Happy New Year!

Two years ago today, Eric and I were driving home from work, and I said to him, "I have been looking on the Internet, and I found this great house". First, I should say that I am not allowed to look on the Internet anymore because it scares Eric completely! Second, I expect Eric to say no to me with all my hair brained ideas (like houses and school!). He does not always come through for me in that regard! Anyway, when we got home, Eric did some number crunching and said I think we can do it. I was not expecting that result! Anyway, we were under contract for our house on January 10 after another contract on the house fell through and getting mortgage preapproval all in a very short time. Yes though, I did fall in love with our house from Internet pictures!

If you had told me a year ago, that we would GUT our house in November, I would have laughed my head off. We were just hoping to get new windows this year! I think this is the biggest project that has ever been done to get new windows.

So what does 2011 hold for us? Well, hopefully some time in February, we can move back home. But the rest will just continue this wild, crazy, fun, loving journey for us. I hope it is the same for all of you too.

New tub

Powder room (maybe we should call it the hall ball since there is a shower!) tub arrived on Monday. It looks great - and very spacious compared to the coffin shower!

December 22 progress

Lots of electrical and plumbing continuing. It seems like they are coming along nicely, but I don't know where they end! New stairs were fixed. The landing in the middle includes a step so that messed up the stair count. So the bottom half had to be replaced. It looks much better! Lots of misc. framing done too.

It really looks like a house again! I can not get over how much I love the floor plan in person. We did not however get rough inspection done today. There was just too much to finish.

Pictures of new stairs

Because the stairs are really the only thing I can take pictures of right now! Installed last Thursday. It is so nice to be able to go between the two levels inside. Although honestly it is probably warmer outside still!

View from the bottom of the stairs in the basement


View from the top of the stairs pointing down


View from the powder room

Random pictures

Pictures from Sunday's work on the house. Eric worked on the extending the electrical line trench for the telephone/cable burial. It was a lot of work.

Eric digging:


Straight on view of the new master room bedroom sliding door and new basement window (only one window left in the basement to be installed, and they look so great!)


Side and back view of the house. The 3 windows close together are over our bed. The other window on that wall is the master bathroom. Then you can see the sliding door too.


Back of master bedroom and dining room. P.S. We will be painting the outside this spring so I promise the outside will improve!

Chaos

It is hard to accurately describe how our house looks when we go over in the afternoon. I thought that I had taken a good picture of it but really not. There are just so many people in the house working between plumber, electrician, roofer and general tasks that it is nuts to go over there. Unfortunately we can't go over after work because it is way too dark then. Anyway, it is hard to take a step anywhere without being in someone's way. And it is messy. Really though everyone can make fun of me for caring given the overall condition of the house. It is not as though I am living there!

"I am so much happier now that the roofers are here"

Quote from my sweet husband on the way home today. The roofers came today to put new roof on the living room/dining room - the old one had to taken off to get the beam into place between the original house and the 1990s addition. In addition, all the new penetrations had to be fixed in the old roof as well as the old fireplace hole. Our roof looks like swiss cheese now with all the vents! We will however actually having working vents in every bathroom (0 before!).

Cell phone picture. Trust me that there are roofers up there!

December 16

So Mom, it is December 16, and this is my 16th post of the month. That is pretty good right? You are not at all fooled by my multiple posts in a day, are you? Darn.

New stairs

New stairs were delivered yesterday. Hopefully they will be installed today. It will be a beautiful day when you can go from the main level to the basement without going outside! Some times I think I am too easy to please!

Some schedule:
Rough inspection next Wednesday
Then insulation
Then drywall
Then Eric and Jen get to work their butts off getting the paint and guest bathroom done

This week's progress

We have been working late every night, and so here I am at work updating the blog. It seems it might be the only way to get it done! In addition to the late nights, we have been having computer problems at home, which are frustrating after a 10-hour work day. I did take pictures today just because it was such a circus at the house today with plumbing and electrical work; hopefully I got some good shots. The funny thing is that it feels more like a house with all the inner workings than with just the framing. I am not sure why that is true - maybe because it is always cold there! Are you getting that it is cold at our house?? Evidently those old walls with no insulation worked better than I thought! No - I doubt that.

