Stairs, Doors & Windows, oh my!

We had our 2nd anniversary, my 30th birthday, I launched my website update, and started school since I last wrote.  Whew!  AND, we have now past Day 50 working on this job and are still going strong!

The weekend of August 17th & 18th, I was there to help on Friday, but Saturday, Mom & I went to meet a friend out at the Lucketts fair to look for inspiration for the house.  Friday, Gabe and I worked on the stairs while Dad went to Winchester to pick up a French door we got for the back porch.  It was a floor model that Dad negotiated for.  We got a really good deal!

Here is Gabe working on cutting out the third riser:

When Dad got back, they worked to install the three risers:

And here is the door!

The next day, I stayed until after lunch.  Rough stairs were completed and some framing below the stairs was also done today.

Here are pictures of the stairs in progress:

And done!

Here we are installing the wall under the stairs that will house the toilet.

The stairs will later be clad in heart pine--the existing wall separating the two bedrooms in the upstairs will be planed down for it.

Mom brought us lunch, how cute are they?

Right before we left for the fair, they needed a third person to help install the french doors.  Mom took a nice video of the first try.

We did get it in that first time, but it was too tight, so they took it out, removed a shim, and tried yet again.  That time it worked.

Then, Mom & I left for the fair and Gabe & Dad set to work on the unglamorous task of blocking.

While at the fair, Mom & I got some chairs that will match nicely with the antique table Mom & Dad have had for years that we are going to use to stage the house when it is finished.  I will probably end up re-finishing the chairs somehow.  They were a good price.  Here is one of the chairs:

The next day we left for a short second anniversary vacation.  It was sort-of a rainy week, but still lovely, and great to relax!!

The next weekend, August 24th & 25th, they continued working on finishing up framing and blocking.  This was necessary to move forward and get the framing inspection completed.  I did not take very many pictures of this step.  I didn't help much either, since it was mostly a two man job, and had other things to do to get my website launched.  Btw, I'll just plug that now:

www.unearthedpottery.com

It is an art/design gallery website to display the artwork that I have had up my sleeve for the past couple of years.  I have work on there to sell as well as use as a portfolio for potential design jobs.

Anyways, back to framing and blocking.  Here is a picture of the framed-out storage cabinet under the stairs:

isn't it cute?

Also, here is the old dimensional lumber that we pulled out of the dumpster to reclaim for later use.  People pay money for this stuff!

We got our dumpster picked up this weekend too.  It was full and we have no need for another for quite a while.  Maybe we won't even be getting another one this size.  All we have left to demo is the porch, and it won't need to be as substantial.

The heart pine was picked up by the milling company to be planed and cleaned for later installation.  Man, am I excited to see that when it's done--over hundred year old heart pine reclaimed floors!!

Oh, and here is the french door installed:

!

A taste of all the blocking work they did:

Blocking (we aren't sure why the framers didn't finish that part) is creating a surface structure in all the corners of all the rooms to nail drywall into when the time comes.  So, in the picture above, Gabe is installing structure for the upstairs hallway.



The next weekend, the first of September, we continued the story of blocking.  It seems to never end--the unglamorous stuff never does.  :D  They continued blocking, and I worked to sweep up the upstairs existing walls of dirt and debris (hundred year old dirt smells gross) so we could spray Bora-care solution on them.   We saw a trail of carpenter ants invading the upstairs last Friday.

Here is a good example of blocking:

And Gabe doing the installing of the blocks in the MBR:

Great facial expressions Gabe!

Dad cutting the blocks and onlooking (supervising):

Some acrobatics:

And Dad did more spraying downstairs in the kitchen area:

Saturday (September 1st) the blocking finally got finished!  A great hurdle in my book...it's so boring!

Mom & I just came for the lunch hour to do a few things, since I had started school the week previous and had some reading to do.  After lunch, Mom worked to clean the mold off of the Jacuzzi pipes (since it had sat in M & D's garage for a couple of years); other than that, it was as good as new!

While, she did that, I worked to sweep up a lot of the sawdust mess that had accumulated since I had cleaned it last.  Those boys don't take a mind to the organizing and keeping it clean like I do!

