Days 7-9 - The Weekend!

**No pics today, not a lot of noticeable differences (for a camera), will have better pics tomorrow and Wednesday.**

This project is nearing it's completion date, but is it nearing completion?  ...hmmm. If you had asked me this question on Friday, I would've told you, "I'm 80% sure...hopeful." Now, on Saturday, I would've told you "No, way!"
But, Sunday went very well and now, Monday morning, I can say, we're back up to about 70% sure.

I will not complete every detail. There are a variety of things like painting and trim work that simply take time to do right, but aren't required for the room to be functional. I've painted (textured) the walls and primed them, so that they're ready for paint and all of the joints near the floor are marked for trim and covered so Hana won't find any loose nails.

I've also come across a few "issues" that took longer to resolve or are still being resolved that have caused some slow-down. More of these things to come.

So, Friday, was a rough day for Mike and I. We've been going pretty hard over the last week and we're all going to have bad days. The day started early, Mike brought his router, so that I could get the trim for the new countertop ready. I'm going to tile the old countertop and to give it a nice finish we decided to attach a piece of finished oak to the outside edge. This would also allow us to bump the tile right up to the trim and make for a nice finished look. One problem, the router was a bit jumpy, so I spent an extra hour just sanding and preparing. While Mike discovered the cabinets and kitchen wall are not straight. Thus, the tiles were going to look a bit crooked.

After laying out all of the tile, we decided to make the front edge straight and hide the crooked edge, in the back corner, under Shauna's cookbooks and appliances. It's not a major flaw, but to fix it would require installing new cabinets and possibly re-drywalling the main kitchen wall....not going to happen. It turned out well, but lead to a lot of little issues. I started in the morning and Mike finished while I was at work. By the time I got home, he had all the tile laid and I just need to install the sink and grout. One problem...the sink didn't fit. Mike had cut the tile too long and took the tile cutter home with him. So, that will have to wait till tonight to be fixed.

I was up till 2am Friday night, mudding and taping all of the joints. I spent a few hours at my buddy Matt's house. We all hung out, had a bite to eat and a couple of drinks, then headed home to get back to work. By Sat. morning I had taped and mudded the entire project.

This led to the next major issue over the weekend. How to finish and match the existing walls. They're textured and not your normal "popcorn, orangepeel or knock-down" texture. Something more custom.

I grabbed a few ideas based on what I saw on the internet and tried them Sat. morning...no luck. By Sat. night I was so frustrated, I went to home depot with a piece I cut from the current wall and started asking everyone...eventually this young "new-guy" came up to me and said "HAHAHA --- That's sea-sponge!"

I had no idea what he meant, so he showed me a particular sponge and texture I had to buy and exactly how to do it.

He was laughing because he had just done a hallway for his wife and she "forced" him to do this method. He hated it....I now know why. You have to roll or wipe on the texture, then let it sit for a bit and then pat it with the sponge, too hard and it flattens, too soft and no results...Just right and it works. After testing and trying a few methods, I finally figured out the right technique and at 2:30 am Sunday night (24hrs later), I finally finished. The walls are all primed and textured. In honor of completion, I took the sponges and lit them on fire in the box they came in last night. That is the end of my "sea sponge" career. I had a beer and went to bed!

The rest of the weekend was spent completing minor tasks:

1. Installing Pot Rack over new counter.
2. Finished moving the cabinets and fastening them.
3. Installed closet lighting and switches.
4. Grouted the entire Bathroom, which turned out fantastic!

The final issue I ran into was the most frustrating and has kept me from having hot water for the last week. My current hot water heater is vented into the attic and then out the roof, or so I thought. When I hopped up into the attic, I realized the venting just ends in the middle of the attic. So, currently all of the carbon monoxide vents straight into the attic. Because there are roof vents, it's probably not a big deal to live in and use. But to have it inspected and follow code, I now need to add a roof vent.

I was hoping to just run some extra pipe along the attic to the existing hole in the roof, but since there is no existing hole, I'm stuck. I had to do this a few years back for a small apartment I built on our Emery Rental, but despite knowing what to do, it's still a hassle.

I contacted an HVAC contractor this morning who told me, it's probably fine with the roof vents, but it won't pass code. He also said, since my heater is close to the edge of the house, I could just vent it right to the existing roof vent for now and fix it in a couple of weeks. So that is the plan!

Hot water tonight for me..hopefully! I've got two nights to finish...loads to go, but I think it can be done. Here's a quick top-ten list.

To do:

1. Install toilet.
2. Install Vanity
3. Install W/D
4. Grout Kitchen countertop
5. Frame out last bit of shelf next to dishwasher.
6. Hook up and install Bathroom recessed and vanity lights.
7. Dumpster arrived today, gotta load it up and stuff it full!
8. Hook up Hot Water heater and verify pressure and ventilation is sound.00
9. Touch up paint around the cabinets and in our bedroom.
10. Clean!!!!!