Another Tractor Mishap

Can you believe it?  We've had another tractor mishap.  This one occured as Chris was picking up log sections in the front bucket and one rolled right back onto the hood.  For whatever reason, John Deere now makes thier tractor hoods out of plastic, so it shattered all to pieces.  I would have taken a picture of the hood pieces for you, but I thought I was pushing it to get the picture of the tractor.  Chris was not amused.

Here she is.  All broken.

Even Case looks concerned.

There you go.  Break one tractor, get on the other one. 
Chris appears to be taking out a fence post.  I don't remember there even being a fence post down there.  Maybe its one of the posts from the old deck that was moved down there when Chris and Dan tore it down?

Lets take a better look at that post.

Here's another angle of the backyard.  All cleaned out.  We had originally planned to leave the last 2 trees, but one got pretty beat up when the excavator was buried in the mud.  Then we started thinking about all that drainage, and all of the $ we put into building that drainage, and decided the last thing we wanted was tree roots clogging it all up within the first winter.  On another note, this really opens up the back of the house and lets in a ton more light.

Win-win.

No More Deck

The guys have taken off the deck. 

Here's where the deck used to be.  Guess I won't be using the garage door to the backyard anymore.

Here I am standing in the back corner of the patio.  You can see where Chris and Dan closed in the little covered porch to enlarge the new kitchen.  The old nook window is still there, for now, that's it just to the left of the new OSB.

Another view of the back of the house. 

And here it is from the front.  I'm not sure if I've posted any recent picture of the front of the house, so here it is.  You'll notice the swell solar water heater thingys are gone from the roof.  Much better.

One last view of the front from the other side.

New Garage Beam

In further strengthening of the house, the guys have put a new beam in the garage.  Apparently, there was some roof sag.  Or some such thing.  Anyway, with the sturdy new beam, ceiling joists, and braces, we shall have no more problems with the roof.  That I know of anyway.

Heres the new beam.  Thats the old beam just in front of it.  So small.

New beam and ceiling joists.  You can also see the braces up to the roof rafters.  There they are - see that board that runs on top of the ceiling joists?  The braces are going up to the rafters from that.  Now you see them, don't you?

Heres Chris and Dan.  Chris seems to be doing something with the electrical wiring over the garage door.  I can't see what Dan is doing.

Nope, still can't see what Dan is doing up there. Chris is still wiring.
See those metal straps on the bottom of the ceiling joists (where they attach to the beam)?  Those are called joist hangers.  Because the  joists rest in them.  The straps are nailed into the beam and the joists.  Apparently much more secure than just nailing everything together.  All the better for earthquakes.

This is a nailgun.  Sometimes the guys use the gun, and sometimes they use hammers.  Depends upon what part of the job they are on.

Here is is from the other side.  Scary.

These are the nails it eats.  When Chris shoots the nails into a board, the little plastic bits that hold the nails together fly out of the gun.

Just thought you'd like to know that.

Closing in the Back Porch

Today we're upstairs again.  Chris and Dan are closing in the little covered porch area outside the breakfast nook door to the deck.  As you recall, the nook is now becoming part of the master bedroom, so the guys are closing in the porch to enlarge the new kitchen.

Here's Chris putting the OSB on the outside of the new kitchen wall.

Here's Dan carrying the next piece over to be installed.

See how the new bedroom wall now ends in the middle of the old nook window?  Obviously the window will be removed and the opening framed back in.

Here's a look at the old window on the right and the new kitchen window opening on the left.  That's tarpaper that is covering the right side of the new window opening.  Don't worry, it will soon be cut away.

Here we are looking at the new wall that closed in the porch and the new window opening on the right.

Same area, different angle.  That's Chris outside.

And here's Dan helping Chris put up another sheet of OSB while leaning out the new kitchen window.

Beam is in

Hey everyone, me again.  The new beam is in. 

Here's the beam that Chris and Dan put in.  That thing is HUGE.  I am so glad I wasn't here when it was going in.  The whole lifting of enormous weights makes me nervous.  What if they drop it?  What if they drop it and someone gets hurt?  What if they don't drop it, but someone still gets hurt?  I'm telling you I could be a professional worrier.

