If we only had some walls. . .

 

The beginnings of a ceiling!!!

Last weekend (the one before this one, actually), Greg, Dave and Erin came over to help us start sheet rocking Butters.
It was a full weekend – Thomas and I cleaned out all the floor joists, added plumbing in the kitchen (so we can have an ice maker in our fridge) wiring some more boxes, and finished tearing out the bathroom downstairs on Saturday.
Our awesome friends came over on Sunday and we finished cleaning and taking out even MORE nails (there were a phenomenal number – I’ve been pulling them since we started working on Butters!) and Thomas and Greg worked on framing out our soffit-to-be while Dave, Erin and I worked on starting the sheet rock in the kitchen.

We only have 3/4 of the kitchen ceiling done, but it’s still a big step.
Everyone says that once you get the wall and ceiling in, the rest is much faster.
If nothing else, I know it will make us feel so much better about all we’ve done thus far. It’s a long list, but it’s not very pretty yet, so it gets me down sometimes.

But! It’s coming – there’s a teeny tiny little light way down there – see it? You have to squint a little, but I promise, it’s there! (I hope.)

Before we started cleaning

After Cleaning

Which one would your rather use? Yeah, us too.

Herbie was very full after our night of cleaning!

Greg and Thomas working on the soffit

Thomas and I holding up stuff for the soffit

Still working on the soffit – it’s long!

Dave, Greg and Thomas trimming sheet rock (really, they were awesome!)

Putting up Some Ceiling!!!!

The beginnings of a ceiling!!!

 

Mr. Heatmiser

 

See our Ducts?!

We have heat!!!!

Our furnace is named – of course – Mr. Heatmiser.
For anyone who might not get the reference, here you go!
This is one of my all time favorite claymation Christmas specials. 

Pretty soon we’ll have a Mr. Coldmiser, and actually we do, but he’s not feeling so well. Thomas fixed some things on it, and then the condenser died – I missed it, but apparently it was rather spectacular.

We had our gas turned on last week, after we’d finished installing the furnace and all the ductwork.
Yep, we.
I really didn’t have much to do with the furnace itself, but I did help with all the ductwork.

It’s been pretty cool, learning about boots, registers, saddle collars, venting a furnace (very important!) and flexi pipe (very cool – they pack 25 feet into a 3 foot-ish bag. Open the bag and watch it grow! Sort of like the pill sponge animals from when we were kids).
Oh, and that wacky red tool I had pictures of a few posts back? Those are crimpers; you use them if your extending some of the rigid piping – we did.
Now we need to finish building the soffit that will go around the main trunk that runs along the living room ceiling. The flexi pipes fit nicely in the floor joists, so will be hidden by the sheet rock, once we finish installing that.

See our Ducts?!

Cutting Holes for the Registers in the Ceiling

More Register Cutting

Venting our Furnace

One thing I don’t have pictures of is our newly insulated and decked attic!
Yay Thomas!!!!!
I really didn’t do anything on this, aside from bring home many rolls of insulation and help get them into the attic. Then come back the next day and gush over the great job Thomas did. And I’m not being sarcastic; it looks great.
He had me save a bunch of panelling that we pulled out of the downstairs, and he used that for decking. We really have been reusing the heck out of our old stuff. The rest of the decking will be the big sheets of plywood over the windows (yes, we still have some boarded up windows – we’re waiting until we’re done working for most of them. Then we’ll replace any broken panes.
We also used a bunch of the 2×4s that were across the plywood for shims and, well, anything Thomas needed.

Pritz and Pipes

 

Pritz and Thomas Carrying Bad Pipe

 

We’ve been working nearly nonstop on Butters for the past few weeks, but now it’s time for a break. Thomas is in West Virginia working this week, and we’re at a point where I really can’t do anything by myself.
Well, not totally true – I’m going out today to buy a carbon monoxide detector and battery for our smoke detector. Big time, I know.

But, I do have time to catch up on blogging!
weee!

So, let’s travel back in time – to a time of uncertainty (and here’s where I put in my heartfelt “wooooohoooooooo!!!!!”).

While the country debated, I went downstairs and crinkled my nose.
Our cast iron pipes had begun to rot in earnest. Not a pleasant smell, thought, or reality.

Luckily, we have the handiest bunch of friends known to man, and our friend Dave (Pritz) offered to help us replace the cast iron pipes with PVC.

Perhaps I should clarify. These pipes that were rotting? They were leaking. What were they leaking, you ask? Sink Water. Bathtub Water. And, oh yes, Poo Water. 

Now that that’s settled, you can see why neither Thomas nor I slept well for the two days (or, well, went to the bathroom).
But Pritz came over on Sunday and we changed everything out – not quite so hard, really, though oh so stinky and disgusting!!!!!!!!!!!!  If you ever need to hire a plumber – do it. And do not balk at the bill. These men and women are truly saints for dealing with what they deal with.
Do I need to use the P word again?

I stayed in the doorway while they cut through the old pipes (and stuff sprayed), but did help in getting the new pipe put together. We even thought ahead to the wonderful day when we will have a washing machine and added in a, umm, joint? where the out going water will join up with the main line. (I had all the terms down, but this was three weeks ago, so, no more).
Dave said I’m the neatest purple stuff applier that he’s ever seen. Thank you very much.
The mud room really looks nicer with all the old pipe gone – now we just need to, well, a lot.
I’m focusing on the positive here, not the ever growing list.

Go Dave! Go!

And we wondered why our tub didn’t drain well.

Our Cast Iron Pile

Pritz and Thomas Carrying Bad Pipe

Thomas’ Turn to Hit – Notice Dave Cringing?