Sunday, April 29, 2012

Another step closer

This post is a combination of Friday and Saturday activities.  After all the moving, etc., I just didn't have the energy to post until today.

Friday was relatively quiet, with just Chris and Tony here for the day.  They removed the frame work for the various lintels, built and filled the previous day, and installed window frames for the kitchen and master bedroom.
Master bedroom window frames installed
Kitchen window frame installed

I continued to move a few more things over to the new rooms, but decided to try and organize some of the stuff I had already taken over in order to make more space available.

Saturday was supposed to be quiet around here, but it wasn't long before I heard the sound of the Bobcat in the yard.  I went outside to find Johnny moving the large cement mixer from the back of the driveway to the front parking area.  When I finally realized the guys were here to actually work for awhile, I went in to get the camera and snap some shots of the action.

The plan was to sort out the back yard, which meant Johnny needed to fill in the empty space along the outside of the master bedroom and build a new pathway.  It was interesting to see how he did it, starting from the back of the driveway and up to the back yard, filling in the empty space and building the pathway as he went along.
Johnny moves some of the block to the side of the driveway
Johnny moves more block to the front parking area
Johnny starts to create a new pathway to the back yard
Ryan and Johnny fill the empty space along the side of the master bedroom
Ryan fills the side of the pathway with soil
Johnny brings more soil and rubble to the back yard
Johnny distributes the rubble and soil in the back yard
Johnny continues to re-shape the back yard area
The back yard is level, once again
The new pathway to the back yard, alongside the master bedroom

While this work was going on outside, Tony was busy plastering around the window and door frames in the kitchen and master bedroom/bathroom areas.  The guys finished up shortly after 1pm, then I went back downstairs to play with all the boxes in the office.  When the phone rang upstairs and I had to run up the steps to answer it, I knew I needed to install the phone system in the office immediately, so that's what I did.  I cut and joined various wires together and, luckily, it worked the first time!

I'll get back to moving more stuff, this afternoon, and will find out what the plan is for the day, tomorrow morning.  Isn't Sunday supposed to be a day of rest, though?  Hmmmmm.......

Thursday, April 26, 2012

Another Thursday report

The weather was very nice today, with a comfortable humidity level, so conditions were just right for working.  All four guys were able to spend the day here, but tomorrow is up in the air at the moment.


Chris, Tony and Ryan concentrated on building the form work for the various lintels, then filled each with concrete.  They also "pointed up" many of the open electrical openings in the walls to prepare for plastering.
Tony and Chris build the frame work for the kitchen window lintel
Ryan paints the back wall of the master bedroom with tar to secure against dampness


Johnny, as usual, multi-tasked all day.  He did some more plumbing and installed the tub in the master bathroom, pushed more rubble into the empty area alongside the back wall of the master bedroom and installed three shelves in the storage area under the stairs over on my side of the house.
Johnny pushes rubble alongside the back wall of the master bedroom
Three great shelves for storage under the stairs


Me?  Well, my entire day was spent moving more stuff again!  With a little luck, however, I should be finished that task tomorrow and then focus on where to put it all.  This evening, I ran an Internet cable up to the Sun Room and a cable TV line up to Kari's room.


I've been awake since 3:30am and now it's almost 10:30pm, so I think it's time to call it a day.  Troy is still out in the new kitchen area, getting all the electrical points prepared for the walls to be plastered.  I'd better go check to make sure he's okay.

Wednesday, April 25, 2012

Another good day

Everyone got busy with a couple of different things, this morning, while I continued moving my stuff over to the new rooms.  Chris, Tony and Ryan worked on the walls of the master bedroom and kitchen, and Johnny did some more plumbing work, then came over to my side of the house to caulk the outside door and windows in the stairway.  Some temporary staging had to be set up to get access to the upper windows again.


