Wild Weather - Redux

Week 10: Well it was another wild weather week. The week was mostly in the high 90's with high humidity. It felt like the low 100's for the most part. Night was just as hot. I went over to the old house to grab some of the window ACs we had in the garage. We got them to fit the rental windows so it is a little more comfortable here. The heat made for a tough week for Joe our carpenter. Had to have frequent breaks and try and keep hydrated. Have to move much slower so we did not get a lot accomplished this week. Then just to make things interesting, it decided to have another heavy rainfall. The airport had nearly 8.5" in one day. It looks like La Grange had about 3.25". Then to top it off, it decided to rain another couple of days. So the basement decided to flood since the window wells are not covered and we do not have windows yet. Luckily, the electrician had hooked up an outlet and the plumbers hooked up the sump pump which was working for a few days to pump out the water. It looks like the water got about 3-4 feet high. Now we are back to a few days of sun to dry it out and then more calls for rainstorms this weekend. Can't we just have a few weeks of normal weather??? We decided after confering with Mike and Ferd our Architect, that we will be reframing the structure downstairs and removing the cinder blocks. This will help tie it in with the new structure. There would have been too much work to do for the mason since the headers over all the windows needed redoing and we still would be framing the walls. This will allow us also to have a little more insulation downstairs. Joe also started the bump out for the new stairway leading upstairs. He also installed the new skylights.










Here is a shot of where the cinder block wall was and the new framing to replace it.







This is the closet of the foyer at the top. Underneath will be the hidden duct work for the HVAC.







This is a shot of the framing around one of the windows. The cinder block will be demolished.







Hear is the proper way to frame around the window with the proper header , Jack, and King studs with the cripples for proper structure and support.






Here is a shot of the complete wall. The cinder block will be removed next.







Here is the Skylight over the new laundry room.








Interior view looking out of the bathroom Skylight.








Here is the new staircase leading up to the second floor. It will be cantilevered with metal bars holding it in place.







Here is another view of the staircase.








Her Joe is starting to create the structure upstairs for the new staircase.







Here is the new sump pump that Mike had installed, just in case it should rain. He must be psychic since the rain came soon thereafter.






Here is the first floor after the first wave of rains came. Not too bad until..







Here is a shot of the basement. Since the window wells are not covered, the rain just came on in..and in and in...until...







it got to this level, which is about 3-4 feet. I was afraid that the electricity was going to go out and the sump pump would die. The power did go out soon after the first rainfall so it took awhile for the rain to be pumped out. There is some cleanup that needs to be done and hopefully we will get the windows soon.

As Hard as Concrete

Week 9: This week we saw the passing of our inspection for the pouring of the floors on Thursday. Now we have new floors with the proper insulation, vapor barrier, and drainage. It looks beautiful. Joe and his crew have made good progress in getting the roof rafters and sheathing built on the master suite and over the mudroom. They have framed out the walls in the master suite and bathroom. They have framed the holes for the new skylights that will be in the master bathroom and the new laundry room. The new addition is now attached to the old house at the roof, and is ready to be shingled. The first floor wall that used to be the south side of the old house was removed to accommodate the stairs and the new closet in the foyer.

Here is the ridge board on top and the common rafters being installed along the ridge.








Here are all the common rafters after installation.









Here they are installing the soffit and facia boards that will allow the house to breathe.






Here is one of the crew installing the sheathing on the roof. We are installing 5/8" plywood for extra strength.







Here is the tie in with the old and new making one structure.








Here is the cutout of the new skylight over the laundry room.








Here is a shot of the skylight in the master bathroom.








Here is a close up of the skylight in the bathroom.








This is the ridge vent at the top of the new addition. Instead of a few vents, this allows for maximum venting at the top most peak of the house. It allows the house to breathe.






Here is the master bedroom lofted ceiling rafters.








Her is another shot of the lofted ceiling and the flat ceiling over the bathroom and closet.







Here is Joe framing up the mudroom roof. It has a lot of angles and different pitches. It looks fantastic.







Here are the mudroom rafters after Joe was completed.








Here is an underside look after it was sheathed.








Here is the mudroom with the roof sheathed.


















Here is a before picture of the south side wall before demolition.







Here is the after shot of part of the wall.








Here is John using a jackhammer to break up the cinder blocks from the wall.







Here is the final prep work that J2 did before inspection. There is the rigid foam over the 6mil plastic and crushed gravel. On top is the wire mesh to help with strength and stability of the concrete. They put a mesh product over the bathroom since the rigid foam could not be applied over the pipes. All seams were taped and ready to go.



