Movin' on Up!

The workbench is awesome...I be you know exactly where everything is on it, really enjoying this thread and seeing your projects develop.

Believe it or not it will all get finished one day.
Have you ever worked drywall mud before? You got a lot of joints/seams there, take care of your arm and shoulder.
Or have a DW crew come in...if you can find one.

Great project and thanks for sharing your photos.

Sorry for your loss too.
 
grandpaul said:
Andy and I haver been riding together and working at rallies all over central and south Texas for at least 15 years. He had a nice modern Triumph Triple touring bike, then two Moto Guzzis in a row (identical). He put on over 200,000 miles just in the time I've known him, ministering with CMA all over Mexico and the Southern U.S.

I snapped this photo of him examining a wild custom bike at the Haas M/C museum in Dallas, last December...
View attachment 105300

Rest in Peace brother Andy; Godspeed.
Click to expand...
Sorry to hear of the loss of your friend
Godspeed
Progress on the ranch house looks great
 
From 4/4
Good long day with significant work done. Picked up (2) doors, 3 knobs, and 6 sets of trim to finish up the bathroom doors. Started insulation & sheetrock on the bunkroom, also got a power box run for the TV. When Kevin arrived, we hauled 8 sheets of moisture-resistant sheetrock upstairs. After that, he hauled 3 bundles of insulation upstairs and we got busy insulating the bathroom. I'm super-itchy.

Bluebonnets finally popped! Nice photo with the windmill and one of the neighbor's horses, "Princess Leia"
Movin' on Up!


The other 2 bathroom doors (one to the toilet, one to the bathtub/shower) installed, as well as all three knobs.
Movin' on Up!


Bunkroom 1/3 insulated, and part of the bottom row of sheetrock done. TV power box installed at the upper right.
Movin' on Up!
 
4/4
That's fun work, hauling sheetrock up those stairs. Making the turn at the foot of the stairs in the alcove has resulted in several scratches/dings/scuffs to the paint job. Since it was outside (in the hangar, no A/C), I should have just left it with sheathing...
Movin' on Up!


Bathroom area about 1/2 insulated
Movin' on Up!


Bathroom area about 3/4 insulated, end of another long day. Sure am glad Kevin dropped in to help.
Movin' on Up!
 
4/5
Squeezed in a couple of hours at the ranch before I had to pick up Talitha from school, managed to get a few more insulation batts & sheets of drywall put up...
Not a lot of room to maneuver the jack, but I managed. Had to rotate 2 of the 3 bed sets to make room to work.
Movin' on Up!


Finished insulating the whole wall.
Movin' on Up!


Got a few sheets done; going back tomorrow, hopefully to finish this room (including the wall to my right, on the end).
Movin' on Up!
 
Yesterday (4/6) was one of my longest days on the barndo project - 10 hours separated by a 1-hour lunch break while I chatted almost the entire hour with my good friend George Bushey, age 92, who told me he sold his boat after moving to a marina-based condo, finding the boat of his dreams, and spending about as much time as I've been doing, to get it seaworthy. He had to face the fact that he really wouldn't be safe in the open ocean without a crew, and his energy levels make it all he can do just to get it in the wind. We sure had a great chat, but then I got back to work. LOTS of insulation & sheetrock (so what's new?)

Used the sheetrock jack to brace the duct furr-down lumber while I assembled it.
Movin' on Up!


Hard to see what's going on, but that's it. (4) 8' 2x4s was EXACTLY the right amount of lumber! I used all my chopped end blocks up against the wall under the duct, to secure the sheetrock bottom (not shown in this photo)...
Movin' on Up!

That's one heck of a sheetrock pattern, eh?

Duct furr-down basically done.
Movin' on Up!
 
4/6 Just checking to make sure all my levels are level... At least the bottom of the duct furr-down is plumb level!
Movin' on Up!


OK, figured out what to do with the end, as far as the box-shaped section goes. The angled grille and closure will get finished out with spray foam insulation sculpted and sealed, before paint. That 2x4 stub at the bottom will get trimmed away.
Movin' on Up!

Looking pretty decent. Will look MUCH better once it's taped, floated, textured, and painted.

This little piece at the top corner of the long wall was more work than it looks like!
 
