Beyond Framing

Last weekend was quite a challenge somehow.  I'm not quite sure if it was just how fast the framing was finished that raised the bar of efficiency, the heat, or just overall being overwhelmed, but I was struggling.  We seemed to not make very much progress this weekend.

Two projects needed to happen, and both of them, in their complexity, could have been avoided.  First, on Friday, Gabe and Dad removed the stucco siding that the framers kept as per our instruction.

Remember this funny patch that was left on the east wall?

Well, in our efforts to keep as much as possible, we decided that the stucco sagged too much and the problems this caused were too great.  So, they went to tackling this arduous task of removing it.  Mind you, cement stucco is no easy task.  That stuff is bitterly heavy.  I made it my work to clean up around the house all the bits of debris left behind by the framers (since their mission was speed) including stucco chunks big and small, nails, glass and the like.

Here is the wall from the inside, starting to come down:

Here is a short video showing some of the wall coming down:

Almost done:

Gabe also had to score the stucco on the front of the house where the intersection will be with the stucco and the siding we attach (we haven't decided yet between Hardiplank and cedar siding).  That was a messy job, not to mention that the ladder Gabe bought cheap off Craig's list was old and fiberglass pieces were shedding off onto him!!  The ladder will need an additional paint job.

The next day, we brought over to the house the Jacuzzi tub that Dad had been storing in his garage for quite some time, as well as the re-used water tank.  It had been in the house previous to our renovation and needed the rust to be sanded down and re-spray painted.

Here's the tub!

I was the gopher/photographer in the morning while the guys finished framing in the wall that we had taken out the day previous.  They also worked to maintain the hole for the window in the 1st floor bathroom.

They finished that (short of wrapping it with Tyvek) and were eager to start on the stairwell.  Dad had spent a good while drawing up the stringer (the part of the stairs that goes up the side and the treads sit on it) on the 2' X 12' so they could cut it out.  It takes great precision--stair risers must vary no less than 3/4" step to step to comply with codes--so no horsing around with that!

Shortly thereafter, Mom brought over lunch after she had finished leading a bird walk in the morning.  It was a nice picnic of bologna sandwiches on our pile of lumber on the living room floor!!

I had been dreading our task after lunch.  Mom and I were planning on removing all the heart pine lumber in the crawl space.  This would be the second task that was made harder with poor planning.  The framers closed in the crawl space without removing the hardwood, so we had to go into the tight crawl space and extract very long pieces of reclaimed heart pine lumber.  Man, was that a chore!!!  I'm glad I had a partner in crime.  At that time of day, we had a little bit of shade to work with, so that was nice.

Here we are, taking a much needed break!

All of the heart pine lumber was getting picked up by a local lumber company later in the week so that they could clean it up and plane it down so we can re-use it.  We needed to get it into a pile and cover it with plastic, so that is what we did.

Meanwhile, the guys made some good progress on the stairwell, but they didn't finish it.  

They finished the platform, which two steps will lead up to it on the front, and then the risers will turn to the left and go up to connect with the second floor.

We needed to leave early to meet some friends for dinner, so we cleaned up shop, organized a bit and then called it a day.  

Hopefully next weekend we can finish the stairs and button up the framing on the east side.  The porch framing is the next big thing, but that can only move forward with a revision of the permit getting approved by the county government.  Here's hoping!!