Finishing the Drywall - Tape and Mud

The next major task was to tape and mud the dry wall.  We hired this out but the finish work was not done well so Gerry spent a few months finishing the work.

 

 

Master bath vanity wall:

 

Gerry's closet (right) and master bedroom entrance--the rounded corners throughout the house took a lot of Gerry's time and patience to finish: 

 

Master bath spa tub area:

 

All the floors are a mess!

 

 

 

Dining room ceiling:

 

Kitchen ceiling with skylights:

 

Tray ceiling in the great room:

 

Great room wall with TV niche and fireplace:

 

 

The Walls Go Up In The Master Bedroom, Bathroom And Kitchen!

What happens after insulation is installed?  Dry wall...yeah!    

Unload the drywall to the driveway:

We moved Fred's sleeping bag outside to get him out of the way and away from the dust:

Then the workers moved the drywall into each of the rooms:

 

Gerry called to tell me that the very first piece of dry wall hung was the ceiling in my closet.

Gerry's closet before the walls are dry walled.  The tray ceiling is done:

 

Next, they hung the ceiling in the master bedroom, master bath, the hallway, and the front bedroom.  Then the walls were hung.  The east side of the house is ready for inspection in the morning.  Once it's signed off, the workers can start the tapping and mudding while other workers continue to hang drywall

Looking into the kitchen from the hallway:

Kitchen wall with the sink--the arched window looks into the great room toward the backyard:

                           

 

Kitchen wall with the stove top under the window and refrigerator to the right:
 

 

Kitchen wall--oven and pantry will be to the right of the door which leads to the dining room:
 

                                      

 

The dining room ceiling:

Looking from the great room to the front door:

 

Cool Dining Room Ceiling.

The dining room ceiling has several angles and the drywall installers did a great job.

 

 

Insulation - A Long Awaited Day!

First, and very important:  get a portable potty for the workers:

Today the insulation was installed throughout the entire house.  I can't believe how fast the guys did all that work in 2200 sq ft.

When I got home late in the evening and walked into the house, it was strangely quiet with the insulation absorbing all the sound.

Now, you can really see the shape and size of the rooms.

Dining room:                                                                   Kitchen:

Front entrance to great room:                                      Great room:

Looking from the great room to the front door:

Siding And Paint On The Roof Peaks At The Front of The House

More angled boards and another round vent at the front of the house.

The boards installed here have an angle on both ends:

The sun came out so I held an umbrella over Gerry while he finished hanging the boards in the small, tight area.   I painted the boards with two coats before they were hung so I only had to paint the final coat laying down.

This would have been a tricky area to transition over the peak of the roof using just one board so we hung a board on each side with a small seam at the peak which cannot be seen unless you are right there on the roof. 

I prepainted these boards with one coat before we hung them which made the painting easier in the long run.

Gerry's putting finish nails on the last piece:

Gerry suspended a board between the two roofs over the porch for me to sit on while painting the right side.

Next, we hung the shingles around the round vent.  Then I painted them.

  

Siding And Painting The Peaks At The Back Of The House

Gerry designed the roof lines in the front and back of the house with different heights on different planes instead of one large peak, to give it visual interest.

We started with the roof peaks at the back of the house since they get the most sun and the construction paper is only supposed to be exposed to the weather for 6 months max.

Gerry made a paper template to help me layout and cut the angels in each board. I laid out the siding on a large table inside the great room....with Fred's help, of course. 

After we sided both ends shown here, we started the next peak up and to the right.  

I finally got this board cut correctly on the third try.  Not because of the notched end--which was a perfect fit each time--but the overall length was too short the first two times.

Yeah, it's ready to hang!

Once we reached the roof line to the left each board had to be cut at an angel on both ends.  I had Gerry test fit each board then used it as a template to cut the next one up

The challenge with this area was the width of the roof we have to work on...just 20-inches wide. Gerry put up umbrellas to shade the area for me.

And we had to climb over the end of the scaffolding to get up there.

Once the sides were done, we started working on the shingles around the circular vent.
To lay out the shingles for the round vent we traced the vent, used geometry to find the center (I remembered the basic concept but Gerry knew how to use it!), then transferred the circle to the shingles using a large compass, one layer at a time.  It took much longer to do the vent circle that any other area.

I also decided to paint the shingles before hanging them because it's such a pain to paint the grooves between the shingles once they're on the wall.

Siding is hung and the shingles around the vent are done.

Now it's time to paint it all.  I used both the scaffolding and the ladder jacks to reach across the areas to paint--3 coats!