The walls go up (and what a difference!)

It feels like I haven't written for ages, so there's a lot to report (despite the fact that Todd is back at work making money, so only working on the house in his "free" time). The big progress was getting the sheetrock up.

Here's Todd on stilts refining his technique;

the finished product (this is the dining room on the left and TV alcove on the right);

the view down the hallway (the light from the skylights is really fabulous and opens the place up nicely);

the living room (on left), kitchen (on right). In the back left is the mudroom and the alcove where the wood stove will go.

One of my favorite parts of this remodel is that the house looks essentially the same from the outside, but when you walk in it is so much lighter and more open.

We're also focusing on getting the kids' (notice the plural) bathroom finished. Our big splurge is heated floors in the bathrooms, and if you look closely at the shot you can see the wires running for the heater. Dave is here today working on tile.

Otherwise I finally have something I could do (I primed the lower piece of Miles' room today), and there are about 10 days till Sprout is due to arrive. I can't wait to have her/him so that I can feel less useless! And hot! Todd is at the shop building the cabinet for the little bathroom, and we're shopping for plumbing fixtures and sink next week. Bart was at the house last week cleaning up outside which has made a huge difference. We've got a little over a month till Oupi and Granny arrive from South Africa, so hopefully Miles' room and the bathroom will be done by then. I think they should be. Famous last words!?

Tin roof and more

I was so excited to see the garden respond to the extra sun we've got since we took down a few trees. Despite my complete neglect, the echinacea, crocosmia, bee balm and other flowers are blooming with more energy than ever.

I believe Steve (Ganong) did this--waterproofing the foundation in preparation for filling in the hole so that it is possible to WALK into the front door without traversing a little rickety bridge.
This is our beautiful new tin roof. Todd added an overhang above the master bedroom door. We used to have all sorts of water problems here, but we had a solid rain last night and it seems to channel the water as planned.

Here are the roof squad working on the putting on the last layer. Todd had to install the four skylights and the flue for the woodstove before they could finish this. We also had a plumber and electrician preparing for the insulation (all the wiring and plumbing had to be done if it was in the exterior walls.)

Insulated and cool! (and cozy)

Anchor Insulation got here at 7:00 am. I had to leave because we didn't want me to suffer from fumes (although they are soy-based and non-carcinogenic.) I came home in the early afternoon and it's barely stinky at all. For a very pregnant woman to say "non-stinky", it really must be pretty harmless. They sprayed insulation on all of the exterior walls and in the ceiling. Here are two views of the living space:

and the kids' rooms (the interior wall dividing the two rooms will be done by the end of the weekend, but you can see their skylights).

The roof goes on...

Everyone is writing about how we've already had twice the average rainfall in June (halfway through the month), so the progress is impressive.  I still don't understand why the pictures don't load in the order I want them, but here it is...

The current view of what will be the front entrance/walkway.  You can see that the exterior walls are all framed.

Todd laying down subfloor in Miles' room.

A view of the living space.  See how the rafters on the right get steeper as the roof length gets shorter?  It looks pretty cool.

A view of the (mostly) sheathed roof.  We're hoping to have the roofers come and finish up by the end of next week.

This was meant to be the first picture--Todd and John set all the beams on the front of the house last weekend while I was away.  Every one is a different length and had to be cut in place.

One last thing--we just got our electric bill for last month.  Granted, we're living in much fewer square feet, but we are using all of our regular appliances (just not our stove and that's gas), and our kWh usage was less than half of the same month last year.  I think it's the on demand water heater.  So they DO pay for themselves (eventually). Good to know.

After the weekend

We had a TINY little bit of no rain (it's 60% likely to be stormy all week), but Todd made huge progress during the sunshine.  The walls of the front room all came down, he added the floor to the diagonal addition in the front and in the master bathroom, moved the downstairs toilet and laid out the front exterior wall.  He's gone to order skylights and beams for the front roof now.

Here's the view from below:

This is putting down the bathroom floor (it's' pretty much done now, also, that wall dividing the two bathrooms is gone and the loo has been moved to where it will remain in the master bathroom).  The pic for this is on top--I can't get it to move--sorry!

View from my parking spot.  All the front exterior walls are laid out and decisions about window size have been made.  Found a snake (and lots of bees) while removing the old eaves. Look at the last post in May to see where it was before the floor went down.

View of  the front half of the house before the new (higher) roof.

Birthday present progress

Today the electrician (Ryan,) his helper (Bart) and Todd's helper (Terrence) were all here so there was dramatic progress.  Unfortunately the light was low when I went to take pictures, but here is a first look. In the top photo you can see the "envelope" of the old roof and new roof.The foreground ceiling is gone, but you can see the right triangle of the old ceiling in front of Bart. The second photo is looking back from the screen porch once all the old ceiling was removed.  It looks like a barn--open and spacious!  

Todd spent a lot of time today putting the floor on the TV room.  There will be a trapdoor to access the cistern (not yet cut out).  There's just a little triangular shape floor to fill in the far edge still to come, and he'll cut the outside edges square.

Two days ago Todd finished the roof on top of our bedroom and the back half of the house.  He insulated it like mad (on top of the sheathing) and then covered it with another layer of sheathing and this stuff called "zip roof" that doesn't require tar paper for protection for up to 4 months before the roofing is done.

I saw that I had a picture of the front foundation with the forms intact.  Terrence removed them a few days ago and this is the result.

Two days without rain make a difference!

Finally we could take the tarps down and Todd could work without a tent in the way.  This is the back wall (along the dining room, kitchen and bathroom side).  The beam you can see is a test beam so that Todd knows how to cut the rafters.  They'll go in tomorrow.

