Learning a New Trade

The grandkids are loving the building process. They want to come out all the time to help and see how things are done. They spent the night last night and where there when the masons started the final day of rocking our front columns.

 The boys were fascinated with the masonry mixer and wanted to help put sand into it. They watched them chip the rock to fit in the spot and fill the interior with masonry and trash rock.

Mallory got bored with the building process and had to climb the bear. We call him Koi Bear. And yes, there are Koi Bear in Japan he is a Grizzly but we like the unusual.

Trash Truck

Time to start hauling the trash lumber away from the garage. We dug through the trash pile and found all kinds of lumber we can use in the rest of the building. We are willing to search and find the right size and save the cost of cutting up a long board for what we need. Framers don't do that. If they did you would spend a lot more for the job. We are going at this slow so we have all the time in the world.

First truck load. Our house dumpster is overflowing and it will take two of these to haul it all away.

Busy Work

Until the garage roof goes on we are once again at a stand still in the building process. I can  always find something that can be done. With the rain this week we are working on rent houses and when they are finished we can do piddly things around our place. This morning I started painting the doors going into the garage from the West Wing, Residence, and the Work Shop. I never need tape for cutting in when painting. I have a steady hand and a pretty good eye. This past weekend on a rent house I discovered that my hand or eyes are getting older and it was more difficult than usual to make that straight line.

The doors have small panes that need the trim painted.I figured I should probably tape all the glass.

I taped off each of the panes before painting. I don't see how painters do this, I can't get the tape to tear perfectly straight to fit into the corners. Even though I got the tape into the corners as best as I could I will need to use a razor blade to get the paint off the glass. After doing all of this I figured out that if I had used scissors to cut the tape it would have been straight. Next door and the other side of this one will definitely try the scissor trick.

Indoor Swimming Pool

We told the grand kids that we will be putting in a swiiming pool, didn't realize it would be an indoor one.

There hasn't been rain in Oklahoma forever. We now have a garage with walls and no roof and the heavens have opened.

 The garage floor slopes from the West Wing to the Residence. Luckily the Residence is siliconed well so the water does not run into the building. The buildings are not on the same level so the water flows. The garage wall to the south stops the water from escaping the garage also. It runs out the garage door openings beautifully just like it should.

 Hopefully, this weeks rain will not stop the roof from going on next week.

We will have to be sure the lumber is dry before we start sheet rocking our rooms in the garage.

I Agree

Had to have the washer repairman out today. This is another rental repo we have. Our old washer of over 20 years was starting to make some funny noises and our renters left this very nice washer. We have been using it for about 7 years and this weekend it stopped. When the repairman stepped out of his truck he was standing on the driveway just looking around in the drizzle. He said, "I go to a lot of places and this is one of the prettiest views I have seen." Why, yes it is. We totally agree.

Where Will I Find ...

When most people need to find something in their house they go to a cabinet and there it is. Not so in our case. I wanted to make a vegetable tart and needed a pie pan. So, I go to my one baking cabinet and no pie pans.

So it's off to the West Wing to our boxes. When I was packing to move Bill asked why I wasn't writing on the boxes what was in each one. I told him I am marking the room they go to and that's all that's needed. I can tell you by looking at the box almost exactly what is in each one.

Went into this room where I have my kitchen and dining room boxes, moved three boxes that were on top of the one I wanted. There were my pie pans. Then came the decision of which of my eight do I want in the kitchen. There isn't room for all of them.

I use each and every one of these pans; they all have a purpose and mean something to me. We received them either as wedding gifts or from my Grandma or Aunt Edna when they passed away so I will never get rid of any of them, way too precious. 

Chose the one I wanted closed up the box put it back in place, replaced the other three boxes and made my tart; which tasted wonderful.

Progress

The brick columns are slowly being built. It is a one man mason crew putting them up. He is squeezing us in on his way to or from other jobs each day. We had to quickly go out and decide on the type of front column lights we want so we knew where to put the electrical. Our last house the lights we put in where to tall and always look crowded on the porch.

 When we get to the point of him rocking the house he will bring in a crew and we will be his main job and he will fit others in before and after us.

