Finished Sheetrock

This is a little redundant of the last post about hanging sheetrock.  But if you appreciate sheetrock after it's been mudded and sanded, then you'll enjoy these pictures we took after we came back in town from Spring Break.  It's was a lovely feeling to see this done.  Since then Andrew has been priming all the walls & ceilings.  Last week, our exterior painter spent a rainy day indoors spraying the ceilings and closets with the usual white paint.

Living Room

Hanging Sheetrock

This is where a total gut job of a renovation turns into a real home, at least in our opinion. I can always visualize the layout of a home by seeing its frame or on paper. but when the sheetrock is hung, it really comes to life! Right before we traveled for Spring Break, we popped in to take these pictures of all the rooms with their newly hung sheetrock.

Foyer from Front Door

Rough In Inspections Passed

These little cards make us very happy!  We were amazed how quickly the inspectors came through after the electric, plumbing, and HVAC rough in was complete. Our contractor was really on top of scheduling things to happen back to back.  I remember on our previous projects having to wait around for inspections.  This is back in early March.  Right after this the insulation went in...and then you know what's next...sheetrock!

Catch Up Time

My apologies for taking the month of March and now half of April off from blogging.  I've been overwhelmed with mommy projects at home and couldn't find the time to catch everyone up on the Vance project.  Don't worry...we still took pictures along the way so you can see what you missed.  And don't think for a second that work ceased while I was away...in fact, Ronnie's crew is finished.  Yes, FINISHED!  The sheetrock is hung, mudded, and sanded which marks the end of our contract.

Overhangs

The rafter tails have what appear to be tongue and groove boards above them, even though they are very hard to see since they are so high up and so little of it shows.  Despite that we wanted to figure out how to duplicate that look on all of the new parts of the roof on the back of the house.  Here's our problem: for one, we didn't exactly communicate early on what our plans were so the carpenter thought he was going to build soffits around all of it.  So he just had decking on the unfinished rafters hanging over without any thought to appearance since he thought it would all be enclosed by the soffit.  That brings us to our next problem, now that we're retrofitting boards to the decking between the rafter tails, what do we use that isn't too thick and bulky and how does it fasten so that it doesn't pierce through the roof?  As luck would have it, I happened to notice some pine tongue and groove panel pieces on an endcap as we were making our way out of Lowes one evening.  Ronnie thought those might work; and after a few days, the carpenters were installing it.  We are very pleased with the outcome!  Once it's all painted the trim color, it's going to blend nicely with the old.

Exterior Carpentry

Front corner, lot side - frieze and fascia added

Rounding out the updates from this week are a few pictures of the work the carpenters are doing up along the edge of the roof.  The overhang on this house is not very big; and as far as we can tell, it was this way originally.  So I was unhappy with the thought of the siding going straight up to the eaves.  We decided to add a band of trim at the top which I learned is called a frieze.  When it's all painted the trim color, we think that this will add some nice dimension up there.

Plumbing And HVAC Are In Progress!

I knew the plumbers had begun work on the rough in earlier this week, but I was blown away to find all of the duct work installed in the upstairs rooms for the heating and air!  We're going with electric AC through out - of course - gas heat for the lower level and heat pump for the upper level.  This is the same way we did it in the Bailey house, and it worked out great having a split unit for a house this size.  Bean Heating & Air is handling the installation which is who did our first home on E. 13th Street.  I feel like we're in good hands.  Mr. Bean took a great deal of time discussing options with me when we did the walk thru, and it seems as if he's knowledgeable about installing HVAC systems in old houses.  That's always a good thing!