Day 3 of the Sunroom Project

Today, work went a little slower, but everything was in the details.

First of all, I tested to see what the floor underneath the living room hardwood floor looks like. I knew that there were two layers of flooring in the living room and dining room, and though the top layer has a lot of problems, the floor beneath is pine and can be patched much more easily. The pine that was the original flooring is a wider plank, and we've salvaged enough of that flooring from the sunroom floor to patch wherever necessary. I used the crowbar to try to remove the narrower oak top layer, and it comes up easily. Not only that, quite a bit of it can be salvaged--enough to use to floor my upstairs bedroom! So it won't go to waste! I was going to have to buy flooring for that room, but now I won't have to! I'm going to keep taking up this oak plank stuff, and then we'll try patching and sanding the pine and see whether it's good enough to leave alone. I think it just might be! Hooray! That's at least $3500 I won't have to spend!
Dad and I also took a look at all of the rosettes we have for the moldings around the doors and windows in the house, and I'm really excited about finding ways to clean them up and reuse them. In addition, the Sheltered Workshop in Keatsville, MO called me this weekend to let me know that they've finished stripping the French doors that go in my dining room as well as the first installment of moldings. I'm so excited to get that stuff home and see what it will look like! Mom is picking it up tomorrow while I'm at work! Hooray again!

Above is the first of the work we did today in the sunroom. We're installing wood surrounds in the inset areas around the windows. Here, we have the first pieces in place--the sides and top of the alcove as well as the top board of the window frame.

Dad cut the hole in the panelling for the electric outlet box, and then we installed all of the other wood pieces around the window area. It took a long time measuring and cutting each piece to a custom fit, but it's going to look fantastic! I'm really pleased!

We put two boards next to the alcove so you can see an approximation of what the finished product will be. There will be inside corner molding on the lower panel, the window sill has to be rounded over on the outside edge, and then around the alcove will be a carved plinth block on the bottom on either side, a board with three routed vertical grooves on the top and sides, and two rosettes on the corners. Then wood filler will be used to fill any joints and the wood will be painted white.

Dad and I also chose the paint color we want for the walls. I'll post a photo of the color. It's sort of a light brownish color--neutral. The floors will then have that marble that I posted photos of earlier this year, and crown molding and baseboards will be installed (also painted white). I can't wait to see it all finished! Not long now! Hooray x 3!!!

Drywalling the Sunroom

Today we put the final drywall on the studwalls we built for the sunroom. We got the big pieces ready to cut, and then Dad measured carefully so we didn't waste any of the leftover pieces.




By the end of the day, all of the drywall was on, and we measured for the wood that needs to trim out the windows. Then Dad went to Home Depot to buy all of the things we needed for tomorrow.

Unfortunately, when I was helping Dad, bring the wood for our sunporch project in from the truck, I tripped backwards over a ladder that was lying on the far side of the living room. With all of my weight I fell onto the ladder, but I threw my right hand back to catch myself. Bad idea.

The palm of my hand found the one 6 inch area in the entire house where the tackstrip from the old carpeting hadn't been removed. Five little nails went into my palm and two more went into my index finger. I've also sprained my wrist and bruised my hand pretty badly. Gah.

Well, if you never do anything, you never get hurt, right? Hopefully I'll be better tomorrow. We have a lot of work to do.

The Sunroom Project

I have some photos to post of earlier work that was done on the sunroom, but I want to post the photos from today's efforts. The windows were replaced a few weeks ago when my uncle John came and helped to install them. The drywall was then added to the walls, and the room was ready for the details that will really finish out the room.

I had decided long ago that I want to recreate the inset look of the dining room windows and panel below with recessed panels and trim out the rest with wood. Today, we framed around the windows to get ready to do just that. Below are the photos to show you just what I mean.


The lumberyard brought us the 2x4s we needed this morning, and we began by building the upper part of the inset above the windows facing the street. Mom inspected our work and helped hand us tools as needed.

Here is the finished header piece.

Dad and I then installed the framing that went on the side walls on the right and left of the windows. Then we took a break and talked over phase two of the project.

Next, we built smaller versions of the header framing to go above the windows on the north and south walls of the sunroom. We then climbed up on the ladders and nailed them in place.

Once the headers were in place, we were ready to add the rest of the framing around the side wall window areas.

We completed this much of our work by 5:00 this afternoon, when we decided it was quittin' time.

Tomorrow, we'll drywall the faces of the framing and buy the wood we need to complete the project detail work. It may not look like much now, but by this time on Monday, I expect it to be absolutely stunning. :)

Reaching Completion on the Window Project

Day One
On the first day of the project, Dad and Conrad worked on getting the framing completed. There was a lot of work that had to be done with just getting things shimmed out so that all sides would be even around the windows. They cut little pieces, put them in, then scratched their heads as they discovered that measurements that worked at the top of the wall didn't hold true at the bottom, distances weren't the same on the left or right hand of each window, and the floors weren't even beneath. It was tedious and annoying, but they toughed it out and got the work done.

Day Two
The next day, they shimmed out the window area some more, getting the wall flat and plumb so that the drywall and panelling could be installed around the window area. It took the entire day, but by the time they stopped for the day, the windows were starting to take shape. Extra insulation was added to the wall as well, and plastic vapor barrier stapled over the top for good measure. This area should be very well protected from the elements.

Day Three
They began in the morning with installing the panelling on the sides and tops of the window wells. Finally, the wall was ready to have the chip board lain on the wall to add extra bracing support and to shim out the surface for drywall. It took a lot of head scratching and many many measurements, but the end result was really worth the effort.









Day Four