Summer brings to many distractions

Sorry for the lack of posts again. Unfortunately things are moving slowly as there are so many distractions in July.

Here are some photos.

Lots of photos today

Today (Sunday) turned out to be very productive. Mel's parents came over and lent us a hand with our front garden and cleaning up our backyard. I spent the day putting in our new French garden doors and boy does it look great.

We ordered the doors last Tuesday from Home Depot and scheduled the delivery for Friday. On Friday I opened up the door cavity expecting that the door would arrive at any point. Boy was I wrong, in fact in never showed. I spent most of the late afternoon on the phone trying to get the issue resolved, one guy even told me that they would send it out on Saturday. Lucky for me I had some plywood here so I could board up the opening.

Saturday morning I called early to check on the door as we would be out all day playing frisbee. Well guess what, they knew nothing of it. I finally demanded to speak with the store manager. Thankfully he resolved the issue and got us the door later that afternoon and he refunded us our delivery fee.

So with the door delivered, I spent the morning installing it. The installation went very easy as I have done this sort of thing a few times. The kitchen is really taking shape now. I also spent some time sanding my 2nd coat of mud. That means this week I will do a 3rd coat, some more sanding and maybe a 4th coat to make sure it all looks great.

Mel and her parents really did a great job with the garden. Her mom Jacqueline is great with plants and brought a bunch of flowers for us from her own garden. We finally have a very respectable front yard which should make our neighbours much happier. It beats the junkyard that used to be there. Mel's dad Don filled our garbage bin up as well. In fact our 30 yard bin is completely filled and we still have a shed full of garbage bags. Looks like we will need another bin but a least the yard doesn't look like the set from Sanford and Son.

We have also ordered our cedar for the deck the we will be doing. It should be in sometime next week. I am hoping to get the undercarriage done this week and/or weekend. The undercarriage will be done with pressure treated lumber as it will not be seen by anyone and the PT helps prevents rot as these areas have little air flow.

sorry, sorry for the lack of posts.

Sorry I haven't posted in a while. Not a lot has changed, the house is still under construction. One good thing is that Mel has finished her last exam (Architecture). She managed to do 10 exams in about 10 months. Pretty soon she'll be a full blown architect, she should be getting her final results in August or September.

Well the kitchen is still a work in progress. The drywall is all up and I am in the midst of mudding it. Once again I owe Robin big for coming over to help. Tonight I finished the second coat, however I am really taking my time so that it all comes out looking great.

A while back I got bored and tore down our little cold room (off the kitchen). So it's now gone and will soon be replaced by a new deck. The plan is to build a wrap around deck (L shaped). I even ordered the cedar today. In fact I think our priority might be to get the deck done. Who needs a kitchen in the summer when you can BBQ.

Tomorrow we take delivery of our new French garden door. I can't wait to see how the kitchen will look with it in.

We have also finally gotten a garbage bin in. Now we can start cleaning up our yard and keep the neighbours happy.

Hopefully I will get back into posting again and be able to show you some finished work for a change.

Ready for the ceiling drywall

Just a quick update tonight and no photos....sorry.

We have pretty much everyhting done in the kitchen except for drywal on the ceiling. Once I get some help with the 4 sheets I have to put up I will be able to start mudding.

I spent the weekend finishing the strapping and the drywall on the walls. Nothing to exciting here.

Mel and I sorted out our lighting plan for the kitchen. I have a bit of electrical still to do. We are installing pot lights so I will pre-wire the ceiling to make everything easier after the ceiling drywall is up.

I also built the bases for our kitchen cabinets. I am using 2 x 6 as a base in order to support the weight of the concrete countertops. One good thing about getting the bases done is it allows us to easily visualize the layout of the kitchen.

Hopefully later this week I can sucker...err...get a friend over to help with the remaining drywall.

No big changes from yesterday...just a bit closer to being done

Today I managed to get a fair bit done despite a very sore back. The weird thing is that sitting at my desk hurts far more than actually doing physical work.

I managed to get most of the drywall done, except for a small section where I ran out of insulation and the pillar by the framed in chimney, there I have to install a heating duct to the second floor. Hopefully tomorrow I will pick up some more insulation and will then finish off drywalling the 3 walls.

I also started putting the strapping on the ceiling. I am using 2 x 4 as they are the right thickness allowing the kitchen ceiling to now match up with the living and dining room ceiling. It will be a nice continuous flow.

Derl stopped by and we think we have a plan to fix some of the plumbing and to remove a pipe or two. See the top picture, it's the pipe that is currently emptying into the yellow bucket in the right hand corner.

By fixing the plumbing this will allow me to have a pillar that is narrower and thus allows a better view into the kitchen from the living room. The pillar will also balance nicely with the pillar in the half wall near the front door. We will paint them both with a colour that accents them well.

My biggest concern in building a pillar around the chimney is that it would protrude into the kitchen to much and throw of the look a bit. In order to minimize the depth of the pillar I turned the 2 x 4 studs flat and 'tapconed' them into the actual chimney.

Hopefully tomorrow I will get the chance to pick up some more supplies and get most or the remaining drywall and insulating done. Hopefully on the weekend Robin will be able to swing by and help me install the ceiling drywall. After that it's mud time. Wait till you see what we are going to do with the backsplash and end wall.