The Fireplace is finished....up to the chimney

Nigel came for 1 1/2 days of work.  After all the rock chips had flown, the fireplace was complete.  Just waiting for the mortar to dry before it can have it's final cleaning.

Mortar under the hearth

Fitting the door

Nigel, our wonderful mason

Back of the fireplace

From the loft - the dark lines are mortar that is still wet

The finished project - almost!

Now we have to figure out what is going to happen with the chimney.  We may have to enclose the chimney up to the roof, or (we hope) use black chimney without any enclosure.  It depends what the building inspector determines is the best.

Len spent quite a bit of time cleaning up the rock chips and dried mortar everywhere so it looks pretty good now.  Next on the list is to get the drywall finisher started.  We have selected a contractor who can get going next week, possibly, while we are in Vancouver and up the coast for Easter.

We are going to take a few days off house stuff and will be going to the Bluegrass workshop tomorrow evening through Sunday.  So if you don't hear from us, don't take it personally!


Cath

Will it ever end? No? didn't think so.

Well let's see, what have we been up to.  On Friday Len woke up early and decided to drive to Vancouver to pick up the rest of the rock for the fireplace.  He left at 7:30 and was back less than 12 hours later.  So we had more rock to haul in, but this time the wheelbarrow wasn't frozen in the snow and we were able to use it to our advantage.

The load included rock and the hearth stones

Using the wheelbarrow was helpful

The rock laid out, ready for Monday

The hearth stones fit perfectly

Nigel, our mason, is coming on Monday to finish the main part of the fireplace.  The chimney?  Not sure when that will hit the to-do list.

 Len has been finding more drywall to do.  He had a few sheets left over and so decided to start on the back stairwell.  Sure looks brighter now.  And then we decided to put up the light so it is actually BRIGHT.

drywall around the garage door

Let there be light!

I have been putting in all the plugs in the walls.  I finished the basement and am working on the main floor after work, in between cleaning up, cooking and such.

We have had four drywall finishers come by.  One fellow said the job was too big for him.  Another quoted us a very high price so we wonder if he actually wants the job.  Another fellow isn't available for a month.  One seemed just right - not outrageous cost and is available in a week.  Just waiting to see one last quote before we commit.  It will be great to get that messy job done.

Today we went for three hours of bluegrass music jamming at Lac La Hache.   We are going to the Bluegrass workshop at the Hills Guest Ranch here at 108 Mile starting Wednesday night so we would like to have everything ready for the drywall mud by then.

The sun has been out, melting the snow and drying up our driveway.  The upper yard is still a skating rink but we are hoping for serious melting any day now.

That's all the news from the 108.
Cath

The "end" of the drywall

Despite the absence of recent blogs, Len really has been working.  The goal was to post something when the drywall was truly done and as it happened there were little bits (and a couple of big bits) that cropped up.  So sorry for keeping you waiting!

We are having the drywall finishers in to do quotes today so that should reassure you that we are "close" to completing our part of the drywall project.

Len had to get artistic on two areas in the media room.  The beam out to the post only went 1/2 way across the front of the room and to Len "it looks stupid".  So he constructed a fake extension to the beam and drywalled over it and voila!  Looks good.  The post is lovely wood, presently being protected by plastic and wood strips.

Note the fake extension on the right

The finished product

Remember how I said it would kill Len not to have the wall behind the fireplace finished?  Well I was right and so it was indeed finished.  He will use another method to make a working platform for Nigel to finish the fireplace.

Not done = not acceptable

More uses for the lift and planks over the stairwell

Another ta da! moment

Today is the first day of spring.  Could have fooled us.  It snowed a couple of times, just a skiff, still it was white and cold.  Looking forward to some serious melting soon.

Two days of drywall bits and pieces

Came home from a two day trip to Vancouver to discover Len hasn't moved from the basement where I left him.  He has been busy doing all the picky little bits that, to quote him, "slow down progress".  So I needed a pretty thorough tour of all the corners and hidden spots to appreciate why he is still at it 2 days later.

I can report that today's pictures would pretty much be a copy of yesterday's so we have decided to spare you more drywall photos.

Apparently Len spent quite a bit of time getting ready to go inside the fireplace foundation/clean out as there was a bit of wood to be removed from around the ash dump.

First he created a section from some ducting to be used as a sloped floor to guide the ashes to the front by the door.

Leftover plenum from duct work

The finished sloper cut and bent to fit

Before this could be installed the wood had to be cut back so how to get up and in there.  He needed a ladder and was clever enough to think of our motorhome ladder which fit through the small opening.

The aftermath

He climbed up and used a router held upside down to do the job and I only wish I had been here to take a photo of Len with all that dust and wood shavings on his head.  Alas, you will just have to imagine it.

Laying on my back looking up into the fireplace foundation

A closer look at the 3/4 plywood I routered back from the fresh air slot

Once he was finished fixing inside the clean out he was able to mount the sloped tin and the door and do the drywall mentioned yesterday.

The door in place

The drywall on the stairwell will have to wait until Nigel finishes the fireplace as he needs a place to stand to do the back side and Len uses the framing for the staircase to hold up a platform.  I know it will kill Len not to have the drywall truly finished, but that's the way it has to be for now.  We should be heading to Vancouver this coming week or the next to pick up the last of the rock and the hearth stone which is being cut for us at Adera.  Then Nigel will finish his work, the platform will be dismantled and the drywall can be completed.

Stay tuned....
Cath

So the CIA does a little torture you say.

I've decided that the best kind of torture would be to have someone kneel down on a drywall screw.  Let me tell you, I would give up any secrets I ever had thats for sure.