Yesterday was dry enough to pour the concrete and finally finish the footers.  Here you see the future front of the house.  The short wall facing us will be the front doorstep, reached after you walk past Miles and Sprout's room.  
This is the other part of the pour--the cistern finally has 4 walls (and does hold water already, even without waterproofing)
This is a shot of the living area south-facing windows.  The area of the windows is about double what we had previously, so we should get much better natural light.  The windows on the left will open into the dining room, the right will open over the sink in the kitchen.

 
This is not remodeling, it's just modeling.  Me at 28 weeks... that counts as 7 months, doesn't it?  It's a race: baby vs new house.  Which will come first!?

Friday May 8th

No pictures today.  I would have pictures but there is really nothing to see until I take the tarps off . . . assuming I will ever be able to take them off.  No rain today (yet) but there is rain in the forecast for tonight and tomorrow.  Anyway, the two exterior walls (screened porch and kitchen) wall are framed and mostly sheathed, although I need a couple of clear days in order to tie the kitchen wall into our bedroom wall; that is the one section of the house I cannot afford to get rained on.

     Anyway, we are essentially doubling the number of windows along the kitchen wall.  There will be two windows at the head of the dining room table and two windows above the sink.  The two sink windows will be 29 inches wide each) and 41 inches tall, so they will be quite an improvement over the old window.

Progress despite wetness

We have had so much rain that were all getting webbed feet and growing gills.  And Todd can't pour the last of the foundation until it gets dry enough (for him to get in and build the forms, and then pour the concrete.)  I never thought I'd say it, but ENOUGH rain already!

Not to be outdone, Todd took off the back wall along the dining room/kitchen space and is framing it.  The first picture is what it looked like (during 5 minutes of dry time) earlier today.

The next two pictures are from the first pour of concrete.  Todd was a little nervous because the supports were sorely tested on the pour, but it looks good.  First view of the cistern inside wall from the crawlspace,
second at the corner where the living room and cistern meet.  So the house is no longer supported by bolts and beams and the tie-in of the front wall and cistern looks good.

Last photo is of the center beam.  Todd has this placed all the way down the center of the house and out to the end of what will be the screened-in porch/TV room meeting place.  These beams are long and HEAVY.  I don't know how he did it by himself, but he appears not to have suffered any injury.  Right now the end of the beam looks like the prow of a ship (albeit horizontal.)  I think I should be a model for the figurehead--I'm round enough right now!

Bottom (coming) and top (going)

Today I got home and our roof didn't meet in the middle!  Todd took the middle out and put in the posts that will stay down the hallway in the middle of the roof.  Eleven foot high is quite high enough--so we'll make another plan to get light in the bathroom (probably skylights.)  He had Terrence help him carry these HUGE long heavy beams that he's using onto the roof this weekend and he said that sliding them onto the support posts was easy.

While the roof gets undone, the floor is getting done.  Here is the second pour of the foundation--the first one is the threshold where the front door will go,

this one is the outside wall on the cistern on the right and the wall of the root cellar on the left. We'll grade the walkway so that there will be steps to access the root cellar door that will be on the left outer wall in the middle (see the gap?)

Our living space

A lot of people have asked where we are living with the house all ripped apart.  It's amazing what one can do with the leftover space (the computer room, granny flat, laundry and our bedroom).  The first two pictures are upstairs--Miles' room and the TV room on one side, the kitchen, bathroom and dining room on the other.)

Here's our very full bedroom that looks like a bedroom/art gallery/library.  And Todd moved my built-in closet so that I have that too, just behind me when I took this photo.
Here's half of the downstairs computer room--a second living room.  This way we can be in one place reading the paper and Miles can be in another doing his thing.  On the side behind me we have the seedlings growing for the season, clothes drying rack and fridge.  One could probably call this an all-purpose room.
As we've made the adjustments I realize how much space we actually have.  Especially because David Slezak (teacher at my school) let us store some furniture in his basement.  But honestly, we have at least as much space as many city dwellers.  And then there's still the outside...

Progress

More demolition.  Todd got really smart and hired the son of our excavator (Terence) to help him haul all of the trash to the dumpster.  He was here again today removing shingles from the roof that's going.

This is the current view from the inside of the house.  The central (load-bearing) walls have been removed and there are temporary supports.  Great timing--we had a tornado watch on the first day of this!  Todd is reconsidering the clearstory windows--it may make the roof too high.  We'll check on minimum pitch before we make a final decision.
This is the view down to the cistern.  Todd is building forms to support the walls which he will pour on Monday.  The right hand space is for the cistern, the smaller space on the left (without the exterior wall) is the root cellar.
Annoying--I took photos of our living space today and they don't want to download.  It's really quite comfortable and not too crowded.  

Foundation (April 17)

Two views of the foundation as it proceeds.  Note the low piece in the center of the cistern (to sink a pump if/when we need to drain it).  Todd did this yesterday while the weather cooperated.  Today is still warm and sunny.   Todd demolished the roof of the screened porch, Miles and I did some debris cleanup.

April 16th--Demo and rebar

Todd got the footers ready for the first pour tomorrow (we passed inspection on Wed)--the sun has finally come out and the dryness is helpful.  On the middle photo you can see how he has supported the bottom of the footer above the cistern (with plywood supported by the existing house), at right is a view down into the cistern.

On the bottom is a view of my kitchen!  The whole house is a skeleton.  I don't think I was really aware that the house was essentially going to be gone (all but the floor!) but that's what's happening.  Lots of trash to get to the dumpster that is attractively nestled on our lawn.  Fortunately the downstairs loo is still operable--I couldn't face the trek upstairs at 3 am.  And 4 am.