Well, we seem to have survived the night of the young pyromaniacs. Our town still allows people to buy and set off fireworks for the Fourth of July celebration, and so most of the evening is spent in a haze of gunsmoke and the sound of mortar rounds and screaming shells going off. Some of the displays were quite beautiful, but I at least get a ( Read more... )

The building crew arrived and went right to work at eight o'clock. I left them vitamin water and cookies, and I came home to the result of their day's labors and took pictures. I'm very impressed. I can't believe how quickly it goes up and starts looking like a real house. My contractor says the roof trusses should arrive soon.


( Read more... )

The framing-in was started yesterday, with the builders working in 103-degree heat. I gave them vitamin water and access to the house so they could get cold water and maybe cool off if they needed to ( Read more... )

Got a call midweek from my contractor saying the lumber for the framing would start to show up Monday or so and that the roof trusses were on order. Once the material arrives the framing-in will start and evidently that goes very fast. He said, "soon it will look like a house!" Cool ( Read more... )

Here we go, the highlights of the day's work by the concrete crew.


( Read more... )

The concrete folks arrived at 6 am! I'm gonna bail to work in a few minutes and leave the place in their hands. I've got a huge tube suspended over the house so they can pump concrete over the old place and into the new footings and forms that will form the foundation of the addition. Yikes! I hope nothing leaks. The foreman said, "We've got ( Read more... )

The weather *finally* got good today -- clear skies, bright sun, temps in the low 80's, and no gale force winds. Which meant I got to sally forth into the junky jungle of my back yard and tackle some long-neglected yard work. So today I ( Read more... )

Goodness, it is blowing yet another windstorm, interspersed with spates of rain. The wind is averaging 30 mph, with gusts up to 45 mph. I had to re-wrap the washer and dryer, which are sitting under a blue plastic tarp along the side of the house -- the wind keeps working the tarp loose, and when I came home today, the tarp was in the hedge. At ( Read more... )

This week the plumber put in the "rough-in plumbing", which are the connections to the sewer and water main needed to supply the new bathroom and laundry area.


( Read more... )

The young man with the backhoe and dump truck finished leveling the area for the new addition and digging the footings. The work was completed Monday and I was much impressed with what one person with power machinery and a laser level could do.

( Read more... )