Tuesday, September 22, 2009
Addition Almost Complete
The addition is almost complete. Framers started yesterday, and will be done early afternoon today.
Saturday, September 19, 2009
Big Push
Rick has been over every night to help me this week and all day each Sat and Sun. We wouldn't be where we are today without his help (or anyone's for that matter), so we are both very thankful.
We've run lights every day this week, and thought we were ready to have the contractor in on Monday (21st) so we could potentially move in (essentials only) on the 1st of October. However, we had a set back in the kitchen and lost a day, and then spent about 14 hours there today (Saturday) getting it ready for the framing of the addition.
Tomorrow, if we don't have the remaining of the roof ripped off, the 2nd story 26'ft LVL beam securely footed down to the basement, and some old section around the kitchen torn down, all on Sunday, then the contractor won't be able to start framing, and we will have an even bigger set back not being able to move.
Rick and Lisa have offered their spare bedroom to us, which is very generous and means a lot to us, but we don't want to put anyone out, so we're hoping to have all of this done in time. No stress eh.
We've run lights every day this week, and thought we were ready to have the contractor in on Monday (21st) so we could potentially move in (essentials only) on the 1st of October. However, we had a set back in the kitchen and lost a day, and then spent about 14 hours there today (Saturday) getting it ready for the framing of the addition.
Tomorrow, if we don't have the remaining of the roof ripped off, the 2nd story 26'ft LVL beam securely footed down to the basement, and some old section around the kitchen torn down, all on Sunday, then the contractor won't be able to start framing, and we will have an even bigger set back not being able to move.
Rick and Lisa have offered their spare bedroom to us, which is very generous and means a lot to us, but we don't want to put anyone out, so we're hoping to have all of this done in time. No stress eh.
Thursday, September 17, 2009
More from the home front
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Thought I would follow up Ben's last post with some more pictures. The house is not really a house at all at the moment with no ceilings or roof, and to the untrained eye it might look as though not much is getting done......but this my friend is not the case! This has been a seriously serious work week at the house, getting the final things done in anticipation of the contractors showing up early Monday morning. Almost.....almost......almost all of the wreckage is out of the house, finally! We are going to need one more dumpster (making 7 in total) and that will be it for a while.
Just a quick run down of what has been done since the last update
1. The roof has been taken off with the help of my Dad, Max, and Max's step Dad Rick.
2. the remaining barn boards, and plaster and lath have been removed
3. The yard has been cleaned up of roof debris
4. The old tv antenna has been taken down
5. The hard wood floor has been torn up from the living room....which by the way revealed a beautiful, untouched, wide plank hard wood floor....hello!
6. Windows have been bought for most of the house...will explain in a minute
7. The chimney has been partially removed
8. The kitchen design has been agreed upon....god help me, finally!
9. The main floor studs have been reinforced with shiny new studs and plates
10. The floor on the main floor has been leveled from the basement.......almost, just another tweak or two
Wow, I am tired just writing that list, never mind doing all of that! We are on schedule so far so that is good!
Okay, the windows.....I am beyond excited! A couple weekends ago, on my way back from picking Liv up from my parents I hit a garage sale. I got 4 vinyl windows (the kind with the lines through them) approx 38x50, 1 HUGE window for the kitchen approx 38x115, a claw foot tub including all the hardware, the 1920's cast iron sink to match, and an antique spindle bed all for.............$600! What a deal! The kitchen window alone I am told would have run us close to $600. I was so pleased, and I get to have the claw foot tub I wanted for our new bathroom!
That's it for now......cross your fingers for dry weather for another week or so!
P.S. If anyone has any tips for getting the little nails out of the wood floor let me know. They have like little teeth on them, so they are tricky. Ben says it will take me forever and we should just put a floor over the top, but I am determined to try. Any tricks would certainly help me prove him wrong......ummmm I mean.......get the nails out of the floor so I can refinish it!!!
