the mudroom

Last weekend I was lucky enough to be able to take off knowing that work was still being accomplished on the house, even in my time away. Ben had the entire weekend to himself, so he invited his parents up north to help- meaning they had a fun, "working" visit and I got a much needed insulating and sheetrocking break!

Now because I wasn't present during the gutting of the existing walls, insulating and sheetrocking I unfortunately cannot offer much dialogue, but luckily my mother-in-law was able to document the process along the way.

Gutting the Walls
Because the mudroom can be treated as an extension of the kitchen we felt it was important to re-do the walls out there like we had in the kitchen. Simply put, the sheetrock was brittle and begged to be replaced.
After gutting the entire space Ben and his dad discovered that the existing ceiling had been dropped- similar to the bathroom ceiling (I posted about that here). The mudroom appears to have been an addition and unfortunately the way it was constructed would not allow them to raise the ceiling at all.

Insulating
As was expected, no insulation was found in the walls or ceiling. The truth is that small space is often times colder in temperature than it is outside- having found many frozen diet coke bottles out there in recent months pretty much convinced us that the walls were absolutely hollow.

Because we're planning on creating a multi-functional space- think outerwear, cleaning supplies and random groceries, it was important to go crazy with the insulation. Because there isn't a heating supply out there the smallest amount of cold air that seeps in- the better.

Sheetrocking
While not much explanation is needed I would like to add that Ben has absolutely perfected his skill. If anyone out there needs a sheetrocker I would absolutely volunteer his skills- if he didn't despise doing it at this point.. I can't imagine why.
I do have to mention that while the guys were busy working in the mudroom my mother-in-law was hardly lounging. I left the house in a rush so she was left not only to clear out the stone debris from the living room but she had to move everything out of the mudroom before any work began- the mudroom had been serving as an extra closet, so there was plenty to take care of. Anyway, she made it very easy for me- I came home from a weekend away with a clean house (she had to clean the floors 3 times!) and a home cooked meal.. everything was greatly appreciated!