What a difference a day makes.....
November 26th -- Things were looking pretty bleak yesterday, and I wish I would have remembered that tomorrow is another day, because today things turned around into a really good day in the construction zone.
At 7:00am the same two drywall guys who picked up their tools and left yesterday reappeared with a new guy. Then one of the framers, Mike, appeared. After several conversations between Mike and the drywall guys, I could hear the buzzing of power tools. The painter came to meet with me at 8:00am and his crew showed up at 9:00 as the sun was coming out and warming up what had been the past few chilly days. Then Adam, the hardwood floor guy showed up.
The contractor also arrived and the construction train that pretty much had derailed off the tracks yesterday, seemed to be back on track chugging along. It took a lot of yelling, and cajoling and negotiating, but whatever my contractor did saved the day as we are back making forward progress. In the end it was a combination of a challenging star gable and having the drywall guys with some additional help and experience to get this ceiling done.
The drywall guys are pretty much done on the upper-level and headed downstairs to finish hanging the drywall for the ceiling in the guest suite, in the stairwell to the basement and the new closet off the guest suite, in addition to installing the necessary screws for tomorrow's inspection.
I don't think we can make up for the three lost weeks, but if they can finish the drywall at the end of the day then we can proceed with the screw inspection tomorrow. If that doesn't happen, then we are delayed again until probably Monday for the screw inspection.
Adam, the hardwood floor guy is super nice and wanted to explain his process to me. I enjoyed learning about the tongue and groove method for installing hardwood floors and how he selects the boards by the the direction of the wood grain. I love how some of these guys take so much pride in their work and craftsmanship, and that is Adam. He also showed me how it uses very small staples and how he will fill them in with wood filler once the flooring is laid.
Also, in the photo directly below if you look up to the right hand corner you can see one of the painters working on exterior trim.
By the end of the day when I came home from work I was thrilled by the progress that Adam had made on the floor -- it was just amazing....
However, it seems that with every two steps forward, there is at least a half-step backwards. The contractor explicitly told the drywall guys to leave an opening in the drywall between the studs in what will be the guest suite closet (formerly a door that led into the foyer -- see below), as that is the only way now to get to the second floor as I have the doorway between the living room/temporary kitchen sealed with plastic in an attempt to keep my living area clean.
Here is the door that led from the small main-level bedroom to the foyer with the framing to close this area off to make a closet for the guest suite.
And here is the view of the newly dry walled closet wall from inside the guest suite .....notice anything?
Surprise!!! The drywall guys did NOT leave an opening, as we had requested. This will have to be cut tomorrow and then eventually patched when we no longer need it.
That means that when I came home and walked through the back door there was no way for me to get upstairs to my living area other than to go back outside and walk around the house to the front door. Yeah, I know, yet another character building experience. The only problem is that I didn't have my flashlight (which is upstairs) and I had to walk around the house in the dark, and because the painters repainted the front porch and removed the light fixture, I could barely see how to get my key in the front door lock to get in my house. Fortunately, when I sent an e-mail to the painter asking if they would replace the light fixture tomorrow, within 10 minutes there was a knock on the front door, the light fixture had been replaced and one of the painters was apologizing. How amazing was that? This is just one of the reasons why I love these guys.
Although there was significant progress by the end of the day, as shown by these photos of:
....the dry walled fireplace in the master bedroom
Oh well....at least today was a better day than yesterday and who knows how good tomorrow will be, as only time will tell.
Oh...one more thing. My so-called "Christmas Cactus" is somehow managing to thrive despite about an inch coating of construction dust -- I have had this plant for about 8 years now and it is on its own schedule. It should be called a "Thanksgiving Cactus" because it never blooms for Christmas, as shown below.
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