Tonight I went and picked up the ceiling drywall I'll need for this weekend's activities. Rachel and Jim were able to sacrifice some of their evening and Jim's truck was invaluable as we easily laid in 10 sheets of 5/8" fire rated drywall. I had heard rumors that this stuff was heavy and the rumors quickly became the truth.
Getting up to Home Depot in Yonkers and back was no big deal. It soon became apparent that unloading this stuff was not going to be easy. While Jim watched the truck, we attempted to put a piece in the elevator. No luck. We backed out and went to plan B - through the courtyard and up the stairs. To let Jim go, we unloaded the 10 sheets and set them down in the courtyard. My neighbors, Maite and Brian, we're kind enough to agree to help me unload. Poor suckers.
The first sheet was a bit difficult. We could easily take it up the stairs and partially into the hallway, but then getting it around the next corner/over the railing was a bit difficult. By the third sheet, we had a system down. One person on the door, 3 people on the sheet going up the first set of stairs. The middle man scurried ahead and became the receiver as we flipped it over the railing. The then empty handed opened the door and became the new center person.
By the time we had this figured out, it was about 6 minutes per sheet. 4 was the magic number for the job. It took us a while to get it going smoothly though and we all needed a few drink breaks. In about an hour and 10 minutes, it was all done.
I can't thank my friends enough for all their help. This really saved me an invaluable amount of time this weekend when the labor and expertise will be here.
Sorry, on picks for this one...maybe next time as I'll have to do it again soon.
Thursday, June 5, 2008
Sunday, June 1, 2008
I'm all 'Wired' up
After another week of traveling, I came home from Denver yesterday with goals to start and finish wiring what I could of the apartment. I've bought a 500 ft. roll of RG6 wire for cable television wiring and a 500 ft. roll of loudspeaker wire. Wiring is quite simple, but since I had a bit of a master plan, it made it a bit more time consuming.
I've decided that everything should be concealed so I had to do some drilling through a few beams to run some cables. As well, my philosophy is the more cable outlets, the better. With that said, I'm running two stereo pairs of loudspeaker wiring and three RG6 cables in the bedroom (thus, 3 cable and two loudspeaker jacks). The loudspeakers will be 'home run' to the living room, where they can get a feed off of a receiver with multiple room outputs. The RG6 will be home run to the foyer ceiling where there will be a splitter box distributing the signal.
The smart thing I'm thinking about here is future wiring. I need to assume that my cable TV won't always come in from the facade as it is now (especially with the upcoming roof project our building is going to be going through). Thus, I've bought a combiner so I can run one wire from the dumbwaiter shaft to the foyer and the existing to the foyer as well. Thus if the wiring ever changes, I'm prepared and won't have to open up the ceiling much or completely rewire. These splitters/combiners are great devices and I recommend them to anyone who is wiring their place up (http://www.smarthome.com/7810.html). Once the signal is combined, out it goes via a 6-channel splitter (http://www.smarthome.com/7810C6.html).
The hardest work in all this was to tie together the loudspeaker wiring so I could have a stereo pair. I found the best method was to actually hang the wire out the window 6 stories in length and then twist the wire pairs (its not shielded) and tie it with zip ties. A bit of a process, but it seems to work. I'll have to mark up all my drawings with this wiring now for future reference.
I've decided that everything should be concealed so I had to do some drilling through a few beams to run some cables. As well, my philosophy is the more cable outlets, the better. With that said, I'm running two stereo pairs of loudspeaker wiring and three RG6 cables in the bedroom (thus, 3 cable and two loudspeaker jacks). The loudspeakers will be 'home run' to the living room, where they can get a feed off of a receiver with multiple room outputs. The RG6 will be home run to the foyer ceiling where there will be a splitter box distributing the signal.
