8/25/08 update

So I have not taken any pictures lately as I have not charged the batteries to the camera. I will attempt to get some soon.

Since the last posting we have gotten the doors back up (once painted), We created a second closet for the master bedroom by steeling the adjoining rooms closet and then built a new closet for that room. It is framed, drywalled and has 1 coat of drywall mud on. We still need to finish sanding it before we can paint.

Ben and dad also re-patched the bad patch in the master and patched the holes in the ceiling and wall where we removed half a wall in the living room. This will need at least one more coat of mud before it can be sanded to paint.

I have nearly finished painting the half bath. I had not planned on doing anything with this room yet but Ben and Cori decided to remove the wallpaper border one day and then I had to paint.

Ben has also started re-building the cubard where the newer (still over 20 years old but 20-30 years newer than the one I have and it is a self cleaning one, unlike the one that came with the house) and bigger wall oven is going as well as making a spot for the microwave so we can keep it off the couter.

Nick came over and helped us on Saturday and he switched the garage and front door for us so that the garage now has a fire proof door separating it from the house.

With any luck we can get the bedrooms painted this weekend and then start finishing the painting in the living room and hallway next.

I still have to get my cubards painted as soon as Ben finishes rebuilding that one unit.

Ben also bought our new furnace this weekend and that will be installed after we move in and before it gets to cold.

Well, I think that is about it for an update. I will try and get some pics up soon and keep you posted.

Sat Aug 16: New Electrical Service thru Monday Aug 18

Saturday Dad and Bob (a cusin) put in a new 150 amp electrical service for us.

Here is a picture of the old pannel box after it was removed.


Here is Dad putting the final touches on the new panel box.


I spent the day running back and forth to Lowes to get the supplies needed.

We also put another coat of paint on the doors, and on Sunday Ben changed the locks on the house. I continued prepping the kitchen for paint.

Monday night Dad started finishing the half wall after Ben had pre cut some pieces for him during the day. Hopefully that will be taken care of by the end of this comming weekend and we can get the Living room done.

Aug 8-11

Here is a list of our accomplishments:

-Ceilings painted in 2 of 3 bedrooms
-Trim painted in 2 of 3 bedrooms
-Trim painted in hallway
-Trim painted in full bath (this realy cleaned it up)
-Started painting doors white to match trim
-Painted smallest bedroom brown.
-Started painting Tyler's bedroom red and green.
-Removed backsplash in kitchen (realized we will need tile or the faux tin to cover the walls due to condition of wall)
-Sanded cubards in kitchen for painting
-removed wallpaper from soffit in kitchen
-Primed dinning room

While things are going slow we are steadily getting closer to completion.

Here are some pics.


Ben has removed the backsplash and started sanding the main cubards in preparation for paint.


Cori helped me scrape the wallpaper backing off the soffit of the kitchen so that I can paint it later.


Tyler and Daddy started painting his bedroom. He got his big red wall. I loved the green that I picked too.

Work Continues

So I have failed to take many pictures lately but regardless work continues on the house.

Mom has started sanding my cubards for me and dad has nearly finished the electric on the main floor. We have decided to put in a new 150 amp service though so he has that big job to do now.

Ben and I have been able to prime everything except the dining room and kitchen. We descovered some peeling paint in the dining room that Ben and mom have scraped off. Ben has also painted 2 of the 3 bedroom ceilings.

Tyler's "new" loft bed arrived on thursday and we realized that he isn't going to have much room now that he has a big boy bed and changed plans to put him in the bigger bedroom. I had allready primed the smaller room for dark colors but what can you do. We know this will be for the best.

Our friend Rick brought over carpet samples and measured the bedrooms tonight so that he can give us a quote on carpet.

Little by little things are getting done.

I will try and get some pics up soon.

The Big Roofing Weekend: July 24-27

This was the big weekend; we had many projects, a lot of work, and recruited a lot of people to help out.

The main project was to remove the existing shingles, remove the existing chimney and put new shingles and vent cap on.

Ben worked by himself during the day Wed and Thursday with help from my brother Ron, and my cusin Mike in the evenings. A friend of ours, Nick, did come help Thursday morning as well. Between Wednesday and Thursday they were able to remove a little over half of the shingles and put rolled roofing on to protect the house from the elements.

