MARCHing on!

Hard to believe March will be over in four hours.  This last day of the month went by very quickly, but a bit more progress was made.


Chris, Tony and Luis showed up this morning, but Chris had to go home after an hour because he had hurt a chest muscle while working at the hospital project, yesterday, and was in quite a lot of pain.  Hopefully, he'll feel much better by Monday morning.


After patching up the open wall areas of the office room, Tony went back to building the walls of the master bedroom/bathroom and was able to get the back and side walls up to 9 block in height by noon.


Luis worked on the downstairs entrance and was able to complete the work by noon, as well.  Tomorrow, he and his family are going to Florida for a vacation and he wanted to complete his task before leaving.

Tony and Chris get the cement mixer ready for action

Tony builds a corner section of the walls

The back and side walls are now at 9 block height

Luis works on the downstairs entrance

Luis cements the top section of the entrance

The downstairs entrance is finished

A look at the downstairs closet

As soon as the guys left, I headed downstairs to start clearing out the old radio room.  I was unable to get it all done today, but should have the job finished by the end of tomorrow afternoon - hopefully!  The hardest thing will be to find space in this room to put all the stuff I've accumulated over the years.

Smokey Friday

There was a huge fire at the Pembroke dump, last night, and we awoke to a terrible smell throughout the house, as well as outside in the yard.  The air was also quite smoke-filled first thing in the morning, but cleared up a bit as the day went on.  However, the smell is still here tonight.


Three of the guys arrived this morning, but weren't all here for very long.  Chris and Tony laid more block, but had to go the hospital project after a couple of hours.  Luis continued working on the wall board in the downstairs entrance area and was there the entire day.  Although he was all alone for most of the day, Luis got some entertainment when I was out in the back yard, trying to get my antenna cables through the 3-inch PVC pipe.  I had a really difficult time with it and Luis could hear me yelling at the pipe and the cables throughout the afternoon!


I finally got frustrated and decided to stop and have lunch at 2:30pm, thinking things would be better after I ate.  Well, that didn't happen.  So, I had to wait until Troy showed up at the end of the day to give me a hand with it.  Of course, he was able to get a different "snake" through all the way, immediately, and I felt dopey..... UNTIL the cables were attached to the snake and still wouldn't go all the way through the pipe when we tried to pull it back downstairs.  Anyway, we tried a couple of other methods and, eventually, got the cables where they needed to go.

Chris provides Tony with mortar

Tony cement washes the back of the side wall

Tony makes sure the block is level

All walls are now up to six block height

This picture shows today's smoke-filled air in the background

Luis installs the downstairs entrance ceiling

The steps leading down to the "dungeon," as seen from the downstairs bedroom

The antenna cables are now in the radio room

I'm not sure who will show up tomorrow morning, if anyone.  But, I have to empty out the previous radio room and get all that stuff up here before Monday morning.  I need to call the Union to see if I'm going to get double time for working over the weekend!

A long day

Yesterday, (Thursday) was a very good day.  All the guys worked in the morning, but two of them had to go to the hospital project in the afternoon.  However, lots of progress was made while they were here.


Chris and Tony continued building the walls for the master bedroom/bathroom, Luis put up more wall board in the downstairs bedroom, while John Sr. and Johnny built the framework for the entrance to the downstairs area.  They also built the framework for a nice-sized storage closet at the bottom of the entrance steps.

Johnny uses the nail gun to secure the framework

John Sr. designs the entrance framework

John Sr. and Johnny check levels

The completed framework for the entrance to the downstairs area

The storage closet framework

Luis puts wall board in place

Tony and Chris laying the next row of block

Six rows of block have been laid for the back wall

Our "Master Plumber" does his thing!

The guys discuss the corner area of the back wall

At the end of the day, I jumped up on the ladder and began the process of removing all my antenna cables (and everything else that had somehow made its way up in the ceiling over the years!), so Luis could have a clear area in which to work the next morning.  It wasn't an easy task and it took a couple of hours to complete, but I got it done.  Today (Friday), I'll go out in the back yard and stretch out all the cables, then try to feed them down to my new radio room via the 3-inch PVC pipe.  I'm hoping to do it without the use of a "snake" to pull it through.


