With just about 8 weeks left until our scheduled completion date, all four of us were able to escape to San Diego for the Thanksgiving holiday. Not only has it been a great time spent with family eating too much good food, it's also been a good rest from the hustle and bustle of work, school and home building.
Stuart has been using the "down time" to update the blog and keep you all abreast of our progress. I, on the other hand, have been enjoying not thinking about the house for a few days.
We're definitely in the home stretch. But, it's a little like a time vortex. Our estimated completion date of January 13 feels like a long way away, while at the same time we know it will be here in a flash. With all the activities around the holidays, I know that time will fly by.
The major decisions we have left to make are finalizing selections for lighting, interior door handles and cabinet hardware. We also need to decide what new furniture do we want to order now and what we want to put off for awhile. And of course we need to keep track of the cabinets being installed as well as the appliances and plumbing fixtures. We probably won't pick paint colors until we're in the house and we can see everything with the lights on and the floors installed and uncovered.
So, once we return from this little holiday, we'll certainly have enough to keep us busy. While it's certainly exciting to see everything coming together, we are definitely looking forward to being done. But then what will we do with our time?
Sunday, November 29, 2009
Saturday, November 28, 2009
The Rotting Deck Comes Down at the Hands of some Manly Men
OK, maybe that's an exaggeration. Although, we really didn't use much for tools! And I guess Ann did help a bunch. Anyway, let's talk about this deck.
We new it was rotting from underneath. The inspector told us that much after we bought that place last year. It was always hard to tell exactly how much if you're just standing on it or walking across it. The top boards always seemed steady and fine.
Well, Ann finally convinced me that we really should take advantage of the dumpster on site, the nice weather (50+ degrees late in Nov) and just get this done now. I relented and boy, was that the right decision.
I asked my dad to come help. He's sort of turned into my go-to guy for demo. Maybe it's a little low skilled for a skilled guy, but he does really like it.
We went at it, starting by pulling the top boards off. He was using a crowbar and they were coming off pretty easy. Frighteningly, I figured out pretty quick that I could simply grab one end of the board with my hands, lift up and pull the whole board off. These are long 15' boards nailed into the joists several times mind you. So, this wasn't just a couple spots that were going, but the whole support system.
Anyway, this was only a preview of things to come. Whoever built the deck laid a screen across the top of the joists, which you can see in the pic above. Maybe they anticipated a screened in porch someday. Instead, what this meant was that all the junk coming down from the trees didn't fall down to the ground, but got caught in that screen and just sat there wet, accelerating the rot.
As we pulled the top boards off and started to roll the screen back, we found all the support joists underneath to be even more rotten.
You can get a sense of how rotten this stuff was from the above. The only thing that really made us take out the tools were the joist hangers and the several nails going perpendicular to each other. Ah, nothing a crowbar or a 20# sledgehammer won't help take care of.
From here on out it was pretty must destroy and walk over to the bin. Having the bin right there was huge. It was so easy to just carry stuff in, beside not having to worry about dealing with getting it there and having it picked up myself. And at the end of the day, it was absolutely the right time to take the deck down. Now when spring comes, we can get right to building a new one. It may be a bit of an inconvenience for a couple months after moving in and not having anywhere to put the grill or the deck furniture, but hey, it'll be frigid and snowy anyway.
We new it was rotting from underneath. The inspector told us that much after we bought that place last year. It was always hard to tell exactly how much if you're just standing on it or walking across it. The top boards always seemed steady and fine.
Well, Ann finally convinced me that we really should take advantage of the dumpster on site, the nice weather (50+ degrees late in Nov) and just get this done now. I relented and boy, was that the right decision.
I asked my dad to come help. He's sort of turned into my go-to guy for demo. Maybe it's a little low skilled for a skilled guy, but he does really like it.
We went at it, starting by pulling the top boards off. He was using a crowbar and they were coming off pretty easy. Frighteningly, I figured out pretty quick that I could simply grab one end of the board with my hands, lift up and pull the whole board off. These are long 15' boards nailed into the joists several times mind you. So, this wasn't just a couple spots that were going, but the whole support system.
