Drywall - OK Jens....Sheetrock!!

My buddy Jens as of late keeps asking me when I'm going to do sheetrock/drywall.  My fault; he asks, my natural response is:  Soon!   I keep saying I'm almost ready.  Well, I am but for us analytical thinkers, we have to over think things before acting.  Particularly in light of the fact that once the wall framing is closed up, I'm totally screwed if I forgot something.

But you need buddies like Jens to keep you from stalling.  ;-)  So Jens!  Sheetrock!  Finally!  Though.... perhaps it's not the path I semi-sorta said I had settled on when we last spoke of it.  I can change my mind, can't I?

Anyway, after much deliberation (har har har) and two drywallers that failed to call back after seeing the place and it's round nature which, if I were to hazard a guess, apparently translates in to a lot of custom cutting...you know....WORK!   One guy was there all of four minutes, didn't measure anything and said he'd call me back with a quote.  Never heard another word.

I decided to undertake the installation of the sheetrock myself.

It's a big task but not nearly as difficult as I anticipated it to be, especially now that I decided on an alternative for the ceiling;  light weight tongue and groove slats with a light coat of white wash stain.  It means I don't have to deal with installing sheetrock up there which, at the rate I go, would have required I purchase a sheetrock lift rather than rent one.  It also means I can proceed with the interior walls first, then the curved exterior walls, and finally the ceiling last.

The benefit of doing the job myself is that I can insure a quality install and as I go along, fix things I might have overlooked or hadn't yet considered.  So, on Saturday I jumped right in and started with the third bedroom:

The first motivating piece...in the closet. 
Don't laugh!

The entry hall (other side) wall.

Doorway to hall

See that empty space above the doorway?  That was and is the logical place for the AC vent to have been installed but I neglected to remember that small fact when I did all my electrical work.  Installed my plywood electrical junction box mounting panel on the other side.  It wasn't until the AC guys came to install the system and route the vents that I realized my oversight, far too late to do anything about it.  Or maybe not.  I was looking up there the other day thinking I could move things over to each side by about 2" and make space in the middle to move the vent there.  Or I could just forget it and hang a framed picture up there......  As of today the vent is on the side wall above the closet.  Sigh.....  Always something.

The closet

I had to shim as the original framing
on the right was not exactly perfect.

The errant AC vent

It's interesting with one room closed in.  You can start to again sense the size of the rooms.  Just by covering the entry hall wall on the bedroom side, on the hallway side you could really feel it start to close in.  Glad I installed a skylight in the hallway ceiling and a glass entry door.

Fun times!!

Another flood...

Last week he had a torrential downpour which resulted in yet another slew of water and mud washing down across the carport.  Two wheel barrow loads to be exact.  I new this needed to be addressed but it's never more important than when it rains.

Downhill side of the street.

Several factors come into play that have encouraged this to happen. 

1. The ground soil in area is predominately sand which is very mobile under hard rains.
2. The previous homeowners appears to have done nothing in the 15 years to mitigate the problem thus allowing what was at one time drainage ditches to slowly fill up with sand to the tops of the culvert pipe that runs across the driveway effectively making it useless.  
3. The previous occupants of the house across the street in years past (renters) failed to maintain their ditches allowing the drain pipe under their driveway to become blocked
4. The metal roof on the house allows water to run off at a faster rate than the previous composite shingle roofing.

Water is terribly insipid.  It wants and will go where it wants and it will do it in it's own time.

Roof and general runoff
Catch 22.....You need rain to determine how to fix it, but you don't need rain because of all the water.  Anyway, after this last rain it became apparent what needs to be done and done ASAP;  install french drains across the front and down the sides of the carport continuing around the house all the way out to the channel.  I'd say probably 250' of piping will be needed.  Not cheap but left unresolved, could have severe consequences on the stability of the house itself.  I've installed french drains before so it's no biggie.  Just rent a ditch digger, install 4-6" preforated drain pipe, surround it with landscape material, cover it with rock and let it do it's job.  One question that remains unresolved....do I want to do the work myself or have someone else do it??

Street runoff
A lot of this events water came from street runoff and to deal with that involves dealing with the city and/or county about what you are allowed or not allowed to do.

Runoff from the driveway across the street
and their overflowing blocked culvert

The flow spits, part down their culvert,
and part right down into my carport.

Almost before the rain stopped falling I decided to visit city hall so I made the 2mile trip and talked with the city secretary.  When she figured out I wasn't there to blame them, but rather to ascertain how I could go about resolved the water control issue she became quite helpful.  Turns out she lives over on the next street and had water issues of her own at one time and thus, being a neighbor, was very sympathetic.

