Monday, November 3, 2008

The First Sheets of Drywall

Chris and Karen were up in Maine on Sunday, so the blog is a bit late. We did make a bit of progress last week, though, and it's only right that we report on our status.

We put up some more boards in Chris and Karen's bedroom. Their closet is closed in on the left, and the bathroom is closed in, too. All we have to do is hang the door! Sort of...

You can see a large stack of drywall in this picture. 50 sheets of 4x8 material should cover most of the area where we've chosen to put some color in the house to contrast with the pine.
Andy and Chris worked on the chimney for the woodstove this week. Cutting a hole in your roof is a bit unsettling.
Nearly done. We have a few screws left to put in place, and there are two more lengths for the outside that need to be installed. It was less than 40 degrees and pitch black when we called it quits on the roof that night. We worked on a few more things inside, then Andy rode his motorcycle home. What is the windchill factor for a 40 mph wind when the actual temp is in the upper 30's? COLD!
Some friends of Chris' came over to help on Saturday, and we put them to work with some sheathing in the loft bedroom. Thanks, Tommy and Kitty!
Yes, the pictures could be in better order. This is the finished hole in the roof, with 2" clearance to any combustible material.
Some of the drywall on the North end of the dining room.
On the same plane as the dining room wall, this is the entrance to Chris and Karen's room. The drywall in their room has already been hung. To line up properly with the studs, one of the sheets in this picture protrudes into the doorway a little bit. Our doorway isn't really that narrow.
Tired of drywall yet? This is the kitchen. We left a blank space for the plumber to run the gas lines to the range. Once he does that, we'll wrap this up, mud it all, and install the kitchen cabinets.
Benson tried three different drills for this job, and he settled on the corded Bosch. He really likes to help, and it was great to be able to hand this job over to such a willing worker.
Brian came over again on Saturday and did most of the updates in Chris and Karen's room. Aside from family, Brian has been the biggest help out here. When you take it upon yourself to build a house, it's important to understand that when you're tired, it's dark, it's late, you're hungry, or whatever... you still have a house to build, so you just keep going. It's been great to have a friend who understands how we approach this project and who steps in whenever he can to help. Not everybody "gets it". Brian does.
Just a forewarning... we will all be in NYC for a baby blessing next Sunday, so the blog might be a Monday event next week, too.









5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Wow, you guys are making such great progress! Tell mindy that her sister wants to see some more pictures with her in them.
amber

The Wests. said...

I'll do that, Amber.

Will you tell Mindy to remind me to take more pictures?

Mindy is often there during the day when the rest of us are at work and the boys are in school. Maybe we can teach Eli to use the camera...

another day in the life of... said...

just as long as there are no incriminating pictures of me napping on the job!

The Wests. said...

Ahh, so the truth comes out...

Anonymous said...

Mindy tells me the move in date is the 15th! wow, how exciting for you all. Hope to see lots of those pictures too!