A flurry of activity on Thanksgiving week

All in all this post represents a week of activity. What didn't get captured in this post were the many trips to Lowes, Home Depot, 84 Lumber before and after work. Thursday was Thanksgiving and the whole family that could come was at our house. We all can't wait for it to be done so our family gatherings will be accomodated better by the new kitchen. It was nice to see so much progress on the project and it was GREAT to have the family over to share the holiday with us.

Just a note regarding the framers and the roofers. Both crews were highly professional and highly skilled. Both offerred suggestions and asked questions to insure that the job was done correctly. Watching the saw man on the framing crew was entertaining as he didn't miss a cut. His boss said that he had better saw gr8 because he will not climb a ladder and sawing good keeps him on the ground.

The framers started and the natural gas folks decided to also work that day and slowed the traffic on the street.
Framing begins as the lake side wall goes up first. 26' engineered beam acts as the header above what will be a full wall of 7' high windows/doors.

A piece of engineered wood also acts as the header above the fireplace and support for the roof ridge engineered beam.

Getting ready for for the ridge beam by finishing the back wall

Working on the extension of the 2nd story deck overhang to match the rest of the house.

The gas guys get the line to the house after a full day of trenching through the rock in the front yard and breaking the trencher once.

Friday and Saturday the roofers and the framers were here. This meant that 12 to 13 people were busting their tails from dawn til dusk on our house.

The roofers ripped off the old shingles, put 48 square of new architectural shingles down, installed all the new ridge cap and cleaned up in 2 days.

Worked continued on the kitchen.

Once the kitchen's roof was on the new screen porch extension got its roof so the roofers could get the entire roof complete.

A view of the new roof from street level

A view from the back yard.

The deck framing starts to be constructed

A view of inside the new addition showing the skylights and area for the glass wall.

A view of the side of the house where the fireplace chimney will be built soon.

Framing crew starts today

Santos arrives from North Augusta with his crew to start framing

Laying out the sill plates with PT 2x10's.

Installing the floor joists


Continued

5 guys on the crew

Cut off the soffit and facia on the roof lines that will be extended.

Ditto on the roof line of the main house

Getting ready to go up.....................

Haven't had an update in awhile so I just thought there should be one even though not much visibly has been done to the new kitchen. The structural engineering has been done, structural beams ordered. The glass wall has not arrived yet nor have the skylights. We have gotten bids on the framing and, once all the ordered materials arrive, we will have the kitchen framed and have new architectural shingles put on the house.

Here is a picture showing how far the pond is down. The water is usually almost up to the tree trucks.

The foundation has been backfilled by hand and the inside is being dug out to create a little storage for yard tools and fishing/boat stuff.

A view from the upper deck. You can see the sand (that used to be in the drivewayand was hauled down wheelbarrow by wheelbarrow by Jonathan) is down by the bank of the pond creating a beachy look. Also notice the vibrant red berry in the 50' tall holly tree.

Took a break this weekend

Koty and Tyler came down from NC to attend the South Carolina State Fair. They met up with their 2nd cousin Christopher for the fun.

Riding the Tilt-a-Whirl

Koty, Tyler and their mother Leslie went to view the fair from that of a bird's eye.

Jackie, after her mama and I got home from the fair, decided to catch a quick nap on her mama's shoulders.

Ready for framing / Happy b'day Megan

The masons don't have to go without a warm meal / all they need is their microwave oven and my electricity.

All piers are in place

Just alittle more veneer to finish and we are ready to get it on with the framing.

Today, I believe was productive; Jose, I and several of the boys went to Lowes to pickup 115 blocks. As it turned out Lowes had exactly 115 blocks (am I living right or what?) Santos, another associate of Jesus, stopped by today to give me a bid on the framing and roofing. He has crews available within several days and is very competative; we will see.....

We are planning/heavily to go to Atlanta for our anniversary on Monday to look at cabinets at the IKEA store. These plans are not, at this point firm, but may very well end up being carried out. Obviously there will be another post to this blog should that happen.

More Progress / More Block needed

Today the concrete company delivered the two cubes of block and bags of mortar that I paid for yesterday. All of the block was used and we now are still 115 blocks short just to get to the point of framing. Others would start to get very irritated at this point (expend negative energy) but what value would that add. Jose, the foreman for this portion of the job (oh, by the way this crew is from Vera Cruz) is feeling abit sheepish. I believe that they are doing a good job and they are working hard and not complaining. The only issue is that they like their mariachi music loud.

Looks like Tuesday completion is out of the question as we will be getting more block tomorrow

Foundation rising / Happy B'day Eleri

All of the remaining block that was on site was laid today. I ordered another two cubes as well as 20 bags of mortar to be delivered tomorrow (an unexpected expense). Block will be used for the peers inside of the foundation walls as well as to finish the foundation. The brick veneer does not match the existing to our liking so we are, at the moment, thinking of painting the brick on the back, bottom of the house. Yesterday we ordered the glass pond front from Home Depot and all of the sky lights (4 for the kitchen and two for the screened 3 seasons room on the upper deck.