The second floor interior framing is complete, so the rooms really take on a sense of volume and for the first time this weekend I could appreciate the true room sizes. Now it's almost impossible to convey a sense of that from any kind of flat photo or drawing, but that doesn't really stop me from trying.
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I pulled a real bonehead move going to the site Thursday night, and left my memory card out of my camera, missing lots of great clear weather to show off the progress that had been made. Almost all the roof rafters were in place, and the second floor really began to take shape, you got a sense of the volumes for the first time.
But then Friday night we had a bit of bizarre weather, a storm sort of skirted the area, and there was a strongly visible rainbow, and a dimly visible secondary rainbow as well. Luckily, I had my act together camera-wise.
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I didn't have ideal light to take pics last night, thanks to some rain clouds. But that doesn't really stop me. The water line is in and buried, and there are three hydrants along the way so I can have access to water in my yeard or in my barn. And the interior framing is all but finished, and the overhangs are fully complete for the second story roofline. The west wall got completely sided, and they finished out the fireplace enclosure with a little sloped roof like the plans call for.
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Rain shortened the day a bit yesterday, but nonetheless a good amount of progress. We were surprised to see a big trench for our water line running alongside the driveway. Not too much else looked different from the front, but the sheathing was in place on the roof of the garage. When we got inside, about half of the interior walls on the second floor were framed.
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Apologies to Upton Sinclair for the title. The north, east, and south walls of the second story are now framed, sided, and standing with windows installed. This thing looks like a house now (a house without a roof on it, but a house none the less). I was really surprised how visible it is from the streets to the east and south. And now you can see the decorative relief on the front of the house, looking more or less like it will look except for the finish. The first floor will have the same detail framing the doorway, but that's not installed yet because the porch isn't poured.
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The crew must have knocked off before the rain got serious. And it got serious, because there was mud all over our shoes when we were done stomping around. Since we don't have a roof yet, all the water went right in to the house. It can't be too bad a problem I guess, but you'll see a lot of water in these pictures.
The concrete didn't get poured, and I'm guessing it won't today either, because putting a truck out there on all the mud would be a problem. Hopefully it dries up soon.
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Three big things were evident when we showed up to the job site last night. The rafters were installed over the garage, which is clearly visible in the elevation. The front and back porches were prepared for pouring concrete, with the gravel installed, plus forms and rebar. And the front and back walls of the second floor are framed, but they aren't yet stood upright.
I took the usual pictures. But I also met our neighbors to the south, they seemed like a nice couple.
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My wife has commented that she has a hard time seeing how the finished house will look. Now we're far enough along that I can take a stab at manipulating the photos to try to get a better visualization.
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After Thursday's storm, no work was done on Friday, Saturday, or Sunday. Things picked up again Monday, but I didn't get out to the site until last night (Tuesday). We have the interior walls framed on the first floor. The metal beam in the garage is installed. Stairs to the second floor are built, and the deck is in place for the second floor. The missing first floor wall is framed, but not yet skinned with the Tyvek, and they've started setting up the rafters for the garage roof.
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Thursday saw a lot of progress. The place is starting to look like a house now. We got in and took pictures and policed the area fast, because a storm was rolling in.
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We resolved our discrepancy about the siding and moved on. Here's a lot more progress to look at.
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It's really amazing how fast these guys work. Monday they finished installing the beam and supports, rim joists, floor joists, and subfloor for the first floor. They built a staircase to the basement, got the windows delivered, and even installed a couple in the garage wall that was framed. The garage wall with the windows also got the overhang installed and the paneling under the soffit is in place.
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Last night's visit was exciting--much more lumber had been delivered, along with the steel beams and some other goodies. The sill plate was bolted onto the top of the foundation, and a couple of garage walls were framed. We got to see some of that Tyvek wrap in action, and actually hear it, because the 15 mph wind was making it flap around a lot which made a ton of noise. In fact, if you ever need to make a lot of really annoying noise, Tyvek house wrap may be the ideal solution.
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I wasn't really expecting progress on a Saturday, but when I showed up there was a Floor in the garage, and it looked super shiny. It had been sealed with acrylic sealer, and by the time I got there it was too late to do anything dumb like write your name in it. Which is probably all for the best.
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This is starting to look like a construction site. The first thing I noticed driving up is the stacked lumber. Once I got to the end of the drive (which now had gravel all the way up to the garage door), the rebar ready for pouring the garage floor caught my attention and held it until I looked into the basement and saw the debris cleared and the gravel added, ready for pouring the concrete floors. Now that's a lot of progress in a day.
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A lot of work was done when we came out to the site last night. There was sealer applied to our basement walls, parts of the foundation were backfilled, and the crushed stone base for the basement and garage floors was installed. Plus the plumbing for the basement is installed where the floor can be poured around it, and the inspection report was lying there that said it passed inspection. Plus excavator Mike started to build up the pad on the site where our barn will go, using clay from the excavation.
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With the forms off, you can see the basement walls much better. It's starting to look like a construction project.
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