Fabian Under Construction

Fall 2010 decks and Summer 2011 siding

2011-09-18T18:32:00.000-07:00

I'm a "little" behind updating the blog! That's because there hasn't been a lot of progress over the past year. Here's where we are:

Last fall we had to get decks built for both of the living room doors or the insurance company would cancel us. The decks are done and temporary boards are up for railings. Porches were going to get done this year but other things took precedence. Maybe next year!

The west deck from the yard. It's 12x16 ft.

The west deck from the doorway.

The east deck from the doorway. It's 8x12ft.

The east deck from the yard. Since the woodstove is just inside this door, the main purpose of this deck will be firewood storage.

This spring we decided to get siding on the house to protect our investment. After several evenings meeting with siding reps, we decided on American Remodeling. Great product! Lousy service! They started on May 5th and they still aren't finished! Their Montana office (and installers) are in Billings. It seems that they just don't want to make that 200 mile trip and stay away from home more than a day or two at a time! First it was weather problems. We can understand delays for that. Then one installer needed eye surgery and that caused a delay. And they ran out of materials twice and had to wait for deliveries. They were here Friday, with plans to stay in town until it was finished. It was the first time they were back since right after July 4th weekend! Well, some of the materials were the wrong color so now they have to wait for another delivery! At this point I'm just hoping they are finished before the snow flies! Not only have they not been here to finish, they have left piles of scraps all other the yard, along with their personal trash such as water bottles and fast food trash! Very disappointed in the service!

North side

West side living room
Note that they took the railings down so it was unsafe to use the decks ALL SUMMER!!!
Grrrrrr!!!

South side

East side.
You can see on the right, it is still red. That's the part they need to finish with siding. They also need to finish some of the fascia and other trim work. They said they will be back Wednesday. I'm not holding my breath!

Hearth and Wood Stove

2010-06-29T21:06:00.000-07:00

We spent the past week trying to get a hearth done before the wood stove showed up yesterday. It was no small job- 6'6" x 10'6". It includes the entryway also and should be big enough to contain most of the mess from the firewood!

Sunday, June 20th, Brent helped do the dry run layout of tiles and cut the cement board to size.

Then came mortar and placement of the cement board. It was a chore for Dave to get the cement board screwed down. A chair and pillow helped. (Some Father's Day!)

The next day I mortared while Dave placed the tiles. We both were sore from crawling around on the floor and our evenings were pretty busy the rest of the week so we took a few days off before grouting.

Friday night the 25th we had to get the gout done, so back on the floor we went. I squeezed the gout out of a "tube" (improvised with a ziploc bag) and Dave smushed it into the grout lines. The clean-up was very time consuming. I cleaned a tile, tossed the sponge to Dave, he rinsed it and tossed it back for me to clean another tile. We did this to the whole area 3 times. I later did it a couple more times to get the grout remnants off the tile.

Yesterday they brought the stove and installed it. It has one looooong stovepipe!

Jan-Mar 2010

2010-03-29T21:24:00.001-07:00

It's been quite awhile since I've added to the blog. The construction progress has been slow. We have just been enjoying using this vast amount of space!

The kitchen countertops were installed at Christmas time. The red cabinet in the background is the color I intend to paint all of the ugly metal avocado green cabinets!

The bathroom now has a door, medicine cabinet (and mirror, yeah!!!!), and towel rods.

The upstairs bedrooms have been cleared of things that don't belong in bedrooms so that they are usable bedrooms.

The upstairs storage room however is almost full!

The dormer area is all painted. It took me 3 weekends to get the primer and 2 coats of paint on everything!
We are in the process of installing the railings on the balcony and stairs. Dave has the rest of the pieces cut. He just need to sand them (the time consuming part!) then we can install them, which is the easy part!

Week 24 moving in

2009-12-22T21:14:00.000-08:00

In the past week, the dormer was sheetrocked. Tape and texture is in the process. The plumber and electrician were here today and moved the pressure tank and hot water heater. The electrician also installed the ceiling fans, stove outlet, and pretty much finished up the the electric. We love these ceiling fans! The plumber finally got water connected to the new kitchen and bathroom. We didn't have kitchen plumbing for the past 10 days! The contractor finished installing the kitchen countertops today too. There was a lot of work going on here today!

This Christmas tree is 7.5 ft tall. In my living room at my old house it looked really big. In this living room it looks miniature!

Week 23 counters

2009-12-14T19:50:00.000-08:00

The kitchen sink counter was attached to the cabinets.

The other countertops are sitting in place but aren't attached yet.
This 1/2 wall was built by Dave yesterday while I was enjoying a Nutcracker performance in town. You can barely see where the stove is located in the background. That placement was unacceptable to both of us. We intended to have the stove in the island (when we can afford cabinets!) The electrician said they can't put a stove outlet in the floor so Dave built a wall for them to wire the stove in the island area. The plumber is supposed to be here tomorrow and hopefully the electrician will be here Wednesday.

Week 22 more deconstruction

2009-12-11T21:52:00.001-08:00

We didn't expect them to take out the kitchen wall until Monday. We planned to empty everything out this weekend. Oh well, they did it for us! Unfortunately, they had to add it to the already crowded old living room!

This is the current state of the living room. Yuck!!!!! See why we needed an addition! Looks like something from one of those "Clean Sweep" type TV shows!

Here is the old kitchen. Under the window was the stove. You can see the water pipes from the sink coming up through the floor.