The guys had just gotten another section of the staging set up, when they heard me grunting as I carried a table down the outside steps.  Just as I got to the bottom of the steps, Chris came running down and asked me what I thought I was doing, then grabbed the table from me.  Well, at least I was able to carry it from the den, around the front yard and down the steps before I got a lecture!
Tony plasters the outside back wall of the master bedroom


After lunch, Chris and Tony remained, but Johnny and Ryan went to the new hospital project for the remainder of the day.  Chris returned to the stairway and touched up the paint around the windows, before removing the staging.
Chris touches up the paint around the front stairway window


Tony continued to build the outside wall of the kitchen and now all that's left to do is put some form work in place for the supporting lintel over the window area and upper sides of the wall.
Tony builds the outside kitchen wall
Only the supporting lintel remains to be built


Later in the afternoon, Chris and Tony concentrated on removing the support beams and upper plywood frame work in the master bedroom.  Some folks asked if the plywood was going to be taken down after the concrete pour and now we have the answer!
Chris and Tony remove the support beams and plywood in the master bedroom
All the support beams and plywood have been removed


Should be another productive day, tomorrow.  My guess is that the guys may start on the plastering, but we'll wait until the morning for John Sr. to designate the plan of action.  I wish I could say I didn't have to do any more moving to do, but there are still several items that have to make their way over to the new rooms.  At least the guys should be too busy to see what I'm lifting and there should be no lectures coming my way - unless Kari happens to catch me!

Tuesday, April 24, 2012

Officially in the office

Now that I'm sitting at my desk, with the computers hooked back up and the Internet still working, I guess I'm finally in the new office.  But, with all the boxes piled up in both rooms, it's like I never left the previous room!

I still have more stuff to move over and I have no idea where the rest can go.  My family will say it needs to go to the dump, but that ain't happening!  As soon as the other stuff is removed completely, I'll just have to focus on finding a suitable place for everything and get these two rooms back to looking nice again.

Today, I was reminded just how heavy the Mac and the Dell computers really are.  And, it took many trips back and forth to get all the electronic equipment into the office.  But, it's all set up and working.  I even got the Internet back online very easily, along with the wireless signal being generated upstairs as before.  The only problem is that I have a mile of cable on the floor and will have to wait until it can be cut and fitted with new connectors.  Then, I have to create a couple of junction boxes and run the cables to other points in the house upstairs.

It's time to close up shop down here and head upstairs for the night.  Tomorrow will be yet another busy day for me, continuing the moving process.  I should have had the guys build me a warehouse to store all this junk!

Still online - for now!

Although I got my main computer desk moved over to the new office, by last evening, I'm still online from here in the den, this morning.  I set up the computer and modems on a couple of small tables with the basics for now, but will be taking the the equipment over to the office today.  Hopefully, I'll get hooked back up to the Internet sometime today, but will have to wait and see what happens.


It was really noisy around here, all day yesterday, with the guys cutting out walls for the electrical installations.  Also, both bathrooms had to have the walls channeled out to install the tub and shower manifolds.


A load of block was moved into the kitchen area in order to build the bathroom walls, which were completed by the end of the afternoon.
The back wall was cut out to hold the main electrical panel box
Chris arranges the block to build the bathroom walls
Tony builds the bathroom walls
Bathroom walls completed
Ryan cuts block for corner wall pieces
The front wall of the kitchen is started
Master bathroom tub and shower manifold installed


Johnny, the "Master Plumber," built the manifold units, cut the walls grooves and did the installations.  There was too much dust flying around at the time, so I couldn't take any pictures of the process as it happened.


For my part, I spent the day taking all my computer and editing equipment apart.  I've got 3 pages of large notebook paper, listing where all the wiring has to go when I put it all back together in the new office, today.  Sure hope I get it right!


The guys are working at the new hospital project today, so it should be quiet around here as I continue moving the rest of the items from this room.  Then, I need to unpack the boxes and find a place for everything because there still MORE stuff to be moved over from the hallway on the other side of this room.  If I get an Internet connection in the new office today, I'll blog later.  If not, I'll be back when I can.

Monday, April 23, 2012

Monday morning update

As you've noticed, there were no posts over the weekend.  I moved stuff over to the new rooms from morning to evening and just had no energy left to leave even a short comment.  I got a lot done, though, but still have more to go.  I'll probably disconnect my computers and take this desk apart today, so may not have a post for tonight because the Internet line to the new location still has not been installed.


Saturday, Tony showed up for a couple hours in the morning to take down the form work from the master bedroom, but the other guys worked at the hospital.  This morning, all the guys are here and working out in the kitchen area, as well as the bathroom areas.


The jack hammering has been going for the past 2 hours, cutting out electrical access points in the walls, including the major one for the panel box.  Now, they are starting to build the walls for the bathroom and laundry room.


While that's going on, it's back to moving stuff for me.  The weather is nasty today, with strong winds and occasional showers.  Hopefully, I can move in between the rain drops and get more stuff out of this room.


