The last I wrote, we were putting in the second to last window and were waiting for the front door arrival. The porch construction was making progress and we were rushing to get the house "buttoned up" for the winter months.
I was very busy finishing up the semester in the first two weeks of December. Gabe got out to the house whenever he could, working around my schedule, and I managed to squeeze a couple hours in as well. The first thing to speak of are the porch stairs, completed by our framing subcontractor, who did a nice job. Here is a picture Dad took during the week of the progress:
It's not completely secured, but good enough for now! We still have to decide on the design of the stair rails. It is better that we do this in the spring anyway, when it's warm. (we will be able to get the drywall in the building a lot easier too, if the rails aren't in the way) It sure is nice to not have to monkey up the rails anymore! :) It can also be seen that the window closest to the road is installed.
Various contractors worked during the week to accomplish many things. The porch's metal roof is now completed:
The hardi-plank siding that has clad the back of the building (addition) still needs to be added to the front right corner of the building. The electrician finishes the first floor wiring. We decide to add two more pot lights to the living room; the vanity light needed to be raised a couple of inches...adjustments are all part of the process! The framing contractor tied up loose ends, such as cutting the hole for the front door, since we are moving it over five feet to give more livable space to the living room. He also framed in the entryway with a cased opening. This will give the area some distinction, and provide a little bit of protection from drafts.
On Tuesday, we had an unusually warm day, so Dad scheduled grading to be accomplished. Mom worked hard on Saturday to plant grass seed on the muddy ground.
Dad and Gabe worked that day to install a window in the old door hole. We still didn't have the front door, but needed to make that progress, so we just used the french doors in the back to lock up.
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| How's that for progress? :) |
Within the next week, I had finished up my classes. Friday, Gabe and I went to Home Depot to finally pick up our front door! We also had to make arrangements to gather all the insulation. We had in mind to finish up the insulation and schedule drywall by the end of the year. I met a high school friend at Home Depot who helped us to gather all the necessary insulation and by about 4 we were on our way to the job site. Mom & Dad had been at the site for a while getting some things done. By the time we unloaded everything, it was about time to turn around and go home! We had a Christmas play to clean up for in about an hour, so we jetted back to Mom & Dad's to get ready. The play was a local production of A Christmas Carol, a treat we got to enjoy at a nearby performing arts center converted from an old barn that Dad designed and had built using my uncle's amazing timber framing skills. It was the first time I had ever seen it, and it looked great!
The next day got started with Gabe working on preparing the front door to be hung, and Mom & Dad working together to get the insulation hung in the second floor. I drove back to Home Depot to gather the remaining insulation. It was a chilly one! We definitely had the propane heater on that day. Mom also worked to get the place organized so I could spray the floor with Bora-care later that afternoon. These are some of the final things that needed to be accomplished before we could get the space drywalled.
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| Getting it nice and clean! |
And it gets glued:
Working on hanging insulation upstairs:
Check out Mom monkeying around on the scaffolding!
Later in the afternoon/evening, we are all working on insulation. Gabe doesn't have too far to reach to do the ceiling! That's kinda nice.
One room completely complete!
And that concludes the pre-Christmas activity on the house. Gabe and I left for Michigan Tuesday morning the 18th, and returned the 28th. We helped decorate for Eva's wedding on the 22nd, and rested a good bit while we were there. I even beat my father-in-law in Settlers of Catan! I won't mention all the times I lost at Ticket to Ride though. Hanging out with our little nephew was a joy as well. My little VW Beetle got some repairs too while we were there. It would have cost twice as much in DC with all the work that we had done! We managed to get 50 mpg on the way home...how's that for efficiency??!?
Since we had a bit of a hang up with car repairs, we couldn't get home in time to work on the house with Mom & Dad on Friday the 28th, which was our plan. They ended up doing some more insulation by them selves, dodging Dad's flu sickness somehow. Saturday was a family reunion in Harrisonburg with the Buckwalters. We were feeling like we needed to do our share on site, so we stayed out until Sunday and worked a few hours in the afternoon (trying not to make a habit of this!!) to finish up the insulation, so Dad can get it inspected in the next week.
Here we are finishing up the insulation task:
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| Living room corner, adjacent to the fireplace |
We had a propane heater again that day because it was mighty cold again that day...or else I had been in Michigan too long and was chilled to the bone :)
Notice the blue sprayed floors that was done a couple weeks previous, and didn't get finished since there was something blocking the sprayer from spraying. Once we get that cleaned out was can finish the task.
Here are the two new pot lights we added:
This made my day, seeing Mom's determination to get the insulation done and done well:
Another shot of the ceiling insulation upstairs that we finished up that day:
Mom working on the insulation in the kitchen/dining room:
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| Gabe, scaling the heights of the stairwell |
We scheduled drywall to be hung on Monday, Jan 7th. The plan is to have 130 sheets of drywall delivered to the site on Friday, since the drywall can't be dumped inside due to the close power lines. So, we will have to move it ourselves!! What we do to save a buck! Gabe asked a couple of guy friends to meet us there on Saturday morning to move the boards. We will also be there to finish up all the last minute things before drywall is hung. Should be fun!
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