This is the new view when you come in the kitchen door.

My view from the new kitchen sink location.

Week 22 electic

2009-12-10T21:06:00.000-08:00

And God said..."Let there be light," (or in this case, the electrician!) and there was!

And heat!

This shows our two colors, the sheepskin and the green. The wooden structure is a substitute base cabinet to support the countertops.

Week 22 paint

2009-12-08T20:59:00.000-08:00

The painter finished primer and has the first coat of paint on the walls.

Isn't this the warmest most beautiful wall color? It's called Sheepskin. We both love it. Good thing it's a warm color...it was 34 below zero this morning!!!!!

This green is on two walls of the kitchen. The rest of the kitchen will be the sheepskin color. Tomorrow he will do the second coat and probably finish up Thursday. The plumber and electrician are scheduled to be here Thursday also. So I guess next week the old kitchen wall will come down! Yeah!

Week 22 paint

2009-12-07T21:01:00.001-08:00

Since my 15 totes of Christmas decorations are still in the shed, I had to find some way to decorate! I realized this post needed more protection when the painter came in so I wrapped it in a Christmas style of brown paper!

I arrived home tonight to the smell of saurkraut in the crock pot mixed with the smell of paint...yum yum. Dave was home sick today so he got some shots of Duke in action.

First he sprays a section...

Then he rolls it.

He put primer on all of the ceilings and most of the walls. Then he did the paint coat on all of the ceilings. He'll be back tomorrow to finish (hopefully) the primer areas and put color on the walls. Look for big changes tomorrow!

Deconstruction/reconstruction

2009-12-03T20:18:00.000-08:00

More deconstruction....the wall between the old living room and the new living room is now gone! Yeah!!!

Here is a pic from the old living room, looking into the new living room.

This pic is from the other direction, from the new living room to the old living room.

Upstairs they framed the doorways.

Most of the ceilings were textured today also. Looks like they just need to do the bathroom ceiling and the ceiling under the balcony and dormer. Painter will be here next week.

Deconstruction

2009-12-02T18:39:00.000-08:00

I have not been a very good blogger lately! :( Sorry!

Last week the tapers worked 3 days doing more and more layers of mud on the tape. When we came home from work on Thursday, the tall window in the current living room was gone and we could walk through! Yeah!

We had for our first meal in the new addition, Thanksgiving dinner!

Today they textured the walls with a "light orange peel" texture, but it wouldn't photograph well.

They also started deconstruction! This is the old living room wall- sheetrock is gone, all that is left is the outside sheeting.

They also broke through upstairs. This pic is from the west bedroom looking into the new dormer/hallway.
Here are the doorways into the upstairs bedrooms from the dormer. What a mess! I guess I don't have to clean for awhile though! It will probably get worse before it gets better!

Week 20 tape

2009-11-23T20:05:00.000-08:00

The tapers were here before I left for work this morning. Today they did corners, inside corners and outside corners. They also did a second coat of mud on the seams. We will be able to use the space on Thanksgiving. The builder is going to take out a section of the wall between the current house and the addition, and clean up the addition area (wish he would clean up the rest of house too!) so we can put up tables and chairs for the holiday. Sounds like the tapers will be back again on Friday and maybe Saturday too. I hope we can get into the space soon enough to decorate for Christmas!

Week 19 tape

2009-11-21T19:33:00.000-08:00

A large heater was brought in early this week to warm the rooms to do the tape and texture. I guess they need it to be a certain temp to apply the mud. Thursday and Friday they taped the seams and started the corners. It's really starting to look like a house! Sure hope we can at least set up a table in there for Thanksgiving dinner!

Week 19 locks

2009-11-17T18:29:00.000-08:00

This is the most noticeable work they did today...installed deadbolts on all the doors.

This is looking toward the kitchen from the living room. The raised level is the backside of the sink cabinets, and will be a breakfast bar at the counter and a railing around on the living room side.Dave is still having problems with spots on the pics. The living room looks bigger with the sheetrock up!
This is the original house wall from the new kitchen. We can't wait for it to be removed! That tall window will probably come out next week so we can set up tables in the new area for Thanksgiving dinner. Otherwise we'll all have to sit on each others laps!

Week 19 sheetrock

2009-11-15T19:47:00.000-08:00

They were at it again this morning before 9am and worked until about 7pm. They did everything except where the original house wall gets removed and a couple places that need carpenter attention before they can finish.

Week 18 sheetrock

2009-11-14T20:44:00.000-08:00

The sheetrockers are animals! They were here before 7am and didn't leave until 9:30pm! We spent pretty much the whole day watching them. They didn't "walk" anywhere, even running with 12 ft. sheets of sheetrock! They didn't slow down all day! I guess that is to be expected from a couple of guys in their mid 20's. It was amazing watching how fast it all went up.
They started with the area under the balcony and the basement stairwell from the living room.

They moved on to complete the living room ceiling and some of the walls. The way they got into positions to reach the high ceilings was scary!

After which they did the attic storage room above the bathroom. (I thought Dave had water spots on his camera, but after cleaning the lens we figured the spots were from the flash reflecting off all the dust particles in the air.)
They finished the balcony area.
Then they started the kitchen. They have 1/2 of the ceiling done, the dormer front, the breakfast bar area, and inside the bathroom done. Tomorrow they will be back, hopefully to finish. They have walls in the living room and kitchen, and 1/2 the kitchen ceiling to do.

