Update #5

Sunday night Craig & PawPaw moved most of the furniture and school stuff out of the guest room. He was scared that once the roof came off that we would have leaks...especially after the Shelbys got water in theirs.

Monday, the framers came out and started their work. By the end of their day, most of the shop was formed up and half of the carport roof was ripped off. You can see our van is now parked out in the barn. Also, the dumpster was finally delivered. At the end of the day, they hung a blue tarp to hopefully keep out water if it rained.

Tuesday, the framers removed the rest of the carport roof, finished forming up the shop, and started adding web floor trusses above the shop. They only made one little hole in the guest room. It wasn't too noticable except when the light was off and sunlight was coming through...the kids noticed before I did. Also, the porta-potty was finally delivered.

Wednesday, the framers added as many more floor trusses as they could without ripping off the rest of the roof and they cut out the windows in the shop. The plumber also came out and started roughing in the upstairs bathrooms. Overall, there wasn't too much damage to the existing house..l.only a telephone wire was cut and a couple of holes were in the bathroom. It was funny to see sunlight coming through the AC vent.

Thursday, the rest of the roof was removed, more floor trusses were added, and OSB was added to the rest of the shop and part of the upper part. The kids were fascinated by the Thirst Buster cup hanging from the floor trusses and also the truck that some of the framers arrive in. Also, after work, PawPaw came and worked on more of the catch basins. Cameron helped him mix mortar...for about a second!

Friday, the framers started putting up the walls on the 2nd floor. The plumbers continued to rough in the plumbing and the AC people did some work. PawPaw also came back out after work and worked on the catch basins some more. See the guy with the overalls...he's the plumber...we call him Uncle Jesse. Before supper, Craig and PawPaw went and looked at the work and took some pictures up there.

Craig & I went to LCR to pick out some of the bathroom fixtures and stuff. Here are some of are choices for the faucets...we chose faucets that would be easier to clean over style. After the addition is finished, we will have 6 bathrooms to clean.

LCR Choices:

• Delta Faucets

• Mainline Faucets

Saturday morning, the framers came out for a couple of hours. They started adding the ceiling beams. The plumber was there for most of the day roughing in the plumbing. Craig & PawPaw worked on the catch basins most of the afternoon, but still have a little work left to do on them. Miriam was their helper and was one dirty girl when she finally came in.


It was one exciting week watching all the progress. I can't wait to see what this week holds!

Update #4

Dates work completed: 5/10-5/14/10

Monday, the concrete was poured for the foundation of the shop and the stairs. As you can tell in some of the pics, we had many "inspectors" of the work: Cameron watched the concrete truck from the fort, Levi & Micah pulled up chairs to watch the finishers work under the carport, Craig asked PawPaw to come check it out too! Levi was very complimentary of their work.  He kept telling them they were doing a great job! 
We knew that there wasn't going to be alot done on the actual addition this week so we decided to let my dad's employer bid on putting in a limestone driveway and filling in our front ditch. Tuesday, my dad brought the pipes for the ditch and started work on the driveway. About half of the driveway was finished when he left that day.
The boys got to help spray the concrete to help it cure.

Wednesday, my dad & his crew came back to finish the driveway and to lay the pipe in the ditches.

Thursday, my dad came back and packed down the limestone. You can see the big turn around area on the side of our barn.  Now we have a place to park our vehicles while they are doing the construction project.  His crew also broke up a concrete pad that the previous owner had made for a dog pin. (Craig is thinking of adding a garden right...like he needs another project right now!)  Our general contractor had one of his laborers come out and fix part of the concrete that wasn’t done correctly.  This guy also remove the canopy over our side door and the all of the outside light fixtures.  After work, my dad & Craig got to work on the catch basins.  They just added the concrete around the pipes.

Friday afternoon, the framing materials were delivered.

Bright and early Saturday morning, the laborer came to take part of our patio cover to give the framers more room to work. Saturday afternoon, my dad & Craig attempted to build the catch basins, but the weather didn't cooperate. They were only able to get one completed.

What we’re doing

Tracy brought it to my attention that I never actually said what the addition was for.  Behind our carport, we’re adding a storage room and 3/4 bathroom.  Then we’re going up!  Above our current guest room, guest bath, carport, and the new area will be 2 bedrooms, 2 bathrooms, a laundry room, and a big playroom/game room.  The stairs to go up will be where my desktop computer armoire sits currently.  The estimated time of completion for the project was 13 weeks, but Craig thinks it will be closer to 16-17 weeks.  This means that the project will still be going on when we have our 6th child in July.

Update #3

Dates work completed:  5/3-5/7/10

 

Monday the inspector came out to inspect the plumbing and the plumbers finished their portion for now and backfilled the dirt over the trenches.

Wednesday the diggers came out to dig the footings and to lay down the structural materials for the foundation pour. They ran out of rebar so they weren't able to finish that day.
After they left, we found a rib bone in the yard...we couldn't help but laugh and of course I had to take a picture!

Thursday the subs came back out to finish the footings...once again, they didn't do such a good job of cleaning up. Also either an inspector or another sub came out to look at the plans.  Do you see the dragonfly hanging out in the 1st picture?

Friday the framers came out to finish up some of their work before the concrete pour. The concrete is scheduled to be poured tomorrow, Monday.

Update #2

Dates work completed:  4/26-4/30/10   At the beginning of last week, some prep work was done…One Call came out and marked the property, orange fencing and signs were put up.  Craig made up this boundary to keep the kids out of the construction zone.

Finally, in the middle of the week some materials were delivered.

On Thursday and Friday, the plumber came out and did some prep work and roughing in of the plumbing.

On Friday, the permit and safety instructions were posted. Can you read the safety instructions? The framing crew also came out and framed up the places were concrete will be poured.

Friday Craig and the older boys dug up the mailbox to make more room for the construction vehicles to enter.  We were having problems with the mailbox so we just decided to get a new one.
Saturday they put up the new one on the other side of the driveway.

On Saturday morning, my dad brought some mats for the construction vehicles to drive over in hopes of distributing the weight especially over the catch basin.
Luckily, he works for a construction company who is generous enough to let him use their equipment on the weekend.

Update #1

Dates work completed: 4/14-4/23/10

  2 weeks ago our landscape crew came and moved some plants from the flowerbeds that would be effected by the construction.  The plants were moved to the back flowerbed.
Also that weekend Craig and the kids moved the toys out from under the patio were work would be done.  Some were moved to the brick wall of the patio and some were moved to the barn area.  It looks funny now by those windows without the toys being there.  Craig is going to get used to the area being empty.