Closed to the Public
Posted on May 30, 2009
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On Tuesday, I asked Bob to put in a construction door because we have been having some issues with people thinking that it’s okay to just walk into the house to see what we’re up to. Quite astonishing. We’re hoping the door will make the nosy numbskulls think twice about poking around in a place that is both a construction zone and private property.
Cheaper than a moat.
Apart from that, it was a rather uneventful week. The crew had a short schedule due to the Memorial Day holiday and work on another project on Friday, but they put up some more of the siding. The front of the house is nearly complete, except for the porch.
Front, mostly sided.
Next week: Drywall!
Pretty on the Outside
Posted on May 22, 2009
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This week’s story: Siding. The house is looking more and more finished from the outside. And our neighbors won’t have to listen to the whipping crackle of Tyvek flapping in the breeze, which is a bonus.
Here’s the view from the street on Tuesday evening. That’s Sophia parked in front. She’s a sassy little Alfa Romeo who followed our neighbor home one day. His wife agreed that they could keep her.
Vroom vroom.
By Thursday, the crew had completed more of the front of the house.
Front view.
And even more of the back.
Back, south side of kitchen.
And, by Friday, the west side of the house was sided.
Back, west side.
We bid a bittersweet farewell to the forklift, which was picked up today. Bob had rented it for two months and that time is up. From now on, the crew will have to reach the high spots using ladders and scaffolding, which will take a bit more time. Our yard seems rather empty without it.
Better Late Than Never
Posted on May 18, 2009
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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
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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
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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.