so I'll know
were they are after the drywall goes up.

More Light, More Power

It was a slow and quite day today, so I just installed a plug for the dishwasher and an other light in the hallway leading to the addition. We don't want to end up walking around in the dark. We keep looking at what we have and what we might need and before we get busy putting up the drywall this is the time to add what we need, or my want.

This plug comes off a GFI plug and is below the counter for the dishwasher

This is the new light at the other end of the hallway.