Drywall is now a four letter word.

Well it has been an interesting week. I think this is the first time I've had to fire/lay off an individual. The mudding and taping company has been let go as of Thursday morning. The owner had some issues and at the end of the day he had no WSIB(Workplace Safety and Insurance Board) coverage because of this. It is law in Ontario that all workers on a construction site must have this coverage. No coverage no work. If I got caught employing people with no coverage it could be upwards of a 100,000$ fine. So after delays getting him to the site and then this I've lost another whole week of work towards occupancy. So we had to go back out and look for another crew. As of now looks like I've got one, he was one of the bidders last time around as well. If i'm lucky they'll start Monday morning. Note to self don't hire anybody going through divorce proceedings.

Anyway onto what happened this week at the job site. We're now at the stage that unless something critical needs to be done, I'm not working in the house on Sundays. So that leaves Monday to Saturday for work. So this week on Monday I had the HVAC guys back for a few hours and they started installing the Hot water tank. They finished this job on Thursday and as well installed the air conditioning lines, as well as insulated the intake lines for the furnace and HWT to hopefully prevent the condensation problem I was having.. So at this stage the HVAC people are finished until they come back later in the Spring to install the actual Air Conditioner outside. Here's a picture of the HWT installed in the house. This is a Rheem High Efficiency condensing HWT meaning that it also has an intake pipe drawing air into the combustion chamber from outside.

As for myself, I spent the week either working on the storage room or the North Basement Bedroom mudding and taping. One new product I'm using here I've never seen before but really seems to work well. Usually when I have done any mudding and taping I use the self adhesive fibreglass mesh tape. I find it easier than the paper tape with the exceptions of the corners where the mesh tape is harder to use. Well at the local Penner's Home hardware they that a fibreglass weave tape with a bendable seam down the middle just like the paper tape. The roll was 50% more than paper but I decided to try one. I am impressed it works really slick and the tape imbeds into the mud extremely well. I will end up buying another three rolls approximately to finish the basement. So in the scheme of things this will cost me an extra 15$ over paper tape but well worth it. 

I will admit there were lots of slow times and I quit early on Friday as well. On Saturday all I did was a quick sanding in the storage room and a little mudding on two seams that needed more mud. I also had the new mudding company in to look over the place and ensure they were willing to take on the job.  Next week I'll finish sanding and then start painting the storage room so that it can be used for it's purpose. Just for info here is a picture of the Basement Bedroom after it's first coat of mud.

                             

On Thursday not only did I fire the drywaller but I went to Home Depot for a second interview with the HR team. I have applied at various companies around here looking for a part time job to 1) occupy my time and 2) help pay for the mortgage I will be taking on to finish this house. So the interview went well and all I need to do to finish the process is give them three references for people I've worked for lately. I've tracked two of the three down I need and hopefully will talk to the third one on Monday. Then we'll have to see if I fit as their model employee. I had hoped that the lumber yard down the street from the new house would have called me for an interview but so far they haven't. I'll admit it would be more convenient there rather than the 20min drive to Home Depot but at this stage of the game money talks. 

Well the weather is slowly improving we've had some nice sunny days however the temp is still low, -15C today when I went to the house. Looks like around another week before temp moves above freezing. I won't have the entire winter but this will definitely give me a peek at what the gas and hydro bills will be like. For instance the first gas bill that was for approx 30 days was 50$ for just the gas portion, total bill was 138$ with all the extra costs they tack on. However based on meter readings I'm still cheaper than the house next door. 

Well until next week enjoy the milder temps and have a great time moving forward enroute to the Spring Solstice.

Harold

PS: Cor, Mark should do this as well but say hello to the people in the O Mess.