11.19.08

Spent the last few days preparing the back porch for the plumbers to come. They will be here tomorrow so I had to get a few things done so that ordeal will rum smoothly. I filled in a portion of the old spring box with concrete and raised a new floor over it. This created a pad foe the new hot water heater and laundry machines. I had to do the same thing on the other side of the room in order to get the plumbing to work properly. I went ahead and insulated the parts that will be covered up when the rough in will be done. We are sneaking up on getting a rough inspection which means maybe a little insulation for Christmas.

Last Room Down

Got the soffit, facia, and siding finished on the back porch this afternoon. We only had the interior wall space for two small windows but they are efficient and tight so better that than fight the draft. I am ready now for all the plumbing to be roughed in so we can think about an inspection and insulation. I threw the fire screen on the stove and I should have been able to guess what would happen. We are lucky to have Chewy's dad Stoagie staying with us for the week. We got some snow last night and expect more on Tuesday and Thursday.

HEAT...Enough Said

I think everyone gets the significance of this entry. I had to throw in the one picture of the sun first thing in the morning. We are Blessed.

Back For Hire

As if the old back was not shot enough...start with two full work days on the roof, move onto a morning of helping at a sawmill, winch a 400 pound wood stove up some stairs into a truck, and top it off with 6 hours in the Dodge. I was able to score some 24" cherry logs which are worth quite a bit and have them sawed up down the road. I slabbed up the big one for a dining room table and bar top for the house. It only cost me $35 and a back to do it so well worth the lumber. Maranda and I drove down to Waynesville, NC to pick up or new stove for the house. The guys asked right away if either of were engineers. It was quite a feat winching up 30 stairs on a homemade sled. All the effort was worth the score of a 1983 Fisher Grandma Bear 3 that looked like it had only been used 5 times in 25 years. I could not be more excited...and so is she. We hit Sam's on the way home because nothing hits the spot more on a long day than a 15 pound bag of M & M's.

One More Hat for the House

The house got one more new hat for the rack on Friday. Wade and I finished the demo on Thursday and started the framing. Jeff and Mike helped out most of the day Friday, and Maranda hung in there until the paper was on the roof. We got rid of the big windows in exchange for smaller more efficient ones and also added a hip to the roof system when we raised the pitch. This greatly added some much needed headroom in the future bath and laundry rooms.

Last Footing

Hopefully, barring a natural disaster, I was able to finish my last footing today. The weather looks decent for a week so I decided to knock down the back porch and rebuild the roof. I was able to incorporate the spring box into the foundation so Maranda will be able to use it as a planter or something when we are all done. I figured I was better at working wood than block so I built forms to pour solid concrete all at once and then I will frame on top of that. It took about 16 bags of concrete...not so awful. I got the anchor bolts laid in and hopefully I can do the demo tomorrow and begin the framing. As soon as I complete this the exterior will almost be complete and the plumbers will be able to do all the rough in at once.

Running Out Of Time

We got our first snow today and the shock of it all sank in. We finally have some subs in here to knock out some work and help get us to the insulation zone. The electricians finished wiring the upstairs in two days and the HVAC guys will finish the upstairs unit tomorrow. We were able to install two separate HVAC systems so we could finish the upstairs first and buy some more time for the downstairs. I picked up an old Vermont Castings stove and got it painted throughout the day when I was not cutting tile for Chad. We used slate around the chimney because none of ti is square and all of the tiles are different colors which fits right in with the whirlwind we call a house. It is nice to see some progress but the downside is all you see happening I we have to pay for. I can't do all the work and it is getting cold so best to let the professionals do their jobs. I will be able to recoup when we get to finishing things. I think the dogs are even cold. If all goes well we'll be warm in 2 days.....maybe