Sunday, January 25, 2015

The House - Week 11

Week 11 - January 5, 2015

This week the framing continued on the 2nd floor.  I've been trying to bring a snack to our workers every week or two, such as a case of Mountain Dew, donuts, or in this case breakfast burritos from McDonald's.


The beam for the deck was hung.


Looking from the breakfast nook (near the deck) towards the back stair.


On the 2nd floor looking toward the great room.


On the 2nd floor looking east. Ada's bedroom will sit in this area.


The great room windows (and smoky refinery).  To the right will be a homework desk.


We're waiting for a couple of beams to be placed in order to finish the 2nd floor above the garage.


Same view from below.


The walls of the garage have generally been framed.


These are the beams that we were waiting on.  The steel beam goes across the opening at the front of the garage, while the 22" wood beam suspends the 2nd floor above the garage.


Looking up at the 2nd floor from the garage.  That doorway will step down into a bonus room that will sit above the garage.  It will be our new toy room.


This is the view of the framing for the covered deck.


Kate standing at the top of the main stairs.


There's a bit of an inversion (yuck!).  We're not quite above it. We sit just in the upper reaches.


Some of the strapping used to hold the house together during the next landslide.


The view from the entry out the front door.  You'll notice the cement blankets just outside the door.  The suspended front porch was poured a couple of days ago.


Lyla and Alison.


The view from the deck looking back into the house.


Another view of the deck,


A view of the house (and garages) from the road.


Next week: Trusses!

The House - Week 10

Week 10 - December 29, 2014

This week was frigid.  I visited the site one day when it was about 15 degrees and the framers were there working exposed in the cold.  No fun (but who am I kidding, I'm glad they were there...).

This is a view from the master bedroom looking into the bathroom, then the closet beyond.


The platforms are for the front stairway to the 2nd floor.


The view, looking north, from our deck.


Looking toward the house from the northeast.


More wood.  Every day or two a truckload of wood arrives on site.


Of course we visited the house on New Year's Day.  This is a view looking north from the top of the main stair.


Ada is making her way up to check out the view.


The main stairs.  Looking from the front entryway.


Making preparations to start hanging the 2nd floor joists/TJIs.


They started framing the garages.  You can also see the TJIs that were delivered.


Another view of the main stairs.  In the background they're hanging the mounting brackets for the joists.


The rock wall along the front of the house.  Note that good-looking car.


From the front.  You can see the garage walls on the right.


Two framers worked all day on Saturday and hung most of the 2nd floor joists on their own.  View from the kitchen.


Looking back towards the kitchen.


Ada popping her head up from the back stairway.


Ada popping her head up from the front stairway.


Next week: More framing on the 2nd floor!

Saturday, January 24, 2015

The House - Week 9

Week 9 - December 22, 2014

First another view of the rock wall along the north side of the house.  Our driveway will be where the trackhoe is sitting.


The third car (or boat?) garage.


The back stairs to the 2nd floor.


A view from the breakfast nook/kitchen towards the front door.


This picture was taken within a minute of the previous ones.  The contrast between the two is amazing.


Starting the rock walls that will wrap around the front of the house.


From the southeast.


The next few pictures were taken on Christmas Eve.  This is a closer view of the tall wall between the family room and the master bedroom.


From the back.  Some of those windows are ginormous.


A view from the back corner of the house looking east at the rock wall.


From the top of that same wall.  The rocks wrap around the garage just past the man-door.


More walls.


Posted to Instagram on Christmas Eve:  All I want for Christmas!


We woke up on Christmas morning to a white Christmas.  Luckily, up to this point the weather had been very cooperative.


We thought that our neighbors would paint their house, but instead they kept the white and off-white theme going.  I'm not really a fan...


A view from the kitchen area.  The snow from Christmas had been shoveled off on the 26th, this snow was from a dusting that came over the weekend.


Alison standing and posing in the master bedroom window.


Looking from the garage towards the front porch.


Next week: More framing and frigid temps!