Back to real work: The crooked teeth wall
You remember I said I had to cut notches for 5 beams at the other wall in my kitchen? Well, the Irishman did it. He did the same thing I would have done, but probably 3 times as fast. I’m not a master carpenter
Here’s how it worked. First the piece at the top of the wall went up a few inches low so the beams could be marked out.
Then it came back down and he cut it. That’s his kid helping!
And here it is cut.
And hung! You can see why I said the walls and ceiling will be the same color in this room. So many angles!
On to the fridge/stove wall. We covered the studs with OSB to make it really easy to hang cabinets.
And with the drywall up, you can see what I did for my “counter depth” refrigerator. Normally in the US, refrigerators are obscenely deep, but we can pay extra to get a smaller fridge that will line up with the cabinets. I had to frame the walls where the cabinets go, left this pocket for the fridge to slide into. I think I said it before but now you can see it for a change.
And does this look like air conditioning to you? Yes, it’s just two yellow wires sticking out of the wall in my door hoard closet. Maybe if you squint it does.
I made the financially questionable choice to keep my radiators, so if I add air conditioning it will be mini splits. And now there will be no punching holes in the walls to fish wires. Usually these come with an unsightly console on the wall, some now come to connect to short ducts. I can have a drop ceiling in this closet and air condition the upstairs hall, front bedroom, and bathroom with no ugly soffits except in the closets. I could add other units in the back bedroom and the basement (to provide more AC to the kitchen and living room if the upstairs hall doesn’t do it) but I could also just stick with window units. Just the one would be good enough to me, but maybe not good enough for resale. We’ll see. It’s a project for the distant future.
The down side of this work? Tip toeing around the huge pile of woodwork in my living room was absolutely brutal. So the best part of having this wall up might be filling the kitchen with doors. Now my living room looks like this. A littleĀ breathing room to move forward.
No Responses
Looking ever better!!! Congrats! Oh, and can you send the Irishman to my house when you are done with him?
He doesn’t work for free if that’s what you were hoping for!
Drat!
I think that little boy has grown at least a foot since you started work with your neighbor!
And now he’s in the asking questions about everything phase. Like where you putting your kitchen? That’s my favorite question because he means which side of the room… as if the room isn’t small enough already
Yes, that is a stage they go through. They are beginning to visualize what isn’t there yet. One of my grandsons was three when we put an addition on the house, which included a dining room, laundry room, and bathroom. He watched every stage of the construction without saying much–just soaked everything in. Then when the place was framed out with studs, electrical and plumbing, he walked around and pointed out where we should put the toilet, the sink, the washing machine, etc. He was right, too. Then he asked why we had pipes for two sinks–there was to be a laundry sink on the other side of the wall from the bathroom sink, and he hadn’t seen a laundry sink before, so he couldn’t account for it.
Since cool air will fall, you may find that good ac upstairs will be adequate for cooling the downstairs as well – especially given your awesome insulation and not having a ton of windows to heat the place up in the summer. And you already know that radiators produce the best heat around!
Home renovation shows never show just how much renovation time is spent moving piles of materials from one side of the room to the other…
Melinda, so very true! I learned, too late to make much of a difference, to make several plywood w/ caster wheels platforms to put my piles on.
Good idea, Chad!