A brick is a brick is a brick...not

A brick is a brick is a brick...not

November 19th --  Today may be a record day for the greatest number of posts to this blog.  

About two weeks ago I visited two different tile places to select the tile for the floor and walls for all of the bathrooms and the wall tile for the kitchen.  That was a real experience.  Fortunately, at the second location I worked with a designer who was amazing and made the process relatively painless.  However, neither of these two tile places had the tile that I wanted for the south wall of the kitchen....

As shown in the rendering below by the kitchen designer, the left section of the kitchen, which is against the original south brick wall of the house, will have exposed brick.  However, the original brick was construction grade and not suitable to have around the counters or sink.  So, I went in search of brick tile.  There are two ways to go here...ceramic or porcelain tile that "looks like" brick, or actual brick that is cut thin to create a brick veneer.

The "looks like" brick tile, was really pretty lame and disappointing, especially since  there are examples of "looks like" tile that is really amazing.  For example, below are tiles that "look like" wood floor (the "tumbleweed" color in the middle of this photo is the floor tile that I have selected for the second bath on the upper level).

So, today I ventured to a very industrial part of the city to a place that advertises itself as "more than a brick yard," and in deed it was.

This place is more than a brickyard as it had actual showrooms of more different types of bricks than I have ever seen.  The designer who helped me specializes in architectural brick (who knew?), and I came home with two samples.  Not only does brick differ by color, but also by size, finish, texture and several other variables that I can't even begin to remember.

So, I narrowed my choices down to the following two:

This brick sample is called "Pawnee" and to the left is a sample of the painted white maple cabinet and in the foreground is a sample of the nordic black antique granite that will be the counter top.  

This next brick sample is called "Sedona" and again to the left is a sample of the painted white maple cabinet and in the foreground is a sample of the nordic black antique granite that will be the counter top.   

These two samples are very similar in color, with the Pawnee being a bit more red  with some black and the Sedona a bit more on the brown side.  The Pawnee is a larger size brick, while the Sedona is smaller.  

How on earth will I decide between these two?   

I am meeting with my contractor and architect on Thursday, and I am hoping they will help me to make the decision.  

In the meantime, please feel free to weigh in by sending your choice to me by e-mail. 

 Stay tuned for the great brick decision of 2013!

Walls going up...part 2

Walls going up...part 2

November 19th --  When I arrived home I couldn't wait to see how much progress the dry wall guys had made.  They are still working on the walls on the main level, and they have done an amazing job.

To the left is the drywall in the laundry room, and to the right is the same wall without drywall

To the left is the laundry room with drywall and to the right is the laundry room without drywall

To the left is the pantry with drywall and to the right is the pantry before the drywall.

Below and to the left is the 3/4 bath off the gathering room with drywall, and below and to the right is the 3/4 bath without drywall

To the left is the stairwell to the basement with drywall and to the right is the stairwell before drywall










Below and to the left is the southwest corner of the gathering room with drywall (with the mudroom rear entry on the left side of the photo) and below and to the right is the same southwest corner without drywall.

Below and to the left is the rear-entry door with drywall and to the right is before drywall

There is still more drywall work to be done on the main floor and then they will move to the upper-level to drywall the master bedroom and bath -- that will be a real chore as they have to lift the drywall up to the 13 foot high gabled ceiling in the master bedroom.  They expect to be done by tomorrow as the inspection of the screws that hold the drywall to the studs in the wall frames has been scheduled for Thursday at 1:00.

I am hoping the weather is good tomorrow so I can take photos of he 99.9% completed exterior paint job.  The painters are essentially done and I will meet with the owner of the painting company in the morning to go over a few of the final details.  The painting crew needs to move on to start another job tomorrow, but they will be back in a few days to complete a few trim pieces.

Walls going up.....

Walls going up....

November 19th -- After rushing this past weekend to get the insulation finished before the drywall crew, it was disappointing that by late Monday (yesterday) there was still no evidence that the drywall crew had even stopped by.  Below you can see the rest of my insulation efforts, particularly where I've tried to use insulation to dampen the sound of plumbing and the laundry machines. I even "encased" the sewer lines in insulation, shown at the top of the framed chase in the first two two photos below.

And...this morning at 7:15am, I heard some rumblings downstairs.  Yippie, Skippy --  the dry wall crew was already at work.

Here is the first wall to go up -- this is the wall near the rear-entry that will be part of the galley kitchen (in the photo to the left you can see the rear door). 


 The drywall guys said they plan to put in 10 hours today and finish by late tomorrow.





Here is an "action" shot of the drywall guys.  As everyone has repeatedly told me, you can see the dust particles already flying in the air through the lens of the camera.

In the meantime, the painters are trying to finish up -- the forecast is predicting measurable snow (between 3 and 6 inches) starting late tomorrow (Wednesday) afternoon and ending early Friday morning.  

The roofer stopped by yesterday to install a rubber, water-proof liner on the floor of the covered deck as that floor is part of the roof that covers the gathering room.  

Sorta Insulation full circle......

Sorta Insulation full circle......

November 15th -- When I bought this old house about 26 years ago one of the things I did before moving in was to install rolls of pink attic insulation in the eaves.  

And, I spent most of this afternoon once again installing insulation.  The code requires that new walls, floors and ceilings they are exposed or exterior are insulated.  However, in this house there are also lots of new walls that don't require insulation, but would benefit from it.  Insulation not only keeps spaces cool when it is hot and warm when it is cool, but also helps to reduce unwanted noise. I wanted to insulate the ceiling above the guest bedroom and bathroom so that my guests would not be disturbed by any noise coming from the master bedroom and bath.  I wanted to insulate the walls of the 3/4 bath that are adjacent to the gathering room so there would be more privacy when guests use that bathroom.  I also wanted to insulate the laundry room so that laundry noise would be minimized.

