Painting -- Almost Finsihed!

To all my patient peeps -- and those not so patient (you know who you are ;)

Here are some pictures of the finished rooms -- I'll put a little caption with each -- very difficult to get good perspective inside the house (especially with a broken LCD screen so I can't see the pic before taking it).

Guess?

In the dining room -- looking into the Family Room (and the Living Room is at the right edge of the picture).

The front Entry Way (looking in from the Living Room)...

In the Kitchen -- looking into the Laundry Room.

In the Library -- looking into the Office (work in progress)

Master Bathroom.

Breanna's Bedroom.

Kendrick's Bedroom.

Bradley's Bedroom (the White Room for the men in White Coats).

The long Hallway.  The only Hallway.

The garage -- actually, the workshop side of the garage (not painting it right now).

My Name is Mud...

Well, this morning, we were able to finish getting the paper on the floor, and the guys got here to do the tape and first coat of mud.

I hope they are as efficient as the drywall guys were...  So, finally, I get to a lull in the time and effort I have to put in -- at least for a couple of weeks.

We will be taking a trip back to Tennessee this weekend to get a load of boxes and furniture.  Life is never dull!

Hopefully, I'll have some pictures of the house with walls partially finished later tonight.

Drywall Hung!

Well, today has been a long and busy day!  I'll just say that earlier this week, I had a little problem, and had to make a change...

Today, my new drywall guy had a crew come in and hang the drywall.  They have finished the garage (the ceiling and the firewall -- I didn't want the outside walls finished out with drywall).  They have 95% of the interior finished now also, and they are still working.  They arrived at around 9AM, and boy have they worked!

Yes, they are a crew of three Mexicans, and they are all the nicest guys (from what little we can understand ;)

The mudding is to start tomorrow, and will take about half of next week, followed by the texturing for the ceilings, and then the priming...  They plan to tint the primer for each color, and then we'll have an easier time covering the primer with fewer coats of paint.

The painting should take part of the following week, so we should be less than two weeks out from having the painting finished!  You can imagine that we are pretty excited!  We will then have the cabinets and trim to do...  Of course, there will be a lot of things that come up, I'm sure, but we are really starting to get close!

I spent today trying to move things from one part of the garage to the other (as they did the garage ceiling so they could move their stands, etc).  I also had to help with the garage door hangers because I used nuts and bolts instead of lag bolts (don't ask me why)...

Then, I've also been sweeping out the finished rooms so I can lay the heavy brown paper down in the rooms to protect the floors from the mud.  We don't want them scraping that up!  I have all the paper laid except for the kitchen, living room, dining room, hall way, and half bath.  I guess I also have to do the pantry and laundry room -- had forgotten them :(  That sounds like a lot, but I did the entire master suite (library, office, bedroom, closet, bath, and vanity area) in just a few hours yesterday...  I really need to finish the rest tonight, and considering the time, that may be difficult.

So, we're getting ready to take a trip back to Tennessee -- probably leaving Saturday.

Drywall Progress

Well, today, the guys got here around 8:30, and they swept the entire floor -- not really sure why at this stage, but hey, it is much nicer with it swept.  And, now, they are working in the master closet (which is about the size of the kids bedrooms -- actually, more walls because of the wall dividing the "his" and "hers" sides...  Or, is it "hers" and "hers"?

I went around counting the outlets, switch boxes, and light boxes in the walls and entered them in my computer so I have some record of whether they miss any...  Of course, I've got some pictures, but it is really difficult to get good pictures with the wallboard leaning against many of the walls right now...

I'm going to finish the last of that insulation around the storage room today.  I'm not doing a whole lot here right now, but that was the plan, right?  Now, to find a job!

Anyway, we're moving forward...

Political Oddities

Some of the recent happenings in politics force me to make a few observations...

1) Obama is going to quadruple the amount of money spent on finding and prosecuting "tax evaders", yet how many of his own cabinet appointees are tax evaders, and yet no consequences...  We can help find them!  They are in his regular cabinet meetings...  Oh, they paid their taxes after they were about to be discovered...  When my kids refuse to acknowledge their wrong choices until I find out myself, they suffer consequences...