I am starting to feel excited about the house because it feels like it might actually get done. It is really an amazing house! Even I must say much better than I thought it would be when we bought it.

Electrical progress

Lights are going in today along with outlets. There are a lot of lights. And we have planned every single switch. At least I will always know how to turn on a light though! In the future, we will be adding some more home automation to the electrical. So for example you can do a cooking scene that adjusts the kitchen lights to be right for cooking. Also the automation can be run from the iPad. I don't need that, but it will be cool. It will be interesting to see what we come up with in that department.

Plumbing progress

Plumbing is coming along. I think they finished all the drains upstairs. Then they need to put in all the water lines. We got quite a bit of the bathroom order today, which was exciting. The guest bathroom vanity and cabinet arrived, but we will not have it delivered until we are more ready for it (like when we have drywall!).

HVAC Progress

HVAC was finished yesterday. The furnace is installed but not on. We still do not have the basement windows in yet, and there is no insulation. So it is really not time to turn on the furnace yet. We are anxious for it though as the house is always freezing!

We discovered it is difficult to install modern HVAC in an old house - here was the penalty for keeping the shell. In a modern house, there are significantly more return air runs, which we have previously discovered is required for a high efficiency furnace to work. There is going to be visible ductwork along the middle of the house in the basement. However, I think all the rooms look really good. The upside of the modern HVAC: even heating/cooling throughout the house. This was a big issue before especially in the old sun room (now dining room and living room). I am excited to see how it turns out!

Master Bedroom Sliding Door to Nothing

New huge sliding door in the master bedroom is in, and it is amazing. Unfortunately right now, it is a door to nowhere. Some day there will be a deck with a hot tub. In the mean time we have a great view!


Closeup of door


Door from master bathroom to give a little perspective

Main Electric Line Buried

The sad part of framing is that does not make for good pictures. So on the blog I am forced to post pictures of the Xcel lines burying the electric line. Seriously though it will be nice to have the line buried especially because the old line would have been right over our new (some day!) deck off the master bedroom.

Week of December 6 Progress

It has been awhile since I wrote. I think I am just exhausted. Lots of house stuff going on and work makes for one very tired duck!

HVAC: Duct work is coming along nicely. Seriously can not express how anxious we are for heat. Or at least no more open air to the outside!

Electrical: Main line from the pole to the house is buried now. Electrical panel/meter moved.

Basement Framing: DONE! I just love to see the realization of the house plan. It all just looks so great.

Sliding doors upstairs: Done too. New doors in the breakfast nook and our bedroom. Awesome.

Things definitely went fast once the basement floor was in.

Bee Hive of Activity

Things are quite busy at the house today. Our very favorite people are there - HVAC. Seriously our house is so cold right now! Can't wait for the heat to be back on. The basement floor looks fantastic (I will take a picture!). Framing in the basment is starting. Yippee!

Basement floor pictures

I went back over to the house tonight, and the new floor looks so great. Eric and I are both so excited about it.

Concrete truck and pumper truck. It was impressive. Our neighbors surely hate us!

Putting in the floor!

New Siding

The back of the house looks great!

Basement Floor Is In!!

They just finished pouring the basement floor concrete. I think we got some good photos of the concrete pumping. I will try to put them up today. Now the work can begin again!

End of the week status

Work continues on fixing the outside siding. The new siding looks great!

The plumbing in the basement floor is done, and the inspection for it should have happened today. Elliott, our contractor, wanted to ensure that the basement was ready for concrete so we are holding off on that until Monday morning. Then this part of the basement will be done!

Last night, I ordered all the guest bathroom fixtures (tub, sink, cabinets, faucet etc). We are going to fix that bathroom before we move in.

One month in

We started one month ago yesterday. Some times it feels like forever ago.

Some things we have learned:

It was very, very wise to bring our own bed to our basement living. We probably would have gone nuts without it.

Work happens much faster when Eric and I are not doing it by ourselves on the weekend.

Even when you are not having the contractor do the finish work, there are still a ton of decisions to be made.