It was an insulation race...the drywall crew were scheduled to show up any time.  The contractor called the insulation company, but they were unsure whether they could come before Monday.  If the insulation crew showed up AFTER the drywall crew, that would defeat the main purpose of this second round of insulation.  

When it was clear that the drywall crew was not going to show up this morning, I decided to step up and brush off my insulation installation skills.  Ironically, after I returned home with a car full of insulation from Home Depot, the insulation crew had arrived, but they had to finish work they had already started in the crawl space.  They said they would install insulation in the ceiling, but I was on my own for the walls to dampen sound in the 3/4 bath and laundry room.

Here is where it got interesting....as the insulation crew worked, they were also creating this small mountain of insulation cast off pieces that they were just going to throw out.  Always looking for a way to repurpose and recycle, I asked if I could have these pieces and they said yes.  I used a lot of their cast off pieces of insulation to better insulate the bathrooms on the upper level, as shown in this photo of the second bath on the upper level.

I also insulated whatever I could in the master bath, including this wall in the shower and below the built-in shower bench:

Below and to the left is the newly insulated wall in the toilet room in the master bath. Below and to the right is the back end of the framing of the soaker tub where I jammed a ton of scarp pieces of insulation around the tub so that it should take a while for the warm bathwater to cool off.

Below is a shot of the front of the soaker tub and you can see all the insulation that I jammed down the front of the tub and around the roughed in plumbing valves.

The insulation crew did a great job to insulate the ceiling and the new plumbing chases in the guest suite, as shown by these photos

Here is the insulation that I put into the walls of the laundry room to dampen the sound of the washer and dryer:

I also installed insulation (the stuff that I bought from Home Depot) between the wall studs of the 3/4 bath off the gathering room (and even insulated the space above the door below) to dampen the sound.

The insulation crew continued their work in the crawl space, this time insulating the ceiling of the crawl space, or the floor joists of the gathering room addition.

The painters continued to work on the exterior, and I'll soon post more photos of their progress.  


The mason was back and he laid brick under the new kitchen window.  The original kitchen window was so big that the sill was actually below the old countertop.  So, now there will not only be a nice weather-tight window in the kitchen, but it will be at same height of the sink that will be in front of it.  Once the mortar dries, the painters will paint over these bricks.



I still have more insulation to install tomorrow morning to sound proof the walls between the laundry room and the guest bathroom.  At least the drywall crew, if they show up tomorrow, will be able to work around me as it shouldn't take me too long to install the rest of the insulation.  

And, with the generosity of the insulation crew to give me their scraps, I am looking forward to returning the unused insulation rolls to Home Depot tomorrow afternoon.

The Dry Wall Has Landed....

The drywall has landed....

November 11th -- I got home at about 4:30 this afternoon and was surprised to see a large truck with a crane and a ton of dry wall in front of the house.  I drove around back to put my car in the garage and then I sent a text to the contractor.  We asked that the dumpster be emptied to make way for the drywall delivery, but the dumpster wasn't emptied today.  This was not going to be an easy delivery.  Just about 90 sheets of drywall needed to be delivered with most of it going to the upper level.

The supervisor of the drywall delivery crew came by yesterday and was perplexed...they couldn't bring the truck in the alley behind the house because there are overhead wires that would interfere with the crane.  He decided that they would have to haul the drywall from the front to the rear of the house and bring it up on ladders through the covered deck.  The drywall sheets are heavy and that seemed like a horrible job.

The crew of three guys decided that they would simply remove the double-hung windows on the second floor and they could get the crane close to the window and they would bring the drywall sheets through the window below.

Here are photos of the truck, the crane and the stacks of drywall and boxes of mud.

The crane is grabbing the drywall and the operator uses a remote control device to operate the crane.

Here is the loaded crane as it is being moved to the front door for the drywall that needs to be on the main level.

The sun was beginning to set, but the crew had some spot lights on the crane and truck and they were determined to deliver their load. 

The following sequence of photos speaks for its self as they moved the bundles of drywall closer to the house.

After they loaded the drywall sheets on the main level, the crane grabbed the first of what would be several more loads of drywall and was positioned to the window opening on the upper level where several crew members were pulling the drywall sheets in through the window opening.

These photos are really dark as the sun was setting, but if you look closely you can see the crane is now positioned outside the upper level window and the drywall sheets are "hanging" right outside the window opening.  The crew is on the other side of the window ready to pull the drywall inside, as shown below.

Here is a view of the delivery crew as they pulled the drywall sheets through the window opening and were loading them on a dolly to stack them in the master bedroom

Here is the dolly that they then rolled into the master bedroom

This shot shows the remote control device that this delivery crew member was using to operate the crane while he was INSIDE the house.  I have to admit that was pretty cool.

The following photos show the stacks of drywall that was delivered to the hallway outside the master bedroom, the master bathroom and the master bedroom

Here is a stack of drywall in the guest suite

This stack is in the galley kitchen

These two photos show the drywall stacks in the galley kitchen and the gathering room.

And, here is the stack of boxes of drywall mud, tape and other stuff to make walls.

It took a little over an hour for the three guys to unload and position all the drywall sheets and boxes of mud in a the various rooms of the house on the upper and main level.  They started when the sun was beginning to go down and they were done when it was pitch dark.

The crew members were very nice and pretty funny.  I told them that they were better to watch than television and they started laughing and said they should make a reality TV show.


Since the drywall delivery was expected for tomorrow, not today, we'll see whether the drywall installation begins tomorrow or Friday....stay tuned.