Monday, September 26, 2011
Day 59 - 9/26/11
Our cement retaining wall is huge! I am completely not worried about our foundation.
Day 57 - 9/24/11
Well, a little nudging went a long way! Our house was spilling over with workers today and there was no rain! Yay!
The cement guys arrived first and they built the form for the retaining wall in the storage area next to the basement. Our architect came by to look at everything and he said the structure of the wall would be completely secure - they had rebar going vertically and horizontally into the existing wall.
The carpenter guys finished putting plywood on the roof. They also waterproofed it so now even if it rains, I shouldn't get any in the house!
It's amazing how much light one little window lets in. They haven't cut out the new bathroom window yet (see picture below), and our existing bathroom is not completely enclosed so it's dark all the time in there. :)
The cement guys arrived first and they built the form for the retaining wall in the storage area next to the basement. Our architect came by to look at everything and he said the structure of the wall would be completely secure - they had rebar going vertically and horizontally into the existing wall.
The carpenter guys finished putting plywood on the roof. They also waterproofed it so now even if it rains, I shouldn't get any in the house!
It's amazing how much light one little window lets in. They haven't cut out the new bathroom window yet (see picture below), and our existing bathroom is not completely enclosed so it's dark all the time in there. :)
Day 56 - 9/23/11
They installed support pillars in the garage that will hold the load from the new construction on the second floor. The nail gun missed again and we have a couple nails sticking through the dry wall next to our entryway...oops! Our contractor came to chat with us about progress and I sort of let him have it...in a mild way. He reassured me that all his guys are totally focused on our job now and gave us an estimated completion date of the end of October!
Saturday, September 24, 2011
Day 55 - 9/22/11
The roof rafters were put up today! I'm still worried about the rain that's supposed to come tomorrow, but it's nice seeing some progress on that front.
My husband is a little worried about the quality of some of the work - it looks like the nail gun missed one of the rafters completely and he wants metal brackets securing the angled beams to the main horizontal beam.
My husband is a little worried about the quality of some of the work - it looks like the nail gun missed one of the rafters completely and he wants metal brackets securing the angled beams to the main horizontal beam.
Wednesday, September 21, 2011
Day 54 - 9/21/11
I don't want to sound like a whiner, but I was promised a roof on Saturday. Carpenters didn't work on Saturday because it was "raining." Monday they built walls. Tuesday they came and made no progress. Today it actually didn't rain a drop and no one came. It's raining tonight and my house is going to get wet, I know it. Tomorrow there's a higher chance of rain, and Friday it's definitely going to rain. So when am I getting my roof? The contractor simply doesn't have a good explanation to why the work is so inconsistent. Everyone seems so concerned about getting the roof up because they want to be able to work without worrying about water damage, but when it's not raining, nothing gets done and then, lo and behold, it's raining again! The broken promises are getting quite frustrating. If you're not going to get something done, just tell me. Lower my expectations!
On a separate note, I was right about banks, although I'm still not sure if they're withholding information on purpose or because they think everyone knows this stuff. I went back today to give them a copy of my husband's pay stub and I learned that there's another fee involved with closing. Fourth time discussing this loan, first time hearing about this payment.
On a separate note, I was right about banks, although I'm still not sure if they're withholding information on purpose or because they think everyone knows this stuff. I went back today to give them a copy of my husband's pay stub and I learned that there's another fee involved with closing. Fourth time discussing this loan, first time hearing about this payment.
Day 53 - 9/20/11
Less got done today than I had hoped...the cement guys came and filled in the deck footings and the retaining wall footing. They also poured the foundation floor for the storage area.
The carpenter guys just covered the second story with plastic. Yup, that's all they did. My house is still going to get wet inside if they don't build a roof before it rains again.
The carpenter guys just covered the second story with plastic. Yup, that's all they did. My house is still going to get wet inside if they don't build a roof before it rains again.
Day 52 - 9/19/11
Now we have walls on the second story!
