Lake House 2nd Floor Interior Project

[linus69]

The second floor of our lake house is an unfinished 62 foot wide shell waiting for me to finish. I avoided the project for close to two years but recently started the ball rolling.
I decided to start on one end, finish the first spare bedroom and then work my way towards the other side. So I`m framing, wiring power, cable, phone, cat5,etc., then insulating and next week I will start the drywall.

View into the bedroom and a walkin storage closet for the bride.

View out of the bedroom

[linus69]

The sheetrock lift assembled fairly easy, but there was the obligatory confusing chinese instruction booklet, just awful. It is definately worth the money, I am quite pleased with it.
Here is the first sheet going up, I`m using 12 foot long 1/2in boards on the ceiling and I use screws.



Here is the second

[linus69]

Sheetrock done, taping started.

[linus69]

The construction continues, three coats of paint applied and woodwork progressing. All the trim was done in cherry wood which was a pleasure to work with, beautiful grain.









The finish on the wood is Minwax cherry stain with two coats of Minwax semigloss spar poly.
I got really lucky and found a source for the cherry trim that is 51miles from my house. They make very high end moulding for retailers like Home Depot Expo and if there is the slightest blemish in the piece they sell it as a second for pennies on the dollar.
The cherry is just beautiful some of the nicest wood I`ve ever worked with, I put it up with chinese made air brad nailers, I use two different gauges. They work very well and don`t split the cherry casing.
The drywall lift is definately well worth the $169 investment, a must have for working alone.
I tape with fiberglass mesh and use dry powder setting compound, three different types, drys fast and in cold temps. I stopped using bucket compound years ago, it took forever to harden.
I had ordered red oak flush doors from the local yard but with the holidays they never got shipped so I canceled them.
I think we will go with solid pine six panel doors instead, the Anderson 400 windows are pine and I made the window jam extensions out of pine so there is no reason to introduce oak into the mix. I gpt more than enough cherry casing to do the entire second floor so we will stay with the pine and cherry combo.
I put in electric baseboard but burn wood as much as possible, we are getting a 40 percent
rate increase soon from PP&L The ceiling fan is a Hunter, I put ceiling fans in almost every room and use them year round and outlets, you can`t have enough outlets for my bride.
The floor will get wall to wall carpet which will get installed by you know who, probably in the spring.

[linus69]

I got the two 6 panel solid pine doors installed and I am quite pleased with them. I got them at a place called Auction Outlet near JFK airport for $110 a piece prehung, any size you want.
They were treated before staining with Minwax Stain Conditioner and it works just like they claim.
I never had pine take stain this nicely in my whole life, no blotches, no football shapes, just a great product for staining pine and other soft woods. I will never stain another piece of pine without it again.

[linus69]

Now I get to do it all over again on the other end of the 2nd floor. It is an identical space in every aspect so I`ll be building the same bedroom, they will be just like bookends. Here is what the space looks like now.

[linus69]

I finally got started on the other bedroom and the bathroom after a long dry spell in my ambition. I finished the framing and the electrical needs in the bedroom, still need to do cable and cat5 wire.
I did most of the R30 ceiling insulation and my eyeballs still itch. I started the bathroom framing and made the bath 7ft by 9ft 6ins. which is fine for a guest bath.
This bedroom is slightly different from the other as the clothes closet is built in the corner of the room as opposed to the first bedroom where the closet bumps out from the room into a larger hallway walkin closet.

[quikduk]

Nice work Paul. Keep the pics coming...but you might want to re-size those last ones for some that might be bandwidth challenged... ;D

[linus69]

Thanks Ken, I`ve never really used photo bucket before and can`t get the thumbnail sizes, even after reading the Blue instructions on the picture uploading thread.
I also put up a 25ft flag pole behind the house, I had a hole dug from when I did the arbor and only was able to get one hole sunk before changing locations. I worked so hard on that damn hole I didn`t have the heart to fill it in.
It worked out perfect for the 2in pvc I used as a ground sleeve for the flagpole, this is the view from the 2nd floor deck.
cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=190220472351&ssPageName=MERCOSI_VI_ROSI_PR4_PCN_BIX_Stores&refitem=200202038417&itemcount=4&refwidgetloc=closed_view_item&refwidgettype=osi_widget&_trksid=p284.m185&_trkparms=algo%3DSI%26its%3DI%252BIA%26itu%3DCR%252BIA%252BUCI%26otn%3D4%26ps%3D42




Paul

[3RRL]

Nice work Paul,
I think it's just great you are able to that all by yourself. I'm still amazed that you got all that drywall up by yourself with that neat gadget to hold the sheets. Looks like there's plenty of room upstairs and the bath is a nice size. Do you have a completion date you're shooting for?
How do you find the time to do it all?
Rob-

[linus69]

Thanks Rob, the drywall lift was some of the best money I ever spent, also air nailers are a must, both for framing and finish trim work. I really need to get this upstairs finished before next winter so I can start heating the whole house.
Working rotating shifts as I do and doubling up shifts gives me a lot of time off to play Bob Villa.
My standard line is I hope to finish it before it finishes me

Paul

[3RRL]

Paul,
Loretta wants to know what stain color you used for those beautiful doors.
We want to use the same thing at our place.
Rob-

[linus69]

Rob, They were treated before staining with Minwax Stain Conditioner and it works just like they claim.
I never had pine take stain this nicely in my whole life, no blotches, no football shapes, just a great product for staining pine and other soft woods. I will never stain another piece of pine without it again.
The finish on the wood is Minwax Cherry stain with two coats of Minwax semigloss spar poly.

Paul

[3RRL]

Paul,
Thank you for that information!
I showed Loretta your doors and she just loved them. We had our front door stained and it is alright, but they didn't use any conditioner and it shows. They are certainly not like yours. Now, after seeing yours, she is thinking of doing some interior ones.
Yours turned out terrific looking.
Rob-

[linus69]

Thanks Rob, your kind words are helping tp propel me this morning as it is sheetrock time for the second spare bedroom.The insulation is finally completed, I hate doing insulation.







Paul