Addition and Garage Project - Start of Construction



After a LONG wait, the construction on our house has officially started. Inside the house they began removing the wall between the front room and the dining room. Before it was just a standard doorway between the rooms.

The contractor built a temporary enclosure around the wall to keep the dust contained and removed the plaster. They put in a new beam and new drywall. The opening ended up being 4” narrower on each side as there was an existing duct in the wall closest to the stairs. In order to put in the necessary supports for the beam, they has to build out further.

A maple floor vent went in where the wall vent used to be and they patched in the hardwood floors. These will get sanded, along with the rest of the hardwood on the main floor, at the end of the project.

Finally they added trim and mudded the walls. The painting will also be done at the end of the project

Finally they added trim and mudded the walls. The painting will also be done at the end of the project

Outside, they removed the cedar hedges between our property and the neighbors.

The deck was also cut back to allow for access to the backyard once the garage is built

There won’t be much progress this week, as they do not want to do the prep for the garage too far in advance of the concrete delivery and the concrete will not arrive until the week of the 12^th

So far so good, they are very good at keeping the house clean and we got to move back in last weekend after 2 weeks out of the house. There will be no more work in the main living areas of the house until the end of the project (at least that is the plan)

And now we know: the little guy did not transition well to living at my parents. He was very confused about not being home and slept terribly, so we all slept terribly



Toy Storage Boxes

Back in June I started building wooden toy bins to go in the Ikea storage unit. The fabric bins we had went all the way to the top of the shelves, so you couldn’t see the toys inside and there were no handles, so the little guy couldn’t get them out. I build basic boxes out of pine, that were 2/3’s of the height of the shelves, so you can see that the bin holds trucks or animals, etc.

It then took me 2 months to do the finishing, 2 coats of stain and 3 clear coats. With the handles he can easily pull them out and he is already getting more use out of the toys now that he can see them

Our House’s 5th Anniversary

We’ve now been in our house 5 years and a hell of a lot has changed in that time. I’ve learnt a ton about woodworking and renovation and Tom has gotten slightly more comfortable with me working on the house. Here is a room by room overview of the progress we’ve made to our home.

Front Entrance:

Completed Projects: painted, replaced light, built shelving in the closet

Furniture I built or re-did: upholstered/painted bench

Still to do: finish patching/painting the ceiling

Front Room:

Completed Projects: painted (twice), new window, replaced light

Furniture I built or re-did: upholstered round chair, painted bookcase, built end tables

Still to do: finish patching/painting the ceiling

Dining Room:

Completed Projects: painted, new light, painted border

Furniture I built or re-did: dining room table, set of chairs (almost done!)

Still to do: ideally open up the wall between this room and the front room

Back Room:

Completed Projects: painted, new light, new windows, hardwood floor installation

Furniture I built or re-did: 2 chairs, end table, ottoman, chaise lounge

Still to do: build a new TV cabinet, paint the window trim

Kitchen:

Completed Projects: complete gut of the space including re-finished the hardwood floor, cabinets, countertop, backsplash, painting, new light

Furniture I built or re-did: all the cabinets/doors, floating shelves

Still to do: re-paint the white cabinet doors where knots in the wood are showing through, patch doorway trim to front entrance

Tom’s Den:

Completed Projects: painted, new window, re-finished the hardwood floor

Furniture I built or re-did: added a shelf to the desk

Still to do: replace light, add a door to the closet, paint the door

Powder Room:

Completed Projects: complete gut of the space including tiled the floors, tiled the wall, new light, new sink and faucet 

Furniture I built or re-did: built floating vanity

Still to do: paint the door

Staircase & Hallway:

Completed Projects: re-finished hardwood treads, re-finish hardwood floors, painted risers and walls, new light, new hall closet

Furniture I built or re-did: none

Still to do: small paint touch ups from the floor sanding

Master Bedroom:

Completed Projects: new window, installed 2 closets, painted, new light

Furniture I built or re-did: 2 dressers

Still to do: paint the window trim 

Bathroom:

Completed Projects: complete gut of the space including tiled the floors, tiled the shower, new bathtub, new shower fixtures and faucet 

Furniture I built or re-did: vanity

Still to do: replace light 

Second Bedroom:

Completed Projects: painted, new rod/shelf in the closet, new light

Furniture I built or re-did: none

Still to do: re-paint the white upper half of the room (did not cover well), paint the trim  

Basement:

Completed Projects: ripped out 90% of the old finished basement

Furniture I built or re-did: none

Still to do: finish demo of the space, put the bathroom back in and finish the space

Exterior:   

Completed Projects: new porch 85% completed, painted the front door, roof repairs, dug part of the foundation

Furniture I built or re-did: none

Still to do: repair/paint the parging, deal with the driveway area where the concrete was removed, re-do the front walk-way, add a brick edge to the flower beds, re-seed or sod the front lawn

Overall the top 2 floors of the house are in good shape; most of the work left to do is paint touch up or decorative. The basement has barely been touched and I like it that way; I love having a workshop. Going forward I would like to put up a wall between the shop and the laundry/storage, so there is less transfer of dust into that side.

The exterior of the house is another matter; we’ve got a lot of projects to do to give it more curb appeal. I’ve been so focused on getting the inside to where I want it to be that I’ve neglected to do much outside. Also I’m not a fan of gardening. The front porch construction was the first real step for me to start transforming the outside.

We’ve come a long way in the past five years and I think Tom would agree that we are happier than ever in our house. 

Front Porch Construction Part 5 – The Rest of the Railings

Although I did not really feel like working this weekend, I pushed through it and got the railings finished on the stairs. It was not easy; I knocked over boxes of screws, spilled the can of end preservative and made lots of little mistakes. Everything was harder and took longer than it should have. I also got PL adhesive on my hands and then dirt on top which won’t come off know. I tried paint thinner, salad oil and finally scrubbed with nail polish remover. My hands are 95% clean but feel like sandpaper.

Turns out the angle for cuts is 33 degrees, once I figured this out it was lots of cuts and screwing together. I also cut the railing joint on an angle at each end, 15 and 18 degrees, in order to get the areas of the 2 faces to be the same dimensions.

Next to the house there was this gap between the ledger and the foundation and we were worried water would pool there. 

I bought an angled piece of metal flashing that we inserted under the edge of the siding and over the top of the ledger board. It is caulked at the edges and has PL adhesive underneath to keep it in place. 

The final piece of deck board was screwed back in place so there is a nice seal to prevent water from getting in...hopefully.

I’m glad I got this work done this weekend, but it was not easy at the time to do it. I found out that you have to wait 60 days to a year (!) before you stain/paint pressure treated wood, so that is going to wait till August probably. What is still left to do; add trim to the columns, add beadboard to the ceiling and add a riser board to the bottom step.

And now we know: flashing is hard to get up under your siding. It took 2 of us with crowbars to push it in place