Raise da roof

Since our last post we were able to accomplish three big things: fill up our big dirt hole around the house, enclose our east wall with insulation and OSB, and seal the roof!!

Warmer winters for the yellow house for the first time in 80+years.

Guff and Josiah insulating and covering.

Making some progress.

All done!

Skylight!

oh hi.

The roof wasn't the only thing gettin' raised.

B-Carl roofin' for the Lord.

Starting to shingle the roof. No more dumb tarp!

This will be the second bedroom upstairs.

and one day we may get to this. Next up, though, are windows, doors, and siding...

oh hi, June

So apparently May came and went, and we somehow managed to survive the Rapture and a tornado (mutually exclusive events), frame the addition, build a staircase, and start tearing down our siding. Who knew that the end-of-times could inspire so much hard work?

Last I left off, we had just finished the subfloor. Now, we've got this:

 and these...

closet.

And it only took a little bit of this...

and a little bit of that...

and from time to time, a splash of this...

Ok, not really. I will spare you all the gory details...except for the one about us thinking that Will had been pre-raptured the day before and that we would have to carry on without him.

Will and Charlie put the floor down on the second story, so now we have a really sweet "deck" to hang out on before we frame upstairs:

Charlie also managed to build this thing all on his own. I don't know for sure what it is, but Will seems to think it's important:

Will and I also decided to go ahead and start taking down the first layer of siding from the east wall of our house on Memorial Day because we are totally NUTS:

Then, just to round out the month of May, the 3 dinguses (Will, Guff, moi) made a run for it and stayed up until after sundown ripping off the nasty lead paint siding. This is the pic from the day after:

Will, aka husband of the year, has had a rough go of it this last month. Aside from the scare of the pre-rapture and starting a major construction project during what was likely one of the rainiest Springs on record for Indiana, he was tragically clobbered on the head last night by a rogue hammer:

Job (as in the Bible): 20. Will: 3.

Although our project was originally just a mudroom, two bedrooms and a bathroom upstairs, it has grown to include new siding, insulation, and windows for the entire house. My sister calls this "scope creep";  it's more of an avalanche at this point.

I think we'll be more than happy with it in the long run.

Oh, and God rescheduled the rapture for October 21. Back to work...

p.s. thanks for the reminder Jenny, the original home remodeling queen.

Progress

Subfloor.

If it would stop raining I could probably sunbathe on this thing...

Will=good idea.

Oops. Spooked ya.

exposed.

Tom, as always, jumping right in.

Frank you very much.

A job well done. Well, not really done. Maybe one day.

Rain delay.

The rain has set us back, which is mostly just frustrating. We're not really into the whole "taking a break" thing...we want to get this project moving.

The most painful part of the delay is having to wait even longer for our pups to come home. When we started the project we had to send them for what we thought would be a brief stay at their grand-pup parents house. I haven't really been counting the weeks, but it feels like forever since they were last around. We are keeping our fingers crossed for an Easter return. Ask and you shall receive?

In case you don't know our pups, I am pleased to introduce you to Joanna (right) and Joaquin (left). 

Joanna is down-to-the-bone Basset Hound. Joaquin is a pure-bred Heinz 57 watchamacalit. I'm not sure that I've ever both loved and loathed something as much as these two pups. That's right: not even Jose or Will have pushed me to the brink of insanity like these guys. But for whatever reason the three of us who take care of these dogs really love em' and are aching to have them home.

I actually had a dream a week or so ago that I opened our front door and Joaquin was just sitting there, looking so nice and sweet, just waiting for me to tell him it was ok to come inside. *sigh*

Foundation, part I

So if digging a giant hole in our backyard didn't make this project feel serious, building the foundation with our very own hands sure did.

I guess that I should note that pretty much all of us on Sunset Hill are developing our handy (wo)man skills on-the-job. The extent of my own natural abilities in this department were probably best expressed through my job of moving concrete blocks from point A (the backyard) to point B (inside the foundation). Others, however, tackled head-on the challenge of building our foundation DIY-style, and with much success.