 The front porch box looks more like what I had envisioned now the framers have started putting on the eaves. It is still about 4 feet taller than I think it should be. Once the garage is finished I won't be coming and going from the front of the house so it won't be that big of a deal. And of course, once the siding, rock and stucco go up and it stops looking like a metal building with things stuck on it the look will be totally different.

We have a front wall on the garage now. The framers had to take the window opening out because they didn't realize the garage floor slopes toward the residence. The West Wing is higher than the residence by an inch and a half. Bill, my guy that double checks everyone's work, found that little problem. Would have been horrible if the big window had gone in and it had been crooked to the house. Problem resolved before it became a real problem.

Moving Along

 It is so much fun coming home every day and seeing what has happened at the house. Today the barrel ceiling in the entryway was put in. Now Bill knows exactly how to do the back hallway barrel ceiling

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 Rock work on the front columns was started. Had to cut the existing concrete out and pour tougher concrete to handle the weight of the stone.

 Doorways into the garage, the pantry and the broom closet. The broom closet is larger than most because rent houses take industrial cleaners when people move out. So I have a wide variety of cleaners.

Lots of scabbing going on with our trusses and rafters. Because of the weight and the span they are adding lots and lots of support pieces and support for the support pieces.

High Wire Act

The garage is growing and growing. It is expanding and getting higher and higher. This is a job I could never do. I am not afraid of heights (so I tell myself) but I have great respect for heights. My stomach curls in on itself when I see people up this high .One more way my Daddy and I are alike he respects heights as much as I do.

 Lots of rafters to support a roof with no support from the floor.The only support are the pantry walls and the LVLs carrying the weight over to the exterior walls. This is a masterpiece of angles. Yes children; you will use geometry later in life.


The framers also built the wall for the entryway of the house. They did this with limber we already had laying around while waiting for garage lumber to be delivered. Bill and I were going to build this but having the framers do it kept them busy and on our job and not going elsewhere.There will be a wall built above it along the top with plant shelves and a secret door to allow us to go through and change light bulbs that will be above the porch.

It's official there is no room left in the garage for my car to park. Hopefully the roof will be going on the garage next week., There are no storms predicted in the near future so I should be parking under protection before any hail comes our way.

Construction Zone

It is starting to get difficult to back out of the garage. Going in is fine. Backing up and avoiding all the support lumber with my tires can be a challenge. Bill drives straight in with his truck but nimble car has to go in at an angle. Thank goodness for back up cameras on cars nowadays. The Mason showed up yesterday to start forming the rock for the columns.He likes to form the rock before he starts laying it.  So we have the framers stuff on the drive, now the masons stuff, and we are not complaining.

 Mason sand dropped where we want them to mix mortar. Bill finds it very exciting when he gets to drop materials at our house. We don't want it to be mixed on the drive so we are having them do all the mixing over on what will end up being part of the drive to the back of the house and garage if it gets a little mortar on it big deal that will just help the drive to be firm. If we can avoid getting drops of stuff on the front drive we want to.

One More Step Started

The garage roof  has been started. To get the proper slope needed for the huge amount of rain water that will be coming off this roof  is impressive. Oklahoma rains are well know for being gully washers and we need to be ready for them. We will have a bit of an issue with the water running off the residence.The very front will come down on the shrub bed, so I will probably add quite a bit of flagstone to direct it where we want it to go. Meaning away from the building. All the space behind the existing bed to the garage will be converted from grass to bed so this will be easy to fix.

 The front of the roof will actually come out a bit farther to line up with the front wall of the garage. This wall will be completely rocked so it needs to be flush.

 From the back you can start to see the size of this roof. It goes against my nature that there won't be an attic above the garage. That's a lot of storage space not being utilized, but we don't need it so why build it.

Rock On

Things are happening like crazy at the house right now. Our mason wants to get started on our front porch columns sooner than later. The rest of the house will be rocked later. We will need to get the siding on and footings poured before that can happen.

Of course since we own a rock yard we have a multitude of rock to choose from both here on the yard and what we know is out there that's available. We agreed to count to three and then blurt out our favorite rock. One...Two...Three LATTE SWIRL. No negotiating needed here we both want the same rock with the same color of mortar, Magnolia, laid in the same style. Whew, that could have been a sticky point in the construction.

Here is the truck loaded to take out what we need for the columns. There will be a multitude of trucks going out for the rest of the house. We just don't want all the rock sitting around and us becoming frustrated that we can't get it up.

