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The Dust Has Settled
The Good News: The dust has settled.
The bad news: It's now mud.
The whirlwind, however, continues. I think we're breaking a land speed record for a home remodel, particularly one this large.
I attribute the project's speediness to the acumen of our general contractor Margie Tucker (Crown Construction of Oregon), the lagging market that has folks ( Read more... ) -
Everything, firefighters. . .and the kitchen sink
Now I know truly what is meant by the trite usage of the word "whirlwind" and the concept of dust never settling.
Ever since the swoop emerged on our home's face, it's been warp speed ahead (and I thought it was fast before). Today it was all about the roofing, a new skylight and a new back porch overhang.
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Just Do It
We've got a swoop!
The trusses (those triangle things that make up the roof) arrived just yesterday and already the framers are installing the bead-board soffeting for the new alpine-like roof line on the front of the home. The outline of the front porch is in. Exterior walls are roughed out. All but one of the windows is cut out.
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Room With a View
Framing is moving like the Road Runner on speed. We now have exterior walls on the ground level, stairs and and the second floor.
Piles of wood adorn the back yard and skirt the driveway. If any of the framers were chubby (which they're not) they wouldn't be able to open the plywood-blocked door wide enough to access the HoneyBucket.
Our Pom Celine ( Read more... ) -
Martha Stewart, Framing and Lori's Morning Peep Show
Our general contractor Margie Tucker had gently suggested that I clear off the (currently only) house porch for Thursday, when the Tour of Remodeled Homes pre-show judges were slated to come see if our home is worthy of the March 2009 show.
Apparently she thought the prospects of judges passing a couple of hundred pounds of produce--some of which ( Read more... ) -
The Rat King and Mr. Absolutely
It was a tough day Tuesday for Strauss Excavating's Mark and Rob. They arrived late because their truck broke down and a couple of hours into the job the rubber "chain" came off of their backhoe, virtually trapping the pair whose company advertises itself as the Rat King.
Mark was anxious because he was to meet the plumbers (Oliver and Dustin ( Read more... ) -
Norm and the Chocolate Chip Cookies
Sigh. Our back yard looks like a giant mole hole. Or perhaps an archeology dig. My long hours of endless weeding have been made moot. The front yard's no better. There's a tractor, big humps of dirt, lots of gravel, uprooted fence posts--with cement attached--and two bales of hay where once our porch sat.
Large sections of the siding on the south ( Read more... ) -
"No Hope, No Fear" and Ping's Ring
I missed the pouring of the cement and flat work in the garage and addition area Friday. Few things could pull me away from cement, but this was too good to miss: My friend Kathy A. was getting a tattoo. Libra scales on her back.
My appearance was under the guise of moral support and photographic coverage of the event, but my hidden agenda was to ( Read more... ) -
Watching Cement Harden, Getting the Brass (OK Chrome) Ring
Who would have thought that foundation cement being poured could be so entertaining?
It started with BSB Concrete Inc. Owner Jeff Howard joked that BSB referred to the Bull Sh*t Brothers, but the logo on the side of his truck tells a different story. It features an encircled horned bull with a red "no" line slashed through it. The message: "No ( Read more... ) -
Harvest Ho Down and All the Good Dirt
Rain, like death and taxes, is unavoidable in Portland. In anticipation, Josh Tucker arrived promptly early morning to distribute wads of straw atop of the piles of dirt in our front and back yards.
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