2) Homeland Security has warned law enforcement about those of us who believe in the right to life, God's design for marriage, lower taxes, and less federal government power, yet we are (again) decreasing our defense budget (which would be used to fight real terrorists).

3) After a month or so of pushing a huge budget -- so many trillions of dollars that we can't imagine -- Obama now says he is going to give Congress a "pay as you go" policy...  I think we call that a "Do as I say and not as I do" policy...

4) Of course, the "apology tour" cannot go without mention -- I mean, it sounds to me like, "I'm sorry for being Americans"...  Next, we'll be surrendering to Britain for that ill-conceived attempt to become independent a few hundred years ago...  Nevermind that Americans have been responsible for spurring on the industrial revolution, etc, etc.  We don't hear Britain going around apologizing for occupying countless peoples of the world through the last several centuries.  Somehow, the success of America is a big mistake, and we're sorry!  Sort of like the success of the individual American is to be punished by our own America!

5) "Job creation"?  Right...  I lost my job, but Obama isn't creating a job that could pay my bills even if I did want to go out and do road / bridge construction, and it would only last for a little while anyway...

6) "Jobs created or saved"...  Let's see -- all these companies are out there volunteering "we would have let these XXX people go if Obama didn't help us 'save' their jobs."  We can't count things we can't know...  That is a claim that can never be disproven -- any more than it can be proven.

7) Ever heard of "robbing Peter to pay Paul"?  Take money from tax payers to give back to tax payers...  Someday, this "pyramid scheme" (or maybe it is actually a Ponzi Scheme)  is going to fall apart...  If you tried to start a company with such a scheme, you would be breaking the law...  You can break the law as long as you are ABOVE the law!  (Al Gore: There is no controlling legal authority...  Such a legacy!  We didn't know Obama would make Clinton's presidency look like child's play.)

8) Can't even start to discuss the federal government ownership / strong-arming that is going on.  Scary is just not the word.  Lord help the CEO or board of directors that gets on the bad side of Obama...  I would be tiptoeing around trying not to O-ffend...  Glad I'm a jobless nobody!

9) Instead of cutting these existing programs, let's go back through the stimulous bill and the proposed budget and cut some of that planned waste...  Then, let's talk about cutting existing waste...

10) "If you vote for me, I'll GIVE you free health care, etc, etc" -- I think they would call that sort of thing bribery or "buying votes"...  I think that might be illegal in some jurisdictions...

11) The cheerleading of the media has been an utter embarrassment, only to be exceeded by the embarrassment of so many of those media members joining the Obama rock group...

This whole thing would be funny if not so incredibly scary!

There are far too many oddities to point out in this really strange political environment...  Glad God gives us a clue as to the FINAL outcome -- though it may or may not be right around the corner.

Drywall Pictures...

Not a ton finished on the drywall today, but I did take some pictures.

They did the ceilings of all the bathrooms, the pantry, and the laundry room -- except for a few partial pieces they will have later.

Then they did the walls of the master bath so we have a little privacy without having to put up a sheet...

It is surely bright in there with the drywall!

Master Vanity Area

Master Bath (Whirlpool)

Library / Hall Bath (past the wall)

Drywall Started / Whirlpool Hooked Up

So, today, they got the ceilings done on the family room, living room, kitchen, library, office, and master bedroom.  He used 16' boards on all of those rooms to avoid butt joints (not butt cracks).  There will be only two of the guys here the next two days, so they will concentrate on the smaller rooms now.

And, the plumbers came back today to connect the whirlpool and test for leaks.  There was a problem with the drain, but they got it fixed, and so now we could (theoretically) use the whirlpool...

No pictures tonight, but things are starting to look good with the ceiling going up.

We have lots and lots of work left, but things are definitely moving forward...

Drywall Delivered -- and Started...

We finally have drywall in the house, and they are hanging ceilings today...  We had some fun with the guys that delivered it -- and the crane they use to unload it...  They were real nice guys.

They should get quite a bit of it hung this afternoon, and we'll see how it goes for the rest of the week.

The plumbers are back to finish hooking up the whirlpool...  Maybe we'll get to try it out soon :)  Well, maybe not...

Insulation Inspection, etc...

