Flooring: Done - 2

We're finally there! It took both child and retired labour, but everyone seemed to enjoy the results. It's all done except for 2 planks (the transition between the 2 rooms). I'm sure we'll even get the detail of them finished one day...



It was a big day of work:

In the Corner

While we've been working on the parent-in-law reno, this has allowed us to finally move the unsightly black sewage pipe from the middle of the kitchen ceiling to the corner. One tiny step closer to finishing our kitchen!

Turn Up the Heat

We really wanted to have a see-through gas fireplace that separates the living room from the dining room, also making a wall for the staircase on one side. It adds a heating source in the centre of the house, plus it will look AMAZING! But just because I'd like it there, I'm discovering the logistics are not quite as simple as that. The chimney is over 15 feet away, the first fireplace company I tried (and most well known in the area) doesn't have a model that can be exhausted to a chimney over 10 feet away, flueless fireplaces appear to be illegal in Quebec, but I couldn't find a flueless model that I liked so that was a non-starter.

We started looking at alternative locations for the fireplace, but searching the web came to the rescue! I had had 2 Napolean gas fireplaces installed at a previous home, and I found they had exactly what I was looking for. Plus the full instruction guide was online, which seemed to suggest it was a real possibility that it might work. Foyer Lambert came to estimate the work and feasibility of the job, with positive results.

Marc and his dad got to work building the frame:



Installed!



Do you feel the heat?

Flooring - Started!

I am sooo happy to start removing the huge pile of wood that has been serving as a non-functional kitchen island for several weeks (which has got the wood nice and acclimatized to it's environment - inconvenient but necessary).

We finally settled on wax paper to go underneath the flooring. And found that we could rent a bamboo floor nailer from Home Depot. Interestingly, I've found they're darn near impossible to purchase (at least, not in the same somewhat affordable price range as all other floor nailers). And they're very particular, you need to get exactly the right size and gauge or you'll get horrible results. The one we've rented (Paslode) works really well.

When I'm Cleanin' Winders

Another major milestone today, towards completing our nicely insulated house envelope. New windows for all 3 floors in front! But it almost didn't happen...

I had to stand my ground at the city of Montreal's Plateau permit office. Marc had sent in very detailed plans for our new windows to get them approved ahead of time. Our quartier office responded in the affirmative to the design, so we placed the order and were in waiting mode for them to built. In the meantime, I went to the office to pay for (yet another) permit per the plans. It was supposed to be a no brainer, only it turns out that I spoke to someone different (and more knowledgable apparently) about the city bylaws for windows. We're gone for a design that has a 1:4 proportion ratio, but this is not allowed. Maximum is 1:3 ratio. Thank **** for my iPhone, as I was able to call Marc and show the approval email that the city had sent him with our precise plans. Technology is fabulous. Otherwise, this would have been a wasted morning off work.

Out with the old...


In with the sparkly new windows!



And in case you don't understand the George Formby title of this blog post... Enjoy!

Return to Dust

After much umm-ing and err-ing as to how we were going to be able to remove the last bit of stucco from this house, while not damaging the chimney, Marc's dad came to the rescue with what must be the world's smallest pneumatic drill. It gently but efficiently chipped away at the old plaster.




You can't see it here, but I was holding the shop vac to try and catch as much plaster dust as possible while Marc chipped away. It was a rather unpleasant reminder of the major demolition dirt we'd experienced last year. Fortunately this didn't take too long. I can't believe we put it off for so long!

We're hoping to make use of the chimney when we get a gas fireplace installed. I like the exposure of the old brick, but we'll likely have to figure out how to clean it up a bit more, maybe add a bit of varnish to get a handle on the last bit of dust. Not sure at the mo.

From Plastic Sheeting to Tiles

Now that we have a fully functioning bathroom on the ground floor, it's time to get back to the family bathroom in the basement. This was our first usable bathroom, complete with plastic sheeting over the durock walls of the shower. I was almost starting to think that bright blue was going to remain our bathroom colour of choice. But I'm back to the neutral colours for the permanent finishes, opting for colour in the accessories.

We selected a small white tile for the main walls and I crazily thought it was a great idea to cover every square inch of wall with tile. While I love the look, it took forever to install and grout. Plus even though we're using laser levels to keep us straight, there's no getting away from the fact that a 100 year old house, is not. So we've got a small area above the door that we just couldn't figure out how to get the tiles to meet up perfectly. You live and learn!

Watch the blue disappear...



Or jump right to the finished look: