Master Bed Room

After the success of the Danger Room remodel, I moved on to the Master Bed Room. The process would be pretty much the same here.

• Before
• Demo
• Electrical
• Footing
• South Window
• East Window
• Sound Proofing
• Insulation
• Subfloor
• Drywall
• Paint
• Floor
• Door
• Finish

Like the Danger Room, I wanted a nice, south-facing window with some descent solar heat gain. I also wanted to replace the short, wide east-facing window with a better insulated and nicer looking window. Again, I furred out the 2x4 studs with 2" furring strips to make 5.5" cavities but this time I used rock woll insulation instead of fiberglass.

See ugly carpet

See flammable ceiling

Larger south window

Nicer east window

I removed the carpet. Then a couple of great friends helped me remove all the rock wall (plaster on top of drywall). Then I removed the ceiling and insulation. As in the danger room, the insulation in the walls was 2.5" rock wool from Pueblo, CO. I also learned that some of the subfloor had been replaced with OSB. Perhaps there was a waterbed incident?

OSB replacement	Pink paint?	Could have fit better	Eager weeds
Nailing strip ceiling again	Surprise	Found in the wall

My house has a mix of grounded and ungrounded power run all the way back to the service box. I just imagine they built the house with whatever scraps they could find. For example, the master bedroom was wired with ungrounded, 2-conductor from the service box to the switch, then gounded, 3-conductor from the switch to first outlet. See the receptacle in the upper middle of the wall? That is as far as I could pull the original 3-conductor wire from the service box. So instead of walling up a junction box, I made it a receptacle. Maybe someone will want to mount a TV on the wall. I don't know.

Labels never to be seen again

I thought it would be a good idea, since I have the walls open, to install some sound proofing between the master bed room and the other two bed rooms.

See interior wall on right

Interior wall

Close up

I learned from the Danger Room that a slightly bigger window would be nice. So this was two 3247 windows mulled.

Old window inside	Old window outside	Old window outside	Old window removed
Old Window removed	New rough opening	New window	New window inside
New window outside	New window wire	New window stucco

I never liked the look of the short, wide sliding windows but I didn't want a large, east-facing window like I have on the south. This window faces the street and so I rarely open the sades much less the window itself.

Old window inside		Old window outside
Old window removed	New rough opening		New window
New window inside	New window outside	New window wire	New window finished

In good house construction, the beams under the floor joists would rest on the foundation or perhaps even on the mudsill. But my house is not good construction. The builders decided to cut most of the beam off in some sort of lap joint attempt and then support the rest with 2x6 boards nailed to the foundation block. Needless to say, I found this insufficient and actually scarry so I installed a concrete footer on compacted crusher fines.

See my concern?

4x4 on concrete

One of the big reasons I opened all the walls was so I could remove the old 2.5inch 70's rock wool and fur-out the 2x4 studs into 2x6 studs so I could the install 2010's 5.5inch R-23 rock wool batts. In the Danger room I used fiberglass batts but I found modern rock woll much easier to work with and may provide better sound proofing.

See furring strips?	More furring strips	Rock wool insulation	South wall done
East wall done	Close up

The old subfloor was weak in some places and unlevel in others. I removed some old 5/8 plywood, sanded parts of the joists to make things more level and installed new 23/32 Advantech OSB, glued and screwed. I used 1/8" hardboard in places to level things. I also sistered several joists because of cracks and installed a lot of blocking with steel brackets. Also, since I have been so impressed with modern rock wool insulation, I decided to insulate the subfloor. I didn't insulate the subfloor in the Danger Room. If I notice a difference after the Master is done I may go back and insulate the Danger Room subfloor.

Old plywood subfloor
See the cracks	How about now	or now	or now
Added blocking	lots of blocking
Insulation from below		Insulation from above	New subfloor
	Hardboard along walls		Hardboard in closet

I hired someone to hang the drywall. I've hung drywall before. It's not that hard, it's just heavy and I am weak. The ceiling is 5/8" (because of th 24" o.c. trusses) and the walls are 1/2". The texture is a very light orange peel. The mudlines came out much better this time. However, they hung the drywall starting at the subfloor instead of the ceiling so I ended up without a gap at the bottom plate. Contractors. You have to watch them all the time.

		See the gap at the top?	That's not right
no gap at bottom	A few gouges		But otheriwse
its pretty good
Ladder for scale		J-channel for closet

I have had a lot of bad luck with paint: peeling, flaking, rubbing off. I think I suck at painting. This time I used one coat of Zinsser 123 and two coats of Sherwin Williams Duration. The uncolored white is a little to cool (blue) for my taste. Next time I will try to get a warmer white.

Dramatic worklight

Masking tape for scale

Just one glove

In the danger room, I used a Pergo laminate product. But since it has been a couple of years, that line of laminate isn't available anymore. But, the Lows/Pergo brand has something very close. So this time I purchased engough to do the Master Bed Room and the third bed room as well so they will match. I purhased a nail gun to do the baseboard. Holy crap. Nail guns are awesome.

Acclimating	It goes quick
With transition		And baseboards

I like solid-core doors and I wanted this to match the door to the Danger Room. I think it turned out pretty good. I hung the new door frame before they drywall was installed but I didn't sand and coat the door (polyurathane) until after the floor was installed. I learned not to mix wood putty (wood glue and sawdust) on a piece of scrap sheet metal. The putty turns a very dark brown. A scrap piece of plexiglass works much better.

Old door and frame removed
Coated and hung	Matches pretty well

A strange thing happened in this country in March of 2020 (SARS-CoV-2) and because of this I had enough time on my hands to finish the room and move back in. I was surprised how well my crappy 80s furniture matched the floor. Perhaps that says something about my taste in furniture.