I realize that all these posts about working on our basement project are almost as exciting as me watching the paint that I just put on the wall dry, but that is again what happened today. Only this time it was the ceiling in the small office/bedroom that held my attention.
I started with this project yesterday afternoon when I went to Home Depot and purchased the supplies. Once home, it was lug everything down to the basement from the back of the pickup. The metal rails for the suspended ceiling are 12 feet long so they don't go around the corners in the stair well on the way down, without some maneuvering.
The cases of the 2 by 2 foot tiles have 16 pieces in them, and are quite heavy. Luckily I only needed two cases for the little room. But when we go after the bigger room it will be a much different story.
Anyway, today was spent cutting and piecing together the metal frame and the many tiles. It is quite time consuming and requires climbing the step ladder over and over. I was just exhausted tonight at about 7 PM. The worst of it was that I still need to cut all the perimeter tiles to size and install them. That will be the slowest part of all.
But tomorrow is another medical day for me, as I am having yet another procedure where I have to be at the doctors office at 7:30. Since I am not an AM kind of person, that will about kill me. And it is totally boring and doesn't give me anything to blog about. Oh well.....
Retired Rod
Wednesday, August 31, 2011
Tuesday, August 30, 2011
Basement progress
This was a work in the basement day right from the beginning. I had painted some of the walls last night, but today it was the small bedroom/office that I worked on.
I have not fired up the sprayer since I changed to the finish paint. The paint requires back rolling, in order to apply the egg shell finish to it as is drys, so I have been rolling from the paint pan. I could go purchase the fancy power roller attachment for $80 but it seems pricey just to have paint come into the roller thru the handle.
I say to myself that I will start the sprayer tomorrow when I have all day, but that hasn't happened. After painting the smaller bedroom, I got started finishing the electrical work that was roughed in before the insulation went up.
As I am digging out the boxes that are full of drywall compound, I learned that the sheet rock hanging folks damaged a lot of the wiring with their roto zip tool. As I was digging out the wires sometimes I was getting arching fire, where insulation was torn away with the tool. Some of the wires just fell out on the floor once the drywall mud was scraped away.
As an old electrician, I am not overly religious about turning off the power when I install the duplex receptacles. Just being careful not to short things out and make sparks is the rule of thumb. But eventually I managed to short out the box where the insulation was gone, which blew the breaker in the panel. So I guess that turned off the circuit by default. And yes, every once in a while I will shock myself, but I am somewhat used to that.
Dad always said that the shock didn't hurt you, but it was what you jammed your elbow into behind you that did the damage. But he checked light sockets by licking the end of his finger and touching the center button of the socket to see if it was hot! I'm not nearly that brazen.
Late in the afternoon, I went over to Home Depot, and purchased some of the hanging ceiling panels and grid work for the small bedroom. Once back home, I carried it all down stairs and began to install the perimeter metal pieces. But by about 7:30 I was shot and turned out the lights.
Just working away in the basement isn't very exciting for blogging, but it is what is happening around here.
Retired Rod
I have not fired up the sprayer since I changed to the finish paint. The paint requires back rolling, in order to apply the egg shell finish to it as is drys, so I have been rolling from the paint pan. I could go purchase the fancy power roller attachment for $80 but it seems pricey just to have paint come into the roller thru the handle.
I say to myself that I will start the sprayer tomorrow when I have all day, but that hasn't happened. After painting the smaller bedroom, I got started finishing the electrical work that was roughed in before the insulation went up.
As I am digging out the boxes that are full of drywall compound, I learned that the sheet rock hanging folks damaged a lot of the wiring with their roto zip tool. As I was digging out the wires sometimes I was getting arching fire, where insulation was torn away with the tool. Some of the wires just fell out on the floor once the drywall mud was scraped away.
As an old electrician, I am not overly religious about turning off the power when I install the duplex receptacles. Just being careful not to short things out and make sparks is the rule of thumb. But eventually I managed to short out the box where the insulation was gone, which blew the breaker in the panel. So I guess that turned off the circuit by default. And yes, every once in a while I will shock myself, but I am somewhat used to that.
Dad always said that the shock didn't hurt you, but it was what you jammed your elbow into behind you that did the damage. But he checked light sockets by licking the end of his finger and touching the center button of the socket to see if it was hot! I'm not nearly that brazen.
Late in the afternoon, I went over to Home Depot, and purchased some of the hanging ceiling panels and grid work for the small bedroom. Once back home, I carried it all down stairs and began to install the perimeter metal pieces. But by about 7:30 I was shot and turned out the lights.
Just working away in the basement isn't very exciting for blogging, but it is what is happening around here.
Retired Rod
Monday, August 29, 2011
Camping at the state park
Returning home from the weekend camping trip is always a bummer because it only lasts for the weekend. It seems like we just arrived when we are now leaving......
But we had fun while it lasted hanging out at each other's camp sites and the kids spent all Saturday morning long in the motorhome with grandma. With all four of the girls inside all at once, I busied myself outside and drove around the state park reminding myself of the surroundings.
