Chicago Duplex Down Rehab

I know you've seen something like this outside the MCA before.. I call it 'Chaos and Progress'. Doesn't it look put together with photoshop? it's all real, i'm not kidding. Even the stair steps.

The stark white walls with sunlight make it heavenly! Reminds me of the George Burns film, 'Dear God' from late 70's. I don't think they had movies for kids back then (that i recall), I remember movies like 'High Anxiety', 'Dear God', 'Star Wars' (of course), 'Jaws', 'Close Encounters of the Third Kind', and 'Superman' at the Menlo Park Mall theatre in NJ. I digress... Eric and Stewart tried the spray gun on my recommendation for the first day, it worked but was really a pain in the butt, from what I hear. They switched to ol' roller and brush for the remainder of the job. I have to pick up some entrance and fireplace tile today so we can get the floors going.

Stewart is back on the job with Eric. One of his first tasks was to acid (mild solution) wash the exposed brick walls in the utility room. After that the entire place is getting a coat of paint primer while its easy to do so. They'll also paint the ceilings before anything else is installed (flooring, trim, etc.)

HUGE Thanks to my buddy Ed for helping take care of some last minute framing/blocking and proper vinyl window installation before the drywallers showed up the next day. Ed noticed the 2 vinyl windows were just held into their opens with a couple small pieces of wood the night before the drywallers were going to show up. Being the can do guy he is, he properly installed them with screws, 2 beads of caulk, and spray insulation. WHEW! He stayed up late two nights in a row to take care of all the miscellaneous tasks with me. It was a hoot. Isaac and his crew stormed the house with more than 186 sheets of 5/8" drywall this past week. It's the biggest transformation since the demolition. For those keeping score, he charged me $16/sheet for hanging and taping, labor only. We ordered 200 sheets from Menards last week, and they dropped it on the curb using a forklift. Isaac's crew took the drywall in one piece at a time, and then a 2-man crew hung the drywall in 2.5 days. ...

ECOTEC came out on Wednesday morning to put in the spray foam insulation. Amazing stuff! It's like 'great stuff' through a fire hose, but much better. Its more expensive that normal fiberglass insulation, but FAR superior, and installed very quickly. Its really amazing how it covers every nook and cranny. They even did the ceiling which will eliminate the noise from 2nd floor. Reminds me of when the Stay Puft Marshmallow Man exploded in Ghostbusters. The photo shown here is BEFORE they came back to shave it flush with the wall studs. The place is amazingly quiet after the insulation was put in. Its like an anechoic chamber . Here's a promotional video:

Eric and I sweated through Sunday putting a few select pieces of drywall. The drywall crew will put in most of the drywall, but we need to have a few up before the foam insulation guys show up. In areas where we want to have foam insualtion between rooms (living room/foyer wall show below) for both temperature and sound, we have to have drywall up on one side of the wall so the foam has something to stick to. You can see some of my low voltage wiring work here. The white cable in the center is 14 gauge speaker wire for rear-channel 'in wall' speaker. The front room will be completely setup for 5.1 sound! So much for afternoon tea in the living room. :) I ran a beefy RCA cable to the same area for a powered subwoofer.

We got the ventilation signoff today! The photo shows all the work Eric did on the bathroom and dryer venting. Eric has been working on some of the more difficult firecode drywall work in the utility area. We don't expect the drywall crew to deal with that. With all the rough-in signoffs complete, we can move on to insulation and drywall. This place will finally take shape. We've grown tired of looking at open walls.