December is gone as is 2020 (thank god!). Among the many normal things going on in life with Ryder’s school and the holiday season, but then I had prep work for my ABYC conference and this little basement project which deserves an update.
Framing started out slow as seen in my earlier posts, but I had to put my foot on the throttle as we approached my Christmas break from work. After a solid week of long days, I managed to frame out the remaining space. The challenges came in hiding existing plumbing so the drywallers had surfaces to mount to. The last night before insulation came, I was there until 11 wrapping things up.
Electrical is one of the areas I like most about these projects. It’s probably the career path I should have followed, but alas I didn’t. I was good at it in high school when Mr. Leighty in my Votech class let me wire the entire project house and its largely because of that project that I went to electrical school and went down the high tech pathway. The Swan Basement had to come in stages because of the timeline. Wiring it completely would have taken time i didn’t have. So I laid the ground work for me to complete later (which I am now doing this week). There’s a great feeling of satisfaction the first time you turn on all the lights and see the space lit with the design that was conceptualized months ago.
Insulation is a favorite milestone because in the course of a day the space goes from raw studs to rooms with definition. The sound change is incredible with barely being able to hear music playing from one room to the next. In previous projects, it has only taken a few hours to complete, but this crew took their time and burned nearly all the daylight hours on a day I needed to wrap up nailers and blocking for the drywall guys arriving the next morning.
Insulation wrapped up Friday the 8th and drywall started the next morning taking about 5 days to wrap up. They did a decent job, but thankfully long time friend and helper Buenaventura stepped in to make the so-so drywall work look great. Then he primed and painted.
Flooring starts today (Wednesday) and the ductless HVAC units are already hung. Doors and trim tomorrow. Moving day is Friday.
Wow. Looks like January is going to be a distant memory too.