the girls' room is coming right along, too. sort-of...

I've been so busy doing other stuff, that i never got around to putting the words to go with the pictures of drywalling the girls' room. and to top it off, i forgot my bloggy password again!

really, now that i look at these pictures again, I'm thinking there probably aren't any profound or clever words and phrases to go with them.

so lets just go with the obvious, shall we?

getting started.


lots of super helpful guys... helping.


many sheets of drywall hung.


much progress. dust in the air.




corner chimneys are a pain to drywall around, and of course take forever...




finally got it!

hanging drywall on the ceiling. a drywall lifter has got to be one of the world's best inventions. with the exception of the printing press and penicillin, of course.

all done except for the curves in the ceiling. that (and the mudding and painting) will probably wait until the garden is in, and before the weeds go crazy and/or stuff is ready to be harvested.

of course, it's a HUGE improvement (*she says in an understated monotone*) and I'm so thankful for the guys that freely gave their time to help us out.

now that the potential isn't quite so deeply buried...

we've started our rush of spring work, so it seems as if i haven't' had time to post these pictures. today is rainy and cool, and although I'm trying to get some sample quilts ready for the BF, i thought that I'd post these few pictures of the boy's room for you...

you can see the economy firring strips that we used to even out the walls, and make uniform nailers to hang the drywall on. we just used OSB, and cut that into 4" strips. although it's certainly more work at the beginning to prep the walls, in the end it saves tons of time.


with an old house, nothing is even, straight or level. and forget about 16" centers!



with the drywall lift, the ceiling practically drywalled itself!



and with a crew of 6 experienced drywallers, the bedroom went nearly as fast!




G really enjoyed working with the guys. and the days off from (academic) school.

you can see in the top of this picture,and the next couple pictures as well, that there is a spot on the wall/ceiling that is not drywalled.

originally, the 3 upstairs room were all one room, and it was used as a ball room. (oh, if only the walls could talk...)



that portion of the ceiling, all across the 3 rooms (boy's room, sitting room and girl's room) is curved. although Dave has been pondering the technique of drywalling the curve for several months now, the first couple ideas did not work. he'll work on plan C when he has time.

here is N and G's room as it looked when the drywallers were done. and as a matter of fact, it still looks like that today, several weeks later.

G assures me that he is planning on spackling this room for us.

I'm counting on his help, and looking forward to having just one more room in our house *done*!

be sure and stop back tomorrow and see the progress on the girls room!

filled up, pressed down and running over...

the crew of drywallers is getting ready to leave, and they hung far more drywall than we even dared to imagine in our wildest dreams!

this is the upstairs landing/hallway area.

it's nearly done.

we never even considered that this area was going to be worked on this week, so to have it nearly done is a wonderful bonus!

still more pictures to come later, and i want to tell you about the group of guys that donated their time to help us.

in which the blogger fervently talks herself out of hyperventilating...

remember when i told you that it's going to get worse before it gets better?

it's worse.

much worse.

the mess, dust, tools, hungry men, bits of drywall (and sick people) is seemingly endless.

i'm not complaining. just stating the facts.

today's menu: chili, cornbread and upside down pineapple cake for dessert.

pictures later.

in which the blogger takes a deep breath, and can be heard muttering quietly to herself...

it's going to get worse before it gets better...

it's going to get worse before it gets better...

we've had a crew of drywallers here this week, and of course along with the tremendous progress we're making on covering the naked studs in our house, there is also a huge mess to contend with. it's a loosing battle, of course (the mess) but at this point I'm still delusional enough to think that i can contain it!

the school room

some of the guys were here before 8AM!

they got right to work on the schoolroom ceiling, and were done by 10:30!





there are not many seams in this room, with the majority of them being the factory edges, as opposed to butt seams. hopefully that will make the taping and spackling of this job go faster. all the rooms downstairs are holding the contents of this room: living room, master bedroom, hallway, and laundry room.




the sooner this room is done, the sooner we can have a clean house again! but here, B is doing her part. both girls did quite a bit of vacuuming today~ we like to start them young in their delusion!

