Welcome to Vanha Talo Suomi! Glad you are checking in, it means you made it through the winter! Congratulations to us all ❤

Progress has been… progressing here on a number of projects.  After the plumbers last visit the rest of the ductwork for the ventilation was completed. It included tapping through the ceilings of all the rooms downstairs to place the duct work. Eventually, I will get around to patching up these areas, and possibly catch a few other places that look horrible.

How horrible you ask? Pretty horrible. You’d think that since we put up new walls and ceilings in every room, those walls would be plumb and even, but they aren’t and neither are the ceilings! This became painfully clear as the crown molding was going up. Yikes, just plain ugly! If it wasn’t bad enough we had large square chimney pieces to work around in each room we added uneven walls to the mix.

Those concrete projections are wider than the molding and were too large for the trim pieces to cover, so we just had to end the molding where it meets these areas. The only solution I was able to think of is to repaint the brown wall areas where the white molding ‘should/would’ be. By painting those small areas white it’s my hope that they blend in with where the molding line would have been, camouflaging at least at first glance what you will no doubt notice after that first glance…

But it seems not even the walls in the new construction side are faring any better in the “straight department” Have a look at this set of cabinets in the bathroom.

The photo, taken from above, you can easily see the gap between the cabinet edge in the corner is not even.  I’m not a happy camper at the moment!

With the electricians wanting to install lights we never said we wanted, and extra holes now needing to be covered up, things have ‘progressed’ to a new high of dissatisfaction and new lows of frustration.

This is what has been checked off of the to-do list:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The last sheets of drywall are almost up. All that’s left is the rest of the attic and our current bedroom space.

Since all the rest was ready for mud, I eventually got the energy to start in on that. First was the downstairs bathroom.

I mudded, sanded then primed the wall where the sink is then Pete attached the cabinets. Next is to put on the counter top and drop in the sink.  

 

 

 

 

 

There are still unfinished areas of tile work to do in the bathroom and framing out the window and sauna door, which I’m hoping Pete is doing because I still have to mud, sand and prime the rest of the walls in there!  The upstairs bedroom is all mudded, sanded and ready to prime, likewise the bathroom there is a light sanding away and then it too will be ready to prime.

It actually went pretty fast despite most of the drywall had been installed incorrectly here too. I forgot to mention this before. Drywall, gypsum board, sheet rock, wallboard, plasteboard, etc has a correct installation method – determined as the most effective use of sheet size, but also maximize efficiency by eliminating unnecessary joints and seems.  It is in your best interest to adhere to correct installation methods and avoid pitfalls later. Pitfalls can include inferior results and more time & money spent. Do it right the first time!

There are many sources online about how to hang drywall so I won’t confuse the situation further except to say that all the incorrect examples you will find in the site here are the same as how Pete hung our drywall, i.e., tapered edges in the corner as well as the front edge, forced fits, ceiling installed after the walls, joints at corners and over the doors, using up small pieces instead of larger ones to reduce seems… everything indicated as the improper way in the Handyman article was the way it was done here. 🙂

I just kept looking at it all and wondering why, – knew it was wrong, but he just kept doing it this way despite me pointing it out. Yes, I’m the one left to try and make it look good. yeah me!

What have I learned? Just because someone has tools and can complete most construction tasks does not a finish carpenter make! Nor does it mean they have possession and knowledge of ALL the skills necessary to complete a remodeling project.  We will have to live with crooked tile that doesn’t line up, that isn’t completely adhered to the floor. We have polished tile that was laid mismatched with honed, walls are crooked and uneven, things that aren’t just right, you get the idea. I’m looking for the silver-lining.  The end result is this: what one person thinks is fine and okay might not really be fine and okay for someone else. 🙂

Ok folks, our project is inching towards completion and I’m all for that. Spring seems nearby because the snow has nearly melted and the temperatures have been quite mild. For more on the crazy Finnish weather see here. No complaints from me, I can see the tips of tulip bulbs from the window! Not sure how much longer I have to wait to see Holland when I look outside, but I’m ready! 🙂 I’ve got apple trees to prune, a bunch of Polish bulbs to plant and that whole new area of garden to get started. The yard is a mudbowl for the most part. It’s raining as I write which isn’t helping out. I’m not sure how many months it’s going to take for our yard to settle in and dry out. I’m betting July. June is also somewhat wet here typically so it looks like muddy days are here to stay for a long time.

Until next time ❤