Also, the president of the local town association stopped by and asked me if I wanted to be a docent at a historical school being restored at the upcoming town fair!  I was very flattered and honored.



The next weekend after that, we were only able to make it out on Saturday, since the next day would be my birthday!  We relaxed and went out to dinner on Friday afternoon and evening.

Saturday, Mom & I had taken the morning to check out a few barn/antique sales and found some great primitive props that will do splendidly to stage the house when we are ready.  We stopped by the house at lunchtime to deposit some lunch and they were working on the fascia trim that needed to be finished before the roofing could be installed.  A couple weeks previous, we had picked out the metal roofing for the house, which I think is going to look great!  It will fit in beautifully with the other historical buildings in the town.  We selected "Matte Black" finish, which isn't actually completely black, but with a more dark charcoal gray appearance.  So, as I am told, he and Dad were "part chimpanzee" that morning and afternoon, working to get the roof trim accomplished.  Aside from a fantastic storm that hit in the mid-afternoon, they made great progress.  They didn't finish, but made good headway.

Here is a "before" pic:

An "after" pic (or shall we say "during"?):

They worked all the way around the house, finishing up the east fascia by the end of the day.  I got pictures the following weekend:

Quite an accomplishment, if you ask me.

So the following Saturday (last weekend--the 14th & 15th), we made it out so Gabe could work with Dad to finish the fascia.  I had been sick since Thursday, but was on the mend, so we went together and I hung out in the RV for the day doing some projects and reading for school.  It was an absolutely gorgeous day: mid-70's with a slight breeze.  It was the first day of the town fair, and since I was still somewhat sick, I wasn't going to be able to be the docent at the restored school that day.  Too bad....  But, we were able to share in some of the hustle and bustle of the fair, with the sights of the all the cars going by (our house is right on the main drag into town) and sounds of the far away bands playing.  Mom went to the fair and brought us back some food.  I was sad to miss out on that!

Gabe and Dad worked (well, mostly Gabe since Dad was a little more timid about climbing around on the roof) diligently throughout the day, finishing up the fascia by around 6 that evening.  We also had received all the windows a couple days previous, so they were able to go about and place them around the house near where they belonged.  There wasn't enough time this weekend to install them.  There were a few other odds and ends that needed to be finished before the HVAC installer could come in and do his job, so they worked for a little while on that before we left.  They had to consider the plumbing venting duct too, with the roof and and wall placement.

Here are some pictures of Gabe being his chimpanzee self:

Doing something up there

And a video of Gabe removing the old trim to install new trim:

Did I mention it was a beautiful day??!?

And don't forget about the supervisor!!

Then, it became a two man job to install the trim.  Dad did great!

Notice Dad is holding on for dear life

Stretch!

You are getting the play by play.

Next piece

Negotiating the long piece 

Success!

Fascia trim done!!  Now the roof installation can commence.

And the windows, can't forget about the windows!!!

These are getting replaced...

...by these.  This one is the kitchen window

We got 13 windows total, as they are all being replaced.  The old windows were in horrible condition.  This way we will have an energy efficient space!  We will have to enlarge several of the window holes to comply with code requirements for egress.  Egress simply means "the right to leave or go out" & "the direct means of access, going or departure".  For every square foot of floor space there needs to be a required square footage of window/egress space.  So, all that to say that the windows on the facade will be enlarged.

Well, that's all for now.  Next week, we will anticipate some work done on the roof, but not finished just yet.  The HVAC installer couldn't come this week anyways, so we have a little bit more time to prepare for that.  I am on the mend this week, and doing my best to come up with a sufficient design plan and budget for the space, starting with the flooring, cabinetry and tile for the kitchen and bathrooms.  Needless to say, I have my work cut out for me!!

'Til next time, adieu! 

Bora-Bora Care

This past weekend was about tying up some loose ends before we start on FRAMING!!!  Yay!!  As per the plans, we will be taking out 3 of the downstairs walls and the kitchen/dining room ceiling (it leaks really bad).  We will be expanding up from the kitchen and dining area and framing a master bedroom and bath bigger than the two existing bedroom spaces---they were something like 8' X 12' each.  The footprint of the existing building will not change.

