And the Walls Came Down . . .

Three Day Weekend Here We Come

In spite of the balmy weather, we were still able to accomplish our objective over the weekend, which was to get the house covered in Tyvek and install the porch windows (pics in previous entry). We still have two more windows to install including the picture window in the dining room and the small one above the sink. As we bought both of these windows used from an overstock warehouse, they are missing the installation nail strips. Scott is planning on rigging something up from some excess flashing we have lying around. It isn’t ideal, but considering that we saved nearly $1000 on the used windows, we’re not complaining!

We’re gearing up for another big weekend, and I must say, this is the part of the project that I am most excited about: demolition! We’ve been in our house three years as of June fourth, and I have been eager to rip out the kitchen from day one. Granted, this will be the official beginning of disaster central: uncontrollable dust, refrigerator in the living room, mock kitchen in the laundry room, sneakers on at all times, but even so, I cannot wait. And even though we don’t have an official time line established, we are precisely where we wanted to be at this point in the remodel.

If anyone feels like taking out aggression, feel free to swing by Sat-Monday. While the rest of the world relaxes, we’ll be swinging sledge hammers.

Four Windows Down, Two to Go

Weekend Fun

Many people would not associate the word “fun” with what we did this weekend: install roof trusses, sheet new roof, and cover sheeting with waterproof barrier. Even so, this was great fun in my book.

Tim & Karen (Scott’s parents) came over on Saturday to help with the trusses. It was wonderful to have their assistance and know-how. The boys were able to get all the trusses up in the four season porch and get the trusses sheeted. We topped off the productive work day with a wonderful dinner that Karen prepared: prime rib, potatoes, and yummy cauliflower salad.

Scott and I commenced on Sunday waterproofing the sheeting. We were both eager to get the tarp off the house. The process took a great deal longer than we both expected, but on the positive side, this portion of the house is now all prepped and ready for shingles.

Even though in theory we should now be ready to install windows, there is still a lot of “buttoning up” that needs to take place to get the house truly weather and bug proof. We need to finish the soffits and fascia, cover a couple little spots of the exterior with fiber board and get the whole outside wrapped in Tyvek. With the lovely week of weather we’re expecting, hopefully we’ll be able to take care of the majority of the small stuff during the evenings, that way we’ll be able to do windows by the weekend!

Recent Pictures

Trusses

I was happy to pull into our driveway yesterday evening to find that our roof trusses had been delivered. When Scott ordered them last week they indicated that they could take up to 2 wks to fabricate. In light of the beautiful weekend we’re expecting, I was thrilled with the early delivery. Scott even managed to get one installed on his own last night and hung all the joist hangers. Come Saturday, all we’ll need to do to pop the trusses into place, sheet the remainder of the roof, and cover everything with waterproof flashing.

According to my mental checklist, this only sounds like three things, but when I alluded to how “simple and easy” this was going to be, Scott chuckled and said the process is “far more” involved than it appears. Even so, I am very pleased with our progress.

Though we haven’t implemented any sort of timeline for our project, I have my heart set on ripping out my existing kitchen come Memorial Day weekend. I will be the one holding the sledge hammer.

It’s a Comin’

Despite mildly temperamental weather, Saturday still turned out to be very successful. We succeeded in ripping off the kitchen portion of our roof and building our new trusses. In actuality we only had to rip off a 5 x 20 ft. section so that we could get the elevation correct on the new trusses. We’re planning on ripping off the rest of the roof from the inside. We also succeeded in sheeting the new roof. This process lasted from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. It was a very full and tiring day, but we got it done.

We’re still waiting on roof trusses for the 4-season porch. As the porch will have a gable roof line, in an effort to save time, we opted to have a lumber yard build these. They are currently about a week out in fabrication. Hopefully though, we will have them in time for next weekend. Will post new pics soon.

High Hopes

We have high hopes for a productive weekend. After two so-so weather weekends in a row (first rain, than wind), we’re hoping that this Saturday will be different. Even though the forecast show unseasonably cold weather (high of 55), as long as it doesn’t rain, we are going to commence with removing the roof from the kitchen side of the remodel. We’re still two weeks out on roof trusses for the 4-season porch. We’ll have to get the roof on, the windows installed, and hopefully come Memorial Day weekend, we’ll be tearing out my existing kitchen and ripping down the walls between the old and new space. That will be an exciting day!