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

It's mortar not motor Doris

There's been some confusion as of late regarding the use of the term "mortar."  Mortar goes around things and motors go around. I hope that clears things up.

The next photos are  fireplace progress oriented.  The bake oven gets a layer of insulation and then tin foil and wire mesh. The "mortar" is applied to the mesh and the tin foil prevents the insulation from sucking all the moisture from the mortar. This will give a solid base to place more rocks tomorrow.

Mortar being added over the mesh

The oven all ready to cover 

Good progress on the back, the cardboard is for an expansion gap

The west side

Getting close

The east face

Of course my contribution would be the completed front hall closet and the wall to the office. I have a half wall done in the office so you can still see the great room but that will all be history tomorrow.

The front entrance

Powder room left and into the office

Not as much done by me today as this was band practice day which went from 10:00 till noon. I hate to break up my day but somebody has to do it.  Oh yeah and this morning I drove to the 108 for more "mortar".

Def:A plastic mixture of cementitious materials (such as plaster, cement, or lime) with water and a fine aggregate (such as sand); can be troweled in the plastic state; hardens in place. When used in masonry construction, the mixture may contain masonry cement or ordinary hydraulic cement with lime (and often other admixtures) to increase its plasticity and durability.

Len

Life on the rock pile

Well, Nigel has been busy and the rocks are slowly disappearing.  He is doing a great job and the final project is going to be super.

More progress

I get to clean up each day

Another view

 Of course I am just continuing on with boring old drywall.  I have finished the bedroom and the closet and the tricky part of the front entrance.

Walk-in closet ready for taping

The bedroom has become a bit of a catch-all

The difficulty is finding a way to slip the drywall behind the posts and beams with as many tapered drywall joints as possible.  I ended up having to cut out a small section over the door so that the left piece would slip in. There are six pieces to this effort.

Tomorrow I will finish the front hall and closet, then it's on to the office. It's starting to feel like a real house now since I can't see into the rooms through the framing.

Len

More exiting than drywall

Finally our masonry heater is getting its overcoat. Nigel was impressed with my prep work for the hearth and he went right to work covering it up.

Here is the first stone in place

 The piece of wood at the front and on all the other sides is placed to allow our flooring to tuck under for a nicer finish.

Choosing the right rock is an art

Thanks to Kyla we have our feature bricks ready to go

I think it's going to look great.  Nigel has scraped the mortar from in between the rocks so it has a nice stacked look.

Can you feel the warmth?

A look at the back and side

Tomorrow should go a bit faster as there is less surface to do.  Notice the cardboard which is placed between the stone and the stove as an expansion space. I suppose that it might burn off when it gets hot enough. That should smell nice.

The drywalling is progressing as well with the master bedroom almost done and then on to the closet. I told the boss that I would have all of the top floor finished before she got back from Africa. We'll see.

Len