May 7: Windows begin

We didn't make it out to the lot until late on the 7th (something about having jobs...) but windows had gone in and the dormer work was effectively done.

View of the entrance to the house. Bottom left is the dining room and the right (installed!) twin window is in the great room. The gaping hole is the entrance. We were still deciding on what we wanted to do for a door after our quest for an openable (hinged) sidelight fell through.

Here you can see where the dormer framing was finished off. The two smaller windows are bathroom windows. The bottom one was not on the original plan, but umm... I'm under no illusions that my sh*t doesn't stink.

Inside the great room looking from near the main entrance. Lots of windows. The plan originally only called for singles on the back wall (which Preethi is facing). We changed that to doubles. Additionally, there was not going to be any windows on the right side, which we thought was a bad idea in general and a travesty given the back yard. So we added the matching French doors flanked by singles. (Only had so much space coming back on that wall as there will be a fireplace sans chimney and needed some place for a TV)

Preethi and the dogs check out the sliding window in the kitchen.

One of the smaller windows for light in the great room. Eventually there will be 3 such windows (originally 2, but there was also originally a chimney).

One of the shower/ bath units dropped into place.

Another change to the plan, originally the space over the entrance was just closed off. But we noticed that there was more than enough overhead clearance to add a door to then use the space as a walk in closet. The original, adjoining walk-in closet may now be used for a kid's desk or maybe just more storage. Options are good and it's easier to build them in now than later.

A detail of the underside of the roofing transition from master bedroom roof to bumpout roof. No windows there yet, however...

Looking down into the greatroom from above (this will be closed off). Sorta like how Mike Tyson would flash before punching you in PunchOut, cyborg dogs' eyes will glow right before they pounce. Or maybe it's just red eye.

View of some of the supports for the roof. One of the many differences between a stick-built roof (do what you want with the shape) and a trellis roof (mostly prefab).

The "dining room" windows are quite large, 6'2, and they're triples (as opposed to singles or twins). Here's Preethi standing next to them and the hole where they'll be put in tomorrow. I say "dining room" because the room may or may not actually be used for dining. Right now we're thinking more along the lines of a formal living room, but we'll see.

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May 6: Stairs! And Raised Ceilings

Travel a little and a lot happens. It was a bit muddy, so all the shots were from inside, but there's a bit to see.

Here's a view of the great room from the dining room. Lots of houses have two story foyers (we don't), we went with the two story great room, which is (I think) starting to look really impressive closed in. There's still another window to add and some minor adjustments to make to the heights to the doors and windows.

Looking through the stairwell from the back from the kitchen (great room to the left) to the foyer and dining room (looking north).

View from the main floor bedroom (guest bedroom). The three doors you see from left to right are: 1) hallway / entrance, 2) direct entrance to the bathroom (not on original plan), 3) closet. In the back you can see the stairs and the great room.

Preethi going up the roughed in staircase. Much easier than the ladders we used the previous week.

Up on the second level in one of the north side bedroooms looking back at (left to right): 1) Master Bedroom, stairwell, great room (won't be open like you see now - should cut down on noise filtering up a little)

One of my favorite things about the framers is they clean up some every day when they're done.

The bedroom in the northeast corner. We also opened up the ceiling to the roof in this room (like in the master) and that's kinda done in this shot with about 16" shelving running over the doors (that's a closet door you're seeing).

Collars (the cross supports) to support the roof in the attic (and some framing too). The roof over the great room has less of a slope, so that the change in roof shape you're seeing on the left.

Since opening up the ceiling to the roof wasn't the original plan, we had to add strips of wood to the rafters so the drywall could sit properly with insulation behind it.

Same addition as the previous shot, but in the masterbedroom where the main roof meets the hipped roof for the bumpout.

View of the master bed room looking towards the master bathroom. When we opened up the master

Window added to the lower bathroom. In the original plan there was no window in that bathroom. Instead there was a false window created by closed shutters.