Thought I would follow up Ben's last post with some more pictures. The house is not really a house at all at the moment with no ceilings or roof, and to the untrained eye it might look as though not much is getting done......but this my friend is not the case! This has been a seriously serious work week at the house, getting the final things done in anticipation of the contractors showing up early Monday morning. Almost.....almost......almost all of the wreckage is out of the house, finally! We are going to need one more dumpster (making 7 in total) and that will be it for a while.
Just a quick run down of what has been done since the last update
1. The roof has been taken off with the help of my Dad, Max, and Max's step Dad Rick.
2. the remaining barn boards, and plaster and lath have been removed
3. The yard has been cleaned up of roof debris
4. The old tv antenna has been taken down
5. The hard wood floor has been torn up from the living room....which by the way revealed a beautiful, untouched, wide plank hard wood floor....hello!
6. Windows have been bought for most of the house...will explain in a minute
7. The chimney has been partially removed
8. The kitchen design has been agreed upon....god help me, finally!
9. The main floor studs have been reinforced with shiny new studs and plates
10. The floor on the main floor has been leveled from the basement.......almost, just another tweak or two
Wow, I am tired just writing that list, never mind doing all of that! We are on schedule so far so that is good!
Okay, the windows.....I am beyond excited! A couple weekends ago, on my way back from picking Liv up from my parents I hit a garage sale. I got 4 vinyl windows (the kind with the lines through them) approx 38x50, 1 HUGE window for the kitchen approx 38x115, a claw foot tub including all the hardware, the 1920's cast iron sink to match, and an antique spindle bed all for.............$600! What a deal! The kitchen window alone I am told would have run us close to $600. I was so pleased, and I get to have the claw foot tub I wanted for our new bathroom!
That's it for now......cross your fingers for dry weather for another week or so!
P.S. If anyone has any tips for getting the little nails out of the wood floor let me know. They have like little teeth on them, so they are tricky. Ben says it will take me forever and we should just put a floor over the top, but I am determined to try. Any tricks would certainly help me prove him wrong......ummmm I mean.......get the nails out of the floor so I can refinish it!!!
Monday, September 14, 2009
Room with a View
So, we're about a month into the renovation project and have the roof, ceiling and old joists off - and have a 400 square foot skylight in our kitchen/dining room. We're hussling with the help of some of our friends to get the framing and footing in place to support a second story, hopefully being framed out next week.
I've ordered 16' x 11 7/8" Wood Engineered I Joists, 5/8" tongue/groove ply for the floors, and we're going to hand craft the roof with joists, rafters, and collar ties.
Its nice to be finally finishing up the demolision stage and moving slowly towards rebuilding to the final layout.
This weekend's "dumb move, lesson learned" story, is don't use a hacksaw on a pipe that you are holding close to your shin. Once you're done cutting the pipe guess where the blade is going to end up cutting next?
Friday, September 4, 2009
Is it the weekend already!
We managed to get a lot done on our vacation last week. The house is almost torn down to the frame (practically). My Dad is coming again this weekend to help us, this time we are pulling off the roof! The permit should be in next week so the contractor can come and build our addition....yeah!! In the meantime, the roof, the ceilings on the main floor, and the remaining barn boards need to be ripped off to prepare. The studs need to be reinforced and we are hoping to get all of that done this long weekend. My Dad is taking Liv home with him Saturday after the day's work, so Ben and I can work non stop Sunday and Monday....thanks Nana and Papa!
The shed in the back yard is gone to make way for swing sets and sand boxes!!
Funny little story from last weekend.....Ben was upstairs taking down walls, and out pops a raccoon! It scared the crap out of the poor guy, and because it was hanging out on the wall right above the stairs he couldn't get down the stairs away from it!! He called me (I had just dropped Liv off at a birthday party) asking me to grab him a coffee and come help with the little critter...who wasn't really all that little really! By the time I got to him, Max was at the house too...needless to say we had a good laugh at his expense before helping rescue him. The raccoon really wanted to stay, so we had to call a humane animal removal company who came in (for $375) and took Ricky out to the back yard to live in our tree, then blocked off his entry point. We are happy to say, he hasn't come back!
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