some updates--progress being made, albeit slowly

Easter/Passover/Greek Easter all have come and gone.  Last Sunday was our celebration of Greek Easter (we did not make the midnight candle lighting the night before), and as Polly put it, it was "a day of forced relaxation."

So, with just having the weekends to work with, and part of those two days each week filled with chores and child obligations, we are making slow progress.

Below are some of the images from the last two weeks:

Schluter Systems (the makers of the Ditra and Kerdi underlayment/waterproofing products) "Reno-T" stainless steel transition.

Held in place with clear silicon.  A little white latex caulk will be used fill the gap.

Cross-section view of the product.  We looked around a bit for the transitions, and this wound up being the cleanest looking solution.

The dishwasher gap between the cabinets was 24 1/2" a half inch too big.  Fortunately, we had ordered finished "filler" wood.  Ripped this down, and glued it in place with Loctite PL construction adhesive for wood.

Kitchen transition.  Not 100% perfect--the bathroom was better.  The wood and tile floors did not "marry-up" level (my bad, not enough shimming under one end of the last board), so the strip angles slightly.  The paint can is holding it in place as the silicon cures.

The microwave opening under the peninsula was fabricated for a over-the-range microwave...and fabricated wrong.  So...we wound up getting a 2.0cu. ft. Frigidaire Gallery series counter/built-in model, and added the extra wood.

I should have trimmed off about 1/8th inch off each piece, as the microwave just barely fit--after removing the four small cover screws on the sides.  Note to self: don't trust the manufacture's specs; measure it yourself!

Tulips!  The flowers in the back yard have bloomed over the past weeks. 

More of the flowers.  We added a fire-pit (Home Depot) to the mix--Anastasia's inspiration.  It is entertaining, and we have a bunch of wood scraps to burn.

West Elm Stools.  On sale.  And now that I look on the website, no longer available?!?!?

Finished stool.  Minimal assembly required.  Nice and heavy, with little rubber pads on the bottom of each "leg."

Two pieces.

Well packed.  Pity they don't seem to be available anymore...

A really nice set.  Many thanks to Polly for hunting them down!

a little more trim molding each day

Polly has really taken the ball and run with the trim-out!    Once again, I am really proud of her sticking with the project and getting into the work.  I know she now has a first-hand understanding and appreciation of the process.  Some of her handiwork is below.

Cut-outs for the radiator in the front little room, AKA Polly's closet.  The copper pipes are 3/4" threaded couplings coming from the old 1-1/4"risers, and then reduced to 1/2" to mate with the fittings on the Pensotti radiators from HiTech Heat

To finish the door frame of Polly's closet, we decided to just place a 1/4" piece of pine lattice over the 2X4 which was flush with the drywall. 

Front room radiator.  Note the finished wall color behind the radiator.

A better shot of one of the two main room radiators.

The back radiator and trim.  Almost time to paint!

baseboard, door trim, and finishing--almost

This weekend we managed to get started--and nearly through--the door frames, baseboard, and shoe molding trim-out.  Polly worked up the courage to use the pneumatic nail guns, and tooled around with drilling out the holes for the radiator pipes. 

The baseboard covered a multitude of sins, including drywall, edging of the floorboards, and the uneven floor.    We kept the baseboard as level as possible, and the shoe molding made up for any "waves" in the flooring. 

Since we have been using Glendale Lumber, our very local lumber yard, our moldings come from their supplier, Garden State Lumber Products Corp. the full on-line catalog is a great resource--including this handy diagram of all the names for "mouldings," or commonly spelled "moldings" here in the USA.

We chose the BB514, as Polly wanted a slightly taller baseboard.  It looks nice and clean when pared with its shoe, pictured below.

 

We chose the middle one, at 3/4" primed.  We recommend staying away from MDF.  If it gets wet, all bets are off--it will swell, puff,  and otherwise distort. 

Some adjustments were needed to finish this side of the door frame.  The stud is a standard 3-1/2" 2X4.  The other side of the door jam was framed with one of the reclaimed studs, which is a true 4" wide.  Remove drywall and shim; reattach drywall.  Continue with 1"X6" finish framing. This should have been caught by the drywall guys, me thinks. 

18 gauge finish nailer by Porter-Cable

I need a better image here--but you can see the baseboard was drilled, then sliced, and then re-assembled.  The shoe molding covers the gap nicely.

