Garage "Complete"!

Garage "Complete"!

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The building permit for the garage and studio was set to expire on September 7. So since STP in mid-July I've been working really hard to get the prioject ready for final inspection by the deadline. That meant some final framing to support drywall; a few wiring changes; installing insulation; hanging taping and mudding drywall in the studio; hanging and mudding drywall for the fire-rated north wall of the garage (due to proximity to the property line); installing the plumbing fixtures and many other details.

My previous post ("I'm a Drywaller!") was a bit premature. As I suspected, hanging is the really easy part. Taping and mudding is a pain in the keester. Part of my problem was that the advice of the book I bought and people I talked to didn't sink in: don't sweat the neatness of the mud in the first two coats. Just slop it on and it'll all work out when you sand it. So I probably took about twice as long taping the studio as necessary. The benefit of that, however, was that I had very little sanding to do. We decided to try a "smooth wall" finish (meaning no texture whatsoever - just paint on the drywall). That can be hard to achieve (you pay pros a lot extra for it) and I thought my job might not look too good. But once I painted it we realized that my job was pretty much perfect. I'm quite proud of it. You can't see a single joint.

The plumber who did the rough-in unfortunately had a stroke a few weeks ago. He's recovering, but obviously was not going to be available to do the finish work. After worrying about how it would get done and asking questions of my dad and brother-in-law Frank I figured out I could do that all myself. The sink installation in particular was tedious, but I got it all installed eventually. Now we can stop moving the sink (in the box) out of the way everytime I want to work on something else :).

Carol did some research on floors and ended up choosing a click-together cork product. It met our budget and Carol's desire for a floor she could abuse without feeling guilty, and it should provide a little cushion while she stands at the easel.

We passed the final electrical and plumbing inspections on September 5 and scheduled the final for September 6. I was nervous about it, but the inspector came at the very end of the day and I think he just wanted to get home. He gave me one simple correction to make, but signed off on the final. He was very friendly (as was I) and seemed not to remember the big argument we had way back when he was failing us four times for no reason on the foundation forms.

Having the building permit closed out is a huge monkey off my back. Now I can do the remaining work as I have time. The studio is very close to completion. It needs cabinets and trim, and Carol and I are designing a system that will be a large work table that is hinged to the wall to fold up, with a easel on the back of it that can be used when the table is stowed.