A Second Story

Finally! An Update!

2004-09-29T07:13:00.000-07:00

Ok, so this stupid house should be done, but when you hire a stupid contractor, that is what you get. It has been 8 months now, and for the past 2 months we have been waiting for them to make and install a chimney cap. Idiots. IDIOTS!!!

So anyway, we are trying to be productive and finish what we have to do, which is mostly painting. We have basically finished the bonus room (mom and dad finished their area a long time ago!). We put up shelves for liquor, bought a little bar, hung pictures (I still have to paint a series of martini glasses to go on one wall, will put up a pic when they are done), hung the ugly light, and the dartboard. We need to paint trim around the windows, but need scary ladders for that, and we are going to incorporate that with the downstairs painting.

While I had surgery, they boys built a deck downstairs, which is very very cool.

Beggars Can't Be Choosers

2004-07-12T20:44:00.000-07:00

Well, we asked if our friend at Columbia Distributing could get us a pool table light, and he came through. For $25, we are proud owners of this beautiful MGD bottle on ice.

The lamp reminds Derek of the leg lamp from the movie A Christmas Story.... (scroll down the link to see other cool Christmas Story items, like the action figures and the Christmas lights!). This thing is just ugly enough to be funny.

Big Money Goes Around the World

2004-07-09T20:22:00.000-07:00

We just dropped a fortune on the most important feature for the bonus room - the tv and stereo system. We bought a 50" Optima rear projection DLP tv, two Paradigm tower speakers, a subwoofer, a center channel, a receiver, a dvd player that supports super audio cd's and dvd audio discs, and ceiling speakers to complete the surround sound experience. We have yet to buy the two outdoor speakers for your listening pleasure on the deck. Kee-razy.

The stairs are finished to a point... we need the special drywall fixer guy to come and repair all the broken spots. He is apparently in high demand, so who knows when he is coming. The stairs can't be completed until this guy puts up some metal bits and finishes it, so Steve can then screw in and glue in the banisters and stuff. It is sturdy, for now.

We were able to move in the bed, couch, tv, table, and other random furniture to the upstairs, so it is taking shape. Apparently you can move in before the final inspection. It is 8pm on friday night, and the mason for the chimney is here putting up scaffolding and getting ready to do his work tomorrow. The deck is nearly finished, just needs handrails and banisters... funnily enough, our contractor said that Jeff would be done with it "tommorrow" (this was on tuesday). Today they suddenly need more materials before they can even finish. Someone needs to take remedial estimating....

They did deliver the cabinets for the bathroom sink and the utility sink today. For some reason, it takes longer to make the drawers and doors, so they will be out sometime. (imagine me inserting my favorite smiley here - :rolleyes:) At least they delivered them half finished, because now the plumber can come out and put in the sinks, and hook up the toilet and the bathtub. Yippee!

More Painting Pics

2004-06-25T14:21:00.000-07:00

Here is how the painting is going!

Coming together

2004-06-24T09:26:00.000-07:00

Things are really looking nice. We had a talk with the contractor, and told him we'd really like things done by July 5th, as I should be having surgery soon after and will have more people coming to stay with us. We want S & J to be able to move in!! Seemed like a reasonable request. I think they will have the inside done by then, but still have some stuff to do outside (like the chimney, the deck, and putting our property back together like they found it).

The "hardwood" floors are almost all in, and they look really nice. We liked the place we bought the flooring from, but they sent us to their distributor to pick up the supplies. Those people (Cronin) are a peice of work. Unfriendly, unhelpful and completely stupid. We had to go back 3 times... an hour drive each way!! It was truly unbeleivable.

The railings are in also, so Owen can run around upstairs now. Once the floors are finished they will put in the baseboard and trim around the doors, and finish the stairs.

They also started painting the outside of the house. Should be cool!

Finished!

