Days 71 and 72 - Nothing muddy about it!

As the week went along, the guys kept working on the interior trim, including the doors, baseboards, window sills, etc, as well as finishing up the tile in the master bath.

Byron and Ervin working on doorway casing - oops, pink car in the way!

Shower tile all done - thanks, Lusvi!

One of the most exciting things that happened this week, though, was when Chris came back to put in the custom cabinets in the mudroom. This is like Christmas morning to me! To have a designated spot to put all our shoes and coats and bags when we walk in - previously, we had a small coat rack by our front door and a black plastic boot tray. So, you can see - this will be life-changing!!

Cubbies! (will be painted white)

Bench with shoe storage underneath; shelves at garage door for keys, mail, etc.

Chris even brought his puppy with him to help!

Days 69 and 70 - Trim and Tile

Many hands on deck starting this week! Byron and Ervin have been working on interior doors, window trim, baseboards, etc. Carlos and Lusvi have been tiling and grouting the mudroom and bathroom. Julio and Reuben have been finishing up the side deck and steps, and pulling up the wood flooring in the 1st floor hall and family room area.

Byron working on trim around laundry closet doors

Carys' bedroom turned into workshop!

Laundry closet w/doors

Campfire?

Old floor stripped, ready for new

Carlos laying down mudroom floor

Sweet!

Corner bench in shower

Days 66-68 - Lay it down

Time to tile! A bit of a challenge coming up with our tile choices - we wanted to try to stay within our tile allowance, by balancing out a slightly more expensive tile in the bathroom with a slightly less expensive tile in the mudroom. Would have worked, too, except that the bathroom square footage (especially when you add the shower walls and ceiling) come to more than the mudroom. Ah well, we came close!

Lusvi and Carlos and Leo are laying down the tile. Last week, they put down the Durock (the cement board that goes underneath the tile), and started on the laundry closet, shower and bathroom floor.

Laundry closet on 2nd floor

Durock in bathroom

"Stacked" 12 x 24 tiles in shower - with corner bench 

Lusvi finishing up bathroom floor 

While Lusvi was tiling on Saturday, Byron and Ervin were working as well - putting in trim and doors on second floor.

Closet in Carys' room

Love the shadows from the big window

Starting to look like a real house!

Days 60-62 - On the side

While the plaster is drying inside, Bob's guys have been busy outside the house. Byron and Ervin finished stripping the old shingles off the remaining two sides of the house, and they demoed the old deck and stairs by the kitchen door.

Back, stripped down

Hello, Byron! Replacing the window sill ...

Halfway there

Done!

Here's the before shot of the side:

Watch those steps

No sweat for Byron!

And here they are in the front yard? (on the way to the dumpster!)

Byron and Ervin stripping the shingles

Now this side is ready for the Hardie plank

Meanwhile, they've also been painting all the trim on the exterior, which often means balancing at the top of a very tall ladder while holding a paint brush in one hand ....

Help! No fear of heights here!

Days 41 and 42 - Come on in!

Seems a bit symbolic - right at the point where the work is starting to move inside, we have a new set of steps up to our front door. Kids were so excited to use the new steps!

Starting at the end of last week, and continuing into this week, we have both a plumber and an electrician there, roughing in the new rooms. The electrician is running wire, setting up outlets and switches, and installing overhead lighting. I'll try to get a few pix, but it may not have the dramatic effect of, say, putting up an entire wall in a day.

Last Friday, the plumber put in the shower valve and set up the hookups for the toilet and sinks in the master bath, as well as the washer/dryer in second floor laundry. I had a willing subject, so I did manage to snap a shot of the laundry closet:

Let's hope she's this excited when I ask her to help me wash clothes!

Meanwhile, Byron and Ervin were outside, putting up more siding and window trim - here's the view from the back:

Day 40 - Good morning, sunshine!

Ahhhh ...

The back of our our new family room, looking through the pocket doors from the living room.

They've been working away on windows this week - installing, and putting in trim on the outside.

Kids are watching Byron cut the openings for family room windows

Four of a kind!

Byron and Erbin also put up more Hardie plank on the back dormer:

Days 33 and 34 - Trim, The Tree

By Tuesday, our trip to Maine was already a distant memory, and the smell of our unwelcome, prematurely deceased rodent friend was finally fading. Bob's guys started working on the front steps (more on that in the next post) and the trim around the gables. The trim is such an underrated part of this whole thing - it defines the lines and makes everything look neat and intentional. It's math in action - the pieces all have to fit together, the angles have to match.

The thick white boards around the gables are the "Fascia"

Byron on the staging, putting up fascia on the front gable

No, putting on the trim is not as exciting as hoisting a whole wall up on the second floor, but it sure does add pizzazz. So, that's the trim - what's this about the tree? Well, on Wednesday, a guy from the town tree department showed up - to take down a big old tree from the bottom of our driveway. We were worried this might happen some day, as we knew it had been damaged and we noticed that it was starting to get diseased. According to my neighbor Kathryn, before we bought the house, a drunk driver plowed into the tree at about 10am one day. I guess the guy was OK, but the tree was permanently damaged. And so they took it down - we will miss it, especially the nice shade it provided in the driveway.

Now you see it (to the left of the portapotty - note the hole in the trunk)

Now you don't

My neighbor Christina took her boys and Carys in the wagon to watch the tree work

Day 16 - 99 and counting

As if the week hadn't been hot enough, Friday turned it up just a wee bit more. Thermometer hit 99, but  with the humidity, that "felt" way over 100. The foundation guys showed up at 6am ... sorry to our neighbors! He explained later that he just wanted to get as much done as possible before the heat got worse. Can't say I blame him. They did a ton of work ... set up all the forms for the walls. I may have said something similar to this in an earlier post - you'll have to excuse that, as I really have no clue exactly how they do the foundation. I'm pretty sure what you see in this shot is the forms, now in place for the cement to be poured:

New garage

Chris from Bob's crew was also here all day working on trim. He added the "water table" trim (thanks, Brad, for telling us what that was called!) - which is the white trim board you see along the bottom of the house where it meets the foundation. He also added the trim along the bottom of the gable and roof line - this has a name, too - I just have no idea what it is! I do love how it looks, though.