We have rock! As in sheetrock.
I've spent the last 4 days feverish and completely useless, but an amazing amount of work has gotten done without me. We made up a checklist last weekend of all the things that needed to be done before the drywall could be installed. This started out as 3 or 4 things and soon became a list of over 23 things! Things like cleaning up the wiring and installing the plates on the electrical boxes, putting in remaining insulation, installing vent through roof, etc. It
really was a long list, but Dave managed to check off everything on the list, with nearly no help from me, by 8am Friday when part of Contestant #3's crew showed up to start putting up the rock.
We talked to 3 different independent contractors about our project and they could not have been more different had they been contestants on The Dating Game. The first was a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties and of Latino descent. He seemed a little confused about a few of our "custom" ideas, but then that was not too surprising. He did count up the sheets of drywall with just curious glancing around the space and came to the same number as the others and we had no doubt he would do a good job. Candidate #2 was a grouchy old man. He measured all the walls with a tape measure, which was fine. Tried to tell us how to install the tub, that metal cross-bracing was useless, and that he'd need to talk to his sons about doing some of the work. Contestant #3 was young, hip, urban, of unidentifiable race, and with a highly unusual name. He counted up the sheets we'd need, called his buddy who would put them up to find out his availability, and told us it would be about $1900 (slightly higher than the price we'd just heard from #1 which we thought seemed high). I think my jaw dropped a small bit. He said he'd run the numbers firmer and find out the cost of the materials - he wasn't sure where they'd get it - and that he gets paid $50/hr. With this new number, and possibly my eyes still popped out of my head, I tried desperately not to let the jaw fall lower or to make a comment like "Wow!" or "That's more than I make" or "Must be nice to work for yourself". Of course, let the record stand that he has a day job. I nodded politely and felt good that he had been completely upfront about how it works. Said he'd get back to us with a firmer estimate, we pay at the end, and he could start in less than a week. He seemed very no-nonsense, friendly and easy to talk to (yes, this is important in any relationship!!) and obviously hungry for work since he lives in the city and is willing to drive over here for a relatively small job. After his new estimate was a little lower, we hired him. And the clock was on to get everything done in time!
Before and after (left side, right side) drywall photo of street-side wall. You can see the insulation and metal cross-bracing we installed. Unlike Contestant #2, we believe there is value to X-bracing. You can just see it is also installed under the window.
Before and after wall separating bedroom and bathroom. Hey - it looks like a wall now! We put insulation in this wall not for heating/cooling, but for some amount of sound dampening. The experts will say there's no value to it, but I can't help think that anything that might reduce the echoing between two sheets of cement would help. You can just see the conduit for the shower fan going into the roof, but the plumbing vent is completely obscured by insulation. On the post-drywall side, you can better view the speaker wiring. We'll have a set of wires to the shower speakers as well as a set to ceiling mounted speakers for the bedroom.
Pictured left is the "green-wall" where the sink, vanity and medicine cabinet will go. You can almost picture this being a bathroom now, can't you?
Dave went this morning to pick up the glass channel which will be installed between the greenboard of the vanity area and the hardibacker of the wet area.
Picture right under the spotlight is the closet. Yes, that's an electrical
outlet. Yes, in the closet. Why? Well, we're not sure, but we think there could be reasons... charging station, electric jewelry cleaner, rotating tie rack (kidding!), steamer (?), or something. So, it's just in case.
Meanwhile, it's Saturday morning and the 2nd part of Shujaa's crew, including Shujaa himself, has left just a bit ago after applying the drywall mortar to the walls and instructing us to crank the heat and turn on a fan. We do.
I've spent the last 4 days feverish and completely useless, but an amazing amount of work has gotten done without me. We made up a checklist last weekend of all the things that needed to be done before the drywall could be installed. This started out as 3 or 4 things and soon became a list of over 23 things! Things like cleaning up the wiring and installing the plates on the electrical boxes, putting in remaining insulation, installing vent through roof, etc. It
really was a long list, but Dave managed to check off everything on the list, with nearly no help from me, by 8am Friday when part of Contestant #3's crew showed up to start putting up the rock.
We talked to 3 different independent contractors about our project and they could not have been more different had they been contestants on The Dating Game. The first was a man who appeared to be in his mid-thirties and of Latino descent. He seemed a little confused about a few of our "custom" ideas, but then that was not too surprising. He did count up the sheets of drywall with just curious glancing around the space and came to the same number as the others and we had no doubt he would do a good job. Candidate #2 was a grouchy old man. He measured all the walls with a tape measure, which was fine. Tried to tell us how to install the tub, that metal cross-bracing was useless, and that he'd need to talk to his sons about doing some of the work. Contestant #3 was young, hip, urban, of unidentifiable race, and with a highly unusual name. He counted up the sheets we'd need, called his buddy who would put them up to find out his availability, and told us it would be about $1900 (slightly higher than the price we'd just heard from #1 which we thought seemed high). I think my jaw dropped a small bit. He said he'd run the numbers firmer and find out the cost of the materials - he wasn't sure where they'd get it - and that he gets paid $50/hr. With this new number, and possibly my eyes still popped out of my head, I tried desperately not to let the jaw fall lower or to make a comment like "Wow!" or "That's more than I make" or "Must be nice to work for yourself". Of course, let the record stand that he has a day job. I nodded politely and felt good that he had been completely upfront about how it works. Said he'd get back to us with a firmer estimate, we pay at the end, and he could start in less than a week. He seemed very no-nonsense, friendly and easy to talk to (yes, this is important in any relationship!!) and obviously hungry for work since he lives in the city and is willing to drive over here for a relatively small job. After his new estimate was a little lower, we hired him. And the clock was on to get everything done in time!
Before and after (left side, right side) drywall photo of street-side wall. You can see the insulation and metal cross-bracing we installed. Unlike Contestant #2, we believe there is value to X-bracing. You can just see it is also installed under the window.
Before and after wall separating bedroom and bathroom. Hey - it looks like a wall now! We put insulation in this wall not for heating/cooling, but for some amount of sound dampening. The experts will say there's no value to it, but I can't help think that anything that might reduce the echoing between two sheets of cement would help. You can just see the conduit for the shower fan going into the roof, but the plumbing vent is completely obscured by insulation. On the post-drywall side, you can better view the speaker wiring. We'll have a set of wires to the shower speakers as well as a set to ceiling mounted speakers for the bedroom.
Pictured left is the "green-wall" where the sink, vanity and medicine cabinet will go. You can almost picture this being a bathroom now, can't you?Dave went this morning to pick up the glass channel which will be installed between the greenboard of the vanity area and the hardibacker of the wet area.
Picture right under the spotlight is the closet. Yes, that's an electrical
outlet. Yes, in the closet. Why? Well, we're not sure, but we think there could be reasons... charging station, electric jewelry cleaner, rotating tie rack (kidding!), steamer (?), or something. So, it's just in case.Meanwhile, it's Saturday morning and the 2nd part of Shujaa's crew, including Shujaa himself, has left just a bit ago after applying the drywall mortar to the walls and instructing us to crank the heat and turn on a fan. We do.
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