2 Milestones in 2 Days

With such a big project on my hands, it's hard to see the little changes and bits of work completed as progress. There have been many of those throughout the project thus far, but as of today there are two big milestones that are complete.

1) The bedroom and closet ceilings are drywalled!
2) I've taken all the plaster out to the curb! Complete in just over 2 months! Remember?

Can you believe it? I barely can! We worked hard this weekend to get it done though. I was up til 2:30 AM on Friday night getting things ready to go and ensuring that the AC units were in the windows since the weather report called for a hot 95 degree weekend.

At 2 AM I realized that I didn't have enough insulation to get the job done. After 3.5 hours of sleep, I hopped in a Zipcar over to Brooklyn to get more of the recycled denim insulation. It's 3 times the price of regular insulation, but to me it's worth the extra costs since it's a green product and there is no dealing with fibers all over your skin or worry about breathing them. After unloading, returning the car and bringing it up to the apartment, it was time to get my Dad, Kathryn (his lady) and my Uncle Steve from the airport in NJ. They got in just after 9 and we made a 30 minute Home Depot stop for supplies. $147 later and a 30 minute car ride and we were ready to rock.

After assessing the situation and a sandwich, we started in. Kathryn and I busted out the insulation while my Dad and Uncle started hanging drywall. We had too many people as it was, but it was nice to have a bit of a utility role to hand up tools, etc.

I was a bit intimidated by the drywall hanging, but not anymore. With the drywall jack, things were fairly simple. I'm confident I can probably even finish up the foyer on my own (although I won't...but I could if I needed to). First you level/shim, measure and cut the drywall, put it on the jack and test fit, glue, raise and screw. Easy, right? Here's a sequence of a sheet going up.

We worked through til 10:30 PM, finishing the bedroom, insulating everything and wired and partially pulled the remainder of the cable. We called it a night and sat on the roof with a few cold drinks, gazing at the moon and bridge. For the first time in months, there was an actual bed in the bedroom.

Sunday was a bit more of the same, but we were all moving a bit slower and it was harder to work in the tighter spaces of the closet. There was a bit of reinforcing of the framing too as well as some electrical wiring for the j-box in the foyer.

I can't thank my Uncle enough for braving the trip out to NYC. He's not a big city person and I know he stepped outside his comfort zone a bit. I hope it wasn't too bad for him and that maybe next time I can show him a few of the sights of the city.