This side is where the new toilet will go. The left wall is an extension of the back of the house.
The right wall here is the back side of our garage. The wall will extend up a few more inches and then the new roof will enclose this story. Not sure how the rest of the wall gets built. Right now it's a little short and I don't know what the T-structure in the middle is.
It's a really big area...the second story will extend a bit into the existing garage. It's a little hard to picture, but the area above the garage and under the new roof will now become a large storage area, almost big enough to be a room. The access point into this storage area will be from our den.
This side is where the new toilet will go. The left wall is an extension of the back of the house.
The right wall here is the back side of our garage. The wall will extend up a few more inches and then the new roof will enclose this story. Not sure how the rest of the wall gets built. Right now it's a little short and I don't know what the T-structure in the middle is.
It's a really big area...the second story will extend a bit into the existing garage. It's a little hard to picture, but the area above the garage and under the new roof will now become a large storage area, almost big enough to be a room. The access point into this storage area will be from our den.
Day 50 - 9/17/11
Well, the cement guys came today and cleaned out water from the ditches and footings. The carpenter guys also came, but it was drizzling and they left soon after arriving. Ironically, the rain stopped soon after they left, so instead of getting a roof, we got nothing. Sigh.
Friday, September 16, 2011
Day 49 - 9/16/11
Today the cement guys were supposed to come and empty out the ditches...again... And they didn't come...again... They better come tomorrow, otherwise we won't be ready for inspection on Monday.
I also spent a lot of time at the bank today. Loans are very interesting things. And maybe it's just me, but bank people seem to be so reticent about what you have to do to get approved for a loan and how the loan process happens. Maybe they're just so used to it, they assume you know how everything works. But I can't imagine how people who aren't as persistent as I am have any clue what's going on. I'm asking questions all the time and making sure I understand stuff and I still learn something new every time I walk in there.
I also spent a lot of time at the bank today. Loans are very interesting things. And maybe it's just me, but bank people seem to be so reticent about what you have to do to get approved for a loan and how the loan process happens. Maybe they're just so used to it, they assume you know how everything works. But I can't imagine how people who aren't as persistent as I am have any clue what's going on. I'm asking questions all the time and making sure I understand stuff and I still learn something new every time I walk in there.
Wednesday, September 14, 2011
Day 47 - 9/14/11
They built the floor for the second story - I can now imagine my new bathroom!
Unfortunately, it also rained again. And we still have not poured the cement. And all the draining they did two days ago is wasted. Sigh.
So much drama! Not only is all the draining they did wasted, our whole house got wet! Here's how it happened:
It started raining around 7:30. I went down to play piano and after a while, I heard this rushing water sound. I went to check it out and water was dripping down from the basement ceiling again. It was enough that we put a bucket under it to catch it because the towel would have been overwhelmed really fast. After a few more minutes of piano, I go back and check and there's more water!
I go and grab more towels, but as I run upstairs and pass the kitchen, I notice water is running across the floor of the kitchen from the sliding glass door all the way to the stove! Now I'm panicked. I'm tossing towels everywhere, and moving things out of the way.
Then I go into the garage to see if everything's OK in there, since they took the roof off. Nope, things are not OK. There are streams of water coming from the ceiling in at least two places. I put out two more buckets and go outside to grab the garbage can to catch more water.
It's raining cats and dogs and my husband went out to see if he could see why there was so much leaking going on. It turns out the cause of problem was the plastic sheeting. The wind had torn part of it off the roof completely and ripped a hole in another section over the garage. One piece was sort of folded over and water was streaming down toward the house instead of away from it, which is why the kitchen got all wet.
Unfortunately, it also rained again. And we still have not poured the cement. And all the draining they did two days ago is wasted. Sigh.