If, by some miracle, I get the Internet line installed today, I'll be able to post to the blog tonight.  Otherwise, I'll get something posted when the line is available.

Friday, April 20, 2012

Should be an early night

I got started on the painting very early in the morning and, thankfully, it didn't take too long.  After that, I started to move things over to the new rooms, as planned, and got quite a bit done.  I had to stop a couple of times to empty the boxes and find a home for the various items, so I wouldn't clog up the office too much.  It is pretty clogged up already, though!  After a very tiring week, I've decided to give it a rest for tonight and get back to it in the morning.

Since the guys weren't here today, there are no pictures with this blog entry.  I really don't know if they plan to work tomorrow, but I'll get up at the usual early time and open the downstairs door for them, just in case they decide they miss us!

I'm going to do my best to get everything transferred over before Monday, but I can't promise that will be the case.  I need to have an Internet cable installed in the office before I can completely move in and am not sure if that will be ready before Monday.  So, we'll see what happens.

This post is a bit boring without any pictures. Well, I did take a couple of pictures today, so guess I'll add them to spruce things up a bit!  I took a picture of the concrete kitchen floor that had been poured, yesterday, but it really doesn't show how nice the floor actually turned out.
The foot prints and early morning shadows make it look a bit rough, but it's actually nice and smooth

I also took a couple of pictures of the storage area under the stairs, right after I finished painting in there.  The first picture, which shows the highest part of the storage area, came out fine.  But, the second picture was a bit funky, mainly because I had the light bulb turned on and the camera did its own thing.
This area is very high and has quite a bit of front-to-back depth
This area is pretty low - there's no way to stand up straight under where the light is located

One more picture.  After I took the daily picture for my Bermuda Weather website, I decided to take a picture of the machine, which is parked in our back yard.  It will be used to level off the yard and get things back to normal again.
I wonder if they'll let me keep it!

That's all I got.  Check back tomorrow night, just in case I might have something to update then.

A productive and successful day

The day began a bit earlier, with final preparations for the concrete pour starting about 6:40am.  I was just heading downstairs to feed the cats and heard one of the machines start up.  When I looked outside, there was John Sr. moving concrete block and cement bags with the Bobcat to make room for the crane and cement trucks.  The other boys arrived a little while later and got right to work, cutting pieces of metal rod to put into the concrete block cells to strengthen the walls of the master bedroom.


The crane truck was the first to arrive and quickly got set up at the far end of the driveway.  Then, the concrete truck drove in the yard and the process soon began.
The crane truck is set up at the far end of the driveway
The crane is fully extended
The first bucket of concrete is lifted up
The first batch of concrete is poured
Johnny and Tony guide the next bucket of concrete
Pouring the second batch of concrete
The concrete is distributed over the form work
Chris will need to give those boots a good cleaning, once the job is done!
The concrete is loaded in the bucket
Pouring another batch of concrete
Most of the concrete has been rendered
Tony, Ryan, Johnny and Chris distributing the concrete
As the concrete pad is rendered, another bucket arrives
John Sr. keeps a watchful eye on the rendering process
Another batch of concrete is poured along the side of the main house
Johnny uses the "vibrator" to distribute the concrete
Tony renders while more concrete is poured
The concrete pour is almost done
One more look at the crane fully extended
The concrete pour above the master bedroom is fully completed
John Sr. and Tony float the concrete surface after it has set up
Another successful concrete pour is now finished


When the top concrete pour was over, the kitchen floor was immediately poured.  I took a couple of pictures as it was just about over, but didn't go back to capture the finished product because I was busy painting again.
The last batch of concrete has just been poured in the kitchen
Ryan distributes the concrete as Chris prepares to check levels
Chris shovels in the last batch of concrete for the kitchen


Troy and I had a number of electrical things to do at the end of the afternoon, so I didn't eat my supper until 9:45pm.  It then took me quite awhile to sort through the 122 pictures I took of the concrete pour and organize the blog, before posting.  It's now after midnight, so I'll quickly post today's entry and head up to bed.


The guys are going to be at the new hospital project, tomorrow, so it will be quiet around here.  Although I finished painting the storage area under the stairs today, while Troy and I were installing the wiring for lights in there, I noticed I hadn't painted over the primer around the edges.  So, back to painting first thing in the morning again.  It shouldn't take long, though, and then I'll get back to the moving work for the rest of the day.