The smart thing I'm thinking about here is future wiring. I need to assume that my cable TV won't always come in from the facade as it is now (especially with the upcoming roof project our building is going to be going through). Thus, I've bought a combiner so I can run one wire from the dumbwaiter shaft to the foyer and the existing to the foyer as well. Thus if the wiring ever changes, I'm prepared and won't have to open up the ceiling much or completely rewire. These splitters/combiners are great devices and I recommend them to anyone who is wiring their place up (http://www.smarthome.com/7810.html). Once the signal is combined, out it goes via a 6-channel splitter (http://www.smarthome.com/7810C6.html).
The hardest work in all this was to tie together the loudspeaker wiring so I could have a stereo pair. I found the best method was to actually hang the wire out the window 6 stories in length and then twist the wire pairs (its not shielded) and tie it with zip ties. A bit of a process, but it seems to work. I'll have to mark up all my drawings with this wiring now for future reference.
Monday, May 26, 2008
Over a half mile
Having cracked through the most difficult pieces yesterday, we made headway again today and completed the first finishing coat on all of the trim. It rained all night and our setup in the 3 car garage proved to be invaluable, although a bit tight on drying space. By 1 PM Mr. Sun poked his head out and the fog had cleared. We continued to finish up our last batch while the morning batch dried in the sun.
By 3 PM, we were finished painting and began to move what we could into the basement to cure for the next 2 weeks. Unfortunately, most of the trim will need a 2nd coat and I hate to leave my Dad here with it. I’ll try to get out here again to finish it up.
By the time all of the trim is painted, we will have painted about 1,000 ft. of trim 3 times...over a half mile! Yikes!
By 3 PM, we were finished painting and began to move what we could into the basement to cure for the next 2 weeks. Unfortunately, most of the trim will need a 2nd coat and I hate to leave my Dad here with it. I’ll try to get out here again to finish it up. By the time all of the trim is painted, we will have painted about 1,000 ft. of trim 3 times...over a half mile! Yikes!
Sunday, May 25, 2008
Sweet Strokes Dude
Another full 10 hour day of painting. We’ve tackled some of the most difficult of the trim pieces…and learned a few lessons too. Lesson #1 – Don’t roll primer on wood when the sun is beating down on it! This caused the paint to set a bit quickly and resulted in an orange peel look. We should have followed it with brush strokes right away. Lesson #2 – The orbital sander is a close 2nd to the Sawzall…at least for now. This saved the day in eliminating some of those annoying roller marks.
Besides the frustration of a few mistakes made yesterday and hints of rain that threatened, but didn't “dampen” our work day, my Dad and I made a lot of headway. We put the first finish coat on about 50% of the trim.
The difference is amazing. Here’s a picture of a finished piece of wall molding and the original. So much detail restored and a finish that looks fabulous.
One more day of painting…
Saturday, May 24, 2008
Run Faster! We’ve got a lot of trim to paint!
I'm glad I operate on little sleep as today's schedule was nothing but brutal.
4:15 AM – Wake up
4:30 AM – Shower and Eat a light breakfast
4:45 AM – Get in car and head north to Mackinaw City
5:15 AM – Register for Race
5:30 AM – Get on bus to North Side of Mackinaw Bridge
6:03 AM – Run across Mackinaw Bridge (5.5 miles)
6:38 AM – Cross the finish line
7:00 AM – Eat a salty breakfast (included in the race entry fee!)
7:45 AM – Arrive back home
8:00 AM – Shower again
8:30 AM – Start to prep painting
6:30 PM – Stop painting (yes, 10 hours)
So, as you can imagine, I'm a little tired. That big pile of wood you see is all of my trim. My Dad, Kathryn (his girlfriend) and I were able to prime everything today which is a huge accomplishment.
As a result of our unexpected progress, I've made the executive decision to put the finishing coat on the trim. Although touch-ups are likely to be needed when we mount it, it will save a lot of time not having to tape and paint it when its on the walls. The hardest part was picking a color. I want it to match the kitchen cabinet color, but I haven’t technically picked that out just yet. After comparing a few of the cream colored cabinets to paint colors in the store, I ended up with the Vermont Cream from Behr (go to Home Depot if you really want to see it). Good thing too, as Home Depot is having a sale on paint this holiday weekend! Time for bed!
