All backfill completed!

All of the backfill around the yard is now complete.  They came today to fill in the trench in the front yard where the water line upgrade was done.  They did not however go into the crawl space and cover up the trench in there.

So, I had to go in there and do it myself.  Thankfully it is almost entirely sand in there so I just had to push it all back into the hole.

I still say that having to go into a 95 year old dirt floor crawl space is the worst task I as a homeowner have to do.  Well, that and cleaning out hair and congealed soap from the drains.

No other work today besides continued plumbing work.  That is going to pretty much be my life for the next several weeks.

This is the typical getup I wear anytime I need to go in the crawlspace.  Also I ended up putting goggles on but took them off halfway through because they started fogging up.  The bike helmet is to protect my head as it is almost impossible not to bump into things in there.  Anyways, quite the look!

This didn't happen today but I didn't post yesterday.  They completed the bottom of the interior basement stair landing.  The stairs have to do a 90° at the very bottom so that they remain inside the future hallway.

Finally, all of the windows were delivered yesterday.  Very exciting!!!  This photo just shows some of them.  In total there are 27!

2nd roof overhangs

Today the plywood sheathing and blocking was finished, inspected, and passed.  Then, they started work on the 8:12 overhang on one side.  Assume they will finish on the other side tomorrow and also start with the drainwrap tomorrow.  Expect me to geek out with that as it is a really cool product.

Plumbing work

Nearly all of the sheathing is now complete.  One small section remains and that will be done tomorrow.

I've begun working on plumbing, starting in the basement over the weekend with my dad with the sump pump.

I've since completed the sump pump and most of the sewage ejector pump.

Sewage ejector stuff on the left, sump on the right.

No more roof leaks!

Today the roof underlayment was installed.  We should be leak free (from the roof at least - window openimgs are still wide open) from here on out.

Also, work began on the sheathing for the 2nd story as well as some other miscellaneous framing tasks.

Tomorrow 2nd story sheathing will continue.  Also, the water line will be backfilled.

Progress all around!

The original porch roofing was 3/4" beadboard...most of it still in good shape.  One area needed to be cut out and replaced.

Master closet fixed window on the left side, master bathroom window on the right.

Rear master bedroom (right) and bathroom (left) window openings.

Just a photo of where we need to install our attic ladder and then a 6" platform for the 2nd floor heat pump unit.

Ready for roof underlayment

All of the plywood roof sheathing is in place and ready for the roof underlayment.  Typically, they would just use tar paper for the underlayment, but because most of our roof surfaces are less than 4:12 pitch a special underlayment has to be used on the entire surface of the roof.  It is also called ice and water shield.

This has the added benefit that it can be installed right now while we wait for other steps to complete before the actual shingles are installed and yet the underlayment by itself protects against rain.

So, tomorrow the roof underlayment will be installed and we will finally have a leakproof roof!

More framing work

No work done yesterday due to the high winds.

Today, the 2nd water line inspection passed, so backfill can proceed now.  Expect that to happen in the next few days.

Today's framing work was continuing to build the roof overhangs and installing the roof decking over the front dormer.  There are a few spots remaining but overall most of the roof decking is now complete.  Also, most of the remaining ceiling joists have now been installed.

Expect demo on the porch dormer portion to begin tomorrow or Thursday.

There is actually quite a bit of space in these little "nooks" at the front of the home.  Good for storage space!

New ceiling joists:

Front dormer roof overhang

front dormer:

The roof overhang brackets arrived today.  They will be installed after all of the exterior wall sheathing is in place.

Another miscellaneous day + Fixed video link

Nothing framing was wise done today but we got a lot of other random things done.


Had someone come today to run the copper tubing in the trench for the new 1" water line (on the left).  Inspection is scheduled for Monday.

Cut the window well drain pipe down to grade and installed the grate:

 Did the same thing with the pipe going into the top of the drywell.  This is not a drain, however, just a pop-up emitter in case the drywell ever gets full.

This was the big project.  We got the sewer line run through the wall, sloped properly, then waterproofed around it and then backfilled.  So now all the backfill in the backyard is complete!

Another view of the side showing the backfilled area:

Also, on the inside where the sewer line came in to the house we filled in the large hole that was made in the concrete to get the pipe to fit through.  Hard to tell with the lighting but it is pretty much smoothed out. It will be hidden inside a wall anyways.

Also, this is the corrected video link from yesterday:

https://youtu.be/pEfgJUvsCjY

Getting close...

We are getting close to finishing with the framing.  I expect another day or two and it should be finished.  However, we just decided to add another dormer above the porch door so that we can replace our existing interior-rated doors with a new door that is code compliant (6'8" or higher).  So, the roof will be higher in that area.  That will add a few days of demo, framing, etc to the process.

I also put together an updated walkthrough video.  The link is at the end of the photos.

They finally framed in the master bedroom side walls.

This is the master closet with the long skinny fixed window framed in up high on the wall.

 Roof framing

Exterior view"

This framing looks all wonky but trust me it is correct.  It will look better once the overhang brackets are installed.

Believe this happened sometime yesterday with the wind and scaffolding craziness.  We have since repaired it though.

Roof overhang on this side of the house surrounds the chimney.  This is why we needed to rebuild the chimney first. It's funny though.  You ask the framer which order to go in and he'll say he can frame it up first and they can build the chimney around it no problem (he'd rather not have anything interrupt his framing process).  Ask the mason and they'll tell you the opposite--do the chimney first.  In this case I think the mason was correct.

8:12 pitch roof on the front of the house.

8:12 pitch on the front-left of the house

Another view of the roof craziness"

Pretty nice view from up here:

 

8:12 pitch section looking towards the front of the house/street.

Here is the link to the walkthrough video.  It is 12 minutes long but I won't be offended if you get bored and don't finish it!

https://youtu.be/pEfgJUvsCjY

Weather!

Starting to get tired of weather issues.  Luckily, we should be precipitation free now through at least the weekend.

Decent amount of water inside this morning but I was able to clean it up fairly quickly.

Additional progress was made with framing the overhangs today and some other miscellaneous areas.


Now, for the "fun";part:

Something's not right with this photo...

 OK, something is definitely not right here:..

The scaffolding that was used for the chimney work (and really should have been taken down yesterday) partially toppled over today in the wind.  Some of it hit the neighbor;s house causing a bit of damage.  No injuries thankfully.  Masonry company is taking care of things, but still.  Something additional to worry about!

It is a good thing some of the framing crew was onsite when it happened or else the entire thing would have likely fallen over and caused significant damage.  It's being prevented from falling over any more right now by two different ropes.