Anyway, this was only a preview of things to come. Whoever built the deck laid a screen across the top of the joists, which you can see in the pic above. Maybe they anticipated a screened in porch someday. Instead, what this meant was that all the junk coming down from the trees didn't fall down to the ground, but got caught in that screen and just sat there wet, accelerating the rot.
As we pulled the top boards off and started to roll the screen back, we found all the support joists underneath to be even more rotten.
You can get a sense of how rotten this stuff was from the above. The only thing that really made us take out the tools were the joist hangers and the several nails going perpendicular to each other. Ah, nothing a crowbar or a 20# sledgehammer won't help take care of.
From here on out it was pretty must destroy and walk over to the bin. Having the bin right there was huge. It was so easy to just carry stuff in, beside not having to worry about dealing with getting it there and having it picked up myself. And at the end of the day, it was absolutely the right time to take the deck down. Now when spring comes, we can get right to building a new one. It may be a bit of an inconvenience for a couple months after moving in and not having anywhere to put the grill or the deck furniture, but hey, it'll be frigid and snowy anyway.
Sunday, November 22, 2009
Appliances and my new freiend, Google Shopper
It occurred to me that lost in all the activity lately has been the issues revolving around the appliances. It had been a forgotten issue for quite a while because we had picked them out quite a while back. In fact, it was probably one of the first decision points we made and ended up be a sign of things to come in terms of the time spent trying to make that decision.
Well, several months after making those decisions, it came time to put everything on order. Except, whoops...we had those pesky cost issues again. It seems that when MOC quoted out the appliances to include in the the contract, no one included sales tax. Well, ~7% on thousands of dollars adds up to a big enough number, especially when one is trying to not spend anymore than necessary.
I expressed my displeasure and MOC clearly knowing that they made a mistake came back with an offer of something like splitting the additional cost 50/50. I'd been thinking about this for a couple days and after doing some searches online (hello Google), I was getting pretty confident that I could get the appliances myself and actually do better than the original quote price.
So, off I went. Doing Google product search after Google product search, I got my list. I found all our appliances at several different places for a price that put money back in our pocket. Now, I'm sure you could ask if the savings was really worth my time, but in the grand scheme of time spent on the project, it really wasn't that big of a deal. I suppose I could have called a couple places and negotiated a discount by placing all this through one place, but isn't that what MOC did (through Warners Stallion)?
Anyway, I placed my orders. I created a spreadsheet with vendors, order numbers and as they came in, tracking numbers. Things were going along quite well. Kathleen was even very supportive of accepting deliveries. The fridge came, as did the rangetop. Then the washer and dryer pedestals. Next was the dryer, which is where things got interesting. It arrived damaged, although no one discovered it until opening the box the next day.
I got a little worried at this point, especially after discovering a sticker saying something to the affect of "you open it, you own it". Well, before I could even worry much, Kathleen had placed a call to the carrier, who then contacted Abe's of Maine (where I ordered it from) and got everything going. They asked for pictures, like the above, and said everything would be taken care. Whew!
We've got the rest of the appliances arriving next Thursday and fingers crossed that things go smoothly. Hopefully the next update on appliances will be something along the lines of "they're installed and they look great".
Well, several months after making those decisions, it came time to put everything on order. Except, whoops...we had those pesky cost issues again. It seems that when MOC quoted out the appliances to include in the the contract, no one included sales tax. Well, ~7% on thousands of dollars adds up to a big enough number, especially when one is trying to not spend anymore than necessary.
I expressed my displeasure and MOC clearly knowing that they made a mistake came back with an offer of something like splitting the additional cost 50/50. I'd been thinking about this for a couple days and after doing some searches online (hello Google), I was getting pretty confident that I could get the appliances myself and actually do better than the original quote price.
So, off I went. Doing Google product search after Google product search, I got my list. I found all our appliances at several different places for a price that put money back in our pocket. Now, I'm sure you could ask if the savings was really worth my time, but in the grand scheme of time spent on the project, it really wasn't that big of a deal. I suppose I could have called a couple places and negotiated a discount by placing all this through one place, but isn't that what MOC did (through Warners Stallion)?
