Inadvertent eavesdropping…

Overheard on day one…

Voice 1: "Give me your hammer.
Voice 2: "I need my hammer."
In my head: You guys only have one hammer??

And…
"I don't like heights."
In my head again: Seriously? Maybe construction wasn't a good choice for you... 

I'm not sure what’s going on up there today but several times I've heard, “Look out! Look out! Look out!” followed by a tremendous crash. There haven't been any screams after the crashes so I assume no one has been injured. 

Yesterday, during the short time that I was home, I (and half the neighborhood) could hear Matt the Carpenter yelling measurements down to Trusty Helper Pat who was on the ground cutting 2x4s and sheets of plywood and humping it all up the ladder to the 2^nd floor. It was a rapid-fire pace, I don’t know how Pat’s head didn’t explode. When he wasn’t cutting or running up and down a ladder he was picking up chunks of old roof and walls and hauling them to the dumpster in a wheelbarrow. I desperately wanted to hand him the keys to the truck.

Matt knows his stuff and I get the impression that he doesn’t have the patience for slackers. He keeps these guys hopping! He predicts that they will be done by the end of the day tomorrow, Monday at the latest.

I'm thrilled!

Tear Off!

Matt the Carpenter and his Trusty Helper Pat were on the job today. They showed up one guy short this morning, not sure what happened to him. Matt managed to tear off half of the top of our house pretty much single handedly. It was impressive. I can tell by some of the things I have overheard Matt saying to Pat that Pat’s carpentry experience doesn’t extend far beyond mine. Nevertheless, he’s a hard working guy who doesn’t miss a beat.

Matt the Carpenter doing his thing.

All that sawing, cutting and pounding over head makes your teeth rattle, better open the cupboards slowly for a couple days.

 hmmm...I kind of like the open terrace effect...

The Blue Room

Friends, if you are at all squeamish about plants getting squished, avert your eyes for this next one.

Never believe a contractor, no matter how competent he may seem, when he tells you your plants will not be in the way and that they will be “just fine.” 

All buttoned up for the night.

Right now, that big blue tarp is flapping in the breeze like a clipper in rough seas.

Taking a vacation from our vacation…

Yesterday we took a break.

We hung out by the pool...

Had a little cookout...

 

Camped out...

Tried the upper bunk for a change of pace...

And went to the movies...

Can anyone - other than my brother - guess what we watched?

It all led me to wonder...

If your bedroom is on wheels and you park it in a different location for a night, have you gone away or just rearranged the furniture?

Phase Two Begins...

We hired a contractor – the same company that built the garage for us – to tear off two 2^nd floor exterior walls and bump one room out. The job will include two roof tear offs, rebuilding and tying a new roof line in with the existing, building a load-bearing wall, floor trusses, three windows, siding, and various hidden surprises along the way. All for a 4’x16’ extension on one room, which doesn’t sound like much but it will make a huge difference. The guys started Friday morning.

It didn't take long to find their first big surprise.

Paper wasp nest...hi-rise style.

 

 

Until a few moments before, we had never been able to see daylight through the dining room ceiling. This was not part of the plan.

It’s no one’s fault. The guys were trying to get a sill plate off and had to cut through with a sawzall which kept right on coming, through the plaster ceiling! The ceiling beams are not big enough or strong enough to become floor joists and will have to be rebuilt (oops, didn’t think about that before we started). We will have to screw the dining room ceiling to the new floor joists to hold it up and eventually tear out the dining room ceiling. And you know darn well that we may as well do it right and tear out the walls too and insulate while we are at it. Have I mentioned that the dining room walls and ceiling are made of the same stuff as the living room? Plaster and chicken wire. Falling on our heads. This sounds dangerous.

Dave’s been telling me that he really wants to gut the dining room for a while now. I twitch every time he says it. It’s the last room that we have not touched in the house. It needs to be insulated. He’s right, however I have been resistant. The memory of tearing out the living room walls has not faded. It’s heavy stuff and a bear to get off. If I were a suspicious wife I might suspect him of bribing someone on the job site this morning! Ah well, I’ve been ready to get rid of the wall paper in that room for a couple years now.

