Standiford Family

This was one of those days where most things seemed to go right. I got started around 8:00 working on re-routing some drain lines to the sump pump. I was almost finished with the framing (which didn’t get finished as I had hoped yesterday) when my Dad got there around 10:00. I finished adding some extra support studs while my Dad hung the electrical boxes. We ran all the wiring for the electrical boxes, the Ethernet cable for the network, and the coaxial cable for the satellite.

After wiring we installed insulation on all the walls that we could, there is a little problem with the wall facing the laundry room because there is no wall covering on the laundry room side and you shouldn’t install insulation and leave it uncovered. There ended up being more problems with that room later in the day, it looks like we may need to take down all the shelving in the laundry room so that we can re-stud the wall so that drywall can be attached correctly (oh boy).

With the insulation and wiring being completed on a large part of the room the next step was drywall. After lunch, I asked my Dad if he had time to go and help me get some and bring it downstairs because obviously this is not something I could do by myself. We went to Menard’s and picked up eight sheets of drywall and hauled then down to the basement. My Dad took off his coat and said he had a few more minutes so we decided to hang a couple of pieces. We hung the first three pieces on the longest wall and then I hung the last piece after he left with a little help from Megan. It looks great.

Here are a couple of pictures of Kade from Day 18 (I think). He is so into helping. We couldn’t decide which of these pictures we liked the best so we put all three up.

Another day another couple of support studs and pieces put into place. The best part about today was my Dad came over (again) and helped me get past the last couple (I hope) of sticking points for the framing. I should be able to knock the rest of the framing out pretty quickly tomorrow barring nothing else comes up.

Sorry about another day with no pictures but things are moving a little slow right now. I put up one of the two little walls and a couple of the extra studs needed in the closet area for attaching drywall to. I also cleaned out a bunch of the scrap wood and took it out to the garage or the trash.

Kade worked with me the whole time. He was so good, always bringing me something I needed or playing with my tools or his. The girls went home with Mom which made for a very quiet evening. Thanks Mom!

In the continuing saga of missing teeth, Mattey lost another tooth today. Actually it’s been a while since one of the girls lost a tooth. One of Mattey’s top front teeth has been loose for quite some time and finally with a lot of help from Dad it came out today. She doesn’t want the tooth fairy taking this tooth just yet so we told her she could just leave it on her dresser. As long as it wasn’t under her pillow then the tooth fairy knows not to stop.

Not too much to write about today. The wall that was framed yesterday but not completely finished or attached has been finished and attached. I now have two very small (less than 6 inches wide each) walls to build to go around a corner of cement that sticks out. I was out of wood so I had to go to Menard’s to pick up some more supplies. I bought the insulation for the room and all the wiring since that is what I will do next.

Another good day of construction. The first thing I did was look at cutting down a pipe that was hanging in the laundry room, came through the wall into the new office space, then exited out through the foundation into the garage. Both ends of the pipe were just hanging not connected to anything. While twisting the pipe to get it ready for cutting it started to move back and forth in the foundation so instead of cutting the pipe shorter and capping the ends I decided to removed the pipe and patch the foundation. This was a good choice and made for a much cleaner look.

I also got most of the framing done on the last wall. I have just a little bit of work to do under the window and then I need to secure the wall in place.

Kade always wants to be in the room helping but today he has really been wanting to help hammer. He finally got his chance late in the day and he was very happy.

Yesterday (Day 12) there was not much work done. My parents stopped by and we figured out how to get around the problem I was having the night before. I picked up Brendan and Corey after work and brought them home to play some games for a little while. It was mostly Megan, Brendan and myself playing Mario Kart on the Game Cube. We had a blast playing together and Mattey and Corey just liked to watch and cheer us on.

Today there was a lot of work done. I got started around 9:30 and didn’t stop until a little after 4:00. My Dad came over and we framed in the rest of the wall that will contain the two closets. It was a pretty difficult wall to frame up but we finally got it done. Only one more wall to frame. Yeah!

Not a good construction day at all. I put a few supporting pieces onto the game closet, marked and cut the top and bottom plates of the rest of main closet wall and then stared at it for quite a while trying to make it fit. We are trying to put in a 6 foot door for the closet to hold food storage and then a 2 foot door for the closet that will store coats or other out of season type things. As of right now I am missing 1/2 inch to make this exact setup work. I can’t seem to come up with a way to make it work. I’m going to have to talk to my Dad tomorrow and see if he has any ideas, he usually does.

Seems as if staying up last night was a major waste of sleeping time since Notre Dame failed to score another point after I reported that it was 21-13 at halftime.  They are in a major slump (understatement) when it comes to bowl games.  That is nine in a row they have lost.

I finally had to go back to work today so the updates may not include as much work as before. I put up a few support 2×4’s in the ceiling joists then tried to figure out what is connected to what in our electrical breaker box. I went through each breaker and made a list of of everything that is connected to it. The electrician who does all the work for Press Ganey, Vin, came over and checked out our breaker box to make sure it could handle the added electrical outlets and lighting in the new room. He suggested adding a sub panel to accommodate for the small panel that we currently have. He gave me his suggested brand and size and said he would come back to help hook it all up. It’s nice to know people like that who are willing to help.

Now I’m sitting here watching the Sugar Bowl and Notre Dame just scored to tie the score at 14. Hopefully they can pull off the upset! Shoot I didn’t even finish this post and LSU scored to take the lead again.

I almost hate titling this post anything to do with the new office space. I did clean up some of the mess left from yesterday’s long day of work and I pulled down some spacer boards that were on the ceiling that will not be needed any more but that is all the I work I did on the room today.

Since today was the last day of my vacation and one of the last days for the girls vacation I wanted to find something fun and different that we could do. We decided to go on a tour of the South Bend Chocolate Factory. They have free tours that start at the top of every hour from 9 until 4 and they also have a small fee tour that allows you to dip your own chocolate spoon and visit the chocolate museum. It was pretty neat to see and the kids really enjoyed the samples.

Check out the photos at Flickr.