Happy New Year!

[electricland]

Trying to avoid LJ at work -- too distracting, and I feel like I don't get enough done, and then I feel like I have to work late. Hence, stupid work habits. The corollary of this is that I need to check it at home, and I haven't really got to this yet. But I have been quite productive at work this week.

I'm hoping this means my posts will be fewer, but better. Or you may all get utterly bored or never see them, who knows?

Now then. Because I know how deprived you must all feel, here are 2 weeks worth of house updates. And the last shall be first:

Yesterday:

Today for lunch, Jen, Robin, David, Dan, Mike, John and I had breakfast.

Jen and Rob moved boxes. Dan and David applied structural reinforcement for vertical members, i.e. nailed strips. John wired.

Decision was made not to buy trailer to replace truck because we'd never get rid of it. A dumpster will be needed in the near future.

Robin and John are off to Rona in the van to buy drywall.* Dan and David will carry same.**

Cheers all, Helen

*16 sheets of 5/8" Type-X gypsum wallboard, if anyone is interested. It was just slightly too wide for the space between the wheel wells, of course, and about a foot too long for the van so we Bungee-corded the back door down, which held almost all the way home until I went over a speed hump too fast. I don't know what happened to the Bungee cord.
**Up to the 3rd floor. I did some rough calculations based on the figures given here and each sheet is, I think, roughly 21 kg. I'm glad we have hooligans.

Friday:

Today for lunch Dan, David, John and I had Pizza Pizza, because of a culinary miscalculation on my part--which will be served at a later date.

The first duct guy, Ron, came by and promised faithfully that he will turn up on Monday and stay until the job is finished.*

David and Dan nailed strips on for drywall, and solved many of the world's problems. John has made calculations and will order the first batch of drywall this afternoon.

Landmarks: Good and Bad. Good: Jen and Robin actually stayed overnight at the house during the holiday season.** I should have reported this. So they are no longer officially homeless. Perhaps a little . . . homely-deprived.

Bad: The truck has died. Mike with three friends took it to a dinner in the west end a few days ago. On the way home, it lost power--a lot. Jen Mills reported that, with three of them pushing the truck up River Street, it actually went faster than when they just drove it. So I will source some black crepe and we will have a memorial service before sending it off to the knackers.*** (Anyway, license was due for renewal in March and nobody would be able to find a biker bad enough to certify it as road-worthy.)

Cheers all, Helen

*We're not going to pay him until it's done either. If he shows up, which I am personally cynical about.
**Yes we did! New Year's Eve, or more accurately very early New Year's Morn to quite a bit later New Year's Morn. We had an electric space heater, an air mattress, a couple of sleeping bags and a small dog (Tilde, of course). I highly recommend the small dog for camping trips of this kind -- much better than a hot water bottle. The drawback was that the only working toilet was two floors up. That was kind of cold.
***Some of you may recall that it is just about a year since my car went to its final reward. *sniffle*

Thursday:

Today for lunch Dan, John and I had bangers and mash. But the bangers were authentic Marcella Hazan.

John met a third duct guy, Andrew, and will get a quote.* He/you are expected to make a decision tomorrow, so the duct work can be done asap, if not asiap (as inexpensive as possible). We will overcome.

Stuart went on a run to Rona for lumber. Dan et al. carried said lumber to the third floor. Stuart is working on third floor. Dan moved large and heavy boxes. Bill did painting and cleaning on Robin's window. Dan also did vapour barrier (can't get enough of it).

John confirmed the height of Robin's counters.** John serendipitously found a missing nut for the table saw.

Cheers all, Helen

*It helps to be able to tell your tardy duct guy "We have other options, you know!"
**About 42" -- I'm really looking forward to that. Yay, less backache! Wall cupboards will be about 18" above them, and that will leave space above them for more storage.

To this, Jen responded:

I stand ready and eager to make a decision on a duct guy. A woman from the express bus asked about the House and offered to get me the contact info of a guy who does drywall...

I'm excited that we are world-famous on the express bus.

Wednesday, a twofer:

Bonjour a tous
Yesterday for lunch, Dennis, Dan and John went to Gaby's.

Dennis worked on a small plumbing leak, which will be fixed by shortening the pipe and putting in a brace. Dan did vapour barrier. John wired Robin's under cabinet lights, put in foam insulation, and fixed the switch on the table saw.

Today for lunch, Dan, John and I had udon noodle soup.

Steve the Duct--as opposed to Ron the Duct, who is not being too reliable*--is coming at 1:30 to give a quote. Dan did vapour barrier (I could tell by the state of his hands), braced spaces between studs on the second floor, and did something on the first floor, which I can't read because my writing is so bad.

