Construction - Drywalling, Tiling and Painting

By the summer of 2021, our construction schedule began to take on new priorities.  My arthritic hip was seriously interfering with my effectiveness and we were reluctant to ask for more help from family and friend volunteers.  And I wanted to recuperate from hip-replacement surgery in our new handicap accessible ADA-compliant house rather than in our  one hundred year old residence, a house that gives new meaning to steep and narrow stairways.  So, for the sake of time and wear and tear on me and the volunteers, we decided to pay for more hourly help and subcontract such jobs as drywall taping, painting and tile work.

Friend Myron spraying the ceiling; note the
ceiling grid created by 1 x 6 MDF boards

The creative, design-on-the-fly, one-off thought and effort that has gone into the house over the past 7 years is now behind us.  Finding experienced tradespeople was easy because the interior finishing is essentially the same as for conventional construction.

As discussed in a previous post, the concrete floor was polished and stained as the first step in finishing the interior.  To protect it from drywall mud and paint splatters, we immediately covered it with resin paper and large tarps.  

(Reminder:  Click on any photo to enlarge it for better viewing.)

Drywall Taping and Ceiling Painting

The drywall finishers

Well before the time of this writing (March, 2022), professional drywall finishers had "mudded" the walls and professional painters had done an exceptional job with three coats. The ceilings had previously been finished with a grid pattern of 1 x 6 MDF boards fastened to the ceiling trusses with 3" construction screws.  They were added to secure the drywall under the load of the rice hull insulation which has roughly three time the weight of cellulose.  And they add interesting esthetics while eliminating the need for taping.  In advance of the tapers and painters, the ceilings for both floors were spray-painted by our neighbor, Myron, with a semi-gloss white as the topcoat (instead of the more common flat or eggshell) in order to reflect more of the sun's energy coming through the windows

Scaffold removed -- a major watershed!

in cold months.  

Drywall Taping and More Painting

After the ceiling was done, the second floor temporary floors that served as scaffolding could finally be removed and the drywall hung on the wall next to where they had been.  Finally, we could enjoy for the first time the openness over the living room and master bedroom and the unobstructed view from below of the second story windows and the catwalk in front of them.  It was then time to call in the drywall finishers for taping most of the house in one full swoop -- the exception being the airlock (entryway), vertical basement (storage and utility area) and the garage, which was done a few weeks later.  

Dorothy and Sue laying resin paper to protect
 the stained concrete which is visible in the middle
(viewed from the second story catwalk)

Through the Better Business Bureau we were able to find a local painting contractor staffed mostly by his extended family with high standards for integrity and workmanship. That they were able to start work immediately meant that we suddenly had to chose wall colors that we had only casually been thinking about.  

As soon as the painters were finished with the first phase, the contractor who polished and stained the concrete floor returned for the final buffing.  The painters returned for phase two after the drywall in the airlock, vertical basement and garage was mudded.

Tile Work

Retrieving one set of repurposed
cabinets found on Facebook

The polished and stained concrete floors and the composite flooring for the second floor (discussed in a recent post) eliminated the need for ceramic or porcelain floor tile except in the walk-in shower stall, the tub surround in the guest bathroom and the front entry floor.  Despite having an industrial strength tile saw, we decided in the interest of time to buy the materials and hire professionals to do the work. 

Odds and Ends Finishes

The painters departure set the stage for a myriad of odd jobs that had to be done before move-in (which finally happened the first week of March). During the week, I would peck away on them as much as my hip problem allowed then family and friends descended on Sundays to make a huge difference.  Interior doors were hung.  Closets and the pantry were outfitted with shelves, clothes rods, etc.  Serious storage shelves for the vertical basement were made from long recycled pallets. A convenient garment station for the airlock was designed, built and installed by Myron.  The energy-recover-ventilator (ERV), installed a year ago, was balanced by the HVAC contractor.  Openings high on the first floor that allowed warm air at the ceiling to escape to the second floor on its way eventually to be cooled by the concrete north wall of the vertical basement were gentrified with registers. Kitchen and bathroom cabinets (Facebook, Craigslist and Habistore finds) were installed followed by all new Energy Star appliances.  Ceiling fans and light fixtures (all Energy Star) were hung.  And a ridiculous number of wall plates were screwed to place over switches and receptacles.

Finally, we moved my woodworking shop from the free-standing unheated garage next door to the more spacious and conditioned garage attached to the new house. 

Work To Be Done After Move-in

Some of the casework could be done with MDF boards before move-in -- the airlock, garage and master bathroom mostly.  The local Building Inspector approved a conditional occupancy permit without the complete build-out of the interior. This will allow us to live in the house while we do such things as use our stash of sawmill hackberry for the final stairway, use our stash of sawmill red oak for the casework throughout as well as finishing the guest bathroom. His leniency is probably typical of most small town officials; he appreciates the extra time it will take to use the rough lumber and respects my need to take time off from non-essential construction for hip replacement surgery (which occurred the last week of April, meaning no more serious construction work for at least three months).

Stay tuned.