Trusses
We got a call from the contractor, letting us know that the trusses will be ready the first week of january. That is about a week after they thought they'd be ready... maybe the truss people are taking some holiday time off. Here is a cool site to answer all your "truss" questions. We'll be sure to let you know whether we have "W" trusses or scissor trusses.

The tarp is - amazingly - still attached to the braces on the roof. We've had some strong winds, and I'm pretty sure we are going to sail away in the night and wake up in Regina (I think only one of you will get that reference). I think I'll call our house the Black Pearl. Hopefully, we aren't cursed. Hopefully, Orlando Bloom will show up to do some work - heh. (Just kidding Derek! :) )

The foreman has been really nice - he was really concerned about our leaks, and called after they put the tarp on to see how things were going. He gave us his home and cell number if there are problems.

The pressure tank on our well crapped out, so we had to fork over a pretty penny for that fix this week. I guess in the long run it was a good thing, we have more pressure now, which should help with the added water needs on the second floor.


- posted by Lesley @ 2:32 PM

 
Let It Snow
As you may recall, shortly after they put the tarp on the roof to stop the leaking, it started to snow. We got about 3 inches of really wet snow, but the tarp held, and the leaks stopped dripping. Hooray!
- posted by Lesley @ 7:55 AM

 
Week One
So, we are beginning construction in the middle of Oregon's rainiest month. Our contractor has some new fangled way to sort of shield the house while they work on it, thereby preventing rain from leaking into the house. For three days, Joe and Eric cut through our roof, set up big posts and frames, and caulked it to prevent water from getting in. I'm sure the neighbors think we are setting up some elaborate Christmas display. They then measured for the trusses, which should be here in about two weeks.

The first day the workers used our bathroom (or the bushes), but day two heralded the arrival of the porta-potty. It is in the driveway right next to the road... I wonder how many people searching for Christmas trees will stop to use the facilities. I'm kinda bummed it doesn't have a fun name like Port-O-Let or Willy Makit.

Of course, the night after they were finished, I heard "drip, drip, drip" in the bedroom. Water was leaking in the bedroom window. We found three other leaks the next morning, and they came out and re-caulked. A couple of the leaks stopped, others still dripped, and we found 3 or 4 more. They came out again, and put a giant tarp over everything. Hopefully that will keep the water out. Today is the day to test it, we had TONS of rain and flood warnings throughout the area. We had to plug in our sump pump in the basement. For about the past 3 hours, it has been snowing.


- posted by Lesley @ 7:07 PM

 
Introduction
Welcome to our blog.

What is a blog, you say? I'll explain it for those of you who don't know (you know who you are -- the ones who will call us and tell us that you got our e-mail!) Blog is short for Web Log - sort of an online journal. We post some information, you read it. When we post some more information, it appears above what we posted before. So, the posts go in the order of newest on the top, oldest on the bottom. If you have skipped reading for a few days, scroll down to see what you may have missed.

So what is this blog for? It is called A Second Story because that is what we are doing: building a second story onto our house. Well, we aren't doing it, some construction people are, but you get the drift. See, Derek's parents - Susan and Jerry - retired and moved to Oregon. After much planning and revision and a false start with the county, we finally came up with a plan to build a second story to our existing house that can accommodate them too. We will use this blog to keep our friends and family updated on the progress of the addition; we will post pictures of the progress, talk about what has been going on recently, etc.

Currently our house is a 1954 Ranch style home, approximately 1400 square feet. We are adding about 1200 square feet to the second floor. Susan and Jerry's "living unit" is about 600 square feet - a bedroom, bathroom, and sitting room. The rest of the upstairs is what we call the bonus room. Once we hit the lottery, it will be filled with a pool table, kegerator, plasma t.v., surround sound... A deck is going to be built off the second story in the back of the house, which will be accessible through french doors via the bonus room and parents' living room. Stairs from the deck will go down to the pool. In addition, access to the second story will be available via stairs off of our living room. On the right-hand side of the this page, you will see links to the the plans and some "before" pictures. Check 'em out.

So that is that. The builders started on 12/9. Check back often for the saga of A Second Story.


- posted by Lesley @ 6:09 PM