Better Late Than Never
Posted on May 18, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Better Late Than Never
I’ve been a bad blogger. Over a week has elapsed since my last post and I haven’t been out of town or imprisoned or in a coma, so I don’t have any good (bad?) excuses. I did have a rummage sale last weekend, which ate up more time than I would have liked, so I told John (as I tell him every time I have a rummage sale), “Don’t ever let me do this again.” He laughed.
Anyhoo, let’s get caught up…
On Monday, May 11, Bob was out with Sam, and the crew had the forklift mishap repaired by the time we returned from our morning walk with Briar. So that’s over.
Also on Monday:
Windows!
Lots of windows.
On Tuesday, Sam mocked up the window trim, which we wanted to model on the trim that was on one of the old windows. (Despite Gene’s spectacular home re-muddling, one window still had the original trim.) Sam did a great job for a first draft – we just asked him to make the top a bit higher. Here’s how it turned out:
Miter fine work, Sam.
By Thursday, much of the trim was up on the back and siding was well underway. We’re going with a fiber-cement siding (also called cementitious siding), which is made using a combination of recycled fly ash, Portland cement, and wood fiber. It’s pretty cool stuff with the look of wood siding, but less of the maintenance hassle. It’s pre-primed, so we just need to decide on a paint color. Which shouldn’t take too long. Ha ha.
Here’s a photo from today. The siding on the south side of the house is nearly complete and most of the window trim on the back is finished. The cute little window in the yellow box had to be moved. It was previously top-aligned with the larger windows, which made it impossible to reach from inside. It’s in the right place now, so we’ll be able to open it, which seems to me like a key piece of window functionality.
Wee window: Now more user friendly.
Drive-Thru
Posted on May 8, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Drive-Thru
I took a vacation day today, but it was not quite as relaxing as I had hoped.
The roofers—who have arrived late, taken things rather slowly, and been very loud on two previous days—showed up at 1 p.m. today. Around 1:45 p.m., one of them drove the forklift into the house. Awesome.
On hearing a loud and absolutely horrible crunch, I hurried to the apartment window in time to see the forklift butted up against the house’s south kitchen windows. So, I ran next door and asked the roofing (foreman?), very politely, what the *&!# they were doing. He looked startled, then pushed on the mullion that was shoved out of place (it didn’t budge, of course) and told me not to worry; that it was minor.
I don’t know—maybe it is minor, but I’m thinking, Dude, you’re supposed to be here to assist in the construction and you just drove a forklift into our house. My reaction is not going to be “Oops.”
Bob and Sam will be out to assess the damage on Monday.
Don't drive angry.
I may have a heart attack before this is over. At least the roofing crew was quiet for the rest of the day. All two hours of it.
One Shingle-lar Sensation
Posted on May 7, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on One Shingle-lar Sensation
The shout-happy roofing crew has been here for the past couple of days and we now have a roof-ful of handsome Timberline architectural shingles in Pewter Gray. I never thought I’d get excited about roofing materials, but they are some sharp-looking shingles.
Now it won't rain in the house.
Making Up
Posted on April 29, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Making Up
So, they took off early last Friday and it made me grumpy…I’m over it.
The crew has been cranking this week. I thought that you might like to see what they’ve accomplished in three very long work days.
Hee!
They’re totally my favorite-est construction crew again.
Week Four
Posted on April 26, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Week Four
Lo siento for the late update. My job has been keeping me busier than usual—despite asking me (and every other employee) to take a 5% salary cut. And, salary cut or not, my job is what pays half the bills and provides half the insurance, so…you know…priorities.
Anywho. Here’s what happened last week.
Monday was called on account of rain.
Tuesday was also rained out.
By Wednesday, however, the weather had cleared and our friendly construction crew took up where they left off last Thursday. The second floor began to take shape.
Upstairs interior
Front view
Back view
On Thursday, the roof trusses were delivered. I wasn’t here, but John said that there were some tense moments while unloading the trusses when the trusses began to swing wildly and nearly took out the cab of the forklift.
Unloading the trusses
I’m glad that I was not around to see that.
To provide a sense of the scale.
At the end of the day, all of the second-floor exterior walls were in place.
Front view with all exterior walls up.
Which brings us to Friday, which was an absolutely gorgeous day with tons of sunshine and temperatures in the high 70s. The crew framed some of the interior walls upstairs, then left the site by 2:30 in the afternoon.
So, apparently, construction can be halted by rain or sunshine.
Checking out the progress.
Three-Day Work Week
Posted on April 17, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Three-Day Work Week
For the second time this week, the construction crew was here in the morning, but was gone before 11 a.m. This time it was due to miscommunication with the lumber company, who didn’t have the page from our plans that provides specs for the second floor framing (important information like the wall height), so they sent the wrong size lumber. Because that was easier than calling our builder, I guess.
Someone from the lumber company was at the work site by noon, but by that time, no one from the construction crew was around.
So, another lost construction day… Today was sunny and in the high 50s with virtually no wind, which seems like the perfect kind of day to be outside working.
I Spy Something Blue…
Posted on April 16, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on I Spy Something Blue…
The decking is now on the second floor, which is turning out to be a lot higher than I expected.
Second floor decking
From the second floor, we can see a piece of Lake Michigan—for part of the year, anyway. When the leaves come in, we won’t be able to see much…unless, of course, we walk one block east, where we can see the entire lake-filled horizon all year round.
Temporary lake view
The front porch continues to take shape. The columns arrived last week, but I think we need a floor before those can be installed.
Front porch
One of the cool things about living in the tiny apartment next door is that it has a front porch, where we can relax and occasionally overhear what people say about our house as they go past. (Last year, during the Miller Lite Ride for the Arts, we overheard a couple of people comment on how ugly our house was, as they bicycled by. It was pretty funny.)
It will be very nice to have a porch of our own…attached to a decent-looking house.
Second Floor
Posted on April 15, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Second Floor
All of the beams for the second floor are in place.
Beams
The ceiling of the front porch is the floor for one of the bedrooms.
Front porch
Construction Worker != Mail Carrier
Posted on April 14, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Construction Worker != Mail Carrier
Yesterday, another delivery of lumber arrived and the construction crew was here in the morning for that. They covered the insulation-filled floor (over the garage) with plastic, then promptly packed up and left. We’re guessing that it’s because rain was in the forecast, but it didn’t start raining until about 3 p.m., so there’s one day of construction that we’ll never get back.
Today, however, they worked despite some rainy, cold weather in the morning. No one melted, as far as I could tell.
The masons were here to brick in the front wall for the porch and a couple of the basement windows.
Future front porch
At the end of the day, there are beams across the living room, so now the ceiling height is apparent.
Wherever will we put the wide-screen TV?
Visualizing
Posted on April 10, 2009
Filed Under This Old House | Comments Off on Visualizing
We spent some time walking around in the house this evening. It’s very exciting to get a sense of what the space will be like and to see the number and the size of the windows. The kitchen, especially, will be a wonderfully sun-filled room.
It won’t last, of course, but right now it’s kind of cool to have a ceiling that is made of bright blue sky.
Partially framed kitchen
View of living room from the dining room
Back of house—kitchen is on the left.