 Before •In the Beginning ... Deconstruction •Teardown Construction •Week 6 - The Footings •Week 7 - The Foundation •Week 8 - Plumbing •Week 9 - Backfill •Week 10 - Framing 1 •Week 11 - Framing 2 •Week 12 - Electrical •Week 13 - Siding 1 & Insulation •Week 14 - Siding 2 •Week 15 - Drywall •My Vacation •Week 16 - Floors •Week 17 - Concrete & Electrical •Week 18 - Plumbing •Week 19 - Trim •Week 20 - Porch Rail •Week 21 - Concrete Finish •Week 22 - Punch List •Week 23 - Casings •Week 24 - Miscellaneous •Week 25 - Priming •Week 26 - Painting •Week 27 - Outside •Week 28 - Move In •Week 29 - Finishes •Week 30 - Garden •Week 31 - Permits •Week 32 - Flashing & Doors •Week 33 - Yard Work •Week 34 - Doors •Week 35 - Basement •Week 36 - Final Payment On My Own •The List Odd Bits •Unusual Aspects HOME |
Week 19 - Trim
The project is now substantially complete, and we begin the "fix or finish these things" phase.  As was pointed out to me more than once, the fixtures in the bathroom may be functional, but without a door the bathroom won't get much use. So finishing and hanging the bathroom door went to the top of the list. (see doors)
Serendipitously, in this particular situation, two wrongs made a right with the door: error #1 - I discovered, way too late to fix it, that the light switch inside the bathroom was only 3" from the doorway, making it impossible for me to be able to put up the 5" wide trim which is standard throughout the rest of the house; error #2 - the door opening was 2" wider than the door (my fault). A 32" door was specified but the door I got was 30" and I didn't make sure the carpenter knew. (Leaving the door out in plain sight is not good enough.)  So, when I closed down the door opening, I did it all on the light switch side by nailing in a 2x4 and adding drywall to the sides to bring it level with the rest of the wall (all this will be hidden by the door casing).
Before I could finish the door casing at least a portion of the hall floor had to be put down to give me a base to work from. This also means that time has finally run out on my search for environmentally friendly adhesive for the floor, so I went ahead and used what I already had. (see Environmentally Friendly) 
Once the floor was down, I put in the door trim. Now, even without the casing, the bathroom at least has a functional door. (Yeah again!) 
The other thing I worked on this week was a cornice for the office. It is darker than I expected. I may eventually texture it with a lighter color, but we'll see. 
Most important, I finally now have front steps! (Yeah) They aren't finished and they don't have a railing yet, but they are definitely useable steps. And since I have them, I also took down my temporary mailbox and christened the mail slot on the porch. 
By chance I came across a composter made from the same kind of container as my rain barrel at a garage sale, so I bought it. I should be able to retrofit it into another rain barrel. top |