Week 18 sheetrock

2009-11-13T17:34:00.000-08:00

Nothing has happened the last few days but today they delivered sheetrock- lots of it!!! There are piles in the living room, kitchen, balcony, and dormer! Yeah!!!

Week 18 soffits, insulation

2009-11-09T18:10:00.000-08:00

They did a lot in the last 4 days. Soffits are complete all around the outside, except a small section by the east living door.

We have our French doors, upstairs...

...and downstairs.

Insulation was completed today, and most of the vapor barrier is up. The builder said they may begin sheetrock tomorrow!
The bathroom window that was partially covered by the shower is moved and the window on the balcony is installed.

Week 17- insulation

2009-11-04T19:19:00.000-08:00

More electric this week. The living room is done. The kitchen still needs to be wired for the stove and the basement needs to be wired for outlets and lights. They put in speaker wires, phone wires, and TV wires in the living room.

Insulation was started today. The north living room wall and balcony area are done.

A big part of the west wall is done...

...and some of the south living room wall. As you can see in the foreground, there is still a lot of insulation to put in!

The "attic" storage area walls over the new bathroom are also insulated.

Here is the vanity and sink we bought for the new bathroom.

Week 16 electric and plumbing

2009-10-29T17:42:00.000-07:00

We got two doors in today, the door to the basement under the kitchen and the east door of the living room.

The windows for the dormer also came in...

And a tub/shower...

The plumber and electrician were busy this week. Pipes and wires everywhere! Unfortunately some of it will need to be redone, like the thermostat for the kitchen heater is placed right in the middle of the only wall in the kitchen! Why didn't they put it at the edge!? And they put in the bathroom plumbing for a 3 ft vanity when we got a 4 ft vanity! They'll need to move the toilet closer to the shower.

Most of the lights are the recessed can lights- lots of light for not a lot of money!

Week 15 electric and shingles

2009-10-23T20:45:00.000-07:00

The electrician was here before I left for work this morning. They put in lots of boxes and strung a lot of wire. He thinks he may be able to finish Monday or Tuesday!

The roofer also came today and did the vent cap and the rest of the shingling on the addition and closet.

Week 15 more windows

2009-10-22T17:48:00.000-07:00

They installed the other windows in the addition, except the 4 they don't have yet. The biggest difference we notice today though is that they replaced the windows in the current kitchen and living room. Huge difference!! The two upstairs bedroom windows will also be replaced. The windows are here, just not installed yet. There are two basement windows that didn't get ordered, and the two for the dormer aren't in yet. The doors should be in sometime next week. Tomorrow the roofer is supposed to come and finish the shingles and cap vent. The plumber and electrician may start tomorrow also!

Current living room outside...

and inside...this room will become our dining room when the addition is done.

Kitchen window outside...

and inside. (Ignore the sink full of dirty dishes!)

Week 15 WINDOWS!!!!!!

2009-10-21T18:48:00.000-07:00

We have windows!!!! Yea!!!!! Most of them are here, about half are put in. We have some questions about a couple of them but I'm glad they are finally getting windows in!

Week 15 rain...again

2009-10-20T20:14:00.000-07:00

Rain, rain go away, I wanted the workers to come today!!!

Closet walls

2009-10-17T20:39:00.001-07:00

We worked our tails off putting up more osb board on the closet walls. The north and south walls are done. The west wall needs just a little work where we need to leave access to the crawl space. The east wall- which shares 1/2 it's wall with the house- still needs to be done. I don't know why that pic loaded sideways!!!

Week 14 paint

2009-10-16T23:16:00.000-07:00

The last few days there wasn't much to report. They were doing small jobs and working on caulking the seams of the outside walls. Today the painted. What a difference!!!! They used a good barn paint that should last us until we can save enough money to do real siding. They also finished the roofing work on the addition but not the closet. They are still waiting on windows.

Make sure you check out the other post with Ella's pictures!

Fabian family under construction

2009-10-16T14:02:00.000-07:00

Here is Mike and Rhiannon's new addition to the family, our granddaughter, Ella Grey Nilson born Oct. 15 at 2:10pm. Isn't she beautiful!! Dave says it's because she comes from good stock!!

Week 14 closet roof

2009-10-12T20:43:00.000-07:00

Even though it was about 10 below when Dave got up this morning, the builder came out for a couple hours this afternoon and worked on the closet roof. They got the roof deck on, but didn't get it dried in. Hope we don't have any precipitation tonight! Now we need to get the rest of the siding up!!!

Week 13 closet roof

2009-10-08T19:55:00.000-07:00

They put the rest of the roof rafters on the closet today. Our closet may not be perfectly square but I'm sure the roof is!

Week 13 snow

2009-10-07T20:58:00.000-07:00

Dave talked to the builder today. He said they came out yesterday, took one look at all the snow and headed for some place warmer! They plan to come out tomorrow and do prep work to get everything weathered in. Windows and doors should be in Friday or Monday. Nighttime temps Friday and Saturday are supposed to be in the single digits! Brrrrrrrrrr!!

In other news...our "favorite" neighbor knocked out part of the beaver dam by the bridge. The pond level dropped over a foot in just a couple of hours. I guess the beavers came back to rebuild because tonight he was out there with a rifle, with a light shining into the creek. I heard 2 gun shots just a few minutes ago. I hope he missed!

Week 13

2009-10-05T15:20:00.000-07:00

I don't know why they didn't come out to work today!!!!!!!
We only got about a foot of snow!!!!!

