Down With The Old - Up With The New

That was the theme to yesterday's job, we picked up 2 inch blinds for the windows and when the old coverings came down and we put up these, it really opened up the rooms and shows off the windows more. I was going to show only a few of the rooms as they are all the same but thought you might like to see them all. Today I just took out the extra slats so they would fit and look better.

My office.

Master bedroom.

Dressing room (AKA ReBecca's closet)

Hall way.

Spare room.

East living room window.

South living room view.

Kitchen.

West dining room view.

South dining room view.

The Heat Is On

The heat is on, at least the electrical heat from the air handler is working. When the heat pump comes in and hooked up they'll also finish with the return air duct lines. The air flow to the upstairs is the first permanent heat source this house has had in 118 years, basically since it was built. Before this the heat had to just rise up and warm the upstairs, not anymore. There are still duct lines running all across the basement but this time they are are more organized, not just running everywhere.

Running the heat to the rooms.

Feeding the living room and entrance.

The kitchen and up to the attic for the upstairs rooms.

Feed trunk with branch lines to the rooms.

Main feed trunk now insulated. More to come.

The Heat Is (Almost) On

We are almost there with the new heating system, we are getting a Lennox heat pump installed. The duct work for the first floor is straight forward, up from the basement. As for heat upstairs, we used the old chimney chase to run a 10 inch line up and all the drops to the rooms are 6 inch, lots of air and it's suppose to be quiet. No air rushing around, just flowing out. We should be able to use the air handler (electric) heating tomorrow, the outside part the compressor is on order but won't be long. I'll add another post when it's in.

One of two for the living room.

At the doorway to the addition.



By the kitchen window, another in the old chimney chase.

The 10 inch line going up.

The dining room south window.

The air handler, apparently it can go horizontal as well.

From the basement to the attic.

Sean McNamara of SRM Residential Heating.

A couple of Sean's team, Mike and Mike.

The 6 inch drops in the office.

The First New Light

Here is our first new light for the house, and it fits the room nicely. ReBecca said the colour of the shades are fall colours and we can get new one's for winter and spring and summer. Oh boy only 9 shades for each season. It does work.

Taken from the front door hallway.

Looking at it from the kitchen.

That Parts Done

With the area by the basement and bathroom doors done I have a few things to tidy up, like some nail marks and a few spots that didnt' get in tight enough. As well we noticed the first three boards looked like they only had one coat on them, I'll fix that as well. Next step is to decide what style and size of crown moulding we are going to put up. It is still looking great.

It fit nice and tight.

This just finishes off the room.

A brighter look.

It Really Looks Good

We got the main part of the kitchen ceiling done today and it really looks good. It ties in nicely with the dining room. Once we get the crown molding up, a small profile on it, it should give us the look we are going for. I did have to remove one light before I started. The one we had positioned for the kitchen pantry but now we are going to just run the counter all the way to the wall and cabinets in place, so it came out. I'll use the existing switch for under counter lighting a that end.

The look with the pantry light removed.

The new look with natural light.

It goes very well with the dinning room.

It looks great with lights on.

It Looks Good

We got the boards up in the dinning room this morning and they look good. When the crown moulding goes up to finish it off it will be fantastic. I already know I have to repaint this room and the kitchen, and probably the hallways as they now don't go with the "new look".  All part of the process to having what we want and looking good. I used my pneumatic nailer and shot them in with 2 inch brads into the strapping as well as a bead of PL 200 for gluing wood to drywall for good measure. If we want to change this out we have to pull down the drywall as well. It's staying.
And sorry for the poor picture quality, I had a dirty camera lens.

Tough to see the caulk lines marking the strapping.

Getting started.

It's up and looks good.

A little brigher and still looking good.

Looking Up

It's time to look at the ceilings, before we get at the floors and kitchen cabinets. We want to put up a different type of ceiling cover. This is a "V" grove pine board, they are tongue and grooved and will be nailed up at to the strapping and a bit of glue for good measure. They won't be painted in the traditional scene but a white wash is applied, two coats. I'm told it will give it a cottage look. So far I like it.

40 12 foot boards for the kitchen.

13 more 8 footers for the kitchen.

10 of the 10 footer for the dining room.

The other 10 for the dinning room painted.

One Very Big Job

Well it's done, the chimney is out and so is the old fire box. Today it didn't take too long to remove the last 6 feet, the only problem I had was the last 3 courses, they were very well laid. I estimate there were just over 1000 bricks in this chimney, they'll make a nice walkway. After lunch ReBecca and I pulled out the fire box and put it in place, much better than a burn barrel. It was tricky getting it out of the basement, I used long sturdy boards covered with plywood. I put the fire box on the dolly, tied it to the trailer hitch and ReBecca pulled away and up it went right onto the trailer. She then drove it to our spot, it came off rather well and we placed it on some patio stone. We'll put up a little fence to hid it from the road later.

All done.

Looking up the rabbit hole.

Ready to go.

The trailer lift dug in a bit.

She loaded it on the trailer nicely.

It's new home.

This job is done.

Another One Bits The Dust

That is what we said when the first floor section of the chimney came down today. I used a new pneumatic chisel and it went well. The brick work was about three course high in the ceiling and I just cut away below it and when the room opened up I could get at the ones in the back. It took us about 3 hours to pull it down. I filled the pails with bricks and ReBecca took the out to the trailer. No stairs today. I first put up plastic to keep the dust down in the rest of the house and covered everything with drop cloths, you never know. It wasn't too bad and clean up went well. The rest tomorrow.

Trying to keep things clean.

My access point.

I'm working hard.

See I wear protection.

Hard at the last few courses.

A little problem, a stuck brick. Not for long.

What we started with today, from an older picture.