The siding is going up. There will be 3 types: Cedar over most of the house, sheets of Hardie cement board will wrap the garage on the lower level and corrugated metal on the recessed wall of the 3 porches. The cedar is not hard to install. It goes up pretty fast and looks great. The Hardie panel looks good but creates a lot of toxic dust when cutting, and is pretty heavy in sheet form. The galvanized metal siding looks sweet against the natural Cedar.
Countertops are in and the sink fits great. We got all the fixtures online, most from Ira Wood, and saved a bundle. We had heard stories about backorders and terrible customer service from online retailers, but we didn't experience any of that from this company or any of the others we purchased from. Sometimes you get lucky I guess.
The countertop is Silestone from Home Depot. We had picked out a different color that looks like polished concrete. It was about $20/ft less expensive than what we ended up with. The problem is that the sales person at HD told us it was available in the size we needed to cover the island (40" x 126"); However, when they came out to take measurements, the subcontractor told us that color only comes in 96" length. He recommended we take a ride to their showroom on the weekend to pick out a new color. My mom and I drove out to the showroom (about 45 miles) that Saturday in a snow storm to pick out a new color but, when we got there, they were closed. Turns out he gave us bad information because they are never open on the weekend. I drove immediately back to HD to let them know what their subcontractor had told us and that I was not happy that the sales associate did not know her product well enough to avoid this problem, and that we were sent on a wild goose chase. They took our information down and said they would work it out. Amy got a voicemail that week from a sales associate stating that HD was willing to pay the difference and to "come in and pick any color that works for us." We stopped by on the weekend and picked out the color you see in the pic. It was one of our original favorites but too costly at the time. The manager said fine but we would have to pay an additional $1000 because that particular color was at the highest price point and there was another less expensive color that was large enough. We didn't like any colors at the mid-level price point so, long story shorter, Amy played the voicemail for the department manager, then the store manager and we left there with a sweet countertop at a great price!
We ordered the cabinets from Area Kitchens in Portsmouth. We had gone to another cabinet dealer which shall remain nameless, and it was not a very good experience. The associate did not add any value to the process at all. She gave us the stick figure equivalent of 3D renderings and did not fix any of the common mistakes homeowners make when they design their own kitchen. Nathan, at Area Kitchens, on the other hand did a really nice job of heading off any problems we might have encountered had we decided to go it alone. We ended up choosing Shaker style Dura Supreme cabinets in Cherry. It was a great choice for us. They are clean lined but not super modern, and not budget-breaking either.
The wood has darkened since this picture to match what we picked out in the showroom.
Amy's design for the guest bath called for Hexagonal tiles with randomly place accents. When we spoke to the guy at the tile store (ENOS in Hampton, NH) he suggested a border treatment. It was a great suggestion that really added a nice level of detail to the floor. We also decided to forgo the black and white theme and add medium grey accents.
The master bath tile going down. It was a lot more difficult than I anticipated to lay the tile over the floor warming pads. You need a thicker mortar bed to cover the warmer so it makes it harder to level the individual tiles as you go along. It's nice to have warm feet in the Winter though.
(before) One of the things we loved about the place when we bought it was the old floor. We were told that it was 1 5/8" tongue and groove Southern Yellow Pine by a few knowledgeable people during the renovation, so we were hopeful that it would refinish to something beautiful.
(during) This is roughly the same area as the above photo after it had been sanded.
(after) Once the floors were sanded, and the polyurethane had been applied, we breathed a sigh of relief; however, we didn't take that breathe inside because the fumes might have killed us. The floor guy now thinks the wood could be Heart Pine instead of Southern Yellow Pine. In any event, it looks great!
Amy and I hung most of the drywall ourselves. I have to say, I didn't mind working with the drywall. That part is instant gratification because you have this mix of wood and insulation then you put a sheet up and it looks fairly white and uniform.
Here's a shot of the studio.
Here's another shot of the studio from the opposite side.
This shot was taken from the kitchen and looks down the hall to the second bedroom. That corner on the right is the opening for the master bedroom. across is the sliding door that leads to a small porch. There's another slider in the master that, when both are open, provides cross-ventilation. Further up the hall is a laundry center and the guest bath.
A more finished look at the studio.