Anyway, I placed my orders. I created a spreadsheet with vendors, order numbers and as they came in, tracking numbers. Things were going along quite well. Kathleen was even very supportive of accepting deliveries. The fridge came, as did the rangetop. Then the washer and dryer pedestals. Next was the dryer, which is where things got interesting. It arrived damaged, although no one discovered it until opening the box the next day.
I got a little worried at this point, especially after discovering a sticker saying something to the affect of "you open it, you own it". Well, before I could even worry much, Kathleen had placed a call to the carrier, who then contacted Abe's of Maine (where I ordered it from) and got everything going. They asked for pictures, like the above, and said everything would be taken care. Whew!
We've got the rest of the appliances arriving next Thursday and fingers crossed that things go smoothly. Hopefully the next update on appliances will be something along the lines of "they're installed and they look great".
Thursday, November 19, 2009
More finished looking flooring and tile
I'm sitting at home here on a Sunday night after a long weekend of painting and deck destroying. Yeah, the latter is probably the most interesting, but, you'll have to wait. :)
First, let's catch up on some finished surfaces over the past week. In the last post, I talked about getting the hardwood floor in and some tile. Since that time, they've finished all of that and at least on the hardwood, they've applied a top coat. I can't tell you what that top coat is because, well, I forgot. We had three choices and best I can recall it went something like oil based, water based or oil/water mix. We went with the oil/water mix, which brought out the natural colors in the wood while giving the wood a nice, tough coating. Unfortunately, by the time I got over to snap pictures, Kathleen (our PM) had covered the floor to protect it. So, you'll have to do with partial views....
The next steps in the bathrooms were not only finishing the tile, but also putting in grout. I don't have a shot of the kids bathroom, which isn't quite there yet, but here's the other two. Once again, the floor protector got there ahead of me.
The first shot is the guest bath. What's cool about the tile is that the pattern continues onto the floor, so those lines start at the doorway and run right up the wall. The second shot is the shower in the master bathroom. To the left of the half wall will be the toilet. We'll eventually get a frameless glass wall and door in place to close the shower in. We're really happy about how the thin slate turned out as well as the river rock on the shower flow.
First, let's catch up on some finished surfaces over the past week. In the last post, I talked about getting the hardwood floor in and some tile. Since that time, they've finished all of that and at least on the hardwood, they've applied a top coat. I can't tell you what that top coat is because, well, I forgot. We had three choices and best I can recall it went something like oil based, water based or oil/water mix. We went with the oil/water mix, which brought out the natural colors in the wood while giving the wood a nice, tough coating. Unfortunately, by the time I got over to snap pictures, Kathleen (our PM) had covered the floor to protect it. So, you'll have to do with partial views....
The next steps in the bathrooms were not only finishing the tile, but also putting in grout. I don't have a shot of the kids bathroom, which isn't quite there yet, but here's the other two. Once again, the floor protector got there ahead of me.
The first shot is the guest bath. What's cool about the tile is that the pattern continues onto the floor, so those lines start at the doorway and run right up the wall. The second shot is the shower in the master bathroom. To the left of the half wall will be the toilet. We'll eventually get a frameless glass wall and door in place to close the shower in. We're really happy about how the thin slate turned out as well as the river rock on the shower flow.
Saturday, November 14, 2009
Door Hardware
At first it was all about picking out the big things. Appliances or faucets, then doors or flooring and on and on. You get through all of that, are wiping the sweat off your brow and feeling pretty good about things. But no no my friend... there's still more to go.
In this episode of "selections never stop", we look at door hardware. Door Hardware!? Well, of course! How else would you open or shut or secure a door?!
Our hope was this would be simple. We made an appointment at a place called Knob Hill to sit down and look at different handles for our various doors. Sounds like it could be simple, right? No.
Actually, being led around the show room and having someone direct you right to what's in your budget while still retaining quality was pretty effective. But, that's where it stopped. As we learned, we didn't have much of a budget, and of course making quick decisions isn't exactly a strong suit of ours...or maybe that's just me.
