The framing crew arrived again today. It's safe to say that they don't have *exactly* the same work ethic as the concrete guys did. They also don't work nearly as quickly/efficiently. That said, the house is getting there, so I'll try to keep my complaining to a minimum. :-) They finished placing all of the posts this morning and began working on hanging the supports for the second floor. Now that the "ceiling" is going in for the first floor, I can't believe how open it feels down there! I was a little worried that the first floor was going to feel a little bit closed in. I needn't have concerned myself. It definitely doesn't!
Street-level view (the one we take every day that work is done):
View from the driveway.
Looking up!
It's a LONG porch...
Todd standing on top of the wood to be placed for the decking upstairs - thinking about our future porch.
Isaac trying to climb out the window to join his dad:
This week began markedly less exciting than last week. Someone delivered part of the lumber Wednesday. Also on Wednesday, the framing crew came by and tore the bottom 2 rows of siding off the front of the house to allow Todd to run some electrical. Believe it or not, our house is now even MORE ghetto fabulous than before! :-) I know; you're jealous...
Todd got home and immediately set to work, closely supervised from inside the house.
He worked after dark:
To make our home more Swiss-cheese-like.
Thursday began with a little more interest, however. The framing crew arrived first thing in the morning to begin building the porch for the second floor. They will be tying into the board supporting the front of the (existing) house. Todd asked how they were going to seal the house back up once they've done that and was greeted with a blank stare. Not terribly comforting... Todd and the framing leader, Bob, figured out how they can use flashing to ensure we won't have to worry about weather. They were also planning, somehow, not to tie in on the roof for the second story of the porch. Todd supposes they were going to just drop down from the original roof to the edge of the front porch - 7 feet away. I am not sure how much of a view we'd have if they'd done that. :-) I think we'd have to stand against the back wall in order to be upright on the second floor of the porch. Not exactly what we (or our architect) envisioned. Thankfully, Todd was home in the morning working on some more electrical stuff and was able to walk Bob through what our finished product should ACTUALLY look like. I think we are on the right path now.
The posts were delivered Thursday. Then we got even more lumber...
Wow, that's a lot of wood!!!
End of day on Thursday, we had most of the posts up...
View from the front:
Jackson closely inspected the remaining lumber to be sure it was up to snuff.
John, the contractor, and I need to chat because I have asked for a written schedule and I think he's hoping to just "talk it over" with me. I am not sure he's remembering all of the little details and want to be sure he plans for them - things like the fact that we have a totally new window going into the laundry room and someone will need to frame that in. I am glad that things are progressing and we seem to really move when a new team arrives and has their marching orders. The challenge is that I don't think new crews get scheduled until a new week begins, so, for example, no one was here to do anything this week until Thursday. The project has been sitting for 3 days, which isn't a terribly long time, but I'd still like to know when there are going to be idle days so that I can make plans accordingly (or warn the neighbors when it's going to be particularly loud).
The framing crew arrived again today and is currently working. They are making progress and Todd and I are getting excited. Isaac is watching from various different windows throughout the house to be sure he doesn't miss anything.
In other news, I am such a Proud Mommy! Isaac has been in swim lessons for a few months now and seems to really enjoy them. He had been learning lots of new skills, including how to blow bubbles. He hasn't been consistently blowing them in class, but loves to put his face in his bath water to demonstrate how it's done. Yesterday, he blew bubbles on cue in class! This means he gets a ribbon:
What a week it has been with our construction! Monday, a few of the crew came back out and finished putting in rebar along the sides of the future porch. They still left the middle section open so that the post-tension cables could be tightened.
Monday evening:
More rebar...
Isaac and Daddy hanging out while we wait for a friend to arrive...
Tuesday morning began with a bang. The post-tension cable team was here before 8:00 and tightened the cables.
Cleaning up the concrete around the cables:
Machine to tension the cables:
Powering the little machine:
Ends of the freshly "tense" cables:
Once they finished, the rest of the rebar was placed. The concrete mixer arrived at 8:45. What a sight! I got home just in time to witness all of that fun stuff. I am sure half of the neighborhood also walked by to see what was going on. LOL
Determining how long the chute needed to be...
Spraying water to the outside of the equipment so it would be easier to clean off after the pour:
The first concrete pour:
Spreading the first pour. The guy in this picture was here nearly every day and he really worked his tail off...
Concrete coming down the chute!
Pouring the concrete was actually a much quicker process than I expected. They got the concrete spread out and then let it sit for a little while to cure. These 2 guys were talking and joking, even though they were working really hard. It was nice to hear that they weren't just grumbling about how hard things were (like I would have been doing if I'd been the one spreading concrete).
They used this little vibrator thing to make sure there were no air pockets in the concrete. It was infinitely faster than the method Todd, Brian, and Arves had used to remove air pockets in the concrete entrance floor...
Wet concrete!
Then they came back to work and started smoothing the surface some more. They used long 2 x 4's to be sure they spread the concrete evenly, then they used metal blades to smooth some more. Smoothing the concrete all the way to the edges:
And smoothing the edges:
Isaac carefully supervised the work.
Finally, they used a thing that reminded me of the fan on the back of a swamp boat to smooth the surface. That was Isaac's favorite part...
They finished off the edges and again gave the concrete a little more time to harden. They were able to remove the wood surrounding the new concrete by afternoon and then filled in most of the area around it with previously displaced dirt.
The "finished" concrete portion of the porch. They filled in the surrounding area with more dirt, but I was more excited to see the actual concrete. :-)
The finished product at the end of the day yesterday:
John, our contractor stopped by yesterday afternoon to check out the progress. He said they will allow the concrete to cure the rest of this week before starting on the framing next week. Stay tuned!
Lots happened in a positive direction on Friday and over the weekend. Friday, the guys came to cut the post-tension cables, the house did not implode, and most of the rebar was placed to be able to pour concrete early this week... maybe even Monday if the post-tension guys come back early enough! Here's a shot of the "team" approach to cutting the cables:
They used a concrete saw and just went right through the cables.
Then, they used a jackhammer to chip away around some of the cables to be sure they were still in good shape. They were, thankfully.
Todd came home for lunch and checked out where the cables were cut.
We had lunch and I ran a few errands, hoping to miss the jackhammer. My timing was off. I got home just in time! They brought an enormous generator, parked it in the front yard, and hooked up a huge pneumatic jackhammer. OMG - LOUD!!!
Breaking up the pieces left by the jackhammer:
Isaac, Jackson, and I took refuge in the back yard. Jackson found some sticks.
Isaac found a digger of his own...
Then he helped the dog find some more sticks:
I had an appointment that started at the same time the guys wrapped up the evening on Friday, so I didn't get to take our "end of day" photos. Unfortunately, the guy had already loaded up the trencher by the time I snapped the shot on Saturday morning. We had large pieces of equipment multiplying in our yard all week last week:
Discussing the electrical runs:
Todd mapping out the electrical with the view from our front door behind him:
Isaac wanted to help Daddy dig.
Trying to run conduit under the sidewalk, digging the hole...
Hooray for DIRT!
Little Helper supervised from inside in the afternoon:
No more equipment storage in our yard!
Progress at the end of Sunday, including Todd's electrical conduit runs:
Todd's handiwork (the grey and white PVC tubing):
Our new lamp post, complete with electricity!
A little help to get the wiring to the lamp post set up from inside the house.
Ready to start the new week (though no one has been here yet today):
