Nearly done framing

I was in and out of the hospital today twice expecting to be induced (but got sent home both times due to them being too busy) so didn't pay too much attention to what all happened with the reno today!

However, the entry hall now is mostly framed -- just the piece at the back where it joins to the existing roofline is missing, and they removed the sliding glass doors from the original bedroom. I took pictures, but they're on the old camera as the new camera is in the hospital bag, so it'll be a few days before I add the photos.

I didn't see the guys this afternoon so don't know for sure whether the inspector did come or not. I was thinking the plumber and electrician were due to start today, but I think it's just that they're due "early this week" sometime.

In between trips to the hospital, Brooke and I worked on finalizing our tile selection for the shower (down to two choices now, and I'd be happy with either one!) and took our carpet and lino samples in to the place we bought them from to be matched, so we're making progress there as well. We still have to pick out the laminate flooring for the TV room, and whatever linoleum we ultimately use in the bathroom -- but that'll come after the final tile selection so they coordinate!

Who's out there?

I've had a couple of people tell me now that they're following along on this blog, but I'm curious who all is -- so leave me a comment on this post and let me know you're reading!

Just beneath the line, you'll see a place where it says "0 comments" (or however many) - just click on that, and then say Hi -- select "Name/URL" to fill in your name, and you can just leave the URL field blank.

Thanks for reading! :)

We have a roof!

Today they put plywood on the entire roof, and also (mostly) framed the wall where the window seat is. It's still missing a few pieces of plywood on the outside. There's still a bit of tie-in to be done in the roofline at the back, along with the final wall around the vaulted entrance, but Joel said they will finish that up on Monday and then it will be inspected on Monday afternoon. Then the plumber and electrician will be starting on the inside, and these guys will start to put on the siding.

So I guess our big task for the weekend is deciding on the paint colour! We haven't decided for sure whether we'll stick with the same dark green colour, or repaint the entire house while we're at it. Last year or so when we repainted the front door we had settled on a particular shade of blue/grey. I wonder if I can still find the paint chip!

More roof beams

The rest of the roof beams are in place now, and the roofer is scheduled for Wednesday of next week to actually put on the shingles and such, so sometime between now and then I imagine that these guys will be putting on plywood. Right now it's still open to the sky.

Sean pulled out the nail keeping the bedroom door shut and I had a wander around inside. Our bedroom is going to be huge! I didn't realize originally (until he told me yesterday) that the roof slope that's visible on the outside is also on the inside -- he could add a flat dropped roof, but it might be cooler to keep it vaulted. Of course that'll make lighting the bedroom a bit more interesting.

Sean expects to begin demolition of the laundry room on Monday, but will be keeping the laundry machines connected (as much as possible) so we should still be able to wash our clothes here! He said the plumber told him moving the water tank will be easy, he'll just need to put it on a bit of a pedestal so no need to rip up the (new) concrete again like Sean was thinking he'd have to do. So that's good!

***

I'm updating this at the end of the night. They forgot (or intentionally didn't) re-nail the door shut so Brooke and I went into the bedroom and wandered around some more tonight. The sliding glass door is still in place so we just locked that when we were done, so the house is secure! We're starting to envision how we're going to finish it -- we'll probably have some kind of wall lights as well as ceiling lights since it is such a large space. I'm thinking one on the front wall and one on the wall on the right (as you look at it from the street) centered between the two windows. Not sure on ceiling lights -- Brooke thinks maybe something along the lowest point, perhaps track lighting pointed some one way and some the other.

Starting on the roof and inside

Today half of the supports for the roof were put up, and they gutted the master bedroom. The interior door from the master bedroom is nailed shut, so I sent Brooke up the ladder with the camera so I could see what's going on, too!

The pink mess in the bottom picture is the insulation inside the bedroom, taken from the sliding glass doors looking towards what used to be the closet.

Besides all this, they also took down the shelves and everything in the laundry room, so I'm guessing that there will be some work done in there soon, too.

Tuesday evening update

Since this morning's post was quite long, I've added this evening's photos to it instead of to this one, as it flows a bit better! (Taken with new camera #2! So far so good!)

You can see that there are now three sides upstairs! The window in the front isn't done yet, which is why it's a weird shape. There's an extra bit at the bottom and a piece missing at the top, I imagine it'll be properly rectangular tomorrow.

