On Sunday, July 29, 2018 at 11:08:23 AM UTC-4, dpb wrote:
On 7/28/2018 6:08 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
On Saturday, July 28, 2018 at 10:38:14 AM UTC-4, dpb wrote:
On 7/27/2018 7:25 PM, DerbyDad03 wrote:
...
At roughly 6:30 SWMBO and I had just sat down for dinner when the doorbell
rang.
"Hi, my name is Dave and I'm working on the house next door."
"Yes, Chris had told me that he was going to have some work done. What's up?"
"Well, I got started a couple of days late and Chris wants to move in this
weekend, so would it be OK with you if I worked a little late tonight? I'm
really trying to get back on schedule but if the noise is going to keep you
up or bother your family, I'll stop."
...
So what did "a little late" turn into...2 AM? vbg
--
Actually, yes! Sort of.
I don't really know what time the construction noise stopped. With our
windows closed (AC) we didn't really hear too much anyway. We went to bed
around 11 and it was fine.
However, I got up to use the john at around 2AM and when I looked over
the lights were still on and at least two guys were in the house. No noise
that I heard, but they were still there.
They are still at it. They worked until at least 9 or 10 every day this
week and all day today. I was doing some work on my deck so we had dueling...
...
Having the initiative to try to push and "catch up" is probably even
more rare ime...
I've spent the last few days repairing the oak flooring in dining
room/hallway that folks had covered with carpet in the major remodel
almost 40(!) yr ago, now...I've packed up at about 9 PM, though, each
day altho there's still the farm chores to get to as well so it's an
inbetween task.
There was one large cut out area about 3x5 ft in the SW corner in front
of the door to the living room I've no idea what that was about--there's
nothing under there that I can tell and doesn't look as though the
subflooring was cut thru anyway...Dad had filled it in with oak flooring
before so just had to fix up a few strips that he had face-nailed with
8d commons and one strip where was an 1/8" gap I made a wide piece to
fill in...if you know it's there you can spot it, but it's far less
noticeable than the gap was before! 
In SE corner there was a patch where HVAC contractor had cut in (as
always, _very_ crudely w/ Sawzall) for a floor vent that wasn't put in
as is in middle of final floor--I'm presuming perhaps that was done
before they decided to open up the whole east wall into the entryway
they created out of the old porch and was still against the existing
wall when was done. It was just patched in with a piece of ply and some
water putty to level...I managed to find some 1-1/2" oak flooring
remnants in town left in the warehouse (he was surprised to find
anything that narrow too, let me have the lot to get rid of it) but
while they worked to fill in the SW corner, apparently they switched
lots somewhere in the middle of the original because the east end is
13/16" thick instead of 3/4" and the groove/bead end up 1/16" low try
ing to patch in with the new stuff. So, I had to make some to fill in
that patch...turns out I didn't have a 1/4" bead cutter so I just
chamfered the square corners a little with block plane for short
run...worked out pretty well...
Now it's on to patch in the holes from the piping of the old original
steam radiators and then see what will take to refinish...unfortunately,
the drywall and painters took "carpet" to heart and spattered mud and
paint everywhere liberally. 
It was stained really, really dark
originally altho the wear areas are down to a reasonably nice
color...I'm hoping to be able to keep some of the appearance rather than
sand back to all bare wood...
I'm now on a mission to find the replacement dust corners that were on
the stairs; the nail holes and outlines are there; to my surprise I have
not found a bag full of them when they were removed to carpet the
stairs...dad saved most everything else.
I've found one style of replacements with the nail hole in the center;
these were nailed at each corner...any leads on alternatives to what
seems to be the ubiquitous version would be welcome.
I don't want to full carpet the stairs again; probably will put down
tread pads, though, on the steps...
--
Sounds like a lot of work, but fun. Making new stuff look old, bad jobs look
good, etc.
The guys next store have been at it all day. Apparently Chris has to be out
of his former place on Tuesday, so the rush to finish is on. 9PM and they
are still shooting nails.
I just finished the deck work (for today). Because of the slope of my lot,
the deck that we get to from the first floor at the back of the house is
about 7' off the ground. It's enclosed in lattice and we store some stuff
under it. Years ago I had some spare pieces of corrugated fiberglass panels
so I put them under the deck to keep the "important" stuff somewhat dry.
I only had enough to do less than half and I finally decided to do it all
with white Tuftex panels, including a gutter behind the front beam to
collect the water and send it where I want.
SWMBO helped me put the panels up and decided they look so nice that the
under-deck deserved a floor. So I spent most of today trying to level the
area so I can put down landscaping timbers (LT) to support the PT plywood
floor. Will it last forever? No, but if it stays dry under there, I'll be
gone before it needs to be replaced. I had a few LT lying around from another
SWMBO project, but I needed 6 more, plus the plywood. Off to Home Depot I
go. 10 minutes away. Uh, yeah, right. Not this time.
The plywood is at one end of the store and the LT are at the other end in
Lawn & Garden. Unbeknownst to me, this store now has this screwed up system
where you have to pay for the LT first, then they let you in the secret gate
and help you load them in. You can't just go out in the yard, load them
on a cart and pay at a register. Unfortunately, I asked the wrong question:
"Are you sure you have 6 out there?" "Oh yeah, we've got a couple of dozen."
So I walk all the way back to the other end of the store, where the plywood
(and my van) is, pay for everything, load the plywood and drive over to lawn
and garden. They open the secret gate and direct me to a pile of the most
twisted, warped and split LT that I've ever seen. The "couple of dozen" had
obviously already been pick through and rejected. The whole pile was one big
mess. I guess I should have asked if they had 6 *usable* LT.
I told the guy to forget it. I want my money back. "OK, take your receipt
over to Returns and they'll refund your money."
"Will they? What am I 'returning'?"
"Just show them your receipt."
"Why would they give me my money back? I have no product to return."
"Oh...yeah. OK, I'll walk over with you."
So I stand in the Return line fuming and wait for 2 people who actually had
product to return get their money back. It's not like I could leave and
"return" them later cuz I had nothing to return.
OK, over to Lowe's. The only things that made Lowe's better is that
1 - I could actually look at the product before paying for it and 2 - They
had fewer POS LT to sort through before I walked out.
Out in the parking lot I called the next closest HD. I told them I needed
6 LT and I wanted to see them before I paid for them. "No problem. They are
outside in Lawn & Garden, Aisle 5." Next I asked him if he knew if they
had 6 ("That's all, just 6.") "We have over 200. I just brought down a
new stack." Hallelujah!
2 hours wasted. Did I finish the floor? No. I've got about 2 hours of work
left. Gee, what a coincidence.
Now I get to get all sweaty and dirty (again) after I come home from work
tomorrow.