 You can see how beautiful this rock is. From the street it looks like a warm golden brown and the closer you get the more interesting it becomes. There are pieces that look like the rings in a tree. There are swirls of coffee and cream, hence the name Latte Swirl. The quarry calls it Chop Swirl but we wanted a sexier name for it. There are pieces with solid color ranging from very light to very dark brown. If it didn't have those blocks of no pattern it would be way too psychedelic. So excited to get one more step done. Just ordered all the cinder blocks, mason cement, premix concrete, all the stuff you need for this task.

It's Getting a Little Crowded

We have to leave a work area for the framers so everything in the building has been smooshed together. Especially when our cars are parked in here.

Our equipment numbers keep growing, we have some of our furniture stored here, and some of Christel's furniture (it leaves this week since she will be moving into her new house).  This area also has the sleeping room, my clothes, all the grandkid toys, two freezers, a dresser and an armoire. All the doors and windows waiting to be installed. I am ready for the garage to be finished so this area can be cleaned out. Not only because it really bugs me but, because that means we can start building the living space.

Just a Little Off the Top Please

The previous owner had beautiful landscaping along the driveway. At the house were these gorgeous Rose of Sharon bushes. When they are blooming there is so much color. Big healthy mature bushes.

They are in front of our garage window so something needs to be done with them. Can't dig them up, well we could but it would mean bringing in one of those big digger things and tearing up the whole shrub bed. So instead we opted to trim them down.

They will need to go shorter but we decided to do it in stages so they won't go into shock. Or maybe because we wanted to enjoy their flowers this year and in the fall trim them again to take them down to small balls of color.  The garage window overlooks our vista and we will pass by it every time we  come and go from the house. Also the storm shelter is right there so we need to be able to see out to the west for storms.

Dismantling

When the framers show up today they will be attaching the porch to the building . If they don't show up today that's okay, we are getting some much needed rain and if it slows things down a day not a big deal.

For them to have access to  the metal beams to attach the porch to the building to make it one big happy construction we need to start removing ceiling tiles.

We are so glad we bought the Scissosrlift. Ride it up, take down some tiles, lower it just enough to hand them to me and on to the next section.,

We are leaving any tiles that have any type of water leak evidence so we can be sure the previous owner fixed all the roof leaks. 

I Hate It

I hate it, I hate it, I hate it. Maybe hate is too strong of a word. I strongly dislike it, I am intensely disappointed, I am utterly disheartened; may be better words. When I got home from work on Saturday I saw our front porch and it looks like a Lego block has been stuck on the front of the house.

Bill keeps reminding me that there will be stone columns supporting it and a barrel ceiling so there will be some curve added to the front. That's not the problem, it is too big. It is huge! The sides were suppose to stop at the roof line and then the angle of the roof go up from there. Instead it goes 5 1/2 feet above the roofline. There are no soffitts so the sides aren't softened. The garage roof line will be higher than the house and West Wing rooflines which may help, but it is still horrible. I know I am just looking at one piece of the whole picture, I tell that to people all day long when they are fixated on finding the perfect color of rock for their house. But this thing is gargantuan; I am not freaking out over something that will blend in with the rest of the house. It will dominate the whole building and the building is not tiny.

Okay now that I have ranted about this, it can be fixed. Left a note for the framers to add the soffit and we will add a Juliet balcony to break up the hugeness of the block. And once the rock, siding, roof line changes, and windows go in it won't be such a statement. But, I am still not happy with it.

New Skills

 Older generations are needed to impart their knowledge to the younger generations. Bill and I feel very strong about this. That's why we stretch our patience to the limit at times to let the grandkids help with projects. Last night the project was to break into the house since we were locked out. Bill found an unlocked window and was able to jimmy things around to get the window open. Then it was Sutton and Mallory through the screen and window to unlock the door.

Taught Sutton how to go through the window head and arms first to break his fall. Mallory had to go in and be caught by her big brother. So if you hear of two pint size cat burglars we may have  taught them a job skill.

I Want/Need One

The framers are helping themselves to all of Bill's tools, which is fine. Last night he quickly put his name on all of his so they won't walk away. He found something of theirs he would love to have.

