It's been a busy week.

We started by putting in new fauset. I didn't get a picture - so here is one of ours.  It's the same.  Only, the one we put in turned out to be defective, so we had to replace it and install it again.

Then it was on to the boy's place where we took measurements and calculated out the tile plan for all four remaining ceiling areas.

But on Tuesday we took on another project to put together some Ikea furniture.  The first piece, a bed, turned out to have a busted headboard, so the homeowner had to handle that and we continued on with the rest of the stuff. Here is a two drawer nightstand plus a metal personal storage wall unit.

Plus a six drawer dresser.

Then we moved on to the second bedroom.

Lots more boxes.

A two drawer desk.

A two by four bookcase.

And a three drawer trundle bed.

We ended a full day completing the carcas of an eight drawer dresser.

We will return to do the drawers and the damaged bed when the replacement headboard arrives.

Then it was on to the boy's place.

The old hallway got one row of full tiles.

We'll have to cut all the rest.

The cuts went pretty well, even though the tiles are recessed so they stick down past the rails a bit.  What that means is that after I cut a tile to size, I then have to make a half depth cut at the shortened edge to create a matching recess.  It slowed us down a bit, but I quickly got the hang of it.

Here's the main room with the grid and full tiles in place.

We just cleared the return air plenum.  One rail is actually attached to the plenum at one point.  As that attachment has no give to it, all the rest of the grid had to square up to that point.

It turned out nice.

These are the inexpensive $.99 a square foot tiles, but for all that, they are sturdy with a nice surface finish.

Here I uncovered the heating vent.  We'll be putting up the sheet metal boots and diffuser covers next week.

Here's the completed main room.

Looking good.

Then it was on to the long room.  Here the rails and cross braces for full tiles are up.  I suspended it all from anchors placed every four feet where the rails crossed the rafters.  We used our laser level to mark off the correct length for each wire.

About this time Trav showed up to inspect our work, so we drafted him into helping Dad get the full tiles up.  After the full tiles are up, we use them as a guide to square up the grid.

We have to cut the cross braces to the correct length all around the perimeter of course.  But here at the funky turn in the soffit we had to cut a rail too.

I had started out using my old tin snips.  But Sue asked about a metal cutting saw. I tried the sawsall - no dice.  I then checked out the price of a 10" metal cutting blade to fit a miter saw.  Turns out they were only $3.98 each!  I got one and it worked very well on the rails and braces. So things speeded up after the first day.

Here's a shot looking straight down the long room.

And straight it is.

My tile cutting station.

A 2x2 piece of door left over from Bri's storage room project sitting on Jay's tail-gate party table.  It worked out well.  I used my four foot drywall square to make all the cuts.

Damn, another straight line.

And another.  Here's the Home Theater end of the long room with its ceiling all completed.

And the other end of the long room.

That's not another straight line, is it?

We did the bath last.

Three full tiles and lots of wierd cuts.

And it was straight too.

Here's a before and after -

The bath wall behind the toilet was ruined by the vanity and the re-routed furnace flue. I replaced it with new wallboard to the stud and then plastered that whole section.  I think it turned out well.

So all the rooms now have ceilings.

We've been using the garage area as our staging area.

This is looking out of the door from our new room.

At the far side of the garage, in the back, is the new work room.

Here's the entrance to the room from the stairs.

Eventually we will be removing the door, leaving just an archway entrance.

We've been filling holes in the cement slab with tile adhesive. These are the holes left from the old walls and tack strips.  We need it smooth for the flooring.

There are holes all over the place.