First sun and record heat - then torrential downpour...

Forecast for this week was great, with the exception of a minor disturbance for Wednesday. So we started early Monday morning taking the roof off, planning for it to take the day. It was MUCH more work than anticipated. Late Tuesday evening, still not completely done, we were forced to pull out tarps to cover the house up for the approaching cold front and rains.

Managing these gigantic tarps (1,040 sqf each, about the sail area on a very decently sized yacht) in the dark was no easy feat. Luckily I have understanding neighbors (+good help) and it was warm and nice. So warm that when I later took the dog for a midnight stroll to wind down, I could wear shorts and short sleeves. More like a summer night in July.

Was awake half the night, listening to every sound, listening to the wind pulling the tarps, and trying to detect the horrid sounds of water dripping somewhere. Finally fell asleep, still no rain and the wind seemed to die down. By 9 AM it was still warm, but the grey sky slowly started opening up. Not for sun though. It has rained on-and-off all day, sometimes very heavy, but luckily with very little wind. Tarps have kept water out of the house, but I cannot go many days like this.

Assuming sun Thursday morning, new trusses are now to be delivered either Thursday PM or Friday AM. Once here, a crew of seven will "attack" the roof and get us dried in again. This should finally give us an idea of what it'll look like from the outside.
Stay tuned!

PS: The weather was simply too miserable to even take some "elevated" pictures during Wednesday. Will have to be done tomorrow. :DS

Digging trench

Pictures tells it all. Had to dig a new trench to tie in to the existing storm drain lateral that runs along the south property border.
When it is all now done, I'm in a way glad it was not 95F and sunny like last summer, but instead overcast and pretty mild.

Now it only for Pat and his guys to dig the foundation drain and connect to my newly pulled line.

Break in the weather?

After a few days of rain, followed by the first fall storm (broke a tarp, but nothing major), we've been working on preparing for sheer walls (moving cables and outlets, planning new electrical installations, etc), so they can be built before we put on the new trusses.
A small break in the weather Wednesday morning gave a chance to complete half the distance of the trench for drain lines. Need a few more pieces, but there's now less than half-a-days's work left.

Forecast tonight calls for a break in the weather starting Sunday and going through Friday, with a chance of minor showers on Wednesday. Maybe, maybe, we can get back to "normal" fall weather and this is the week when we can get the new roof up. Cross your fingers!

First stage completed

Tom and Jim showed up early today, finished the sheeting and put on as many rafters as they could. Next step is coming when we are removing the old stick frame low-pitch roof from the house and build new plates for the new trusses. The pitch of the new roof will be almost as steep as the ones on the addition.

Since the weather is "fall like" (duh, it is after all mid-October) no one was eager to gamble and cut up the old roof too much until we know for sure that we have a few (4) good days that will allow for both roof removal (one day) and erection of the new roof (likely 3 full days). We managed for over 45 years w/o any water damage, it would literally suck if it happened now. New roof so close...

But, it starts to look good. We discussed the front windows a lot, and finally settled on two larger ones below (3'x7') and two smaller ones on top (18"x18"). I was eager to increase the top ones to 24"x24" but other thought the proportions would be a bit off. So I settled.
It sure looks better than the initial steep "portal windows". Would have made it look like a church (but with a great view).

First sheething

First peices of sheething has been put up. Soon (?) we should be "weather proof". Just in time for a few good fall days. No rain until Sunday they now say...

Rafters are going up, drywall is coming down

Tom and Jim continued today putting the rafters up and framed around doors and window openings. Still a bit undecided on the exact dimensions for the large front windows, but will decide overnight so Tom can frame it all Wednesday.

Inspected the temporary "seal" around the ridge beam and it seem to hold up water OK. View from up here is not too bad...

Rest of the drywall in the kitchen disappeared and most of the real "dirty" work is now done.

Will move a few electrical outlets and rought-in a few new ones (to prep for upcoming kitchen remodel), before we can put in a large beam at the bottom of that wall and then cover it all with plywood to create a shear wall (boxy structures are more prone to resist twisting, and subsequent collapse, in case of an earthquake).

Ridge beam and walls

If Friday was progress, today was even better. Can start see what this is all going to look like.

Pat stopped by early in the morning and we discussed the height of the ridge beam and the eventual pitch of the roof. Put down a plate line everyone was happy with. Just the different aspects and options he laid out shows why it is money well spent hiring a skilled and good general contractor. They have the experience, but maybe more important the perspective that most "one time" self remodelers lacks. So it is good to be able to discuss "options" with someone that has "seen it all" and came up with a good final solution.

