Goals
This weekend I didn't really get much done it seems. In fact, I kinda got done what I thought I might have accomplished last weekend. But whatever. I can feel real progress being made and I'm feeling a lot better about being able to get everything done and drywall up before Vicki gets back. Plus there's less unknowns out there. Those problems I haven't quite figured out how to solve... those weird obstacles I haven't figured out what I'm going to deal with... those cause the most anxiety. Sometimes you have to do research. Sometimes you just have to start working on it and work through it. But when all the unknowns are out of the way and it's a clear path of work in front of me, that's much more exciting.
That's my current goal by the way... drywall before Vicki gets back. Before she left I was all like "The kitchen will definitely be done by the time you get back!" But now she's coming back 2 months earlier. Not to mention I've got a lot going on at work and haven't had much time to devote to the house. So now drywall is the most I can realistically hope for. But that will be good enough. When the drywall goes up it changes everything!
So this weekend I ran the dryer vent, installed the hose bib, and furred out the inside of the back wall of the laundry room.
Installing the dryer vent was pretty much the same as installing the range hood vent. I cut out a square of the siding with a jigsaw and a chisel and then laid in a block trim board to mount it to. Then cut a round hole for the duct. But of course it wasn't that easy and it turned out the jigsaw couldn't make the tight turn to cut the 4-inch hole and the down spout totally got in the way. Then I broke the block in the process so I had to cut a whole new piece. After that I decided I had to bite the bullet and go buy a 4-inch hole saw.
A 4-inch hole saw is $28 at Home Depot. $28 for a hole saw I'm only going to use ONCE just didn't make any sense. So instead I just bought some more blade for my reciprocating saw and hoped I could be little gentler this time.
This morning as I was about to start, I realized I could use a hole saw I already have as a starting point and that might make it a little easier. When I checked out my selection of hole saws I realized that I totally forgot I already bought a 3 3/4" hole saw for running the toilet drain pipe! duh...
Anyway, once that was cut and mounted I attached the remaining pipes to the magical dryer box. The dryer box is recessed box that the flexible duct coming off the dryer can safely fit into instead of being accidentally crushed against the wall when you slide the dryer in place. It's kind of gimmicky I guess. I could have built the same thing out of wood and drywall. This product actually came with a letter congratulating me on being so cutting edge and innovative.
This hose bib was surprisingly simple. In fact, I could have done it faster but I think I kept slowing down, looking everything over, waiting for something to go wrong. All I had to do was drill a 1" hole in the siding and slip the sill cock through. It even came with a plastic wedge to match the slope of the siding.
Of course, I practiced installing this first too. I'm so paranoid about my beautiful new siding. I'm so afraid I'm going to split a board and have to replace them. So I built another little siding model to drill holes into. It's pretty simple tho because I drilled directly where the two boards overlap so there's solid wood all the way through. It seems pretty solid.
Then last but not least I furred out the back wall in the laundry room. The problem is that this wall sits on the crappy slab of bricks and they jut out past the wall. So I'm having to add all this wood so the drywall will overlap the brick.
It went pretty well tho. I've been avoiding this job because it's one of those "unknowns." But thanks to the laser lever, I was able to size up the wall pretty easily. But It's not a magic wand or anything.. my 4 foot and 2 foot levels were just as useful and necessary. Everything was pretty much straight to begin with, like all the new lumber that replaced the rotting stuff, so I didn't have to do nearly as much shimming as I thought I'd have to do either.
This is slightly annoying: even tho I ordered a custom jamb size for the door, I didn't estimate right and I'll still need to add some 1/2" jamb extensions for the trim. Doh.
I still need to tack on some thin 1/2" plywood in a couple more spots, but other than that it's done. And best of all, the anxiety about it is gone! woo hoo!