Walls Up

Jim worked today on the walls at the kitchen nook. We decided to change the dimension of the windows in the nook shrinking them 4" in width so that we could match the casing in the existing house when we trim them.

First Floor Completed

The deck for the first floor is complete and Jim has started to throw up walls. He started with the outside of the chimney. Jan and I spent the evening reviewing the wall layouts and made some minor changes in the mud room area after seeing how the layout works. We eliminated (for now) two doors in the mud room. The one nearest the outside door was completely eliminated forming a nook adjacent to the outside door. The door between the mud room and the hallway was changed to a 30" cased opening. We also decided to add a 36" cased opening at the entrance to the family room.

Jim will be back tomorrow to work on walls.

The Hallway Takes Shape

More floor framing today. Jim managed to sneak the framing of the hallway under the existing cantilevered framing from the dining room without having to tear it down.

Floor Framing

Floor framing has commenced. The kitchen nook begins to take shape.

Nothing Happened Today

Except it rained (quite a violent thunderstorm) this evening. Blew up our temporary electric service over at the Target Store we're building.

98 Degrees in the Shade

Today was HOT!

Good day. The photo, courtesy of neighbor Dick, shows them grouting the basement walls. Jim called me and gave me the good news that the foundation is not out as level as earlier reported. Jim's next mission is to frame up the back bumps and get a new roof over the kitchen and dining room areas. Sounds like a good plan.

Old Foundation

Worked on the existing foundation this weekend cleaning off the soil. As you can see it needs to be repointed.

I think I'll try to do it myself.

This Old House

Talked to Jim today about the next step. He said he would be back on Monday to set the beams and start framing. He also said we have a problem with floor levels. He measured everything up and the north west corner of the house is down about an inch and a quarter. He wants to meet me tomorrow to review how we will adjust.

Blockwork Complete

The mason came back today and finished the blockwork at the porch. Ready for Jim to set the beams and start floor framing.

Foundation Pictures

Things are shaping up!

Block's Up

The mason started today but didn't quite finish. Starting to get a good sense of the space we are creating. It's cool!

Pictures tomorrow!

Gas Leak!

Got back from a fantastic (wet) weekend backpacking Dolly Sods with four ten year old girls (Olivia and three friends and their parents) to discover that Jan and Nathan had been without gas all weekend!

The old line (which Jim's excavator had uncovered) was leaking. Nathan discovered this Saturday morning. When the gas company was contacted they shut off the service!!

Lakewood Mechanical took care of the problem and we are waiting for the gas company to come back tomorrow to turn the service back on.

No work progress other than the gas line repair.

Kind of a bummer to come back from a backpacking weekend and not be able to take a hot shower.

For those of you wondering what we are up to the drawing above is a portion of the addition showing the family room on the first floor.

Block Delivery

The block was delivered today. After this picture was taken Olivia and her friend Hanna got mud all over their shoes.

Pumping

Jim called and asked about hooking back up the GFI receptacle that used to be part of the deck. I had disconnected it since it ran out to the garage also. Tonight I tried reconnecting it so Jim would have an outside power source but it was tripping off. I hooked up an extension cord to the an outlet in the kitchen and fired up Jim's pump and drained out the water from today's rainstorm.

No progress today.

Layout for Mason

Not much progress today. Jim came by at some point and layed out for the mason. He was going to let me know when he will start.

No picture today.

Foundations Complete!

First thing this morning Jim and the boys poured the footers. Talked to Jim this afternoon and he was going to stop by and see if he could start pinning the layout for the mason. He will let me know when the mason will start.

It will be great to see the walls going up!

Progress on Foundation

It's Saturday morning and Jim and his crew just got here to complete forming the footers. Yesterday was a good day. The excavator loaded out the spoils and started bringing in the gravel. Jim also got started on the footer forming. We lucked out with the spoils removal; as it turns out the Animal Friends project right down on Camp Horne Road needed dirt so Jim's excavator had a very short haul. Jan suggested we claim it as a charitable deduction.

Jim plans on pouring Monday morning. Supposedly the hurricane is going to miss us!

The aftermath...

The excavator has started to load out the dirt.




This is after a day of drying out. The day before it was probably about a foot deep.

Despite the mess, Jan is extremely happy that something (anything) is finally happening.

It's been very dry - until now!

Well, it figures. Now that we have started excavation, the rains have begun. Yesterday they dug out the entire north end of the footprint. Around 4Pm we were blasted with a howling thunderstorm. About a 1/2" of rain fell in about 45 minutes. Now we have a swimming pool!

Due to my inabality to synchronize my Treo 650 at home the pictures will be lagging somewhat. More news tomorrow on today's events.

First Picture

This picture was taken last Thursday after the contractor had removed the brick from the north and west elevations. Now that I've figured out how to upload the pictures I will have a new one every day.

The Fourth of July

I've just started this blog. Will have to upload the pictures I've taken so far to document progress. So far we have removed the deck (me and Nathan), and the contractor (Jim Alexander) has removed the brick veneer and layed out for the excavation.