Flooring going in

We have stranded bamboo flooring from TeraGren. It's even stronger than the bamboo we have in the office.

Drywall up

Most of the drywall is up. Once that goes up, it starts looking done. The electrical is roughed out, too.

Framing is done

The framing is done. Not a lot this time. Just taking down some small walls under the steel beam, moving the basement door and reframing that, closing the old door into the kitchen, making a new opening, and the closets.


They also put blocking up in the kitchen. That way, when it's time to mount the cabinets, there is always solid wood behind it. No need to try and find a stud. Makes installation easier, and narrow cabinets will always have two sets of screws, even if there is only one stud behind the cabinet.

Steel beam in

Since we are taking out some walls, we need a steel beam to carry the weight. They guys brought the beam in today and tied everything into it. The upstairs floor is much straighter now, and no real squeaks in the floor like it used to have.

2nd Phase begins

Now we're starting on the kitchen project. Converting the downstairs bedroom to a kitchen, and opening up the area that will be the dining room. Dennis Buckshaw and his crew are back again.

Before:


We had a birthday party at the house just before demolition, so I told half a dozen boys to do whatever they wanted to the walls... :)

Solar panels are installed!

We still have a few more panels to go up, but we're generating power now! When it's all set up, we'll be have 8100 watts of panels on the roof. It's really cool watching the meter run backwards!

Kids are in their new bedrooms

We started moving stuff into the new rooms now. The kids are in their new bedrooms. The new bathroom is being used, and the bulk of the living room furniture is in the new livingroom. Still have plenty more to rearrange, but at least we can finally start using the new space in the house.

Carpeting is done

Carpets are done in the house. We went with Mohawk brand, SmartStrand. They are corn-based threads, which are better for the environment, naturally stain-resistant, and naturally very soft. All the floors upstairs are the same grey color. That way, it won't clash with any paint we use in the future. Downstairs is a pale tan color.

Septic system is in

We have a huge septic/cesspool system now. A very large septic tank, and two large cesspools, which take up most of the front yard. Oh well, it has to be done, as per the Health department.... At least they are commercial-grade tanks, so we can drive over them when they are finished.

More inspector delays....

We need inspections for the septic system, so the excavator doesn't want to start digging the hole until Monday....

Most of the inside plumbing is done, at least. Just the final connection to the new waste pipe (can't do it yet, since the new pipe doesn't go anywhere.... :) )

Stair railing is done

They finished assembling the stair railing yesterday. It looks beautiful. I still have to stain and seal it, but I want to test out the colors on some scrap wood first.

We have heat!

They put the new furnace in yesterday. I still have to get used to how it works, but at least the entire house was warm last night. Heat is nice... :)


Before:


After:

Color on the walls

Color started going on the walls yesterday. The office and the library are the same color, so the painter did those first. It's a really nice color. It looks great seeing rooms get finished. :)


Hallway:




Daughter's bedroom



Son's bedroom


Living Room


Living Room


Library

Bamboo floor

The office has bamboo flooring from Teragren www.teragren.com/
It has no formaldehyde, and it is responsibly grown and harvested. It's also a very hard "wood".

All the walls are primed

The painter made quick work of painting. All the walls are primed, and the ceilings are done in the final coat. Now it's really starting to look finished. The walls are solid now. Yes, it's all a very boring white, but at least it's a solid white.

The paint is ZERO VOC paint from MythicPaint http://www.mythicpaint.com/
There is no smell to the paint, no poisonous chemicals off-gassing, much better for the environment, etc.

Spackle is done

They finally came yesterday to finish the spackling. We're still not sure why they didn't come for a few days.?.? Anyway, they are done. There's that delightful white dust all over the downstairs..... Luckily, upstairs we were able to tarp off the existing part of the house, but downstairs is too open, and too much stuff there to protect it. When we move everything to the new part of the house, we'll just have to clean it piece by piece.

Upstairs doors are in and windows framed

Yesterday, they put up the doors and trimmed out all the windows upstairs. It makes a huge difference. Things are starting to get cleaned up and finished. They did a really nice job on the windows. I'm very happy with how they turned out.

Spackle is going on

The first coat of spackle is up. It takes a while to dry, so there is one day when it just sits there.... They are coming back on Saturday to do the 2nd coat. That gives it Sunday to dry, then Monday they can finish. Next week should be really fun. That's when a lot of the finish work starts happening.... :)

Drywall going up

The drywall is done downstairs, and most of it is done upstairs. They should be done by today, or tomorrow at the latest. The drywall really starts to make the rooms look like rooms. Once the spackler comes in and does his thing to make the walls look like one solid wall, instead of pieces of drywall screwed to the wall, I think it will make another huge transition towards being "done".

Inspection completed, insulation installed

The inspector came and OKd everything. The same day, the insulators finished insulating the entire house. Warmth is nice.... :)
We insulated all of the interior walls and ceiling as well to sound-proof the rooms a bit. That way, nobody is bothering anybody else if they are making noise in one room, and the other room needs to be quiet.