Bathroom wall progression (scramble continued)

Around the 25th of June, the inside space of the lower floor was wide open concrete. Following the plans we'd devised for the bathrooms, I laid ceramic tile in a 12x12 foot area so that the bathroom walls could be built on top of the tile (it's much easier than piecing in the tile around the walls later).


The following picture was taken on July 1st, the day after the bathroom walls were built:


Electric and plumbing were installed before this next picture was taken on July 3rd:






This next picture is taken from a higher angle (on the stairs), but it shows the bathroom wall with drywall. It was taken on July 4th:


The drywall was mudded on July 5th, painted (primed white) on the 6th. Bathroom doors, toilets, and sinks were installed on the 7th. Switches, outlets, lights, and ceiling fans went in on the 8th.


On the 9th, the stage was built and temporary lights and sounds installed:

This is Skip from Mirage Sound Company (THANK YOU, Skip!). By the time this picture was taken, it's already the 10th, but it's about 1:00am. Skip not only installed a temp system, but painted the beam he's hanging the lights on (How's that for service?)!

This is a pretty good crash course in what it took to make it happen, but there's a ton of little things that need done along the way. We had quite a few friends who stopped in at odd hours and helped out. If it wasn't for all their help, this never could have happened. For all your help, we are truly grateful. I hope you all come to relax and enjoy the music often. Thank you!

The scramble to get ready for live music...

PC's been hard at work getting the lower floor of the new addition ready for live music. There was a ton of work to be done when I scheduled T. Mitchell Bell and the Wandering Coalition for Friday July 10th (we made it, too! I'll post about that soon, too...)

Let me show you some pictures...

I think the last construction pictures I showed you were of the incomplete stairs. Here's a picture taken on June 25th that shows a complete, but unfinished, set of stairs. It also shows the bare stud walls and how far we had to go before July 10th:

This next picture was snapped on July 4th. There's a new window installed above the staircase landing, insulation on the walls above the stairs and drywall below the stairs:

I'll start another post to make it easier to add more pics....

Interior Update - All of Almost Nothing

I'm finished priming the entire interior.
Phwew.

Today I will paint the ceiling.
Color tomorrow.

I'll post pictures later this week.

Interior Update - Half of Almost Nothing

I promised you an interior update this week and all of a sudden it's Friday. So, here goes:

This first picture looks like nothing, which, let me tell you, is better than looking like brick or 2x4s or insulation or bare drywall.
Why?
Because this nothing is actually progress:





This view is a little wider - it actually looks like a little more than nothing:




What is all this nothing?
Primer. The pre-coat coat of paint. So, in a puzzling sort of way, even though I'm not really painting, I'm actually going through all the motions of painting; I'm priming.

It almost looks like something in this view:




See all these angles and corners? This is why it's taken me so long to mud and sand everything. Well, okay, that's one (good) reason.






I'm tempted to stop here. It actually looks as if I've accomplished something, doesn't it? I suppose I have, but it seems so slow (and messy).
If I back up and take a picture -looking up towards the ceiling- you can see that I'm not finished.
This picture is a little dizzying:




But this one is more clear:



Really, I'm about half way. Actually, I'm a lot further than that, because I'm almost ready to prime this other half, too. I just finished sanding it yesterday and later today I will patch a few rough spots. After it dries, I'll sand it again with a finer sandpaper and it's ready to prime.

Why did I do it in halves? Because I just couldn't wrap my head around the whole thing at once. Knowing I was done with half, and only had half more to go, was a strategy to preserve my sanity.
Did it work?
Hmmmm.....

Front Door - Overhang Support Columns

Here's where I get to show you how those squares of concrete with anchor bolts are put to use.

PC stood these columns Saturday morning in the rain. He was happy to get them out of our garage and we are both excited about more visible progress (my interior progress is much slower, though not quite invisible - I'll tell you more about inside later this week).