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April 25, 2009: Second Level Walls Begin

The framers worked on Saturday and we went out midday Sunday to look at the work. Several of the walls were up on the second level and after days of telling everyone that I would be too "scared of heights" to climb up a ladder at the site, Preethi ended up being the one to not go up the ladder. Since a) Preethi didn't get a chance to see the second level, b) we had better light than normal (e.g., for the basement), and c) we didn't feel like we were in the workers' way (since they had gone home for Sunday), there's a few more pictures in this set than normal. To make sense of it all, I grouped the pictures into exterior shots, second level shots, basement pictures, and details.

Exterior Shots

View of the house from the road - you can see where work has begun on the second level where there will be three bedrooms and two bathrooms.

View of the east side of the house. The boxer is a neighbor's and followed us around a little bit. We didn't bring Fritz and Silver with us because it was quite hot (upper 80s / lower 90s). The part on the South Side is the Master bath and on the north side is a bedroom.

Different view from the East where you can see framing beginning on a different bedroom.

Looking at the backside of the house. The bathroom is framed in on the second level, but the master bedroom is not yet.

Second level pictures
The second level floor was all done so I was able to walk around and take a few pictures.

Picture of Preethi standing in the foyer as seen through stairwell hole.

Looking southwest from the second level across the stairwell. You might of noticed that there's no floor over top of the great room. That's by design. There are no rooms above the great room; instead it'll be a large vaulted space.

Looking from the master bedroom across the stairwell towards the north bedroom. We're quite happy about the view.

Looking from the master bedroom into the master bath.

You can see some of the prepatory chalk work (in blue) laying out where bathroom elements will go.

Looking from the bedroom at northeast corner towards the great room.

Looking from the bedroom at northeast corner towards the master bedroom (walls not up yet).

Looking from the bedroom at northeast corner towards the master bathroom.

North side bedrooms from near the stairwell.

Looking out a window in the master bathroom up the driveway.

Looking from the master bathroom north into a neighboring bedroom.

Basement shots

Mostly these are pictures to show the openness of the plan even in the basement. Even when we're underground, we're trying to open up the space.

Basement shot from the north east corner. That nearby framing support will be changed for an open span to allow for easier flow between the stairwell and the basement bathroom.

Looking across the basement towards the South from underneath the dining room. The windows are white because that's Tyvek over the windows (temporary).

Preethi standing in the middle of the den, shot from the southwest corner.

Construction details

I also took some shots highlighting some construction details.

Example of a support built into the foundation wall.

Detail of the joint of the two engineered wood pieces forming the support where the foyer meets the great room.

Detail of some of the patchwork done on the rebar holes in the foundation wall interior. I highlight this primarily because our current house didn't bother to do this. So we had to do it when we finished the basement.

Other

The window in the dining room got cleaned up a bit and now it's Preethi's favorite room in the house.

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April 23, 2009: More Work on Main Level

A bit more got done on the main level on this day, basically raised the exterior walls around the great room, kitchen, dining room, and main-floor bedroom and some of the interior walls. Again this was as night was falling (to try and stay out of their way) so some of the picture quality is not so great.

View from the road.

Preethi, at the front of the house. The Tyveked areas is the dining room and main floor bathroom. To the left is the main floor bedroom.

Looking at the rear (South side) of the great room (top) and den (bottom). Note that we lined up the French doors, though window sizes vary across levels.

Here's a view of the South side of the garage.

Preethi walks through the garage towards the entrance to the main floor hallway. It's not a real big hallway, basically just there to provide access to the main floor bathroom without going through the main floor bedroom.

Preethi stands in the kitchen. There are several largish spans in the house and here you can see the large opening between the kitchen and the great room.

A span from the entrance foyer to the East wall of the great room. There will eventually be a column supporting it about 2/3 of the way down.

This is looking North from the great room. We think there will be a pretty good view of the ridge from here, though we might have to knock down that scrubby tree (the second tree from the right edge of the window).

If you look closely you can see some of the red chalkings that will be used to guide the framing tomorrow.

View from the tree on the Northeast corner of the lot.

Preethi peers through the Tyvek in the dining room.

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