a roof and a floor and windows

The roofers have been hard at work for several days roofing both the addition and Mom's existing roof. Mom can hear them overhead (on her roof)--they are her background sounds while she does her Christmas cards!

Here are our flooring choices. We took some of Mom's baseboards to use as a guide. The vinyl is for Mom's kitchen/dining and for the bathrooms in the addition. The laminate flooring is for much of the rest of the main floor of the addition. I took the laminate flooring sample to IKEA on Friday and it is an exact match to the kitchen cabinets. I don't know if that would look good. The other flooring choice we had was much lighter and would really show the dirt. Anyone have any opinions?

The framer started to install windows but noticed that most of the windows were not the right ones! So we have just a couple windows installed until they can correct the order. Electrical and heating are scheduled for this week...

door moved on out

Here's Mom's door/window in it's original position. Everything's been built around it.

Here is the door/window moved into its new position.

Here's the amount of space moving the wall created in the dining nook (when it's finished). It's roughly about 6 feet x 11 feet. When the kitchen counter (where the stove is) is turned--Wow! What a nice space this will be for family gatherings & parties.

ready for the roof

They finished up the framing, roof trusses & decking on Monday. On Tuesday, the roofers delivered the shingles and the plumber came to run the pipes. The two tub/showers are in their respective rooms but not in place. Mom's original back door/window wall has been moved out to its new location. So much fun. Mom's original roof is 19 years old and the framers discovered when they were cutting in the new roof that her shingles were brittle, so it looks like Mom will have the roofers reroof her roof (try to say that fast). We had to pick out shingle colors together--it was kind of funny to hear our discision-making process!

The roofers used a  conveyor belt to move the shingles up to the top of both roofs.

View from the garden. Who knew there was so much room between the garden and Mom's house?

Plumbing pipes and fittings are being added. The plumber (used to live in our stake but now lives in Mulino--no significance to that statement) stayed until 9 pm to work on the job. Mom took him out some Milo (is that what it's called?) to warm him up.

This will be the shower in our bathroom.

The bathtub in the upstairs bathroom. Tanner really wanted just a shower, but a tub is more versatile.

The lone window in the house--in Tanner's room--the rest are coming.

The above two pictures are of the attic space that Tanner, Quinn, Gamma & I think little kids will LOVE, LOVE, LOVE.

More plumbing fittings.

They built a sturdy half wall for the upstairs landing. It feels very open.

framing in the second floor

The framers are finishing up the framing and the roof trusses. The roofers are coming in a few days to roof (and reroof Mom's house--her roof is 19 years old and very brittle we discovered). It's been very cold (in the high 30's and low 40's); not the optimal construction weather, but it least it hasn't rained while they are working. The workers stay until 5 pm each day when the light starts waning. We try to stay out of their way during the day (we've been parking on the street), and we have to be quick to go in and check out what's been done before it's completely dark!
This week Mom and I will walk through with the contractor to decide where light switches, plugs, phone lines, cable and more should go. I thought we could do it by looking at the plans, but he says physically walking through is a more viable way to decide where to place things. The placement of the light switch in the main part of Mom's bath makes me understand that reasoning. It is not in a logical location and both Mom and I still have trouble remembering where it is!

This is what was left over from the framing/roofing project. Of course, I looked at that and thought, "I wonder if it could be used for a girls camp craft or a school project?"

Framing the interior of the second floor. View from the stairs.

Looking up through the rafters.

Mom's now-flat backyard. It will be prettied up when the construction is done.

framing the second floor

Today they framed the second floor. The stairs are in, so Tanner, Gramma and I went upstairs to check things out.

Looking up at the east wall framework. To match the pitch of Mom's roof, the roof is tall!

Tanner was the first one up the stairs.

Tanner's standing in front of the end wall that will be the location of his bedroom. The bathroom will be on the right side of his room (looking this direction). He thinks that the bathroom is part of his room, but it is not; it is just beside his room.

These are the windows that are for the "craft" room and "den". They will really be small bedrooms for visiting family & friends.

This will be attic space for storage or a secret hiding place for kids!

Looking toward Mom's garage. There will be a door going into her garage attic. 

No more climbing up ladders for her!

This is the wall & windows directly across from the den & craft rooms. It will be the bonus room. Tanner calls it the kids' hang out room.

Here's Mom at the foot of the stairs.

This space under the garage will be for a full-size washer & dryer.

more framing

The first floor is almost done and the second floor joists are almost up too. Today when I tried to visit Mom (and check the progress of the framing!), I couldn't get in because they were delivering a BIG load of framing materials--should have taken a picture. Tanner's getting more and more excited because he knows that soon they will be starting on the second floor--his domain!
They also built the second temporary wall in front of the wall that forms Mom's back door. They also took out the short exterior side wall that was part of the living room. Tanner could walk the little "hallway" between the temporary wall on the former dining nook wall. Tomorrow they are moving the back door wall out six feet to enlarge the dining nook space (hope that makes sense).

Looking through the first floor framing to the second floor joists.

Interior walls of the first floor have been framed in. This is looking from Mom's back porch into the family room.

Just some of the building materials unloaded today. At least it didn't rain today!

Floor joists.

Tanner between the old wall and the new temporary wall in the dining nook.

Here's the little "hallway" between the two walls.

Here's Mom's dining nook--now with access only from the garage and the kitchen (and no windows).

At the top of the photo you can see the new beam that will support the roof and help open up the dining nook and the living room.

Tanner standing in the new back entry hallway (kind of in the same place as the old walkway to the back door). This is shot from Mom's back porch which is now on the same level as the addition.

It's all pretty exciting for us.

the walls go up

This week the project has really made visible progress. The floor decking was added (in the pouring rain) and the first floor walls are being built and raised in place. The two framers build the walls on the ground and then raise them into place with jacks. It's very fun to watch.

I have loved watching the progress. When it was just the decking, I could see where the bathroom and kitchen sink would be. Now that the framing is going up, I can see where all the rooms are. Tanner is actually enjoying this part and is interested in the location of his room. It's fun to see the blueprints come to life.