Week #5 - July 18th - 24th: They rebuilt the addition. Seeing an entire piece of new construction go up is always impressive. I think the framing took 2 or 3 total days, and that was with 2 or 3 guys doing nearly all of the work. The framing is pretty standard, 2"x6" exterior walls, pre-made roof trusses (12x12 exterior pitch, 7x12 interior).
It was really cool to finally be able to "feel" all of our planning for both floors. I think everything worked out well - although we did have a change to the master bathroom after Molly pointed out that one would be able to see the toilet from the top of the stairs...not very feng shui...in the end the layout is much better, because we now have a huge window in the master bathroom that faces south.
But the real highlight of this week was having the cousins visit! (and Doug and Sandy too. :)) Lots of pictures in there of the twins and all the girls.
Week #6 - July 25th - July 31st: Work continued on the addition: electrical, plumbing, mechanical, sheathing, insulation, windows, stucco....Shawn pulled a nice trick by getting the stucco guys to setup their scaffolding a few days before they actually began the stucco work. This meant his guys could use the scaffolding to install the windows, sheathing, and finish the roof.
This was one of my favorite weeks so far. Seeing all the internals is fascinating.
Week #7 - August 1st - August 7th: Vacation! Perfect timing, as there weren't very many decisions to be made by us. Drywall was finished in the addition, the main level (kitchen / dining room / family room) was painted, and the kitchen cabinets were installed.
Molly and I were both a little nervous coming back for the first time - knowing that the kitchen cabinets would be in. What if we didn't like them? What if the layout felt wrong? At the end of the day, everything turned out great. I'm extremely happy with how the kitchen layout is turning out. There is a lot of open space in the middle, but this will be perfect for multiple people to be doing work in the kitchen without always bumping into each other.
Vacation was awesome. Lots of photos here. We went to several beaches, as well as Sea World, the Zoo, and an african safari park. We skipped Legoland - always have to save something for next time I suppose. Perhaps the best part was that on the third day of vacation we got an offer on our house! It definitely made things less stressful.
Week #8 - August 8th - August 14th: The real finish work started...They started off by tiling the main floor shower and bathroom floor. They finished up the wood floor in the mudroom. Stucco was finished. They started the trim.
This is what I call the "wysiwyg" stage. what you see is what you get. It doesn't matter what color the tile looked like under the bright fluorescent lights at World of Tile. It matters how it looks in the natural light of the bathroom. And the two can be very, very different. I think all in the all we've made some pretty good decisions, but it can be frustrating at times. But we're learning not to choose paint colors from a 1"x1" swatch while sitting in our dining room at 10:00pm.
The trim detail that the guys are doing is fantastic. On all the new windows in the kitchen and mail level addition they've replicated the existing trim perfectly. I think Shawn said each window has something like 35 - 40 cuts.
Grandma and Grandpa visited from Durango to help watch Audrey for a couple of days. It's always fun having them here.
For some reason I don't have any photos of the house (I'm sure readers will be devastated) but here are some from the new learning landscape at Valdez, and the park around the corner from our house.
Week #9 - August 15th - August 21st: Trim was nearly finished, the basement utility floor was tiled, the railings on the basement stairs were built. The master bathroom was painted (for the first time. oops. our mistake). The trim was painted. I finally was able to get all the doors keyed alike. Although it took 3 trips to Lowe's / Home Depot.
Oh - and I almost forgot the granite countertops went in. Four different pieces...maybe 1500 pounds? The finished product looks great..but the install went less than smoothly. Kinda like an episode of the A-Team without Hannibal. I think all the guys mostly knew what they were doing, but the usual boss wasn't there.
Week #10: That's now! Tile work in the master shower continues...and will continue until we get it right. :) The kitchen backsplash should be tiled. More painting should be done...I'm not sure what else.
Just a couple more weeks! Thanks for reading. We can't wait for everyone to see it.
Week #9 - August 15th - August 21st: Trim was nearly finished, the basement utility floor was tiled, the railings on the basement stairs were built. The master bathroom was painted (for the first time. oops. our mistake). The trim was painted. I finally was able to get all the doors keyed alike. Although it took 3 trips to Lowe's / Home Depot.
Oh - and I almost forgot the granite countertops went in. Four different pieces...maybe 1500 pounds? The finished product looks great..but the install went less than smoothly. Kinda like an episode of the A-Team without Hannibal. I think all the guys mostly knew what they were doing, but the usual boss wasn't there.
Week #10: That's now! Tile work in the master shower continues...and will continue until we get it right. :) The kitchen backsplash should be tiled. More painting should be done...I'm not sure what else.
Just a couple more weeks! Thanks for reading. We can't wait for everyone to see it.
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