In the third picture you can see that the piece of overhanging roof above the new entrance has been removed.

What you can't tell from the pictures is they have "moved inside" now -- our bedroom door is nailed shut so no one can wander into the house via a ladder, and when I peeked in before they sealed the door, the drywall was off the interior wall, although they hadn't started on the other walls yet. The picture to the right is what the (corner of the) bedroom looked like yesterday after we moved out of it, but before they started tearing it apart!

Moving along

The photo on Friday's post came, not from a new card reader, but from a new camera. And then I realized that it was putting a magenta stripe down the left-hand side of every picture about a quarter of the way in. So today I have to exchange the camera for another new one!

Over the weekend, we moved every single thing out of the master bedroom, right down to taking the faceplates off the electrical outlets. Nearly everything is out of the laundry room as well, except for the actual laundry machines, frequently-used cleaning supplies, and the recycling. We haven't taken down the shelves or cupboard yet either. The shelves could come down now (other than the one being used to hold the cleaning supplies) but the cupboard has a bar attached beneath it that we hang things on to dry that can't go in the dryer, so that'll come down right before they need access to that wall to install the new window.

It's 10:00 am right now and they're working on the upstairs framing. Sean said they won't be able to finish it today as they still don't have the beams for the ceiling, but it sounds like they should be able to do a lot of it anyway.

We're going to start a message board of sorts for ideas and communication with Sean as we keep having thoughts or realizations and don't want to lose them. I mentioned that to Sean this morning and he said he'll get a clipboard.

The first two items for it are the fact we realized that the cable internet connection doesn't come into the computer room but rather goes into the master bedroom and then an extension cord runs under the carpet into the computer room. So we want to get that properly split and a "real" outlet put into both rooms. The second item is we decided that rather than a normal baseboard heater in the bedroom, we want one similar to what we have in the kitchen that is flush to the wall, more like a furnace vent, and have it placed under the window seat since we'll never put furniture in front of that anyway.

Less impressive today

Today they only put in a half-day, in part because it is quite hot, in part because they need some beams... and possibly in part because it's the Friday before a long weekend. The floor upstairs is finished now, and one wall is built but not yet upright, nor the windows cut out.

Not having much luck with card readers. I just tried to upload the photos I took with our new USB card reader, and it wouldn't work. I pulled it out and was going to plug it right back in and noticed it was pretty hot... and the plastic is melted. *sigh* Back to the store!

I'm being framed, I tell ya!

Impressive-looking progress today! The outer walls of the entire downstairs are now in place, along with the floor of the upstairs. That first step out of the bedroom upstairs is a reasonable one again.

They were here quite a long time - arrived at 8:00 and I think it was after 6:00 before they finished. I guess they wanted to get this whole part done. I believe they will be framing the upstairs tomorrow.

Sean gave me notice that we need to move out of the two affected rooms this weekend as they'll begin moving inside sometime next week.

It turns out I was right about the placement of the safe, so that's good! They covered it in duct tape, and then there was just a thin film of cement over top of it. They haven't dug it out yet, but Sean tapped it with a hammer to show it to me and the cement just flaked right off.

No change

They came by this morning and took down the tarp, but I don't think they did anything else. Perhaps touched up the cement a bit if anything. It probably just needs to dry -- I haven't spoken with Sean today.

Of course it's raining

Today they poured the slab, so of course today was the first day in quite a while that it rained. Not hard, but enough to require erecting a tarp. Perhaps they would have done that anyway but I'm sure it made things a little more miserable for the workers.

I'm not 100% sure they installed the floor safe. If they did, it's covered in concrete. There's a bit of a dip in the area of the closet that might be it. Hopefully tomorrow they'll dig it out and I'll know for sure!

Siding is off

Today, work on framing was begun. The Bobcat was taken away and the fill was all packed down, both within the area of the renovation, and the driveway area. All of the siding on the front of the house was removed, and wood was put on top of exposed edge of the foundation.

The foundation has bolts sticking out of it, and the wood has matching holes. At the moment, it doesn't appear to be attached in any way, but I imagine that's next, or soon.

I finally bought the safe today, so now I'm ready for them to pour the slab. (As if they were waiting for me!)

No more pit

Today was my last day of work, and I left a little early so the workers were still on site when I arrived.

