leangreen.org recycled renovation on a low-budget ration

During Brian's first full week of disemployment we walled in the bedroom and bathroom. Walls are pretty cool. They are bright and smooth. They reflect a lot of light. Brian commented several times that he hated drywall. Unlike the precision of carpentry and framing, it makes a mess and it's imprecise. You still need to measure twice and cut once. In fact, we've been measuring 3x and cutting 4x (wasting mis-cut pieces of drywall in the process). Planes fit in your head differently than a 2x4. We measure holes for light fixtures, fans and outlets and then place them on the board upside down and backward, not realizing it until we've lifted the board onto the ceiling and whaddya know, it would only fit if it was upside down and backward. We've screwed up enough pieces that we now have the proper amount of caution before cutting.

We've discovered there are many types of drywall: 1/2" and 5/8" (you must check this before you put up the board...another lesson), gypsum, greenboard for moisture-prone areas (no one uses this anymore), DensArmor fiberglass mat board for moisture-prone areas, and cement board for moisture-proofing areas. Where the walls don't meet up so well, we will install trim or use a lot of mud. At least that's what we tell ourselves. It's hard to know how forgiving we can be with the gaps since we've never really mudded before. This week, we continue the drywall-a-thon. We rejoice as we curse.

Shout it out like Irene Cara cause this feels really good. Houston, we have sheetrock. Thanks to Tom, Rusty and Andreas for all the help.

We start with the blue plastic electrical boxes, measure their location, and nail into the wall. Next we move them around, because plans change or we learn about a code requirement or Brian suggests that we're overdoing the number of switches (why so many?). We use the cat's paws and other levers to remove the boxes. As a result, the electrical plan has simplified over time. We've also installed housing for recessed lights, boxes for smoke detectors and fans, and lightweight outlets for data ports.

Next, we roll out the wire. White or yellow wires will carry electricity, and then blue and green wires will carry data (phone, cable, ethernet). Brian dictates which ones to use where because he took the electrical course at the Building Education Center. We draw lines in the air: up into the attic, down into the floor joists, or through the studs in the walls. The route is decided, drilling begins. We work in pairs, pulling wires through holes and into gang boxes, then stapling them down. No kinks or twists allowed.

We focus our efforts on the second floor (bedroom, bathroom, study, office overhang and hallway). We're about 80% complete with one major decision remaining: where is the home run to the panel box? Locating the panel box has been a head-scratcher. I'll let Brian write about that.

Recently we have been trying to figure out a way to deal with the funky plane changes in the bedroom ceiling directly over where our bed will be. The roof lines forced some strange framing and trying to visualize how to sheath the space made me feel like I was looking at an M.C. Escher drawing.

We decided to use large beams to drop the ceiling at an angle and create a single plane. The beams will be exposed and the finished ceiling will be attached to the top of them. We bought the beams used from the ReUse People in Oakland, about 36' of 4"x6" doug fir for $40. In this picture Jen is finishing the sanding before applying the tung oil finish.

Things are finally starting to pick back up so we hope to have a good push of progress in the very near future.