Our first priority was finding something for the front door. We went through the showroom and decided on a contemporary looking handle from Ashley Norton:
It was a good mix of the simple, straight lined look we wanted, with a touch of uniqueness. Now, ideally, we could re-use this through the entire house.
So, this is where the first problem comes up. Apparently, we have a budget of $1200 for door hardware throughout the entire house. That may sound like a decent amount, but it's really not after you add up all your room doors, front door, garage door, closet doors, etc.
Actually, we know this because after finding that nice handle, we looked through the entire plan figuring out which way the doors swung open, figuring out if we wanted a lock on the door or not and even thinking about if we needed stoppers to prevent the door from dinging the wall. So, what starts as excitement as your looking at handles, becomes a chore as you're counting while going through the plans.
Anyway, at a list price of something like $130 a pop, that handle wasn't going to fit in our budget. As it turned out, that handle put us over our budget by almost $1000. No thanks.
While at the showroom, we picked out choice number two. We found a cheaper handle from Emtek that still had the clean lines, but wasn't much with respect to being unique in any way.
Even with that choice, we were still $200 over our budget and at least personally, I'm not enamored with that handle. So, what to do? Just say screw and move on? It's just a handle after all? Or spend some extra time trying to find a better option and stay w/in our budget? I don't know...I haven't figured it out yet. Ann's probably annoyed.
Oh, during this trip, we also picked out cabinet pulls and knobs. That was even more of a chore since we had to go through the plans door by door, drawer by drawer and room by room figuring out how long of a pull to put in place. I can't remember what type of pulls we picked out, so I can't post a pic yet. In the end, I'm in the same spot at the door handles. I'm not totally excited about what we picked out. I like the idea of pulls that are of various lengths and can be quite long on a long drawer, but I don't want what's become the over used Home Depot style...
In this episode of "selections never stop", we look at door hardware. Door Hardware!? Well, of course! How else would you open or shut or secure a door?!
Our hope was this would be simple. We made an appointment at a place called Knob Hill to sit down and look at different handles for our various doors. Sounds like it could be simple, right? No.
Actually, being led around the show room and having someone direct you right to what's in your budget while still retaining quality was pretty effective. But, that's where it stopped. As we learned, we didn't have much of a budget, and of course making quick decisions isn't exactly a strong suit of ours...or maybe that's just me.
Our first priority was finding something for the front door. We went through the showroom and decided on a contemporary looking handle from Ashley Norton:
It was a good mix of the simple, straight lined look we wanted, with a touch of uniqueness. Now, ideally, we could re-use this through the entire house.
So, this is where the first problem comes up. Apparently, we have a budget of $1200 for door hardware throughout the entire house. That may sound like a decent amount, but it's really not after you add up all your room doors, front door, garage door, closet doors, etc.
Actually, we know this because after finding that nice handle, we looked through the entire plan figuring out which way the doors swung open, figuring out if we wanted a lock on the door or not and even thinking about if we needed stoppers to prevent the door from dinging the wall. So, what starts as excitement as your looking at handles, becomes a chore as you're counting while going through the plans.
Anyway, at a list price of something like $130 a pop, that handle wasn't going to fit in our budget. As it turned out, that handle put us over our budget by almost $1000. No thanks.
While at the showroom, we picked out choice number two. We found a cheaper handle from Emtek that still had the clean lines, but wasn't much with respect to being unique in any way.
Even with that choice, we were still $200 over our budget and at least personally, I'm not enamored with that handle. So, what to do? Just say screw and move on? It's just a handle after all? Or spend some extra time trying to find a better option and stay w/in our budget? I don't know...I haven't figured it out yet. Ann's probably annoyed.
Oh, during this trip, we also picked out cabinet pulls and knobs. That was even more of a chore since we had to go through the plans door by door, drawer by drawer and room by room figuring out how long of a pull to put in place. I can't remember what type of pulls we picked out, so I can't post a pic yet. In the end, I'm in the same spot at the door handles. I'm not totally excited about what we picked out. I like the idea of pulls that are of various lengths and can be quite long on a long drawer, but I don't want what's become the over used Home Depot style...
