John finished the stairs in the playroom today. He also fixed the side door to the garage. The structural lumber around the door frame wasn't installed, so he had to put it in. He said the plumbing will start on Monday. Maybe about a week and a half on plumbing, then on to electrical.
In the playroom looking through the hall into the loft
P.S. It's been a YEAR that we have been in this apartment! A YEAR!
John is back from his conference, and back at the ol' grindstone. He fixed the playroom hallway today. The story follows- The inspector didn't like the playroom hallway because there wasn't enough head room. He told John to fix it. John got a structural engineer to come and look at it and figure out a solution. The ridge beam was held up by several 2x4s that formed a post. The post was right in the middle of where the hallway fit. Since the beam has to be supported, the engineer said to use a piece of square steel tubing of such and so dimensions to support the beam. Then make it into a hallway. It looks pretty good to me. John also mentioned the idea of making the ledge at the front of the playroom into a bench all the way across. I though that was a pretty cool idea.
Progress is good. I like progress. Every day of progress is one day closer to me getting out of this hellhole of an apartment.
Entrance to the hallway from the loft- playroom in back
Close-up of the steel header and support posts- note the bolt holding it in place.
This is what it looked like before- Notice how the beam is supported directly below with lumber- the hallway was on the right side of that post. (oh- and there's no roof- old picture)
The rough stairs look like they have been finished. John framed the stairs in the garage with less of a rise so that they would be easier to walk up while carrying groceries and such. He got the rough treads on the living room stairs and a rough handrail so that they will be usable throughout the rest of construction. When we start putting down the finished floors, he will change out the treads and handrail for the final thing. I'm not sure what the next item on the agenda is, but I'll post more as progress continues.
Living room stairs from the front loft
Garage stairs
After much planning and gathering of supplies, John has started on our living room stairs. We were considering having them come down to a landing, then make a right turn into the living room for about three steps, but it seems that they fit straight down. He is working on the steps from the garage into the laundry room today. I'll post pictures of those as soon as I get them.
I picked up the tub from the refinisher yesterday. It looks pretty good. There are a couple of spots that I think they could have done better , but overall, I am pleased.
I had some more fill dirt delivered, and spread that around to fill the holes in the driveway. Then John showed up and made it look good, because I apparently don't have the finesse with a tractor that he does.
Spent several hours burning trash and unusable wood scraps. Wore myself out- had a great day!
John is supposed to start the rough plumbing tomorrow.
Before
After!
Sorry for taking so long to post. There have been a few hold-ups. Between the construction crew taking their sweet time, and the weather, and the bank having issues with their people and money, not much has been done in the last week.
They have finished the siding on all of the walls without gables, and the back of the house. They still have the front of the house, the front of the garage, and the back of the bedroom wall to finish. They also still need to put in the upstairs windows, finish the edges of the roof, and finish building the porch. We'll see...
We have been talking to John about the stairs, and I believe that he is about to start building them. I think they are going to look pretty good, if they match what I see in my head.
More posts as progress continues.
Back of the house- with the first upstairs window installed
Didn't get a chance to go out yesterday, but when I went today, wow!
They started on the siding, but only got the section done on the kitchen and garage walls on the one side. They did get all of the windows and doors in on the first floor. They also got more of the porch built, and felt on its roof. By the end of the week, it should look like a real house from the outside.
I am really impressed with the way the edge of the eaves turned out. They got up some of the face board, and it looks really good.
Front of the house
Our awesome front door
They started wrapping the house today. Got some of it done. They also started the porch. They got up the first rafter and realized that the window and the roof porch would overlap, so they stopped to wait for the solution. It looks like we are going to have to order another window that is about 8 inches shorter, and move the bottom of the window up. 
