Please Stand By

The plan was to temporarily cover the window openings with plastic, so the electrical work, dry walling, and so on could continue while we waited for the windows to arrive.  Unfortunately it gets really windy on the coast, and particularly lately, so that plan turned out to be too risky.  So, we're waiting 4-5 weeks until the windows show up. The delay has an upside, since it'll allow us to catch up on all the detailed choosing we're supposed to have finished by now (we're slow).

But not everything is on hold.  Check out this upwardly mobile Wisconsin rhubarb in our front yard that we thought was deceased after the lot was excavated.

Not Quite a Full Deck

The framers mostly finished on Thursday.  A lot of the work has been inside, only a little has changed on the front.

More changed on the back, where they finished framing the deck and balcony.  Now all we need is the actual decking.

The furnace guy has been busy, which is exciting but maybe not as photogenic.  Wow, that looks complicated!

Pipe Dreams

The plumbers showed up on Tuesday.  Here's the before picture.

And here's after (at least the kitchen part of it).

The framers have been busy with details, like the windows and deck.

Here's the night view.

And finally, the requisite outside shot from the same spot every week.  They're working on the roof over the entry.

Put a Lid On It

The roof is making progress.  Here's what the house looks like on July 6:

Here's the view from the inside.  Way shadier than it was.

They've also been bolting the second floor to the first.  Here's what they use.  I think it'll stay put.

A Little Imagination

Here what it'll look like someday.  Except there'll be neighboring houses and telephone poles and so on, and whoever those people are will have to move out.

For more renderings, look for 'Roads End' on http://gsarchitects.blogspot.com/2013_05_01_archive.html

Upward Mobility

It's June 29, and the framers have moved on to the second floor:

We have a stairway!

There turns out to be some interesting stuff on the way up the stairway.  These trusses will allow the heat ducts to be run through them.

Here's the upstairs master bedroom and the family room.  You have to use a little imagination...

And the upstairs guest bathroom (with trap door):

The Wall(s)

The framers made a lot of progress by June 22:

This is what fastens the house to the foundation.  There's one of these every few feet.  This house is way the heck more solid than the old house (bless its moldy heart).

These will fasten the second floor to the first, which seems like a good thing:

Here's (part of) one of the bolts that fastens the center of the house to the foundation, and the first floor to the second.  Neither wind nor earthquake nor tsunami will move this house from its foundation.  We hope.

 

Just a Moment

The next morning (June 17), they lifted the steel moment frame into place.  It turned out to be a stretch, but the crane operator was very adept.

Getting In on the Ground Floor

Sorry we got behind!  Here's how everything looked on June 16.  That's the steel moment frame.

Here's where the moment frame will be bolted.  The bolts in the background will fasten the house to the foundation.