So like Thanksgiving weekend last year we began the work on Melissa’s office. The idea was to take out the closet and use the rest of the sound deadening drywall to redo the hall & bathroom walls. Since there were no leaks that we were aware of this should have went rather quickly compared to my office. (I believe is what they call predictable foreshadowing ). We started with the removal of the closet.
So far so good. Pipes about where we thought they would be. Hadn’t thought about the support column, but it made sense as soon as we saw it. We also discovered that the area around the column on the floor wasn’t sealed. In fact there was a large gap. No wonder her room was always so cold. There also wasn’t enough insulation in the ceiling cavity in the area next to the roof overhang. Continuing on…
We knew the duct was there because one day I leaned on the wall and it was very warm, and we were concerned about an electrical short. We were not expecting a second stud next to the door. Melissa has some basic designs for the furniture that is going to be going in once the room is done. At least once I make the furniture. So I made a grid on the ceiling factoring in where furniture would be and it’s height so that we could better place the lights. Used carpet tape to move them around. Even went as far as a giant cardboard mock up of the craft cabinet. Fuck your $1,000.00 lighting software Adobe! :-)
It took a few days of playing with the arrangements, then cutting the holes, then figuring out the best way to run the wiring. There is a pair of large roof support beams running across the middle of the room and the joists do not line up with each other in a small section. Plus we were going to run in ceiling speakers to a wall panel, AND I had the exterior network line to finish pulling through the same mess, so there was a lot of careful planning to minimize my ceiling drywall repair work.
At some point the neuro-diversity kicked in and I bought a cheap bass.
We then decided it would be beneficial to decouple the drywall from the studs a bit things were not very flat and some of the plumbing was going to be directly touching the panels making it pointless to have bothered with the bathroom wall. Using furring strip I would be able to make the wall flatter, not have any pipes touching the wall, and leave an air gap to further isolate sound. It also makes it much easier to hang the drywall vertically to reduce seams. It ended up saving us 3 sheets.
That drywall isn’t going anywhere. Texture, then PVA Primer. I’ve actually gotten fairly good at this. Not fast, but there are only two spots I’m not happy with, One of which was part of the original build.
After a few quick checks painted the ceiling. More lighting as I was doing this would have caught the aforementioned errors. In the end, they just add to the look of the room though so it’s OK. Ceiling painted then masked off to do the wall paint.
After painting the walls, I worked on leveling the floor. The plywood the builder used was swelling on the ends. Likely due to being shit lumber as well as not being properly sealed. Screwed down all the loose boards and sealed the air gaps. This made a significant change to how warm the room was feeling. Satisfied with it being flat enough: 1/8 inch over the whole 13 foot span, yes I did make a flat beam to check with because the 7 foot level kept coming up near 0 and I did not believe it. It was time for flooring. Melissa chose a harder wearing more stabby resistant vinyl plank flooring. This is not only her office, but also her craft room and guest room. Going with the waterproof plank flooring made the most sense with her luck with coffee and recently peppermint oil. She bought a large rug for sound & to keep her feet warmer.
So at this point (January 21st) we were ready for door & window trim. Then there was a bit of a design change. Originally we were not worried about the hall door opening completely because there was going to be a large cabinet behind it. It was decided that we should still have it open all the way. This meant that the door frame position would need top be moved because of the added depth of the furring strips. Since we were already going to have to rehang the door, we decided to go ahead and order solid core doors like we did for my office. Solid core doors with out the shit fake wood graine texture are now ‘special order’. This is a fancy way of Home Depot & Lowes to not stock them so they can charge 3x the amount. The first set of doors arrived in March. with a manufacture date of 12/2023. There were many, many issues. The manufacturer warrantied them and send replacement things. These arrived in April. They too had a manufacture date of 12/2023, however, they sent the wrong replacement things. The wrong replacement thigs they did send, also had the same problems. The manufacturer sent replacement things for the replacement things. These arrive in May. Also with a 12/2023 manufacture date. Also with the exact same issues, Plus new more issuey issues. I now had 6 solid core doors I could do nothing with. I was running out of room in the shop. In the end The manufacturer offered our money back. Out of the six doors, I pieced together one ‘this should be OK door’, and one ‘eehhhhh, we’ll give it a shot and see how long it lasts’ door.
It did not last long. I have to make a new frame and probably redo the hinges. I certain will have to fill in the knob and lock mortice and re drill out, find the same door elsewhere, or make my own. Here’s how it all looked before the door failed.
So where the bookcases are and the desk will be cabinets/shelved and a Murphy Bed. Currently have My office chair and the guest chair in here for sizing estimates. Approximately where the tiny guest office chair is on the lower right of the lower photo (right of door in upper photo) will be a large craft cabinet designed to look like a chest of drawers and a hutch. I am currently in the process of making a blanket chest to store some of the items that are not necessarily needed in the cabinet to save some space.
In April there was a policy change where I worked. It was a good thing for our clients, but the implementation was detrimental to my privacy as well as created a possibility of issues for Melissa’s job. So after some thought and discussion we decided it would be a good idea for me to find another position. This simple decision made me think about a lot of things with my job and how it was affecting me and my mental health. I was dealing with a lot of second hand trauma. You can only talk/vent about it so much. I made it nearly 6 years in the position, which is a fairly long time. I needed to find something where the policy issues affect would be severely diminished, and would have a much lesser affect on my mental health. My timing was fairly good. A few positions opened up with a different department where the work is generally the same as to what I have been doing. Did some test. Did some interviews. Had a discussion with the Supervisor, and accepted the position where I was most needed. I started on 9/1. The department is much smaller, more like what I have been used to working in previously. From a discussion with My sups manager, (division/area manager) goals & work philosophy & method to madness things are also much more in line with my own. Not that the previous job wasn’t, but at the moment, it’s more like I’m on a retractable leash instead of Guide dog handle. I suspect, once I’ve learned the new programs, and have shown to them, and myself that I actually know what I’m doing, and am good at it, I’ll be able to run free in the park. :-)
OH! and I bought another great bird mug