Anyway, this is the basement as it looks now.  See that new wall along the back?  That will be the back wall for one of the bedrooms and the bathroom.  The larger opening will be the bedroom closet.  Isn't that clever?  The closet will extend into the crawl space behind the wall.

Here is another look at the scary beam.  It will be inside the wall between the two bedrooms.

And here's another angle of the whole basement.  There are the stairs up to the living room on the left, the new beam on the right, and the door and window to the backyard on the far wall.

Beam Prep

So todays post is back in the basement.  I was a little confused as to what exactly was happening here, so I have a guest poster... CHRIS!  Yes, he is writing for me today!

Dan and I are preparing to put a new beam in the ceiling.  This will make head room for the new family room. 

Here Dan is cutting the floor joists.  Hopefully he's cutting the right board.

I'm measuring from the top of the wall sill to the bottom of the subfloor.  Looks like Dan got the right one.

Dan still can't get over the smell, boy he has a sensitive nose.

Dan cutting more of the joists.  He thinks he does most of the work and from the looks of who's in the pictures maybe he's right.

Stairs and Downstairs

When I came by today to take pictures, Chris had already finished the stairs and he and Dan were laying out the walls for the new rooms downstairs. 



Here is the new half wall around the staircase opening.  On the far side, you see it's a half wall on the left and to the ceiling on the right.  The low wall is in the dining area and the full height is kitchen.

The new stairs.  Aren't they great?  I ran up and down a couple of times, I was so happy not to have to go outside and down the hill to get downstairs. 

Here they are from the bottom.  They're super sturdy.  No bounce at all.

This is the stairway from the side.

So this is what the basement looks like these days.

Here's Chris sweeping.  He's sweeping so he and Dan snap the chalk lines for the new walls.

Chris and Dan next to the door to the backyard.

Here's Chris snapping a chalkline.  I'm not very good at that.  I can never hold it still enough or taut enough.  As a result, my chalklines are just that, chalklines rather than just one chalkline.

Now he's over by the hole in the floor.  He'll pour some more concrete there, but that's another day, another project.

Now they measure off the chalkline they just snapped, and lay out the walls to be built.  Hi Dan.

Chris measuring over from the chalkline.  Hi Chris!



Stair Footings

The next step is to pour a landing for the stairs to rest on.  The new staircase will end just outside the existing concrete downstairs, so Chris needs to pour a little slab for them.  Yes, just Chris, no Dan today.

Here are some of the bags of concrete that need to be hauled downstairs so Chris can mix them with water and pour the concrete in the forms.  By the way, this is concrete.  Not cement.  Cement is an ingredient in concrete.  It drives me wild when people talk about a cement sidewalk.  No, its a concrete sidewalk.

Okay, I'm over that rant.  Guess who got to carry the bags downstairs?  All 18 of them?  Yes, me.

Here is Chris, working away.  He's using that wheelbarrow to mix concrete.

And here we are downstairs.  No, I didn't use that ladder to go downstairs when carrying bags of concrete mix.  Ho! Ho!  That would have been hilarious!  No, I went out the garage, down the backyard  and in the door to the basement.  One bag at a time in my arms.  No wheelbarrow, as it would have been a crazy runaway going down that hill.

Oh, and if you look in the right side foreground, you can see the stringers for the new stairs.  They are the jaggedy-sawtooth looking things.  One end of each gets nailed to the floor joist upstairs, and the other rests on the new footing Chris just poured.  Then the stair treads are nailed to the stringers.  And there you go!  A staircase!

Here's Chris mixing up some more concrete.

And dumping it in the form and smoothing it out.

Here is a closer look.

And a far away look.  Those are the last two of the concrete bags on the wall to the left.  And a bunch of empties on the right.

In a happy bit of news, look how well the new drain is working!

Here's the new concrete looking down from upstairs.

And here's another look from the other end of the stairway opening.

Lastly, here it is from downstairs.  See the jack in front of the foundation wall?  Holding up the post, which is holding up the upstairs.  Kind of important.