Day - 46 Drains and Sashes

Windows were delivered today. Plumbers started work on the drains from the Owners suite bath. The shower for the downstairs bath arrived, and the shower pan for the upstairs bath arrived. I guess I really will have to learn how to cut tile soon. The roof for the bump out was completed. Exciting times having all of this going on at once. They guys also started installing the house wrap/vapor barrier on the rear wall of the parking shelter.

Day - 45 In the Dry

Apart from the windows and doors our addition is in the dry. They guys completed 99.9% of the roof decking today. They have one small part to complete over the main floor bump out. They worked on this section inside today before they will install it on the roof. I guess it is easier to measure and cut things on level ground instead of hanging off of a roof or a ladder. We also signed a few change orders today for a few things like extra hose bibs (outdoor faucets), the stonework on the fireplace and increasing the size of the gas fireplace insert. We also were able to check out some of the stones that we may select for the fireplace. Big red #2 is almost completely full. Plumbing supplies started showing up downstairs so the plumbers may get involved soon. The screens for our windows arrived without the windows. That's OK, because there is still plenty to work on.

Day - 44 Stair Tower and Rainstorms

The guys spent the day working on the ceiling framing inside of the stair tower. Thery are building two large rectangles that will open up into a vaulted ceiling that will include a sky light. That's right our skylight is back. We thought we were going to be forced to use a sonotube because of the size of the cricket, but it turns out there is enough room for an actual skylight. It will be nice to have the direct sunlight from this feature as well as check out the trees which tower above our home. The guys also worked on framing the part of the roof that will overhang the private deck off of the owners suite. It looks like a small change here from the original design and I like what I see. The day ended with thunderstorms so we had a little water everywhere when I arrived home. No worries, because tomorrows heat will evaporate the water before it has a chance to soak in.

Day - 43 Rest

No work today, Sunday.

Day 42 - Sheathing

Today was a big sheathing day. Sheathing is when you put plywood over the rafters to create the roof. They guys from O'Leary Cole are using a high grade tongue and grove plywood for this application and will cover it with high a end roofing material that is extra strong and rated for 50 years. Again my decision to use these guys for my build is paying off. They use only the best materials and build everything like they would their own house. The Car Shelter, Welcome Landing and most of the Owners Suite roof sheathing was completed today the sizes of the roofs and how they connect together is now becoming very apparent. We are now enjoying the results of such a wonderful design. We are also getting comments from neighbors on how wonderful things look from the street. Yeah, that was the idea. Thank you Trey and JD for a great design.

Day - 41 More roof and Sofit Blocks

Today the guys continued working on the rafters. The work here goes a little slower because everything must be cut and then hoisted up to roof level, then placed and nailed by some brave sole who is not afraid of heights (Augustine is our heights guy). The guys also worked on the bump out ceiling and framed in the vaulted ceiling in the Owners Suite Bath. They also completed removing the existing floor where the dining room attaches to the stair tower. Lastly the guys made about a million cuts to install the sofit block and vents to all existing roofs. This is also a slow and tedious task but must be done. O'Leary Cole also used a top secret venting material, I am including a photo but do not ask me their source for this material... I will never tell.

Day - 40 The House of Seven Gables

More gable ends and rafters were constructed today. Most of the work done above the existing house to connect the new rafters to the existing roof. Also they framed in the rafters for the...wait for it...I have wanted to post about this for weeks...wait for it... Overbuilt Cricket. Leave a comment on the blog here if you know what I am talking about. The first one to guess (google) correctly wins an authentic 1920s cedar shake (slightly used, shipping not included). More lumber was delivered today, I almost forgot to mention it because new supplies are always showing up on site. The full dumpster was also exchanged for an empty one. One thing I want to mention is the fact that O'leary Cole does not use anything cheap. They are overbuilding most everything and the materials are made to last. I am very content with the work so far. There are too many examples of quality craftsmanship to even mention. I may do a blog post some time just to talk about how well things have been put together. OK, more outlets and wires were run today; even a few on the main level. One little issue we had was that our Air conditioner was not working when we arrived home on Wednesday night. Thursday morning the electrician found that a screw (his fault admittedly) had nicked the control wire and made the fix quickly and easily. It didn't even get above 77 in the house, without ac, overnight, in July. Not bad, to say the least. We did make a decision to move forward with the stone fireplace and we decided to increase the size of the gas insert to 42 inches. This is going to be the star of the family gathering area. Thanks for reading.

Day - 38 Lights out lets build a roof

The Duke power truck finally arrived this morning to move the main service line. After wondering for a few days when they would arrive they did show and they completed their work by lunch time. We now have underground power from the street to our meter. OK, City of Greenville, now I am ready for you to bury the lines at the street. With the main power line now out of the way the guys continued with framing the roof rafters. They completed most of the rafters over the owners suite and car shelter with only a few left to install over the stair tower. My guess is that we will have sheathing and felt by the weekend. Yea, no more water inside!
The electrician was busy downstairs all day moving wires and preparing the new connection. He also ran more new wire for switches, outlets and fixtures. I have carefully studied up on the electrical plan showing how all of the switches control each of the fixtures. I want to make sure the planning we did earlier still makes sense because it can be complicated trying to understand how you want your electrical system installed until you get a sense of how you will use each area. Definitely glad we used a Architect/Designer for these decisions. So bottom line is, we need to decide now if we are going to make any changes, because once the sheet rock goes up it gets messy (and expensive) to make changes. We also reviewed some drawings for a stone fireplace and custom book shelves for the family gathering area. We are still pondering these options and will decide soon how to move forward.
Oh, the post was called lights out lets build a roof because the power was out today for about 4 hours and they also were building a roof at the same time with a gas generator and a gas compressor. Sorry for the confusion.

