The Siding, Part II

It's only Tuesday and already lots has been done to the house this week.

About two months ago, when we re-did the siding on the right side of the house, we had the company install two new windows as well, to replace two that were not doing well in the back of the house.  One on either side.  However, after all that we decided we wanted a second window in the room that will be the laundry room to look out at the back yard.  We also thought maybe something more artistic and different would look better in the master bathroom.  SO, we moved the window that was there to the laundry room instead.  We also got a back door installed.  

And it locks.  

Ammmaaazing!  Now we don't have to screw a piece of plywood over the opening every night.  It's the little things that are really exciting when doing a project like this.

Vinnie went hunting last weekend and found us a window for our bathroom.  At first when we saw it I thought it would be waaaay too big for the bathroom.  However, Vinnie totally has an eye for this and could picture it in his mind the whole time.  Here it is: our eight-paned window with Florentine glass. 

Yesterday Carl (our firefighter that works for us on his "off" days during the week) and Vinnie framed it in.  While they were working on that we had two other guys we hired for the day rip ALL the siding off the left side of the house.  Originally we thought we could just patch that side and use most of the old cypress that was already there.  However, after looking at it for the last few weeks we decided to completely re-do it.  It would be pointless to go to all the work of tearing parts off and repairing them and hoping that next year once the house is all nice and finished it didn't spring another leak and ruin our new sheet rock or something.  Also, the area towards the back on that side was so poorly done originally, that there was a lot of rot from water leaking in and attracting termites.  This way we can say the whole house has new siding (as we are also re-doing the back) that was done at the same time.  

While they were tearing the siding off, Scott worked on fixing all the areas of rot.  Sistering in new boards and completely rebuilding the frames around a few windows.  Vinnie and Carl helped him with areas in between framing the bathroom window in and re-building that wall (as it was the area with the worste rot/termite damage).

View from inside the master bathroom to outside.  

(I'll have to post a picture tomorrow of what that wall/new window now look like.)

There were a few more areas of concern than we expected throughout the wall.  It was frustrating in the moment - but also reassures us that we made the right decision for the long-term.  

Here's the house with the siding off.

Today our siding guys came and got all the plywood up to cover that side of the house.  Tomorrow they will weatherproof it and start on the actual hardy board siding.  

That's how far they were at lunch time.  Just two guys.  

They had all the plywood up by 6pm before they went home for the night.  It's impressive how fast they are.

Overdue House Update

Alright, I am having some serious issues with Blogger today, so if the movie above isn't big enough for you, click here to see it!

We've made quite a bit of progress since this was made!  Last week Scott's parents came to visit to help us and we got a ton done!  We went through and ripped ALL the old wiring, lights and outlets out from under and above the house.  It was a disaster.  Wires going everywhere, spliced into random other wires going to places that made no sense, then spliced into the old original electrical work that was first put into the house with exposed copper here and there.  A fire hazard for sure.  Scott's dad is an electrical engineer and got some construction outlets set up for us and we're ready for all the new wiring now!

Re-siding also began and we are SO happy we contracted that out.  It's turning into an even bigger project than expected and we are glad to have professionals dealing with it.

Here's what the right side of our house looks like with all the old siding off and the house exposed...

A view from the inside.  We had to go through and sister in (Yes, sister - I'm learning all the cool construction lingo, so don't mess with me.) many of the boards that had some termite damage so they are extra strong now.  That's why some of the studs look like they are cut funny. 

We got a third dumpster last week and filled it to the brim - now our backyard is the cleanest it's been (although it's still rather pathetic looking) and we're able to take the dogs over there more often while we work.

Scott's garden is going craaazy and some of his tomato plants are NINE feet tall now.  We are running out of options for staking them very quickly!  However, we are totally digging the produce we're getting out of it and Scott goes to check on it every morning - as do a few of our neighbors as well.

Fresh salad from the garden

I'll try and keep up better with all of this.  We're going through a period of slow progress now as we set up the plumbing, electric, insulation, etc before we can start sheet rocking and such.  Very important things that cost lots of money and aren't noticeable to many people besides us.