Closet and firewood

2009-10-03T19:29:00.000-07:00

One of the carpenters came today to start work on the closet roof. He said it was easier to work alone today because it was a "thinking day." Why would he have to put thought into a roof on an unsquare pole construction room that ties into a roof on another pole construction room??? He seems to have it figured out now though. He has 3 beams in place and a couple of roof rafters. The rest should go pretty quickly.

Here is a shot of the house from across the creek.
And my honey, blocking up some of the down trees across the creek from the house. There is enough down timber that we should get enough for this winter without having to cut any standing trees.

Week 12 wall above bathroom

2009-10-02T18:30:00.000-07:00

Terry, I added extra pictures today just for you!

They framed in the walls above the bathroom ceiling, creating a great attic storage area.

This is looking into the storage area from the end of the balcony. It is above the bathroom and the stairs that go from the kitchen to the basement. The ceiling height isn't high enough for most adults to stand up in but would be a great place for a kid's playroom or secret hideout!!

It takes two shots to show the living room from the balcony...to the left of the center post...

...And to the right of the center post.

The view from the living room, looking into the kitchen area.

The stairs and balcony, from the corner of the living room. Yes the post stays...it adds character.

Week 12 stairs and bathroom framework

2009-09-30T20:28:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the builder did just a few small jobs. I think they needed more materials. Today they framed the bathroom. The door will be in the area on the left of the room so it doesn't open directly into the kitchen.

With the bathroom framed, you can see the breakfast nook. We will have a small table here where the two of us will probably eat most of the time. If we have more than 3-4 people we will use the dining room (the current living room.)

We also have all of the stairs in place now. It was the first time I went up onto the balcony and dormer. Dave has gone up several times on the ladder but I wanted to wait for stairs. It is wonderful!!

Week 12 dormer

2009-09-28T19:57:00.000-07:00

No blogs for a few days because we were off celebrating 1 year of wedded bliss! We had a wonderful time!!

While we were gone the past 4 days...the dormer is framed in and shingles are on the main part of the addition. They still need to shingle the dormer. I guess they are going to reshingle that side of the original roof too. Must be easier to do that than to try to patch the dormer in!

Week 11 roof deck, ready for dormer

2009-09-23T21:16:00.000-07:00

They finished the roof deck today. Tomorrow they will build the dormer and put down tar paper. The roofer is scheduled to be here Friday!!! We spent some time tonight going over the "blue prints" and noting where we want outlets. We will meet with the electrician next week. We had to come in about 7:30 because it was getting too dark! I guess summer is over!

Week 11 roof deck

2009-09-22T20:02:00.000-07:00

Most of the fascia boards are up and about half the roof deck.

Week 11

2009-09-21T19:20:00.000-07:00

Not much to report. Over the weekend we did more clean up of the wood shed sight. We are pretty burned out from working all the time. Today they did some fascia pieces on the living room roof rafters. That's all folks!

Week 10 more rafters

2009-09-18T19:32:00.000-07:00

I was home sick today and was greatly entertained by the builders. They were laughing and having fun all day. I told them they were having way too much fun to get paid!!!

The rest of the rafters were put on today.

They are ready to start the dormer at the upstairs bedroom windows so there is enough height to make the windows into doors.

Week 10 rafters

2009-09-17T20:34:00.001-07:00

Yesterday there was more prep work for putting in the rafters. In the process they ran into a bee or wasp nest and came today with spray to kill them. They were then able to cut the eaves off the current house and put up most of the living room rafters. They also cut out a couple more windows so they could use them for access to get the rafters into the house!

Week 10 balcony

2009-09-15T21:09:00.001-07:00

They did more work on the balcony today. I think they may be waiting on more posts to add support to the beams before they add the rafters.

Hope they don't plan on using the duct tape to secure them in place!

Week 10?

2009-09-14T19:46:00.000-07:00

I can't believe it is the 10th week already! The platform they built on Friday wasn't a mistake. They built it that way for safety when they put the roof rafters up. That is a lot safer than open stairs. When they get the rafters up then they will do the landing and stairs as planned. Today they built the platform that will provide entrance to the current upstairs bedrooms. The windows up there will become doors.

Closet and Wood Shed

2009-09-12T19:32:00.000-07:00

We added more sheeting to the closet. We can't add anymore until the roof beams are added. Our builder will do the roof for the closet too.

We also worked on cleaning up the wood shed sight. Lots of nails were pounded out and the wood stacked for a friend who builds things out of old barn wood. There is a pile of debris left to clean up and an old carpet Dave had as a floor in there.
Maybe we can use the carpet in our new living room!
NOT!!!!

Week 9 Bear and Balcony

2009-09-11T21:13:00.000-07:00

They started working on the balcony today. However, it isn't quite right. In the bottom left of the photo you can see the risers for the stairs. At the top of the riser should be a landing, then more stairs going up to the right to the balcony level. Dave has a call in to the builder.

Late last night I was sitting on the couch using my computer when I heard a bunch of noise outside. I knew it was too much noise to be from the cat. On his way to work this morning Dave saw a bear. When I got home I walked around outside and found what appear to be bear tracks in several places around the house.

Week 9- stairs and beams

2009-09-10T21:15:00.000-07:00

Two beautiful beams now span our living room and kitchen! There are stairs that we can actually use to get around in the addition...

from the kitchen to the living room...

from the basement to the kitchen...

and from the basement to the living room.

