Second floor framing

The last few days have seen the second floor framing go up!

Once they got all the first floor stud walls framed up they were then able to begin installing the second floor joists and plywood subfloor. You can see the second floor framing sitting above the window and sticking out past the first floor wall a bit.

 It now looks alot different from the inside since the top is no longer all completely open to the sky above due to the second floor flooring.

...the stair stringers seeing their beginnings...

The floor framing for Rachel's bedroom.

 

 

 

The girls decided to take a break from all their hard exploring and smile for the camera....

The stairs should be going up soon... then we'll be able to get up on the second floor and nose around up there.

In news of our current house, we're having the first open house of "House for Sale, Part Deux" this Sunday... with any luck we'll find that real buyer soon.

Paul

Let the framing begin...!

Even several inches of rain won't stop it...

In the last couple of days there's been several things worthy of mentioning here.

The framers begin their work before the heavy rains came. They were able to get all the floor joists installed, along with the beams below that hold up the floor. In the following photos you can see that they have the entire first floor area now covered with the wood joists. The area not covered by the joists is the garage. In the first two photos you can see the framed out opening where our stairway will be. The third photo below shows the opening for the stairs that'll go from the garage to the basement.

...Robin took a shot of me down in the basement as I was going to take some photos down there...

In the basement you can see the steel posts (in red) that will support the pre-lam beams that support the floor joists. You can also see the bracing against the concrete walls are still in place.

The next thing to go into place will be the plywood subfloor on top of the joists...

In news of our current house, unfortunately (maybe fortunately tho... it's that whole silver lining thing) the couple who was going to buy our house screwed up (from the facts we've been able to learn, they had two things working against them;  they had chosen an online mortgage lender who really didn't give a rats-butt about them or their offer to purchase our home... and they were just plain a bit dumb.).... they went out and took out a car loan last month (along with several other issues that crushed their credit worthiness) and so no longer qualify to purchase our home.

So as of yesterday (Thursday) our house is back on the market...

The silver lining to this is that so long as the house sells in the next 5-7 weeks (it "sold" in 4 weeks the first time around) we're actually better off than if the previous sale had gone thru;

• We only have to move once, rather than twice
• We don't have to waste money renting
• By staying in our current house we're still gaining equity in our property
• All our neighbors are still our neighbors for longer, rather than knowing no one at an apartment
• We can keep the girls riding the bus to and from school for the rest of the year, rather than one of us having to drive them to school every day.

So for the next offer that comes in we'll simply put on there that the closing date cannot be before August 19th (when the Parade is over and we're able to move into our new house).

Paul

Two days?

Yup, only two days have passed and alot has happened!

Monday saw the excavator come out and backfill around the foundation walls. Alot of the massive piles of dirt are now gone...

Once the dirt piles in front of the house were mostly gone they were able to extend the gravel driveway up to the front of what will eventually be the garage.

You're now able to walk around the entire perimeter of the concrete foundation without the 10 foot deep trenches everywhere. In this photo you can see how the inside of the garage walls have also been filled with dirt. Eventually the garage slab will be poured over it after they add a layer of gravel first.

Once Monday was over, Tuesday brought on the beginnings of some new developments;  the framing.

The first thing they need to do is fasten a toe board to the top of the foundation walls. They'll fasten the subfloor structure (floor joints, plywood subfloor, prelaminated beams, etc) to these toe boards.

As the materials for the framing begin to appear on-site, our house will eventually begin to take on a more recognizable shape.

The framers have set up shop in the garage area... here they'll cut any pieces they need to do the actual framing and any other work that can be done above grade.

The first appearance by a subcontractor who does something other than moving dirt or building walls is the electrical sub. He's installed the beginnings of what will be the electrical service meter on the outside wall and the breaker panel down in the basement.

I believe the long yellow piece of wood in the next photo is one of the prelam beams that'll hold up the first floor of our house. The few darker long pieces of wood I'm not as sure about. I think they must be beams of some sort as well, but I'm not exactly certain where they go. It'll be interesting to watch it all come together.

Meanwhile... in the "back 40"....  ;)

The above is the fire circle of what we've come to call the "girls' play area". It's a clearing in the woods that they've adopted as their own area.

Well, today while rummaging around in the tall grassy area behind their play area the girls scared up some of these:

We think they're cranes, but we're not exactly sure. One thing IS for certain tho;  they get really ticked when you stumble upon their nest with babies in it! (and very loud too, as the girls quickly found out!)

Weather permitting things will begin changing appearance very quickly as the floor framing goes on and the walls begin to be framed up. I figure I'll be able to post updates here every other day typically, unless something happens on-site that I want to post the day-of, so keep on tuning into this same bat-channel at this same bat-time! :)

Paul