Our Monona Mess

  One Hundred Fifty Remembering where we started from 150 days ago today and what it looks like now.  In about 150 more days, it will be Thanksgiving--imagine what it could look like by then.  Today we continued with flooring. Lauryn and I worked together to begin to lay the tile in the hall bathroom.  While we worked on that, Dave continued to lay the wood floor in the hall.  It looks a little like we have our own personal bowling alley right now. The color is just right. Dave did a great job of weaving the new floor in with the old.  But the most exciting part is that the tripping hazard is finally gone from the middle of the room. 

  Leaving the House  After sleeping in much later than we usually do, Dave and I worked on prepping the floor in the bathroom for tile. First we swept, scraped, and sponged it off and then cut the Ditra to size and shape. Dave spread the thinset and we put down the Ditra uncoupling membrane. This will both waterproof the floor and keep the tiles and grout from cracking.  This afternoon we took a break and went to the Radicals game. The weather was beautiful and the Radicals won. After stopping for ice cream,  we came home and mowed the lawn (well, the weeds that we call a lawn.) Dave spent the evening continuing to prep for weaving new floor into old in the kitchen. He cut off several boards to different lengths and then routered the edges to fit together well.  No more straight line. 

  Visible Changes Below I began the day with painting the ceilings in the entryway and the bathroom.  Then I needed to leave and Dave took over and continued to use up the paint on the ceiling in the kitchen.  You cannot see the changes, but now we are ready to paint the walls in the entry and bathroom and the upper cabinets can go up in the kitchen as soon as the drywall is done.  While I was gone, Dave prepped for installing and patching the hardwood floors in the hall and the parts where the old kitchen meets the new kitchen. Lauryn and I helped him get the stair landing and closet done (shown above) by searching through the boards to find the right size for each spot.  Then he started to go down the hall and meet up with the kitchen area. The ends of the kitchen boards all needed to be cut off, but to blend in the old with the new floor, we need to stagger the ends. He started by taking out some of the old boards.  The floors are scheduled to be refinis...

  Bourbon Break Today I grouted the tile under the cabinet in the hall bathroom. Who will ever see it? Probably no one, but we are testing a different grout so that was the best place to do it. The grout we used above the sink seemed to scratch the ceramic tile a little so we are testing a single component grout under the sink.  It worked well, but still seemed to scratch a little.  Tonight we cleaned...and cleaned! Taking out the ceiling, sanding dry wall, and fixing the stairs left quite a mess last week so Dave vacuumed for a couple of hours while I mopped and wiped everything down. Then we took a break to play some cards with our friend, Chad, while he and Dave tasted tested bourbons. Remodeling a house is stressful and tough on the body--this is what Dave's end table looks like every day.  So it was good that he had a drinking partner tonight!

  What is Blooming? While I was gone more plants around the yard started to bloom.  It is fun discovering what blooms this year, but we really are in need of some landscaping.  I was too tired from driving home to work on the house today, but Dave touched up drywall around the house and then hung as much of the backerboard as he could in the master bathroom. We need to pick out a shower before we can actually finish the last part. 

  The Ceiling is Coming Down Dave worked really hard for the last 3 days to finish hanging and pre-filling all of the drywall so that the finishers can come in and finish the corners and seams. The kitchen had many areas that needed to be done. Dave patched the area under the windows and the channel around the room that we used to run the new electric. He also patched the wall where the old wall came out between the kitchen and the living room.  On Wednesday night when I got home, I found the biggest surprise of all.  On Tuesday, when Dave was off work since he worked last Saturday, he and his mom started to remove the dropped ceiling in the living room so that the drywall finishers can patch the ceiling where the wall used to be. It is unbelievable how much bigger it feels already. Before we can install the kitchen, we need the drywall finished and to do that, Dave needed to remove the drywall sheets from the hallway and kitchen and put them somewhere until we need them....

  Smoothing Things Out Today in between working on the lawn and going to the Radicals game, Dave worked on grinding down the bathroom ceiling to make a smooth surface for taping and finishing. And Dave really enjoyed it! The corner former linen closet from the original bathroom, the ceiling where the wall between the bathroom and kitchen, and the former light are all patched and ready for finishing. 

  Park Clean Up Day The city of Monona held a park clean up day at San Dominano's today.  Volunteers cleared brush and spread mulch. After work Dave headed over to check out the progress and snapped this photo near the gardens.  I am still gone, but after work Dave finally closed in the ceiling in the main bathroom. Since it was plaster ceiling on each side, he needed to do 2 layers of 3/8 inch drywall.  Here is the finished project.  Tomorrow Dave can grind it all down to level. 

