The Legacy of 3283: Moving Slowly --- But Moving

It seems that many of the projects I've been involved with follow the same pattern. I'm not sure if it's the way I manage them....or if it's some universal truth. But progress comes very quickly in the beginning then slows and slows as the effort moves forward. It has been like that here. Progress has recently been very slow. We have been enjoying the late summer at 3283 for the past few weeks, and have been making decisions on contractors for drywall and bathroom tile. But there hasn't been a lot of physical progress that lent itself to photographic documentation.

We have also found that construction in West Michigan must be coming out of the recession. All of the drywall contractors we talked with indicated a 3-4 week delay before work could start. Our tile contractor will be delayed waiting for the drywall to be installed.

We did do a bunch of painting on the outside of the house. It was, however, putting a second coat of paint over the primer. So, pictures of white paint going over white paint are pointless. None the less, the exterior of 3283 [except for porch railings] is now completely painted.

OK Enough words.
Some stuff has happened for which pictures were possible. Nothing as exciting as the work done in March and April...but somewhat interesting none the less.

Tulip Bulbs:
The landscape work done so far has been "green." We have a wonderful instant lawn that makes 3283 look great. But there is no color. Bobbie spent some time recently making sure that in Spring the color would begin to return. In the back of the cottage -- where anyone visiting first arrives -- she planted dozens of tulip bulbs. The work this Fall will provide bouquets of Springtime color. Thanx, Bobbie.

Drywall Delivery:
Although the drywall contractor won't be able to start work for a week or so, he wanted to make sure the materials were here well ahead of him. On Monday a truck pulled up to 3283 with all the drywall needed for the addition (bedroom and bath), the south living room wall, and the new laundry enclave. The drywall came in various sizes including a number of 12 foot long pieces. It was unloaded, carted around to the front of the house and brought in through the front porch and living room. It's staged in the addition waiting for the contractor.

Heating Duct Enclosure:
Remember a few chapters back I wrote about the new HVAC system installed at 3283. In order to get conditioned air [heated in winter, cooled in summer] to the second floor the contractor ran duct work in the corners of three rooms. On Monday I enclosed the duct in the front bedroom with bead board to match the adjacent walls. Lots of short pieces of wood. Thank goodness for pneumatic nail guns.

Front Porch Floor Insulation:
The front porch at 3283 is definitely a "three season room." In winter the 50 feet of single pane windows and 3/4 inch thick walls are no match for below freezing temperature. However, when we built the basement we extended it under this porch. What this created was a heated basement space with its ceiling being the floor of the unheated porch. The under side of that floor needed to be insulated. Yesterday I spent my day with six rolls of insulation, a utility knife and a ladder. By the end of the day 300 square feet of porch floor was ready for Winter.