Monday morning was a very early start, at 6AM, when the carpenter arrived. I had 2 helpers coming and our first job was to go get the rugs that had been sent out to be cleaned in June. They had to be picked up 2 towns over at 7:30. When we took them over, there was construction everywhere and it took us over an hour to get there. So we left in the pickup truck at 6:45 not knowing what we’d find.
We got there right at 7:30, having taken the northern route, loaded up and were home again by 8AM. We got the rugs put away and headed out again. This time it was to pick up 24 sheets of sheetrock. We got to Lowes, I bought light bulbs I needed, and discovered I’d ordered the rock at Home Depot. Gotta love brainfog…. Said Home Depot right on the receipt I had… Sigh…
So we went to Home Depot, got the rock loaded onto the truck and headed back home, again using the northern route to avoid lots of construction. The helpers got it unloaded and down into the cellar and we headed out again.
This time it was to a local store. The carpenter had said there was a new load of 2” x 4”s in and it looked like they were good quality. We needed 53 of them for the shelves of the root cellar. We sorted through the stack, discarding as many as we kept and headed home again. The helpers got them down into the cellar.
The carpenter needed 4 more sheets of plywood to finish the attic and we’d picked those up too at the local store. The helpers got those into the attic. By the time this was all done, it was nearly noon and they were all heading out.
While one helper and I were gallivanting the countryside, the carpenter and the other helper were laying down what plywood they had and then they set about checking out the insulated box for the attic opening. The current wheel system is not sturdy enough for the job, above, and needs replaced. He’s going to put 6 small casters in, 2 at each end and 2 in the middle.
While I was gone all morning the masons had arrived and started on the chimney for the masonry heater. They got the backer board on and started putting the corner stones on. Then they fit the flat stones between them. This is how far they got.
One problem was all the stones had been stored on the north side of the house. It had rained in the night and they were wet. So they hauled a bunch around and laid them out in the sun to dry. Apparently they don’t stick as well when wet.
Tuesday the carpenter won’t be here. I have my cleaning helper coming and I think we’re going to tackle those boxes of books, cleaning them, sorting what I want to keep and checking inventory. When the book case finally does get moved, they will be ready to be put away.
The mason will be back and working on the chimney. We’ve more rain coming in for late Wednesday, so they are trying to get as much done as they can.