Skylights? Oh yea, I can do that in one weekend...

A hail storm blew through our neighborhood back in June, so just about every house on our street has received new shingles and new siding on one end.  It took a few months, but the roofers showed up on Friday.  Time for some new skylights! (they are about to be installed in the plywood square you see by the top of the ladder).

The empty pool pad in front of the deck will be the big spring project (also damaged by the hail)

Even with the sofit lights, it has always been a bit dark in the kitchen - and my wonderful wife spends many hours making some Food Network-worthy creations, so it was time to add some additional natural light.
I made a hole in the drywall ceiling before the roofers arrived so I could poke a hole through the plywood to mark the rough opening.

  

 Once the skylights were in (props to Countryside Roofing in Strasburg, PA) it was time to make the hole a little bigger (Ziptool - messy but effective) so I could figure out how to frame up the shaft.

 The cathedral ceiling in the main part of the house is built with scissor-trusses, so cutting the 2x4 that runs through the middle of the shaft was out of the question.  Consulting an engineer and reinforcing the adjacent trusses was more than I wanted to invest in this project.  The bottom of the truss will be wrapped in drywall or sanded and painted (have not decided yet).  Here you can see the framing pieces I added to box-out the shaft and give the drywall some support. The dirty/gray studs are the "new" framing.  The 2x4 web in front of these will be removed with a miraculous tool  - the  Sawzall.

 The shaft was lined with 1/2" foamboard insulation and then the drywall puzzle pieces were screwed into place.  The wire you see in the middle of the framing will be for a light fixture (once we decide on what will look right up there).

This is as far as I got before I had to clean up for the Thanksgiving holiday.  I ran out of corner bead, so I need pick up another piece and  start mudding next weekend.

Friday started with me staring at the hole in the ceiling planing out the drywall and trim.  Sunday ended with cornerbead.  Not a bad weekend.

 Too many projects, not enough time.

What I learned today.  As you approach middle age, you need bi-focals to use a hammer properly (so frustrating!).

Well, it took a while to get the taping and mud work done, but here is the finished project.  Worked slowed considerably during the Christmas holiday.  My lovely wife was very patient when I would regularly get drywall dust all over everything in the kitchen.

It is now much brighter over the prep area in the kitchen.  The natural light and the two spots we put up in "the hole" certainly help.

More drywall work in the lower level, a pool deck, laminar fountains and a hot rod grocery cart are still on the project list.  Stay tuned...