Jatoba installed!

H. and Dan broke open the boxes of beautiful jatoba, got going with the flooring nailer, and two bedrooms are done!  When I dropped by with beef stew for lunch, the hall was coming along quickly, with a lovely "brick-laid" corner piece at the turn.  It's starting to look livable!  Trim will come in awhile - maybe custom milled by H., if he has time.  But at least with fresh paint and new flooring, we could move in and work around the rest.  That is, if the electrical and plumbing become functional by next Friday... TBA, a.s.a.p.!

Reclaimed Insulation Makes a Come-Back in the Basement

Who knew that insulation that H. and Cam reclaimed from a local industrial site would end up in our basement?  Last summer, H. and Cam retrieved bats of pink insulation from an industrial location that was renovating.  The stuff was in perfect condition, completely reusable, and they had someplace to store it, so... why let it go into a landfill?
     Today, Andrew and Elliott Perkins got the fluffy stuff out of storage, and Andrew hoofed it down the basement stairs.  It's destined to fill the newly-framed walls, in between the basement rooms, for both acoustic and thermal insulation.  Ahh... the colour of peace and quiet...

Cork colour?

It's time to pick the cork flooring.  Would the dark or the light version look best with the jatoba flooring adjacent?  (The cork samples are the squares in the middle...)

Either one looks great, with the variation in darkness of the flooring, it's nice to think we could pick either easily.  We all lean toward the darker version - more interesting grain.  More dramatic.  We found it in Albany, NY, and will have to order it soon.  Hopefully, Neil can claim it when he re-enters the country, and reduce the duty on importing it.  We haven't seen anything quite like it here, so we have our hearts set on this cork for the working area of the kitchen.  Renewable, soft under foot, durable and unique, this cork will make a statement in the new kitchen - whenever we get one!

Crisis: moving in... when???

What's that they say about renovations and moving being stressful?

     The family from whom we are renting our temporary abode may need to move into this house soon, requiring us to move into Bicknell way early.  Like, next weekend!  Moving was not on the radar, with insulation, walls and electricity still being installed, no plumbing (on hold since we tore out a bathroom), and no flooring on the main level yet...  Flooring would be a pre-requisite, not to be laying it underneath furniture and daily life, and electricity and plumbing are pretty basic, aren't they?  So - how are we going to do this?!
     We had thought we'd negotiate a date that worked for both families when the notion of this rental came up.  When we finished our reno and moved out, the owner's family would move in and do their reno at their own house.  But, no date was set, and as reno's go, ours was on schedule but is behind now because of delays with the basement...  No kitchen, no flooring, no plumbing or electrical, and a week to go?!?!  I feel like that guy on HGTV doing an extreme reno and the family is due to come home before the kitchen is installed...  How will we ever manage this?!  We might not.  Stay tuned.

And did I mention we're training a 5 month old puppy? I read someplace that there are three things NOT to do while writing a dissertation - don't renovate your home, don't get a puppy, and don't move unless you're evicted... so much for the dissertation progress!

Jatoba flooring revisited...

     After the Home Depot spruce flooring was delivered to Bicknell, Gaylord Flooring called.  "We have a shipment of the jatoba flooring you liked coming in at a fabulous price, in case you'd like to reconsider..."    The beautiful flooring we had loved, and denied ourselves, was being offered at a reduced price!  Could we afford it now?  Yes! Could we return the Home Depot spruce?  Yes!  OK - we're on!  Jatoba it is.
     We ordered 5" wide jatoba "rose, rustic".  Not distressed, but with a "dog finish" - multiple coats of titanium for a durable, scratch-resistant finish.  H. agreed to do the work,  but we thought we should have a clue... so Andrew and I attended a workshop to learn about installation.

After several days of letting the new flooring acclimatize in the house, H. recruited his friend Dan to install it, and they are slaving away to get as much in as possible this weekend.  Ahhh... visible progress, and fabulous wood everywhere!  This is going to be soooo beautiful!  Who needs rugs?

What happened while I was in Puerto Rico?

So I ran away for a week with two girlfriends to Puerto Rico - a birthday gift from Andrew to me and my friend Christina for her 40th and my... 55th!  We took another friend along and headed for Christina's cousin's condo outside San Juan.  Lovely week of beaches, waterfalls, snorkelling and "fuzzy drinks at five"... Ahhh... totally indulgent.

 

Then it was back in the saddle - office, school and... reno, of course!  So what happened in the house while I was away?  Some walls got framed, some more tar paper went up, and most of all, the basement became festooned with electrical wire!  Mike had been busy re-locating all the light fixtures, outlets and boxes required to adjust every electrical connection after the original walls were moved. Some walls moved less than 6 inches, but what that did to the wiring...  Lots of work, looked kind of like this:

Mike O'Neill amid framing remnants and electrical progress...

I was a little discouraged, I guess - I had hoped the walls might be farther along, more visible progress maybe?  But some progress just isn't very visible, so I adjusted my faith and hope meter, and figured I have a lot to learn about renovating.  (Duh!)  And the work carried on...

Tar paper never looked so good!

After much debate about whether to use Blueskin or tar paper on the basement wall; steel, Bluwood or ordinary studs; what kind of fasteners and how it all fits into the budget, H. started hanging tar paper and ordered a load of 2x4 studs delivered to the driveway.  The basement is taking shape again!  After taking out the basement board, insulation, strapping and studs, the bare walls looked forlorn, with seemingly vast work to be done.  Why did we do this - tear out a perfectly usable finished basement?!  Oh yeah, that energy retrofit.  Spray insulation for R27 walls.  New gas furnace and heat pump. I remember

now, and it's looking better already!