Saturday, July 28, 2012

Owner Building a Home - Day 51 & 52 - First Floor Windows, Etc.

DAY 51


For the first time in a very long while we had a cloudy, misty, almost kinda rainy day.  But that is okay!  With the heat wave we have been having a day like this is welcomed.  It would have been nice to actually get more rain (maybe not the 3.5" a nearby town got) since the fields could use it and a rain day away from the house is welcome, too.  However, work continued.  If you look at the photos of when the roof went on, you notice the sheeting on the roof is missing at the peaks.  There is also no sheeting connecting the roofs over the house and the roof over the garage.  This day saw Mr.W on the roof filling in those missing pieces.  Like I said, he is the only one with safety training for working on the roof while being anchored down with a rope so we gladly handed everything to him and let him at it.  He cut the sheeting before I got there then I handed it up to him through the trusses while standing on a ladder.  Once again I state how much easier it is to build a roof on the ground.  The bill we got for craning it up is totally worth not having to do all this up-and-down-the-ladder-must-tether-to-the-roof stuff.  After the sheeting was down, the shingles went up. Those also had to be carried up a ladder, one bundle at a time.  I don't have enough padding on my shoulders so Mr.G got to carry them while Mr.W installed them.  It is a tiring job working up on that tall roof! 




While he was shingling, he also added the roof vents on the backside of the roof.  So now the roof is watertight and can vent.  The temperature in the house has lowered dramatically to a very comfortable temperature, especially with the breeze coming through the window openings.  While Mr.W was up on the roof, we continued to finish back framing and a whole bunch of other little things that just need doing.  We needed to move back the stair header to give us more headroom and to bring it up to code.  That stair header is only about 3 feet wide and has two LVL hangers attached to it.  Each of those hangers has 40 nails in it.  Times that by 2 and you have 80 nails that I was supposed to pull out while working with my arms above my head.  Can you only imagine how tired my arms were?  And I only did 20 nails.  That was all I could do!  They were not easy to pull and required more strength than I had left.  When Jay showed up, I gladly gave him the job and he finished the remaining 60 nails in about half the time it took me to do 20.  Sometimes my lack of strength hinders me and that frustrates me.  However, my arms are WAAAAAY more tone than they were before so these past few couple of months have certainly helped in that regard.  We needed to add a nailing surface for the drywall in the vaulted ceiling and in the tray ceiling.  See, boring stuff that needs to get done but everything looks the same afterwards.  That is okay.  I enjoyed being given a list and then just going at it.  Each of these little jobs are so important.  I added the insulation and vapor barrier and OSB around the tub opening in the kids bathroom so we can install that tub already so our plumber knows where the drain is.  We also brought in our corner tub but since the stair header was in the way, we couldn't get it up the stairs.  Towards the end of the day, Jay pushed more soil up by the front door so we can get started on the front porch sometime next week, maybe.  Sometimes progress seems really slow because you cannot see what you did but it is progress none-the-less.

DAY 52

Shingling and sheeting continued today so most of the roof is now watertight. There are a couple of small sections but those will be done soon.  Once again, it was Mr.W up there and we are so glad he is!  Then, just before lunch, the guys put in the first window!  Of course, they picked the largest window in the house, the living room picture window, which then makes it the heaviest, but you have to start somewhere!  Mr.W explained how windows are installed and then they put it in.  The kids and my mom and I all watched, the guys put it in and the kids cheered!







When you are looking at windows and figuring out what you want, you are not always sure how it is going to look.  I LOVE our windows and am so glad I went with the style I did.  After lunch they put in almost all the remaining main floor windows - only one kitchen window is still out.  They look so good but I imagine with the rest of the siding and a large 6" white trim, they will look FANTASTIC!


Any ideas of what the front door will look like?!  The entry system will not be installed until much closer towards the end of building to ensure it doesn't get damaged but let me tell you, it is BE.U.T.FUL!!

We continued to work on little "renovations" here and there to adjust window openings to their exact right location, to make room for heating ducts and generally make sure all the framing is just where it needs to be.  My dad was out with our family friend ("Uncle" Junior) to continue working on the plumbing and heating.  He often had questions about where sinks would be or what kind of faucets, how high the sinks were, etc. so I had to figure out some of those answers to make sure everything gets put in the exact right spot.  AJ joined Papa (my dad) up in the trusses to put together some pipes - AJ was so thrilled to be able to help.

I misplaced my camera at this moment so this is with Jay's phone
Each day we get one step closer to drywall stage, which is what is forcing us along right now.  We are not doing the drywall ourselves but have contracted that out and we have a schedule we need to keep.  Jay and I each spent time in the evenings at the site this week in order to get a little more accomplished - every little bit helps.  Next week Mr.W has to be out of town for a couple of days so we may end up going to the states for one of those days to pick up all the items I have bought and are waiting for me plus to check out the recessed lighting.  We will need those soon as electrical rough-in is not too far away.  We are only 1 hour from the Canada-USA border so it makes sense to do some cross-border shopping when the savings are substantial.  I am also able to use an American shipping address to save myself shipping costs when buying Ebay items so I have a number of things to pick up, including faucets and sinks, door levers and cabinet knobs and some school curriculum.  It is high time we made a day trip to get our stuff.

1 comment:

  1. Looking good! It has been nice to check out your blog while we were in town. Leaving tomorrow so maybe you will be moved in by the time we check next! Been thinking of you building in the heat and here we are in the middle of rainy season...brrr.

    ReplyDelete

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