Bits and Pieces

Here's a few more pix from the final bits of framing done this week.

Here is the roughed-in balcony off the master bedroom. The temporary stairs will be there for quite a while as the new stairwell (transitioning between old and new construction) won't be cut in for another month or maybe two. The balcony will eventually be closed on all three sides.

Below the balcony will be a small patio area, available by French doors from the office area.
Mystery room - there was a teeny, tiny closet space about 3x4 feet at the SW corner of the 2nd floor. It appears to have been a bathroom, as there's a filled-in hole in the floor and unpainted area on wall where tank must have been - check out the bottom of that door (grin). Also, it is directly above the first floor bathroom. Since there would be nothing but dead space between the old exterior wall and new construction, we are going to build it out and have a much larger closet space there. It would be well-suited as a broom and linen closet for the two existing bedrooms upstairs, which are getting only cosmetic fixes during the remodel.
The aggregate to go beneath the Garage floor was compacted in preparation for the concrete pour which occurred Thursday of this week.
Finally, this is a shear wall, the only interior wall that the framers "filled in". This is between the Garage/Laundry Nook and the office in back of first floor.
Concrete garage floor has been poured but is now covered in paper to minimize damage from future work.

I should post again today to show progress since midweek. As I write this, the garage door is being installed!

Should we be building an ark?

Framing is completed. There are a few bits he'll need to finish after the plumber and electrician have run lines through the crawlspace, but it's a couple hours of work at the most.

We had a minor crisis over the weekend, although it didn't seem minor at the time. The framer had about 2/3 of the roof decking in place by Friday afternoon. The incomplete sections were at the transition between old and new construction. He tarped it "just in case".

Saturday night, I woke up about 2 AM to rain. We have a lot more surfaces now for rain to hit, so it seems very loud. In the morning, the north half of the construction (the part attaching to existing house) was pretty wet, or so I thought. We figured it would dry out; I mean, it is Oregon and rain is a given.

Sunday afternoon, I left at 3 for groceries and got back about an hour later. L was mopping up HUGE piles of standing water on BOTH floors. We had had an absolute deluge, but me being cooped inside Fred Meyer, missed the whole thing. L was trying to mop it up, but it was like bailing out the Titanic with a teacup. We would begin to make some headway and then the rains would start again. I went and bought more mops, the kind with the handle you can crank to squeeze them out. I wasn't going to spend hours wringing that rag mop by hand.

In addition, we had a leak in the first-floor Living Room of our 2-story house. Room above was bone-dry, but this was about 4 feet in from the transition and some of the roofing had already been pulled.

L decided that instead of the new subfloor absorbing the moisture, he would drill tiny holes, less than 1/4 inch in the second floor subfloor at the big leak spots and put a barrel underneath. That way, at least the water should drain through and not thoroughly soak the boards. This did seem to minimize the damage. It was an emergency fix at best, but framer would be back Monday to finish the roof decking.

Sunday night, there was more rain, and eventually L went out there about 3AM, but he said it sounded worse than it was. When I got back from work Monday evening, the roof deck was fully in place and much of the board was dry to touch. I'm sure there is some interior dampness, but I was very pleasantly surprised to see that at least 80% of the moisture appeared to be gone.

If you look closely, you can see some of the dampness on upper floorboards, from underneath.
L tells me the darker board has residual dampness and it should lighten up as it dries out.

Tuesday, the roofer tarpapered all the roof and transition areas. That will tide us over until the actual roof work starts on Monday.

I probably have one more entry to get caught up, but I'm still very pleased with the way things are working. (Stuff) happens, and you just have to deal with it

Overview - Before and During

Haven't posted for about a week. There are lots of pix taken but I'll try to keep the number reasonable (grin).

Here are some Before-and-Afters:

This is the preliminary drawing:


This is what we're aiming for:

This is where we are, five weeks after breaking ground and two weeks after foundations were set.

Uh, WOW.

More pix in next entry. Some adventures in mopping coming up.

What a difference a day makes...

L emailed me and said, "A lot got done today - you'll be surprised." In a good way, I hope.

But first, the Daily Corner Shot. But you don't even have to go round the corner of the hedge to see THIS one:
The first thing I thought is, OMG, now *WE* are the McMansion in the neighborhood. Of course, it looks huge next to a vacant lot, but still.

The "Come to the Dark Side" stairway has moved to the front of the house and grown a rail. It is still not my friend.

