dr. awsome's house remodel - Page 3 - DIY Chatroom

Dr. Awsome · 10-28-2009, 10:20 AM

Just a quick update, I've been mudding as much as I can. There are a lot of seams to take care of since I had to cut my sheets to 4X4 to get them up the stairs. Everything is going well and a few walls are ready for paint. I'm really pushing hard to make my deadline. I've been working until midnight everyday this week and most likely will pull an all nighter this weekend. I can see the end is sight, now it's just a matter of pushing through and getting there.

RST · 10-28-2009, 02:45 PM

Great work, I just read through the entire thread. Our last house had narrow steps like yours with a tight entrance. No way to make larger due to the layout. We could not get our queen bed's box springs through. We ended up cutting the 3 wood pieces on the frame that the springs are secured to, folding it in half, and then rejoining them once it was upstairs. It actually worked out well. You can also buy folding queen box springs.

Keep up the good work, you're making great progress. RST

diy mike · 10-29-2009, 02:40 AM

The previous homeowners must have watched the same decorating shows as my mother. She thought it was a good idea to paint a bedroom with the exact faux finish you had in your kitchen before. I mean the exact finish - mottled yellow on top, some nasty color below.

She loved it. I thought it looked like someone smeared sh*t all over the walls.

Great job with the renovation! Can't wait to see some more 'finished' pics...

specialguest · 10-29-2009, 10:24 AM

Are you pulling down the lathe strips as well before you hang the drywall? We just did the same work in a house me and a buddy are renovating. We gained about 2 inches everywhere there was wood paneling and plaster/lathe in the house.

Dr. Awsome · 10-29-2009, 10:32 AM

I've been leaving the lath and only removing the plaster. If I were to do this again and had more time I would probably pull all the lath, but with only having about 2 1/2 weeks to complete the project I decided against it.

Dr. Awsome · 10-29-2009, 10:38 AM

Last night I decided to start on the section of the project I dreaded the most. With time running out fast I couldn't put it off any longer. I cut out the old studs that supported the ceiling above the stairs and started to frame in the new one. I was able to raise the ceiling 24" which will give me 70" of clearance to get a mattress up the stairs. My goal was to get > 62 so I'm rather pleased.

Dr. Awsome · 10-30-2009, 11:07 AM

It took me two night to get that darn stair way framed in.

This is my first framing project and I went about it completely backwards. Two days ago I started framing in all my horizontal pieces to get my heights set and level and then I was going to fill in the vertical pieces. Last night I discovered with the space I had that wasn't going to work. I ended up pulling it all out and then making the vertical walls in sections and the putting them in place. Doing it this way I was able to get everything up in a few hours. Next I had to re-route some electrical over the new raised ceiling. This is where the night got fun. I turned off the power, went back up and proceeded to cut a wire to give myself some more working room. Well, I ended up welding my wire cutters together. Now I go and turn off any other circuits that I thought it could possible by. I tested the wires with my multi meter and got a reading of .06 volts. I'm still nervous at this point because I'm 16 feet in the air on a ladder. I know there could be some major injuries if I get electrocuted and knocked off the ladder. While I was working the power must have turned on to it I got hit and hit hard. My hand went numb up to about my elbow for the rest of the night. I'm lucky that I didn't get knocked off the ladder.

At this point I said F@#& it and flipped the main for the house and finished holding a flashlight in my teeth. It's all complete and cleaned up. Tonight I finish hanging drywall and then it's on to mud, paint and putting down the new sub floor. I have until Thursday the 5th to complete the project. My goal is not to take any time off work. It's going to be tight but I'll make it.

Dr. Awsome · 11-02-2009, 11:32 AM

More progress with out pictures.

Sorry guys. On saturday my dad came up to help. We found some super shotty wiring so we ended up spending most of the day fixing that. On sunday I was able to get the rest of the drywall up. It's getting down to crunch time. I have 5 days at this point. It's going to be a busy week

sbmfj · 11-02-2009, 02:45 PM

good luck!!

Dr. Awsome · 11-05-2009, 03:09 PM

Well it's crunch time. I have the carpet coming to be installed tomorrow at 2:30. At the moment the drywall still needs work. We decided before we have the carpet in we should pull all the moldings so we don't have plaster fall all over our nice new carpet. So I've been filling the holes left from that as well as the 9" strip around the floor left from removing the base boards. I still have some drywall to hang along the floor and a few more seams to tape. There are some walls that are ready to paint and everything else is somewhere in between. I have the heat in the house cranked up to 85 to help in the drying process. Before I go the bed tonight I need to have the mud done and the new sub floor in. It's going to be a long day but it will be worth it. If I have time I would like to roll primer on the walls but it's looking like I'll be lucky to get ready for the carpet install.
I've been working so hard I have not been taking any pictures. As soon as life calms down a bit I'll post some of the finished result.

Dr. Awsome · 11-06-2009, 10:15 AM

Last night around midnight I did an evaluation and came to the conclusion that I would not be able to hit my deadline without killing myself. By killing myself I mean calling in sick to work and working straight until the installers showed up. This simply wasn't worth it to me. I'm a little bummed I wasn't able to get it done but that's life I guess. I'll continue to keep mudding today after work in hopes that we can get some primer down before the party tomorrow.

Dr. Awsome · 11-09-2009, 05:50 PM

Took the day off yesterday from working on the house. I think it was a very needed break, but tonight it's back to work. The tally so far is 32 sheets of dry wall that had to be cut down to 4x4 sheets, around 15 lbs of screws just over 500 feet of seam tape and 5 boxes of mud.

Skuce · 11-14-2009, 11:04 PM

Cool pics

Dr. Awsome · 11-15-2009, 03:15 PM

I've started getting back into the project. Saturday my dad came up and we installed a new subfloor in the entire upstairs. We laid it over top of the old plank floor. Screwed and glued with liquid nail at a 45 to the old flooring. The 45 made it a little tricky but worked out very well and leveled out the whole floor. It will make it much nicer when we finally get our carpet and hardwood in. I'll try to post pics. The mud is nearing completion in some areas and still needs several coats in others. The current goal is to be ready for paint by next weekend and have moldings up in time for thanksgiving. Then we can put the carpet in which is all we wanted in the first place. It's a large project but it's one that will be good to have completed.