Remote Blower is installed

Installing the remote blower for our oven hood.

Inside corner drywall finishing... grrr...

Grrrr.... I am NOT happy with how my inside corner mudding is going... Grrrrr....

Rich continues to install drywall on the 2nd floor. Working on closets right now. I'm following behind with mudding...

I picked out the knobs/Pulls for the cabinets!

I found these cute knobs and drawer pulls at overstock.com. The price is right!!! I decided to order 1 of each to see if the color matches OK. I love them!!!

Knobs

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Decorite-Floral-Oil-rubbed-Bronze-Cabinet-Knob/3288684/product.html

Pulls

http://www.overstock.com/Home-Garden/Oil-Rubbed-Bronze-Cup-Cabinet-Pull/3288699/product.html

Boy's bathroom... wallboard done!

I'm so happy to report that the wallboard is all up in the boy's bathroom!

I worked on mudding today, mostly in the guest bathroom.

Mudding Tip:

I came to a realization while sanding today... "Less is more..." This is my first time ever doing mudding... I'm learning to apply it sparingly... and smoothly...

Our kitchen appliances arrive!

What an exciting day!

Our appliances arrived this afternoon... and I can't wait to have my kitchen finished!!!!

I'm so excited to cook on our BlueStar double oven range!!!

Finished putting up drywall in laundry room!

Met with the cabinet maker today to go over his drawings. We spent a couple hours together going over everything.

Here's what he's making for us:

-kitchen cabinets

-cabinets in the desk area within the kitchen

-pantry cabinets

-laundry room cabinets

-master bath vanities (his/hers) and make-up area

-boy's bath vanity

I was amazed when he said that he could have it all done in 2 1/2 to 3 weeks! Wow!

We finished putting up the drywall in the laundry room and I put a first coat of mud on all the nail holes... still need to do seaming and corners.

Put up 2 pieces of ceiling board in the boy's bathroom.

Just cut into my roll of Ditra!

OK... just cut into one of my big rolls of Ditra. I was surprised by how easy it was to cut.

I've been putting this job off because it's my very first tiling job. Felt good to cut that first piece.

Now onto mixing the unmodified thin set!!

I am propelled forward by the promise of a flushing toilet!

Laundry room has a ceiling

We worked in the laundry room yesterday. Got the ceiling board up!

Today... walls...

I also did some work on the guest bath walls... some sanding. It's coming out great!

My appliances are coming! They should be here mid-week! No, the kitchen isn't ready to recieve them yet... and the soapstone is still in storage... but NOT for long!

Met with the cabinet guy. So many decisions to make! Good thing that I have a good imagination!

Thursday... mudding day

I'm looking forward to heading up the house into the air conditioning to do some mudding. I'll focus on the guest suite today.

Yes, tiling is weighing heavily on my mind... because as soon as I get that done... Rich can install the toilet!

Mudding... the beginning

My younger son Aaron, age 11 and I went to work... mudding!

Neither of us had ever done sheetrock mudding so... we started off mudding the screw holes.

It's Friday... which means we get to spend the whole day working on the house... yeah!

Back to mudding over screw indents!

Rich and Matthew will be putting up more sheetrock today.

Sheetrock Continues 6/17/09

Toni the tiler..

We've switched gears a bit... yes, I'm still going to get the tiling going... but need to do a Billings run to get supplies. Did purchase the v-notched trowel that I need to put down the thinset between the hardibacker and Ditra.

(photo: this is the tub/shower that we installed in the Guest Bath last week.)

Sheetrock... Guest bedroom/bathroom

Rich and I put up 1 piece of sheetrock in the guest bedroom. One more piece to hang in there.

Put up 1 piece of ceiling board in the guest bathroom. That was exciting... thank goodness for the sheetrock lift.... wow... what a great gadget! If you're going to do sheetrock... you need a sheetrock lift!

Watching the Ditra Installation movie... AGAIN..

Welcome Faye! Thanks for following my blog!

You know when it's the first time you've ever done something... how hard it is to get started... or is that.... just ME?

I'm going to watch that Ditra installation movie again... I posted it on the side bar for reference... because I knew that I'd be needing to see it again.

1st floor bathroom

We worked on the first floor bathroom today... sorry didn't get any pictures yet...

Installed the shower and put down some of the hardibacker boards for tiling.

I found out that the Mapei Ultraflex 2 thin set mortar that I bought from Lowes a while back for my tiling job... won't work with the Ditra. The Schluter Rep said to use un-modified thin set only...on the substrate and to set the tiles...

So... can't start my tiling job until I get my supplies.. which includes returning 24, 50 pound bags of Mapei Ultraflex 2.

I'm looking for a 1/4"x3/16" V-notched Trowel...

It's not easy...

I'm getting ready to put down some Ditra in the guest bathroom! But as I watched the Ditra installation video... I found that I need a 1/4" x 3/16" V-notched trowel...

