Farmhouse Addition - Week 17 Updates

Week 17 was another great weekend of siding activities.  Suprisingly, I'm not tired of installing siding yet (my helpers may very well be!), but I am glad areas are getting finished so we can move onto something else. 

The 20% chance of rain turned into a downpour for 2 hrs on Saturday.  Not completely a lost day though - by 2pm, the rain cleared up and we were back to siding on the west side.  During the rain, Mike and I ran to Menards to pick up a bath tub and other plumbing stuff.


Window sashes are installed in the large master bedroom window.  If you remember from last week, they were shipped separately to be installed after the frame was in.  The smaller window to the right will be left out to allow for materials to be loaded in (drywall, etc).

West hallway - the two small windows are installed.

Erin's craft room - both windows are now installed!

Huge progress was made on the east side!  Outside of the corner piece to the right and the last piece of siding, this side is complete!

 Mike finished removing the weeds from the dirt pile.  It looks much smaller without 6' weeds on it!

On the south side, I repaired some Tyvek that ripped, installed about 6 rows of siding and put up the first 8" trim board under the soffit.  Looks great!

Here's a better view of the south side - siding is almost to the top of the windows!  We actually ran out of siding or we could have gone up further!  More siding is being delivered on Friday.

 

Another view looking east - looking great!  

 View looking west.  The windows look great with glass installed!

I worked into the dark Friday night to finish demo in the upstairs room of the existing house.  There is actually a shortage of dumpsters with the construction boom in the area and I got a call on Friday that my dumpster is being recalled as I have already had it for many weeks.  So, I tried to get as much demo debris in it as possible - although it is not that full!

Our apple trees are working equally as hard.  Two of three produced apples this year and we have already picked some.

Shop Kitty pic of the week - chillin up on the deck with the warm weather.

That's it for this week!  Stay tuned for week 18 updates from the long Labor Day weekend.  Maybe the south side will be complete!

Farmhouse Addition - Week 15 & 16 Updates

The past two weeks have been a whirlwind of activity.  Last weekend Erin and I took the weekend off (I know - it's unbelievable) and traveled to Illinois to visit family.  It was my Grandma's 90th birthday party on Friday, dinner with friends and family at the famous Twin Anchors rib joint in Chicago on Saturday, and our cousin's baby shower on Sunday. 

Relating to our house project, during some spare time on Saturday, Erin and I went to a few garage sales in Illinois.  We were just about to head back home, when we were drawn to a sale down a side street.  Now typically garage sales don't excite me, but when there was a tablesaw sitting in the driveway, my interest was sparked.  The wife of the house was running the sale - they had a nice selection and what really peaked my interest were a display of beer signs in the corner.  After some discussions on price, the wife told me to wait until her husband gets back and haggle with him on the price.  There was a sale across the street, so we went over there and as Erin was browsing, I was watching like a stealth hawk for the husband to return.  I got sidetracked helping Erin look through things when all of the sudden I look across the street and see the husband had returned!  We head back across the street and I locate "the man".  I inquire about the Dos Equis beer sign on display and he is very friendly (I could tell he was a fellow handyman like myself) and he offers to power the signs up.  After looking over the 8 or so signs he had up, he asks me what kind of sign I am looking for.  I ask him what other signs he has.  He tells me I should just come into his basement as he has others on display. 

As we decend into the basement, before my eyes is the mecca of beer paraphernalia - this guy definitely had the mancave of mancaves.  One-by-one, the guy shows me around the perimeter of his basement, illiminating each beer sign and giving me a 60 second synopsis of it's traits - this guy was a true expert.  After we get all the way around, I finally decide on a Rolling Rock beer sign - the thing was a wicked cool green color.  Meanwhile, outside, the wife informs Erin that I had been brought into their basement and she should sit down, because it is going to be a while!

As we are removing the beer sign from the wall, the guy inquires if I like beer.  Of course, I say.  He proceeds to show me his homemade keg-erator which holds 2 full size kegs.  He tells me he would offer me a glass of Stella, but laughs because he ran out last night.  Instead, he insists I take a bottle of a beer brewed locally in Chicago and tells me all about where it is brewed, etc and even invites me to pop it open and have a beer with him!  I tell him I should get back to my wife - as we walk out, I continue to have major mancave jealousy when I see the mantle over his fireplace which is capped by 12 beer tap handles perfectly spaced across the top. 

So, behold, the first addition to the mancave garage - currently under construction, but projected to be complete Summer '15!

 

Week 16 was back to work on the farmhouse.  The crew made a ton of progress!

Tying into the NW corner of the addition involved removing siding from the existing house.  Suprise!  There used to be a window there.  I had to put in a few studs and some sheathing to cover this back up.  When the sided the house, they didn't install any sheathing here which is how you can see the insulation in the wall!

View from the garage side.  This weekend we installed the large master bedroom window, trimmed it out and ran the siding up.  All that remains now is to install the top trim band, soffit and fascia!  And caulking...and paint...and garage doors...  TONS of progress nonetheless! 

