Making Up

Posted on April 29, 2009
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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
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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.

While I Was Away

Posted on April 9, 2009
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I was in the office in Illinois today, so I wasn’t able to peek out from time to time to watch the construction progress. (We’re living in the flat next door during construction, which is quite convenient.) It was fun to come home this evening and see that all of the first-floor exterior walls are up.

First floor

Evening Things Out

Posted on April 8, 2009
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In the since-demolished monster house, the floor of the Burger King addition was higher than the floor of the old part of the house, so former owner Gene tried (unsuccessfully) to make everything level using his Portland cement technique. In the new house, the floor over the garage was quite a bit lower than the floor over the basement, so the crew spent most of today evening things out.

This elminates the need for a step down from the foyer to the living room, which would have put a kink in my plans to roller skate in the house. As a bonus, we’ll have a fairly thick layer of insulation between the garage ceiling and the living room floor. Briar will appreciate that.