Here were are in Yellowstone!

We Have a Mantle!

Day Thirty-Four

The finish carpenter started today. We are going to have bead board around the walls in the living room and a rock fireplace.

There is Jim getting the pantry ready for painting! He's become quite the handyman.

Here is the mantle. It's hard to see the detail up close, but it looks amazing!

It's Almost Finished - Addition Days Twenty-two through Thirty-three

So I don't know how I managed to go that long with out updating my construction project. The month has flown by and so has the addition. This time I'll go newest to oldest....Here's where we are today

Day Thirty-three
The texture is completely finished. The ceiling has been stamped and sanded and the walls are ready for paint!

Days Twenty-eight through Thirty-two
A whole lotta mud! They taped the drywall in three different days allowing each one to dry before they could get started on the next one. What a messy bit!

Day Twenty-Seven
This was probably our busiest day of the entire project. We had a follow-up framing inspection followed by the insulation, the insulation inspection and the drywall installation. I'm happy to say that we don't have any more insepctions until we are finished. Whew!

Days Twenty-One through Twenty-seven

I'll make this quick as there aren't any pictures. HVAC inspection. Electrical installtion & electrical inspection and the walls are ready to get covered. Framing inspection...They found a few minor hand ups with the framing inspection so we need to get those fixed and get on with the project. The roofing is complete!

Addition - Days Sixteen through Twenty-One

Day Sixteen - We have walls
Man those framers are fast! From concrete to walls in just a few hours. It's amazing to see the rooms take shape after seeing the concrete looking so drab.

Brenden takes the opportunity to put some wood in the fire pit

Days Seventeen & Eighteen

They finished the walls and the roof is on. The windows are in. The kids set up their tent and attempted to sleep in the addition on Saturday night. When the thunder started shaking our house we decided it was time to bring them in. Nonetheless on Sunday they slept out there and had a great time.

Jim has become quite the handy man through it all...

Day Nineteen

Sunday - peace and quiet~

Day Twenty

HVAC gets finished and the fireplace is installed

Day Twenty-One
In just three weeks...

The kitchen is now opened up to the addition. They did an awesome job on the arch. It flows along nicely with the rest of the openings in the house. The large opening is not a window, but where the bar will eventually be. The electrician comes tomorrow and we should be ready to sheet rock by the weekend!

Now Where Was I?

DAY TEN
Ahhh yes...the back fill is complete! We no longer have a trench surrounding our house. Everything is no ready for the concrete to be poured and then on to the framing! I love how it went from a giant pile of dirt to a lovely smooth sandy surface...

DAY ELEVEN & TWELVE

Saturday and Sunday went by without a hitch, mainly because there was no work scheduled. We did, however, get a couple of really nice racks from Joe's Sports as they were going out of business. We have installed one in our garage already and are planning to install another. They are very sturdy and we hope they will help our garage stay a bit more organized!

DAY THIRTEEN

Hooray, June has arrived and so did the cement truck. But instead of pouring cement, he ended up taking it to another job. It was at this point, sadly, that we realized that the existing slab is going to have to go. It had too much slant to meet the footer surrounding it. Again, Jim gets to be the fill-in- guy and break up another 300+ sq. feet of concrete to keep the job going. Luckily the excavator pitched in and they got it done quickly. At first it felt like a major set back, but in reality, it only put us off one day. We also had the siding removed so it looks like some serious progress is being made.

DAY FOURTEEN

Two weeks has flown by and wouldn't you know that it rained today. They poured about 70% of the concrete and will finish it tomorrow.

Got to keep the air conditioning working somehow!

Can't go outside today...

DAY FIFTEEN

All the concrete and the flat work it done! It looks amazing, especially the fire pit. We would have loved to leave our hand prints, but alas, all the kids were at school. Our name will be our mark!

Framing starts tomorrow (Thursday) and I forgot to mention that they don't make our color of siding...so now we have to decide how to monetarily deal with that...Sigh....I just keep telling myself that it will all be worth it!

Addition - Days Two through Nine

DAY TWO:
No pictures - although I should have taken some of my great husband being a stone cutter. Because of all the issues yesterday we had to cut additional concrete away and because of the additional expense that would be incurred Jim decided to take on the project himself. He did an amazing job of getting it ready for the next guy to take over!

DAY THREE:
No action at all....Sigh

DAY FOUR:
The back hoe comes and we have a trench. It's just like a war zone. The kids thought it was great to play World War One in the trenches with the air soft guns. It was really quite amazing to watch the back hoe in action. It's like an extension of his arm when he moves. It's such a huge machine, but Juan operated it like it was not big deal. He could get right up next to the concrete and not touch it at all. It was interesting to see how much effort went in to cutting the concrete and how little effort the back hoe used in destroying it.

DAY FIVE:

Sunday. A day of rest, but such a mess!

DAY SIX, SEVEN & EIGHT:

Labor day, but the foundation contractor was there bright and early ready to work. He poured the footers, which put a damper on the "war" reenactment, but we moving along. Tuesday we finally had our first inspection and we could then start building the stem walls. Wednesday the stem walls cured. We're back on schedule...

DAY NINE:

Here we go again....

Foundation contractor here

Insulation contractor MIA

Inspector comes, but the insulation isn't ready so we missed the next inspection. Our foundation contractor really pulled through for us and found someone to do the insulation so that the back fill can start and we can pour the flat work. We called the inspector and he said it was OK to continue with the back fill, but he would still have to come back Friday to inspect.

The excavator comes, but doesn't think he can back back fill, so he starts to prep the side for the patio. A day late and dollar short. The story of our project!

The Excavator is supposed to be here bright and early Friday morning to start the back fill and finish the prep for the flat work. Hopefully we'll recoup some time tomorrow!

Stay tuned....