Looking NW.  No action on the south side with the large peak, but the garage side looks awesome!  The window, believe it or not, was one piece.  To get it up there, Mike had the great idea to lift it from inside the window opening with two straps.  It worked great!  It was shipped without the glass, so that really cut down on the weight.  I still have the 6 window sashes to lift up and install - is why the window openings look empty.

Mike and dad went ganster on the giant weeds on the dirt pile.  I knew it was serious when Mike grabbed the cordless circular saw and started cutting off the weeds because they were so at the base!

View from the SW corner - the side wasn't even started before this weekend!  We installed Tyvek, set the windows, ran up the siding and even installed the horizontal band board that you can see by carefully looking 2 rows of siding down from the top.

  
View looking east.  Because it was so warm and humid this weekend, we worked on this side until early afternoon and once the sun was on us, we flipped to the west side, which was in the shade then.

 The "cutest" window in the house.  The middle window opens  - the others are fixed.

Hard to see, but we installed a vertical trim board in the NW corner of the new/old house.  It involved removing the old storm window and cutting out the old siding to get just enough clearance to install it.

View from the inside.  The triple window will greet you when you walk from the garage into the house.  The single window to the right is in the powder room.  For taller guys using the facility, you will be able to relieve yourself while gazing at nature out the window.  If gazing is not your thing, this window also opens to provide the smell of nature, if required :-)

And of course, no Dan's Wood update can be complete without a shop kitty picture.  Looking a little prissy here, like "why you lookin at me"?

Stay tuned for week 17 - more siding/windows/soffit/fascia!  Thanks for reading! 

Dan & Erin

Farmhouse Addition - Week 13 & 14 Updates

Over the past two weeks there has been a ton of action at the farmhouse - namely siding and windows!  Thinking back to the start of this project (only 14 weeks ago), I am amazed at how well things have gone to date.  

After quite a bit of deliberation, pricing things out, etc, we decided to go with LP Smart Side as our exterior material.  It is a manufactured wood product that is stamped to look like cedar boards.  It comes primed in 16' lengths and will be painted once installed.  Selecting this product and knowing we would have to paint it was a disadvantage, however paints have come a long ways in the recent years and now will hold up for up to 15 years before requiring re-painting.  Other siding products such as vinyl are easy to install, but tend to fade over time - and then the only choice you have is to replace it.  

The familiar picture looking at the front elevation.  Notice the siding completed around the garage door openings.

The front elevation of the garage.  We completed this side in one day, on 8/3.  It went very well now, that we have the hang of installing the siding.  Note that this color is only the primer color - we will apply the finish coat in our color scheme.  Also, notice the 8" board 4 rows down from the top - this will be the break between the upper and lower paint colors.

Closeup of the garage door.  The jambs (white parts) are faced with PVC trim which holds up better to the wear and tear you would encounter here and is also more water resistant at the bottom.  If you look closely above the opening, you can also see a block for mounting a light fixture.  There is one above each door - we will pick out a farm/industrial style light fixture that will provide downlight over the garage door opening.

 Looking to the south - everything looks straight!

Inside the garage looking south - windows are installed.  These are awning style windows, so the bottom cranks out and the top is hinged.  They will provide good ventilation.  

SW corner - great progress on the south side of the house.  It was quite a bit of work trimming out all the windows, installing the horizontal band, etc.  Notice the windows are also installed at the second floor.  These were quite heavy, but install went fairly well.  Notice the Tyvek wrap hanging down - more on this to come!

Hard to get a good picture of the installed windows with the scaffolding in the way, but here is a pretty good picture.  We elected to go with Marvin metal clad windows.  They have a grille in the upper window and the bottom is clear.

SE corner looking east - nice and straight!  The little block towards the bottom of the picture is for a hose spigot.

A closeup of one of the little awning windows.  LP Smart Side requires you leave 3/16" gap at all joints which you can see around the window trim.  At the joints in the siding, we elected to use a trim piece which covers the seam.  They are white now, but will get painted to match the siding and will disappear.  

So, the first equipment failure.  While installing the Tyvek wrap above the second story windows (about 25' off the ground), the lift decided to blow a hydraulic hose.  Luckily, my very handy brother, Ted, was able to come over and remove the defective hose and we will get a replacement one ordered.  So, I get a break from high work for now!

Picture of another window.  Here you can also see the horizontal band board to break up the upper/lower colors.

SE corner looking west.  The smaller window you can see not installed will actually be left out for materials access such as drywall, etc.  The delivery truck will be able to just boom it up into the window.

 Looking up at the SE corner - the rows lined up very nicely!  I pre-fabricated the corners in the shop so all we had to do was tip them up and nail in.  It is definitely the way to go!

As you can see, lots of progress, but lots left to go also!  The next step is to get the large master bedroom window installed and complete siding on the east side.  

Unfortunately, I have no new shop kitty pictures, so I thought I would post an old one!

Until the next update, enjoy the summer!