Day - 37 Rafters

The boys were high on the roof today demoing the current gable end to make way for the new extended gable over the stair tower. They also worked on the roof that will cover the owners suite and the roof that will cover the car shelter. It is a bit complicated the way that they have to remove existing rafters and weave new rafters into the old structure. The portion of the dining room that used to stick out into the stair tower was cut down to size today and they pulled out the large beam I want to use for my mantel. There was some work done today on the stairs, but a last minute change was made so more on the stairs tomorrow.

The electricians were working hard behind the scenes today running more wires everywhere. They also installed the recessed lighting fixtures in the family gathering area. We are still waiting on Duke Power to move the main line into the conduit.

Day - 36 Little Blue Boxes

After a quiet weekend the boys from OCI (to bad it's not Oleary Cole Construction then it would be OCC like the guys who build choppers) were back at work today. They started with a general cleanup of the entire site so that work can move forward without things piling up. Next a few of the architectural brackets were attached to the front of the car shelter and to the side of the owners suite where the gable will be constructed. Most exciting today is that they started framing the stairs in the stair tower. We are starting to get a very good idea of how things will connect from the family gathering area back up into the stair tower. More work was also completed on the ceiling in the kitchenette and also in the downstairs bath. I can tell there was also some work done to the bump out in Vanessa's Spa Tub area, but I am not quite sure what they were working on. My guess it that they are getting ready to frame the top of the wall for the vaulted ceiling. Also, the bump out has it's own roof so they are also preparing to construct that. There are a lot of small details happening now so if I miss something I will always come back and post about it later.
Little blue boxes have started to pop up on all the walls. Yes, the electricians have started their work downstairs. There were some old outlets and switches and wires that had to be removed and that is also complete.

Day - 34/35 Rest

Rest.

Day - 33 Conduit

The trench for the power line conduit was completed on Friday. A 4 inch gray pipe will now hold the power line underground from the street to the lower side of the new addition. The crew also began weaving the new walls of the stair tower into the old walls of the dining room. They exposed some very old and large beams that hold that part of the house together. I counted the rings on the end grain on one of the beams and noted about 40. Given that the age of the house is 90 years that one piece of wood must be about 130 years old. Kind of cool. I came up with the idea of saving a few of these very large old beams and possible using them as a mantel over the fireplace. The guys also completed the framing and sheeting for the 5 windows in the stair tower.

Day - 32 Parking Shelter

Framing for the Parking shelter started up today. It was interesting to watch them get everything square to the existing framing. This is not an easy task with multiple 2x12s 10 feet in the air. As you can see in the photos the framing is beefed up above the car shelter because we are going to have a low ceiling storage room above. We welcome any kind of storage space to a 90 year old home which started with little to no storage. Special thanks to Jose for creating the new brackets you see Caleb standing in front of... perfect replications of the existing. So, now that the basic form is taking shape we have more neighbors who are gawking and asking questions. We are also giving 5 cent tours to close friends and family (with hardhats of course). We did have a little water come into the kitchen last night, I think we just need to adjust one of the tarps. Not bad for such a hard rainstorm on a house with no exterior walls on one side.

Day - 31 Connections

Today the boys were back at it, deconstructing the exterior of the house between the old and the new. They are removing a section of the house that bumps out, and making a connection from that to the new stair tower. They will also connect the exterior kitchen wall to the owners suite; in the process removing a window. More framing was completed in the owners suite doorway and they started to assemble the roof rafters over that area. The electricians were back on site today preparing the service box for when they move the main wire. Oh, Big red is starting to fill up. I guess there is always more debris than you expect. One good thing about today... no one had to lift a shovel.

Day - 30 Welcome Landing

OK, its day thirty and now I feel like an official blogger. Today they guys completed most of the framing for the welcome landing. One thing guys if you are reading this... where do the windows go? Today was also the day the work started on the main floor inside of our house. They had to build a temporary wall in our dining room so that they can rework the way the old house meets the new addition. This work will be critical to the way the old and out of square and in some places sagging, connect to the new. I have no fear though, because the guys at O'Leary Cole are true craftsmen and will not stop working this area until everything is perfect. The driveway is now full of lumber again and the street in front of the house now has an even larger dumpster than before. I have given it the nickname big red. Today was also the first day the electrician was on site. We are trying to coordinate a service relocation (move the wire) with duke power. We will be burying our power line so we will have to dig another trench. Ah, more digging! We also decided to go with custom doors for the welcome landing. I think Vanessa and I really want this area to shine because it is the entrance we will use the most as a family. It's hard to know where to save money and were to go for the best but we are finding compromise easier with each decision. A stone mason will visit tomorrow to give us some ideas for a fireplace, that should be interesting and fun. I am looking forward to seeing some roof rafters go up soon or maybe even some stairs for the welcome landing who knows. So much is done, yet there is so much left to do. This is truly a journey.

Day - 29 Taking Shape

Today the guys added the osb sheeting to most sections of the addition where they have completed framing. They cut through the sheeting where the windows will be, so we now have a perspective of how walls and windows will look. I am including a photo which was composed from the back yard because you can now start to see the shape of the addition. My favorite part is the main floor bump out where the claw foot tub will be. They also brought a load of dirt... wait more dirt?... to back fill the foundation of the car shelter. The day ended a little early because of a thunder shower, but I am sure they will be back early tomorrow to complete even more than they did today.

Just to recap what we have so far. The downstairs now consists of a family gathering area, kitchenette, office, full bath, screen porch and small workshop/storage area. Tying this area to the main level we will have a stair tower with what we call the welcome landing in between the two floors. The welcome landing is on the same level as the car shelter. The main floor addition contains the new owners suite with bathroom private deck and walk-in closet. Underneath the car shelter we will have small room for additional workshop/outdoor storage.