Friday, November 13, 2009
Floors, floors, FlOOrs!!
One of the exciting things that's happened over the past week is flooring. Although we new it was coming, it was still pretty cool to walk in and see a first floor full of wood flooring. Up to this point, it's been studwalls and drywall...part of the process for sure, but we're now getting into finishes.
The back story on the first floor was that we initially were going to go with Elm flooring on the first floor, but after digging into the hardness of wood and contemplating cost, no matter how much we wanted to go after the responsibility factor, at the end of the end day, practicality won out. Check out Wood From the Hood for the original spec. Guess I might have to settle for a cutting board.
So, in the end, we went with a 3" Red Oak. Here's some photos of the floor before the finish was applied.
And a couple more, but with people included this time!...
The other flooring that we're starting to see is tile. It's only partly there and yet to be grouted, but still fun to start seeing.
The back story on the first floor was that we initially were going to go with Elm flooring on the first floor, but after digging into the hardness of wood and contemplating cost, no matter how much we wanted to go after the responsibility factor, at the end of the end day, practicality won out. Check out Wood From the Hood for the original spec. Guess I might have to settle for a cutting board.
So, in the end, we went with a 3" Red Oak. Here's some photos of the floor before the finish was applied.
And a couple more, but with people included this time!...
The other flooring that we're starting to see is tile. It's only partly there and yet to be grouted, but still fun to start seeing.
Sunday, November 8, 2009
Exterior Painting and more Stone
Here we go... the last in the three part series of catch up posts.
Once all the siding and trim went up, the exterior paint could start. This was another one of those weather issues. At least with the siding, you could get some up in spurts between the rain coming down. With paint, you not only needed some dry weather, but you need warmth. And Oct was not only very wet, but it was unusually cold too.
Oh, before getting too far on the paint... once all the siding went up, the stone on the exterior of the house started going on. We ran into a small delay when the siding guys put up the siding in a couple places that the stone was supposed to go, but although it wasn't a quick fix, they did get to it.
The first day we started to prime, which was a Saturday, we showed up and found both the mason and the painter. The mason and his assistant were hard at work, trying to get the job done. The painter was kind of funny in how we first met him. He walked upstairs as we were about to start our own paint job and clearly not knowing we were the owners, he asked if we were a husband and wife team here to do the interior painting. Looking to make connections, he inquired about the work and that he was hoping to get some of the interior trim work. After telling him who we were, I think he was a bit surprised to find out the owners were doing the interior painting. The other somewhat unusual thing is that he showed up on his own. Over time, he got some help, but as I learned later, this guy was choice number 2 (or more) for the job since choice number 1 couldn't fit into our schedule. A young guy, but clearly gunning for work.
So, some pics... These are from about a week after that day. He's got the windows covered and the first coat up.
We went with a gray and I honestly can't remember what it was called. It was actually one of the easiest decisions we made on the whole project. Ryan showed up one day back in Sept with a bunch of paint chips. We put them up against the house, the window trim and the stone and figured out a final color in all of 10 minutes. Ah, if only all our decisions could be that simple!
For the trim, we matched the window trim, which is a deep bronze, although it looks pretty black here. The stone also is looking really nice and continues to confirm the extra effort and cost to go with this selection. We'll get some pics of the finished painted up this week. It's mostly done with the exception of a couple of trim pieces. The young guy did a pretty decent job. I'll have to find his info and link out to it.
Once all the siding and trim went up, the exterior paint could start. This was another one of those weather issues. At least with the siding, you could get some up in spurts between the rain coming down. With paint, you not only needed some dry weather, but you need warmth. And Oct was not only very wet, but it was unusually cold too.
Oh, before getting too far on the paint... once all the siding went up, the stone on the exterior of the house started going on. We ran into a small delay when the siding guys put up the siding in a couple places that the stone was supposed to go, but although it wasn't a quick fix, they did get to it.
