Sunday Evening Status

This project is coming in for a landing. Sunday, I was an insulation installer. I've bought 64' of R-13 batt insulation and I've used all but a couple of feet. I need to insulate the wall between the BR3 Hall and the BA3, and then insulate the ceiling of the BR3 Hall, but everything else is done.

Insulation complete

The builders of the workshop saw no reason to install studs at 16" o.c. (They also used 2x4s to frame the 10' 6" wall at the stairs when code says 2x6.) I tried to find wider rolls (Home Depot sells R-11 for studs 24" o.c., but only in large quantities), but I ended up just biting the bullet and splicing my own wide batts. (The R-11 batts would have had to be cut, anyway.)

I took an inventory of Needs and Haves for drywall. Need 17,200 square inches. Have 11,100 square inches. No matter what kind of Tetris games one plays, I need 6,000 more square inches (a 4'x8' sheet is 4,608 square inches), so I put out the bat signal for John Jones. Two sheets should be easy compared to the six sheets he helped me lug last time. Since I'm going to have a full sheet, I'll use it on the wall to the left in the photo above.

I feel a bit like Howard Roark in The Fountainhead, in that I've been feeling the cold air drafts as I've been working, and the fiberglass batts really are comfy cozy, like a blanket. Not just pencil and paper; I feel the architecture.

We're getting close to done. I didn't go to the home improvement store at all today. :-) I sanded the patch in BR3 and the final coat made a big improvement--there are still some imperfections visible in the LED side light, but I'm declaring victory.

Punch List

• Cut and install the various pieces of leftover drywall
• Install the perf angle to support the west-most garage door track--this will entail cutting the long angle.
• Apply tape to hide gaps in loft ceiling drywall. 
• Install nail/screw organizers and power strip (blocking and drywall are in)
• Sweep and vacuum the floor in order to see imperfections
• Paint particleboard shelves
• Apply concrete floor patch as needed
• More primer: Prime the west garage door, the edge of the loft
• Buy garage floor paint (forget the laminate floor ideas)
• Wash the floor, apply acid etch, wash again
• Paint the garage floor

We're not done yet, but I can see the end. Just about a month, just about $1,100. Worth it.

Sunday afternoon

Thinking About the Floor

I bought Gray, not Tan

The plan had been to give the concrete a slick, glossy epoxy treatment, like a kick ass garage where everyone wants to park their Ferrari. I bought a kit from Rustoleum for that purpose. It's $140 and requires pressure-washing, patching, acid etching, then careful application for good results.

I returned it tonight when I realized that a simple concrete paint product would give me the kind of consistent, finished look I want. The walls aren't painted; the drywall is patchwork. It's not a Ferrari showroom.

I should still wash, patch, and acid etch the floor, but Drylok makes a paint for $38 a gallon that looks good.

Drylok "Dover Gray" covers 500 SF/gallon

But then, I saw a YouTube video where they finished a basement with a 1/4" interlocking vinyl tile product called LifeProof. It requires no underlayment, it looks like Pergo, and has built in cushioning. It would cost about $600 to do the workshop.

That's the thing: It's a Workshop, not a Garage. It will never have a car on it. Before recent developments, the space always seemed to anticipate being converted back to a garage someday. Now it has a different vibe and the floor could be part of that.

"Starry Light" a 16" x 32" LifeProof tile

The product has a ceramic bead overlay on a "virgin vinyl" and Isocore core, bonded to a black rubber-ish "sound-mitigating underlayment with Ultra-Fresh treatment." They make matching thresholds and quarter-round "shoe" moldings. 8 cases = $595.36. (6) 7'10" quarter rounds would be another $60.

Lowes has an interesting industrial-looking product called Smartcore "Siena Stone." 12 cases would be $618.24.

Armstrong makes a "luxury vinyl tile" (LVT) product called "Alterna"--the color "Hint of Gray" is available in 8 x 16 and 12 x 24. Great Floors sells it, but doesn't have prices online.

Home Depot has a 12mm laminate flooring Helvetic Floors product. Looks like $2.29/SF. I need 189 SF, including 10% waste, so... $432.81. Actually, it's 14 cases, so...$459.34. It's 5mm, not 12mm, so I don't know why they say that. 5mm = 0.197" (about 3/16").

Home Depot sells Marmoleum Eternity 9.8mm thick 12 x 36 laminate flooring. I would need 10 cases, so...$974.30. Yikes. But it looks good, doesn't it?