Awesome... just called Home Depot in Billings, MT (90 miles away... one way) and they have one!

I'm just a few days work away from a flushing toilet! Yeah!

Update....

I decided to call the Ditra tech reps to make sure that the thin set mortar that I bought a while back is OK. The instructions say that I need "un-modified" thin set.

Well.. .this is my first adventure into tiling... and to be honest... I don't know modified... from "un-modified!"

WHAT I HAVE IS THE WRONG KIND...

The GOOD NEWS...

What I need is way cheaper than what I bought!!! Return... return... return...

Another trip to Lowes is in order...

Boy's bathroom

The Boy's bathroom is in the process of having a bathtub/shower installed!

We're just back from a Lowes trip...

Got some drywall tools... so ready to get started on mudding.

Got some tile supplies...

Picked up a book on Drywall & Tiling...

Utility Sink in the basement

Running water inside...

We now have a utility sink with running water in the basement!

Introducing... a shower.. in the Guest Bathroom!

Breakfast room window as viewed from outside... under the window!



Rich working on running PEX water lines. And now... a shower in the guest bathroom!

Cable guys...

Did I ask for a cable box?

Today, unscheduled... the cable/phone/internet company came to install the outside box for our future cable/phone/internet service.

Hmm... they must think that we've moved in already... Must be my beautiful garden out front that's confusing them...???

Guest shower/tub installed!

We installed the shower/tub this past weekend! And put down some of the cement backer board!

Tiling soon!

Water line connections

Connected some more PEX water lines that run thru the kitchen ceiling tonight. Progress!!! It all counts!

No toilet yet... but I'm loving having water to my spigots!!!

We have water to the outside spigots!

My plants aren't thristy anymore!

Rich got the water lines to the outside spigots all set up for me!

Can't set a toilet until the tiling work is done.

Pulling PEX water lines

We're pulling water lines throughout the house!

Running Water lines...

The latest project is running water lines.... oh the dream of a flushing toilet!

Rich is using Pex tubing to run water lines. We have blue & red spaghetti strung all over the house!

The Pex manifolds have been hung.

The town turned the water off for us so that we could make a change in the main water line... (my poor little plants... thristy...)

We ran into a snaffoo yesterday.

The main water line coming into the house needed to be shortened so that it can be tied into the cold water manifold. We went everywhere looking for these special elbows.... all over Lovell, to Powell... then Billings.

Then... we decided to take a different approach. I'm hoping that we can get that fixed this morning and get the water turned back on!!!

I'm thinking about...

Mudding! Got to have my Dad come over and give me some pointers!

Water lines... the beginning

Rich is running water lines. He worked on it all day today. We're using Pex tubing... so it's going pretty fast.

Friday... plumbing... loopy... loopy

Boy, that PVC cement sure makes me loopy!

We worked all day gluing more piping. Back at it tomorrow.

Can't find my camera... shoot!

Started gluing PVC drain pipes

Oh my goodness... that glue can sure make you loopy!

Rich started gluing together the drain pipes. We're about 1/3 of the way done with that.

I'm starting to think about tiling...

Plumbing work continues...

We're continuing to work on the sewer lines. Getting closer now!

A friend from church stopped me this morning when I was out for my walk. He and his wife want to sell their beautiful, "too large for their house" dining room set.

Need to go over and see it!

I will need lots of furniture to fill our new home!!! I'm going to enjoy that process!!!

Scoping out the bathroom in the basement

Rich and I were in the basement last night... It's going to have a full bath... well.. no tub... it'll have a shower stall.

So... we were "scoping" it out... deciding where the piping was going to go... seeing how the spacing would work... you know... with the toilet and vanity.

It's a small bathroom... but it'll be perfect for the boys and their friends! We plan to have some gaming tables down there... and a microwave... and would love a popcorn machine.... or... hmmm... scrapbooking tables... ooooo... sounds like mama might have some fun with friends too! : )

2nd floor sheetrocking... continues...

Took supper up the house... spoon burgers and pumpkin pie... fed everyone too well... didn't get too much accomplished.

Joe, Matthew, & Trent continue to work on sheetrock. The 2nd floor is really coming together! They worked on the 2nd floor hall last night.

Rich & I looked over plumbing... and put together a plan of attack for tonight.

Can't wait for a bathroom...

Ah... to dream of such things... as a bathroom...

You can only truly understand this dream when you've been building a new home for at least several years...

The master bath will have one of those new fangle steam shower whirlpool tubs. I know... it looks like a time machine!

Ah... I could use that right now!

AND... because I decided that I had to have one... because I've had one for years and years... an antique clawfoot tub!

Thanks to our nephew, sheetrocking rolls onward!

Plumbing is well under way... and sheetrock...

Spent the afternoon up the house. Rich is working on dry fitting the plumbing.

