Who invented painting?

We need to get rid of him or her!  I spent another afternoon of painting, this time in the storage area under the stairs, and I'm still not done.  Of course, now that the floors have been tiled, I had to take my time and make sure not to spill any paint on the tile.  Plus, I had to climb almost all the way up on the ladder, at the highest section of the storage area, and try to paint without falling off.  Anyway, I did all the cutting and priming today, so I'll get the roller out in the morning and paint the walls.  AND, I still have to finish the stairway, both priming and painting, at some point!


The guys were not scheduled to be here today, but after I got back from buying some more paint in the morning, I heard the melodious tone of a mini jack hammer in the garage.  There was Tony, cutting out grooves in the wall for the electrical outlet boxes to be installed.

Tony cuts grooves in the walls for the electrical outlet boxes

Around noon, I discovered Chris had arrived after having some root canal work done.  That's almost as painful as painting!  He and Tony stayed for a couple more hours and, later, I saw that they had cut out part of the entrance which will lead from the kitchen to the master bedroom

Part of the entrance from the kitchen to the master bedroom has been cut out

I didn't take any pictures of the paint work, since I didn't want to revisit the scene of the crime so soon!  I'll wait until it's finished, before I put back all the things that were stored in there, initially, until the tiler moved them out to do his work.


Tomorrow will be an exciting day.  The cement trucks should arrive fairly early and start pouring the top slab for the master bedroom, then the floor for the kitchen.  After I finish the painting, I'll continue moving things over to the new rooms again, so will keep an eye on the cats to make sure they stay off the fresh concrete.


That's it for now.  Be sure to check back here, tomorrow night, after I've had a chance to post pictures, etc., from the concrete pours.

Moving day!

Since the tiling was finished in the radio room, the office and the stairway, I was able to start moving my stuff over first thing this morning.  It was a slow, but steady, process and I got a fair amount transferred over today.


I started with the radio room and tried to set things in place as I went along.  Once I got some of the main radio equipment in the room, I began to just take boxes of miscellaneous items over and stacked them in the office for now.


Near the end of the afternoon, Kari decided to help and didn't cut me any slack!  I was getting pretty tired by then, but she wouldn't let me ease up at all.  Finally, after putting 3 book shelves in the room, I called it quits for the day.  I now need to empty some of the boxes and stack things on the book shelves to get things off the floor.


I thought I'd start doing that tomorrow morning, but first I have to focus on painting the storage area under the stairs, so I can put back all the stuff that the tiler moved from there in order to get his work done.  I'll need a vacation after this week is over!

The radio room after the tiling was completed

Some of the radio equipment is already set up and working

The guys were here all day and got a number of things accomplished.  The remaining form work for Thursday's concrete pour was first on the agenda.  John Sr., Chris and Tony worked on that, while Johnny brought the machine to the back yard and began to fill the gap between the yard and the master bedroom building with rubble and soil.

John Sr., Chris and Tony build the form work along the back wall of the master bedroom

Tony secures the form work as Chris monitors the levels

Chris builds the frame work along the front wall of the master bedroom

Johnny moves the rubble in the back yard

Filling the gap with rubble

The gap is filled along the back wall of the master bedroom

Johnny moved down to the new kitchen area and continued work on the various PVC pipes.  First, he had to replace the pipe leading from the roof to the water tank below.  Then, he built up the fittings for the kitchen sink.

Johnny measures the length for the water pipe from the roof to the tank

Johnny glues a PVC coupling to connect the pipes

The pipe fittings for the kitchen sink are installed

Once the form work was built, Tony went below and removed the remaining window in the garage, then replaced it with block.

Tony cuts out the garage window

The window is replaced with block

Troy arrived at the usual time and continued the electrical work above the master bedroom.  When it got dark, he went to work in the new kitchen area, laying out the PVC electrical pipes for the various outlets required for that room.

Troy works on one of the light fixtures for the master bedroom

Troy lays out the PVC electrical pipe for the new kitchen

Troy puts a piece of PVC electrical pipe in place

It's 10:25pm and I need to go outside and check to see how Troy's doing.  He's working hard to get everything ready before the concrete pour takes place.  I forgot to mention that the kitchen floor is also going to be poured on Thursday, so make a note to check back later that night to see the results.

Preparations continue

It started out nice and sunny, first thing this morning, but soon turned cloudy and cool by noon.  I guess I should be wearing long pants, but am doing my best to keep the shorts going.


The guys continued preparing the roof/ceiling of the master bedroom for a concrete pour, which is planned for this Thursday.  Hopefully, the weather will cooperate that day.

Several cells were cut out along the outer wall of the main house

Getting things ready for the concrete pour

Johnny, John Sr. and Tony work on the metal rod supports

Johnny trims the metal rod supports

The metal rod supports are all in place

Once the work on the metal rod supports was done, the guys went to the new hospital project for the rest of the day.


