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| On Friday, they cut the rafters. Looking toward the fireplace... |
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| ...and looking toward the basement stairwell. |
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| And they began framing up the 'back door side' wall. |
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I'm really liking the heft of the new chimney, which looks even heftier from this particular angle. Reuben, however, remains unimpressed. |
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After a much more thorough job with the tarps (and a quick run to buy more tarps on their part), we seem to be out of the danger zone. |
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| So we're back into our bubble boy status. This is the view out of our existing dining room windows. |
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| And this is the view from inside our new hallway, for the moment. |
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And here, I was standing close to the fireplace wall in the living room to take this photo. They've removed the railing and balustrades (am I using these terms correctly?) around the basement stairwell. The framing is a temporary support system to support the roof joists when they cut away for the raised ceiling. (Isn't that wallpaper on the far wall lovely?) |
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These are the supports they've added to the joists along the line where they'll cut away for the raised ceiling. |
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| Anything slightly raised from the floor will serve Reuben well as a pillow. He was quite happy here... |
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| Except the part where my $10.80 eBay purchase arrived. I'll remember that part fondly. |
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| Looking toward the fireplace... |
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| ...and looking toward the basement stairwell. |
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| We hadn't realized they'd be cutting through for the new front door... |
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| ...so the dining room is even dustier than usual. |
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| And then we woke up to rain... |
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| ...and more rain... |
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| ...and more rain. I guess this is why eaves are a good thing. |
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| On Monday, they hacked and pried off the eaves on the 'front door side' of the house. |
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| They covered the outer dining room wall with plywood... |
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| ...and framed the partial interior wall on the other side of the dining room. |
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| They also removed stones where the new front door will be. |
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The guys showed up on Saturday as well and framed the opening for the triple panel slider that will look from the dining room into the courtyard garden. |
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| They also framed the opening for the window at the end of the hallway. |
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Meanwhile, we found out a few days ago that they need to bring a 25' steel I-beam into the living room early next week, so Saturday was consumed with clearing out most of the living room - the couch being the most challenging part. |
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So only half of the couch would fit around the corner into the guest room, now inhabited by a mysterious hooded man watching V for Vendetta. |
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This also involved temporarily losing my fabulous ($20 find!) drafting-cum-sewing table to service as a TV stand. We do what we must. |
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On Friday, they put up the hallway wall where there will be three huge square windows looking from the entryway/hallway into the courtyard garden. |
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They also framed the side wall of the dining room, which will have a long floor-to-ceiling window next to the stone wall. |
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| Another view from the hallway, where you'll be able to see into the dining room. |
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A neighbor had told us that the original siding on the house was redwood, so we'd been really looking forward to seeing this beautiful wood covered up by our ugly cream-yellow vinyl siding. Turns out they'd painted the wood an even uglier shade of yellow. |
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But we weren't here for most of that. We went to a sample sale at a lighting store in DC and bought this lamp for the new dining room. (We only bought one...) We also met the sweetest white boxer who roams the store. Sheila said, "Why do you only ever do exciting stuff while I'm in school?!" |
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We asked if we could get a larger opening into the 'back door side' new basement section so we could use it for storage. The opening was about 3'x4' and about 4' off the floor. This will make storing things there much easier. |
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| They finished the subfloor on the new dining room and the new hallway. |
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This picture was taken the day before, but Reuben was thrilled to be able to go out (a couple of feet) the front door again. |
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| They started the subfloor on the 'back door side.' |
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| And the bubble in the basement is gone! |
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Today they started putting in the subfloor for the new dining room and the new hallway. VERY NOISY DAY! |
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| And they put down most of the subfloor for the new hallway... |
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They started adding the joists for the 'back door side' bumpout. |
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| They also continued work on the block base of the chimney extensions. |
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They also delivered a 25' steel beam that will go into the living room ceiling. Should be interesting getting that inside... |
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On Tuesday, they started the framing - here is the start of the new dining room floor, and into the new hallway along the edge of the existing building. |
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Another view of the same room, looking toward the courtyard garden. It's getting a little easier to see where the new interior portions will be... |
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| They cut away at the peak of the roof to allow room for the chimney extension to continue upward. |
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View of the same cutaway from inside the living room. The yellow conduit will be the gas supply to the linear gas burner for the fireplace. |
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| And a near-term supply of lumber yet to be used... |
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It's been so rainy lately, that either there's not been a whole lot of progress happening, or I keep missing chances to take pictures. Which doesn't excuse me from taking pictures inside I suppose... This is the beginnings of the new firebox in the living room. We'll be using a linear gas insert rather than wood. This decision was a hard one for me, as I do love the sounds of a wood fire, but the chimney never drew well, and we're much more likely to use this frequently. |
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| They worked some more on pointing the stones in the chimney extensions... |
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...and completed the top and right edges of the stone wall that will serve as the back wall of the dining room, with some pointing left to complete. |