All we had this morning (see prev entry) was a floor. This all happened in one day, plus much of the exterior OSB board went up on 2nd floor, too.
Imagine my surprise when I found out that this post-and-tube wiring is still LIVE. It is powering the ceiling lights in two of the upstairs rooms. It will need to be removed when new stairwell is built adjacent to this space.
Looking thru the common wall of the new Guest bedroom, you can see on the south dormer, just how bad a shape the exterior was. So, why not just double the size of the house if you're gonna do this anyway?

Fearful Friday

OK, this stairway? Gives me nightmares, while I'm awake. I did manage to get up them by hanging on for dear life to a 2x4 supposedly nailed there "for my convenience" and took a few pix on Saturday. I managed to get down the bottom half (without a 2x4). On my butt.

In addition to new rooms, new floor, etc. this is clearly an attempt by a new user of Photoshop:
We have clearly disturbed some historical habitat here. There are remnants of squirrels, hornet nests, ew. The CURRENT squirrel habitat is at the opposite corner of the house - easier because of the telephone line, and the big hole they gnawed into the eaves (?).
Finally, this is what's left of the tiny bathroom window in the tiny bathroom on first floor. Framer said they could either take it out from the inside, or just plaster over it !! We are losing the window, the bathtub and about 5 feet of length in this room; it will become a "powder room."

Hope the weather dude is right...

Work continues on the supports for second floor. The joists are in.
They have started the bay window that overlooks the garage.
And the balcony off the back of the Master Bedroom.
More of the old house bit the dust today. This stuff needed to be removed to allow for the wall studs for 2nd floor. This is the ceiling over the 1st floor bathroom.
Weather service predicts weather in the 90s for this weekend. I hope so, because if it rains, we won't need the faucet to fill the tub.

The Garage Door installer came by and that is scheduled for the 26th, I believe. Of course, we don't have electrical run yet, and I'm sure you can operate it manually. We might be testing it with an extension cord.

I'm curious to see what they get done tomorrow before the weekend.

Framing Continues...

Exciting title, eh!

Today, more OSB board was attached to the exterior studs. The first floor exterior walls are done. I'm not sure exactly what will be going on with the common wall (the one adjacent to existing structure), maybe just insulation? I should ask that question. This is the new SW corner of the house. The window opening will contain one of the existing Anderson windows that was pulled off the south side of house a couple weeks ago.
Both glulam beams for 2nd floor were placed, and joist hangers attached to them.

The work started on interior walls for office, behind Garage. You can see the entryway door from Garage to house interior, coat closet just inside that door, and the entrance to the office.
The wide area to the right of this, is where the new stairwell will be.
This is roughly the view of the interior door as you are getting out of the car.
They could start placing joists for second floor tomorrow. It's a 3-person crew and L says they're not even here 8 hours per day. Framing should be completed by the end of next week.

Subfloor and then WOW

It's a good thing (for you) that I am only posting a fraction of the pix taken (grin). We tested the very spongy gravel placed on Thursday; it will be officially compacted later before they pour the slab.
Monday, they started framing. Frankly, there wasn't much to see. They attached the base lumber (sill plate?) to top of foundation walls. The office subfloor was laid out but not nailed down, awaiting visits from city inspector and the plumber, who still needed to figure out how to supply the laundry area in Garage. Some of that is resolved now, although there is an issue with the rain drain.

I've come to expect the "aha" moment when I hit the SE corner of the property as I walk past the hedge on my way home. This was the shot yesterday...


and this was the shot today...
This is from the backyard, NW corner, looking SE toward Garage. Office subfloor in foreground.

Setting Foundation Forms

This is one afternoon of work - they are probably about halfway done with setting forms. Then, another city inspection. It's now 2:30 in the afternoon and they must be busy on another pour, so I doubt they will do anything today. I'm guessing finishing forms and getting the next permit inspection will take tomorrow. So foundation might not be poured til next week. As always, click to enlarge.

It's a Muddy Day, Part 3

It was about 75-90 minutes to fill the forms.

Crew and the truck showed up at 1:10pm. By 3:45 pm, forms were already stripped.




Crew has a different job today and will return tomorrow to start work on stem walls.

It's a Muddy Day, Part 2

It doesn't take that long once all the prep is done....

It's a Muddy Day, Part 1

Worth 1000 words