Day 43 - Front Porch Concrete Pouring

Fiona and I went over to the house this morning to find a cement truck on site, and concrete being poured for the front porch. I thought the cement truck would be really exciting to Fiona, but she was more interested in the lawn tractor at the ball field across the street. Well, the cement truck was exciting to me at least.

We also have some more framers on site now. You can see the master bedroom window area is now sheeted, where it was still open yesterday.  I'll have more pictures later in the day.


Later in the day...

Our new front porch.

A little work with a brush and a hose to get a nice exposed aggregate finish.

Day 41 - Shingles Complete. Heating, and Windows Coming Soon

The roofing company arrived yesterday, as promised, and started shingling the roof. By this afternoon, they were done, and it looks great.

It appears the heating contractor was also on site today, as the old furnace is now sitting in the front room, and a bunch of the old duct work has been removed.

The attic space where the furnace used to be.

Old furnace awaiting disposal.

Another encouraging sight was the stack of new windows in the living room.  Presumably we'll see these getting installed soon.

Day 37 - The Back Roof is Up, and the Beaver is Back

Things slowed down at the house for a few days, but we're moving forward again now with getting the roof completed.  We're told that roofers should be in on Tuesday to get the shingles on.

On Thursday, Fiona and I took a walk along the creek and found a new beaver dam under construction a couple meters downstream from the previous one that was washed out by the heavy rains.  Tomorrow I'll go back to see if it's gotten any bigger, and maybe knock it down

Day 32 - Starting to Look Like a House Again

The house moved a big step closer to the final product over the weekend. The trusses quickly went into place on the new dormer, and by Sunday afternoon, we had a roof again.  We're really impressed with the new look of the house, even though there's still quite a way to go.

Day 30 - The Turret is Down

Approaching the house tonight, it looked a lot like a victim of hurricane Katrina, with a gaping hole in the roof and a pile of rubble in the yard.  But this is where we really get down to changing the look of the house on the outside.

When we checked on the house around noon, the turret and the gable on the right side were still in place, but there was a large opening in the roof where the new trusses would go.

We returned a while later to find the truss company's crane on site and took some video while they lifted plywood, trusses, and a large beam up to the second floor.

I took a few still shots during the process as well.

A hole was cut in the side of the house in order to get this large beam into the top floor.

On the first attempt at  placing the beam, the straps were spread too far apart and didn't allow the crane to get the beam in far enough.  This is the second attempt with the straps place closer together.

The right hand strap needs to be released now to allow the beam to be pushed in further.

One strap is released to allow the crane to swing the beam in further.

The beam can now be hauled inside and raised into place with jacks.

Still later in the evening, we returned to find "the turret" finally down, and lying in a heap in the front yard.  The framing for the master bedroom's front wall and windows was up, and we could start to see the vague outline of the house's new facade.

First look on arriving at the house tonight.  Shades of hurricane Katrina.

You can see the framing for the new bedroom windows in the center.

The front corners become closet space in the new design.

Standing amongst the wreckage. Anybody need a tub, or a toilet?

The master bedroom view.

Camille and Fiona wave from the street.

View of the destruction from above.

A bundle of new trusses waiting to be put into place.

We're looking forward to seeing the front of the house really start to take shape over the next several days. A lot of the work for the past couple of weeks has been necessary preparation, but visually, less dramatic. Now we're into the major part of the face lift that everyone's been waiting for.

Day 29 - The Turret is Coming Down

We didn't expect to see turret and roof demo starting until Saturday, but Fiona and I walked by this afternoon to find people working on the roof, and a hole in the top of the turret.

I didn't have the camera with me at the time, so these first shots and the video, were taken with my phone's camera. Here's the rather lengthy video clip first.

We came back a little later with the good camera, and the roof was off the turret.

Inside, there's been a bit more progress.

We now have a floor at the top of the stairs where there was a big hole before.

The floor continues down the new hallway.

There is a small step down when entering the master bedroom.  It looks a bit small now, but the ceiling will be raised when the new trusses arrive, which should be tomorrow afternoon.

Looking back toward the entry to the master bedroom and what's left of the turret in the left corner.

Looking at the old master bathroom. This will be closet space, and the new bathroom will be pushed back to where I'm standing.