Framing & Wiring

Updated: 7/19/08

Last time I just threw up some pics and a little bit of text. I thought this time I would embellish a little bit. It has been quite the family affair. Charles really stepped up the first 10 days or so before TJ showed up and TJ has jumped right in (and Charles continues to help). Charles did a lot of the demo, and he carried more than his fair share of the waste out to the dumpster (we have two very large plastic buckets that all the small stuff went into). Charles also pulled a lot of nails from boards so I could re-use them. Even Jack will put on hearing protection, get gloves on and gather up nails and waste. I've been paying them $5 in cold hard cash for every hour (they keep time cards). 

Michelle of course it the trooper. She banged down a lot of drywall, walls, you name it. She is also taken on all the tile chip-out. All the markings on the floor where the new island / walls will be, all the tile had to be hammered / chiseled out. Not to mention she's keeping the house running while doing all this stuff and you can begin to see the legend my wife is!

I gotta say, removing the tile is the messiest, dirtiest part of the job so far. I cut the outline first with a masonry blade and Michelle is right there with the shop-vac, picking up a huge amount of dust that is kicked up, but you would not believe how much dust is kicked up that the vac doesn't get. Then Michelle gets to work, using a combination of air-hammer, cold-chisel, pry bar, and hammer and whacks the tile and underlayment out. Messy, Messy work. It takes a long time. She can go for 1-2 hours before she has to come up for a breather. It goes without saying, we have masks, hearing and eye protection at all times.

This past week we've made a lot of progress.

Here is a good shot of the island area chipped out:

Big work this week in furring out the walls and getting all the new electrical boxes in place so we can drywall:

Pantry area:

Another shot of Pantry:

Michelle's new office framed (to the right where the pieces to vent pipe are at) with the area for the new gas stove to the left:

We ordered a fan liner to go above the stove with the intent of drywalling around it and adding some tile accents. Damn if this thing didn't come with any instructions, just a few screw holes and it weighs about 60lbs, and I really had to noodle a bit to get the design down and finally just said the heck with it and went up into my shop one night at 11pm and emerged at 2am with it mostly built.

I followed the instructions which said to put it 27-30" above the stove (I put it at 28"), but it really felt too short. So, I took it apart, chopped off 3" and put it back together. It will be hung, drywalled and then tile put around the base.

The stove vent was a real challenge. The contractor I had hoped to use was busy with a big commercial job, so I just bought the pipe from him and put it together.

Standing 15' on a ladder with a chainsaw is about the funnest thing one can do to make a larger hole on the outside of the house.

Michelle and TJ worked very hard on the drop ceiling. We decided late to just drop the ceiling 6" which allows us to run wires and whatnot all throughout the ceiling. Also saves us a lot of time trying to make the ceiling look right after all removing all the cabinets, etc. We have to install 470 pieces of 1x6 Tongue and Groove, plus install 40 x 10' pieces of 2x4 for runners. Here are some of the runners installed:

TJ is in charge of the sliding compound miter saw to cut the ceiling boards to length. Here is what he has left to cut ;-)

When it comes to lighting, the kitchen / dining / bar and hallway will no longer be dim! We're putting in over 30 new overhead lights. This was grueling work on a ladder to put all the drops in place so when the new drop ceiling is in, we can add the cans. TJ was my big helper on this one, handing me everything I needed when I needed it while I was on the ladder. The fluorescent is just temp lighting so we can work in the evening.

I'm working with my friend Jim on installing a nice sound system throughout the 1st floor. All told, I think we'll have about 15 speakers in the kitchen / dining room / living room & deck. It will give us some nice ambience for future parties ;-)

Here's a good shot of Michelle starting her day!