Cheers to all, Helen

*See above.

Friday, December 30:

Today for lunch we had hot dogs--but of two different kinds: Shopsy's and Our Compliments. Taste different; both OK.

Ron the Vent called John and definitely promised he'll come next Monday, but, in the meantime, John is going to get another quote.

Dan and Brian worked on vapour barrier--the end is in sight. Brian cleared a space on the second floor.

Bill says the old trim is not worth keeping. It's skewed and warped (kinda like me, said Dan) and that it will be much more efficient to buy and install new trim. So that will be done. Bill will do it.

The toilet in the first floor is installed. The sink can be quickly installed in the third floor, but if the pipes are boxed in will later need to have a horizontal joint. Third floor door looks great.

John will work on the first floor wiring--interior--and on the ceiling.

Dump runs--John and Jen--are planned for this afternoon.

Cheers all, Helen

I did bugger all on the House over my break -- witness my absence from this installment. I feel kind of bad about this. OTOH, I was helping clean out the last of Granny's stuff from her apartment. You know when you're moving and you get close to the end and you look around and say "Hey, cool! Nearly done!" and it turns out there are another 20 boxes? That was what we were packing. It has made me very keen to throw stuff out.

Thursday:

Today for lunch Dan, Brian and I had penne salsica (I think.). John, who is once again struck with the dreaded lurgy, had chicken soup, dry toast and water.

Yesterday, Dan and Brian installed the toilet in Jen's bathroom. Waiting for Dennis to check plumbing before trying. They also did black goo. Brian says the end of the vapour barrier is in sight--on the first floor.

Stuart and Bill installed the door onto the proto-deck,and have been working on the south window.*

Brian and Dan helped me move giant dead plants in the sunroom.

Cheers all, Helen

*Both of which look AMAZING. Wow. The 3rd floor has so much light and is just going to be fantastic -- I'm very excited.

Christmas Day:

Today for lunch we had eggs Benedict, salad, baked brie, smoked salmon, fruit, panatone, etc.

No work was done, but Stuart installed door on third floor yesterday, and screwed windows shut.

Robin sang at lunch the following:

The 12 Days of Renovation

On the first day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
a hundred amps of electricity.
On the second day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
two copper pipes.
On the third day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
three new sinks.
On the fourth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
four power tools.
On the fifth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
five miles of ducts.
On the sixth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
six new windows.
On the seventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
foam insulation.
On the eighth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
eight miles of wiring.
On the ninth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
nine light fixtures.
On the tenth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
ten sheets of drywall.
On the eleventh day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
eleven pots of paint.
On the twelfth day of Christmas my true love gave to me:
twelve home appliances.

This was greeted with cheers all round. Even though her math was off--especially for a science grad. There are an awful lot more than four power tools, there are more sinks if you count bathrooms--but there are twelve home appliances.

Cheers all, Merry Christmas. Helen

*bows*

Comments

[briasoleil.livejournal.com]

Ohmigod! It sounds like things are really moving along. Because after drywalling, comes painting. And then, you get to move in! You must be excited. And exhausted. And thrilled. But most of all, happy to be home.

[electricland.livejournal.com]

I am entirely willing to move in before painting, and just move from room to room.

I AM excited, although trying hard not to be *too* excited. We are definitely getting there! Ducts have really been the major hold-up. This lot of drywall is just for the party wall on the 3rd floor, which the inspector needs to see -- but then we will really be ready to go!

thanks for the encouragement!

[briasoleil.livejournal.com]

Were I in TO, I would offer to help.

And I say do whatever makes it easiest/best for you. It's your home.

May I ask? What is a "party wall"?

I hope that the holdups cease pronto, so that you can get things going so that you can move in for good.

Bon courage!

[electricland.livejournal.com]

Oh sorry -- jargon alert.

Our house is semi-detached -- it's really half a house with the other half attached to the north. The party wall is where they join. (Also called a common wall, which makes more sense really.)

On the 1st and 2nd floors they're good no-nonsense brick, but on the 3rd floor there really wasn't much of a barrier at all other than a couple layers of drywall and some electric wires. No good for fire separation. ;) In fact, under the eaves there was no separation at all other than a little rock wool. So now the wall (on our side anyway) will consist of: Safe n Sound (fireproof batt insulation), resilient channel, Sonopan (aka The Crazy Green Stuff The Inspector Was Really Suspicious Of), and 2 layers of 5/8" X-type (fireproof) drywall. We defy any fire to get through that in under 40 minutes.

...sorry. That was more information than anybody needs.

et merci bien!

[briasoleil.livejournal.com]

Okay, I saw Mike Holmes talk about and install fire protective stuff on a common wall on his show. So, gotcha.

De rien!