What a LONG day!

I know I've said it before, but I'll say it again.  We really do have the BEST friends and neighbors.  We had a bunch of help taking our old roof off the front slope of the house.  We loaded it all into Rich's new trailer and it got hauled away to the dump.  

We started early one Saturday morning.  It went surprisingly fast!  First they ripped all the old stuff off, and then repaired a few of the roof boards.  We saved the back for another day.

The sky was grey and overcast for most of the day, and I kept thinking it was going to rain on us.

Once the shingles were off, Rich started framing out over the new entrance just a little bit.

You can see it better from this angle.

Then he built a nice little peak over the top.

Then sheeted it so it could be shingled.

Putting the metal flashing down the gutters, and the roof edge.

Meanwhile,  this is what was happening up on the roof of the addition.

It sure helped to have a couple different crews working.

Maren and Carlee had so much fun being the helpers, they spent the whole day up on the roof.

Here they are peeking over the edge in the backyard.  Look how high up they are!!

SO CUTE!!  You wouldn't catch me that close to the edge!

You can tell the sun is starting to set in the backyard and they're only half finished this part.

This is what it looked like when they were 3/4 finished.

And this is what it looked like outside when they finally were finished.

Like I said, it was a LONG day.  I am so grateful for everyone's help.  I hope I fed them well enough, and had enough drinks for them to make it all worth it!  We had Homemade Chicken/Vegetable soup and Herb Bread for lunch, and then for supper - when they were all done - we had Burgers with all the fixins.

On Monday they were back at it, finishing the back side of the house.  Once again, they tore everything off and slid it down the makeshift slide, into the trailer below.

They had to replace all the plywood along the bottom edge.  And then they shingled it all.

Sorry I don't have any pictures of the finished product, but you get the idea.  What a BIG job!  I'm so grateful to have it finished, and we had wonderful weather to do it in!

Framing it up - Roofing preview

We have walls!!  Aren't they great?  We framed up these walls so the plumbers could bring up the one piece tub before we close things in any more.  Here is what the upstairs will look like.

Here I'm standing in what will be the family room at the back looking west at the back bedroom.

Same room from the other side.

This is the bathroom taking shape.  It is in the middle of the north wall in between 2 bedrooms.

Here is the tub ready to go in, now how to get it up there?

Scaffolding has many functions I guess!

See - MORE lifting!  ugh!

It's final resting place.  We left the west wall of the bathroom laying on the ground so they had room to move in the tub.  After it was in then the last wall was put up.  All that's left to frame in are the closets.  yay!  More pictures of this to come later.

The shingles arrived the same day as the bathtub.  It was fun to watch them get them up to the roof.  They unfolded the arm.

Picked up the pallet

And up it went!

They put some on the existing roof, and some on the new roof.

Then they unloaded them all 1 bundle at a time, stacking them carefully.

I guess the shingling comes next!

Level Two - and I'm not talking about the mess level!

Here it is...I know you've all been waiting for it - the second level!!  All the tools and the wood were moved up onto the 'awesome' floor that Steve so painstakingly slaved over.  Then the walls started going up.  Here we go!  The first wall is up.  That opening in the middle of the wall is where the stairs will come up into the addition from the end of the hallway.  I hope to soon have a picture of that.

Here they are framing the back wall.  They sheeted this wall before they put it up to make it a little easier on themselves.

And, up it goes.  Thanks again for good neighbors and friends!

Somehow I missed the las 2 walls going up, but here is the view from the front. 

Now I'm sure you're wondering why they didn't sheet the front wall before putting it up.  Well here is why.  We needed a place to lift all the roof trusses through.

Thanks Dan for using your lunch break to help us out!

Drew and Rich always make a great team.  I'm glad I got these pictures in because it ended up being a 3 person job and I went up top to help Rich pull them through. 

You can see one truss already up there at the back.  We ended up lifting both ends and resting them upside down, suspended by the side walls.  I know that doesn't make any sense at all... and I don't think I have a picture of it.

Next we flipped them over, put them all up and braced them.

Sheeted the end ones.  I actually think they sheeted them before they put them up.  What smart guys!

This is the view of the front.

This is the view of the back.

Then Rich framed out the ends and then they started sheeting the roof. 

I'm glad it was them up there and not me!

SO - MUCH - LIFTING!

Thanks heavens for compressors and air staplers.

The plywood sheets fit into these fancy clips in between each rafter.

Drew in the middle with our other two helpers for the day - Or should I say 'monkeys'!  They were fearless about getting up on that roof!  Thanks Elder Young and Elder Kuettel.  We appreciate you!  Elder young literally hung and swung from the rafters!  haha!

Here is the view of the new addition driving North...

And driving south.

I think that's enough for today.  Sorry this turned into such a long post.  Next we framed in upstairs walls and then shingled.  You'll have to wait for those post.  Maybe tomorrow.  Or later today if I can't stand it any longer.  I'm almost caught up to where we are now!  woohoo!!