July 08, 2005
"Towards a 2BR" Part V: Neighborbaby Curfew
filed under: Demolishments and RenewvationsPreviously: Part I, Part II, Part III, Part IV
Day 11, Wednesday: In the back of my mind, I'd been worrying about our upstairs neighbors. They have a new(ish) baby, and our bedroom is right under theirs. On Tuesday, I was fairly sure one of them banged on the floor while I was working, which honked me off. It honked me off because we're friendly with everyone in the building - there's no need to bang on the floor, just come tell us to lay off with the noise.
Before you think to yourself "what a callous asshat to make them deal with your noise when you know they've got a baby," let me point out that when Max was still a baby these selfsame neighbors went through a many-week renovation of *their* bedroom(s), working loudly at all times of the day and night despite knowing our tot was sleeping immediately below. So there's a precedent here for being a callous asshat.
Wednesday saw a late start, as Lisa had a test the next day and I was on Tot Patrol. So I was doing some rather loud installation of 2x4 supports for the ceiling fan bars, screwing them into the beams which are our ceiling and our neighbors' floor. I hurried through the loud part and was done somewhere around 9:30.
Some time after 10 I was cutting holes in the ceiling for the recessed lighting, trying to be quiet about it, when Lisa came in to say our neighbor was at the door. Sigh.
We had a lovely civilized discussion, and I showed him the work I was doing and he ooh'd and aah'd appropriately. Their (now 5-month-old) baby goes to bed at about 9:30pm, so we agreed that I'd knock off loud stuff at that point. It turned out that I was working literally about 2 feet beneath the crib, so his beef was pretty well-founded.
I apologized for waking the baby, he admitted they had done the same thing to us, and everybody felt good about themselves.
Beats the hell out of pounding on the floor.
Day 12, Thursday: Had a big list of wiring jobs to get through, and the 9:30 curfew to keep me honest. The deadline actually helped keep things moving, and by 9:20, after two and a half hours of wrestling with fish tape (heh heh, "fish tape") and BX cable, I was done with the list.
I'm always amazed at how rough the first stages of building are, and how they get progressively cleaned up, one step at a time, until a couple days/weeks later the whole thing looks pretty decent. Because hoo boy does it start out looking rough:
More (fairly boring) pictures of wiring (and the Master Schedule, because I just know you care!) below...
Max's future wall sconce
My elegant solution to hanging the ceiling fan.
Yesterday I sat and wrote out a daily schedule for everything I still have to do. I figure if I make it public I'll be less likely to get all slackery and let things slide from one day to the next.
Which is important, because we're starting to get really tired of sleeping on the couch.
Thurs 7/7:
Cut 3rd can hole
Cut wall sconce hole/install wall box
Install receptacle box, Max’s side
Install 1st receptacle box, our side
Wire runs (Max’s side):
Switchbox to fan – 3-wire
Switchbox to sconce box
Junction box to switchbox – supply
Junction box to foyer switchbox
Foyer switchbox to soffet
Wire runs (our side):
Switchbox to fan – 3-wire
Switchbox to ceiling box – 3-wire
Ceiling box to cans
Ceiling box to receptacle
Can to can to can
Measure window/loft
Fri 7/8:
Order shades for storage loft/window
Calculate drywall, insulation, materials
Plumb heater run
Re-plumb heater joint below window
Install switch boxes
Rough wire all boxes
Sat 7/9:
Buy: drywall, mud, tape, corner bead, corner tape, insulation, switch box (foyer), doors (2 pre-hung, 1 slab for bathroom), closet doors, paper/tape for floor
Install foyer switchbox
Cover floor with paper
Begin drywall
Sun 7/10:
Install insulation
Finish drywall
Frame doors/install
Mon 7/11:
Begin tape/mud – 1st coat
Tues 7/12:
Finish tape/mud – 1st coat
Begin sand 1st coat
Weds 7/13:
Finish sand 1st coat
Mud – 2nd coat
Thurs 7/14:
Sand 2nd coat
Mud – 3rd coat
Fri 7/15:
Sand 3rd coat
Calculate floor/door trim
Sat 7/16:
Buy floor/door trim
Buy paint/paint supplies/wallpaper paste/supplies
Install floor/door trim
Primer coat/paint ceiling
Sun 7/17:
Paint, 1st coat
Hang wall mural
Paint, 2nd coat
Mon 7/18:
Finish painting
Install receptacles
Install ceiling fans
Install wall sconce
Install cans
Install foyer can
Install switches
Good thing you're a theatre guy, raised by a theatre guy. Some would say it would have been better to be a building contractor raised by a building contractor, but then you might not have had the willingness to forego sleep and regular life.
Still, I suspect having a grandfather who did renovations for his business and another who re-wired a three story house by himself explains your trance thing at Lowe's. You were just doing the "real world" preparation and then tapping into your grandfathers' spirits. Who knew you were a channel/medium?
As for conversing sanely, admiring, apologizing and commiserating as better than pounding on the floor -- now just how do we get world leaders, politicians, generals and terrorists to get that message? The pounding on the floor they do does more than wake babies!
Posted by: Procrastimom at July 8, 2005 01:37 PMthat to-do list was the most boring thing I've ever read... AND I READ EVERY WORD! How do you do that?!?
Posted by: beeg at July 8, 2005 03:50 PMIt's the principle on which I have predicated this whole site: someone else's boring shit will always be at least 300% more compelling than your own.
Posted by: rjt at July 8, 2005 04:06 PM