2004-06-07T16:25:00.000-07:00

Carpentry that is. That is what is going on. We met with the finisher, Steve, over a week ago, and chose trim and railings and banisters and newels and stuff. They finally came out friday with materials (after our delivery was accidentally shipped to the coast). Two guys worked all day (we heard saws and hammering anyway!) but it didn't look like much was done. Today they put the trim around the windows and the freedom doors. It looks purty.

I can't wait until this is done! It seems like two steps forward, 25 steps back with these people. The electrician came two weeks ago and said he would be back 4 days later, could we have all the light fixtures available? We say sure, tell the contractor, he says sure. Neither fixtures nor electrician ever show up. The fixtures were then coming with the lumber order. They didn't. Maybe they are enjoying a relaxing time at the beach. I have no idea what is going on. The painters were here 2 weeks ago to caulk and prep, then didn't show again. We were told they were finishing a job last week, would be here this week. Mmmmm, no painters yet. They are probably waiting for the chimney to be finished, and who knows what is going on with that. After many conversations with the contractor, he should know we JUST WANT TO BE INFORMED!!! I don't care if the painters can't come until next October, JUST TELL ME! Honestly, these people are goofballs. Why draw out finishing a project? They have to drive 1.5 hours to get here! Just get it done already. There are so many little things for them to finish, I fear it will never be done, we will always be waiting for someone to be able to come out for a day or two put a fence back, pour some concrete, etc. I don't know whether to hound them (which doesn't actually seem to help), or just let it go (which means we will probably never get finished!).

Color My World

2004-05-24T19:09:00.000-07:00

We powered through painting this weekend. We are all sore. Here are most of the results of our hard work. I'll post the picture of the beautiful bathroom when I remember to take the camera upstairs.

Our House....

2004-05-14T14:09:00.000-07:00

Kicks Arse!! The upstairs is sheetrocked, and they will come mud and tape next week. The stairs are done, and the hole in front of the front door is complete. It is so open and airy!

Here is the hole... it is kinda hard to get a shot of it.

Here are the stairs. There is a lot more room under them than I thought! So many possibilities!!

Rack 'Em Up

2004-05-13T18:30:00.000-07:00

Derek brought home our latest addition - yep, you are seeing it right folks - a pool table. It was FREE. It is a little worse for wear, needs new felt and some TLC, but it was FREE. Ever heard of Freecycle? It is an internet user group that allows people to say "hey, I have a rice cooker I never use" or "please take my old pool table" and if you respond fast enough, it is yours. And it is free, and it is cool, and it saves a lot of junk from the landfill. You can also post "wanted" ads too, which are often farfetched in my opinion ("wanted: laptop" or "wanted: 4 brand new bikes")... but I did give a baby gate to someone who wanted one because her old cat couldn't navigate too well anymore and would fall down the stairs.

ANYWAY, brush up on your game play, because this baby is going upstairs!!

Speeding Past Progress

2004-05-12T19:52:00.000-07:00

Today was a banner day at the ole Second Story. We had our two faithful crew members, the electrician, the roofer, and two sheetrockers. FOUR vehicles here at once! The roofer finished off replacing the old roof (and it looks bitchin'). The sheetrockers finished sheetrocking the upstairs, so everything looks like a room now.

Tomorrow the sheetrockers return to clean up, then people come to mud and tape, then someone comes to texturize it. So in a couple weekends, we are going to paint! We have a crazy palate of colors, so it should be fun.

Today they installed the final french doors. We had to go to Home Depot to buy door knobs, because apparently when you buy doors, they don't come with them. Go figure. When we got back from Home Depot, they had erected a tent in the dining room and cut the hole for the stairs. The stairs should be finished tomorrow. !!! Then back to siding, then the deck, then the finishers come...

