Memorial Day Weekend

Coming out of this long weekend, our last as a 4-person family, we have a roof over the porch, or at least all but the back porch, black paper on, and one window set in place. You can tell from last week that they did reframe that upstairs window. We just swapped it with the one visible upstairs on the left end.

A side view of the house where the vast expanse of porch begins to show itself. Very happy with my Mississippi wrap-around porch. I intend for it to get plenty of use.

We took out a window upstairs on this end from earlier photos to get more usable space since the door is a full light, and we added the larger window on the end. Notice the "scaffolding" midway between the porch and upper deck. I don't even know how they get up to it, but they just build it as they go.

More new porch. I don't really want to discuss porches anymore.

Mandatory weekend equipment shot with some free advertising...

Our model and tour guide in her baby sister's room. By the next weekly entry the baby will be here... Not here in the room, just out in the lighted world.

Kaitlyn is very excited about her room, especially now that she has her own personal double-super-secret escape hatch.

Interior view of the new window... with a nice outside view. Photo by Kaitlyn.

Testing out the temporary upstairs deck. Kaitlyn is showing some great photography skills here too.

Um... Wow

Another dramatic week on the house site! Compared to when only one floor was framed, the place now looks massive. We were very excited to get to this point though. There have been a lot of two steps forward and one back recently. Hopefully next week's photos will reflect a smaller upstairs window. We are swapping that one with what was currently framed in the study. We weren't really expecting a sunroom/bedroom combination.

More changes here. They poured some of the porches, but didn't cover them before a hard rain that evening. The half of the porch that was poured last didn't handle it well, so they spent all day Friday with a jack hammer breaking that up and prepping for new concrete. Much of the other half of the porch doesn't have enough slope, so that will be also coming out and getting replaced. Definitely happy that is not on our dime.

Rain on untreated 2X4s doesn't mix well either.  A lot of the studs upstairs will be pulled and replaced due to mold. I figured they would just spray it, but Andy told them to pull them out.

Yes, this looks very large... Can't wait until I have a back porch though!

Something to See

After not having been able to get out and check on things since Tuesday, we were greeted with a real treat of the first floor being mostly framed when we arrive on Friday afternoon. Being able to walk from room to room and get a feel for the house and layout was exciting. We've had a lot of scattered showers this weekend, but as of now at least, it looks like they should have a pretty good upcoming week weather-wise.

They've continued to bring in so much lumber that is is hard to navigate the area. Amanda is doing a good job here for someone who will be having a baby in less than three weeks.

Evan is checking out the view. The whole project/process also got a lot more fun for the kids now that we have rooms.

A view looking directly at the front of the house.

May Showers and a Start on Framing

These are a few views of Monday's work after the rain stopped. They got the floor joists in for the back corner of the house. They didn't work Tuesday and it rained again that afternoon and late evening. They have plans to be back in the morning with a big crew. I had hoped it would be a lot drier when they went back to work, but it sure isn't looking that way.

It doesn't look like a lot yet, but it is very exciting to see the framing start.

Haven't taken many photos from the back of the house, but I needed to get a few shots now to have for comparison when they really got going on the framing.

Waterproof

They finished up the waterproofing this past Friday and got the French drain installed. It was just in time as the skies opened up again Sunday night. That lasted through a lot of Monday, but they still got back out there Monday afternoon and got started on framing in the mud.

What you see above is the actual waterproof coat. It looks and smells sort of like roofing tar, and they apply it with paint rollers and brushes. It comes in 5 gallon buckets and is not cheap. After that dries for a day, they put a protective covering over the top that comes in rolls and looks like a mix of plastic and rubber. That covering is about an inch thick and supposedly protects the painted-on coat from any nail punctures, etc.

This is the gravel that went over the French drain at the base of the waterproofing. At this time, it was still serving as the ramp to get the equipment in and out of the space.

A visit isn't complete unless the kids take the opportunity to try out whatever  equipment happens to be around.