Windows going in..

Great ! The windows are going in! We'll soon be able to close out the wind and enjoy the sun streaming in. Today was a good day, I went into Saint John to track down a sale on semi transparent blinds and found a 40% off sale PLUS buy two , get one free, so I saved a bundle and I am a happy camper.
Ben will have the asphalt roof shingles finished tomorrow on the last side of the main roof, so things are moving right along.

The new little bathroom is now sheetrocked,  and the new pantry is having it's crackfill layered on readied for sanding and maybe painting over the weekend.










 Probably my least favorite job...SO time consuming.
This is the pantry with the trap door to the basement.

We'll soon have the weather shut out...

All the roof sheathing is now on and we were pleasantly surprised at how neatly and painlessly the roof sections fitted together without any problem. That left corner post and beam that look redundant at this point will eventually support a pergola for grapes or kiwis.







                                

          Kents brought the roofing supplies out
         on their boom truck         
         which allowed all those heavy bundles
        of asphalt shingles
        to be lifted up to be ready to work with
on the roof.

First the skylights had to go in on the porch roof. This is to allow more light into the bedroom behind the deck and will be nice for the deck also. After all the fiddley waterproofing was done, the rest of that roof section and valley were shingled pretty quickly.

    On the back side of the wing bedroom Ben is figuring out the best way to seal the new and old roof together.                                 

Well Spring has finally shown up...sort of...here and there...

The ice storm was much worse than the one at Christmas, our yard was littered with big branches from the linden trees and we lost a huge old spruce and most of the old willows came crashing down. It was several hours work with a chain saw guy to get it all chunked up for firewood.

The indoor work is coming along, where the wall between the 2 bedrooms is now gone and the stud walls in place for the new bathroom and pantry. This (left) is the pantry space, and below is the new half bathroom to the right. The missing strip in the floor is where the wall used to be, but we can patch in some oak flooring .

Outside this week is more foggy, rainy blah weather but the guys are on the roof anyway.
More of the roof and mud room is covered and today they are framing up and covering the deck roof.

Today I am working on the shelving that will go in the pantry.

I love my biscuit joiner ! The shelving unit will have a fixed shelf in the middle and 3 or 4 movable shelves on pegs. This is one of  2 units. The next step is a pine face frame.

Climate gone crazy..

We are the country that spring forgot! What a winter to try to build a house !  Last wednesday was the worst blizzard in 20 years, with howling winds and incredible snowdrifts. Here is the pattern of snow left one our window by the swirling wind.
And this is just an uncivilized amount of snow to land at a time we should be seeing bare ground.






Here is a little bit of hope and cheer from my greenhouse where I have to go now and then so as not to lose my mind.

Between weather events Ben got the extra truss moved up into place where you can see two sets of doubled ones here, to accomodate a future chinmey.            With the next storm upon us, there is inside work to do turning 2 of the old bedrooms into one larger one with a small half bathroom for the bedroom and a pantry for the kitchen.

That means a lot of sheetrock coming down to move walls, create new ones, and accomodate plumbing and electrical. This is going to create a big roomy space, just have to imagine beyond the mess.    Today, after a blessed day of thawing,  there is a vicious ice storm upon us, everything is coated and the trees are bending over with their weight of ice.  The bathtub and water jugs are filled, oil lamps ready, hoping the power lines don't go down...                                                          

Mudroom is added..

Still working around snowstorms that can mess us up for half a week, but the mudroom entrance is now framed up.
There will be a 3 foot roofed landing with the final steps going the other way when they get to that stage.

Another snag sorted out...Because there are no bearing walls, the cathedral trusses are closely spaced at one foot apart. (On the right side they rest in joist hangers fastened to the tripled scabbed together truss set going the other direction.) Eventually we will want a wood stove, but the chimney needs a 14" space between the cathedral trusses. So we ordered another truss which arrived yesterday. One truss will have to be moved over and joined to it's neighbor and the new one inserted to join the next one over, so we have a wider space created, but strengthened by double trusses.

Here is Ben yesterday, sheathing in the back side of the roof over the bedroom extension. Today we have pouring rain and strong winds, not a roofing day..but at least we won't have to shovel it.

Moving Right Along...

Today the guys got the rest of the living room cathedral trusses up and the side sheathed in where the bedroom roof meets up with the living room roof. There were problems to solve along the way, such as the original building being a little off the 8/12 pitch and the truss company making the cathedral trusses 4 inches too small. You can see they dont come to the edge of the wall on the left, where they should. Also something was wrong with the rafter tails and they had to be cut off, but my problem solvers say they can build the parts out to where they should be.

This wasn't the best day for roof work with a brisk wind blowing, but they got one whole side sheathed in..

and the small and smaller trusses in place to join the two roofs together.

So happy !

Lots of progress this week...

It's been a loooooong hard Febuary with way too much bitter cold and countless snowstorms, 3 of them came all within 6 days, so we are very glad to see March. On top of weather holdups, Ben fell off the icy steps and injured his arm so was out for a week recuperating.

This week he built the floor frame for the side mudroom entrance, and with 2 more helpers, all the trusses are up and the gable end closed in for the main floor bedroom.This roof will meet the living room cathedral ceiling at a right angle.

Here is the old roof overhang being cut off in pieces to make way for the first cathedral roof truss.

..and the first truss being manuevered into position, on the ICF wall at this end, and at the other end they will rest in joist hangers fastened onto the first perpendicular truss.

As each truss goes up, Ben measures and braces it in place. This roof is obviously thicker than the old roof. This will allow for a lot more insulation. Farther down the road we can add insulated panels to the old roof to bump up the R factor.









Feeding the next truss trough a window hole, and flipping it up into position...

more to come tomorrow..........