First Floor Framing



A lot has happened this week, despite some days off for Christmas and frigid windchills.  Here's the new view coming up the driveway.



My "little" brothers hanging Tyvek against the wind.

The bathroom.  (Still a little drafty.)



Giving family tours. 



My new schoolroom.  A few more walls will be necessary to keep the students corraled.  The front door is just on this side of the school room, and the stairs to the basement will be under the blue tarp.

Brothers looking out the future living room windows.

Master bedroom on Right; nursery on Left.  Our J. and A. got to help the builders raise one of those outside walls on Thursday.  Something they won't forget.

View out the front door.



See--  husband's garage is already cleaner. 



Pretty lawn ornament.

Grandpa getting a tour.  (Two engineers talking structure.)

'Twill be another short week, due to the New Years' holiday, and windchills at -25 degrees.  I know the builders are eager to keep moving; plans are to finish raising the outside walls as soon as the weather permits.

Meanwhile, we'll be taking the kids to some indoor mini golf and out-to-dinner; a welcome family day before everybody's back to work and school!

Going Vertical !

Well, the project was delayed a little bit due to Thanksgiving and weather, but we have made up for that this week.  This week we came out of the ground, and the basement is framed and the first floor is down.


Here you go-- this is the new view as we round the last bend of the driveway. 



Of course, all of this is the basement level:  the Top Left will someday be a bathroom.  The Right side will be bedrooms, and a mechanical room.



Here, from Left to Right, will be another bedroom, a playroom (boy, do the kiddos have plans for that one...  Methinks it won't be an ordinary playroom after they get done brainstorming...  We sometimes have to remind them that this project has a BUDGET!), and a storage room.  Right behind the ladder (which, I'm told will eventually be removed) will be the stairs up to the Main Level.)



Snow is scheduled to be removed from the basement tomorrow.

Here the builders are laying the decking on top of the basement.  I'm standing on the opposite side of the house now.  The man in the middle is standing right inside the front door; the stairwell is just to the left of him.

THIS is the messiest my husband's garage will ever be.  I promise. (I know him.)

Piles and piles and piles of trusses.  They came in all shapes and sizes, and it really looks as if there are enough to build a hotel.  I sure wouldn't have ordered this many trusses if I were doing the structural design.  But they didn't let me near the structural design. 

The kids and I did, however, get to help put all these tarps on.

One more view from the messy garage.  The kiddos got to help pick up trash today in the cold. 

The playroom windows from the outside.

Sorry it has taken so long to get you an update; but seriously, not much has happened since Thanksgiving.  We WERE planning to lay the pex tubing for the radiant heat, on Thanksgiving weekend, but that plan got postponed, and since then, we have been waiting for this lumber delivery to arrive.  Now, the framing is going fast, and we'll get back on top of the updates.  Monday, the guys will be starting the first floor framing, and plan to get all those trusses on in the week after that.

My Father-in-Law suggested a camping trip in the new basement.  Let me know if you want to reserve a campsite!  I'm personally waiting for the plumbing and heat and some carpet and windows and a bed...  : )