Here is a close up shot of the mesh in the bathroom








Here is a view of the basement prepped and ready to go. We did not put insulation on the floor since we are not going to have a finished basement.






Here is the first of several trucks loaded with our concrete.








The start of the pour of the new slab. They did the basement first and after the new slab they finished up the crawlspace.







It was interesting to watch the pour and how the concrete spreads out.







Here they used the trowel to smooth out the side nearest a wall. They used a laser level in different spots to make sure they were making the thickness consistent.






Here they are spreading the concrete.








This machine was like a huge aerator. It vibrated and smoothed out the concrete as well as got some of the air out.







This machine did the final smooth coat.








Here the floor is is in progress of being smoothed out.








Here is an after shot of the sump pump pit in the basement.








Here is the new slab and the guest bathroom.








a closer view of the guest bathroom.








Here is the concrete pad we poured for the new furnace. We were contemplating putting it up in the closet in the laundry room, but was not able to due to the duct runs. So, we will raise it a bit in case of any water penetration on the floor.





I will post some videos of the concrete pour later this week. I tried tonight and gave up after an hours of it uploading and not finishing.

Progress and a Beautiful View

Week 8: It has been one heck of a week. I was going to post this version of the blog on Sunday night as usual, but I was too tired so I decided to wait until Monday. Well...Monday brought the usual weekly storm so it seems, but this time it was a fast moving storm with very high winds. In about 20 minutes the main storm was over and the devastation was wide. The damage toll was our van got damaged from several tree branches and we were without power until Wednesday afternoon. Roughly 860,000 houses lost power. Pictures on the bottom of this post. We have been dealing with the insurance company and await word on getting someone over to give us an estimate.

The week was short due to the holiday but the exterior walls to the second floor were completed. After a morning meeting with Mike the GC, Ferd the architecht, and Joe the carpenter, we managed to tweek the plans and move a wall to gain a little more space in the bathroom. We had to make some changes to the stairs up to the master suite due to the new steel support beam. The original plans had walls that lined up wiht the beam, so that is what Joe did until he recognized that the dimensions of the room had changed with the beam since it is in a different location. So, with a nip and a tuck here, we got it all sorted out. They have continued prepping the floor for the concrete pour and the electrician came and setup the new electrical service meter and panel. We are really getting excited.

Here are the front and back walls being raised with Joe our carpenter.







Here is a shot of the south side that includes a small deck off the master bedroom.







Here is another shot of the south side of the house.








Here is the front side that includes a round decorative window with a lofted ceiling.







Here is a shot of the doorway out to the deck.








Here is a shot of Anne looking out the master bedroom window.








Here is the view from the master bedroom window.








another front side shot.









Here is a shot of the side that is now connected to the old house making it one structure.







Here the concrete company, J2 is prepping the floor for the concrete pour. There is the crushed gravel that is covered with a 6mil plastic and then the rigid foam board that is also on the foundation walls. This will give us a R-10 insulation factor under the concrete floor. There isn't any foam board in the bathroom area due to the pipes. There will be a fabric that will be added that will give some insulation and protection as well.

Here is a closer shot of the bathroom with the plastic covering.








On top of the foam board and bathroom area will be this wire mesh that will help support the concrete when poured.








Here is the new 220 fuse box with a whole house sure suppressor. We were able to get power on Saturday but then it went out with the storm.





Here is the meter outside.








And now the storm damage. I talked to Joe the day after and he said he was afraid that the house was coming down due to the winds which some were clocked at 60-70mph. He made a dash for his truck getting soaked int he process. Luckily no one was hurt with wood and debris flying around. Wood was soaked and we had water on the foam boards. It was a weird storm in that the winds picked up immediately and then the rain started falling and was almost horizontal. You could not get a clear view out the window it was coming so hard. Kathleen and I saw at least two or three of the large branches fall immediately and then we made a dash for the basement waking up Anne and Abby. This is the aftermath:

Here is a view from the front door. The van is somewhere in there.








Still looking for it.








One of the big branches to hit it and the subaru.








Side shot of the big branches in the front and back. We had to chainsaw cut them since they were too heavy to lift.







Windshield was cracked in multiple locations and dented.








Here is the big one on the trunk.








The branch that it broke off of.








Trunk damage.








When we were done cutting and piling all the branches, it took up the whole front portion of the yard by the road. The village came by later Monday to get ours first since there was so much. We also are lucky that our neighbors across the road had power and they let us plug in for the few days we were without power. At least we had window fans at night. Monday night was very hot and humid and Tuesday and Wednesday it cooled off thank goodness. It was quite a week and we hope for smooth sailing from now on.