Windows and doors and more

As of today, all windows have been installed, as well as the front and back doors.

The front:

And here’s the back door:

Inside the house, all of the first floor framing is complete and the guys have been working on the second floor this week.  No, I don’t actually have any second floor photos, as I haven’t seen it myself.  But Jeff the Builder has told me that they’ll work on the stairs later this week.

(Pete keeps joking that the guys are intentionally NOT building the stairs just to keep me out of their way.)

In the meantime, the guys are scaling this ladder to go up and down:

Yep, it goes from basement to second floor in one fell swoop.  And they sometimes do that while carrying stuff.  I’m truly impressed.

In other news, I discovered yesterday that I had made a serious miscalculation and was going to try to squeeze a 24″ deep bathroom cabinet into an 18″ space.  So instead of having the sexy red lacquered cabinet I picked out, I am now searching for a much more petite sink or sink/cabinet. I’m trying to talk Pete into a sleek pedestal sink, but he hasn’t been swayed over to the Dark Side … yet.  Worst case scenario:  We just go with the same cabinets we chose for the upstairs bathrooms.  That’s not actually a bad thing, just not as fun and cool as I had envisioned.

More soon!

Blue wood

If you look closely at the photos from yesterday’s post, you may notice that the wood for the interior framing has somewhat of a blue tint.  That’s not an artifact of photography; we’re using a product called SafeLumber, which is a borate-treated wood that’s colored blue for identification.  The treatment, which is completely non-toxic to humans as well as to our non-existent pets, makes the wood resistant to insects, mold, and rot, and it’s even a class B fire retardant.

After the termite/ant/rot problems that we had in our first house years ago, combined with elder daughter’s pathological fear of fire, we originally considered avoiding wood altogether in the new house.  Specifically, we were looking at a combination of steel and concrete for all of the structural elements, only using wood as an accent.  However, we decided that concrete would be too hard on the feet, and steel structural elements were going to be quite expensive, plus Jeff the Builder did not have any experience working with metal framing.

SafeLumber was a good compromise to get most of the benefits that we were looking for, and the total added cost for the entire house was only on the order of $1000.  Plus, SafeLumber can be used exactly the same way as regular wood, with no special requirements for tools or fasteners, and the borate is impregnated throughout the wood, so it’s not adversely affected by cutting.

I should also mention that the core of our SIPs is polyurethane foam, which is a Class A fire retardant (it actually helps extinguish fires).

First floor interior walls

It rained today, so the crew stayed inside and worked on interior walls on the first floor.

The front of the living room, as seen from the kitchen:

The dining area, as seen from the kitchen:

The guys are going to build in an L-shaped seat on the wall to the left and under the window.  We’re putting a long table there and think we’ll be able to seat 8-10 (or more if it’s the children and their friends) around the table.

The half bathroom, also as seen from the kitchen:

Okay, turning around and facing toward the back of the house, here’s the kitchen as seen from the dining area:

The cabinets and appliances will go on the back wall and to the right.  In the foreground will be a 7′ long peninsula.  The pantry is on the left.

Here’s the pantry:

The dark vertical stripes are for the pocket door.  Yes, a pocket door.  I know.  I love it too.  The pantry is around 4′ X 10′, which I’m thinking SHOULD be large enough to hold just about anything I can imagine.  (Beyond the pantry, in the back corner, is the study.)

Just for kicks, here is a rough illustration of what the kitchen will look like:

You can totally see my vision for this room, right?

So now it’s Friday evening and the crew will have a well-deserved break for the weekend.  On Monday, they’ll finish some framing in the foyer.  After that, I’m not sure if they’ll build temporary stairs to the second floor or start framing upstairs.

Windows, part 3

More windows today!

The front got windows in the dining area (middle two) and living room (right side):

And then over on the living room side of the house:

Here’s what it looks like from the inside:

This is standing near the front door and looking over to the right.  We specifically put in lots of huge windows so that the living room will have great light on all three sides.

And here is standing in the front of the living room, looking toward the back:

You know what’s going to go in that corner?  A sofa.  A great napping sofa.  I imagine it like this:

Yeah, it’s going to be great.  Every Sunday afternoon, Pete and I are going to be negotiating who gets to nap on the sofa first.

It started raining this afternoon, so the guys moved inside and started working on interior framing.

That’s the wall between the kitchen pantry and the study.

If the rain continues tomorrow, the guys will stay inside and Jeff the Builder thinks they can get the entire first floor framed.  What I can’t wait for is the temporary staircase, so that I can finally go upstairs!

Walls, part 2 (and more!)

The guys were able to finish the windows on the back of the house today:

Around the corner to the right, those windows are in too:

Can you see the shiny metal?  I think that’s called flashing, but since I mix up trusses and joists, I’m not to be trusted to tell you the truth.  Anyway, Pete and I like shiny metal things on houses and, luckily, Jeff the Builder does too.  Here’s a close-up of one piece of it:

The roofs of the house and the front porch will be covered in galvanized corrugated metal too.  If there’s a sizable piece leftover, we might also have one wall inside the house be corrugated metal as a decorative touch.  Like I said, we like shiny metal things.

Inside the house, there’s been some action too.  The wall between the kitchen and living room has been framed:

[Note to Pete, because I know I'll forget to tell you this later:  Jeff the Builder says that if you want to hang a flat screen TV on the living room wall, he can put the blocking (???) in place for you.  You just need to tell him where on the wall and then he said something about the mount or maybe he used the word "bracket."  I'm assuming you know what he means.]

