Addition Part 2

Here is the continuation of the addition I undertook back in 2007. You can see the roof rafters going up and some of the Tyvek house wrap being put on. If you click on the picture and zoom in to where the new and old roof planes meet you will see the new is stepped down about five inches. I wanted avoid one long roof plane so by stepping it down the house looks to have a bit of dimension, that is also the reason for the jog in the front wall. In the end you will be able to tell it was an addition by that step down but who cares, that's what people do when families grow.

Well all the Tyvek is up and the roof is taking shape. You can begin to see the gable ends, one facing the front and one to the side. Again this is where the historic commission helped me with the design and giving the house some much needed character. The construction was a bit tricky with all the angles, even my carpenter friend Bill needed to stop and think it through a bit. Thanks to him for providing all the ladders and staging you see. Oh, I forgot to mention it was over 100 degrees for two days while we were framing this. Not Fun!!

The roof structure is complete and the plywood decking is going on, using the standard 1/2 inch CDX 5-ply sheets. That is my friend Bill and his wife Krystyn who are builders and who helped me through the project. One thing that took a bit of extra time was building eaves or overhangs. Bill called them flying eaves because they stick out so far. We were just matching the old part of the house which had 13 inch overhangs which definitely add an architectural detail to the house. Once these are trimmed out they look very nice. Also note that the roof pitch of the new gable end was made to match the pitch of the existing small foyer in the front of the old part. Just another small detail to make everything work together. On the front of the foyer you can see numerous colors painted on as I was trying to pick the new house color. Click on the photo for up close shots.

See the shingles on the roof in this photo? If you check out My Very First Project those are the shingles that I am about to rip off only ten years later. I installed architectural shingles on the addition however the old part had regular three tab, not a match. On went a 30 year GAF Timberline shingle in a Weathered Wood color on the whole house. Great shingle, the best in my opinion and great color. These shingles try to mimic a wood shake look and do a pretty good job.

Here you can see the new roof on the entire house. If you click on the picture you can get a close up of the texture of the shingles. They really do look good. You can also notice the new windows are in on the addition and work is progressing on the rest of the house. I have stripped all the old siding off the original house and pocketed some pretty good $$$$ for recycling the old aluminum at the scrap yard. New windows were put in on the whole house, some of the old ones are in that junk pile. In the photo below I found these rough openings hiding under the aluminum siding so at some point there were windows on either side of the door. Guess what? I put them back!! It really adds character to the front entry. I had to modify the openings but it was worth the extra effort. 



These are some shots of work being done on the old part of the house. I had quite a bit of wood rot on the rear of the house. Had to replace a large section of the sill plate and some floor joists, not too bad for 100 years old though. 

New sill plate and floor joists

New basement doors to be built

New door and window

The new windows I used throughout the project were Pella Pro-Series 400 purchased from Lowe's. Vinyl clad outside and wood inside with removable six over six grilles. I bought them unfinished on the inside although they are available with a baked on white finish from the factory. The only problem is it kind of looked like a plastic coating and not real wood as some of the detail was lost with the baked on finish. It was a lot of work to prime and put two coats of finish on 31 windows but it looks like what it is, a real wood window. These were all new construction windows not replacement, that means all new casings on the inside even in the old part of the house. The window link is below.

PELLA WINDOWS

Below is a link to the GAF website who are the makers of the shingles I installed on the roof. GAF is the most popular brand, at least in the Northeast. I went with a 30year "Weathered Wood" shingle which goes nicely with the blue house color you will see in the next post. Stay tuned for tons of info on the cement board siding and PVC architectural trim I used to finish the outside.

GAF SHINGLES



 

CHRISTINA'S COOKING BLOG

I have to post some of my wife's recipes once in a while. These potatoes are super quick, easy and tasty,  even kids will eat them. For this and many other recipes check out my wife's cooking blog at the link above. Try some and let her know what you think.  

Spring Flowers

It was such a beautiful day Thursday so after taking the day off from work I picked up the kids and headed to work. This time it was to ramble though the fields of the 152 acre property that I take care of and pick some early blooming daffodils. When I got home there was not a vase to be found so I headed to the basement for some of my mom's old canning jars. I put them to good use along with an old milk jug. The kids were so excited to show mom when she got home and I was excited to bless my amazing wife with fresh cut flowers and a clean home. It's amazing how they fill the whole house with a fresh scent.

