It’s funny – I moved a lot of these bricks from underneath the porch to the driveway… and today, Liz wa moving most of them back. Circle of life, I guess. We’re used to having various shuffles, so why not one for the outside as well?
Bob helped talk me through the piece, and how I should build it. I needed some 9.5″ boards, and the standard 10″ boards from Home Depot wouldn’t quite cut it. So I bought 12″ boards instead, and had to trim them down to size.
It took me a little while to figure out the right sequence, but I eventually got the pieces together.
Bob was over today, getting the furnace prepped. He had come over while we were out to set the furnace in its final position… and man is it tight in there. Not much wiggle room at all. But it’s in, and it’s pretty much set in place.
We’re heading out of town soon, and we didn’t want to be a blocker for Bob’s work on the HVAC up here. The space is super tight (by design), and Bob can’t finalize the placement of the furnace until we mud, tape, and paintthe walls. Because once he puts in the furnace and ductwork, there’s no way we’re going to be able to reach the walls.
At this point… there may have been a mixing mishap. I ended up helping out some, cleaning a lot of the mud that splattered all over (and made its way down the stairs and onto the windows on the first floor).
It’s a Sunday, and Liz suited up to work on the mudding and taping of the furnace room. It’s a small space, and not really something more than one person can work on at a time.
Back at the house, we focused on getting some more drywall up in the furnace room. Not sure if I mentioned, but the stuff we’re putting up is fire board – similar to normal drywall, but just a little denser (and heavier).
We had an additional full sheet downstairs, but luckily didn’t have to go retrieve it. We were just barely able to use our remaining scraps to get the ceiling in.
We started to notice small drips of water, under the sink, over the few weeks. And then things got a bit more, and a bit more… to the point where we realized we needed a new faucet.
Up until now, we’ve had two different access points to this part of the house. With this furnace room now officially drywalled up… we only have one way in/out to the office area. I was describing this as us “going the long way around” from here on out.
An old light, where the electrical had been disconnected long ago. Of note: that middle pipe is a gas line, a throwback to some earlier time when this light was likely powered by gas.
We, unfortunately, have some noisy neighbors that have moved in above us. This photo shows two, but I actually saw three squirrels (and possibly a fourth) moments before.
Late in the evening, Liz was finishing out the day power washing some of the planters that sit at the base of our front steps.
I can’t help myself: every time I break out the pressure washer, it feels to me like I’m putting together a sniper rifle. And soon after, anytime I see it being used… I hear the “pew pew” sounds in my head. I’m a five year old.
This weekend, Liz and I have been revisiting the trim we want to order. We’ve gone through this process a few times, and have finally landed on a vendor… but still need to do some work on figuring out just how much material we need.
With more duct work and electrical and piping now in the basement, we can no longer easily just insert a full-length board across the basement.
Luckily for us, Bob’s done this sort of thing before. And cut a long board into two notched pieces, which we would then “lock” into place with a tapered peg.
A newer term I somehow didn’t know until today: acorn nut. In the instructions, it told me to use a certain bolt and to attach the “acorn nut.” I eventually figured it out.