Battening Down the Hatches

We're right in the path of the so-called Frankenstorm so we spent a good bit of the weekend finishing up the garage siding and it looks great!  Brian finished siding the dormer, a task made possible by the platform and pump jacks but which still led to one of my least favorite moments of this project when I had to climb onto the roof next to the dormer to help hold up some of the soffit.  While I clung to the roof, Brian walked around on the roof cleats and stood up and nailed the trim into place.  So, clearly, I was not the most helpful person out there.  Heights are just not my thing.

But, all of the siding is now installed, along with the soffit, and we even got the front gutter onto the garage.  Brian also assembled and installed the garage door so the garage is now all buttoned up for the storm.  We still need to hang and install the tracks for the door, as well as install the opener (once we run the electricity to the garage, of course), so there's still more work to be done but for now, the garage is weather tight - just in time!

Random day off

It was slow at work and 80 degrees today so I took a vacation day to knock out the dormer siding. I got the whole front done and most of one side before my snips broke and I ran out of daylight. This weekend we should be able to finish the siding completely and maybe even install the garage door. I'm hoping we can tackle the driveway before it gets too cold out too. I forgot to take a pic before it got dark so check back this weekend.

Garage progress take ten

Every project seems to take a lot longer than we planned, but the garage is starting to shape up. Two solid days of work and the siding is just about finished. The dormer is going to be a pain, but it should go quickly. I can't take all the credit as Juan the helper showed up today. With two people we got a ton of work done. The list of work before its done is still pretty long so who knows what project we will be working on next weekend...

A little more

It's getting dark way too early these days. Even with flood lights it's hard to see my marks on the siding so I've been only able to get an hour or so in a few nights. But I've done most of the tricky cuts so we should fly this weekend. Another two weekends and I think we may be finished.

Siding Progess

We're at the end of a long weekend and it went by quickly!  Fortunately, so did much of the work we had to do.  First up, more siding.  As so often seems to happen with temporary helpers, ours disappeared this week so we were on our own but we've done enough at this point that it wasn't a problem.  We fully finished the fire-proofed side of the garage and the back, including soffit and fascia trim to make it watertight - and we owe many thanks to our neighbors for letting us into their yard so we could put up and then take down the pump jacks.  Pump jacks may be our best investment for this garage yet - there's just no comparison between having a platform to work on versus clambering up and down and moving around very large ladders but it's a good thing Brian isn't afraid of heights!  He was up about 14 feet in the air to reach the top of the garage.  Then we started the remaining side and front of the garage...although somehow I neglected to take pictures of the front so all we have to show is the side.  We've installed the door and window, the J-channel, and got the siding started.  We ran into a small delay when we realized that the roofing store sent the wrong color of light outlet trim so we could only go as far up as the outdoor lights but we'll get them swapped out for the right color this week.  And, in the meantime, we set up the pump jacks and platform on the other side of the garage and Brian started the garage wiring.  We ran a 50 amp subpanel to the garage so while we're only putting in some lights, outlets, and the garage door opener for now, we've got plenty of power to later add anything we might like whether we finish the second floor or not.  All in all, a good weekend and the garage continues to move along....

Garage progress

Lots of progress on the garage, but very few pictures. I had off Friday and yesterday so I got a lot done. Even these pics are a bit outdated. Friday was the side window and the trim. Then we installed all three of the dormer windows and the door Saturday and I finished the electrical rough in yesterday. We installed a sub panel in the garage to make it easier to upgrade new circuits. Right now there's only 5 circuits and I doubt we will install ac and heat in there, but we thought it was best to leave it as an option. Two sides are completely sided so only two to go. Hopefully we will knock that out this weekend.

What a difference a day makes

It was a busy Sunday around here with much progress on the garage siding.  Our smartest move with this garage so far was hiring a great helper for the day.  After a failed attempt at finding someone last weekend, when our "experienced help" turned out to be a twenty-something guy who quite possibly knew less than I do about construction (and I don't say that lightly) and showed a distinct lack of initiative or energy, we gave Craigslist another try and this time found a terrific former contractor who now works a regular day job but is available for construction jobs on the weekends and nights.  He was great - in addition to being a hard worker, he saved us a bunch of time with his experience.  Where we may have had to stand around and figure things out, he knew what to do and how to do it already.  Having another person on the job site also freed up a little of my time to do a couple of the essential things that get neglected so frequently around our house, like grocery shopping and cooking for the week.  But more importantly, on the construction front, we started and finished the entire back wall of the garage, including installing the soffit.  All it needs now is aluminum wrap and gutters and it will be officially finished.  And, we moved to start the big side wall as well, getting the corners, band board, and about half of the siding up.  We also installed our new pump jacks and a giant platform for them that Brian built yesterday.  After struggling last weekend with the drywall install on ladders, we came to the quick realization that we needed a better solution for the siding.  After a bit of research, we are now the new owners of a pair of pump jacks and roof braces.  We thought about getting a nice aluminum set but the price didn't make a lot of sense given that we may not use them that often in the future.  Wood pump jacks plus 2 x 4s, though, is a decent solution for the price and, although it took a bit of effort to get them set up, it's a nice, stable platform to work from now.  We'll keep working in the evenings this week, along with a little help from our new best friend, and chug away on the siding.  After last weekend's frustration with the fire-proofing, though, this was a much better weekend all around.