House Update

Sometimes I have to look at our photos to remind me what we did. The weeks and days are starting to run together. 

We spent the beginning of the week preparing to pour the cement floor for the entryway. That meant finishing the plumbling, leveling the graveling, and putting in the insulation. Wednesday the cement truck arrived at ten in the morning but it couldn't drive all the way back our driveway. That meant we had to use the wheelbarrow to haul it the rest of the way. Although I shouldn't say we, because I didn't do a single load. It was all Kent and PJ. Nevertheless, it only took about an hour to get all the cement we needed and all that was left was for Jim to do the finishing work. 

Here is PJ leveling the cement. There is a special name for this, but I can't remember it. Shimming or skimming, skirting?  I forget.

Thursday, finally, we had a sunny day. Kent took a day off work to get the rest of the roof up. We have had a tarp over the six foot addition of the house to keep the rain out and that hasn't been too successful. Water is a tricky thing that finds the smallest hole as a way to get into your house. Annoying. So Thursday and Friday were spent working on the roof. 

Saturday, still sunny!, we finished framing and sheathing the addition. Sunday was a sand and stain day. I didn't think it would take all day to do this, but it did. Once again, we worked until dark. We sanded the rest of the floor on the second floor and polyurethaned it. We also sanded and stained the rest of the pieces for the roof to be put up tomorrow.

This photo was taken on Saturday afternoon. It shows the second floor of the addition. It's almost completely enclosed. Windows will go in after we wrap the house with Tyvek.

More fun to come.

Happy Happy

This past weekend we traveled to Cincinnati to partake in the festivities to celebrate my grandmother's birthday. It was a milestone birthday as she turned 69 for the 21st time. (That's how the Sicilians don't age, they stay a certain age for decades. For example, I am 29 (for the 7 th time this May and my Mom is still 49)

This is Nonn, in the middle, with her sisters. Yes, they are all the same height. It's required in the Sicilian lineage that you be 5 foot even.


My uncle hosted in his beautiful new house, where his wife, Ruth, and my Mom fed us wonderfully. (Momma Mia, those Italians can cook) There were relatives present that I hadn't seen in decades, as well as my own dear brothers that I don't see very ofter either. The weather cooperated to allow all to venture outside and play in the sun. We even threw some frisbee.


Uncle Joe and Rex yuckin' it up on the deck.



Aren't these kids adorable. Gotta love those who love the sweets. I was eyeing that cake too. However, I don't remember what happened to the strawberries on top. No bother, it was some damn good cake. mmmmm cake.



Jeffo and Momma.



Laura and Ryan. Is Ryan eating one of the mysteriously missing strawberries???


Other birthdays to note in April include, Kent, Rex, Oscar, Korpi, Stacey, and half of Nonna's sisters. Happy Birthday to you all!!

Though the best babies are born in May.

Me Pocket

Still not a lot going on with the house. Rain has dampened the progress. We have done some work inside. Two bedrooms are sanded and polyurethaned. We still have a bedroom, the hallway and half a bath. It's been tough to get to the rest of the floor because rain is still getting into part of the house that does not have a full roof on it. 

In lieu of photos of the boring stuff we are doing now, I decided to include a snapshot of what I find in my pockets every night. It's always a treasure hunt to go through all my pockets and see what's there.

Details

After making huge progress last weekend the rain kept us from doing much last week.  Which was fine. We all needed a bit of a break.  

The rains subsided by Wednesday and we finished framing the second floor of the addition by Thursday. That night Kent made a temporary roof to protect the floor from the rains on Friday. I will be so glad when we are totally under roof and we don't have to worry about the weather any more. That will probably be July...

This past weekend included a lot of detail work to be done by Kent and I. Putting in drywall catchers, roof catchers, filling ditches and other unexciting projects. 

On more exciting news, my grandmother turns 90 years old on Thursday and we are having a party in Cincy. Both my brothers will be in town along with much of the extended family, so it will be a reunion of sorts. 

Sorry for the lack of photos. Maybe next time.

Mission Accomplished

We set out to get the house under roof before the end of the weekend and we succeeded. Though it took a lot of effort and help from friends in the area. A special thanks to Korpi, Mike D., Weber and of course Danny and Jim.  After a raining Friday and expected snow and rain on Monday we had two days to get the trusses back up, sheath it and cover with roofing felt. 

Saturday morning I spent almost 2 hours unwrapping the tarp that covered the house like a circus tent to protect it from Friday's weather. A few

 finishing touches with the top plate and we were ready to roll. 

Here's Jason and Kent getting the trusses up to the roof. 

Our neighbor Jim had the best seat in the house. When he wasn't setting up the trusses he could enjoy the view. It's been suggested more than once to put a widows walk up there.

View from Rardin. Plastic is still on the windows to keep the rain out. 

View from Second St. side. We still have to finish the additional part of the house. But right now plastic protects the inside.

We finished around 6:00 PM on Sunday and that night it stormed. On Monday morning we found the inside dry so our hard work paid off. 

Thanks again to everyone who helped. And to Jason, Molly and Noah for bringing a "raise the roof" cake on Sunday, and to Danny, Patty and Naomi for celebrating with us.

Weekend Update

So the roof is off and the second floor is about done with framing. Besides the addition, all the walls are framed off except one. Now it's time for the trusses and a roof.

Here is a view of the Second St. side of the building. The photo was taken from up on the hill. The green tarp is covering up the old trusses that we took down and we will put them back on.


Here is a view from the Rardin side. The black stripes on the OSB are tar strips. These boards were taken off the roof so we could use them again. There will be a bedroom in each corner you see here. Another bedroom will be in the back right side and the bathroom and laundry in the back left. We are squeezing a lot in a little space. But it can be done.



Photo of Jim, our neighbor, who has been helping us this week. Notice his safety gear, glasses and ear protection. We are all about safety around here.

The roof, the roof...

The roof is gone.

On Monday, I went to work at noon and the place was intact. I come home and there are 3 trusses left. We finished that off in a mere 1 and a half hours. Kent and I spent another 2 hours taking down the rest of the garage walls that were in the way of the new house walls.

Here is Danny on the roof when we had a roof.

In the process of taking the panels off. Trusses exposed underneath.

The roof is gone. Ready for building!

On Tuesday, Kent, Danny and Jim built one third of the outside walls of the second floor. I don't have pictures of that yet, but we'll get there. Then it rained last night. boooo. We are waiting on a delivery from Carter Lumber and the rain to let up before we start building again. 

(BTW, Stacey, I really miss your left handedness, maybe you need to make a trip to Athens for the weekend.)