the sitting room

the sitting room is actually the middle room upstairs. to the left of this room is G and N's room; to the right will be the girls' (A & B's) room

with all the guys helping, and the drywall lift to boot, this ceiling went up very quickly. they hope to work on the curves tomorrow.

there was also another crew in the girls' room, and they made quite a bit of progress, too. i hope to show that to you tomorrow.

this is how the room looked at the end of the day. it's mostly done. with all the spring work that we have to do, the sitting room is likely to stay this way until the fall. but no complaints from me- it's a far sight better than it was just this morning.

in traditional country fashion, we fed our work crew. today we had BBQ meatballs, mashed potatoes, corn, applesauce and chocolate cake (PB icing) for dessert. tomorrow will be ham, potato and corn soup, cherry jello, home made buns and apple pie for dessert.

at least they won't go away hungry

admittedly, one small step...

we have begun the daunting task of drywalling the upstairs.

of course, before that could be done we needed to clean out the attic. but even before that, G needed to build me some shelving, so i had somewhere to go with all the junk treasures that lovingly overflow fill the attic.

we also needed to clean all the junk salvaged colonial woodwork treasures out of the girls' room, which had over the last several years turned into the "holding room". (basically an overflowing and embarrassing mess of more "stuff".)

Dave built the attic access, and reinforced the flooring up there, so now much of the salvaged trim is destined for up there.

we (Dave) also needed to completely wire the upstairs. the kids were sharing one outlet between them- 2 bedrooms, 3 kids, and an alarming spaghettiness of plugs, extension cords and power strips. *blogger shudders in relief that the house did not burn down*

then furring strips, (frugally made from OSB, at a fraction of the cost of the traditional pine boards) some foam board in the sewing room, and finally a few pieces of drywall were actually hung!

here the girls are singing. the foam board is their hymnal, and they are singing "Come Thou Fount Of Every Blessing". either that, or "Joy To The World"

this is the sewing room as seen from the doorway. only one northwest facing window, so it can be a bit dreary in there. to the left of Dave you can see the chimney cupboard. also, the fireplace is hidden behind the baseboard heaters leaning up against. *almost* done in this room.


finally hanging the drywall at the top of the stairway. that is a relief! with that being the wall that shares the storage attic, it is good to finally have this closed up. G is standing in the doorway to M's room, and the sewing room door is to the left of Dave. immediately to the left of the little window is the doorway into the attic, which used to be the servant's quarters. when we bought the house, there were several little rooms in there, but we ripped out all the dividers and plaster and lath, making that one big (usable) storage area. there are steps in the attic that go down into the kitchen. however, that access is closed off, and i use the steps as my kitchen pantry.



B helps cut the drywall.



A helps snap the chalk line.

we have moved on to the remainder of the upstairs: the 3 rooms across the front of the house. they are coming along nicely, and I'll try to post pictures of them, as well, soon.

the most exciting news is that we are going to have some help with the drywalling. the first week of march, and possibly another week, too, we are having 2 crews come in to hang drywall. how exciting is that? and I'm so glad to have the help for both Dave and G. they both work so hard, and before you know it, it'll be time to head outside for all the spring work!

it's a working vacation~ and a work in progress!

remember to keep checking at the bottom of this post for the most recent updates of our roofing project!

Dave has the next 6 days off (for the first time in several years!) and we're putting a new roof on this old house. it's all hands on deck for this huge undertaking, and we're grateful for all the help we can get!

we're starting with the back half of the main roof~ and none too soon. whenever it rains hard and steady, the roof leaks, necessitating strategic placing of buckets and towels in the upstairs hallway.

(TUES. AM) early this morning, they put the scaffolding back up, along with a 2X6 safety railing. (hopefully that won't even be needed, but better safe than sorry!)

since we're working in between raindrops, Dave has planned to only do half the roof at a time. first the old shingles come off, then new OSB, sheeting and then finally, the shingles. M is up on the roof helping for the moment, but I'm glad to have her extra help in the house~ lots of extra cooking to do for my hungry crew. today's menu: sausage and blueberry pancakes for lunch, and meatloaf, green beans, salad and buns for dinner. dessert will be carrot cake with cream cheese icing.

we couldn't pass up the opportunity for a special photographic moment!

as we continue making progress on our current project, I'll just add the updates to this post, instead of boring you with endless entries about the roof!

