Clean-Sweep

Thursday night was a clean-up time. Brent spent about four (4) hours sweeping, vacuuming, organizing and throwing out misc materials on Zelda last night. He wanted to have all the newly installed subflooring clean and he accomplished that goal.

Brent will be out of the country on business for the next week, so progress will be slow. There is a contractor working on the two (2) piers and will begin work on the fireplaces. As mentioned before, the cement board siding has been ordered and should be delivered in about one (1) week.

The first picture above is a photo of our walk-in pantry, looking from the center of the kitchen. We plan to install heavy duty commercial style shelving and put our upright freezer in this space. Notice how clean the floor is.

The next picture is a shot from the dining room looking into the keeping room and the kitchen. The fireplace is double sided and seperates the keeping room and dining room. The kitchen area begins where the work light is standing.

The next photo is our downstairs bathroom. It is located at the end of the foyer near the foot of the stairs. It will have a pedestal sink and a tiled shower, no bathtub. Behind the bathroom is the laundry room and entry from outside. Behind the laundry room is the pantry.

Below is a shot taken from the bathroom looking towards the front door. The flooring in the foyer still needs to be removed, reinforced and new subflooring installed. Notice the clean floor.

The last photo is looking from the dining room into the foyer and the room on the other side (without subflooring) is the proposed library/living room. The entrance to the foyer will be a wide and tall opening with no doors. Notice how clean and uncluttered the floor is in all the pictures.

Weekly Goals Accomplished

Last night, Brent worked for more than four (4) hours but he was able to complete all the items on his list for the week. The dining room, kitchen, keeping room, pantry, laundry room and bathroom all have been completed with insulation and subflooring in place. There are a couple of spots in the room that require the hvac contractor to hang the vents.

Tonight, Brent will clean-up, organize and start installing the chicken wire for the insulation in the library.



The contractor has started work on repairing the fireplaces. First, he is installing two (2) piers outside where the extension of the pantry hangs out from the original footprint.

The cement siding has been ordered and should be delivered within two (2) weeks. Our contractor neighbors will be installing the siding for the back side of the house.

If you have never experienced it, you do not have the appreciation and feeling of accomplishment for having the subflooring down. We are now able to walk around over half the down stairs without trying to balance on floor joists. The floor is very level and little or no height difference when you transition from one room to another where a wall once stood.
The house has taken a few breaths and is starting to come back to life. We just hope it is not the old lady that locals say appears in the upstairs dormer window.

Sub-flooring in Dining Room

Last night, Brent put down two (2) more sheets of subflooring in the dining room. He ran out of subflooring and was able to leave early around 9:00 pm. He plans to purchase additional subflooring and finish the around the edges in the dining room, keeping room and kitchen. The majority of the first floor is now covered in subflooring which makes a huge difference in appearance and being able to work. Still need the HVAC contractor to return and install the return ducting and hang the vents in most of the rooms.

Brent should be able to finish up the trim work in the rooms in the next two (2) nights before heading to Finland for one (1) week. Its a shame he has to travel because the momentum in putting down the subfloor is very high. He is hoping to starting installing the chicken wire for the insulation in the library sometime Thursday night.

After The Turkey Break.

After the Thanksgiving Holiday break, Brent has resumed work at Zelda. After returning from East Tennessee, he finished removing the remaining aluminum siding and installed the OSB and housewrap. During the break, the Kings Mountain utility department, moved the electrical connection from the side of the house to the temporay pole. Once relocated, this allowed Brent to finish. He also installed the framework for three (3) additional windows. On Monday night, he installed the final chicken wire in the dining room for the installation and two (2) more sheets of subflooring. He expects to finish the dining room subflooring by Wednesday night.

Also, a contractor is working on our fireplaces inside to strengthen them and make them ready for the gas inserts. The same contractor will also install an additonal pier outside to support the pantry addition overhang.

Expect some pictures tomorrow once they are available.

Weekend Warrior

This weekend, Brent was working alone and decided to take off the aluminum siding and old wood siding of the kitchen. Our plans are to install cement siding to replicate the old siding. The existing wood siding was not in great shape, but the biggest obsticle was having enough to repair the bad spots. Brent saved enough of the siding to repair spots on the remainder of the house once all the aluminum siding is removed next spring.

Brent did work both days this weekend and finished up his work Saturday with daylight to spare. He was able to demo, install new osb and the house wrap. He also was able to get a jumpstart on the aluminum siding removal on the side of the house before calling it quits on Saturday.

Sunday turned out to be a different story. Issues with the temporary electrical line being in the way and a gas line called for some delays and working at a slower pace. Also, Brent had to frame in for the kitchen window, which required a trip to Lowes for purchasing 2x4x12 ft studs. Numerous obsticles occured on Sunday, such that the daylight spared on Saturday could have been used on Sunday. Brent finished installing the osb in the dark and will install the house wrap on Tuesday.

Funny how they never show the obsticles on HGTV.

Pathway - Front to Back

Now there is a continuous sub-flooring from the back of the house to the front wall. Brent was able to install some sub-flooring sheets in the dining room and reached the front wall.