Looking toward the back of the house.  The wiring sticking out of the wall is the Ethernet and cable outlets, which I still need to finish the trim-out and connect.

Front bedroom.  Again, I need a better image (it was 6:30am when I took these before leaving for work today...)  But you can clearly see the shoe molding finishes the job nicely.

flooring finished last weeekend; this weekend baseboards and trim

Flooring finished on Saturday.  The last couple of rows needed to be coaxed into place as the flooring nailer could not be used as it was too close to the wall. 

Finished!

Polly working on the windows--filling in the gaps between old widow casing and the new moldings.

Fill, sand, fill, sand, fill, sand. 

First meal on St. Patrick's Day--Corned beef and cabbage.

marathon flooring weekend!

First things first.  I want to give some major props to Polly, my wife and partner.  I am totally impressed and proud of the way she has 1) come along over the life of the project (now in its eighth month) and learned a bunch of new skills with this renovation; 2) has been right there with me the entire time working and advising--a lot of advising; and 3) putting up with me and my work habits--such as:  clean as you go, go quick and sure, even if you are not, and not be afraid of making mistakes; letting go of what you can't control and being ok with that. 


So, I wanted to say--great job this weekend, honey!


Onto the progress images--

Nelson in the background, helping lay the FloorMuffler on Saturday

Floor prepped to lay out the reference line.

Polly learned to use the chop-saw.   ;]

I did not think this would be such a work-out!  I put in over 1000 nails this weekend.

Polly sorting the boards.  She OKed each and every one's placement...  Note the reference line string.  This was the critical piece of the puzzle.  All boards placement were referenced to the line.

Looking from Anastasia's (middle) room into the front.

Front bedroom finished.

Finishing the little room--Polly's study and wardrobe. We had to work backward here, as the boards in the front room had already begun.  It turned out just fine, with the last two boards being angled and pressed into place in the doorway. 

These nails are nearly impossible to remove from the boards.  So, the Dremel tool makes quick work of cutting.  We mis-laid 4-5 boards, and had several others we did not like the finish/edges once they were placed. Not bad, actually.

The cutting station has moved into the finished area.  Note the reference string's work--the boards run straight through, from front to back.

Sunday night, 9:30p.

Finished for the evening--10p.  Two days, about 20 hours.  About 25 person hours all told, and we finished about 350 of the 520 square feet.  The flooring nailer (Freeman PFL618BR 3-in-1 Pneumatic) performed flawlessly, BTW.

Wood flooring in-house; acclimating this week

The wood flooring was delivered on Friday; it is now been unboxed, and it is acclimating to the house.  We are going to begin the install this weekend, so stay tuned.

34 boxes of 19sq. ft. each, plus a 600sq. ft. roll of underlayment.  Note the floor in need of repair...

Floor repaired--not pretty, but mostly level. 

Note the boards in the back right--those were the only ones out of the bunch which were slightly damaged.  Really happy with the assortment and the constancy of color. 

Jason helped with this section--Thanks Jason!

wood all laid out and sorted. 

flooring chosen--expect delivery this Friday, March 2, 2012

In the previous post, I alluded to the flooring choice, a CarpetOne store "brand," Rustic River.  We ordered a box of the style to see the actual product on our floor, in a larger and more movable size.

According to my research, this is a Columbia Flooring product, probably from their Amelia Hardwood Floor line, the Ivory Ash color. 

I will say it was hard to get a straight answer as to who was responsible for manufacturing the Rustic River line.  The box came labeled from Mohawk.  Mohawk does not carry the ash species in the color we liked, but Columbia Flooring did...I dug around a bit more, and discovered Columbia Flooring, formally of Columbia Forest Products (plywood manufacturers) sold its flooring manufacturing plants and name to Mokawk in 2007.  Interesting, huh?

We ordered 35 boxes of the flooring for 520sq feet.  This would give us about 25% above what we need, compensating for damage and for smaller pieces.

We plan to go right over the parquetry, with a sound-damping material aptly named, FloorMuffler.

The sample box contained about 20% of "small" pieces, 24" or less.  In speaking with several flooring retail folks, this appears to be the normal for the product.

We'd like to use longer boards in the main rooms, and certainly to run the length of the floor from front to back of the house.  We'll use the smaller pieces in the closets, and to construct the sliding "barn-style" wood doors.