Love/Hate Relationship

Just a quick post today...a little short on time.

I have a love/hate relationship with the following construction device.....

...the Air Compressor.  I Love to hear it running because that means things are happening and we are getting ever closer to being finished. But, it's soooo annoying!!  On and off, on and off, on and off!   Ugh!  Strangely, I have gotten used to the sound and don't really hear it when it's going.

We had an extra one here on the weekend while we were shingling the roof(pics to come soon), and I should have taken a picture of that one too.  It was extra FUN to have two going - taking turns turning on and off.  

I haven't heard it at all today and I hate to say it, but, I think I miss it!  Hahaha!  Never happy am I?

Worth Waiting For!

While the bathroom mess was happening we were also preparing to enlarge our front entrance.  This is what it looked like before....ignore the ladder...use your imaginations.

The plan is to enlarge the front entrance and widen the stairs and also lengthen the treads.  So here is Steve ripping the drywall off so this wall can move over.  We moved the whole wall over to where the wall at the back of the front entrance closet was.  Did that make any sense? I was confused when I was typing it!  You'll get the idea as we go along.

Kicking out the drywall from the cubbyhole - all you Websters know what I'm talking about.

Here is Drew again, finishing up the job - removing all the studs.  

This is the view from the landing to the basement.  This wall is moving over too....it's all gotta go!

We hung some blankets so Drew can have a little privacy until we get the drywall finished.

And re-framed the wall downstairs.  Look at all the storage - i'm being overrun with stuff.  I have to keep emptying closets!

So, while all of this was happening inside...this is what was happening outside: Drew took the sheeting off under the eaves

They got all the wood ready to go, and they started framing the entrance.

The walls are up - just need to make sure everything is level.

It already looks so different!  You can see the opening for the door and a window above.

Now for the sheeting.

So, the house stayed this way for few days until Rich decided it was a good day to take out our front door.  Sorry for the awful picture...but you get the idea.  Now when he went to put in the new door, we didn't have everything we needed.  So we were left with plywood covering the hole for a few days. 

But here is the final product.  We got the existing wall cut away, the door installed, the electrical in and the insulation finished.  This is what we have now.

Definitely, worth the wait!!

Okay, Okay!!

Well, I have been getting  a bit of ribbing around here because I haven't been updating the blog enough.  Sorry, but there is a lot going on around here lately!!  haha!  Actually I read an article on blogging and it said that you should blog everyday.  Even if it is just a quick note or thought.  I am guilty....I do not blog every day.  I thought I have been doing better than my last attempt at a blog - 1 post every year!  =)


So, without further adieu, remember that bathroom?  Well we took it to the extreme.  We ended up gutting the hallway bathroom as well.  The tub in there has leaked for years and everything was starting to look and smell a little funky.  We replaced most of the plywood flooring and then put the toilet back in and installed a new tub (Thanks Kyle!).  And this is how it still sits today.  Awaiting the rest of it's facelift!


Here is Drew, replacing the floor.  We also had to take out the wall between the two bathrooms, then install the new tub and then put the wall back up.  What a job!

Here the wall is back up...and you can see the toilet in the boys bedroom.

The new Tub!  It's beautiful...and it doesn't leak!

Here is my nephew, Kyle, doing the rough in work for the 1/2 bath toilet and sink. 

The toilet finally get's moved back to his home.  We'll only have to move him out once more to do the tile. 

The view from the boys room. A new wall framed in for a proper door - no more slider!  yahoo!!!

This is a piece of our high quality tub that was removed. (note the sarcasm in my voice)  Can you believe that it was only corrugated cardboard with the tub coating sprayed on the front and fiberglass sprayed on the back?  The layers weren't even that thick.  No wonder it was cracked and leaking!   Bye Bye!

What's in a name?

Well, I went away for the day and came home to find out that the garage walls had been poured (sorry no pics of the finished foundation walls =-0 Sorry!) and the front entrance floor had been poured.  Hence the title of this post.  We decided to put our names on it!  Too bad we'll never see them again - the walls got framed over top!

Fill 'er up!

Big thanks again to Shane, and his sweet little helper, Lucy, for helping us with the back fill. Again we started with the front entrance so we could get that framed and have our front door back again. Here's how it went. First they used the dirt from our huge pile in the front yard to backfill the outside of the foundation walls so he could get closer to the pit.

Hello Lucy!!

Then he backed up the truck and filled the pit with gravel. We didn't fill it with dirt because it would be hard to pack it hard enough. If it doesn't get packed enough then the ground will shift a lot and then the cement pad we pour for the floor may shift and crack. We used a lot of gravel in this hole!

Then we moved it all around and filled in around the edges and front so we could have a level surface. Easy Peasy! Of course I was only holding the camera!

Strong Foundations....Continued.

After the footings were done they put up the forms for the foundation walls. Here's how they do it. First they sprayed the inside of these boards with a special oil...so they can get them off after. Then they measure twice...using some special tools. then they start assembling. It is noisy! Lots of banging. They are reinforced with re-bar inside - see picture below.

The front entrance

The garage

Then the cement truck comes to fill them up and they cure overnight. We had our front entrance done first so we could use the front door again. We were tired of having a pit in the front yard and having to go around the back of the house all the time. Especially when visitors came.

Here he is putting rebar up vertically so that when we pour the cement floor over top it will be attached to the pad. This should help it from settling and cracking.

Then they take the forms off, it cures for a week and then we can backfill and pour the floor.

sorry about the lack of pictures of the finished foundation. I was busy for a couple days there and missed a few before pics.

Make sure you stay tuned...there's LOTS more exciting things to come. Things are happening fast now!