It is horribly dry in Kansas now and the grass and trees are almost browned out. It wouldn't take any stray fire to burn most of Kansas down. We did our part and refrained from the campfire. Heck it was in the mid 90s every day so I wasn't motivated to have a fire.
And as I reported in the cell phone post, we went to Emporia to drive the old downtown street, but didn't stop much of anywhere other than a quilt shop for Loyce. The town is really old, and is rapidly becoming overcome with immigrants from our neighboring country to the South. Loyce and I both wonder what will become of Rural America..........
We had the awning out and our portable sun shade canopy in the side yard next to the fire ring. The sites are beautifully wide in the state parks here in Kansas. We had an open grass field behind us that had been mowed recently. It was at least 60 acres rimmed with trees. Our site was a full hookup 50 Amp for $18.50, but there is a $4.50 vehicle daily fee. And since we had the car, we were charged $9 for our vehicles. Trucks with trailers only had to pay one fee, still $27.50 for FHU on such a large site isn't bad at all.
See that white 5 gallon paint bucket hanging from the mirror on the motor home? I made a night light out of it by putting a compact florescent bulb inside in a lamp socket. The bulb is deep blue and the white bucket glows almost purple. It isn't really very bright, but almost has a black light effect to it in the otherwise very dark campground. Several folks had to stop and check it out wondering where I got that idea. From some other camper in a different CG......
We drove back to the campground and I became engrossed with cleaning out the under carriage lockers on the motorhome. Since we had all 7 bin doors replaced in Red Bay in May, the body shop dust accumulated inside the lockers when the doors were off. Stuff was covered in the gray bondo dust from the shop. It was nasty hot almost 100 as I was doing this job, so going really slow was necessary.
Our family did gather under the awning at Chris' trailer for the evening chat session. The kids were watching a DVD over at Ben's trailer so the big kids chatted up the night. Slowly people wandered off to bed. Of course Chris and Melissa and myself stayed up to past midnight.
Again Sunday it was quite hot, but I packed up the easy up sun canopy fairly early in the morning while it was still cool outside. But before long we all rejoined the morning brunch and chat session. Chris made Southwestern scrambled eggs and Mel did a monkey bread from scratch. Umm! We finally left the park by about 2 PM making it back to KC before 4.
Another weekend in the books........
Retired Rod
But we had fun while it lasted hanging out at each other's camp sites and the kids spent all Saturday morning long in the motorhome with grandma. With all four of the girls inside all at once, I busied myself outside and drove around the state park reminding myself of the surroundings.
It is horribly dry in Kansas now and the grass and trees are almost browned out. It wouldn't take any stray fire to burn most of Kansas down. We did our part and refrained from the campfire. Heck it was in the mid 90s every day so I wasn't motivated to have a fire.
And as I reported in the cell phone post, we went to Emporia to drive the old downtown street, but didn't stop much of anywhere other than a quilt shop for Loyce. The town is really old, and is rapidly becoming overcome with immigrants from our neighboring country to the South. Loyce and I both wonder what will become of Rural America..........
We had the awning out and our portable sun shade canopy in the side yard next to the fire ring. The sites are beautifully wide in the state parks here in Kansas. We had an open grass field behind us that had been mowed recently. It was at least 60 acres rimmed with trees. Our site was a full hookup 50 Amp for $18.50, but there is a $4.50 vehicle daily fee. And since we had the car, we were charged $9 for our vehicles. Trucks with trailers only had to pay one fee, still $27.50 for FHU on such a large site isn't bad at all.
 |
| Sitting under the sun canopy late Saturday afternoon. |
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| Sleepy afternoon (The latest watch addition LOL) |
Our family did gather under the awning at Chris' trailer for the evening chat session. The kids were watching a DVD over at Ben's trailer so the big kids chatted up the night. Slowly people wandered off to bed. Of course Chris and Melissa and myself stayed up to past midnight.
Again Sunday it was quite hot, but I packed up the easy up sun canopy fairly early in the morning while it was still cool outside. But before long we all rejoined the morning brunch and chat session. Chris made Southwestern scrambled eggs and Mel did a monkey bread from scratch. Umm! We finally left the park by about 2 PM making it back to KC before 4.
Another weekend in the books........
Retired Rod
Sunday, August 28, 2011
Camped at Pamona Lake
We are camped at Pamona State Park on Pamona Lake in central Kansas. Our sons come here quite often, but we only make it once a year or less.
Everyone that is a regular here knows all the other campers, and walks around after supper talking to everyone else. Of course we are outsiders to this process, but were able to join in on most of the activities.
This afternoon I am typing this on my cell phone while Loyce is shopping in a quilt store in Emporia, Kansas. We have no cell service at the State Park on T Mobile or Verizon. Its been a long time since we have been that remote and cut off from the rest of the world.
Retired Rod
Everyone that is a regular here knows all the other campers, and walks around after supper talking to everyone else. Of course we are outsiders to this process, but were able to join in on most of the activities.
This afternoon I am typing this on my cell phone while Loyce is shopping in a quilt store in Emporia, Kansas. We have no cell service at the State Park on T Mobile or Verizon. Its been a long time since we have been that remote and cut off from the rest of the world.
Retired Rod
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