Framers Day one

The framing began today. It looks like the got the sill ( the piece that goes on top of the foundation) completed and they framed out the floor for the mudroom. They did this part first because it has to be flush with the floor in the kitchen. So far so good. I guess they said that they were hoping to get more done tomorrow because it was so hot (about 90 F) today. Tomorrow looks like another hot one so we shall see. The kitchen designer from Jackson Lumber is coming tomorrow to measure for the cabinets. Once we have those measurements we will be able to move on plumbing, electrical, and the window in the kitchen.

Rained out (sort of)

Well, it rained today for about an hour and then was beautiful, but of course the framers didn't want to start in the rain so they went home before it stopped. They will be back to start tomorrow.

They finished gutting the kitchen today and the exterior doors were framed. All that looks great. The doorway from the kitchen to the dining room also got framed and I think we have our first official problem. We had talked to the contractor about making the door a 45 degree even though the drawings were drawn as more of a 60 degree. They framed the door just like the drawings... so I'll have to talk to our contractor about making that change tomorrow. I also need to ask about the fact that the basement is now leaking near where the new foundation connects to the old foundation. It's actually near where the foundation crumbled a bit when they excavated for the foundation. OK, enough words...
 
 
 

Framing Materials Arrive

It looks like the framing materials and siding showed up yesterday as well. I don't yet know why they ripped some of the siding off the back...
 
 

Well, we were away Yesterday when the guys were back for round two on our kitchen. Today was a holiday - Happy 4th Of July! This are looking good in the kitchen. Only a bit more flooring around the edges to rip up and the entrance to the dining room to finish off.

Kitchen Demo Started

The guys came this morning to start the kitchen demolition... Looks like the joists are running the right way so we won't be needing a beam where the old walls were. And Oh ya, the walls are all gone!

Floor os poured

The garage floor was poured today. It looks great and there is about a 3 inch difference in height from the front to the back. The dumpster was also delivered later in the day.

Getting ready for the floor.

Our contractor marked off where to pour the concrete floor today. Looks like there is a groove in the floor to strengthen the part of the floor where we will have a wall.

Back filled

This morning the guys came to back fill the foundation and poured crushed rocks for the concrete slab that will be coming tomorrow. It looks like the driveway will be slopped down toward the garage a bit, which I am concerned with. I talked to our contractor who said that we may end up with a built up driveway. That means that we'll need to fill the yard to make it all flat.

Foundation is finished.

The forms came off very early this morning and the foundation guys are gone. We can start to see what this thing is going to look like. The second picture is a shot of where the foundation had crumbled a bit, but they patched it up with some cement.

The footings were poured yesterday and they took the footing molds off this morning. Then the foundation wall molds went up and they poured the concrete. The molds should come off tomorrow which means that they can back fill all this dirt and start on the garage floor. We noticed one place where the guy who did the excavation work hit our field stone foundation and it sort of crumbled. The foundation guys just poured concrete in there so we should be all set, but it didn't look so great - I wish I had taken a picture. From now on we will take pictures when we see something wrong. Anyway, here are the molds (that are filled with concrete).

A Hole in our Yard

After getting back from our weekend away we found a large hole in our yard and no steps on the back door. Sounds like the forms for the foundation will be done tomorrow, the foundation will be poured on Thursday, and the forms will be removed on Friday.

The Driveway is mostly gone.

Well, now the driveway and garage foundation are gone. Actually the driveway is half gone, the contractor will be ripping up the part where the new addition will go.

Excavating the driveway

Shortly after posting the last post we contacted a neighbor that I had talked to about possibly ripping up the pavement and cement foundation for the garage. He was over ripping it up in no time at all. The kids are loving this part!

Garage is gone!

Well, here is what it looks like now that the garage is down and the dumpster is gone. I was able to fit all the pieces into the dumpster, but it was close! I figured that I would be over the weight limit of 3 tons, but I guess not.

Garage knocked down.

I had the help of a neighbor yesterday to take down the roof and then we cut the sides down and then tipped the front and back over. We even cut up the front and part of one of the sides. Now all I have left to do it cut up the walls and throw them in the dumpster. It's not looking like I'm going to be able to fit the whole thing in this dumpster - I'll need to start doing some serious space management.

Digging planned for next week!

We found out today that our contractor has planned that the digging for the new foundation will start next week. I rethought our decision to wait to take down the garage and decided that we should take it down now before digging begins so we will be able to get to it. I have ordered a 20 yard dumpster to be delivered on Saturday morning. Here is a picture of the garage (sorry - it's the best I could find)

The Addition Is Coming

For a while we have been trying to figure out a way to add on to our house and we finally had a architect draw up some plans of what we were thinking of and got about five quotes from contractors. We picked one and have been waiting about a month for the town of Andover to issue a building permit. We had to get a special permit to build on to our house because it is Preexisting non-conforming.

At any rate things are starting to happen to our house now so I'm going to start blogging our progress on the addition. Actually it is more than an addition, it is a addition with a full kitchen remodel. Stay tuned for pictures.

Before and After

Check it out. Before and After!

Oh, and I wanted everyone to see the finish walkway too that a put in last November when the ground was just about frozen - fun.