4:15 AM – Wake up4:30 AM – Shower and Eat a light breakfast
4:45 AM – Get in car and head north to Mackinaw City
5:15 AM – Register for Race
5:30 AM – Get on bus to North Side of Mackinaw Bridge
6:03 AM – Run across Mackinaw Bridge (5.5 miles)
6:38 AM – Cross the finish line
7:00 AM – Eat a salty breakfast (included in the race entry fee!)
7:45 AM – Arrive back home
8:00 AM – Shower again
8:30 AM – Start to prep painting
6:30 PM – Stop painting (yes, 10 hours)
So, as you can imagine, I'm a little tired. That big pile of wood you see is all of my trim. My Dad, Kathryn (his girlfriend) and I were able to prime everything today which is a huge accomplishment.
As a result of our unexpected progress, I've made the executive decision to put the finishing coat on the trim. Although touch-ups are likely to be needed when we mount it, it will save a lot of time not having to tape and paint it when its on the walls. The hardest part was picking a color. I want it to match the kitchen cabinet color, but I haven’t technically picked that out just yet. After comparing a few of the cream colored cabinets to paint colors in the store, I ended up with the Vermont Cream from Behr (go to Home Depot if you really want to see it). Good thing too, as Home Depot is having a sale on paint this holiday weekend! Time for bed!
Friday, May 23, 2008
Painting in Michigan
It’s been a blur of a week and the holiday weekend has started out in a similar fashion. After about 2 hours of sleep, I woke at 3:15 AM to head off for Michigan via a 6 AM flight at LaGuardia. I feel like I’ve taken every form of transport besides a boat today, but I've arrive safely after flying on Northwest (of Northworst as I like to call it). Scrambling for a few hours, I submitted what I need to for work and completed the always fun trip to Home Depot to begin the painting of the trim tomorrow.
That's right, I've come all the way home to Michigan to paint trim with my Dad on a holiday weekend. We saved a few thousand dollars by having it replicated in Michigan. Although it’s a bit of an expense to fly out, there is a luxury here that I’ve forgotten: room to work!
I saw the trim for the first time tonight and it looks fabulous. The milling is spot on and my Dad has kept it inside all winter making sure it’s nice and dry, minimizing any chance for warping and splitting since it has been in a controlled environment.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so it's off to bed for now.
That's right, I've come all the way home to Michigan to paint trim with my Dad on a holiday weekend. We saved a few thousand dollars by having it replicated in Michigan. Although it’s a bit of an expense to fly out, there is a luxury here that I’ve forgotten: room to work!
I saw the trim for the first time tonight and it looks fabulous. The milling is spot on and my Dad has kept it inside all winter making sure it’s nice and dry, minimizing any chance for warping and splitting since it has been in a controlled environment.
Tomorrow is going to be a long day, so it's off to bed for now.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Traveling and forgetting plaster
I've been gone for 10 days now on a crazy trip to London, UK and Athens, Greece for work. Long story short, I've forgotten what it's like to live in a construction site. I came home yesterday a bit jet lagged to the pleasant reminder of plaster dust on the floor, surpise pieces of wall fallen and my clothes fallen to the ground as my makeshift closet (a shower rod) fell in my abscence. Swank hotels and friends homes with clear areas to sit down on and clothing in closets has been the norm for the past week. It's been nice traveling without any plaster.
Now reality has reminded me how much work I have to go. After a good night's sleep and a day of work, I'm back into my routine of hauling out bags of plaster in the Radio Flyer cart. I took it easy tonight, just 6 bags to our building's pile, just so the trash guys don't get ticked off that I'm back. I'm sure they had a nice week and half off without having to haul away my plaster. Luckily the pile has greatly dwindled and there are only a handful of pickups left for it to be all gone.
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