End of a Four Day Weekend

76 degrees with sprinkles.  Another beautiful day with several bugs but they were not biting much.

Today I ended my four consecutive days off from work (my day job) and I have made much progress toward insulating and hanging drywall on the inside.  Several years ago I hired a drywall contractor to do my den in the main house after I demoed all of the panelling and framed a new wall around the fireplace to give room above for a flat panel television.  I did the insulation during the den project and the contractor hung the drywall and taped and mudded the entire room in just one day.  He came back a couple days later to finish the sanding and the final coat of mud and it looks great.

Here is a look at the upstairs before the work began.

I vacuumed the upstairs before starting. 

The rafters are going to be left exposed.

I'm going to give this a try on the playhouse and do all of the taping and mudding myself, which I may regret later because I know that the pros make an art of it.  I have been reading articles and watching YouTube videos on the subject and will hope for the best.

Over the last couple days I completed the downstairs and have started to work on the upstairs.  I installed the insulation into the bays on the short long walls and was able to build up temporary scaffolding over the opening above the door as I work on that end wall.  The most difficult part of the project is now done, which was to insulate and cut the drywall pieces that go under the ridge beam at either end of the second floor.  They are triangular in shape and I wasted one entire sheet of drywall when I cut the angle incorrectly on my first attempt.  The next two cuts worked well and I now have the top ends done on both walls.

The insulation is installed along the low walls. 

The triangular drywall piece installed above the window in the upstairs room. 

I had to build this scaffolding to give me a place to stand and use a ladder next to the tall wall.  This is above the entrance. 

The second difficult triangle is now installed.  The rest should be easier.

That is about it for now.  I'm signed up to drive four kids in the neighborhood to school in the morning and plan to work several days until I can find time to work on the playhouse.

More later.

Part II - Within

72 degrees - beautiful day with dry weather and puffy clouds.  No mosquitoes around these parts today.

I'm back.  It has been well over a year and much has gone on here at the Pointed Playhouse (and in our lives) to include a burglary, national healthcare, Gustavo was killed (ref. Breaking Bad) and the playhouse won a This Old House award for 2012 best yard remodel (and best outbuilding).  

This Old House article: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/photos/0,,20598285_21164961,00.html

Embarrassing video: http://www.thisoldhouse.com/toh/video/0,,20597364,00.html

As I sit hear drinking my beer after 8 PM I'm wondering why I'm writing again in this blog.  I was hoping to write a nicely worded ending for my two daughters to let them hear my thoughts on why I built the playhouse for them and possibly some other life lessons.  I never got around to that or maybe I really don't know what to say or feel that the playhouse was such a large project that I could not simply end with a few words in a blog.  I'll never know.

What I do know is that I got tired of looking at the exposed framing on the inside and both my daughter said that they would like to use the playhouse if I only got rid of the spiders.  Truth be told, they never really got to enjoy the playhouse because we are too busy and it is simply not finished.

About a week ago I installed central heating and air conditioning (window unit installed centrally in a wall) to give us more time in the year to enjoy the space.

The heat / air conditioning unit sits under the roof.

The face of the unit as it sits just upstairs and able to cover both rooms.

I also added a sub-panel and many switches and outlets several months ago.

I then insulated the downstairs but still have the upstairs to do later this weekend.

Rolls waiting upstairs.

Great invention - the staple hammer.  Used on the roof and now inside.

Tucking the wires between the layers of insulation.

Cutting the insulation at 93 inches for each bay.

Using a 2x4 as a strait edge.  I then use a utility knife to cut the paper and glass fiber.

One wall started, many more to go.

I then decided to try to install the drywall on the ceiling and then walls in the downstairs room.  It was too difficult for me to do this by myself so I enlisted the help of Elizabeth.

Even though this is only 1/2 inch drywall it was very heavy.  Notice the wires that I have for the pot lights?

Second sheet installed.  not sure what the nailing schedule is here in Virginia.

Can't wait to tape and mud.

I then hung the sheets on the walls, which was very heavy but I was able to handle it on my own this time.  It helps to start screws in the sheet and then mark all of the switch and outlet boxes on the floor.  I measured up to the box and wrote the height on the floor so that I know where to start routing around the box.

First sheet on the wall going up.

It feels like a smaller space.

Wrote 20 on the floor to note the height of the center of the box.

The box with power and cable TV up in the corner.

Routing around the box.

And this is what the downstairs looks like after two days of work.

And I almost forgot to mention that Home Depot was very easy to work with again.  They pulled all of my material and delivered it to the house.

I'm not going to let them drive up on my grass this time.

Lots to do - insulation, drywall, mud, tape, window trim, baseboards, crown molding and flooring.

I guess that's it for now.  I have a total of four days to work on the project and I'm half way through and I don't feel like I need to take an Ibuprofen at this time, but that might be the Sam Adams Latitude 48 IPA talking.

More later this weekend, I'm sure.