We are ready for a framing inspection next Tuesday!

Quite a bit of work has been completed this week.  The roof is completely shingled.  The siding is almost complete.  The main beam has been completed.  Once the framing inspection is done on Tuesday, we will await the electrician.  The old ceilings will also be framed up next week as well.  ~40 sheets of blue board will be delivered. -mjr

A side view from the old living room.

Another angle.

A view from the side window.

Skylights on the south side of the roof

The old roof now straight thanks to some patient jack work.

A view down to the garden from the kitchen windows.

Kitchen corner sink area.

Mr. Inspector

A diagonal view with the lone support post

The new main beam (24") now straight as an arrow (rare for this house)

Demo (almost) Complete!

Aside from the remainder of the kitchen cabinets and counter top, the demo part of the project is pretty much done. The main walls are all down and some temporary walls in place, the ceilings are all gutted now, too. With the tarps down, you can get an idea how the new and old house combine together, but its hard to capture the whole space in one camera shot.

Half beam

This beam (~10"x10') which ran the entire 24 feet down the side of the house is being replaced due to years of water and insect damage.  An additional laminated beam will be bolted along side to support the entire bridge between the old house and the addition.  There will be one six by six post in the middle of the span which will support both beams all the way down to the foundation.

1820 construction

As the main beam is being cut out today you can see how carpenters joined beams and rafters and other things together almost two hundred years ago.  Here are two pictures of a wooden peg. For perspective, I placed a 16D 3 1/2 inch nail next to the wooden peg.

Another Day of Demo and Other Surprises

Today the interior work continued. Matt packed up the kitchen stuff into about 20 huge plastic totes and the kitchen cabinets were ripped out.

The carpet and sub-floor in the living room was ripped up and --surprise!-- wood floors underneath!

Other surprises: Spirit of '76 wallpaper!! ...

...and wide pine boards on the kitchen/living room wall.

Here's a really really old beam along the top of the ceiling exposed now that the horsehair plaster is down. Goodbye, mice in the ceiling. Fun's over.

A footing had to be poured in the basement today to support a very important post that will support a large beam that spans the whole open room, about 24 feet. It looks a little "Silence of the Lambs" down there right now but usually there's a workshop bench with tools in that spot.

And although the basement's looking spooky, the neighbors only see this: the new addition with pretty brand new shingles on the outside!

 

The dogs' space is really limited now but as long as the food gets ready at exactly 4:15 p.m. they are happy. They also like having a front row seat to all the action. -KAD

The First Wall Comes Down

It's been raining and gloomy for most of May here in Fairhaven, and today was no exception. The guys decided to move the construction zone inside for today and that meant that the outside wall between the new construction and our old living room is now gone. There is a temporary wall and tarp between the two sections, and plastic over the door to the kitchen. It is not a pretty sight!! But it means the project is moving along and that is good.

The temporary living room wall and kitchen door

 

 

Our couch covered with a plastic tarp and the temporary wall behind it

Below, our old driveway-side windows are leaning against the wall to the kitchen. That wall might go tomorrow. You can also see the horsehair plaster ceilings above. The ceiling paneling that had covered this original ceiling was taken down today, the horsehair will go tomorrow. Not sure if I want to know what's under that plaster...

View from the new construction side. The kitchen half of the wall will be gone soon, too.

The dogs are definitely going to have to adjust to this stage of the project. They can't really be in too many places in the house now other than half of the kitchen and the bedroom. They like the Tempurpedic, though, so I think they're happy about that. -KAD

One Month Progress

It has been exactly one month today since we broke ground on our addition. A lot has been done and there is still a lot more to go, but it is really fun to see the house we had imagined come to life.

Donny's crew have been working through even wind and rain. They are still working on the roof shingling which was no doubt difficult to get through with last week's crazy weather.  But this week, we saw the roof get covered with plywood, and skylights and windows installed among other things.

I was really excited to climb through the living room window and walk around the new construction for the first time a few days ago. Here are some pictures I took outside today of the progress so far:

This is the view from the left side of the front porch
where the addition attached to the living room.

The front of the house today.

Half of the new kitchen window

The back view from the garden

The other half of the kitchen corner window

You can tell from this shot that the window view looks over the garden.

Farley and Monroe check out the back door view.

Speaking of the corgis, the dogs have been doing well coping with the noises and action going on outside. Next week, the wall between the living room and the new construction will be removed, so that will be another story. We will all have to adjust to a temporary living room, so no naps on the couch for the corgis for a while! -KAD

Rain and Wind go away!

Moving along but the constant wind and mist makes things slippery out there.  The roof has been stripped and most of the plywood is up.

a view from ~1997

More framing

These guys are amazing, five hours and all the walls and trusses are up.  Almost starting to look like an addition.  I was able to sneak my way through one of our living room windows into the new space.