New Remodeling Blog

Jeff and I have decided to create a new blog dedicated to the remodeling project where we will be co-authors.  All construction news from here on out will be posted at http://jaremodel.blogspot.com  (easy to remember: J A Remodel)

The brick post is over there as well.

Brick

We picked out a brick today.  Had to order it, but here is a photo:

of course, every monitor is different, and while I adjusted the color of this photo so that it looks really really like the actual brick on MY monitor, what you see could be totally different. And our mortar joints won't have that line in them.  So, you'll just have to come visit and see it in person once the fireplace is built.  :oD

Windows and other updates

Ok, so the windows are in. This should be very exciting, and it was when we first saw them. However, the excitement has been tempered a bit by the discovery that the guys neglected to install the sill flashing before setting the windows. The roll and the instructions were sitting right on TOP of the windows in the garage, but they just threw it on the floor (apparently) and ignored it. So now we have to decide whether we want to 1. just not put the sill flashing in, 2. Jeff try to take the windows out himself and flash them (not likely, they’re VERY heavy) or 3. get the guys back here to redo it and risk them damaging the windows taking them out and reinstalling them. Obviously, none of these are particularly appealing options, and it is SO frustrating to not be able to get anyone to do ANYTHING right. I just feel crappy about the whole thing.

On a brighter note (hopefully) the mason is coming Saturday to start working on the fireplace. He should be able to get the whole firebox built, but will need 3 more days to build the chimney. This is an inherent constraint of working with brick—you can only stack up so much at a time, because it gets too heavy and will start squashing the mortar. So you stack so many courses, let the mortar harden, and come back for more. Unfortunately (I seem to be typing that word too often lately) he is working in Raleigh for the next few weeks, so the 3 days he works on the chimney will be 3 Saturdays…. so that won’t be completed for a while. And we can’t get the framing inspected till the chimney is done, which holds us up being able to insulate and sheetrock.But, what can ya do.I’m sure the time will go quickly, and we don’t have set dates for the electrician and mechanical guy to come either, so depending on their schedules the chimney might not even delay things all that much.

Oh, and one other setback… going back to the framer. He was always going to shingle the roof. It was part of his original estimate, it was never discussed as any kind of problem, etc. But when he showed up Monday, he told Jeff that his guys “didn’t want to do it.” So now we need to get a roofer too, which is undoubtedly going to be more expensive. ::sigh::

Thursday, we’re going to look at bricks for the inside of the fireplace (not the firebox, but the raised hearth and the exposed brick surrounding the opening)

I’ll keep ya posted.

Living Room Ceiling

For today's project, we decided to tear down the horrible "octagonal tray ceiling" in the living room.  This silly thing not only looked totally idiotic, but also completely destroyed any air currents created by the ceiling fan when it was turned on, so it had to go.  Since that room is now half framing anyway, why not now?

We moved the rest of the living room furniture into the future dining room, and actually set it up as a living  room, so we'll actually have a real room to retreat to now when we need to get away from the construction.  I should take a picture tomorrow, since I didn't do it today.  Then Jeff started tearing down the sheetrock on the living room ceiling, exposing the most completely absurd framing job either of us had ever seen.  I would have taken more pictures, but my camera battery died (the new one, I swear, I'm battery-impaired or something) and it wasn't recharged till after everything was down.  

Seriously though, it was like some guy just randomly started throwing 2x4's up there and when it looked like he had enough he covered it with sheetrock.  It was all made of random pieces fitted together every which way, with the triple 2x4 that was ostensibly holding the frame to the ceiling not actually attached to the ceiling... so the frame was really holding it up....  no wonder it had separated about 1/8 of an inch since we moved in.  And other, totally useless, boards were nailed to the wall with like, 15 nails.  Of which 10 didn't actually hit anything but sheetrock.  Yeah.  

So, here's a couple pics showing the living room after the ceiling was taken down and we'd hauled all the debris out and put it in the truck for Jeff to take to the recycle center in the morning.  You should have seen the pile, but unfortunately that potential picture was lost to the dead battery as well.   Maybe I'll take a picture of the loaded truck in the morning.

MESS!

Ugh.  The scene that greeted us when we got home today was not quite as nice as yesterday.  Yes, the second floor and roof are framed, and they're lookin' good from outside:

Inside, on the other hand, is another story...

All their tools, scraps, debris, just littering the bedroom, guess they didn't think we'd need a place to sleep tonight.  And worse than that, they left the window openings wide open!  Hello?  Jeff is out there now covering them with plastic.  ::sigh:: I sure hope they're planning to come back tomorrow.

Here's the disaster area outside:

Addition!!!

Ok, I know it's been WAAAAY too long since I posted anything, but here I am again, with great news. Most people who read this blog already know pretty much the state of things (which is part of why it's so easy to neglect posting) but most of you haven't SEEN the latest, so here goes. Since many of you also haven't seen the previous few stages, I'm going to take the advice of Mary Poppins, a very wise woman: "Let's start at the very beginning, a very good place to start"

The beginning: If you have no idea what I'm talking about, go into the archives and read about the hassle we had getting a variance for this thing, and look at the floor plans. :D

The hole:



The footing:
(too bad they poured the fireplace footing WAY too big, so there's like 2 feet of concrete hanging out past the chimney foundation, and they didn't pour the wall footing quite wide enough so the wall is sitting RIGHT at the very edge... but oh well, the inspector didn't care)


The foundation:Now we're getting somewhere! Actual construction! This was very exciting, and I'm happy to say that despite a dubious job on the concrete work, the brick is very well done. This was a little stressful in addition to being exciting, because the foundation LOOKED really small compared to the vision in my head. Foundations ALWAYS look smaller than you expect, but it was still unnerving.


The new condenser:
Even though I'm totally not an Air Conditioning person, having it down here where it's regularly in the 90's or 100's for weeks or more at a stretch during the summer is pretty important. Our old condenser was barely big enough for the house without the addition, and it was also in pretty rough shape. So here's the shiny, new (BIG) 4 ton unit.


The First Floor:
They framed the first floor Wednesday (unfortunately had to redo a lot of it Thursday, since they framed all the window openings the exact size of the windows) and then Thursday they closed it in and covered it with the second floor. I think Jeff's body language says it all.


And finally, drumroll please......

The Living Room!
Because of the way the existing house is framed, we needed a pretty substantial beam to hold up the outside wall of the house. To put the second floor on, they needed to put the beam in, and to do that they had to break through into the house, even though the windows aren't in yet. So when we got home, it was to a HUGE (in comparison to the original) new living room. The space is bigger than it seemed from outside, and feels really really good. the window sizes look good, everything is living up to "the vision" and we're really really excited. (The post in the opening there is temporary, they just didn't get to taking it out yesterday.) This photo is probably more meaningful to those who've seen the house as it was, but trust me, it's a HUGE difference.

They're planning to have the second floor framed today, and break through into the bedroom, which means.... YES! no more sleeping on the floor! We've been sleeping on a mattress on the floor for 15 months due to not being able to get our box spring up the stairs. Before they put the windows in, the framers are going to put the box spring in through the wall. So tonight, we should have a bed.

I'll post more tomorrow :-D