Notice Kitty Kitty in a couple of pics...she follows us around when she is hungry!

Week 9 -Stairs

2009-09-09T19:44:00.001-07:00

This will be the stairs from the basement to the living room.

The temporary stairs between the pantry and the living room basement.

The stairs from the pantry up to the kitchen.

Week 9 Tuesday

2009-09-08T19:39:00.000-07:00

This is what we saw when we got home...it was dark when we got home!

Closet- digging is done!

2009-09-07T18:04:00.001-07:00

We got a lot accomplished this weekend. All of the below ground work is done. The treated plywood is in and the trenches are filled. The first round of sheeting is up except where the access door needs to be framed.

Closet-West wall

2009-09-06T22:18:00.000-07:00

Dave dug the trench on the west wall this morning. After brunch we put in the treated plywood below ground level. The opening on the bottom right is to put in a door for access under the closet.

On the north wall we put up one piece of the sheeting. Dave worked way too hard today and went to bed exhausted.

Sept. 3-4, 2009

2009-09-05T20:32:00.000-07:00

There was no post yesterday because we were off having fun!!!! All work and no play, makes Dave and LaDonna crabby! So we went down to Big Sky Resort, went to a concert and stayed at a fancy resort hotel.

Mission Mountain Wood Band was the warm-up band.
They are a popular Montana bluegrass band.

But we really went to see the Doobie Brothers!!!!! It was an awesome show!!!

Today we took the leisurely route coming home, down to West Yellowstone for brunch, a stop at Earthquake Lake, through Ennis to home. Tomorrow the work resumes on the closet. It was nice having some time away!

There wasn't any work on the addition Friday because they were waiting on supplies. It looks like it was delivered on Friday so work will resume there on Tuesday.

Week 8

2009-09-03T16:50:00.000-07:00

Where is everyone???? No work today!

Week 8 Sheeting

2009-09-02T19:42:00.000-07:00

More sheeting was added to both rooms today. That's about it. We wonder if they are waiting for more supplies, such as the posts they are going to use to support the beams across each room. This is the south wall, toward the creek. I can't wait until they get all the windows cut out!

Week 8 Kitchen walls

2009-09-01T19:14:00.000-07:00

And then there were kitchen walls...

Week 8 East walls

2009-08-31T19:51:00.000-07:00

The east living room wall is up and the east kitchen wall is almost framed. They will put it up tomorrow.

They also added more sheeting to the west and north walls of the living room.

Oh, and Tina will have to share the jonny...one was taken away today!

Wood Shed

2009-08-30T20:00:00.001-07:00

With one last tug on the remaining pole...the wood shed is down. Now the real work begins...the clean-up!!!!

Closet- north wall

2009-08-29T19:41:00.000-07:00

Today was a day of digging a trench, putting up treated plywood, and filling in the trench. Two sides down, two to go!

Week 7 North and South walls

2009-08-28T19:19:00.001-07:00

We now have 3 walls in the living room! The south wall has 3 windows framed but 2 are covered over. We had planned to put in just the center one now and the others later. With the wall up we are thinking that we need all three. Look at that view! How can we cover that up, even if it is only temporary!!

The north wall will only have one window- at the top of the stairs on the left hand side. The rest of the north "wall" is the current living room wall that will come down and overlook the new living room. The stairs turn to a balcony with a dormer to go into the current upstairs bedrooms.

Week 7 West wall

2009-08-27T19:16:00.000-07:00

Today they framed the west living room wall (toward the barn) and put it up into place. The middle lower window is supposed to be a double door- easy fix. The three upper windows are framed in but we are going to have them covered over for now. The picture of the outside wall gives some perspective of the size in comparison to the rest of the house.

They also have most of the south wall (toward the creek) framed. On the that wall there will be 3 picture windows the same size as the ones you can see on the west wall. Only 1 goes in right at this time. Windows are so expensive!!!!! Tomorrow they plan to finish the south wall and do the north wall, which is 18 ft tall!

Week 7 kitchen subfloor

2009-08-26T19:57:00.000-07:00

All of the floor joists are in and the subfloor is down. They started chalk lines on the living room floor for framing the walls. Dave and I took some masking tape and marked out the bathroom and stairwell on the kitchen floor.....it's not big enough!!!

There was a mix-up on the lumber delivery. The builder gave the lumber company a list of supplies along with the drawings of the house and addition. The order was given to a trainee who had materials delivered to build the whole house!!! They'll have to come back to retrieve the excess!

As I was finishing up this post we heard a commotion on the deck and smelled this horrible odor. We thought the stray cats were getting into the trash. Dave turned on the light and opened the door to see a bear running off the deck and across the yard. The bear had torn open a bag of trash and knocked over the metal trash can that has dog food in it. Dave cleaned up the deck and brought the dog food inside. We expect the bear will be back.

Week 7 Do-Over

2009-08-25T19:12:00.000-07:00

Today they fixed the corner of the kitchen where the breakfast bar overlaps the living room. They also put a post in the kitchen basement to support the beam. There was another load of lumber delivered today, but it didn't include the remaining kitchen floor joists. Dave spent a couple of hours with the builder today, discussing the project, roof lines, windows, etc. so we were all on the same page and we end up with what we really want.

