Family Room Project

Looking good, Darren!

Seeing your progress photos reminds me of how sore I was during similar projects. I'm sure glad life is more settled for us now!!!
 
Dont even want to imagine what your body feels like after that. Ouch. Suprised to see to spring for the vac switch. But i guess at some point we need to put a price on time and effort and make a call. By the time one is finished getting bits and pieces together to make one of these i figure you would be more than half way to the price of buying one that just simply works.

Whats the treatment going to be for all the wood railing. you sanding it down to scratch and starting again or just going to finish over it and if so what clear or paint?
 
Dont even want to imagine what your body feels like after that. Ouch. Suprised to see to spring for the vac switch. But i guess at some point we need to put a price on time and effort and make a call. By the time one is finished getting bits and pieces together to make one of these i figure you would be more than half way to the price of buying one that just simply works.

Whats the treatment going to be for all the wood railing. you sanding it down to scratch and starting again or just going to finish over it and if so what clear or paint?

Yeah, Glenn's point he made in another thread about time vs. quality of health made it a no-brainer.

The trim is going to get painted, which was an executive decision made by SWMBO. ;)
 
So the mudding process is taking a bit longer than I was hoping for. Between some bowed existing studs and the drywall I used being a bit shy of the original drywall thickness I'm having to do some serious filling, up to 1/4" in some places. To try and get things leveled out I'm using an old trick that dad taught me. First of all I apologize for the bad first pic, but I'll explain the process.

About every 6" - 10" I lay my 4' level on the wall. I mark my low spots from where they start to where they end with a line. In the center I write down the approximate thickness I need to fill the gap. I repeat this up and down the wall.
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When I'm done I've got a pattern that will give me a better idea of where I need to fill and where I need to skim lightly.
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I'll be using a 12" trowel, so it will take a lot of the variance out, but overall using the pattern will keep me from adding a bunch of mud that I have to just end up sanding off.
 
That's a neat trick. I'll have to remember it. (So I can mention it to the guy who's doing my drywall work for me, lol.)
 
darren why didnt you float it out with a straight edge? that works too.. looking good for sure

If you have the right straight edge you can for sure. When you get that wide (40"+) the center of some straight edges tend to bow either in or out and just adds more sanding. I'm all about the least amount of sanding I can do. :) I try just do a quick knock down sand between coats to hit any high spots, then get the finish coats thin and as smooth as I can to avoid air bubbles (when mudding over existing painted walls).
 
Well, the last few weeks we've been busy with a lot of family stuff, but finally made a little progress. Since the last update I've sanded down the walls to their final finish, sanded all the of trim, primed the trim, caulked the trim, painted most of the trim, and primed all of my wall patches. Today, since I'm off, I'm hoping to get started painting some walls and finishing off the trim paint (ran out of caulk). I'm also planning to move the tv to it's new home since my nephew is coming by tonight to help me wrestle it around (weighs in about 120 lbs...the tv...not the nephew :) ).

Here I was just seeing how much I needed to trim off for one section of wall to line up with the other. I'll use a chalk line for the actual layout, but wanted to figure out my starting pattern. For the stair treads I'm planning to do some 1/2" thick overlays on the existing treads stained to match the new floor. The kickers will get concrete board and tile. As a matter of fact I'll probably do the entry way next and plan to use the same tile for it. I think I'll have enough extra of this floor (since we're not doing the sunroom, tile out there matches pretty well), to do our kitchen area with it so the whole house will match.
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I started about 11 am and got two coats of each color done by 3 pm.
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Had to run some errands, but when I got back I unpacked the new tv mount, got the bracket up on the wall, and around 7pm my nephew came by to help me move the tv onto it. I temporarily hooked up some of the equipment up so my wife could catch her shows this week. Luckily I hadn't dry walled the other side of the wall yet as I had to add some backers to bolt the mount into. I also removed the speakers off the TV as we've got surround sound in the ceiling now.
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Still have some trim to finish up and some new door casings to install. I also found they are making tamper proof outlets (to protect kids from sticking things in them), so bought all new outlet plugs and switches for the room. Hopefully by next weekend I'll be started on the floors.
 