Here was our crew for the day:















Dave (blue sweatshirt and glasses), aka "Angel Sent From God Above" is a mason and father of 3 kids, two of whom are in Will's after school program at the Banneker Community Center. When he heard what we were doing, he offered to come and show us the way. He said he did it for "God points", of which I am happy to be a recipient. Other willing laborers (from left to right) included Huck, Guff, Carrie, Angel David and his 3 kids, Nate, and Will. Not pictured are Tim, Kristen, and myself.

So, on with the show...

Dave got us started with the first corner of the foundation:














Tim and Guff engaged in some problem solving:



















Will took on the job of cutting blocks:



















Nate and Tim mixed the mortar:















Hold on. Let's just pause for a second here.


This is Nate.














He likes to tell people that he's from Greene County. What you can't see in this picture is that his navel was showing for most of the day, which was pretty much only in the 40s. Nate is a friend via Young Life. Despite his shirt, he's been a big help in the project. He also works at Lowe's and must have sensed that someone was aimlessly wandering the aisles during a recent solo trip I took there. In my moment of despair Nate appeared from the sky (w/ a short sleeve shirt on) and saved the day. Before I knew it my car was loaded (not by me, by Nate) and I was on my way.

Our friend Huck was probably MVP of the day. He was really into this gig as a first-time mason and by the end everyone was looking to him for advice. He pretty much completed the first wall all on his own:















Carrie wasn't about to let the boys have all the fun and fame, so she jumped in to take over the detail work. By the end, she was laying block better than the rest of em' (sorry guys):














Kevin, inspired by Carrie's can-do spirit, picked up a power tool for the first time EVER in his life:














He loved it so much that he even picked up another one!














Will and Dave were doing their thang...















And by the end of the 1st day of the foundation project, we ended up with this:














Actually, the group worked way past sundown that first day and ended up almost finishing the first 3 walls. Smells of yummy food lead our weary bodies across the yard to the Blue House where a scrumptious meal made by Josh, Sam and Kristen awaited us.

Next up, Foundation, part II...

Excavation, Part I

Second project: Excavation, Part I

Well, I think we can say we're officially initiated into the full-of-surprises World of Home Remodeling.

Our first major project was excavation. Jeffro/Jethro (haven't quite figured out which one it is) and his boss Ollie (don't know his name either, but Jeffro/Jethro calls everyone, including his boss, by this name) dug a giant hole on the backside of our home over spring break. Here he is tearing up our back porch. Upon finishing he said "ur back purch's run!" (translation: your back porch is ruined!):

Although there were several surprises along the way, most of which are probably only interesting to us, the most notable was the discovery of an old, abandoned septic tank:

For any fans of Lost out there, you can only imagine our excitement during the first few seconds before realizing what this actually was.

We quickly determined that it wasn't our fate to go down the hatch, however, so Will called the folks we were pretty sure were meant to:

At the end of the week, we had a nice, big hole on which will eventually stand a mudroom and attic bedroom:















Between tearing down the back porch and digging a giant hole, I'd say it was a pretty productive spring break week.

Next up: Excavation, Part II

Remodel

Well, we're expanding. Our house, that is.

Our house maybe wasn't made to accommodate all the life it now sustains: 3 humans, 2 dogs, 1 cat, bi-weekly community dinners, and a gardening/beer-brewing/food preservation and creation operation. The local lore is that our odd gravel street of identical bungalows (circa 1930) once housed workers who labored in the quarry that is now a 1/2 mile long medical complex. When we first bought it, it seemed giant compared to the 3-bedroom shotgun we were living in. I think we'll miss our home-as-is. But we also love Sunset Hill and want this to be the place we call home indefinitely.

Thankfully we only have to add a small addition and will expand the rest of our new space into the original footprint of the house...the unused attic. We're aiming to do most of it ourselves with the generous help of friends and Sunset Hillbillies. The same approach was taken with the blue Feltigan home and it worked out perfectly.

First project: Back Porch removal

This is our back porch. We saved the original, rusted thermostat nailed to the inside of the middle post.

James, Josh and Will were the three willing laborers.

Josh is a happy worker.

I thought it would be funny to take a picture of James while he was taking a picture because this is something he would typically do to me.

Will/Wario taking down the last piece of plywood ceiling.

Down she goes.

A job well done.















Next up: Excavation....