Help from Family!!

March 27-29, 2018

Perry's sister, Vicky and his brother-in-law Rick called and said they were going on Spring Break.  Vicky works for the school in Carey, Idaho and Rick works for Sun Valley.  Rick loves to do construction type projects so they thought if we were going to be around they would come stay with us for a few days and help with some projects around the house!   We love help!!

Perry had some small projects that needed done before the sheet rockers could come in.  Rick and he set out to do them and got them all knocked out.

New window in master bathroom.

And half wall for toilet separation.

Finish step installation in hall.

Replace back door.  Before:

 We wanted it to swing the other way and I didn't like this door.   They replaced it with one from our shop.  (The shop has 4 exterior doors.  We could do without this one and it swings the right way.)  It needs some repair to some dents in it and some paint but nothing Perry can't fix.  

And they finished off the last of the subfloor.  It all had to be raised to the same level through out the addition so that required some places to have a second layer.

Oh and although the fireplace was installed into the wall it wasn't hooked up and running so they got it all wired and finished.

Vicky and I worked outside since the weather was beautiful.  I'm sure she thought I was crazy.  The field is over run with very tall (3-4 ft.) weeds and in the section we worked on there were several large pieces of plastic and carpet pieces and tarps places about 4 inches under the dirt for weed block.  HAHA  that didn't work!!  Especially with 4 inches of dirt on top of them.  We don't have anything that will mow them down so we spent a couple of days on our hands and knees weeding and removing the tarps.  And raking it all up into a pile so Perry could burn it.  It looks so much better.

BEFORE:

AFTER:  the spot on the left is one of the places where there was a tarp.

If anyone has some spare time, I still have about 3/4 of an acre to go!

I also spent quite a while scrubbing down these two doors. They were disgusting. We have no dog but it came with the house and the younger grandkids think this is a great way to get in the house because they can't reach the door handle!   Think I'll add a little vinyl.

THANKS VICKY AND RICK!!

Wiring and Insulation!!

March 2018

     Now we could rewire and add insulation back into the ceiling.

Cans in the ceiling along with light fixture supports.  All new plugs exactly where I want them.

So Perry in the 6-9 months right before we sold went out of town maybe once or twice for work.  The week we closed on the Cedar Hills house he was out of town until the night before we moved.  And since we moved in, he has went out of town 4 weeks out of the 9.   So guess who insulated while he was gone!!  ME!!  I had to replace some insulation that was removed from walls to wire,  place plastic vapor barrier on the outside walls and insulate the ceiling.  Yes in the whole addition.  In the 12 foot ceilings.  Kind of fun actually.  Good thing I'm not afraid of heights.

(Not for hire!!)

It's definitely getting warmer in here!!

Ahhh Heat!!!

February/March 2018

     So our little yellow house had two heaters.  One in the old portion of the house that heated that part and one in the attached garage that heated the additions.  In October the one in the garage quit working.  Of course it was just a few short weeks after our home warranty expired.  Then the one in the old part quit working.  We were there at the house for a long weekend so we called a repair man to look at them.  The one in the garage was a $400 part and since we were going to replace it, we decided not to fix it.  the one in the old house was plugged into an extension cord attached to a light socket for power.  We discovered the plug had been unplugged and then plugged in upside down.  Who knew that furnace power had polarity!!  😏  So it was an easy fix.   This did leave us with out heat in the additions where we were going to be renovating!

Furnace in old house.  We pulled one of the ducts to add heat to our living quarters.  Forgot to take picture of garage furnace.

 
After we moved into the house it was one of our priorities to get a new furnace or two put into the house.  We also wanted a gas fireplace installed and a heater/ac unit put in the shop.  We called a friend from Cedar Hills who has a heating and cooling business.  He came in and gave us a Quote: $$$$$$$$$$$$$  Thank goodness we had figured enough into the budget.  We decided to go with one furnace to heat the whole house.  He said they could start the next week.
Before installation we had to do some prep work.  We had to drop all the sheetrock out of the ceilings as this is where the ducting ran.  Check - that was done.  We also had to clean out some eaves to get better access for the  ducting between the new house and old house.

This is one of the eaves after we cleaned it.  You can see the old roof that they just left in place and added the new roof over it.  

This is one of the eaves we had to clean out.  Miah and Brady were down so Miah helped me to get it cleaned out.  We had to remove insulation, wiring and leftover junk.  In this eave we found a fully functioning light socket with light and pull string buried in the insulation.  We also found old bathroom fans and more wiring junction boxes just buried in the walls and insulation.  By code they are supposed to be exposed for access.  

Perry framed for the fireplace.

AND then they came to start the work.  It took them about two weeks.  We left for one of those weeks and went to Hawaii with Zach and his family.  

 

Us while they are working hard in the cold!! 

And shortly after we returned we had heat and AC and a fireplace.

Perry's shop heater/ac.⇩

They also ran the gas line for my kitchen stove and the gas line for our BBQ on the porch.  Yea!!  Perry can BBQ, less dishes for me!

AND THUS BEGAN THE RECONSTRUCTING INSTEAD OF THE DEMO AND FIXING!!

