Final Week Before Move-In

We’re coming down to the final few days before the trailer is sold and we move in to the house—ready or not.

Hanging the drywall was a big job. But taping the first coat was harder. My son-in-law came out and helped me, which made a big difference. But even then, it still took us several days (I’m an amateur), as you can see form the schedule below. I’ve been using Excel to plot out what needs to be done and when it must be completed. This has helped me stay focused, especially as we’re coming down to the end.

 

 

 

 

Taping Drywall

Taping is both art and craft. The book I mentioned (“Drywall. Professional Techniques for Walls & Ceilings” by Myron R. Ferguson), was extremely helpful in laying out a reasonable approach to taping. I did it in three coats:

1. First coat: Using joint compound, cover all screw holes (it’s easier to hide if you combine screw holes into one line rather than covering individual holes). Used mesh tape to cover all finished (long) joints and laid a thin layer of mud over the top, feathering the edges (both walls and ceilings). Laid down a thin bed of mud on short (butt) joints and then embedded paper tape. Paper tape is stronger than mesh tape. Then do the corners by laying down a coat of mud on each of the walls in the corner and then embedding folded paper tape. Feather the edges but there’s no need to cover the paper tape at this point. I used a 5” knife (rounded the sharp corners of all knives). The first coat should be about one knife wide on all joints.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I don’t have any pictures of the rest of the process, but it goes like this:

2. Second coat: This uses the most joint compound, but it went quicker than the first coat. Lay down the filler coat, about two knives wide on a) screw holes (be sure and scrape off most of the mud and feather the edges), long finished edges, short but joints, and corners. I used a corner trowel for corners, which worked best for me, but you still have to feather the edges with a 5” or 9” knife. (I called in a friend who used to be a professional drywaller to help with the second coat because I was overwhelmed. I’m glad I did. His work was much better than mine).

One thing I did wrong was take a bit too much off the long edges when I ran the knife along the wet mud. I failed to anticipate that the mud shrinks when it dries. So, now that I’m finished painting (see below), I can still faintly see some of the long joints. Should have filled in a bit more and not scraped too much off, or done more on the third coat).

3. Light sanding: If done right (if you don’t use too much mud), you really don’t need to sand much. Had another friend show up and offered to help when I was beginning the sanding job. So, I handed him the sanding pole. He did a fine job. Took just a couple hours to sand.

4. Third coat: Used topping (light mud) for this coat. By this time, I was anxious to move on, so rather than do everything a third time, I went around and filled in where needed.

5. Final sanding: When the third coat dried completely (it doesn’t take as long to dry as joint compound), I lightly sanded where needed. Done.

I estimated about 3150 square feet of drywall (including both ceiling and walls). Used about 11 boxes of pre-mixed joint compound and 13 of topping mix. Make sure and wear a mask when sanding. A friend of ours said she got “dust pneumonia” from sanding drywall years ago without a mask.

Texturing the Drywall

After taping everything off (windows, doors, shower, etc.), we began the texturing process.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I have a texturing gun by Marshaltown that runs off a compressor and has a large hopper on the top where you load in the mud. I used topping mud (the light weight stuff) and thinned it down to pancake batter (or chocolate cake mix batter, if that’s your preference) consistency, using a 5-gallon bucket, a paint mixer paddle and my heavy duty Milwaukee drill. I poured in the mud into the hopper and sprayed the ceilings and walls, setting the compressor pressure to about 30-40 psi. It makes a mess.

Texturing patterns are a personal thing, but there are two main patterns: orange peel or knock down. Also, whether the ceiling is textured the same as the walls, using a different pattern, or no texture at all, is a personal choice. I chose to do a knock down pattern both on ceilings and walls. It’s easier and quicker and at this point, that wins out every time.

To do a knock down pattern, you basically spray an orange peel pattern, wait a few minutes (not too long), then lightly run a long knife over the wall to knock it down. The results are shown below.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

It did not turn out perfectly, as expected. A couple of places on the ceiling, above where I have my tools and supplies stacked on shelves, I sprayed too much texture. So, when I went to knock it down, there were a couple spots that was a solid mass of mud with no knock down pattern. I should have caught and fixed it then, but was too tired. It has become, along with many other artifacts, a monument to my imperfection.