 

Contractors will return Monday morning.

Siesta...

You have to be quick to capture a moment like this.

It was short-lived but well-deserved.

Pulling up the floor…Plan B

Dave started pulling up the old floor tiles. Like the classic ‘reel ‘em in and get ‘em hooked on the easy stuff,’ the first few tiles came up fairly easily. Then he hit the ones that were stuck down with tar...black, sticky and old. Various techniques were applied including hammers, assorted chisels and a heat gun to no avail. They were buggers to get up.

Progress after 2 hours.

A unanimous decision was quickly made – cut a piece of luan plywood to fill the space (and cover the tar residue so that we don’t track it all over the entire house and tri-county area).

When the time comes we will nail another layer of luan over all the floors and carpet the entire 2^nd floor. Problem solved!

Treasures from the attic...

Technically our house doesn’t have an attic but “Treasures from the rafters” just doesn’t have the same ring to it.

 

Something dark and bookish in shape came tumbling down among the insulation. Of course, I got excited. A book! An old book! At first glance, upon seeing the word ‘American,’ I thought, “Someone stashed their history book!”

 Upon closer inspection I realized someone stashed her fancy new hosiery so that her father wouldn’t find it!

Never leave home without your camera!

We went to a couple outdoor shows last night to kick back and have a little fun. I thought about taking my camera but decided I didn't want to carry it around.

At one venue, the Blue Angels made an appearance to promote the airshow here in town this weekend. The BLUE ANGELS! And me without a camera! The team was working the crowd, literally dozens of photos were taken of them! I finally worked up the nerve to ask a couple of the guys if they'd mind having their picture taken, Dave took a couple shots with his phone. This is one...

Then he took the second one, with us all arranged and smiling for the camera/phone, and in all the excitement forgot to "save" the picture! (I'm sure it goes without saying at this point, taking pics with phones is not something that we do very often!)

We asked a couple more guys to take another shot.

The BLUE ANGELS! Somebody pinch me.

Do not try this at home...

I'm not sure how to describe the past two days. It was hard work. At times, it was miserable. In the end, we successfully gutted the 2nd floor without any mishaps. We worked room-by-room, tearing down the ceiling first. The ceilings had loose insulation, lots of it, too much in places, jam-packed to the roof with no airspace. The walls had none. Pulling insulation down on your head repeatedly can wear on a person. Once those fibers get air-borne they go everywhere. We repeatedly reminded ourselves, "This will all be worth it in the end."

My very own pry bar!

 

Ya know, honey, these plastic walls are a snap to put up!

 

Our handiwork.

 

 For Sale: Three bedrooms. DIY kit. Sorry ladies, husband not included.

Yoda moment...

When you wheeze through a respirator all day, someone is bound to crack a Darth Vader impression. More than once.

"The Force is strong with this one."

Success! The 2nd floor is now an open cavern. There is still much to do. I'll try to write a more detailed update tomorrow.

"No. Try not. Do... or do not. There is no try."

Really?

If you or someone you know enjoys going door-to-door, discussing the Good Word and Saving Souls, here's a little tip... If there is a BIG ASS dumpster sitting in the middle of the driveway and you hear massive pounding and see the occasional puff of dust floating out a window of the house where you are about to gently knock upon the door...those folks inside, they might be busy.
Really.

It's been a busy day...

 

Progress was made. We're pooped. More soon.
Did I mention this is dusty work?

Hot 'n Dusty...

This season's must-have accessory.

One room down...

 

...two more to go.

So now our bedroom is in the Westy. Remember the Westy? This is a blog about a Westy...

 New bedroom.

It's vacation time again!

And you know what that means...

One of these things is not like the others.

Dave is on vacation, there's a dumpster in the driveway, the 2nd floor is empty - totally - let the demolition begin!