The guys spent the week doing clean up and little jobs - things are finally wrapping up.
As for me, I started laying the flooring. We finally made a decision and went with laying the floor straight. (Given some of the challenges I've hit, I would have hit some real problems with laying the floor on the diagonal.) It's not going quite as quickly as I had hoped, but it is looking good!
Monday, April 29, 2013
Sunday, April 21, 2013
Renovation - Week 27
The guys are cleaning up the outside of the house. They put the railing on the front stairs and they've started to put up the siding.
Inside, the stairs for the craft room have been installed.
The flooring has been acclimatized, so hopefully I can get it installed next week. The first job is to turn the sheet of bamboo into nosings for around the stairs. What I wasn't expecting is that the smell of the dust from cutting bamboo reminds me of riding in the combine with Grandpa. (It does kind of make sense - in both cases the dust is from dried grass.)
Inside, the stairs for the craft room have been installed.
The flooring has been acclimatized, so hopefully I can get it installed next week. The first job is to turn the sheet of bamboo into nosings for around the stairs. What I wasn't expecting is that the smell of the dust from cutting bamboo reminds me of riding in the combine with Grandpa. (It does kind of make sense - in both cases the dust is from dried grass.)
Sunday, April 14, 2013
Renovation - Week 26
Not much happened on the outside of the house this week because it was too busy snowing! The middle of April and it's snowing - that's just not right!
Inside the house, our bamboo flooring arrived. Right now we have to open up all the boxes and let them sit around for a week so they can acclimatize to the house. While we're waiting for that to happen, we've got two important jobs:
Inside the house, our bamboo flooring arrived. Right now we have to open up all the boxes and let them sit around for a week so they can acclimatize to the house. While we're waiting for that to happen, we've got two important jobs:
- I need to take the 4x10 sheet of bamboo plywood and create the nosings for around the top of the stairs. That won't be too tough, but then we have to stain and varnish the plywood so that it looks good with the floor.
- We have to decide how we're going to install the floor. We're debating between:
- On the diagonal - there's a natural diagonal in the house from the top of the stair to the hallway and we can lay the flooring to match. It's a good look, and not something you see every day.
- Lengthwise - this makes the space seem bigger, but its much more traditional. However Christine would really like to get some curves into the house, so it would allow us to do something interesting with the tile at the front entry way.
Monday, April 8, 2013
Renovation - Week 25
This week saw the guys finish off our back deck and get the network cables hooked up in the house.
While they did that, we got most of the place painted (just two closets and the den to go) and I hooked up the network hub in the basement.
Next week, the flooring arrives - all 2.5 tons of it! (When we heard how heavy the load of flooring is, we decided to splurge and pay the delivery guys to bring it into the house.)
While they did that, we got most of the place painted (just two closets and the den to go) and I hooked up the network hub in the basement.
Next week, the flooring arrives - all 2.5 tons of it! (When we heard how heavy the load of flooring is, we decided to splurge and pay the delivery guys to bring it into the house.)
Sunday, March 31, 2013
Renovation - Week 24
Happy Easter from the rebuilt house. We moved in on Thursday. The place is a mess but it's home!
We've spent the week painting. Most of the living space will be variations of grey and green. It's a very peaceful colour combination, and really brings the outside in.
One thing that had slipped my mind was getting the telephone and internet hooked up. Bell was able to send someone on Thursday, but the builders had lost the end of the line somewhere under the new concrete. So we had to get an "underground guy" to come out to find the line and bring it into the house. Astoundingly, Bell crews work on good Friday, and they got the line set up quickly. Of course, then we had to wait for the inside hookup, but they had someone here at 9 am on Easter Sunday! So now we're reconnected with the outside world.
While we were busy moving in, the crews were busy making the place liveable - finishing up the electrical, plumbing and heating, and providing a temporary railing so that no-one takes an accidental tumble down the new stairway. They also got started on our new deck.
