Walls!

The drywall is in!  We no longer have the cavern behind us when using the "necessary seat" and that is a comforting feeling.  I realize professionals can do this in less than a day, but it took us a couple, or maybe a dozen, days longer.

Once again, I'm impressed that all the little holes cut to allow for pipes, drains, and outlets line up just perfectly.  It's official - my husband is a math genius.  Or a math geek, depending on how you look at it.  The only spot left with no drywall is the corner where the shower/tub will go.  Matt is now beginning to tape and mud the joints.  This is where his lack of construction experience catches up with him.  While the pros make it look easy, it's more complicated than it looks to get that compound smoothed over the joints between drywall sheets.  To make it a little more tricky, nothing in old houses is perfectly square.  I would guess most new houses aren't perfectly square either, but in old houses things are often way off.  There are places where the joints meet nicely at one end of the drywall sheet, and by the time you get to the other end there is a half inch gap in between.  What should we do?  Tape and extra mud!  And more mud!  Aaaand still more mud!

There is not much insulation in this house, just as there wasn't originally in the house we moved out of to come here.  The previous homeowners had added blown-in insulation in the rafters.  Since we had the walls opened, we (OK, Matt) added roll-in insulation in the walls and on the slanted part of the ceiling.  That plywood you see on that slant is the under side of the roof.  We need some heat blockage there.

This house has great old windows - double hung with a diamond pattern on the top pane in most of the house, and a small diamond pattern single pane that swings in on hinges in the bathrooms and closets.  As much as I usually want to save and use old things, the windows need to be replaced for energy purposes.  Many are warped and don't close all the way, or have gaps around the edges that let in bugs and extreme temperatures.  Never fear, one of the old windows has already been used in the garage to replace a window that didn't open to give us some ventilation.  I'm sure everything we take out will get reused somewhere else.  It's the Mennonite in us.

It's great seeing some progress.  I know the demolition goes faster than the installation, so we've had some impatient days here.  We're going on day 15 with no tub or shower in the whole house, so we're grateful to grandparents who let us clean up at their houses.  I'm sure they do that for their benefit also - who wants to be near us after a hot California valley day?  Now we need to wait on the plumber, who is on vacation next week.  We'll keep doing what we can in the meantime, but the next major thing will be to move the plumbing for the new tub and shower.

While Matt is working he has been listening to the Lord of the Rings audiobook.  I can tell from outside the house when he's up there working, because I can hear it through the window.  The entire set is 46 discs long, and he's on disc 19.  Better get moving or he's going to run out of story before he finishes the bathroom.  I guess he can always start over, or go on to the Hobbit.  The bathroom saga is starting to feel a little like "there and back again" anyway.  Endless journey, indeed.