New Stairs!

Brian finished building the new stairs today. It was exciting to walk up a different way onto the porch. Alistair said that the stairs were "pretty". The new stairs are six feet wide. We wanted the new stairs to be wide enough for us to comfortable walk down the stairs with a toddler in one hand and an infant in a car seat in the other. We also thought it would be nice for the stairs to be wide enough for decorative plants and pumpkins.

New Roof

Today Mitch and his guys put the shingles up on the west side of the roof. It went really fast. The picture also shows the truck convention in our front yard. Brian was not here today, so his pick up truck is missing.

Pick-up Truck Convention

I think we had a record number of people working on our house today. In addition to Chris, Dennis, and Brian (and his trusty dog Conrad), Mitch and two of his guys were working on the roof. Not counting our car, there were four pick up trucks, an SUV, a van, and a Honda all parked at the front of our house.

Dennis worked on cladding the columns on the new porch while Chris and Brian worked on the new stairs that will be on the side porch. They discovered another huge bolder that they had to move by hand (not with an excavator like a few weeks ago). I think the bolder will become part of our garden.

Alistair has taken a liking to Chris, Brian and Dennis and to Conrad. Alistair picks out dog biscuits for Conrad when we are out grocery shopping. He also asked Santa for a dog, and when I asked what he was thankful for on Thanksgiving, he said a dog. He also is just generally interested on who is here and what they are doing. Today he asked where Dennis was (he was using the table saw) and if he was on his submarine. (Dennis worked on a submarine while in the navy.)

Early Snow

The weather this fall has been very odd. We had snow just before Halloween and we had snow again a few days before Thanksgiving. Thankfully Mitch and his guys were able to put the weather guard on the roof before the snow came. The snow actually seemed to slide right off it. They have finished the east side of the roof yet. Hopefully the snow will melt soon and they can finish.


The porch is coming along nicely. The new cedar decking is in, and they are putting up the trim. The decking is "green" so we'll wait until spring to finish it.

Goodbye Dumpster

Alistair loves trucks, so this whole project has been exciting for him. We are guaranteed at least one truck in our driveway a week Today we saw the dumpster being taken away. No more dumpster.

Side Porch Ceiling

When we first bought the house, the side porch had this horrible silver foam panels on the ceiling, almost like a dropped ceiling. They reminded me of the silver insulation foam you would attached to you loom looper oven mits. They were so ugly. Today Chris and Dennis installed the new ceiling on the side porch. Much better. It is the same ceiling as the back porch and works nicely with the siding.

Roof

On Thursday, Mitch and his guys started ripping the shingles off the roof. Today they started on the west side of the roof. The east side is always pretty shady, so there was a bit of rot on the lower sections of the roof. Some of the boards and the fascia board are being replaced. It makes me nervous just seeing those guys up on the steep roof.

Side Porch Reconstruction

After a morning of demolition, here are Dennis and Brian putting the new joists on the side porch. During demolition, they found a little bit of dry rot on one of the sills. Chris didn't seem too concerned about it since it is under cover of the porch. They covered it with the rain guard and will attach the new joists to a ledger, not the sill. They also had to trim the bottom of the columns in order to make the new deck level.

Tomorrow the roofer starts on the front roof. By our car, you can just about see Brian's dog Conrad. Alistair has been picking out little dog biscuits for Conrad at the grocery store. He proudly tells the cashier "Biscuits for Conrad." They give a puzzled look to why we are only buying one or two.

Side Porch Demolition Part Two

Goodbye decking and dodgy wood joists.

Side Porch Demolition Part One

Things are moving along with the porch. The gable over the new stairs (yet to be built) is finished and painted. Dennis has put the decking on nearly half of the back porch. Today they are working on the side porch. The rafters and joists were in worse shape than we thought, so they are going to rebuild parts of it. They are making quite a racket taking apart the base.

Gable on Side Porch

Yesterday, they framed out the gable over the new (yet to be constructed) stairs. We found a perfect example of the design we wanted on a porch in Woodstock Vermont. They are also making progress on the porch trim. We had to be a little creative with the trim at the corner where the difference in roof slopes meant the top of the facia on the two sides didn't match. It turned out great.

Mysterious Archway

Dad ripped off all the trim in the upstairs hallway today in preparation of installing the new floor. When he pulled off the trim from the doorway between the hall and the living room, he found an archway. We always thought the doorway was odd, and it was also very low. Ray, who lived upstairs a year ago had to duck when he walked through it. Why someone would cover up a perfectly fine archway to make a narrow and low doorway is a mystery, especially when there is a matching doorway on the other side of the room.

Porch Progress

The porch is coming along quickly. They are starting to put on the trim on the back porch. The side porch was in pretty bad shape, so they stipped off the old standing seam roof, the shingles underneath, and the rotten clapboards below the windows. Both windows over the side porch have also been replaced. The back of the house is done. The triple window looks great with the new siding and trim.