We were completely nuts to think that we would have any free time now. With the longer commute and the crazy work schedule, it feels like we are going 24/7.

And this one is from Jen:
I have the best husband ever who puts up with my crabbiness in all of this.

Yesterday's progress

The dirt in the basement is mostly in, and the plumber is to come today to do the basement plumbing. I think inspection for that is tomorrow and then floor could go in Saturday. I can't wait for this floor to be finished.

The new siding is up at the back of the house. The old windows were larger, and there was one more of them so siding had to be added. It looks fantastic, and some time during the day, I will take a picture.

Special Dirt...

Looks the same to me - it just costs a lot of money. Perhaps I am not taking this basement seriously! The french drain has started to go in the basement and so has the "special dirt". It really is special, but I don't know why, and I honestly don't really care. One thing that Eric and I have learned in this process - it is good that I am in new business because it suits my way of thinking rather than the super detailed work of actually accomplishing the project. I guess it is good that I am going in the right career direction!

Upstairs, siding is going up over the previous window holes. Eric and I will have to paint the whole house this summer. Since we can't do the outside right now, we will paint everything just so it is fresh and matching. Then some day we will finish.

Dear Mom...

I know you look every day (some times twice), and I have taken the whole weekend off. I needed a break. And no work occurred. Hopefully you will forgive me!

Love,
Your daughter who does not blog often enough

Happy Thanksgiving!

Hope everyone has a great holiday. We will be spending it with Eric's parents, brother and sister. I am so excited! Also I just really want a day off work.

We have much to be thankful for this year. First, of course, the best thing that has happened to us this year is Eric's cochlear implant surgery. One can never overestimate what a life changing surgery that is. Then, we are thankful to be able to work on our house and hopeful that some day it will be more than a shell. Finally, we have the best family ever!

Wednesday status

It has been a bit of a slower week with the holiday. Seriously, it is hard to take good pictures now so you will have to forgive the lack of them.

All the windows are in, and the sliding door in the living room is in. Two more sliding doors remain to be installed. The new windows are so nice.

The electrician is starting today. It will be nice to have more electricity in the house again. The simple things!

The basement is completely dug out now, and the soils engineer is satisified. Our contractor is in Dallas for the holiday so that work won't restart til Monday.

A trench has been started from the main electric line to the house. We will be burying that electric line, which will be nice. Evidently our neighbors have discussed burying the main line in the past, and we are going to try to get them interested in this again. The lines go right through our view so it would be a good change.

Sunday, November 21: More new windows and a very empty basement

Some of the dirt from the basement in the driveway. I feel like my house is going to be trashed forever.

The basement dug out. They are about 75% done to 18 inches. We have some very hard-working guys helping us out here.

The new windows in the living room and dining room. They are really nice! All 3 sliding doors are left upstairs, the dining room side window, the master bedroom/bathroom windows.

Thursday, November 18 - The first windows

Same windows as yesterday except with windows! I am so excited about the windows. They look great, and they actually work!

Eric was excited to see the mountain view out the living room. We miss our view.

Wednesday, November 17 - getting ready for new windows

Eric looking through the new window in the guest bathroom. Left two windows are in the bathroom and right one is in the stairwell. This window hole was originally the living room window right next to the front door.

Tuesday, November 16

Framed kitchen wall with long expanse of cabinets. Eric is appalled at the number of cabinets. I keep telling him that you can never have enough cabinets (or closet space either!). The main floor is fully framed now.

Breakfast nook to the left (with new sliding door to go in) and living room sliding door to the right (new door but original hole). They have not taken out the outside brick on the new sliding door (although that is all that is left there), which I find silly. Of course I should be thankful for the brick because it blocks some of the wind blowing through our cold house. I will be happy to have the house closed in!

A couple of days

In remodeling time, being off the blog for a couple of days probably feels like an eternity. It was a hard week with work stresses and big house decisions to be made. I think it all just affected me.

Eric and I have done remodeling on our own before we were married. The pace of having a general contractor is quite remarkable - both good and bad. I think we were quite naive about the effects of this on us mentally. I suppose if one did know though they would never do it!

