Garage framing started

Just a couple of quick pictures from the weeekend - the framing guys started on Saturday and built some of the soon-to-be walls but didn't get as far as putting them up yet.  They should be back at work all week and hopefully will make some progress.  More to follow....

Half a Backsplash

Is my tile work any good? Nah.... Its f'ing great!

Another small project getting checked off the list. As you can see we finally picked out a tile for the backsplash. The color is several different shades of off white/cream with a little tan color on the edge and it matches nicely with the cabinets and marble. It's a little slower to install because there are lots of tiny cuts to make, but it's only 25 sqft or so. The tile shop only had about half of what we needed so we will finish it up later in the week and get it all grouted. Then we can finish the crown molding and get this kitchen 100% done.

Weekend and a day

We got a late start to the weekend after spending Saturday on non-construction related tasks but since Brian had the day off from work today, we were able to check another task off the list.  We had spent a fair amount of time thinking about what to do with the underside of the porch.  The default choices were latticework fence (inexpensive but not my favorite look) or stone facade (nice looking but expensive) and we finally settled on a middle option - using PVC beadboard and 1 x 4 to create a wainscot look.  The whole project cost about $500 in materials and took roughly a day and a half of labor and we're really happy with the way it came out.  We first built frames out of pressure-treated 2 x 4s, then glued and tacked the beadboard on, and finally finished it with the 1 x 4 trim.  Right now, there's a lot of white on the front of the house but it should look really nice when we get some landscaping.

From the Ground Up

I am shamelessly posting while at work (Hi Lew!) because I'm very excited about the pictures that Brian just emailed...we have a garage foundation!  The big truck in the first picture showed up at 8am this morning, the foundation guys and the cool little Georgia buggy showed up shortly thereafter, and they proceeded to trundle a great deal of concrete from the front of the house to the back throughout the day.  As long as the rain continues to hold off, they should be back tomorrow to build the stem wall and then it's officially onto the framing stage!

Just as an aside, the neighbor's fence does not usually look like it currently does (broken, leaning) - it's a casualty of the recent storm when a gigantic tree fell over and hit it.  So on a normal day, and hopefully soon in the future, it will look like a regular (straight, non-broken) fence again.  And then we will have to figure out how to squeeze between the 3 ft. gap between the fence and the garage to install the siding.  Adventures await!

We Did Not Fall Into A Hole

We do still have a large trench in the backyard awaiting a concrete pour for the garage foundation but we have not fallen into it.  We took a brief break from construction and headed to Grand Cayman for some sun, snorkeling, and scuba diving over the fourth of July holiday and following weekend.  It made for a lovely break and we stayed at a gorgeous boutique resort comprised of just four beachside cottages decked out with every luxury - but we did remark that we missed the double shower we have here at home!  Now that we're back, we're trying to get the foundation guys to move forward and finish their work but the weather needs to cooperate so the ground can dry out.  In the meantime, we'll try to get back on track with some interior projects while the contractors work outside.  

After the Storm

We got hit with a crazy storm last night with some of the strongest winds I've seen in awhile and torrential downpours.  We were worried about the trenches for the footers but when we checked on them this morning, they had held up just fine.  No cave-ins, just a bit muddy.  I guess with all the heat and drought lately, the dirt was happy to soak up some of the water!  We had a few big branches fall into the yard, including one that appeared to crush one of the willow trees, but we fired up the chain saw this morning and made quick work of it.  We had all our branches cut up and out on the street before most of our neighbors even got outside.  And, happily, the willow tree looks like it will be just fine.  It bent completely to the ground but didn't break so we've staked it back up and I think it'll recover with no problem.  Our neighbors weren't so lucky - they had a huge tree come down in their backyard but it missed their house and fence so while it's a big clean-up job, there's really no damage.  Our neighborhood also fared pretty well in general - we lost power for about 9 hours last night but it came back on this morning just as we were about to turn the generator on.  Hopefully the weather will settle down now and we can get back to work! 

Breaking Ground

Construction on the garage has started!  The concrete guys spent yesterday and today hand-digging the footers.  I thought they would bring in an excavator but I guess sometimes work still gets done the old-fashioned way.  They'll put the steel rebar in tomorrow, we'll have an inspection on Monday, and pour the concrete on Tuesday.  It's a bit of a mess right now but after so much delay, I'm just glad to see some progress.