Farmhouse Addition - Week 21 Updates

After a little bit of rain Saturday morning, this weekend turned out some great weather for working outside.  We moved to the north elevation and completed the soffit and fascia, angled trim, and board and batten detail at the peak.  This is as far as we can go until the new roof is installed.

Angled trim, soffit/fascia and board and batten peak detail are installed and caulked.  This week I will hit with 2 coats of white paint.  I could only reach the left half of this peak from the lift, so I had to build a work platform to reach the right side. 

View from the ground.  It's great to be able to see some progress on the front of the house as you drive in.

Here's a cool picture Mike took of me in the lift.

Sunday morning we pounded in more 3" nails than I would ever care to do again to get the joist hangers fastened to the beam.  The existing roof is better supported now than ever!  

Here's a picture from the other direction.  Pretty solid!

 Mike tackled installing all the insulation baffles.  These keep the loose insulation from dumping out onto the soffit and also keep a channel for air to flow up along the underside of the roof. 

Here's a picture of the top work platform to reach the top of the peak.  It's not quite tall enough, so I had to set up a ladder on top of it to reach the peak.  It's not the most secure feeling being up there, but is definitely stable!  (note - the ladder is not setup - its just sitting there in the picture!)

 We also spent a while cleaning out the garage.  There was leftover siding trim, lumber, etc.  Now there isn't much of anything left!  This cleanup is in preparation for filling the rest of the garage with sand and ultimately getting the floor poured!

Cleaning the garage involved moving a lot of lumber - what better way to do that than with the concrete buggy!

Down in the basement you can see the final column placement.  This puppy runs 3 stories!  It is sitting on the new thickened pad.  With the joist hangers in and beam fully supporting the roof, we also removed the temporary support walls.

And, of course, the Shop Kitty pic of the week!  Hangin out on her corner of the couch, limbless.

Farmhouse Addtion - Week 18, 19 & 20 Updates

Progress over the past 3 weeks has been very strong!  Things are getting finished as fall is quickly approaching.

Siding was completed up to within 5' of the peak.  From here up will be a board and batten detail.  Notice the two green things on the siding - these are Gecko Gauges (http://www.pactool.us/geckogauge/).  You simply flip a lever and the pair of them will hold a 16' piece of siding up all by themselves.

Moving to the inside of the house - I had to cut out a 2' x 2' hole in the basement to pour a 12" thick pad footing to receive the column for the new truss beam support.  It was not fun chipping out concrete, digging a hole and pouring it all back.  It was endless buckets of material up and down the stairs.

To install the column in the south wall involved displacing the furniture in our bedroom.  Then I put up a plastic enclosure to contain the dust.

Here is the column partially installed.  It is made up of (3) 2x4's that run from the top of the concrete block wall in the basement to the top of the 2nd floor ceiling to support the new beam.  The joints are staggered for strength, which you can see in this picture.

 

Here are the three beams that will support the existing and new roofs.  Instead of a wall supporting the roofs, this beam will in its place.  The beams are 14' long, 14" tall, and weigh a lot (+100lbs each).

Looking from the top of the stairs to the west.  Lots of dirty old wood.

Underneath the carpeting in Erin's craft room turned out to be some retro flooring!  Might come back in style some day!

Standing south, looking north towards Erin's craft room.  The ceiling has been removed and rafters exposed.  The new beam will support everything you see in this photo.

More plastic was installed to protect Erin's craft room contents from dust.

Looking west - Here you can see the beam in place.  The wall you are looking through will now no longer be needed and can be removed to create the future open stair concept.

Beam insatlled!  It is crazy beefy.  To the right of the beam you can see the "sandwich" we had to make to stiffen the existing rafters.  2x4's were pieced in, then a piece of plywood was fastened to either side of the truss to stiffen it.  Just to get the trusses reinforced took a whole day.  You can also see the temporary support wall under the rafters.  There is one of these on each floor to the basement to carry the load of the roof while we cut away material to get the beam in.

This week we also received the trusses for the existing house!  The last big item left to complete this year! 

 

Back to siding now...here's a picture of the top condition at an outside corner.  Quite a bit of cutting/fitting to get these corner pieces to integrate with the horizontal trim and trim board that follows the roof slope.

 By the end of this weekend, soffit and fascia were installed, board and batten finish painted, and one coat of grey on the next level down.  I'm pushing to get this high work done, as my lift is disappearing shortly and the scaffold you see here won't go much higher than it currently is!  It's starting to look like something now!

 Saturday morning, 9/13 - first frost of the 2014 fall season!  Not ready for this!

Thanks to my father-in-law Mike, I am the new Owner of this cool free shed.  His neighbors loaded it on to the trailer and Mike drove it out on Saturday.  Now...what to put in it?  I will probably stick my my firewood for heating the house in it to keep it snow free this winter.  It is 8' x 10', so it will hold a lot!

Shop Kitty pick of the week - owning the couch.  You may notice the scenery has changed - Erin and I decided to adopt Shop Kitty and bring her in the house.  It was hard to see her get all wet during rain and didn't want her to loose anymore of her only 6" stub tail this winter.  Her and Tippy are both adjusting to having a room mate!

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