More of the Same

Week 11: Another week, more storms. Here is a link to what we have gone through this past month. It has been the rainiest July on record. This past week we had two storms at night that brought torrential downpours, thunder, and lots of lightning. We had highways that were impassable and more people losing power. Due to the torrential rain, we had rain come through the window wells and fill up the basement. The sump pump was going when we had power and ran for a few days. Now we have a bit of a cave in with the dirt so that will have to be cleaned out. Our external drainage system also came lose so we had water going in the system and then dumping out right by the window well. Need to get that adjusted. On the days it wasn;t rinaing, it was hot as an oven. We did have a couple nice evenings with temperatures in the high 70's or low 80's. The past few days have seen no rain and things are starting to dry up just before more rain is forecast. Anyway, this week we received both the kids bathtub and the master bath soaking tub. Both had been scheduled for the previous week, but one was not delivered and the other was damaged by the carrier. This round everything looks good. Also, we had the roof re-shingled with some nice black architectural shingles. We also decided after conferring with Ferd and Mike to remove the bulk of the cinder blocks and replace with standard framing. This was done mainly to ease the connection of the new addition to the old. It is a little tougher when you are trying to tie in cinder block with wood. We also decided after receiving a proposal from the mason to re-do the cinder blocks around the windows and to clock in the chimneys that were removed. It is more affordable to demolish and do it in wood. The house now looks like it is on stilts because of the framing and a few rows of cinder blocks. Next week is the rest of the interior framing, the windows (yeah) and sheathing on the sides.


Here is where we had a little cave in. Underneath the dirt is where the drainage system came undone. It will be repaired next week.







Here is more progress on the stairwell to the second floor.










Here the stairwell is sheathed and next there will be windows.






A close up view of the new skylight.









Here is the framing for the new closet in the foyer.








Here are the architectural shingles that will be going on next.







Here John and his concrete crew are starting the removal of the cinder blocks. We left a few rows that were filled in with concrete and will hold a framed wall on top.







Here the cinder blocks are gone from the front of the house.








Here they are gone from the back.








The house of stilts. The framing was done to solidify the structure while they removed the cinder blocks. There will be another framed wall as well.







More house on stilts.







This is a closer view of the concrete they poured over a few rows of the cinder blocks and then create a flat bed to frame the new walls on.






Here is a shot of the shingles post install. Hard to see how good they look.







Here is the new addition with the new shingles. They also painted the exhaust pipe black to match the shingles.







This is the deck and is getting ready for the floor.