Glad to know my remodel is not the only one.

I am hating to do it - but I cannot afford to get it done the way I will do it - so I am stuck doing it

You work FAST - it takes me 1 month to do what you do in one day.

Looking great.
 
Thanks Leo.

I bought the big pack of blue masking tape, spent most of Friday night painting trim, then masking off everything Sunday and priming spots. So didn't have to be too careful cutting in around the edges. So wasn't just a single day of work, but preparation was key.

Secondly I use one of the paint sticks that you suck paint up into and pump it out using the trigger. Saves a huge amount of time not having to dip into a pan, like a 1:5 ratio of time. Cleanup takes a bit longer, but well worth the $25 for the wagner stick roller (http://www.homedepot.com/s/wagner+paint+roller?NCNI-5). It was also warm here yesterday (almost 50) so opened up some windows and let the breeze go through, helped with drying time and was able to start the second coat about the time I finished with the first.
 
Looking real good Darren.

Can i ask when u guys sell a house out your way, do you leave the tv mounting bracket behind as a fixture?

And after taking your advice and using those paint sticks, i fully agree with you on their value.
Not only do you get to speed up but also get a better finish in my view.

sent from s4
 
Looking real good Darren.

Can i ask when u guys sell a house out your way, do you leave the tv mounting bracket behind as a fixture?

And after taking your advice and using those paint sticks, i fully agree with you on their value.
Not only do you get to speed up but also get a better finish in my view.

sent from s4

I typically list tv mount and any other things I plan on taking in the list of exclusions (such as our water fountain outside, wall wart speakers, and tv(s)). Same with any appliance we plan to take, though we've generally get new ones at each house. Our previous owner didn't do that and I could have argued to leave the TV as well. I honestly didn't care, but he left the mount and took his TV. I now have two of those mounts. I may use one up in the shop if I ever get the ceiling in, the other we discussed putting a tv on the wall in our bedroom, though I've kind of enjoyed not having one in there the past few years.
 
Thanks for the feedback Darren , yeah done that before and its how i got my heater back from my old shop when we sold.

I agree on the bedroom and tv aspect. Was different for us in SA in winter. With a total absence of insulating technology in most SA houses, and no central air period even no aircon unless one put an odd window mount version in, the even moderate temps end up being lousy to live in and when it does get down low well life there in winter became sitting on top of a heater with blankey in the living room or simply going to bed and then it was nice having a tv in the bedroom. We made a point to give it up when we moved here. Was great when kids were tots though many a fun weekend morning spent lying in bed with tots watching pinky and the brain. Lol. What some things bring back as memories:rolleyes: :rofl:
 
Got started on the flooring this afternoon, had a few spots on the floor to level out, but the patch stuff only took about 2 hours to dry. Started cutting the bottoms of all the door jams/trim about 1 PM, got a little over 1/3rd of the room done. The doors around the bath/laundry/linen closet/bedroom/stairs took forever to get laid out, then had to square up to the rest of the room. The majority of the rest to do is wall to wall, so should go a little faster.

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Secondly I use one of the paint sticks that you suck paint up into and pump it out using the trigger. Saves a huge amount of time not having to dip into a pan, like a 1:5 ratio of time. Cleanup takes a bit longer, but well worth the $25 for the wagner stick roller

I just looked at that link... I was also wondering about cleanup. I would guess you need to flush out the unit with a lot of water ?? For a big job that would certainly not matter. Hmmm.
 
You are far ahead of me in your project. Love the floor.

At to painting - I am just gonna "stick" to the old way. I really don't need any more toys - and I don't paint all that often.

Love "watching a remodel project" - wish that's all I was doing.

MAN - this work really kills my CNC play time.

Looking good Darren - keep up the good work.
 
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