Day 239: Mud

In the end I opted to skip the trip to Mars and work on the new house instead.  I have never finished dry wall before, but I knew the basic steps.  I watched a bunch of videos on YouTube.  I highly recommend the ones by Kody Harvey.  His instructions were clear, and I liked his method of instruction.  He has videos on installing drywall from the start.  I even found a bunch of videos on ICF (insulated concrete form) homes like the one we are building.  I plan to refer to his tile videos when we get to that point.

I felt comfortable enough to start working.  I opted to start in the laundry room.  I wanted a good practice room that was not necessarily a main area of the house.  I started in the corner where the heating unit will be since that will be in a closet and less visible.

I am pretty sure my actual methods would horrify anyone who finishes drywall.  I do expect to get better as I progress through the house.  I am planning to do the closet and pantry next.  I did not tackle any corners on my first day.  I stuck to the screw holes and taping over the joints.  The pictures above are after just one coat.  I know it will be a slow process, but the labor is free.

I am Flying to Mars Next Week

Did I get your attention with the title?  Are you wondering what a trip to Mars has to do with building a new house?  I truly think that people would be more accepting of me taking a trip to Mars than they are when I say I am going to be taping and mudding the dry wall in our new house.

I typically get responses like "oh" or lectures on how hard it is and how everything has to be perfect.  I dislike the word perfect.  Have any of you seen anything that is perfect - not really good but perfect?  NO!!!  Nothing is perfect, and yes, building your own home is hard.  It would have been easier to take out a huge mortgage and sit back and do nothing.  The way I look at the whole situation is that this is my house so I am going to take care to do is as good as I can.  I do not mean that professionals would not do a great job, but even they will not do it perfect.  We do not have to satisfy a bank or appraiser as all of the money invested in this project is ours.  I plan to do a good job and start in the heating unit closet as my learning area.  It will not be included on the official tour so if it is not really good, the world will not end nor will zombies roam the streets.

From now on my standard response when asked who is doing our drywall is that we have "some people".  That is true as W and I are some people.  If they press for more details, I will just have to distract them with pictures from my trip to Mars.

Days 225 - 233: Putting Up Dry Wall

These pictures are from part of one day when we were putting up dry wall.  We wanted to get the laundry room done so we could call back the heating/air people.

Dry wall installation is pretty basic, but I wanted to focus on a couple of odd areas.  The first one is our pocket doors.

W bought shorter drywall screws since the pocket door frame is not as big as a stud.  I also love the little attachment he bought for the drill.  It keeps the screw from going too deep.  This is good as I am not the best at using a drill and was nervous about messing up.

Second issue is that some of our water lines run through the wall.  Running a screw into one while putting up the dry wall would be a very bad thing.  Our plumber had a remedy for that.  He installed metal plates over the studs where a water line went through.  These are on both sides so drilling into that area is impossible.

The rest is just a matter of cutting out for any light switches or outlets.  I helped W a few days and he did more on his own.

Next up will be taping and mudding.

Decisions, Decisions

Building a new house means endless decision making.  We drew up our own house plans so we have been making decisions from the very beginning.  The decisions we make are not always popular with everyone else.  I am quick to politely remind people they can do things differently when they build a house.

One of the things we have spent the most time on is choosing flooring.  We knew we only wanted tile.  We live in the country with a garden, pets, and farm animals so we will never be lacking for dirt and other "stuff".  We also both have allergies and did not want any carpet. Our best advice (yes, some opinions are helpful) was to take our time and find something we really loved.  While we have not looked everywhere, we certainly looked at a bunch of tile.  In the end we came back to the first one we picked out.  We loved this one from the moment we saw it and nothing has even come close.

photo from Home Depot

This tile is by Marazzi and is called Montagna Smoky Black.  It is quite dark but has tones of brown, gray, and cream.  It will hide dirt very well but also offers us some options as far as furniture and paint colors.  I believe I can happily look at this for the rest of my life.

We are also at the point where decisions about cabinets must be made.  W's dad is building them for us.  We did look at cabinets and find a style we liked.  Originally I did not want any type of knob or pull.  In our current house I am at the perfect height for the pocket of my jeans to catch on the cabinet knob.  W loved the shaker style cabinet, and I have to admit that I liked them too.  Unfortunately this meant that we would be better off with a knob/pull.  We looked at a local building store for a pull, but of course the ones we liked were quite expensive.  I made a note of the brand and came home to compare prices.

photo from Home Depot

This barrel pull by Amerock was our choice and was much cheaper from Home Depot than anywhere else.  We needed enough to qualify for free shipping which was a plus.

Those are just two big decisions we made during W's forced time off from housework.  I am aiming for good enough not perfect.  As long as we are happy, I am not worried about what anyone else thinks.

Insulation and a Short Break

I cannot tell you how surprised W and I were that hiring a company to do the insulation was cheaper than doing it ourselves.  Remember that it always pays to at least get a quote on things.

The first part of the insulation was pretty simple.  The crew came in just to fill in the holes we carved out in the Styrofoam to run the wires.  

Right after this W gave in and went to the doctor for his painful elbow.  It turns out he has tennis elbow - more like nail gun elbow.  The doctor ordered him on rest for two weeks with no work on the house.  It meant we had time to think about other things - flooring and cabinet pulls.  I will share those in a post later this week.

Various Days - More Electrical Stuff

The electrical work was done over a span of days and is still not completely ready for inspection.  We are getting closer though.  In order to run the electrical wire into the exterior walls, we had to notch out the Styrofoam.  W tried a variety of methods including a router.

He ended up using the reciprocating saw to score the Styrofoam.  I went behind him with a chisel and pried it out.  No matter what method you choose, be prepared for a mess.

Here is a shot of the walls after the Styrofoam was removed but before I vacuumed.

W cut larger channels where the outlet boxes were so he had plenty of room to run the wires later.

Then we pulled wire from the panel box to each of the boxes.  The wire fit right into the lines we had cut out.

The other wiring is the same as in any other house.  The only difference we had was dealing with unusual exterior walls.

Although W did do all of the wiring himself, we had an electrician friend come over just to look at everything to make sure it was done correctly.

Days 193 & 196: Heating and Air System - Part 1

I am super excited about this portion of the construction process.  I have never lived in a home with central heat and air.  Well there was the two years we lived in a mobile home, but it was older and drafty.  Our current home is around 120 years old.  I can handle it during the summer as the window a/c units keep it cool enough for me.  The winters are not fun though.  I am looking forward to it being a fairly constant temperature year round.

Here are a few shots of the heating and air portion of construction.  We hired a local company to come in and do this.

Air Vents

Main Duct



The ducts are suspended rather than just left to hang.  I do not have much experience with heating and cooling systems, but this is rarely done by companies in my area.  According to an Energy Star auditor, this is excellent for efficiency over time.