The forms were removed from the foundations, and the pit has been fully filled back in with recycled fill. We talked about our plans for the garden on the right, and so Sean was able to rip out the juniper using the Bobcat - I wish I'd had a video camera. The Bobcat actually tilted when he was pulling it out - it had quite the root system. But the rhododendron is unharmed, so Brooke and I will be able to build our new garden around it, later on. We left the multicoloured bush in place for now as well, although I'm not sure with its position if we'll ultimately be keeping it or not.

One of the trucks (sounds like it was the one that delivered the waste bin) blew its power steering line today and leaked fluid all over the street. They've soaked it up as much as possible using kitty litter, and will power wash it as well. Hopefully it won't do any damage to the asphalt!

They didn't get to the framing today, so I guess that's the next thing we'll be seeing!

Foundations are poured

The title about says it all. The cement is now in the forms for the foundations. I spoke with Joel tonight and he said it went well, that part is all done, and tomorrow they will backfill the pit. They may even begin framing tomorrow, despite not having the slab poured - that can come later. I believe they're aiming for mid-next week for the slab.

Not too different today

There are now forms in place for the vertical part of the foundation, and rebar all though that and the footings, but no cement yet. I spoke to Joel this morning and he said they'd be pouring the cement tomorrow morning, and the slab sometime next week so we have a bit longer until we need to get the fire safe.

I had an idea for how to furnish the bathroom yesterday and luckily the closest set of plans happened to be the one that was returned to me with my building permit. I hadn't unfolded that set since it was returned to me... and it turns out they'd made notes on it! Would have been good if they'd mentioned that to me at the Town! There is a note on the bathroom page saying that safety glass is required with an arrow pointing to one of the three windows. I'm not sure if they really only wanted it in that one (which would be odd, I think) or all three. But I told Joel about it at the same time, anyway!

Footing forms

Today we came home to find that the forms for the footings were in place.

Apparently they need to be inspected before the cement can be poured into the forms -- so that should happen tomorrow.

Getting organized

Today we've been working on cleaning out our belongings in preparation for losing the use of the laundry room and the master bedroom. The guest room is now fully cleaned out - the dresser is empty, the closet is empty, and there is only baby stuff piled up on the bed.

We're working on emptying out the small desk/table thing currently located in the hallway just outside the guest room, and will move the dresser there. Then we'll be able to fit the bassinet into the bedroom and also move the bed away from the wall so we can get into the bed from both sides.

I'm going to put all the baby's clothes into the dresser, so they'll be handy but out of our way.

Ordered the bathtub

So we got our new bathtub ordered today, yay! It's kinda funny... the contractor budgeted $2,500 for the ENTIRE bathroom (counters, sink, toilet, everything). Um. Guess how much the tub is? It's a BainUltra Azur - it has bubbles rather than water jets. Ooooh I can't wait. By the time I have it, though, the baby will be born so I won't have much time to use it... but that'll be some good daddy/baby bonding time while mommy bathes.

Did a lot of other running around today, but no success in finding/deciding on the other things we want. (We need to find a safe by Wednesday because we want to get a fireproof safe set into the new foundation... and didn't realize it would be so soon that he'd be doing the foundation work!)

Rise and shine

A waste bin was delivered this morning (Saturday) at 7:30. The builder was originally planning to get to work filling it up, but one of our neighbours wasn't very impressed with the 7:30 start time when we told him about it yesterday (neither was I, to be honest) so Brooke got him to hold off on that.

The actual delivery wasn't too noisy, not like the previous bin where the truck went "beep... beep... beep" for EVER as they backed down the road. Apparently from the next city over.

In the trenches

We have quite the trench in our front yard today...

The garage is gone...

As I was walking home from the bus stop today, I ran into one of my neighbours on the street and she said something like "I hate to tell you... but part of your house is missing." So we chatted a bit and she told me the whole garage was taken off today. I was prepared for it to only be half done, so that was a nice thing to hear!

So I continue on up the road... and get to the point where I can normally see the front of my house... and can't see it at all. It looked like my two neighbours had nothing in between them at all! It was pretty surreal. I found myself kind of thinking "They didn't take down the ENTIRE house, did they??" and was pretty happy when I got far enough down the road I could see it!

And yep, the garage is totally & completely gone. Can't wait to see what they'll do tomorrow!