In the basement I continued working at the flooring, getting the DRIcore in the open area and putting down a couple of sheets of plywwod. Even though there was not much cutting to do it still takes time. I'd say that roughly 1/3 - 1/2 of that area is completed, from a DRIcore standpoint.
I finished the 90 DRIcore panels that I had brought back on Sunday -- but Sandy went into Sudbury to pick up some more with the old red truck, which keeps on going and going. Amazing. It seems to know that if anything goes wrong that's the end.
Mid-day Tom arrived delivering 20 more sheets of plywood and drywall and pegboard that I had ordered. The three of us -- Tom, his daughter and I unloaded and brought it into the basement. Then Sandy arrived around 4pm with 120 DRIcore panels -- she feels that is the limit for the truck, from a weight standpoint -- and it pretty well filled the bed of the truck anyway. 120 panels = one skid, but the skid itself did not fit so the friendly staff at Home Depot loaded it for her. At this end I used the 4-wheeler to bring it down to the basement in four loads. I think that I'll send her into Sudbury for the next load as well -- I end up loading it at HD when I pick up the stuff -- too proud to ask for help ! We will probably only need one more load and perhaps some misc pieces depending on the wastage.
But in the meantime, after running out of DRIcore (but that's just an excuse), I went out for a short bike ride -- Highway 69 and back. Weather permitting I'll be able to ride tomorrow as well and do the longer ride.
After bringing the DRIcore into the house I went out for a boat ride with Abby and then pulled it into the boathouse since we'll be gone for four days.
Oh -- I forgot to mention something that happened on Sunday when I was coming back from Sudbury. On 522 (the road from here to highway 69) I spotted a pair of Canada Geese shepherding their goslings across the road. I slowed down and came to a stop about 30 feet from the Gander still in the middle of the road who was trying to stare me down, flapping his wings at me, while the goose and goslings were disapearing into the underbrush at the side of the road. He was clearly prepared to do battle for his family, no matter how much bigger I was. The age of chivalry is not dead in the animal kingdom.
Dinner -- barbecued (we barbecue almost everything) trout filets, rice and a seasonal treat -- fiddleheads. If you have never tried them before you have likely missed your chance for this year. They are the first growth of a certain kind of fern still curled up like you would close a finger and only about 1-2 inches high. They are only available in the spring for about a 2-week period.
----------
Thursday -- Sandy is getting ready to head out for Toronto and I've been working downstairs. It is raining outside, due to clear up soon -- I hope to get out for a bike ride this afternoon.
I painted a small section of the games room so that I could continue laying floor. With the tongue and groove flooring it goes down diagonally so I need to be able to put some in that room just to finish the open space aka entranceway aka shuffleboard area aka bar area -- whatever. It is the only area without a defined "purpose" as opposed to the other rooms -- workroom, bedroom, utility room, darkroom, bathroom, bottom-of-the-stairs, games room ... that's about it. The original reason for painting the basement floor was to be able to keep it clean and use it. Now I'm simply painting the remaining space (games room and bedroom) to seal the concrete and minimize dampness that comes through concrete having to breathe through the subfloor.
It is getting crowded at this point -- I had to move the fridge and freezer into the games room and of course I have all that plywood and DRIcore also in the way. It is going to be an ongoing shuffle at this point until the tiles are actually laid and things can find permanent homes. The worst room will be the bedroom which still has all the last boxes from the move -- most of which are boxes of books which are a) heavy and b) need sorting through to decide which to keep and which to toss.
For the rest of today I'm going to do some more floor, as I said above, hopefully get out for a bike ride and get organized to head out very early tomorrow a.m. -- 4am -- to meet Sandy at the car dealer around 8:15 in Oakville and then we head down to Philly.
Here is a picture of the progress on the floor ... it's not much to look at but it will both provide a base for the tiles as well as insulation for the concrete floor. We did not heat the basement floor because it will not be used much during the winter and the cool feels good during the summer. It is dehumidified and dry and the tile flooring will make it easy to keep clean. Of course, you'll notice from the picture that I still have the ceiling to do and you cannot see around the corner, but the basement stairs still need railings etc -- that comes shortly.
Jason will notice the shims at the corners, which I did find a use for -- if there is any unevenness in the concrete the floor will end up with a hollow sounding "bounce" as you walk on it. Using the shims allows you to take up that space and eliminate the bounce. The wood will also settle to a certain degree and level out so before I put tiles down I will do a final check for bounce and if there are any areas still needing some attention some well placed tapcons will anchor those to the concrete below. Of course the weight of the two concrete skim coats, the tile and the grout will also help compress the floor to make it solid.
No comments:
Post a Comment