It's so exciting to see those pipes in the ceilings and walls! But still lots to do...

The boys-- my older son corralled by my nephew-- are putting up ceiling board and wall board on the outer walls where the plumbing stuff won't go...

Wow... ceilings and walls... still no toilet... but getting closer...

Plumbing!

Well, we'll be back at it tonight working on Plumbing.

Last week we realized that we didn't have nearly enough Piping stuff.

So now for some dry fitting...

Can't wait to have a toilet!

Here it is with the siding up!

The color is called Country Red. It's a beautiful, deep, rich color.

sheetrock is going up!

We have some sheetrock up on the ceilings on the 2nd floor!

Geothermal heat and cooling.

We're looking into using ground source (geothermal) for heating and cooling our home. This will take our heating and cooling costs way down!

My understanding is the most of the cost is upfront and that the system pays for itself in a short time... while we enjoy low heating/cooling bills for years and years and years!

This site talks about how it all works: http://www.geothermal.org/what.html

We had a gentleman come to our "work in progress" last week. Should get the estimate soon.

Been too cold!

Been to cold to work further on the roof. We're been in a deep freeze for the past few weeks with temps below zero.

Going to warm up to 30 soon though!

Got to get the roof up!!!!

Moving along...

No more dirt hills out front!

A 2nd floor porch!

1st Floor Porch

Sunrise!
Almost ready for 2nd floor porch floor joists!
Ready for floor joists!
The first 2 posts are set!

We've been back to work on the house the past couple Saturdays. We've hired our carpenter/neighbor to help us! Wow... is he great!!!

In the pictures above (not quite in order!), you can see the posts up and the beginnings of floor joists for the 2nd floor porch.

Porch

We're working on the front porch floor joists for the 1st floor porch. We got a good start on it today.

Back to Work!

We're working on the porch now.

We'll have a two story porch which will tie into the roof line.

I'm way over due to post a photo. Try to get to that soon.

House all enclosed...

We worked for about a week and a half to put up all the remaining sheathing on the outside of the house. It's all enclosed done now.

We've switched gears to getting taxes done and also to create about 600 pillows for our breastfeeding pillow business.

Attic floor is done!

We've been working on putting up the sheathing. It is definitely a 2 person job!

The north side of the house is all closed in. The front is just about done. We're going to work on the West side next.

Almost done with the attic floor!

10 boards left!

Only 10 more boards to put down for the attic floor. Just the south side edge left!

Attic Floor...

This next week looks to be mild with temps in the 30's or higher. Rich was back to work today on the house.

The attic floor is now 2/3rds done!

Subflooring begins on attic floor...

We had a nice weather day recently and Rich was able able to put up one row of subflooring for the attic.

We've gotten as far getting the floor joists up for the attic floor but haven't been able to get the subflooring up. Also the chip board is not put up on the 2nd floor.

It's been cold... or too windy to make any more progress.

Luckily, the winter usually breaks in about Feb or so...

Winter chill...

Snow and temps below zero have prevented further progress on our house. When we do get back to work, we will first have to shovel snow out of the 1st and 2nd floors...

Beams are up! Gas line... (with Pictures!)

Oh dear. It was a cold day here. When the sun shone us it was really nice but by afternoon it clouded over and it was just plain... chilly.. burrrrrr.

We hired a crane to help us lift two huge beams into the ceiling of the 2nd floor. That was at 8am this morning. At the same time the gas company was working hard at running a gas line down to us.





Tomorrow the cable company comes to run lines to the house. They will supply our local phone, cable TV, and high speed internet.

By late afternoon we were measuring from the beams to the outside of the house for floor joist length. Till we got so cold that we called it a day.

I really need some hot chocolate to warm up! Come on back later, I'll post some pictures of our crane experience.

2nd Floor Framing DONE!

We hired a crane for Wednesday in order to place the two long beams that will support the attic floor. I'll be sure to take pictures of the process and get them posted.

As soon as those beams are in... the floor joist and subflooring will get started.

The weather has turned cold. Today is pretty cold. Need hat and gloves... cold. Well, heck it is the middle of November!

We were just hoping that the warmish weather would continue until we got the roof up.

Pushed up another couple walls. Rich is putting up cap plates. Just a few walls left for the 2nd floor!

It's a nice day with temps in the low 60s. What a blessing for this time of year!!! We're hoping that it continues until we can get the roof up.

2nd Floor Framing

5 more walls go up on 2nd floor!

It was a beautiful day here yesterday with temps in the low 70's. Just perfect for working on our home.

We've been working on framing the walls on the 2nd floor. Yesterday we pushed up 5 more walls. Today we'll push up the center hall wall which will give us room to build more walls!

Sorry that I haven't posted more pictures. Keep forgetting my camera.

Well it's another opportunity for picture taking... Stay tuned!