Close up of writing, hard to see but says Guida's Dairy

Blue glass canning jar

Deck Railings

It is 65 degrees today so I took the day off from work and did some things around the house. I can't believe I finally finished the railings on a little deck we have off the living room. I only built the deck in 2008. You can tell the part I did today by the different color wood. Waiting for better weather to stain it and get my final inspection from the town, that should be an interesting phone call three years late. Pay no attention to the brown upright juniper, just a casualty of the wicked winter we had. 

The Best Shrimp Dip Ever

This is the best shrimp dip you will every taste. Super easy, at least that is what my wife says. I am not a big shrimp eater but this is awesome. Try it!!! Click on the link below to go to my wife's cooking blog. Enjoy.

SHRIMP DIP

Start The Big Addition

Here we go, the start of our big addition back in 2007. The next several posts will detail the construction of our 800 square foot living room and master suite addition. The first step was the planning stage which began in the summer of 2006 with all my ideas sketched out on paper. This first photo shows what the house looked like prior to work beginning, the single story room to the left was the existing living room. One issue I had is that the house is in the historic district and requires approval for any alterations. The historic commission in Farmington was very helpful and actually helped me with the design. I purchased the Punch software that you see above and was able to see the design take shape while being able to provide the commission with detailed drawings. I would definitely recommend purchasing this software for any larger projects. I was also able to use the drawings to obtain the proper building permits. After securing all the necessary permits and approvals I contacted CBYD(call before you dig) to mark out any underground utilities on the property. I do have a natural gas line running down the street so that was marked out as the only hazard. In the photo above you can see some nice landscaping which was going to be trashed by the excavator, so I called some friends who eagerly came over and dug them up for their yards. Just a little gift on my part. I took a couple sections of fence down and then it was time for demo. I pretty much tore down the single story living room myself over the course of a couple weekends. The only thing I saved was the aluminum siding which I recycled at the end of the project.

Here you can see the current single story addition stripped down to the studs and the footing for the new foundation added. My poor grass!! The old living room was 17X12 and essentially I am going to bump it out 10 more feet with part of it being 18 feet wide. I don't have any photos of it but eventually the roof and three walls of the old room came down. I left the rear wall because it was supporting a screened in porch facing the back yard which you can see in the bottom photo.

below you can see again the one wall left standing with the new foundation poured. There is also quite a bit of history in this photo with regards to the siding. On the front you can see the white aluminum siding, on side where the old living room was you can see the original wood shiplap siding. This was covered at some point with the tan asphalt brick siding that you see near the peak. It all cam off and resided with new Hardi plank cement siding which you will see in future posts. Notice the pile of aluminum for the scrap yard. I wound up profiting about $400 for all the old siding from the whole house.

Here is a picture of the floor framing. All of the lumber was purchased from my local 84 LUMBER. They wound up being the cheapest and had free delivery as well as being a good quality wood supplier. Sometimes Lowe's is not the best if you want good straight lumber. I had about $8,000 in lumber for the entire project so cheaper in price is always better. That doorway on the back wall leads to our dining room which we converted into a living room during the construction. It made for tight living quarters for a while.

You can see some progress now as the structure is being erected. If you click on the photo and zoom in you will see the one foot setback from the old house and the one foot jog in the addition front wall. This was done to break up the front facade and not make the house look so long. It gave me an opportunity to add a gable roof facing the front which you can see in the next post.



Pan Roasted Asparagus

My wife made this with a pork tenderloin last night for dinner. I am so glad she loves to cook. Check out the link below to her blog if you know what is good for you.

CHRISTINA'S COOKING BLOG

Great Photo

This has absolutely nothing to do with home improvement but thought I would post it anyway. I took this when our family was on a Christmas vacation in Stowe, VT this past year. We go every year, if you have never been it is a must. This old truck was sitting out behind the COLD HOLLOW CIDER MILL then I saw the mountains in the background and thought what a great picture. I pulled out my Cannon PowerShot point and shoot camera and to my surprise I took what I think is a pretty good picture. You can click on the picture for a larger view.

If you every do visit Stowe, stay here GREEN MOUNTAIN INN We have stayed there so many times I can't count, It is the best!!

