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The Project In 2002 my family and I purchased a ninety-some year old house that needs some attention. There's a 21.5' by 8.5' portion off the back of the house that may have been a back porch at one time. After months of hearing the plaster fall down on the drop ceiling and behind the 1/8" panelling, we decided to open it up. We were surprised that someone would cover up a problem that way. Anyway, here's the floor plan. The right-hand side will be a breakfast nook/sunroom idea with a built-in bench in the corner and a bar on the left wall. The left-hand side will be a mudroom leading out into the back yard. (I've got some neat ideas for built-ins here. Lockers for each kid with a boot tray under the bench.) The rooms in the middle of this space will be a bathroom and a hallway. The daily logs have been inverted so the most recent/planned activities are at the top. 20040411 - Drains The mystery drain issue has been resolved. The drain needed to be vented (positive pressure, not negative) and the old drain needed to be snaked. A permanent solution has been identified but not completely implemented. 20040126 - Sun Room Bar Sink The Sun Room bar sink is installed. The mystery drain issues continue. We put a light piece of plastic over the spot where the AAV screws in only to find that we are experiencing positive pressure, not negative pressure. So now I'm looking for a relief valve or tieing into a different drain system. 20040119 - Powder Room Power and Baseboard Heater Today I installed the 1/2" conduit from the breaker box to the junction box under the back porch. Now the Powder Room has power (fan & light work!) and the Sun Room has built-in heat. Shortly after I turned it on, we suffered a brown-out in our neighborhood (a fairly common occurrance on holidays, actually), but it appears to be unrelated. I checked this morning and it was able to keep things around 62oF (our night-time temperature) without spending too much time being on (the heater itself was not warm when I checked it). Mystery issues with plumbing Currently, the hot water pipes freeze if you don't use them several times a day. Also, the drain doesn't work as advertised. The basin fills up fairly quickly. It appears to be downstream very far, but I can't help but think the AAV isn't working correctly. 20031220 - First Flush First Flush occurred at precisely 8:22 am on Saturday, December 20th, 2003. 20031218 - Powder Room Floor The 5/8" SYP flooring has been laid in the Powder Room. The sink is up and seems to work. 20031206 - Install Breakfast Nook Drywall Thanks to my friend Mike, the ceiling is complete for the entire project. Now just to finish the walls. The drop ceiling above the Mud Room has been insulated (R13 in the drop-ceiling joists above the drywall, loose R29 above that and R30 in the ceiling joists above that). This should help keep that space warm. 20031205 - Powder Room Drywall Drywall has been hung. The flooring has not been laid since I've not plastered the walls just yet and don't know when this will be completed. I'm a lousy plasterer. The flooring has been purchased. It is 5/8" clear tongue & groove SYP. My son and I found some great stock with a good deal of birdseye[!] figure. Now I'm having second thoughts about painting/glazing it brown. The threshold between the Powder Room and the hallway will be some grey and white marble slab that my wife and I picked up while on a walk around the block a few years ago (Bedford?). We've been carting three 3/4" x 5" slabs (one 3' and two 4') around NE Ohio ever since. I think they used to be window sills once. 20031203 - Powder Room Ceiling and Electrical The Powder Room ceiling has been framed out, all the insulation is in (R13 in the drop-ceiling joists, loose R29 above that and R30 in the ceiling joists above that) and the electrical work is largely finished. I still have to tie the circuits into the main panel. Did you know that according to code, you can put eight 12 AWG gauge conductors into a 1/2" Schedule 40 PVC conduit? 20031130 - Pocket Doors & Walls The pocket doors and the two walls are now complete. 20031119 - Ceiling Leveling & Insulation The ceiling slopes some inches over the eight feet; basically not-quite-flat. There are some one-by boards up there right now (alongside the 2" x 6" ceiling joists) that are placed such that a level lath and plaster ceiling was possible but now those one-by's are pierced with so many nails I don't think I can hang drywall from them. So down they must come. I'm replacing them with 2" x 6" stock and sloping them to be level. I figure that a string from the bottoms of two of the existing one-by boards at the room's edges will help me figure out where to drop the ones I'm replacing. Then fill the cavities up with the R30 stuff (it will be a tight squeeze) and then I can focus on the pocket doors and the two walls. Turns out (on closer inspection) that the ceiling joists over the mudroom are 2" x 4" on edge -- not nearly enough for my planned R30 installation. I purchased some brackets that will help me to attach some 2" x 6" stock below each 2" x 4" so I can get the insulation in there. I wonder what kind of insulation I can use now? 20031115 - Subfloor and Insulation This weekend we closed off the floor and started on the insulation. 20031114 - Plumbing Test The plumbing pressure test was a success! I've not yet had enough nerve to leave it on all night, but the first hour didn't show any leaks. Saturday morning I accosted the plumbing expert at Home Depot. I expressed my lack of confidence in my first pipe sweating to George and asked about how long I should let things sit before enclosing them. He said plumbing is just like electrical work: it either works or it doesn't. If I don't have leaks spraying all over the place I should consider it done and go for the next step. 20031111 - Plumbing This Veteran's Day weekend we roughed-in the plumbing. Things left to do Things left to be done
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© 2001-2010 Jeffrey D Gifford |