Destroy and rebuild

Tuesday they built and put up the walls for the new half bath. They also discovered that the 2nd floor joists were running the opposite way than the architect thought. So we are going to have to do a little redesign in the front, nothing major, maybe just change some of the trim work.

Yesterday the crew was busy tearing brick off the front of the house and building the support system for the addition to Sarah's bedroom on the 2nd floor.

Today they tore down the garage wall facing the street where the new garage door is going to be. But they built a temporary wall to support the old roof before they did that. They told me that they are going to build the new garage roof over the old garage roof and then tear out the old roof. They are doing this to protect everything from the elements. I can see where it is much more painful to remodel rather than building new!

It is pouring here tonight and things are going to be soaked. Chris is outside right now trying to rig up the sump pump hose and bring it to the front of the house as we have a lake in the backyard. We also have a mini waterfall coming over the wall in the back which seems to happen everytime we get more than 1/2 inch of rain. We are supposed to get this fixed come spring when they put in some drain tile, but for now, what a mess!

The crew is off tomorrow. They are expecting to get the roof on everything next week. Hopefully we don't get too much more rain before then!

New garage

Chris took some pictures last night of the new gargage. It was later in the afternoon so the pictures are a little dark. Don't worry, they are tearing the room off the current garage and rebuilding it so the walls won't stick up above the current garage in the front like it is showing on the first picture. The walls are 10 feet tall in the new garage but the ceiling will rise to 11 feet about a foot in from the front and back to accomodate a lift -- some day. Chris says he won't have any money left to either buy a new car or do things like he wants after this project is done.

The window in the back is a little different than I thought, a little longer. The plan was to put our garbarge cans back there under the window. I guess we will see how that works.

They are busy tearing off the roof of the porch this morning and waiting for the excavation crew to come back and pour the floor in the crawl space for the new half bath so they can build the walls. They tore the screen on one of the windows above but that can be fixed. At least the window is okay as the plan is to move those into the back bedroom to replace the one set up of windows that have not been replaced yet in the house.

Today we need to make a decision on our fireplace. We really like this one by Mendota, but of course it is the most expensive. So I am working to get a better price by calling around to some different dealers. We also need to decide on one furnace/AC or two. We are actually over the limit for one, but we are going to have 3 zones and a 60,000 BTU fireplace. The AC part is what I am worried about.

I am working from home today which so far is a little noisy. I am giving my leg a rest after going to the office yesterday all day. Tomorrow morning I have to be downtown Chicago by 9:00. Not sure if I am taking the train or getting a ride. It should be interesting!

February 23, 2009

The crew was AWOL on Friday last week, so nothing new happened. I am not sure if they are on 4 day work weeks or not, but will find out so we (Chris) don't bother with moving cars out of the driveway in the morning on Fridays.

But they are back today. They were busy starting to frame the walls for the garage when we left this morning. I will update later today with pictures if Chris gets home before dark tonight.

See you later!

February 19, 2009

The crew pretty much took the day off yesterday except for coming at 7:00 and spending 45 minutes pounding brick off the side of the house and then left for the remainder of the day. It was a pleasant way to wake up. But it was really damp and misty out so they must have headed to another job. Below is what they got done on Monday and Tuesday with put in the subfloor and ledger boards for the family room and bathroom bumpout.

But they were back today and extremely productive. They put up the far wall of the new family room and also the two side walls. They had to bring in another crew from another job site to lift up the tall wall as it was quite heavy. They other walls they did with just two guys. I imagine they will start framing the roof tomorrow. I think the size of the room is going to be just right. We could have gone bigger but then I didn't want it to be out of proportion with the rest of house. We also had to worry about the height of the peak so that it wouldn't peak above the roofline for the front of the house.

Also, I had some really awesome news today! For those of you who didn't know, I broke my right leg and sprained my ankle on Monday night when I missed the last step on the stairs while carrying my new rangetop down the basement. The emergency room staff told me I would be in a full leg cast for 4-6 weeks. I went home in a temporary full leg cast one until the swelling went down. And let me tell you, the last few days have been interesting. Especially since I don't consider myself the most coordinated person in the world. Not being able to bend your knee is a big inconvenience.

Today I had my followup appointment with the orthopedic specialist, expecting to come home in a permanent full leg cast. But instead I have come home in an aircast! I can bend my knee like normal, I can take the aircast off to shower, I can drive if I want (without the aircast on). And I should be able to go without crutches within the next 10 days. I will have the aircast on for 5 weeks, but who cares -- I can drive!!

I have been fairly calm and tried to keep looking at the positive until last night in bed and I broke down. The next few months just looked impossible for me, but also with Chris having to do everything and help me. But I just laid there and prayed and prayed for God to heal me. I am so thankful to Him for His mercy in making this a much more tolerable situation. I am also so thankful for Chris and the girls and their support in this situation. I still am going to need it but hopefully I will be back doing my normal things within the next week!

February 17, 2009

Sorry for being delinquent in my blogging again. We had no activity for the last week and a half as they had to have a spot survey done and approved by the village. But they are back at it as of yesterday. They put in the ledger boards and put down the floor joists and plywood for the family room and for the bump out for the bathroom in the front of the house. Today they started framing out the far wall for the family room. We are expecting rain/snow here today and tomorrow so they wanted to get everything under cover.

It has been quite noisy with them removing the brick off parts of the house and lots of hammering. They also dropped off a dumpster yesterday and a port-o-pot so we know we are finally here. And there is a big pile of wood in the driveway. So the machinery is gone but we have other material to take their place.

Chris and I cleared out the family room of everything and Sarah's bedroom this weekend. We relocated the living room furniture to the basement and the family room furniture to the living room. It is actually quite cozy with the new setup and it is working out nicely. We moved Sarah's furniture to the guest room and everything fit very nicely.

I think I have finalized my kitchen plans and am just waiting to get the final quote for the cabinets. I ordered a Wolf rangetop at a huge discount off of eBay and it was delivered on Monday.

The GC said that things should go quickly now. Still not ETA on when we will be done though. I don't think they want to commit yet until they get into the major construction and see how things go.

I will post pictures tomorrow!

Michelle