No Holiday for Me....

[jeffus]

Wifey, kid, & I just got back from Lowe's with a truck full of stuff.

New front entry door
New storm door
Insulation
4 sheets of sheetrock
and other assorted items..........$754

Backstory:
2 years ago we got new windows on the front of the house. Slowly, I've been finishing off the trim around the interior of the windows. Never quite finished the picture window in the living room.

We were talking about cranking out the rest of the window trim this weekend since we got 3 days to work. Kid's going to grandparents Tuesday & Wednesday, so I'll have 5 days to work.

I've been itching for the new front door and proposed we do that job this weekend - yeah, stupid idea. Anyhoo...

Since the house is 47 years old, it's also a little drafty and another project we've talked about was gutting each exterior wall, re-insulating (since the original insulation has deteriorated, sagged, etc), and re-doing the sheetrock.

So this weekend's project is:
Rip off the sheetrock on the living room front wall, remove old insulation, seal the cracks with expandable foam, re-insulate, sheetrock, install new front door and storm door. And while I've got the wall stripped, open up the hvac register from a 4" duct to a 6" duct.

Should be fun....drink:

The new storm door is really neat. It's got glass panels top & bottom. But you can raise or lower the top one. When you lower the top one - a screen rolls out from the top to take its place. No replacing screens! And it's high enough that the dog or kid can't fook it up. Expensive, but nice.

Also, Lowe's has a promotion going on for the weekend for cardmembers. No interest for 12 months on purchases over $299 (oh, we went over that).

You, of course, want to pay off that balance before the 12 months or you'll be slammed with a year's interest at the end....btw.

[woodchuck]

You are going to mix in some fun, right. Three days for that list seems like a pretty comfortable schedule.

[Weston]

The new storm door is really neat. It's got glass panels top & bottom. But you can raise or lower the top one. When you lower the top one - a screen rolls out from the top to take its place. No replacing screens! And it's high enough that the dog or kid can't fook it up. Expensive, but nice.



I put a storm door like that on our front door a couple of years ago. Very nice! The screen on ours "gives" so there is little risk of damaging the screen.

You going to re-insulate the whole house eventually (oustside walls)? That's a lot of work especially with replacing the sheetrock.

[jeffus]

You are going to mix in some fun, right. Three days for that list seems like a pretty comfortable schedule.

No. I plan on hurting myself early tomorrow morning and enjoying the rest of the weekend. ;)

[sao95]

if you get all that done in three days then I'm changing your title from "only human" to "superman" ;)

[jeffus]

I'm looking-up the HVAC parts...

Plumbing supply house tomorrow morning.

Need a #355 90 degree register box and a #96 Round to Oval Boot - both 6" for 240 CFM bringing the cooling load up to snuff....

Should be a 6" take-off from the existing trunc line. Should be able to stretch the existing duct to fit.

I think the kid will enjoy the demo...we've done it before - here's a hammer - hit the wall!

Of course, this is all speculation at this point. We all know how projects hit the crapper once you start! :shock:

[North Country Dad]

Come on, guys -- that's easy to get done in three days (it's actually five, right Jeffus?), without that brood of kids hanging on your pantleg, dirtying diapers, and whining about being hungry or bored. Go to work, man!

[troy00690]

Wifey, kid, & I just got back from Lowe's with a truck full of stuff.


Thank you for shopping at lowes and keeping my wife employeed and it keeps me at home.

I will be going there this afternoon also. Kids are going to a parade today with the inlaws and I will be building a speaker box. Need to get supplies.

[chuck]

my weekend list:
finish repainting/cleaning rooms Daughter moved out of, turn it back into dinning room and office for wife (mostly means moving stuff out of basement into rooms wife will "setup and decorate")
Once stuff out my way in basement, finish drop ceiling down there (about 12'x25' area)
Paint walls for first time in basement (primed Sheetrock)
Build bookcase
Build entertainment center
Install lighting and said wiring (12 drop ceiling high hats)
Should have it all done on Monday, kid at grandparents today over night should reappear tomorrow afternoon but thats ok he actually is some help with projects he's old enough now and likes building stuff as much as I do, great time to teach skills and safety!
Hey Jeff if ya need some help with your little list let me know I could come over and bang that out with ya in a few hours laughing
Oh ya and I spent somewhere over a grand over at Lowe's thru out the week (I go get it all before the weekend rush!) and a good Lowe's tip go to http://lowesforpros.com/ they have "special" coupons there for the contractors that you can print and use, no need to "prove" your a contractor or have a commercial account there. ;)
Ok floor should be dry after just mopping it time to go move stuff!

[Weston]

Once I get this cast off, look out world! I'm going to be a DIYing fool!

Have too many projects to count right now that need to be finished and many more on the backburner awaiting a start.