This is an extending level. He is super jealous, doesn't know when he would need one like this. It is super cool for someone who loves tools to come across something like this.

The big level is needed when you are putting in beams like this one for over the garage door.

No Playground Needed

Who needs to go to the park to play on toys when you have Neena and Pa's house to go to.

 Sutton is taking everyone up in the Scissorlift. Pa had to go with them the first time because of the slope of the drive to verify that it was stable.

 Once you are at the top you need to climb out on the front porch and make Neena's stomach curl.

 Here is Sutton driving the Scissorlift around the driveway. Didn't get a picture of him taking Aunt Christel and Dustin up in it with his Aunt squealing in terror.

Locked Out

Since Bill had the framers start our front wall  and they would be in the garage, he locked the door into our apartment. We have never locked it before. We lock the door coming into the garage and the sliding patio door but never had a reason to lock this one. He didn't think about that we do not have a key to the front door. When we moved in the previous owner said he had no idea if there had ever been a key to the door. So when we get home tonight after dinner with two of the grandchildren we will be breaking into the house. Bill thinks he can get us in through the patio doors. If not we will be cutting a hole in our closet where the hallway from the third bed to the bath will be going eventually.Then Sutton will slip through the small opening to go around and unlock the door. This could be an exciting evening for that 6 year old boy.

Just Checking In

It is really tough being at work when we finally have some building going on at the house. This afternoon we had a slow period so I ran home. Exciting things were happening that when we left for work this morning weren't on the schedule to happen. The lumber yard hadn't delivered our LVLs, which are the manufactured beams to carry the weight of this huge expanse of a roof line. Because of that the framers couldn't do the roof line of the garage. If the framers had given us 5 days notice like they said they would we could have had everything there for them. Bill has had to run to Lowes to get anchor bolts, nails, and more studs for them throughout the day.

When I got home it looked like a construction site. Guys with tool belts running around. The sound of an air compressor. Measurements being yelled out and saws running. You can see in the right garage door that we had to get the Scissor Lift out of the West Wing so it could be used in the Residence.

This is what wasn't planned on happening today. We thought we would be doing this part of the building ourselves. Since the framers couldn't work on the roof they were going to leave and then come back. No way!!!!! It has taken too long to get someone here don't leave. Bill asked if the would frame in the front wall for the door. Sure they would, more money in their pocket.

Now we can add our front door and side lights. Called the mason this afternoon for him to come out and build the rock columns for the front porch. When he has the columns done the framers come back out and will build the front porch roof out to the columns. We need to make the decision if we are going to keep the sloped flat concrete for our porch floor or cut it out and make a level floor that will have a step up.

 While I was home the lumber yard brought out our roof beams, LVLs. Those are the serious beams that are hanging over the cab of the truck. Bill has to take the delivery truck down to the lumber place and get one more. The framer decided that he wants to use one more just to be safe. We don't want any sagging roof problems in the future.

This driver didn't drop everything off as neatly as the first one did. Those 32 foot beams kind of threw it all off to the side. He had to move the lumber off the retaining wall.

Part of the outside wall on the garage has been put up.

It's Started

When I pulled up to the corner to turn to our house; look at what I saw.

 If you look between the buildings you see a wall.

 Bill is sitting in our garage on the storm shelter top.

 Yea, the family's hand prints were not covered up with wood.

 This is the garage door to go into to where the toys will be kept. There is a window on the back wall. Bill is standing in the garage door where we will park.

 Big picture window in the front wall. This is the walkway to go from the house to the West Wing.

 There should be a doorway here. It was forgotten. This is the hallway leading into the house.

 My broom closet!

The framers forgot the coat closet but that's an easy fix. This picture is the pantry, it will will be shelves and counter space and the deep freezer goes in here. It is an 8x6 pantry that will serve as a Butler's Pantry also.We didn't know it would have 10 foot ceilings so my top shelf will be able to handle the coffee urns, tall vases, and all kinds of extra tall stuff. Bill says he may put in one of those rolling ladders like you see in libraries for me to get stuff down with. I asked him if he was joking and he said no, if I don't you will have me in here getting stuff down. I think a ladder will fit between the freezer and the wall just fine.

This is starting to get exciting. When the roof goes on we can start cutting holes in exterior walls, putting in doors, all kinds of fun stuff.