I came home yesterday to find all the work we contracted out completed! The top crown molding was installed and the small side pieces of moldings on the windows by the driveway side were all installed! Now it’s up to me to get to painting so we can really call it done! We have work to do on both porches, we’ll see if that’s going to happen this summer or next.
Awesome. We are well and truly broke but the house looks great 🙂 Time to re-build our savings 🙂
This weekend was a mish-mash of work. Saturday Ryan finished the third wall of the little bathroom (the doorway) and started the wall next to the tub, however all hour wood is now warped so he got frustrated very quickly with that. Unfortunately a trip to home depot Sunday was no good, all their wood was warped (no new stock). So that was left unfinished for now.
Outside I got the small section of siding on the front primed and then painted. I also got the shakes around the little porch all stripped off so we can start to figure out what to do with this porch. One corner of it is rotting out (carpenter ants) so there may be more rebuilding than originally planned. First though we need to fix the support underneath, the 2x3s are just not enough to support the porch weight.
Our contractor today got the red molding up under the soffit. He also worked on the top crown piece, he was having trouble with getting it to match up the outside corner so he has the pieces cut with the right angles but hasn’t put them up yet because he’s trying to figure out that corner first. He has to meet up with the old crown that was installed last year.
Well friday was a rain day so moldings were not going up on the roof line. Instead our carpenter got the moldings up under the porch and then primed more window sashes (only 1 window not primed now!).
After Alex went to bed it was not raining so I went out and primed the siding on the front. Hopefully this weekend I can get the paint on there, checking one more thing off the list!
I’ve been a slacker this week with posting, mostly because Alex and I were both sick Monday, Tuesday she was better but still home (no daycare until 24 hours fever free) and then I was busy with work because I had missed a day and a half. Anyhow…
Our carpenter has been moving along on the front of the house….
Tuesday was a rainy day so he got 5 windows (10 sashes) prepped (sanded) and primed. That’s more than half!
Last night I got the moldings for under the front porch all primed and painted (with a final coat of paint this morning before work). Hopefully tomorrow when he has a helper they can get the upper crown installed and some other moldings. He’s just about done with everything we are hiring him for. I’ll do the shakes and the rest of the painting eventually.
The carpenter has stayed on to complete some more work for us. Last week he rebuilt the soffit and got the shakes prepared to replace the missing ones. He’s back this week to replace the shakes, put up the crown on the soffit, do the siding around the window and then some moldings throughout.
Saturday Ryan got the other 2 walls of the bathroom built up. The doorway isn’t done (I actually stopped him worried the tub may not fit!). When his dad came up they got the tub moved upstairs so it’s close by when we’re ready to install it. It’s nice to have bathroom walls again! 🙂
The full crew work is now completed! Our contractor will continue to be here working on finishing up things but the work he needed his crew for is complete and it looks great. To help with cost I will be painting the siding that was done yesterday and all window sashes but the tower is all painted and complete which was our main concern. I can get the siding easily with a ladder.
And now for some pictures!
End of Tuesday progress:
And Wednesday progress!!
I’m looking forward to seeing what is done today. I think he’s going to be working on the soffit, stripping it, rebuilding it. There are two shakes to repair, a frieze board to put in and then siding to do on the front. We’ll paint everything on the front because it’s easy to reach.
The crew is getting towards the end, I can’t imagine they’ll be here after this week, maybe just our main contractor for a few small things we’ll pay him to do (some more moldings to install) but the main work we contracted out is coming quickly to a close.
Today they came EARLY and got right to work on the panels. Since I had pre-primed the last piece of MDO this weekend they could install it as they went along. Tomorrow they can do the final coat of paint and install the molding over the windows. Then it’s just siding (which I think they’re also starting today).
Half way through the day (before 11) this is the progress they had made already.
By the end of the day (2pm since they started at 6am), the panel outlines were done and just ready for the MDO (which had to be picked up). Our contractor picked up the MDO, brought it back and primed the back. In the evening (okay 10:30pm isn’t exactly evening but that’s when I got done working for the night), I got the front primed so at 6am when the crew showed up they could cut and install it, caulk it and when dry – paint it! When I get home today the tower will be done, the siding along the back will be done. That leaves us just the front part of the house and we’ll be keeping our contractor on for the soffit work and the siding around the front window. Very excited to come home today!
Finally the rebuilding has begun. This past weekend (Saturday at least), Ryan made a couple trips to the dump to get rid of all the demo debri from the ceiling demo. We got the upstairs cleaned up more, things moved around, the saw brought up and vacuuming vacuuming vacuuming.
There is still more cleanup to do (one section of ceiling still has a lot of insulation, but i want to get the bookcases underneath there moved first (and they need to be cleaned off), so I focused on the rest saturday. Then Ryan got the first wall of the bathroom built! This was mostly during Alex’s 2 naps although the wall was built while she was awake Saturday evening. The cleanup part all happened during naps.
Sunday we had other projects to complete (work, shopping, berry picking). Hopefully next weekend we can get the other two walls up and the tub installed?
Well Wednesday and Thursday were completely rained out – no progress made but the weather today has been great and with all three guys here, they can probably finish the tower by end of Monday at this rate.
First they got the attic window panels painted, final coat, and then the molding above the windows installed. Panels below the windows have been continued and this was progress at lunch time….
After lunch they got more staging removed and more progress on the panels. I think if Monday is nice they’ll have the panel outlines done and MDO cut/primed. Tuesday will be installing the MDO and final painting as well as siding the back side where the electical goes. That of course is all weather dependent! Coming close to the end!!
Starting to look like a real victorian house 🙂
I was looking up appliques and rosettes online and found some that might work as some added red details, i just need to get up there and take some measurements this weekend. Also planned this weekend, clean up demo and get some painting done on the other side of the house???
Monday and Tuesday this week have just been our main contractor and one helper since the other one was on vacation. They have a routine down, one up on the tower installing the panel outlines while the other is cutting the MDO into the right size panels and pre-priming them so they can just be popped in. So at the end of Monday they had the outline of the row of attic window panels done and the interior panel pieces all cut and primed.
End of today they have a good start on the section between windows, and the interior panels pre-primed for those as well. The way they are doing it, the pieces with wet paint/primer are all under the porch so even when it rains they are fine. They will however need to get it all primed/painted in place at some point this week so here’s hoping for a clear Friday (looks promising).
I know they wanted to be done early in the week with the tower but my guess is they have 2 more days of panel installation/prep work and then friday to do the final coat of paint. Hopefully they can also do the siding sections on friday? Looks like scattered storms again Wed/Thur – tough to work in that!