[jeffus]

Day One:

Door's In....Exterior Trim Not Done...

http://www.straightlinegp.com/FrontDoorOut.jpg

New Door: Trim will be done after new sheetrock goes up..
http://straightlinegp.com/FrontDoorIn.jpghttp://straightlinegp.com/FrontDoorExt.jpg

Lost lot's of time digging out all my tools and then dealing with the gorillas at the HVAC place (they were helpful & nice & all, but I think they were hung-over or something). Took me an hour to get 4 freaking parts, return 1 wrong one, get the right 1, charge my card, etc. Good thing I called ahead with part #'s. They said they had everything and when I showed-up, they were out of stock on one, so we had to cancel the order for that part, re-spec a new one, blah, blah. Also, it was 95 degrees here so I took a lot of breaks....

Went to test fit the door after I got the tarpaper up. Opening was 1/2 too small. :shock: Knocked the piece of plywood over the top off and it went right in. Took me a while to get it all squared-up and leveled and closing nicely.

About 10 minutes after I ran a bead of caulk around it, the skies opened-up.

Kid was over at wifey's friends house most of the day. Wifey did a nice job of cleaning-up after me.:wtg:

The wall with the picture window is getting stripped tomorrow so we let the kid go to town on it....


http://straightlinegp.com/Art1.jpg

http://straightlinegp.com/Art2.jpg

[chuck]

Nice door!:wtg: Seems the kid is good are drawing pics of daddy!=D>

I managed to get the daughters old room done, drag stuff up from the basement, put together a new table saw I picked up (2 hours, damn design engineers never had to put it together apparently!](*,) ) got the drop ceiling almost done! Life is good and I'm beat, tomorrow I finish off the ceiling get some paint on the walls and start designing and building a book case. Wife doesn't clean up after me, in fact she has no clue what I'm up to in the basement=; So Jeff if your wife gets ya all cleaned up and is eager to pick-up after another sloppy husband send her on over:mrgreen:
Time for sleep...:sleepy:

[jeffus]

Seems the kid is good are drawing pics of daddy!=D>

=; Hey now!

I had her stand against the wall and I traced her outline. She added all the other details. ;)

Told her she could use anything except poop to draw on the wall....:)

[North Country Dad]

Looking good, man.

You did explain to her that the other walls are off-limits, right? :jester:

[Weston]

That's great about the wall art! Nice door too!

[jeffus]

Day Two:

Demolished the front wall, ripped out the old insulation, installed a new 7" oval register (replacing the 4" circular duct), sealed the deal with expandable foam, re-insulated, and got the sheetrock up today. I've since spackled the joints. Too tired to tape and spackle the wall/wall/ceiling joints.


Put the kid to work ..... safety glasses, boots, crowbar.
http://www.straightlinegp.com/Crowbar.jpg


Stripped to the studs:
http://www.straightlinegp.com/Stripped.jpg

Reinsulated and Buttoned-Up
http://www.straightlinegp.com/ButtonedUp.jpg

New Ductwork:
http://www.straightlinegp.com/NewDuct.jpg

And the Sheetrock is up!

http://www.straightlinegp.com/SheetrockUp.jpg

Tomorrow: we spackle & tape the wall/ceiling joints, install the storm door, maybe put the trim back on around the window, and trim out the exterior of the entry door. ;)

[jeffus]

if you get all that done in three days then I'm changing your title from "only human" to "superman" ;)

It's looking pretty good, so far.....;)

[Will'sdad]

Great before and after pictures...Good Work! :yeah:

[jeffus]

Thank you for shopping at lowes and keeping my wife employeed and it keeps me at home.

I will be going there this afternoon also. Kids are going to a parade today with the inlaws and I will be building a speaker box. Need to get supplies.

No problem! :pals:

But, urrrr-umm, we got the #8 for free... We bought new #'s for the mailbox and they got tossed with the Nickelodeon paint color chips, and since we had 3 cartfulls of stuff and we had so much stuff, and kept going back for more, and the kid was getting a little wiggy, we didn't really care much if the check-out dude got everything.

So I owe 82 cents.....:(

But........After repetitions of "Code 50", no one helped me load my truck. I think a manager-type sauntered-by on her cell phone. There were 4 trucks lined-up waited for loading assistance. Didn't even notice or seem to care....(she was too well-dressed and not dirty, so I'm assuming she was management). She said goodbye/goodnight to this employee walking out of the store.

This dude, who apparently was a loader and going home, took a few moments and helped me out. And he refused a tip. I offered $20.

So Lowe's owes me $25 for the 1/2 hour I spent out there waiting for a loader after purchasing almost $1000 worth of stuff.

Plus tip! ;)

[sao95]

It's looking pretty good, so far.....;)
your gettin there chugchug: your making me feel guilty, I didn't get anything done today :oops: muddin always takes a bit longer waitin for it to dry though so it might hold ya up a bit, oh and you didn't stagger your joint [-X :p

[jeffus]

oh and you didn't stagger your joint [-X :p

Huh!? What? :huh:

Since I've called it quits, I've staggered over to the fridge for a few cold ones.....;)

[Will'sdad]

oh and you didn't stagger your joint [-X :p

:weedman: :shrug:

I'm actually considering this in my basement and could use some pointers.