Friday Ron and his roomate Dave came and helped Ben all day with others comming in the evening to help finish the task of removing the remaining shingles and paper the other half of the house.


(Here is Ben picking up the shingles to carry to a 20 yard dumpster.)

Saturday everyone showed up to help, on the roof (Ben, Dad, my brother Ron, our friends Nick and Rick, my cusin Mike, and Ben's cusin Dan) and they shingled nearly 2/3 to 3/4 of the roof that day.


(Rick, Ben and Dad getting ready to put more shingles on.)

On Suday, they finished the shingling and spent the rest of the day putting the caps on.


(This is my Dad putting the cap pieces on.)

(This is my brother cutting the cap pieces. We saved a bunch of $ by cutting our own rather than buying the matching cap materials)



(Here is the house with new shingles and a little hedge triming)

In order to feed our work crew Ben and I bought a 100 lb pig and had our friend Bob roast it for us. We asked for others to pitch in with a dish to pass and we had a great dinner before the guys went back on the roof.



We also had our friends Jack and Ryan show up Saturday morning and they hauled all of the drywall and panelling we had torn down in the basement out to the dumpster and even swept up. They also put all of that carpet in too.

My best friend Cori and I tackled Priming the dark blue bedroom and hallway and even gave the kids brushes to help.



(Tyler, Jessie, Jasmine and Autumn pre-prime the wall, we rolled over it later)

Later Bree (my undergrade employee from work ) showed up and we even primmed the darker walls in the living room and dinning room.

That afternoon Cori started working on the kitchen/dinning room floor.


(Here Cori, and my cusin Elizabeth are hand scraping that carpet glue and backing off the floor.)

I later finished this on Sunday.

My Cusin Mike borrowed a tractor from friends of his that live just around the corner and we used it to get the shingles up to the roof.

(Mike on the Tractor)

Sunday he used the mower on it to mow that tall grass in the back of the yard and tried to remove the garbage/burn pile that was out there untill he desturbed a bumble bee nest and was chased out. He did push the brush pile to the back of the property so it isn't in the way anymore.



This was a very productive weekend for us. Everyone is tired and sore, so we will be taking Monday off from the house. Poor Mike works at a lumber yard and will be moving 120 bundles of shingles this morning, despite all the shingles he moved this weekend, so he won't be getting much of a break.


Thank you so much to everyone that helped us this weekend, we could not have gotten it all done without you.

July 18-20 projects

Project one for this weekend was to create the half wall between the formal entry and the living room to open the space. The light switch was moved lower on the wall, an outlet was added to the exterior from this circuit, a box was put in for the outside light (was just atatched to the house before) and the wiring cleaned up a little.



We are a little concerned about the stability of the new half wall and so we plan to add a post to the open end at some point in the future.

Project two was to install the can lights throughout the house for better lighting as well as new switches and smoke detectors.

Here Ben is cutting the holes for the two 4" can lights that go above the kitchen sink

This is one of the can lights in the living room. We have not put the covers on yet as we still plan to paint the ceiling.

My brother finished my demolition project in the basement by removing all of the drywall ceiling and between Ron and Ben all of the tackstrip is finally up as well as the staples that were still in the two larger bedrooms.

While the guys worked on the electric, mom and I removed all of the doors, drawers, and hardware from the kitchen so it can be prepped for paint later.


I also primed the chair rail for Tylers bedroom and went to Lowes for new hardware for the kitchen cabinets, a shower can light cover, paint and some misc electrical parts we needed.

By the end of the weekend the lighting in the house was great. We are especially pleased with the lights in the hallway because it went from a dark tunnel to a bright and inviting space.

There are still some unfinished things to do as far as electric but it will now wait until after the roofing is done this weekend.

The Shock of Electric Costs

A trip to Lowes last night for electrical supplies caused Ben and I to re-evaluate the number of recessed lighting we want. I wouldn't budge on the light for the shower (a girl has to be able to see her legs to shave right)

As you can see the supplies are stacking up......now lets get on with the work.