Garage Ceiling and Lights Part 2

Eighteen months ago I ripped out the front half of the garage ceiling and installed blocking between the joists to provide extra strength:

I also installed a bunch of modern LED lights. The intention was always to insulate the ceiling, but in the meantime, I have been working on making the deck above this area watertight (or avoiding doing so, which accounted for a good few months of the last year and a half). 

So, even though the deck is not completely finished yet, I have decided to move forward with the garage ceiling. At the moment the garage does not have any insulation, so it is baking hot most of the time and cold in the Winter months. But not for much longer! I'm using a mixture of R30 unfaced and R15 faced insulation. This way I can install a layer of each material into the ceiling cavities for a total value of R45 AND have a vapor barrier at the warm side of the partition. 

The ceiling cavities are 36" wide, so the first step is to cut the 25-foot roll of unfaced insulation material into eight suitable pieces. I made the cuts with a Milwaukee knife which is razor sharp and some help from my Shop Cat. 

The insulation is 15 inches wide, which is the standard for 16-inches-on-center framing. However, the cavities in my ceiling are ten inches wide, so I have to cut a five-inch strip off each piece of material:

The faced material was trimmed into similar 10" x 36" pieces, and the excess vapor barrier was retained.

The unfaced material goes in first:

Followed by the faced insulation. The untrimmed vapor barrier is helpful for stapling the material to the joists, and then the excess can be trimmed away wit' sithers.

The offcuts are half the size of the ideal pieces so they can be grouped together and installed without any more cutting:

I was able to fill one complete strip of nine cavities with one roll of each type of material thanks to making use of all the small pieces:

This is quite a bit later. There is a gap in the middle that I can't reach without moving the Mustang, so I'll be coming back to that area later.

Before I move the '68 it makes sense to install the sheathing at this side of the garage. I needed help from Samuel Sheep to get the first board tacked down. I want to be able to remove the sheathing later if I need to, so I'm installing it with screws...a LOT of screws!

First three boards done! I'm not using full sheets - the boards are around 36" wide - and I installed temporary wood spacers between the boards:

After the spacers are removed, I have 1-1/8" gap where I can re-install the LED strip lights. There is not enough space to install the lights on top of the sheathing and still be able to open the vehicle door. 

Time to move the Mustang - the car is running right now, but I have not dialed in the clutch, so I put floor jacks under the differential and the front cross member and pushed it sideways across the garage.

This would have been hard work on my own but fortunately my favorite Shop Cat was around to help:

Finished off installing the insulation:

Put the lights back at the front of the garage. At this point about a third of the ceiling is complete.

The next step is to rip down the rest of the old ceiling and get rid of all the grot and old insulation material. I'm aiming to finish the left side of the garage while the car is on the other side.  

 

This is after removing all of the old screws and nails and having a massive cleanup:

Installed double blocking front to back to strengthen this area: 

I used up the last of the insulation I had on hand. I ran out of vapor-backed material so I had to improvise with some tar paper - it's just the same but a different color, as my father might say.

There is a difference in the height of the ceiling where the most recent bit of the garage meets an older section. Our house has been added on-to and pushed-out so many times it is difficult to be sure which bits are original. I had just enough insulation to get up to this point: 

Installed my last sheet of sheathing over the insulated area: 

I need to install insulation material at the rear section of the left side and then cover it with sheathing...

Then I have to do the same at the right rear quadrant:

En Suite Bathroom Sink

I don't know if you are aware, but if you're talking about a house, nobody says "master bedroom" or "master bathroom" anymore. Or even master suite come to that. Modern alternatives to "master" in this context are "primary" or "principal." Sadly, neither of these terms are adequate for the pokey bathroom in my house, so I'm going with "en suite" as the descriptor. We partially remodeled this bathroom about three years ago, and it has done ok with one small issue:

Unless you have the eyesight of Veronica Seider, you might need to view the close up:

There was really no practical way to replace just the sink, even if we could have found an identical replacement, so we bought a pre-assembled sink/countertop that is almost the exact same size, but has a slightly larger bowl volume - and looks a bit more modern although that wasn't the primary consideration. 

The weekend after the new sink was delivered, I just happened to be alone due to a combination of Spring break and work schedules, so it was a perfect time to put one of the bathrooms out of service. As I mentioned above, we replaced the countertop a few years ago, and it was installed from the top down, so there was no easy way to remove anything. After disconnecting the plumbing and removing the faucet I broke out the sink with a claw hammer. To be honest, the hammer was overkill. 

Obviously, I did not accomplish this entirely alone; even breaking up a sink requires a work crew standing by to observe in order to comply with Union rules. 

I was able to lever the backsplash and sidesplash off the wall without breaking them or busting up too much of the drywall. 

Getting rid of the stone countertop without doing any damage to the cabinet was a tough assignment. I had to cut the countertop and the supporting plywood panel into several pieces to achieve this, which made an awful lot of dust. Bare vanity cabinet after cleanup: 

Before I can mount the new sink, I need to replace the plywood panel. The whole point of the panel is to provide structural integrity to the cabinet. 

The panel would normally go over the cabinet and thus raise the height of the unit by the thickness of the panel....which is 3/4 of an inch in this case. However, the replacement sink is exactly 3/4" thicker at the perimeter than the original. I want to maintain the original height because there is very limited space below the wall cabinet for the outlet:

The solution is to set the new panel inside the cabinet - i.e. flush with the existing top edge. The easiest way to achieve this is to clamp the panel where I want it to go and secure it with pocket screws:

Even with help from my willing assistant, I wasn't able to set the sink....

....until Samuel Sheep came by the next day and provided the necessary muscle:

So, here's the thing: The new sink comes with a backsplash, but not a sidesplash....so, I decided to re-use the originals since I removed them intact. The only hinderance to this plan was one of size: the original pieces were a bit too long:

If I had taken measurements in advance, I could have placed the sink a little bit further from the wall and it would have been a perfect fit. Oops! I also could have ignored the overhang....but I just didn't want to. I ended up trimming the sidesplash with the same diamond encrusted screaming wheel of death that I used to cut up the original countertop. I did this bit of cutting in the workshop since I already de-dusted the bathroom once. I also re-installed and reconnected the faucet.

The original drain fitting was too small for this sink, so I need to find a replacement before operation can be restored:

Fixin' The Deck Part 19

The recent spell of unseasonal good weather, the availability of key personnel and the previously noted desire to get finished with the deck have combined to really move this project forward. This post is a combination of one full day of Samuel Sheep and I banging away, one day of Amy and myself, and one day of all three of us going at it.

New trim installed around the office window and at the base of the siding: 

New trim installed below the big window and the front-facing edge of the frame has been sanded and filled until it was flat - it looked like it had been cut with a chainsaw previously.

All the old paint was scraped off the section of the siding that we are not replacing:

The trim and nail holes were caulked, wood filler was sanded, and everything was given a coat of primer:

All remaining perimeter posts were installed and the sleeves added:

Re-installed the railings:

The post caps were replaced, and the gates were moved to the bottom of the stairs, where it is more practical to install the cane bolt...and looks better if you ask me.

The full-length post has a modified sleeve and a two-piece cap: 

Luna kept me company while I was painting the trim:

At this point all the trim has had one coat of white paint: 

I was planning to just paint the new trim, but I ended up doing all of it, including all the frames at the big window and the entire overhang.

Still left to do:

• paint all the trim a second time.
• paint the siding.
• apply waterproof sealant to the deck surface.