Last week we decided to take out the basement floor and have a soils engineer come look at our soil to try to make a good slab that will last well. Not surprisingly at all, he did not like our soil. So we have had to dig out 18 inches of the soil in the basement. Then they will refill with "good" dirt and install and french drain (I have no idea what that means!) with radon mitigation system. It is the right thing to do given the work we are doing to the house, but it is stressful to hear these things about our house.

I have taken some pictures this week so I include those next.

New Windows

This morning on the way to work we saw the Marvin semi at the window store. And our windows were on the semi!! They will be delivered on Thursday. I am sure all the guys will look forward to have the house closed in - it is super cold in there now.

Monday's progress

Progress is not so dramatic today although I expect that our real dramatic days are mostly done. Plywood was put on the outside of the house where the new windows will be smaller. Inside the informal dining the interior wall was taken out. There will be a new sliding door to the deck in that room rather than a window. Seeing the exterior brick on the inside is funny. Downstairs the rafters were cut in preparation for the family room beam. That beam will be in the ceiling. In the shop the beam will be lower.

In principle, the new windows and sliding glass doors should come in tomorrow. This project started because we wanted new windows, and we thought it would be a good idea to have a full house plan before we did that. Ha - we were so innocent then!

The piano is gone!!!

No other words necessary for this momentous occasion!

Pictures: Sunday November 14

Master bathroom, my closet (!!) and coat closet as viewed from informal dining room.

The rubble that is our basement. The walls are actually holding up the main floor right now until the new beams go in. I am remarkably calm about this stuff!

The cleanest our driveway has looked in the last 2 weeks!

Pictures: Friday November 12

Framed walls for the powder room and guest bedroom. Note those window sizes will change.

View of the back of the house with newly framed window openings

Weekend progress

Eric is over working at the very cold house, and I am at work. Darn!

Yesterday, we got some more walls - master bathroom, my closet, coat closet. We now see the shape of the foyer, which is exciting. The big wall along the back length for the kitchen has not gone up yet, which is why the full master bedroom is not done. We have to be exact in that wall with the refrigerator placement as it will be recessed (to create the look of a built-in refrigerator without the $$ for it!).

The basement wall is also fully out between the original house and the shop. New beams will go in there, and the shop/family room will flip 90 degrees from original plan. This will allow an outside door to the family room plus a wider family room.

Without any walls in the house, the house seemed small. It was a very strange feeling. It is so, so exciting to see the walls go up and get a sense of the size of the spaces.

Yesterday, Eric and I had a more relaxing day. We finally rearranged the basement a little bit. I brought way too much stuff over, but it is really hard to pack for 4 months! And we cleaned up (laundry, vacuum etc). I know that does not sound fun (well it wasn't fun!), but it is much more liveable down there now. We also went to a lighting store to get started on a lighting design. Electrician is to start after Thankgiving so we need to get that done. It was a good visit, and it was good to get started!

Lastly, I know everyone (MOM) wants pictures. I will download tonight. I still have not found the camera cord - could be anywhere!

We have walls!

I have been having a real cruddy day at work so I asked Eric to take me to our house. And... we have walls! Okay a few walls. So the guest room and powder room have been framed upstairs. Tomorrow they will frame the master suite side of the house. It is so exciting to see stuff going up.

On the down side, the basement is still a very scary place. I have never been in love with basements, and right now, ours is living up to that feeling! The wall however between the house and the workshop is coming out. Still lots of work to get to the point of framing down there.

Thursday's progress

Eric and I went over about 4 yesterday so we could actually see the house in some light. Much better than going after work! The new subfloor is done upstairs, and it is very nice. The basement floor demo is done. WOW - that is messy business. The windows in the carport are framed (to be removed - yippeee! I hated having windows into the carport). Framing for the living room/dining room windows is done. Those windows are actually going to be smaller (they were floor to ceiling) so that we can actually have some insulation in those rooms and to make the floor plan more useable. Given my love of the sun, I was a bit worried that I would not like the smaller windows. Seeing the framing though I am completely happy with our decision to go smaller (Thankfully!).