She explained what I could and couldn't do and promised to have someone give me a call or stop by to discuss.  Surprisingly, I didn't have long to wait.  Less than 2 hours and someone was knocking at my door.  I recognized the guys truck also from the next street over and started to put two and two together....I didn't ask directly and he didn't offer up but I suspect he was the secretary's husband.  

Anyway, he recommended digging a ditch across the lot to the left of me, across the front of my driveway, dropping a new 40' culvert pipe there, and then continue down the slope of the lot I purchased on the right side of the house over to the big drainage pipe which is actually on the neighbors lot and goes under the side lot to drain in the channel behind the house. 

There's a drain to the lake in
that little copse of trees by the road

Fortunately it's all in the easement so I don't have to worry about permission from the neighbor who likely would balk at the prospect of losing even one of those trees. 

The city has a small budget and thus could not afford to do much but he volunteered that if I would purchase the new drainage pipe (apparently normal) for my driveway and for the gas on his equipment (I'm thinking not normal...), he'd volunteer to dig the ditches with his personal back hoe that doubles as city equipment.

Picture of a USELESS drain culvert

Years of sediment right to the top of the culvert

I was talking to some friends last night that had the same problem and the agreed that I would have to pay for the culvert pipes but balked at the suggestion that I would pay they guy for his gas.  They suggested he was probably a sub for the county and was likely going to bill the county for his time and expenses including the gas that he would collect from me.  They gave me a name of the local county commissioner to call and request the same services.  Just my luck it would turn out to be the same guy.

Work Continues.....

Another week has gone by.  You might wonder why my posts have slowed up.  Well, they have a bit but the work continues.  Working full time leaves only about an hour a day during my 'lunch' hour to work in daylight so I've been doing outdoor work during that period.  It's a bit slow but like I said, the work continues.

Last weekend I finally got the last pile of leaves on to the burn pile and on Sunday morning lit it up.  Well, it was so dense it took all week for it to burn.  It finally burned itself out Saturday afternoon.  I'd go out with regularity and turn the pile so oxygen could get down side to promote burning.

Mon-Thur....
An hour a day working around the outside.  Evenings were spent on odd jobs but mostly working on the carport!  Yawwwwnnnn......

Friday...
I broke out my chain saw on Friday noon and cut down all the sucker trees that were growing at the base of the established 30year (ish) trees scattered about the new lot.   That was pretty much the only thing left to clean up.  I pulled all the trees off the lot in preparation for disposal....which consisted of dragging them to the other side of the two lots to the left of the house and creating a natural treed barracade or fence along the property line.

Friday evening was spent continuing the carport work.  I'm getting pretty bored with it but there's still a bit to do!  I took a break for a little while to run to the big box hardware store for supplies and a visit with coworkers.

Saturday....
Saturday turned out to be a cold and grey day.  Nothing robs my enthusiasm more than a cold and grey day.  I didn't feel like working around the house so opted to pay bills and run some errands.  It was painful but I finally paid the property taxes on the Dallas, Waco, and the Round Houses.  Ouch!  I also took my small truck in for it's 22k mile check up.  While waiting on that I walked over to look at storage sheds that were on display.  I'm getting close to needing one so I checked them out.  These particular ones were all metal siding.  They were nice but I think I'm going to go for the wood variety.  Seems they would be a bit more stout should a branch from the established trees fall on it.  I'm not so sure a metal one can stand up to something like that.

By the afternoon, it was still on the cool side but I managed to get my mojo back and got out and moved all the trees I referenced above over to perimeter...  Much of my energies over the last several weeks have been focused on clean up on the right side of the house.  Well, later in the afternoon after dispensing with the trees, I turned my attention over to the left side of the house.  I broke out the blower and started some needed clean up continuing until it got too dark to see anything.

Sunday....
Sunday I continued the cleanup.  I decided to go ahead and clear the underbrush to the left side of the sidewalk leading to the water channel.  Originally I was going to leave it bushy but then decided it really would be better cleaned up.  I spent all the day working on that and still have a bit to do.

Sunday evening I returned to working on the carport which is now about 85% done.  I will be soooo glad when it is 100% done because I'm really starting to get sick of it!  BUT, it will look great when it's finally done!

Work Continues.....

Spent most of weekend jumping around from project to project and still managed to make some progress.

Mini-milestone...
Friday I put up the first of approximately 150 sheets of sheet rock.  I wanted to get my laundry area up and running so the first sheet went up there.

