Up the Down Staircase or progress on two levels!

We have made progress on two levels and I'm love'n it!

We've had unfinished sheetrock in the office/pass through from the foyer to the dining room for over a year. I was always the one that did the finish work on the walls until I got a real job. Gary would hang sheetrock in the evenings or weekends and I plastered, sanded and painted during the day. That arrangement worked out real well for him because he left in the morning and when he came home the dirty work was done. When I took a full time job he said he would help with the plaster work, that never happened.

I tooks a couple days off last week and decided I wanted to finish those walls in my office. I went to the hardware store got everything I needed and jumped in head first. I had forgotten how much I hated working sheetrock and plaster. The dust, dirt and mess that drifts throughout the entire house is awful and what I thought would be a two day job turned into four. But I love the results and we can now say the dining room entry way is finished at last.

While I was downstairs making a huge mess Gary was upstairs making a big mess of his own. He set the spa tub with a mortar seat in the new master bath.

To see all the progress we've made visit us at our website Leyland Ridge Farm.

Installing the Spa Tub

It's Saturday and we're at the new master bath again.

We insulated and hung sheet rock on the outside walls and began installing the spa tub. It will be flanked by two ceiling to floor cabinets that will serve as somewhat of an enclosure for the tub area.

This is the second spa we've installed and we know from experience you have to set them in a mortar bed for stability. Gary thought he would build the frame first, lift the tub out, frame and pour the bed and sit the tub back in. His carpentry is far too precise for that plan to work though. The tub is framed in so tight it won't lift out.

We debated all afternoon as to how to address the problem. Taking it apart was a tough choice because if this man can do a job with 2 nails he'll use 4. Due to this fact I know nothing he has ever built will fall down from lack of support and de-constructing this frame would be a major job and waste of materials. We finely decided to build a frame around the tub and pour mortar in around it and hope for the best. My guess is as tight as the tub is in the frame it will never be an issue anyway.

It doesn't appear that much has been done but we are moving along faster then I thought we would. There's still another day left of the weekend, who knows what will come out of tomorrow.

Visit the farm at www.leylandridgefarm.com