Week 7 Kitchen floor joists

2009-08-24T20:04:00.000-07:00

They finished the subfloor for the living room today. They also placed the beam for the kitchen floor joists and put most of them on. They were short 4 joists, probably because they hadn't accounted for the landing and breakfast bar area that overlaps the living room. They also made the breakfast bar the whole 20 ft width of the kitchen and it was only supposed to be 16. Dave is going to meet with the builder in the morning to talk about it and to discuss the roof angle and connecting to the existing roof.

Closet, wood shed

2009-08-23T19:10:00.001-07:00

After church we worked on taking down the wood shed. It has been an ongoing project for a year! It took a long time to get all the roof off but the walls are going much easier. Most of three walls are down now. Maybe in a couple more weeks we'll have it all the way down. We are going to lose a lot of privacy along the road but we plan to eventually put up a fence.

Dave also wanted to get the piece of siding on the closet where he had dug the trench and get it backfilled before someone ended up falling into it.

Closet - subfloor, girts

2009-08-22T21:30:00.000-07:00

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While I was at a garage sale scavenger hunt with the women from church, Dave started digging the trenches to put up the plywood siding. He also started putting up the girts. When I came home we got the subfloor glued and nailed into place. It was a hot miserable day and we had to take frequent breaks in the shade to avoid heatstroke!

Week 6 His and Hers

2009-08-21T21:24:00.000-07:00

I guess one jonny isn't enough! We came home today to find two!

Week 6 Floor Joists

2009-08-20T19:56:00.000-07:00

Today they put the support beam and floor joists for the living room. The beam is beautiful. I wanted to crop one of the photos to show the detail but Dave's computer doesn't seem to want to let me do that. This evening they came back and laid the subfloor for half of the room before it started getting too dark. We spent the evening sitting on the deck watching them.

It is suppose to be near 100 degrees tomorrow so they are going to work on a project involving a culvert for a stream. I don't blame them!!! They'll be in the creek anyway so they should stay cool. They will be back here Monday morning.

Week 6 August 19, 2009

2009-08-19T19:44:00.000-07:00

We now have a jonny-on-the-spot parked right next to the road. I bet our neighbor loves that! There was also a load of lumber delivered today. The workers have their sawhorses and other equipment set up and they put in the sill plates all around today. I think we'll see much faster progress now! I found the cord for my camera so I am able to download pics again.

Week 6 August 18, 2009

2009-08-18T19:42:00.000-07:00

They poured the kitchen basement floor today, and put our cornerstone in place. Framing should start tomorrow or Thursday.

Week 6 August 17, 2009

2009-08-17T18:53:00.000-07:00

We had no water again tonight. Dave called the builder and he came right out. When they were diverting the electric line for the water pump, a breaker switch on the pump was tripped. He flipped the switch and we have water again! Yea!!!

The kitchen basement is ready for cement now. They should be here in the morning to pour. I may not have photos on for this week until the weekend. My son is rebuilding my laptop this week. I usually just put the SD card in the slot to download the photos. Dave's computer doesn't have a slot!! I'll add pics as soon as I get them downloaded.

Sunday August 16, 2009

2009-08-16T21:00:00.000-07:00

Closet August 15, 2009

2009-08-15T19:58:00.000-07:00

This morning Dave went out to put in the last bolts in the floor joists while I went garage saling with Dennise. I think I had more fun than he did!! When we got back we worked on the subfloor. All of the pieces are cut and in place. Hopefully tomorrow we can glue and screw them into place.

Week 5 August 14, 2009

2009-08-14T19:55:00.000-07:00

Week 5 August 13, 2009

2009-08-13T19:57:00.000-07:00

They poured our roller skating rink today! It was cool watching them tromp around in ankle-deep cement! When we got home from work it had rained on it but it had cured enough to prevent any damage. There is still some work to do in the kitchen basement before they pour. The plan is to pour the floor Tuesday, depending on the weather. The carpenters should be out Monday to start work on the living room.

Week 5 August 12, 2009

2009-08-12T17:25:00.000-07:00

The cement slab that was taken out of the living room basement makes a great "stoop" outside the doorway. Hopefully it will help prevent a big mud hole there. They also removed the pole that was holding up the house and the house didn't fall! In the one corner of the floor we are not having cement poured. They put in some framing to keep it open. This will allow for easier possibility to put a bathroom in the basement in the future. The hole in the gravel is to allow for thicker cement there for a pole that will support a beam. They plan to be here at the crack of dawn tomorrow to pour the floor in this area. The weather forecast is not too favorable for late tomorrow and Friday but they think they can get this room poured and cured enough before the rain comes in. The other area probably won't get poured until Monday or Tuesday, depending on when the weather clears.

Week 5 August 11, 2009

2009-08-11T20:53:00.000-07:00

The water line was rerouted and excess stone removed from the kitchen basement today. It looks like that section is about ready to pour the cement floor. In the other section however, they used the osb boards we bought for our closet for a wheelbarrow path to remove the excess stone from the other section. The cement slab from the doorway cut is still half buried in stone.

We made our own version of a cornerstone for them to put in the basement floor. The shiny spots in the photo are state quarters...PA under "David", IL under "LaDonna", and MT under "Fabian." Carving the mortar mix was a lot more work than I had anticipated. I'm sure glad we had decided on just a simple design!!!