Progress is Progress

2004-05-10T20:17:00.000-07:00

The workers weren't here friday or monday - they had to do some finish work on another job apparently. Hopefully they will be here tomorrow. The roofer who is going to replace the small remaining part of the roof that wasn't covered by the 2nd story arrived friday with a trailer for the old shingles. He takes them somewhere to get recycled into tracks (as in field) and stuff. That is cool. Like most sub-contractors from around here, he managed to tell us his odd life story in the first 10 minutes (divorce, getting kicked out of his house after 25+ years, etc etc). Isn't anyone normal anymore? He showed up today and implied it would be finished due to the rain, but when we got back this afternoon he was gone and the roof was covered with a tarp. Thanks to the weather, it is now half covered with a tarp, so hopefully it won't leak. Our sheetrock was delivered and stacked upstairs, and ***drum roll please*** THE FRENCH DOORS WERE DELIVERED! Huzzah.

The construction has caused us a bit of a problem with our farm animals... we let the chickens wander when the construction crew isn't working. However, the crew has left lots of gaps around the property where fencing used to be, and now we find the chickens all over the place. In trying to keep them from crossing the road, we are constantly luring them back with promises of bread. Luckily our stupid hens have decided to follow the rooster everywhere, so we just need to lure him.

Snail's pace

2004-05-03T14:30:00.000-07:00

Week 2.5 and they are still siding. They are maybe a little over halfway done. Grrr. Had a pow wow with the contractor - the project is now estimated to be complete June 1, not May 15. Lots of sob stories. Ah, well. They put wood under the eaves, and it looks really nice. We've passed all inspections so far, and everything seems to be falling into place. It seems like we are so close, yet so far. They should be insulating this week, so we can start sheetrocking on friday.

Piss and Moan

2004-04-22T13:44:00.000-07:00

An interesting couple of weeks... our two crew guys were fighting. They'd scream at each other before they left, scream at each other when they got here, then work in silence. Seems they've patched things up though. Our neighbor (who is at least 100 yards away) came by to see when we were going to be done... his wife works swing shift and can't sleep while they are pounding. Interesting, since two of us inside the house can sleep while they are working, as can my neighbor across the street, who is recuperating from surgery. Whatever.

As usual, things are half done all over. They started siding this week. We got a notice of lien from the lumber people, because the contractor hasn't paid them. Turns out he has another client that isn't paying him, so they are going to court, and I guess he is using the money we paid them to cover that shit, and not our house. Nice. Can't wait until this is done!

Oops

2004-04-08T10:17:00.000-07:00

So PGE came yesterday to connect us to our new meter. As stated in a previous post, we had two meters. The electrician connected everything from the second meter (4 plugs on one wall of our house, plus a plug that was on a tree in the yard) onto the new meter. I told PGE that the second one was now defunct, so they unhooked everything. After they turned the power back on, we went to use the water. Nothing. We are on a well, so we need electricity to pump water from the well to the house. We called the electrician, who had just left but fortunately lives down the street, and he came back. We discovered that the well was piggybacked onto the plug on the tree. It is as if whoever set it up just said 'hey, there is some electricity over there, I'll just attach it to this plug here.' The plug itself was a fire hazard, and having the well attached to it was simply crazy. Anyway, now we have a big cord running across our yard so we can have water. They are going to run it underground when they dig the trench for the new pipe that needs to be laid from pump to house.

There has been a kid (kid meaning younger than me, he is probably 18 or 20) hired to do manual labor. He finished digging the trench around the house for the foundation, moved the dirt to where we wanted it (two days worth of wheelbarrowing!) and filled in the trenches left after the foundation was poured. Turns out nobody told the crew that some pipe needed to be put down in the trenches next to the foundation, so he had to re-dig the trenches. At least he has job security... He is also digging where I didn't think they were going to dig, so I'm pretty sure my hellebore is toast. I knew I should have dug it up.

Stuff Gettin' Done

2004-04-06T14:32:00.000-07:00

Things are moving ahead slowly... the concrete was to be poured last friday but the hose pump dude canceled on them. They poured the foundation yesterday, and are gussying it up today. We were afraid it might look weird since it isn't flush with the house, but it actually looks pretty cool.