While I was in the ceiling, Troy arrived and had to install some PVC pipe in that same area to allow for air conditioning for the downstairs area.  At one point, I was up on the ladder with my head stuck way in the ceiling of the previous radio room, when a pile of rocks and sand suddenly came flying out at me.  I looked over to see the 4-inch PVC pipe staring me in the face, which Troy had shoved in from outside in the backyard!  Then, I looked above that and could see into Kari's room, where some of the Bermuda stone had broke apart from the force of the pipe.  We'll have to figure out how to fix that problem when we get a free moment.


At the end of the night, I helped Troy to get some flex conduit through the entrance wall and into the ceiling area above the steps in order to feed a couple of lights and switches.  We finally finished at 11pm and called it a day.

Who turned off the heater?

We've been spoiled with all the warm weather during March, but now it wants to go out like a lion - windy and cold!  This morning (Thursday) is a bit better, but still chilly.


Yesterday, the guys got started on building the walls for the master bedroom/bathroom and completed 4 courses of block on the side and back walls.  Johnny had to work out the additional pipe joints as the back wall was being built.


While all of that was going outside in the cold, windy air, Luis continued the installation of the ceiling and walls in the downstairs bedroom.

Chris drills holes for metal support rods to be placed

Tony begins building the back wall

Luis installs the ceiling

Chris cuts a piece of block to allow access for electrical pipe

First row of block laid for side wall

A look at the building process - mortar is put down before the block is laid

Tony places the block on the mortar foundation

Tony fills the side and top joints with mortar

Johnny works on the PVC pipe fittings

First row of block laid for back wall

Third row of block done for both walls

Tony gets additional mortar

Fourth row of block completed and end block for fifth row in place to set levels

Ceiling installed and most walls up by the end of day

Troy and I pulled electrical wires until 10:45pm, so I decided to write yesterday's post this morning.  Today, Chris and Tony will continue working on the outside walls, while Luis finishes installing the remaining wall board in the downstairs bedroom.  I have to pack up more stuff in my current radio room and move it up here with the rest of the things that have taken up residence with me and my computers!

Monday and Tuesday all in one

Monday (yesterday) was a successful day, despite the weather conditions.  At least the rain held off until late afternoon, so the master bedroom/bathroom concrete floor was poured without any problems.  The wind was very strong and lots of dust was flying all over the place.


While waiting for the concrete trucks to arrive, the guys got busy working.  The garage floor continued to be jack hammered, an outside trench was dug in the front yard and the other walls in the radio room had the wall board put up.

Chris and Tony continue to jack hammer in the garage

Johnny digs a trench in the front yard

Pipes for cable TV, internet and telephone are placed in the trench

The trench is covered back up

Luis marks an area to be cut out of the wall board

Finished walls in radio room

First load of concrete is poured

Luis and Tony spread out the first load of concrete

John Sr. spreads out the concrete as Tony and Luis use a baton to make it smooth

The second load of concrete arrives

The second load of concrete is poured and spread out

Tony and Luis smooth out the second load of concrete

Tony and John Sr. deep in concrete

Last load of concrete is poured and spread out

Tony and Luis float the concrete

The concrete floor is completed

Troy stopped by, last night, and added the last piece of 3-inch PVC pipe for my antenna cables.  This particular piece of pipe did not want to cooperate and it took quite awhile to finally get it in place.  It had to have a 90 degree bend to get it through the outside wall, which made it difficult.


He also finished putting flex conduit in the two remaining walls of the downstairs bedroom.  They had to both be cut off in the middle section of the wall because that section will continue to be open until I move all of my furniture, radio equipment, etc., into the new rooms.  Then, the conduit can be joined and the wall board put in place on both sides of the separating wall.




Today (Tuesday), only Chris and Johnny showed up in the morning and brought over some more block and wall board.  The block was placed on the new concrete floor to allow easy access while the master bedroom/bathroom walls are being built.

Unloading the block off the truck

Placing the block on the concrete floor

Johnny and Chris move the block for easy access

6.5 pallets of concrete block are ready for building

The guys finished up at the end of the morning and I guess I'll see them back here tomorrow. This evening, Troy should be back and we'll run wires to the panel box from the remaining receptacles in the radio room and install the outside access box to allow my antenna cables to be brought into the radio room.