Framing and Insulation

Well things are still slow going over here.  Scratch that.  Things are no-going.  But that's ok, we hope to get back on track in about a month or so once Darryl's done his semester at school and I have some time off from work.  In the mean time, there was a little bit more that we got done this summer before school started up again.

 

 

 

Darryl put some foam baffles in the attic for ventilation to channel cold and hot air to the roof vents before putting the insulation in.

 

 

 You can also see the fan partly installed under Darryl too, which is fantastic and should prevent any mould from forming like it did before.

 

 

This was one of those things we didn't take into consideration and ended up pushing back the more exciting things I was hoping to get done, like drywall and tiling and installing fixtures.  But it's obviously something that is needed and will help us in the long run.

 

 

Then Darryl got some framing up - that was an exciting visual change for me!

 

And this is the view from in the bedroom, looking into the washroom.

 

 

Then came some insulation.  Another big visual change that excited me - another step closer to making it look more like a livable room again!

 

 

Hopefully these rooms will be a bit toastier in the winter and cooler in the summer months now, and our energy bills will be a teeny bit lighter.

 

 

Not the most exciting or visually stimulating post, but definitely exciting for me as the rooms start to look a little less like construction zones!

 

We did get just a teeny bit more done in August before school started up, so I'll share those pictures as well.  And dream of getting back to the hard work and progress in a few weeks.

 

 

 

Why Our Demo Timeline was Tripled...

When we originally embarked on our newest reno, we thought we'd be done demo in a day, easily.  Well it quickly progressed into 3 days.  Not for no good reason though.

 

The door on the left leads to the bathroom, and the room you can see into is the back bedroom...

 

 

And then this happened to that room...

 

 

 

Mhmm, when they say that renos tend to snowball quickly, this is what they mean.  We knew we wanted to take about a foot of space from that bedroom to make the bathroom just a bit more spacious, but once one wall came down, the others weren't too far behind.  We didn't start out with the intention of demoing the whole room, just the wall that backed onto the bathroom, but once we got started we figured it was a good opportunity to better insulate at least one room upstairs.  

 

 

Just like we found during our main floor reno, there was zero insulation up here either.  It gets pretty hot up on that floor in the summer with no AC, and no insulation.  So we figured the extra hard work now, would pay off in the long run.

 

 

 

This looks all too familiar.  Funny how it's been a few years since our main floor looked like this, and yet once you get into the demo again, it feels like you haven't had a day off.

 

If you were to stand in that bedroom and face out you'd see the hall, and that wall that attaches to the bathroom. 

 

 

And now it looks like this...

 

 

Wide open spaces (anyone else singing with me on that?)

 

So where are we now?  Well, we're at least a little further along than that picture which I'll share next week but, truth be told, it's busy times over here...Darryl's back to school and has acquired a part time job which takes up most of his weekends, he's also in the thick of midterms so, needless to say, there are bigger priorities right now than finishing our only 3 piece bathroom in our house (now that's a statement!).  But getting good grades is the most important thing for now, then we can refocus our energies back on construction.

 

Anyone else out there have a big project on hold??

 

Bathroom Demo



This post isn't pretty so I'll keep it simple.  Demo started with the fixtures coming out...

 

We are keeping the toilet because we upgraded it to an eco friendly one when we re-did our main floor (full disclosure: the seat lid got ruined during demo so that part will have to be replaced)

We are keeping the tub on hand because we can't bear to part with it and have hopes to one day incorporate it into our "forever home".  I would love to have a shower and this tub just for bathing.  But as far as having it as your only method of shower, it was not practical or enjoyable for us.  It was like suffocating in shower curtains that stuck to you like magnets, no where to put your soaps and shampoos (yes we had a rack that straddled the tub but that didn't stop things from always falling off).  The main reason though, was that this baby's enamel had worn off.  To give you an idea, here is a picture of it immediately after a thoroughly aggressive scrub-down:

The sides are fine, but take a closer look at the bottom...

Ladies, how does one leave a shower (nevermind a bath!) feeling truly clean in that!? (mhmm, I showered in flipflops).  Yes, it could be refinished, that's why we're holding on to it for now, but it was a budget breaker for us at this point.  So it was removed...

Just cause I was curious...Made in Toronto

You know how they say things get worse before they get better?  This was what was behind the tub...

Pa-ukkkkkkke!  Pretty sure that is some mould  :S

While we're on the topic of grossness, when we took the tub out, we found this...

That, my friends, is a Christmas glass half filled with cigarette butts.  Like whhhaaaat!?  WHO was smoking in the bathroom and hoarding their old butts under the tub???  The people who lived here before us continue to amaze.

And since I'm past the point of shame now.  This is nast, but at least somewhat expected.

Once that was all taken care of, I taped everything off...a feeble attempt at keeping the dust contained.

 

Covering the demo process could easily take up a few posts, but I think that could get boring pretty fast so I'll give you the Coles Notes instead.

 

The floor came up...

The walls came down...

The plumbing was exposed...

Et Voila...  a demoed bathroom!

 

 

If only the process had been as quick as that  ;)

Here's to things going from worse to better!

In a couple of days I'll show you why our projected one-day-demo plan turned into 3 days.

Formals

 

Here's the last little bunch of wedding pictures.  I've shown you the pre-ceremony and ceremony pictures, and these ones today are the "formals".  We got some pictures of my grandparents who looked fabulous!

 

 

 

Such a good looking couple!

 

Then, something I wanted was a generation picture of my nana's, my mum's and now my, wedding rings...

 

 

 

We took a few pictures of the wedding party who clean up quite nicely!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We thought it would be fun to have a picture of the girls lifting Darryl...

 

 

 

 

Nailed it!

 

There is an entire series of pictures of the whole process of them dropping him which makes us all laugh, but eventually they got it...

 

 

 

 

 

Darryl killing some time...

 

 

 

Darryl couldn't be the only one having fun, so I hopped up for a fun pic too.

 

 

 

 

Luckily I was not dropped!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Some detail...

 

 

 

 

My hair...

 

 

 



 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Nearing the end of the picture taking stuff, we were both starting to feel a little delirious, in need of food, water, and a chance for our cheek muscles to relax...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So there we go!  That's a little peek into how our big day was, one year ago.  It was the most special day I've experienced in my life so far and I love looking back and reliving it through these pictures. 

Again, thanks so much to my cousin, Shelagh, for taking our pictures!