Day by Day

It feels like winter is still trying to hold on around here but we're moving forward anyway!  Siding is starting to go up and the house is looking so much better.  It's finally getting easier to see what the final product will look like and I'm quite excited about it!  We've also started getting back to work ourselves, knocking off small projects on the weekend to help move things along.  We did two tasks today - first, we installed a ledger board for the back deck.  Our lot slopes and our French doors are quite a bit off the ground.  We'll eventually have a small landing deck and five steps down to a big patio so we put the ledger board in for that eventual project.  Next, we installed a new egress window into the basement.  For reasons that are unclear to me, the basement originally had two separate doors on either side of the back of the house.  We decided that we only needed one way in and out so we closed up the second door and turned it into an nice big egress window instead.  Eventually this window will be in a bedroom so, in addition to needing to be big enough for egress, we wanted to make sure it let in plenty of light and air.  The contractors did the stone work to change the opening from a doorway to a window opening and we installed the new window today.  Since we're still living in the basement, the added light is a nice bonus for us too.

Let's get to the pictures...

Hardie plank siding is primed but not painted yet - we're thinking a dark blue color with white trim but final choice still TBD

Back of the house, without ledger board

And with ledger board and drip cap flashing

This is not energy efficient

This is much better!

You can see from the unpainted brick where the door used to be - now fully converted into a window instead

Thawing out and getting back to work

We may be setting a new low on frequency of blog posts but we are still moving along here.  The weather is finally starting to cooperate and the contractors are working (slowly) on the exterior again.  We've also started tackling a few repair projects of our own.  The house had an existing garage in decent shape but we pulled off the vinyl siding and are putting on new Hardie to match the house.  In the process, we uncovered a little bit of damage that needed repair.  We had the garage treated for termites before closing on the house so we figured there would be some patching to do but the real problem was the lack of house wrap and flashing by the original builders.  So, there was a bit of rot around the garage door that needed to be ripped out and replaced.  Lesson of the day, though - no matter how compromised wood might look, it's probably still relatively strong!  There's a double header over the garage and only the exterior 2x12 had any damage.  So, we thought we would just pull it out and put up a replacement LVL.  Getting the old header out, though, was quite the task.  That wood turned out to be incredibly strong still and it took a good bit of effort with the circular saw and Sawzall to section it out.  Then, of course, it was time to lift the LVL into place and add new sheathing.  Happily, it was finally a nice day to be working outside so a little extra time outdoors wasn't too bad.  And it was nice to check this off the list so the garage will be ready for wrapping and siding along with the rest of the house.

Porch roof, band board, and some window trim added.  There's also a nice front door lurking behind that plywood but we're keeping it covered for now to protect it.

And the back, with roof overhang to protect the outswing French doors, band board, and window trim

Garage with siding removed, bit of rot showing around the door

Close-up of damage - this needs to come out!

Old 2x12 out, new LVL waiting to be put in

That's better!

And all sealed up again

Slow going

We're still here and construction is oh so slowly moving along!  We've had a few changes and disruptions along the way, including shutting down for a week while we took a much needed vacation last month.  Given that we are living onsite, it just seemed a bit too risky to have construction continue while we weren't here to keep an eye on everything so we boarded up while we were away.  Then we had a little more delay while we worked our plan revisions through the permit process again.  There weren't too many big changes but we did have make some small structural and layout adjustments now that we're seeing how the space actually looks and feels, and we revised the front wall to take down the old stone/brick, which we had originally planned to keep.  The contractors have been hard at work when they can but the winter weather is not being very cooperative - and we've declared a hold again as bitter cold (and possibly snow) pass through this week and next.  Fortunately, we're in the middle of February now so at some point, it surely must start warming up!  In the meantime, the house is well closed up at least.  Many windows are in and the rest are boarded up so we are no longer exposed to the elements.  And that, at least, is an improvement!

Starting to look like a house again!

Hello Shingles

I've really got to stop making predictions about timing on this blog because it seems that I am always overly optimistic about when things will get done.  Last weekend brought neither felt nor shingles as it took the contractors longer to get the sheathing up than anticipated and then they moved to inside framing, which left us scrambling a bit to get things sealed up before the rainstorm today.  The good news is that we finally have shingles on the roof and, although there's still more work to be done before it will be really finished, we are finally having a rainy day that doesn't involve tarps, plastic, or buckets!  

Roofing supplies on the roof - just not installed yet

Getting started

That looks like a roof

More progress up front

Racing the setting sun to the finish line

New Year, (almost) New Roof

After rain, snow, and holiday delays, we're finally getting back on track - but the time from taking the roof off to getting the roof back on has been much longer than we originally anticipated.  Lots of lessons learned here for the next house!  But, we're moving now.  Most of the framing is done and with a little luck, we should get sheathing - and maybe felt - on the roof today before another storm hits tomorrow.  The house is shaping up nicely, though, and we can finally start to see what it'll look like when it's done.

Barely enough room to sneak the crane into the backyard but it fit

Lifting the trusses into place with a big crane

Up, up, and away!

Getting the trusses into place

Now it's starting to look like a house again

Back view

Water you mean there's still no roof?

Between the rain delays and the holidays this project seems to have slowed down way too much for our liking. The rain was the biggest concern when we took off the roof and after a few storms we've figured out a 3 tiered plastic system that has been doing a decent job. It was definitely a little dicey the first couple storms and we even ended up with a decent basement flooding that ruined some of our stuff and all of our carpets. The roof trusses are going up Friday with a crane so we are in the home stretch for the first major milestone to getting this house dried in. A roof should be on by the weekend or early next week if all goes well.

One of the biggest projects was completed last night with the lifting of the giant steel beam that opens up the new kitchen and supports the 2nd floor load and roof. They ended up building a hoist system to slowly lift it into place. There's still some work to be done before we can remove the temporary walls, but it shouldn't delay our new roof.

Today the 2nd floor exterior walls should be completed and we should have some sheathing on them to support the new trusses. Friday it should look like a complete shell of a house (at least it better).

Huge beam

Chimney is going to need a little extension to be useful.

Front View

Back view

Building Up

Finally building up here!  More progress as this starts to look like a house again.

First floor framing up

New addition