By the time I was done at the end of the day, I was exhausted. The hopper filled with mud gets heavy after a few hours. Also, note in the above picture (to the right) that the laundry room was the first one I textured and I didn’t spray enough enough mud. Oh well. Connie assures me that I’ll be the only one who notices.

Painting: Prime Coat

While everything was covered in plastic, I got out the sprayer (Wagner 505 airless unit) and sprayed the primer coat. This is primer paint designed for fresh drywall and I highly recommend going through the time to do it. It was only about $50 for a five-gallon bucket, so well worth it.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The primer coat spraying went very well and pretty quick. I did both ceiling and walls. Used about 1-1/2 five-gallon buckets of primer.

Painting: Finish Coat

Finally! Tried to use the sprayer for the ceiling paint (flat ceiling pant) and it just wasn’t working well. My gun had worn out. But was able to limp along and finish the ceilings. Bought a new gun for the finish coat on the walls and it worked quite well. We painted the kitchen walls, the bath walls and ceiling and laundry room walls and ceiling with satin finish. The rest of the walls were painted with eggshell finish, a couple shades darker.

    

 

 

 

 

 

 

Just went out and took some pictures after we tore down the plastic. On the suggestion of a friend, I used a small piece of vinyl siding with a straight edge cut along one side to shield the ceiling as I sprayed the walls. It worked pretty well, but I’ll need to touch up several places on the ceiling and walls, which we’ll do tomorrow.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We started painting the finish coat at about 6:00pm Saturday (yesterday) and finished in the dark. So, when we went out to look at it today, we could see some places I missed. It was a big day yesterday: We sprayed the ceiling, sanded the floors with a floor sander to clean up the drywall splatter and take down some high edges from the OSB sub floor swelling (should have used Avantech!), picked up 23 sheets of 3/8 plywood for underlayment where hardwood flooring will eventually be, 22 sheets of backer board for where the tile will be, then painted the finish coat. Whew!

Move-In Preparation

So now we finish what is needed to move in. The list below shows what’s planned for the next few days. The trailer is gone on Thursday and we will definitely move in to the house.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Visit by the Grandkids

As mentioned earlier in this blog, our daughter and son in law, their children, and my son came down to help out a bit, which I greatly appreciated. I wanted to share a couple of precious memories from that visit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Brayten and Elle playing peek-a-boo in the trailer. Her laugh makes me smile.

James “reading” Brayten a book.

Buster and Brayten

Plumbing, Insulation, and Drywall

This will be a catch-up entry. Here we are towards the end of August not yet finished with the house. We’ve committed to sell the trailer the first week of September and so we’re going to move in, ready or not.

(7/21/11: Plumbing supply) Finished plumbing the house. It wasn’t a very big job, but the first challenge was whether to use a manifold or not. I intended to buy a commercial manifold and plumb home runs to each destination. But, after figuring the cost and the space needed, I decided it wasn’t really necessary. I did, however, build a manifold for the main water lines coming in and going out of the house (below). This allowed me to have control of the incoming water, and each of the lines going out, including hydrants to several areas in the yard and out to the water heater.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I used 1” pex for all main lines and then went down to 3/4” to the water heater and finally to 1/2” to all in-house lines. You can see the stub for the kitchen, above. I forgot to take pictures after putting in the drains. Oops.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Under the house doesn’t look very pretty, but it works. I installed branched lines to the laundry room, bathroom, and kitchen. Pretty simple. The shower was next. I tested all the lines and they held water, except the shower leaked a bit. But, after turning it on and flushing the line, it stopped leaking. We can’t wait to start using a normal-sized shower.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(7/30/11: Plumbing drains) We’ve committed to grey water drains and no septic tank. So, I didn’t plumb to a central drain but to three different 1-1/2” lines running out of the house: Shower/bath sink, laundry/utility sink, and kitchen. These will drain into mulch basins (yet to be dug). Right now, I just stubbed them off outside the building line.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

