Porch Footings

Yesterday and today, the builders were working on the porch footings. We weren't sure how far down they could dig before they hit ledge, but they were actually able to dig the four feet or so needed for the porch footings. Alistair was definitely excited by the mini excavator Brian used to dig the holes for the foundation. He ate his breakfast while watching him place the pre-cast footing into the hole.

Brian also dug the holes for the side porch footings. He found some enormous rocks. They also had to move the dumpster (using the excavator) to get to some of the other side porch footings.


It has been fairly wet the past few weeks, so our yard is now a big muddy mess. Well, we've been talking about having the lumps smoothed out and the lawn reseeded because it is so weedy. I guess we'll be doing that now.

Painting Alistair's Room

After a busy day picking pumpkins, Colin painted the second coat of Shaker Beige on Alistair's new bedroom walls. He also started to install the cedar panels in the small closet in his room which will be used for long term storage.

Dormer Window Framed

The window in the new dormer is all framed, and they are nearly done framing the new ceiling.

Salmon Pink

We noticed today a small patch of salmon pink paint on the siding on the back of the house. It was behind the old porch. The house we rented when we first moved up here was salmon pink, so it's not that unusual of a color. We wondered when it was painted that color. You can also see a tiny sliver of the horribly boring beige color the house was painted when we bought it.

Moving on to the Roof

The wall of Charlotte's new room is all framed and you can see where the window will be. Now they are working on the roof. Dennis is carrying roofing supplies up the staging.

Here is a picture of the temporary porch supports. The post that was here was as a angle and not supporting anything.

Framing the Wall

Chris (left), Brian (with beard), and Dennis were hard at work today framing out the wall of Charlotte's room. They are making fast progress. The weather forecast is for sun the next few days, which is great for working on the house as well as the upcoming Columbus Day weekend.

Yesterday the weather was pretty crummy, so they worked on fixing the side porch. The rafters were in bad shape. Some looked like someone had used wood from a burn pile, and all the rafters were pulling away from the siding. They put up fascia and sistered new rafters to the old and attached the new rafters to the fascia. (The old rafters were cut back.) It might not look pretty, but it will all be covered up by bead board. They also leveled out the decking and took out the old, rusty support posts.

A Big Hole in our House

Today Chris and Dennis opened up the wall that have the new dormer. It is somewhat unsettling to have a huge hole on the side of your house.
The closet has also been removed from that room. Of the three bedroom closets in this house, two are less than two feet deep. We'll make this one bigger, so Charlotte can actually hang her clothes in it.

Dormer Demo

Today Chris started working on what will be Charlotte's bedroom. We are replacing the small, low (dangerous) window with a dormer. He's removed the old drywall and insulation and built a temporary construction frame. Hopefully the permit will be ready this week and he can start soon.

Side Porch

Chris worked on removing the hideous drop ceiling on the side porch and examining what was underneath. It appears that a builder used word with fire damage for rafters. The rafters are also pulling away from the siding (not that rafter should be nailed directly into the siding anyway). I guess it is our first unexpected bit of extra work.

The dumpster is filling up. There was a lot of material in the porch.

An Unusual Sight

With the back porch gone, we saw something that we've never seen before - light shining in through the back kitchen window.