While Tom was doing a really nice job in cutting up our old roof and build a support for the new ridge beam, I was on the ground sanding it down. The pitch will be so steep so it can be tricky accessing that beam and sanding it once it is in location and the roof is up.

When I was done sanding, Tom had finished building a support on top of the (on Friday) newly installed beam that is spanning our old entry way. He was now ready for the long beam. A tad heavy and cumbersome, but it went up smoothly and it did fit! Now it is also properly anchored down.

We are also starting to be exposed to the elements, but I think I managed to seal up the cut with roof mastic. It is not to last that long, but it would suck if we ended up with water dripping down into the living room.

Since the sun was out I continued digging in the garden and finally managed to locate the power lines AND the needed storm drain lateral, so I can now focus on digging the desperately needed trench - w/o risk cutting either the gas or power lines in the process. Peace of mind!

We also got a visit from our little building inspector, Willow. She sorts of hangs around all day, not scared at all for noises or falling lumber, or the occasional visiting dog.

Drywall day

Sunday was a rest day (pancake breakfast down at SCC), but evening was spent tearing down (and cleaning up) drywall. See our excellent insulation work from the 60ies...

Progress made...

Subfloor is in, the front doors are gone, the guys built a temporary wall to support the roof while replacing and extending the beam over the (former) front doors. We'll gain a few inches of height and will also get a nice exposed beam in the ceiling. They also "sealed us in" after finishing with the beam and we have a temporary dark stairwell - until we open everything up again.

Had a big blue tarp to cover the living room when they were cutting up for the new beam, but it was not really needed. It'll be dustier when I start taking down the drywall tomorrow evening.

The guys did a really nice job and we were also lucky in having a sunny day - but change is on its way...

I cleaned up the site, collected all the scrap wood, and covered everything up with tarps for the weekend rains. Normally not done, but the drier I can keep this, the happier/better off we are. Evening was spent cleaning the inside of the house as well and it is pretty sealed up behind these large pieces of plywood.

I also put a large fan in the crawl space to dry that out. Just after half a day, it has made a significant difference. Not at all planned from the beginning, but we'll get a really nice 4 feet tall storage area underneath. Perfect for all the "stuff" that is taking up space in the garage and basement (lumber, firewood, mower, wheelbarrow, tires, boating stuff, etc).

So one can now sort of start to see what it'll will look like. Getting rid of the doors and putting in the nice beam really felt like (and was) siginificant progress.

Tuesday came and went...

Contractor never showed on Tuesday morning. I sort of figured it out, and yes, he got dragged in to working two 18 hour days up at the "Extreme MakerOver House". I'm OK with that, but a call would have been good. I had other stuff planned if no work was to be done.

But today we at least got started again, even though it was late due to miscommunication between general and sub-contractor. I cleaned up the site, we put down the sill plate, and anchored it with 5/8" bolts. Also added a foam strip sealer between concrete and sill plate (pressure treated). BTW, look at those bolts and washers. Needed as hold-downs in case of a severe earthquake, but likely unheard of in Sweden, or needed.

Also put up the skirt, but just before end of the day, Tom realized that we needed a pressure treated piece to put up as a girder for anchoring the floor joists outside the old entrance doors. Also need to tear down that old "aspha board" and replace it with plywood. It is a sheerwall and will need to be lined with plywood all the way through the house (along the stairwell and through kitchen) to the east side (drywall to be torn down this weekend - messy).

Our house, built in the early 60ies, is a rariry in that it actually has these hold-downs or anchors, tying the plate to the concrete foundation walls. What I understand, it was not mandated until sometime in the early 80ies and hence, very few house built before that time have them. Not to knock on wood, but we've done "OK" in at least a few relatively significant earthquakes.

The weather was great in the morning with sun, but mid-afternoon, the sky just opened up and EVERYTHING got wet. But, as it is up here in the fall, about an hour later the sun was out again and we ended up having a pretty pleasant evening.

I had "perfected" the anchoring of the sheets covering the denuded soil, so nothing blew away, and no erosion.

I started digging for the connection to the drainage line that runs westbound and out to the lateral that follows the street. Of course it runs parallel to both the power and the gas line, so one has to be careful. I managed to find the (plastic) gas line (close to where it was marked/supposed to be), but the electrical line (and cable + telephone) is yet to be found. Did find a piece of concrete drain pipe (same as used for the drain line) in the trench. It is possible that it is a cover for the electrical line, but after the "big dig" of last year, ones just have no idea really what to expect. Puget Power (as PSE was called in the 80ies) has cut more than one drain line when burying utilities as evidenced in last year's dig.