My current huge project

I have a 6.5 foot foyer .....

going together nicely greg!
looks really good.....i know you will be glad to have a kitchen again.......i've been down this path, tore my parents old 7x26 kitchen bathroom and dining room down in 1991 and built a 1100sf 2 story addition.......took me almost a yr to get t the point to where we had the new kitchen operational.

SMITTY wrote:I have a 6.5 foot foyer .....

Ouch! Don't think I could stand up in there without taking off my shoes first.

WOW! When you said a hugh project, you weren't kidding. Looks like you went all out, and did everything correctly.

I'm out on a 4-day flight, and won't get back till Saturday evening, so I'm missing another milestone on the project: the wall between the old and new has been torn out, a new header installed, and the two heavy, old oak doors are on pocket door tracks. The place will look quite different when I get home.. I 'ordered' the guys to take lots of photos so I could follow along on the job after I got home this weekend..

This will be the last drywall that needs finishing and painting in the house, [not counting the breezeway]. So once this wall is wired, inspected and drywalled, I can start on the flooring.

Greg L

I'll post photos this sunday.

Your a fortunate and lucky guy, to have folks you trust to do this in your absence.

Sting wrote:Your a fortunate and lucky guy, to have folks you trust to do this in your absence.

Well I guess you can look at it like this if they do not do what he wants or the way he wants it done well they do not get paid and in this economy any good contractors won't leave that happened they need the work and need to make a living
or they will be out of business in a hurry .

Yes, I'm lucky, I do worry at times that something will be done that is not in keeping with MY mission on the house project.. but the 2 or 3 guys there now have been helping me for a lot of months now, and I trust them to call me if they feel they need a decision made..

Like the cell-phone photo sent to me this morning. with the question: Are you SURE you want to installl doors in this opening?? The wall was taken out, the header installed, and it looked so nice that they wanted to be sure I really wanted to install the pocket doors..



But yes, I do want to have the 'antique' pocket doors installed, first, they will be almost perfectly centered under the upstairs french doors, so it looks like it was designed that way, even though it actually is just a stroke-of-luck. Second, I want to be able to block off the old part of the house and keep is much cooler than the new portions of the house and my master bedroom. And Third,, I don't want to have to refurb, rewindow, repaint, refloor and spend another $30K on fixing up the ratty old section of the house that would be in plain sight all the time.. the pocket doors will keep that part of the house 'out of sight, out of mind' for a few years, maybe forever.

Update: I received another cellphone photo of the progress on the pocket doors and wall. The wall is wired, and should have the doors on the track by tomorrow when I get home.


Greg L

I'm back home.. The doors are installed and look great.. they are old doors, I think about 100yrs old.. not sure. But they fit right in with the old section of the house. They will provide a nice transition from the old to the new, and be very functional as well.

From this


To this:


And from the new side


'New' old doors.

Isn't it nice to have reliable good guys working with you on this project, unlike the 80's when it was 'helter-skelter'.
It will be mud season soon and you will be putting the finishing touches on this ole gem. After all that has happened in the NEPA community this week, we all feel lucky for what we have, especially family and friends.

Looks great, and really must keep you energized knowing there is light at the end of the tunnel. I was wondering if you might give us a short update on coal usage, understanding you were not complete, but knowing the new foundation,insulation, radiant and framing must have made a huge difference.

I am getting calls for new radiant floor installations for pets comfort also. We routinely see cats and dogs snoozed out on radiant surfaces, so now homeowners want to build-in radiant areas just for that purpose.
We did a kennel 48' by 72' 8 years ago that was radiant in and outdoors and heats for 1200 gallons of oil. I tried to sell them on coal....especially since the residence could have shared a boiler with the Kennel......but.......

Don't work you fingers to the bone, you need to remain strong enough to keep that yoke under your control!

Huge project? This is starting to make Mrs. Winchesters place look like a shed in the back yard.

It's really come along...take some time to enjoy what you've come home to. We'll check more out over coffee at Freddy's in the a.m....Thanx for your remote-control effort to get the Mayor's Boiler and what-not heading to a safer spot....Good night

And I'm thinking that I'm as crazy a she was to start this project..

coaledsweat wrote:Huge project? This is starting to make Mrs. Winchesters place look like a shed in the back yard.

I really can't tell about the coal consuption, the weather this year has been very different than the last few years..

I can say that the house is much more comfortable and warm than the old house could ever be.

Greg L

As a handyman that has been around construction many times; I say it's great you have workers you can trust. I've come to believe that contractor's and especially sub-contractors are the most cutthroat, selfish, dishonest, horrible human beings on the face of the earth. And that's the compliments to the best of the one's I've ran into over the years.
Make sure the hardware on those pocket doors is nice and tight! They suck when they malfunction.

I bought special heavy duty door hardware, made for up to 300# doors. These doors are around 60-70# each. The hardware is very well made..

I'll double check everything before the drywall goes up.

Greg L