Day 132 : The porch is almost done

Work continued yesterday, even on a rainy Saturday. The result is an almost finished deck railing (with only a few boards and the cables are missing) as well as porch. We'll only need a few more of those shake siding planks in the gable and a coat of oil on the cedar and fir wood. Oh, and the ceiling fan with light. But that all seems like minor items now. We're getting close...

Here are a few photos that I took today (Sunday) with my wide angle lens for a change:

Day 128 : A very busy day...

We had a big day today. I counted at least 12 cars at the site when we visited around noon time. There may have been more... it seemed like an extremely busy place with people almost stepping on each other's toes.

But let's start from scratch: The kitchen cabinets and bathroom vanities had been delivered yesterday. By noon today, the first wall cabinets have been installed already.

Then we had one crew painting doors and another one installing all the trim (baseboards, door frames) and the wide hardwood window sills. Here is an example of the window sills:

Next was the flooring team that was wrapping up the floor installation in the basement with bamboo and then continuing with the floor tiles in the master bath.

The electricians were back as well and started installing outlets, lights and switches. However, I found them installing the wrong type of devices. Half a day's work needs to be redone tomorrow when they bring the Decora type switches we specified... It was again an oversight or miscommunication on their side, but it only shows that you really have to watch every single step.

And last but not least: The framing crew was also back, completing the cedar pergola and starting on the deck railing system:

On the porch side, the EzeBreeze windows were installed in part today and one section on the inside got finished with fir tongue and groove boards. All of the sudden, this room has a completely different character. Hard to describe with photos, but I believe this will be one of our favorite places to hang out, not just in the middle of summer.

Today may have been the last really warm day of the season with temps around 80F. We are entering a rainy phase over the next few days, so keep your fingers crossed that at least some work on the outside can continue.

Day 67 : More porch details

Here are a few more photos of the porch from Saturday. With that truss design, we will have "cathedral ceilings" in that room. :-)

We will the porch from the kitchen/dining area and then there will be a door leading to the deck. It is just slightly bigger than our old porch and there is plenty of deck space left for our big round outdoor table that seats eight.

The crew also continued framing in the basement and started lowering the ceiling on the main floor as you can see here in the master bedroom. 

In addition, work has started on the plumbing side with the first pipes installed. There is also an electrical box now with two circuits. I am just not sure if power has been hooked up on the utility side of things yet.

Day 65 : Porch construction, roof shingles

This is the week where Huntley Road is closed at the southern end due to a culvert installation. The way to the site from Essex and Jericho is a few miles longer. That and the bad weather on Wednesday kept us from going there more often this week.

I have checked the progress on Tuesday evening, but nothing much happened since Saturday. Only the deck over the garage has been completed at that time:

Wednesday was a complete washout I thought (constant rain, heavy at times), but obviously someone was working on the porch (or three season room). It was shortly after noon when I got there today (Thursday) and the main porch structure was up and a reduced crew was working on the roof trim already.

At the same time, another team installed the asphalt shingles on the main roof. We picked a light grey color to keep the roof cool in the summer (and help slow down Global Warming). 

In the meantime, our triple pane PVC windows have arrived! Well, most of them with the exception of the tempered ones, which will be delivered next week. But the framing crew focussed on the porch roof, so that the shingles can be installed there as well. So the windows (and patio doors) have been placed into the garage for the time being.

I also met the plumbing crew and we discussed duct locations. It is amazing how many details are still left open even after a very good set of architectural plans...

Reference Photo 2014-08-14

Day 58 : Entry porch and built-up dormer

More progress today despite the rain in the afternoon! In yesterdays blog you could see the roof almost finished up, but there was still a gap at the main entrance. This is where the roof overhang got installed today that serves as entrance porch. There will be some stairs from the south leading up to the platform where Doris is standing.

 

On the other side of the house, the built-up dormer has been built. Its sole purpose is to keep the snow from dumping in front of our porch door (well, and make that side of the house look more interesting, we think). With the shingle packs (in "sierra gray") already sitting on the roof, we expect that they will be installed next.

Reference Photo 2014-08-07

The garage roof (a.k.a. porch/deck) seems to be ready for the membrane installation as well, with trim boards all around.

I hope the rain showers will stop so that the interior can dry out completely before the windows get installed (scheduled for around mid of next week). The roof helps quite a bit, but the open door and big window openings on the west side still collect a lot of that summer rain...

Day 57 : Closing up the roof

We had to meet our kitchen sales person at noon today to take exact measurements. While there, the crew was quite busy installung the piggyback trusses (top section) and closing up the roof. Shingles should be next. We already picked a light grey color that should match well with the siding colors and keep the roof a bit cooler in the summer.

The garage ceiling / deck & porch floor has been closed up as well with a certain slope to make sure that rainwater is running off towards the west side (front of garage). Next step there (probably Saturday) is the installation of the membrane and then the porch can be built on top.

"Rem", our construction dog... one of the crew members brings her along.

I went again in the evening to meet with the crew foreman. There is only a small area of the roof over the main entrance that is still open: The entry porch will be added tomorrow.

The 2' overhang is larger than the typical houses here in the area (they only have1' or less) and makes for a more European look. As does the somewhat steeper roof slope.

2 ft. roof overhang

Reference Photo 2014-08-06