In grey water drain systems, it’s best to use narrower pipe rather than 3 or 4”, as is standard. This is so any solids will flow more easily and not get stuck in the pipe. It’s also important that all water flows to dirt basins that are covered with mulch and not into daylight. I highly recommend the book “Create an Oasis with Grey Water” by Art Ludwig. We’re doing the simple approach and separating our drains to different destinations, rather than the normal approach of branched drains, required if you have all drains plumbed out through a single pipe, as is normal for septic tanks.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above are the two drains leaving the back of the house (from the bathroom and the laundry room). Below is the kitchen drain going out the east side of the house. They key is preserve fall. That’s why I’m coming out above ground from the kitchen. The target area for the mulch basin is a new apple tree which is just a bit up hill from the drain, so I’ll fill in here to cover the drain and change grade to allow enough fall into the mulch basin.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Also note there is no vent. I’m using AAV’s (automatic air vents) at each P-trap. This eliminates having to run vent pipe up through the roof. At this point, I have no protrusions in the roof because we installed a ridge vent at the top.

(8/15/11: Insulation). I’m disappointed that I didn’t take any pictures of the insulation process. I was going to blow in cellulose, but at the last minute I didn’t think I could pull it off, getting the right density. We’d already installed the web material on the studs in the kitchen. I also miscalculated the cellulose materials it would have taken. So instead of requiring 40 bags at $10 a bag, it would have taken 122 bags. A really big error! At that point, the spray foam option seemed much more appealing and so that’s what we did. At $1.40 a square foot, it wasn’t the cheapest option, but it certainly have me a tight air seal and decent R value (about 3.5 per inch with about 6” of foam, or about R21. Not bad for around here.

The next decision was whether to foam the underside of the roof decking and gables or blow in over the ceiling. Of course, the foam company was trying to sell me on the foam option, but what stopped me was that they spray over the vents, completely covering the ridge vent. Their argument is that you DON”T need ventilation in the attic with spray foam. I couldn’t buy it and there’s just not enough experience with this approach in our area. So, I opted not to do that. Haven’t insulated the attic yet, but will soon and when we do, we’ll blow in cellulose.

Previously, we had sealed up the exterior doors with fiberglass insulation stuffed into the cracks between the door jamb and framing from the outside and then put up 3/4” rough sawn (green) oak, stained, around the doors. Then, we sprayed in some “Great Stuff” window/door foam into the cracks from the interior.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

SOFFITS: While we were waiting for the insulation to be installed, we started framing the soffits. Here are the “pork chops” on the south and north sides off the house. Still need to finish framing the north end and installing the 3/8” plywood. We’re doing it the old-fashioned way, rather than using aluminum soffit panels. Not only is using plywood with 8x16” vents cut into it cheaper, but it is the only system that provides enough air flow ventilation into the attic when using a closed soffit.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

And finally, the drywall was hung. I hired a couple of friends to help me and it took us about 2-1/2 days to hang the house. Then, Saturday, I installed the corner beads. I’m going with bull-nose corners for all outside corners except for the tops of the windows, which are typical 90 degree corners.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

As you can see, until we get the garage done, the living room is now my tool shed.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Connie and I then started the first coat of mud in the laundry room. She’s doing the nails and I’m doing the rest. I’m not a professional, by any means, but with the help of a good book: “Drywall. Professional Techniques for Walls & Ceilings” by Myron R. Ferguson, I at least have a chance at getting reasonable results. As you can see, we just started and I haven’t done the corners yet.

That’s it for now. I’ll try and keep more current. We are planning to move out of the trailer within two weeks. The trailer is sold, after all. We’ll focus on getting the north end of the house done first (laundry, bath, and bedroom). If need be, we’ll finish the front half after we move in.

Wiring the House

(7/9/2011): Been working on running electrical in the house for a couple weeks now. As usual, this has taken longer and cost more than expected (big surprise). But yesterday, I ran the last lighting circuit and this morning I’ll run the circuit for the two smoke detectors. I’ve tried to follow the NEC (electrical code), even though there’s no building permits and inspections in this county (thankfully, which is one reason I’m here). I ran the cables around the perimeter of the building in the attic, rather than across the attic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

When I started the electrical work, I used a 1/2” auger bit to drill through studs when needed. However, I found that this was too small and was causing difficulties when trying to turn a corner (the cable was getting bunched up). Also, I often needed to run more than one cable through the top plate and ended up having to drill multiple holes in the same stud bay. So, I switched to a 1” spade bit and that worked better.