They also began putting in the windows! It looks really cool now.

Plumbers are here, a week or so late. We had a weird electrical thing: we have two meters for the house, and one wall of the house is on one meter, while the rest of the house is on the other. The electrician put us all on one now, but the new electricity isn't hooked up, so that one wall is "dead". We had to move our computer, and currently have it plugged into the same outlet/power strip (via two extension cords) to our tv, tivo, satellite receiver, dvd player... hopefully the house doesn't burn down! The law said they had to hardwire smoke detectors in the bottom floor, one in each bedroom and the hallway. The bedrooms are all close together and are right off the hallway, so we have 4 smoke detectors within about a 10 foot radius. If our plugs to spontaneously combust, at least we are covered!!

The siding has arrived, they should be putting it on soon.

Updates and Schedules!!

2004-03-30T13:25:00.000-08:00

Sorry we haven't blogged for a while - lots going on too so no excuse! Shame shame. Anyway.

We went to Home Depot and picked out lighting fixtures - from ceiling fans to bathroom lights to outdoor deck lights. I think we came in under budget on them, so hopefully we can apply the funds to another area of the house. Tomorrow we go back to finalize paint colors, pick out bathroom fixtures, cabinets, etc. The contractor also brought by a catalog with interior doors to choose from. Not only are there like 24 doors in this line alone, you have the choice of raised or flush moulding on each style. Sometimes I think we have too many options in this world. I mean geez, it's just a door!

Here is a brief schedule of completion:
* concrete foundation work done - week of 3/29
* electrical and plumbing rough-in - week of 3/29
* windows and french doors - week of 3/29
* interior framing and outside siding - week of 4/5
* insulation - week of 4/5
* sheet rock - week of 4/12
* painting (interior and exterior) - week of 4/19
* cabinets, doors, hardware and millwork - week of 4/26
* finish deck - week of 4/26
* floor covering - week of 5/3
* electrical, mechanical and plumbing trim - week of 5/3
* gutters - week of 5/5

Here is a picture of a house with the colors we want for our exterior. It is sort of a sage green, with a brownish purple trim. Hopefully it won't look ridiculous on our house since it isn't a cool old Victorian!

The house has been abuzz with activity! Two or three electricians, a plumber, the regular crew, some poor kid hired to dig a trench and jackhammer. The trench for the foundation is nearly finished, and they unearthed this cool old truck, which has seen better days.

They even put stairs up to the deck (with a few rickety planks to walk on - here is Derek enjoying a cigar from it) so you can easily access the second story.

We are still dealing with some issues - one wall of the house is hooked up to a different meter than the rest of the house, posing a slight problem with the electrician. The plumbing running from the basement to the well is beyond terrible apparently, and will need an upgrade. The waterheater is in a location not to code. Most things here are not to code. Figures.

That is all I can think of. Will post more when it happens, promise!!

Framed In

2004-03-18T15:48:00.000-08:00

All the outside walls are framed in, so you can see where there will be windows. The big window you can see is in the new bedroom, and they will be cutting a small window to the right of it for the bathroom. Now we can't see what they are doing while they are working! I believe they are working on the inside walls and floor next. They think the foundation will be done by next tuesday, and a plumber and electrician are coming next week. Derek is looking into having someone help with wiring the upstairs for multimedia/surround sound coolness. The contractor brought to our attention that the french (excuse me, "freedom") doors we chose were solid wood and $1700 each. Needless to say, we chose a cheaper one! Sheesh.

Treasures in the Attic

2004-03-15T16:51:00.001-08:00

The workers found some old papers under the insulation. They are made up mostly of schoolwork, and are dated 1956 and 1957. We recognize the last name as the people that owned this house from the beginning (the house was built in '52 or '54 or something). I beleive many of the papers belong to our neighbor, who grew up in this house. A majority of it appears to be typing practice, with a few graded sheets. There is a bit of math homework, a few outlines for papers, and a couple water damaged letters.

