Day 20

Greetings! Sorry for the "lame" blogs the past couple of times...just been very, very busy trying to crank out this project. Hopefully this blog will satisfy your craves!

Today I stayed home from work so that Nate and I could finally, FINALLY finish framing in the stairs. Adam from DIY was there to catch it all on camera. First we set the middle platform, then the upper landing and set the first run of stairs from the second floor down the the landing (6 risers). We double, triple checked our dimensions and took our time framing it all in. The first set of stairs fit like buttah. Yeah!!! We carefully measured for the second set of stairs that connects the first floor to the mid-landing. Measured twice, three times -- framed in the platforms and hoisted the stairs into place -- BULLSEYE! It was a great sense of accomplishment: finally being able to travel from first floor to second floor WITHOUT a ladder. We have a few more studs to frame in (tomorrow) and we'll be ready for our rough frame inspection.


Here's a shot of the stairs. Notice all of the spots in the picture. That's all construction dust floating around in the room. YUK! If you have ever visited our house, these stairs now reside in the middle of our former master bedroom. We removed all of our closets to make room for these stairs. But on a positive side we will frame under the stairs on the right and make a sizable broom closet for our storage needs!






Again, this picture will only make sense if you have ever visited our home. This is the new access to the stairway for access to our bedroom. What you are looking at is a new doorway cut into our existing hallway. The door in the distance is our hallway closet door on the main floor -- the bathroom door is just to the right. Make sense?








Today our roofer showed up! I was a bit steamed about the situation, as it has been very tough to get this guy to commit. But we have been very blessed (by all the praying saints) that we have had just one day out of twenty that brought rain for our project. However there were a few very close calls! WOW! That's one of the biggest fears with a project like this: exposing our existing house to the elements. But the roofer and his crew made it today, and they were GREAT! The foreman, Pete (that's him in the picture) worked really hard at this key location where the new addition intersects an existing leaking valley. While the rest of the crew worked on the new roof, Pete gave this particular location special attention and really brought a great deal of craftsman to this critical area. This picture doesn't do much justice to Pete's craftsmanship. It took him all day to fix this spot, which was a really bad spot. And it looks 100x better! Thanks Pete!




We're working really, really hard this week to wrap up the key elements so that we can hang drywall this weekend. Once we hang drywall and pass the screw inspection (Monday, Tuesday?), we can mud, sand, paint, and finish our electrical and tiling. Keep us in your thoughts and prayers and cross your fingers and toes as we try to wrap up the five inspections we need to pass in order to drywall this weekend: plumbing, mechanical, electrical, roofing, and rough framing.

(p.s. This photo was taken yesterday after I got the crud in my scratched eye while demo-ing the stairway opening. It may look like I was napping, but I was actually trying to rest the burning in my right eye. Although I do think I managed to catch a few zzzzzz's)

Here's a great shot of Jeff working on ducting our fart fans in the bathroom. Talk about craftsmanship! We welcomed Jeff back with open arms and an extensive punch list today as he returned from a week-long camping trip to Montana (jerk!) :-) We really missed his help last week but were glad that he and his family had a great time. Nate also noted that our pencils didn't seem to disappear as much! Now he made it back just in time for drywall and painting!


Wish us luck!

(Yes, this photo is REAL! He does a very nice job cutting my hair. Very impressive for a five-year old! He's very patient, thorough, and cheap -- cost me a popsicle!)

Good night my friends!