Winter Views

With the help of a tarp, the house if finally enclosed and I am enjoying the views that motivated me to build up. The unfinished east and west rooms are a bit chilly so now I settle for the north and south ones. Check them out:









South towards Mt. Nebo















West towards Utah Lake & Oquirrh Mountains















North towards Mt. Timpanogos from family room















North from Dormer over garage

Brick-one step closer to a finished exterior

After we got the brick to the top of the garage door we decided to switch the plan and run the brick all the way up. I really like the way it turned out.

Colored Stucco & Doors Installed

The colored stucco was finished on Saturday. The brick and siding will be finished soon. The interior doors were also installed this week. Now comes the hard part--paint colors. :)

Stucco Prep & Texture

The sections that are to have stucco are all prepped, but the process has been held up this week with significant rain.

The sheetrock is up and all textured. Now on to the next step....Paint!!!

Moving Forward

It's amazing what can happen in just a few days- insulation














to drywall














to mud.



















The exterior is coming along as well.The stucco and Hadiplank siding are both going on.

4 way inspection soon-exterior coming along!

The last month has been spent getting utilities in place. The electrical was run and the plumbing installed, including a manabloc which allows me to turn of individual fixtures or areas of the house.

In addition, my brother Kevin has come several times to help me run the networking cables-just two more CAT 6 lines for phish into interior walls.

While waiting for the 4-way (framing, roofing, electrical and plumbing) to be approved, the focus has been on the exterior. The concrete work in the garage and door landings was poured.



I've also started on the on the landscaping. I've started on the fence and the sitting-height retaining wall which wraps most of the side yard now.

Windows & a roof

Finally, the long awaited day is here- I have windows and a roof. There have been several hiccupsincluding broken windows upon delivery and the wrong size windows ordered. Now, the facade is coming together & I'm very excited.

The windows below are on back wall of my

kitchen/dining room. The contractor called it my church wall. What can I say? I love natural light.

The electrician and plumber are also well into their respective projects. My brother Kevin and I started wiring for network last Saturday. Most of the work at this point will be on the inside. :)

Gables & Dormers begin

Yesterday, the guys got out the sledge hammers, sawsall and several 2X6 to move the garage dormer 9" to the west so it would be centered. YEAH!

Today they sheathed the side trusses and put up front section of the center gable.

Trusses and floor-A beginning for the 2nd story

Thursday and Friday were a big days. While I was still in Logan for a conference, my of many of my neighbors gathered on Thursday to watch the crane lift the large attic trusses to the east and west ends of the addition. On Friday, the east and west end walls were framed for windows, the subfloor sheathing put down and the new electric panel installed on the back of the new garage.

The original southern exterior wall is still in place but the new support beams are going in for the loft area that will look down on the expanded kitchen area. You'll notice that it will be about 3 feet narrower that the existing ceiling. This is aligns with where the staircase meets the 2nd floor, which if you use your imagination you call see will be an L shape going up the south and west walls of the dining area.

Near the beginning of the of the remodel we learned the floor plan was off by about a foot. We forgot about it after the foundation was poured, but it's turned up in the truss layout. The dormer windows over the garage were supposed to be centered over the door opening. Right now they are off-you guessed it- a foot. It was the first thing I noticed as I was walking towards the house Friday morning. The floor was already stick framed and the sheathing glued down. The plan is for this glitch to be fixed next week when the crane comes, which will hopefully be powerful enough to shift the entire assembly to the west.

Almost done with demo

So this week brought us close to the end of demolition. With a ten day forecast of clear weather and the trusses built and ready to be delivered, the roof is coming off. The contractor is savaging the existing ceiling so we won't have to redo the drywall. You'll notice that my snow shovel is getting some use even though it is June. Also the new exterior walls continue to rise to support the new trusses.

The gravel was also spread for the concrete areas including garage floor, back door steps and patio.

Bit by Bit

It seems that for every wall they put up another comes down. For example, the old door to the bedroom is now

framed in, but the walls between the bedrooms has been cleared to make the new master suite and the wall between the bedroom and coat closet is gone for the plywood. reinforcing required on designated shear walls.

In exchange for the new back wall to the bathroom, the windows and brick are gone where

the new bump outs for the window seat and bathtub are going.

I also have a great hole in the basement floor where they will be pouring the footing for the steel column that will be supporting the ridge beam for the vaulted extended kitchen and dining room area.

A plan for the yard

With the bump-out in the back, I've decided to move the fence towards the sidewalk so the side yard will be enclosed. I started by spray painting the lines for the fence, landscape beds and a sitting height retaining wall. Then I killed the grass, picked out and had the blocks delivered and the excess dirt was dumped. I'm also digging a trench to put in a barrier to prevent more of my neighbors aspens from spreading to my yard.

Framing Begins

It's actually starting to look like something besides piles of dirt and concrete.

Digging, Footings & Foundation

Piles of Dirt.











Footings and Foundation.