Just Six More Inches

Chris stopped by yesterday and instantly required that I lift the header at the end of the new family room by about 6 inches. In the end I agree completely that the new height is a ton better "as he designed it" and I won't regret having to spend the extra cash (about $800) or take the day off work to get it done. The new framing (shown here) is much, much trickier than the original plan, but will also be about a million percent cooler.

Here's a panoramic of the current state of my kitchen. I took the shots from the top of the stairs, so you can see down into the lower floor and off into the family room. For those who knew and loved them, the temporary stairs have done their job and are gone.

Here's stained versus natural shingles. On the left are unstained shingles that have weathered for a couple months outside (in the summer.) On the right are the TWP 200-series "golden" color stained shingles. This pic is color balanced for daylight and shot in even light. We chose TWP as it's strongly recommended by the "pros" and chose the "golden" tone since it's closest to the natural color of the wood. Of course, the TWP should keep them looking like they do on the right for a long time to come...

A nice 180-degree panoramic thanks to AutoStitch. You can see from the front of the house (on the right) to the back (on the left) through the lower floor framing. It's about 85% done at this point and we'll finish once we get the family room completed.

Family Room Reborn

We're still short a (sub?)permit - but we've restored much of the family room already. It's big: no more weird divide due to old-porch shape and structure, no more lowered/sloped floor to drain water off said old porch, no more low ceiling. In fact, the new ceiling will be cathedral - 14-feet-tall at the top above the 10-foot-tall walls. The giant windows - 6 panes in all, shaped to match the roof line - will probably hold things up, so please pray to the Kolbe gods for an early delivery.

The current plan is to get the framing and siding on the new family room and kitchen, then focus on finishing all the details downstairs for a framing/structural and maybe shear inspection. Once that's done, we can hopefully finish off the windows/shingles and cut our carpenters loose for a while. Then we'll focus on getting the electrical service upgrated to 200A and the plumbing vents in so we can patch up the roof. Enough boring details, here are the pics:

Family Room Demo

Things are moving along. We still lack the permit for the family room replacement, but that doesn't seem to be holding us back. We've slowly carved away at the roof, and I'm betting that the last of the demo (I keep saying this, by the way) is very, very near. The beam for the cathedral ceiling is in place, as is the first of the rafters and some of the new wall. When I got home tonight I realized just how huge the new family room is going to be. Crazy. Justifies the $3000 window we're putting at the end of it.

Brian sent a link to this incredible panorama-stitching software that I used to create the below from some August 31 photos. I'll bust out the camera tomorrow to show off the new and improved family room...

Before and Now

A March 2003 photo we submitted with our planning permit application (before) and a similar shot from September 2006 (after.) It's been a long road.

First Stain - Last Demolition

It's been a frequent question of late: How goes the house? I don't want to sound jaded, but it's one of those questions like: How are you doin? You just expect me to say "fine." The answer is long and complicated and about the only thing harder to answer is: So, when will it be finished?
Stop asking me that.
I created this blog to fill you in with words and photos, so you can a) know what I've been up to, b) see how it's goin, and c) be able to estimate for yourself when it'll be finished. "Soon", there will be another (static) site where I'll lay down the history in pics. Being an owner-builder teaches one a great many share-worthy things.

In these September 3rd photos you can see the stain going on the west side as well as the giant hole in space where, just days before, we possessed a family room.