We've spent the week painting. Most of the living space will be variations of grey and green. It's a very peaceful colour combination, and really brings the outside in.
One thing that had slipped my mind was getting the telephone and internet hooked up. Bell was able to send someone on Thursday, but the builders had lost the end of the line somewhere under the new concrete. So we had to get an "underground guy" to come out to find the line and bring it into the house. Astoundingly, Bell crews work on good Friday, and they got the line set up quickly. Of course, then we had to wait for the inside hookup, but they had someone here at 9 am on Easter Sunday! So now we're reconnected with the outside world.
While we were busy moving in, the crews were busy making the place liveable - finishing up the electrical, plumbing and heating, and providing a temporary railing so that no-one takes an accidental tumble down the new stairway. They also got started on our new deck.
Sunday, March 24, 2013
Renovation - Week 23
Things are getting close to done!
The electrician was in and we have power everywhere. So now we're can work after dark!
The HVAC guys are getting the heating hooked up. The manifold for distributing the hot water is a totally cool bit of piping! What kills me is that the HVAC guys do all this plumbing and electrical work setting up the system, but they're not allowed to hook it up to the water or electricity because they're not plumbers or electricians. Gotta love unions!
The walls are primed and we're starting to paint. We decided to save ourselves a bunch of tough work and had the pros do the ceiling, but we'll do the walls. So far we've done our bedrooms. Emma wants a room with pink, purple, blue and white. We've settled on a pink ceiling with purples walls. The trim and doors will be white and we'll get a bunch of blue vinyl dots that she can stick wherever she likes.
For now we're only doing the pink and purple. We took her paint shopping, and much to our relief, she chose very light shades of pink and purple. Then we painted.... The frickin' room glows because the colour is so intense. It oozes into the hallway and tints everything you look at. Oh well, it is the room of a five year old, and she loves it.
As for next week - we move in! The house won't be ready, but we'll have power, heat, water and a roof over our heads. So it's a pretty good place to start.
The electrician was in and we have power everywhere. So now we're can work after dark!
The HVAC guys are getting the heating hooked up. The manifold for distributing the hot water is a totally cool bit of piping! What kills me is that the HVAC guys do all this plumbing and electrical work setting up the system, but they're not allowed to hook it up to the water or electricity because they're not plumbers or electricians. Gotta love unions!
The walls are primed and we're starting to paint. We decided to save ourselves a bunch of tough work and had the pros do the ceiling, but we'll do the walls. So far we've done our bedrooms. Emma wants a room with pink, purple, blue and white. We've settled on a pink ceiling with purples walls. The trim and doors will be white and we'll get a bunch of blue vinyl dots that she can stick wherever she likes.
For now we're only doing the pink and purple. We took her paint shopping, and much to our relief, she chose very light shades of pink and purple. Then we painted.... The frickin' room glows because the colour is so intense. It oozes into the hallway and tints everything you look at. Oh well, it is the room of a five year old, and she loves it.
As for next week - we move in! The house won't be ready, but we'll have power, heat, water and a roof over our heads. So it's a pretty good place to start.
Sunday, March 17, 2013
Renovation - Week 22
This week saw most of the interior work get finished upstairs - they mudded the drywall and insulated the attic. All that's left is to finish up the mudding and then the painting can begin. (We've got our colours chosen and can't wait to begin.)
Downstairs they started doing the additional electrical work that is needed and prepared the mechanical room for hot water heater and boiler. The unit they're installing is a combi system - it has both on-demand hot water heating for the taps as well as a tanked boiler for the radiant heat flooring.
On the outside, they've applied the Tyvek house wrap. This will keep the rain from penetrating into the house until they get the siding up.
Downstairs they started doing the additional electrical work that is needed and prepared the mechanical room for hot water heater and boiler. The unit they're installing is a combi system - it has both on-demand hot water heating for the taps as well as a tanked boiler for the radiant heat flooring.
On the outside, they've applied the Tyvek house wrap. This will keep the rain from penetrating into the house until they get the siding up.
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