  Home Alone So I took the kids and left yesterday--not permanently--just to go visit my brother and sister-in-law for a little R&R. Dave has to work on Saturday and it seemed like a good time for break, so we went. At 3am, I was lying in a hotel room when the Snapchats start coming in--unfortunately I did not have the foresight to save the pictures in the Snaps, but the gist of it is--Madison got 1.5 inches of rain in a very short time--there is water dripping from the vent pipe in the bathroom, he forgot to close the attic windows so he went up to close them, discovered that the chimney was still leaking, went to get towels from the basement and discovered the wall was still leaking, remembered the breezeway windows were open and then discovered the screen porch was also open...the house is wet.  Tonight, in anticipation of more rain, he climbed up to fix it all himself (but not by himself--thanks again Chad--who came over to be his spotter after I insisted he not climb ...

  Big Problems The 2nd chimney has been leaking and we called the person who repaired the other chimney  and the vent pipe you see in to the left of the chimney to come fix it. We did not call right away. First we debated getting a new water heater. The old water heater is the only thing venting out this chimney right now and we thought maybe we would just get a new water heater, vent it out the side of the house, and then take down the chimney--then we decided that we have too many other projects to worry about right now and it could wait. So I called.  Well, there are no pictures to show the drama of the last 2 days. Day one--our guy shows up with a different crew, cause his guy is in jail.  After all day of working on the chimney and getting nowhere our guy realizes these people cannot fix chimneys. They all leave and nothing is done. Day 2--Our guy comes back do it all alone--he is afraid of heights people! It is fixed, it is not pretty, and it cost more than we ...

  The Tile is ALL Installed We are still having fun exploring our yard with each season.  Right now, the mulberries are ripening. They are so delicious and plentiful.  We picked the batch above by putting a sheet under the tree and shaking the branches. I think I have enough for a batch of jam.  Dave continued to work on the drywall last night and tonight. He has the former pantry turned 2nd linen closet  almost done and he patched the ceiling above it.  The highlight of the week is the bathroom.  The wall tile is finally all installed. Next step...grout and then the floor tile.  Hoping for a bathroom soon. 

  Drywall Drags On Today started with me having to rip a bunch of tiles off the wall.  I got ahead of myself last night and put up some tiles that needed to be cut first.  Then I cut a bunch of the tiles for the corners that were missing and the skinny ones for next to the wall. Mary was here again and she acted as my secretary as I measured all of small pieces and then handed them to me to put up in the correct places Dave kept working on the drywall--patching and pre-filling.  It is taking him much longer to patch the ceilings that he thought it would. Then he helped to cut the pieces of the chair rail for the niche and helped to hold and tape them on. He helped to cut the pieces for the left side of the niche that I had to rip off first thing this morning. Turns out, I ended the day like I began--ripping off tile. As I was adding the tile to left of the niche, I discovered that 2 chair rail pieces were broken, so I had to take them off--project on hold until I can...

  Dave Gets Grinding Dave is rushing to try to get all the drywall in and prefilled so that we can have the drywall finishers come and complete the seams in the walls and ceiling. There are so many holes where we took out walls and lights and outlets or switches or parts of the ceiling. Today he spent a long time grinding down areas to make them smooth and level.  It is getting more difficult to see where the wall between the kitchen and dining room used to be.  While he worked on that, I got help from both Lauryn and Mary with the tile in the bathroom. There were so many little tiles to cut and place.   We also got started on the niche. 

  Late Night Tiling Tonight, Dave took a break from closing up the attic where it is still stifling hot--the top number in the attic and the bottom number in the downstairs--to help me work on tiling.  We are to the point where so many tiles need to be cut, so Dave cuts the tiles while I keep laying them.   We were just getting done with the top of the wall above the shower when the above scene occurred right in front of the house.  No more tiling for the night as everyone watched the emergency responders and the tow truck while I cleaned up all the tiling stuff. 

Another Sunset Will the sunset across the lake ever get old? Nah. Tonight Lauryn and Rufus and I took a walk right at sunset and stopped at a little park to watch the sunset across the lake--with the Capitol in the background. Dave has been hooking up the electricity throughout the upstairs over the last few days. He gave us hall lights for the first time--they are hanging from the ceiling yet until the ceilings are patched and painted.  He also hooked up the lights in the kitchen, but we do not want the new lights up until the ceiling is done, so he put whatever lights he could find around the house in the holes.  No Dave is not sitting on the toilet in the water closet--he is wiring the electrical outlet.