Some shots of the wiring:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I ran dedicated circuits for all 220 devices:

• Range, 50A (6-3 cable—this stuff was very expensive: 125’ roll for $256. Ouch!)
• Dryer, 30A (used left over 6-3, which is overkill, this stuff is gold)
• Water heater, 30A (used 10-2 direct bury cable I had on hand)
• Two PTAC units, 20A (combined heat pump  heaters and air conditioners—this is my primary heat/cooling now and will become secondary after I build the masonry furnace). I ran standard 12-2 NM cable.
• Base board heater in bathroom, 20A (again, used 12-2 NM)

As you can see, I decided to wire everything electric rather than rely on propane for the key energy hogs (range, dryer, water heater). There’s a reason for this. I aim to become totally energy independent and long term reliance on the propane truck is not desirable. However, permanent dependence on the grid is equally undesirable. In the future, I will be building a solar water heater and use the electric water heater has backup. I’ll probably build a solar PV system for some electric use, but have my eyes on an emerging technology that I think will allow me to burn trash and biomass to generate electricity (see Abundant Energy Works).

Although PV (solar) is a good way to power some of a home’s electrical needs, it is not a total energy independence strategy if you have to switch dependence to propane for major appliances. It seems to me that to be totally energy independent, one must either dramatically change one’s life patterns or spin a generator. At this point, I’m planning on eventually spinning a generator, but we’ll have to see how things go.

The other reason I’m building a 100% electric house is that it’s quicker and easier to move into. We need to get out of this trailer! If later, we decide we need to run propane, we will. For now, I’ll use the propane tank to eventually run an emergency generator. Propane is a great solution for an emergency standby generator fuel, since it will last forever in the tank. So, I may not have the total energy independence strategy worked out, but I know the first couple of steps: Get into the house and buy/build an emergency generator that runs on an internal combustion engine fueled by propane.

I am using a Square D Homeline main box. I don’t think I’ll use the Homeline box again in the future. The busses are aluminum and not copper; the plastic in the box seems to be on the cheap side; there is space for only 30 single-space breakers instead of the expected 40; and the breakers are hard to put on and take off. Also, I just learned that the breakers for the Homeline brand are more expensive than other brands. I think I’ll stick with commercial quality in the future.

With the installation of the smoke detector circuit today, I’ll fill up the box except for one space for a future breaker, which is not what I wanted. It was a surprise and a disappointment to find the box only had space for 30 circuits. I hate filling the box on day one, but I have no choice.

I wired all 110v circuits using 12-2, except for the dedicated freezer circuit, where I used 14-2 cable (this is ok according to code). Used a total of almost 1500 feet of 12-2 cable. I have two GFI circuits for the kitchen receptacles above the counter and a separate GFI circuit for the bathroom receptacles. The bedroom receptacle circuit will use an arc fault circuit breaker. I ended up with two 3-way switched lights, for which I used 14-3 cable. The lighting was divided up on four lighting circuits.

Seems like a lot for a 1000 square foot, one bedroom cottage. It does add up. Connie thought I went overboard on lighting, which, knowing me, I probably did. But, I don’t think my eyesight will get any better and I want to make sure I’ve got enough light.

Now, to finish the rough electrical, I need to populate the main box and install pigtails in all the boxes. By that I mean that if a receptacle has power coming in and power going out I connect the grounds, neutral, and hot wires with pigtails so that when I later install the receptacle, there are only one set of hot, neutral and ground wires. Once these two tasks are done, I’ll move on to rough plumbing.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above is an example of wiring a receptacle box using pigtails so that there is only one white, one black, and one ground wire to connect to the receptacle.

For a double switch box, I also used pigtails so that I ended up with two incoming power lines (one for each switch), a black for each of the light switches, and one ground that will be connected to both switches in series. Note that I’ve pushed back the ground wires first, followed by the white and finally the black wires.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s a shot of the box before populating it:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Here’s what it looked like after pulling all the wires into the box.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

(7/14/11): And here’s the finished box. I loaded all the 220v breakers on the right and all the 110v breakers on the left. On the 110v (left) side, I loaded up the receptacles first at the bottom, then the bath receptacles, the kitchen receptacles, followed by the light circuits on the top, with the exception of putting the smoke detector circuit (15A) on the top right breaker.