So I have to complete the door to the fireplace clean out before I drywall the area. I had the door and frame fabricated and now I have to secure it to the concrete blocks.  I will be going into town tomorrow for anchors then I'll finish that wall.

Looking into the ash pit area

Here is the door and frame ready for paint and install

Lower bathroom hall completed

Just the beam to cover and then the media cupboard

I built in the sub panel and now I will drywall it

More tomorrow

Len

Where has all the drywall gone?

Well we never thought it would happen, but the huge piles of drywall are gone.  In their place are actual walls!

Putting up the upper sheet to hide the fireplace foundation

Len used a drill to cut out for the plug

Ta da!

The pile that once was is...gone

Walls and ceilings done in the media room

Now there are just some little bits and pieces for Len to finish up.  The plan is to hire someone to mud and tape or is that tape and mud?  Anyway, soon (?) we will be ready for paint.  Guess I better pick out some colours someday soon.  Len says that is my job.

Cath

A few bricks short of a fireplace

When I bought the stone they told me that I would need 2 1/2 tons of stone so I picked up 2 tons and now I need to get more.  I definitely won't need a 1/2 ton but I will pick up 20 square feet whatever that amounts to.

We used the leftover red brick as filler

I was finishing the other tall wall up in the loft when I ran into an obstacle.  The end of the beam that holds up the front entrance roof was sticking too far into the house by 3/8 of an inch.  This doesn't sound like a lot but it would hold the drywall out enough to show. So the fix, drill on the end with a spade bit till it was shortened.

The offending member

Drilled shorter and ready to go

Back under the vapour barrier

The finished North wall finally

Now I'll have a major cleanup from all the mortar that fell down through the cracks to the basement as well as all of the rock chips all over the place.

I'll probably start on the basement drywall tomorrow as the wall behind the fireplace will need 2 people to finish.  When certain people are home from globetrotting it might get done.  Cathryn should be back from Africa on Thursday.

Len

Another day of fireplacing and drywallingLooking gooder

We may run out of useful rocks before the fireplace is finished.  I may have to pick up some more when I go and pick up the hearth stone

Looking gooder

 I started on the loft south wall. It's actually easier since I am already 10 feet up and I can do the higher bits with a ladder. I used the lift to help out with the bigger pieces and should be able to finish tomorrow.

Not much to say, except that it snowed again last night but it is going to warm up again and it will soon be mush again.

Len

Snow and more snow

As you can see there is a bright blue sky melting the snow.

The last pieces going in the great room.

This is the wall I can't finish till the rocks are all in place as the chipping of the stone will dent the drywall.

A view from the loft of the finished west upper wall.

More tomorrow.

Len

March 2, 1974, got married to my first wife Cathryn. 38 years of bliss

Here's how it went today. Please don't read if your'e squeamish.

I'm in the office now doing the wall with the window.  I measured and cut the lower sheet (My first mistake) and located holes to pass the wiring through for the cable and the data runs. You'll notice that it took two ladders to get behind and back again after pushing the wires through. This wall has the drywall going in behind a post on the left adding to the fun.  So I slid the sheet in behind and started to secure it with screws.  Next I located the boxes and cut them out.  Four of them.

Now this is where it goes sour.  Because of the post on the left and the beam above there is no way I can put the upper sheet behind both at once so it seemed like a good idea to take it up to the loft and slide it down from above.   What a simple solution. (Second mistake)

The lower sheet

So after cutting the sheet to length (54 x 106 inches) I hoisted it onto my two sawhorses. Then I slid the lifter under and was able to pick it up.  Then the lift is tipped till the sheet is horizontal and up it goes to the loft. So far so good. 

I went up to the loft and slid the big sheet off of the lift and over to the north wall ready to stand and slip in. I should mention that I had the foresight to screw a couple of pieces of 2 x 4 so it wouldn't fall all the way to the floor.  Trying to cover all the bases.

This sheet is quite heavy and that is the reason that I cut the window out while it was on the loft floor. (Third mistake)  Now I tipped it up and brought it to the edge and slid id into position.  The left side went down but the right did not. It would not go.  Upon further investigation that was exactly correct. it would not go. The space between the beam and the studding was too narrow for about 18 inches.

Guess what, it had to go back down and get put in from the bottom. Now getting it back on the lift with the window cut out of it became a real challenge.  There is no floor up there to work on, only beams. I was able to get it back down somehow and then I realized that the bottom sheet would have to be removed for this upper one to go in and up. Duh!!!

Once that lower sheet was removed and dragged from the office, I was able to get this sheet in place. I used the sawhorses again to get it high enough for the lift.  Once on the lift I slipped it up and to the left behind the post and slid it up and behind the beam.  Oh but the lift was up against the upper beam and wouldn't go all the way so now what.

As in the next picture I place bricks and kept adding them till it was where I wanted it. I could move the lift out of the way now. Then secure it with screws and move everything out of the way to bring the lower sheet back in. Secure it and go to bed.  Harumph.

Adding bricks

Woke up the next morning to a great surprise. Water on the floor of the great room.  Too much to be Banjo the dog.  Luckily it was just a rain gutter malfunction allowing water to go down the sheeting and under the plate onto the floor. I guess if we had siding this would not have happened.  I'll be looking for a good siding crew this summer.

Water??

Some plastic between the wall and the gutter cured the problem

Office closet completed

The offending wall with the window,  post on the left and beam overhead

No progress today as Nigel had meetings in town

And on that note, with the office completed, I'm going to bed.

Len