I must say we are really glad that 1. we are doing the inside all at once and 2. we are not living there. I don't think one really appreciates how messy remodeling is until you see it like this!

The Last Crazy Angle - GONE!!!

Lots of work done yesterday. First, the stairs were taken out. So the last crazy angle in that house is gone! For those of you who were never in our old home, the entryway was filled with about 5 different and strange angles. New subfloor was started upstairs. Location for the new stairs was laid out. About half the basement floor was jackhammered out. Yikes! The three back facing windows in the living room were reframed. The sliding door in the living room was taken out.

We have gotten a bit of snow here, and it is cold. We like to call our house open and airy right now and it is!

A Big Crane

Pictures of the big crane for our big beam. The crane was a big hit with the two-year-old across the street.

Crane in the driveway


Crane view from the back

Main Floor Plan

I thought it would be nice to actually post the floor plan.

New Beam

The beam is in between the kitchen and sunroom, and thankfully, the roof is back up on the sunroom because we are currently getting our first snowstorm. The guys are going to be chilly this week while working! I did get some pictures of the crane that came on Monday to install the beam, which I will try to download tonight. It will be harder to do pictures now with the time change. I am so excited to have the sunroom be part of the house because it really is the best room in the house.

So then the question comes - when do we start changing the names of rooms from the old to the new. Since we have no walls, we are starting now. The old sunroom is the new living room and dining room. Anyway, it is confusing!

New Photos

No work this weekend except that first draft of our kitchen design. We are quite happy with it. I can't wait to have a new kitchen (even if it will be awhile!).

Some new pictures from the house taken in slightly better light. It is really hard to take pictures when the sunroom is so bright and the main house so dark. Tomorrow the new beam between the sunroom and kitchen goes in.

Day 5

No pictures today as there was not exciting progress. Of course that is in comparison to the entire week. WOW!

Lots of cleanup everywhere. Also the windows that are going to change size in the sunroom were taken out. We are actually making some of the windows smaller so that we can control the temperature better while still having the best possible view. I think it will be a good trade. There is not much left to the sunroom right now.

Here's to a restful weekend. We need it now for sure!

Blue Sky Day (Day 4)

When we first started to work with Elliott, the contractor, he said to me that I needed to be prepared for a day when I would come in our house, and I would see blue sky. Today was the day.

Why do we have blue sky? The sunroom and workshop were an addition done in the early 1990s. However, this addition was never really a part of the house. In our new house, the sunroom will be the living room and dining. A beam will replace the original wall between the house and addition. It is a 27-ft, 2,000 lb beam. The sunroom roof had to be taken off to put in the beam. After the beam is in, then the roof will be replaced.

Today's rubble pile...


In the sunroom looking up and into the house with nice blue sky.


Looking at the sunroom from the front door. Note the new wall studs are currently holding up the house in preparation for the new beam.


Diagonal house picture again from the master bedroom.

Third Day

Eric and I were elecction judges yesterday. It was a super long day! Eric did go over to the house while I returned the ballots, but it was too dark to see anything. He did say however that he could see windows in every direction from the front door (so no more walls upstairs!).

So in days 2 and 3 all the rest of the upstairs was taken out. The attic insulation was removed. The biggest change - the removal of the fireplace! This also means that I had a sky view within the house. I am very calm about that though because the house is completely empty.

The remains of the fireplace


Sky picture in the former fireplace!

First floor as viewed from one corner. It is an open floor plan now!

First Day!

Our fantastic contractor started worked on Monday, November 1. We did move everything out of the house after 4 hard days of work. Only thing left in the house - the furnace! When we got to the house on Monday night, we discovered a completely full dumpster. Everything downstairs was out, and the kitchen was out upstairs (including walls).

Full Dumpster

Kitchen without walls and cabinets


Basement - just before my camera ran out of battery

Eric gets into the remodeling action...

First item out of the house - the kitchen island. We had to take out the island in order to get the appliances out. Yes, the previous owners had built the kitchen island after the refrigerator was put in the kitchen. Eric was so excited to get into it.