Framed In

Pete has made amazing progress over the past couple of weeks, especially considering he's been working his regular job and we went on a camping trip. He and Nate wrestled the big beams up, and then Pete put up the valley rafters and the roof rafters. I still don't completely understand how Pete managed to hang all those rafters himself. He also poured the new grade beam in the garage and put in the new structural post that take a large part of the load of the new roof.

Back of the house - you can see the new dormer that'll be Sylvie's room and the large dormer that'll be the master bedroom:

The front of the house - the large pitch is where the master bath will go. The smaller shed dormer is the hallway:


I took some photos of the interior. We don't have any of the interior walls up yet, so it might be tough to tell what's going on from the photos. The wide angled lens distorts things a bit - but hopefully it's good enough to get an idea of what we're doing.

Master bedroom:

Standing in the corner tub (use your imagination):

Sylvie's room:

Hallway window
Master bathroom and closet:

Next up - finishing details on the roof - fascia boards, sheathing, overhangs - and then roofing!

Going up!

There's been amazing progress in the past few days. The large exterior walls are up! It really looks like something major now!

Since this addition is going on top of a mostly preexisting structure, we've had to make some unusual decisions. Where in the hallway should we put a 4 inch step? How do we keep people from banging their head on the weird roof pitch in the hallway without giving up too much bedroom space? It's been great walking around up there for the past couple of days, really getting a feel for the space, and being able to visualize how it's all going to come together. I think we've managed to make most of the critical decisions. phew.

Pete has also been having fun dealing with some aspects of the addition. For instance, he had to build a roof truss in place. He had to bolt the truss together down inside some of the existing structure. He spent an entire day building this truss, most of the time trying to get the last 6 bolts in. He was laying on his stomach, reaching down into the existing wall, completely contorted, cranking on the bolts. He probably averaged an hour per bolt. It was much more fun to put the walls up.

Lots of details like that. Wedging and shimming the apron wall so that it's straight to the world instead of a wavy mess. Hacking away at floor joists to allow for the step. (The floor where the addition is going is 4 inches higher than the rest of the house - why? Who knows? But, we have to put a step in somewhere)

Pete is doing an awesome job. Of course. :)

Our New Roof

We left for vacation for nearly a week, and even though it's August, we both felt weird about leaving without a roof on the garage. So, before we left, Pete bought huge tarp and secured it to the top of the addition. There was no rain while were gone, but today it looks like rain - maybe just a little. I'm glad the tarp is there.

Who knew I'd ever be glad to have a blue tarp roof. Now we're just missing the old tires to hold it on.

A Riddle...

What's the best way to get this stack of 5/4 plywood (about 100 lbs. per sheet)


up this ladder...

onto this roof?

How about a manlift, doubling as a crane?


Thank goodness for friends with big toys. Pete and I were enjoying a glass of wine our our deck in the evening after Pete got that roof torn off, when Ron and Bonnie pulled up, towing the manlift behind their truck. They can't resist a good construction project! Ron gave Pete some lessons in the operation of the lift, and the next morning Pete was flying plywood onto the roof. He'll have to save the ladder for another day. Thanks Ron and Bonnie!