Checking in on the upstairs porch project

If you’re like me and you prefer books with pictures, you might want to go ahead and quit reading this post. Nothing else looks real different just yet on the upstairs sleeping porch — though things have definitely changed!

Here’s where we stand on the updated list of jobs and where they stand. And yes, I most certainly did add some already-finished things to this list from a recent post so that I can feel more accomplished.

• Build closet on the south wall.
• Build second closet on the north wall. 
• Pull out the existing electrical on the ceiling.
• Insulate the ceiling with spray-foam insulation.
• Install new electrical… 
• ….with upgraded lighting.
• Build insulated interior hatch for attic access.
• Install drywall on the ceiling.
• Scrape and clean floor to prep for carpet
• Put down carpet on the floor.
• Case and trim windows

I had the same electrician who did the last couple of jobs for me do the little bit of electrical on the porch, which they finished in half a day on Tuesday. I pulled down the existing sad, single light bulb in the middle of the room, which he replaced with a fan-rated box for the center, and two symmetrical boxes for ceiling fixtures on either side of it, dividing the ceiling into thirds. He added a second receptacle on the brick wall so we’ll have two there and added new wire mold up to the ceiling and a 3-switch gang — that’ll give us a separate switch just for the fan, one for the center light, and one for the other two.

Having separate controls for the fan mean that the Ol’ Shorty McShorterson that I live with will be able to control the fan without having to have a 6-foot pull chain dangling halfway to the floor that bonks me in the face everytime I walk through the porch. Like the one that I just put on the fan over our bed…that mercifully is over the bed so I don’t walk under it.

When I built the wall in the downstairs sleeping porch, I ran a hot wire up through the floor where this closet was going to be — giving me power so that I would be able to either install a light or a receptacle if I wanted it for the closet without having to tear into walls or floors. He turned the loose wire into a floor receptacle there.

There’s the spare hot wire on the floor there that came up through the new wall downstairs. This closet is so shallow that an overhead light seemed unnecessary, especially with a light directly overhead. So it’s a receptacle instead.

So all the electrical is done. We haven’t picked out fixtures and a fan yet, which is something we hope to do Thursday night.

I had a new drywall guy come by to give me an estimate for the ceiling. I can do drywall anywhere else in the house, but I don’t do ceilings. Hate ’em. Need a second person (or a rented lift) to get em in place, and with only decent or pretty good mudding and skimming skillz, the degree of difficulty is ratcheted up to do the same thing on the ceiling. Or I guess, my lack of skill gets exposed, if you want to be more honest about it. So it’s not worth the time or hassle. Pay the man.

Drywall is going up Friday and we’re picking out some cheap carpet this weekend sometime, which can hopefully go in next week. If we’re able to pick and nail down the fixtures by this weekend, that means that by the weekend after Memorial Day, everything on that list will be done, save for casing the windows. That’ll be last and can happen after we move things in and get settled. No rush.

Looks like I started building the first closet on April 21, and I’m on track to wrap up the entire porch project just about five weeks later. Not bad. Especially considering that we had at least two weekends off out of those five weeks, one for the Babymoon and one for childbirth classes. Far better than my previous two bedroom projects, which each seemingly dragged on for months. And months….and months…

Speaking of which, have we unveiled the nursery? Nope, not finished yet.