Speeding Up

I was going to title this post slow and steady, but then R came over and the wall started to progress quickly.

 

We slowed down a little bit when an unexpected bright pop took the end of the saw cord off, the blade was not moving at the time I am not really sure what caused this to happen.  I'll find out if the saw is OK after I rewire it tomorrow (is Home Depot open on New Year's Day?)

This is what things currently look like. I am almost out of 2x4s, galvanized nails and screws. Tomorrow I plan to start back on the medicine cabinet - my goal is to have that finished before I head back to work on Monday.

Happy New Year's Eve!

On My Own

R took the day off yesterday so I was on my own with wall building.

First step - learn how to use a plumb bob with only two hands. Clamps come in very handy.

This was my progress at the end of the day.  I spent most of the day working on the medicine cabinet and another project so I didn't make much progress on the basement.

Side Project

In the midst of starting the basement renovation my tooth brush tipped over and out of my medicine cabinet one too many times so I tore the cabinet out of the wall.
This is what the cabinet looked - the same one still exists in my upstairs bathroom.

The hole in the wall.I found this ikea glass shelf that, with slight adjustments, fits the hole size I need to fill.Making a box to hold the new shelves.Squash patty lunch break.

A hole no more. Off to work on another project while the caulk, wood hole filler, and Spackle dry.

Also the city inspector just showed up it was neither December 29th or between 9:00-3:00, but I am happy I was home to get it over with.

Toenailing is Hard Work

Yesterday I was stood up again, this time by the city inspector who was supposed to arrive between 9:00 and 3:00 to inspect a hot water heater that was installed over a month ago. On the up side, I have an awesome brother who generously went to Home Depot and picked up 25 2x4s while I waited for the no-show inspector.

Our progress is slow. Yesterday I cut the remaining bottom plates and R nailed them down. Then we debated the best method of attaching a top plate when the trusses run parallel and then we started learning how difficult it is to toenail studs in place while keeping them plumb and straight. At the end of the day we had attached four and a half studs.There has got to be an easier method! Should we try renting a power nailer? Is it OK to use screws rather than nails? It is already noon and I haven't ventured to the basement yet today, but hopefully I still have time to make some progress.

Insulation Continued

The main floor gets cold as I approach the exterior walls so I decided to take advantage of the tax credit and have spray insulation put in the band joists. My Uncle is an expert in researching home renovation and his instructions were to go with closed cell so I had the closest contractor, Fiberclass, come out and give me an estimate on December 9th. Aaron, who provided the estimate, gave me a good price and also some other tips about how to insulate (he agreed that the pink foam was the best option on the below ground exterior walls). I made the earliest appointment for insulation, December 23rd, which also fit my schedule perfectly since it was the last day of work for the year and also the day before I would be leaving for Indiana for two days - I was warned about the fumes. The appointment was 2:00-5:00 and when the installer hadn't shown up at 3:30 I called and was reassured that they were running behind, but would be there. At 9:00 I gave up after none of my messages were returned. Finally on Monday I got a call with apologies, a 10% discount and an appointment for Tuesday morning. I forgot to mention that my frustration was intensified because I had pulled the old insulation out to help the installation go quicker so this part of my home was uninsulated for 5 days.
Tuesday morning the crew showed up at 8:15, but had new dispensing containers and were missing parts. The installer promised me that one they had their office bring over the correct connections the job would be done in 20 minutes. Instead it took until after 1:00 and several trips from the office with new materials.
This is the data sheet that came with the material, it is what I wanted. I would be more frustrated with Fiberclass, but they must have lost money on this job given that 2~3 people worked for 5 hours and I only paid $210. Her's hoping that after the tax deduction this job pays for itself and the frustration in reduced heating costs and improved comfort!

The Starting Point

I don't have any before photos because I got started tearing down the old drywall without before I considered sharing this process.

This is the library book that convinced me I am capable of this job.Here are some photos M took of yesterday's progress:

A basic idea of what things looked like after I tore down the drywallThe first square corner and chalk linesM won't participate unless there are lasers involved
After getting a start on the chalk lines I rented a truck from Home Depot to transport some board insulation. I decided on this method because I didn't want to worry about a vapor barrier.
This is as far as I could get on my own last night. I gave up after trying three times to attach the bottom plate of the new wall and failing to drive the anchors into the concrete.

On the Second Day of Christmas Basement Finishing

When I bought my condo five years ago one of the major selling points was the full height, unfinished, basement with daylight windows. The condo had many upgrades to be made before I could justify doing anything with the basement. In the past five years my family and I replaced all of the carpet with maple hardwood, replaced a door wall, installed a garage door opener, painted every room, and replaced linoleum in two of the bathrooms with tile. So with just the master bathroom remaining to finish I decided to tackle the basement on my own while Dad is in Arizona for the winter.