Never Ending Ceilings

It seemed like such a simple task at the time...

Kyla here, on my third day of 'vacation' at the house.  The plan was to finish drywalling the ceilings by lunch time.  Apparently lunch time is going to occur some time tomorrow.

Our biggest challenge for the media room was to create two, basically identical pieces of a particularly difficult shape.  One of these pieces turned out beautifully ... see the artwork below ... and one of them was drawn exactly backwards - and yes, I take full responsibility for that blunder.  Oh well, add another hour onto the timeframe.

In order to complete one section of the ceiling we had to stop for a while to do the wiring for the media speakers.

And by the way Mom, we did in fact stop to eat lunch (she doesn't trust Dad and I working together without her supervision)!

And then it was back to the ceilings.  After much lifting, and cutting, and shifting, and cutting again, and putting up in place we decided to call it quits for the night.  Everything sure is coming together nicely and with only two 12' sheets to go in the media room, it looks like we may get to move onto walls tomorrow.

Now it's time for some pizza and a well-earned swim in the hot tub.  I am looking forward to what adventures tomorrow's holiday time will bring.  Good night.  Kyla

Sixty Shmixty, get back to work

Well, as I suspected, there was no turning back time and I got up this morning aged 60. Cathryn was pretty happy about this auspicious occasion as I wouldn't be able to say that I was "almost 60" anymore.  Chris had to leave this morning so Kyla and I got busy with the last ceilings on the main floor. 

Last closet piece and greenboard in the bathroom

After lunch and some birthday cake we started on the basement bedroom ceiling.  This ended up being a bit of a challenge as one of the bearing walls wasn't exactly square. 

Bedroom with foam walls

We made it work

Check out the girly pink apron

The finished product, ceiling that is

 We persevered and finished before dinner.  Cathryn has left me again for meetings in Vancouver. She will be back at the end of the week expecting lots of progress.  I am hoping that Nigel is back from New Zealand and can start the rock work on our fireplace.

Tomorrow we tackle the media room.

Len

Ceilings

In anticipation of having Kyla and Chris here, we finished off the basement bathroom to a useable state.

Len adding the green board

gluing on the last of the tiles

The sort-of finished product

We had a pleasant surprise on Friday afternoon when Kyla (and Asia the dog) arrived ahead of schedule. Len put her to work immediately, using the drywall lift to start the kitchen/dining room ceiling. Meanwhile, a couple more young men from the neighbourhood finished bringing in the drywall. I made dinner and cleaned up the nearly-completed bathroom so that Kyla could use it

Kyla at the wheel

The first piece is up!

Saturday Len and Kyla got the ceiling finished and moved on to the ceiling of the laundry room.  Here is the step-by-step process.

Measure twice, cut once.  Putting in the hole for the pot light. 

Carefully move the prepared sheetP

Place the sheet on the lifter

Place in horizontal position and start lifting

Get the sheet lined up

Good work cutting the holes!

The finished product, after all the screws are in place

Len and Chris finished the master bedroom ceiling and then it was supper time.

A lot of time looking up (the gang in the bedroom)

Kyla's helper, Tank, 9 mo old

Even though the actual day is tomorrow, we are celebrating Len's 60th this evening. A busy and productive day. 
Cath

My least favourite job so far

Well the drywall was delivered.  I had visions of the delivery people bringing the sheets inside the house and preferably to the exact room it was going in.  Did this happen?  Not even close.

Unloading the upper pile

For the basement

So imagine my surprise when Len invited me to assist him in carrying in the drywall.  Being the good wife that I am, I did my best.  Len was doubtless wishing that his life partner was 1. taller 2. stronger. We had to separate them and carry them one by one, using our nifty panel lifters. (If YOU had been here on one end, there would have been photos- taken by me.)  We got quite a bit done then Len (who is almost 60) felt a twinge in his back and I called time out.  Len needs to do alot more work before he wrecks his back.  I said, "Wouldn't it be great to pay some young men to do this?"

One pile we brought in

Notice the 14 foot ceiling sheets

So since we weren't completely wrecked yet, we spent the rest of the evening tiling the basement bath.

Len got to be pretty handy with the tile cutter

Starting tiling.  (not my best side)

 When Len went to take a load to the dump last evening,  he ran into two young, strong neighbour boys.  He offered them big bucks to come and hoist drywall.  An inspired idea.
They came after school today and did a couple of hours of moving the piles.  My back thanks you.

They make it look easy

This evening we are going to finish off the bathroom and I will do show and tell on that later. 
Cath

VP (visual progress)

After the plumbing lines were all put in and the pex water lines run, it didn't take long to get going on the loft bathroom.  You saw the picture of the first shower; well part of the wall, the tile, toilet and sink didn't take long to be done on the weekend.

Green board up and tiling starts

Once the tile is in, the toilet gets placed

Before  you know it, the cabinet is in and we are in business!

Mom and Dad gave us this vanity which was painted green so I put a few coats of melamine on it and it works just fine.  The "green" board on the wall is just that; hasn't been mudded or painted yet but necessary to put the water lines in.  A  job to do "later".


Meanwhile, Len got started on the basement bathroom and as you can see below, it is well underway.  More tiling to be done here, both on the floor and on the walls.

On the way to providing a guest bathroom

The last of the rocks for the fireplace had to be brought in, and Len was the guy!  Now we are waiting for a delivery of MUCHO drywall later today.  Pictures later.
Cath

No words needed

Is that water I see?

Len has been like a dog with a bone regarding plumbing.  He wasn't going to stop for anything until it was done yesterday. First of all  he had to finish up the masterbath floor which included putting up silver insulation and then white fiberglass.

Had to work around lots of piping

Looks better.  Later the finishing will hide all the pipes

 All the pex was run and it was time to put the system to the test.  First official hook up was to the toilet in the basement.

No more garden hose

 Then Len moved upstairs to get the shower set up.

The sloped ceiling added a challenge

 Then came the last crimp of the last pex connecting the main water intake to the house system

Ta da!

Ready to roll

 And did it work?  You betcha!

Is that water I see?

 We also brought home some blue board and tile backer sheets to get the other bathrooms done

Notice the clever hand-holds.  They really help.  Drywall is HEAVY!

Special backing for tiling in a wet location

And, just because I can't resist, here are a couple of pictures of the big dump of snow we had a couple of days ago.  Since then it warmed up and a lot of it has melted.

Len had to take time out to snowblow

The main road past our house.

Today the plumbing guys are coming to turn on the geo so there will be pictures of that for sure....later!
Cath