Week 5 August 10, 2009

2009-08-10T20:35:00.000-07:00

More stones were added today. They filled in the kitchen basement with large stones, then did a layer of small stones on both sides. THEN they knocked the doorway out and dragged it through all the stones! As you can see in the top photo- they didn't quite make it!!! In the bottom photo you can see the water line that comes into the house. They still have to splice another piece of line to it, over the cement wall, into the crawl space under the house to reconnect with the line. After things are closed in we are going to have the hot water tank and the water pressure tank moved from the crawl space to the basement under the kitchen. Then it will be easier for maintenance and adding a water conditioner system in the future. And the pole that is holding up the whole house...we think they are just going to pour the cement floor and build up around it!! Maybe they are too afraid to take it out!!!

Closet -August 9

2009-08-09T19:36:00.001-07:00

The floor joists are done (except the ones that need the bolts we need to buy) and several pieces of the flooring are cut to fit. We can't nail them in place until we get the bolts in the floor joists.

Closet - August 8

2009-08-08T20:23:00.000-07:00

The floor joists are in place...sort of. The bolts we bought aren't long enough because the poles they gave us are bigger than we ordered. The joists at the poles are nailed into place until we can get longer bolts. The last joist is sitting in place and just needs to be nailed. It got too dark to finish. It all went together really fast and easy since everything is perfectly square....NOT!!!!!! Working with pole construction guarantees that it won't be square!

Week 4 August 7, 2009

2009-08-07T19:19:00.000-07:00

It rained so much yesterday and last night that the gravel crew was afraid of getting stuck in the mud! The rest of the rock delivery is postponed until Monday.

Week 4 August 6, 2009

2009-08-06T14:46:00.001-07:00

Yesterday there was no work. The truck they needed to use to shoot the rock behind the wall needed repair. They arrived bright and early this morning. It was pretty amazing how far they shoot the rock!!!! The guy had a control box around his waist to adjust the direction and speed. When it was shooting pretty fast he said it was running at 1200 rpm! It took 4 truck loads to fill in the area they dug out under the current house and the basement under the living room. It will take another truckload to do the kitchen basement. They will bring that tomorrow morning. Then they will top both basement areas with smaller rock to smooth and level it for pouring the cement next week. The weather forecast for Mon-Thurs next week is warm and sunny. That will be good for the concrete work.

Week 4 August 4, 2009

2009-08-04T20:02:00.000-07:00

More dirt was moved today. The east yard still needs some help but the south yard toward the creek is much more level. We may even be able to have a garden party and play croquet and bocce ball!

Week 4 August 3, 2009

2009-08-03T20:10:00.000-07:00

Wow! They moved a lot of dirt today but there is still a lot left!! The crew did a rough backfill around three sides of the addition. They didn't fill under the current house yet. They easily took down the dog kennel and moved it away since we don't need it at this point. We had planned to rebuild it but probably wouldn't have gotten to it until spring. Now it is out of their way for cement trucks, backhoes, etc. They also gave us more parking area next to the road and a turn-around spot in the driveway. Looks like Dave will stay home tomorrow morning to talk to the guys about where to put the rest of the dirt, where we want the yard more level. We have been trying to take the old woodshed down all summer but just haven't had the time to get it finished. The workers said they could take it down when they have smaller equipment so they won't disturb my flower bed that is on one side of it.

Tomorrow they will fill areas in the basement floors and prep to pour the cement slabs. Hopefully the cement truck(s) will be here Wednesday.

On the closet: We didn't actually do any work on the closet yesterday. We spent the afternoon/evening making two trips to Home Depot to get our lumber home. With just a small truck, it wouldn't all fit in one load. As it was, the first load was so heavy the front tires barely touched the road!!

Closet- August 1

2009-08-01T20:43:00.000-07:00

Yesterday the crew came out to do the backfill on the addition but it was raining too hard. They postponed it until next week.

Today Dave got up early to start work on the closet. He was so sweet to let me sleep in. Neither of us have slept well this week, possibly because of losing Hickory. We bolted up the beams that will support the floor joists. There are a few more bolts to put in but we want to replace the drill bit first. We marked the spots for the floor joists in preparation for tomorrow.

After church we'll make a trip to Home Depot for a new bit and more lumber. It will probably take two trips to get it all. With the pile of dirt from the excavation taking up most of the south yard, we aren't sure how we are going to get around the house to get it all unloaded!!!

When our neighbor died in March, several of his cats started hanging out here to eat. Only one has become friendly. Here's a photo of Dave with Kitty Kitty. She is very affectionate and loves being petted almost as much as Hickory did!

Week 3 July 30, 2009

2009-07-30T20:22:00.000-07:00

They were here today to tar the walls that join to the existing house. They also scored the concrete for the door and window they missed framing in.

Week 3 July 28, 2009

2009-07-28T18:37:00.000-07:00

Today we got tarred! They didn't do the side that faces under the existing house. We figured maybe they just got "tarred"-(tired!) This gives us an idea of where the ground line will be.

Week 3 July 27, 2009

2009-07-27T19:29:00.000-07:00

Today Hickory went to doggie heaven. We have been having problems with him breaking out of his kennel for the past few months. He was extremely anxious during thunderstorms. We tried anti-anxiety drugs to no avail. He chewed through wood, wire, and metal to get out at various times. On Friday he got out and went to the neighbor's and scratched up cars and tore screens on the porch. Saturday, the neighbor came over to show us the car damage and Hickory bit him. After discussing the situation we decided he needed to go. The plan was to take him to the vet this morning. Yesterday while we were at church, he escaped again. This time though he disappeared. I got a call this morning from the Humane Society that he had been picked up on the edge of Helena- about 12 miles away. So after getting him out of jail, I took him to the vet. It was really hard leaving him there. He looked at me with his big brown eyes asking "Where are you going without me?" It was a hard day for both of us. Generally he was a happy loving dog. His anxiety was getting worse and worse all the time and we were out of options for dealing with him. We are very sad and will both miss him very much.

