A Room with a View of the Future

The dictionary defines the word room as "a part or division of a building enclosed by walls, floor, and ceiling," and for the first time this week, we actually can say that we have a true laundry room -- complete with walls and a floor.  The ceiling has yet to be completed or hung.

The problem with a ceiling, of course, is that one must complete all of the other stuff that needs to hang down or through the ceiling before the actual structure can be completed.  Rick spent most of yesterday and part of this morning just hooking up all of the lights, power supply boxes, junction boxes, switches, and conduit that entail the embodiment of an electrical system. We now have two lights in the garage turned on by a switch IN the garage, two lights in the laundry room activated by a switch in the kitchen,  a security light in the back yard activated by a switch near the back door, and a garage door that actually works from the switch next to the new door that leads from the garage to the laundry room.  Whew!  Rick spent more time up in the rafters than a bunch of bats in a church belfry.

When we look upward, we can now see almost 100 feet of new wire rather than hundreds of feet of wire that has been roasted in the summer heat, gnawed by fruit rats, and cracked by just plain old age. Fifty-three years may be middle age for people, but it is old age for wires.   Rick said we are giving Gladys some fancy new underwear to keep her tight and spiffy under the new walls and ceilings.  And once we put in the new insulation tomorrow, we'll keep Gladys snug in the winter and free from hot flashes in the summertime.  (I have to admit that I wish a little added insulation could do that for me!)

Today turned into a two-Bandaid day.  The first incident occurred when Rick stepped down from a ladder, right onto a blue plastic electrical box that he had left on the floor.  The nail from the box when straight through the thick sole of his shoe into the bottom of his foot.  Naturally, as I helped him wash off his foot and apply Neosporan and Bandaid #1, I questioned the timing of his last tetanus injection.  The good news is that he had a tetanus booster just last year (one of the perks of being a Technical Education teacher).  The foot will be very sore for a few days, and as with all penetrating wounds, we'll have to watch it carefully for signs of infection.

After all of the electrical work was complete, we were able to start on the "enclosed" part of the definition above.  While I vacuumed the house this morning since my living room seems to collect sand like a well-groomed beach, Rick ran to Home Depot for fire-resistant drywall.  Code here in Dunedin is 1/2 " drywall between the garage and main structure, but that seems very flimsy to us.  In Wisconsin, code demands 5/8" fire-resistant drywall, so that is what he brought home.  Man, that stuff is heavy!

This is where Bandaid #2 comes in.  We were working with the drywall when suddenly Rick's hand was dripping blood.  He is not sure how he cut it, but I suspect a carpenter's apron pocket full of drywall screws would have trace evidence of the crime.  This cut was across the back of his hand, and it bled like a severed artery.  Once again, soap and water, Neosporan, and a large Bandaid interrupted our work.

The laundry area before any drywall. The old garage
light visible in this picture also is now history.

Drywall panel 1 is complete, as is Bandaid 1 on the
bottom of Rick's foot. Note the new garage light, too!

Panel 2 is up and the hole for the light switch is actually
in the correct place.  Rick has to cut out the door opening yet.

The corner is complete, and Rick either is
thinking about his electrical work or catching
a quick nap. Nope, no snoring, so he must be
thinking about what to do next.

The completed outer walls of the laundry room look great!

However, as the pictures show, I now have what can properly be termed a laundry room, at least as it is viewed from the garage.  The little details are what thrills me, like having the wire for the garage door opener inside the wall instead of snaking down the outside of the wall where we can snag things on it.  That's the fancy lace extra on Gladys' underwear... not necessary, not really functional, but nice to have all the same.

The inside of the laundry room still needs work, but we made
great progress today.

Rick still is not sure that we have enough lights in the laundry room.  I think what we have is bright enough to see the smallest of stains, and I really do not intend on washing clothing late at night anyway,  but he is talking yet of adding one more.  We'll see.

We did discover that the tile which we originally picked out for the room looks great from the kitchen under the new lights.  At least that is one decision that we both feel very comfortable with yet.

Tomorrow we will add the insulation to the walls.  We need to add the afore-mentioned light if Rick really wants to go through the hassle of yet another installation, then concentrate on running a heating/ air conditioning line in from the air handler.  Only then will we be able to add the insulation to the rafters and finally the ceiling drywall which will make the laundry area truly a laundry room.