Overall it wasn't that difficult but it was still a pain.  It took forever getting the measurements as I measured 20 times and still it wasn't without a challenge!  I got six of the seven holes cut in the right places but try as a I might I somehow managed to get the last hole off center.  Oops!  There's always something to keep you humble.  Anyway, a minor issue.  For sure it just reiterates my thoughts of NOT wanting to do the sheetrock work myself!

Carport work continues.
Saturday morning was spent working on the carport ceiling again.  Almost finished the left side parking bay and did some minor frame work on the right side.  In hindsight now, it probably would have made better sense to have started from the house and worked my way to the street side rather than the other way around.  I'll reverse course and do that on the last bay when I start it.

The lot is cleared!
I spent a good part of the later afternoon Saturday and all day Sunday moving the big pile of leaves with my trusty backpack blower.  I can't imagine having to do that much with a hand held blower much less a rake!  The neighbor across the street has hinted indirectly and very subtly several times about borrowing my blower.  Uh....it's a brand new blower so I'm trying to ignore the inferences.

I managed to get it all into one big pile and when it was ready I lit it ablaze.....well, it didn't go up in a pyrotechnics dream, it just smoldered.  I kept checking but after several hours it had made minimal progress to the degree that when the neighbor across the channel offered up his sprayer of diesel I took him up on it.  It helped....as long as there was diesel to burn.  It's so dense with ground debris that it's going to take several days to burn through.  Oh well.

The log pile is the next to be moved
when I figure out a suitable place to put it.

Still have a couple of saplings to cut down
with my chain saw.

The burn pile towards the back.

While the pile was smoldering I got the lawn mower out and started working on the upper end of the lot.  It looks good now!!

Clearing the lot was a big task as it hadn't been maintained in years and thus had considerable debris build up but now it's back down to exposed earth.  With some grass seed and water it should be a lovely looking maintenance nightmare moving forward.  Next year it won't be such a big job because all the leaves will be on the surface and easily cleaned up.


Laundry facilities!
Sunday evening was spent unpacking and installing my new washer and dryer.  Before the sheet rock was put up I had to move one 120v outlet and install the 240v outlet box for the dryer.  I had one minor electrical problem on the 120v outlet for the washer.  When I moved it the plastic skin on hot side wire inside the box was compromised so when I flipped the breaker, POW!  sigh.....  Fortunately I had plenty of extra wire behind the wall and the wall was still partly open.  I was able to feed through six new inches and cut the compromised portion out.

I installed the new three wire plug on the dryer and slide it into place attaching the vent line.  In theory it was supposed to slide back almost to the wall but with the vent line in the location it is, I have a gap of about 4".  That means that it sits out further than anticipated into the walkway.  It's not enough to be problematic except in my own head.  The plan was (is) to put a counter top over them to try and keep it open and air but also to have some laundry folding work space rather than drag all the clothes to a bedroom.  

Do you know how heavy washers are??  I had to man handle that thing some 20' because it was too heavy for me alone to get it tilted back on the dolly I had.  I finally managed to get it moved into position, removed all shipping bolts and get the water lines hooked up.  I put it through a rinse cycle just to see how it operates and to give the interior a quick rinse.  I was amazed at how quite it operated compared to my previous top loader.  Since it's a front loader, it used very little water which is important given my septic system is the older kind.

I now have laundry facilities!  And good timing too as I was just about to run out of almost everything important!

The Boss:  "Good job Bozo!"

The Boss totally mesmerized by the
spin cycle on a test run

Progress...one itty bitty step at a time!

Work Continues.....

Leaves, leaves, and more leaves
All last week and the week before for an hour a day, my lunch hour, I've been out blowing leaves.  I think I'm getting sick of it all!  BUT....I'm whittling the pile down bit by bit.....and that's just one side of the property.

I managed to get some burned down on Friday, and then again on Sunday though Sunday's burn pile was a pain in the butt because all the leaves burned out from under a bunch of brush I had cut down and piled on top.  The silly leaves burned out from under the brush without doing anything to the branches and such!  It was probably still too green to burn easily.

By late afternoon Sunday I contemplated doing something rash (aka: totally stupid).  I kept eying the gas can sitting over by the house licking my lips the way a person dying of thirst looks at a glass of water!  I showed restraint and settled on just adding more leaves pitchfork by pitchfork full.  It seemed to do the trick as it wasn't long before the brush started to burn.  Of course sitting on a pile of smoldering leaves all day probably helped dry them out.

They started to burn in earnest.....as long as I kept adding leaves.  Still, I'm glad because by Sunday night after it had burned down to just ash, it started to rain.

Carport work continues....
Spent Saturday late morning until about 6pm and all day Sunday adding more ceiling panels to the carport.  Boring but for some reason it went fairly well.   The center bay of the carport is now completed.

