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.