Keeping Up With The Us's

No, seriously, you can't keep up with us. Don't even try. We're in a time warp mach 7 warp speed 10 black hole cheetah jet plane race car rocket ship... thing. It's fast.

Yesterday, while Mike and I were working, the guys were back at our house... well, working. (Strange to leave people at our house working while we're not there. I know normal people do this all the time.)

By the time we got home, there was a ton accomplished.

Stripping at the tippidy top of the house was completed. The right side upstairs window was removed. Plywood was installed. TyVek was stapled. The window was re-installed. And shingling continued - now up to the half-way point of the upstairs window.

On the side of the house, the mess is gone! Unfortunately, Mike forgot that the dump is closed on Tuesday. But our guy went there anyway with a truckload to get rid of... and paid $40 to dump it. Gulp. Our dump sticker is only $30 for the year and that covers all construction debris free of charge. Ugh! What's done was done and the good news is, it's all gone now at least.

Inside, the octagonal window is in! And oh my god do I love it! I look out of it and I see the beautiful japanese maple we planted a few short years ago and I can imagine what it will be to look out and see the tree, large and beautiful over the side yard. I love love love love it.

Today, the guys were due back over to finish off that tippidy top portion of shingling. And then we're done with the guys. Mike is going to do the siding on the right side of the house himself over the weekend. If I can manage to escape outside, I may try and do some of the trim painting.

Manic Monday

The insane plan that I outlined yesterday worked only partially. (What do you expect? It was insane.) Kudos to the guys for putting forth a great effort and accomplishing all that they did!

Here's the wide shot - as you can see, that living room window is back in place and shingles are up all the way past the top of that window.

The very tippidy top near the roof has yet to be completed. 

The other side is where things get interesting. As you can see, the entire thing has been stripped. What you can't see? We avoided a HUGE step in the process... The plywood! We assumed that like the rest of the house, this side's original barn board exterior (that had been covered first by shingles and then blue cement board siding over that) would be in such poor condition that it would need to be re-covered with plywood. Like the house's back side, adding plywood would mean removing the two windows you see pictured and re-installing them post-plywood. Pain-in-the-butt.

Removing and re-installing those two windows would also have screwed up the interior window trim, which would have to be thrown out and re-done as well to accommodate a new plus-plywood depth.

Luckily, this is the one and only side that the barn board was in good enough condition not to require plywood. The guys stripped it down and stapled up the Tyvek.

Also what you can't see, the octagonal window hole has been cut on the outside side. The guys had to move a stud and make several pain-in-the-butt changes to get it to fit where we wanted it to fit. Inside, the drywall is the only thing left that needs to be cut before the window can be actually installed.

Before Shot - Window to go above that table

 

Window Ready to Go

Mike is at work today, but his guys are back at our house to work on that tippidy top portion. Mike picked up some more shingles at the DeepHo last night... gulp. I know this little spending spree is almost over - and we'll be able to return a heck of a lot of plywood that was meant for that other side. I'm looking forward to having it done and taking a much-deserved break to catch up financially, mentally, physically.... I know Mike is too.

Wow, Other Wall

The crazy pace continues relentlessly. Sunday, Mike tackled the other side of the outside basement door. Starting early in the AM, he had plywood up and half the shingles before lunch time. We went to the Home Depot and picked up more trim boards, white paint, and flowers for our moms.

After lunch time, his parents came by and he and his dad completed shingling on that portion, set up the scaffolding, ripped off all the old stuff off the next portion, took out a living room window, plywooded, and put up the Tyvek. Oh, and did I mention our carpenter came by and finished up some flashing on the left side, up at the top? Yes, it was that kind of a day.

Shingling is done here

Adios Window - Hello Plywood

Much like the upstairs window right above the living room, this particular window was crooked. Not because we installed it incorrectly, but because we installed it in a crooked house. Then, we lifted the house to add a basement (this was years ago now). We leveled the house (as much as we could) when it came back down on the new foundation, but that made the once straight windows crooked! Especially on the back wall of the house.

As you may recall, the upstairs window on this side was leaking water into the bathroom... and kinda started us on this mad shingling spree. Though the living room window wasn't leaking, it was still crooked. And, as such, it was difficult to get out. It was just wedged hard in there! But it needed to come out so that new plywood could be installed behind it.

The plywood will be cut and the window re-installed. But by the time the guys had reached this point, it was the end of the day.

TyVek Up - No More Window

 So what could be more insane then a Sunday like that? (Happy Mother's Day to me, by the way. I got to go to BJ's... woo? hoo? It is what it is. Renovation life.) Anyhoo - more insane? Today. Today Mike wrangled a couple of his friends into a do-or-die re-do-all-the-rest day. Last night we talked logistics... shame that I can't be there today to oversee, since I helped him plan the most efficient course of action. On the goal list:
* Strip the tippidy top of the back side of the house, near the roof line
* Re-install the living room window
* Plywood and re-shingle the remainder of the house backside
*Strip the old siding off the entire other side of the house (pictured below)

*Install an octagonal window (that I've had in my basement now for four years, awaiting this moment)
*Remove those two windows you see pictured
*Plywood and Tyvek that side of the house
*Re-install those two windows
*Put up siding (that we've had under that blue tarp you see in the lower right hand corner of the photo)

Holy shamolies.

