Coziness

It doesn't look cozy in these pictures, but these changes will make it so! 

Since the new part of the house needs some kind of exterior, and we want it to look more like the rest of the house than an after thought, we are redoing all of the exterior. Since the old house is 2 by 4 construction (and the addition is 2 by 6) we thought it would be a good opportunity to beef up the insulation in the old house after removing the old siding and before installing the new. So the first picture is part of the south wall after the old aluminum siding has been removed - the tar paper shack look (or "kind of ghetto" as one of my kids might say). A truck load of insulation arrived this morning, so it might be a lovely shade of pink by the end of the day.

The other photo is of the installation of hot water pipes for the IN FLOOR heating in the new part of the basement. The installation should be finished today; then (sometime soon, we hope, before it gets much chillier) the cement floor will be poured on top.

More windows

Most of our windows are now in, including the skylights (click on the photo and you may be able to see the clear bubbles of the skylights better). Also, most of the electrical is done. 

Another disappearing wall

The opening between current and new basements got sledge-hammered out the other day. You can look back to the July 21 post to see the saw cuts that were made in preparation for this. Since this photo was taken, sand has been spread over the new basement floor area and packed hard - ready for the plumber to come do stuff, and then the concrete pour.

Disappearing Wall

Since last week some of the windows have been installed - including the one in our bedroom, which is much appreciated as we've had some pretty frosty nights lately. Only some windows have been done, since they sent the rest with the wrong color trim on the outside. The window man is here today to take them back and get it changed though, so maybe there will be a picture after all the windows are installed soon.

Meanwhile, the wall between the family room and the addition has come down (a VERY noisy process - so glad that pocket door got fixed so we could escape just a little from the banging)! So here are 3 photos - before any destruction in the family room, with just the (former) deck door removed (the orange tarp providing a slight barrier to the cold), and last with the wall itself gone! It is much lighter with the wall gone - it may not be such a dungeon after all!

All the furniture from the family room has been put in various other rooms temporarily - the computer is hooked up in the living room for now (whew). The big hole in the floor between the family room and the addition is where the ramp will go from the main floor level down into the sunken family room. Click on the first picture and you can just make out the blue sign that have been on that door since the beginning of July - "BIG HOLE - NO EXIT!"

A roof over our heads!

The roofers have completed their job - now plumbers and electricians can do theirs, windows can be put in, and the more invasive part of the process will start soon: some time in the next couple of weeks, the wall between the existing family room and the addition will be knocked out!

It was very noisy while the roofers were here, and anticipating the interior chaos to come got me a little down toward the end of last week. So it made me laugh when I was reading a bit of Scripture and came across Haggai 2:9 - in case you don't have a Bible handy, you can go to http://www.biblegateway.com and plug in the reference!

Meanwhile, two pictures: one showing our tidy new roof, and the other taken just after dusk - that small glowing dome on the roof is light coming out of the solar tube when lights are on in the house! The little bumps on the ground are the tops of the concrete piles which will support the new deck.

The roof men cometh - finally

We've had stunning warm fall weather, but no roofers. Today, they are here! So once the roof is on and the windows are in the addition, all kinds of serious interior stuff will begin in a rush!

Meanwhile, a little job we've been trying to get done filled in time nicely for a patiently waiting worker. 

There is a wonderful pocket door between the kitchen and dining area. The dining area is next to the living room and piano. This pocket door cuts back the sound of the piano in the kitchen and family room substantially. When it is shut, you can talk on the phone in the family room. When it is open, you can't so well. Pocket doors, kind of like computers, are wonderful when they work. And frustrating when they don't work. Our pocket door has been jammed open for about 6 years. 

It seemed to be too small and too fiddly a job to entice anyone to come and fix it. But now, thanks to Timothy and the big reno job, it is done!

This photo shows it just before the casing was put back on around the door.