Minor work today. I got one of my studs ripped from 3.5" to 2.125" and screwed it to an existing stud mounted sideways. Now it's the same thickness as the other studs mounted the regular way, which allowed me to attach an electrical box to it and finish running the cables to the box. I have a three-way switch ready to wire up, then I just need to figure out just what I'm trying to do with the matching box downstairs. That will have a single three-way switch and a double three-way switch in it, so it's going to be a bit of a mass of cabling in there. It will require a diagram to remind me just what goes where, what feeds where, which cable carries the live from the previosu switch and which carries the neutral and so on. Essentially I'm going to have two pieces of 14/3 coming from the previous dual three-way switch - one will carry live plus two travellers and the other will carry neutral plus two travellers. So from my back box I'll have cables in with power, a cable out to the light/fan combo, something to connect the single three-way switch, a cable out to the upstairs three-way switch, and a cable carrying power to the next switch in the chain. It could be a little chaotic in there. I'm thankful for push-fit connectors that take up so much less space than wire nuts....
A bit of electrical work today. I now have switches at the top and bottom of the stairs on the other side set up and working, and dual three-way switches that will control a light/fan combo in the back room downstairs. At present one switch is properly installed in a back box while the others are hanging loose out of the back box with tape over the terminals for safety. There's one piece of cable that connects the box to the next box in the chain, that needs to be shortened. Having got everything wired and working my brain felt like it had been gently fried, so I decided to hold off on that so I can be confident I won't do something stupid and have to open up the next box. Normally if I have surplus cable I just leave a bit in the wall or ceiling cavity but this section of cable runs from a box to another box barely 2" below it, so I don't have a lot of scope to coil up any surplus.
Much time this afternoon trying to figure out just where everything is in the basement, relative to where things are at ground level. We're getting central air installed and I discovered that the route I'd told the engineer we could use to run pipes from the basement to the attic isn't actually going to work. So I hunted around until I could find a route that would work. It turns out it's very close to what I first thought but it's a tight fit. So I can breathe again, and consider the way forward for rebuilding the basement window that the pipes need to come in through. I'll need to rip out a load of wood, much of which has rotted, and replace the entirety of the frame, put a couple of 4-5" wide strips down one side to host the new pipes, and then put a smaller bug screen and window where existing ones sit. Along the way I plan to fit an extraction fan I picked up. Ultimately that will go in a different window but I need this work done now so might as well make use of it.
Today's achievement, if it can be called that, was checking out prices and materials to make a new window and window frame for my basement window. I now have some "severe weather" treated lumber, suited for ground contact, ready to be cut up. But first I need to take out what's already there. Tomorrow may not be much fun.
This stuff is supposed to be suitable for contact with the ground. I found some aluminum flashing at my local hardware store but it specifically said it's not recommended for use with treated lumber. I'm in two minds whether to use it anyway and see what happens. The exposed ends are going to be butted up against the stone of the house as hard as I can manage, and I plan to use copious amounts of sealant as a minimum, even if I decide not to use the metal flashing. Metal flashing will certainly look nicer than the curious color of treated lumber. Southern yellow pine looks quite nice but when it has that curious greenish tinge to it from whatever chemicals they use to treat it, it looks much less nice. And I already have nails to secure flashing to the wood.
If you can, seal the cut end (especially if it is out of sight, with some kind of sealant. Even exposed to the air I've seen cut ends such up moisture from the air and rot in no time.
I've sprayed foam around all the gaps, and may yet get some aluminum flashing to seal everything I can get sealed. When there aren't so many hungry bugs around I'm going to put some clear sealant into all the cracks between pieces of wood. It was a battle getting it donw. I needed to remove the existing window, which was on hinges. I got five of the six rusted screws out but the last one wouldn't play so I used a pry bar. Then it was a question of pulling everything away from the sides of the hole. It turned out there were no nails securing the existing frame to the walls - the top and sides were nailed together and the bottom was hammered into place. Once I figured that it was easy - my hefty wrecking bar made short work of it. Cutting a new frame to fit and getting it into place was obviously a higher precision job but after many attempts to measure an irregular space, cut something ever so slightly oversize, offer it to the space and gradually trim it down to size, I now have a window frame. It has space at the side for hoses to come through, a framed bug screen that can be released from the inside if anyone needs to climb out in an emergency and, for now, a plywood panel to provide at least a little security. The next step is to cut a more permanent panel that holds my extraction fan. When that was done I went for a run, and spent most of the run wishing I hadn't gone for a run.
Preparation work today. Moving lots of stuff around, checking where pipes and cables can run and making sure the places I want them to run are cleared. I had to move a lot more stuff around in the attic than I was thrilled about, emptied a closet full of stuff so I could get at the floor and pull down part of the wall and made a multitude of small holes in ceilings and floors to mark where ducts will go. So now I have a few small pieces of wire poked into holes to make them more visible. I'm still debating whether I'm happy with where one particular duct is going to go. It's a temporary thing - once that room is renovated it will move, but I'd rather not leave unnecessary holes in the attic floor. I'm thinking it might be possible to tuck it further out of the way in the attic, and run a short duct extension through the wall.
