8 guys and 90 sheets of drywall

What a whirlwind man. I've been planning drywall weekend for many months, but I could not be any happier with the results.

The weather was nice, clear and warm but very windy. I heard the ferry was rocking something fierce. The crew began arriving late on Friday (May 17th) afternoon. As different groups of dudes began to show-up, the madness ensued.

After checking out the new cottage and hanging a few sheets, it was time to head to the Cedar Cottage for pre-partying and then hit the bars. Friday night turned into a blur, fun had by all.

Bright and early Saturday (May 18th) morning, we started around 8:00 am.

Meet Albert, the King of all things drywall. If you can measure it, cut it and screw it, Albert is your guy. He runs a tight ship.

Albert, the Foreman

 

Uncle Al, gets to take a break from long weekends of HVAC. Enjoying his new role as Drywall Co-captain and Ambassador of fun.

 

Uncle Al, Drywall Co-captain

Using 12 foot sheets makes the process a whole lot faster. I can't believe I actually considered only using vertical 8 footers for the whole cottage - bad idea. Here is a photo of the first bedroom done. Look at the ceiling, nice.

Anna's bedroom

 

Second bedroom done. The place is starting to look like a cottage. This will be lil' Neil's bedroom.



Lil' Neil's bedroom

Meet the Hasek brothers, Gary and Kenny. Or as Brad calls them, Kenny Gary/Gary Kenny. He couldn't remember their real names all weekend. These guys know a thing or two about hanging drywall and drinking beer. Gary is one hell of a guitar player as well. Kenny briefly lost his wallet on Sunday morning to later be surprised it was in his duffle bag all along. Good news man.

Gary and Kenny, the "Drywall Brothers"

 

The Hasek brothers working on the master bedroom

 

We wrapped up Saturday at around 5:00pm. Thanks to Brad and Andy for making food. Time to get our party on. We started out at the Caddy Shack and closed out the night at Bag the Moon as far as I can tell.

 

Sunday morning was a little tougher to get started. I think Albert was back at it around 9:00 am. We started to lose crew members as the morning rolled on. Albert, Al, Scott and me kept at it until around 1:00 pm. Here are some photos of the weekend results.

 

Looking at the kitchen area

  

Scott helped out working on finishing up drywalling the closets

 

 This is one of the last photos of the weekend, late day on Sunday. I was beat...

 

Looking towards the front of the cottage from the dining area

We were able to get an amazing amount of work done. The cottage really took shape this weekend. All of the rooms are now clearly defined and the spaces feel great. I have a few walls to finish hanging and of course the taping and mudding, but overall the majority of the drywall is hung!

The crew that deserves to be recognized by name:

• Albert Hobar
• Al Stenger
• Gary Hasek
• Ken Hasek
• Andy Stenger
• Scott Kanengeiser
• Brad Sale

I am honored to have you as my friends and family. Thank you so much for your help. I seriously could not have done this without all of you. Bonnie and me appreciate and love you beyond words!

Next step. Take a break for a few weeks and try to save cash.

Back at ya soon...

Lowes and Bayside Comfort

I got to the island late on Thursday (May 16th) night to get the cottage prepared for the drywall delivery (from Lowes) and the A/C compressor charge (from Bayside Comfort) both happening first thing Friday (May 17th) morning.

It turned out both guys were on the 8:00 am ferry, so I met them at the dock to follow me back to the cottage to get rolling.

Lowes flatbed truck delivery, the ferry buster!

 

Lowes unloading

 

90 sheets of drywall, thanks for good weather

 

Bayside Comfort finishing up the A/C Compressor

A/C is now working blowing cold. Bayside installer did mention that I will need to add a few cold air returns that are currently missing from the install to properly feed the air handler. Not sure when I will get this done, but I will add it to the list.

Next steps... drywall!



A/C Compressor

Quick work weekend up on the island. I made it up late Friday and worked on the ceiling registers and flexible ducts for all the rooms. Uncle Al came up Saturday morning to finish up running the line-set for the A/C compressor, helped me with the cold-air returns, and finished the plumbing for the air handler.

I build a stand for the A/C compressor from 2x6s and 4x4 posts to keep the unit level and elevated properly. Al stubbed out the line-set and wired up all the electrical.

Uncle Al admiring his fine work

It was Derby weekend and the weather was beautiful. However, we both left on the 8:30pm ferry on Saturday night. The ferry was packed with all-day party'ers and it was tough to leave, but we wanted to have Sunday to spend with the family since we have put in so many long weekends so far this Spring.

I'm heading up again next weekend, probably just for the day, to insulate the main duct trunk lines and clean-up the cottage in preparation for the long awaited drywall weekend.

We have heat!

The lake was rough, super windy and there were the typical dock rumors about cancelling ferry service. However, Uncle Al made it up for another HVAC work weekend. The plan was to rock-out the remaining duct work, wire-up the furnace, and maybe get the heat rolling before leaving on Sunday.

Bonnie and Lori came up Saturday for some fun times and provided a much needed break from crawling around in the rafters for 3 out of the last 6 weekends.