Here is the outline for a paper. It must have been on current history, because #4 happened in 1953. If you can't read it, it says:
1) "Brain-washing" in Korea
2) Communism and its world aims
3) The state of communism in Russia
4) The Rosenburg Case
5) McCarthy Hearings
6) The 15th Amendment
7) Guilt by association
8) Soviet Espionage in the U.S. and Canada

Here is the partial letter. If you can't read it, it says: "Hi Honey. Sorry you weren't able to come up Tue. Are you still coming up tonight? I sure hope so because I don't know how I'm going to get there if you don't. I don't know why but father just won't let me have the car in this kind of weather." It is dated Dec. 6, 1956.

Sneak Preview!!!

2004-03-11T14:48:00.000-08:00

A lot of progress today, and I got to see it first hand! I asked if I could go up the ladder and take pictures, and they said sure! Below are views from either end of the addition.

Looking West: You can see a large opening that will be a french door to the deck. There is a big picture window just beyond that, with views of the backyard. The little stepladder at the end of the photo is where the stairs will come up. You can see a metal pipe sticking up in the middle, that is the exhaust for the stove. It doesn't work, but if it did, it apparently just vented right into the top of the roof, not actually outside. That is Joe in the background.

Looking East: You can see the large opening for the french doors, and just beyond that is a large opening for another set of french doors (the deck can be accessed by french doors (can I say that any more? french doors?) from the bonus room as well as the sitting room of the new bedroom). On the left is all that remains of the old roof, angling up.

Here is a close up of the french doors (;P) and you can see the frame of the deck beyond them, and the great view we will have. Yippee!

Windows and Skylights

2004-03-10T18:05:00.000-08:00

Ok, no skylights, but a worker did step through our attic "door", making a big mess in the hallway. It is covered up now... and presumably the hole in the bedroom ceiling too... We chose windows from Milgard - just standard vinyl windows. Some open sideways, some open up and down, and some don't open. We will also have 2 french doors to the deck upstairs, and a new set of french doors downstairs to replace the ailing sliding glass doors.

A "day laborer" (read: Mexican worker from a street corner (not that there is anything wrong with that, well, I don't know how much they are paying him, so there are probably all sorts of things wrong with it, but I'll leave it for now)) was hired to dig the trench around the house for the new foundation. He is actually going at a pretty good pace, considering it is about a foot deep and a foot and a half wide. Guess this is the time of year to dig - the ground is wet.

Meetings and more Pounding

2004-03-04T19:56:00.000-08:00

The roof is finished, and we think it looks good. It is really too tall to see, we have to stand way back in the property to see it. We choose moire black as the color (scroll down this page to see a sample).

We met with the contrator today, and it went really well. Got a new contract that we are to go over and give back. Discussed all that was bothering us. He'll be coming out every monday (he seemed perturbed that the deck wasn't as finished as he thought it would be). We have itemized lists, and are meeting with him monday the 22nd to find out what he needs from us (lighting, flooring, etc). All in all a good meeting. Plus he gave us his email address. Won't he be sorry!

Today the guys took off the overhang of the old roof on one side of the house and put plywood up along the 2nd story. In doing so, they ruined the roof inside our bedroom. The contractor wasn't please about that! They'll continue with that, and start digging a trench for the new foundation. Seems things might be moving right along!

Big Yellow Truck

2004-02-27T11:24:00.000-08:00

That is what Owen had to say about the roofing materials that were delivered today.

They put all the materials on the roof in a pattern, I'm assuming in order to make it easier when they start. We do have some problem though, because we have a section of the old roof that needs to be re-roofed to match the new roof (our house is shaped like an L, and the shorter section doesn't have a second story on top). We pointed this out to our contractor, and he said he hadn't thought about roofing the small portion of old roof, and he'd get back to us with numbers.

