Trusses Arrive!/ whomp!

At around 6:30am we started hearing the sound of a backup beep and airbrakes snorting so out we went and were greeted by the trusses… on a very long truck.

Early on in the process it started pouring.

whomp!

Chipping away

For a tiny bathroom, removing the tiles/walls is taking an awfully long time.  Our house was constructed with metal lath and plaster and the bathrooms were tiled in a lovely 50’s style: one is pink with black and the other is/was yellow with black.   Busting through the plaster and lath and tile is involving a lot of work with the sledge hammer and then sweeping up garbage cans full of debris, putting it into the bucket of the tractor and driving it around the house to the dumpster.

At lease the tractor makes the work a little easier.

removing a bathroom, bucket by bucket

Boiler Chimney

Today the guys finished up the sleepers and the mason came and extended the chimney for our boiler…. All of this in preparation for the trusses arriving on Friday and being put up on Monday. 

Chimney going up, as new roof sections, above bedrooms, are being covered.
up on the roof
Chimney and roof ready for trusses

It’s HOT / preparing for trusses

Today the guys started attaching sleepers to the perimeter of the roof. These are all being set level to each other to make up for the fact that our roof edge is definitely not level. 

It was ridiculously hot and humid and is supposed to continue to be in the 90’s for the rest of the week so tomorrow work is starting at 6am in an attempt to avoid noonday sun.

Preparing a level edge for the trusses to rest on.

It’s Friday

Trusses are expected to arrive a week from today. 

We are still trying to find the sweet spot where torrential downpours outside don’t result in moisture coming inside…. we are almost there, but not quite.  We have been lucky, so far, and any water that has come in has been caught quickly with nothing ruined…. but it will be very nice to have the trusses up and sheathed so that there are overhangs and a water proof lid on our home. 

We had a torrential downpour yesterday…. all day, so the guys put a bunch of time into clearing the roof of water to start the day and doing some extra taping and flashing before heading home for the weekend.

Walls and water protection

Rain is coming and we are headed to a wedding

Craig and I have been busy baking the cake for a 250 guest wedding and today, we have to deliver.

Meanwhile, here at the homestead, the guys are preparing for rain. The plan for the day was to do a minimal amount of framing work and then to make sure that everything was buttoned up tight against the rain…. Oh yes, and the electrician came and hooked up the power for the AC.

While we were gone….

No walls and new walls

The tree cam is back! We have some good footage of today’s work. 

On the inside: the plumbers came and disconnected the fixtures in the yelow bathroom. On the outside: the bedroom wall was knocked down and the new exterior wall was framed.  

Kevin-the-contractor gave us good news: the trusses will arrive on July 6th, which means that we should have a watertight roof over the house by July 10th. That will be a relief for everybody.

say goodbye to our former north wall and hello to the new north wall framing
Framing an exterior wall

Busting out the meditation room

Monday the crew increased from two to three and the speed of work picked up.  The tree cam wasn’t up because there was a chance of rain and I hadn’t finished the mount for the waterproof box so we don’t have much in the way of movies but we do have some stills.

A temporary wall was put up in the meditation room, about 4′ in from the old exterior wall and then, boom, boom, bang, bang, out came the old exterior wall. Then there was some more bang-banging and all of a sudden we had a new exterior wall framed.

In the middle of all of the banging,  Craig and I scrambled out to the almost demolished exterior wall and scavenged the hardware from the windows so that we have spare hardware for our remaining 60 year old Anderson casement windows.

Birthday Laundry

In honor of Craig’s birthday on Sunday we … went to the laundromat and washed all of our comforters, blankets and sleeping bags. Now we can pack them up and put them in storage.

On the way to The Wash and Wire