Week 10: Hurry Up And Wait



This was the hurry up and wait week.  On the one hand we were able to begin serious framing, which made things look like they were progressing quickly.  On the other hand, a continuation of the June rains plus the mid-week July 4 holiday put us several days behind schedule.  We had hoped to take the roof off this week, which is the step that enables us to frame the second story, but the wet weather said no.  In this photo, BBB veteran carpenter, Mike (not to be confused with the Brilliant Physicist) is completing the framing of the first wall of the dining room.  Although it isn't clear in the photo, it is raining cats and dogs.



By early Thursday, two of the dining room walls were up.  The goal for the week is to get the third wall up, complete the first story framing of the elevator shaft, and install the floor joists and sub flooring for the second story on top of this addition.  The sub floor on top of this addition will serve as the platform for carrying off the roof of the existing house (as soon as the weather clears!)



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This photo shows the studs for a shear wall that will extend from the basement all the way through the second story.  This stud wall is on the first story, a portion of the living room.



Another view of the living room shear wall.  The new staircase to the second floor will begin at the base of this shear wall and will run along the strip of reddish fir flooring shown in this photo. 



This is the basement portion of the shear wall shown in the preceding two photos.  this shear wall is in the furnace room and has been built on the new extension of concrete retaining wall that we poured during the concrete stage of the project.



Although we don't pretend to understand all of the engineering that is going into this project, this doesn't prevent us from admiring the engineering details when we see them.  In this photo, taken in the basement adjacent to the elevator shaft, you can see a long bolt, the base of which is embedded in the concrete foundation.  This bolt will be connected to similar lengths of bolt that run all the way up through the second story and will help tie the entire structure to the foundation.



This photo shows the metal connector at the top end of the bolt shown in the preceding photo.  A similar length of bolt from the second story will extend down and screw into this connector.



The new elevator shaft as seen in the basement.  The opening on the left will be the elevator door.  The room in which this part of the elevator shaft is located will be the laundry room.



Another view of the elevator shaft, looking down from the first story.



Still another view of the elevator shaft, this one looking up from the first story.  Look at the blue sky!  To the right of the center of the photo, you can see a 6x6 header.  This is the header over the exterior access door to the elevator and is recycled lumber.  Dylan cut this from an old post in the existing basement that was removed in the course of our engineering work there.  It's nice to know that, here and there, we are incorporating some of the 1925 lumber in the new construction.

The east face of the house and addition.  The doorway shown in the center of the photo is where the exterior access door to the elevator will go.



By Friday, the goal for the week had been met.  The walls to the new dining room are up, the plywood sheeting is on, the elevator shaft has been framed up to the second story, and the second story floor joists and sub flooring are in.  In this photo, Sandy looks out the opening for the windows on the west side of the dining room.



The intrepid BP studies the temporary access to our dining room. 



The intrepid BP decided to climb the ladder and now looks south from the dining room.



This is what our view will be looking east from the dining room.  This photo also shows the second story floor joists and sub flooring.

This photo shows our view to the south from the dining room.  The view will improve after we have repaired the landscaping.



This photo shows our view to the west from the dining room.



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A view of the front of the house at week's end.  This and the next photo are the last photos that will show our house with an east/west ridge line.  The next ridge line you see will be north/south.  The most demonstrative evidence of the metamorphosis is about to happen.  The weather reports indicate clear weather ahead for many days.  Based on that information (and with fingers crossed) we have committed to commencement of roof removal beginning Monday.  This will be a very exciting week!



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