The house had been cool and comfortable until this heat wave. Steven suggested we install the air conditioner that my son had purchased when he was in medical school. He had then given it to my daughter to use who later passed it to us.
I found the perfect window close to an outlet. It made it possible to work when the outside temperature was in the 90s.
We decided to put up more drywall. The picture shows the dormer from the originial house that we saved when we removed the second floor for a raised roof. A very nice sitting area already. This is the middle area that we were going to make into a separate sitting room no the second floor – between the North and South bedrooms. We liked the large area with the sitting room and South bedroom open to each other. It will be an art room for us when we are ready to move in. (Another of our floor plan changes!) We’ll purchase a wardrobe at IKEA. The problem is that the hardwood floor we purchased will not be enough for the combined rooms.
We started to drywall the water closet area and realized we needed to finish the plumbing first so we could put in the ceiling drywall. (we need to have the plumbing inspection before we can cover it up.)
We moved then to the hallway and put up some drywall but again we were stopped by needing to install the rest of the ceiling drywall first.
Steven had constructed a platform over the stairway so we could insulate it and keep the cold from flowing up. He reinforced it so we could stand on it to sheet rock the ceiling and walls.
We continued on to the hallway and entrance to north bedroom.
We then completed the sheet rock in the north bedroom – the west street wall and the wall separating this bedroom and the middle room. We wanted to isolate this room so we would not have to heat it. It did make a difference!
We went back to the South Bedroom and completed the West street side.
While Steven was working elsewhere, I went around and installed the electrical boxes.
We continued along the north wall to the northeast corner and put sheet rock in the closet.
We are putting up sheetrock on walls that seem easiest for placement (the stud placement is not often placed for a 4′ sheet placement.
We had a time out for our work as I was in the hospital overnight – I am fine.
We are heating the room with a small portable heating. It is warm.
We have progressed to the third wall.
We have the 2″ insulation installed in almost all of the second floor. It is temporarily installed in the bathroom because we need to install venting and plumbing. We received permission to do our work non-linearly.
We started hanging sheetrock in the south bedroom. It was not as easy as we could have hoped. The polystyrene covering up the studs makes it a bit haphazard. It will be slow going.
The north bedroom and the dormer 2″ insulation, taping and ceiling dry wall are finished except for foaming the cracks.
Steven built a wood floor over the stairway and we installed the ceiling. Wish I had remembered to take a photo of the process. The bathroom ceilings are temporarily insulated and we have just a couple smaller pieces of dry wall to install. Then on to foaming the cracks in the 2″ insulation and an inspection before we install the wall sheet rock. The electric heater is keeping us warm but is a bit expensive.
We finished the ceiling dry wall in the bedrooms. It is getting cold outside, so to keep us warmer we decided to insulate the attic to R60 over the bedrooms. We used 10″ R30 4′ batts. Over the south bedroom, Steven had to lay on his back to install! It took one full day to do. We used the loose insulation we had saved from the gutting for that area and to insulate the eaves. We still have ceiling dry wall to install in the hall and over the stairway. The bathrooms have to wait for the plumbing.
We have begun installing the ceiling drywall. It has a learning curve for us but the first bedroom is almost finished. We have one 12′ piece to install that will be the biggest yet. The lift we purchased is working well. We couldn’t do this without it!