4/6 The single most intricate piece of sheetrock on this 2nd floor: angle cut at the upper left, notch-out for the steel on the far left, 2 electrical cutouts, and a 90-degree cutout for the doorway on the lower right.
Movin' on Up!


I did have to notch the top edge to clear the steel, and the upper right corner to clear the A/C duct, but it fit nicely.
Movin' on Up!


This room is ALMOST done!
Movin' on Up!
 
4/6 There's the first piece of bathroom sheetrock, and oh, what a bother! I had a single piece that extended further (up, in this shot) but there was NO WAY to get it in place! The jack wouldn't fit in the tight space, and the door & tub corner wouldn't let me wrestle it up there, ESPECIALLY solo! Just hanging this less than half a sheet, was a NIGHTMARE. My neck and back were hurting, and my arms were cramping up. I'd already been working 7 hours.
Movin' on Up!


Ceiling and walls adjacent to the tub/shower are done. The rest of this space still needs the walls done. It sure didn't help that NONE of the walls I've built were perfectly plumb/level/square, no matter how hard I tried...
Movin' on Up!


Time to go home, almost 11 PM...
 
grandpaul said:
4/4
That's fun work, hauling sheetrock up those stairs. Making the turn at the foot of the stairs in the alcove has resulted in several scratches/dings/scuffs to the paint job. Since it was outside (in the hangar, no A/C), I should have just left it with sheathing...
View attachment 105479

Bathroom area about 1/2 insulated
View attachment 105480

Bathroom area about 3/4 insulated, end of another long day. Sure am glad Kevin dropped in to help.
View attachment 105481
Click to expand...
GP,
Hauling sheet rock sucks!
I used to work for a contractor in my late teens and our only job was carrying 5x10 sheets of drywall onto the site and often up many floors.
These days my back is really paying for it.
 
Lineslinger said:
GP,
Hauling sheet rock sucks!
I used to work for a contractor in my late teens and our only job was carrying 5x10 sheets of drywall onto the site and often up many floors.
These days my back is really paying for it.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I seriously thought about those 10' sheets... FORGET IT!!!!!
 
Well, this thread has been left in the dust of time, and time has marched on at a rapid clip!

I'm going to jump straight to "IT IS FINISHED" (such as it will be, for now). The painters came in and prepped, a couple of friends lent me a hand putting up all the door trim pieces (many took cutting and fitting), then the painters covered up a multitude of sins with caulk & texture, and finally a nice coat of paint.

The game room is ALMOST ready, I need a Foosball table.
Movin' on Up!


Bunk room ready, including TV for the kids...

Movin' on Up!


Bathroom area all done and trimmed out

Movin' on Up!


Backsplash tile just needs final caulking

Movin' on Up!


So, Done.
 
On that long list of stuff to do at the ranch, I forgot "Mud Trucking"!

My friend Jim brought out his '75 Ford Bronco Sport with warmed-up 302, and got right messy...
Movin' on Up!


The engine got all muddy, as did the interior. He will have one heck of a time getting it as clean as it was, just one hour earlier...

Movin' on Up!


My pond is now 1 foot deeper!
Movin' on Up!
 
The day arrived, last Saturday, that our leasee delivered 33 head of Angus cattle to the grazing acreage that my ranch is part of. So, I notified the County Appraisal District to review my formerly denied Agricultural Use application, and I included a couple of photos. The agent e-mailed me back, I have been approved!

So, annual property taxes will be less than half what they were proposing, possibly even lower if my building/improvements valuation protest is also approved.

Good lookin' beef critters!
Movin' on Up!
 
On the flip side, my tractor decided to retire, quite unceremoniously...
IMG_7802.JPG


Back to the happy side, I figured out a way to change only ONE PART to fix the problem!

The one part:
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a new (used) tractor!

IMG_7822B.JPG


This one is 10 years newer, has a cushy seat, and runs much better!
 
Wait!
Did you complete all the mud work and sanding on the drywall by yourself? I was wondering about getting that done when you posted pics while in the middle of hanging all that sheet rock.
The place looks great.
Well done on the tractor, is it the 2.6L 3-cyl gasoline or the Ford 2.9L 3-cyl diesel?
And, what are you going to stock your pond with? Or is that the designated water hole for the Angus?
 
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