Who needs a roof anyways?

Day 1 -- Demolition

Well, today was a big step in getting our addition underway. We spent the entire day ripping off the old roof to make way for the new. Very exhausting, a few minor injuries (not too much blood), and a whole lot of trash! One dumster full in fact. I would love to fill you in on all the details, but truth be told, I am very tired, very dirty, and need to go take a shower and hit the sack so I can get up ~ 6:30 to meet with my plumber. But here's a few pics to enjoy....



















Here's the rememnents of the Zimmer tornado!














This is a picture of my good friend, Adam. He fabricated up the custom saddle for my ridge beams that are all converging upon one spot. I had Nate model the saddle in 3D, then Adam custom fabricated the piece out of 3/8" stock metal (very thick). When I showed up to pick it up (tonight), I noticed that 4 holes were not right -- so this is a shot of us modifying the piece in the parking lot under the lighting provided by my truck! Ahhhh, construction!! THANKS ADAM!

The Walls are Built!

Wow! I'm one week away from beginning construction....yikes! Actually, I'm past the part of being scared. Now I'm just anxious and nervious....anxious to get the project under way and nervous about the weather....please don't rain, please don't rain!

I've got most everything in place to begin construction. Here's the schedule:
- Thursday, demo the existing roof
- Friday, frame the new floor
- Saturday, erect the exterior walls and roof supporting structure
- Sunday, erect the roof and blacken the walls and roof (tar paper)

I can tolerate a certain amount of rain, but I really do need it to be dry for Thursday-Sunday. If you are a praying person, please offer up this request for us! Thanks!

So I received this picture update from my SIP manufacturer this morning. What's a SIP? Structural Insulated Panels. I'm using them for my walls and roof. They are prefabricated panels built in a warehouse up in Loveland, CO. They are a fantastic "green" building material with an R-value of 42 for a 6 1/2" panel. They are constructed, then erected in the shop to ensure that they fit. Here's a picture of my addition, as it sits up in Loveland:
The company's name is Insulated Component Structures - Rocky Mountain, inc. (check them out at www.ICS-RM.com). They are a great group of guys to work with. They took my CAD drawings, created shop drawings from them, and built these walls within about a week. Now they will disassemble the walls, stack them in order, store them until next week and ship them down to me in Aurora. The panels cost more than traditional wood framing, but they are worth every penny. The foam they use has no ozone-depleting off-gasing, and the scrap left over from constructing the panels is minimal, i.e. no dumpster full of scrap material! The labor involved with erecting the panels is minimal: one day for the walls, one day for the roof. This is a 600sf addition! All the req'd. conduit for electrical runs are placed inside the walls before the foam is injected. All the window headers are built into the panels. Basically, once I have these walls erected, all I need to do is tar paper the exterior, hang the windows and doors, then add the finish material on the inside and out, and I'm done. Yea!

Now that I've got this blog up and running, I will post updates here for you to follow. I will try for dailies, but truth is it might end up being every 3-4 days in which I post my updates. But please keep checking out our blog to find out how our prjoect is progressing!

Love ya! Ciao! a.Z. + Crew

Let's Get This Party Started!

I am SOOOO nervous! We are less than a month away before ripping off our roof and starting our construction project!

Greetings! Life is ever so crazy here in D-Town. Kat and I are gearing up for adding 600 square feet to our home: going up. We are popping our top, and extremely excited AND nervous about the new adventure. I will work to keep you all posted with our updates as things develop. Right now our drawings are into the City of Aurora for building permit review, and I am working hard to get our budget down to the $45-50k mark. Whew!

Here's a computer rendering of our house as it will look with the addition:


We are adding 600sf of Master Bedroom space: a bedroom, a sitting area/TV viewing area, a master bathroom and closet. We kid around that it will be a no-kid, no-dog allowed area! Here's an interior perspective of the new space:

You can see the long room at the top: that's our bedroom and sitting area spaces. The deck off of the back will have a great mountain view. The fireplace in the middle will be a great addition to the home! The closet is on the bottom left, and the master bath is the one with the tub in it :-)

So keep us in your thoughts and prayers as we venture down this new experiece. We hope all will go well, and we'll keep you posted as we move along!

By the way, our renovation project will be aired on the Do-It-Yourself Network (DIY), on a show called "Sweat Equity" hosted by Amy Mathews. I will keep you posted as the shooting progresses and let you know when the air date will be. We are expecting it to air sometime in September. Ciao! XOXOX