Okay, getting back on task, I still haven’t been up to the second floor yet, but I did get a peek up to the children’s play room:

This is standing in the front foyer where the stairs will start.  Ultimately, there will be a half wall separating the toy room from the stairwell, but for now at least you can see the three windows that will allow light to flood in and (eventually) really enable me to see the 7,000 Legos, Barbies, and other toys that will always be all over the floor.

When I was there at 2:30, the guys were installing windows on the other side of the house.  Tomorrow, if the weather is good, I think they’re hoping to finish that side and then start on the front.  We’re supposed to get rain sometime tomorrow and, if so, the guys will move inside and work on interior walls.

Windows, part 1

Today, the guys began installing windows:

As with each step of the process so far, I’m always surprised by how much better things look in reality than they do inside my head.  It’s not like things are ugly in my imagination, so I have no idea why reality is constantly trumping fantasy.

And, just for kicks, a photo of the girls in the back door:

Under roof

We have a roof!!!

Here’s a close-up:

Tomorrow, the guys start installing windows and doors.

The second floor goes up!

The second floor walls went up today, so now the shape of the house is pretty much complete:

If you click on the photo, you can see the outlines for all of the windows.

From left to right: the large not-yet-cut-out window is for the craft room (a.k.a. the Estrogen Corner), the high transom is for the hall bathroom, the next window is the master bathroom, and the next window and the not-yet-cut-out window are the master bedroom.

Here’s a side view:

You can sort of see how the roofline angles up toward the back.  The walls on the second floor will be 8.5′ tall in the front of the house and 12′ tall in the back and most of the ceilings will be sloped (excepting the bathrooms and some closets).

Here’s the back view:

This is really where we got to have fun with the sloped ceiling.  If you click on the photo, you can see that there are transoms above all the windows, so the rooms in the back will be really flooded with light.

From left to right:  The younger girl’s bedroom, the “secret room”, the older girl’s bedroom, and the girls’ toy room.

As for the secret room, that’s going to be really fun.  The girls’ closets are back-to-back and the crew is going do a dropped ceiling and then build a secret playroom above the closets.  It will be reached via a ladder in the hallway and will be about 9′ X 10′.  The ceiling height will be about 3′ in the front and 5′ at the back wall.  So, yes, the girls will have to crouch a bit, but that’s part of the fun.  The room will have its own window, lighting, and a vent for air flow.

And that’s all the photos I have for today.  Since there’s no staircase going up to the second floor yet, I haven’t actually been up there.  Yes, the guys have a ladder, but I’m pretty sure that Jeff the Builder would have a stroke if I attempted to climb up, so I’ll just have to be patient for a bit longer.

The roof goes up on Monday!

Ready for the second floor

Today, the guys finished putting the sub-floor down on the second floor and doing all sorts of other stuff that I can’t actually articulate because I’m not that knowledgeable about this part of the process.  For all I know, they have a portable TV and spent an hour this afternoon watching “Days of Our Lives” and eating Little Debbie Snack Cakes.

(Jeff the Builder, Jesse, and Tom: I’m kidding!)

Some photos:

Yay!  The front door is officially opened.

Here’s a view of the back corner where the study will be.

All those blue squares are future outlets for the geeky family with three (and counting) computers.  We’ll be installing a 10′ long work station there.

Standing in the study and looking across the house:

The kitchen will be the area to the left and, beyond that, the living room will run from front (right side) to back (left side) of the house.  It doesn’t look large, but the living room will be 12′ X 24′.  That big open window to the right is where the dining area will be.

And, from the study and looking toward the front door:

The half bathroom will be to the left of the door, where that transom is.  Luckily for our future guests, there WILL be walls around the bathroom.

By the way, like the view from the front of the house?  We’re pretty pleased with it ourselves.

Tomorrow, the big crane comes back and the guys will put up the walls on the second floor!

Working on the second floor

Today, the guys started putting in the joists trusses* for the second floor.  When I stopped by at 2:30, nearly all of the joists trusses were in place, as well as all sorts of other stuff that I don’t know the technical terms for.  Let’s just call them “thingies.”  Lots and lots of thingies.  Yes, I clearly have been doing my research on home construction.

But let me back up a bit and start from the beginning.  Here’s what the house looked like as of this afternoon:

Then, I poked my head in the basement and saw that the guys have opened up the area where the stairs will lead to the first floor:

And here it is looking from above:

Here’s the view from the back door looking toward the right:

You can see part of the steel I-beam on the left and framing for the stairs, hall closet, and doorway to the study to the right.

Check out the joists trusses:

I know they’re rough and industrial, but I love how they look.  At one point a couple months ago, I suggested that we leave them exposed  and not bother with drywall on the first floor ceiling, but that idea got shot down for reasons I can’t remember, but I’m sure they were practical.

Here’s the view from the kitchen window:

It’s really quite pastoral, don’t you think?  That crooked tree straight off in the distance has been designated by the children as their spot for their future Secret Fort.  They keep asking when we’ll build it.  Yeah, we’ll get right on that.

I don’t think I can adequately describe just how thrilling it is to be standing in what will be our living room and our dining area and our kitchen.  If I’m this giddy now, imagine what it’s going to be like the day my beloved kitchen cabinets are installed.  Or, the day that I get to start organizing the walk-in pantry.  I’ll probably faint like a character from a Jane Austen novel or end up prostrate on a sofa with a wet cloth on my forehead.  Well, maybe not.

Tomorrow, the guys will put the sub-floor down on the second floor and generally prepare for the return of the crane on Friday.

*Yeah, see how much I need to learn?  I mistakenly called the trusses joists.  Silly me.