Late Night at the House

I worked with my mom & dad's help until 10:30 tonight! That's a record. My friend Ken was over earlier in the evening. He marked on the floor where each outlet was so the sheetrock guys can keep better track of them (and I can make sure I don't lose one without realizing it). Then he helped me run a couple of speaker wires.

Afterward, my dad and I finished straightening out bowed studs. If a stud is even at the top and bottom plates but it bows in into the room at the center, it could affect how the sheetrock job will come out. (Yes it's probably overkill, but I'm a perfectionist!). So we cut a diagonal slot into the stud on the side where it's bowed into a room. Then a screw is applied on the edge to close the gap that's been made. This usually makes it straight. In most cases, we also screwed a piece of 2x4 over the cut to strengthen the area.

Then it was back to running speaker wire. I tell ya, no matter how much you think to do, and how much you accomplish, it always seems there's something else lurking out there: another wire you could run, or something else you could accomplish in the attic before the sheetrocking happens, etc.

My mom helped outside with the pile of sand I have left over from the brick-laying. I'm keeping as much of it as practical because I'll need to lay more bricks for steps, and I may also put pavers down in the backyard. She filled buckets with it and we moved them to the back garage. She filled around 7 buckets and it's probably less than half the pile! I'm not sure how much sand is practical to store in buckets. I know I'll use some of that to fill in low spots in the yard. But I wanted to clear that pile enough so it's not in the way when they deliver the sheetrock tomorrow.