This leads us to our next issue, which is: the contractor. Work started February 5th, and he hasn't been out once to supervise, work, etc. His foreman Joe is great, and we learn a lot of what is going to be happening through him. However, we assumed that the contractor would actually come out himself to see what was happening. We talked to a friend knowledgable in these things, and he talked to a contractor relative of his, and we determined that we are not crazy, we do have a crappy contractor. So, we are going to talk to a few more people (including the contractor's board) and then have a meeting with him. Here are a few of our issues:

* We need a new contract. We are still working under the auspices of an old contract for a completely different idea (seperate garage with living unit on top). Upon further reflection, this is probably illegal and he could get in a heap of trouble.
* We want an itemized list on cost (probably as part of the contract). Not a half assed itemized list.
* We need to know what info he need from us (what decisions are we going to be making (ie: floor, electric socket placement)). They sprung on us 4 days ago the fact that we needed to chose the shingle color for the roof - and of course it was so urgent. Well shit, it is not like we know when he needs specific info from us!
* We want to know what work is going to be done, and if something changes we want to know. No more random showing up and doing half of something.
* We want to know why the deck was started and not finished (they told us it would only take 3 days, it has been 3+ weeks).
* We want weekly updates.
* You never come out to see us (probably because he lives on one end of the metro area, and we live on the other - about 1.5 hours apart. However, if this was an issue for him, he shouldn't have bid on our job).

It really is a simple matter of communication, which apparently he sucks at. If there is a reason that the deck was started and then abandoned, just tell us. If there is a reason they say that 3 guys will be coming to do a certain job and then they don't ever show, tell us why. We probably aren't going to be mad, we just want to know what is happening. Also, he seems to forget things (like the fact that we wanted all the ugly brick off our house and new siding everywhere). We also don't have a clear picture of what things are going to look like, such as the deck (will it be in a herringbone pattern? What do the railings look like?) and the chimney (they have some idea of the best way to do it, and we have no idea what it will look like).

Anyway, hopefully the meeting will get everything cleared up, and he will start communicating with us in a thorough and timely fashion. If not, I think we will have to terminate the relationship and look elsewhere...

By the way - we did check him out thoroughly, called references, etc etc etc. He was actually really great and communicative at the beginning. We think maybe he has more work than he can deal with and we are the ones getting the shaft.

Roof. Roof.

2004-02-24T19:46:00.000-08:00

That is what Enid says everytime the workers start pounding on the roof. She'll get used to them the last day they are here...

So the whole roof is covered. A roofing company is coming next week (and by next week we assume that means monday, but that may not be true). We were given samples from which we are to choose a shingle color. Somehow, it is harder then it should be. Eight shades of gray, a couple browns, a white, two blacks, and a green. The building is so tall now, I can't even see the roof, so will it really matter?

If anyone has any opinions on house color, feel free to chime in. We have a rendered drawing of the house, and I colored it a few different colors to get an idea, but it is just a bit weird.

The workers also cleaned up all the brick they tore off the house, as well as the soda cans that they have tossed off the roof. They complain less about the rain, since they now have a roof to work under. They mentioned working a short week... we don't know if that means this week (ie: they have finished the roof so now they are "done" until the roofing company comes) or next week (ie: they don't work if the roofing company is here). They still have a deck to finish, more siding to pull off, etc.

The contractor still hasn't even been to our house.

They're Ba-ack...

2004-02-17T16:23:00.000-08:00

The trusses are back, and are being installed. I know.

We are still trying to figure out the construction worker ethic. When we talked to the contractor yesterday and he mentioned that Derek was home from work, he said something like "we don't get the luxury of days off like these (President's Day)." However, nobody was working on our house. Not sure what they were doing. We did have to have Joe come out to fix the seive that is our bedroom window. He must have done something right, he rained all day and hasn't leaked.