Well, the insulation inspection passed today -- he was here for about 5 minutes, and when he left, he said, "See you when you're done"...

So, that is a great feeling!

Worked today on some of the blocking in the bathroom vanities.  Seems like I've got a lot of little things to finish up, but nevertheless, the drywall will start tomorrow!

I let the other two kids try the stilts out today...  Bradley is a natural on them.  I didn't even want to walk without holding on, but it took him all of 2 minutes to be pretty well walking on them...

Then, Dawn and I went over to see our Amish friends, and they gave me permission to take a couple of pictures of their kids...  Cute little girls with their Daddy's eyes!

Finished with Firring Strips

So, today, I was able to completely finish the firring strips along the top edges of the interior walls.  And, I had the building inspector come to inspect the insulation, but I had to fill the holes in the tops of the walls with foam to act as a fire stop.  I didn't know that before, but I was able to take care of it today.

And, I used the RESCheck utility online to demonstrate that our insulation will pass code (since R-38 would be required otherwise), and I had to print it out and get it ready for him when he comes back.  I have all of that ready, and I put a call in to schedule a re-inspect tomorrow...  So, other than finishing up some blocking in the walls, we should be ready for drywall...

Here is a picture of one of the drywall clips -- followed by a picture showing that I used them to put these strips up and attach them to the walls.  This will allow any truss uplift to occur without cracking the drywall at the corners of the rooms.

The drywall is scheduled to be delivered on Wednesday morning, and my drywall guys hope to get several of the ceilings put up that day, and then they'll do the bathroom walls, which will be nice to get that done...

Done with Firring Strips! (Almost)

We were able to get the firring strips finished in all the rooms.  The only loose end I have to tie up is whatever I'm going to do along the interior walls to avoid truss uplift from cracking the joint compound...  I have drywall clips, but I'm not sure I want to go that route.  I may use these firring strips, but angle the screws into the wall header instead of going up into the trusses.

Anyway, this is still a major milestone -- or almost to the major milestone of starting the drywall.  I have to finish the blocking in the walls, and then we will be ready...  Well, I have to get the insulation inspection done, but that should be trivial...

Meanwhile, Kendrick tried the stilts out, and he decided he won't be playing on them!  He had to keep hold of the walls / ceiling the whole time...  He found out it is much more difficult than the Amish made it look...

Firring Strips...

Well, two of my Amish friends came back for a half day today (one wasn't feeling well -- let's hope it's not some odd strain of the flu)...

They were on stilts, and so I was running around making sure they had everything they needed (since it is difficult to reach the ground on 4 foot stilts), and making sure each room was ready for them to go work in...

They were able to get a few screws in each strip for nearly all the rooms -- all the big rooms.  That way, I can go around now and finish the screws without having to get the strips in place, etc.  So, I have now finished putting all the screws in the family room, living room, dining room, entry way, kitchen, laundry room, pantry, half bath, library, office, and master bedroom.  The strips are ready (but not all the screws) in two of the kids bedrooms.  They were not able to finish the strips in one of the kids bedrooms, both full baths (and vanity areas), and the master closet...

I am trying to first get all the screws in the strips that are already up, but then I'll have to put the strips up in the remaining rooms...  Probably needing some help from my son just trying to get them straight, etc...

John left his stilts here, and I could wear them, but it is very difficult to get accustomed to walking around in them -- let alone trying to carry a heavy cordless drill, screws, hammer, etc...  So, I have opted to just move the step ladders around instead...

Here are some pictures...  It is really looking like a house now, and I have also noticed that (with no air conditioning on), the garage is extremely hotter than the house!  It rained all night, so the house was cooled down, and it really has stayed really nice in there all day long even though it is very hot in the garage...

Unfortunately, I have dropped a hammer a few times, and made chips in the floor.  That is a pain, but things will be dropped, and the concrete will chip -- that's life...  We do live in a very imperfect world!  Our floor (and everything else in our house) will be a testament to that fact!

However, this is also a wonderful reminder that we are "looking for that blessed hope and the glorious appearing of the great God and our Savior, Jesus Christ"! (v.13 from Titus 2:11-13)  There is coming a day when we (who know this Savior) will no longer be living in this imperfect world!