Marmoleum Eternity

Pergo seems focused on wood, but they make "Glazed Oak" that's fairly gray. I would need 12 cases, so...$566.76.

We could spend <$100 on acid etch and concrete paint, or we could spend $460-$975 on a floating plastic floor. It's a tough call for me--on the one hand, everything is just rough and unfinished in the workshop, so a painted concrete floor is probably fine. But on the other hand, the floor could make an awesome first impression for a buyer.

Ceiling Isn't So Hard After All

The down lights are too bright for the camera

I found a trick on YouTube for hanging drywall on the ceiling. You create a wood shelf just below the ceiling and rest one end of the drywall on it as you fasten the opposite side. When that panel is up, you move the shelf to the next panel. It's not dead easy holding a 4' x 5' panel over your head as you screw it in, but it's doable.

The down lights are just a wonderful product. I have (8) installed so far, and each has worked the first time. The Ryobi Speed Saw makes cutting out a near-perfect circle pretty easy, and my work installing the wires and junction boxes has not caused any problems yet, either.

In the photo above, you can see that I've repurposed the 1/2" EPS--they were using the EPS in lieu of drywall--as insulation where the cold concrete wall (of the "vault" under the breezeway) is sucking heat from the workshop. That stud wall also gets batt insulation. The space between studs is about 18", not the 14" that most batts expect. Still not sure how I'll deal with that.

The scraggly-looking wire at the upper right is waiting for me to hang the shop lights exactly where I want them and level them. Then I'll cut the chains to length and tie up the power cord. The scraggly-looking wires in the wall are not all stapled down. I need to turn off the power for that.

A couple of the cabinet drawers were sticking (due to the addition of a mil or two of primer), so I bought a can of dry silicone lubricant. Pretty cool stuff, and it seems to work on the drawers.

I also bought shelf liner for the upper cabinets. I'm not sure why I thought it was worth $14, but it's ribbed plastic, so if paint spills or something...I don't know. It looks cool.

Ribbed plastic shelf liner. Waste of money, but I like it.

Tomorrow, I'll cut and install the two final pieces of drywall in the ceiling; mark and cut out the down light holes and install the remaining (4) down lights. I think I'll move the 4-gang outlet lower on the west wall--the nail and screw organizers would have had to be too high otherwise.

Then I'll install the batt fiberglass that I have (about 24' left) and decide whether I need another roll. I want to insulate the completely uninsulated BR3 Hall.

Next, I need to use the left-over steel angle to hang the west-most garage door track from the rafters. It is currently held up by a bungee cord. Unbelievable.

I plan to use the 4' x 3' drywall cast-offs from the ceiling project to close up the east and west walls, so I'll need to install some horizontal blocking to catch the seams. I should have one full 4x8 sheet left, and I haven't decided where it should go.

At that point, I'll prepare to paint the floor. A medium gray should be good. The floor has a crack and several rough patches, so I bought a quart of pre-mixed concrete patch. I'm hoping I can smooth it out and also smooth out the concrete retaining wall at the NE corner. If it works at all vertically, I may play around with sculpting fake bricks to replace the missing bricks in the veneer.

More primer--the west garage door, the edge of the loft. Bare wood begone.

Then I'll paint the floor. I'll return the $130 epoxy paint kit and go for the $35 concrete paint.

After the floor is dry, it's time to build the shelving units. I want to paint the primed particleboard shelves. Then, when I load all the tools and other stuff back in, c'est voila.

Down Lights Work!

Yay. I haven't tested 12 LED fixtures, but I tested all 12 junction boxes--this one LED fixture works at all 12 locations. I have named them Peter, Thomas, Judas, James, John, and so on.

That bundle of 550 lumens hides a puck-shaped downlight

I'm thinking of changing the order. Instead of Last Supper, I'm thinking it should be alphabetic by their father's names.

Seriously, the testing approach is intentional. I now know, before I put up the drywall, that each junction box can power a light. Any of the 11 down lights still in the box might not work, but I won't spend time wondering if it's the junction box.

Also, I think I have an idea to make drywall installation easy without a drywall lift, a plasterboard hoist, or a helper.

Closet Lid

So they framed the closet for BR3 with 2x4s to hold up the drywall ceiling. They stuffed the voids with R-13 insulation, and to close it up, rather than using plywood as they did over the main BR3 ceiling, they repurposed a butcher block table of some sort. Maybe it was a coffee table.

This is the closet lid, all cleaned up. I need to add some R-13 in the wall to the left (the BR3 Hall is effectively uninsulated).