Why on earth do we think this can get accomplished? A. There's four guys. B. So much work got done on Sunday. C. That other yucky blue side, it's the shortest, smallest side of the house. D. The siding, as opposed to the shingles, goes up upber quick.

My brilliant logistical plan that I came up with to get it all done efficiently?! Here it is:

*When the first guy (G1) arrives, start him stripping the blue part where the new octagonal window will go. While this is happening, Mike and his dad continue shingling/put in living room window.
*As soon as the octagonal window portion is stripped, put up plywood in that section.
*While Mike is putting up plywood, send G1 to the tippidy top of the back to start stripping there.
*At noon, G2 arrives just in time to begin installing the octagonal window
*By the time the octagonal window is in, G1 should have finished stripping the tippidy top - send him back down to stripping the blue side.
*Once the octagonal window is in, send G2 to the tippidy top of the back to install plywood and shingles.
*While this is all happening, Mike and his dad continue to shingle the back.
*If back is finished, send Mike and his dad to help strip the blue side.
*Once blue side is fully stripped, Mike and his dad remove the two windows and begin plywooding.
*G2, once finished with the tippidy top of the back, go down to the blue side to help plywood, re-install  windows, or siding - depending on where the other guys are at in the process.
*Any back shingling that needs to be done can be accomplished by Mike, by himself, later in the week

This all might be a fruitless mission impossible. Typically in an old home, there's always something that goes awry and screws up even the best laid plans. Nothing to do but try your best and hope for some luck.

Like There's No Tomorrow

When we last left our heroes, Jess had a HD coupon and Mike was picking away at the siding. On today's episode - not much has changed.

Yes, I used that HD coupon, but not for what I had originally planned. The dam thing nearly expired before I got a chance to use it! I realized at the last moment on the day of expiration, grabbed the coupon without measuring the doors or talking to Mike and figured - I'll figure it out when I get there.

So I ended up purchasing an octagonal window, which we had wanted for the hallway/stairway anyway. A good use of coupon if I do say so myself, especially at the last minute.

That weekend (not this past weekend, but the one previous) Mike owed me some baby time - which I traded in for house time. ie - He was supposed to babysit while I had a day off, but I instead I asked him to work on the house for me. The project of the moment - finishing the stripping on the front of the house.

You may remember that most of our old siding on the front of the house was stripped during construction of the farmer's porch last spring... except for the very top of the gambrel, above the farmer's porch roof.

Since we desperately needed to go to the dump to get rid of our old front door and some other cleanings out from Mike's parents' house - it seemed like the perfect opportunity to strip off the remainder of the siding and just add it to the pile. Mike started in on it first thing in the AM. And as soon as he began working, our neighbor Rich stopped by, eager to help.



They worked through the morning and by 2:30 were finished. Even though the dump doesn't close until 3, they decided that Sunday traffic would make it dam near impossible to make it anyway - so Rich offered up his truck to haul the plywood from the deepHo.

As you recall, under our old siding was.... well, older shingles. And under our older shingles, even older barnboard. Basically very rough, thick pieces of wood - barely processed and with large gaps and knots and all sorts of obstacles that make it difficult to attach new siding to. So when we stripped the rest of the front of the house, we decided it would be easiest to put up plywood before siding. (Makes things much more weather tight too!)

The remainder of the afternoon was spent putting up the plywood and tyvek. Our neighbor Dana came over to help with the measure and cut of the plywood - which was great because plywood cuts get tricky when you add in two windows, the gambrel shape, and the ridge vent.



Speaking of ridge vent - Mike also purchased a new one whilst at the HD. Our old one wasn't painted before it had been installed, so we figured while we're up there, lets start fresh and paint a new one so it doesn't rot right out. (I finally got around to painting it yesterday during the baby's morning nap.)

And that's where we stand. The gambrel is stripped and ready for siding! This past weekend nothing got done because... well.... I kinda sorta bought a new truck on Ebay. A new old truck that is. New to me I should say. And Mike and his friend TJ went down to VA to pick it up for me. I'm excited to get it, but the whole thing was such an impulse buy... I keep thinking to myself, "I could have and should have used that money on the house." I think about a new fridge and more siding and most of all, the bathroom.

It's the my-dad in me that makes me want to purchase things I need rather than things I want. It's the my-mom in me that makes me an impulsive buyer. So I'm pretty much always in conflict when it comes to spending, especially big purchases.

Anyway, that's the current state of affairs. We keep offering up a utility quad to any of our carpenter friends who want to come and finish the siding and put in that octagonal window... no takers yet, unbelievably.

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