Sheetrock From Shinola

Monday, September 21st. The building inspector having bestowed his benevolent blessing upon the insulation, the sheetrock is installed in the basement, the dining room and kitchen. Rough openings are made around the electric outlets, light boxes, and air vents. This takes a total of four days, as the spackling must be applied in three coats in order to dry properly for sanding. On Friday the crew rests. We're happy, because the rooms are finally beginning to take shape.


That Saturday, Gina and Josh - close friends of ours who have almost completely rebuilt their house over the years - eagerly arrive for a visit, as they're anxious to see the construction in progress. We show them the partially-finished stonework outside, as well as the framing for the deck, the sections of siding that've gone up, the completed bathrooms, our cool new plumbing and heating thingies, the new staircase, walls, and all the other improvements, regardless of the state of completion. While pointing out the details of the kitchen and where everything will go, Josh suddenly asks where the refrigerator will be plugged in. We show him where it's going, and then realize that the outlet which had been installed in the framing had been completely sheetrocked over.

This prompts us to look at the photos Shaw had taken of the framing, at the suggestion of the contractor, so that we would always know where the wires and pipes ran after the house was finished (I wonder why he thought that was important). Anyway, our little investigation disclosed that the sheetrockers (or, sheet-for-brains, as it turns out) also went right over one of the recessed lights in the kitchen. I never expected our electrical fixtures to end up on a milk carton, but we eventually figured out exactly where the missing items were hiding, with Josh's help.

The contractor heard about this latest gaffe and the holes were made where they should have been the next Monday. That week the walls were primed so more and more shape was taking place. The next week most of the molding was installed around the doorways and windows, even in places where molding shouldn't have gone... like behind cabinets. But, whenever we made a correction or comment it was taken care of.

That Friday the power company finally arrived to move the meter to its new location. The job took half the day, during which the power to our entire block was shut off for about an hour while the transformer was changed. If the porta-potty and the trailer on our front lawn hadn't wowed the neighbors, I'm sure this would. The next week all of the exterior stone is completed - now that the electric meter has been moved. And, now that the stone is finally complete, the siding can go up. Some day this may be a house.