One Day, Thats All It Takes

This was the scene this morning when the carpenter started on the house. Having had a lumber delivery the morning before and doing some prep work for the structure; he was set to build the stairs. He and two other guys showed up at 7am. And this is what they got done today.....



Crazy. Maybe its just me, but it seems to me like its a lot of work to get done in a short period of time. Its also partly due to the fact that we have been taking the house apart for the past two weeks instead of putting it back together. The progress is definitely more tangible.



Close up of the construction of the stair, and the south wall of the bathroom that will go on this floor. Looking at this makes me realize just how nice and level and straight things are going to be. Its been a long time since we have had that living in our old house.


This is standing in the dining area looking through the kitchen into the open stairway. I took this for two reason. First, and more important, is the support that was lacking for the second floor in this ceiling. There were literally joists being held together by 10 penny nails. Not good. Now, the home is supported properly with 12" LVL - laminated veneer lumber - which is stronger then the new growth wood people use in homes. This is a common usage in main supports for the home as it gives the tensile strength needed to be the backbone.

The other reason I posted this picture is because we are also looking at the plumbing wall for part of the house. This wasn't exactly the plan, but its turning out to work quite well. Because this wall had to come out for the stairs to be re-worked anyway, so we decided it made the most sense to run all of the plumbing for the west side of the house (essentially the master bath) in this wall. It will keep us from having to build soffits around the house which will keep the interiors of the house, nice and clean.


This was the interior core of the house last night before they started with the new support at the top and bottom of the stairs.

I have one more day with the carpenter this week, and then he is gone for the next three days on another job that was already planned, so there will be a bit of a stall out on the progress.