The first day we started to prime, which was a Saturday, we showed up and found both the mason and the painter. The mason and his assistant were hard at work, trying to get the job done. The painter was kind of funny in how we first met him. He walked upstairs as we were about to start our own paint job and clearly not knowing we were the owners, he asked if we were a husband and wife team here to do the interior painting. Looking to make connections, he inquired about the work and that he was hoping to get some of the interior trim work. After telling him who we were, I think he was a bit surprised to find out the owners were doing the interior painting. The other somewhat unusual thing is that he showed up on his own. Over time, he got some help, but as I learned later, this guy was choice number 2 (or more) for the job since choice number 1 couldn't fit into our schedule. A young guy, but clearly gunning for work.
So, some pics... These are from about a week after that day. He's got the windows covered and the first coat up.
We went with a gray and I honestly can't remember what it was called. It was actually one of the easiest decisions we made on the whole project. Ryan showed up one day back in Sept with a bunch of paint chips. We put them up against the house, the window trim and the stone and figured out a final color in all of 10 minutes. Ah, if only all our decisions could be that simple!
For the trim, we matched the window trim, which is a deep bronze, although it looks pretty black here. The stone also is looking really nice and continues to confirm the extra effort and cost to go with this selection. We'll get some pics of the finished painted up this week. It's mostly done with the exception of a couple of trim pieces. The young guy did a pretty decent job. I'll have to find his info and link out to it.
Finished Siding
Consider this part 2 of 3 of the catch up posts.... Back in September, I posted about the siding starting to go up. After a very rainy October, we've got a finished product.
The siding really went up in two phases. The first was the Hardi Board on the lower half of the house, plus all the trim. That seemed to go pretty quick. These are from Oct 11th:
Next was the salvaged redwood that we pulled off the house prior to construction.
We weren't completely sure how the redwood would go up. Would we have enough? Would it split and fall apart? It didn't help that a few pieces went up and then it started to rain, but we wondered and wondered. Well, as what seems to be typical for the process so far, we showed up one day and most of it was up. The next day, it was done. And to boot, we ended up with a good amount of extra. These are from Oct 17th:
Pretty interesting look, eh? I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what was going on. I'm sure if they got close enough to look at the different materials, they would have been even more confused. Check back tomorrow for paint and stone.
The siding really went up in two phases. The first was the Hardi Board on the lower half of the house, plus all the trim. That seemed to go pretty quick. These are from Oct 11th:
Next was the salvaged redwood that we pulled off the house prior to construction.
We weren't completely sure how the redwood would go up. Would we have enough? Would it split and fall apart? It didn't help that a few pieces went up and then it started to rain, but we wondered and wondered. Well, as what seems to be typical for the process so far, we showed up one day and most of it was up. The next day, it was done. And to boot, we ended up with a good amount of extra. These are from Oct 17th:
Pretty interesting look, eh? I'm sure the neighbors were wondering what was going on. I'm sure if they got close enough to look at the different materials, they would have been even more confused. Check back tomorrow for paint and stone.
Saturday, November 7, 2009
Priming
No, we haven't fallen off the ends of the earth, although one could argue Ann and I have been consumed by it. Let's see if we can do some rapid updates to catch whom ever is still reading up.
If we travel back to the weekend of Oct 24th, we get to priming. Priming the interior of the house is pretty insignificant on its own. I mean after all, it's just cheap white paint applied on bare drywall. But, where this takes a turn is that we're the responsible party for applying that cheap white paint. Back when we were trying to trim costs out of our quote, this was an area we agreed to do ourselves. I think by Ann and I (and the lucky others) doing all the interior wall and ceiling paint ourselves, we were saving roughly $6K. That seemed worth it to us.
We got a late start on the priming due to the drywall process taking longer to dry than expected. It didn't help that it had been extremely wet outside during that time with a ton of rain.
Due to the week's delay, we lost some helpers. We did manage to get Ann's aunt Carol and uncle Clayton to help, as well as our friends Mike and Paul. Clayton was key because he had painting equipment that we didn't (polls, etc), a discount on the paint and experience doing this in a semi-professional way. And then having Carol watch the kids allowed both Ann and I to be at the house.
