and then there were floors

Well a little flooring at least. Today the dining room was re-framed, moving the access to the basement into the corner, a much more out of the way location. Then some of the sub floor was laid down. Mind you it is a little, but a little is better than none making this a good sign.

The sub floor we are laying down supposedly has a 'limited' 50 year warranty. It it called Advantech Sheathing and is manufactured by Huber Engineered Woods. The overall cost was not much more than traditional board and this comes with an added piece of mind.

After checking out the work completed thus far, we decided to take a break from life and enjoy what we fel in love with when we first saw the place. We are looking forward to many, many more evenings like this.

One wall at a time!

Today we were pleased to see our first new wall in place. After the contractor and the architect sorted out requirements and what needed to be put in place where, we are finally under way. This is our first new wall, between the media room and the living room. It is framed with 2x6s and will accommodate the double French doors that will come later on.

A few of the walls have been modified from 2x4s to 2x6s to provide increased support. Much of this increased support is needed to facilitate the large open areas we are looking to create. Many of the supporting beams have also been doubled or tripled up, providing the required support for the upcoming second floor.

The second wall is underway, but requires a little more care. a new beam will be installed across the entire span of the house. Because of this, removing the existing wall is a slower than normal process. Temporary support walls are put in place as sections of the existing wall/header are removed. This wall is about half way removed, should be finished up tomorrow.

Fireplace skinned

Well today was a another slow day. It seems there are some questions about the drawings so before any of the main support beams were set in place, some questions have to be answered. In the meantime, more of the new floor joists were set in place. The big deal is the the brick facade was torn (pounded) off. (sorry about all of the 'orbs' we are assuming they were there due to dust and not spirts. Well if they are spirts we hope they are friendly.) Our plan is to replace this brick with a custom stone veneer from Canyon Stone or a similar company. Tomorrow is another day. Hopefully the answers will come from the architect and we will be able to remove some of the load bearing walls blocking the wonderful view to the lake.

New wall (sorta)

Today things continued to move forward -- at a slow pace. A number of things were accomplished today, few of which provided visual evidence of anything being done. One thing that did take place construction wise today, was the the installation of a temporary support wall that allowed a load bearing wall to be removed, so it can be rebuilt.

The inspector stop by today and spoke briefly with the electrical and plumbing contractors. It seems everyone is on the same page and the inspector seemed pleased with what he saw (let's hope it stays that way!)

The electrical contractor has made a little more progress in taking pulling wires out in preparation for relocating the main panel and replacing it with a smaller sub-feed panel.

New floor joists

Today we began to see a little progress -- a little. A large number of the floor joists that had been taken our to allow for the digging, began to be replaced. This process ended up taking a much longer time than originally planned. It seems the sill plate was basically gone - rotted away like a bad hunk of cheese. Treated lumber had not been used, so it had to be replaced. Once that was taken care of the joists started getting dropped in. Originally the floor had about a 1.5" difference in height due to going from the transition from one section of the house to another. This finally provides us a little solid floor to walk on. Nice.

kinkn' it into gear

Today we finally got things rolling. We have secured our electrical contractor as well as our plumbing contractor. Signing some of these contracts has been interesting -- based on the fact we know little about what is required when renovating/building a house we are hopeful things will work out. The General Contractor has been very helpful pointing out things we need to look out for and ask for.

The electrician began by pulling some of the existing wiring that needed to be removed before the roof is raised (unfortunately there is now one outlet that works in the entire house.) This coming week the electrician;s crew should be able to begin running new fixtures and outlets this week -- hopefully.

On the other side of the fence, the GC and his team have been hitting it hard. We received the first (of many) loads of lumber today. In particular I found some of the beams that are going to be used rather amazing. The laminated beams are about 20'-30' long.

The ceiling and related joists are out of the center of the house. Goal is to get the new trusses delivered and installed within the next week -- we will see how that goes.

We also met with out last kitchen designer today. This is the only custom cabinet maker we have met with. We are excited about his ideas and enthusiasm and the work he showed us is really nice. We need to verify some details with him and should hopefully be able to make a decision within the next couple weeks.