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I could do with a quiet weekend
...but rarely get one.
The engineer pointed. "There's a bridge at that spot, Richard, and the General doesn't like it."
Harper grinned. "That means there's going to be one bloody big bang."
- Sharpe's Eagle, Bernard Cornwell
Well, it wouldn't be a spring weekend at Osage if I wasn't knocking holes in the wall. Or repairing a hole knocked in the wall at some earlier date. Or knocking holes myself that I'll have to repair at some point in the future.
I've been working on the dining room for some time now, trying to make the electrical make sense, the walls plumb, the windows less drafty. Saturday was the day for the wall adjacent to the kitchen/living room. The plan: widen the doorway to the living room to seven feet or so, to let more light in and open up the space as much as possible.
I started removing drywall to assess the underlying frame and found siding. That I found siding on what was once an exterior wall is hardly surprising in this house, seeing as my uncle took every shortcut imaginable when he rebuilt the old farmhouse in 1954. Why strip off the siding when you can just throw drywall up over it? No one will ever know.
Indeed.
So, my dining room looks like a bomb went off in it. Yep, pretty much a normal weekend.
Oh, we're having a party in ten days. I'm not panicked. Yet.
The engineer pointed. "There's a bridge at that spot, Richard, and the General doesn't like it."
Harper grinned. "That means there's going to be one bloody big bang."
- Sharpe's Eagle, Bernard Cornwell
Well, it wouldn't be a spring weekend at Osage if I wasn't knocking holes in the wall. Or repairing a hole knocked in the wall at some earlier date. Or knocking holes myself that I'll have to repair at some point in the future.
I've been working on the dining room for some time now, trying to make the electrical make sense, the walls plumb, the windows less drafty. Saturday was the day for the wall adjacent to the kitchen/living room. The plan: widen the doorway to the living room to seven feet or so, to let more light in and open up the space as much as possible.
I started removing drywall to assess the underlying frame and found siding. That I found siding on what was once an exterior wall is hardly surprising in this house, seeing as my uncle took every shortcut imaginable when he rebuilt the old farmhouse in 1954. Why strip off the siding when you can just throw drywall up over it? No one will ever know.
Indeed.
Cedar dutch-lap siding, to be precise. Some of it with old though minor termite damage, most still with whitewash on it. Turns out the beam holding up the kitchen (the one where we hang the coffee mugs) is misaligned with the rest of the wall by nearly 1-1/2", meaning the siding was left so the finished wall would be flat. (Which it never was, but points for trying, Unca Vance.) You could see where the original door to the porch was, too.
Okay, so hafta move the wiring now that there won't be a wall there and the logical spot for it is in the wall with the kitchen light switch. Run new wire from the basement up into the wall, then up to the attic. No problem.
Except for the 2x4 firebreak halfway up. Okay, remove some drywall for access, drill a hole. Great, problem solved.
Except for the 2x4 firebreak an inch above that. At an angle. (Why?) Okay, more drywall gone, more holes.
Sunday afternoon, I just got the power off to the kitchen and dining room - which also darkened half of Jami's room and the main bath - with wires cut and starting to run cable when we had to stop to take Michelle to the ER for a dose of pain meds to try and stop a migraine. Full story here:
http://billthetailor.livejournal.com/105422.html
Finally home at 10:00 Sunday night after a trip to Walgreens for Rx's, and over the next hour and a half I got the kitchen/dining room/Jami's room/main bath electrical run and turned back on so we wouldn't have to pee and/or ralph in the dark.
In bed by midnight. I strongly dislike my attic.
Wiring's done. Next step: framing the new opening. Half of the header beam is already there in the form of two 2x4s running the length of the wall - I'll bolster that from underneath making a header that, in total, is 8" wide...a little narrow by modern standards, but within code I think.
Okay, so hafta move the wiring now that there won't be a wall there and the logical spot for it is in the wall with the kitchen light switch. Run new wire from the basement up into the wall, then up to the attic. No problem.
Except for the 2x4 firebreak halfway up. Okay, remove some drywall for access, drill a hole. Great, problem solved.
Except for the 2x4 firebreak an inch above that. At an angle. (Why?) Okay, more drywall gone, more holes.
Sunday afternoon, I just got the power off to the kitchen and dining room - which also darkened half of Jami's room and the main bath - with wires cut and starting to run cable when we had to stop to take Michelle to the ER for a dose of pain meds to try and stop a migraine. Full story here:
http://billthetailor.livejournal.com/105422.html
Finally home at 10:00 Sunday night after a trip to Walgreens for Rx's, and over the next hour and a half I got the kitchen/dining room/Jami's room/main bath electrical run and turned back on so we wouldn't have to pee and/or ralph in the dark.
In bed by midnight. I strongly dislike my attic.
Wiring's done. Next step: framing the new opening. Half of the header beam is already there in the form of two 2x4s running the length of the wall - I'll bolster that from underneath making a header that, in total, is 8" wide...a little narrow by modern standards, but within code I think.
So, my dining room looks like a bomb went off in it. Yep, pretty much a normal weekend.
Oh, we're having a party in ten days. I'm not panicked. Yet.