Trades Days...

Lots of folks showing up for last few days in preparation for inspection on hopefully Fri...

New door installed - took Barry as long as it did me when I did this in Maryland ... made me feel good that the pros have same challenges as the amateurs - only they have better tools and can find solutions faster...

           

 

Next supervisor Danny & Brad came back and finished off the end cap support for the granite in the kitchen - lots of detail adjustments to get it square.

       

  

       

 


Plumbers moved outdoor faucet from what used to be outside in birdcage into new area on lanai for the outdoor grill kitchen ... also added gas line to complete trio of water, gas, electric for this future summer kitchen.

                     

 

Finally Tony the furnace guy started installing the new furnace in the storage space over the rafters. Very creative guy, with good ideas and suggestions ... installing 15 seer efficient heat pump system to replace former gas furnace that was in laundry room... when old system removed will have lots more storage in the laundry, but that's a future project to be done after the main addition is dry-walled.

              

Heat pump in the attic.. 

Still need some minor electrical work,  and then should be ready for key inspections on tomorrow, Fri.

Next week - foam insulation of the entire house, and drywalling of the new addition...

Then and now...

To save going back over two months of blog entries,

Here's where we started in 2005:

Added the birdcage in 2006:

Where we are today:

Looking forward to the complete transformation!

Vents & More Power....

Just before the weekend, Tony the furnace guy showed up and started installing the new air conditioning vents - same time as Blaine and the electricians started to complete the rough-in electric prior to inspection...

Lots of little "do-we-want-an-outlet-here" decisions. Settled on locations for new ceiling fans, lighting, etc.  Ended up with switched power on top of the shelf extending along full wall of new room, roughed in power for outdoor kitchen... lots of invisible progress.

 


Couple views of how the view will look from inside the room towards golf course, and into lanai from South side when finished:

         

Next comes insulation, then drywall - I think?

Demo Day & much more...

After glacial progress, everything happened at once today!

First supervisor Todd and Russ and his framer crew showed up and adjusted the window openings 2" longer and 2" less wide to fit the new windows.

Others started framing in the lanai (I thought initially it would just be a aluminum screen porch under roof... nope - full framing, including a 4 ft. wall in preparation for summer kitchen - will have natural gas, water, plus infared grill, refrig, etc)... Fran likes the view...

We had to cover everything inside due to dust from removing kitchen wall - last views of the old kitchen wall - in the one on the right, they have already removed the sliding door and old kitchen window over the sink:

 


More framers started removing the kitchen wall - they put up a plastic sheet inside the house to protect from dust, etc.  Then they had to cut away the edge of the old roof, build a new wall and major beam to support the old roof :

 

Then they started cutting old wall away a section at a time... note the electric lines and outlets formerly buried in the old wall... the outlets are still live :).

 

Window installers showed up and in an hour new windows!

 

Building supervisor Danny showed up to "assist" (not what the crew said <grin>) in final stages of the wall demo -  note that a new set of framing was also constructed above the old roof while all this was going on.  Included was a new shelf (above the main beam) for Fran to put decorations, etc.... runs almost the entire length of the room:

Interesting views of new opening ...

Demo from kitchen side

Can now see front door !

Wall now removed... view from new room.  Note the framing above the wall - this will be a dry-walled vertical wall above the entrance from old kitchen to new room - volume ceiling will extent almost 14 ft to the peak:

View from the inside near front door... compare to initial pics above before the wall was removed... we'll be living with a plastic wall for another week until dry wall gets installed...

Thursday, we think electricians come back to finish rough electrical and move all the swinging electric lines, plus new round of inspections ...

Fri should be fun - Tony the furnace guy comes to remove the old furnace from the laundry room and move it above garage, plus Greg the granite guy starts measuring for new granite and cabinet in the kitchen.  Not sure who else might show up... 

Starting to look real ... when the plastic comes down will be able to see golf course from front door viewing over the sink through the new windows and screened lanai... 

Windows... shouldn't they fit?

At first we thought nothing would happen today, since it was 10:30 am...Our spy camera recorded a couple guys outside, who said they were going to install doors and windows so the room would be enclosed and the contractor could demo the kitchen wall tomorrow....

 Had to wait for roofer to show up and install weatherproofing film...

Looked like they were making good progress,

 


Neighbors Bob & Joan Pine stopped by to discuss the project and how the kitchen wall would be removed... engineer Bob was intrigued by the process...

Then workers discovered the doors were too big - see the overlap / extension on the right of the middle seam.  Solution seems to be to re-order the two end doors so they seal properly... won't delay construction however...

THEN they discovered the windows were 2" too tall and 2" too thin for the openings.    Whoops...

 


Lots of workers showed up to plan solutions - finally decided it will be easier to modify openings to fit new windows than to order new windows and wait month.  We agreed.

Tomorrow should be interesting...  need to re-cut windows, finish installing, plus new door on other end of room, plus spray for termite control and then start construction on temporary wall outside the kitchen wall to hold existing roof while they tear down the kitchen wall... waiting with baited breath.

Valentines Day present ... beginnings of power :)

Electricians showed up ready to rough in the outlets, fans, etc...

              

 






Beginning of entertainment wall ... here's the rough (very rough) design:

Bringing power to all the shelves ...

Minor challenge - original conduit under concrete came up under a support column... but they figured it out:

         

 


Next - finish interior roof line so foam insulation can be blown against the roof (new and old interior roof)... then install windows, doors, and then demo the kitchen wall...