what a difference a day makes!

we have heat! what a luxury...

our plumber showed up today and he ran the new gas line to the new furnace...4.5 hours =$1000!

so, we were finally able to remove that old furnace and the closet that was taking up space in the kitchen--the space feels huge now...it is really starting to come together.

good news!

the plumber will start work tomorrow (keep those fingers crossed)! the first thing he is going to do is run our new gas line to the new furnace so that we can get the heat back up and running. the past couple of days we have been doing what we can, but we haven't made significant progress...


we drywalled the inside of the laundry closet (that is the old furnace beyond...in the kitchen...that still needs to be removed)

(since we currently dont have any water in the house, we have been draining the water tank when we need it)


and we installed the beadboard wainscotting in the bathroom


we also installed all of the hardwired smoke detectors, recessed ceiling lights, and a little more drywall here and there!

entry

this is the new location for the front door. there was originally a door here, but some previous owner filled it in with this window and AC unit. relocating the door here will give us a much better kitchen layout, and it is certainly better to enter into the living space and not have to cut through the kitchen.

here is the new front door unit, waiting to be installed.

bathroom...

the bathroom is now ready for the finish work. we can tile as soon as we have heat (it is currently 45 degrees in the house!) we are still waiting for the plumber to run the new gas line to the new furnace...until then, we have to hold off on tile work and mudding the drywall. our situation has become critical--we have about 1 day of work and then we will not be able to move forward until the plumber gets his work done! we are going to purchase a couple of space heaters, but we are reluctant to leave them running over night (as they are the cause of many house fires) so, we are going to take the weekend off--a welcomed break, actually!

kitchen

the kitchen cabinets arrived this past tuesday. they are being stored in a bedroom until the plumber plumbs the kitchen. the good news is that the plumber stopped by yesterday to 'take a look at things', and to come up with a price for us. we are planning on installing the cabinets early next week so that we can order the granite and lay the floor tiles!

drywall

things have been moving along much faster since i cloned scott
(click photo to enlarge )

upgrade

NStar showed up to move our electric service from our old meter to our new meter...the guy from NStar came into the house and said, "Wow...did you have a fire or something?" ha! he didn't seem to understand why we would be doing so much work!

update

we passed our insulation inspection!
we can now wrap up the drywall installation and mudding.

so here is the living room, as of this monday...

(click to enlarge photo)

and what once was...

its snowing!

aaarrrgh! there is so much construction dust!

that's scott vacuuming...um scott, you missed a bit

brrrrrrr

here ya go timsim...we finally got some "weather"
how about this for curb appeal?...nice! it looks condemned! the only thing missing is an old chevy up on blocks in the front yard!

interiors

drywall.... and new interior doors...

cool...

here is our new furnace...suspended from the roof rafters in the attic...very cool!

the padded room...

we have to have this inspected before we can install the drywall...now i know why some people do work without permits, it is such a hassle!

WARNING, THE FOLLOWING IS A RANT:

another hassle is waiting for sub-contractors to show up! we basically give a sub 1-2 times to "strike out", then we call someone else and start again. i dont know how many plumbers we have called, but they just dont show up (without even a phone call). there are plumbers working on the house next door who said that they would stop by at the end of the day on monday...never showed, then they were supposed to show up at the end of the day on tuesday, well guess what, nope! the excavator that we used for the water main was not the original guy that we called-cause the original guy never showed up; if we ever get a plumber, it will be the 3rd or 4th guy we call; the gas pipe fitter never called us back...it is a good thing that we are doing most of the work, because if we had to depend on contractors, i am afraid that this project would never get done!

on the brighter side, our heating subcontractor has been great. he did show up, gave us a good price, and is going to fit us into his busy schedule because he understands that our time is money. let's keep our fingers crossed, he is supposed to show up tomorrow!

END OF RANT!

drywall

we started installing drywall today...here is the walk-in closet, in progress.

no heat

the blower on the old furnace died...so it is c-c-c-cold! the new furnace and ductwork will be installed on thursday/friday.

we had the fire going all day--came home smelling like a campfire!

those old aluminum window screens came in handy.

the new water main was installed today...

we installed the replacement windows today

finishes

we picked up the floor tile for the bathroom...it's a little retro!











we also bought the tumbled marble tile for the fireplace surround

itchy

since we passed our framing and electrical inspections, we were able to insulate... now we need to have the insulation inspected before we can install the drywall!

furnace

our hvac guy suggested locating the furnace in the attic...what a great idea! so now we will have a large storage closet on the first level.

inspection #2

today we passed our rough framing inspection!
(and fyi tim, this entry was written by scott "knuckles" simendinger)

inspection

we passed our rough electrical inspection...yay
the rough framing inspection is scheduled for tomorrow.

unannounced guest

some guy showed up at our door yesterday...looking like a contractor (tool belt, flashlight). told us that he smelled gas at the street outside of our house and that we should report it. i thought he was just being neighborly but then he walked right into the house and started looking around. while he was wandering about, i nervously said, "maybe we should go outside to smell it!" ha! scott and i exchanged a 'who-the-heck-is-this-guy' look. i was looking him up and down wondering what he was going to use to kill us...the flashlight? i spotted the nail gun lying in the corner of the room--i guess we could use that (you know, ala lethal weapon). when he reached for his flashlight i blurted out "who are you?!"

he was the freakin' electrical inspector...!!!
man, people dont just dont do that in the city!

boring...update

we are still wiring and so there isnt too much to see.

altho today, there were fireworks when i was working too close to an old box that had loose partially exposed wires...and it was hot--i bumped the wires which must have connected and then sparks flew! eek!

we have probably re-wired about 80% of the house...which isnt too big of a deal since the house is very small. our electrician gave us a short tutorial on wiring outlets, switches, lights; we have learned so much by doing most of the work ourselves.

here is the wiring for a light switch...oooooooo!

that is all for today...hope to have something more exciting soon!