The Remodel July 29, 2020

There's lots of picture of WOOD in these photos. ha. Enjoy!

A lot has been happening, between the "hurry up and wait" times.  We waited for the City to approve the electrical. We waited for the power company to MOVE the approved electrical.  Now they are able to set trusses on the new addition...after the main Box Truss has been placed.  The weather has cooperated in that there's no rain. It is blazing hot, however. 

The old exterior wall has come out completely. Now we can see better just how the space is going to look.  It's exciting!

I'm standing on a ladder in the corner of my closet, looking southeast. That box truss is huge. They did a great job getting it set today (July 28, 2020).  We are so grateful for safety each day.

The roof of the back part of our house has been mostly removed, giving access to existing trusses with with to tie in the new trusses on the roof.  So the insulation in our attic is exposed to the world. And bugs. ANd birds. And wind.  It's staying put so far. I hope it gets enclosed very soon.

Above is our plastic wall. It was "compromised" during the DE-construction of our bedroom/bathroom wall.  We were cooling the great outdoors for most of Tuesday.  It's patched now.

Nope, the Box truss is not sitting on the ladder. It's mounted on the four very big posts that were constructed at each wall intersection, and is bracketed into the existing trusses on the existing roof.

DE-constructing the wall definitely filled up the dumpster again!

Here's a view from where the new back door will be, looking toward where the old back door still is. The two kitchen doors are walled off like in our bedroom. No one (bugs, birds, people or dirt) can get into our living area except through the front door.

 This the the kitchen area.   Below, I think that is the furnace duct work you can see in that hole. During the DE-construction of the kitchen's former exterior wall, a pipe was damaged. Water leaked into our Furnace.  !  We are so glad Eric noticed that before leaving for St. George.  Mike was able to turn off the water, repair/cap the pipe and he averted any damage that would have happened with a pipe spraying a fine leak all night long.

And then we got our water back on.  So we have electricity AND water. But no hot water.

 You can see here (above) how the box truss has the old roof trusses attached to it.

 Above.  There are some new brackets ready to receive the new roof trusses.

 I took this of the north end of the Box Truss so you could see how sturdy the posts are that hold it. It (the box truss) weighs about 1400 pounds.

Here's the view as you walk in the former back door. Well, it's our garage door to the kitchen. Kind of open, huh?

Here I am, with a Third World country look about me.  Except I'm sitting on wood instead of dirt, and cooking with electricity instead of wood. And I can wash and drink in good water that I don't have to boil first (well, I do have to heat it. haha).

The Remodel July 16 through 19

Things did start to bog down a little on Thursday. After such progress on Wednesday, too. Drat. But the trusses for the roof cannot be delivered until the POWER BOX is moved. Mike kind of forgot about that one big deal. Loading trusses involves a crane, etc. That can't happen while our electric meter is still mounted to the outside (previously outside, that is) wall. It needs to be moved.

The framing still needs to be inspected. Thursday and Friday showed great progress in framing and framing and sheeting the outside, however.

Here is a little miracle that happened.  We decided to remove the closet from our master bedroom. Doing so would make our room a bit wider than it presently is. It cuts into bathroom width, but the bathroom is now going to be LONGER, so a little less won't hurt. At least, I don't think so.

The master bathroom sink was mounted on the exterior wall (which is coming down).  INSIDE that wall is a vent pipe to the roof for the basement shower drain. I didn't even know it was there until they tore apart that wall and took out the sink and cabinet. The vent pipe still has to have a way to get to the roof, though. We're having a totally different bathroom. So, where does the vent pipe go? It gets to stay IN the same place!  I think it is a rather fortuitous little miracle that the new wall created between my bedroom and bathroom happens to be in the very same spot where the vent pip is.  It (the new bathroom/bedroom wall) continues along the back of the (former) closet wall--right through where the vent pipe lives. How cool is that?  Mike did say that vent pipes could be moved...but really. Where? through the side of our room? The middle of the bathroom? Nope. Right where the new wall will be.

Here is the Vent Pipe that needs to go to the roof.  That was the exterior wall of our master bathroom. The five studs all stacked and nailed together is one of the four support posts that will be holding up the new trusses and roof for the addition. And the rest of the house. So, to the left and right of the black vent pipe is the new bathroom/bedroom wall.

Taken from the Kitchen addition area. The door on the right is the door from our bedroom addition into the bathroom. I have a new closet in the bedroom. Yes, it's just sticking out in the room, BUT it is creating a reading nook on the west side. Kind of to replace my apple tree and hammock that used to occupy that very spot. Now I can use it year round.

We are prepared with tarps on the roof.  It clouded up on Thursday morning and Mike and I were up on the roof at 7:00 am. There was lightening and thunder all over the place!  It never rained a significant amount, but it would have been enough to do a little damage.  Since then and when I took this photo, the wind scooped it up and blew it back up to the top.

The back sliding door has been framed in (but the sheeting has not been trimmed away.

This is a view from the new back door. A roto-tiller and a table saw, lots of dirt and some raspberry plants.

Here is a view looking from the bedroom, right by my new walk-in closet (on my right). Looking through bedroo, through bathroom and into kitchen. So basically looking south.

The lighting makes it hard to see that we really do have major openings in the west side of our house. Open to weather, to bugs, to animals large and small. I guess people, too. :-\

The tarp on the roof doesn't all the way cover the entire bare roof. The garage doesn't have tarp covering it. It's just bare plywood.

The 6x6 closet. Terrible angle. 

 

 

 

 

 Taking a photo from the same corner of the lawn where I have been doing so for months is going to have to change since you can hardly see what's going on anymore. Soon they'll be doing mostly work inside.
But not for a while.

 Here's a clear shot of the bare garage roof.

 This might have been the angle that I usually use for the daily updates.

 The basement window in the storage room came out.  It's just a big hole now.  I feel like, besides heat, it's inviting all kinds of creatures to live in my FOOD storage room. Yikes! Get that covered soon, Mike!!

 They are getting ready to put up more exterior sheeting on the walls.

One framed sliding glass door.

The Remodel July 15, 2020

Woot! Eaves are off. No hot water. Exterior walls framed. Box truss and new trusses ordered for delivery tomorrow. Larry said, "It's brutal out there," referring to the heat. It has been in high 90's. Sunshine. Good for remodel when roofing is gone. Bad for comfort.

Inside, more of the wall between kitchen and master bath came out. That's to be able to align the new walls with the existing walls (such as they are). The exterior wall for addition is framed and ready to stand up. Soon!

So much stuff. In the garage. In the yard. Everywhere.

This poor pile of diamond block. It keeps getting shuffled around.

This is our outside dining area. I've joked with Mike about installing the dishwasher out in the front yard where we eat. He's not taking me seriously.

I water these tomatoes every day. I think they are ALL succumbing to curly leaf disease. 

All trusses should be here tomorrow. They hope. Four workers were here today to do this work . We are so grateful to them, because Mike had to submit our Income Tax filing today. 😉.