Swanee arrived early this morning and continued tiling the stairs.  I took a peek downstairs, tonight, and everything appears to be completed.  Looks like I can start moving my things into the new rooms tomorrow, depending on the weather.


Troy stopped by at the usual 5:30pm time and began getting the electrical installation done for the master bedroom and bathroom, so the rooms can be ready for Thursday's concrete pour.  He was here until 9pm and will be back, tomorrow night, to finish off.

Sunday summary

This morning, things got going around here fairly early.  Kari got back to painting the living room and had it completed by the middle of the afternoon.  Then, we had to get everything put back in place in time for home school, tomorrow morning.

Kari paints the living room

About 8:30am, Swanee arrived and decided he wanted to tile the stairs, so he removed all the staging and got to it.  Tomorrow, he'll be back to continue as much as he can.  It looks like we're a bit short on tile, so we'll need to pick up what's required for Swanee to finish this area of the house.

Swanee tiles at the top of the stairs

A look at the top landing

Looking down from the top landing

Later in the afternoon, Jason gave his in-laws a tour of the renovations that have been done to date, then went downstairs to start priming the ceilings, after they left.

Jason primes the ceiling in the downstairs bedroom

This coming week is going to be extremely hectic.  I thought I'd be able to start moving my things over tomorrow, but it's probably not going to happen until Tuesday, at the earliest.  I imagine the roof/ceiling of the master bedroom will be poured before the week is out and, possibly, the concrete floor for the new kitchen might also get done.  Keep checking the blog to find out how it's going!

Family painting

Today was a family painting day.  I finished painting the top area of the stairway and the girls painted most of the living room.  They'll have to get back to it, tomorrow, but it looks like I'll have a rest day, for a change.


Swanee started tiling the radio room, around 11:30am, and has gotten most of the office done now, as well.  He'll be back tomorrow to grout the radio room, then move back into the office to finish the remaining tiles and grout in there, also.  He's already made a start on the lower stairs and, on Monday morning, I'll ask the guys to remove the staging in the stairway, so Swanee can complete the stairs during the day.


Once that's done, I can start moving my things out of the room I'm in now and free this space up for all the renovation work that still has to be done in here.  Transferring all this stuff to the new rooms is going to be a bit difficult because I want things done logically, so I don't get totally overwhelmed.  I'm sure it will work out okay.


I was hoping to get some pictures of the tiling work for today's post, but I'll just wait until the job is completed and I can get into the rooms comfortably.


Not a very interesting post today, but at least it's a progress report!  Things will pick up again on Monday.

Master bedroom building

The master bedroom construction made great progress today.  The support form work was put in place and the ceiling frame work is also now ready for the next step.  Because the top of the new apartment master bedroom will only be a few inches below the level of the floors in the main house, no formal roof will be constructed.  Instead, it will end up being an outside patio with access from the back yard.


There was so much steady activity going on today, I decided to try and capture as much of it as I could and leave the painting for tomorrow.  Besides, it felt really good to be out in the fresh air and sunshine, rather than inside the house!

Johnny brings over a barrel to use for staging

Johnny and John Sr. check out the form work above the master bathroom

Chris and Tony put up a piece of plywood form work

The guys line up the form work along the front wall of the master bedroom

Chris and Tony work on the ceiling frame work

John Sr. makes sure the frame work has the correct spacing

John Sr. directs the placement of the frame work

Tony fastens one of the cross beam

Chris and Tony eye up the frame work levels

The view from below

The view from above

Some of the form work plywood to be used

Securing the plywood to the frame work

Chris and Tony nail down the plywood

John Sr. cuts out a piece of the plywood

As the frame work and form work was going on, Johnny left to pick up the floor tile that will be installed in the radio room, the office and stairs, beginning tomorrow morning.

Johnny moves the tiling cement from the palette to lighten the load

Johnny uses the bobcat to remove the floor tile from the truck

Johnny places the floor tile outside the downstairs door

The frame work and form work was completed by the end of the afternoon, but a grove in the side of the house had to be cut out to join the "roof" of the master bedroom to the side of the main house.  There wasn't enough time to finish it today, so the guys will get back to it on Monday.

Chris cuts into the side of the main house

Chris and Tony cut out groves for the concrete pour to be done next week

After the guys had cleaned up and left for the day, it was time for me to perform my daily inspection and ensure everything had been done to spec.  Since so much had been done in one day, I needed to call in a few of my "Special Services Team" to assist....

A few of my special agents inspect today's work!

A look at the completed support form work from below

A look at the completed support form work from above

This was a good ending to a productive week by the construction team.  Tomorrow, they will be working at the new hospital project, but "Swanee" will be here, bright and early, to start tiling in the radio room.  While he does that, I'll get back to painting the upper section of the stairway.  Also, Barbara and Kari decided to give the living room a fresh coat of paint, so only the cats will get to relax around here over the weekend.