The rough plumbing is in! Our Crotchety old plumber did a good job but was not exactly a pleasure. Come to think of it, maybe it's the profession? The plumbing inspector for the town was not exactly our best friend either. More to come on that later.
The metal roof is on! It took the roofing contractor about a full day to install the entire roof. We decided to go with the metal because it fits in with the clean, linear look of the place. It would have been hard to justify the additional cost of the metal over asphalt shingles except that the pitch of the roof is fairly low and the metal sheds snow much faster than ashpalt shingles. (update) After two Winters with the new roof I can difinitively say the metal was a good choice all around.
Metal roof example!
In order to expose the existing barn board roof on the inside of the house, we added insulation panels to the exterior (similar idea to the walls) and connected them to the rafters with 10" screws. Once that was done, we added plywood sheathing like you would a normal roof. This was 10 straight days of back breaking labor but i'll take that over drywalling the celing on the inside!
She's a looker alright. Polystyrene rigid foam panels cover the outside of the house for two reasons: 1) the existing second floor exterior walls are framed using 2"x4" lumber, so fiberglass batts only get us an R-13 (R-19 is code). Adding the foam to the exterior walls gets us to R-20.5, plus the exterior insulation panels cover all of the interior studs so there is less heat loss through the wood framing and, 2) the tongue and groove foam panels create an envelope on the outside which helps stop heat loss through the studs. Also, the strapping that is applied over the foam as a nailing surface for the siding creates an air cavity behind the siding so moisture does not get trapped.
I am available by appointment for structural analysis of headers. I also do weddings and baby showers.
So, this is a shot of the living room (it's not as blurry in person) and dining room (right half of picture in front of window)
Master bathroom subfloor going in. We used the old floor boards from the bathrooms and bump-ins to patch areas throughout the house that had damaged or missing boards.
Looking straight into the kitchen. The new structural beam is in place and the walls have been framed. The wall on the left is an exterior wall that has been moved in 10' from the long edge and 12' from the short edge to create a covered porch. There is a door leading to the porch from the kitchen and a slider leading to the porch from the dining room.
Entrance to the studio.
These beams replace the existing dimensional beams where the span exceeds 10'. They are 20' long, made of engineered lumber and weigh A LOT. Getting them into position was an adventure. Fortunately we had some help during that time.
Removing a section of beam that had deflected over time.
The very first interior wall to be framed! It was not exactly perfect but what do you expect for the first attempt? In the end, it worked out fine and you would never know there were issues.
Brandon and his brother help with the framing of the 3 triple windows in the studio. Well, they are helping with the REframing of the 3 triples in the studio. This was an interesting day because it was great to see the window openings roughed in, but there was some concern that the corner of the house would collapse if a strong breeze came through. It held up fine until we were able to get additional supports and the plywood sheathing installed.
Amy sitting in the dining room window opening. This window replaces the old barn door, which we originally wanted to keep but realized we couldn't because of pesky building codes. Now that I think of it, we probably could have kept it because we ended up putting a deck along that wall...
Having the utility lines buried was a great idea. The foundation guys already had the excavator on site, so it didn't cost us much at all to get this done. I don't even think the electrician (Stephen Porter) charged us more than the cost of materials to run the pipes. Plus we had the foundation guy dig a hole so we could bury the propane tank! The tank is almost twice as large as the above ground model, so they are not out there every month filling it up, and you don't have to look at the big, ugly tank. Highly recommend burying the tank and the utilities.
Don't you look at my new stairs.
It was a lot of fun ducking under that structural beam for months. We were too afraid to cut it, so we left it there until one day when we got up enough courage to fire up the Sawsall. Nothing disastrous happened and we haven't had to duck since.
Something happens in the time between when I measure and when I cut that defies physics. It's almost like the universe waits for me to finish measuring before rearranging itself into a slightly altered state. Specifically, it shifts by 1/8".
Here's the thing: Typar® does not crinkle when you are installing it, but Tyvek® does. Sounds like a small difference but when you are working with this stuff it becomes a real annoyance. Not to mention the roll of Tyvek® we bought had the NASCAR® logo plastered all over it.
It's nice to have help every now and then.
Proficiency with the nail gun is key. Especially when you are precariously perched high above the ground.
Connie inspects progress. Eerily reminiscent of our time together at Plainspoke.