Here's the first one standing:



He had the base plates of each column lined up perfectly on the trailer so that he could pull them over the edge and line them up exactly where they needed to be to get the anchor bolts in place before standing them.



Perfect fit!
PC did a great job planning everything out (I'm not surprised; he's very good at this type of thing).








Yep, they all four went up, but these are all the pictures for today. May is a very busy month and I have a million other things I have to get done today - including a couple of hours of sanding at The 123.

Check out the TaylorCountyWestVirginia.blogspot.com to see a sampling of the international attention Grafton has been getting and why May is so busy - and there's lots more to come!

Outside

Structurally speaking, The 123 building is in pretty darn good shape, even without considering it's advanced years. A part of that is due to it's size - it's rather small and definitely narrow, making timber sagging a non-issue. Another, probably larger, part is due to the attention and care that it's received over the years. There have apparently been periods of neglect, but the periods of maintenance have counterbalanced and even outweighed the intermittent disregard.

One area that PC has been concerned with is this stone portion of the wall (west -the broadside that faces the parking lot):



You can see in the above picture the steel rebar that PC is tying into a grid. This is the beginning stages of pouring a concrete wall that will tie into the old stone work.




Here's a closer look:






Up close, against the building, PC dug down beneath the asphalt to provide a foundation for the new wall. The rebar is also tied into the wall at the rear of the parking lot, which is in much better shape (though it will eventually need cleaned and tuck-pointed again).






PC tying steel:



Next will come the wooden forms to 'form' the wet concrete into a wall. (They're already there, I just haven't been able to keep up with the posting).
And remember those square holes in the asphalt of the parking lot? I'll show you more of those, too.

Over at my blog -MKStover.com- I got to talking about drywalling and rototilling.
Over at the Taylor County Blog, I complimented the sidewalks (and Holy Cow! those new sidewalks deserve compliments! It looks great!).
I'll be back here before the end of the week to catch up on PC's weekend work.

Springtime - post-flu catch-up post

Just because I've been slacking on the blog doesn't mean work at The 123 is slacking. The drywall is hung and the mudding has started. Also, some of the plumbing that needed rerouted for both the first and second floors has been finished.

Now that the flu has finally loosed its grip, I will update pictures and post some color samples soon.
And even though the temperatures remain wintry, little yellow coltsfoot flowers are popping out of the hillside, so there is hope for spring - soon.

Construction Boredom and Blog Neglect

I've been neglecting this blog while I'm busy building the Grafton123.com site.

I just wanted to stop in with a quick update: Drywall hanging continues.

Not a very exciting update, huh?
No apologies; sometimes construction is boring and right now we are in a boring, plodding lull.

After the drywall and the painting comes tile. I get to lay the tile myself. While I'm at it, PC will be outside working on the entryway. I'll keep you up to date, but be sure to check out the main site often, as information is added everyday. If there's something you'd like to see over there, please let me know (mk@grafton123.com). You can put the information together yourself, or you can tell me what you'd like to see and I'll try and pull something together.

Also, I was thinking about it today as I was digging through my picture files: I know there are quite a few impressive photographers in town. If you have pictures from around the area, I'd appreciate it (a lot!) if you'd share. It might make the web site building a bit quicker (and certainly prettier).

Drywall

Here's the view of the wall as the insulation board goes up:




Here's the same view (or close) with drywall going up:




Drywall moves the project from dark to light; it's the first drastic step up from the deconstruction zone.


Color is a big topic of discussion right now.
We're thinking bright and clean and warm.
When we get further along with the choosing, I'll post some color samples.

Drywall Delivery

A normal sheet of drywall is 4'x8', like plywood or paneling; it's standard. Other sizes are available, though sometimes they are hard to find. PC finally found the sizes he was looking for with these guys:




While we did get some standard sized sheets, mostly we got a bigger size (4.5'x12') that is much heavier. This is PC & our neighbor who was kind enough (and strong enough) to help unload (not just one delivery, but two):



I stood around and took pictures.