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(TUES. PM) - most of the shingles are off, but Dave wants to go over a little further yet today. they've taken the nails out of the roof boards and have also re-nailed them down. Dave is working on the face board, getting it replaced (and cut properly).

the face board looks like it's nearly completed. N and G are working together to carry up the OSB and get it nailed down.

this is how the roof looked when they came down for the night: the face board is done, and all the OSB is on and covered by the roofing paper. first thing in the morning they'll be up and putting the shingles on. there is rain in the forecast for tomorrow, so it will be a race against the clouds!

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(WED. AM) it's barely 8AM, and they're off to a good start. G's friend, J, came for the day. another teenage boy to help can't be a bad thing! (and as we told him~ the work is hard, but the food is good!)

today's lunch menu: cheesy hamburgers, potatoes with all the toppings and baked beans. blueberry pie for dessert. we planned on going to the fair tonight, but the rain may change those plans. in that case, I'll have to pull a fabulous dinner out of my bag of tricks...

moving right along... they're ripping off some more shingles, and now they are putting some of the OSB on. Dave is repairing the hole where the roof vent used to be.

snack time! A and B were happy to serve the hot and hungry guys.

the work crew came in for lunch just as it started raining. most of the shingles are off, only to the extreme right by the chimney remains. the rest is OSB and tar paper.

since it's raining and they can't be on the roof anyway, we'll probably head on over to the fair. we'll just hang out in the animal barns and exhibit buildings to stay dry. I'm anxious to head over because i want to see how my stuff did: beets, knitting, potatoes, green tomatoes, quilts and embroidery.

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(THURS. AM) the rain has stopped, and it looks like we'll have a nice window to finish ripping off all the old shingles, and lay the rest of the OSB and tar paper. there are a few shingles on the extreme left bottom of the roof that Dave was able to get down between raindrops yesterday.

today's menu: sausage sandwiches with peppers and onions, potato salad (my grandmother's recipe) and fresh garden salad for lunch. dinner is BBQ chicken, macaroni and cheese and something as yet undetermined for dessert. maybe I'll take requests from the work crew~ or suggestions from my dedicated readers!

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(THURS. PM)

all the OSB is on now, and they have laid the first two rows of tar paper, using weather lock. the remainder of the tar paper is going on now, and then Dave can really start rolling with the shingles. the weather has been cooperative, and even just a little bit too hot!

the guys are still up on the roof, but it's too dark to take pictures. the roof is tar-papered, drip-edged and chimney-flashed. both G and Dave are nailing down shingles as i type. G won the coin toss, and he has the air nailer, while Dave is putting down shingles the old fashioned way.

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(FRI. PM) Dave was up on the roof this morning briefly, while we were all still sleeping, but the rain chased him down before breakfast. it's late afternoon, and they're back at it. the shingles are 1/3 done, and all three of them are working: Dave is nailing, G~ the barefoot roofer is trimming shingles, and N is carrying up bundles. if i know Dave, and I'm pretty sure i do, he'll be roofing until it's too dark to see + 10 minutes!

it's almost dinner time (pork chops and leftover baked beans. chocolate chip cookies for dessert) and they are over halfway done. dave snaps a chalk line every 6 rows to make sure that they are still going straight. steady progress, and the job is getting done!

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(SAT. AM) Dave is up and at it early again. it's a wonder that anyone is still asleep, what with the nail gun pounding and the compresser running! we're in the home stretch now, with just a few more shingles to go. the chimney still will need flashed and the roof vent put on, but it looks like today is the day that the roof will be done!

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(SAT. PM) after coming down off the roof this afternoon, they all went back up after dinner. (eggs, bacon and toast. I'm getting tired of all the cooking!) the shingles are done except for a tiny part to the right of the chimney. right now they are working on getting the ridge vents on, and N is doing a little bit of cleaning on the ground.

here ends the long, drawn out and endless post about putting the new roof on our house. thanks for reading along as we did this huge project as a family. we worked hard, sweated alot- both on and off the roof, and made our house better as well as made some memories together.

tomorrow is the Sabbath, and we plan to rest. i think we've all earned it!