Cleaning Up

Today was a major benchmark on the way to a completed house.  Kyle and Dave have finished all the bookcases save the two on the stairwell.  The trim for these bookcases will have to be integrated into the permanent staircase when it is built, and the staircase will be about the last task the guys will do.

I drove out to Presque Isle after church at Long Rapids and lunch at the rectory in Alpena.  Mike ("Sgt. Floo" according to the legend on his plow) had cleared the driveway after the snow a couple nights ago.  I'm glad he's attending to this chore; I really don't want to buy a snowblower right now.

Mike plowed the driveway today.  It needed it!

The bookcases look really cool!  If you check the photos below, you will note that the bookcases on the ground floor wear a "hat" at the top, whereas the units upstairs do not.  That's because the ceiling height on the ground floor is 9-foot, while on the second floor it's 8-foot.  The "hat" accommodates this difference.  Aside from that, the construction is essentially the same: each is a 2x4 frame faced in oak-veneer plywood, and trimmed in oak, with four channels routed in the side pieces to accept the track-and-pin system which will support the shelves.  When the painters arrive tomorrow the bookcases and shelving will be stained the same "honey oak" as the other woodwork and then sealed with polyurethane.

Note the "hat" on the bookcase in the front entry.

The double bookcase in the office doesn't
wear a "hat" due to the lower ceiling.

The third bookcase in the office makes good
use of the "found space" in this corner.

The double bookcase in the guest bedroom upstairs
has been trimmed out and is ready to be stained.

Some things remain to be done, of course.  In preparation for the permanent stairway, Kyle adjusted the height of the center wall.  The drywall contractor was coming late today to drywall this small area.  And next week Dave and Kyle will install the hood over my stove, as Kyle's diagram indicates.

The stairwell's center wall is coming together, while the
two bookcases must wait until the stairs are built.

This is my "Picasso" stove hood — "A thing of beauty."
Is that Kyle's signature below the outlet?

The big chore this afternoon was cleaning up in preparation for the painters.  The equipment and a lot of lumber was grouped in the center of the living/kitchen area, and the whole covered with a tarp to protect it during the painting.  Then all the sawdust had to be swept up (note the trash can in the photo below).  Thus far the guys have taken about 20 bags of sawdust to the Fireside Inn, where it will be used as dressing for foot trails.  When the main room had been swept, Dave started organizing the materials and tools in the downstairs bedroom while Kyle went after the dust.  Understand that the whole house has been under a thick layer of sawdust for the past many days.  To get rid of it, Kyle turned off the heat, opened all the doors and windows, and used a leaf blower to force the dust outside.

Equipment and lumber are secured under the tarp.

While Dave sorts out the guest bedroom...

...the doors and windows are thrown open
(this is the future screened porch)...

...and Kyle attacks the dust with a leaf blower
(the haze is dust, not sunlight).

Dave and Kyle are heading home, but plan to return late this week, before the painters are finished.  They will bring with them the countertops and carpeting. •••