Kitchen Island Makeover

The first time I remodeled the kitchen I built an island to have some extra storage and counter space. The color theme then was blue but the $$ was limited so I went with a ceramic tile top to match the other counter tops. During the second remodel I changed the color scheme to black so you can see the new color on the island. I also replaced the top with wood. This is three pieces biscuit joined together and finished with a bunch of coats of sealer. You can also see the island before had no overhang for an eating area thus I added that and some benches. An area rug sits underneath. Links to where I bought materials are below.

BEFORE WITH TILE TOP

AFTER WITH WOOD TOP

ADDED NEW TIN PENDANT ABOVE

HANGING TIN PENDANT

BENCHES

ISLAND BASE MATERIALS

BRAIDED RUG

THE WOOD TOP CAME FROM MY LOCAL SAW MILL. I then planed, cut and joined the pieces into what you see here. Rounded over the edges a bit and slightly distressed it with my homemade kit. The distressing kit consists of a length of chain for making dents, an awl for making worm holes, a razor blade for scraping out some wood, different size nails for making holes, a torch to lightly burn or bring out the grain and a hammer to bang things up a bit. I have also used plastic covered with gravel and rolled with a rolling pin to dent the wood. I might just do a post on distressing in the future.

Awesome Recipies

My wife is doing this blog thing as well so if you like good food and you like to cook  check her blog out. It is very simple and is entirely dedicated to recipes that are easy to make, so easy that I have even be known to cook a bit. If you follow it she usually posts new recipes once per week or so. Have a look, your stomach will thank you. I can say that I have personally had most of these but below are a few of my favorites. I have provided the link below.

CHRISTINA'S RECIPE BLOG

GRILLED CHICKEN AND PINEAPPLE  SANDWICH

LINGUINE WITH CLAM SAUCE

DIVINE CHICKEN DEVAN

New Baby's Room

Hi, my name is Brookelyn, no I didn't spell it wrong. That is the way my mommy and daddy chose to spell it. I was born in September of 2010 really early in the morning and a lot quicker than my parents cared for. Anther ten minutes and I would have been born in the car. Anyway, they just added on to our house a fourth bedroom so they could have a spare room for when guests came over but then I came along. You see I already had a brother and sister so I took that spare room away. It is too bad because they just finished remodeling it as a spare room with country accents and a flat screen television on the wall. I must say I really love my new nursery with all the animals and the different colors. I think they did a lot of the shopping for my room at Ikea

I really love these flower shaped lights, yes Ikea. You have to buy the fixture and the flower shade separately but they were only $20 for both. My daddy used some wire staples to secure the cord to the wall in the shape of a stem. You can also see my hot air ballon mobile hanging over my crib, also from Ikea. The crib linens also match the decor of the room nicely. I am not going to mention Ikea anymore because everything including the curtains are from that store.

My mommy searched on the computer all night to find this sticker mural. It came with lots of extra animals to put around the room. Everyone who comes to visit always loves the mural and asks where it came from. The link to the website is below. Take a look.



TREE STICKER MURAL

My crib is the same one that my brother and sister used which was bought by my grandma. It still looks brand new and as I get older it can be converted into a full size bed, pretty neat.

My daddy put a lot of hard work into my nursery. He put on new pine six panel solid wood doors with oil rubbed bronze hardware to replace the cheap hollow ones that were there. All the trim was painted with a fresh coat of paint and he changed the walls to a soft  baby green color. Again I feel bad because just two weeks before he found out I was on the way he painted them for the spare room. Here are some pictures of my room for you to look at. I hope you like it as much as I do. Let me know what you think.

PRINT AND FRAME FROM IKEA

CURTAINS, DOOR AND STICKERS

CARPET AND ALLIGATOR FROM IKEA

Think Spring

SPRING LAWN CARE TIPS

CARE CALENDAR

Now is the time to start thinking about you lawn since it has been recently uncovered by all the snow. As I posted before you really want to take care of any snow mold that you may have. Check out the post on my blog titled Snow Mold. It is time to do a good spring clean up by picking up sticks, raking up any left over leaves from the spring, cleaning out planting beds and raking out the lawn. Once this is done you can apply your early spring fertilizer and crabgrass pre-emergent. Above are some good links for helpful tips for lawn care all year long. These resources are from a company called SavaTree and they are who I use for my lawn fertilization needs. They have a fully organic program available. 

MY LAWN(the neighbors is the brown stuff)