His prep work took about an hour as he installed the chicken wire between the floor joists and then the installation. He is also using liquid nails and then screwing the sub-flooring to the joists.

The next accomplishement will be to have the subfloor from side to side.

Four Months Work on Zelda

Today marks the forth month to the day (july 13th) that the first dumpster arrived on site at Zelda. Since then, alot of demolition and ground type work has been performed on the house with minimum cosemetic work, besides the roof. Now the sub-floor is reaching into the dining room. Last night, Brent laid two (2) more sheets, installed chicken wire and insulation. He is on a steady pace and makes small accomplishments each night.

The photo shows the subflooring in the dining room entrance from the keeping room near the bay window
area. Progress is slower here as angle cuts need to be made and the transition from one room to another also required the use of an electric hand planner.

The results of the planner are fantastic. Prior there was a large height delta between the existing beam and the new floor joists but now the transition is seemless.

Each time a new sheet of subflooring is laid, Brent must install the chicken wire between the joists using a pneumatic stapler. The the installation is installed. This takes time and all his work is covered up once the subflooring is installed.

Be sure and vote on the poll about the installation of the kitchen cabinets. We are currently planning on having electrical contractors visit the house to give bids on the electrical work for the downstairs portion only. The electrical work along with the sheetrock needs to be installed in the kitchen prior to the cabinets being installed.

"And I Helped"

Brent's parents rolled through Kings Mountain on Thursday night and of course, Brent put them to work. They left Holly Springs in the morning and on their way to Birmingham before heading back to Gurney Road.

The focus of work right now on Zelda is installing the sub-floor. While performing other tasks, Brent put his dad in charge of measuring, and marking a corner piece in the floor. Brent would use the circ saw to cut it out and both of them would install. Brent applies the liquid nails and his Dad "screws" it down. Looks like he could not resist coming back to Zelda to "screw around" again. Brent said his dad had become a "screwing machine".

The first picture show Pa Pa Neal pointing to his corner piece which fit good and snug. There are additional photos showing him measure and mark the board and reluctantly, one showing him screw.

At the end of the night (11:00 pm) Pa Pa Neal was tired and remarked "I helped". He truly did help.

The sub-flooring has progress through the keeping room and has now entered into the dining room. Brent ran into a problem when changing rooms. The exisiting floor beam was about 2 inches higher than the new floor joists and needed to be shaved down. This was just another excuse for Brent to purchase a new tool. We now own an electric hand planner. Brent said the tool worked great and now the transition between the rooms is great. The difference in height is less that 1/8" which is not noticeable.



We are heading to Knoxville for the Tennessee football game this weekend. We play Arkansas and hope to be eating BBQ pork and not crow after the game.

Change in Front Dormer

The window(s) in the front dormer have been removed and new framing was installed for a new window. The original siding was recycled from another part of the house and used on the dormer. The new window is much nicer and fits into the original style. The contractor which original did the roofing have done a wonderful job of refurbishing the dormer. They have also framed and restored the back of the house including the installation of windows and doors.

The curb appeal of Zelda is increasing by the day. The makeover of the dormer compliments the new roof.

I am not sure of the previous window configuration that was in the dormer and currently in the hall way of the second floor. As we continue to remove the aluminum siding and expose the original siding, those will be removed and a more period window or windows will be installed. This will most likely happen in the spring of 2008.

Included below are some pictures of the dormer taken on the first look at the house back in May of 2007. I like the change.

Screwing Around at Zelda

The installation of the flooring has begun such that there was a lot of screwing being done this past weekend. Brent's parents were in town over the weekend and Brent put his dad to work, operating the newly purchased drill. This drill has an extension, automatic feed and clutch system that allows the operater to stand while installing the screws in the subfloor. If you have a large amount of subflooring to install the investment in the drill is well worth the money. After our roofing contractor, Ray Jr. showed us how to operate the drill, it worked like a charm.

So the weekend was spent installing the flooring and insulation. After some trail and error the best way to install the insulation turned out to be chicken wire. Yes -- chicken wire. Brent purchases the wire in 24" width and the cuts the length to fit each of the spaces between the floor joists. He makes a basket out of the wire for the insulation to lay on. The chicken wire is attached to the joists using a pnuematic stapler and 1" long staples. At first Brent was installing 4 foot wide sections from the bottom but found out it was easier to install the wiring from the top. With the insulation laying in the chicken wire between the floor joists, it looked more like an attic than it did a floor.

At the end of the day, Pa Pa Neal was exhausted from all the screwing around he did at Zelda. He just celebrated his 76th birthday and showed the stamina of a younger man.

Three and One-half Months

We are now closing in on our fourth month of work and ownership of Zelda. Brent's parents are arriving this weekend and were warned to bring their work clothes. Brent is going to start laying down the subfloor and his dad will operate the new drill, which has an extension and automatic screw feed to not make a person's back sore.

The plumbers were at the house today and installed the gas line. Brent was called to set-up an inspection with KM for Monday. Below are two pictures that show the current status of the back of the house and the before. Just a little bit of difference.

The work was performed by the roofing contractor, which is a family owned business, who live in the neighborhood and do framing, roofing and sheetrock.