Brett and Bob from Big Sky Construction spent the day sanding in the basement at the “L” Shaped House. The photo below shows the family covered in a fine layer of sheet rock dust after they packed up and went home. We are getting very close to the point when all the drywall work will be done. These guys have done a fabulous job!
Here's a scene we have not seen in a while…the back side of the “L” Shaped House with hardly any snow! I was able to navigate back to this vantage point without walking in snow…a little mud though. It’s nice to see the back yard again after a long cold winter.
The next photo shows the progress Brett continues to make on the basement sheet rock. He has made his last pass with joint compound and plans to start skim coating the ceilings tomorrow. Then it’s on to sanding.
The last photo shows the GE cooktop un-boxed and ready for trial fitting in the Cambria countertop scheduled to be installed Thursday. The Quartz Surfaces guys already have the Elkay sink and by Thursday night the kitchen should be completely transformed…
Brett from Big Sky Construction spent another day mudding sheet rock joints at the “L” Shaped House. The first photo shows the basement family room from the bottom of the stairs. He has the most of joints in both the family room and guest bedroom out close to the 16” width.
The next photo shows the basement stairwell and the doorways leading into the “Harry Potter” room under the stairs and the bathroom next door.
The Big Sky Construction guys made a lot of progress in the basement Friday. The panoramic photo below shows the family room from the back corner by the walk-out doors. They have all the sheet rock up, taped, have made at least a couple of passes with mud. The basement feels completely different with all the walls in place.
The Drywall guys are busy filling and taping the sheet rock in the basement. The photo here shows the end wall of the family room after the first coats of mud have been applied all around. They hope to get as much taping done as possible by tomorrow night to allow for a whole weekend of drying.
The Big Sky Construction crew was just finishing up hanging sheet rock in the basement around noon today. The photos below show the guest bedroom and basement family room with the virtually all the sheet rock hung. They plan to be back tomorrow to clean up and start the filling, taping, and mudding operations. The basement looks and feels completely different with the walls and ceilings in place.
The Big Sky Construction guys are back to installing sheet rock in the basement. Yesterday they worked in the stairwell and the closet under the stairs. Today they are working their way across the ceiling in the family room and will start on the walls shortly. The two photos below show family room from opposite ends of the front wall. It is really exciting to see this last area of the house get finished up!
The drywall for the basement was delivered to the “L” Shaped House this afternoon. They used a boom truck to swing the material down to the walk-in doors and have it staged all around the basement. It looks like they will be installing about 100 more sheets of sheet rock and burning through 10 more pails of mud!
Paul and his crew have been preparing the basement of the “L” Shaped House for sheet rock all week. The fireplace framing is now complete and has passed inspection. The photo below shows the new fireplace framing and sheet rock as well as the additional blocking added to the bedroom wall.
The next photo shows the opposite corner of the family room where a slip-in media cabinet will be installed. We are taking full advantage of the foundation wall depth by sheet rocking the exterior wall to make a cavity for the bookshelf. The last photo shows the progress in the basement bathroom. The dividing wall between the shower and toilet is framed and blocking for towel bars is installed in the walls.
Paul Winters has been busy preparing the basement ahead of the drywall installation. The photo below of the West wall of the family room highlights some of these preparations nicely. The corner on the far left had to be sheet rocked prior to the installation of the gas fireplace. Blocking between studs has been added to the wall in the center where the home theatre television will mount and the framing on the right has been modified the accommodate a 12 inch deep built-in media shelf. The Big Sky Construction guys should be following right behind with drywall.
The Big Sky Construction guys have been busy finishing up the sheet rock in the stairwell to the bonus room. They spent the last couple of days on the fussy angles associated with the short walls of the stairs and sanding in the heights above. The first photo shows a long shot of the stairwell with the winding staircase to the bonus room.
Next a close shot showing many of the funny angles and surfaces that are a part of the stairway. The last photo shows the area under the stairs where the walls, ceilings, and stair support come together in a kind of complicated mess.
The Big Sky Construction guys have the last coat of mud on all the sheet rock joints in the garage and stairwell to the bonus room. They will start sanding tomorrow and probably have this part of the house finished up by the end of the week… Then its on to the basement!
The drywall guys are working their way through the garage and stairwell with tape and mud. The photo below shows the back wall of the garage, stairs, and work area beneath the stairs with the second coat of mud applied to the joint tape. They have the whole 24 foot back wall of the staircase to deal with as they work their way up to the bonus room.
The drywall guys have almost all of the tape installed in the garage and have started mudding the joints they covered late last week. It’s amazing how much better the room looks with the holes filled and tape on the joints.
The stairs to the bonus room and the work area below provide plenty of angular challenges as the sheet rock and taping continues.
The Big Sky Construction crew is busy working in the garage today. They have almost all the sheet rock hung and will probably start taping later this afternoon. The panoramic photo gives us our first view of the garage with the drywall installed. With the heat on and the walls covered it feels pretty civilized in there!
The next photo shows sheet rock covering the walls in the staircase to the bonus room. This space is going to house; work benches, cabinets and tool boxes. The spot under the stairs is just big enough for my air compressor.
The Big Sky Construction guys keep plugging away on the sheetrock at the “L” Shaped House. They have finished up the bonus room and are hard at work hanging drywall in the garage. The first photo shows the East wall of the bonus room with the walls and ceiling finish sanded ready for primer.
The second photo shows the door from the garage at the top of the stairs. Now that the heater in the garage is up and running (and the miniature weather system that occupied the stairwell is gone) the door can finally be opened. The third photo shows the sheet rock going up in the stairwell as the work in the garage continues.
The last photo shows the the end wall of the garage with the chaos that comes with hanging sheet rock all around!
Today marks day 200 in the construction of the “L” Shaped House. I decided to celebrate this important milestone by posting a couple of photos taken with my “real” camera (Canon 5D). The first shows a front view of the house with the beautiful winter sky in the background.
The second photo of the dining room and kitchen shows the overall construction progress at the “L” Shaped House nicely. The drywall on the first floor is ready to be primed…finish carpentry will follow shortly.
In the last two photos I have tried to capture two of the first floor sight lines that show the “open” floor plan and architectural “layering” effect Mike Kloti envisioned during the design process more than a year ago (see Mike’s original thoughts here).
OH…Happy 299th posting as well!
The Big Sky Construction crew has finished up the drywall main floor of the “L” Shaped House and turned their attention to the bonus room above the garage. The first photo below shows the bonus room from the end wall looking out the back of the house. They are going to stop short of their “level 5” taping but produce a nice smooth surface.
They have also installed the first few sheets of drywall in the basement bathroom. I’m guessing that everyone will appreciate having a functioning toilet in the house.
The first floor drywall does not look much different than it did yesterday…but the Big Sky Guys have everything but the living room and music room finished. They plan to finish sanding them tomorrow morning and then move to the bonus room and garage. The photo below shows the view toward the dining room bay window with the camera sitting on the kitchen window sill.
The Big Sky Construction crew is back after the Christmas and New Year break to continue adding layers of joint compound to the walls and skim coating the ceilings. The first photo shows the stub wall between the kitchen and dining room with the freshly applied mud on the walls and ceiling. They are getting very close to being ready for the sanding operations on the main level of the “L” Shaped House.
The next photo shows a long view of the first floor from the West wall of the music room. In it we can see the “layering” effect that Mike Kloti is looking for in the design. The last photo shows the front face of the living room fireplace after the sheet rock has been applied.