More preparations. Pulling down some contained lath and plaster so I can drill through the ceiling into the attic and determine exactly where I want my vents to go. Along the way I took out a couple of cables that were redundant. One of them powered a socket that is hardly ever used, and plugged into a sockt in the attic if I need it. Now it's gone completely. It needed to be done - where I want to route the ducting goes right through its space, and I'd rather not be telling the installer to just go ahead and cut the wire with a sabre saw. Now the wire is gone he doesn't have to worry about it. I still have a lot of stuff to move around in the attic but I've cleared space for it to go. It's not ideal but I need the space. Chances are once the work is done they will go back to where they were, but probably stand on their ends rather than their sides. That way they take up less floor space. I should probably just try and sell them, but they might come in handy once some more bedrooms are finished.
Not a hugely productive day but I did shift three entire beds in the attic and figure exactly where I want my ducts to go. Maybe I'll cut holes in the walls for them, although there's a solid chance I'll let the heating and cooling guy do that and contain the mess.
Slightly slow going between the air conditioning planning and thinking about what I need to do next. So today's monumental effort was to cut five studs off at floor level and remove them, with their associated nails, and trim two further studs that stuck several inches above the floor back to floor level. Next up I need to line that part of the ceiling with my soundproofing material, then restud the wall. And then I can finish restudding the rest of the room. That will be nice.
Burn pit time. I got rid of all the scraps and useless offcuts from making the window, the side and bottom pieces of the window (the top is in reasonable condition so I pulled all the nails out to see if it's worth keeping), a bucket of scraps from my work room, and a big bag of scraps accumulated over the course of the last several weeks. I'm not supposed to burn after noon, and I put the last things onto the fire at about 1145. At that point I'd finished with my pile of stuff, so I could just let it smoulder. Now I have space to prepare another pile. I've got a load of stuff in the attic that can probably burn, so I can sort that out and get rid of it. And then this afternoon I went for a run. My suggested workout was three sessions at a fast (threshold) pace. Parts of it were a challenge but I got through it OK.
Today's job was Making Holes In Things. Specifically making holes in walls and ceilings. It's the later part of the preparatory work for the air conditioning people. Trying to cut through a lath and plaster wall without creating huge clouds of dust is tricky. I found a way that contains the dust, although it's a bit on the slow side. I even ended up with a hole that's almost perfectly sized and shaped. I'm hoping this work will save me a chunk of change when the installers are here, because it's work they won't need to do themselves.
So here's an interesting development... My wife is looking at a position of principal of the local Catholic elementary school. Normally such a position would be reserved for a Catholic person (teachers do not have to be), but they are pretty desperate as there have been no applicants Canada-wide. Its putting the diocese here in a new position, as there is no policy for such an occurrence. The diocese educational superintendent, the local priest, the departing principal (and even further up the food chain at the arch-diocese) are seem pretty OK with it, as in someone's words, they'd prefer to have a committed Christian (even a Protestant, Reformed) in that role rather than a nominal Catholic. It's a bit of a dilemma for her, as her current school is desperate for teachers as well. I think they have to fill about 4 full-time positions. By the way, if you know anyone who is looking for a job teaching (elementary to high school), let me know.
Some more prep work. I had an annoying wall stud that is in the way of where I want to run an air conditioning vent, so I took down about four feet of wall, cut the stud off, and then replaced the missing section of wall with a piece of drywall. It's not hugely pretty but it's nowhere near as ugly as I feared it might be. I may yet fashion something out of one of my many offcuts to cover up the seam and make it look like it's supposed to be like that. It also gives me a space where I can put a switch in place that will let me turn off the downstairs lights from the bottom of the stairs. At present we have switches in weird places, so we end up walking across dark rooms looking for the switch. It's stupid, and something I'm gradually fixing as I tweak the electrics. But once again the studs are the wrong way around, so I don't have space for a deep back box. At least the bit behind the wall is a closet so I can just cut a hole in the closet wall to provide space for a deeper box, if I need it.
A big cleanup day today. I figured the room that currently serves as my woodshop is far too cluttered and it needed to be cleaned up. So now it's a lot less cluttered. Partly because I got rid of a bunch of wood scraps that had been lying around in case they proved to be useful (hint: if scraps haven't proved useful in the last 6 months they probably won't in the next 6 months). Part of the reason it's less cluttered is because my big miter saw went back upstairs, as I'm going to need to cut some more wall studs to length. It's surprising just how much space that thing takes up. Some day I need to build a bench for it so it can tuck out of the way rather than resting on a stand with legs that protrude into the room. With any luck I'll also be able to get some kind of dust collection system rigged up to it while I'm at it.
Teddy, just out of interest, I don't suppose your wife's school needs anyone to remotely teach the kids how to make holes in things and turn wood into sawdust? If so I think I'd be the perfect candidate.