So much drama! Not only is all the draining they did wasted, our whole house got wet! Here's how it happened:
It started raining around 7:30. I went down to play piano and after a while, I heard this rushing water sound. I went to check it out and water was dripping down from the basement ceiling again. It was enough that we put a bucket under it to catch it because the towel would have been overwhelmed really fast. After a few more minutes of piano, I go back and check and there's more water!
I go and grab more towels, but as I run upstairs and pass the kitchen, I notice water is running across the floor of the kitchen from the sliding glass door all the way to the stove! Now I'm panicked. I'm tossing towels everywhere, and moving things out of the way.
Then I go into the garage to see if everything's OK in there, since they took the roof off. Nope, things are not OK. There are streams of water coming from the ceiling in at least two places. I put out two more buckets and go outside to grab the garbage can to catch more water.
It's raining cats and dogs and my husband went out to see if he could see why there was so much leaking going on. It turns out the cause of problem was the plastic sheeting. The wind had torn part of it off the roof completely and ripped a hole in another section over the garage. One piece was sort of folded over and water was streaming down toward the house instead of away from it, which is why the kitchen got all wet.
Saturday, September 10, 2011
Day 43 - 9/10/11
It has finally stopped raining and work continued today with the demo of the garage roof.
We moved more stuff out of the garage and now most of it's in my living room...
They also cleaned up the debris from the basement ceiling and cut away all the wet drywall. They'll fix it once they start inside work.
They also cleaned up the debris from the basement ceiling and cut away all the wet drywall. They'll fix it once they start inside work.
Day 41 - 9/8/11
FLOOD! I think the only natural disaster we will avoid this year is a volcano. :) The four days of rain caused a little stream along the path behind our house, which swept large sheets of asphalt into our neighbor's yard.
Why is this relevant to our addition adventure, you ask? Well, as I ran into the basement to look at the path, I stepped into a puddle of water...ACK! It turns out the plastic on the deck keeping the plywood dry didn't accomplish much except force water under the floor into the ceiling of our basement. Luckily, it wasn't a ton of water and it just slowly dripped through the pot light onto the floor. There wasn't any damage and no books or papers got wet. My husband cut a hole in our ceiling to remove the wet drywall and prevent any puddling of water that might damage the beams.
We also cleared some of the stuff in our garage away from the construction wall toward the garage door - bikes and power tools, for the most part.
Why is this relevant to our addition adventure, you ask? Well, as I ran into the basement to look at the path, I stepped into a puddle of water...ACK! It turns out the plastic on the deck keeping the plywood dry didn't accomplish much except force water under the floor into the ceiling of our basement. Luckily, it wasn't a ton of water and it just slowly dripped through the pot light onto the floor. There wasn't any damage and no books or papers got wet. My husband cut a hole in our ceiling to remove the wet drywall and prevent any puddling of water that might damage the beams.
We also cleared some of the stuff in our garage away from the construction wall toward the garage door - bikes and power tools, for the most part.
Tuesday, September 6, 2011
Day 39 - 9/6/11
Rain, rain, go away, come again another day... It's supposed to rain all week. Maybe we'll have more walls by this weekend. We are supposed to clear the garage of stuff along the wall that's next to the new addition.
Thursday, September 1, 2011
Day 34 - 9/1/11
We have walls! They did tons of work today and our first floor is framed out. So exciting! Not sure what's going on with the cement for the storage area, but walls are good. I have to remember to ask if I'm getting electricity in the storage area.
This wall is where the sink/dishwasher will be. The sink will go under the window, and the guy is standing where the dishwasher goes. The wall to the right is where the stove goes.
The big opening here is where our sliding glass door that leads to the deck will be. The refrigerator goes in that corner.
This wall is where the sink/dishwasher will be. The sink will go under the window, and the guy is standing where the dishwasher goes. The wall to the right is where the stove goes.
The big opening here is where our sliding glass door that leads to the deck will be. The refrigerator goes in that corner.
Day 33 - 8/31/11
No work today because they had to order L-beams. What's an L-beam, you ask? Me too...that's why they invented Google!
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