Day 69: Dormer & Decking

The dormer started to get framed up this week. Also, the roof is getting decked. The drain lines for the plumbing are going in too. The electrician came this week and moved the panel and re-mounted it temporarily in a different spot, so the wall could be sheared up under the panel. Oh and the basement was stucco'd over a week ago. Looks great! John is working on installing the window in the basement. The house windows will be installed this week too, John is holding one up in the photo.

The air quality has been horrible in Sacramento from all the fires. My temporary wall is doing little to keep it out! But we are still surviving in our little living space :)) Have a great 4th of July! LL

Day 60.5 - Designer's Concept

Designer Ted stopped by to look at the situation. Here is Lisa's idea and his sketch of workaround solution for the window on the left side of upstairs. Some work to do on the design with the engineer but I think this is what we will be doing. JM

Day 60: Roof lines!

The front half of the roof structure is going up! The last picture is the upstairs master bedroom looking up at the coffered ceiling. We ran into one major issue so far. The upstairs window on the left is too tall for the space once sheathing and roofing is added. So we have a few options: 1) new window; 2) move the window to the left; 3) raise the window and pop it into the roofline. Number 1 costs money, 2 is not feasible as this is a shear wall & it costs money (damn CA, crazy laws), and 3 also costs money. In any event the designer came by today and we will attempt option 3 and 1. I have a schetch of option 1 and it looks pretty cool. LL

Day 54!

Check it out! We have roof rafters going up. It is nice to see how the outside of the house is going to look. Hopefully OK.... The designer stopped by yesterday to figure out the stair design. Also, tomorrow the inside walls of the basement will be stucco'd. Lots of decision making going on. It all is going quite well. John and I haven't disagreed too much (of course he is out of town, so that makes it easier) :)) Over and out. LL

Day 51

Framing for all the walls is done and the house is being sheathed. Of course there was more demolition involved though. The middle bedroom walls and ceiling were all completely gutted. I hate that part. The stairs to the 2nd story are in! The second story is framed and next they will start framing the roof and all. So exciting. And the subfloor is all done on the 1st floor now too!

Days 45 & 46

Day 45 & 46: The second story walls started to get framed up these days. Pretty cool to walk around up there. On the left is a picture of what the back of the house looks like and the one on the right is the 2nd story sub-floor already in. Also on the picture on the left you can see our one of our newer windows from the downstairs bedroom had to be takend out (leaning against the fence). We need to reuse that window, but it cracked upon removal. Will have to get new glass in there! LL

Day 44 - 2nd Floor Framing

On Monday Day 41 the 3 framers started laying out 2nd floor beams and joists. They started off by tearing open celing of dining room and our middle bedroom (shown) to remove existing 2x4 ceiling joists to make way for new 2"x14" LVL beams.

On Tuesday Day 44 they completed framing out the floorplan for the 2nd story, including the cantilever on south side. 2nd story walls should start popping up next. -JM

Day 42 - Decking and Walls

The framers started work on Friday Day 40 and made a lot of progress in a few days. On Friday they installed sill plate on the basement wall and silent floor girders for the 1st floor addtion.

2 guys worked on Sunday and got the 1st floor walls up, including fitting some of the support beams in existing walls to support 2nd floor.

On Sunday one of the framers accidentally nailed his foot to the floor. He was wearing steel toe boots, but he accidentally bumped the nailer just past where the steel toe ends. His buddy pulled the nail out with a pair of pliers. Once we got his shoe off we were amazed that the nail missed bone and tendons, and only went through meat next to ball/knuckle for the big toe. Lisa came home at that time and cleaned him up and bandaged him and I gave him a fresh pair of socks. He insisted on continuing work for a couple more hours. Tough dude.

Anyway, can now start to see the outline for the new kitchen and family room - JM.