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
No comments:
Post a Comment