Tuesday got rained out again but Monday the rain held off so they were able to get our bedroom windows all installed and a good start on scraping down the soffit over the backside.
Soffit scraping started, coming along nicelyBack side of cupola window progressFront side – looks good!Bedroom windows from the inside. They did a good job removing the trim and not really messing with the plaster. This is good because it may be a while before we get to renovating our bedroom.
Now the inside work is done, they are starting on panels on the bumpout today. At the pace they are going i’d say they may get all the panels on the bumpout done, maybe not the window cap only because it’s tricky? I’ve got some molding to paint tonight (I want the bed molding to be red and it’s easier if it’s pre-painted). Everything else will be yellow so it’s up to them when they add the molding, they could do it after painting the rest if they want, I just want to make sure I’m not holding them up.
We got a little work done on the kitchen this weekend, mostly Saturday during naps (since she takes 2 2 hour naps on Saturdays generally).
First I cut out the hole for the microwave to go, and then wired up the outlet. We need to get some trim to trim out the bare edge of the cabinet and I think I want to in-set the outlet instead of just flush mounting it. The microwave fits but it’s off-center due to the plug, if we inset the outlet even 3/4 of an inch (just cut out the back of the cabinet and drywall), the microwave will be centered nicely. That’s for another day though. That outlet isn’t yet hooked up to the panel box.
Microwave cutout and you can see where the crown ends.
Next up I installed the outlet on the end of the peninsula, this one is hooked to the panel box and I got the GFCI breaker installed for the kitchen now that the last outlet is in.
Outlet in the end of the cabinet, now I can use my mixer that is in that cabinet!
Ryan worked on crown molding. He got the back hallway completed, he got the filler above the fridge all in and the first board up that will make the coffered ceiling in the diningroom so we can bring the crown all around the kitchen continuously. We are actually short a piece of crown we have to pick up before we can finish.
Back hallway crown is done!Here you can see the cabinets now go up to the ceiling, with the base piece for the crown installed. Ryan had to put a filler strip behind this piece because the bumpout on the left sticks out 1/2 inch from the cabinets and he wanted to run the crown straight across. Also you can see the flat board between the kitchen/diningroom. The crown will continue right across that and that will later be turned into part of the coferred ceiling.
I also did some various sanding of trim in the kitchen. It’s slow boring work, but the window primer has been sanded so I can put the first coat of paint on the window trim whenever. The back hallway door trim has been sanded, but I still have the basement door trim, the archway and the 3 doors going towards the bathroom. Lots and lots of trim to sand before I can prime all of that!
No pictures because it’s raining too hard to go out and take them. I wanted to quick document the progress they made yesterday.
The 2 vinyl windows in the back are trimmed out with sills/casings and the caps were made but not yet installed (the frieze board has to be installed first and the caps modified to fit tightly). On the bumpout they got the sill extended all the way around so the panels can be started using that as a starting point.
The cupola siding is about 1/2 torn off, then they covered what was exposed with tar paper in preparation for the rain. Everything was cleaned up and covered for the weekend, with the rain coming they knew they wouldn’t be coming by today to work.
Monday the plan is to get the panels on the bumpout started, the rest of the cupola siding and windows removed (so our bedroom needs to be emptied out so they can remove windows). Then our bedroom windows will get installed and the panels finished up on the bumpout and then the siding on the back part done.
The whole front of the house minus the actual screen porch will get finished by then, we’ll do the porch ourselves either this summer or next but it’s in decent shape. The hard part is deciding what to do about the floor of that porch and adding drainage before we can re-roof the full wrap around porch roof.
Replicating the original cupola in some form or another is going to be very interesting. I was very excited to get a hint at what it used to look like this morning when they got the aluminum mostly off.
Last night I ran over to home depot after kiddo was in bed and Ryan was home and I ordered some vinyl replacement windows for the attic part of the cupola. We were waiting to see what was underneath and once we knew it was panels and could be rebuilt we just ordered new construction windows. Hopefully they come closer to 10 days instead of 2 weeks.
It sure was nice to come home to some great progress! They got 5 windows flashed and installed today. They also removed some more siding so we could see what the original cupola panels looked like – very interesting. I’m a little worried we don’t have windows for the top of the cupola yet. I’ve been having trouble getting such small double (or single) hung windows. I’m going to talk to our contractor tomorrow about calling Harvey windows and see if they have any, but even then it’s 2 week lead time.
Looking good!bumpout windows are also in!Interesting panels revealed
And the interior….
Bumpout (this will become the master bathroom.Laundry room (left) and bathroom (right).
Well clearly we are not getting work done on the house lately since there have been no blog updates 🙂 The small amount we did get done last weekend was in preparation for our new crew to start work. We hired a crew of 3 to do the exterior work (replace windows and siding) on the right side and front of the house’s 2nd and 3rd stories. This is a HUGE job and the price certainly reflects that. They are hoping to complete in 5 weeks or less although the cost is a fixed price for labor. Since we’re not getting work done I might as well blog about the work other’s are doing 🙂
Day 1 –
Removed aluminum siding on 2/3rds of the bumpout and the back section. Removed the wood siding/paneling on same sections. Removed 4 windows. Reframed 2 windows for smaller vinyl replacements and closed 1 window up.
Siding removed on this section (aluminum and original) as well as 4 windows on the right.Close up of the shingle damage – those are going to need to be replaced unlike the other side 🙁You can see how far around they got removing siding – started on the cupola.
Attic staircase window closed up, the other 2 windows framed in
Debri was all cleaned up, aluminum is piled up for us to recycle and tomorrow they will start putting up staging so they can access the bumpout and cupola more effectively.
Debri all hauled off already!
Inside shots…
Attic staircase window closed upNew windows popped in backwards for the night (temporary). The left one is our laundry room, the right one is our bathroom. The bump out window just has plastic over it for now.
I’m very happy with the pace they started with, getting the cruddy work over with quickly and cleaning up in the same day. The overall estimate is 5-6 weeks for this job, we all know the finishing work is the slowest part and they are going to be going all the way to caulking and painting with the new siding (as well as scraping any old soffit that remains). So even though things start out fast, they will slow down eventually. For now though the progress is astounding and fun to capture.
Plus – it gets done while I sit at my computer working all day 🙂
Replicating the original cupola in some form or another is going to be very interesting. I was very excited to get a hint at what it used to look like this morning when they got the aluminum mostly off.