[Patrickz]

Nice work! I love the way those older houses were put together, it looked like those studs were real dementions of 2" by 4" and not 1.5 by 3.5 or so. Also 40+ year old pine is like rock isn't it.

[chuck]

Nice job Jeff! Must be the fact you had the kid helping :) I got my ceiling up and ended up doing a ceiling in a room I hadn't planed on but they are all done now (drop ceilings=PIA!) started painting than had to go get the son from the outlaws so early end to day, today boy is painting dad is drinking beer:) (I wish) and we can start on the book case and entertainment center, so far so good for one weekend, I had no expectations of even getting the ceiling finished as I know how things "come up" when I'm trying to get some work done.

[sao95]

Huh!? What? :huh:

Since I've called it quits, I've staggered over to the fridge for a few cold ones.....;)

just givin ya a hard time :p

[jeffus]

I put a storm door like that on our front door a couple of years ago. Very nice! The screen on ours "gives" so there is little risk of damaging the screen.

The storm door was a bitch! Very detailed instructions and lot's of cutting, drilling. I had to run out & buy a Uni-Bit (my first one, very neat tool btw) to cut out the holes for the door hardware. This door sucked-up huge amounts of time! But it came out real nice 8).

I got 2 coats of spackle up. Ready for some sanding tomorrow. I also had to run out and buy spackle. I forget how much new sheetrock sucks that stuff up. I also fit some sheetrock pieces around the outlet and light switches so they'll be flush with the wall when I remount them.

Getting there (tomorrow's list):

Install door closers on storm door
Sanding
3rd feather/coat of spackle on joints
Trim out exterior of door & prime/paint
Primer
Reinstall window and door molding inside
Install new diffuser for a/c ductNo pics for today. Sorry.

Went pretty well - overall. But, am I tired!......:tired:

[woodchuck]

Looks good, it's the trips to the store during the project that will kill the timeline.

That new door looks really nice, kind of sexies the place up some. :)

[Weston]

The storm door was a bitch! Very detailed instructions and lot's of cutting, drilling. I had to run out & buy a Uni-Bit (my first one, very neat tool btw) to cut out the holes for the door hardware. This door sucked-up huge amounts of time! But it came out real nice 8).



If I remember correctly, it took me about half a day to get everything right and installed... yeah it was a bitch to do, lol.

[jeffus]

Trimmed out the door and storm door....




http://www.straightlinegp.com/ExtDoor.jpg

And the view from inside.....

http://www.straightlinegp.com/Interior.jpg

[jeffus]

Dangling thread....

When finished it looked like this:
http://www.straightlinegp.com/FWDone1.jpg

And this:
http://www.straightlinegp.com/FWDone2.jpg

The wall was just primed. We're gonna paint it one of these days. We're planning a whole remodel for the room.

I handle the techs and specs, she does colors and curtains....:contract: :)

[woodchuck]

Looks like it came out well, but the real test will come in winter.

[jeffus]

I think with the new door and the new AC ducting - it's gonna be huge improvement!

Now, when the AC kicks-in, the room gets frigid! We no longer hear cars driving by.

That old insulation was about 1/2" thick after 47 years in there. Not a lot of R-value.....

I found some gaping holes to the exterior - we used to get a nice draft through the molding. I think that's going away with the expanding foam application.

We shall see....

[Weston]

Good work Jeff.

[jeffus]

Been painting & putting the final touches on this room. We've working on it for a loooong time...

The new furniture was delivered last Friday. We both actually like it (that ain't easy).

Needs a bigger tv (that's the bedroom one until we can save up for the 'biggie').

Some stitched photos of the final layout.....
http://www.straightlinegp.com/Living Room - NEW2(smaller).jpg




http://www.straightlinegp.com/Living Room - NEW1(smaller).jpg


From the home inspection......ugh!
http://www.straightlinegp.com/Livingroom/A.jpg
http://www.straightlinegp.com/LivingRoom/B.jpg

[woodchuck]

Looks good buddy, amazing what a little paint and updated/complimentary furnishings can do for a place. The real benefits of course, come from the work that is now hidden, insulation/ductwork/doors/windows/caulk/tightening the house against air/temp/noise infiltration, you've done well.

[stretch]

Nice job. Looks like you had a visit from Extreme Home Makeover, only without the annoying hyperactive carpenter and obligatory weeping.

[jeffus]

I'll have to see if I can find the hardwood floor restoration thread (http://www.dadstayshome.com/showthread.php?t=1975&highlight=hardwood+floor+restoration).....;)

Thanks guys! :cool:

[Will'sdad]

Nicely done Jeff...Congratulations!

[sao95]

WOW!! It's hard to believe that's the same house, very nice!

[Riggs]

Looks excellent Jeff, way to go. Something satisfying about doing that stuff yourself, eh?

[Weston]

Turned out great! The before and after pics really are amazing

[tt3]

Verry sharp Jeff, nicely done!