Saturday rolled around and Clayton picked up two 5 gallon pails of primer for us to go to work. We were a little rusty at first, but over the course of the day, I think we got our rhythm down and did quite well. Mike came over mid-morning and by noon-ish we had basically finished the upper floor. We hit the DQ for lunch and went back at it. Oh, we also ran out of paint. Seems I underestimated... by a lot. Well, we called around and found 2 more 5 gallon pails. (btw...calling around was necessary because to get our LEED points, we needed to find lo or no VOC primer. This was harder than you might think. We found it at Hirshfields and I think we pretty much cleaned out two stores worth.)
We lost Ann for a bit because she had to deal with Cailin and a b-day party, but even with that and my running around getting paint, by dinner time we had finished about half the first floor. We decided to be done for the day and would come back tomorrow. Well, we were almost out of paint again too.
Everyone headed their separate ways. I went and got another pail of paint for Sunday, now making for five. Carol and Clayton headed out, as did Mike. Although, Mike can back over and we cooked up a nice pork roast for dinner in thanks for his help.
Sunday then rolled around and we were down to Ann, Mike and myself. Which really was only two of us since once had to be at the home with the kids. Paul did come help for part of the day and that helped. We all went at it though and managed to finish the whole place up by dinner time on Sunday.
It's not very exciting...it's just primer, but I think we did a pretty good job. Ann and Clayton were our edgers. Mike, the wall guy and I seemed to do just about every bit of the ceiling. I'm not sure if that's because I'm closer to it or just the only one w/out an excuse of pain when painting above my head. Oh well, we got it done in a weekend and that was huge.
Here's some befores....
...and afters:
If we travel back to the weekend of Oct 24th, we get to priming. Priming the interior of the house is pretty insignificant on its own. I mean after all, it's just cheap white paint applied on bare drywall. But, where this takes a turn is that we're the responsible party for applying that cheap white paint. Back when we were trying to trim costs out of our quote, this was an area we agreed to do ourselves. I think by Ann and I (and the lucky others) doing all the interior wall and ceiling paint ourselves, we were saving roughly $6K. That seemed worth it to us.
We got a late start on the priming due to the drywall process taking longer to dry than expected. It didn't help that it had been extremely wet outside during that time with a ton of rain.
Due to the week's delay, we lost some helpers. We did manage to get Ann's aunt Carol and uncle Clayton to help, as well as our friends Mike and Paul. Clayton was key because he had painting equipment that we didn't (polls, etc), a discount on the paint and experience doing this in a semi-professional way. And then having Carol watch the kids allowed both Ann and I to be at the house.
Saturday rolled around and Clayton picked up two 5 gallon pails of primer for us to go to work. We were a little rusty at first, but over the course of the day, I think we got our rhythm down and did quite well. Mike came over mid-morning and by noon-ish we had basically finished the upper floor. We hit the DQ for lunch and went back at it. Oh, we also ran out of paint. Seems I underestimated... by a lot. Well, we called around and found 2 more 5 gallon pails. (btw...calling around was necessary because to get our LEED points, we needed to find lo or no VOC primer. This was harder than you might think. We found it at Hirshfields and I think we pretty much cleaned out two stores worth.)
We lost Ann for a bit because she had to deal with Cailin and a b-day party, but even with that and my running around getting paint, by dinner time we had finished about half the first floor. We decided to be done for the day and would come back tomorrow. Well, we were almost out of paint again too.
Everyone headed their separate ways. I went and got another pail of paint for Sunday, now making for five. Carol and Clayton headed out, as did Mike. Although, Mike can back over and we cooked up a nice pork roast for dinner in thanks for his help.
Sunday then rolled around and we were down to Ann, Mike and myself. Which really was only two of us since once had to be at the home with the kids. Paul did come help for part of the day and that helped. We all went at it though and managed to finish the whole place up by dinner time on Sunday.
It's not very exciting...it's just primer, but I think we did a pretty good job. Ann and Clayton were our edgers. Mike, the wall guy and I seemed to do just about every bit of the ceiling. I'm not sure if that's because I'm closer to it or just the only one w/out an excuse of pain when painting above my head. Oh well, we got it done in a weekend and that was huge.
Here's some befores....
...and afters:
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