The history of the old house on our lot has always been shrouded in mystery. From the historical report, we knew in general that construction was done on certain dates, and in some cases what in general was done (second story added) but we haven’t really known what part of the house was built when,Read more about The real history of the old house[…]
In preparation for plumbing the house, the plumbers measured the water pressure at the street – 60 PSI. While 60 PSI is perfectly normal for inside house water, typical street water pressure ranges from 85 to 120 PSI. The difference is that higher pressure can provide more water. To simplify, the relationship between pressure andRead more about The water line[…]
From the structural design, through the pouring of the concrete basement foundation, we didn’t realize that the outside walls of the light wells were so high above the natural grade. Early on, with the excavation pit considerably wider than the footprint of the house, it was hard to tell what it would look like afterRead more about Cutting the light wells[…]
Living in the old house, when it is so close to the new house, has always been a gamble. We were betting that the cost of renting another house was more than it was costing us for the old house to be somewhat in the way of the new construction. As construction marches forward, theRead more about Moving day[…]
On Sunday night we had another smallish rain storm, and got a bout 1/2 inch over 6-8 hours. Not much by any standard but enough to get everything thoroughly wet and create large puddles in the basement. We were more prepared this time and were able to mitigate the water quickly. Last time, we sweptRead more about More rain[…]
The second floor framing has been moving along nicely, and the framers are now framing the roof. Here are some picture of the progress over time. The first thing the framers did was to lay out all the walls using chalk, and then cut all the wall top and bottom plates. They then build eachRead more about Second floor framing update[…]
Last year was supposed to be El Niño, and bring lots of rain for us, which of course, it didn’t. This year, is supposed to be La Niña, which is supposed to be drier than usual, which it is turning out NOT to be. The house, or course, is still quite open to the elements.Read more about Water[…]
Today was one of those gratifying days where a lot of visible progress happens; the second floor was sheathed with plywood, and is now walk-able.
The concrete contractor poured the garage slab and the front porch slab on Friday. Now there is nothing holding the framers back from finishing the first floor and moving on to the second. They expect to have the roof sheeted in about 8 weeks. Here is the time lapse of the slab pour: Here areRead more about Garage & Front Porch Slabs[…]
Last Friday they dropped in some more steel. When Charlie (the builder) mentioned that there would be steel around the garage doors I imagined something fairly minor, as this a pretty standard three car garage with two garage doors – a double and a single; something to simply support the span over the doors. WhatRead more about More steel[…]