We didn’t have much planned, in terms of group activities… and were really playing things by ear. Stacey found out about South Haven Light, and it was quite close by… so we headed out there together.
With all the house work we’ve got planned between now and the end of the year… I wasn’t sure we could fit in any vacations. But I’m glad Liz and my sister pushed through on working something out, and we ended up getting a family weekend away this weekend.
We brought up a sheet of plywood from the kitchen, and split up our tasks: Liz focused on measuring and cutting insulation while I went and removed the last bits of floor in the master bedroom (which the furnace had been sitting on).
Yesterday, Liz and I had plans to help Bob with a cement pour over at Katie’s place. The weather wasn’t on our side yesterday, with a ton of rain throughout the morning and early afternoon.
Bob and Tim worked outside in the rain all day, and got a lot of the initial prep work done (framing, laying down a paver base, renting a compactor, rebar). And so the actual work of pouring the cement got shifted to today.
We had a bit of an audible today, as Liz and I were slated to go out to Katie’s house to help pour some concrete. The weather was looking a little iffy, and by the time we got on the road… we talked with Bob, and determined it would be better to reschedule.
At home, what did we do with that newly free time? We decided to work on the house.
After work, Liz and I started to put in some insulation in between the floor joists on the second floor. With a lot of the old/unused gas pipes removed, the space is pretty clear for us to get this insulation down.
To help give Bob some room when he works in there (soon), we decided to make clearing the kitchen more of a priority. We had his help today in relocating the AC units, and one of the furnaces down into the basement. We moved the other furnace upstairs, to the office… where it will eventually get installed in its own furnace room.
Back home after a relaxing evening/escape in Valparaiso… Liz and I went back to work cleaning up the walls a bit more. Bob was back home, fabbing up some duct work for us… and we were preparing things for their install.
Demo day on the first floor! We’re opening up the walls between the dining room and the main hall. It’s exciting in a lot of ways, in that this is our first big bit of demo on this floor!
With the office ceiling fully exposed, Bob was able to look things over and assess the state of our turret. In short: it’s not good.
After work, Liz and I suited up to continue work on the office ceiling. To be honest, after a full day at the office… the last thing I wanted to do was get all covered in dirty insulation. But we were working off a new schedule, and wanted to stay on track.
Today, Liz and I were working upstairs in the office while Bob was in the basement. On the docket: demo the office ceiling.
With a project like this, the dates are going to fluctuate and change. Liz and I have no illusions about that. But our goal is to apply all this down to a calendar that we can reference on any given day, to see if we are on schedule, ahead of schedule, or falling behind. And if we’re falling behind, it gives us some insight into what our options/obstacles are… if we still want to hit our end date.
Over the last week or so, Liz and I got pretty good at walking up the risers. But this is so much better.
Liz continued work on the basement treads tonight, applying a first round of varnish. Since she was all about this task, I ended up taking on some of the outside/garden duties, and watered the back garden boxes, and all the plants along the fence and in the front yard.