Making progress, Day #4

 What a job - mom and I have been working on staining the new wooden front doors - it took us 4 1/2 hours on Sunday just to stain, and then I gave them two coats of polyurethane today, probably a total of about 3 hours worth.  Can you tell which pieces go with each door?  Can you tell which will be the front door vs. the side door?  Looking at the pictures of them... they look kind of antique.  We hope we like them on the house....  They are kind of retro - like the cross buck doors that we used to have... only updated for the new century.
As you can see by the pictures... they got the remaining side of the house prepped for siding, and if you look close at the other pictures, you can see the corner boards by the living room window and my bedroom window that I painted last week.  I was talking to Ken, our neighbor,  Saturday night, and he commented on how solid the house was built - he noticed the rafters every 16 inches, which is a lot I guess.  That was good to hear...  He also said he really liked the new window instead of the patio doors.  I was pleasantly surprised to hear that...  It continues to be a huge mess... and I really hope with all of the nails around that mom's car or my car does not find one of them with our tires.... 

3 out of 4 ain't bad

 Out of the soffit must have dropped this blast from the past...  Anyone remember this little treasure?  I vaguely remember it...

Well, they have 3 out of  4 sides of the house done...  but can't move fast enough for me.  They are here pounding at 7 am until 5 pm and hanging around outside our windows... but overall they are doing a good job.  It is great to see the soffits open - they were tightly closed, trapping heat in the summer and creating ice dams in the winter.

They also pumped up the outside corner of the front porch - not sure if you can tell how the top of the railing is not hitting the rafter anymore... it has settled pretty bad... it was a really creepy sound when they pumped it up - a cracking sound that I thought the inside ceiling would crack.  Looking at the picture of the house from the front, the top of the house does look really straight now.

I am not sure why they have completely left the power side... maybe waiting for the city?
Maybe keeping the worst part for last?

I also do not know if they will be working tomorrow... the guys put in 10 hour days with very few breaks.

Well, I will keep you posted... there is a wagon of siding in the back yard.  

Day #2 - Looks like a different house from the back!

Here is the progress for day #2 - and what a mess!
Nails, screws, debris all over the place!
The only side that has not been started is the side by the steps because of the power lines and cables.
The wooden strips on top of the house wrap are there to build out the siding to make it even with the windows.  The windows before had frames around them - but this siding will go directly to the window, no frames this time.  This was decided because  #1 - I would have had to paint all of the boards, and I felt I did not have time with school starting again in a few day or #2 - if the frames were placed on the windows without being painted, I could not reach them to paint them. In addition, the boards creates a space allowing the house to breathe, and prevent water from being trapped between the siding and house wrap.  The contractor, Loren, said this is a new trend in siding - and especially with our cement board.  A wire mesh will be at the bottom edge to prevent bugs from going into the siding.

Here is  another before picture of the back with the deck before.  We got rid of the conduit light on top of the deck, and the outlet on the deck is gone.  We will only have one light by the back door when it is all done.  The dish network dish will also be taken down by the workers - sealed with leftover shingles in the garage.

Off with old, in with the new

 Let the madness begin...
 Yesterday they started our project by tearing out the patio doors and putting in the window.

Today they tore down the deck... They really had to work hard at it, and it took them a lot longer than I thought it would.  Amazing how in 1989 the deck just fell apart, but this one took a lot of sweat and muscle to tear it down.

As you can see, the patio doors are gone, and we have a new window in its place.  Mom and I love it!  You can look out the window and see my fire pit - We are really going to like it a lot.
Taking care of a deck is a lot of work, not to mention it is 10 feet off the ground.  I am glad it is gone.  4 workers are here working on it, and as of right now they are tearing off all of the old siding.
I will post more pictures later.