I’m definitely not a licensed electrician, but some things I always keep in mind when I’m wiring:

1. Get a good book on wiring a house. I use “Wiring a House” by Rex Cauldwell, published by Taunton Press (this is the “For Pros By Pros” series and is very good. I have several of their other books in the series and find them excellent. I refer to them often.
2. Use 20A (12-2) wire for all circuits except dedicated fridge and freezer, and smoke detectors, in which case I use 14-2. Use 14-3 cable for 3-way switches or between smoke detectors (to make them all go off if any one is activated—this is code for new construction). Just make sure that you use a 15 amp breaker in any circuit where you use 14 gauge wire that can carry the entire load of the circuit. 
3. Bring power into the top left opening of all boxes. I usually take the power out cable in the bottom left and then any runs to lights, to the top right knockouts.
4. Where possible, I try never to run wire through the center of the attic where it would be easy to step on or trip over. I usually run cable around the outside of the structure in the attic and then if I need to come into the middle, staple the wire to the side of a truss/joist member.
5. I run the large cables first (range, dryer, water heater), then do the 220v and 110v dedicated lines (air conditioners, fridge, freezer, washer, base board heaters, etc., followed by the receptacle circuits, and finally the lighting circuits.
6. Split the receptacles above the kitchen counter top between two dedicated circuits. Use at last one dedicated receptacle circuit for each bathroom and one for the Laundry room.
7. You can’t have too many receptacles. Code specifies at least one within six feet of a doorway and then at least one every 12 feet along walls. I usually do almost twice that many.
8. Use a 1” spade bit or equivalent to drill holes in top plates and through studs. In most cases, more than one cable needs to be pushed through the hole anyway. Probably not a good idea to bring more than four 12-2 cables through one hole.
9. For lights, I always run the power into the switch box (instead of the ceiling box) and then just run one cable from the switch to the light box. This makes it easier to troubleshoot because all the wires are in easy reach.
10. If I ever need to splice a wire (I try and avoid this, but in some cases, I make a mistake and need to lengthen a cable), nail on a box, in the attic, out of the way, connect the wires, and install a closed cover plate. (Never hide a junction box within a wall and then cover it with sheet rock.)
11. Cut two large, elongated holes in the top plate above the main box. I usually drill two 2” holes about six inches apart on each side and then cut out between them using my reciprocating saw. Through the hole on the left, I bring in all the 110v home run cables. Through the one on the right, I bring in all 220v runs.
12. Label all cables coming into the main box. When first running cable, just bring the wire to the main box (through one of two large holes in the top plate above the box), and just let it hang in front. Be sure and cut the cable so that it hangs to the bottom of the main box. I place a label, using masking or freezer tape and a permanent marker, around the cable just above the top of the box.
13. Pigtail each box, as appropriate. For example, for a double switch box with power going in and out, connect all four ground wires along with an extra piece of longish ground wire using a red wire nut; connect all four neutrals (white) using a red wire nut; then, connect the two black wires from the power in and power out, along with two additional black wire pigtails. When finished, you’ll have two blacks for one side of each switch along with two black wires going to their respective lights on the other side of the two switches (and a ground wire, of course).
14. In double and triple boxes, the one longish ground wire is hooked to each switch’s ground lug in series by looping the wire and tightening the loop around the ground lug.
15. Within a box, to ensure you have enough room for the switches/receptacles, push back the connected ground wires first, followed by the white (neutral) wires, with the black (hot) wires remaining towards the front. I use the handle of a hammer to push each set of wires to the back of the box.

I connected the main service cable at the pole to the lugs on the main switch box, turned everything on, and amazingly, nothing blew up. Currently, I have lights, the switch, and a receptacle all completely wired with face plates in the attic. Last night, we turned on the appropriate breaker (after ensuring that the wires in all of the switch boxes, receptacles, and ceiling boxes on that circuit were not touching) and turned on the switch to the attic lights, and WOW, it worked. So, we now have our first lights working in our little house.