More Sheetrock Dropping and Structural Beam Reinforcement

February 1 and 2, 2018

We had to fix the structural beam between the kitchen and family room areas.   When they added the first (of three) additions they had to open the old brick exterior wall of the original house.  They had installed a large structural beam to support that exterior wall.  Unfortunately, like many other things, it was not done right.  They had not extended the beam far enough into the existing walls and had notched one end.  This put undue weight on the middle of the beam and it had bowed at a knot.  The whole wall was also slanted to the left which made the wall on the left 3" shorter than the wall on the right.

This is the culprit.

The room above the kitchen is going to be a playroom for the grandkids.  First we had to remove the sheetrock on the inner wall and then all the up and down framing above the beam.  This framing did not support the ceiling so it could be removed.  It did however interfere with moving the wall and beam up 3" on the right.  So we removed them.

 

From the room above looking down.

Our home teacher from Cedar Hills had a structural beam that he didn't use to build his deck that he gave to us to use.  Nice!!  Structural beams are expensive!!   Perry then jacked up the original beam and placed some 2x4 pieces under the left hand side until it was level again. He then raised the sagging knot and lag bolted it into place. No more 3" difference.  Then he built a new 2x4 wall on the left side and right side next to the existing wall.  He placed the new beam on top.  The walls on each side were not parallel so the new framed walls were placed parallel.  We then had to place some shims between the two beams.  

See the 2x4's under the back beam(lighter colored one).

See that white wall behind.  It is the exterior wall brick.  It had sheetrock glued and screwed into the brick.  I had to scrape and pry all that sheetrock off so the new wall could be built.

The right had wall was also extended past my kitchenette and a door framed.  This will eventually become my the new main floor bathroom.

Shimmed.

With the new beam in place we lag bolted the two together every 18 inches or so.  Wallala!!  New support beam.  Straight!!   About a month later, we re-framed the wall above it

NEXT:  We needed to drop more sheetrock before we could replace our heating system.  It is such a messy, dusty job.  

Click here:  Dropping Some Ceiling                    And this was one of the smaller drops.

We shoveled the insulation with a snow shovel into big contractor 55 gallon bags.  There was no heat in this part of the house so we often wore gloves and coats as it was cold.  

Another 16 bags of insulation and it is very compressed.

When Perry dropped the ceiling in our family room area, one piece came down and hit the gas line that was sticking up out of the floor.   All of a sudden we could hear a chirping noise.  I asked what is that and Perry said, "that is the gas line.  Quick go shut the gas off."   I had no idea where the gas shut off was or what to use to shut it off.  Perry jumped down from the ladder,  grabbed a wrench and hollered at me to open all the doors and windows quick.    He soon got it shut off and we aired the house out.  He soon capped the line again and we finished cleaning up insulation.  We were so glad when all the sheet rock in the ceiling was down.  

Moving In

Moving In

January 26, 2018

So we closed on our Cedar Hills Home on January 26, 2018.  It was a little over 16 months since we had bought our little yellow house.  It was a long road with a lot of bumps to get to this point.  On Saturday, January 27, we loaded up the rest of our belongings and moved to Fountain Green.  We had some awesome help from our son, Zach, our nephew, Josh, and our great home teacher, Chuck.  We had 4 trucks and 4 trailers including Chuck's big toy hauler.   I didn't get pictures as I was busy supervising the loading.  We had moved quite a few things we didn't need on a regular basis, like Holiday decorations, off season clothing, beds we didn't need, etc.  But we had one last load to do.  I had everything packed before Saturday morning so it was just load and go. 
     We did have one little hiccup along the way.  The clutch went out on Chuck's truck about 25 miles from Fountain Green.  He got it towed to Nephi to have it replaced and then his 5th wheel toy hauler brought to Fountain Green so we could unload it. 
    On the Fountain Green end we had some guys from the ward show up to help us unload.  Almost everything was unloaded into the garage or the shop. 
    We set up house in the rooms we could use during the renovation.  We have a 1400 sq. foot 1914 home with a 1700 sq. foot addition onto the back of it.  The 1700 sq. foot addition is what we have been renovating at this point.  Phase 1 if you will. 
    We set up in the old home rooms for the most part.

This is Perry's office and our front room.  He works from home so he needed someplace to work.  It will be just his office when we are done. 

We have our bedroom upstairs and a bathroom.

This room has a small walk in closet.

There is a toilet.  The shower doesn't work but the bathtub has been heaven after a hard day of renovation.  

 (notice the funky faucet, really?)

Downstairs off the kitchen area we have another bathroom.  This lovely shower, a vanity and a child's height toilet.  Perry mostly uses this shower as it has a weird on-off valve that needs a little finesse to get it to a decent temperature.

And we have a kitchen,  well a kitchenette.  It was installed for an an in-law apartment in the house.   It is 5 ft. x 9 ft.  but it has all we need to cook.  There is only two of us.  

Full stove, microwave, fridge, sink and a few cupboards.  We mostly eat off paper plates but we have a few pans, bowls, cups, silverware and plastic containers for leftovers.  We have had a couple of larger family get-togethers and I manage to make it work within this small space.  

We do have our dining table in the "parlor"  but most times we eat in the office/frontroom. 

I have not minded the improvised living.  I just remember it is a means to an end.  An end I am so excited for.  The biggest drawback has been the dust!!!!  Each new project brings dust, a new layer every day.  Sometimes we write love notes to each other on the dust on the dining table!!  I have to do a lot of cleaning but overall we are quite comfortable.