And the pile of old insulation is dwindling.

Another couple days work and it will be done.

Storage Shed
I'm starting to sorely feel the lack of storage.  This place used to have an outside shed but it was in such disrepair HUD tore it down.  I always knew the time would come that I would have to get some type of outside storage facility and I'm thinking that time almost NOW.  I want the house empty when it comes time to do the drywall so I'll have to have it before then.  $

I've been looking at some options. Perhaps a 10'x16' or thereabouts.  I've had thoughts of creating my own ROUND storage shed keeping in tune with the house but it would be a lot of work, not to mention probably astronomically expensive to do something out of the norm.  Either way:  $$$.

Will post about them soon.

Carport - One thing begets another.... New work

It's always something!
I'm nearing the time when the place will be ready for drywall installation so I'm in the process of reviewing and nailing down odds and ends before any of that can be done because once the drywall goes up, that's it, your done!  That is...unless you have missed something major and have to undo it all again!  Not something I want to have happen.

For example, the master bath shower stall has to be completed at least to the degree that the drywall can be added around it.  The same holds true for the guest bath.  The tub has been installed but not the tub surround.  Since it's a guest bath I've been looking at prefab enclosures but I'll need to build out the wall studs about 1/2" on each end before the surround can go in.

I also need to do some minor drywall support work along the ceiling joists in a couple of places so that the drywall has sufficient backing to screw into.  If the rooms were square, it wouldn't be an issue, but nearly all of the rooms are pie shaped in one way or another.  Add to that that the roof joist radiate out from the center, narrow at the top, wider at the bottom, and you'll quickly find in some places the logical support backing is not there.  Nothing major, just some minor additions to handle that!

So where am I going with all this....?

The same holds true for the carport.  
To make room for the eventual delivery of 170+- panels of 1/2" drywall I have to clear out some things stored under the carport, namely a 4'x8' stack of insulation I had pulled from inside the house pending another expensive run to the county transfer (aka dump) station. 

At some point mid last year, long after all of the previous carport work had been completed, I stepped out the front door for a moment and could feel heat radiating downward from the carport roof.  Since carports are useful work areas all year round, I decided right then I would need to mitigate that at some point in the future.

The prior carport work included pulling down all of plywood covering the ceiling, primarily so I could check the structural integrity. 

Up until feeling the heat from above, I debated whether to leave the carport framework uncovered and just paint it white thus lending to a taller feeling, or just recover it again.  Feeling the heat clinched the notion to recover it all again.

Well...., if I'm going to cover it all over again, why not kill one bird with two stones (every pun intended, read on).  Rather than haul the insulation to the dump, why not install it all up in the ceiling between the joists thus serving two purposes; 1) remove the radiant heat, 2) eliminate the need to take the old insulation to the dump.  It will be hidden away with the new paneling.....Green, eh?

So!  To make room for the drywall, I started paneling the carport ceiling.  Make sense....right??

Light wells.
With the decision to panel, now I had another prerequisite that had to be resolved; the need to improve the exterior lighting before the ceiling is sealed up.

Since it's just a carport and the lights would not be on all the time, I decided it wasn't necessary to go the opulent route with flashy can lights or the like.  Rather, I framed in six 18"x20(ish) recessed light wells up between the joists and installed simple bulb holders.  I painted the inside of each white to enhance the reflectivity.  They're up and out of harms way.

Once framed and covered it will look better

Later I'll frame around them and install some diffuser panels so you can't see the utilitarian nature of the light setup.

So far with just four lights wired and functioning, it's really bright out there.

For the Birds.....
I would have had the last two light wells done last night but I discovered a tiny bird (or two) had taken to nesting up on top of an old and temporary light fixture I put up earlier in the summer.  It had a lovely and comfortable layer of insulation that made for a perfect bed, and when the light was on, occasionally a heat source.  I kept hearing this fluttering noise somewhere but with the light on I couldn't see past the bright bulb so I didn't think much of it until I got close enough to actually see him flit away.

Out of curiosity, I very carefully felt around up there looking to see if there were any eggs up there.  No eggs but all of the sudden a second bird peered down at me over the edge.  Oops CAUGHT!!  He took off!   Later after he returned I turned off the light and crept up on him with my cell phone camera.

He (or she) is in there!

I couldn't make him out so I got closer yet and bingo!

Wonder if he's the same little guy that's been
pecking at my window for three days wanting in.

Well NUTZ!  Ain't that just grand!  I wonder how long they've been there???  It's his lucky day cuz I didn't have the heart last night to toss them out in the cold so I wrapped up what I was doing figuring I'd wait till this next weekend and see if they take flight on their own. 

JEESH!!