Al and I wrapped up at about 5:00 pm on Saturday to spend some time with the ladies. After cleaning up and pre-partying back at the Cedar Cottage, we headed to the Winery. We were planning to see the band all day, and when we arrived, they were 1/2 through their last song, funny. Bring on the vino...

Al, Lori, me and Bon at the Winery

 

Needing to eat some dinner, we made our way to the old and faithful, Village Pump. Still relatively early in the season, but the Pump was jammin' at the bar.

 



Me and Bon at the Village Pump

 

As we started to lose track of time, we wandered next door to the Captain's Corner for a night cap.

 

Al and Lori at Captain's Corner

Despite all of the fun, we did manage to get quite a bit of work done. The main duct runs are done, capped off and we started cutting 6-inch rounds into the trunk lines for supply and cold air returns.

Nice transition piece! not too shabby...

Supply duct tied into unit

 

Some time around 3:00 pm on Sunday, Al finished wiring, installed the digital thermostat and we turned on the heat! When the weather has been 45 deg or below, this is a major accomplishment!

Next steps... run the flexible duct supply lines for the rest of the bedrooms and main living area

Working for the weekend

It's Monday morning and yes, I am already planning for the KI weekend activities. Al and I are heading up again to continue work on the HVAC, tankless hot water heater, miscellaneous electrical, and the water tank decking.

We have invited the ladies to join us on Saturday. Should be a nice change to spend some quality island time and not quite so much work.

Need to figure out how to get ~80 sheets of drywall delivered to the island for May 17th. I was thinking about using the Lowes Spring delivery special, but they are not giving me a solid delivery price.

Toilet dreams

OK, this may sound funny to anyone who is not familiar with Kelleys Island living and the process of building a cottage from vacant land, but yes, we were able to FINALLY get a working toilet installed sometime around noon on Saturday, April 6th! To the cottage building process, this is as important as the invention of the wheel for advancement of humankind.

Everyone (including myself) takes for granted that working toilets are always available everywhere. Let me just mention all of the dependencies to make a toilet flush on Kelleys Island...

1. Water - enormous (1800 gallon) concrete water tank - manually filled via truck
2. Pump - well pump with proper plumbing from water tank
3. Plumbing - supply lines to (3/4") and from (1/2") PEX manifold and drains (PVC) installed
4. Toilet - easy peasy
5. Septic tank - drain lines tied into septic tank  

All of the above have to be "leak-free" with multiple connection points that make me crazy. Anyway, we are good-to-go so far as the toilet goes.

Uncle Al was able to join me for the weekend and he brought his dog "Maddie", the newest member of the crew, on her maiden voyage to the island. Maddie was a good girl and hung around the construction site, in-and-out, of the cottage all weekend.

Maddie, the "Island Dog"

 

We were able to make great progress on the tankless water heater intall. Next working weekend the plan is to actually have hot water!

 

Uncle Al working on the electric for the tankless water heater

The "eco smart" tankless water heater mounted and all wired up!

I got rolling on the water tank beautification project by hanging vertical decking around the perimeter of the concrete structure. Others have used different techniques. However, I thought the finished look of the decking made a nice clean impact on something that you can't hide smack in your front yard!

Friday, just getting started

Almost done, view from the street

 

All done, view from the house, notice the custom/crafty access ladder 

 

Big Al brought out the Big Ladder and mounted the electrical box for the outdoor spotlights. Can't wait to be able to light-up the yard at night.

 

 Al working on the spotlights



Dumb ass!

SUNDAY
Late on Sunday, March 24th, wrapping up a long, cold, opening weekend on the rock, I stopped back the cottage to drop-off some stuff and lock-up. I was ahead of schedule and had about 45 minutes to relax before the ferry...

DUMB ASS
 

I inadvertantly LOCKED my car keys in my truck along with my phone!

 

PANIC-PANIC-PANIC

 

Clock ticking, wind blowing, no phone, no car keys!

 

TOTALLY SCREWED
 

Chris was home also wrapping up. After we tried to break-in to the truck with a coat hanger for 20 minutes, I was running out of time and options. The worst part was I could see my keys and phone through the driver side window, sitting upright in the console, just mocking me. Thank god, I was able to catch a ride home with Chris - big thanks.

MONDAY
Due to the limited ferry schedule there were few opportunities to get back to the island from Olmsted Twp and then back home again in a short time frame. Our first attempt was on Monday morning, leaving the house at 6:30 AM, in a snow storm, in an attempt to catch the 8:00 AM ferry. Of course this ferry was cancelled due to inclement weather. The trick is that you have NO WAY of knowing the ferry schedule because NOTHING IS EVER POSTED and they don't answer the phone until 30 minutes before the first scheduled boat run (in this case, 8:00 AM). The problem is that we live 1 1/2 hours east of the boat dock, so we had to travel one hour west before we could call for confirmation!

TUESDAY
Nothing.

WEDNESDAY
Finally made it up to the island on Wednesday morning and got things all squared away. Thanks Bon for driving up and back with me. Here is a photo of Bonnie (thankfully smiling!) during our extremely brief time on the island (1 hr total) to get my truck and phone and week back in order.

My baby

 

Needless to say, I will be getting a spare key made this week to prevent this type of non-sense from happening again.