There are several stains on the butcher block lid--in the nature of coffee mug stains, but unsightly. I wonder if I should just prime it white? I plan to insulate the BR3 Hall, and I want to close up these walls with un-taped drywall.

The "lid" is held down by two screws.

Rough-in for Down Lights

Almost done. Steady, nose to the grindstone work.

Wires ready for a junction box.

Twelve junction boxes for twelve lights, true. But that's 23 wires to cut to length and staple in place. 23 wires to remove the outer shielding from the last 2.75". 46 white and black wires to strip 3/8" from. 23 plastic strain reliefs to install.

Pinching the 23 strain reliefs into the junction boxes has been difficult. You might even say painful, given that I drew blood last night. :-)

Then we direct the wires into the push-in connectors in the boxes. Each box has 6 wires to attach--that's 72 wire push-ins.

I decided to always use the same two punch-outs for the wires. From the switch is always on the left (in this photo), to the next light is always on the right. I love that the light company supplies the connectors.

Hooking the whole assembly to power won't be a piece of cake, nor will it be that hard. You may recall me whining about lack of room in the switch junction box in an earlier post. At the moment, I have 9 more junction boxes to finalize before I move on to the switch. When I do the switch, I'll be using my birthday head lamp, since the power will be off. I expect to do the switch (and test each box) tomorrow (Thursday afternoon).

Installing Cool New Lights

This should be fun. It may be overkill, but if so it's an experiment to show architectural clients.

The shop lights are flooding the space with 9600 lumens and I couldn't be happier. However, when the garage doors are closed, the area under the loft feels a little shadowy--and that's the part where I expect to work. These LED downlights put out 550 lumens, and I have six at each garage door, so that's another 6,600 lumens in the room. The shoplights are motion-sensitive, but the downlights are on a separate switch.

It appears to be a 4" downlight (the orange tabs
will be hidden by the drywall).

The thing about these particular lights is that they are only about as thick as drywall, so you can place them under joists. My layout avoids that, but you don't have to.

The 'ballast' in these LED lights is called the driver, and it's housed in a small metal junction box, where you do your connections. You carefully cut a 4.2" diameter hole, reach into it to find your power wire, attach it to the junction box and then put the junction box into the ceiling, just resting on the drywall.

I thought about it for a few days and decided that I want to pre-wire the junction boxes. After the drywall is in place, I'll cut the hole, reach up and find the white connector wire coming from the box, attach it to the LED light and install the light. I'll still leave enough power cable in the ceiling to be able to pull the junction box through the hole. By pre-wiring, I'll be able to test everything before I put up the drywall. My location can be approximate--the layout that matters is the one I draw in pencil on the drywall.

The first and second boxes are installed. I added the gray strain-reliefs so that the sharp metal box doesn't scrape the Romex wire. Also note the push-in connectors instead of wire nuts--the lights come with the connectors.

The power wires are stapled into place at about the light's location (in the east-west direction). There should be 12-14" of slack in the ceiling when everything is done. For maintenance, I'll be able to pull the junction box through the hole to open its cover.

I'm done with priming for a while. For now, I'm an electrician. This door was a hideous dark brown--the second coat of primer should be a lot less blotchy. The other door is bare wood.

I was very happy with how this turned out, until I invented a new trick...

Shine a bright LED flashlight on it from the side and we see the imperfections and (saddest of all) the joint tape.

So, the Bedroom #3 wall needs a skim coat of drywall compound at the coffee maker (the refrigerator hole below looks okay). I have expanding urethane foam for the voids around the hallway/garage door. The plan is to install and test the 12 downlights, then cut the drywall for the ceiling under the loft. I'll see if I need to rent a drywall lift--it's only 5 pieces, and they are less than full sheets.

Once the drywall is in, cut the holes, set up the lights and phase 2 of the electrical is done. There's a lot of miscellaneous drywall I want to do--just to hide the studs and insulation. The tall wall at the east between the garage and the BR3 Hall is completely uninsulated--what R-value does 1/2" gyp bd have, exactly? No wonder it gets so cold down there.

But that's about it. Button up the walls with drywall, paint the steel shelves, epoxy coat the floor and move stuff back in. I bought the epoxy paint today--I was so happy that they make a 1-car garage size so that I wouldn't be wasting material.

I'm targeting May 11 for project completion. Then it's on to the post light, the deck, and a bunch of other things, but I'll have all my tools and everything else ready to go.