We had the Gorton's fisherman working today, except he was wearing a green slicker/pant set. And no fish sticks. Three of them went to town on the roof, leaving us with a cool sort of enviro/angular/tarp roof thing. Hopefully, it won't drip. Oh! We also got a skip today. I don't know what they are called here, but on Ground Force, they call it a skip. You know, the big trash can.

There Go the Trusses

2004-02-14T10:52:00.000-08:00

Yep. They took them back. Apparently the county said they need to hold a heavier snow load, so the truss company had to come get them to do some refabrication. Meanwhile, still no stairs to the deck, but the deck posts are set in concrete. We were hoping to hang out up there this weekend... They tore off brick from around the front of the house, which is a big mess, but I suppose we could categorize it as progress.

A Deck Appears

2004-02-10T11:00:00.000-08:00

The workers only worked like 4 hours on friday. But, in their defense, it was raining. That never happens here. :rolleyes:

This week has been sunny, so they have been putting in 8 hours day. I don't know anything about building, but they have put the deck up in an odd fashion. It is sort of attached to the house, and all the wood is nailed together, but they haven't actually anchored the deck to the ground. They built boxes for the footings and concrete, and are doing that today. ??? Seems like you would put posts in the ground and build around them, but they are the professionals. (or should I say "professionals".... ). Anyway, here are pictures of the deck and the holes.

Derek and the workers were lamenting their fate... They drive all the way out to Estacada to work on our house, and Derek drives to Hillsboro to work, which is where they live. They should either switch houses, or switch jobs!

They Actually Started!

2004-02-05T17:25:00.000-08:00

At 7:15 no less, right outside my bedroom window. Beggars can't be choosers... Of course things are going smoothly... they ordered the wrong wood for the deck, and when they took off the existing siding, they found Ship Siding (at least I think that is what he said)... anyway, whatever it is, it is too weak to support even a second story deck. So after they ripped off the aluminum siding, they had to nail plywood along the entire house.

They warned me that they would be pounding hard on the house, so if we had anything hanging on a wall, we should take it down. I never thought about the kitchen cupboards. When I came home from a little outing, all the cupboard doors were open, glasses were on the counter, and there was a broken glass on the floor! Whoops! The lumber company came out and gave them what they needed, and took back the wrong stuff.

The next step after shoring up the side of the house is to build the deck. They are sort of building a shell of the deck... just enough to allow them access to the roof (the deck will have stairs coming down to the ground). There are also supposed to be a couple of men coming to dig a 1.5 foot wide "moat" around the house, so they can lay more foundation. We still are in shock that someone is actually here doing work!

The Trusses are Coming! The Trusses are Coming!

2004-02-02T10:26:00.000-08:00

Wow. After many promises, waiting for permits, floods, snow, ice and illness, we actually had the trusses delivered today. Poor Joe arrived at 7:30 to meet them, but they didn't come until 10:00. Not sure what the etiquette is with your construction workers, but I felt like I should have invited him in, or at least offered him some coffee. At least he has his own potty. I'm hoping someone other than Joe shows up today, but maybe todays work simply entails the off-loading of wood. That'd be our luck. At any rate, things should pick up here on the blog....

We went on saturday to Macadam Floor and Design to check out our flooring options. We were pleasantly surprised to find lots to choose from, and had a really nice woman helping us. We told her we didn't know what we could afford, and she was honest and showed us some good but affordable flooring. At any rate, we really love the cork flooring, which of course is more expensive. But, it is environmentally friendly, and feels great on your feet! If we can't afford it, there were some really nice laminate wood floors that would match our downstairs wood floors, and hold up to the dogs.

Down to Business

2004-01-01T10:34:00.000-08:00

The contractor will be pleased to know that while we wait for the trusses, the porta-potty is not sitting idle.

Trusses

2003-12-20T14:32:00.000-08:00

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.

Let It Snow

2003-12-15T07:55:00.000-08:00

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!

Week One

2003-12-13T19:07:00.000-08:00

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.

Introduction

2003-12-12T18:09:00.000-08:00

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.