We have had a few weddings to attend since we worked last, (9th & 16th), so this weekend, we were raring to go.  Ok, Gabe was raring to go.  I was dragging my feet.  Gabe had opted to save the $150 delivery charge and pick up our 14' metal I-beam.  And instead of inviting any of his husky male friends to help him unload the beam, he chose.....me.  He ended up having a good system and it wasn't straining at all, it was probably just the intimidation of the thing.  We slid it off the truck and onto the porch, easy peasy.  And there it sits.

After spending some time cleaning the debris out of the kitchen/dining room side of the house, and making sure the ground was covered sufficiently with gravel, I vacuumed the perimeter, where debris always falls, especially from the ceiling.  I wish I could say my job was a bit more glamorous, but alas, it was not.  The next job is to spray Bora-Care, a solution of boric acid (and other not super toxic ingredients) intended to kill mold, mildew, termites and the like.  This was the alternative Dad came up with to buying treated wood, which would have been a whole lot more expensive.  The surfaces that require this treatment are the floor and walls that will remain that are not already pressure treated, as well as the plywood that is going down.  So, in other words, a lot.  The surfaces needed to be relatively clean in order for the solution to stick--hence my insistence the space be vacuumed.

While Gabe was brewing up the concoction, 5 gallons of water for every 1/2 gallon of solution, something else was brewing.  I had yet to experience a thunder/lighting show at the house, so it sure was nice!  The beginning part of the day was steamy hot, so when the winds blew, it felt glorious.

Here is a shot of the drama outdoors:

Such a lovely soaking rain.  It toned our next day of work into one quite beautiful.

We dyed the solution blue so we could tell which areas still needed to be covered:

Even with the air outside getting cooler and the fan blowing right on Gabe, look how sweaty he is!

And what a great choice of facial expressions! :)

Closing in on the end of days work:

Dad was in Minnesota for a conference that weekend.  So we went out to dinner and a movie with Mom to celebrate Gabe's birthday the next day!  

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The next day, Saturday, we brought in the 2' X 8' polystyrene sheets from the RV because we were going to install them on the side of the house where Gabe had sprayed the solution.  Little did I know that installation involved lying on our backs in the crawl space!  Also, the solution had dried on the joists as a powdery substance that came off on our hands.  Not too excited about that.  But, we got right down to it, and made sure the first row was straight, staggering the joints so there would be no weak spots.  We were nailing special nails to the underside of the floor joists.  Oh joy.


Here he is, installing the first sheet:

Once we get the polystyrene all hung, we will then put regular insulation on top of it, and then finally plywood. 

We only did about half of the room since there was a brace holding up the ceiling that Gabe didn't want to take out yet.  Next task was to cover up the areas we already did with plywood and transfer all the tools resting in the main space over so that we could start spraying it too.

This involved me cleaning the perimeter with the wet dry vac again as well as sorting the chaos that was in the crawl space.

I also finished securing down a couple of joist hangers that were remaining:

(Gabe thinks this should be my profile picture)

Mom stopped by too, to bring us lunch and to help out.  She moved the heart pine hardwood flooring that we brought down from the 2nd floor a couple weeks ago so Gabe could cover and spray the joists above with out them getting damaged.  We are waiting to re-plane them until we have a safe place to store them out of the elements (or until right before we install it).  She is wearing Gabe's construction hat---how cute is she?!??!

While I was vacuuming out the main crawl space, Gabe was spraying Bora-Bora Care in the other areas, where the bathroom and porch used to be, respectively:

Gotta love the red gloves and the blue spray:

Then Gabe spent a little bit of time mixing mortar and closing up a few holes in the foundation:

And I just took pictures and caused mischief, like usual.

Notice the pile of plywood and insulation in the above picture.  We must have moved the pile at least 2 times---it felt like plywood musical chairs, ei yei yei yei yei!

And that's a wrap!  We have a lot more work to do, but have made a lot of progress in the past few months.

We plan on leaving tomorrow for yet another wedding in Ohio, and then to Michigan to visit Gabe's family.

Have a Happy 4th of July!