Back to Fiber Art (finally)

Today, I was able to enjoy my new warm space. The weather has turned dreary and cold and rainy. But I stayed in and machine quilted a piece that has been laying around for a while.
  It was very good and quiet in my wonderfully improved space. The wind blew outside but not in here! I thought the window unit was a bit noisy back in August when it was installed, but it seems it was the vibration of the old wall making all the racket. WOW what a difference. Just like modern times.

Progress in the face of pesky holidays

The title is a joke. I had quite a nice Thanksgiving with my sons and Vincent and in laws. We went to my younger son's house and made him jealous of all the fun he has missed working like immigrant labor on the "siding" project. We did borrow his extension ladder for the east part of the house. He has been keeping up with all the "joy" by reading this crap.
   Today we got some more of the siding up on the remaining walls. It looks SO GOOD!!!! I will take photos tomorrow, but they are not nearly as entertaining as the ones with the rot. hahaha. Maybe when we get to the point where the rafters are boxed in or when I get back to fiber art or sewing---those photos will be fun..............

Progress

The rains came for the last few days, so we got some time off from the outside work. I did anyway. Max has been doing fiddly things with the blue foam stuff.
  My attention was turned to the interior so I can get back to income generating. I hung insulation and covered it with luaun, then trimmed around the window with corner molding. Don't look too closely at the mitered corners. I was in a hurry and it is just my work space.

wall before insulation

completed wall (except for painting)

  In any event I am happy as a clam with the improved space. With the new energy efficient heat A/C unit and all the insulation and double paned windows, I should be toasty warm this winter and able to get lots accomplished. And the savings on the utility bill will be very welcome.

Even more Progress

Things are moving along quite well. We've had two VERY productive days and got things to a point that if the big rains predicted fall upon us, we can sleep easy knowing there won't be any major damage. We got the cement board up this morning and all that's left is the wood siding, maybe a few more pieces of the insulation board to be attached too.
  I cannot get over how quiet my sewing room is now that it is properly insulated and the window is more than a sheet of tissue paper over a big hole. The wall no longer vibrates when a plane passes over and the neighbor's barking dogs aren't quite as noisy. Of course it looks like a bomb has gone off inside there, and I HAVE to get it put back together ASAP. The grindstone is screaming for my nose!!
   A good day all round. The Noodlemans invited me for an early dinner at our favorite Mexican joint and a little retail therapy, too. Then Vincent came to spend a few days. Life is looking up.
  Thanks go out to my friends who have left encouraging comments.

The north side

  As reported in an earlier post, the north wall of the addition had to be nearly rebuilt because of the damage over time from insects, rot and neglect.

eyewww--rot!

framing in the hole left from old windows

where we left off yesterday-inside view

where we left off yesterday--outside view

sheathing completed

A WINDOW!!!

   Today we got the window installed after putting up the plywood sheathing. The door stills needs to be trimmed out and of course now the interior is in destruction mode because of the window replacement. AND the siding needs to go up. Yikes! What a process. But things are moving in a forward direction.

Progress in the face of douchebaggery

So we are making the daily trip to the hardware store after a quick side trip to Danver's for yummy burgers. I pull into a parking space next to a van from some recovery center here in Midtown ( what better place for recovering druggies and alcoholics?) and while I am enjoy the luscious burger, some guy says, "Excuse me MISTER, would you mind moving your truck so I can load this cement mix into the van?"
   I'll admit, I am not the most girliest of girls, but I had not realized menopause had taken such a toll. Gee whiz, I did pluck that pesky whisker from my chin last night!
   The only other thing I can think of is that getting up at 7 am and picking up the tarp the wind and rain have blown everywhere just didn't leave me enough time to put on makeup and fix my hair in a proper feminine style for all the hard working guys at the Home Depot to enjoy.
  Today the rain stopped but a cold wind was blowing. That did not deter the team here on Willett from the continuous repair of rot and sheathing replacement. I had sense to take photos and will post maybe tomorrow after the window has been replaced. Of course, I had to have my obligatory hissy fit in the morning. My son will surely be happier than I when all this is over. We were kidding today about how easy the siding installation will be when all the repairs are done. That's just holding up boards compared to all this work.

Progress in the rain

It hasn't rained in forever, but now that there is an outdoor project, of course the skies open. And my son is probably quite annoyed with me, too, since I seem to want to do more than hold up the other end of the boards. Most likely, my bad attitude has to do with the fact I have some kind of yucky upper respiratory crud that isn't quite bad enough to make me take to my sick bed (so he could actually get something done without my kvetching) but just enough to put me in a bad temper.
We pulled off the old siding and sheathing on the last wall and founds TONS of rot ughhhh--it is so nasty. And the window is rotten too, so it will have to be replaced. It is an absolute miracle this end of the house has not fallen over a long time ago. We(meaning my son) worked under a tarp today and most likely, according to the local weather guy--Dave Brown--will have to be under it early tomorrow too.
   So, boys and girls, when all the repairs are done on the north side, and we get back to just siding, that will be a fucking piece of cake. Of course it will look totally like an awesome million dollars too. This will be the BEST Xmas gift to myself I ever had!!!!

Progress

Oops, I nearly forgot to show the south side and the finished siding. The rafters still need to be boxed in, but I hope to have the siding up on the rest of the addition by Thanksgiving, but maybe will have to wait til spring to paint. And by I, I mean we--my son and myself.
  The weather here is crazy, so there may be enough nice days in December for painting. We never know. People talk about the weather not as idle chatter for a reason.

more progress

east side exposed

rotten stuff with bad shims

repairs covered with plywood

Another day on the house project. We thought most of the rot was at the bottom of the wall but upon closer inspection the bottom of the window was bad too. So we went to the hardware store AGAIN! replaced the studs under the window and this time covered the scab on this cancer with part of a sheet of plywood. Being a firm believer in adhesives, I put some Liquid Nails on the inside of this repair, and if this shit falls off in the future, place bets now that THIS will be standing when the rest of the addition falls down! Blue insulation and siding tomorrow--fingers crossed.
   We had a discussion over whether the actual window gets to stay. There will be many hours of glazing removal, glass and glazing replacement, trim and molding replacements, then tedious painting. I voted for a huge piece of plywood, but relented and the window stays.
   Improper window installation was the reason for all the rot. But that happened in the late '60s and those who did this deed are long gone. Thanks guys!

Progress

south side-trim on windows

photo taken at corner of south and east side--WOW!

My new day job

east side-before

south side in progress

stuff

south side-further progress

Due to a huge project my son and I have taken on, I have not kept up with posting here. We are replacing the ancient siding on the addition to this house. Many days have been spent at the hardware stores gathering tools and supplies--ibuprofen included.
There was quite a bit of rotten wood that had to be replaced and we are expecting much more bad stuff when we get to the north side of the addition. We have one side nearly completed and are riding high on a huge wave of accomplishment.It is such a vast improvement and looks really great! I do hope we can keep up the pace and not get bogged down in the actual LABOR of the job before us. We also need to beat the upcoming crappy weather.