There was no work on the house today. Dave is meeting with the builder tomorrow morning to discuss next steps.

Closet - July 25

2009-07-25T19:43:00.000-07:00

Today we finished putting in the poles for the closet. It was a lot of work but now we can move onto the next step. Here is a pic of Dave as he finished filling in the last hole. After having 7 in the ground, we got chased in by a hail storm. We wanted to get the last two in today too so we went back out to finish up after the storm passed.

No work tomorrow though. We are going to Great Falls to the state fair to see the group America. We need a fun day once in awhile!!!

Week 2 July 24, 2009

2009-07-24T20:08:00.000-07:00

The basement walls need to dry a few days before there is any more progress. Then they will seal the cement and backfill so the cement truck can get back in to pour the floor. Hopefully we can get some work done on the closet tomorrow!!

Week 2 July 23, 2009

2009-07-23T19:03:00.000-07:00

The forms are down and one window didn't get framed in. Also, there is no door between the two basement rooms. I guess the cement saw will get a work out! The measurements aren't exactly like we planned. The sizes we wanted were for the inside measurement. So we lost 16" each way because of 8" walls on each side. The only place it may be a real problem will be in the breakfast nook at the end of the kitchen. It will be tight to get a small table and chairs in. We may have to redesign the bathroom to make more room for the breakfast nook.

The photo with the ladder is the basement under the living room. Dave placed the ladder at the middle of the room. We measured out where stairs would be to get an idea of the size of the living room. I think it needs to be 4ft wider! We could use another 2ft on the kitchen too!

Week 2 July 22, 2009

2009-07-22T19:18:00.000-07:00

Yahoo! We have basement walls!!!! They finished the forms and poured the concrete today. We aren't sure if they framed one of the windows or the door between the two basement parts. I guess we'll see when they take forms down. And they connected the water again!!! Yeah!!!

Also, Monday night we bought a bunch of meat and went to put it in the small chest freezer on the porch. We discovered that everything was defrosted. The workers had unplugged it to use the outlet and didn't bother to plug it back in. Fortunately it wasn't rotten yet, just defrosted.

Week 2 July 21, 2009

2009-07-21T19:58:00.000-07:00

Wow! They were here by 8am and started removing the forms from the footings. Around 10am Dave called me to tell me he was heading home to make sure we got windows and doors where we want them in the basement walls. He called later to say they had the outside forms up and would pour the walls today or tomorrow. Well, they didn't pour today. And they didn't reconnect the water either! They had to disconnect it to set up the forms but were supposed to fix it before they left. Sink baths again tomorrow!!!

Week 2 July 20, 2009

2009-07-20T19:27:00.000-07:00

Yeah!!! They did the forms for the footers today AND poured the cement!!! When I came home Dave was standing out in the yard with a big grin on his face. We are so excited that con-struction is happening instead of the de-struction of moving earth! We'll rest easier though when they get the cement walls up to support the house. The first photo is Dave standing about the middle of the basement under the living room. The other will be the basement under the kitchen. We're not sure they will be big enough!!!!

Closet - July 18-19

2009-07-19T20:21:00.000-07:00

In addition to the living room/kitchen construction we are also adding a 12'x12' closet onto our bedroom. We are doing the work ourselves to save money. Saturday morning Dave finished digging the holes for the poles. We got one pole in Saturday afternoon before getting ready to go to the annual Symphony under the Stars concert. We enjoy going with friends each year. Brad playing in the concert was an added bonus.

Sunday after church we got 3 more poles in place- only 5 more to go!!! With the hole dug it won't take long to get them in place.

Day 5? July 17, 2009

2009-07-17T20:28:00.001-07:00

Were they here today????

Day 4 July 16, 2009

2009-07-16T20:08:00.000-07:00

They did lots more digging today- under the house. They also put metal posts under the existing poles to provide more support. And they took out the phone lines again! Oh well, without phone service we won't get any of the "this is your last chance to extend the warranty on your car" calls.

Day 3 July 15, 2009

2009-07-15T16:45:00.000-07:00

We have water!!! Yeah!!!!! We have phone service!!!! Yeah!!!! They tried to put in the forms for the footings today but the dirt kept caving in around. They will need to dig out some more and do the forms a different way. A bigger hole!!!! The plan is forms tomorrow (Thursday) and Friday morning and cement in the footings Friday afternoon.

Day 2 July 14, 2009

2009-07-15T12:27:00.000-07:00

Al (the builder) said we had water when he left. Apparently, when they were digging and exposed the underground poles, the house shifted enough to pinch the water line. The plumber isn't available until tomorrow. So....no water for another day. The phone company wouldn't take a work order from Al because he isn't the owner. Dave had to call and arrange to meet them tomorrow to get the phone line repaired. Hopefully everything will be working again!

The only evidence of work today was more structural support for the existing house. That should keep it from shifting any more.

Day 1 July 13, 2009

2009-07-15T10:25:00.000-07:00

We arrived home from work to find a gigantic hole in our yard!!! Yeah!!!! The long anticipated addition is under construction. Our joy was short lived though. We discovered that in the process of digging, despite all the wiring being marked, we were without water and phone! Off to the neighbor's to tote water for washing and flushing!